and so it begins -open-

[amber]

Sorting could be long and boring, but even so, it was one of the things Ginny liked most about being at Hogwarts. This year was just a little different as Ginny had been made a Prefect, like almost all of the other Weasleys had. Only Fred and George hadn't been Prefects and Ginny thought it was probably just because there were two of them. It wouldn't be fair to make one a Prefect and not the other. Although Ginny wasn't sure the twins even deserved it, but then again, she didn't think she deserved it either. Ginny had always had a sort of sense of humor about practical jokes, having grown up with the twins and often being the target of them. She had learned to fight back. Fire with fire, or hex with hex as it were. She almost thought that this might just be some sort of popularity contest as did have a lot of friends and unless you were a Slytherin, tended to give people at least one chance. She hadn't broken too many rules though. There was always the sneaking out after hours and playing jokes on people that were probably not very well received. And then there was the little situation with them breaking into the Ministry of Magic last year. Okay, so maybe she had broken a big rule. And under Umbridge's rule, she had broken several. But that was Umbridge and who really gave a flying rat's bum about what Umbridge wanted?

Ginny made her way into the Great Hall and took a seat with her fellow Gryffindors, briefly looking to the Ravenclaw table for her friend Luna. The Lovegood girl could be sort of loony, as her nickname suggested, at times, but she was an honest to Merlin good person and was always fun to be around if for nothing else than having a very interesting conversation about something that Ginny thought probably didn't exist. She had seen her friend on the train for a little while, but as a Prefect was also required to monitor the cars from time to time. That little requirement hadn't been so bad though, because it gave her a reason not to constantly be around Dean, whom she felt guilty about avoiding but just didn't want to deal with explaining her lack of owls to him over the summer just yet.

She wasn't one of the first people there but she definitely wasn't the last. Usually people came straight from the cars that pulled themselves (that were really pulled by thestrals that she couldn't see) to the Great Hall, but she'd been one of the first in line just because she was leading a few second years who had traveled by boat their previous year. The place she sat wasn't full but she sat next to two empty places, just in case Hermione or Ron or Harry showed up, or if Dean wanted to sit next to her, which he might and then she'd have to explain things anyway, or tell him to shush because of the sorting.

Boredom was beginning to set in. If Fred and George had been here they would already be trying to play some sort of prank on either the first years or the Slytherin table. Ginny had a few ideas but she wasn't going to try any of them just yet. Instead she watched as the rest of the students filed in. Soon the first years would be sorted and she would find out who she was supposed to lead to the common room after the feast. But not until after the feast. Ginny was looking forward to the actual feast part. Not that food was hard to come by at the Burrow, but she didn't like eating around Phlegm. The girl just made Ginny lose all sense of an appetite sometimes.

[pipparyder]

------------------------` we can burn brighter than the sun

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The floating candles. Out of all the magic that danced across the large Great Hall, it had been the floating candles that had most captivated the eleven-year-old Philippa Ryder. She could readily recall her first Feast, standing in a crowd of anxious and overly-excited First Years, all scratching irritatedly at those ridiculous black caps they were forced to wear a top their small heads. Heels clicked nervously, whispers of House preferences scattered through the group like marching orders. As Mr. Filch stepped towards the large wooden doors that allowed for access to the exact place they would be dining for the next seven years, small Pippa rose to the tips of her toes, trying desperately to glimpse above the taller black-tipped heads before her. Magic had still, at the time, been a world unexplored by her.

And she had failed to anticipate just how much there was to explore. As the doors had opened, and Hogwarts newest class had been ushered in, Pippa found herself stumbling about her own feet, resisting the the river of students eager to approach the Sorting Hat. Pippa, while happily overwhelmed with the grandeur of it all, had looked up. Her innocent blue eyes may very well have commandeered her round face completely. The Floating Candles. They had been one of the first things she had seen upon entering. And she had suddenly been seized by an urge to dance below them, or knock them down, or simply stare and stare and stare. Candles. Wax about a wick. Nothing special. But to her, those candles represented the first bit of magic at Hogwarts she had actually deemed real. Dreamy, right?

Seven years later, Pippa still found herself looking up. She waltzed lightly in to the Great Hall now, a feeling of relief more so than anxiety overtaking her. Her eyes had already adverted upwards, taking in the candles and the manner in which they were still alight. Naturally, she was not necessarily looking where was headed, but weaving between students none the less, eventually catching herself gently on the end of the long, wooden Gryffindor table. A wide smile was plastered across her face, causing the corners of her eyes to wrinkle in a way that was undoubtedly carving an early onset of crow's feet about her features.

It was good to be back.

The Gryffindor had spent a majority of her summer imagining herself at Hogwarts and in the land of magic. Back in Yorkshire, her only real connections with the magical world were a Daily Prophet smuggled past her father and the several owls sent back and forth between herself and Noah Marks. Every so often, another owl might appear, but, for the most part, Pippa and the Ryders suffered a very lackluster summer in a house that Pippa couldn't wait to escape from.

