Harry ate breakfast extremely early on the second day of classes, having once again suffered through nightmares and very little sleep. If this continued, all of the extra sleep he had gotten on the train ride in would be used up before he even got to the first weekend. He needed to find someone to brew him a sleeping potion or put an anti-nightmare charm on him or something, before things got really bad.

The upside of eating super early was that he was then able to hang out, mostly out of sight in the Entrance Hall, waiting for the person that he really wanted to talk to. As soon as the redhead emerged, Harry grabbed her by the arm and practically drug her down the ground floor until he reached an empty classroom and tugged her inside.

"So," he said with an air of someone who has found out something they were not meant to know and wants the full story, "One Skyler Riddle knows who you are, and who I am, but not that I'm famous, and not that the two of us even know each other." That sentence probably didn't make as much sense as it should have, but Ginny had grown up figuring Ron out. She would understand.

Harry looked at her more kindly, trying not to seem totally unhinged. "What can you tell me about her?"

There was one thing about Ginny that never changed over the years. She hated waking up for morning classes. The only thing that got her out of bed before she had to run off to said classes was the promise of the fluffiest pancakes known to wizardkind. Seriously, the Hogwarts elves could bake a mean pancake. The redhead crawled out of bed, pulled her fiery hair into thick pigtails, then slipped into a faded pair of jeans. She glared at the hem that was starting to get short before flicking her wand at it, extending it by roughly two inches. A handy spell the twins had taught her last year when her growth spurt kicked in and the budget didn’t allow for extra spending.

She smirked at her own handy work before pulling a simple grey tank over her head and grabbing her school robe. It wasn’t necessary to wear it yet, since she wasn’t in class at that moment, but she didn’t plan on running back to the tower to get it. Thus, the youngest Weasley gathered her supplies in her satchel, slung it over her shoulder, and took off through the castle, heading for the mapley goodness in the Great Hall.

Once she’d eaten enough buttery cakes that she felt as if she’d gained about ten pounds, Ginny felt much more awake and alive. That was probably good, since she had McGonagall’s class first today. Lucky for her, it wasn’t for another hour or so, which meant she had a bit of time to kill. She was considering wandering out to the pitch just to feel the familiar ground beneath her feet and the warm wind in her hair, but was interrupted from this idea by a familiar hand grasping her arm and dragging her through the castle.

Ginny grumbled a bit at the abrupt assault, trying her best to keep up with Harry as he pulled her to the empty room. Convenient that he would pick the classroom where she needed to be next. McGonagall would be so confused to see the Weasley there early for once! Harry finally spoke and Ginny found herself rolling her eyes. So that was who he had been seen with on the train! Why hadn’t the idiot told her this before? She was excited to know he’d met her new friend already. This should make it easier to tell him that she’d befriended a ‘snake’.

“She’s pretty fun. We pranked Ron together. And some other people too, but Ron was the funniest.” She flashed the boy a grin as she remembered that day in Diagon Alley. “I didn’t tell her about you. Sorry, was I supposed to?” She actually wasn’t sure about this. Harry was her best friend, but usually you didn’t have to tell anyone about your best friend the first time you met them. It wasn’t like they were an item or anything. Even if they were dating, she still wouldn’t have mentioned him. Ginny wasn’t one of those gushing girls after all. She doubted that would bother Harry. “She’s new around here. Not sure if the last name has any meaning or not, but she seems pretty good to me.”

The redhead shrugged and leaned toward her friend, a question on her lips. “So, did you really feed her chocolate?” She kept a foolish grin on her face, but deep in her eyes there was worry and a threat of rejection. She desperately hoped Pansy had been exaggerating. She wasn’t sure what she would do if Harry and her new potential great friend were romantically involved.

Okay, so she didn't know anymore about the name than Harry did, despite seeming to know the girl a little better than Harry did. He wasn't sure whether that made him more worried or reassured him. Still, everything seemed to confirm what he was thinking himself. She was fun, she could be trusted, it was all alright, and if he could trust anyone to judge these things, it was the smart and fiercely independent girl who he had just forced in here.

The last things she said bothered him a little bit. Was that really the reason she had decided to bash Pansy's face in and ask questions later? "I didn't feed her anything," he said with a reassuring laugh. "I had an extra frog when I ran into her on the train, so I gave it to her. I'm glad I did because she had never had one before and it was actually pretty hilarious," he added with a slightly mischievous grin.

Still, that last bit stuck out and bothered him. Was she really so caught up on him that he and Skyler were the reason she had decided to rearrange Parkinson's face and ruin her favorite t shirt? Making a note to replace the shirt when Christmas came around, he decided that this problem needed to be dealt with cautiously, if at all. For now, he did have one more point of concern that had reached him via the rumor mill yesterday.

"Speaking of Skyler, and of Parkinson, actually, apparently our new friend was your psychopaths most recent target. Word is she did something or other to piss the pug off and Draco ended up having to haul her to the hospital wind blind and half covered in debris." He dropped all of that in a hurry, but knew that he could trust Ginny to keep up with it.

