I. Remus, Part 1: The Promise
"And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny if you and Arthur died," said Lupin, smiling slightly, "what do you think we'd do, let them starve?"
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, p. 177 (American ed.)
You could call me many things, but a liar is not one of them. I meant it when I told Molly we wouldn't let Ron or Ginny starve. A promise given is a promise kept, but I didn't realize at the time that I had so completely tied myself to them. Well, it was to her, actually, because he didn't really need me as much as she did. Ron had both Hermione and Harry, who also had Sirius and Dumbledore, but who did Ginny have?
There was something I had been feeling all summer but simply couldn't name. War was coming, so, of course, it put us all on edge. Maybe it was while waiting for the hammer to fall that I first became aware of Ginny's unique burden. It was something I never got to know so well until then even though I was her teacher right after the incident.
No one talked anymore of the time Ginny was in the Chamber of Secrets, but she never forgot, even though she always showed everyone a brave face. I heard her from time to time on the nights we were both at 12 Grimmauld Place. She whimpered in her sleep every time the nightmare of Tom returned, and the wolf in me always knew it. When she was awake, she would use the sense of humor she learned from Fred and George as a shield and hide it from the rest of the world. I suspect where Harry was a failed Occlumens, Ginny was a master trained by the worst.
So of course I told Molly we'd take care of Ron and Ginny. It was the least a decent human being would do. I even joked to her later that I would go fatten them up on Honeydukes finest. When Ginny fell down the stairs the next day because she was pushed by the twins' school trunks, I had to give pause and wonder if I realized the truth of what my promise would entail. So I accompanied her, Fred and George just to make sure nothing happened on the way to King's Cross.
Months later when Arthur was bitten by Voldemort's snake Nagini, I made sure to help the family. I visited Arthur in the ward and spent my first Christmas together with the rest of the Weasley clan at Grimmauld Place. Later in a replay of the trip to King's Cross, I escorted Fred, George and Ginny and the others as they all took the Knight Bus back to Hogwarts.
That was only the beginning because we both went separately to the Ministry that night to save Harry and Sirius. When Sirius fell beyond the veil, I had to keep my eyes on Ginny for it hurt too much to consider anything else. I certainly couldn't ponder the irony that I made a promise to protect her while my best friend had just been murdered in front of my eyes and I was helpless to save him.
The miracle was that once again Ginny had survived. She may have been injured and broken, but she was not defeated. When I praised her skill in the battle, she thanked "Professor Lupin", but I couldn't be him to her any more. I was simply Remus--Remus who was bound to her by a promise.