Harry Potter and The Year After
Another Quality Fanfiction by zero0000
I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter owns me.
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Summary: Ginny Weasely is a civilian caught in the crossfire of a Death Eater attack. The healing process is a lot more complicated than originally thought, and causes her to enter Hogwarts an entire year later than she should have. This is the story beginning with The Year After. Post Chamber of Secrets, semi-AU. No Pairing requests will be entertained as yet.
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Prologue: The Hogwarts Express
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Hogwarts Student Found Dead in Secret Chamber!
By Rita Skeeter
Third year student from Ravenclaw House Cho Chang was found dead in a long-forgotten secret chamber supposedly built by Hogwarts founder Salazar Slytherin. Sources indicate that she was used in some way to power a dark ritual that would have caused the return of You-Know-Who, had it not been for the interference of Harry Potter, who happened to be in the chamber at the time with Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart and fellow student Rumfeld Wesley.
According to reports, the aforementioned professor was battling with a giant basilisk, supposedly the cause of a number of petrifications (see previous issue's article by author) committed upon the educational institution's students, including the cat of school caretaker, when he accidentally obliviated himself, leaving both students quivering at the feet of the giant monster. However, due to a massive stroke of good luck, Potter was able to best the beast together with the help of Wesley and Hogwart's resident phoenix. Potter was injured in the battle, but has recovered thanks to the phoenix's tears, which proved indubitably useful even against the fatal bite of the basilisk.
When asked about rumors if Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore would close down the academy, the chief wizard of the Wizengamot had this to say: "What happened to Miss Chang is a tragedy that needs not happen again. We will be careful to address the issue of security regarding our students, and we will try very hard to make sure they are safe within our walls."
Lucius Malfoy, a prominent wizarding philanthropist, disagrees with the headmaster's statement. "The only way I'm ever going to trust the security in that school again is if the wizarding community has a hand in creating a check and balance to make sure our children never have to be in danger of an old man's miscalculations is to create a check and balance headed by families of the wizarding England," Malfoy stated. "The school governors must have a say in every issue regarding academic security, and indeed all academic policy. We must not let this travesty happen again by taking matters into our own hands."
Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge agrees wholeheartedly with this statement. Which is why he appointed Mr. Malfoy to the position of resident Magistrate of Academic Learning, reporting directly to the minister himself. Mr. Malfoy has stated time and again during interviews that he does not believe he is worthy of the honor, but this journalist for once is surprised at the man's modesty. "Although I have always been planning on taking an active interest in the educational pursuits of young witches and wizards," Mr. Malfoy later added. "Perhaps this may be the perfect opportunity to see if one man can make a difference."
Truly, this may be the start of great things happening in Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
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"Rumfeld Wesley?! Rumfeld Wesley?!"
Harry adjusted his glasses to keep them from sliding down his nose. "Ron," he said "calm down. It's not that big a deal." At that statement his best friend went totally ballistic.
"Not that big a deal?!" the youngest male in the Weasely clan yelled in exasperation "Are you daft!? That woman," Ron said, sounding out the word like it was the worst insult he could think of, "misspelled my name and wrote out a list of events that never happened! First off, Lockhart didn't accidentally," the redhead made some quotation marks with his fingers here"Obliviate himself. He deliberately tried to Obliviate us! And would have succeeded if he hadn't used my busted-up wand, fat lot of good it did him stealing it. There was no Lockhart trying to fight the basilisk and we certainly, certainly didn't cower at the ruddy snake's feet! Basilisk's don't even have feet! And furthermore—"
"Ron, let it go."
"But Harry—"
"Ron."
Aforementioned redhead slumped in his seat with a disgruntled snort. "I still don't see how you're not affected by all this," he said, waving a hand on the headlines. "They make that bloody arrogant, lying, pretender Lockhart out to be a hero and you don't even get anything but a single mention on one of the last paragraphs."
"Ron I'd be more than happy for them to leave me out of this entirely," Harry said, adjusting his glasses again. "I get enough attention I don't want because the entire wizarding world think I'm a hero for being the single person ever survive a curse designed to kill me. That isn't heroism, Ron. That's…that's bloody impossible, that's what it is. And can we not talk about this for a while?" That kept Ron quiet for the most part, though he did start muttering incoherently under his breath for a few minutes. That was, until Harry decided to change the subject.
