Ginny through the years

Chapter 13

As I walked into the great hall, I could feel that something was different; something was wrong. It was like a huge dark cloud had come above us. No one was really sure what the next couple of years were going to look like, and that scared us. The beginning of school was somewhat normal, all of our classes were the same. Well except for that Professor Umbridge, a horrible woman really, from the ministry was the new defence against the dark arts teacher, and she insisted that we never used our wands in class. I walked into the common room the friday after our first week of school to see Harry, Hermione, and Ron all sitting on a couch.
"Hey, guys" I say, trying to be as cheerful as I can manage
"Hey, Ginny" Hermione smiles at me, "Harry just had this great idea-"
"No, it was hermione's idea" Harry interrupts
"Fine. I just had an idea to start up a group where we can actually learn defensive magic. Since umbridge refuses to teach us anything, we'll never be able to actually defeat voldemort" Ron cringed at the name "so we're going to need some practice, and who better than Harry here?" Hermione finishes
"That's a great idea! If any of us are going to come up against Vodemort, we're going to need some practice" I say
"I don't know about me leading though..." Harry shrugs
"Harry, you're the only one who can. You're quite stupid if you can't see that" I glare at him
"Fine, I'll try. No promises though" Harry looked upset, so I decided that we needed to do something to get his hopes back up.
"Do you guys want to scrimmage? I could use the practice" I say. Everyone was in, so we walked to the quidditch pitch, which luckily was empty. We played for hours, to the point where it was almost past curfew. I know my idea was smart, because when we got back to the common room everyone had a smile on their face and were laughing.
The next day, Saturday, was the first quidditch practice of the season. Angelina is the new quidditch captain, so I know I will have it somewhat easy this year. Fred and George always joked with her, and George took her to the Yule ball last year. A wave of sadness washed over me. This was my last year with them, and I didn't know how I would survive my final years at Hogwarts without them. They were the only people who had never wavered in trust; had never failed to protect me, even from myself at times.
I snapped back to reality when I heard Harry's voice calling to me, "Gin! Hurry, we're going to be late!"
"We can't have that" I say to myself as I run down the stairs to the common room, seeing Harry waiting for me, "Harry, you didn't have to wait for me you know, I could have found my way to the quidditch pitch by myself,"
"You sure about that?" Harry teased "You do tend to get lost"
He was being overdramatic, I had only gotten lost once. And that was only because the moving staircase shifted to a random door while I was on it. "ONE TIME!"
"A time I will never forget, you were lost for an hour." Harry laughs, "I swear your brothers were about to send out a search party for you"
"Oh shut it," I laugh.
We walk down to the quidditch pitch laughing and joking with one another. When we get to the field everyone is all set up, so we quickly run to meet everyone and get started. Angelina gave us all our positions, I was chaser! I was so excited to finally actually play in a game, and our first game was in just a few weeks. I really couldn't wait.
After practice, I returned to my dormitory all sweaty to take a shower before dinner. I hopped in the shower real quick, got dressed and walked down with hermione.
"So, the first meeting will be next hogsmeade trip, we're all going to meet up at the Hog's head." Hermione informed me
"Ok, I'll spread the word to anyone who might be interested" I say, "There should be plenty of people that want to help"
"Yeah, I hope" Hermione sighed,
"Hey how has Harry been?" I asked. It must be hard knowing that he's going to be looked up to this year a lot, and those who don't believe him about voldemort have been quite cruel.
"You know how he is. Look, I know harry has been busy lately..." So I wasn't the only one he was avoiding I guess, "But he's just been really stressed with the whole Order thing and all that,"
"Yeah, I get it" The order of the Pheonix, which started way back in the first wizarding war, had been regrouped this summer, and Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, was hosting the meetings at his home in Grimmauld place. That was really all I knew though, mum refused to let me join the meetings, so all I ever heard was just from eavesdropping.
When we got to the great hall someone was waiting for me
"Hey, Ginny. Can we talk?"