Things Change

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything, but I definitely own this piece of writing! J.K Rowling owns all the characters and stuff.

A/N This, I hope, will be a longer story than my others, but I want to see what the reviews I get for this are like first, to see if it's worth continuing. Obviously this means pleez R&R! (No flames pleez!). It would mean a lot. I might continue with this anyway, but we'll see.

Also, Ginny *might* turn out to be a bit OOC, but that's all meant to happen.

So, have fun reading!

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She was standing in a library, and the library was full of books. So many books. And she had to choose one.

But which one?

She picked up one with a coarse brown cover off the shelf before her. The edges were frayed, the pages yellow and tattered. She turned it over in her hands, examining the jacket. The picture on the front was of a girl, her features faded so that she couldn't quite tell what the young woman looked like. It appeared as though her hair was long, but the colour was difficult to place. Somewhere between blood and dirt.

She placed the book back on one of the never-ending shelves, and went on to another. But even though the shelves were endless, and there were many a glossier book, the tattered brown volume stayed stuck in her mind.

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Ginny Weasley sighed sleepily as she looked down at the soggy cornflakes in her bowl. It was Monday morning, and her first lesson was double potions. For a 5th year Gryffindor like herself, Monday's were always particularly bad, but today was even worse, as she had woken up during the night because of some strange dream she couldn't even remember, and had ended up staying awake pretty much all night. So, she was incredibly tired.

At the opposite end of the scale, Ana was about as awake as Ginny was asleep. Her friend was sitting, or rather bouncing about next to her, animatedly moving her dark hands around as she spoke about her brother's new pet, a tarantula. The rest of Ginny's little group were in much the same condition. Lara was talking to Sophie about some new racing broom, and Lizzie was listening to Ana, watching intently as she demonstrated the size of the spider with her hands.

Ginny groaned inwardly. She knew what her 'friends' were like, and if they stayed this way all day, then Ginny would probably end up violently murdering all of them. So she continued to stare at her cornflakes, spiralling deeper into the I'm-so-tired-I'm-going-to-kill-someone feeling she had had since 2:00 am that morning.

"Gin?"

She was dragged away from her thoughts by Sophie nudging her slightly.

"What?" she asked, sounding, and probably looking like the walking dead.

"You haven't eaten much this morning. Is something wrong?"

Ginny just yawned, shaking her head.

"No, I just didn't get much sleep, that's all. But I suppose I'll be fine when I've woken up properly and I'm in class"

"Okay" Sophie replied. "Speaking of class, we'd better get going; Snape'll kill us if we're late"

A collective groan was heard from all five girls, but they grabbed their bags and, taking a last mouthful of breakfast, they headed down to the dungeons. Ginny was slightly removed from the conversation down to the classroom. She had been thinking about her dream since breakfast, the dream worrying her a lot. Why, she didn't know, because she couldn't remember it. All she knew was that it had been shadowy and weird, and had left her with a deep sense of...foreboding, almost. This had stayed with her all through breakfast, bringing her mood even further down than it already was. What the feeling meant was also a mystery, but Ginny tried to ignore it, pushing the feeling to the back of her mind as she waited outside in the corridor with the rest of the class.

Even worse for Ginny and the other Gryffindors was the fact that they had potions with the Slytherins. This meant hours of Snape favouring his own students whilst he made Ginny and everyone else suffer horribly. It didn't help that Potions was one of Ginny's worst subjects.

"Got a penny, Weasel? Oh no, I *forgot* you were poor!" sneered a sardonic Slytherin boy called Peter.

Ginny sighed and shook her head slightly, leaning against the wall.

'Don't worry about him, he isn't worth it' she thought to herself, just as Peter started pulling out his trouser pockets and pretending to cry.

She looked at the Slytherins darkly, but tried to ignore them all the same. Mortly continued his stupid impression, making sure he was always in Ginny's eye line. Ginny tried to pay no attention to him, but he was pretty hard to ignore sometimes. Stupid git.

Presently, Snape arrived and the students filed into the dungeons. Ginny seated herself at the back with her 'friends', her mood gloomier than ever now. Luckily, Mortly always sat at the front where he could get extra praise from Snape, so she was slightly better off than she was out in the corridor. Still, she would have preferred it if Mortly didn't actually exist at all.

Getting out her quill, parchment and cauldron, Ginny set them on the table beside Lara's things. The worn hand-me-down pewter cauldron with its ancient potion stains looked especially shabby next to Lara's brand new one. Ginny sighed. Mortly had made her think about how much she hated being poor, and this wasn't helping. Oh well.

Apart from Mortly's *occasional* jeer across the class ("We wouldn't get way with that!" muttered Lizzie), the lesson passed uneventfully, until there was a knock at the door and Professor McGonagall swept in.

"Professor," said Snape, looking up from Mortly's potion to McGonagall. "What is it?"

"I wish to speak to Miss Weasley," McGonagall replied.

Ginny looked up as she heard her name. McGonagall's face was set in its usual expression under her green velvet hat, but she looked slightly worried.

Snape's face twisted in annoyance. "Professor, Miss Weasley is currently making a major potion as part of her coursework. I assure you –"

"Serverus, as much as I hate to disturb students during lessons, this is of great importance. I need to speak to Miss Weasley now"

The whole class had gone silent. The teachers never called each other by their first names around pupils, and McGonagall certainly never interrupted Snape. What could be so important that these two unspoken rules were broken?

