Propensity
Propensity- an innate inclination to act or do something
Chapter One"Come on, Ginny!"
"I hate you!"
"But I love you. Now come on!"
"This is all your fault! How can you love me when you'd do such a thing?"
"I do love you, Ginny, more than anything."
"I hate you, Remus Lupin! And I always will!"
"Ginny, I know you don't mean that right now. I know you love me, but you've got to try. Come on!"
Before she could retort back with anything, it was all over.
And darkness took her under.
Almost one year ago...
The Wizarding World was at war. Battles were raging and people were dying. Remus Lupin and Harry Potter had been separated from the other members of the Order in the battle. Suddenly, three Death Eaters surrounded them. Both wizards shouted "Stupefy!" and two of their foes fell to the ground. The remaining Death Eater started towards Harry, but Remus distracted him. He turned towards the younger man.
"Go! Harry, you've got to fulfill the prophecy," he said urgently to him.
"No, Remus, we can handle it," Harry replied.
"No!" Remus shouted at him. "You must go. I'll be fine."
The Death Eater was closing in on Harry, as Remus threw another hex at him.
"Go now, Harry!"
Harry heeded the word of his former professor and took off running in search of his comrades. Remus looked up at the Death Eater as the man yelled "Expelliarmus!"
Without his wand, Remus had no hope. The Death Eater strode over to him, and took off his hood.
"Well, well, if it isn't everyone's favorite werewolf," said Lucius Malfoy. "I understand you're quite popular with your friends, for some ungodly reason. Perhaps you can be helpful to us," he smirked at the other man.
"I have nothing you want, Malfoy," was Remus' seemingly calm reply. "Just kill me and get it over with."
"I think not. You'd make an excellent prisoner," Malfoy said before knocking Remus unconscious and binding his arms and legs.
Meanwhile, Harry managed to find Tonks and Snape close to where the battle had just ended. He ran to them.
"How many did we lose?" he asked worriedly.
Snape was unexpressive and Tonks seemed shaken.
"Not many, Potter," was the Potions Master's cool voice. "Only poor misguided Longbottom and that Lovegood girl." He sighed sadly. "They just couldn't compete."
Tonks sniffled loudly. "Where's Remus?" she asked.
"We were ambushed by some Death Eaters. He helped me escape. I thought he'd be right behind me," Harry said.
Tonks and Snape exchanged worried looks. "Are you sure he was behind you? What if they...?" Tonks asked.Harry's face paled.
"Now let's everyone calm down. As soon as it's over, we'll go look for him," Snape said. Harry and Tonks nodded mutely.
Minutes later, the entire Order followed Harry to the spot where he'd left Remus. They found only the professor's wand.
"Well," Moody growled, "at least we know he isn't dead."
Ginny Weasley looked at the older man with a questioning gaze. "How do you know that?" she asked in a choked voice.
Arthur put his arm around his daughter's shoulders. He spoke to her softly. "Whenever the Death Eaters kill someone, they always send the wand back to the Order, broken in half. Since they left his wand, they didn't kill him." He turned to Alastor. "What does this mean?"
"My guess is their holding him prisoner. Probably going to try and make him tell things, probably going to torture him. Unfortunately, Lupin knows a lot, and they'll try and break him," Moody said sadly.
Snape cleared his throat. "We'd better get back to Headquarters and decide what to do." Everyone quickly Apparated back to Grimmauld Place.
They gathered in the kitchen and Molly immediately began cooking. It was her own way of dealing with the situation. She kept saying things as she pulled our various pots and pans. "Shouldn't have let him go. He was far too weak to fight right now, what with the full moon only two days ago."
Bill got up to comfort his mum. "He wanted to fight, Mum. He didn't want to be left here. He's going to be all right."
"Of course, he is" George said confidently. "Moody, let's plan a rescue mission."
"Right," the older wizard said. He pulled some parchments from a hidden drawer under the table. He spread them out for everyone to see. They seemed to be looking at a sort of map. "Now, here is where we think their hideout is." He sighed.
