It's been a while since I updated my T/G series, so here goes nothing (and everything). I really do want to post this one a chapter at a time, especially because it's not finished yet, and I think doing a bit at a time will inspire me. I really can't wait for the reactions to some of these chapters. I'm just so thrilled to share this story. Enjoy!

Trixie Black Lestrange

Percy woke Ginny by shaking her gently, knowing she had seventeen serpents hidden in her robes. "We'll be coming into the station soon," he said softly when she blinked up at him sleepily. "Sit up. And you might want to go say goodbye to your friends. I'll handle your trunk."

"Thanks," she said to him, then yawned as she turned and headed through the compartments to find her friends.

"Estella!" said her red-haired friend in surprise when she came into their compartment. Megan, Guage, Cherea, Corin, Meris, Rohan, and Karntaan were all seated in the car together, looking at her. "Where've you been?"

"With Percy," she answered. "It's his last year, and he wanted me to ride with him on the way home. Anyway, I've just come to say goodbye and good luck to all of you during the summer. I'm going to have a terrible summer."

Corin laughed, and Meris elbowed him. "She meant that," he told his friend.

The fair-haired boy looked over at Ginny/Estella. "You did?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Estella grinned and nodded, taking a seat between Cherea and Meris. "Fred and George are mad at me and told me that they're leaving me to their mother's designs," she told them. "Also, I'm taking all seventeen bitemates home, and she's bound to find out somehow. Only Bill, Percy, and the twins know I have all of Icythan's bitemates. I'm pretty sure I'll have one friend at the Burrow this summer: Percy."

"You're terribly bad off," Meris said to her, grinning.

"Write me," she told him. "All of you, if you want. Nothing to suggest that I know I'm not a Weasley, however. It'll drive Molly mad, my getting any kind of notes from my schoolmates that she doesn't know."

"And doesn't approve of," chuckled Karntaan. "We should do that, Ro. Scare both Ginny's 'parents.'"

The Lestrange twins chuckled mischievously, and Meris frowned slightly. "You don't want the Weasley woman to tell her she can't write any of her friends, or read any letters from them."

Rohan smiled a little. "We'll play it safe," he answered. "And she can talk her way out of most things, anyway."

The train began to slow down, and Estella got to her feet, biting her lip. "I'll see you next year," she said to them softly, then hurried to the door. "Goodbye," she told them, then left the compartment.

As she left the train, she passed Draco and his mother and winked at the blonde boy. He smirked, but turned away before his mother could see. Glancing up and down the platform for red hair, Ginny saw Arthur Weasley greeting Percy and the twins, and sighed.

"Courage," said someone close by, and she realized Meris was standing beside her. "Do you see my mum?" he asked her, looking around the platform. "I'd rather not be stared at, you know."

"Yeah," she muttered, looking over the crowd for his mother. "I wish things could be different."

"So do I," he said, glancing sideways at her. "I'll write you," he told her quietly, then levitated his trunk and disappeared into the crowd to find his mother.

Biting her lip, Ginny hurried through the crowd, up to her father, and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He slipped his arms around her and hugged her. "Ginny," he said with a smile. "How was school?"

Ginny looked up at him, her eyes somehow different. "It was great, Dad," she answered. "I've had so many new experiences, and I've got several new friends!"

"Very good," he smiled, hugging her again before he kept her by his side, turning to greet Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What is that?" Ginny said in horror, staring at the bundle of feathers Ron was trying to keep contained in an owl cage.

"It's an owl," Ron told her excitedly. "S—someone sent it to me! He's mine, Dad!"

Arthur nodded, then smiled politely at Harry and Hermione. "Nice to see you again, Harry, Hermione. We will probably be contacting you later in the summer."

Ginny's heart sank. That, undoubtedly, meant she would have to share a room with Hermione sometime during the next two months. She gave Hermione a shy smile, and the brown-haired girl returned it, bigger and brighter than Ginny's. She leaned closer to her father, who squeezed her a little, her serpents slithering out of the way beneath her robes uncomfortably.

After several moments of waiting around for Ron and his other brothers to say goodbye to Harry and Hermione, the Weasley family walked out of the platform back into the Muggle portion of King's Cross. They caught hands in a slightly unpopulated alleyway, Mr. Weasley apparating them into the backyard of the Burrow.

Molly was watching as each of her sons walked into the house, their trunks in their grasp. "Ginevra, where is your trunk?" Molly demanded of the red-haired girl.

Ginny turned to look for Percy, but he'd already gone inside the Burrow. "Percy's got it," she said. "He offered to take care of it for me so I could say goodbye to my friends."

