She comes to herself slowly, unwillingly, in pieces at first, drifting in and out of consciousness. She struggles, eyes too heavy to open, and mind fractured, unable to focus. Her body lies in mourning. Her soul, her magic - she still cannot grasp it.

No longer capable, she hears Dumbledore telling her parents while she lies, still as death in the hospital wing.

No longer capable of magic, he had said, as if those words could fully explain the pressing weight that keeps her tethered to the bed, making each movement unbearable. The feeling of something crawling under her skin haunts her; she can feel the ghost of his hands on her body, keeping her company, digging deeper into her mind, touching her -

The days pass, and she tries not to sleep.

The Healers, when they come, are powerless. Potions and spells, neither can heal a body unreceptive to magic. So she withers, feeling violated and broken, as if Tom's hands had not only been on her, but in her, holding her soul, and taking pieces of it with him.

Weeks pass, and the end of term arrives with no solutions from the greatest medical minds. Magic, once gone, cannot be replaced. This is the fundamental law of the magical world, this is the gift, born to a select few, of which she has squandered and lost through her own misguided and careless act of trust. She is sent away from Hogwarts quietly, and with no great amount of shame, never again to see the great halls her family roamed for centuries. The Burrow, once she gets there, is no better. Once her childhood refuge, now s a bitter reminder of all she has lost. The touches of magic of a wizarding home now alienate her from her family.

Her mother, naturally, tries to make the best out of things. Molly had thought, lovingly but selfishly all the same, that her daughter coming home would mean plentiful time, opportunities to sit in each others company, moments to bond through womanly wisdom, passed on from mother to daughter. She had been unable to succeed the year before, when her daughter displayed the fierceness of her brothers, and little of Arthur's gentle temperament at the mention of sitting quietly. Perhaps now Ginny might have settle a little, and be willing to sit by the fire and knit, or draw, or engage in gentle conversation with her mother.

It is for not. Attempts to motivate Ginny are met with silence. The absence of the tenacity or temper that made had her the most formidable of the seven children concerned Molly and Arthur. Uneasy with her drastic change in character, they refuse to take Dumbledore's word that all would be fine given time, and take Ginny to see the MindHealers of St. Mungo's. For the next few months, diagnosis of 'female hysteria,' 'sullenness,' 'introversion,' and 'melancholia' where tossed around from Healer to Healer, with treatments from electroshocks to firm discipline being prescribed. Nearly a year later, on the advice of a Healer most liked by the family, Ginny was enrolled in muggle secondary school, to keep her active, out of the house, and engaged in 'meaningful work'. With funding from Dumbledore, a 'reparation fee' which they weren't about to argue with, they manage to enlist Ginny in several extra-curricular activities she seemed keen for. School became a battle, and getting Ginny out of bed was a job in and of itself, but her parents pushed on, and kept her attending swimming, ballet and surprisingly martial arts classes, as much as they could. There are the bad days of course, where no matter how much cajoling, pleading, bribing and forcing wouldn't get her out of bed, but as the year passed, those grew fewer and further between.

The summer once again arrives, and sightings of Ginny are harder to come by as Harry takes up residence in their home. Gone before breakfast and back past supper, she claims to be visiting at friends houses before holing herself up in her room for the night. Telling herself to believe Ginny when she says she is off having fun with her muggle friends, Molly turns her attention to her magical children who are giving her the play by play of the Quidditch World Cup. With the Triwizard Tournament fast approaching, there are enough warning signs in the wizarding to be concerned with. Honestly, what is Dumbledore thinking hosting a lethal competition at the school?

Molly right; things only go down hill from there. The house is in shambles as June arrives, and the Burrow is packed up for the first time in Molly and Arthur's married lives; transporting their belongings to the childhood manor of an escaped convict and his rabid House Elf.

It is only when they receive Ginny's yearly school report via muggle post does Molly realize she had not thought of transferring Ginny to a school in London for the new year. Ashamed, and more than slightly horrified at herself for loosing track of one of her children, she scrambles to enrol Ginny in a public school close to the safe house after it had been reaffirmed by Dumbledore that it be best if the family remain in London for the year. Trusting the safety of her daughter's transit to school with Arthur (who ensures her that the muggle underground is perfectly safe) she turns her energy to the needs of the Order, and hopes that the coming war will not be as destructive as the one some 16 years prior.