So, a good deal of her train ride had been spent excitedly drawing out the numerous things Pippa planned to do once once they arrived at the Castle. Hal and a few others had been unfortunate enough to be cornered as her audience, and while they were good sports, she had mysteriously lost him in the crowd headed for the carriages. If one didn't know any better, they might assume that the slight smirk behind her smile suggested she had purposefully let her younger brother off.

Pippa braced her weight on the planks of the table, lowering her gaze from the candles to the remainder of the Hall. A good deal of the students had already seated themselves and she found that she recognized a majority of them. That's what seven years did to you. She took a moment to search the faces for Noah or Hal again, but when she didn't find them, she slipped off between the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables.

A little ways down, she spotted Ginny Weasley and smiled once more. Pippa and Ginny got a long quite well - of course, with them both being Gryffindors, that wasn't hard to do. But Pippa had learned that the youngest Weasley had no problem holding her own and sticking up for herself. She had witnessed Ginny doing just that several times over the past years and the two had since enjoyed a few good times together. Plus, Pippa loved picking Ginny's mind. After all, it was very clear - to her at least - that Ginny took a bit after her older brothers, Fred and George, who were kings in the world of trouble-making.

"Hey Ginny," she greeted easily, attempting to gracefully slip along the bench directly across from the Prefect. "Conjured up any good welcome back pranks yet?"



notes. I think...I have a problem with rambling...XD But yay Feast!

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Ginny Weasley's first year at Hogwarts was basically the worst year she had ever had. It had started off well enough; she was finally going to Hogwarts, the school that all of her brothers went and she wasn't going to be left behind with no one to hang out with like the year before. She had been so sad the year that her closest in age sibling had gone to Hogwarts, leaving Ginny behind. She had begged her mother to let her go, as if it wouldn't matter that she was an entire year younger than the other first years. But even that year spent without her siblings was better than what happened her first year at Hogwarts. The Sorting Ceremony that year had been an awkward one. She was sorted into Gryffindor as expected, but when she looked around for her brothers she couldn't find Ron. It was only Fred, George, and Percy. That was alright though, because she loved her other brothers too, she just knew that there was something weird about Ron not being there.

That year she had discovered that an empty diary had been misplaced in with her school books. She flipped through the pages looking for a name but when she found none and it looked tattered anyway, she decided maybe it was actually meant to be with her things. She went to write her name in it and to her surprise the ink disappeared and she got an answering name in return. Tom Riddle. From that moment she started confiding in the diary, finding that it would talk back to her in its own way. Then weird things started happening and Ginny would black out for hours at a time and not remember anything. People, cats, and ghosts started getting petrified and Ginny tried to get rid of the diary, thinking that it was causing the problems. She was afraid of the diary. The redhead threw it in the bathroom and later retrieved it from Harry Potter's things. It was that year that she had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets and almost died. Had it not been for Ron and Harry, she might have really lied in the Chamber forever like Riddle had intended.

The incident still caused her to have nightmares from time to time but things were getting easier and she had learned a few years ago to not let it get to her. Ginny just wasn't the type to let something, even something as life threatening as that had been, to get to her. She was a strong girl. Besides, the last thing she needed was her brothers to question what was going on with her. So she sucked it up and got over it, as much as anyone could get over something like that anyway.

Though there wasn't much use to it, Ginny hoped that the first years wouldn't have to go through anything like that. It was really a fool's hope, given that it was common knowledge now that The Dark Lord had returned. The Minister for Magic had resigned after admitting that Harry had been right when he saw He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named after the incident with the Department of Mysteries last year. It was stupid to think that they could have one peaceful year at Hogwarts, but even with the horrible things that had happened, it was still one of Ginny's favorite places. This was her home away from home.

A blonde girl that Ginny recognized as Pippa Ryder slid into the seat across from her, bringing the redheaded girl out of her thoughts. Good thing too. Ginny needed to concentrate more on what was going around her and less on things that had happened in the past. She did another quick look around for Dean, Harry, Hermione, or even Ron but found that they were either hidden so that she could not see or not there yet. That was okay. She could put off speaking with Dean and it probably wasn't best if she was sitting next to Harry right now. He had spent the summer at the Burrow and Ginny had to admit that at times she had forgotten that she was actually dating anyone.

“Hello, Pippa!” Ginny gave the seventh year a smile. She had originally met the girl through her brothers Fred and George, but even since they had left the two had remained friendly. How could they not? Pippa was a nice, smart girl. She wished Phlegm was more like Pippa; if that were the case, Ginny might not mind having a sister-in-law. “Oh, I've got a few things planned. Nothing set in stone yet, but I've definitely been thinking over the summer.” Fred and George had sort of trained Ginny unintentionally but very well. She had to learn to keep up in a house with six brothers, especially when two of those brothers were Fred and George. “This is your last year isn't it? Any idea what you're doing after Hogwarts?” Ginny was rather curious as far as career paths went. She still didn't know what she should do. She wanted to play Quidditch professionally, but she doubted her mum would approve of that.

