by: Yidkirkin
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
CAN THEY EVEN BE CALLED SPOILERS WITH A FRANCHISE EVERYONE KNOWS AND A FRANCHISE NO ONE CARES ABOUT
Vvv
Ginny and Kouhei continued on to her other classes, restless and fatigued and overwhelmed by the magic but determined to concentrate and get through the first term at the very least. It wasn't as if anything was too difficult for them –they were still going over the first year curriculum, and by the time she entered her Muggle Studies class on Friday morning her dislike of Umbridge had been mostly forgotten.
And they even found themselves... not enjoying the class, per say, but at the very least not finding it ungodly terrible. Professor Burbage was a good natured, middle aged witch who had amiably talked about the course work for several minutes before giving her a sheet of questions to determine what year she would start in. Ginny felt she did rather well, for all that her knowledge was off and Kouhei's was probably out of date –when it came to how things worked and what the internet entailed, they were both still quite clueless –and so she was started in on 5th year work.
Arithmancy followed that afternoon, and it was both close to and not at all like they had expected. Professor Vector was a no nonsense sort of woman, who efficiently told her what each year covered (basic maths, advanced maths, arithmetic, numerology, and pure arithmancy) before handing her several work sheets and telling her to get to it. Vector had ended up pronouncing her 'adequate' and had assigned her to the regular fourth year studies without pause.
Then the weekend had come around, and much to Ginny's satisfaction Hermione did indeed take her advice into account; come Saturday the rather large group of students had convened in the back room of the Hog's Head to go over the relocation, and had split off into random clusters to make their way over to Madame Puddifoot's. Surprisingly it had been Cho to suggest it, saying that the romantic cafe wasn't frequented by anyone other than couples very often and even had a few private dining rooms in the back for Valentine's parties.
Harry had been visibly agitated when he first saw the large gathering, but on the walk over had seemed to calm down exponentially. By the time they were all situated in the private room with butterbeers and scones and the like, he had stopped shooting Hermione exasperated looks and instead was stuck on 'reluctantly agreeable', which was a vast improvement if Ginny's past experience with his moods was anything to go by. Ginny stayed mainly at the back of the room with Luna, wolfing down a couple of sandwiches since Kouhei had missed breakfast for them, and they kept silent all through the introductions, explanations and inevitable disagreements –they were going to keep an eye on a few attendees in particular, but weren't about to get too involved unless they absolutely had to.
Even with her attention mostly focused on the conversations going on, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering. Once again she found herself ruminating on the differences between the wizarding youth of today and the teenagers Kouhei had known back in his day. Back then, their united front had been a given against society's expectations of conformity; they had rebelled the only way they knew how, and had taken comfort in the fact that they weren't alone by forming groups and factions. Maybe that was why their bonds were forged to be unbreakable in such short amounts of time? They may have been different as people, but their 'oppression' was the same and so was their rebellion –they could instantly relate on a basic level, and that was enough to smooth over any other differences.
"You're ripin' me off."
Teru laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the other diner patrons for a moment before they lost interest again. The pair was sitting at their usual table, once again waiting on Kiiko and Parko but not too bothered by the others' lateness as they hadn't had a good chance to talk one-on-one since the three had returned from Toarushi. Unsurprisingly, Kouhei was rather taken aback by the sudden revelation that his good friend had went and found himself a man to call his brother in such a short absence.
"What can I say? He sure made one hell of an impression." Teru said easily, smiling like an idiot. "At first I just thought he was some tough guy keeping an eye on his turf, but when we fought-" Teru gestured wildly, the expression on his face unlike any Kouhei had seen from him before. "-I never believed in that 'connecting through fists' shit before, but that's what happened! How could I refuse when he asked?"
"Ah..." Kouhei didn't know how to react to Teru's glowing praise. "Sounds like the kind of guy you'd get along with."
What was it about this Ryuushin that made Teru look so proud? "You'd like Ryuushin too, Kouhei, if you met him. A lot of those guys from Toarushi were rad, you should ask Parko about Katayama..." Somehow Kouhei didn't envision himself asking. "How about you, Kouhei? I feel bad –we haven't really seen each other since before I went off with Kiiko and Parko. Did you get a brother while we were gone?"
Kouhei felt his face redden against his will, and his mind drifted briefly to one particular man he had recently been introduced to by Hacchou. "No, of course not! I'm not an easily trusting moron like you!"
