Widow of the Future
by:
Faircade
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by J. K. Rowling. I am making no financial gain from this endeavor, nor do I intend to do so.
Summary: After Harry Potter's defeat at the hands of Voldemort, his widow, Ginevra Potter, is presented the opportunity to travel through time by Fides- Harry's loyal phoenix. She can take only her soul- but Fides brings Harry's Pensieve, and the deadly Goblin-made wand.
A/N: Published simultaneously on and
Prologue: Fides and Ginny
Time slowed for Ginevra Potter as she watched Fiendfyre burst from Lord Voldemort's wand and speed toward her dearly beloved. Harry James Potter attempted to redirect the Fiendfyre with a large wave and swoop of his Goblin-made wand, but it was of no avail. The Fiendfyre had taken the shape of the fiery fiends for which it was named, and while some of the innumerable host that Voldemort had conjured turned away from Harry, others came on full force. Voldemort laughed as fire consumed his arch-foe in a matter of seconds.
Thunder sounded and lightning flashed in the distance as the Fiendfyre that Harry had diverted continued to dance around Ginny and the laughing Dark Lord. Ginny felt as if her heart had been ripped out and destroyed. A sickening feeling threatened to overwhelm her as she crawled toward Harry's earthly remains- a pile of ashes. The wind from the coming storm began to blow and she watched as Harry's ashes were gradually sifted away.
The blowing wind revealed a gleam of light among Harry's ashes. It was his wand, the ones that the Goblins had crafted for him in honor of Harry's alliance with the survivors of the once proud Gringotts.
Ginny retrieved the wand from the ashes and examined it. The bright platinum exterior of the wand was cool to the touch. The veins of dark and clear crystal inlaid into the platinum glowed with an eerie light and she could see minuscule fiery fiends dancing throughout the crystal veins. The wand had absorbed the Fiendfyre and had become stronger for it.
An insane smile crept across Ginny's face as she gathered her resolve. Voldemort was going to die, and if he didn't, then at least she would be with Harry.
Adrenaline surged through her body and Ginny stood, ignoring the pain in her legs and torso from her numerous wounds. Fresh blood ran down her arms and face from injuries that she had received in the battle. Her long red hair was stirred by the wind as she stood tall, prepared to challenge the Dark Lord. Voldemort stopped laughing as he noticed Ginny Potter, every inch a queen, staring at him with vengeance in her large brown eyes.
Before Voldemort could react, Ginny raised the Goblin-made wand and waved it in the air, forming some sort of complex pattern and as she swished it one last time, she hurled a powerful curse at Voldemort, magnified ten-fold by the power of the wand.
The world exploded and Ginny watched with apathy as a particularly large shard of rock flew toward her. Before it hit her, a white phoenix appeared, grabbed hold of Ginny's shoulder and with her, disappeared in a puff of flame.
Ginny and the Phoenix appeared in remains of Hogwarts. The phoenix dropped Ginny onto the floor of what had once been the Headmaster's office, next to the fireplace. A strange chirping noise from it caused a fire to ignite in the fireplace.
"Harry's dead, Fides," Ginny said to the phoenix as it flapped its wings and landed on the former perch of Fawkes the phoenix and began to trill a very mournful tune. "He's dead." she repeated to herself quietly as she began to cry. She cried for a long time, until she fell asleep next to the warm fire, albeit on the hard stone.
When she awoke next, Fides the phoenix was still there, watching her. This struck Ginny as being odd. She remembered that Fawkes had departed when Dumbledore had been killed. She had assumed that Harry's phoenix would do likewise. "Why are you here?" she demanded with a quavering voice as she stood up from her spot on the floor, hardly expecting an answer.
A lilting voice, resembling that of a little girl sounded inside her head. "There is still a chance to save Harry and crush Voldemort."
Ginny was not buying it. "Harry is beyond dead." she despaired. "I saw his ashes."
The voice of the phoenix changed from that of a child's to the voice of a grown woman. "That's irrelevant." Fides' voice informed her.
"No it's not!" Ginny argued petulantly . "He's gone. You can't bring people back from the dead."
