"Well done Miss Weasley!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed excitedly as Ginny looked down at her desk. It looked as if someone had painted an exact copy of her textbook onto her left hand, the image shifting slightly as she waved back and forth.
"Come on up front, let's get the full effect" Flitwick said with an encouraging smile. He had made good on his promise to begin teaching the sixth years the Disillusionment Charm at the end of class the Friday before, and Ginny and Luna had been practicing it all week. Despite Flitwick's excitement, Ginny noticed that all of the students were following her with their eyes as she made her way to the front of the class.
Ginny stopped walking, and everyone stared at the place she stood. She swayed to the left, nearly losing her balance and was greeted with odd looks and a few laughs as her classmates cocked their heads in the same direction. Keeping perfectly quiet, she scrunched her face and stuck her tongue out, staring directly at Colin. Nobody reacted. Ginny felt relief that at least she was unrecognizable.
"Everyone close your eyes a moment, let's really put Miss Weasley to the test." Flitwick instructed as the students did as they were told. Professor Flitwick then motioned to Ginny to move to the side of the room, which she managed without making a sound.
"And open! Let's see if you can see Miss Weasley now!" Flitwick said to the class. Some students stared directly at the front of the room where Ginny had been moments before, as if to be sure she had moved, while other glanced around, expecting to see her blurry outline. Soon, everyone was slowly scanning each corner of the room, looking for any imperfections. Ginny was standing as still as she could manage.
"She's there! To the left of the desk!" Demelza shouted triumphantly after a full minute. The rest of the class turned to look where Demelza was pointing, some moving their heads back and forth comically as if to see a change in texture. Ginny was sure that Kevin Bletchley was staring at a blank space of wall next to her, despite the smug look on his face.
The bell rang and Ginny felt a sharp tap of the top of her head as Professor Flitwick reversed the charm.
"Can't have you wandering the halls nearly invisible now, can we?" He said with a wink before Ginny joined Colin in the corridor.
"You were really good!" Colin assured her as they passed Bletchley and a group of his fellow Slytherins. Ginny chewed her lip as they made their way towards the great hall. They had been planning the break in for weeks, going over every detail whenever they had time to spare.
"No teacher would notice you even if you were as visible as I was. Nobody'd be mad enough to break into Snape's office before he was Headmaster, he won't be expecting it." Colin continued despite Ginny's silence. Colin had spent the first half hour of class casting the spell on himself repeatedly, slowly becoming more and more translucent. The best he had managed was making himself look like a very faded chalk drawing someone had forgotten to clean off the wall.
"It's our only chance to get the sword, I don't want to screw it up because we're impatient. If he knows someone is trying to get it, he'll post a guard or worse." Ginny replied. Neville, Luna and Sean were waiting for them at the Gryffindor table as they entered the Great Hall for lunch.
"It's Disillusionment, not invisibility, I don't think you're going to be able to do much better if you want to do this before Christmas." Colin said as he took a seat opposite Sean and Luna.
"Did you Disillusion yourself Ginny?" Luna asked as Ginny sat between Colin and Neville.
"She did, it was brilliant!" Colin said excitedly before Ginny had a chance to open her mouth.
"Luna did this morning too, it looks like all that practice you girls put in paid off." Sean said as he grinned proudly at Luna.
"You did really well too!" Luna replied and returned his smile. Sean rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"Yeah, Flitwick was real excited until I came out from behind my desk. Everything from the knees down was completely visible." Sean admitted. Ginny could have kept herself from laughing at the absurd mental image had it not been for Colin snickering next to her.
"Better that than only disillusioning your robes." Neville muttered under his breath.
"You did not!" Ginny gasped, quickly shoving her fist in her mouth and trying to look sympathetic.
"Nah, but Seamus did. Thankfully he didn't do a very good job so you could barely see his underpants." He replied as everyone glanced over at Seamus. He seemed to be having a grand time retelling the story himself to some seventh years at the Ravenclaw table.
"Do you think you can cast the spell well enough to fool Snape?" Ginny asked Luna as the snickering died down.
"I think so, I don't think anybody could see me when I was when I stool perfectly still." Luna replied.