"Isn't your sister supposed to be going into Hogwarts this year?"
"Ginny?" the redhead blinked at this. "Well yeah, I mean it was pretty hard to convince mum to let her go, even after the Healers gave her the clean bill of health," Ron conceded, taking a bite out of a chocolate frog. "I mean come on mate, the girl's in St. Mungo's for most of last year. She should have been in her second year now if it wasn't for that bloody attack. I'm worried if they'll even have a regular Quidditch season this year myself."
The youngest progeny of the Weasely clan had been present in a Quidditch match between Puddlemere United and the Chudley Cannons, an early birthday present for Ron from his older brother Bill, who was then employed as a curse breaker by Gringotts Bank, London Branch. It was little more than a freelance job at the time when Puddlemere United asked him to do a once over on their equipment, make sure no one was trying to affect the results of a crucial game to determine the core team that'll train for the England's Quidditch World Cup entry that year.
To make a long story short, Bill Weasley had found a couple of rather nondescript spells on the Chasers' brooms, seemingly created to keep the rider from falling inadvertently but actually designed to cause just that. A more thorough search revealed similar spells on the ones used by the team's two Seekers, which activated anytime they were in the presence of the snitch. Now, while it was commonplace to have people attempting to jinx the other team's brooms, Bill lucked out by spotting those right when the team manager had extra tickets to give away to the aforementioned match, allowing him to bring both Ron and Ginny (the twins, who were Quidditch players, were decidedly miffed by not being asked to come. Fred and George got revenge on their brother by substituting the bathroom's inside doorknob with a transfigured portkey they had made in school. Bill later found himself clad in only a towel right in the middle of London's commercial district, holding a disembodied brass doorknob in his hand with pieces of the bathroom door still clinging to it. Bill still hadn't forgiven them for it).
The Death Eater attack right in the middle of the second half came right as the Cannons had been leading by 320-270, but with the Puddlemere Seeker within moments of capturing the golden snitch and the victory. Bill had tried to take his siblings to safety, but not close enough to avoid the magical backwash of a particularly nasty and completely unknown curse smashing straight into a couple of dozen spectators. Ginny Weasely was the worst of the lot, having been a couple of meters away from point zero when the spell went off.
The Healers at St. Mungo's had spent the better part of the year trying to identify the damage, and by the time the symptoms were finally isolated, the littlest Weasely had spent an entire ten months in the wizarding hospital. Harry still hadn't managed to find out what exactly was wrong with Ginny, and if Ron's hesitation to share any more details that what Hermione managed to cull from her back copies of the Prophet, then the Boy-Who-Lived decided that even his best friend could use some privacy sometimes, no matter his fixation with his alleged fame told him. "Where is she anyway?" Harry asked. "She should have been back with Hermione by now."
"I don't know," Ron said, tossing aside his chocolate frog wrapper. "Girls always take a long time to do the simplest things. Besides, they were headed to the luggage compartment, remember? Like that's the easiest place to find."
"I suppose."
"But what really worries me is Malfoy's dad taking an active interest in the educational pursuits of young witches and wizards," Ron said, the italics so very much detectable in that last phrase. "How much are you going to bet that it'll all come out favoring those bloody Slytherins? And that self-absorbed, poncy git of a son he's got."
"Looks like this school year isn't going to be very pleasant."
"Got that right mate. Got that right."
All conversation was halted when a bloodcurdling scream erupted out from the hallway.
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Ginevra Molly Weasely pulled a stubborn lock of scarlet hair out of her eyes. "I'm really sorry for troubling you like this Hermione," she said, addressing the bushy-haired brunette who was currently holding up a lit want tip. "But I don't really trust my brother's wand what with that incident last year."
"I'm telling you it's all right Ginny," the older girl said. "I don't trust that wand of your brother's either. All that idiot Lockhart's fault to begin with. The man shouldn't have been trying to Obliviate Ron and Harry." Ginny smirked. She remembered Ron telling her about how even his friend Hermione had a lot to say about "that Lockhart moron" over the holidays. "What I'd like to know is why you haven't asked Harry to come with you."
