A/N: Here you go dears! Next chapter! This has a little romance, but it's also kind of sad. I promise that the next chapter will be a happier one. Anyway, interesting point brought up by Himura-Dumbledore "the killing curse is NOT unblockable so i dnt think the death eater should have stopped it when ron used a feeble shield charm," Oops! Yeah, I should of caught that! Let's just say the death eater was really stupid. Anyway, nothing else today, except thanks for the reviews! Also, I'm going to have the next chapter for Severing Ties up today, if anyone is interested. So, I'll stop talking about my own mistakes and advertising my other fics and let you read. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 11
A Question or Two
Ginny's POV
"I just don't understand!" Hermione dropped her head on the table. It was late and they had long returned to the castle, leaving Ron behind in the hospital. They had considered getting him transferred to a ward in Hogwarts, but a nurse had advised them against it.
"Hermione, it's late" Ginny knew she sounded whiny, but it was two in the morning! They had been looking since six thirty when they got back. "Let's just go to bed and try in the morning- well, later in the morning."
"Absolutely not! We have to figure this out. You can go to bed if you want. But I am going to figure this out. I always find the right answer, and I'm not about to ruin my record now."
Ginny just rolled her eyes. She had gone through a couple of all night study sessions with Hermione, back when she was studying for her O.W.L.s and they were not fun.
"It should be here somewhere, but it's not! I've checked every book on magical code in the library, and not one of them works on this letter!" Hermione scowled at the book she was holding as if it had done her some great insult.
"Hermione, maybe the answers not in a book." Ginny winced as Hermione stared at her as if she was insane. "I'm sure it's here, let's just look harder. Harry! Wake up and help!" she smacked him in the back of the head with a book, perhaps a bit harder then necessary.
Hermione laughed a little. "Whatever happened to no hard feelings Ginny?"
Ginny scowled, reminded of the awkward conversation yesterday. She hadn't meant to tell all of that to Hermione. Or anyone for that matter. She supposed it was because of too much stress from, well, from pretty much everything. She flipped a page in her book. "Have we tried a revealing spell yet?"
"Yes Ginny, at least ten times!"
Harry sighed. Ginny looked over. He had picked up the letter again. He was tracing the signature at the bottom over and over. A tear had come to his eye. Ginny opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. She didn't know what to say. He really missed Dumbledore. Probably more then he missed Sirius. Definitely more then he missed his parents.
She wondered, when he had left, before she'd gone into hiding, did he trace her name on the letters she sent? Did he miss her as much as he would say in his letters? Did he tear up when he saw how the letters she sent detailing Percy's death had a large tearstain in the lower right corner? Did he wonder every night before he finally went to bed what she was doing, if she was thinking of him, as she inevitably was? Did he know that she cried at his letters, wondering if he was alright, not knowing if he was hurt? Did he miss her as much as his parents? As Sirius? As Dumbledore? Did he care for her as much as she cared about him? Did he love her?
She wiped angrily at her eyes, her hand so accustomed to the action, it moved nearly by itself. She didn't want to cry, not now not ever again. She had gone to many days barely seeing because her eyes were too full. Her brothers said she was too young to be really in love, but she knew they were wrong.
And now her heart had been ripped out and stamped on. She said she was fine, she said she was doing alright, but she doubted anyone believed it, herself most of all. She wanted everything to be the way it had been last year. Before everything had changed. And there was only one way she could see to change anything.
She looked over at Harry. His hand mimicking her own, wiping his eyes. "I'm sorry." She said it softly. Hermione didn't even look up, didn't hear. Harry had heard though. And he looked up.
"What?" he said, so quietly, it seemed he was mouthing it.
She looked up and met his eyes. "I said I'm sorry. For everything."
He was quiet for a minute. Then, "no Ginny, I should be the one apologizing. It's my fault. All of it."
She shook her head. "Harry, you already told me you were sorry. And you really didn't need to be. It just took awhile for me to understand. To understand everything."
"No, Ginny, you're wrong. I did need to be sorry. What I did, I shouldn't have."
