Chapter 10 - Ginny Weasley

Physically, the Ginny Weasley that stood before him was almost identical to the one in his memories. She had grown her hair out so that it almost reached her waist, falling in gentle waves down her back, but it was the same vivid, fiery shade of red as that of the fourteen year old girl he once knew. She was taller than he remembered, but then again, it had been almost six years since he last saw her. Having stayed at the Weasleys during the summer four times, he was no stranger to seeing the Weasley children in muggle clothing during the holidays, and Ginny did not look at all out of place in her casual jeans and emerald green sweater. Even her guarded expression, eyes narrowed in annoyance, was familiar – he had seen it on her face many times as she threatened her brothers with her favourite hexes, often with a wand releasing dangerous sparks at her side.

There was a silence, and then the siblings spoke up at the same time.

"How the hell did you find me, Fred?"

"Ginny?"

The two redheads sized each other up from across the street. When it looked as though neither of them were going to move or say anything again, Harry decided it was time to step in, glad that he had thought to put up his 'James Evans' disguise that morning.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" asked James politely. His words seemed to jolt them out of whatever rut the Weasleys had been stuck in.

"Ginny, where have you been all this time?" Fred started, hurrying over to her and taking away some of her burdens. Despite the fact that he was inexplicably wary of approaching her, James knew it would be highly suspicious if he stayed exactly where he was, so he was quick to follow.

"Thanks," Ginny said grudgingly as her load was lightened by both Fred and James. It seemed to take a moment for her brother's words to sink in. "Wait, what? You didn't come here because of me?"

"I don't even know who you are, miss," James lied, shifting the bag of vegetables he was now carrying into a more comfortable position, "I don't think we've met."

Ginny looked at him and a small frown crossed her face. "Oh, sorry," she gave Fred a questioning glance, "I'm normally not this rude. I'm Ginny Weasley, Fred's sister." Since many of her bags were now being carried by her brother and the other young man in front of her, she now had a free hand, which she extended for James to shake. James grasped her hand firmly with his own, marvelling at how small it was compared to his own. He shook himself. Now wasn't the time to be noticing such obscure things.

As he tried to let go however, Ginny's grip tightened. James' eyes shot up to stare into hers and a flush appeared on her cheeks.

"Are you sure we haven't met somewhere before?" Her soft brown eyes darted around his face, trying to pick out even the smallest detail, but he knew she wouldn't be able to find anything. James' hair was much longer than Harrys, pulled into a ponytail, and he had brown eyes. There was no way Ginny would be able to connect him with Harry Potter, and he wasn't disappointed. With a muttered apology, she stepped back. "You reminded me so much of someone I once knew," she said by way of explanation.

"Ginny, this is James Evans," Fred introduced, stepping up and positioning himself strategically so that his sister and James both had to step back even further away from each other, "I'm not sure how he can be familiar, cos George and I only met him two days ago."

"Right," Ginny said, nodding as though trying to convince herself, "Nice to meet you, James. You," she continued, spinning to face her brother as though she just remembered that he wasn't supposed to be there, "what are you doing here then, if you had no idea I lived here?"

"You live here?" Fred looked stunned, both eyebrows disappearing into his hair. "That was a good choice, Gin-gin, we never even considered looking for you here, of all places. But you know," a distinctly annoyed expression passed over his face, "did you have to leave with even leaving a bloody letter? Do you have any idea how worried we all were? Until the letter you sent almost two weeks later, we had no idea if you were even alive!"

"If you'll remember," Ginny scowled, turning away gesturing for Fred and James to follow, "at the time, I couldn't care less what the rest of you thought. Answer my question, Frederick, what are you doing here?"

"Fred was just showing me the place where James and Lily Potter died," James told her, before wincing and Fred elbowed him sharply in the stomach. Although she didn't stop walking, Ginny turned to look at him curiously, forcing him to ignore the pain in his side and school his features into a hopefully neutral expression. "Is something the matter, Ms Weasley?"

