Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related incendia, they are © by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Incorporated, Warner Brothers Studios, Bloomsbury Publishing, and other various companies. No copywrite infringement is meant by the creating of this story, and no plagiarism is intended.
Summary: Ginger Wills hasn't had anything to do with the wizarding world since she set aside her wand fourteen years ago. When the world she has disowned needs her, will her former friends and colleagues be able to convince her to come back? Based in the 5th HP book
Taking Up The Wand
By: The Girl Who Loved
The house looked just like any other on the street. It was a one story flat, with four occupants – Ginger and her cats – and absolutely no lights on.
Inside the house, one of her cats was having a midnight adventure, tossing a rolled up sock around her living room floor. She stopped, suddenly, when the grandfather clock in the hall tolled out twelve, and dashed to the antique. Carefully, she sniffed the wood, and – not so carefully – she jumped backwards, skidding on the wooden floor, as the second chime rang out, and hid under the nearest chair. Because of these events, it is not very surprising that when there was a resounding knock on the door, the kitten let out a strangled 'meowrrrrr' and leapt down the hallway.
Ginger woke, realizing that something small and furry was panting on her chest, inhibiting her breathing. She pulled the chain on her bedside lamp and looked down. It was Gaea, her newest charge, who was now meowing pitifully. Ginger took a good look around the room, to see what had frightened the kitten.
There wasn't much. It was a cool clear night, as she could see from her window. Her bedside clock indicated that she was now 'awake', and her trunk was closed at the foot of her bed. Nothing had fallen from her corkboard on the wall, and she doubted that that would have upset the Gaea anyway. Looking down again, she stroked the kitten's back reassuringly. Maybe something had gone 'bump in the night'.
She had almost decided that she was correct in that assumption when someone outside knocked on the door for a second time.
"Who could be here? It must be two in the morning…" She slowly pulled herself from her bed, the gauze on her night skirt folding nicely around her legs – not that she noticed – and walked out into the hall.
Her bedside clack was still stuck on 'awake'; otherwise it might have read 'awake and extremely annoyed'.
Everything seemed normal, except that the knocking kept growing more and more insistent.
"I'm coming, just a second…" Ginger muttered, knowing full well that whoever was on the other side of the door couldn't hear her.
Reaching out, she grasped the handle of the door and turned, opening it slowly.
Gaea – still perched on Ginger's bed, watched with unblinking eyes as the words on the digital clock changed from 'awake' to 'in mortal peril'.