"Usually I don't get involved with snake fights, but seeing as how you seem to think Skyler is one to be trusted, I think I'm going to make an exception this time and go Pansy hunting after lunch when I finish with classes for the day. Wanna come with?" If she did, cool. If not, Harry would round up the actual victim and they would seek revenge. Either way, Harry was not going to let Malfoy and his cronies bully his people again this year. It just wasn't going to happen.

Ginny’s eyes went wide at Harry’s explanation. “She’d never had a chocolate frog? Please tell me it didn’t get away from her! Oh, and tell me she didn’t get Dumbles. You know everyone gets Dumbles for their first card. And then they get all happy about it and those of us who’ve had hundreds of frogs already groan because we know just how many damned Dumbledore cards there are.” She said all of this with a sort of religious fury that people heard on muggle television sets on Sundays. It was like the doctrine of the chocolate frog card collectors or something. And Ginny was the freakin’ pope. Very, very strange.

The girl shook her head, focusing on the rest of Harry’s news. So, she wasn’t the only target on Parkinson’s list. Hearing Harry refer to the blonde Slytherin by his first name was a surprise, but Ginny didn’t feel the need to point this out as there were more pressing details to focus on. “Wait, so the pug attacked Sky and Malfoy? Together? What were they doing?” Oh, the youngest Weasley really wished she could talk to her Slytherin friend. “I hope Parkinson wasn’t brandishing that stupid camera of hers again. That would be enough to set of Skyler, too, I’m sure. Damned slag of a snake…”

Harry would probably wonder what the hell Ginny was talking about, but if he really wanted to know he could ask. She was rather surprised he hadn’t questioned her yet, as she was sure there would be rumors about her and the snogging along with the fight. “I usually don’t condone animal abuse, but I think this dog needs to be kicked a few times.” Her eyes were alight with hunger for revenge on the girl for ripping her favorite shirt and then attacking her newest friend. She also thought a bit of an adventure with Harry and Skyler would be rather nice. “So we’re going to get Sky for this, right?” she asked, hoping Harry had already planned on it.

“Oh, it got away alright. As bad as my first one,” Harry said with a made kind of a grin. “The thing is, she has insane hands and caught the thing like it was second nature. It’s a damn good thing that Slytherin already has an incredibly stubborn git of a Seeker in place, or we might be in trouble when we played them.” Harry was legitimately glad for this. Skyler’s natural talent and his own history of poor play when matched against cute girls would probably be a terrible combination for Gryffindor.

He listened to the rest of Ginny’s little speech rant without saying anything, but with a look of concern on his face. Dumbledore really did have way too many chocolate frog cards, something most of the student body possessed somewhere in the chaos of their lives. Had anyone ever looked into the possibility of him using the cards as a way to spy on the school? If anyone had the brain power to use the cards like ordinary portraits, it was the Headmaster.

Skyler was an entirely different problem. They had established that she could be trusted. The previous five years and the company he kept established that Malfoy could not. So what were they doing in such close proximity that Parkinson could attack Skyler and cause Malfoy to save her? For that matter, what had Skyler done to provoke the pug? Harry had never known the Slytherin princess to be an aggressor, and nothing he had heard hinted at her being injured at all, meaning she had to be the one to start, and apparently finish, things. Harry certainly had a lot to think about, and it was only the second real day of the term.

“Of course we’re getting revenge,” he said, his grin coming back to chase the clouds away from his face. “I don’t intend to let anyone mess with my people this year, and Skyler seems to be one of my people now. Eat dinner as quick as you can tonight and find me after. We’ll track Skyler down and see what we can do about Parkinson.”

With that taken care of, Harry turned to leave for his first class of the morning, only to stop in the door as something occurred to him. If Ginny was confirming the part of the other rumor that he had heard that said Parkinson was running around with a camera, that meant that the rest of that rumor must be true. He took a step back towards her, his smile taking on the tone of a teasing brother. “So Gin, you wanna tell me who you were with on the train ride in, or am I going to have to go into detective mode?” As if I have time for that, he added to himself.

Being called on of ‘his people’ was something Ginny rather liked, and she was happy to hear Skyler get included as well. It was always easier to have new friends when they were friends with your old ones as well. She grinned, tempted to thank the boy for claiming her in his lion pride. When he told her to eat quickly so that they could go after the annoying Slytherin sixth year, Ginny grinned wider still and nodded her agreement to the plan.

“Oh, Harry,” she laughed, spinning on her heel with the intention to get her butt away from her friend for the time being. She gave him a semi-serious look before laughing again, shaking her head as she did so. “I don’t kiss and tell!” She ran along then, still laughing lightly into the distance. She was sure this wouldn’t be the last she’d hear about her exploits on the train, especially from the boy who she considered her best mate, but for now she’d leave him in mystery. It was the easiest thing to do for now anyway.

Maybe she’d tell him about it when she finally had the conversation regarding their relationship, or lack thereof. Maybe. For now, she had to get out of the classroom. It wasn’t like she wanted to be there early anyway. “Can’t give McGonagall a heart attack so early in the term! I better go pull a quick prank or something. See ya later, Harry!” She called as she took off down the hall, forgetting the intention of actually going to class early for once in her life. She didn’t want any more of this conversation, and she also couldn’t look at Harry’s confused face any longer.

Perhaps she could leave a little present for the caretaker before her transfiguration lesson was due to begin.