Who: Ginny Weasley and Dennis Creevey What: Discovering a Dennis Where: In the corridor When: Saturday- 5, September 1998. Afternoon. Why: Because Ginny should know that one of her plans kind of half-worked. Rating: Idek. Lowish? Ginny swears a bunch but that's just because she has no self-control Status: Incomplete
This week had been a weird succession of emotions for the redhead. Every time she thought she was alright and feeling stable something else happened to shake her carefully held together composure. On the one hand, she was thrilled to be back at the castle. To be surrounded by most of her friends and even some of her family. To be back in a place where she could learn more ways to effectively protect herself. Where she could keep an eye on (almost) everyone she wanted. It was a second home for her and she craved the security that she used to feel inside it's stone walls.
Except that last year...Last year hadn't been safe at all. And those memories lingered. Memories of the Carrows tormenting her friends and her. Memories of sleepless nights worried that something had happened to Ron or Harry or Hermione. Worried that something had happened to her family. Worried that someone she loved was dead or kidnapped or any number of horrible things that could've happened. Memories of the battle. Memories of watching her friends die. Seeing her brother's lifeless body. Memories that chose inopportune moments to flash to the forefront of her mind.
The news that Carrow had escaped weighed on her considerably. She'd been worried about that possibility since the news broke about the explosion. She hadn't wanted to be right about that. Paired with finding out that the Lestranges were still finding ways to torment Neville, her nightmares had come back. Not just the old reliable standbys about the Chamber or Fred or Colin either. New ones. New ones about attacks on the castle and her friends getting tortured. The only good thing about having a separate room as Head Girl was that she didn't have to worry about anyone waking up with her. Or knowing that she hadn't been sleeping through the night.
Classes had been a welcomed distraction and so had sneaking off to the Quidditch pitch when she had a spare moment. Head Girl duties were less of a distraction because it mostly involved just wandering the halls and thinking. She'd already taken to avoiding certain hallways.
With the memorial the following day and being back at the castle it was impossible to shake thoughts of Fred and Colin and Remus and Tonks and everyone else. She was patrolling in the early afternoon, trying not to dwell on anything too serious but finding that basically impossible. As she rounded a corner, the person in front of her nearly gave her a heart attack and she gasped rather loudly, needing to grab the wall for support.
No. No it wasn't---It was...
"Dennis?" She breathed, still incredibly shaken and a bit confused. "Merlin's tits. What're you---" But of course, McGonagall had said, hadn't she? "When did you get here?"