A/N: Welcome back, everyone! This is the sequel to 'Circumstances of an Unexpected Trio' - if you haven't read that, you should probably do so if you don't want to be confused. I promise it's not too bad. :)
This chapter's a little short, but it's setting some things up, I suppose. JKR owns all things Potter, I just play. Please R&R, & enjoy! :)
"Happy birthday, Ginny!"
The chorus of voices from the large group surrounding her warmed Ginny Weasley to her core. It was August 11, 1992, a day she'd been waiting for since her oldest brother Bill went to Hogwarts – her eleventh birthday. She was thrilled to be celebrating it surrounded by family and friends. That morning, an owl had brought her Hogwarts letter, and she'd squealed with delight when her surprise guests arrived that afternoon. She'd only met Harry, Draco, and Hermione once before when they'd come for Easter dinner, but she'd liked them all almost instantly, and she'd been upset when they'd had to leave. This year, however, it didn't matter – this year, she was finally joining them at Hogwarts.
"Make a wish, dear!" Mrs. Weasley encouraged as she set an enormous chocolate cake in front of her only daughter. Ginny closed her eyes and thought hard before blowing out all eleven candles in one go. Everyone cheered as Molly began to serve the cake, and Ginny smiled broadly at the many happy faces crammed around the Weasleys' kitchen table. So far, this birthday was easily one of her favorites.
Sometime later, when everyone had had their fill of cake and Ginny had opened her gifts, the birthday girl found herself lounging in her room with Hermione. The two girls had bonded at Easter, and Ginny found the older girl to be a genuinely wonderful person – she hoped theirs was the beginning of a lasting friendship.
"How's your summer been, Hermione?" Ginny asked as she flopped down on her bed. "None of us have heard from you in a while – Ron's been worried."
"It's been alright," Hermione replied, picking at a loose thread on the rug. "We all got in so much trouble for what happened at the end of term."
"I heard a little about it, but I don't really know what happened," Ginny admitted. "Tell me?" Hermione conceded and told the redhead all about the adventures she, Ron, Harry, Draco, and Neville had had during the last week of term – there was the three-headed dog, the various challenges, the injuries and Harry's narrow escape from death, the philosopher's stone, the injured unicorn, the eventual knowledge that there was something darker going on…Hermione left nothing out. Ginny made for a perfect audience, gasping and commenting in all the right places, and her eyes were wide when Hermione finished.
"Well, I didn't really know much at all, did I?" she said finally. "I'm almost jealous – it sounds like it was rather fun."
"It was, really," Hermione said with a laugh. "Well…limping through it wasn't all that fun, but the challenges were actually quite the experience. I kind of wonder how the Aurors fared when they faced them." The series of challenges had turned out to be an Auror training course, not a set of protection for the philosopher's stone as they'd originally thought. Despite their disappointment at going through them for nothing, the friends didn't regret their adventures, and they were secretly pleased when Dumbledore praised them for completing the obstacles so successfully.
Their parents and teachers, however, had been less than thrilled – all but Hermione had received a severe scolding before they'd even left Hogwarts, and they'd spent the last night of term scrubbing out dirty cauldrons in the Potions classroom instead of attending the end-of-year feast. When they got home, Harry, Hermione, and Draco got quite the lecture from their parents. The boys' brooms had been taken away for the summer, as had anything else magical that wasn't related to homework, and fun outings had been almost nonexistent save for a trip to the zoo on Harry's twelfth birthday. Hermione and the boys had spent most of the summer watching coverage of the Barcelona Olympics on telly and playing Muggle games in the backyard, but they missed the magical aspect of their lives and couldn't wait until their punishment was over.
"Oy, you lot!" a familiar voice called. Hermione and Ginny looked out the window to see Ron, Harry, and Draco standing in the Burrow's backyard. "It's time for the scavenger hunt!"
"Coming!" The girls hurried downstairs, put on their shoes, and raced outside to join the boys. Mrs. Weasley gave everyone a list and sent them on their way, and the next two hours were lost in the fun of the search. In the end, Harry won a large box of chocolate frogs for finding the most items, and they were all in a good mood by the time Harry, Hermione, and Draco had to leave.
"See you in a few weeks!" Ginny said as her friends walked away from the Burrow to the Disapparition point.
"Bye! Happy birthday!" they called back. They clasped hands with Lily, who'd come to pick them up, and disappeared with a pop.
No – no, this couldn't be happening! This couldn't be right – the Potter boy was dead! He'd seen it with his own eyes…and yet, he hadn't actually confirmed it, had he? He'd blindly trusted that Quirrell had done the job satisfactorily. Clearly, that was a mistake. There was no denying the identity of the boy he'd seen earlier, none at all. Despite all his efforts, Harry Potter still lived. Well, then. It was a good thing he hadn't gone to the Dark Lord – not that he knew where the Dark Lord was in the first place, but his master definitely didn't take kindly to false information, especially not when something like this was concerned. No, he needed a new plan, one that would succeed where the first had failed. He still had his cover, which made getting into Hogwarts easy – coming up with a new idea shouldn't be a problem.
Albus Dumbledore pored over the latest report from the Auror department and sighed. Nothing. There'd hardly been any evidence at all regarding the mysterious events of the last year, and so far, none of it had turned up anything conclusive. There wasn't even any evidence that Quirrell hadn't been acting of his own accord the entire time and just made up the Imperius story to throw them off track…but no, he didn't think that was the case. He'd known Quirinus for years, and the young man simply wasn't the type, not at all. The poor professor had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, Dumbledore was sure of it. Unfortunately, this theory was the most problematic, as it left him without a name. He couldn't even guarantee that something similar wouldn't happen this year, seeing as he had no idea how the attacker had gained access to Hogwarts, if the attacker had even been on the grounds at all.
He also wasn't getting any further in his investigation of Voldemort's whereabouts or motives. The events of the last year, while troublesome, did very little to shed light on the dark wizard's next move. However, they did seem to cement Dumbledore's theory that Voldemort had chosen Harry as the 'correct answer' to the prophecy Sybil Trelawney had made many years before. The old wizard still didn't know why, nor did he fully understand the contents of the prophecy, but he knew he had to figure it out soon. Things were only getting more complicated as time went on, and he had a lot of work to do.
Yes – it was perfect. So perfect. It was pure luck that he'd come across the diary in the first place, but really – Lucius Malfoy should've come up with a better hiding place. He didn't really understand the finer workings of the thing, but he knew enough about it to know that it should suffice for his plans.
The door creaked, and Arthur Weasley looked up, his expression wary.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want?" The intruder leered at him, revealing yellowed, uneven teeth.
"From you? Very little," he replied. "Imperio!"