It's good to be back home. [open]

[jamie daniel flynn]

Where was the rubble? The dust? The blood marks? Even more to the point, where was the memorial he half expected, honouring those who lost their lives in battle? One would have assumed it would have been right in the entrance hall, reminding everyone of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good of the world. Selfishly, he mainly wanted to see it so there was final confirmation for him that his now dead partner was definitely not coming back, and also so he could take some sort of pride knowing that he did the right thing and stayed for the fight. Sure, it wasn't the completely right attitude to have, but at the end of the day, it would have been nice for him to have seen something to eternally memorise those who had died. Eventually he convinced himself he was just looking in the wrong place, after all, he had literally just walked through the front doors. He knew that he needed to get himself sorted and his head back in the game, and fast, this year was where his education really mattered; as much of a horrible thought it was, he needed to let go of the past, no matter how bitter and raw it still was. Terrible things had happened, he knew that, but terrible things come to an end and this was the beginning of a new era, and it would be what he made it for himself, if he continued moping around, then there would be nothing in the end for him, except lousy grades. 

A young, yet confident voice brought him back to reality and back into the moment, away from the millions of miles away that his mind was in, "Alright buddy, catch you later," was all he heard before he caught a glimpse of his younger brother skipping off into the distance, heading god knows where. This year, he wasn't acting as his brother's keeper; there was no need anymore, the school was safe and there was no need for him to be protective anymore. All the bad guys had gone, right? Jamie managed what could have been interpreted as a small grin, the idea of being back in Hogwarts brought him a sense of sick satisfaction. The reality was he couldn't stand being at home in the muggle world for too long anymore, he needed to be able to investigate all the weird and wonderful things in the world that he never knew existed, hell, since he had been attending Hogwarts he had found out that there were much more than just wizards and witches out there. House elves, goblins, werewolves and he vaguely remembered hearing something about a vampire race out there, but even for the wizarding world, he felt that was a bit far stretched. Who was he to comment though? If someone told him ten years ago he would be able to hex people with a few simple words and a swish of a wooden stick, he'd have just laughed at them and walked off. Oh, then there's the dragons, who would have guessed? 

Settling himself down on the steps, he ran his hand across the floor, imagining the chaos that would have ensued not even a few months before hand. He found it amazing that so many people were just strutting around as if nothing had changed and that everything was normal still, half expecting there to be discussions of it. Maybe it was one of those unwritten rules, what happened at Hogwarts is never mentioned again. All he knew was hell was going to freeze over before he would be the one to bring it up in conversation, maybe there's some things that were better that he didn't know the ins and outs of, after all, with the mass loss, it must be a sore subject for most; it was almost like it was the elephant in the room that no one wanted to mention. Jamie ran his hand through his hair, giving it a bit more shape again and scanned the room again, it seemed that most of the people wandering about were on a mission to get to where they were destined, no one relaxed anymore, it seemed that everyone almost ran to their destinations around the castle. He closed his eyes for a second, taking a second to take everything in, then puffed his cheeks out as he breathed out and opened his eyes again. "Nah, got to be happy, this is it," He muttered to himself, barely audible. First sign of madness, they say, talking to yourself. Then again, this whole entire world had gone mad. 

[Deleted]

A huge tide of emotions was swelling inside Ginny's head as she walked into the vast Entrance Hall. On the one hand, she was absolutely thrilled to be back here, and to see the building looking so well maintained- back to the way that it had looked the very first time that she had come through here all those many, many years ago. On the other hand, a part of her still seemed to see the gaping holes in the walls and the flashing light of curses and shields that had filled the room the last time she'd been there; the injured and the dead lying intermingled on the ground in pools of blood, groaning or sometimes utterly silent. It was always the silent ones that you had to worry about... Ginny didn't think that she'd ever rid her memory of that awful night, and in a way, that was a good thing. It would serve as a constant reminder of all the people that she'd lost, all the people that she could have lost. And all the people who had survived that might not have done otherwise, because of the way that they had all stuck together and worked for the cause, even when oppressed by the heavy boot of the Death Eater regime. They had still fought back, even in the face or apparently insurmountable odds, and they had triumphed over the darkness and brought a tiny candle back in to the criminal blackness of the wider world. Then they had witnessed the death of Voldemort, and the world had seemed suddenly to leave a dark valley and come out into broad, sunlit meadows. And everything was fine again, except that it wasn't. It never would be again. In Ginny's head, and in the heads of everyone else who had been present on that fateful evening, the image of the dark and brutal night was forever engraved in letters two feet wide and six feet tall. With a postscript underneath, and that postscript read 'Never Again'. Never again would the wizarding world be subject to such a tyranny. Never again would so many be allowed to die without more than a token protest from the rest of the community. Never again.

There were so many familiar faces around her- familiar yet somehow different. The war had changed everyone and everything. People would never be the same again. She would need to get to know them as the people that they were now, and not the people that they were before. Last year had aged them all, and they had grown up all of a sudden. They had had to, in order to survive. There was no place for children in a war zone. The childishness was optional. The war zone was not. They were all better people than they had been before, or at least, she hoped so. Some might have been made worse, but with any luck, they would adjust, because Ginny wasn't going to tolerate a whole year of having to share a castle with idiots who couldn't let go of old prejudices. She just hoped that they hadn't let Draco Malfoy back in, because after what had happened to Luna in his cellar, she wasn't sure that she'd be able to restrain herself from attacking him. And she might use something a bit more severe and definitely a lot more painful than a Bat-Bogey Hex, although she had to admit that that particular little piece of self-defence was one which she rather enjoyed. It was certainly more than a little satisfying to watch someone that you hated being attacked by what appeared to be their own face. But people had come to expect that from her, and call her paranoid, but the last thing that Ginny Weasley wanted to be was predictable.

