A/N: I have to type up this chapter. I was getting flames for Girls, and that wasn't that bad of a cliffhanger, so I figure it's only a matter of time before I get them for this. Anyway, I think you'll like this chapter, because Harry gets a fun little surprise, along with Ginny. There's so much about Voldemort we don't know… This is going to turn out a lot like Star Wars, because my friend tied me to a chair and made me watch all of them when I slept over, and then I had to start this chapter… Okay, here it is!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter characters, I simply play with J. K. Rowling's fun little toys while she has her back turned. I'm only 14, I own nothing of interest, and I don't have any money, so please don't sue me!

At Last
by Wolf Speaker

Chapter 9:
Ginny Riddle?

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the library, trying to find the right potion for their animals to be Animagi. Sirius had only had stag, dog, and rat. Harry found that useful, but he still helped Ron and Hermione.

"Look at this!" said Ron, grinning. "You can change into two animals if you use this one! It's a new potion, just discovered last year!"

Harry and Hermione ran over to Ron, eyes wide. The page read:

If you want to be a Double Animagus, you follow the potion below, and add the special ingredients for your animals. This potion has more chance to go wrong than the original, though. Be careful and exact if you expect this potion to work.
Ingredients…

It went on, but Harry didn't have to read anymore at the moment. He looked at Ron and Hermione, awed.

"We should show this to Sirius, you know," he said.

"Yeah, but how do we get this book out? Madam Pince will be really suspicious; I'm surprised this isn't in the restricted section," said Hermione.

"We can say we're using it for Transfiguration if she asks any questions," said Ron, waving his hand.

"Yeah, just don't say anything if she doesn't," said Harry, picking up the book.

Madam Pince did look suspicious when she picked up the book, but didn't say anything. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the library, trying not too look too excited. They found Sirius in the Great Hall, looking excited about something.

"You'll never guess what we just found!" said Harry, running up to Sirius.

"What?" asked Sirius, curious (A/N: Hey that almost rhymes!).

"We figured out how to be a Double Animagus!" whispered Harry excitedly. "We'll be able to change into two animals!"

Sirius's eyes widened, and he grinned at them. Sirius didn't look like he'd spent twelve years in Azkaban, and 2 years on the run. He looked much more like the person laughing at the Potter's wedding. He'd gotten a haircut, had a few square meals, and gotten new robes.

"Isn't that book in the restricted section?" he asked, eyes twinkling. "How'd you get it?"

"It wasn't in the restricted section, that's just the thing," said Hermione. Her eyes widened as a thought dawned on her. "Do you think Dumbledore had it changed, and knows what we're doing?"

"Hermione, that's probably it," said Harry, thinking. "Dumbledore seems to know everything that's happening."

"Well, um…" said Sirius, going a bit red. "I told him about it. This way you'll be registered, and Moony won't feel so bad about lying to Dumbledore again."

"Oh, well," said Harry. "I suppose that does help a bit."

"Yeah, and Snape would've been after us twenty-four seven if he thought we were up to something," said Ron, smiling.

Sirius rolled his eyes, as Harry and Hermione laughed.

"Yeah, he's still after us for setting Sirius free," smiled Hermione.

"We should really go get the ingredients for the potion," said Harry after a moment's silence.

"So, Harry, what other animal are you going to be?" asked Sirius as they walked up to Griffindor Tower.

"I'm going to be a stag and a dog," said Harry certainly. "For my two dads."

*

"Well, aren't you going to come in?" asked Voldemort, smiling evilly and clasping his hands. "You're just the person I wanted to see."

I simply glared at him, but after a moment I walked in slowly.

"Very good," he said, grinning more. His red eyes twinkled maliciously. "Do you have any idea why I want to speak to you? I have finally realized exactly who you are. I couldn't believe it took me this long. You look just like your mother. You are Virginia Michelle Weasley."

"So?" I said. I was confused about how he knew my middle name, and my mum, but I overlooked it.

"Daughter of Molly Weasley," he continued, narrowing his eyes at Mum's name.

"Yeah…" I said, glaring at him as he mocked my mum. I was truly surprised I wasn't dead yet, since Voldemort doesn't take crap from anyone. I couldn't help it though. This is just the way I react when I'm uncomfortable.