Snape looked angrily at McGonagall and then Ginny, before nodding ever so slightly, his face reddening with vehemence.

"Bring your school things Miss Weasley," said McGonagall. "I'm afraid you won't be back for the end of this lesson. Oh, and could Miss Moreesen pack away your cauldron at the end of the class? Thank you"

Confused, Ginny shoved everything into her bag (apart from her cauldron, which was bubbling away next to her) and stood up, making her way past Lara and Sophie to the door where McGonagall waited.

"Come with me Miss Weasley"

Ginny meekly followed McGonagall out of the class, wondering what could be so important that she had been dragged out of potions. Not that she minded, of course, but if she was in trouble why didn't McGonagall just talk to her after class? After all, she herself had said she didn't like to disturb students in their lessons. So, she obviously wasn't in trouble, which meant that maybe she was getting rewarded for good behaviour or school marks or whatever. But then again, that would be something McGonagall would talk about *after* class. So...

She was broken out of her thoughts by McGonagall stopping abruptly in front of a rather large and ugly statue of a gargoyle that looked vaguely familiar. Ginny hadn't been concentrating on where she was going, and wondered what McGonagall was doing standing next to a statue. Weren't they going to her office or something?

"The Headmaster will take it from here Miss Weasley"

Headmaster? Ginny thought, even more confused. She was going to see the headmaster? If so, what was the point of standing around in front of a statue?

Her question was answered when McGonagall said 'Sherbet Lemon' (A/N or lemon drop if you're American) and the gargoyle slid sideways to reveal a moving staircase, much like the 'escapaders' she had seen in muggle shops. Ah, she remembered this. It was the way to Dumbledore's office.

"Off you go now. Don't keep the Headmaster waiting"

Ginny stepped cautiously onto the staircase as it continued upwards, and soon McGonagall was out of site, and she was facing a large oak door. She reached out a hand to knock, but it swung open before she could reach the handle. It revealed an office on two floors, with telescopes, books, odd magical bits and pieces, everything you could think of. Ginny hadn't seen it in four years, but she remembered it well.

"Ginny!"

Startled, Ginny looked to wear the voice was coming from and immediately recognised the red hair and long nose she had seen only that morning.

"Ron! What are you doing here?"

Ron shrugged.

"I dunno. What are you doing here?

Ginny shrugged back.

"I have no idea. I was just sitting there in potions –"

"You get to miss potions? I'm missing Care of Magical of Creatures!"

"– and McGonagall came in and asked for me. You should have seen Snape's face, it was –"

"Miss Weasley, as much as I would like to know what Professor Snape's face looked like, I think that perhaps, for the moment, you and your brother had better sit down"

Dumbledore had appeared at the top of his office next to his round, gold telescope. Ginny gulped, her face reddening in embarrassment.

"Sorry Professor"

"Oh, no need to apologise Miss Weasley, but I think that perhaps I had better keep that particular comment a secret for now, hmm?"

"Yes, Professor" Ginny replied, smiling slightly.

"Now," said Dumbledore, seating himself down behind his desk and gesturing for Ron and Ginny to do the same. "You are probably both wondering why you are here". At these words, his face became graver, and Ginny couldn't help wondering if she had seen a glimpse of sadness in his eyes, but she nodded along with Ron.

"Well, I think that the reason should be here any minute, so I shall leave you..." Dumbledore said, getting up and walking over to the door.

"Who? –" Ginny cried, but he had closed the door, leaving Ron and her alone.

"What? –"Ron started, but at that moment there was a shuffling noise and a flurry of green flame, and Mr and Mrs Weasley appeared in the grate of Dumbledore's office. Mrs Weasley's face was red and tear-stained, and Mr Weasley looked as if he had been crying too.

"Mum, Dad! What's happened?! What's going on?!" Ron cried as he and Ginny rushed to their mother's side as she sank into a chair.

These words caused Mrs Weasley to break into fresh tears.

"Mum? What's wrong? What is it? Please tell us Mum" Ginny said frantically, kneeling in front of her mother and grasping her hands tightly. They were shaking almost uncontrollably. This was really starting to scare her.

"There – there's been an attack – You-Know-Who – Death Eaters – No survivors..." Mr Weasley answered, his voice trailing off.

"Oh God" Ron croaked, his voice sounding oddly hoarse.

"Who?" Ginny asked, beginning to panic.

"Your – Your brother – Charlie..."

Ginny felt as if somebody had just chucked a bucket of ice down her shirt. She felt cold all over, and rigid, like she couldn't move. This couldn't be happening, she thought desperately. Things like this only happen to other people, not me. It can't happen to me. Charlie's not dead, he can't be, he's *Charlie*...

And then she was crying, hot tears falling down her cheeks. She could hear Ron crying too, as well as both her parents. But there were no arms around her, holding her close, nobody crying with her. She looked up from where she had slumped on the floor to see Ron sitting on the arm of his mother's chair, with him and their parents in a close embrace.

"Mum? Mum?" she asked, but nobody heard her. She leant against her mother's legs, crying harder and harder. She wasn't a part of their little huddle, she realised, right when they all needed each other most.

But not me, she thought. They don't need me.

And she collapsed into more tears.

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A/N Yey! Chapter one over and done with. You know what this means. R&R!