As she proceeded through the room, she was surprised to see another familiar face occupying the steps and blocking a reasonable portion of them. Glancing behind her, the redhead stepped to one side, behind the boy, so as to avoid obstructing any more of the staircase. "Hey Jamie." she greeted him with a sad smile that hinted at the tragic circumstances the last time that they had met. "Everything OK?"

Now that question was one which could be construed and answered in several ways. Of course, nothing was really OK these days, however much counselling she had gone through (and Merlin, there had been a lot of that.). It probably wouldn't be for a very long time, if it ever was. They all needed time- time to adjust to the new people that they were, the new world that they lived in.

(OOC: I assumed that they'd know each other since they're in the same year?)

[jamie daniel flynn]

Attempting to put on the brave face was going to be more difficult this year. Sure, he had lost someone himself, but he knew he hadn't been through the traumatic events that actually took place first hand, so what right did he really have to be upset and the centre of depression this year? Surely it should be those who had actually been at the school while that fight happened and the ones who witnessed death and injuries that changed lives forever. He could only imagine the sort of scenes that would have been here, knowing for a fact that if he was here during it happened, he wouldn't be able to be sat on these steps today. A few students had given him a glare or two, considering the amount of room he was taking up on the steps, quite selfish of him really, but with the mind frame he was in, he didn't really care. On that note, however, it didn't seem that many people actually cared too much either, everyone seemed to be dealing with things in their own ways. Being muggle born, he couldn't exactly come back through these castle doors the previous year, but due to a lot of home study, he somehow managed to keep up with what he had assumed would be a rough 'syllabus' for the year, and even found the time to mentor his younger brother during that time, all while attempting to keep his head afloat and fight the urges to attempt to sneak back into the castle. Now the time had come for him to actually come back, while he felt safe, he didn't feel entirely welcome still, the idea of a closeted death eater still roaming around almost terrified him, even though he could hold his own, it was a confrontation he didn't want to have. 

It didn't take him too long to hear a voice that was familiar, causing his head to spin around, almost snapping his head off of his shoulders. Of course, Ginny, the girl who, from what he had heard, had lost her brother, still seemed to be able to some how get through a smile, even if it did seem full of sorrow from where he sat. "Hey Ginny," He began, getting ready to offer condolences and those usual empty words that someone always gives when there's a loss, 'I'm here if you need anything'. Truth of the matter is, whenever someone said they, nine times out of ten they mean it for a while, until they move on first. In a sense, Jamie felt relieved when she asked the question first, it gave him time to delay having to offer that shoulder to cry on. Once again, slightly selfish and insensitive, but to him, he felt like he was dealing with enough. "Yeah, not too bad," He answered, then nodded towards her, almost as if he gestured he didn't have anything else to add to that, then gave the polite question back. "What about you? How're you holding up?" He asked, instantly dreading the words that had come out of his mouth. How could he be so stupid as to ask that, she had lost her brother, for crying out loud, and was the only Weasley left in Hogwarts, so essentially going through this alone. Attempting to make the conversation move on and away from the events at this point was going to just seem rude, he had to at least listen to her for a few minutes if she needed to talk or get things off of her chest. 

While he knew Ginny through classes, he couldn't boast they were best friends or anything, maybe this could be the year he completely changed his friendship circles, especially with everyone affected so differently, and from what he saw, a lot of people just seemed different in themselves, even those who he knew were supposedly the 'good guys'. Some of them just seemed a lot darker in character than he once believed. It was going to take a lot of getting used to, it almost seemed like he was entering the castle for the first time all over again. Nothing seemed to be what he knew, bar one or two people. "It's going to be a rough year, mate, I know that much for sure." He chimed with a sense of almost dread in his voice, pretty much voicing what he already knew, but never wanted to accept. 

{OoC: Yeah, makes sense really!}

[Deleted]

Things were certainly going to be... interesting. Half of her friends had gone off into the wider world and taken up work. Some were dead. Some were merely badly injured. The remaining few were an odd selection of the best and worst of her year, as well as the year above her- after all, no one had learned very much under the regime of the Carrows. Nothing had been covered- well, nothing much outside of torturing techniques, and Ginny had point-blank refused to learn those. Then she'd been forced to go into hiding to avoid being tortured, and her education had, to all intents and purposes, been discontinued. No exams of any kind had been taken, which was just as well because they would probably have been failed. The other teachers had done their best, but the atmosphere of doom, gloom, fear and tension which had pervaded the entire castle since they had arrived wasn't conducive at all to any kind of learning whatsoever. That hadn't stopped Professor McGonagall ranting on at them in every lesson about how they should be more focussed and paying more attention considering that their NEWTs were next year... Not that anyone had done it, and in the end, the poor woman had given up trying. Ginny rather felt for the old Scot. She had been doing her best to protect them all through those dark months, and they had repaid her by paying absolutely no attention to what she was trying to teach them. Trying to protect their education as well as their health- not that she had been too successful with the second. Ginny had been far from the only one to be subject to repeated torture, and it wasn't just the DA members either. Any minor misdemeanor had been punished by the Cruciatus Curse, and major ones had been justification for far worse. Ginny had suffered that, and she never wanted to speak of it or even think about it ever again. But she had involuntarily caused it to happen to others. The Carrows had never been able to catch her while she was sneaking out of the Room of Requirement to wreak havoc, but they had caught others. And those others had been put through absolute hell. There were times in the depths of night when all was silent, and the massed students sitting in the vast Room out of harm's way had been able to hear the screams echoing from faraway corners of the castle, ringing out in the night... But those hadn't been the worst nights. The worst nights had been the ones when the DA were out in force, skulking around corners, sneaking into rooms, and the screaming had been in the room right next to her. There had been the moment of utter terror, and then there had been the awful, heartrending guilt of knowing that one of her fellow students was suffering awful, gut-twisting pain only metres away from her, and that she didn't dare do anything about it because she knew that the person inflicting that pain would be only too happy to turn his or her wand upon one Ginny Weasley, and Ginny Weasley was far more valuable to the cause than whoever it was in there. However guilty and terrible she felt about it, that was the truth. Aside from anything else, she knew the name of each and every person who was a part of the DA. She knew where they were hiding. And if the Carrows once got hold of her, they would have torn that information out of her and then none of them would have been safe. Merlin, that had been terrible.



