[This was my favorite chapter to write so far, and I think you'll see why once you start reading. I've already starting working on Chapter 5. Enjoy, and please tell me what you think!]

Chapter 4

Ginny

At dinner after the D.A. meeting, I couldn't stop smiling! It had felt so good just to be in a room filled with people who wanted the same things I did. I hadn't felt that way since the wedding. I hadn't been that happy since Harry left.

I really wanted to just sit down in the middle of all the Gryffindors that had been at the meeting, but we'd decided that if we all sat together all the time, it would look a bit suspicious. Neville was sitting by Seamus and Parvati, who were acting like a proper couple now, holding hands and sitting very close to one another. I thought about sitting with the other girls from my year, but as I watched them giggling and flirting with the boys, I couldn't think of anything I'd like less.

Then I spotted Colin sitting by himself at the end of the table and grinned.

Colin's camera sat beside his place as he bit into a leg of chicken. "Hi, Ginny," he said through a mouthful of poultry.

"Hey, Colin!" I scooped some mashed potatoes onto my plate. "How are you?"

"Better than I was."

"Me too." Suddenly, something occurred to me. I glanced around, then leaned closer to Colin. "Colin, aren't you Muggle-born?"

Colin was obviously taken aback. He nodded, trying to look casual.

"But then how-"

"Am I here?" Colin shrugged. "I faked our family tree. It helps that Dennis and I are both wizards-usually you don't get two in one family. Actually, as it turns out, my grandpa was a Squib. So I just pretended that my dad's a wizard too. I dunno how long it'll last, but I needed to come back to Hogwarts. Surely you understand."

I nodded. "But geez, Colin, if you get caught-"

"What other choice do I have?" Colin looked grim for a moment. Then his face broke into it's usual grin. "Hey, I took this amazing photo of Seamus and Parvati during the meeting today. They were listening to Susan, both their faces turned to the left. I took it so that the Gryffindor banner was behind them and the light was shining on their faces just right. They were holding hands, too, so that you have this cool triangle effect..."

I just kept chewing my chicken and let Colin talk.

The next morning, I sat with Parvati and Lavender at breakfast. "Where's Seamus?" I asked Parvati.

"He had to go talk to McGonagall about his Transfiguration homework," said Parvati around a mouthful of cereal.

Just as I was about to bite into my toast, George's screech owl, Loki, flew down to my plate. He held out a letter tied to his leg. As I reached out to grab it, he pulled his leg away.

"Loki," I said exasperatedly. Parvati and Lavender were both laughing. Padma came over to show Parvati something her parents had sent them and started to giggle too. Loki hooted, looking pleased. I rolled my eyes. Stupid owl.

I tore a piece off my toast and held it out. As Loki reached for it, I grabbed his leg and ripped off the letter. He hooted angrily at me and flew off in a rush of wings.

Rolling my eyes, I opened the letter:

Ginny-

Good Morning. How Are you?

We're all well here. With Ron sick with spattergroit, there's still Alot of noise at home. This time of year, it's Usually pretty quiet.

Mom and Dad send their love. They miss you alot-Everyone does, in fact. It's not the same without our Red-haired little Sister.

We think ron May be getting better. After All, he's been sick for a while. But you never can tell with spattergroit, it frequently Pops back up just when you Think it's gone.

Bill says hi too. He tells us that Recently, he and fluer moved to their new home. They say It's a wonderful place.

We've also heard from Charlie. He's back in england now, but he says he misses the dragons, especially his favorite King's-crest hatchling.

Missing our sister,

Fred and George.

"Hmmmm..." I said to myself.

"What?" Parvati and Padma asked at the same time.

"This letter from my brothers. It doesn't sound like them." I passed the letter to Parvati. Lavender and Padma leaned over her shoulders to read it.

Parvati looked up. "Yeah, you're right. No stupid jokes."

"And the wording is weird too," Lavender began. "Something about their sentence structure. Or-"

Parvati snapped her fingers. "I know! It's the capitals. They're all wrong, in a way that's too crazy for even Fred and George."

"But it looks like such a normal letter-wait a second." I looked up at Padma. She was wearing a very smug smile.

"Now you've got it."

"But-give me that letter." I reached across the table and snatched it from Parvati.