Here in the British Wizarding community however, not only were the people different in their goals, beliefs and backgrounds, but their 'oppressors' weren't the same, and neither were their methods of resisting that conformity. The adults were split between wariness of the Ministry, Voldemort or muggles, and there were so many different ways they tried to oppose them that no one crossed paths along the way, let alone interacted enough to form bonds. The students were divided even further –the Ministry, Umbridge, Voldemort, their families, the houses, the years, Purebloods, non-Purebloods, Muggles. And most students weren't inclined to the same type of resistance; some wanted to stay under the radar, others wanted to wreak havoc, there was this 'secret study group', there were probably some who agreed with Umbridge, then there were a lot who didn't know what to think and wanted to stay as far from the issue as possible.
Kouhei was sure that was the reason behind the discrepancy between the similar age groups. The kids at Hogwarts were just too divided, they didn't have any real common ground other than magic –and that wasn't much of one, because almost as soon as they got to the goddamn magic school they were segregated into the houses. Even the Snake Heads, for all they had been a gang, even they had had friendships outside of the team –if he remembered correctly for one, Yukio's older brother and Ono's best friend were both high ranking officers in the Manji Empire.
Thinking about it made his head ache, made him wish for the simpler times when a one-on-one could solve disagreements between entire gangs, where two faction heads becoming brothers could usher in ceasefires that encompassed entire towns, where even after he had tried to take down Parko and Dangerers he had still been invited to welcome Kyousuke out of Juvie with them. He really didn't see the appeal of this insular community whatsoever.
"They don't exist, Neville."
"Oh, yes, they do!" Luna said angrily, drawing Ginny out of Kouhei's thoughts and back to the situation at hand.
"I'm sorry, but where's the proof of that?" Hermione retorted, making Luna puff up irritably. Ginny had to wonder if her bad mood that first month hadn't rubbed off on Luna a bit, as she had never been quite so defensive about her beliefs back in first year... though that may have had more to do with being constantly treated like a duffer at every turn than anything Ginny had to say.
"There are plenty of eye-witness accounts. Just because you're so narrow-minded you need to have everything shoved under your nose before you-"
Okay, that was definitely Kouhei's frustrated muttering influencing her there. Trying for a quick diffuse, the redhead imitated Umbridge's stupid 'hem, hem' cough fairly accurately and chuckled when several people whipped their heads around in alarm. "Aren't we getting a bit off topic?"
"Yes!" Hermione said at once, flustered. "Yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."
"Well, once a week sounds cool," Lee Jordan said.
"As long as-"
Ginny tuned the rest of the conversation out again to turn to Luna, who wasn't looking at anything anymore and still gave off an air of being upset at Hermione's disagreement. She wanted to say something to the other fourth year, cheer her up or whatever, but she couldn't think of what to tell her.
Before she could decide on a course of action, Hermione passed her and Luna a piece of parchment to sign; it felt odd when she touched it, and without even noticing what she was doing, one of her hands laid over her stomach and she could suddenly feel a tingling shooting up her arm from the quill as she wrote her name down. She had felt that same sensation before, somewhere, and Kouhei's uneasy approach to all things wizard made him corner Hermione about it before the older Gryffindor could leave.
"Y-Are you sure you felt something, Ginny?" Hermione asked, a slight tremor in her voice. Kouhei nodded and raised an eyebrow, staring at Ginny's brother's friend until she broke. "I-I put a jinx on it, so anyone who told-well, they would be instantly recognizable, the word 'SNEAK' would've been written on their forehead. It's just a precaution."
Ginny was quite unimpressed, Kouhei was downright disappointed –all this magic business, and wizards didn't seem to have any creativity or common sense. "First off, make a new sign up parchment. Don't give me that look, make a new one and put a spell on it that prevents people from snitching, because with this we can still be ousted. If you can't do that, then you might as well find a different punishment, because this is both shaky and a feeble consequence. On that note, you either tell the others about the next jinxed parchment, or I will tell them about both."
"What?"
"Keeping a secret like this before we even get started will only lead to strife if it ever comes out later. You don't have to tell them about this first jinx, but one of us will when it comes to the improved one. As well, how about you spell it so that only you can read it or locate it? Then it won't matter if you leave it lying out." Really, no common sense. Hermione even had the audacity to look surprised at the suggestions, but she at least promised to think them over before Ginny and Luna took their leave. If Kouhei had access to magic back when he ran the Snake Heads, he would've been able to accomplish so much more than any wizard-raised could even begin to dream of-
'Luna still looks upset.'
Kouhei didn't like Luna being anything other than content. Maybe it was because he had treated his friends pretty awfully for a long time and Ginny had had Molly as a nurturing, cares-too-much, motherly role model, but whenever they saw Luna upset since their big confrontation –well, it made them feel far too compassionate for either of their emotionally-stunted brains to process properly.
