Author's Note: For those of you who have read my 1st fanfiction, Ginny's Protectors, I cannot thank you enough! Reading your reviews, I actually started crying (yea, I know, I'm a really emotional person)! You guys are so sweet and, unless you have ur own fanfics, you don't know how much those few words of encouragement mean to me. Haha, all of you at are my family! I know it's been forever since I updated but I have many reasons for that, which I will explain in Ginny's Protectors (when I eventually update)! I have huge expectations for this story and I really hope it lives up to it. I will put my heart and soul into this story and I'll try to update every week. Hope you enjoy! Please REVIEW! I'd greatly appreciate it!
Chapter 1:
Ginny hurried down the dark corridors, glancing nervously around her. She had been serving detention, with two other fifth years, in the potions dungeons. Professor Snape, the hated Potions teacher, had made them restock and take inventory of the potions stock room. Of the 637 different ingredients, the 3 had only managed to make it through 65 that evening. They still had an hour to go that night, when Snape had staggered to the floor, clutching his arm, his face contorted in pain. Ginny, Colin, and Bianca stopped working and hurried over to their professor. He ignored their help and got to his feet himself. He hurried over to the window and looked out in alarm, He looked back at his 3 students and without an explanation told them to return to their common room, set up as many wards as they could, and ordered them not to leave the room that night no matter what.
Snape had stared at Ginny the whole time he said this. She saw a mixture of fear, anger and something she couldn't quite place, on his face. Was that something else…concern? She had wanted to ask him about it, when, before she knew it, Colin had yanked her and Bianca out of the room, Ginny was used to people being concerned for her. After all, she was the Minister for Magic's daughter.
For as long as Ginny could remember, her father had loved everything muggle. Up until she was eleven her father had worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department at the Ministry. Things had changed just before Ginny went to Hogwarts for the first time. The April before Ginny started her 1st year, about 14 witches and wizards had mysteriously disappeared. When the ministry began to look into the disappearances, more and more of the facts began pointing to Voldemort.
Any talks of Voldemort had died out almost instantly after the Potter event. After Voldemort had murdered Lily and James Potter he went after their 15-month-old son, Harry. Although Voldemort managed to kill the boy, it was believed that Voldemort killed himself too, accidentally. According to rumors, there had been a prophecy saying that Voldemort would lose everything because of that boy, and it appeared that he had. Eleven years later, the Wizarding World discovered that they had been wrong, On June 16, Voldemort and his death eaters had made their presence known by seizing the ministry.
The minister at the time was Renmar Fairbach. When Voldemort stormed the Ministry it was revealed that Fairbach was a traitor and had been feeding Voldemort inside information for about half a year. The auror's discovered the Minister's deceit about the same time as Voldemort ambushed the Ministry. The inner ministry battle went on for a whole day before anyone left. In the end, Voldemort had pulled back but not before taking about 50 lives, injuring 63, and revealing at least 32 workers to be traitors. Not to say the ministry didn't take a few out as well. About 23 of the traitors had been killed and 3 were sent to Azkaban after surrendering. The ministry also managed to kill 48 Death Eaters. The Minister had been killed by Voldemort himself. Those few who witnessed it, including Ginny's father, recall Voldemort informing Fairbach that he knew far too much about both sides to ever fully be trusted by anyone. Voldemort then dragged his wand across Fairbach's throat, killing him instantly.
Despite the victory, the battle was never celebrated. The Ministry was greatly depleted. Although less than a quarter of the Ministry was lost, some of the best fighters had been killed. Also, due to the alarming number of traitors, suspicion rose and very few people were trusted. Alinea Maisby, the head auror at the time, was temporarily appointed minister, until the Ministry council appointed a new minister. The debate had gone on for 2 months before Arthur Weasley was chosen. The decision was made due to many aspects. Arthur Weasley was known for having unbiased political views and stands. He had a reputation of being very level headed and approaching things calmly and with great care. The most important reason for his appointment was his very apparent loyalty to the Ministry. During the battle, Arthur Weasley held his ground well. He saved 4 of his fellow workers and took down 6 Death Eaters, almost matching some wizards from the Auror department. Voldemort himself had noticed Arthur's talents. The council made it seem like the position wouldn't be for too long, but her father was still the Minister, five years later.
