Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will. Joanne Kathleen Rowling gets full credit for her characters, charms, spells, ideas, Horcruxes…etc….
Note: Hello all of those who are reading this! Brilliant for you, if you are. I'm sort of writing a fanfic to get better as a writer, so any sort of feedback is nicely taken so long as it isn't "This sucks, you suck, go live in a tree."
Wow.
So…..
"Oh boy," thought Ginny sourly as she bent to her work. Herbology had never been her favorite subject. "My Opinion Concerning the Pros and Cons of Devil Snare Liberty or Lack Thereof," headed the essay. She sighed theatrically. This, she realized, was not going to be easy. She pondered judiciously for a few moments more before beginning. "The Devil's Snare is a complex and intricate plant species. Taken advantage of by many dark wizards in the past has colored the public eye. The new Ministry law states clearly that…"
And then she felt him.
His presence engulfed her, enveloped her in a suffocating blanket. She froze and dropped her quill, blotting ink onto the new Devil's Snare law. A few nasty seconds ticked by.
"Go," she thought weakly. The air lifted, slightly. There were a few moments when Ginny thought he had gone.
"You are tense." A silky voice floated through the air into her ears. A voice she knew all too well. One that was used to getting what it wanted.
Ginny did not respond. Instead she raised her gaze to meet his. "Don't look them in the eye," she remembered Harry saying. Legilimency, she thought. Well, let him see it then. All she had inside was grief.
The blue eyes swam hypnotizing. Taunting. Their intimacy had long ago surpassed the level of touch. He took two steps forward and stopped. Unbidden images slammed their way through Ginny's mind.
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Ginny woke up to a whirlwind of confusion. A flurry of voices coincided with many bangs, hoots and footsteps. The voices rose in pitch as the mass saw her awake.
"Ginny!" screamed several voices at once. Ginny was shocked. It looked like half of the Order was there, along with Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Romilda Vane, and Luna.
Ron was closest to her bed. He was at her side in seconds. "Ginny, are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay Ron, what is going on?" But she had a feeling she knew. Tom had kept her there; imprisoned her in her own mind and memories.
"No one could wake you," Dean answered her question as Ron opened his mouth. Ginny looked up at Dean. His face was tight with suppressed worry. She looked away.
The hoots were becoming louder now as owls hurled themselves in and out of the sixth year girl's dormitory. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Remus Lupin were writing hurried letters to other members of the Order. Remus felt her eyes upon him and looked up.
"How are you, Ginny?" he said kindly from the foot of her bed.
"I'm…" Ginny had begun to tell him exactly how she felt at the moment when the ringing voice of a newly placed Headmistress punctured the air.
"All right!" Professor McGonagall pushed her way rather rudely past Romilda, Luna and Ron, to reach Ginny's bedstead, much to their chagrin.
"Miss Weasley," she began but Ginny stopped her.
"Professor, I'm fine, really, it was just a bad dream."
"Just a bad…Miss Weasley I am sorry but this is severe. No one could arouse you and for the moment you are being transferred to the hospital wing, until we discover what happened tonight." Ginny felt an unexplained resentment pulse through her head but as she opened her mouth to retort she caught Hermione's eye. There was concern in them, naturally, but Ginny also saw…suspicion.
The Order began to leave one by one. Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley and Dedulus Diggle all wished her well. But someone was missing.
"Where's Harry?" Ginny demanded of her grim-faced brother.
"He's out, Ginny," Ron said significantly, not inviting any further questioning on her part.
The new Headmistress looked Ginny up and down one last time, told Ron to take her to the hospital wing directly and dismissed the remaining students from the room.
"Ginny," said Romilda in farewell and with a short nod vanished through the door. Luna, Hermione and the boys took a bit longer to leave. Neville approached the bed, nervously.
"Get better, Gin," and with a friendly pat on the leg, he left followed by Seamus. Dean lingered.
"You should go, Thomas," said an unfriendly voice. Dean looked up to see Ron glowering. Nodding, he left, avoiding Ginny's eyes.
"And I thought Hermione was the Head Girl," Ginny laughed.
"I'm still a Prefect," came the response.