What they were trying to say was; though it didn't sound like it, any reassurances they gave sounded far too mushy even when they just came out as stilted.
"Luna, you shouldn't mind what Hermione says. She's always sceptical of stuff like that." Neither Ginny nor Kouhei had ever been the comforting type, 'This is so awkward, fuck'. "Which is fucked up, you know? I mean, she's muggleborn isn't she? What exactly did she think when she got the Hogwarts letter? 'Of course, this magic shit is completely hip and I should take it seriously even though I've probably only seen easily written off accidental magic as evidence?' No, she probably thought magic was a load of bullshit at first too, I know we –er, Kouhei did."
Ginny didn't think they'd said anything too special, but Luna was smiling again, so it could probably count as a win.
Vvv
The first meeting for the 'secret study group' came after three days of sudden changes, frustration in all four houses, and uncertainty on all fronts. Umbridge had been able to pass an Educational Decree which basically outlawed all manner of student organizations –which Ginny hadn't predicted but she still felt vindicated on some shallow level. The Gryffindor Quidditch team in particular had been especially irate because of the delay in their team restoration, and Kouhei had cussed them out under his breath on more than one occasion on just Monday alone.
So it was something of a relief that they were finally there, in what Harry called the Room of Requirement, ready to start whatever-this-was and get in some much needed practice. Hermione brought up the issue of a name, and for a moment Ginny thought she was going to have to make good on her threat of telling everyone about the jinxed paper, but luckily for her it didn't come to that; her brother's friend soon told them about the new secrecy spell on the list. The second piece of parchment was quickly passed around, this time bearing the heading of 'Dumbledore's Army', and once everyone had signed Hermione slipped it into her bag and assured them she would be the only one able to find it.
Harry soon had them started on the Disarming Charm –predictably, Ginny partnered with Luna and wasn't very good at the spellwork. Another day, another issue to dwell on, it seemed; at least this one had been figured out for the most part, probably due to Kouhei's subconscious distaste for magic in general and inability to rely on anything except Ginny's body these days.
The 'study session' passed by in a blur, but not an unpleasant one. By the time Harry was calling a halt to the spell fire it was ten past nine and Ginny was already realizing a big flaw in their location.
Before Harry could even take a step towards the door with that map of his, Ginny had pushed Luna to speak up about it, and the Ravenclaw had loudly called for their 'leader's' attention. When Harry asked what it was, Luna only pointed to three small doors that had appeared suddenly on the opposite wall of the room, each done in house colours and leading, upon inspection, directly outside their respective common rooms.
"That's brilliant, Luna! Here, let me check if there are any teachers around there..."
Vvv
Ginny refused. She was not going, no matter how many times Hermione tutted at her worriedly, no matter how often McGonagall pulled her aside for a conversation laced in subterfuge, no matter how many times her mother insisted on it in her letters. She wasn't going even if she lost Gryffindor every last house point it had, even if she got issued detentions from now to Christmas, even if she was banned from every Hogsmeade weekend until her seventh year. She. Was. Not. Going.
To clarify, after the second tutoring session both Kouhei and Ginny had decided that Umbridge was too intolerable for further exposure, and had deftly informed her head of house that she wouldn't continue the classes to save her life. As she had said so in the middle of the Great Hall at breakfast the day before what would have been their third session, it was no surprise that the statement had spread like wildfire through Hogwarts practically overnight.
It was now two and a half weeks after the fact, and despite Umbridge's best efforts –which for whatever reason did not include an Educational Decree –she hadn't gone back to the tutoring period, nor any of the detentions the pink clad, simpering woman had attempted to assign her. It was, frankly, both liberating and a great boost to her overall state of mind, as Luna had approvingly pointed out a few days prior. It also garnered the approval of a majority of her yearmates and otherwise, the most notable exception being Hermione; even Percy had only asked her if this was really what she wanted to do before accepting it.
On their way down to the Quidditch pitch, Ginny happily spoke with Luna about her day and then let Kouhei take over when Luna had some questions about him; mainly things like 'what does Ainu mean?', 'had he ever seen a Tengu?', and 'why do you dislike magic so much?' All the queries were interesting but didn't really require her attention, so Ginny was content to simmer in the background while Kouhei stretched his legs, all the way up to the pitch and into the bleachers.
