It was Easter when her mum really put her foot down.
"Absolutely not!" she screamed. "No! I don't care if we all get thrown in Azkaban, you are not going back to that place they call school!"
"I have to go back!" Ginny yelled. "Neville and Michael and Parvati and everybody, they're all depending on me!"
It had begun in September. Ginny had known all summer long that Harry, Ron and Hermione were planning on dropping out of Hogwarts, but she hadn't expected to feel so lonely without them.
i.
"Hiya Neville," she said. "Good summer?"
"Yeah I guess," he said. "Do you know where Harry is? I haven't seen him. Or Ron or Hermione for that matter."
Ginny winced. She knew this was going to happen. "Let's find a compartment, Neville, and I'll tell you all about it, okay?"
He frowned in puzzlement, but followed her down the length of the train.
At the very end, in the compartment in which Harry, Ron and Hermione had so often sat, was Luna Lovegood.
"Oh, hello Ginny. Hello Neville. I was hoping you'd come," she said softly. "I expect it's up to us now, isn't it?"
"What is?" Neville and Ginny both said at once.
"Dumbledore's Army," Luna said. "With Harry and the other two gone, we'll have to lead it against Snape, won't we?"
"Gone?" Neville asked. "Where are they?"
"They wouldn't tell us," Ginny told him. "Harry let slip that they're doing something to defeat Him, though."
The three sat in silence for a moment.
"So," said Neville finally. "I guess it really will have to be us."
The new Golden Trio was born.
ii.
Ginny was sitting in Transfiguration when a piece of paper was slipped under her elbow. Picking it up cautiously, she opened it and read, "Meeting tonight. R of R. Tell L. 10 pm. N."
Glancing around her quickly, Ginny whispered "Incendio!" The piece of paper was immediately consumed by fire.
"We need to find a better way of communicating," she muttered to Neville as they left Transfiguration. "Anybody could find that piece of paper and expel us like that."
"I know, but—wait a minute, Ginny, say that again."
"What? I say they could find the piece of paper and expel us like that."
"Umbridge!" Neville said gleefully. "Dumbledore's Army!"
"Yeah, what about it?" Ginny asked, still puzzled and somewhat annoyed.
"That Galleon Hermione enchanted," he said. "Do you still have yours?"
"I think so, why?" she asked.
"We're learning about Protean Charms in class. I think I might be able to pull it off, since Hermione already did it once. Maybe we can get it so anybody's can change the Galleons."
Ginny nodded, her eyes on fire. "I think it's time to start recalling Dumbledore's Army."
iii.
Ginny sat in an empty classroom, watching her fake Galleon like a hawk. Neville was on the lookout at the door.
"Okay, ready!" Ginny said, as a message from Terry Boot appeared on her Galleon.
Neville glanced outside. "All clear!"
Ginny dashed out the door and down the hallway. Practically throwing herself down two flights of stairs, she skidded along until she encountered Terry Boot running towards her, pursued by several Slytherins.
Putting on extra speed, Ginny dodged around Terry and burst through the Slytherins like lightening, scattering them.
"Hey!" she yelled as she ran down the hallway in the opposite direction. "Over here!"
Confused, the Slytherins stopped, giving Terry time to get away. A couple of them began chasing Ginny instead.
Ginny laughed as she ran, her hair whipping around her face, her head thrown back. She loved it. She loved the rush of adrenaline, the feeling of strength and goodness and vicious pleasure of undermining Snape's control.
Pulling out her wand, she stopped for a minute to point at the wall. With a bang, a message appeared and Ginny ran on, still laughing happily.
The Slytherins stopped to read the message Ginny had written, as though scrawled on the wall with paint.
DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY,
STILL RECRUITING
iv.
"C'mon," Ginny whispered.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Michael Corner whispered back.
"No." said Neville. "But c'mon anyways."
Ginny, Michael, Neville, Luna and Seamus were approaching Snape's office. No one was in sight, but all five of them were moving as if from a spy movie.
"Acid Pops," Ginny said confidently to the gargoyle.
Nothing happened.
Neville swore. "Snape must've changed the password after all."
"Um, Sugar Quills?" Ginny asked. "Sherbert Lemon?"
"No, that was when Dumbledore was the Headmaster," Luna said. "Snape will have a very different set of passwords I'm sure."
"Right, uh, Death Eaters!" Ginny amended. "Slytherin!"
"Salazar Slytherin," Seamus tried, pushing Ginny out of the way slightly.
"Potions," Michael said, pushing Seamus.
"Dark Arts!"
"Severus Snape!"
"Severus-Snape-is-the-best-Potions-master-in-the-world!"
"Death-Eaters-Supreme!"
"Severus-Snape-is-afraid-of-werewolves!"
"Severus-Snape-is-a-git-who-won't-open-this-door-for-us!"
All five of them now were pushing and shoving each other as they each tried to think of the correct password.
Suddenly, as all of them were yelling, the gargoyle sprung aside.
"So what was it?"asked Michael.
"Who cares?" said Ginny. "Let's go!"
What none of them saw was Severus Snape himself standing in the shadows behind them, his wand pointing at the gargoyle. He sighed to himself and looked at his watch. He would give them a four minute start.
Snape snorted as he recalled some of their passwords. "Idiot Gryffindors," he said. "And Ravenclaws," he added for good measure.
v.
Ginny huddled close to Hagrid in the cold and wondered for the millionth time why Snape had chosen to punish them like this.
"He could have tortured us," she pointed out. "He could have expelled us. He could have hurt our families. We were trying to steal from him after all! And all we get is an evening in the Forbidden Forest?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you was disappointed," Hagrid said.
"I'm not! It's just weird. Why would he settle for the mildest of punishments?"
"Tell you what, Gin," Neville said, trying not to yawn. "Let's accept the gift and not look it in the mouth, how about?"
Ginny sighed and paid attention to her surroundings. "What exactly are we supposed to be doing here, Hagrid?" she asked.
"Lookin' for centaur tracks," he said.
"Why?" Luna asked.
"Well, I reckon Snape and You-Know-Who are tryin' to persuade 'em to join the Death Eaters."
"It will have no effect," a voice rang out.
Two centaurs stepped into the clearing.
"Wizard wars are of no concern to us. Humans and their eccentricities are not things that we centaurs get involved with."
"Don't you care?" Ginny asked. "Don't you care that people are dying? That the innocent are dying?"
The two centaurs stared at her for several minutes. Then they faded back into the clearing.
"C'mon Ginny," Hagrid said. "Let's go back to the castle. Nothin's gonna persuade them now."