"Alright, I have Quidditch Practice tonight, so tomorrow…" Ginny began, only to be interrupted by Neville.
"Luna can cast the spell on me, I'll be her lookout while you're at practice." Neville said. Ginny looked at Neville for a moment, trying to decide if he was being over protective again, or if he just wanted to get moving as much as she did.
"If we don't make it in tonight, you can try tomorrow." Neville continued "Once we know it's there for sure, we'll set Colin and Sean up with the distraction at dinner while you two go back in."
All of them nodded in agreement as a nervous energy buzzed around them. When Neville noticed that Snape was nearly done eating, Luna waved them a cheery goodbye and left to stand guard over his office.
Ginny and Colin stood up immediately as Snape left the Great Hall and made their way towards his office. They wanted to be close in case they needed to distract him while Luna made her getaway.
There was no need however, by the time they came up to the statue of the Griffin, Snape was already in his office and Luna was suddenly walking next to them, fully visible.
"Got it?" Ginny asked out of the corner of her mouth as they headed towards the Dark Arts classroom. Luna smiled to herself and nodded without saying a word.
Despite being exhausted after Quidditch practice and practicing the Disillusionment Charm on Colin and Neville until nearly midnight, Ginny lay awake in her bed for hours that night. Every possible thing that could go wrong ran through her head, and she kept getting up to check the pronunciation of some of the trickier spells she and Luna would need to get through the protective charms.
By the time the sun had risen, Ginny had only managed to get a few hours of sleep. She spent the entire day feeling awake and hyper-sensitive of everything around her, yet she seemed separated from the rest of the school by a thick, almost tangible fog.
Finally, Arithmancy class was dismissed and Ginny bolted out the door to the Gryffindor tower, barely hearing Professor Vector assign fourteen inches of parchment on the new numerical chart she had introduced. When got to her dorm she threw her bag onto her bed unceremoniously and emptied her pockets onto the bedspread.
Ginny picked up the Decoy Detonators, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder Capsules, a small package wrapped in brown paper and a handful of each Dungbombs and Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs for good measure. Shoving everything else into her trunk, Ginny met Neville and Colin as they were coming through the portrait hole.
"You both stink!" she hissed as she caught a whiff of manure.
"Zacharias Smith split a bag of fertilizer in Greenhouse two, so we all stink." Neville grumbled between gasps. They must have run all the way from Herbology.
"If anyone walks past Snape's office while we're in there they'll smell you! Can Sean step in?" She asked in an urgent whisper, trying not to inhale.
"He's worse off than we are. Look, we'll shower quick and change, Snape won't be in the Great Hall for at least half an hour." Colin answered.
"You go meet Luna and tell her we'll be there before Snape is." Neville called as the two boys started towards the stairs. Ginny couldn't protest any more as more victims of Zacharias' fertilizer accident were now arriving.
"And eat something!" Colin shouted back before disappearing into his dorm. Ginny patted her pockets one last time and headed down to the Great Hall. They had barely started and things were already working against them.
She and Luna picked at their food until they were joined by the boys twenty minutes later. Their section of the Gryffindor table was nearly silent as everyone around them chatted excitedly about the upcoming weekend, or moaned about the essays they'd been assigned. Finally, Neville nudged Ginny's arm, and she looked up to see that Snape had finally materialized at the head table.
"Give it a minute." Ginny said out of the corner of her mouth as Colin started to shift in his seat. Ginny forced herself to finish the last of her roasted potatoes before slipping Colin the wrapped package.
"Don't set it off right after we leave, but don't wait until he's done eating either. Either one might make him suspicious." Ginny whispered as Colin pulled the brown wrappings away. In his hand lay what looked like a bright blue, semi translucent rocket ship.
"There's something in there!" Colin whispered as he raised his hand so it was nearly level with the top of the table. "I've never seen anything like this in the shop before!" As Ginny looked closer, she could indeed see tiny shadows moving around inside the toy.
"Me either, but George said it'd work. You turn the bottom bit here until you hear a click, then set it down facing up." She instructed, pointing at the fins at the base. Colin nodded and slipped the rocket into his pocket.