Ginny knew Kouhei didn't enjoy Quidditch as a sport, so when he begged off for the match she easily agreed. The match itself was frustrating, and altogether interesting for the wrong reasons. It was nice seeing her brothers' play and she cheered on the team with the best of them, but the Slytherins rendition of 'Weasley is our King' put a sour note on the entire event and made Ron lose his confidence faster than she had ever seen before. It made her blood boil to hear it.
Then she overheard that a bunch of the more dedicated fans were going down to the change rooms, so they could burst onto the field the moment Gryffindor won and celebrate with the team. Without really thinking about it, Ginny bade Luna goodbye and joined them, thinking to use the opportunity to tell Ron he did well and maybe even get a scathing remark in towards that pillock Malfoy.
Cormac Mc-something was leading the contingent, and once he shouted that Harry had caught the snitch, the fifty or so Gryffindors spilled out onto the pitch and zeroed in on the group of landed players, all of whom looked surprised and elated at their approach. Ginny was just swept along for the most part, dampening down her crowd nerves for the greater good of Ron's self esteem, but in the end, she didn't make it that far. She was deposited on the opposite side of the pack from Ron, nearby to Harry, Fred, George and Malfoy –and while at first she thought it might be a good time to bring him down a peg, then she caught on to what he was spewing.
"But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly –we wanted to sing about his mother, see-"
Ginny froze on the spot at that, unsure if what she had heard was right. The fire that had been slowly burning since 'Weasley is our King' began was stoked right then, but Ginny tried to stamp it down. 'Don't go postal, don't go postal, he isn't worth it...' Fear and anger battled in her mind with equal force –it wasn't just Kouhei's temper anymore, somehow she had started thinking like this too...
"-we couldn't fit in useless loser either –for his father, you know-"
"Leave it!" Angelina shouted at her brothers. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped-up little-"
"-but you like the Weasley's, don't you, Potter?" Malfoy sneered, but Ginny didn't hear 'Potter', she heard 'Jinnai'. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by muggles, even the Weasley's hovel smells OK-"
In their peripheral, Harry had grabbed hold of George and Fred was being held back by Angelina, Alicia, and Katie all at once. Malfoy was laughing openly, and the roaring in their ears grew the more they ran Malfoy's words over in their mind, Jinnai superimposed over Potter more prominently each time.
"Or perhaps-" Malfoy said, making their eyes snap to him and their fists clench so tightly the skin was ready to break. "-you can remember what your mother's house stank like, ([Jinnai]), and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-"
Harry didn't even have time to release George before they were pushing past them both and sprinting towards Malfoy. They had lost all semblance of rationality, falling back into the crazed mindset that hid behind the calm front, the same one that had been born after their mother's death and had put so many men who had opposed them into the hospital for weeks and months. They had completely forgotten about keeping a low profile, did not care that the entire school and all the teachers were watching –they wanted to beat Malfoy to a bloody pulp. With no one to stop them they drew back their fist and slammed it as hard as possible into Malfoy's nose, following up seconds later with a punch to the blonde's gut.
"Ginny! Ginny, stop, stop!"
Some of the people on the field screamed, Malfoy cried out as he toppled to the ground and they kicked him hard in the crotch before dropping down to straddle his stomach, continuing to wail on him with their fists. This was how it felt to be alive again, they realized, completely fused –the full force of Ginny's pre-possession single-mindedness and Kouhei's ferocity and ruthlessness as the Snake Heads leader. They moved to the side after a crack to Malfoy's chin just as a red spell flew into their chest, and a whistle was blaring in their ears as they felt hands grab their arms and shoulders and begin to wrench them off of the blonde.
"Don't think you can just insult my mother to my face like that you shit-faced little pissant!" They spat as Fred and George forcibly dragged them away from the bleeding and moaning boy curled up on the pitch. "Get up and take it, bitch! Fucking take what you brought on yourself or go crying to your father like the gutless coward you are! Eat shit and die!"
"Kou –Ginny, please, stop!"
Luna appeared in front of them then, looking scared and apprehensive –of them? She was frightened of them? Slowly, they stopped trying to thrash and stared at their friend unblinkingly until the Ravenclaw relaxed minutely, and they could feel an answering slacken in their brother's hold on them. But they didn't try to get back to Malfoy. The crowd murmured uneasily around them, yet they didn't pay any attention to it; Hooch screeched about going to McGonagall's office, and they only moved when Luna grabbed their elbow and tugged along with Fred and George. Nothing was said between them during the walk up to the office door, not until McGonagall herself came marching down the hallway towards them, looking as livid as Ginny had ever seen her.
"Inside!" She barked, following their group inside, slamming the door and drawing herself to her full height once she had strode behind her desk. Ginny felt a hollowness spread into her chest.