"Don't call me that," Ginny admonished, snorting, "You sound like one of my professors! Just call me Ginny. And to answer your question, I just found it unusual that you know this place as a result of the death of the Potters, rather than because it was where Harry Potter defeated Voldemort."

Ah, James thought, now understanding the I-can't-believe-you look that Fred was sending his way. "Well I always figured that it was something his parents did, rather than Harry Potter, since he was just a baby at the time," He made up, hoping that the words would satisfy her. Fortunately, it seemed they did, and the faintest trace of a smile appeared on her lips.

"You know, Harry would have been glad to hear such a view," she said, facing the direction she was walking in again, "He gets so annoyed when people worship him for something he couldn't even remember."

Before James could respond, Fred interrupted. "Ginny, do you still get The Prophet?"

Despite the fact that James couldn't see her face, he could tell, somehow, that Ginny was rolling her eyes, and barely restrained a chuckle. "Oh yeah, of course I am! Where would I get the galleons to pay for it, you dolt?"

Fred looked appropriately abashed to have forgotten to consider that, but James saw an opportunity to further solidify his persona.

"Wait, do you mean you've left the Wizarding World behind completely, Ginny?" He asked. It he was honest with himself, he was in fact truly curious about her answer. Ahead of him, Ginny nodded as the trio rounded a corner.

"My parents – no, my family – and I don't have too different a view on certain events that I just had to get away from them."

"About Harry Potter?" He pressed. He didn't even know why he wanted so badly to have her express her views, having already gotten the gist of it from Fred and George.

"Yeah. Let me guess, Fred and George told you?" Before she could say anything else, Fred broke in again.

"Ginny, if you don't get The Prophet anymore, then you didn't see the series of articles they were running almost half a year ago right?"

James had no idea what Fred was talking about, but he could see the tension that had entered Ginny's small frame at his words. Her shoulders and next became rigid and the fluidity fell from her limbs until her movements became almost mechanical.

"He's not dead, Fred," she announced in a clear, carefully controlled voice. James realised with a jolt what articles The Prophet must have been running – half a year ago, a high security prisoner named Harry Potter had escaped from Azkaban, and the matter had been hushed up. "I don't care what you say, or what the Ministry's official line is, I know he can't possibly have died in there. Harry wouldn't let it happen."

"How can you be so sure?" asked James before he could stop himself.

"I know him," Ginny insisted, shaking her head ever so slightly but still not looking at either of them, "I know how determined he can be for justice, and I know he's innocent. He wouldn't die, he'd want to clear his name."

Both Fred and James opened their mouths to reply, but Ginny cut them off before they could utter a single sound. "We're here," she said simply.

'Here' was a simple, one story house in town. There was a low, redbrick wall, in which a mailbox had been set. Beside it hung a copper 17 and, on its other side, a small metal gate. A slightly curved, narrow, paved path led from the sidewalk to the front door. The front yard on either side was covered in a layer of neatly tripped lawn, encircled by a ring of bright flowers.

It was an ordinary house in the truest sense of the word. It was the type of property that James could imagine in any suburban street all across the world, even, amazingly enough, in Privet Drive. Yet despite this, it wasn't boring, it didn't ooze of dullness and conformity like his Aunt's and Uncle's house. Rather, it was the sort of place he had imagined himself living in after he graduated from Hogwarts, perhaps not for the rest of his life as he would probably have wanted to expand, but for a while, at least.

After a brief search, Ginny found her keys and unlocked the door, leading the way inside. As the three of them passed the kitchen, Ginny dropped off the groceries she was carrying on the counter and gestured for Fred and James to do the same. They obliged, and followed her to the living room.

"Sit," she commanded, poiting at a plump, comfortable looking couch. "Do you guys want something-" but she never got to finish her sentence, because at that moment, something large and white burst into the room, hooting loudly. All three of them looked up instinctively and James' breath caught in his throat.

