Disclaimer: The characters in this story are based on characters from
JK Rowling's Harry Potter series. They are in no way mine, I'm just borrowing them for a little while. There are, however, some characters that belong to me and me only - April, Professor Jasper, etc.
Author's Note: Okay, guys, here it is. This part takes place during Harry's fifth year, and Ginny's fourth. I hope you enjoy it! Don't forget to R & R!!
Prologue
"I want what belongs to me, and I want it NOW!" the man slammed his hand over the desk.
"I'm sorry, but it's just not possible!" another argued.
"Then make it possible," the first man snarled.
The other man shrunk, even though he was on the other side of the desk from the first. "I - I'll see what I can do."
"See that you do," the first man glared menacingly as he walked toward the door. "Oh, and by the way," he paused. "How is your niece? I hear she just turned two."
~*~
Ginny Weasley was having the time of her life. "Okay, you distract them while I switch the wands."
April Thasen gave her a thumbs up before casually walking over to Ginny's twin brothers, Fred and George. "Did you hear abut the prank someone played on Slytherin last night?"
The brothers instantly fell for the bait, excitedly chattering about some of the reactions they had witnessed. Not that they had anything to do with the prank, of course.
Ginny snuck up the staircase leading to the boy's dormitories. After a bit of searching, she managed to locate the seventh year dorms, and let herself in. It was pathetically easy to figure out which beds were her brothers - there were parchments with different versions of "Weasley's Whizard Wheezes" (and some with the correct way to spell it spread all over two of them).
Since Ginny knew that they had left their wands upstairs (she'd made sure of it), she quickly pulled out the replacements she had for them. Let's see....where would I place a wand if I were Fred or George?
After a few moments of reflection (and thanking her lucky stars that she wasn't Fred or George), Ginny opened the night stand between their beds. She fiddled with the drawer a bit, and was satisfied to find it had a false bottom which contained their wands.
That'll teach them to brag about secret drawers and such.
Ginny stuffed each wand under one of their mattresses, charming the beds so the wands wouldn't be crushed or broken underneath them. She also charmed the beds so that every time Fred or George sat on them, they'd become unbearably hot.
Satisfied, Ginny snuck down the stairs, unnoticed by others. She decided to grab a snack from the kitchens, since it wasn't yet curfew.
As she drew near the kitchen, she heard angry voices shouting.
"I'm sorry, but it's just not possible!" a familiar voice argued.
"Then make it possible," an eerie voice replied angrily.
Curious, Ginny walked towards an open door. Lights streamed, and shadows danced across the floor in front of it.
"I'll see what I can do," the first voice said fearfully.
Ginny peeked in.
"See that you do."
Ginny gasped when she realized who the familiar voice belonged to. But why was the strange man arguing with Professor Jasper?
Suddenly, the stranger began walking towards the door. Ginny quickly ran into a nook in the stone walls, and hid until they passed.
"Oh, and by the way, how's your niece? I heard she just turned two."
Ginny counted to one hundred, and then slowly peeked out. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she ran straight back to Gryffindor tower. No point in going to the kitchens - she'd lost her appetite.
"Ginny! Fred was just telling me about his latest creation. Why don't you join us?" Allie said meaningfully.
"Uh - "
"Ginny, could you come here for a second?" Colin Creevey called from across the room.
"Sure," she waved to Fred and Allie before walking over to Colin.
"Can you understand this?" Colin pointed to an arithmantic problem on his paper. "This is much harder than it was when Professor Vector explained it to us in class."
"Let's see...the significance of the number twelve to the situation in paragraph five on page three hundred and ninety - nine in the book," Ginny gestured for Colin to hand her his arithmantic book.
After the perusing the page, she sighed."I got stuck on that one too, Colin. I'm afraid I can't help you."
"Thanks anyway, Gin," Colin smiled.
Ginny smiled back and stretched her muscles. "I think I'll call it a night. I'm tired."
"It's only nine, Gin. You must be really tired," Colin raised his eyebrows.
"I'm fine. Just a little tired, is all," Ginny yawned. "G'night."
Shortly afterward, Ginny was in a pair of comfy pajamas and Charlie's old jumper, which had shrunk immensely after her father gave his beloved muggle washing machine a test drive. Ginny had snatched it and claimed it as hers ever since. Then again, she was the only one who fit in it now, so nobody complained.
Before she sat on her bed, she reached out and pulled the curtains around her, blocking herself off from the rest of the room. She then proceeded to reflect on what she had witnessed earlier that night.