"Up with you," Hermione finally spoke to her. "Let's get you down to Madame Pomfrey before you decide to fall asleep on us again."
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Ginny was terribly bored.
"I hate this place," she whined to her current visitors. Hermione rolled her eyes. Ron snorted. The two had taken up sitting by her bedside as frequently as they could. Hermione was poring over a book she had had specially shipped to her from the Ministry library, The Worst Kinds of Magic. Ginny knew she was reading as much as she could about Horcruxes and other sources of the darkest magic. Ron was attempting to read over her shoulder but she was reading too fast for him. After finally giving up and looking sulky, he turned to respond to Ginny's comment.
"Least you get to miss classes."
"Oh, shut up Ron, you have permission to miss classes whenever you want," Ginny snapped. This was true. Ron, Harry and Hermione had uncertainly came back for their final year at Hogwarts with special acquiescence from McGonagall to miss whatever classes they needed to, whether to research or to leave the castle. Ginny was exceedingly jealous. However, Hermione had not missed a class yet. Ron had missed thirteen and it was barely a month into the school year.
"Doesn't stop them from giving me loads of homework when I do show up," he said, sullen.
"If you went more often, there'd be less homework," said Hermione impatiently. Ron's comment had apparently interrupted her book work.
Ron reached out to flick her ear, a gesture she never took kindly to, when Fred and George hammered their way into the room. They smiled triumphantly as Madame Pomfrey came to usher them out for being too loud.
"Oh, Madame," Fred said modestly. "Have we disturbed your work?"
"Just because you two are no longer students here doesn't mean you'll get away with anything. Now, shhh and do not stay long for Ginny needs to sleep." Her retreating footsteps and the slam of her office door gave the twins their cue.
They flung open the curtains of her cubicle bed.
"Ginny!"
"Our favorite sister!"
"Your only sister," said a morose Ginny.
"Oh, don't be a spoilsport, sis," Fred threw a package onto her lap.
"What's this?" She was intensely curious. Hermione looked uneasy.
"You two really shouldn't be bringing her stuff from your…hey, how did you get around Filch?" Now Hermione sounded curious.
"You underestimate us, 'Mione," was her response from George.
Ginny slowly unwrapped the packaging. Out fell a variety of colorful items from, as Hermione had anticipated, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
"No way!" Ron looked annoyed. "It looks like they gave you a sample of everything. I need to fall asleep and not wake…" But he stopped himself when he saw the look of outrage on Hermione's face.
Ron seemed correct on his assumption. A dozen Shield Charms, a Pygmy Puff castle for Arnold (she hugged the twins enthusiastically for this one) Portable Patronuses, a rather hefty amount of jinxes and counter curses ready for action at any moment and…to her surprise…a steamy daydream packet.
"I thought you said 'your sister' couldn't have one of these," she teased.
"Well, it looks like you need a bit of fun during these times," said George grinning. "Here, we brought one for you too, Ron." They threw the white packet at Ron. Ron looked ecstatic. Hermione did not. Nevertheless, she chose not to comment.
Fred studied Hermione. It seemed as if he were looking for something- some reaction. She felt his stare and returned it hesitantly. George cleared his throat and looked at Ginny.
"Well, Gin…it's that time."
"Don't leave me!" she protested. She really was bored when they all left. She received many visitors. The Quidditch team coming to complain about her missing practices. Neville and Luna, cheerfully bringing her candy and asking about her progress. Even Seamus and Dean had come once to check up on her. McGonagall, she thought irritated, came everyday to have whispered conversations with Madame Pomfrey and never bothered to say even a word to her.
Fred and George winked. "Sorry," although they didn't sound sorry at all. "We have a hot date."
"I don't think she will appreciate the small fact that there is two of you," Hermione said dryly, examining her book. Fred looked at her.
"Don't be so insulting, there are at least six women waiting for us at the Hog's Head." Ron gaped in astonishment.
"Oh, don't believe them," Hermione's voice had turned shrill. "Just go, you two." They winked again at Ginny and left waggling their hips. Fred ruffled Hermione's hair as he passed and didn't act surprised when he was smacked for it.
"Humph," she said in irritation as the door swung shut behind them.