Ginny recalled how her father's position affected her Hogwarts life. The only teacher Ginny ever received special treatment from had been Lockhart, despite her pleading that he treat her normally. Snape had been the only other teacher to treat Ginny a certain way due to her father's position, although less favorably to Ginny. In her very first potions class, Snape had smirked at her and made a speech, stating that fame and connections would not achieve success in his classroom. Although it was a general statement to the whole class, no one failed to notice how often Snape's eyes flickered over to Ginny. She had spent her lunch break that day crying in the girl's bathroom, where she met her very first friend, Bianca.
On the train to Hogwarts, many people had stopped by Ginny's empty compartment. Every single person only ever managed to ask 2 questions. First, what was her name? Immediately after she replied, the second would be, was she really the Minister's daughter? After she answered in the affirmative, they would all leave hurriedly to go tell their friends about who they'd just met. After she arrived at Hogwarts, the next 2 days had been the same. They were all either awed, or scared, or too resentful to properly get to know her. Ginny was even more upset to learn that her brothers were not facing similar problems. Since they had been in Hogwarts before Arthur was made minister, they already had friends. The only difference was that their friends were keener to listen to their stories now. Ginny recalled her meeting with Bianca as if it had been yesterday…
Ginny was sitting and crying loudly in a stall. Her emotion were running crazy and her magic was out of control, so she accidentally transfigured the toilet into a plush armchair.
"Hello? Are you ok?" A girl asked, banging softly on the door. When Ginny replied with a please go away, she heard a tap on the door, with a whispered "Alohamora".
The door opened and Ginny saw a girl grinning at her, looking pleased with herself.
"A Second year girl taught me that on the train" (A/N: ^-^ hehe Hermione reference) She said, smirking, Ginny only sniffled in response. "Hey, nice bit of magic with the chair and all. What your name?"
Ginny knew that she should have eagerly jumped into conversation with the girl who was obviously trying to be nice, but Ginny couldn't help but bitterly reply, "Well, it's not like you don't already know."
"No actually, I don't, sorry. This boy and I got into this fight on the boats to Hogwarts. I met him on the train, and he seemed ok, you know? On the boat I realized he stole my chocolate frog card. Well, I pushed him and we started wrestling and rolling around in the boat. It was all in good spirit, you see? I mean, we weren't really mad at each other. Anyways, I accidentally fell out of the boat and hit my head pretty hard on the side of it. The boy jumped in to save me, but I guess he wasn't much of a swimmer. He fainted and somehow managed to break his wrist. The giant squid saved us both! It was great, you know? McGonagall wasn't pleased at all! That lady sure can yell, don't you think? Well anyways, I had to stay in the hospital wing since then cause I had a concussion or something, Long story short, I don't know your name."
Ginny giggled through her tears. She began to tell the girl everything, her name, how people treated her on the train, what Snape had said about her. The girl looked at her sympathetically before moving to sit next to her in the armchair. She wrapped her arms around Ginny and hugged her tightly. Ginny hugged her back and cried a few more minutes in her arms.
"That's pants, what he did to you. I'm Bianca, by the way. Don't worry, I understand. You aren't your father, I get it. With me, you'll never have to worry about that, ok?"
Something about Bianca had always been so welcoming and warming to Ginny. Maybe it was the way she end most of her sentences with a question. Or just her constant chattering. Or the way her bubbly personality seemed to make others feel better.
When Ginny walked out with Bianca, that's when she met her second friend.
"Bianca, I've been looking all over for you! I finally asked some girl and she told me she saw you go to the bathroom, I've been waiting for ten minutes. I was considering coming in there myself." A boy said, grinning.
Bianca and Ginny both laughed at that.
"Ginny, this is Colin. Colin this Ginny Weasley. And don't you dare ask about her father!" Bianca warned.
"Hmm,,, I did hear something about the Minister's daughter, but what would a muggle born like me know, right?" He said, winking at Ginny before becoming serious. "That professor… Snake, or whatever, what he did was way out of order."
Ginny smiled at him thankfully. "It's Snape, and thank you. Both of you, thank you for being so nice."
"Don't mention it. What're friends for? By the way, Bianca, McGonagall told me to tell you that since we missed the sorting due to our lake adventure, we'll be doing that tonight,"
Both were sorted into Gryffindor with Ginny and they had been best friends ever since. Although people slowly began treating Ginny normally, she knew that she had found true friendship with Bianca and Colin,
The three of them hurried through the halls, Colin urging them to move faster.