"I'm sorry, but it's just not possible!"
"Then make it possible!"
Ginny knew that one of them was her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. But why was he being threatened? What could the other man possibly have wanted that made him threaten the life of her professor's niece?
Maybe the professor had stolen something from the stranger. Money, perhaps? No, it couldn't be. Professor Jasper was such a wonderful role model for all of his students.
But his niece was being threatened.
*Should I tell someone?* Ginny wondered.
*Of course you should! A girl is in danger!*
*But what if that makes it worse? What if he goes and kills the girl anyway?*
*Come on, Ginny. you're way in over your head. You need to tell somebody!*
*But who?*
*Professor Dumbledore can help. He always knows what to do.*
*Maybe...*
*Or Professor McGonagall! Anybody!*
*Maybe I just dreamed it. I'll wake up any moment now...*
~*~
Ginny didn't report it, although it kept pricking on her conscience.
A few days later, she found herself in the Gryffindor common room, staring at the flames crackling in the fireplace.
It was long past midnight, and she was having Should I Tell? Round One Million and Two when the portrait door opened.
Ginny looked up to see who was coming in (she hadn't heard or seen anybody head out), but frowned when she didn't see anybody.
...There! She saw a slight ripple in the air, over by the boy's staircase.
"Who's there?" she called out, looking directly at the spot where she saw the ripple.
When Ginny didn't hear an answer, she walked directly towards the area, thrusting her arms forward. She felt a thin, silky material in her hands, and gave it a good yank.
Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley froze.
"How'd...how'd you know?" Ron stammered.
Ginny shrugged and handed the cloak back to Harry. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."
"What are you doing up at this time of night?" Ron demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing," Ginny folded her arms defiantly.
The boys glanced at each other.
"We....err..." Ron began.
"Wanted a midnight snack," Harry cut in.
"Uh, yeah. So, we'll just be off then," Ron said hurriedly. He didn't want to have to explain that he'd just helped Harry smuggle out yet another of Hagrid's illegal "pets." It was a good thing Charlie had so many connections; otherwise they'd never have found a home for the...thing...that Hagrid had.
"Well then, goodnight," Ginny said uncertainly. It was obvious that she knew they were lying.
"'Night," Harry smiled faintly before following Ron's hurried steps up the stairs.
"Wait!" Ginny said suddenly. Tell them now, before you lose your nerve!
The boys warily turned around.
"What, Ginny? We're tired," Ron said irritably.
"It's just that..." she trailed off as Ron tapped his fingers impatiently (and loudly) against the banister.
"What is it?" Harry frowned,
"Oh...just forget it,"Ginny said hastily.
"Are you sure?"Harry came a step down the banister.
Ron now began tapping his feet loudly to the same rhythm his fingers were dancing too.
"Positive. G'night," Ginny grabbed the blanket she'd brought down off of the couch and dashed up the stairs to the girls' dorms.
"Wonder what that was all about?" Harry wondered as he stared in the direction Ginny had gone.
"Who cares? Come on, I'm about to fall asleep," Ron dragged Harry up.
~*~
"Miss Weasley?"
Ginny looked up.
"Could you see me after class please?"
She nodded before returning to her work. What could Professor Jasper want to speak to her after class about?
He knows, a voice poked from the back of her mind.
Thirty minutes later, the classroom was dismissed, and Ginny was the only student left in the room.
"Ginny, why don't you join me in my office?" the professor beckoned.
She nervously followed him through his office door and sat on a chair in front of his desk.
"Miss Weasley, I've been concerned about you as of late. Your grades are nowhere near the usual high standards you keep. If they keep dropping, you are in danger of failing my class," Professor Jasper informed her.
The professor perched on the edge of his desk, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, what's the cause of this drastic change?"
Ginny looked down at her skirt, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles. "Um, nothing. I - I'll get try my best to bring my grades back up, Sir."
"Are you sure that there's not anything you need to tell me?" He looked straight in her eyes as he said this.
Ginny shook her head.
"Very well then," the professor stood up with a start as someone walked in the room.
With a start, Ginny realized that it was the same man who had been threatening her professor and his niece.
"If you'll excuse us, please," Professor Jasper gestured towards the door.
Ginny nodded before leaving the room, but had no intentions of going far. She decided right then and there that she'd wait for the bad man to leave, then confront her teacher about the issue. Maybe she'd be able to convince him to go to Dumbledore, before it was too late.