"Let's get going then." Neville said as he and Luna stood up. Ginny followed them out into the corridor, forcing herself to walk at what she gauged to be a normal pace. The three of them walked towards the library in silence, waiting until they had passed one of the Security Wizards before ducking into an empty classroom.
"That's the alibi. Oops, sorry Neville." Luna said smiling as she smacked Neville with her wand a little harder than she had intended to. It had done the trick though, as he was quickly fading from view.
"Here, signal us if someone's coming." Ginny said as she pulled out a selection of Weasley Wizard Weezes from her pockets, which floated for a moment before disappearing into the folds of Neville's robes. Luna had already Disillusioned herself, so Ginny was the last to disappear into the darkness.
Once they were in the lit corridor though, Ginny began to doubt herself as she watched the fuzzy outlines ahead of her distort the walls and paintings around them. When they stopped to wait for Professor Sprout to pass them though, they nearly lost sight of each other completely.
"Come over here, we'll be faster if we hold hands." Luna's soft voice came from somewhere to her left. Ginny reached out and found Luna's arm, then her hand and gripped it tightly.
"Perfect, I have both of you. Everyone squeeze once for stop or go, and I'll squeeze twice if one of you lets go." Luna instructed. They at least moved much faster now, although the walk to Snape's office seemed to take twice as long as usual.
"I'm going to stand over there, there's more shadow." Neville muttered from nearby. Ginny could just make him out as he made his way to the other end of the hallway.
"I can see your arm in front of the painting; can you shift over a bit?" Ginny asked as she moved her head back and forth slightly. "There, perfect. We'll see you in a minute."
"Cokeworth." Luna said, prompting the Griffin to reveal its hidden staircase. Ginny set her jaw and realized that all of a sudden, she was calm. They had made it this far without anyone being the wiser and there was nothing to stop them now but time and their own spellwork.
Ginny pulled Luna forward and raced up the steps faster than the rotating staircase could go. Before she knew it, she was pushing open the large wooden door and stepping into what had been Dumbledore's Office for the first time since her father's attack nearly two years before.
What shocked Ginny was that it did still look like Dumbledore's office, Snape had changed very little about the room save for the immaculately clear desk, and of course the portrait of Dumbledore sleeping behind it.
"Over here," Luna called from the shelves nearby. Ginny saw a glass case holding the sword of Gryffindor float down, catching a glimpse of Luna as she walked through a shaft of fading sunlight.
"Alohomora" Luna said as the latch on the case snapped open, allowing the walls and lid to gently fall flat on the desk.
"It can't be that easy. Aparecium!" Ginny pointed her wand at the sword between them and the space where the case's walls had been suddenly glowed. Multicolored mist filled the air surrounding the sword as what looked like chains of light wove themselves around it from hilt to tip.
Immediately, both Ginny and Luna began muttering incantations under their breath, one after the other as their wands moved in complex patterns over the desk. Ginny hadn't anticipated how much more difficult it would be when she was unable see her wand in front of her, but she didn't dare make herself visible again.
Slowly, the swirling smoke began to fade one charm at a time, and the threads of light broke and dissolved in front of their eyes. Ginny did her best to ignore the slice of sunlight moving slowly up the wall of Snape's office as she worked. There was no way of knowing how much time they had left, how long Colin and Sean's distraction would keep Snape and the other Professors in the Great Hall.
"Tutus Gladius" Ginny mumbled. There was only one protection spell left around the sword, but nothing they had tried would make it shift. Ginny wracked her brain, sure she had tried all the counter curses Bill had ever showed her. She started repeating spells, concentrating so hard she barely heard Luna casting her own charms.
"What's left?" she muttered finally, staring down at the sword. A barely visible haze of red dust glittered along the length of the sword, seeming to collect within a half inch of its surface.
"I think you should pick it up." Luna mused.
"But we don't know what it'll do, nothing we've tried has touched it." Ginny replied. She crouched next to the desk and inspected the charm at eye level.
"I don't think it's a curse or a hex, it looks different from the others." Luna replied from nearly. Ginny cocked her head to the side, trying to see what Luna was seeing.
