Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, my name is not Joanne Rowling, etc. etc. I may copy some text from Deathly Hallows when appropriate, if so I'll denote it with the page number (US edition). Otherwise, none of the characters or environmental elements are mine (unless I decide to make up a student or a spell or something).
-------------------------------------------- 1. Missing You -------------------------------------------
"We're here! Alright everyone out - Fred and George, please don't ever do that in public again - come on Ginny get your trunk…" Arthur Weasley was busily hurrying about, making sure Ginny had all her things before they entered the King's Cross Station. Since Ron was home with a horrible case of spattergroit, or so Mrs. Weasley thought, there would only be one Weasley in Hogwarts for the first time in well over a decade.
Ginny pondered this while getting her things out of the trunk. What would it be like without any of Fred and George's antics, without Ron constantly annoying her, without Harry… She shook her head as though she were trying to get rid of an annoying insect on her nose. She would not think about Harry, not now, not with everyone around, she would wait for the privacy of a train car to let the tears flow. She had shut herself up in her room constantly since the wedding, and had always emerged, hours later, with great puffy eyes and an empty box of tissues. Mrs. Weasley had chalked it up to worry for Bill and Arthur, who were under constain from the now-corrupted Ministry for which they worked.
"Oh Ginevra, what are you doing back there?" called Fred, in a perfect imitation of Auntie Muriel. "Oh these children today, so lazy and unfocused, it's a wonder they get anything done at all, I mean really – "
"Merlin's – duck!" George screamed and threw his brother to the ground as Ginny's trunk flew over them, just brushing the top of Fred's hair. Ginny started giggling from behind the car. Fred and George were apt at recognizing Ginny's mood swings, and were always quick to provide a humorous distraction when they sensed what they called "a hairy Harry moment."
"Merlin's duck? I don't think they mention that on his Chocolate Frog card. Now be a good big brother and carry my stuff." She gave her wand a little flick and sent a second trunk soaring through the air. It stopped right in front of Fred's face, whose body was still on the ground. The twins obliged and loaded up a trolley with Ginny's things. They followed her to the pillar which housed the secret entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, still smirking at her.
"You know little missy, you shouldn't even be doing magic yet, you're only sixteen and school hasn't started yet. It's a good thing Mum and Dad are off talking to Mrs. Longbottom, or you'd be in for it…" Ginny leaned casually against the pillar between Platforms Nine and Ten, and passed right through it onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Her brothers appeared a second later, still berating her for her underage magic.
"Are you serious?!" Ginny let out a loud laugh. "You have no right to yell at me for rule-breaking, in fact you –" Her retort was cut short as the twins turned around and sped off, muttering something about loading her things onto the train. She turned around and saw her parents approaching. Mrs. Weasley looked confused and suspicious – Ginny suspected that she was about to be interrogated about Harry and Hermione again. Harry…she shook her head again. There would be time to cry on the train.
"Ginny, we haven't seen Mr. and Mrs. Granger anywhere, and I was hoping to have a word with them before we left." She gave her daughter a cold, calculating look. Ginny wondered again if her mother practiced Legilimency without telling anyone.
"I dunno Mum, maybe they got here early? Anyways, I should probably get on," Ginny hastily replied. She caught her father's eye and gave him a pleading look.
"Yes, Molly, Ginny's probably right. Now then, Fred and George have your things loaded, do you have your Blood Badge?"
Ginny nodded and pulled a green rectangular badge from her pocket. It read:
Ginevra Molly Weasley
Pure-Blood
Ginny had only been granted Blood Status a few weeks ago. She knew that Voldemort's supporters despised families like the Weasleys, who, despite being pure-bloods, consorted with Muggles. The added fact that their entire family was friendly with "Undesirable Number One" caused them to be watched even more carefully by the Ministry. Mr. Weasley had been working for weeks and weeks trying to get his daughter the right to go to Hogwarts, and Umbridge had relented only after he and Bill agreed to extra surveillance on them at work.
She pinned the badge to her robes and hugged her brothers and parents before climbing the stairs to a large red train car. She had put on a good show of happiness, she thought. Mum may have suspected something, but it didn't matter now that Ginny was on the train. She immediately started to tear up and began to run down the corridor, looking for an empty room to sit in so she could be alone with her thoughts. After bowling headfirst into the Creevey brothers, who shouted and pointed to a piece of paper with Snape's picture on it. Ignoring them completely, she finally found an open door at the end of the car and ran in, slamming the door shut. She pointed her wand at the door handle and said, "Colloportus." The door magically sealed itself with a squelching sound.
Ginny fell to her knees and finally let out a choking sob, as if all of her held-back tears were trying to get out at once. She just knelt there for a few minutes, crying into her hands. She hadn't thought that it would be this hard, getting on the train without him. Every time his face appeared in her mind, he seemed to get cuter and cuter. She wondered where the three were right now, whether or not they were safe. She resigned herself to the fact that they were safe. They had to be. She would not allow her mind to think otherwise. She hoped they were at Grimmauld Place, like her father had earlier suggested. How could Ron have been thick enough to walk in on their last moment alone? The feeling of Harry's soft, warm lips on hers, his fingers running slowly through her hair, was so vivid to her that she stopped crying and simply sat there, imagining his strong arms holding her close. The idea that Harry still loved her, that the kiss had meant as much to him as it had to her, provided a driving force in her mind. She would keep going on for Harry. If she kept fighting, then so would he. If she made it through safe and sound, then he would too, and they could finally be together…
A loud noise came out of nowhere, surprising Ginny so much that she fell over. She lay there, rubbing her bruised knees and searching for the source of the sound. Still in a daze from her fantasy, Ginny took awhile to realize that someone was knocking on the door with such force that things were falling out of her trunk, which was stored in the shelf above the seats. Dodging an old Daily Prophet and a cracked Sneakoscope, which used to belong to Harry, she pointed her wand at the door and shouted, "Alohomora!" The door flew open and she was immediately thrown to the floor and crushed by a body that was slightly taller and more broad-shouldered than she was.