"I'm not too bad." Ginny replied to the Hufflepuff, and she was somewhat surprised to realise that actually, that was the truth. Maybe that bloody therapy had worked after all, despite her reluctance to partake in the first place. Her mother had insisted in any case, so she was going through with it whether she liked it or not. And maybe it had been worth it- although she'd die before she'd ever even consider admitting that to Molly Weasley.



"You can say that again!" The redhead, last Weasley remaining at Hogwarts, agreed with a wry grin. "I just hope that there won't be too few people here. I mean, if you were a parent, would you want your child coming back here after what happened last year?" But surely things would calm down now? Most of it had been down to Harry. The boy had a knack for finding trouble.

[jamie daniel flynn]

Unable to understand how Ginny was able to reply with 'I'm not too bad', he found his face turning to slight disbelief without even intending to do so; at least one of the two had managed to move on properly. So far, all Jamie's plans for the year revolved around focusing on his studies and trying to keep his mind off of losing his partner. He hadn't forgotten what he looked like, but he had pretty much forgotten what his voice sounded like, it had been way too long since he had the pleasure of hearing it. The words he spoke still echoed in his ear, but the voice they were coming from was his own, sometimes he wondered if his partner had even spoke them, sometimes wondering if he was making them up in his head to make himself feel better and bring himself some sort of comfort. Doubting himself almost daily was becoming the norm, but the damage done was almost unrepairable, the idea of being whole again seemed to be something of a fantasy. "Well, I'm glad you're doing okay," He stated simply, with a slight tone of relief in his voice present, but he himself was unsure if it was relief that he wouldn't need to be the shoulder she cried on, or if it was relief that she was doing okay in general and beginning to get her life back on track. 

What she said next was something that he couldn't agree more with, even not as a parent, he didn't want his own brother coming back to Hogwarts just yet, not until things had sorted themselves out properly. Still, it seemed that things were picking up, even though the traumatic scars were still all around and evident for everyone to see, not int the building so much, more in the atmosphere and the sunken look of others as they roamed around, it appeared that there were hints of hope that people were on their way to recovery. Every now and then, Jamie would clock someone had a genuine smile on their face when walking around with their friends. It wasn't often, but it was enough to glimmer a little bit of light into what seemed to be a dark path that they had yet to come out on the other end of. "I personally wouldn't, but then again, with him gone, I assume most parents would feel safe doing so," He replied after thinking for a second, trying to think about it logically. Thing is, he knew that there was no such thing as logic at the moment in this place, hell, it wouldn't surprise him if he got told he was about to go back into the first year with some bullshit reason that, in the minds of everyone who experienced the horrors, made total sense. This year was going to be one of those ones where he knew he would just have to wing it and go with the flow. 

Looking around, he noticed some faces that he thought seemed familiar. Some of them seemed to be less affected that others, which he found slightly concerning, some of these people, he knew for sure, had been here during the battle. Maybe they were just good at hiding their emotions, maybe they were good at hiding guilt and trauma, or maybe they truly were unaffected. Others, he noticed, seemed to be more angry than anything, but what did they have to be angry about, he wondered, unless, good God, they were rooting for Voldemort. Surely that wasn't possible. They wouldn't be in the school still, surely they would have disappeared with the rest of the followers, into the darkness, or to the wizarding prison, which he still wasn't entirely sure what it was called. Being someone who kept themselves to themselves, he didn't even really wonder what it was, or if there even was one, but surely there would, he remembered seeing Sirius Black's posters sprawled everywhere during his second year. Jamie turned his head around back to face Ginny, then pushed himself up off of the step, they really should move off of the stairs, not only was it blocking the way, but he was almost sure he was beginning to get piles. "Turns out the stairs aren't the most comfortable thing to sit on," He announced as he brushed down the back of his trousers, all while realising his attempt to make a light hearted not even that funny comment sounded a lot better in his head, timing was everything and this probably wasn't the best of times to be trying humour, and he realised that pretty quickly. 

Thinking forward to the feast, his mind almost glazed over for a few seconds until he decided to attack the question head on, "Do you think there's going to be a speech about it?" He asked cautiously, knowing full well the question could go either way. He felt, or rather knew that he didn't even need to mention what 'it' was, everyone knew what it meant when someone asked about an 'it', it didn't take a genius to figure it out, either.

[Deleted]

Ginny smiled wanly at Jamie's response to her comment. She might not be in a terrible state of mind, but she was still far from being perfect, or even particularly happy. She'd lost so many people in that war- her friends, her classmates, hell, even her family... Poor Fred. The redhead had been a source of lightheartedness and levity even during the darkest days of the war, despite the fact that she never actually saw him, and now his absence seemed to be a dark void in the world that sucked away at all the brightness around it. Mostly false brightness, of course. Obviously, people were happy that Voldemort was gone- that they could say his name now without fear of unending pain or even death- but realistically, no one was enjoying life in quite the way that they had done before. People had died in the last war, of course- many people- but nowhere near as many as had died this time. And on top of the deaths, there were the disappearances. There was the terrible pain that was caused to those who had lost someone or more than one person during the dark days of conflict, but that was nothing compared to the pain and internal anguish felt by those who knew someone that had disappeared. Were they dead? Had they lost their minds? Were they still lying undiscovered in some fetid cellar with an uncaught Death Eater looming over them? It was a terrible position to be placed in, and not one that Ginny would have relished at all. To be torn between the slim hope of someone's return and the looming likelihood of their death... How awful that must be. At least she knew that her brother was gone, that he wouldn't be coming back. The boy had died fighting for something that he truly believed in and to make the world a better place- which he had been doing in a way with every little joke and trick that he and his partner in crime had dreamed up since they were six years old- and that was a hell of a lot of them. Maybe with that in mind, Ginny could find some sense of closure.

