The summer before Ginny Weasley's fifth year at Hogwarts changed her life forever. A forest nearly a mile away from her home invited the youngest Weasley to explore it with open arms, shielding her eyes from the horrors and dangerous that awaited her. She spent over half her summer in the forest from sun up to sun down, carrying food and water with her as well as reading material and books she used to draw her surroundings. The forest seemed like the perfect getaway from the world, from the constant chaos of the Weasley household, at least until she came home one night and woke up the next morning desperately ill.
Molly Weasley was sick with worry when she found her daughter throwing up blood in the bathroom on that fateful day, she immediately contacted her husband at the Ministry and Arthur arrived home in record timing. Ginny was taken in to St. Mungo's that very afternoon, her body covered in dark spots and the rest of her an ashy gray. No one at St. Mungo's knew what she had, it seemed to be a disease or a virus that they had never treated, but they couldn't let Ginny go home. They stabilized her and kept Ginny in her own room, not letting anyone enter the room until she was diagnosed. St. Mungo's brought in doctors from all over the world and by day three she was in a coma and still undiagnosed.
For two more days the Weasley family lived and slept in the waiting area at St. Mungo's, hopefully awaiting some sort of news about their daughter's mysterious disease. On day six they'd been given word that a doctor from a small area of Italy had seen Ginny's symptoms before. It took another three days of documentation on what she'd been doing for the past few months and her list of symptoms from day one of her sickness before she was diagnosed with an extremely rare illness called Adjorate. Adjorate had been recorded a grand total of three times in the Wizarding World, as it was only contracted by magical beings, and had been treated successfully once. The likelihood of Ginny surviving was thirty three percent, numbers that Molly Weasley and her family did not like hearing.
The doctor heartbrokenly told the Weasley family that Ginny would stay in Italy until further notice while being treated by himself and some of the world's most famous wizarding doctors. Parting with Ginny had been hard, especially since she was in a coma, but a few friends and family left her cards and notes and parted, going on with their lives as Ginny faded into the background.
When Ginny awakened from her coma after the first month she was surprised to find out where she was, but Doctor Riddick quickly explained what had happened and why she was here. He continued to explain that she had contracted a very rare disease from one of the plants she came across in the forest behind her house, combined with other magical properties Ginny had set herself up for Adjorate. Doctor Riddick did not tell her that the symptoms would get worse and that her entire body would have to be surgically worked on if she survived, he wasn't sure that the young woman could handle it on her first day of waking since her coma.
Nearly a week later Ginny was working on school work through textbooks, trying her best to keep up with her work while so far away from actual teachers. She stopped many times when dealing with symptoms from Adjorate, such as coughing up black liquid and paralysis, but she tried to remain as healthy and strong as possible. For three months she looked to be in good condition and she began to write to her friends and family, getting her homework done in record timing and owling it back to her professors in hopes of good marks. But as the fourth month set in, Ginny began to see the devastating effects of Adjorate.
The deformation began in her right arm, the bone became completely useless and contorted into a strange, sickening formation. She had to stop writing and drawing because she was no longer able to use her right hand. Ginny began to use a quick quotes quill to do her homework but soon found that she was unable to speak after awhile with growing tired or her words slurring. Adjorate effected her entire body and targeted the muscles, bones, and places of her body that Ginny used the most. By the seventh month she was in a hospital-induced coma to keep her from causing more accidental harm to her body. She'd come close to starving to death because she couldn't keep food down and her frame was already dwindling, parts of her skin looked gruesome and Ginny was simply dying.
Month nine, March, brought Ginny to the last stage of Adjorate, the stage in which the other two people had died. It tested her ability to survive on her own by growing immune to the drugs being pumped into her body, allowing her skin to turn completely ashen and her body to grow inexplicably weak. Ginny spent many nights being talked to sleep by doctors and nurses to keep her from crying, such a simple act would cause her to go into too must stress and she would die because of over-exertion. While the disease ate away at Ginny, by May she showed signs of getting better. Doctor Riddick was overjoyed at the recovery that followed slowly but surely. During the end of June Ginny was strong enough to be told that she would be undergoing a full body surgery to counter what the Adjorate had done to her. For the first time in months she cried and she hardly stopped long enough to eat.