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

BUT PLANT YOUR HOPE WITH GOOD SEEDS

DON'T COVER YOURSELF WITH THISTLE AND WEEDS

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: B8B8B8; border: #550505 solid 4px; width: 400px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] He had honestly thought he'd be stuck on the Hogwarts Express. No one had come looking into the compartments, and even if they had, he had been under his invisibility cloak that he really didn't have much hope of anyone seeing him. Thank Merlin that Luna had had those weird glasses from the Quibbler on: even if he did not completely understand what it was she had seen 'flying around his head'. She had found him, and they had made it off the train. Of course, that had also meant they had missed all the carriages (what she was doing hanging back on the train after everyone left, he had no idea) and had to walk up to the castle and carry their luggage with them. He had thought they would have missed the entire feast. Breathing while walking up to the castle had been extremely difficult with his broken nose. But being covered in blood was something that Harry was, unfortunately, all to used to. So the blood that was drippng down onto his muggle clothing (because he had never changed into his robes) didn't phase him one bit. He probably had not even noticed the steady drip of crimson, reaching up unconsciously to wipe the blood away from his mouth before wiping it back on his shirt. And then Luna had offered to fix his nose for him. In all honesty, it had scared him senseless. She had claimed that she only mended a few broken toes and had asked what the difference was... Harry couldn't help but thing a big one, but had agreed to her fixing it regardless. She hadn't done a bad job either. It felt normal... and apparently looked normal compared to her. Normal he could do. Normal was good. So they had left it at that. He thanked her before they headed up to the castle, where they each went their separate ways; changing into their uniforms. Now dressed in his school robes, the sixth year Gryffindor made his way to the Gryffindor table, noting that he had once again missed the sorting. Apart from his own, he had only been to two other sorting. Perhaps he'd get to see another sorting next year... well, he could hope. He had grabbed a small piece of cloth from his trunk, using it to try and stop the bleeding from his nose. He did not fancy getting blood all over his food while eating. Quickly looking around the table, he frowned slightly not seeing Ron or Hermione. Where were they? Surely they had noticed that he hadn't ridden with them up to the castle. And while it was possible they could have assumed he caught a ride with a few other friends, surely not seeing him here would have set off some type of warning, right? Well, with Hermione maybe... Ron would probably be more worried about eating. Not seeing either of them, he did notice Ginny and Pippa; a seventh year Gryffindor. He quickly made his way over to the two girls, and sat down, noting that Dumbledore was getting up to make a speech. “Have either of you seen Ron or Hermione?” he asked, his voice nasally due to the steady stream of blood still coming from his nose. His voice was also slightly muffled coming from behind the cloth he had pressed gingerly to his nose in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. words; 573 tag; ginny/pippa/open note; hope you don't mind template made by missickle

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[pipparyder]

------------------------` we can burn brighter than the sun

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As Pippa delicately shifted her weight on the bench, she glanced at Ginny, noting the younger Gryffindor looking about quickly before responding. Pippa figured she had been searching out her brother or the usual Gryffindor ranks she had often seen the Weasley sister with, including both Dean Thomas and Harry Potter. Briefly, Pippa wondered if she had settled herself in a reserved spot, but considering the many open spaces around them, she assumed not. Unless Ginny was expecting a grand party. Which Pippa would not be adverse to.

Pippa laughed lightly as Ginny mentioned the few plans she had derived over the summer. She nodded with the thought, resting her arms on the table in front of her. "That's good to hear," she offered, "I was hoping someone would keep up with Fred and George's line of work." The two girls had met through Ginny's identical brothers, and to this day, Pippa could recall Fred mentioning to her that he expected Ginny to have a great deal of potential in their little field. Ginny had yet to prove him wrong, and Pippa really had no reason to distrust Fred. She had been quite fond of both him and George. In all honesty, Pippa figured only Umbridge or the most heartless of Slytherins felt any true ill will towards the Weasley twins. "Do keep me updated," she winked.

"This is your last year, isn't it?" Pippa's nose wrinkled at the idea. It wasn't a motion of disgust or displeasure, more so disbelief. Her last year. The thought that, come this time next fall, she wouldn't be sitting at this very table was nearly inconceivable. No more classes. No more Peeves. No more Gryffindor Tower. There was an entire array of 'no-mores'. "Any idea what you're doing after Hogwarts?" That sentiment had formed more fully in her mind than the idea of graduation, as surprising and off as the order of reason seemed. Somewhere in her second or third year, Pippa had dictated to a few people her plans for after Hogwarts. And she wasn't about to allow herself to be caught in a lie, not any time soon, at least.

"Amazingly enough, yeah," she replied, glancing back up at the floating candles with a certain sense of nostalgia about her features. "I haven't exactly grasped the thought of not coming back, though. Hogwarts is home." She found herself grinning fondly at her remarks, looking back again to Ginny. "But I'll be in Auror training afterwards --" How very definitive for someone who had yet to be accepted. "If all goes according to plan, of course." Which it would, if she had any say in the matter. Not even the Dark Lord and his spite could keep her from making her long-held dreams a reality.