"Alleged daughter of Arthur Weasley," he went on, glaring furiously at me as if it was my fault Dad was my dad.

"What do you mean 'alleged'?" I said, narrowing my eyes dangerously. They don't lie when they say redheads have tempers.

"Haven't you figured it out? Oh, of course, in Hogwarts they disconnect you from the outside world," he said, waving his hand. "Virginia, you are my daughter. Arthur Weasley is the father of all of the other children, just not you."

It took a moment for that to set in. When it did, I panicked.

"No! You can't be my father, you just can't!" I shouted, not believing. I ran downstairs, right into Draco Malfoy's arms. I cried into his shoulder as he comforted me, stroking my hair gently and whispering to me.

"It can't be true," I sobbed into his robes.

"What did he say?" said Draco soothingly.

"He said…" I started, but I couldn't finish. "I just can't believe it!"

"What?" asked Draco, looking worried. "Ginny, you know you can tell me."

I looked into his eyes. I saw the kind of love my brothers had in their eyes when they looked at me. That's what Draco was to me; a brother. I felt a lot better.

"He said… he said I was his daughter," I whispered, shaking.

"Don't worry," said Draco. "He won't hurt you if you're his daughter. More than anything, he talks about the daughter he once had, and how much he misses her. If you're her, he won't so much as stun you."

"I'm still scared, Draco!" I said, looking up at last. "You don't seem to understand! I can't just hear I'm the daughter of the most evil wizard in the world and not be scared! He'll use me to get to Harry, and Snape, and even Dumbledore! I can't just let that happen!"

"I understand," said Draco, "but Voldemort isn't going to hurt you. He'll do practically anything you want."

"Draco Malfoy!" came Voldemort's voice from upstairs. Draco looked at me with a brave glint in his eyes, then turned to go upstairs.

I sat on the bottom step, waiting for Draco to come back downstairs. It was a long wait. When Draco arrived nearly three quarters of an hour later, he had a welt across his cheek, but he looked slightly happier.

"The Dark Lord requests that you have a room connected to his," he said. "If you want to, my room can be connected, too. He'll speak with you in the morning."

I knew that was all he could do. I didn't want to think about what Draco must've gone through to get that for me.

"I want your room connected to mine," I said softly. "I don't want to be alone that close to him, father or not."

*

Harry, Hermione, and Ron were all in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, putting together the Animagus potions early the next morning.

"How much longer till they're ready?" asked Ron anxiously after they added the ingredients.

"Well, this part of the potion has to simmer for 2 days, and we add our bits in, then wait 1 hour," said Hermione, biting her lip.

"Well, let's go. There's no point in us spending two days in the girl's toilet," said Harry, looking upset.

They went down to the Great Hall, ready for breakfast. They sat down, but the food wasn't there yet. They looked around and saw everyone looked just as confused as they were. Suddenly, Dumbledore stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make," he said, and people started to whisper, so he waited. When the whispering died down, he continued.

"We will soon have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said. They hadn't gotten a new one yet, as everyone thought the job was cursed. "He won't be the teacher for a few months, but I just thought it was right to state it here. May I present, Professor Sirius Black!"

The hall was quiet except for the applause of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Everyone in the Great Hall was stunned as they looked at Sirius, the once run-away from Azkaban. Sirius seemed pleased with this reaction. He grinned at Harry, Ron and Hermione as he sat down, and winked.

"While Professor Black is gone, Professor Lockhart has gained his memory back and will be teaching!" said Dumbledore, looking around at the smiling girls and the groaning boys. Hermione hadn't even looked up at Lockhart's name, since she was talking to Ron.

"Um, Hermione?" said Harry, smiling at her. "Did you hear who our teacher will be for the next few months?"

"Hm?" she said, looking away from Ron.

"Professor Lockhart is coming back," said Harry, grinning.

"Stupid git," muttered Ron. "Why the hell is he coming here?"

Hermione had already stopped listening and looked at Ron.

"Ron, what will your other animal be?" she said, taking his mind off of Lockhart.

"Well, I actually really like the fox idea, but I also want to be an eagle," he said, looking into Hermione's eyes.