"All right," Arthur said, and Ginny quickly walked into the house ahead of the two Weasleys, hurrying up the stairs toward her room.

"Great," she sighed when she realized that Percy still had her trunk. Ginny left her room to find her older brother and met him coming back down the stairs. "Oh, good," she said, and he grinned a little.

"Just forgot that I had your trunk," he shrugged, following her into her room. He stood before her bed, then lifted her miniature, lightweight trunk out of his pocket, using his wand to enlarge her trunk to its regular size. "There you go," he told her. "And don't forget that you're allowed to come hide in my room whenever you need to."

"Thanks, Percy," she told him gratefully. "I probably will sometimes."

He smiled and gave his sister a hug. "Any time, Ginny," he said softly. "Come to me if you have nightmares again. And don't forget to ward your room and your bed."

Ginny squeezed her brother tightly. "Okay," she whispered. "Thank you."

Percy patted her on the back, then left her alone in her room to unpack her trunk.

Ginny denied eating that evening so that she had time to herself in her room. Her bitemates were restless, so she allowed them to slither out from under her robes and inspect her room. She told them, "You can go around the house, but do not be ssseen by any of them, not even my oldessst nessstmate brother. You may eat the mice and rat hisssusss you find, but leave the flying hisssusss alone."

Some of the basilisks seemed disappointed, but all of them agreed, some of them slithering into the walls and disappearing from her into different areas of the house. Icythan settled next to his mistress's chest, Odessa on her left arm and Teneski curled around her right wrist. "Missstress mussst sleep," Icythan told her as Ginny sat down on her bed and sighed. "The red hisssusss will hurt missstress: missstress mussst ressst to ssstay sssafe."

"Okay," Estella said, giggling a little as she Summoned a nightgown and got ready for bed. "I'll sleep now. Thank you for your concern, Icythan." She lay down on the bed, pulling the covers up around her. "Please tell the bitemates to return to me when I wake in the morning," she requested of the three that had remained with her. "You will tell them when I awake, won't you?"

"Of courssse, Missstress," Odessa told her reassuringly. "Sssleep, Missstress. It wasss a long sssun, sssuch a long trip to Missstress's nessst."

"Yesss," Estella agreed, then yawned and curled up beneath her blanket, falling asleep rather quickly.

The first Saturday of summer break, Arthur took Percy up to the Ministry for his apparition test. When they arrived back at the Burrow, Percy was beaming with pride, and Ginny shouted happily, throwing her arms around him. "You got it!" she cried, and he produced his license, making her squeal and hug him more fiercely.

The five basilisks she had on her hissed uneasily, and Percy raised an eyebrow and hugged her carefully before releasing her. Fred and George inspected their brother's new apparition license and pronounced that it was a forgery, merely because it had Percy's name on it. Ginny rolled her eyes at them, still grinning over Percy's triumph.

"And," Percy continued proudly, making Ron and the twins watch him cautiously, "I've got a job up at the Ministry. I'm going to be—

He didn't get a chance to finish, because his mother smothered him in a hug, and Ginny hugtackled him the instant Molly released him. "Congratulations!" Ginny said happily. "Oh, very good!"

Ron looked a little grumpy, and Percy said, "Come on, Ron, it's exciting!"

The youngest Weasley scowled at his older brother. "Well, yeah, it's good, if that's what you want. Percy, Ginny named my owl Pigwidgeon! Isn't that the most hideous name you've ever heard?"

"Well," Percy shrugged, "it could be worse."

"Yeah," Fred agreed. "She could have named it after you, Percy."

"Stop teasing him like that!" Ginny snapped at Fred angrily. "You're being absolutely terrible to him for no reason!"

George smirked at his sister. "It's not as if you don't have a reputation for doing the same thing to others," he answered.

Fred agreed with his twin. "And we're not doing it for 'no reason.' We're doing it because he's a git, and all gits need to be reminded that they aren't as important as they think!"

Molly brushed Fred and George aside, offering Percy and Arthur a late breakfast since they'd been up earlier than the rest. Percy sat down, putting away his license as Ginny sat down beside him and warned him to do so. He let her know that he appreciated her trying to stand up for him by squeezing her hand under the table.

Through the next few days, Ginny realized that, not only were her twin brothers going to leave her to fend off Molly by herself, but they also tried to pick fights and argue with her as much as they could. Ginny tried to stay out of the twins' way, hiding in her room a lot. The basilisks kept her company and talked to her, keeping a lookout in different parts of the house for their mistress.

Ginny eventually asked Basari to keep an eye on the Weasley twins and to let her know if they talked about her. Fred and George seemed to be doing a lot of banging around in their room, but Basari informed her that they were merely "playing with explosssive magicsss!"