Ginny bit her lip. From the point she was at, she could hear raised voices debating heatedly, although she couldn't understand a word they were saying.
Finally, curiosity got the better of her, and she peeked through a crack in the door, The stranger had left it just far enough ajar so that she could see his back,
"Avada Kedavra!" the man suddenly shouted.
Before Ginny realized what she was doing, she'd run into the room to the professor's side.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?"
Ginny remembered the stranger just as everything went black.
~*~
"All students return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers to the staff room immediately. Prefects, please proceed to take a roll call of the students in your respective Houses."
The announcement had come during lunch, and was rather sudden.
"Not another one," Ron moaned. They had been practicing emergency drills all year long. Ever since the return of Voldemort, Dumbledore wasn't taking any risks. He wanted his students well prepared in case of an emergency.
"Ron, they didn't warn the prefects beforehand that they were having a drill. They always warn us," Hermione said worriedly.
"I'm sure it's nothing, Hermione. Come one, we'll find out what's going on later," Harry ushered his friends out of the Great Hall and to Gryffindor Tower.
There was a huge commotion in the Tower when they arrived.
"Quiet, please!" Hermione stood on a stool and tried to get the students' attention.
When waving her arms frantically and yelling didn't work, Hermione sighed. Pulling out her wand, she pointed the tip to her throat and cast a charm.
"QUIET!"
The common room instantly shut up.
Hermione reversed the charm and continued in a normal voice. "Could I get a volunteer boy and girl to go check their respective dormitories for stragglers? Preferably somebody with a last name in the latter letters. Yes, thank you," she nodded to Dean Thomas and Parvati Patil as they rushed up to the dorms.
"Now, then," Hermione pulled out a parchment from her bag. "Say 'here' when I call your name. Allstorus, Abigail..."
"We've never done roll calls before," Ron whispered to Harry amid the 'here's.'
"I guess Dumbledore thinks you can't be too cautious," Harry replied. But somehow, he didn't think this was a drill.
"...Brown, Lavender..."
"Here!"
"So, have you heard from Snuffles lately?" Ron asked.
"....Finnigan, Seamus..."
"Here!"
"Not since last month," Harry replied worriedly. "I hope that doesn't mean something's happened."
"...Longbottom, Neville..."
"I'm sure it's nothing. He probably just hasn't had a chance to write," Ron reassured him.
"Longbottom, Neville? Does anybody see Neville Longbottom in here?"
"He's right here, Hermione. Completely forgot about the roll call and fell asleep in his dorm. No one else is up there."
"Thank you, Dean," Hermione continued with the roll call.
"How could he have forgotten the roll call?" Harry wondered.
Ron gave him a look. "This is Neville we're talking about, remember?"
"Oh, yeah."
"...Potter, Harry..."
"Here!" The Boy Who Lived called out.
"...Silenté, Muteus...MUTEUS SILENTÉ!"
"He's right here, Hermione. You know as well as the rest of us that he doesn't talk."
"...Talamentate, Anna..."
"Here!"
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Ron as he spotted his twin brothers offering candy to a trusting Neville. "Say, do you think we're in here because of some prank they twins played?"
Harry shook his head. "We would have heard about it by now."
Ron and Harry debated this for a while, until Hermione shouted at the top of her lungs again.
"RONALD WEASLEY!"
Ron looked up, irritated, "What?"
"If you would just pay attention during roll call, instead of talking to Harry, maybe you'd hear me the first time I call your name," Hermione glared.
"Uh, here?" Ron said sheepishly. The rest of the room snickered at his ears, which currently matched with his flaming red hair.
Hermione glared some more before continuing. "Weasley, Virginia?"
There was no answer.
"Honestly, what is it with you Weasleys? Ginny, speak up!"
There was still no answer.
"Parvati -"
"There were no other girls in the dormitory, Hermione."
"Is Ginny Weasley in the room?"
When no one answered, Hermione pursed her lips disapprovingly. "Wotson, Quincy?"
Fred and George elbowed their way over to Ron and Harry. "Do you know where she is?" George asked.
"Probably taking the opportunity to play a marvelous prank," Ron said, remembering what had happened to the twins last week.
The portrait door opened, and their Head of House stepped in.
Professor McGonagall held her hand out to Hermione, who handed her the parchment with the roll call on it obligingly.
"Are all students accounted for?" the professor asked.