"Harry?!" the redhead said, praying that excited note in her voice wasn't heard by the other girl. "What about Harry? Why should I have asked him to come with me anyway? I mean, not to be rude and all, but pretty happy with present company, thank-you-very-much."
If Ron's reactions were anything to take a cue from, Hermione would have anticipated that the way Ginny's face suddenly faced away from the lit wand tip would have been hiding one of the infamous Weasely blushes, the ones that tended to make the girl's older brother look like a freckly match stick with his red hair and even redder face. It was cute, truth be told. The muggle-born witch knew what it was like to have a schoolyard crush on someone, and everyone in this world knew the Boy-Who-Lived. Made a lot of sense when one thought of it that way, she decided. Oddly she wondered if Harry would be perceptive enough to notice, or would he completely miss the point like some boys were prone to doing.
The latter seemed far more likely, she concluded.
"What are we looking for anyway?"
"Oh just some potions I managed to mislay from my overnight bag."
"Is that for the thing you had?"
"Well yes."
"Is it anything like muggle diabetes?" Hermione asked, not even noticing how Ginny's walk seemed more tense than before. "I'm very interested in learning about wizarding illnesses. I might consider becoming a Healer one day, you see."
"In some ways I suppose it is," Ginny replied after spotting her trunk. It took some adaptive spell work from the other girl to help take off some heavy items piled on top of it. Hermione held up the wand over Ginny's head to help her peer into its contents. It took a few more minutes before the redhead had the one vial she missed, but the third year student was a bit disconcerted to find a pile of similar-looking bottles stacked neatly near the other girl's clothes.
"That seems like a large amount of potions for a single illness Ginny. Are you sure you'll have enough on you 'til the hols?"
"Dad's already owled Madame Pomfrey. I just need to talk to her anytime I need more."
"Well that's useful."
"Quite."
Ginny checked her things once more and closed the trunk. "I think I got everything," she decided. Hermione nodded and set them walking back the way she came, noting the placement of the trunks the pair passed coming in. It took a few more minutes for the pair to negotiate another path across the luggage compartment but finally they reached the door to one of the passenger cabins. Now it was just two more cars, three doors to where the boys were waiting.
"What do you think of my brother though?" Ginny said as if to make some conversation. Hermione stopped in her tracks and turned to look at her with a single raised eyebrow. The redhead guffawed at the almost instantaneous way the other girl caught her out.
"That obvious huh?"
"Subtlety isn't your strong suit, Ginny dear."
"Come on! I had to make some sort of attempt for that liking Harry quip."
"So you do like him?"
Ginny blushed. "Is it that obvious?" Hermione laughed. "Like I said, subtlety isn't your strong point. You have to understand, he isn't exactly what the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived made him out to be. Sometimes with all the things he's managed to accomplish the past two years, it's hard to believe he's just what he is: a confused boy who's possibly in over his head."
"All the things he's accomplished?"
"Let's see, he fought a troll and You-Know-Who on separate occasions our first year, battled a full-grown basilisk with a sword last year—"
"Wait a second," Ginny interrupted. "He fought a basilisk with a sword? I thought it was Lockhart who did most of the fighting." The other girl replied with a "never completely believe what the newspapers are telling you, dear girl."
"The way you tell it, it's like it's even harder to believe he is just a boy."
"What can I say? I have rather excellent diction."
"Such humility, Hermione."
"Well I try."
The pair conversed very much like this for the entire trip giggling and chatting each other up as they went. Both girls decided that they rather liked each other's company, and it would be a welcome change to hanging around with boys all the time in Hermione's case. Ginny pointed out that she had six brothers, though the twins arguably share the same mind. Hermione, having met the twins, had to agree.
The conversation went on pretty much the same direction until the two girls noticed a sudden drop in temperature. Something in Hermione's instincts told her they should run, and she did, stopping only momentarily to grab Ginny's hand and praying desperately that the other girl doesn't trip. From the corner of her eyes the brunette spotted a swirling black cloak, and the first thing on her mind was immediately Death Eaters! This would cause some problems, as she doubted any of the students had the skill to duel the magical world's version of terrorists. The lights went off and both girls stopped, the younger girl gripping the older one's arm tightly for comfort. "Hermione?" Ginny asked. "What's going on?"