One day, Ginny was sitting in her room, writing a letter to Brianna and Samantha, when the bitemates all began to panic. "Missstress!" Ananke hissed over all the others. "The double hisssusss have Basari! They have captured her!"

"No!" gasped Ginny, but her bitemates confirmed it, and she took them onto her body, leaving the room and going to Fred and George's bedroom. Taking a deep breath, she slipped her hand into her pocket in case she needed her wand, and unlocked the door, barging into the room and shutting the door behind her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Fred shouted at her in shock, jumping back and releasing the serpent he'd been holding.

"Basari, no!" Estella commanded. "Come to Missstress!" She looked over at the two angrily. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded of them. "You've injured one of my serpents!"

"We were minding our own business!" George retorted just as heatedly, "and we found that you really are keeping serpents under our beds!"

Fred jumped up and glared at her. "You can't just come into our room like that!"

Ginny glared back at him in fury. "You injured Basari! I am her mistress, and I protect mine!"

The door banged open and Ron came in, scowling. "What's going on in here?" he joined in the shouting. His eyes opened wide at the sight of his sister holding a snake. "Ginny, what are you doing?" he snapped at her. "She isn't threatening you, is she?" Ron asked Fred and George. "Mum would kill her."

Several of the bitemates slithered into the brothers' vision before Estella could stop them. "The hisssusss will not hurt the missstress!" Levir hissed at Ron.

Ron gaped at Ginny's basilisks, then backed out of the room and slammed the door, his footsteps running away from them down the stairs. "Mother!" he cried, sounding terrified. "Mother, Ginny's got more snakes! Mum!"

Ginny turned to look at the twins, her heart pounding. She darted for the door, her face pale, and held Basari close to her as she wrenched the door open with her other hand and ran for her room. "Basari, hide," she hissed frantically. "I will come back to you and get you help. I'm sssorry."

Footsteps were coming up the stairs, and by the time the serpents were all out of sight, Ginny barely turned from their hiding places to see Molly throw the door open, her wand out.

"What is the meaning of THIS?" Molly Weasley demanded angrily, glaring at the girl and pointing at Ron, who stood out on the landing, trembling. "What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything," Ginny whispered, terror flooding over herself. "He only saw my bitemates and ran off."

"How many of them do you have?" Molly demanded. "You only had the one—"

"I rescued them all from the tombs," Ginny said, sitting down on the bed, a lump in her throat. "There are seventeen."

Molly gaped at her. "Show them to me," she ordered the girl.

Estella hissed a command, and her bitemates all came out of her robes again, remaining on their mistress's body. "They obey me," she said. "I am their mistress."

"You ordered them to frighten your brother!" Molly said angrily. "I've told you, Ginevra; I will not allow this kind of behaviour from you! You will have to get rid of them."

"I won't!" shouted Estella, jumping to her feet. "They are mine! They are the only creatures in the world who understand me, and I will not give them up!"

Molly waved her wand, and Estella shrieked as her bitemates were torn from her, landing behind her on the bed. "No!" she screamed, her own wand in her hand. "I won't get rid of them. I am responsible for them!"

The hissing of the bitemates grew louder, and Molly locked the bedroom door behind her. "You are not leaving this room for anything less than absolutely necessary until you learn to obey me," she snapped at the girl.

The bitemates were returning to her, and they all remained visible on the outside of her robes. "I haven't disobeyed," Ginny cried. "I haven't done anything wrong! I had to look after them because there was no one else! No one else can speak to them!"

"You were only supposed to have the one, but not even that one!" Molly said, her face red. "You cannot have seventeen serpents IN MY HOUSE!" She shouted her last few words, her wand hand very firm. "Something has to be done about your disobedience, Ginevra. I will speak to your father when he arrives home." She whirled and left the room.

"No," sobbed Ginny without tears, collapsing onto the bed. "No, I won't. I won't do any of it. You're mine," she hissed to her bitemates, and they all gathered around her except Basari, not speaking.

"Missstress," hissed Basari. "Missstress mussst help."

"I'm sorry," choked Ginny, lifting the small basilisk into her lap. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt. I'm so sorry!"

The bitemates tried their best to reassure her, but Ginny wasn't reassured. She got up, grasping her wand and closing her eyes. "Expecto Patronum," she whispered after a moment. She had to try the spell several times before it worked, but finally, her Basilisk Patronus lay coiled before her, ready for her orders.