A voice of power roared in Ginny's head. It was not the voice of any child or woman, it was the voice of a goddess, an angry goddess. "How dare you tell me what I can or cannot do, child! I am a phoenix. I am Fides. I lived millennia before will live for many millennia beyond your time in this world . I intend to change history and by thus doing, spare Harry Potter's life. If you love Harry Potter, you will do what I tell you to do and be grateful for the opportunity to be reunited with him. Furthermore, since you will be granted that opportunity, you can stop feeling sorry for yourself. Do I make myself clear?"
It was Ginny's nature to be quite defiant when faced with opposition, but the phoenix's aura and power had overwhelmed her and beaten her into submission. Ginny was well into her twenties and had been an adult for sometime, but she felt like a child. In the face of this she had no choice but to admit that the bird was a superior being of some sort.
Remembering Hagrid's lessons about showing magical creatures respect, Ginny sank to her knees and stared at the ground. If she could bow and show proper deference to other magical animals, she could kneel and show respect to Fides, a phoenix that she had thought she knew.
In a small voice she addressed Fides. "I understand and apologize. If you intend to somehow save Harry, I will do whatever it is you would have me do. I love him and am willing to suffer any amount of agony and even death for his sake."
There was a silence for several moments and then the lilting, childlike voice of Fides came to Ginny's mind again. "Take the goblin-crafted wand to the Chamber of Secrets. You will find a small pool of Basilisk venom near the carcass of the great monster. Dip the tip of the wand in the venom and hold it there until the wand's entire platinum exterior is dark as night and shines as obsidian. Return here with the wand.
"Very well." Ginny said as respectfully as she could, even though Fides was no longer exuding power and majesty.
Ginny looked around and found the goblin-made wand near where she had lain. She retrieved it and exited the office, going down the staircase that no longer moved. Eventually she found her way to the dreadfully familiar girl's washroom.
Moaning Myrtle was still there, mourning in her stall, or rather- what was left of it. Ginny ignored the ghost and found that the Death Eaters' destruction of Hogwarts had broken open the wall leading to the Chamber.
Ginny descended through the pipe, making her bloodstained robes even more filthy and found her way to the Chamber. The doors to the Chamber were closed. A few Reducto curses from the Goblin-made wand solved that problem. Ginny was too focused on the task at hand to be impressed.
She entered the Chamber and made her way to where the dead Basilisk lay. There was a very small pool of Basilisk venom near it, just as Fides had detailed.
Not wanting to waste any time, Ginny took the goblin wand and dipped its tip into this small pool. She gasped as the wand turned to ice and began to freeze her delicate hand. She stared at the wand, silently pleading with it to darken and shine, fearing what would happen if she had to hold on to the wand for too long.
Pain shot up her arm as the wand got colder and colder. Ginny began to whimper and then just as she was about to give up hope, the small pool of venom began to smoke and the wand began to lose its platinum color, albeit slowly. Her joy was quickly consumed by the increased pain in her hand that was spreading up her arm. She began to sob as the wand finally started blackening. Her thoughts turned to Harry and she clung to them for her courage to hold on.
Ginny's hand and the arm up to the elbow began blackening too which escalated Ginny's suffering and she began to scream. Suddenly, the pain stopped and Ginny's wails were cut short. She looked down and realized that her blackened hand and arm were dead and could no longer feel the pain that the transforming wand had been causing.
Gingerly, she used her other hand to hold the dead appendage in place so that the wand stayed steady in the venom and watched curiously as the wand finished its transformation, trying not to shudder at the feel of her dead flesh.
After what seemed like eternity, the wand became dark and shiny and ceased its transformation. Ginny stood, withdrawing the wand from the venom. Using her living hand, Ginny knocked the wand out of her deadened Hand which was still clutching it. It fell to the ground and she stooped to pick it up with her living hand and studied it.
The crystal veins embedded into the platinum had not changed. The dark crystals seemed to be blacker than the now darkened platinum and the light crystals glowed an even brighter white than ever before. The wand seemed heavier, and a it radiated a deadly aura. One who found themselves on the wrong side of this wand would likely not live to tell the tale.