"No," Hermione said, looking upset.
"Who's missing, then?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply.
"Ginny Weasley."
The professor's eyes clouded over. "Can anybody tell me where Miss Weasley was seen last?"
"Her last class before lunch was Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor," April Thasen, Ginny's closest friend, replied.
"Nobody has seen her since?"
"The professor asked her to stay after class," Colin Creevey piped up. "She didn't show for lunch."
Professor McGonagall frowned. "So the last place she was seen was in the Defense classroom?"
The other fourth years confirmed this.
"Very well then," the Transfiguration Professor turned to leave.
"Wait!" Ron caught up to her.
"Mr. Weasley, unless you can take me directly to where your sister is, I'd suggest you stay here."
Ron opened his mouth to argue, but McGonagall beat him to it. "I assure you, we will keep you all informed."
Harry joined him after she was gone. "If only I had the Marauder's Map. Then we could figure out where she is."
"I expect Dumbledore's doing that right now," Hermione said quietly behind them.
"Where could she be?" Ron asked worriedly.
"Whatever happened, it must have been after the Defense teacher spoke to her," Fred said as he and his twin joined them.
"If there's no word by tonight, I'm going searching," Ron said determinedly.
"Come on, Ron. You said it yourself. She's probably just taking the opportunity to go a-pranking," George chided.
"Why didn't we think of it?" Fred wondered aloud.
"Why didn't you think of what?" Fred's girlfriend, Angelina came up behind them.
"Uh, nothing. Right George?" Fred eyed his twin.
"Oh, no. Why do I suddenly have this feeling of intense fear?" Angelina said sarcastically.
After an hour of restless pacing done by Ron, the portrait door reopened and Professor McGonagall stepped through again.
Spotting the Trio in a corner, she headed directly towards them. "Mr. Weasley, you and your brothers need to come directly to the Headmaster's office."
Ron paled. "Is this about Ginny?"
"I'm afraid so. Fetch your brothers, the Headmaster is expecting you," she said crisply.
"What about Harry and Hermione?" Ron looked back at his friends.
The professor frowned. "I didn't think they were close to her."
Were close? Harry panicked. As in, past tense?
Ron, however, didn't notice the way his professor had posed the sentence. "They're considered as part of the family."
Professor McGonagall reluctantly agreed. "Very well, Mr. Weasley. Just Find your brothers and get to the office as quickly as you can."
Ten minutes later, they all found themselves seated in front of Dumbledore's desk. Fawkes the phoenix sang a few last notes before spontaneously combusting into flames.
"Where's my sister?" Ron burst out as Dumbledore sat at his desk.
Dumbledore adjusted his glasses and looked gravely at them before speaking. "Before I begin, I must ask each of you: nobody has seen Miss Weasley since her Defense class?"
They all shook their heads.
"Then I must tell you that Professor Jasper has been found dead in his office," Dumbledore said quietly.
"What?" George cried.
Hermione brought her hand to her mouth in shock. "You don't think that Ginny...?"
The Headmaster narrowed his eyes. "Hardly. Miss Weasley may be quite a spell caster, but she simply doesn't have the strength to cast the Avada spell. Magically or mentally."
"With all due respect, sir, what does Ginny have to do with Professor Jasper's death?" Harry asked.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said impatiently. "She was probably the last person to see him alive. Other than his killer, of course."
"That, and the fact that her broken wand was found next to her body," Dumbledore offered.
The room was silent.
"That's the last trace we could find of Miss Weasley. I suspect that she witnessed Professor Jasper's murder," the Headmaster said gently.
"Did you search the entire school?" Fred said in a strangled voice. Angelina reached over and squeezed his hand. She'd joined them on the way up ("If Harry and Hermione can come, then so can Angelina!")
"Yes, we did."
"The Chamber?" Ron queried.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been blocked with wards that only I can break through. I guarantee you, those wards have not been broken."
Professor Dumbledore replied.
Ron looked defeated.
"I promise you all that we will continue our searches to outside of Hogwarts. Hagrid and the centaurs are searching the Forbidden Forest, even as we speak. Rosmerta and the shopkeepers have organized a search party in Hogsmeade."
"What about the Map?" Harry said desperately. "Did you check that?"
"She's not on the map, Mr. Potter."
It was Harry's turn to feel defeated.
"I promise you that I personally will never rest until your sister is found, and Jeffrey Jasper's murderer is put to justice." Dumbledore swore.