Hedwig had lost none of her grace during the six years he had been away. Her wings beat through the air effortlessly as she silently circled above him. James could tell she was watching him as she flew, her eyes fixed on the strange intruder in what must have been her home, and felt a sense of relief. He had thought the worst, had expected her to be gone, but here she was, still alive and healthy. Obviously, she had gone to live with Ginny after the trial, and Harry could think of no better place she could have been.

After almost half a minute in which all three of them – Fred, James and Ginny – watched the owl in silence, it seemed Hedwig managed to make a decision. With ease, she altered her flight path, diving down and alighting gently on James' knee. Her large, round, amber eyes gazed at him unflinchingly as she sidled up his leg. Harry withheld a chuckle at the awkwardness with which she moved – she was an owl, and clearly belonged in the air.

Nonetheless, he felt his chest construct painfully and heard each beat of his heart as loudly as though he was using a stethoscope as she half jumped, half flew onto his shoulder. She let out a low, soulful hoot that seemed hang suspended in the air for much longer than after she had stopped. Even though Harry had always thought of Hedwig to be as intelligent as any human, he had never thought she was capable of expressing such a deep emotion in her calls.

Hesitantly, he held out his left hand and ran it ever so gently down her warm, feathery back as she sidled even closer until she was right up against his cheek. Then, just like they used to, she rubbed her feathery head against him, her chest vibrating as she let out another low call. Both bird and human closed their eyes and revelled in their intimacy, the world around them fading into the background, completely forgetting they had visitors until –

"HEDWIG!" Ginny exclaimed, shattering the magic of the moment like glass into a thousand pieces. Both James and Hedwig swivelled to face her, to find her gazing at them with wide, startled brown eyes, her mouth open with shock at the familiarity between the two. Behind her, Fred looked like he understood somewhat, but held his tongue. What was there to say?

"Hedwig what is with you? Have you met him before?" Ginny was asking, her eyes darting back and forth between the man and bird on her couch, "I've never seen you take to anyone so rapidly!"

James opened his mouth to respond, but all that he managed was the barest of croaks. He cleared his throat and wet his lips before trying again.

"Your owl is . . . amazing," he complimented, resuming his petting of Hedwig's feathers, "Sorry I couldn't help myself, I've always had a way with birds." It was, quite possibly in his opinion, the worse excuse he had ever come up with. Ginny opened and closed her mouth several times, apparently trying to form words, but it was clear she didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Fred chose at that moment to jump in and save the day.

"WELL!" he said in an overload loud and casual tone, "At least we know you're a good person, eh James? There's quite a history behind that owl, isn't there Gin? And we know that Hedwig is a good judge of character!"

"What?" Ginny snapped, apparently still trying to wrap her mind around what she was seeing. Fred shoved her lightly with his foot. "Oh. Oh! Yes, forgive me James, but I've just never seen Hedwig acting this way with anyone ever before! It's quite amazing, but I'm glad she likes you."

Ginny gave Hedwig a fond glance as she shook herself and went into the kitchen.

"You know, James, Hedwig used to be Harry's owl. I've been taking care of her ever since . . . well, you know."

"Really?" asked James, trying to sound interested when in reality his heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't believe he just did that in front of Ginny, completely forgetting that there were in fact other people in the room, and yet, on the other hand, he really didn't care that much, not when he had just been reunited with his oldest, and most faithful friend.

"Yeah, she was!" Ginny was saying from the other room, "You guys want tea or something?"

Fred answered for the both of them that tea would be fine, so a couple of minutes later Ginny returned with a tray laden with three cups of hot tea. It was only when James picked his up that he realised, as far as he could remember at least, this was probably his first up of tea. At Hogwarts, he had always had Pumpkin Juice, and in Privet Drive and Azkaban, he had only ever been allowed water. Even when he had gone into Hogsmeade, he and his friends had drunk butterbeer, rather than tea.

"So," Ginny took a sip of her own tea and glaced around at her visitors. Despite her nonchalant attitude, he could tell that she was watching the both of them carefully. "what are you two really doing here?"

