Luck, Loss and Lament
Chapter One – Liquid Luck
"Ginny, wake up!" The voice was only a whisper but the harsh urgency in the speaker's voice was enough to stir Ginny from her slumber.
"What the... What time is it?" Ginny groaned, still half asleep and confused.
"It's still night time," came the whispered tones of Hermione Granger from somewhere above Ginny's head. Ginny opened her eyes and could just about make out the silhouette of a body through the darkness and the blurriness of sleep clouding her vision. "You need to get up, now"
At these words Ginny's brain kicked in to life and suddenly she was wide awake. Panic was starting to spread through her like wildfire and her stomach was tying itself in knots. Hermione must be waking her for a reason and she sensed somehow that it wasn't good. She sat herself up at once, rubbing her eyes furiously in a bid to clear them and read the expression on Hermione's face for a hint as to what was happening, but it was too dark to make out her features.
"What's happened?" Ginny demanded at once.
"Don't worry, nothing yet," Hermione answered quickly. Yet. The word sank in to Ginny's brain and burrowed itself there as her stomach lurched.
"I'm coming," Ginny stated, eyes wide and ready for action.
"Good, I'll meet you in the common room, get dressed quickly and keep the noise down," Hermione whispered and she left the room as Ginny stood up and hastened to find some clothes. Her heart was racing now and she was working hard to keep a cool head. She reached around; fumbling in the dark for the nearest items of clothing she could find and came across a pair of jeans and a clean top, finally pulling on a jumper for warmth, although she wasn't sure if it was cold giving her goose bumps. She grabbed her wand from the table beside her bed, clutching it tightly in her hand and stepped as lightly as possible over the dormitory floor. Reaching the door, she left the room and closed it gently behind her. As she made her way down the steps to the common room she held her wand out in front of her, prepared for anything that lay beyond the door. But when she entered the circular room it was to find Ron and Hermione standing there and to her surprise, accompanying them was Neville.
The three of them turned as she entered, their faces relaxing once they realised who it was.
"Great, you're here," said Ron, and before she could respond he pointed his wand at each of the doors to the dormitories and whispered "Muffliato!"
"Ron, don't use that spell!" hissed Hermione. Ginny was slightly bemused by what was happening and turned to Neville, who looked back at her with an expression that echoed her confusion.
"Well, I don't want anyone overhearing us!" said Ron defensively, in reply to Hermione's disapproving gaze.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" demanded Ginny, her panic increasing with every second as she took in the absence of Harry from the scene. "Where's Harry?" and she looked automatically towards the boys dormitory, as if she expected him to join them at any moment. Deep down she knew he would have been be here already if he was coming.
"I was wondering that too, they wouldn't tell me, said we had to wait until you got here," said Neville, looking from Ginny to Ron, and then to Hermione.
"Harry isn't here, he's with Dumbledore," explained Hermione, and Ginny was grateful they were finally getting somewhere, her mind racing and her greed for more information increasing rapidly.
"Yeah, and they've left the school," added Ron.
"What?" cried Ginny and Neville together. Ginny was trying to keep calm but it was becoming increasingly difficult as dread started to overcome her. Why had Harry left the school, left behind the protection of Hogwarts? He was safe here; out there anybody could get to him. No, she couldn't think like that. Her mouth was dry now but she could still taste the fear. She steadied herself and regained her focus as Ron continued to speak.
"That's not the worst of it," he went on, and he lowered his voice further. "Listen, Harry reckons Draco Malfoy's up to something, the git, but we don't know what. Plus there's a chance Snape's in on it,"
"Snape?" asked Neville, astonished.
"There isn't time to explain," Ron interjected quickly.
"Basically," Hermione chimed in, "Harry told us to keep an eye on what Malfoy's up to tonight so we've been using the Marauder's Map." Ginny looked at the battered piece of parchment in Hermione's hand and nodded to indicate she was keeping up. "We can't find him now so he must be in the Room of Requirement which is where Harry said he'd be, and there's nothing we can do whilst he's in there except patrol the corridors tonight, keep watch in case you know, anything happens," and her voice trailed away.
There were a few moments of silence as everyone took in the words. Ron and Hermione looked at each other wearily and Neville looked more confused still, as if he was struggling to keep up. Ginny herself was finding it difficult enough, minutes ago she had been fast asleep and now she was facing that task of foiling whatever plot Malfoy was cooking up. And Harry, where was Harry? She tried to concentrate.
"So, what's the plan?" she asked in the calmest voice she could muster.
"Well, ideally we need as many people as possible," said Ron.
"So we sent out a message to the DA," continued Hermione, and she held up one of the fake Galleons that she had used all last year to send out the date of the next DA meeting to all the members. At the same time Neville pulled out his own coin from his pocket and smiled.
"I've been waiting for this," he said, almost happily. "It'll be good to have the old gang back together again!"
"And what do we do once they're here?" Ginny butted in, trying to get to the crucial details of the plan as quickly as possible.