Estella took a deep breath and said, "Jonathan—sir—one of my bitemates has been injured. I think she was hit by something that exploded in the twins' room. She's got to have help—" two tears ran down her cheeks as she struggled to continue "I don't know what to do. I'm not allowed to leave my room—"

Icythan tasted the skin of her neck with his tongue and hissed, "Missstress mussst allow the bitematesss to take hurt bitemate down to older Parssselmouth. Missstress does not need to go down. She can ssspeak through the bitematesss."

"Some of the bitemates will be able to meet you outside the house, in the orchard, possibly, if you come," Ginny continued, brushing her hair out of her eyes as she instructed the Patronus. "The injured one will be with them: Mrs. Weasley's furious that I have seventeen serpents here, so I'm stuck in my room for a long time. Please, please help Basari: she really is injured."

The Patronus left the room, and Ginny sank back down onto the bed, stroking Basari very gently to see if she could find out what was wrong. She found a couple scales that were slightly out of place, and bit her lip, not wanting to hurt her serpent.

Finally, Estella heard someone hiss her name, and turned to see someone on a broomstick coming toward her window. Quickly stepping toward the window, she yanked the window open and the person flew through it, landing in her bedroom. "Hello?" she said uncertainly.

The boy threw back his hood and gave her a small grin before saying, "You have an injured basilisk, Stel?"

Estella nodded. "Basari," she said to Corin. "Take her and go. You cannot stay here. If Molly catches us—" she shuddered "oh, just go, please, and thank you so much, Corin."

He gave her a small smile, then took Basari onto his arm and flew out the window. Estella watched him fly away into the sky and sighed, knowing that Basari was going to get the best care possible.

Greatly concerned, Ginny sat down at her desk and continued her letter to her Charleston cousins. She told them what had just happened, explaining that the Weasley twins were getting revenge for her Quidditch betrayal. "They could have been decent about it," she wrote angrily, "but I guess betrayal has a steep price. I should probably not do that again unless Fred and George are gone from school, or I refuse to associate with Gryffindor anymore."

She bit her lip after she'd sealed and curse-warded her letter against anyone but Brianna or Samantha opening it. She couldn't send her letter until Percy arrived home, because she usually used his owl. Sighing, Ginny hid her envelope until she would be able to send it.

Soon enough, she saw her father and her brother Percy appear in the backyard, heading for the house, Percy talking excitedly. Ginny smiled as his enthusiasm, then turned toward the door of her room, wanting to go down to see them. Biting her lip again, she turned from the window, stroking Lises carefully.

Moments later, she heard Molly raise her voice downstairs, and heard Ron join in. Ginny reached up and rubbed the side of her face tiredly, wishing Molly would just broom her and get it over with. A sudden memory hit her, and she grasped a shelf on the wall to keep herself upright.

When she was about four, she'd been annoying Ron, and Molly had taken the broom to her. Little Ginny had consequently lost control of her child magic and hit her brother Percy in the chest. Percy had been in St. Mungo's for almost two days, and Ginny had been scared of him when he'd come back home. He had not been angry, but the two had avoided each other for a long time.

"Percy," Estella breathed. "I didn't know I hurt him, too! I would have hated me when I was little, but he—he was so protective of me, and I hurt him. Percy!"

"Ginny?" her door opened, and Arthur stood in the doorway, glancing around the room before stepping inside. To his chagrin, she burst into tears. "Ginny," he said softly, coming over to her and slipping his arms around her, "Ginny, it's going to be all right."

The small red-haired girl clung to her father tightly. "You told me that after I put Percy in St. Mungo's a long time ago," she choked. "Dad, I'm sorry."

He sighed, hugging her close. "It isn't your fault," he told her softly. "And do you also remember that I told you Percy is not upset with you about that?"

"Yeah," Ginny sniffled, aching as she remembered the fears of her four year old self. "Did Mum tell you...?" She let her voice trail off, turning her face away from her father.

"She did," Arthur replied, his voice still calm and quiet. "Shall we sit down and talk about it?" Ginny nodded, and the two sat down on her bed, Ginny pulling her old, worn teddy bear closer. Her father looked surprised. "You haven't slept with that bear since you were three or four years old," he said. "I haven't seen it for a long time. Where has it been?"

"It's been up in my closet," Ginny answered, brushing her stupid, emotional tears away. "I just remembered that I had one, so I looked for it and got it out. I've been hiding it: I don't want the boys or Mum to know I've been sleeping with it again."

"All right," Arthur nodded. "Now, Ginny, do you really have seventeen serpents here in the house?"

