“How can he not be coming back with us!” Ginny moaned as she finished packing her robes into her school trunk.
“Harry’s got other things he needs to worry about right now, Ginny. I expect he’ll return to school when he’s done,” Hermione said. “We’d better get to bed. We don’t want to miss the train tomorrow.” She turned out the light and got into her bed.
“Hermione! How can you be so calm?” Ginny questioned, but Hermione ignored her. The redhead shook her head, slammed her trunk closed and climbed into bed, not even the least bit tired.
Thoughts floated through Ginny’s head. Why had Ron and Hermione come back without Harry? Did they choose to leave him or did he tell them to go back, just like he had told her not to come? After what seemed like hours of pondering, Ginny fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
* * *
“Ginny! Get up! We have to leave soon!” Hermione shook her shoulders gently as she awoke.
“Huh?” Ginny said groggily.
“You need to get dressed. Your mum has some toast and porridge ready for you when you get downstairs. Everybody else has already finished eating!” Hermione clarified as she turned around and grabbed Ginny’s trunk. “I’ll take this downstairs for you,” she added exiting the room and closing the door behind her.
Slowly, Ginny got up and crossed the room to her small dresser and pulled out an outfit. She took as long as she dared to get dressed and head downstairs, her mind returning to Harry. When am I going to see him again?
“Oh, Ginny dear, eat fast! We have to leave very soon,” her mother’s voice interrupted her thoughts as she entered the kitchen. “There’s some more marmalade in the cupboard if you want it.” Mrs. Weasley was rushing around the room, cleaning up after Ron and Hermione’s breakfasts.
Ginny ate hurriedly, without even tasting the peach marmalade she has absent mindedly spread on her toast, and then joined Ron and Hermione in the living room. (They were planning on traveling by Floo powder to Platform Nine and Three-quarters.) Mrs. Weasley scurried into the room only seconds later.
“Alright,” she said, “Ginny, you go first!”
Ginny grabbed her trunk and some powder from the pot next to the fireplace. Stepping into the fireplace, she threw the powder to the ground and clearly stated, “Platform Nine and Three-quarters!” She spun for a few seconds before she appeared in a fireplace at the train station.
Pulling her trunk, she walked forward onto the platform to wait for the others. Hermione came first, coughing and sputtering from the smoke, then Ron, his red hair covered in soot and ashes, and finally their mum.
“C’mon. We should probably find a compartment…” Ron said in a slightly depressed tone. It would be his first ride on the Hogwarts Express without Harry, a ride he had never expected to take since his first year at Hogwarts. The three students said their grim good-byes to Mrs. Weasley and each gave her an embracing hug in turn.
The train was considerably more empty than usual; many students and their parents had decided not to return to the school without Dumbledore. They chose an empty compartment in the middle of the train and heaved their trunks into the luggage rack. Nobody spoke and soon the train was pulling out of the station.
Not a single person visited them in their compartment all morning, until the witch who pushed the food trolley came by to ask if they would like to buy anything at about 1:15 in the afternoon. Hermione purchased some cauldron cakes, which they all silently munched on. Little more than an hour later, they heard footsteps outside their cabin, and when the door slowly creaked open Neville Longbottom peeked inside.
“Oh, good, I’m not the only Gryffindor in the year that came back!” he stated, entering the compartments and looking around at the three of them. “Harry’s busy I suppose?” he asked, the slight smile that had drawn upon his face when he saw them disappeared as he spoke.
“’s not coming back,” Ron said gloomily, looking out the window. “Not until he’s gone… Not until everybody’s safe…” Ginny could see a tear slowly trail its way down her brother’s cheek and felt like crying herself.
Neville stayed with them the rest of the ride journey to Hogwarts, but nobody said another word. They changed into their robes when they were almost to the Hogsmeade station, and upon arriving they left the cabin and got inside one of the thestral drawn carriages waiting for them. Ginny sat next to one of the windows and peering out into the darkness, could see there were far less carriages being filled with students than in previous years.
When they got to the school the Great Hall barely had a fourth of the amount of students it would normally be holding. The usual chatter cluttering the area was unusually hushed and worried sounding.
“I don’t expect for there to be many first years this year…” Hermione’s voice faded as they all looked around.
* * *
The Start of Term Feast should be beginning about now… Draco was lying on his bed thinking over his plan again. I should start in about a week He was tired, and he still had to re-think over some of the smallest details of the plan. Sick of thinking, he rolled over on his side and fell asleep within half an hour.
* * *
“I’m so relieved Professor McGonagall is still teaching Transfiguration!” Hermione said over breakfast the next morning. “I could swear we’d never pass our N.E.W.T.s without her…”
“Yeah… I just think it’s great that Hagrid’s taking over as our new House Head,” Ron said, swallowing a bite of his scrambled eggs.
“Um… I’d better be going…” Ginny said in a small voice, attempting to smile softly. “I have Defense Against the Dark Arts.”
“Oh, that should be fun, especially with Tonks teaching!” Hermione smiled as Ginny got up and left the table.
Yes, it should be fun, she thought bitterly.
Throughout all of her classes Ginny was distracted. Her mind kept wondering back to Harry, on his mission to destroy Voldemort. She wanted to help him, but would it be a good idea to leave Hogwarts? She didn’t want to make a rash decision. The first week of her N.E.W.T. studies went by without her even noticing.
* * *
I hope this works. With the usual pop, Draco Apparated just outside the Hogwarts grounds, near the Forbidden Forest. All he needed to do was simply wait for one of Potter’s friends to go for a walk on the grounds, alone.
He didn’t have to wait long.
* * *