"I have absolutely no idea. But it can't possibly be good."
A dark gray mist started to coalesce in the hallway, and the temperature dropped a few more degrees. Hermione racked her brain to try and identify what kind of creature might be capable of something like this, but the sense of all her happiness draining with every second was throwing her off. Ginny didn't seem any better, and from what the brunette could see from the little light she did have, the younger girl's complexion was quickly turning pale.
The shadowy creature loomed in front of them, looking very much like an agent of death with its swirling cloak in matte-black. It reached out to them with what looked like a decaying skeleton for a hand, and Hermione swore she could feel a magical backlash reverberating from the body of the girl who held on so tightly to her right arm.
"Ginny, what—"
"Get away, NOW!"
The decaying creature recoiled, as if recognizing the danger upon its person. With wide eyes Hermione Granger dropped to the floor of the cabin as Ron Weasely's little sister walked forward, radiating a blazing magical aura. This was not the Ginny Weasely she had met before, the brilliant third year realized. There was none of the timidity of the witch she had been introduced to this morning. Gone were the fear and panic that had been leaking out of her just moments before.
Now there was only power.
Ginny Weasely tilted her head to one side, the obviously dark creature seeking them harm not moments before clawing its way through the door with its wispy robes coming apart at the seems. The cloaked figure collapsed on the ground, the spot where its mouth should have been stretched tight as if screaming. Hermione stepped forwards, unsure of herself. The creature of fear appeared to be in pain, and the cause of which at this point seemed unknown to her. "Ginny?" she asked tentatively. "What are you—" Her breath caught in her throat when the redhead turned to look at her. Her eyes were glowing a dull blue.
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?" Ginny asked, the panic in her voice making itself heard once again. "What in Merlin's name am I doing?" The bushy-haired brunette nearly jumped when she felt a hand land on her shoulder. She turned to see the shabby-looking wizard looking in Ginny's direction, his eyes sharp and a wand leveled at the dark creature stalking them all. "We should be asking that question," he said calmly. Without further warning, he slashed his arm up and forwards, shouting the name of a spell as he did so.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A silver haze erupting from the tip of his wand made Hermione Grange shut her eyes tight, and when the glare was gone the dark creature was gone. Ginny looked at them both with glazed eyes and dropped to the ground like a lead weight. "Ginny!" the other girl screamed, running towards her fallen friend. The shabby-looking wizard looked out the windows, nodding to his satisfaction when all the others of the dark creature's kind started drifting away.
Hermione drew Ginny from the ground, trying to elicit a response. "Ginny," she pleaded. "Please wake up." She turned to the wizard, who had knelt down and offered something wrapped in foil that smelt pleasant, rather like…chocolate? "You should both eat these," he said. "Dementors tend to have that effect on people."
"Dementors?"
"Dark creatures in charge of guarding Azkaban prison," the wizard explained. "Another of the security measures our Magistrate on Academic Learning hoped to introduce to Hogwarts to further improve the security levels at our hallowed institution." The man said the title like it was a curse word. The name tugged at something in Hermione's memory.
"Dementors?" she asked again, rolling the word around in her tongue until something clicked in her head. What Hermione realized chilled her soul. "You don't mean the dark creatures that can steal a person's soul with just a kiss? Why would anyone release them near a school? That's positively crazy!" The wizard nodded, motioning for her to take the now obviously wrapped bar of chocolate. Hermione took a bite absently. It cleared her head somewhat, and having a befuddled brain was not something the brilliant third year took lightly.
Unfortunately any further explanation was stopped when the train car's door was forced open by a blasting curse. The shabby-looking wizard and the remaining conscious girl in the room turned to see Ron Weasely and Harry Potter, both boys the three shared a cabin with, and both with leveled wands. "What the bloody hell did you do to my sister?!" the redheaded boy shouted. Harry's eyes didn't blink. Cho Chang's lesson more than taught him how to be alert.
"Ron, stop! He was only trying to—"
What Hermione Granger was trying to say was "he was only trying to help." Unfortunately the massive magical explosion suddenly enveloping the car cut off any words from her, from the shabby wizard, and from pretty much everyone in the train car.
A/N: Beta'd by Dementresses. Read her stuff. It's been a while since she last wrote anything though.