'Ginny? Ginny!'
"Whatisthe meaning of this?" She demanded. "Miss Weasley, I have never seen such a horrendous and disgraceful display of violence! Explain yourself immediately!"
"Malfoy was talking shit about my mother," Kouhei ground out. 'C'mon, kid, talk to me!'
"Language, Miss Weasley!" McGonagall shouted, looking even more furious if it was possible. "Provocation is one thing! Of course he would say such things, he had just lost hadn't he? What on earth did he say that justified that brutal exposition?!"
"He insulted my parents!" Kouhei snarled. "And Harry's mother! Practically called us garbage to our faces! The son of a bitch brought it on himself!"
"Language! But instead of leaving it to Madam Hooch to deal with, you decided to put on a show of muggle duelling!? I have half a mind to suspend you this instant!" McGonagall bellowed. "Have you any idea what you've-?"
"Hem, hem."
Kouhei would have spun around and taken a few of Umbridge's teeth out if Luna hadn't been holding onto Ginny's elbow so tightly. As it was, the DADA professor stepped into his line of sight wearing a green tweed cloak and a horrible, ominous smile that did nothing to quash that raging fury that still clouded Kouhei's vision.
"May I help, Professor McGonagall?" she asked sweetly. Kouhei wanted to kick her in the throat.
"Help? What do you mean, help?"
"Why, I thought you might be grateful for a little extra authority."
Fred and George shifted oddly on either side of them as McGonagall reddened. "You thought wrong," She said curtly, before returning her focus to Ginny. "Now, you had better listen closely, Miss Weasley. I do not care what provocation Mr. Malfoy offered you. I do not care if he insulted every family member you have ever had, and I do not care if he deserved it or not. Your behaviour was reprehensible and I am giving you two week's worth of detentions! This will not be excused and if you ever-"
"Hem, hem."
Ginny barely listened as Umbridge took over the conversation by revealing another of her Educational Decrees. Luna still gave off the air of a cornered animal, and that was really all that was worth paying attention to –Ginny had caused that, it was all her fault and she couldn't take it back.
'Woah, what the fuck-'
Umbridge rolled up the Decree a few minutes later and concluded with a flourish, "So... I really think I will have to ban Miss Weasley from playing or viewing Quidditch ever again."
Her brothers sounded horrified, Ginny didn't care. Her broom back at home would be confiscated and new enchantments would be placed on the pitch to keep her from watching. Umbridge left a silence in her wake, one that didn't break until McGonagall told them all they could leave.
Vvv
Luna was scared, terrified even, as she took Ginny from Fred and George and swiftly tugged them along towards the come-and-go room. She was terrified that it was going to happen all over again, that she hadn't got to Ginny fast enough, that they wouldn't recover from this and go farther than her father had after her mother had died. Luna didn't want that to happen to Ginny –she had thought she could stop it from happening!
Ginny was unusually cooperative as Luna manhandled her onto a squishy couch near the room's fireplace and draped a thick, soft blanket over their shoulders. She grew more concerned; was it already too late? Not knowing what else to do, Luna sat down beside her friend and cradled her hands between her own.
"Ginny? Ginny, or Kouhei, please, what's wrong? Please talk to me, please, I want to help."
Neither of them reacted for a few seconds, but then they shuddered and lurched forward grotesquely. The blue smudges that had been intermittently appearing throughout the day faded, and the air suddenly turned cold, and then Ginny gave a great heave, like she was trying to vomit. Nothing came out of her mouth, but a sandy yellow haze was forced from her skin like sweat and then surged outwards, collecting in a soft, shivering form on the floor. Ginny turned horribly blank eyes in Luna's direction and said-
"Luna," Luna stopped breathing. "I'm sorry I scared you, Luna. It's not going to happen again. I'm myself now. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"G-Ginny?" Luna said. The girl beside her nodded and Luna was –horrified. She glanced over at the slowly solidifying spectral figure a few feet away, and then noticed that Ginny wasn't paying it any attention at all. Had Ginny somehow forced Kouhei out? Luna had listened to Ginny talk about how she was struggling with Kouhei's violent inclinations, his powerful instincts, his over protective moods. Ginny had forced Kouhei out and was sorry she had scared Luna –was this her fault? Did she do this to Ginny because she hadn't properly told her how she felt about the whole situation?
"Don't cry, Luna. I'm fine now, see?" Ginny tried smiling, but it didn't look right with her eyes like that. "See? No need to cry, everything's back to the way it was. Please don't cry, Luna."
But Luna couldn't stop even if she wanted to.
