A day in the life {GINNY&ALEC

[ARCTURUS RIVEA NIGHTINGALE]

Arcturus Nightingale spent most of his time at Hogwarts wondering the castles most isolated places studying or running in the grounds. Running was Alec's favourite thing to do besides reading and learning; he was a true Ravenclaw, and he had learned that in his time at the school. One of his favorite places was the libarary but it often got full of students who wern't acctually studying at all so Arcturus had left. All Alec wanted to do was fit in and now he was finally beginning to do so it was almost time for him to leave as he was in his seventh year now; although he had discussed with his head of house about gaining a temporary work experience post at the school, as a professor, which is the only thing he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to share the gift of magic with other young witches and wizards because he knew how important it was to learn to control the out birsts of magic small children had. If it were up to him magical training would begin at the same time as muggle childrens eduaction because from what Alec had hears they had no formal reading and writing education in the way muggles did.

Alec stood in the middle of the dusty spare classroom that held only a few old desks. He let his imagination run wild and imagined himself as the teacher, of a strong methodological subject such as Arithmancy or Transfiguration; those were some of his best subjects. As Alec paced the room like his professors he saw a discarded pencil and picked it up; it appeared to have been there for a long time; decades even. He wondered what stories it could hold. Alec liked imagination and history; even a pencil could hold such secrets; it could have belonged to 'he-who-must-not-be-named' when he was at school. He tried to imagine the most feared wizard as a student but he just couldn't.

Alec heard a creek of floorboards and closed his eyes for a second and imagined it was his own student in his class before turning round to see who had disrupted his daydreams.

[GINNY MOLLY WEASLEY]

<sub>Hogwarts Castle held many secrets, many stories, many lives. It was magestic, grand, welcoming, yet it could be cold at the same time and it wouldn't give up it's secrets easily. Ginny had found that out quickly. Adjusting the strap of her bag to make carrying the weight of so many textbooks a little easier on her shoulder, she started to climb up the staircase. Fifth year was a tough year, and the amount of homework she had was unbelievable - and she needed a quiet place to relax in and get things sorted.

The study room was out, because it turned out, not many people studied in there. Ginny alternated - sometimes she studied, sometimes she chatted. But today for some reason, the study room wasn't were she felt she needed to be. So she headed away from the room, climbing another set of stairs - and making sure to jump over the vanishing step. She had seen people's legs fall through where the step seemed to be so many times, and it looked painful. She wouldn't make that mistake.

The library was usually noisy despite the fact that the students shouldn't be loud, and the common room was always bright and cheerful - but loud and full. So Ginny was searching for some place different.

Heading towards what she knew should be an empty and dis-used classroom, she slowly opened the door, and stepped in. But not too far. Apparently someone else had a similar idea to her. With his back to her, Ginny wasn't sure who it was, but there was no need to be rude, so she said, brightly, "Hello. I'm sorry for interrupting. I, well, I didn't think anyone would be here."</sub>

[ARCTURUS RIVEA NIGHTINGALE]

Arcturus smiled when he saw that a redhead younger than himself entered the room. She looked like she had a kind face and from her robes saw she wasn't a Slytherin which made his day better. Arcturus often had run ins with the Slytherins as it was never pleasant since he was infact a Ravenclaw which ment he was teased for being studious. Though appart from that Alec never really talked to many people as he found it hard to get close and trust people after the death of his father though he wished he could.

Alec moved from his position standing by the window and sat on the would be teachers desk, the back of his mind still pondering on the future, his future, as a teacher maybe, still twirling the pencil between his fingers like an old habbit. "No its okay you arnt disturbing, though I didn't think anyone would be hear eather" Alec replied with a friendly smile. The girl was polite and he would be too since she didn't give him any reason to build up his defences. He liked her so far.

Alec looked a little closer at the red head, he recognised her a little, probably from the corridors and study hall since she appeared to be a year or two younger than himself. But she appeared to look like a set of twins in his own year who had however left in a rather dramatic display last year. The Weasleys he thought, maybe she was the younger sister. You wouldnt happen to be a Weasley would you?" Alec asked interestedly, he hopped he wasn't prying into other peoples business because he knew he hated when people asked him to many questions so he decided probably best to introduce himself so as to not look nosey. "I'm Arcturus Nightingale by the way, but everyone just calls me Alec" he added politly, offering her hand to shake. Alec was a very polite guy and had rather old fashioned mannerisms. He had values expected from an older generation such as he didn't believe in sleeping around and he didnt care what anyone said because he was a man who stuck to his own word.

[GINNY MOLLY WEASLEY]

<sub>Standing silently by the door, leaning against the door just slightly in fact, she watched the males movements towards the desk. The old and long since abandoned desk. It was strange to see a classroom so lost and left alone as this - usually Hogwarts was full of bright colours, and everything was lively. It felt odd to be standing in a place that differed so greatly from that. "Oh, well that's good to hear. M'glad." She said, nodding, quite amused.

As she smiled politely, but quite genuinely at him, she listened to his question. Ah, yes, though there were quite a few red heads at the school, the Weasley's did look rather distinctive and stood out - especially after Fred and George's almost legendary escape from school last year. Watching the boy in front of her, she saw him rush to fit in an introduction as well, and her smile grew slightly.