Though, she couldn't ignore Voldemort all together. She had been among the crowd to instantly take to trusting Harry Potter when he proclaimed the one so often referred to as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had returned. And she was fully aware of the ongoing threat, as she knew Ginny was. Ginny, after all, had probably been closer to it than most. "And, if the Order needs some help, I'll be there in a heart beat." She felt no need to lower her voice or to take the tone of secrets. She actually assumed Ginny to be in a similar boat with the Order. As for a career --

"What about you? Any thoughts on life after OW-" The Level in the acronym dropped quickly, Pippa cutting herself short as the wood of the table bobbed just slightly with the incoming weight of a newcomer. Turning, she recognized the form of Harry Potter.

The corners of her lips tugged in to what was a premature smile, her instincts readying her for a greeting. But instincts lost out as her eyes narrowed some, her mind piecing together the presence of a cloth about his face. The nasally voice. The blood.

"Have either of you seen Ron or Hermione?" She furrowed her brow inquisitively, shaking her head slowly. "No....sorry..." she mentioned, eying Ginny briefly. "But, Harry, you, uhm -" she dabbed lightly at her own chin, her head tilting in his direction, indicating the mid-sized collection of scarlet peeking out from beneath the already dyed cloth. "You've got something right here."

She'd let Ginny ask what had happened. Pippa wasn't always the best at phrasing things delicately.

notes. Sorry again that it took a bit! And that it's so scattered and icky...I kinda went brain-dead at work today. XD But yay Harry!

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The redhead had a lot to live up to if people were expecting her to take over where Fred and George left off. That just wasn't going to happen. Ginny was good, but she wasn't that good. She had learned from the best though, and she was sure that if she sent Fred and George an owl they would have a few good ideas. Ginny did have a few things up her sleeves, but she wasn't quite ready to put them into effect yet. She was waiting. It needed to happen at the right time. Ginevra Weasley wanted people to think that it might be a relatively prank free year. Little did they know she was not going to let that happen, Prefect or not. Surely Dumbledore didn't think that making her a Prefect would mean that she wouldn't be pulling any practical jokes. Maybe that was why he had done it; maybe he thought that the school could use a few good pranksters. Yeah, she'd go with that theory. It was much more fun to think of Dumbledore as approving of something like that. “Oh, I'll definitely keep you in the loop. Maybe you could help out at some point. Some of the things I've been thinking of would take more than me to pull it off.” She gave the seventh year a conspiratorial smile.

Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to bring up the fact that it was Pippa's last year at Hogwarts. Fred and George had been just itching to get out, but for some of them, this was the safe place they called a second or third home, even if every year that Ginny had attended something dangerous and life altering had happened. But she hadn't thought that it would be too bad. Of course Ginny wanted to stay in Hogwarts for a different reason entirely. She had no idea what she wanted to do after Hogwarts. Okay, that was a lie. Ginny knew what she wanted to do. She was passionate about Quidditch and wanted to play it professionally. The problem was, that wasn't something she thought Molly Weasely would approve of. It would be much easier to convince her father that she wanted to go off and play a game for the rest of her life, it would be entirely another issue to convince her mother. Fred and George were doing alright with their joke shop, but Mrs. Weasley hadn't approved of that at first.

Pippa's answer didn't surprise Ginny. That was a popular ambition and Ginny had considered it herself, but that was what Ron wanted to do. Ginny had considered everything from Auror training to a Ministry office, to teaching. Those would be things that her mother would approve of. Maybe not the Auror thing with how protective she was over her daughter, but she couldn't deny that it would have been a good fit for the girl. Ginny was bright and strong and she was very good with magic. “I'm sure you'll be brilliant at that. Of course everything will go as planned.” Pippa would be a great Auror. There wasn't any doubt in Ginny's mind about that.

The fifth year was having a great time catching up with her friend when Pippa's words broke off. Ginny was partially relieved that she didn't have to answer what she would do after her OWLs, but her relief turned to dread at the sight of Harry. “Always covered in blood,” she murmured. Well, Harry was starting the year off right, wasn't he? He couldn't make it to the feast without getting blood on him. It looked like it was draining from his own body though, which made Ginny worry a little.

