School Years End ((Ginny))

[Brianna Bowman R7]

Brianna Bowman was early as usual, her trunk already loaded into the racks above her head. Her brown eyes were staring out the window of the train at the students milling around. Eyes blinked nonchalantly as she caught a glance or two of her sisters who seemed to be more intent on messing around with their friends than boarding the train that would be leaving soon. A small, almost happy, smile crossed her face at the looks on their faces. Hogwarts was the one place where she saw them truly happy, laughing, and enjoying life. Home was a different story. Life was hard without their mother around and Brianna having to take on the responsibilities of the head of house cleaning and home making usually meant that they would have to help. Brianna sighed softly. Life didn't seem fair sometimes for her sisters. If she could have it her way she wouldn't ask them to do anything at all, but sometimes there were just too many things for her to accomplish in one day while their mother was out, which meant she had to enlist them.

A small hooting beside Brianna drew her attention over to the Tawney owl that looked back at her. "Shhh, Feathers," Brianna said as the small smile stayed on her face. Feathers had been a horrible name she had thought up for her owl, but it had been a name her father had told her had been the first name of one of his owls. He had told her how unoriginal it was and how he wasn't that creative, 'That's why you should read books, Bri. Books help with creativity, so does music. Anytime you can't think of something to write, just run your fingers along the keys of the piano and hum a little tune. It's the best inspiration known to man,' her father would say and Brianna remembered how she would laugh. Silence seemed to fall over her completely, blocking out all noise of the students outside or the sound of the trains engine as she stared at her owl.

The blowing of the engine's horn startled Brianna back into reality as she reached a hand into the cage beside her and patted her owl on the head, then smoothing out the feathers that had been ruffled by her own hand. The soft smooth feathers parted between her fingers as she sat in silence, her eyes only occasionally looking out the window as students seemed to be moving onto the train at a steadier pace than before. She looked around her compartment then, noticing she was alone and knowing good and well her sisters would sit with their friends. Brianna couldn't rely on friends sitting with her. She had been so distant with her own house over the past 6 years it was a wonder if any of them even knew who she was. Or perhaps they just didn't think she was worth their time. Either way Brianna wasn't too upset, how could she be? She had many things to occupy her time with, books were one of them. At that thought, Brianna shut the door to the cage and dug into her book bag beside her, pulling out the latest fantasy novel to cross her hands. This one called A Vampires Obsession by Andi Aspden. A whole book on a vampires obsession with a mortal man that hunted her kind. Brianna couldn't help liking the fantasy novel, even though it was rather predictable and obvious in its plot. There was just something extraordinary about it, something she couldn't quite understand, but then again fantasy novels was another obsession she had, picked up from her father. The smile disappeared and she opened the book to her bookmark and continued on in the story.

[Ginny Weasley]

((Sorry it took me so long to get here! Gin hasn't been cooperating too well with me.))

Ginny stared blindly around the dorm room as she leaned up against the backboard of the four poster bed. This would be the last time she would star at the boring white walls of the room that have noticeable cracks in the paint. All the posters that the girls had put up during the beginning of the year were torn down even though Ginny’s wall had been bare since the return of winter vacation. After the loss of Harry, everything just seemed dark. He wasn’t supposed to die. Wasn’t he? Ginny had fought for months with that question, running over every possible fact she knew about it. She didn’t exactly know much, only from what she remembered of the years. Out of her fury and depression, Ginny had torn all her Quidditch posters, ripping up every picture that she up on the walls. It was childish thing to do, but she didn’t want anyone’s pity. No one even noticed when Harry died. All they cared about was that the biggest threat in the wizarding world was gone. Everything that he had done over the past 8 years would now just be written in books for all generations. This was just another thing for Ginny to overcome. She had made it through some horrible things over the year with her first year and the kidnapping, but the death of a friend was hard to deal with. Ginny was a tough girl anyways. She made it through, and all she wanted to do was just start new. Put everything that happened at Hogwarts behind her, living life the best she could. Now that the wizarding world was safe, only left with horrible memories, she could do this. She could go on like he would have wanted.