Hedwig chose at this moment to rub herself against James one final time, and looked into his eyes. James knew that she understood. He wasn't Harry, not right now at least, and so she gave him a once over and soared out the window.

"I told you," Fred sounded exasperated, "I was showing James around Godric's Hollow! Don't worry, we weren't looking for you, Ginny, because we didn't even think you could possibly be here."

"And no one else better ever think that, if you know what's good for you," she warned, raising a finely arched eyebrow in her brother's direction, "Anyway, I know you're lying. You don't even know Godric's Hollow that well, why would you be the one to play tour guide to someone you supposedly met only a few days ago? And while you're at it, how about you tell me why you two were poking around Harry's house?"

"Excuse me?" Fred started, but Ginny cut him off.

"I saw the two of you coming out of there." She told him blandly. "So spill it. Who or what were you looking for if it wasn't me?"

Fred looked at James and shrugged helplessly. "We might as well tell her, she's not going to believe anything other than the truth."

James glared at him, trying to convey that he had no intention of involving Ginny Weasley in whatever mess he had found, but if Fred understood the signal, he ignored it.

"Ginny, what I'm going to tell you can't leave this room, ok? You have to promise."

"Oh boy," Ginny muttered to herself, rolling her eyes, "If I had a galleon for everything those words got either you and George, or me, into trouble, I'd be richer than Harry . . ."

George gave her a do-you-want-to-know-or-not-look and she gave an apologetic nod. "Okay, fine, I promise."

"Good," Fred said, taking a deep breath. "Alright, here it is. We," he gestured to James and himself, "believe that there is more to Harry's supposed crime than what the Ministry has told us."

"You don't say," Ginny commented dryly, raising her cup to her lips and looking curiously at James, who had sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. He did not approve of this, revealing everything to Ginny, and he wasn't even sure why.

"Gin, there wasn't any evidence to support Harry's side of the story! ANYWAY," Fred continued before Ginny could retort, either angrily or sarcastically as James knew she was eager to do, "we were given a tip off that led us here, to Harry's house. That's all we can tell you."

Ginny looked at her brother, but she couldn't read his expression, as his face was carefully blank. James, on the other hand, was easy to read – he was annoyed.

"What's your problem then?" she asked him, turning her gaze onto him.

"I. . . its nothing against you, Ginny," James explained, leaning forwards to take a drink and sighing, "but I don't think Fred should have told you anything, especially as we, ourselves, don't actually know what's going on yet."

The redheaded girl rolled her eyes. "He hasn't told me anything," she told him, tilting her head, "nothing that I didn't already know, anyway. I know Harry's innocent, it's those idiots out there that need the convincing." She gestured out the window.

"And as for your supposed tip off, well, it sounds like you guys haven't really found much, have you? Some tip off it turned out to be."

"Actually," said Harry before he could stop himself, "we've discovered that there were more than my – I mean there were more than James, Lily and Harry Potter in the house when Voldemort attacked." He had no idea why he'd told her that. All he knew was that he really didn't like the tone in which she had said 'you guys haven't really found much', as though she thought they were wasting their time. They weren't, after all were they? He couldn't make heads or tails of what he did discover, but at least he discovered something.

It seemed that this piece of information caught Ginny's interest. Perhaps it was simply the fact that, after all this time, they had something to go on.

"What do you mean there were other people staying in the house?" she asked, glancing between Fred and James. "Surely if there were others there, Voldemort would have killed them?"

Fred gave James a disgruntled glance that said quite clearly, hypocrite.

"Yeah," he answered, "except we know that at least one of the extra people was a child, because there was a second crib in a bedroom there. We don't know if that's the only extra person though."

"But surely the baby's parents would be there?" Harry interrupted, raising his eyebrows at Fred, "I mean, what kind of parents would let their kid stay alone with someone else's family, especially when that family is number one on Voldemort's hit list?"

"But if the house was under Fidelius, then they would have expected that house to be safe!" Fred returned, setting down his empty cup on the table, "I mean think about it, what's safer than a house that doesn't exist until you're told where it is?"