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The next few days passed uneventfully for Ginny. She was visited by a few more people, Romilda being one of them, but nothing quite as interesting as Fred or George came her way. She was forced, in the despairing intervals between visits, to think about the dream that had landed her under Madame Promfrey's care. She hadn't dreamt of Tom while in the hospital wing, for she was administered a dreamless sleep potion every night after the astute Madame Pomfrey had deduced, without a word from Ginny, that it was the dream that kept her under a spell for so long.
The images Tom had brought forth in her mind haunted her restless mind. Dumbledore's crumpled body, lying at the foot of the Astronomy tower. Harry turning to break off everything she had imagined for herself since she was eleven. The white coffin and the broken phoenix. Seeing Tom's handsome and cruel face for the first time; and hearing his honeyed voice coaxing the very life out of her. Why, though, had seeing these things kept her asleep for hours? And why had the dream felt so real?
She believed wholeheartedly that she would never know. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to.
Another thing that had been bothering her was that besides Ron, and the twins, she had not been called upon or even contacted by anyone in her family. Percy was understandable- she doubted he even knew she was attending Hogwarts for her sixth year. Her parents, though…she was worried. They hadn't even owled her. Nor had Bill or Charlie. She tried to stifle this line of thinking by taking deep breaths and counting to ten.
She heard footsteps in the corridor outside and the doorknob turned. "Finally," she thought. A visitor to take her mind off of things.
The door slowly opened and Harry Potter stepped into the room.
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This was assuredly one of the rare times in Hermione Granger's life where she could not concentrate. "Damn it all to hell," she remembered Harry saying one summer afternoon at the new Order of the Phoenix's headquarters- Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. This sentiment she felt very much like repeating. Instead, she stretched out onto her bed trying to mentally will the concentration back into her.
Nothing seemed to be working though, so getting off her bed angrily, she strode across the room to get her cloak. The weather had begun to turn chilly. She took a last look around the plain room before walking toward the door. She enjoyed having her own room. Now that she was Head Girl, she took heavy advantage of this luxury. All new Head Boys and Girls were given the choice- did they want to stay with their 7th year mates in the dorm or would they like a new room, all to themselves? This wasn't even a question that Hermione thought should be asked.
She opened the door and stepped out into the landing before a set of steps. And ran right into someone quite unseen standing in the middle.
"Harry Potter, take that stupid cloak off," Hermione had banged her shin on Harry's kneecap and was not happy about it.
"Sorry," said a sheepish voice. "Forgot it was on…" in a whirl Harry appeared.
"What were you doing, standing in the middle of nowhere? Were you going to knock?" Hermione pretended that Harry hadn't just been away for a week. It was hard, though, to keep the bubbling excitement of seeing him again from her voice.
"I was thinking," he said idly a wry smile playing on his lips. He looked slightly unsure of what her reaction to his presence would be but looked satisfied when she flung her arms around his neck.
"Finally, you annoying disgrace for a boy. You leave us all worried and this thing with Ginny happens and you…"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about Hermione," Harry face transformed from good natured to blatant worry. "Can we go into your room?" He nodded to the nearly closed door.
"I suppose…" Hermione said turning to go in. She had just tried to escape the place. Once they were seated comfortably on her bed she turned to look expectantly at Harry.
"Listen, Hermione. This is serious. I talked to her- to Ginny. And she didn't tell me everything. Something happened in that dream which she won't tell anyone," he had arisen and started to pace the room.
"Oh, Harry, don't do that you'll wear holes in your shoes. Now, I know this is serious. It's Tom." He stopped dead in his tracks.
"What did you say?"
"It's Tom Riddle, Harry. It's Voldemort. And he's after Ginny."
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Ginny raced down the hallways of Hogwarts, barely containing her excitement. They had finally released her from the horrendous hospital wing and she was rejoicing for all it was worth. She fell so splendidly into her own world as she sprinted that she barely registered the fact that someone was standing in her way until she ran headlong into them.
"Miss Weasley, kindly walk in the corridors, if you would." Professor McGonagall's Irish lilt rose from under Ginny's shoulder.
"I am so sorry, Professor," and she was. Her anger at Professor McGonagall's lack of information regarding the dream had subsided after her talk with Harry. Harry…but she pushed that particular person out of her mind temporarily.