As he sat down, Ginny shook her head. “No. I haven't seen either of them. Which is weird, because Ron would normally be the first to any event where there would be food served and Hermione...” They both knew that Hermione would be where Ron was. They had had this talk over summer, but Ginny didn't feel the need to get into the conversation with Pippa there, even if she thought everyone in the school probably knew that Hermione and Ron should just get over themselves already. “But Harry, why is there blood dripping from your face?” She pulled a clean cloth napkin from the table and wiped the place where Pippa had indicated without thinking much about it. “Starting trouble already are you?” Her voice came out teasing. She didn't want to make Harry angry or talk about anything he didn't want to at a sorting feast, but she was genuinely concerned.

ooc;;welcome to the thread. Yay for feasts

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

[

BUT PLANT YOUR HOPE WITH GOOD SEEDS

DON'T COVER YOURSELF WITH THISTLE AND WEEDS

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: B8B8B8; border: #550505 solid 4px; width: 400px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] Harry blinked, reaching up with is free hand to feel at his chin. He didn’t need to see it to know the outcome. His hand had instantly met a large patch of warm, sticky blood. Great… guess his nose was bleeding more than he had originally thought. Ah well, it would stop eventually: unless Luna had done something wrong when she had ‘fixed’ his nose. She had said it looked fine… but her definition of fine and other people’s definition of fine were two completely different things. Okay, not really… their definition of ‘normal’ was completely different. So, the chances of his nose being okay were high. Thank Merlin. He looked at Ginny when she answered his question. He swore lightly, removing the cloth briefly from his nose, to check in the reflection of his goblet to see if his nose was still bleeding. Yup, still bleeding. He readjusted the cloth, applying a piece of it that wasn’t yet covered in blood. He nodded his head. Where Ron would be, Hermione was bound to be. Perhaps they were further down the table and he had yet to see them. Which was fine with him. Because he was already starting to get stares from other students, and he would rather keep the stares to a minimal as much as possible at the moment. He glanced at Pippa, giving her a small half smile. “Sorry if I interrupted Pippa… How was your summer?” he asked her in way of greeting. His attention was turned back to Ginny. “Malfoy.” He said, his voice dripping with venom. “This was for putting his father in Azkaban. If it weren’t for Luna, I would be half way back to London by now.” He said. Not many people knew about his invisibility cloak, so he really didn’t want to speak about that out in the open. He was glad his face was hidden: half by his bloodied cloth and half by his own blood. As Ginny reached up to wipe at his face, he felt his cheeks burn with a strong blush. He could always blame the hitch in his breath that the contact had caused to his broken nose. They were a bloody pain (no pun intended) when it came to breathing. So pretty much he was set there. “Trouble’s my middle name.” he said with a small smile. It probably was probably a good thing his middle name wasn’t ‘trouble’… because then he was sure he would find it ten times easier. And if there was one thing he found as natural as breathing, it was finding his way into trouble. “You should know by now Ginny, I don’t have to go looking or starting it. It usually finds its own way to me. I’m starting to think if that letter Hagrid gave me all those years ago had some type of jinx on it.” “Have I missed anything?” he asked, nodding up in the direction of the Headmaster and other Professors. words; 0497 tag; ginny/pippa/open note; sorry for the wait! template made by missickle

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[pipparyder]

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Ginny had a few cool checks in Pippa's books. She had almost forgotten how well they had gotten along, and how much they had in common. The two Gryffindors each had a mischievous side. Neither had any problem speaking her mind. And they both consistently sported a grin. Toss on the usual traits shared across the Lion House, and you had a fairly solid friendship. So, it was no wonder that when Ginny offered Pippa the position of accomplice to some of her plans, the blonde nodded along vigorously. "I couldn't pass up a chance like that," she replied through a chuckle or two, mirroring Ginny's tell-tale smile. "You can certainly count me in."

Pippa appreciated Ginny's enthusiasm; it was comforting to know that someone else thought her plan would pan out. When Ginny insisted that she would make a good auror, she found a bit of color pressing at the apples of her cheeks. It wasn't so much a matter of blushing from humility, but rather just the opposite -- a proud beaming. Considering the difficulty that came with managing acceptance to auror training, most students with similar goals would be sweaty necked and twitching over marks. Every aspect of life outside of school, besides her career options, had Pippa in that exact exact state of wreck. She, however, had this strange sense of calm when it came to her future livlihood. Aside from her usual determination, Pippa found herself rarely doubting the idea that her dreams, in that sense, would play in her favour. Maybe she was putting too much credit into simply wanting something, but she knew she was meant to be out in the field, wand at the ready. Come to think of it, she could see Ginny in a similar position. Glancing over the freckled girl, she nodded along with her own thoughts. Ginny would excel in that line of work. But, this thought only made Pippa more curious as to what her friend may want to do for a living someday.

She wouldn't be finding out any time soon, with the attention turning without hesitation to Harry's bloody nose. "Always covered in blood..." Pippa thought Ginny summed it up quite nicely, the sentiment causing her to stifle back laughter and chuckles, which inevitably failed. She didn't mean to offend the boy with the glasses, but she had to admit that Ginny had a point. If Harry wasn't being pushed around in Quidditch, he was bruised or dressed in some sort of blood. As if being the Boy Who Lived wasn't enough to attract the stares of others...Pippa felt bad, noting a few heads turning around even then. Always under a microscope, she figured.