"Actually," he continued, his eyes going wide, looking as though his mind was moving at a hundred miles an hour, "if they needed to hide their kid, why didn't they use a Fidelius Charm? It's safer, right? Which means that they couldn't cast the charm, for some reason. The only reason I can think of is if they are already involved in a Fidelius – the secret keeper's secret with erode the charm away, that's why you can't protect someone with the charm and then be the secret keeper for you're secret keeper!"

James thought he understood what Fred was getting at, but he picked up a cushion from the couch beside him and threw it at the redheaded boys head. Unfortunately, he was a seeker, not a chaser, and so he missed.

"Oi, what was that for?" Fred cried, annoyed.

"It's a great theory, but there's one problem . . . Wormtail – Pettigrew – was secret keeper you idiot! And I doubt he had a family."

"Oh," Fred looked disappointed that his theory had been blown clear out of the water, "yeah, you're right."

"If finding out who was inside Potter Cottage at the time is what's important," Ginny said, standing abruptly, "then I know who you guys might be able to talk to."

Both Fred and James turned to look at her, surprised. "Who?" they asked at the same time.

"She's supposedly knew the Potters quite well, and the Dumbledores, too," Ginny told them as she walked out, "Bathilda Bagshot! Lives only a few houses down from Potter Cottage. That's the best person I can think of to ask, apart from Remus and, well," she trailed off awkwardly.

"Hang on, what happened to Remus Lupin?" James asked, kicking himself for not having thought of his Dad's old friend sooner, but Ginny merely shrugged uncomfortably.

"None of us really knows, he sort of disappeared when Harry went to prison," she told him. "Anyway, you guys are staying for lunch right? Afterward I'll take you two to see Bathilda."

James looked at Fred, who gave a nod.

"Sorry, Gin," Fred said apologetically, "I would love lunch, but after that I've got to get back to George and the shop. Ha . . . James can go though."

Ginny turned to look at James for a decision. But of course, what other choice would he make.

"Yeah." He nodded his agreement. "Let's go see Bathilda Bagshot."

A/N: Another Chapter, this time on time for once! :D

To be honest, I am my own worst critic, but I don't believe I did that well on the dialogue for this chapter, especially in characterisation, it felt a bit flat, so tell me what you think!

LuckyCat1: Well, you never know do you? What do you think happened? I'm not saying anything right now but I can't wait till I can reveal the truth ;P!

Veritahpgw: Death, or Fate? Hmm...that's an interesting guess. I can understand why you would think that she is Death, or Fate, but I can tell you now that she is actually a very real person, someone who has changed, but is in one of the HP books :D anyone else want to take another guess?

Nesciamema: There you go :P not a cliff hanger this time, sort of. I won't be putting in a cliff hanger every chapter, but I will be hopefully ending them in a way that will ALWAYS make you want to see the next one :D Tell me what you think, because for me this chapter wasn't as actionpacked as I thought it would be...but action is going to be picking up next chapter though!

Jewels46: OOOOOOOHHHH. Wow. I need to read over some of the stuff I write more, lol. Thanks for the review, I didn't actually pick up AT ALL how that part could be taken, its my fault. Ive changed it now, if you want to see it again, otherwise what I meant was this - None of the Weasley's went to Harry's 'Funeral', because they thought he was guilty (and Ginny had left ages ago, and so she didn't know about it). Although she lives in Godric's Hollow, the lack of any people attending would have meant that it would have been over very quickly, so she missed it. Fred and George didn't go because they didn't wantto cause problems with their family.

HOWEVER, they DID come visit his grave, once. AFTER the funeral. I've changed the chapter to clarify that now, so thanks for picking that up!

To all my readers, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (sorry if you didn't, promise it's going to get more interesting again, but I really couldn't leave this one out!). The next chapter will be out in a week and a half, as I have four exams in five days next week D:

SO, see you all next time!

PowerOfOne