"Ginny, don't slow down! You heard the Snake. I've never seen him look that way before. What're you doing? Don't Stop!" Colin yelled.
But Ginny wasn't paying attention to him. She stubbornly refused to listen to Snape without finding out what she was running from. She moved to the window, hoping to see what Snape had seen. What she saw made her heart stop and made her let out a string of swears.
"Death Eaters! Let's go!" She told the two before she began sprinting back to the common room, Colin and Bianca right behind her.
When they finally clambered through the portrait hole, they were shocked to see the common room packed with people. Before they had time to question it, Clarissa, a fellow fifth year, approached them.
"Weren't you guys serving detention? You guys really shouldn't have been goofing off when you knew Snape was in a strop that day. Well anyways, I don't know why we were all ordered back to our common rooms. I mean, we have that huge test in History of Magic tomorrow and I really needed that extra time in the library. We all should have paid more attention during class!" Clarissa chattered on. She was a nice girl, even a close friend to Ginny, but she was not much of a rule breaker.
Ginny's quick eyes swept over the common room, making sure all her friends and the young kids were there. She saw her brother's good friend, Hermione, in a corner, looking around nervously. When Ginny, Colin, and Bianca approached her, she looked relieved. She threw her arms around Ginny's neck, and held her tightly.
"Oh thank god! I was so worried about you! Do you know what's going on?" Hermione asked, after letting go of Ginny and moving on to the other two.
Hermione was one of Ron's good friends. Although she wasn't his best friend (that position was taken by Neville and Dean), when Ron introduced Ginny to his friends, Hermione and her had immediately hit it off. She was like the older sister Ginny never had.
"It's Death Eaters. We saw them on our way back. Snape saw them and made us come back here." Ginny said grimly.
"Ginny!" Hermione screamed suddenly, looking worried again, "Ronald isn't here!"
Ginny's head reeled and for a second she thought she would faint. Although Ron was not her favorite brother, she loved all of her family. She couldn't even imagine losing one.
"Hermione! Where is he?" Ginny screamed.
"I'm sorry! He was worried about you after he didn't see you in the common room. I told him you were still probably in detention and then him, Neville, and Dean decided to go get you guys. I'm so sorry! I convinced them that only one of them should go because we need the older kids to set a good example and keep watch over the rest. They agreed but Ron insisted he be the one to find you. I should've gone with him! I know I'm a horrible person!" Hermione said, beginning to sob.
"No Hermione! You were completely right! The less people that go missing the better! If all three had gone they would have been more conspicuous. Ron has a better chance of staying hidden." Ginny reassured her before turning around.
Bianca grabbed her hand, and yanked Ginny around to face her again. Ginny stared into Bianca's kind grey eyes. She saw a mixture of fear, concern, and determination in them. Bianca knew her too well.
"You're going after him." It wasn't a question. Bianca knew better than anyone that when Ginny put her mind to something she would never yield. Ginny just nodded before pulling Bianca into a tight hug.
"I'll come back eventually." She whispered. Ginny wasn't sure why she said this, but it felt like exactly the right thing to say.
She locked eyes with Hermione before the two nodded at each other in agreement. They both knew what would have to be done. Ginny turned away and walked purposefully to the portrait. Before she could push it open, Colin stopped her.
"I'll go, you stay." Colin offered, knowing he had already lost.
Ginny smiled weakly at him, "Watch those other two k? They'll probably be crying all over you while I'm gone. It'll give you great practice with girls." Ginny said lightly.
Colin wrapped his arms tightly around Ginny. "Don't do anything stupid and come back with that idiot brother of yours." He commanded.
Ginny nodded against his shoulder. She could feel tears forming in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was coming back in a few minutes for Merlin's sake! Ginny let go before she let her embarrassing emotions get the best of her.
"I'll be back in a sec, I love you guys!" She called loudly. All three of them smiled and nodded. She pushed open the portrait and clambered outside, fingering the wand in her pocket, nervously.
(A/N: Sorry guys! No Harry till next chapter! I think… oh well we'll see. Since Voldemort obviously wouldn't name his son Harry, does anyone have any ideas for a fake name?)
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