And poor George had never really been the same since. The family had been hit hard, but George had suffered the most and it wasn't a surprise at all. The two had been together, inseparable, since their birth. You never really saw one without the other, and if you did, you'd better be on your guard because it meant that the other twin was somewhere nearby and didn't want ti be seen- which was always a big worry. More times than she could count, Ginny had opened an apparently unremarkable door to find herself drenched in a huge variety of substances, of variable wetness, messiness and on occasion, crawliness. And there had always been one twin behind the door and the other one on the other side of her- over time, she'd come to recognise the warning signs, mostly out of a growing concern for her hair. It had been hugely annoying at the time, but just thinking of it now brought a lump to her throat. George wasn't in the mood for pranks now, and she wasn't sure that he ever would be again without his twin. He'd gone back to working in the joke shop, but he was lifeless about it and he showed none of the enthusiasm for life that he had once had in such abundance. It made Ginny miserable to see him in such a state, but she was powerless to help him.

"Mm." She agreed with her companion's statement. It wasn't much of an answer, but it generally conveyed her feelings on the matter. Truthfully, she wasn't entirely sure that she felt safe even now, although she had seen the dead body of the man who had terrorised wizarding Britain for so many years- if one could even call him a man. What Ginny called him wouldn't be fit to print, but her mother paraphrased her somewhat more genteelly and referred to the man who had once called himself Lord Voldemort (and that was a laugh for a start. No thing that could do the things that he had done was anywhere close to being worthy of the title of Lord.) as a monster. A cold, heartless, unfeeling snake in human form was how Molly Weasley referred to him, but Ginny disagreed. She felt firstly that this description was an insult to the serpentine species, and secondly that calling him unfeeling was too much of a compliment to the man. It was worse than that. The man actually enjoyed causing all that pain, and all that death. To some extent she could forgive a soldier who had seen so much death that it no longer roused any feeling in him, but she could never forgive a man who killed for the pleasure of it. "Stairs aren't designed to be comfortable." the redhead pointed out logically as she shifted her position, and then winced inwardly. She was beginning to sound like Hermione. "I can't imagine the Headmistress will just ignore it."

[jamie daniel flynn]

Assuming that Ginny was right, and logically thinking, she wouldn’t have ignored it either. One of the worst events in wizarding history was surely not going to go unmentioned; the idea itself was almost disgusting. A small sigh flowed out from Jamie before he motioned over to the actual designated seating area, some benches which didn’t look much more comfortable than the stairs they had been sitting on, but it was better than constantly having to shift his body to allow people to pass through. ”Shall we then?” He asked, his tone more giving the impression he no longer felt comfortable sat there in the way of everyone else. He didn’t even really think about the fact he would be in the way causing a nuisance for everyone when he first sat down, it was more of an auto-pilot kind of thing he had going on. Thinking about it logically, what was there to even really talk about? All he had done all Summer was mope about and try to pretend that things hadn’t happened the way they had, and he couldn’t imagine Ginny had done much more herself, then again, this girl always seemed to be full of surprises these days; the first being that she was coping well with the loss of her brother and many of her friends.

Beginning to take a slow walk over to the bench would have done the trick, in his mind, usually people just follow, the whole idea that humans aren’t as independent as they thought they were seemed to make sense to him when he sat down and thought about it logically; people seemed to just follow others instructions, their actions and tended to adapt to situations; laws were followed, there were certain unwritten, and written rules about certain behaviours and ways that people were expected to behave, males, females, all types of people from upper class and higher class, and it definitely showed in their actions. To be a fly on the wall at some high class events would be amazing, to see the falseness that became almost the norm at these events, then the backstabbing that closely followed after. ”So, what’s your plans for the year?” He asked, slightly turning his head to see if the redhead was following, eyeballing her and then the spot where he was once sat. Usually his attention span was quite good, usually able to follow conversation, but today he was just distracted; there didn’t seem to be anything that could keep his mind off of food. Anyone would think he was stoned if they saw his mind, with cake floating around, lamb steaming with mint sauce and gravy filled Yorkshire puddings just sat there on plates, it almost made his mouth water. In fact, he couldn’t wait for the food for that evening. What time was it anyway? That had to be coming up soon.

The feast, one of the few times in the year that all the students were ushered into a hall at the same time and forced to sit with each other and be civil; they got to meet their new housemates, so to say, even if no one really cares where little Jeremy got placed, or where little Belinda went. Usually he found people were happy with their houses, generally because they got to choose, but occasionally he would see a look of disappointment hit one of the first year’s face, and that’s when he knew that kid was going to be in for a rough ride for the next few years. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, Jamie would wonder how he ended up in Hufflepuff, it almost didn’t seem right considering how he aced most of his exams and studied way too often, but he also knew he wasn’t witty enough, or confident enough to end up in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, and nowhere near twisted enough to end up in Slytherin. Bringing himself back to reality, not that he was far from it, it seemed he had managed to get to the stone benches without even realising it; all he had to do now was wait to see if Ginny had actually followed or if she had disappeared into the crowds and managed to avoid speaking to him any further. The idea of it made his stomach flip slightly; one thing he never handled well was rejection and he was ridiculously easily embarrassed, even if he knew no one else would have seen that she had disappeared. He knew that this year he had to pull himself together, but he also knew it was going to take some stern talking to himself to manage it.