"Hi, Alec." She replied, with a small half-wave and an amused grin. "And you're right. I'm a Weasley. A Ginny Weasley to be exact." Relaxing a little more now, she wandered a touch farther into the room, towards the closest desk. The dust was quite thick on the table, but pulling the chair out from underneath, it didn't seem so bad. Wiping and moving as much dust off as she could with her hand she sat down, looking curiously about the room.</sub>

[ARCTURUS RIVEA NIGHTINGALE]

Alec nodded in agreement, he wasn't bothered at all to be disrupted, infact it was a nice change to have contact, he never had many friends. He liked the company the empty class rooms provided for him; the history of Hogwarts facinated him, History of magic was one of the subjects he found most interesting even though it did not concern using magic he found the history very interesting. History was playing out before their very eyes; the return of he-who-must-not-be-named, the Aurors patrolling the corridors was a deffinate change in mood from Alecs other six years at the school.

Arcturus watched the girls growning and changing expressions as he spoke, asking who she was and of course his own introduction. She appeared to be smiling but for once she seemed like a genuine girl, smiling because she could, not because she was lauging at him. Alec would admit he was a rather strange boy; old fasioned if you would, but he didn't care. He was proud of his muggle parents too. He remembered how the Weasley twins in his year had been jokers and pranksters but they were also kind and wouldn't insult anyone unless you were a Slytherin or had made a jab at them first.

"Well it's certianly nice to meet you Ginny, I was in some of your older brothers classes, erm Fred and George right?" Alec said a little unsure, he was never great with names but he was pretty sure that was right, he hoped so because it would look pretty bad after being at the school for six and a bit years. Alec wasn't usually one to care what people think but he did care about being polite. "You were in the DA too last year, you went to the ministry with Harry Potter too? That was well amazing, I mean I can't believe students could take on the Death Eaters. I went to some of the DA meetings, no one usually notices me though so its okay" Alec shrugged at the end, he didn't talk to people he just practiced spells alone mostly. But he had seen the Minsistry fight in the Daily Prophet but some how the story in the paper didn't make sense, he knew there was more to it than that. Alec himself was a big supporter of the Order of the Pheonix and hoped to join when he finished up with school if the Dark Lord hadn't been defeated by then that is.

[GINNY MOLLY WEASLEY]

<sub>Crossing her legs and looking about the classroom a bit more, Ginny wondered who used to teach in the room... What subject would they teach? Were they any good? Perhaps they had been like Professor Binns, the ghost who taught a History of Magic, and none of their students ever listened. On the other hand, the Professor might have been really interesting, and someone who easily captured the attention and imagination of their students.

But then she turned her mind away from the past, and to the present. To the boy in the room. He seemed a little awkward, but not in a bad way. Ginny smiled softly, hoping her presence hadn't actually disturbed him.

"And it's nice to meet you too, Alec. Mhm." She nodded, meaning her words. It was always nice to meet someone new - and even better when said new person was polite and kind. She laughed brightly, "Yeah, most people have heard of my brothers. Yeah... Not always known for good things though, the way the teachers comment on them." She flashed Alec a relaxed grin.

She was a little surprised to hear Alec had been in the DA last year. Had he really? She hadn't noticed him at all. A feeling of guilt filled her for a second. How awful. Had he just been ignored the whole time. She struggled to think back. "I'm sorry I didn't notice you. But the lessons were rather full and everyone was busy. Hopefully it'll continue again this year."</sub>

[ARCTURUS RIVEA NIGHTINGALE]

Arcturus himself smiled too, as she returned his greeting. There wernt many kind students these days, teenagers majoritivly only thought and cared about themselves and Ginny was a refreashing change. He liked her so far, it was strange for Alec to have a friend he never had many after his father died. When he was in his younger years and at muggle primary school he was averagely popular but since his father was killed he distanced himself, and at times he did wish he had friends but aquaintences were enough most of the time.

Alec nodded and laughed a little as Ginny commented on the twins being known to the teachers. "Well I suppose it may not be a good thing but the teachers have to admit it was a pretty impressive bit of magic though." Alec said, allowing a small laugh to slip through his smile, remembering Umbridges face last year. Alec wasn't one who tended to dislike teachers because he believed they all had different methods but she was rediculus and hadn't taught them anything but Alec did, however, believe they learned alot in the DA meetings from Harry Potter.

Alec smiled a little as Ginny seemed a little embarrased to relise she had never noticed him but Alec was used to it, he liked it better that way. "Don't feel bad, I kept out of peoples way, I concentrate better on practicing when I'm alone. But I agree I hope they do carry on because I think we learned lods and now Snapes teaching and he didn't get the job for years and years and their has to be a reason for that so I think we will still need Harry" Alec said nodding in agreement. He had loved the DA meetings, it made him want to become a professor more than ever.

[GINNY MOLLY WEASLEY]

<sub>Her thoughts wandered back to wondering about the history of the classroom every now and then before snapping back to look around and watch Alec, wondering what he was like. Trying to suss him out in a way. He seemed nice, and she had no reason to believe he wasn't.

Ginny laughed brightly, "It was certainly impressive. It's strange that they can create such impressive feats and yet only managed less than a handful of O.W.L's between them!" Her brothers hadn't done so well in their OWL's but it didn't really matter. They now had their own joke shop! And it was going really well, no one could deny that. She had even bought some merchandise from the store.

She smiled as she watched Alec relax slightly. Ginny wondered how she could have missed him so completely during her four years at Hogwarts so far. It was strange. She didn't know everyone by name, but she certainly had seen just about everyone at some point - and for Alec to have been in Dumbledores Army and gone to the meetings and she still didn't know who he was... Very strange. But he didn't seem to bothered, so she tried not to let it bother her, and Ginny began to relax once more.

"If you say so. But I am still sorry I didn't notice you." She smiled genuinely at him. "Yeah, with Snape teaching... No one is going to be learning a lot. But the amount of detentions given out will certainly increase."</sub>