Remembering the phoenix's instruction to return with the wand, Ginny hurriedly made her way back to the Headmaster's office and found Fides waiting. Apparently the phoenix had gone on its own errand, for Harry's original wand of Holly and phoenix feather was there, as well as Harry's private Pensieve.
The phoenix looked at Ginny's arm. "You will think your sacrifice a small thing, in time." the phoenix said, its' lilting voice echoing in Ginny's head with a somewhat sympathetic tone.
Fides continued her explanation. "The wand absorbs whatever force or energy is used against it. The clash between your love for Harry and the venom's essence put the wand under extreme duress. Not only is it now the most powerful wand currently in existence, it now possesses many useful properties that you will come to appreciate, perhaps later than sooner."
Ginny nodded. Thoughts of her deadened arm had been put out of her head in favor of curiosity concerning the next step of Fides' plan. "What is next?" she asked.
"We will travel through time." Fides answered. "Your soul will return to the summer before Harry Potter's first year and supplant your original soul. You will retain your knowledge, power, and skills, though you will be a child. Shortly after you arrive, I will arrive. I will bring with me the goblin-crafted wand, the Pensieve, and your own personal wand from this time."
"What do we do then?" Ginny wondered.
"You will have to decide what to do and when." the phoenix explained. "I have already interfered more than I should by speaking to you and making this endeavor possible. I will simply be a normal phoenix upon entering the past. I will come and go as I please, though when you have need of my magical abilities, you may summon me by calling my name."
Ginny nodded silently, already considering her potential options. The phoenix interrupted her with some last counsel. "Remember these three things most of all. First- counsel with Harry in all your actions regarding him. He will not thank you for manipulating his life, no matter how much you love him. Second- if Harry has not mastered magic before he touches the Goblin-made wand, it will master him. Wait for him to both have a grasp on magic and have a need for the wand before presenting it to him. You may use the goblin-made wand if you need to, but always remember to whom it belongs. Last- do not show Harry the contents of the Pensieve unless he asks. You may tell him of the future, but do not show him unless he has a desire."
"I will remember these things." Ginny stated in a sober voice.
The phoenix did not respond to this, but then began issuing instruction to Ginny to prepare for the travel through time. "Place your wand and the Goblin-wand in the Pensieve."
Ginny nodded and walked over to the half-destroyed table that the Pensieve rested upon. She gingerly placed the Goblin-made wand into the Pensieve. She then withdrew her own wand from her robes. It had only been made a few years previous, from one of Fides' tail feathers. It had been a gift from Harry and was one of her most prized possessions. It too went into the Pensieve.
"Take Harry's original wand and conjure a sharp dagger and a small bowl." Fides directed.
Ginny did so.
"Use the dagger and the bowl to collect a small amount of my blood." the phoenix instructed.
Ginny gasped. "That's wrong! That is the Darkest of magic."
"Not if I told you to do it." Fides explained patiently. "That is the key to sending your soul back to time. Phoenix fire will consume your body and push your soul outside of existence to punish you when you touch the tip of Harry's original wand to my blood. Your soul, full of pure intent and love, will be immune to the power that tries to destroy it. I will then be able to have your soul sent to the past."
Nodding with mute understanding, Ginny took the dagger with her living hand and made a small cut on the phoenix's body. She quickly put the dagger down and collected the small amount of blood that emerged from the wound with the bowl.
By the time Ginny looked back at Fides, the wound had healed, leaving no trace. Fides flew over to the Pensieve with the two wands in it and gripped it with her talons and then flew up. Ginny then heard the voice of Fides in her head. "When I am gone, touch Harry's wand to my blood. The pain that will follow will be terrible, but know that in moments, you will awake and find your family around you.
Ginny nodded mutely and then Fides disappeared in ear-shattering burst of energy and fire, leaving her alone in the abandoned Headmaster's office.
Ginny moved to the table that had held the Pensieve and placed the small bowl of blood on it. Using thoughts of seeing her family and Harry again, she drew up the courage to touch the wand to the phoenix blood.
The wand exploded and suddenly Ginny was on fire. She would have screamed in agony, but she blacked out before she could think to.