"Also you are due in Charms in five or so minutes," the Professor said struggling to her feet. "Limbs not what they used to be…" Ginny heard Minerva McGonagall mutter as she took off again as not to be late.
Ginny was so excited to be back that she answered almost every question asked in Charms and was even able to produce the Bubble Charm on the first try. She brewed excellently in Potions and Slughorn was thrilled to have her back to show off to everyone again. The next period Ginny caught up with Luna who was walking along the lake in a daze.
"Hey Luna," she said brightly. Luna smiled dreamily.
"Oh hello there," came the reply. "I was just going to write my essay on Hagrid's new Unkos, would you like to join me?" Both Ginny and Luna had taken Hagrid's N.E.W.T. level Care of Magical Creatures class this year.
"Of course I would," she said cheerily and they sat down together in companionable silence, writing foot long essays on the tiresome little creatures. Ginny liked Luna immensely. Unlike Hermione, one could sit amiably with Luna even without an essay in front of them. Luna didn't make little "Hmms" or "Humphs" or obnoxious sniffs. She had a calming influence on Ginny. The scratch of a quill, the regular breathing and the gentle breeze eventually coaxed Ginny into a slumber. She awoke not ten minutes later to the same sounds although they had a strangely ominous tinge to them. She looked to the forest dazedly and for a moment- a sudden instance of pure insanity- she thought she saw a white-blonde head peek out from behind the trees, only to disappear again.
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Hermione had just seen Harry off. They had talked for a long time as it grew darker, and Hermione had lost all hope of going outside to breathe its fresh air. She at least needed to get out of the ever darkening room. She followed Harry's now-invisible form down into the common room and whispered that he should go find Ron, for only Hermione and Ginny knew that Harry was back. She felt a touch on her shoulder, in acknowledgement of her suggestion and he was gone.
She stood alone in the room by the fire, thinking of the words that had just passed between her and Harry. He had confirmed her suspicions once she had explained them. They both knew Ginny was not telling them everything about what had commenced in that dream. Harry suspected Dark intervention, but Hermione thought it was more than that. She thought there was a possibility that Tom had never left Ginny at all- and now that Voldemort knew about what Lucius Malfoy had spurned onto the small eleven year-old, he could control what was left.
At first Harry was not inclined to agree.
"I destroyed that Hocrux!" he had said heatedly. "He's gone, Tom's gone; he can't hurt her anymore."
"That is what I thought too, Harry. Hear me out." And she had explained more fully. Ginny must have the diary somewhere. She must have gotten it back. How else could Tom remain?
"I destroyed it…" Harry said more feebly.
"Of course you did. That part of his soul is gone. It's in her head. Voldemort…is controlling the image of Tom in her head."
"So why would she have to obtain the diary?"
"It's just a theory. Stop it," she exclaimed when he started to pace again. "Let me search her stuff, and we'll get to the bottom of this. I promise," Harry looked at her oddly just then and said,
"You don't want me to tell Ron, do you?"
"How did you know I didn't…?"
"Because I know you Hermione and if you wanted Ron to know how clever you were for figuring this out, you would have already told him."
She didn't respond and he changed the subject.
"What is going on with you and…?"
"Please, don't ask me that right now."
He fell silent then and approached the bed. He sat down with a groan of the mattress and took her hand. She reached up to touch his hair. Its softness comforted her. He massaged her hand lazily, looking straight ahead at a photo of a young Harry, Ron and Hermione clutching their sides in uncontrolled laughter. He sighed.
"Hermione," he began but as he looked her in the eye Hermione could manage herself no more. She broke down in her lap sobbing and kicking the bed with the back of her foot fell to the floor. Harry was beside her in seconds. He gathered her to him gently and sat there while she cried.
Hermione looked up from the armchair in the common room with some difficulty. She hadn't let out her emotions in front of anyone, let alone Harry, for a very long time. She didn't know how much crying on him would affect his emotional stability, but she had not been able to hold it in any longer.
"Maybe I should just go to bed," she thought and made her way back to her room, admonishing herself for not getting much of anything done that day.
She opened the door to find a man sitting on her bed. She looked at him for a second. And screamed.