She shook Harry's apology off quickly, now allowing the light laughs to pass over her lips. Her right hand lifted from the table and swayed through the air easily. "No worries, Harry," she reassured him, "Ginny and I were just talking about you there...you really didn't interrupt much." She smirked, making the rather stupid joke as obvious as can be, a clear attempt to lighten the matter. Her eyes shifted to Ginny quickly and for but a moment She seemed to be accessing Harry's situation with a worried, but teasing eye. Pippa hesitated some at the topic of vacation, thinking back to her summer. Despite the continued smile on her face, she answered honestly. "My summer was long," she paused again, blinking. Her tone wasn't solemn, rather matter of fact. Whimsical even. "Long and unmagical. But summer. How was yours?"

Pippa hoped Harry's summer had been nothing like his train ride over. As Ginny thankfully inquired as to what had happened, Pippa cued her attention over to his answer. The moment he mentioned Malfoy, though, Pippa's eyes took off rolling. She should have guessed. She gladly appreciated the copious amounts of venom dripping from each and every word as Harry explained just how Malfoy had been involved. Pippa was lucky enough to be outside Malfoy's year, and therefore, most of his touch. But still, she found the boy insufferable. The entire lot of his family deserved that same reaction, from what she had gathered.

By the time Harry's sentence had rounded on the topic of Luna Lovegood, Pippa had grown distracted, watching Ginny wipe tenderly where she had previously indicated. She picked up casually on Ginny's friendly teases and the look on Harry's face in return. She had heard....they had...Oh, Merlin. Pippa's brow twitched and forced her to derail that train of thought. The problem with gossip at Hogwarts was that it was all too believable. She shouldn't be pondering whether or not the two across from her shared looks with hidden meanings. She should focus on --

She had almost forgotten they were at the feast until Harry brought up the subject again. Pippa turned and her eyes peered through strands of stray blonde hair, watching the Headmaster behind his golden podium. She shook her head idly. "Nope, I don't think so," she answered, returning to looking at them again. "Dumbledore has yet to welcome us home."

There was a sense of endearment and excitement in her voice.



notes. I am so, so sorry for the wait! I promise it was a fluke with everything and it won't happen again. I'm not usually this busy! And my replies aren't usually this scattered. Double sorry, loves!

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It would be nice to have Pippa on her side for a few of the pranks Ginny had in mind for the school year. The girl had a personality quite like the redhead's and that only meant that the pranks would be that much stronger and more fun. Ginny had a lot to live up to if everyone thought she would be taking the place of Fred and George. She wasn't that good. She didn't dedicate nearly as much time to practical jokes as her brothers did, but she was still fairly certain she could shake Hogwarts up a bit. With Pippa's help it would be easy to keep the students and staff at Hogwarts on their toes. Ginny ran her hands through her hair. She had several things in mind for Hogwarts and she was a little anxious to put some of them into play. She was still under age, so she hadn't been able to do a whole lot of magic over the summer. She was just itching for a moment to put some of the things she had read about or thought of into practice.

Ginny laughed a little at Pippa's comment to Harry about having talked about him. Really, she probably wasn't far off. If they had started talking about their summers, well, Harry had spent a lot of time at the Burrow. Ginny would have mentioned him at one point or another. Almost everyone she knew was aware that at least at one point Ginny liked Harry. She was fairly certain that at least most of her family knew she still liked him, even if she was dating Dean Thomas. Thinking about Dean had the redhead glancing around to see if she could find him. She couldn't, which was just as well for her. She wasn't in the mood to have a conversation with him yet. Maybe after the feast, when things started to settle down. She needed to get caught up with Dean, find out how his summer went, since she didn't write to him a whole lot. She planned on using the barrier to protect her family and Harry as an excuse for that.

Where Pippa said that her summer was long, Ginny couldn't decide if she agreed about her own or if her summer was just too short. On the one hand, she had spent more time with Harry this summer than she had before and it seemed like they were at least better friends for it. On the other, Phlegm had spent the summer with them as well. That decided it. Too long. The summer had been way too long. If Ginny didn't see Fleur another day in her life it would be too soon.

One word: Malfoy. It seemed to sum up everything and if Harry hadn't gone on, Ginny would have still gotten the gist of the situation. As it was, he did say something about Luna helping him. “I guess we'll all have to thank her for that.” She smiled. Luna was one of Ginny's better friends, even if she was a little out there sometimes. “But I'm sure mum and dad would have sent you back.” She lowered her hand after she was sure she got at least a good portion of the blood off his face. It felt quite natural to help Harry. She only realized afterward that it might have looked a little odd to be wiping someone's face of blood.

“You know, we have a Hospital Wing that deals with these sort of issues.” She teased again. Ginny turned back to Pippa as the blond haired girl updated him on what had gone on with the feast so far. “And the hat said something about sticking together.” Ginny rolled her eyes. “I wasn't paying much attention. It's a hat. Like it can stick to anything.” It was a rather smart hat, but Ginny wasn't sure it needed to fear for its life or anything.