{Sorry for the late reply!}

[Deleted]

Ginny shifted her feet on the stone beneath her soles. Standing still for too long had always been a problem for the redhead Weasley girl, but she had learned to put up with it, and it had gotten better over the years. There had been a time, when she was around six, that she had been utterly incapable of holding still in one position for anything over five minutes, which had obviously been rather irritating for her parents. Her mother and father had never been hugely concerned with table manners, thank Merlin- they didn't set out reams and reams of different forks for different dishes and insist on her changing for dinner; that sort of thing that all the really old-fashioned traditional pure-blooded families went in for in the vast dining rooms of their country manors. The standard comic image of two people sitting at either end of a very long dining table came to mind, and Ginny had to suppress an undignified snort. Not that dignity had ever been one of her strong points, but still... She'd had to get better at that over the years as well, especially since she'd been in a relationship with the Boy Who Lived. There had, of course, been caustic comments; there probably always would be, but the girl had learned to tame her fiery temper and leave the petty idiots to talk to themselves.

"Of course." Ginny responded, exercising the aforementioned dignity, and she shifted her position so that she was no longer leaning against the wall. Some of the professors seemed to have a thing about students leaning on walls- they probably didn't want them to feel too comfortable- but there were none in sight right now, and so she could get away with it. The castle had been there for hundreds of years, it was hardly likely to fall down just because of the weight of one fairly slim girl. She followed the Hufflepuff boy across the crowded hall, giving him a friendly smile and a nod when he turned his head to check. She didn't know why he felt the need; she was perfectly capable of walking across a room by herself even if it was rather full of people. Most of them were smaller than her anyway; she could look over their heads to see where she was headed. Beides, there was no chance that the boy could lose her even if he tried. Her hair, as someone who was trying to be flattering had once told her, stood out like a beacon in a crowd. She would have preferred something more poetic- a ray of sunshine, maybe- but it definitely got the point across. She'd slapped the boy for that- but that had been a while ago. A long while ago.

The seats that they were apparently headed to, if she'd read the boy's signal aright, looked as though they might quite possibly have been stairs at on time- they seemed to have been hewn from the same stone, and to be rather narrower if anything. Whoever had designed and furnished the communal areas of the castle (and Ginny was betting that it had been Slytherin) comfort had certainly not been their first priority. If she hadn't known better, and Ginny wasn't sure that she did, then she would say that each and every bench in this room had in fact been designed for the express purpose of making people be uncomfortable. Finding a seat was not so much a matter of squabbling over the best, as it was in the Gryffindor common room; it was a matter of fighting fiercely over the seat which would be the least uncomfortable to sit on. In many cases, students preferred to sit on the floor, and Ginny couldn't altogether blame them. But that was undignified, and now that she was a seventh year, she supposed that she ought to begin to try and be someone to look up to- which was hard if she was sitting below the person in question due to being on the floor.

"Plans for the year?" Ginny repeated, and couldn't help herself; she broke out into laughter. "I'm sorry... I planned my first year, you know. I was going to make all these new friends, do all my homework... And then I was possessed by the Dark Lord, which ever so slightly screwed things up. I don't make plans, Jamie. I cross my fingers, hope for the best and take a leap of faith." She was quite pleased with that metaphor. It was, she felt, an effective one. Top marks, Ginny. Well done.

[jamie daniel flynn]

Feeling relieved that Ginny had followed and not disappeared into the crowd somehow, Jamie managed to relax slightly, even with being taller than most people in the room it was easy to slip away in this castle; everywhere had their own little secret exits and entrances. Hell, he was almost sure if he did a tap dance on the right tile, he would get teleported half way to bloody China, nothing surprised him with this place anymore. The only thing that really had surprised him was that he hadn't ended up in the hospital wing for more than a week in total, playing Quidditch a few years ago was probably one of the roughest things he had done, absolutely loved it and flying free, but when he couldn't return to the school, he knew he had lost his days on the team. Maybe he could re-apply for it this year, but he also knew that it wasn't his biggest priority. Something to think about, maybe, but for now, it wasn't even that important. 

There was no arguing with that, she was right about the whole first year being messed up thing. Jamie wasn't sure of the ins and outs of it, all he knew was that year he was way too scared to walk around the castle on his own and wouldn't go anywhere without the company of at least one or two other people, even if it was so they would get petrified first, cutting the odds by at least 50% that it would be him laying on the floor in a catatonic state. Selfish, really, he was supposed to have been at that age where he wasn't afraid of anything and would try and big himself up to his friends as that fearless one, but in reality, he was far from that. "Mmm, yeah," He muttered at her remark with a half smile on his face, the situation itself wasn't even funny, but the way Ginny had put it had tickled Jamie. As he managed to get himself slightly comfortable, he leaned his body forward and placed his hands together, loosely intertwining the fingers into one big ball of fist with his shoulders resting on his lower thigh, probably the most comfortable position to be sat in on a bench, if it could even be called a bench. He was sure this castle was designed to be as challenging as possible in literally every single aspect of daily living. Hell, there's even that forest which actually has the name 'forbidden' in it, with God knows what lurking around in here. It was a miracle nothing from the forest had wandered onto the grounds and done some damage, then again, there was that lake too, the bloody lake with those Merpeople swimming about in there; nothing like what he had imagine merpeople to actually look like. 

Jamie had been determined to go to a festival in the next summer, of course, a muggle one, but he wasn't entirely sure which one to go to, and it wasn't even like he could keep up with the headliners this year, and then not only that, who would he go with? He had only one muggle friend who assumed that Jamie disappeared to boarding school every year, if they knew the truth they would probably get him sent straight into an institution for believing he was a wizard. "Say, Ginny, you ever been to one of our muggle festivals?" Time to do a. bit of poking about, even if it meant inviting someone from Hogwarts, he was determined to actually go to one, but they'd just have to stick some ground rules down beforehand. Surely, it can't be much different to going to the Quidditch cup matches where they camp out, except they would be surrounded by music almost non stop, and people who were stumbling around drunk or on who knows what substances. Sure, him and Ginny may not have been the closest of friends, but he had already figured out that this year was probably the best time to make a few changes to his friendships and just wing the whole entire year. 