"No, it's okay. I mean, we split up. I shouldn't have acted like a jealous girlfriend, because I'm not. And even if I was, it's still no big deal. It was one kiss."
"No it is a big deal. I shouldn't have done it. It wasn't fair to you, or to Hermione, or to Ron. I wasn't thinking straight. It's just, I was feeling so lonely and miserable, and it seemed like the right thing to do."
Ginny smiled knowingly, "missing Dumbledore, right?"
Harry smiled confused. "No, I miss him, but that's not why I was feeling so alone."
"Why then?"
"Because of you. I still l-"
"Yes! Finally! I've got something!" Ginny glared at Hermione. That girl had the worst timing in the world.
"What?" said Harry, his interest pulled to another point. Great, thought Ginny. I'm so uninteresting that my ex cares more about a year old letter. Still, she moved her chair around to see what Hermione was looking at. She needn't have bothered, as the girl began reading from the large textbook.
" 'One of the least common ways of code is that of ribbon transmission. In the year 1945, after the defeat of the dark wizard Grindewald, a defeat nearly spoiled by an interception of important documents in outdated code. Because of the need for new code, for a brief time, ribbon transmission became popular. The exact code is uncertain, however the basic principle is to include a small scrap of ribbon in an envelope along with a message. Using the ribbons color and texture, the true message would be revealed. Often the ribbon would be embroidered in some way that would explain it's meaning further. A common example was a blue silk ribbon with purple embroidery of a heart. The color blue indicated that the ribbon related to a meeting. Silk meant that the recipient would meet a friend. Purple embroidery would indicate that the friend was to meet them in a wooded area, and the heart stood for close to home. The ribbon would be telling the recipient to meet a friend at a wood near their home, and the length of the ribbon would discover the time. The method quickly grew unpopular due to its complexity. However, many abandoned it because they found it unreliable due to it's lack of magic.'"
Harry and Ginny just stared at her. Then Harry said, "um, Hermione, hate to burst your bubble, but we didn't get a ribbon with the letter."
"There's more in the next chapter" she said, leafing through pages.
"Oh please no." said Ginny under her breath.
"Here we go! 'The system of ribbon transmission (pg. 678) was replaced by other methods of non-magical transmission through out the ages. Gramatical error, used by Daniel Handler in his famous letter to Josephine Montgomery, sealing wax transmission, similar to that of the ribbon, used by the highly secretive O.P., and letter displacement, commonly used by the department of mysteries until 1991, are a few.'"
"So?" asked Ginny, looking from Hermione to Harry, who looked just as confused as Ginny.
"So! Think about it!'
"Hermione, really we don't know."
She sighed deeply. "Isn't it obvious? Well, I'm not going to just give you all the answers!"
"Hermione, this isn't some homework we're trying to copy on! This is my life we're talking about!"
"Alright Harry! You don't have to get snippy about it! Think, O.P. What do we know of with the initials O.P.?"
"Hermione! We don't know! It's two thirty in the morning and we want you to spit it out so we can go to bed!"
"No need to shout Ginny! Just think for a second. What was Dumbledore in charge of with the initials O.P.?"
It dawned on Ginny and Harry at the same time. "Order of the Phoenix!"
Hermione beemed. "Good! So, that means the Order of the Phoenix uses this wax transmission. I'm guessing that that means the sealing wax on the envelopes deliver some sort of message. It's really quiet ingenious when you think about it. Even if some one intercepted the message, they wouldn't think of non-magical codes, would they?"
"No, I suppose they wouldn't." Harry looked thoughtful. "but, Hermione, that book doesn't tell us how to use the code, so we aren't that much closer to breaking it."
"Well, we'll just have to go talk to one of the order members won't we?"
"Who?" ginny piped up. "Think. Dumbledore and Sirius are dead, so is Mad eye. Lupin's memory is messed up, Tonks just had twins, we can't bother her, mum and dad are in no state to answer questions, Fred and George aren't real members, and they're in hiding, Charlie's dead, Bill's missing, We don't know where any of the other members are since they vacated the old headquarters, and we aren't allowed to try and find out."
"You forgot somebody Ginny," Harry said, starring at his hands.
"Who?"
"Snape."