"Hey, get off me! Impedimenta!" The body on top of her was thrown up to the ceiling by the curse, where it promptly got stuck on the luggage shelf.
"Ahhh, no stop Ginny it's me! Neville! Ouch, my leg…"
"Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry, I didn't see who you were! Wingardium Leviosa!" She lifted Neville out of the shelf and lowered him gently down onto the seat. Ginny walked to the door and closed it again.
"Thanks. You don't have to be so aggressive, you know, I've been knocking on your door for like five minutes! What have you been doing in here, anyways?" Neville grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her up to her feet as she hurriedly turned around and wiped her eyes on her robes. She suddenly realized that she was extremely tired – she hadn't slept more than a few hours in weeks. Neville had begun to pick up the various items strewn about the floor as she plopped down on a seat and leaned her head against the window.
"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it. You knocked a little hard though, you knocked my trunk open, as you can see," she replied sleepily.
"Sorry, but you didn't answer! Are you sure you're okay? I've heard some rumors that Ron's really sick, and Harry's on the run from the Ministry!" Neville sat down and looked at her. Ginny refused to meet his gaze, staring out the window. He didn't mean to bring up Harry, she told herself, he's just curious. It's not like people are trying to make you cry or anything, he's a good friend, she reminded herself. Ginny wondered if she any tears left in her at all. She decided not to find out.
"Well, Neville, I know I can trust you, right?" He nodded. "Okay, well Ron's not really sick. He, Harry and Hermione left together the day that Thicknesse became Minister. He's being controlled by You-Know-Who, Scrimgeour's been killed, and the Death Eaters have control of the Ministry now. That's why all this Blood Status stuff is coming about. I don't know where Harry is, but he's safe. I know it," she added quietly, as though trying to convince herself. She turned to Neville, who was staring at her, open-mouthed in shock.
"Whoa, the Ministry, I mean it was fishy when Scrimgeour resigned, but I never thought…wow," he mouthed in awe. "I guess that explains this though." He unfolded a copy of today's Daily Prophet and laid it on her lap. The headline read:
SEVERUS SNAPE CONFIRMED AS HOGWARTS HEADMASTER (225)
"WHAT! I can't believe this!" Ginny snatched up the paper and scanned the article. "Alecto and Amycus Carrow…aren't they those two Death Eaters who attacked Hogwarts last year? I remember, Alecto almost killed me!" Ginny stared with disgust at the pictures of the two siblings, who were looking around their frames with looks of sheer contempt.
"I know," Neville replied. "I remember them too. If You-Know-Who is behind all this, then you can bet – huh?" Neville was interrupted by loud shouts coming from the hallway. "What's going on out there?"
The two opened the door and peered into the hall. A few doors down, they saw a group of laughing third year boys pointing at someone Ginny recognized…
"Luna!" Ginny snapped awake and ran down the hall to protect her friend, past doors that were opening up to see what the commotion was. "What are you idiots doing to her?"
"You mean Loony over there?"
"That freak tried to sell us on some other crackpot theory of hers."
"Just look at her, is she wearing butterbeer corks? Haha!"
This proved to be too much for Ginny. The combined weight of her depression, her anger at Snape and the injustice of the kids tormenting Luna was all thrown into a single spell.
"Mucouso!"
The spell hit the laughing boy right in the chest. He flew into a nearby open doorway and out of sight. The other kids scattered down the hall, but Ginny's hex wasn't finished yet. A hard flapping sound erupted from the direction of the boy on the ground, and the kids who were now coming out to watch the action dove back in their rooms as the hall was filled with a dozen giant bats. They were light green in color and had a wingspan of well over a foot. They hovered over Ginny's head, dripping with what was unmistakably bogies. Ginny pointed her wand at the terrified group of kids and said, in a voice that was nearly shaking in rage, "Get them."
At her command the bats soared towards the kids and attacked them in a frenzy of screams and flying bogies. Ginny did not turn away or dispel the bats until the boys were all screaming, "Okay okay, ahh stop! We're sorry we're sorry, we won't ever bother her! Get 'em off us, please!" Finally Ginny waved her wand and the bats disappeared. The other kids poked their heads out again, now that it was safe. Ginny recognized the fearful eyes of the Creevey brothers peeking out of a door on her right. She glanced at them with such ferocity in her eyes that they both squeaked and slammed their door shut. Ginny took a few steps down the hall and turned her wand to each curious head in turn.
"Does anyone else feel like laughing?" Ginny was starting to calm down, but the older students knew her and her legendary Bat-Bogey Hexes too well to say anything. Ginny finally lowered her wand and turned towards Neville, who was walking down the hall towards her, carefully avoiding puddles of bogies.
"Fat lot of help you were, Neville."
"Hey, you looked like you had the whole thing handled pretty well. I mean, blimey, I don't think those kids will ever be the same." Neville paused to let the boy who Ginny had originally hit with the hex run by. He ran into the next car with the dazed look of someone who had just come to after fainting. Ginny smirked as he tripped running out the door, and turned towards the opposite end, where a girl with long blonde hair was leaning against the wall, staring up at the ceiling with a dreamy look in her silvery eyes. She was wearing a necklace of butterbeer corks over a slightly worn set of robes. She turned to Ginny and smiled.
"Thank you for helping, Ginny, I think we drove out the Phlagomirs that were plaguing those poor little boys."
