The Seventh Year

Detention With Hagrid

Filch's office smelled like old parchment and musty. Ginny took the empty chair closest to the door. On the desk in front of her sat several large books that she guessed were the student records she had to sort. 

Filch walked in, glaring at her. "Good to see you've found your seat," he said in a scratchy voice. Mrs. Norris slowly trotted in after him. She looked much older than when Ginny had last seen her. Much more grey fur was visible on her backside, and she moved slower than Ginny remembered. 

"Am I just sorting, then?" she asked Filch. He nodded, shifted his eyes to the books on the desk, and then looked back at her. She took that as a sign to begin working, so she grabbed a book off the desk and flipped it open. 

It felt like days before Filch dismissed her from the office. By the time she returned to the common room, Neville and Luna were gone. She assumed they didn't want to risk Luna getting caught out of bed by the Carrows.

She headed upstairs to her room and flopped on her bed. She hadn't realized how exhausted she was until now. As she wrapped herself in the blankets, she drifted off, having several different dreams.

"Harry!" she screamed. "Harry, where are you? HARRY!" He was nowhere in sight. She stumbled through the castle. 

Rubble scattered the stone floors, burned parchment littered the floor, and nearly everything around Ginny was on fire. 

She ran through the doors ahead of her and turned right. She entered the room closest to her, but she was back where she started. Then a scream echoed through the crackling fire. 

It belonged to Harry; she knew it. He sounded close but far away at the same time. How could she get to him? 

His screams continued to ring through the ruins she stood in. The fire spread and trapped her inside a large ring of flames. The heat burned as it grew nearer and nearer until it felt like the Cruciatus Curse was being used on her. 

She shrieked, and her eyes welled up with tears. As she lay immobile on the floor, Harry could be heard screaming for her. 

"Ginny, I'm okay! I'm a bit bruised by I'm okay. Where are you? I'm coming, I promise! GINNY!" His voice began to grow closer and closer, but she was losing consciousness. 

She attempted to answer his calls, but her voice was unrecognizable and raspy as she suffocated on the smoke. She tried again, but now she was barely loud enough to hear herself. 

The world turned to a black void.

Ginny awoke with a start. Her bed was drenched in sweat. She sat up and realized her face was wet with a mix of tears and sweat. She spotted a towel hanging out of her trunk and hurriedly grabbed it to wipe her face. 

The sun hadn't risen past the horizon yet. The sky was pink with a golden glow where the sun was about to rise. Ginny threw on her robes for the day and grabbed her shoes. 

She marched out of the portrait hole and down the stairs. She passed through the courtyard as she went up a hill next to the castle. As she hiked, the sky grew lighter and more azure. When she reached the top of the hill, barely a quarter of the sun glowed. She sat on the soft, dewy grass and rested her back against a tree trunk. 

It was chilly enough to see her breath, but she didn't feel the slightest bit cold. 

She sighed and rested her head against the trunk. Whenever she couldn't sleep, she waited for the sun to rise while she sat on the hill. It was her thinking spot where there was no Carrows or Snape to punish her. She wouldn't have to worry about getting herself into trouble. Oftentimes, she went up on the hill to cry where no one would see.