In mid-July her family was brought in to see Ginny just before her surgery on the 25th. Molly Weasley cried and cried, throwing her daughter into the same spell she had just gotten out of. Arthur tried to console his daughter, telling her that in a few weeks she'd be returning to Hogwarts, ready to start her sixth year and ready to be the same Ginny Weasley she'd always been. Her brothers didn't let her see that they were torn up inside, but the moment they stepped out of her room they broke down as well, trying to console each other and remember the good times they had with their youngest sibling. Of all people Charlie took it the hardest, heading off on his own and back to Romania, explaining that he couldn't be away for long. He continuously sent Ginny presents, well wishes, and his love.
Charlie and Ginny had always had a special bond, especially when they were younger. He was the first person to teach her to ride a broom. In the dead of night he dragged the nine year old out of bed and stole one of the twin's brooms to teach Ginny what would soon become a freedom for the girl, he couldn't have been happier when he found out that she was into quidditch at Hogwarts. Charlie always loved Ginny more than anyone else in his family, she always understood him and vice versa, they had a strong bond. Looking at her so fragile and near-breakable had torn Charlie up more than anyone else because he knew that Ginny was one of the strongest people he knew.
On the 25th her family was turned away, Doctor Riddick explaining that the procedure would take nine days to complete and she'd be home in fifteen. They began to work on her body, all keenly aware that they would never forget her blood curdling screams during the phases where she had to be completely awake. They wiped away tears when she was paralyzed but could still feel pain and they felt for the girl, they really did, but at the end of nine days she sat up on the operating table a different Ginny Weasley than when she'd first contracted Adjorate. Ginny learned to walk and perform normal functions in the six days that she stayed in Italy, learning to once again eat properly and talk right, making sure her new bones were working right. On day fifteen Ginny cried when she said good-bye to the people who'd been with her for the past year, feeling a bond she knew she would never forget. Doctor Riddick was the last person to hug Ginny, whispering in her ear that she could come and see him anytime she wanted, whether her Adjorate symptoms were coming back or if she just needed to talk, he would understand. That was the last good-bye she said before she was apparated to the doorsteps of her childhood home.
Ginny didn't know what to do as she stood in front of the door of the place she'd called home for sixteen years. She wanted to walk right in but she didn't feel comfortable, she felt out of place, so she knocked. Almost immediately the door was opened and Ginny was ushered in by Hermione Granger who hugged the life out of her before she called out, "It's Gin!" She didn't get more than five steps into the house before she was mauled by nine other people, six of them being brothers and two of them being her parents, the ninth being Harry Potter. Her body ached, but the love and the tears were so overwhelming that she didn't notice.
She didn't mind that it took nearly ten minutes before she got to the living room, being given her very own seat in the middle of the room. Ginny looked at every one with tears in her eyes, trying hard not to shed them as they all looked at her. The silence was broken by Charlie who told her that she looked fabulous, but she hadn't even noticed because she didn't want to look in a mirror since her right arm first began deforming. "Really?" Ginny let a tear slide and got up, Charlie did as well and hugged her, that familiar bond between the two of them strengthening as they stood there, happy that she'd returned. "Thank you," she whispered, "for everything."