"I want to be a raven," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Then I won't be noticed flying around."

"Alright, that settles it then," said Harry. "We have to do a bit more research for your animals, and we'll be leaving in no time."

*

"Draco?" I asked quietly later that night. I had been moved to a bedroom upstairs, with Draco's room right next to mine, connected by a bathroom.

"What's wrong?" he asked, walking in looking worried.

"What's going to happen to me?" I said. "I may be his daughter, but I'm not going to tell him anything. I don't know what he'll do to me."

Draco came over and put his arm around my shoulders. I hate to say it, but it made me miss Harry even more.

"You shouldn't worry about it yet," said Draco. "He says he wants to talk to you tomorrow. He might just let you off the hook."

I looked into Draco's eyes and realized neither of us believed I would "get off the hook".

"Thanks anyway, but I think I should get some sleep now," I said, my voice shaking with fear.

"G'night, Ginny," said Draco. He hesitated a moment, then leaned over and kissed my forehead. Ron had always done that for me when I woke up in the middle of the night and went to his room. I smiled at Draco.

"See you tomorrow," he whispered, and went into his room.

*

"We're finally done!" said Harry, jumping up. He was grinning despite himself. They had just added their ingredients for each separate animal into their potions. They were in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Yeah, but we have to take separate stalls again," said Ron. "We'll have to experiment a few times before we get this down."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out and each took a separate stall.

"Ready?" came Hermione's voice from the end stall closest to Moaning Myrtle. "One, two… THREE!"

All of them gulped down their potions, and all of them wanted to throw up. The potion tasted like someone had just thrown up into your mouth. Harry started gagging and both Ron and Hermione were coughing.

"Well," came Ron's voice. "D'ya think we should try it?" His voice sounded hoarse and a bit nervous, but still determined.

"Yeah," said Harry, and he was shocked that his voice sounded the same. "Remember, concentrate REALLY hard on your animal then visualize yourself turning into that animal." Oh my gosh, thought Harry, I'm starting to sound like a shrink.

Harry started to concentrate on becoming a stag. He saw himself growing antlers and his arms and legs growing thinner and longer. He saw hooves instead of fingers, and h saw his body turning into that of a stag.

When Harry opened his eyes, he saw in he was at a lower level. He looked down and saw hooves. Harry knew that if stags could smile, he would be.

Harry heard Ron muttering to himself. He must've been having problems, but soon, the muttering stopped and he saw a fox's tail under the edge of the stall. Harry looked under and saw a fox with fur as red as Ron's hair. In the next stall, he saw a cat that was as brown as Hermione's hair, with a bushy tail. Harry figured he had a scar over his left eye as markings.

Obviously, Animagi could talk to each other even if they were different animals, because Harry heard sort of an echo of Hermione's voice saying, okay, we should try our other animals now, since we all have obviously mastered this one.

Okay, Harry heard Ron's echo-voice answer.

You got it, he answered.

Harry closed his eyes and pictured his hooves changing in to paws, his short fur becoming rather long, his antler's shrinking back into his head. He saw his fur turning black, and his green eyes, with his strange scar. He could picture himself almost exactly as Sirius looked.

Harry opened his eyes, and looked down. He saw great furry paws. Once again, he smiled to himself.

How'd you two do? he asked.

Great! said Hermione. I look soooo weird, though.

Hermione, you'd NEVER look weird to me, said Ron.

Awwwwwww, said Harry. He couldn't help it, it was funny.

Sod off, Harry, came Ron's voice, which, even in echo-form, sounded embarrassed.

What do you say we try to turn back into humans? said Hermione, getting Ron and Harry to shut up.

Fine by me, said Harry.

Me too, said Ron and they all shut up for a minute.

Harry once again concentrated hard. He saw his hair growing back into his body, his tail disappearing, and his clothes coming back. He then concentrated on his glasses. When he opened his eyes, he really did smile. He was exactly as he had been before he changed.

"Did you guys do okay?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Hermione.

"What should we do now?" said Ron.

"Well we really need to practice more," said Hermione as they all came out of the stalls.

"Let's go scare Malfoy!" said Ron, looking excited.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but smiled despite of herself.