"Hey!" she protested, but my eyes were already skimming over the page. G-M-H-A-W-W...

I slumped, deflated. "No, that's not it."

Padma raised an eyebrow. That smug look was really starting to bug me. I looked back down at the letter. "Unless...maybe the capitals that are supposed to be there don't count. Maybe..." I started again. M-A-R-A-U-D-E-R "YES!" I gasped.

"SHHHHHHH!" Parvati, Padma, and Lavender hissed.

"Sorry!" I whispered back, glancing nervously up at the head table. No one was looking our way. My eyes flew over the rest of the letter, noting all the capitals except for the ones at the beginning of each sentence. M-A-R-A-U-D-E-R-S-M-A-P-T-R-I-C-K-F-G.

"Marauder's map..." I silently mouthed the words to myself. Of course I remembered the map-it was Harry's. Ron, Hermione and I used it last year during the battle to find our way around and see where the fight was. But trick? What trick? Unless...

I stood up, hitting my knee on the bench. "I'll see you later, okay?" I waved to Lavender, Parvati, and Padma and ran the entire way to the girl's dormitory. I almost got caught by Mrs. Norris, but I managed to jump behind a suit of armor before she saw me.

Finally I reached the Fat Lady. "Morgan LeFay!" I gasped.

She raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I have first free." A lie, and one that I would probably pay for later, but right now nothing was more important than figuring out that letter!

I took the steps up to the sixth-year dorm two at a time and pulled the door shut behind me. "Colloportus!" I muttered, locking the door just in case someone else decided to skip class.

I sat down on my bed, pulling my wand from a pocket of my robes. I laid the tip against the letter. Now what was it Ron had said to get the map to work? Oh yes: "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ink began to move, flowing across the page as if it were alive, forming new letters and words and sentences. I was reading the new letter before the ink had even finished moving:

Ginny-Pig-

Ha! I told Fred that you'd be able to figure it out! He thought maybe you wouldn't, but I knew.

Yeah, yeah, don't get full of it, Georgie. This was my idea in the first place, remember?

Whatever. Anyway, good job cracking our code, sis!

I was grinning from ear to ear. No one could cheer me up better than the twins.

You'll never guess who taught this charm to us-

It was Lupin, of all people-he was over for dinner and I said how I wished we could send you a letter-you know, to encourage you and the others-and he said he thought he could help us. Isn't it brilliant? George even managed to install an alert so that as soon as you figure out the code and break the charm, we'll know.

We're all fine here-really. Dad's still held onto his job at the Ministry, which is a shock to all of us. We thought for sure they'd have sacked him by now. Guess they're going by the "keep your enemies close" method. Bill's living at Shell Cottage with Fluer. Charlie's got an apartment in the north, doing something involving the Order and dragons.

We're keeping the joke shop open as long as we can, but doing some stuff for the Order on the side. Percy's still the world's biggest prat, we still haven't heard anything from Ron, and Mum's still a nervous wreck.

We'd like to tell you all about You-Know-Who and what he's up to, but we can't. Something about compromising security and what would happen if Snape got ahold of this letter.

We tried to tell Dad that you'd never let that happen, but he forbade it-for now at least.

Anyway, the real purpose of this letter was just to give you a head's up: we're sending you some things.

I mean, you're restarting the D.A., aren't you? Wipe that surprised look off your face, it's what we'd have done and you are our sister, after all. We're sending you some of our merchandise. Don't worry, Dad's helping us with a charm to get it past Filch. Just don't open it in the Great Hall, or your dorm. The Room of Requirement should do.

We're really proud of you, Ginny-the whole Order is, in fact. I know you can't write back (we're working on a way for you to contact us, but nothing yet.) but we miss you-honest.

Keep on fighting, sis! Keep your chin up and don't lose hope, whatever you do! Anything is possible, remember that!

Love from,

Fred and George.

I looked up from the letter, still smiling. Merlin, I missed my brothers. I wished I had them and Bill and Mum and Dad and Charlie and even annoying Ron with me now. I'd never been this far away from my family, not ever. And I couldn't even write to them and tell them what was on my mind, because that would get all of us in trouble.

But they could write to me! And they missed me and were thinking of me! And they were going to send us some stuff! I started imagining what could possibly be in that package. Knowing Fred and George, it was going to be fantastic!