[Deleted]

Elbowing her way through the crowds with practiced ease (since just because she was being dignified and stuff didn't mean that she wasn't going to shove someone out of her way if they decided to stop dead right in front of her, or to stand on her feet...) Yes, she was a horrible person, and she was proud of it. But surely being a war hero should earn you some right to a little pushing and shoving? It was immaterial anyway really, because she was going to do it whether it was correct or not. It was the only way that she'd ever make any progress across this cacophonous hall. There were so many people! People everywhere, and always managing to be in front of her and behind her and completely in her way- all at the same time! It was miraculous. It reminded her a little of the Battle of Hogwarts; people all around, in twos and threes, clogging up the corridors and the hallways, getting in each other's way and ducking under flying hexes... But that was an awful memory, and Ginny hastily tucked it away in the dark and uninhabited section of her brain where it was usually locked up. She didn't need things like that tarnishing her mostly happy memories of Hogwarts and its bright corridors, its spacious grounds, its happy students. That was half of the reason why she'd come back in the first place, because she didn't want her last memories of Hogwarts to be those of the dark days of war, with bodies running in the dark and other bodies half concealed in the darkness, lying in the corners where friendly hands had dragged them out of harm's way. Some of them groaned and wept, but it was those who lay silently that really preyed on the redhead's mind.



The girl shook herself, metaphorically of course, because doing an impression of a wet dog in the middle of a crowded corridor was likely to get you a reputation, and she felt that she got stared at quite enough as it was, thank you so very much.What with her trademark red hair and her height which, while not especially noteworthy, was greater than that enjoyed by many of the school's younger inhabitants, and so, like it or not (not) she stood out. Now she knew how Harry must have felt for the majority of his school life, and she didn't envy him. It wasn't even as if she'd done anything particularly special! But still, she was a target of stares and a target of whispering and gossip, and she didn't enjoy it in the slightest.



Finally, she reached the so-called benches and perched herself lightly on the edge of the seat, her arms wrapped around one leg while the other stretched out into the limited space in which it wouldn't pose a trip hazard to anyone trying to walk along the corridor. Sharp eyes were focused on the boy's face opposite her as she relaxed so far as she was able into the cold unyielding stone of the seat. "A Muggle festival?" she repeated thoughtfully. Ginny knew what they were of course, despite the pure-blooded magical family that she'd grown up in. She had, after all, had many Muggleborn friends, and she'd hardly grown up isolated from Muggle society like some that she could mention. "Can't say I have. I saw the Weird Sisters playing in a field once, if that's any help. Why do you ask?" It might just have been a casual question, but it was a pretty strange one if that was the case. A casual question might have been about her family (although that would likely be considered an insensitive topic considering recent events) or about her friends or even about the Quidditch League at the moment. A Muggle festival would certainly not have been on her own list of light conversation topics. Mostly because she knew practically nothing about them, but also because she automatically assumed that no one else knew much about them either. Perhaps that was an oversight on her part.

[jamie daniel flynn]

Jamie shifted himself slightly as Ginny mentioned she had seen the Weird Sisters play in a field once, it wasn't really much different, in all honesty. He knew for sure that she wouldn't be completely ignorant to what the idea of one was, especially considering she wasn't like one of those all high and mighty wizarding pure blood elitist families, which, in a way he was grateful for; they wouldn't even be on talking terms if she was part of that malarkey. While Jamie was known for being that person who wouldn't hold grudges against people for minor things or their background, that was something he definitely felt strongly about, all things considered what had just happened, his feelings about it had gotten ten times stronger. "Well, during the Summer I'm considering going to one or two, I mean, they do cost but they're full weekends full of dancing, drinking and camping out," He began explaining, then realising he was treating her as if she had never lived before, "So, if you're up for, want to come?" He asked, pushing past the anxiety of even asking. He felt ridiculous having his stomach doing back flips even asking her if she wanted to go for a weekend of partying, who in their right mind wouldn't be up for that? 

Thinking about which one he'd want to go to was going to be difficult, especially with not being able to access the internet and see what was on offer for each different festival, and not to mention the fact with the dates or where they were even being held. Who knew when these event management teams wanted to change up the locations for each one, it was ridiculous they did it so rarely, but when they did, it would throw everything out of sync and people would need to look at various other forms of transport. Thankfully for Jamie, he knew he could probably just fly there, or worst comes to worst, apparate and hope he didn't get caught. Then, there was the choice of portkey, but that in itself was a pain getting them set up, well, finding someone who knew how to was the biggest challenge. "I mean, they're a good weekend from what I've seen, and we will be surrounded by muggles who won't have a clue about us, or who we are, and not only that, I'm sure a fair few muggleborns go, so it can't be that bad," He mused, mainly to himself, but in a half hearted attempt to convince her to come along if she had been having any doubts about it in the first place. There was Jamie, trying to get someone to go out of their comfort zone, knowing full well if they had offered him a wizarding all weekend duelling competition, he would have backed out immediately because he didn't have the first idea of what was involved. Wait, are they even a thing? 

