Ginny's on Animal Planet

I'm cold.

This place, it's always so cold. Terrifying, too, and painful.

I almost expect my mind to be shattered by now, but I can think with utmost clarity.

Or maybe I am mad, and this is all some twisted fantasy. Maybe I'm at St. Mungo's, across the hall from the Longbottom's in a padded room.

Maybe. Such a strange word. Not yes, not no, but teetering in the middle.

A sharp chattering pierces my foggy brain.

I turn slightly, forcing my eyes to focus. Maybe it's the door squeaking, and the bad man coming in to torture me again.

Something white pops into my field of vision. I blink.

It's a squirrel. An albino squirrel. And it looks miffed.

Odd.

It's crawled through the bars of the window far above my head. It jumps down from the windowsill and darts across the floor, then through the barred door.

Something crashes into the bars of the window. I stand up and look curiously up at it. It's a huge eagle, holding a stick.

No, that's a wand.

Weird.

There's a soft zapping. The squirrel squeaks loudly and vanishes.

I shriek and recoil. It's one of the Bad Men, back to hurt me again. I close my eyes and press myself into the corner.

"Alohomora."

I press myself tighter to the wall. Any second now and he'll put that awful curse on me….

"Chill out, Weasley!"

There's a sound of metal scraping metal, then a grunt. I open one eye.

The Bad Man is standing in the middle of the room, window bars in his hands. A falcon comes streaming in, followed by a fox and an eagle.

The eagle has a wand. It points it with a talon at the fox. There is a small explosion of light.

Ron lets out a cough and brushed clumps of red fur off his clothes.

In the corner of my eye I see another flash of light and the falcon transforms. A second later the eagle twists, becomes a slender, dark-haired girl with a pale, anxious face.

Someone grabs my hands and pulls me upright. I cringe.

"Ginny, it's me!"