The Gathering: The New Order of Merlin Book 1

55. High expectations

       Over in the girls' dormitory, Ginny looked at the poster of Gwenog Jones which she'd hung on the wall at the start of term. Ever since her parents took her to the game of Holyhead Harpies a year ago, she had been obsessed with Gwenog and strived to be just as brilliant, strong, and successful both in Quidditch and in life, but time proved that she was nothing like her. She was weak physically and mentally. Gwenog would be ashamed to have a fan like her.

You've set too high expectations of yourself. It's okay to be ordinary.

Tom's words kept ringing in her head. Were her expectations too high? She used to have all of these hopes and dreams. Now, she remembered them all as if they belonged to someone else. She couldn't find enough of that old Ginny inside herself. She was less.

She got in the habit of crying herself to sleep, quietly, so her roommates wouldn't notice, clutching her diary to her chest, her only friend. Tom comforted her with kind words and encouragement, but it wasn't enough to keep her spirit up. It seemed that each morning, she woke up feeling even worse, more drained.

Then, there were the days when she'd wake up in the wretched Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Myrtle usually ignored her and sobbed to herself in her stall. If only the ghost was any more pleasant, Ginny would bond with her. They were both sad and lonely, but it was impossible to hold a conversation with her. Myrtle would get offended for the most stupid reasons. Like this one time, Ginny commented that she liked her hair and Myrtle exploded, "That's what people say when they mean your face is ugly!" and wailed so loud, Ginny was afraid she would alert the whole castle and get her in trouble.

She was on her way to the Great Hall, pondering whether Myrtle was just as annoying before she died when two monsters ran out right in front of her. They were taller than her, covered in red-brown shaggy fur but looked mostly like humans. After the initial shock wore off, she looked closer at their faces.

"George? Fred! What in the ruddy gnomes are you doing?"

"Waiting for you, isn't it obvious?" one of them said, she couldn't tell which one because of the fur.

"How do we look?"

"I'll say we're dashing."

She rolled her eyes at them. They looked like mangy, red-haired Yetis. "Watch out. If Professor Lockhart notices you, he'd like to sell you his hair care products now that you have so much of it."

The twins sniggered and playfully nudged her shoulder but she really wasn't in the mood to laugh. "Oh, cheer up, Ginny. We're just playing."

"We know that you're sad because of what happened to your friend."

Ginny's breath caught. Oh, no. They mentioned Colin. She had been avoiding thinking about him all day. Last night was one of those nights when she lost track of time and woke up in Myrtle's bathroom barely able to move. It was just as bad as on Halloween, maybe even worse. Both times someone ended up petrified exactly during the span of time when Ginny was sleepwalking. Tom assured her that it was a coincidence but she wasn't so sure. What if she was the one who was behind the attacks? Colin was her friend, one of the very few people who were unconditionally nice. They sat together during Transfiguration class in the first row, the short kids' table, they joked, and his cheerful chipper always made her feel better. Why did it have to be him?

"Oh, no, Ginny. Don't cry."

She wiped her eyes and gritted her teeth. She would not cry, and she would not put up with her brothers. She had to get away from them.

"Can you go bother someone else," she complained.

"Already done. I put a stink pellet in Percy's bookbag."

"He deserved it. He keeps knocking our points.""It's like he doesn't want us to win the House Cup."

"You know, he's been up to something lately. He acts so secretively."

"Doesn't share."

"We must find out what it is."

One of them scratched his hairy arm. "Do you think Madam Pomfrey has an antidote?"

"Let's find out."

The twins finally left her alone and she continued on her way.

Ginny's eyes still felt misty as she thought of poor Colin. She turned around and instead of going to the Great Hall, she went to the Hospital Wing to visit him.