Hagrid didn't even care that I'd missed half his class. He just winked at me when I showed up and continued talking about Occamies. I walked over to Luna. "What'd I miss?" I whispered.

She turned to me. "Not much. You really should be more careful, you know."

I waved her off. "Emergency."

"Getting a letter is not an emergency. What if you'd been caught? You could have gotten all of us in trouble-people know we're your friends."

I glanced down, ashamed. "Sorry."

"Just remember you're not the only one who's life you're risking."

The package didn't arrive for a week. Monday morning-the same morning as the second D.A. meeting, Loki appeared again. This time, he was carrying a small box, about the size of my fist.

After a minute or two of tug and war with an owl, I managed to wrest the package from him.

"Who's that from?" Neville asked, glancing up from his N.E.W.T. Charms textbook.

"Fred and George!" I whispered excitedly, handing Loki a bite of toast. "It's stuff for the mee-"

"Hello, Professor Carrow!" Seamus interrupted loudly.

"Good morning, Mr. Finnigan," said Amycus Carrow in his low, sinister voice. "And you, Miss Weasley. Might I see that package of yours?"

"No!" I blurted out.

Amycus raised an eyebrow. "No?" He held out his hand.

I forced my arm to move and place the little package into it. This was it. It was all over.

Neville's knuckles clutching the Charms book were white. He let go of the book with his left hand and casually slid it into the pocket of his robes. Seamus was looking at Carrow with a bland expression, but a muscle was pulsing in his temple. One of his hands was clutching something under the table.

My heart sank. Oh, guys, please don't try to rescue me, I willed them silently. You'll only get yourselves in trouble.

I looked around. Half the Gryffindor table was watching us. Don't do anything! I thought as hard as I could.

My heart pounding, I turned back to Carrow just as he opened the box and turned it upside down.

Two things fell out: a tiny slip of paper and something wrapped in gold paper.

I picked up the paper. Miss you, Sis! -Fred and George.

I looked up as Carrow ripped the paper off the other object. "Chocolate?!" he said incredulously.

"Yes, chocolate," I said, fighting a smile. "Were you expecting fireworks, perhaps?"

Carrow glared at me. I could almost feel killing curses shooting out of his eyes. He leaned in close. "I don't know how you slipped away this time, Weasley, but I'm watching you. I've heard a lot about your family lately."

My blood ran cold. "What do you mean?" I whispered.

"Oh, just that it won't be long before one of you goes down. We're tracking every last one of you filthy blood traitors, and your coward of a boyfriend, too."

I jumped to my feet, my face hot. "You-"

"Miss Weasley!" Professor McGonagall was hurrying down the row between the tables. "I'm glad I found you, I'd like a word about your Transfiguration grade. If you'll excuse us, Amycus." She put an arm around my shoulder and hustled me toward the big doors and out of the Great Hall.

"What are you doing, Professor?" I whispered angrily.

"Saving you from yourself, Miss Weasley!" snapped McGonagall. "Honestly, I would think you'd show a little more sense."

"Did you hear what he said about my family? And about Harry? Harry's the bravest person in the world, that git has no right-"

"For Merlin's sake girl, pick your battles! You're just going to get yourself killed! Don't go back into that hall, just go to your first class and wait there for ten minutes, try to cool your head!" McGonagall spun on her heel and marched back into the Great Hall.

For a moment, I considered following her, storming right back in and giving Amycus Carrow a piece of my mind. Then I sighed. McGonagall was right. If I continued like this, I'd only get myself and a bunch of other people hurt.

I started off for Charms, but halfway there I stopped in my tracks. Oh no! I'd completely forgotten the package!

I turned and sprinted back toward the Great Hall, cursing my own stupidity-and nearly ran straight into Neville.

He smiled wryly. "Forget something?"

"Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!" I gasped as he placed the little parcel and the paper in my hand.

He shrugged. "Amycus ate the chocolate. But I'm guessing you don't care about that."

I shook my head. "Decoy. We'll figure it out later."

Neville nodded. "See you later then. Oh, and Ginny..."

"Yeah?"

"Could you maybe try to be a little more careful?"

I looked down, ashamed. "Yeah."

He smiled and walked away.