It wasn't such a bad thing, having best of both worlds, being able to switch up as and when he pleased, for the most part, but it was quite difficult not to let slip around his one and only muggle friend when they asked what he had been to at school, he had to alter things; History of Magic was just history class, and he had to be careful not to mention the fact that things weren't quite as the muggles knew. He often saw magical creatures that he would want to go and pet, but he had to ignore them and pretend they didn't exist because he knew for a fact that if Ryan saw them, he would freak out and begin asking questions. Maybe there would be a time on his life where he could tell his friend all about it, but he doubted very much that would be any time soon. He did wonder if there was any way at all that wizarding and muggle folk could live side by side, openly without there being war, but just like with anything unknown to muggles, they would riot, probably cause a war; one which they'd most likely lose. who in their right mind would go up against people who brandished wands and spells that could kill with quite simply, a matter of a few words? Idiots, that's who. 'Wow, you're beginning to think just like them' He thought to himself, them referring to those who wanted to get the word of the magical people out there, from what he hadgathered, though, in a not such co-existing way.

[Deleted]

Ginny was already uncomfortable on the hard stone of the seat and she shifted herself awkwardly across the bench, attempting to find a patch of softer stone- was there such a thing? She had no idea, but she hoped so. Alas, she was disappointed. The redhead was just about to suggest that they retire to the relative privacy of the Gryffindor common room, with its quieter atmosphere and, more importantly, wonderfully soft and comfortable chairs, when she remembered... Jamie was a Hufflepuff. Very inconsiderate of him- how dare he?! If it hadn't been for his badger...ness... then they could have been sitting around the fire in the hearth right now, reclining in luxuriously soft armchairs without a whining first year in sight. But no, he had to be a Hufflepuff. Ah well, she'd have to forgive him, if only because he was the sole person she'd seen so far who seemed at least relatively normal and mostly sane. "That sounds fun." she agreed with the boy's suggestion, smiling. She got the impression from his explanation that he thought she didn't really know what a festival was, which a lesser witch might have been mildly offended by. Just because she was a pure-blooded girl (if a 'blood traitor' still counted as such) didn't mean that she had no idea what Muggles got up to in their free time. After all, her father was a Muggle addict... if that was the right phrase. It sounded as though there was a vague innuendo to it, although she couldn't identify it. But he did run the Office for the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, or whatever the damn place was called, and she'd grown up listening to discussion about vellytones, escamalaters and her father's famous plug collection (which Molly had tried more than once to throw out.). She was a little more surprised by his invitation, though. The two had never exactly been the closest of friends, but maybe this was the time to change that. "Why, Mr Flynn." she returned with a grin that made it clear that she was entirely joking- she hoped. "You wouldn't be asking me on a date, would you?" She knew full well that he wasn't, unless she was very much mistaken, but a little teasing never hurt anyone. Especially not a Hufflepuff.

But it would be fun to go to a Muggle festival. She would of course have to be careful, but that was nothing new; she'd been travelling through Muggle London at least once a year since she was about six years old. As long as she didn't absent-mindedly attempt to Summon her underwear in the morning, or something stupid like that, everything would be fine. Of course, her mother would worry and fret and ask whether she was sure, but Ginny was after all an adult under wizarding law now, and so she could do whatever the hell she liked. And she would certainly enjoy that- a few days of being just a face in a crowd, relaxing and having fun listening to new and exciting music would be just what she needed after the stress of sitting her NEWTS and finishing her final year at Hogwarts. So she would go. It would be fun, and Ginny was all about fun. New experiences, and all that jazz. Awesome!


She returned the boy's smile and gave him a nod. "I'm game if you are." she replied, shooting him an 'I dare you' look. Ooh, this year was going to be fun. No brothers to annoy her and loom over her shoulder; she could be annoying as often as she liked, and Merlin would that be a lot! Sarcasm was one of the redhead's favourite things, and she regretted that she didn't get to exercise that particular knack nearly often enough. Hogwarts wasn't going to know what had hit it.



(sorry if this is a bit short)

[jamie daniel flynn]

A feeling of relief wiped itself over Jamie when she agreed to go with him, it was ridiculous that he even felt any anxiety from the idea that she may have said no or been busy for the Summer; that said, they had to actually get through a whole entire school year without dying, which was proving more and more difficult as each year passed. "Oh, why Miss Weasley, there are many things about me that you have yet to learn," He replied with a sly grin in an overly dramatised flirtatious tone, "This whole liking guys thing was just a front I put on, you see, the truth is I have been chasing you from the minute I laid eyes on you," He finished, keeping the tone and a wink followed by a bite of his bottom lip to finish off. He chuckled slightly, finding himself a lot more hilarious than he should, as he always did. Half the time it wasn't even anything funny that he had said or thought up, but he always managed to tickle himself, even if no one else found him as amusing as he did. At least this festival was something to look forward to; his plans were to just apparate there, once he had thought about a decent location that was hidden enough, hopefully using that, what he called, Mary Poppins Bag Charm to pack all his stuff; there was no way he was going to go there carrying what would be essentially a whole entire house on his back in multiple bags and almost killing himself in the process to do so. 

There was something about Ginny that had always made Jamie feel more relaxed, maybe it was her sense of humour, or the fact that she knew when to toughen up, whatever it was about her, he knew he was in good company with good security at all times; all he knew is he didn't want to be on the bad end of her wand and she was better to have as an ally in life. "Mate, I'm bang up for, I plan on getting so drunk I don't even remember my own name," He replied, it was at that point he figured he should have invited his muggle friend as well, but where was the fun in that? They wouldn't be able to use magic at all if he did; stuck in a car for hours on end, battling through the traffic to get to a muddy field was on towards the end of his list titled Ideas of a Good Time; and he would have to carry things properly, nor would he be able to use one of those charms on his tent to make it bigger on the inside. He never actually remembered the name of that one either, but it was on his 'to learn' list for this year. The stone cold bench, if it could be called a bench, was beginning to get more uncomfortable by the second, the idea of even retiring to the library had crossed his mind, knowing there were chairs there that weren't exactly the most comfortable, but they were better than this thing. "If only we were in the same house, we could have gone and sat somewhere actually half decent," He said, a slight groan coming through but nothing that suggested he was beginning to not enjoy having the company, truth be told, he could do with all the company he could get and keep his mind off of things.