Ginny hissed a command, and her bitemates slithered to the outside of her robes, regarding the red-haired man and hissing. "There are seventeen in all, but I only have fourteen on me," she answered, touching Icythan at her neck. "Fred and George hurt one of them, Basari, so I sent her away to my friends to be healed. I didn't set them on Ron, Dad; I promise. Ron just spotted them and ran out of the room. I have told them they aren't to hurt anyone here in the house—" she sighed, almost rolling her eyes "even Mum is safe."

Arthur chuckled. "Will they obey you?" he asked.

All the bitemates raised their heads from resting and hissed, "Alwaysss obey Missstress!"

"And protect Missstress!" Lises answered, hissing contently as she rewarded his words with gentle strokes along his scales.

"They said that they will always obey me, for I am their mistress," Ginny answered, looking straight into her father's eyes. "Lises says that they must protect me as well. I have told them that I do not want them to kill, Dad. These serpents can control the amount of venom in their bite, and also, whether to kill, stun, or cause terrible pain in a victim."

"Does your mother know the serpents can do that?" Arthur asked his daughter.

"No," she said bitterly. "She doesn't care about what I know about the serpents, and what they can do. She only thinks that I threatened Ron, and she won't listen to anything I have to say. Mum never has. She probably thinks I'm a terrible daughter, or something, or maybe having six sons made her completely forget anything she ever knew about raising a little girl—an innocent little girl."

He slipped his arm around her again. "Ginny, sweetling," he said softly, and her eyes filled with unwanted tears. "What is wrong? You seem to be upset so much since you came home from school. Did something happen that upset you?"

She buried her face in his robe. "You called me sweetling when I first came here," she choked. "You were the only thing that calmed me down—my—I was called sweetling before—" A realization that she'd just majorly slipped up came over her, but she continued to cling to Arthur, unmoving, and not showing her face.

"Ginny," he said, sounding very, very strange, "are your memories coming back?"

She jerked slightly, then looked up into his face. "What do you mean?" she asked, trying to sound confused.

He sighed, then grasped her in a hug. "I love you," he whispered in her ear. "You know that, don't you?" Ginny nodded against his chest, and he continued, "I'm sorry that your younger childhood was so difficult and filled with trouble and problems. If I had a chance, I would do it differently."

Ginny looked up at him, then threw her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. "I—I don't blame you," she said quietly. "You could hardly help it: you've almost always been working when something happens. But you've always loved me, and you—you comfort me. Like you're doing now. Thanks, Dad."

Arthur gave her another squeeze, then released her and got to his feet. "The serpents will remain with you," he said, "but Molly will hold you responsible for anything they do, including scaring her by showing up in her cupboards. You probably don't want to risk it."

"No," Ginny agreed, shaking her head. "Oh, thank you, Dad. I couldn't get rid of them: I am responsible for them already!" She bit her lip. "I love you," she whispered.

"Love you too," he responded, and she hurried over to her desk.

"Um, could you give this letter to Percy so he can send it to my cousins?" she asked him.

"Well, why don't you give it to him at dinner?" Arthur said. "Come downstairs with me, and you can stay close by until it's time to eat. I'll make sure you sit right beside him."

Ginny gave him a broad smile. "Oh, thank you!" she said happily, and he smiled slightly, then led her from the room. She sat down on the couch in the living room, relief washing over her, and the bitemates clamoured excitedly that none of them would be leaving her. They also reported to their mistress that Basari had been healed, fed, and was now sleeping in cozy warmth, next to the nestmate of the boy who had brought her to the serpent-healer.

She breathed a small sigh, leaning against her father's arm, and remained there quietly, her letter safe in her pocket, until it was time for supper. Ginny took a seat beside Percy, around the corner of the table from her father. She did not speak during the meal, but tried to be as notice-me-not as possible.

When Percy got up to go to his room, Ginny followed him quietly, making sure not to draw the others' attention to herself. He turned to her on the landing to his room, and she pulled her letter out of her pocket, biting her lip. "All right," he said. "To whom?"

"Brianna and Samantha Charleston," she answered quickly. "It's already sealed, and curse-warded, so don't try to open it. Thanks, Percy."

"You're welcome," he said quietly. "Now, Ginny, I've modified the wards on my room so no one can enter it without my magical permission when you're in here. You'll be able to come in even when I'm not here."

"Oh," she began, then tilted her head slightly. "If you're not home, and I come in here, no one will be able to come in after me?"

"Exactly," Percy nodded with a grin. "Do you want to come send your letter off?"

Ginny looked a little uncomfortable. "I think I should go back to my room," she replied. "Mum told me not to come out for anything less than absolutely necessary, and Dad escorted me downstairs to supper. Thanks, though. I'll see you around." She headed back toward the stairs and her room, wanting to get ready for bed and sleep. She did not want to face Fred and George any time soon.