Within the three hours that passed between her return and dinner she was brought up to speed on what had happened in her absence. Hermione and Ron had come to realize that life was short and that they loved each other too much to stay apart any longer, so their relationship began. Harry had his apparation license and was currently becoming an animagus, all in the new of the Order. The twins had used Ginny as a promotion one week and sent everything they earned to Doctor Riddick for the hospital bill, only a fraction of what a normal doctor would charge. Riddick was so happy that Ginny had survived and that he hadn't lost another patient that he said the rest was covered. A handful of other happenings had taken place as well, such as Bill's marriage to Fleur Delacour and Charlie meeting a lovely Miss Jaime Anderson in Romania, a woman just as crazy as he was. Ginny couldn't help but be happy for her family.
"I'm going to go wash up for dinner," she said and got up, departing from her gathered family to head to the bathroom. Walking up the stairs to the second floor had left Ginny with an uneasy feeling, the last time she was on them she was dead tired from her day in the forest. She silently remembered the good times she'd had, but also remembering how she'd gotten sick in the first place. Sighing, Ginny walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She stood leaning against the door for a few minutes, coaching her breathing before she gathered up the courage to look into the mirror and see what had happened to her over the past year and see what changes Riddick had made to her body. The moment Ginny looked in the mirror she was in tears again, but good ones.
She could tell that she was taller, most likely from the bone that Riddick had to add to cause her legs from staying in their frazzled state. With height came the weight factor and she could tell that her breasts had been tampered with, they looked bigger and stranger to Ginny's eyes. She didn't want to accept the fact that they looked better now because she wanted to remember the way they were before, but Ginny could hardly remember now. Her face looked more angular than before, defined cheekbones from the procedure they had done on her body. While most people would be happy to undergo the same surgery that Ginny had and receive the same shockingly beautiful results, she was plagued with the reason why she had to face all of that in the first place, Adjorate. And while she was growing fond of her body quickly, she missed the pre-Adjorate body that she once had, even if it was just because she wasn't diseased at the time.
When Ginny finally returned downstairs the family was sitting around the table, waiting for her to return. It seemed that they were more protective now, which she was afraid of, but thankful for. "Let's eat," Ginny smiled brightly as she took a seat beside Harry and Bill, she was the first to grab a plate and help herself to her mother's infamous mashed potatoes. Maybe everything would be okay now, maybe she would be the same again, maybe life would go back to the way it was.
September 1st was proving to be a scary day already and Ginny had only opened her eyes to remember what the day presented, her re-arrival at Hogwarts after being gone for an entire year. "Ginny," Hermione shook her a little, "you have to get up or else we're going to be late." While Ginny had liked Hermione's company and enjoyed hearing the stories of Ron's romantic behavior over the summer, she was beginning to hate the wake-up calls. Hermione had not been gone for a year, she would not know what it was like to go back to school a completely different person, so Ginny openly groaned as she sat up and got out of bed, dressing sluggishly.
The Weasley's planned to get the trio and Ginny to the platform before too many people arrived, they wanted Ginny to get a seat on train without too much disturbance. Breakfast was quick and while Ginny ate a piece of toast in the car on the way to the platform, Molly couldn't help but wonder how afraid her daughter might be of her return. Regardless, she kissed them all good-bye and held Ginny the longest, deciding to bestow a bit of knowledge on her daughter before she departed for the year. "Gin dear, I want you to know that you are the bravest woman I have ever known. Surviving what you did took more mental strength than it did physical and I could never do what you did. I love you, Gin." Tears slipped down the girl's cheeks before they turned away from each other, heading their separate directions.
Ginny slipped through the platform without a muggle seeing her, pushing her cart towards the train and smiling as the man took it from her and began to load it aboard. It felt like every other year she'd been here as Ginny boarded the train and for that moment she stopped walking, smiled boldly to herself and decided that it was time to be the Ginny she'd always wanted to be. Riddick's words rang in her thoughts and she remembered what he said about people looking at her differently because she didn't look the same anymore and for that moment she was happy because she knew it was something she'd be able to handle. She'd survived Adjorate for Merlin's sake, Ginny knew that she deserved a year of happiness after that hell. Walking down the hall of the train she held her head high, it was time to break in the new Ginny Weasley.
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