[HARRY JAMES POTTER]

BUT PLANT YOUR HOPE WITH GOOD SEEDS

DON'T COVER YOURSELF WITH THISTLE AND WEEDS

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: B8B8B8; border: #550505 solid 4px; width: 400px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] Normally, that comment would have earned a frown from Harry. He knew he was the gossip of the Magical world, and honestly, he wasn’t too thrilled with it. But coming from Pippa (or any other Gryffindor for that matter), there were no hard feelings. No uncertainties, no awkward feeling, no spot light. It was just them having fun, and he knew it was just that… Fun. But not at his expense. “Well, I hope you have something nice to say about me.” His smile was hidden behind his bloodied rag, and the nasally voice probably added more humor to it than it would have otherwise warranted. That or more pity. But he was hoping for the humor. He thought he sounded funny at least. He thought back to his summer. It was definitely better than his last summers. Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that he had only spent a fortnight at number Four Privet Driver rather than his mostly (if not all) of his summer in the miserable company of his Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. Though admittedly, Dudley wasn’t as obnoxious this summer. Instead he had spent it at The Burrow with the Weasley’s. And if he had had it his way, he would have rather have just gone straight to their house rather than to the oppressing home of his only living family members. “A lot better than my previous summers… But still rather limited.” He had had to stay within a certain distance of the Burrow; and constantly had to inform Molly of where he was going; whether to the living room, outside, his room, or Ron’s. But it meant she at least cared about his well being, and hadn’t really minded all too much. He nodded his head lightly. “Though what she was doing lagging behind on the train I wouldn’t know. Didn’t exactly get a chance to ask her.” It really hadn’t even accord to him that she would have missed Hogwarts as well. He had been too grateful for her coming upon him when she did… though how she knew he was there was still up for debate. She had mentioned about something bussing around his ears when she had found him. He wasn’t going to question her though; because whatever she had seen with her weird glasses on had led her to him. “If your Mum and Dad were still at King’s Cross. And that’s saying whether or not the train goes back to the station when it’s not in use and not some parallel universe or whatever.” After six year in the magical world, he wouldn’t put anything past it. He grinned slightly, ignoring the dull throbbing of his nose. “I’m aware. But I think if Madam Pomfrey sees me so early, she’ll chain me to a bed.” Harry had had enough experiences to land himself in the Hospital Wing more times than he could count. And he was bound to end up there later during the year somehow. He nodded his head to both girls, looking up at Dumbledore to see what or if he would say anything. “It’s a smart hat though, so I wouldn’t put off any advice it gives.” words; 0536 tag; ginny/pippa/open note; --- template made by missickle

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[pipparyder]

------------------------` we can burn brighter than the sun

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Pippa snorted lightly when Harry spoke. While she'd happily blame it on what he was saying, she couldn't help but admit that the way he said it really made the joke. With his voice muffled by the bloody cloth and his injured nose causing its tone to rise a few octaves, the whole ordeal really was a sight to behold...or moreover, a sound to hear. And she may have felt bad for laughing, but she didn't mean it to be at Harry's expense. Harry was someone even Pippa respected, a friend. By the look on that bit of face she could actually see, he was as entertained as she. She shook her head playfully, winking swiftly at Ginny. "No need to worry, Harry. It was all good things."

For a brief moment after that wink, Pippa thought she had caught a quick glance of Ginny's eye. She was tempted to follow Ginny's gaze and look around the room, as well. One, she wondered where Noah was; she had missed her partner in crime over the summer, more than anything else here at Hogwarts. But, also, her curiosity peeked at who Ginny was looking for. She assumed it to be her brother or Dean Thomas. Pippa wondered how things were going for her and the latter. Last she had heard things were...a little interesting. But that was just here say and what she had gathered from watching them before heading off for the summer. Pippa tended to side with a majority of her guy friends in terms of drama, that side being to avoid it. Still, she was a curious individual and, more so, she'd want to make sure her good friend's personal life wasn't suffering. Even if Pippa didn't exactly think Ginny and Dean (Denny, really?) were meant to be. Pippa was a little biased, knowing that Ginny had at least once fancied Harry. And she thought, as evident by the way Ginny was caring for the blood on Harry's face....well, it didn't really matter, now did it? It was all merely opinion. So, she made a mental note to casually ask the youngest Weasley how things were going later. Possibly while they were implementing one of Ginny's proposed plans.

Cuing back in to Harry as she had asked about his summer, Pippa found herself nodding and offering a soft smile. "I'm glad it was better, at least." But limited. She could only imagine. Pippa usually only saw Harry as the Gryffindor mate she knew, the Quidditch prodigy with a knack for DADA and finding trouble. But sometimes she allowed herself to drift -- his metaphoric shoes were undoubtedly very large. She owed Harry a lot, with what he taught in Dumbledore's Army to the mere fact that Pippa was muggle-born and, therefore, would have a general lack of life under Voldemort's rule. Still, she found him humble enough to never collect on this debt, nor really consider it a debt in the first place. Others looked to him as a leader, as well, and those people were in line to protect him. Harry probably spent his summer always within eye and earshot of an Order member, kept under charm and hex. Pippa hoped that better meant he had been given the chance to relax like a normal person.