{Sorry it's so short, if you need more added to it just let me know. I just sort of went a bit blank.} 

[Deleted]

Ginny laughed at Jamie's sarcastic remark and put one hand on her hip, batting her eyelashes exaggeratedly. "Why, Mr Flynn, you're not alone in that. Life is a race, my dear boy, and I'm sorry to have to tell you that the chase is over. You lost." Ginny sent a cocky grin in the Hufflepuff's direction, and then dissolved into giggles. This somewhat dispelled the air of coy flirtatiousness that she'd been endeavouring to create, but since that particular air was about as foreign to Ginny as the Russian language was to an Egyptian, she wasn't too bothered. Feminine mystique was alien to her nature, but at least she was capable of admitting it, unlike certain other students that she could mention who went around batting their eyelashes at every boy they met, standing with one hand on their hips and completely and utterly failing to make any kind of impression other than one of a complete and utter fool. It served to amuse Ginny and her friends, however, so she seldom bothered to enlighten them. They'd find out for themselves sooner or later, one way or another. Probably, anyway. If not then they'd go through life looking stupid. Oh well. Life was harsh, and they'd better get used to it.

The brunette leaned back so far as she was able on the hard stone of the bench and stretched out her arms above her head. Sitting on this uncomfortable seat was already beginning to make her muscles stiffen and tense, which wasn't good. Especially not today, because she knew that in a moment or so, she was going to have to sit on a bench in the Great Hall and pretend to be interested in what was going on. Which wasn't easy at the best of times, especially not when she was tired, grumpy and therefore likely to become sarcastic, but would be especially difficult tonight if she felt like a floorboard- stiff all over.

She laughed at Jamie's next comment in regards to the festival. "Steady on." she joked. "Remember I'm not one of your- what do you call them? Drinking buddies?" She honestly had no clue what boys called each other at the moment. Mates, pals, buddies... It was all the same to her, but not to others that she could name. "I'm not going to drag you back to your tent in the evening and undress you." Truth be told, she wasn't sure that she'd be capable of it. She hadn't exactly spent much time lifting weights, and yes, normally she could levitate the boy with her wand, but if she did that at a Muggle festival then she would be laying herself open to charges for breaching the Statute of Secrecy, and Ginny didn't much like the sound of that. Although she had a feeling that the Ministry had too much on its plate these days to be bothering with petty things like levitating a teenage boy in full view of a crowd of Muggles. Um. OK, maybe not so petty, but since they'd likely all be drunk anyway except the singers, she doubted that it would matter all that much. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Magic was unlikely to see it that way.

The brunette winced as the sharp corner of the bench cut into her leg yet again, and she was forced to agree with the boy's statement. "Good point." she agreed. "But can you really blame me just because you're not brave enough to get into the house of the lions?" She was joking, of course- she'd seen for herself how brave members of all the other Houses were during that last battle- and, of course, her own housemates, because bravery wasn't the only characteristic to earn you a ticket into the Gryffindor common room.

[jamie daniel flynn]

The joking flirtation finally came to an end, even though he was enjoying it, he was sort of glad; it really wasn't a time to be joking about things, he knew that deep down but what else was he to do? If he couldn't have a laugh, he was just going to end up depressed all year. Start the year as he means to go on. He couldn't help but make one last remark though, "Well, if I've already lost the race, what am I going to do all year?" He managed to splutter out as he laughed, almost choking at one point on the lack of oxygen reaching his lungs. Bouncing back and forth like a child as he giggled to himself was one of his trademarks that most of the year group had come to notice, he wasn't even subtle with it, either, and he looked absolutely ridiculous which set him off even more most of the time. If this happened in class, he would usually be scolded for it, being scolded for something he couldn't exactly help was not exactly fun, but it had got to the point now where he didn't even care what the professors thought about him laughing and whether or not they thought he was just doing it for the attention. 

When Ginny had told him to 'steady on' about not being one of Jamie's drinking buddies, he gave an over-compensated look of sympathy in her direction, "Oh darling, it's okay, you'll be an expert in the fine art of getting absolutely legless by the time that weekend is done," He jokingly reassured her while patting her hand in a jokingly over patronising way, also his way of pretty much trying to convince someone that his way forward was the best way forward; rarely ever worked but when it did, it worked ridiculously well and generally good times were had by all parties involved, which, funnily enough, was usually at a party. He shifted himself again, this simply standing up and enduring the back pain and ache was becoming more appealing to him, or getting into bed hours early was actually looking like an attractive option. Would it be frowned upon to miss the welcoming ceremony thing? Was it even compulsory for all students to attend? The mysteries of Hogwarts that just seemed to be becoming more vast and deep by the day always amazed him, the only reason he ever went to those meals was for the food and everyone else went, so he assumed it was compulsory, but this year was the year to question everything he always knew. What would they do? Expel him for asking some questions? 

Brave enough to fit into the house of lions? Well, that surely was one way to put it, but the other way to think about things, did Ginny have enough patience to end up as one of those cunning badgers? "Ah, but, my dear Ginny, the real question here is, was it my fault that the sorting hat didn't think, ah yes, this young student will become a huge foodie, lets place her in the house right near the kitchens, perfect for a midnight snack?" He fired back with a sly grin, "So, when you think about it, who's the real winner here?" He joked, keeping that small curl at the edge of his lips, remembering all those times he had been sneaking out of his bed to go and ask the elves for something to eat, risking detentions and lines every time he did, but oh, by God, were they worth it. Thinking about it, he wasn't even sure he had ever been caught out by one of the professors, it was almost as if the elves were on the exact same wave length as Jamie was and knew exactly how to keep the students satisfied, actually, almost as if they had a prepared batch of midnight snacks to hand out to any wandering student who felt peckish. Odd.