"The only one of us that might scare us is Harry in dog form, and he looks so similar to Sirius that we could get him in trouble," she said smartly. "Besides, he's gone for a while, remember?"

"Damn," said Harry. "I would've loved to do that."

"Sirius will probably want to see us you know," said Ron.

"Yeah let's go see him," said Harry

*

"He wants to see you again," said Draco. I woke up fully when I realized fully what he had said. I groaned.

"Come on," I whined. "Why can't he just leave me alone?"

"Because you're his daughter," said Draco quietly, smiling slightly. "He has the fatherly right to meddle in your life."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. Draco left the room and I got out of bed and went to the wardrobe in the corner. I'd hung my robes in there the night before, and didn't want to simply wear my underwear to see the Dark Lord. When I opened the wardrobe, I was amazed.

There were over 20 robes in there, with 5 more dress robes. I stared in awe for a while before I realized I was late for a very important "meeting". I picked robes of a light, sort of silky material that was a pale blue to match my eyes, and tied up my hair with a matching ribbon I found with others hanging on the doors of the wardrobe. There was a full-length mirror on my bedroom door, and as I inspected myself I was impressed. Voldemort had good taste, and he knew my size perfectly.

When I went into the next room, Voldemort smiled.

"I knew that would look simply lovely on you," he said wickedly.

I simply stood there, not showing any emotion in my face. I honestly wanted to cry. I missed Harry. I missed Hermione. I even missed Ron, Fred, and George.

"Oh, I understand your pain, my dear, but don't worry. You'll be back at Hogwarts in no time." Voldemort narrowed his eyes, but it was obvious that it caused him pain to think of it. "I just want to clarify a few things with you. You don't know the whole story. I truly loved your mother. I kept in touch with her long after school. We were in the same year, did you know? Anyway, we dated starting in our 5th year, and stayed together for nearly three years after we graduated. She was the only one that knew my true identity when I came out as Lord Voldemort. She knew of all of my interests in the Dark Arts, and was genuinely terrified of them, but we loved each other, so what did it matter?

"Molly was too close to Dumbledore, though. I realized that it may ruin our relationship, and sure enough, she told me it wouldn't work out between us and left me forever. A few years later I found out that she had married Arthur Weasley. I couldn't believe I had really lost her. Molly meant the world to me, and I still would've done anything for her. That was when I started going around finding followers. I was so upset I went around killing Muggles and wizards alike, wreaking havoc across England. True, I had always hated Muggles and Muggle-lovers, but this was when I went all out. My life was changed forever.

"Now, just under a year before my terrible downfall, I found your mother again. Molly recognized me right away, and to tell you the truth, she seemed pleased to see me. 'Not conquered yet, I see' she said to me, smiling. So, as you must know by now, we had an affair. I told her I was to kill the boy Harry Potter, and she told me that we couldn't see each other once again. I, of course, already knew this, and we went our separate ways. Molly found out she was pregnant, and pretended it was Arthur's child. I, of course, found out about you, and knew the truth, but figured you couldn't do much. But it always pained me, knowing I was leaving you to Molly and that Muggle-loving idiot, Arthur. And then, of course, young Potter got rid of me only 4 months before you were due. I had been planning on taking you with me, but of course I couldn't do that any longer. So, I waited. And now, here you are, standing in front of me, and I honestly couldn't be happier."

I simply stood there, tears forming in my eyes. Why had I never been told this? I know, my mum was probably just trying to protect me, but it's sad when you don't know who your true father is. When I looked at Voldemort, I could see he looked sad.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," he said, "but I want you to know, I'd do anything to make you happy. I love you even more than I did your mother, and I will never do anything to hurt you. Just say what you want, and I'll do it. I'll let you go, I'll spare Harry Potter, I'll even give up the Dark Arts, just to make you happy, because you are the most important person in the world to me."

A/N: Oooooo another cliff-hanger! Well, sorta. I'm sorry this took so long but it's really hard to work out all of this. I really hope this works, because I kind of want a happy ending. If you have any suggestions, just let me know in your review, because they're always welcome. I hope you all are happy with me! BTW, I do know where this is going, and it won't be much longer! I've already started revising the previous chapters, so I hope you're all set for it! Thanks, and R/R!