The conversation rounded back to the subject of Harry's recent incident, falling on Luna Lovegood. Pippa allowed her mind to focus more on Luna than Malfoy -- she much preferred the Ravenclaw. She knew a fair majority of the school considered Luna to be absurdly batty. And, truth be told, Pippa was fairly certain that she was indeed looney. But she liked the girl for it. Pippa didn't know her all that well, but she seemed funny and kind. Those two traits could get you fairly far in Pippa's books. And she would admit...she was oddly intrigued by Gnargles.

Pippa did pipe in when Harry mentioned the Hogwarts Express and its off-season home. She snickered quietly, "I really wouldn't be surprised if the thing was swallowed by a worm hole after all was said and done." The Magical world never ceased to amaze her, and she had learned to expect the unexpected. Even if the unexpected was something as extravagant as a worm hole.

Keeping with the lightness, Pippa gave a shrug, joking easily with the two regarding the Hospital Wing and being bed-ridden. "At least then you'd get out of exams," she offered with a bit of mischief drifting to her features. She was briefly reminded of Fred and George's more ingenious inventions and the havoc the Snackboxes caused during their trial years.

Ginny mentioned the Sorting hat and Pippa shook her head in agreement, recalling the speech and the animated folds glowering out at the students."Nah --" Ginny was right; the hat was a hat. Sticking together wasn't necessarily a part of its duties. Then again... "I guess with all the heads it's sorted and shifted through, it's bound to know something special," she mused, thinking aloud. If it could comprehend it all, the hat probably knew a good lot more than a majority of the people about the Great Hall. Albus Dumbledore, however, was a great rival for that.


notes. Mucho loveo.

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[amber]

There wasn't much that Ginny could say about Harry that was bad. Maybe his need to reason away anything good that he did for anyone else, but that was more modesty than anything else, Ginny thought. At first she had worried that Harry might take them talking about him behind his back literally instead of the joke that it obviously was, but she needn't have worried. Sometimes, she wondered of the things the Ministry had said about Harry last year still bothered him and if he thought people were still saying those sorts of things. Well, people would talk of course. There couldn't be much done about that. But she was quickly relieved when he had taken it like the joke that it was meant to be. Hopefully he didn't think that Ginny would go around spreading nasty rumors about him. He was horribly mistaken if that was the case, since Ginny usually defended anything that he'd done whenever anyone around her brought something up, like them getting caught by Umbridge last year during a Dumbledore's Army meeting, or the fact that he always was right in the middle of anything that was going on. Ginny, for one, was thankful that at some times he was right in the middle of certain things. Voldemort might have re-rose to power a lot sooner if he hadn't been.

Since he was going along with the joke, though, Ginny saw no reason to tip toe around. “Oh, you know, just about how you're always covered in blood.” She smirked, but technically, that part wasn't a lie. She had said that he was always covered in blood. It hadn't been an insult or anything though, just an observation. It was an accurate observation. There were very few times that Ginny remembered seeing Harry not covered in blood. Of course, that was probably because the times where he was covered in blood just stuck out in her head. She was fairly certain he'd gone most of the summer without bleeding much. But the only real time she remembered having an actual lengthy conversation with him was when he had offered to help her with Muggle Studies. She wondered if he was still willing to help her now that they were back at Hogwarts and he didn't have a barrier to stick to.

Ginny gave a small laugh at Harry's comment of his summer being limited. “Sorry we weren't more entertaining,” she said, her voice making the statement an obvious joke. If the twins had been over more, maybe there would have been a bit more entertainment. Still, the Weasley house was always busy and she couldn't imagine Harry not having something to do, unless he was caught doing something and Mrs. Weasley decided he should just relax. True, Ron had been a bit absent, which had been rather odd, but she was sure if he had wanted to do something, Harry could have found something to do.

Harry's comment about not knowing why Luna had hung around the train when everyone else had gotten off didn't surprise Ginny in the least. Luna had her own reasons for doing things and she suspected that even if Harry had asked, the answer might have confused him. Not because he wasn't intelligent, but because Luna just had an odd view on, well, the world in general. Still, she was a great friend, and Ginny trusted her completely, and she would have to thank her for getting Harry off of that train before it went... wherever it went. Pippa's idea of where the train went after it left Hogwarts made her laugh. “I bet it's more boring than that. It probably just waits at the station, or goes back to the platform.” That would be the way it worked out. The most interesting things at Hogwarts were probably very boring as far as what happened to them when the students didn't see them went. “I guess next time we'll all just have to stay on the train and find out.”

The conversation turned to the Sorting Hat. It was a smart hat, Ginny would give it that, but did it really have any concern as to whether or not students stuck together. “I think it's just bored. I mean, it doesn't do a whole lot other than sort students, and that's once a year. And even if we don't stick together and something horrible happens, it's a hat. It isn't going to die or anything.” Ginny shrugged. It would just get more bored and use its time to make up more songs.