"It's not as bright as the others, and it's clinging to the sword itself, not the perimeters of the case." Luna continued. Ginny was starting to understand.
A bang echoed through the office, causing Ginny to jump to her feet.
"Someone's coming Ginny, trust me. Take the sword." Luna said, suddenly fierce. She couldn't tell that Ginny was already reaching for the hilt before she had started speaking.
As Ginny's fingers brushed the sword's rubies, the cloud vanished, being sucked back into the sword itself, not dissolving as the other curses had. Ginny grasped the handle and lifted the sword from its stand, momentarily in awe of the object she was holding.
The sound of footsteps on the stairs outside brought Ginny back to earth a fraction of a second later. Quickly she turned the sword's tip down and shoved it under her robes, letting it disappear from sight.
"Incarcerous" Ginny said, pointing her ward at her chest and feeling ropes bind the sword to her torso under her robes.
The door slammed open and Snape stood towering over them, his eyes scanning the room wildly, stopping at the flattened case upon his desk. His chest was heaving as his fingers gripped the door frame from beneath his dripping wet sleeves, blocking Ginny and Luna's escape.
"Show yourself!" he commanded, raising his wand and sweeping it across the room. Ginny held her breath each time he passed over her, never more thankful for the now dim twilight that filled the room.
"Stupefy!" Snape shouted, the spell caused the books on the shelf to Ginny's right to shoot onto the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what must have been Luna move across the room.
"Finite Incantatum!" Snape tried again, pointing at where Luna must have been moment before. Ginny was ready this time and took three steps towards the door before freezing on the spot as he turned back to the room. If he would only step out of the way of the door, Ginny could make it into the staircase when he casted his next spell.
She reached into her pocket slowly and pulled out a Decoy Detonator, and watched Snape's eyes as he squinted into the shadows of the room. As soon as she was out of his line of sight, Ginny leaned down awkwardly and place the toy on the ground.
Snape set off two more spells as Ginny waited for the Decoy Detonator to go off, the sword's handle jabbing into her side as she held her breath.
Ginny actually jumped when the noise erupted behind her, but it the distraction worked and Snape lunged forward, letting Ginny make a break for the door.
"There you are!" Snape growled from the other side of the room. Ginny ducked instinctively, but no curse shot over her head. Glancing behind her, Ginny saw Snape leaning over his own outstretched hand, which was gripping what looked like solidified air.
"Expelliarmus!" Ginny shouted, but she had forgotten about the sword strapped to her side and tripped, shattering the window behind Snape. Snape jerked his arm forward, shielding himself from Ginny with Luna's invisible body. His brow furrowed as he tried to make out the second intruder's form.
"Go!" Luna shouted as Ginny stood frozen at the top of the steps.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Ginny yelled back, trying to make out where Luna was. Snape shot another stunning spell in her direction, which Ginny barely managed to dodge. It was impossible to retaliate with Luna in front of him.
"This is foolish bravery!" Luna shouted and Snape's next jinx caught the sleeve of her robes, and the Disillusionment Charm began to falter. Ginny whipped around and started down the staircase, thinking of Neville in the corridor. Snape probably subdued him, but if she could free him, they stood a chance.
Snape had followed her out of his office, but holding an invisible teenager in front of him was slowing him down as he bungled his way down the steps. Ginny reached the bottom of the stairs and threw her weight against the heavy door, but her shoulder never collided with the exit, and instead she slammed onto the stone floor of the corridor.
"There's number two!" Alecto said with a giggle as Ginny gasped and pain shot through her calf.
"Finite Incantatum!"
"Petrifcus Totalus!" Ginny shouted, but she was still dazed and her spell missed its targets. From outside of field of vision, Amycus disarmed her as she lay injured and visible on the ground between him and his sister.
Ginny moaned and rolled onto her back and looked down at her leg. Her robes we wet where the side of the sword had sliced the skin, and it was getting harder to breathe with the bonds around her chest.
"Incarcerous." Came Snape's voice, almost lazily in the doorway. Ginny felt more ropes tighten around her entire body as Luna appeared in front of her.