Biting her lower lip, Ginny moved the pillow away from her lap. There was only one other girl in the room, looking frantically around for something. “Hey Ginny, have you seen my hair scrunchies?” she asked from across the room standing up from the hard wood floors. Ginny shook her head, looking around the room. “I thought you left them in your trunk,” she responded back setting the pillow in the correct position on the bed before looking around for her pygmy puff Arnold. Standing her trunk up right, Ginny finally spotted Arnold cuddled up in a ball under the bed. Smiling, she picked the pygmy puff up, setting him on her shoulder. The other girl sighed giving up finding her hair ties. Ginny just shook her head waving good bye while wheeling the trunk out of the dorm room. Ginny made her way out of the Gryffindor common room, following the small crowds of students out of the castle where the carriages carried the students off to the express. She sat in one with a couple of other girls, staring out the window as the lawns passed them. It didn’t take long to already reach the station, the big red train blowing steam from the top. Ginny just sat there in the carriage as the other girls got out, taking her time as she walked onto the train.

Almost all the compartments she peeked into were full. Most of her friends were already packed inside various sections. Ginny didn’t mind to much as she headed down the isle, making sure to stay clear of the second years playing an exploding game. When she finally came across a promising compartment the whistle blew, the engines roaring from under her feet. Sliding the door open with her fingers she noticed that there was another girl inside reading a novel with her owl cage next to her. “I’m sorry…This is the only compartment that isn’t full.” Offering a small smile, Ginny took out her wand, flicking it barely as her trunk flew up to the overhead compartment. Running her finger’s through her now short red hair she sat down on the free seat across from the girl, taking Arnold off from her shoulder. The pygmy puff just stuck his large tongue in his nose, making a gurgling noise. “I’m Ginny by the way,” she greeted looking at the girl’s book noticing that it was a vampire book. “Interesting choice of a book…do you like vampires?”

[Brianna Bowman R7]

Brianna jumped slightly as the door to her compartment slid open. Her eyes fell on a girl with red hair. Brianna recognized her as a Weasley, which came to be correct as the girl introduced herself to Brianna. Had to be with the red hair, not that Brianna knew any Weasley well, but her parents had been avid admirers of Harry's and it was well known that Ronald Weasley was Harry's best friend. A small itch started in her heart at the thought of Harry Potter. He had died recently...taking He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named along with him. It had all been big news several months ago...in fact some papers were still going on about it. Brianna had been upset about it at the beginning, feeling a loss for the student she had never met, but who she'd always watched so closely during Quidditch games. He had had a talent for the game that she hadn't ever seen before in anyone else and it had intrigued her. It had wanted her to become better, to be the best she could be.

The thoughts passed quickly as the new company within her compartment spoke. Brianna knew she had to return, but found herself lacking her voice. She only nodded at the girl before she swallowed the moisture that had accumulated within her mouth. She cleared her throat quickly and forced a small smile. "Brianna Bowman," she said as her eyes drifted away from the girl and back down to her book. She was hoping for silence, but again the voice on the other side spoke to her and it's topic threw Brianna slightly, mostly because books were the one thing that Brianna had a hard time shutting up about, especially vampire books. The childish obsession was enough to drive her mother up a wall and just about all of her friends found her completely daft for wanting to read such 'filth' as they liked to call it. However, Brianna loved them. Loved how the books portrayed the vampires as really gentle creatures with the unfortunate curse of sucking blood and not being able to walk in the daylight. Of course that was only one version of the vampire tale, while another had them as day walkers and able to live off the blood of dead humans or animals. Either way the story fascinated Brianna beyond most stories.

Brianna's eyes fell back on the girl and she shrugged. "I like the stories. Fascinating really. The horror of having to live only at night, seeing the family you were once apart of you go on living without you, and knowing only crimson red as food. Truly the life of a vampire is tragic, but whether I like them or not I'm indifferent about. Stories are one thing, while reality is another. Most of us would love to live our lives like a fairy tale, but a few of us know that such fairy tales are impossible and that really those who believe in a fairy tale ending are rather naive and ignorant. But I suppose you already know that," Brianna said softly as her eyes turned back to the book in her hands. The words had come so quickly as she sat in that compartment across from the girl with fiery red hair, but still she hadn't felt that they were wasted as she sometimes did. No, she knew Ginny would understand what she meant, agree that life was not a fairy tale and if it was then people that were dead would still be alive and there would be no tears cascading down the cheeks of innocent children.