"The only problem is getting into this place. It's highly protected and almost impossible to penetrate," Snape said dismally. It was lucky for the Order that they had a map of the Death Eaters lair. Snape had snuck it out several days ago, before he'd been discovered as a spy. Everyone there knew he was at the top of the "hit-list" for Voldemort now.
As the elder members of the Order began making plans to rescue Remus, Molly shooed Ginny, Hermione, Harry and Ron out. This mission was going to be too risky, and she didn't want them involved.
For once, Ginny didn't mind being ushered out of the meeting. Her boyfriend, Oliver Wood, would tell her everything later. He always did.
Oliver and Ginny had been dating for a year, since she'd finished at Hogwarts. He'd given up professional Quidditch to help the Order. He was good to her and loved her very much. He talked of getting married after the war and having children. Her family was happy with her choice, only slightly disappointed that it wasn't Harry. She and Harry had dated for several months back in school, but she quickly realized he was like her seventh brother instead of her boyfriend.
The four youngest went into the library to look up some possible hexes and curses that might be beneficial for later battles. After a while, Oliver strode in.
"Find anything interesting?" he asked.
Ginny sighed as he came over to kiss her. "Nothing yet. What's the plan?"
He sighed as well, sinking into an armchair. "Well, obviously we want to go in and get him, but now they're just deciding when to do it. Snape wants to wait."
"What?" Hermione yelled. "Is he kidding?"
"Yeah," Ron said. "How can he not want to go get him now before they torture too much information out of him?"
"Well, according to Snape, Professor Lupin is excellent at withstanding Veritaserum. So he's not too worried about that right now."
Ginny was livid. "Well, he'd bloody well better be worried about him! They'd better get a plan together soon, or I'll go after him myself!"
Harry looked at her incredulously. "Why are you so worried about Remus?"
"He helped me in second year, after the Chamber. He was really good to me. I just don't want anything bad to happen to him," she replied quietly. Oliver reached over to hold her hand.
"He'll be okay, Gin. He's strong," he said to her. She nodded and smiled weakly at him.
Charlie interrupted them by coming into the room. "Oliver," he called, "we need you. The mission's set."
The two men hurried back into the kitchen, with Ginny on their heels. "We're going after him," Tonks said, trying to sound cheerful.
"That's great," Ginny said. "When do we leave?" All the adults turned to look at her.
"You're not going, Ginny," her father told her. "Reconnaissance missions are too dangerous. You need to stay here."
She set her jaw rigidly and looked confidently at her father. "The hell I'm staying here. I'm going after him. He would have done the same for me."
Oliver spoke up next. "Gin, I'm afraid I agree with your father. It's too risky. Professor Lupin wouldn't want you to go."
"Well, it's good that he's not here to argue then isn't it?" She turned to look at everyone for a moment. "I'm going, and that's final."
Professor Dumbledore walked over and put his hand on Ginny's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Dear, but I must put my foot down. We'll let our Aurors handle it."
Ginny jerked away from the Headmaster and glared at him before banging out of the kitchen.
An hour later, the mission was set to be executed. However, just as the Aurors were about to leave, a large battle broke out. All able bodies were needed, and Remus' rescue would have to wait. Everyone scrambled out of Grimmauld Place, except for Ginny and Oliver. They were to wait for news and any injured witches or wizards, since both were adept at Healing.
Several minutes after everyone left, Ginny pulled her cloak on and grabbed her wand.
Oliver saw her and asked, "Where are you going?"
She quickly brushed past him in the hallway and went to find her broom. "I'm going after Professor Lupin," she said, matter-of-factly.
"Over my dead body," Oliver said grabbing her arm.
She turned to face her boyfriend. "Look, Olli, I'm going no matter what you say. You can let me go or come with me."
"Then I'm going," he replied. He threw his cloak over his robes and quickly scrawled a note to the others. He knew they would be angry, but he'd rather then be angry than worried about their sudden disappearance.
He grabbed his broom and the couple left Grimmauld Place for northern England.