"Hermione and I talked it through and we have a plan," said Ron confidently. Ginny was surprised yet immensely relieved by her brothers sudden display of certainty and leadership. She knew this would have been Harry's role if he'd been here but she trusted Ron to take charge in his absence. "Whatever Malfoy's up to, he's doing it in the Room of Requirement so we need to focus ourselves around there, and we need to keep an eye on Snape too. We're going to share out those roles between us and Luna, she'll be up for it too and then the rest of them can patrol the corridors."
Ginny and Neville nodded.
"So who's going where?" Neville asked.
"Right, well we don't know what Malfoy's up to but there's a good chance it's something dangerous, so Neville, you and I will stand guard outside the Room of Requirement and Ginny, you, Hermione and Luna can go down to the dungeons and..."
"Excuse me?" Ginny interrupted, flaring up at once. She was now fighting hard to resist throwing something at her brother. "Are you saying that we should stay out of the way because we're girls?"
"Look, I just think it's best..."
"No!" Ginny cried, "I can handle it! I fought the Death Eaters as well remember? So did Hermione and Luna or had you forgotten that? So if you think I can't handle whatever Malfoy's up to because I'm a girl then you're and even bigger prat than I thought you were! I could jynx him in a heartbeat, just you watch me and trust me I'd quite like to get my hands on the little slimeball!"
Ginny looked around at the others for support. Neville looked as if he would quite like to disappear in to the ground just to avoid the scene but Hermione nodded supportively at Ginny, albeit giving Ron a nervous glance afterwards to see his reaction. He rolled his eyes in an apparent gesture of defeat.
"Fine," he sighed, "Ginny can stay with me and Neville but somebody needs to keep an eye on Snape don't they?"
"Then Luna and I will do that, but we're wasting time standing here arguing about it!" said Hermione in a slightly panicked voice. Ginny felt her ears burning but Hermione was right, there was no time to argue. "Ron, you've still got the Felix Felicis, right?" she finished.
Ginny felt frustrated that yet again she didn't know what they were talking about, but she seemed to be the only one.
"What's th..." started Ginny, but Ron cut her off before she could finish the question.
"It's liquid luck," he explained, and he pulled from his robes a small glass bottle that contained a bright golden potion. "Harry won it off Slughorn at the start of term." Neville was now stood with his mouth open in apparent shock, as if something had suddenly dawned on him. "Harry gave it to us before he left, Ginny he told us to give some to you as well."
"But if Harry's on a mission with Dumbledore then why didn't he use the lucky potion?" Neville asked, astounded. Both Ron and Hermione opened their mouths to answer but Ginny was the one to speak first, because she knew exactly why.
"Because he would be more worried about what happens to us while he wasn't here, this is his way of looking out for us and making sure we're ok," she said automatically, her eyes fixed on the little bottle in Ron's hand. She had to force back a laugh as she added "typical Harry!"
"Exactly," said Hermione, and she gave Ginny a comforting tap on the arm.
"Plus he's with Dumbledore isn't he? He's probably safer than all of us," said Ron. There were a few moments where the four of them stood in silence and Ginny's thoughts strayed to Harry. She was desperately trying not to think about what he was doing, because she was certain it would be something dangerous. She was scared, and she knew she couldn't let it get to her because she needed to focus on stopping Malfoy. Her heart pounded against the inside of her chest, as if it were trying to escape its cage and she felt sure that it was beating so hard the rest of them could hear it. Her chest hurt, the pain of fear alongside another familiar ache that stretched to her fingertips and made her head spin. Ginny screwed her eyes up tightly and concentrated on the room she was in and the mission she was facing. Ron was right, Harry was safe with Dumbledore. When nobody had spoken for half a minute or so Ginny broke the silence.
"We should get going," she said, urgency in her voice and she nodded at the small bottle of potion still clutched in Ron's hand, "are we taking that?"
"We'll wait until the others get here and then we can share it round as many of us as we can," answered Ron, "where are they meeting us Hermione?"
"Outside the portrait hole, they should be here by now," she answered, glancing towards the exit to the common room.
"Let's go then!" said Neville enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together and he and Ron made their way towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. Ginny took a step in the same direction, attempting to follow them but she was stopped by Hermione who had grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back. Neville was climbing out of the portrait hole as Ginny turned to face Hermione, who was looking at Ginny sympathetically.
"Ginny," she said, lowering her voice so the boys didn't overhear her, "Harry wanted us to say goodbye to you, from him. I know he wanted to do it himself, I could tell from the look on his face and he would have if he could, but he was in such a rush," Hermione continued to look at Ginny, clearly trying to read the expression on her face. Ginny thought these words over. Harry had thought of her before he left and that was everything she needed to know. Her heart swelled at these words and the feeling spread throughout her body, as if Harry's desire to say goodbye to her in that small moment was acting as some sort of protection over her, as motivation for tonight. She would do what needed to be done, for Harry.
She nodded, swallowing hard as a lump caught in her throat.
"Thank you," she said gratefully, smiling at Hermione.
"Are you two coming?" called Ron through the still open portrait hole. Ginny and Hermione made their way to join Ron and Neville, leaving the safety of the common room behind and heading into the unknown.