Chapter 25: Harry's Helping Hand

Pansy was taken to St Mungo's for treatment, as she was hit with a powerful curse as well as magically cut, burned, and bruised. The message that was carved into her torso they were told would never go away. That is if she even lived.

As much as they didn't like Pansy, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione still felt bad for what she had gone through at the hands of Tom. Draco and Blaise, being the Slytherins that they were, seen it as the price she paid for being a traitor. But they still couldn't help but also feel a bit bad for the girl.

They had given Dumbledore the message and he had passed it onto the Order. Mrs. Weasley was ready to pull Ginny out of school since she was the apparent target, however, Ginny was adamant about staying.

"Ginny dear, please listen to reason." begged Mrs. Weasley. "He knows you are at Hogwarts. He can easily come and find you and take you Merlin knows where and do Merlin knows what to you!"

"Mum, I'm not going to run and hide like a coward!" yelled Ginny." And besides, Tom doesn't want to hurt me. He WANTS me."

"Like that's any less bad! Ginny, you can't just sit at this school and sacrifice yourself like this."

"I'm not, Mum. I'm fighting this just as much as the others are. I'm a part of this!" said Ginny.

No one had told the Weasley's about Ivory, therefore Mrs. Weasley had no idea that her daughter was the key to Tom Riddle's undoing. Also, no one was inclined to let her in on that fact. Everyone knew how Mrs. Weasley was about her children, especially Ginny, being her only girl.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, you are not of age, therefore I still have say over what you do! You are being pulled out of Hogwarts and that's final!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, putting her foot down.

"Mum, you can't do that!" yelled Ron.

"And why can't I? What kind of brother are you? You let her deal with the likes of a Death Eater instead of looking out for your sister!" said Mrs. Weasley.

Ginny had had enough. "HE ISN'T A DEATH EATER, DAMMIT!"

"GINEVRA!"

"He isn't, Mum. Sure he is a git, but he isn't a Death Eater. He's actually helping us. He's on our side." said Ron, trying to deescalate the situation.

"You don't even know him! You don't know anything except for his father being a Death Eater!" yelled Ginny.

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Ginny!"

"Oh so I guess no one can change and do better, huh? So because his father and aunt are Death Eaters, Draco just has to be one too? He has a mind out his own, you know!"

It doesn't matter!" yelled Mrs. Weasley. "It's his fault that this happened. If he would have never put his filthy hands on you, you would have been fine!"

"Oh Mum, don't be so dramatic. You're acting as if Draco took my innocence or something." said Ginny, crossing her arms.

Ron's jaw dropped at his sister's boldness. Mrs. Weasley's did the same.

"Are you saying that you and that... that boy have had sex?!"

Ginny looked at Ron and then at the ground.

Mrs. Weasley put her hand against her forehead as if she was going to faint. "My only daughter. Giving her innocence to some Death Eater child! I've never been so disappointed!"

Ginny blew up. "Actually Mum, I didn't lose it to Draco. I left it to your golden child, Harry Potter. The same golden child who lied and cheated on me!"

Ron sighed as he crashed his face into his hands. He really didn't want to hear this conversation.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes bore into her daughter as if she were looking into her soul. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. She didn't know how to feel. Her baby, her only girl, no longer a baby anymore.

"I trust that you have been smarter than your sister Ronald Weasley..." growled Mrs. Weasley.

Ron looked at the ground, unable to say a word. He couldn't lie to his mother. Especially since he and Hermione had been at it ever since Ron's sixteenth birthday, and the fact that they had just had sex the night before.

But he wasn't going to tell her that.

"I am of age now, Mum." he said lowly, looking at the ground.

Mrs. Weasley was enraged to say the least. She had always instilled good morals in all her children. While she knew that Fred and George would be her waywards, she never thought her two babies would be in such a hurry to grow up.

"I am your mother and I have spoken. Ginny will be pulled out of Hogwarts, and Ron, I think I should talk to Dumbledore about sharing a common space with Hermione. You can be a Head Boy and stay in Gryffindor just fine "

Ron stood up quickly. "Bloody hell Mum, I'm of age! You can't tell me what to do!" He walked out the room quickly, off to find Hermione, leaving an enraged Ginny and an equally enraged Mrs. Weasley to hash it out.

Ginny got up herself and ran out of the room not knowing where she was going to go.

Mrs. Weasley slumped in her chair, emotionally drained. "Dumbledore what shall I do? I have to protect her. I'm her mother."

The whole time Dumbledore had said nothing. He figured that his input was unecessary up until now. "Molly, as much as you want to look after your children, they are not children any longer. Now Ron is a capable and responsible adult who takes great care of his sister, and Ginny is a brilliant and smart young lady. She is greatly needed in the efforts to stop Tom Riddle."

"But why? Why her? If she is who he is targeting, shouldn't she be kept out of his grasp?"

"True, she is his target, but unbeknownst to him she is also his undoing. Everything will reveal itself in time, dear Molly. You will just have to be patient." said Dumbledore calmly.

Ginny had made her way out to the Quidditch pitch. She wanted to be alone.

She got out the Firebolt 2.0 that Harry had gotten her for her birthday, mounted it, and took off. She loved being on a broom. Flying was sometimes the only way she could clear her head and get her thoughts in order. Up in the air, she felt she could be anything, go anywhere, and do anything. Flying made everything else make sense.

She flew for about an hour when she looked down and saw someone sitting in the stands. She flew down and seen that it was Harry, one of the last people she wanted to see.

"What are you doing here?" she asked sternly as she dismounted on a bench.

"I came to talk to you. Ron told Hermione and I what happened. Or rather yelled it out." said Harry sighing.

"Yeah well, nothing that you can say will improve the situation." said Ginny. "So you can just go."

"No." said Harry firmly.

Ginny was taken aback. "No?"

"I said no. We need to talk." said Harry, almost smug.

"And since when have we needed to talk?"

"Since I said so. And you are going to listen to me."

Ginny sneered at Harry. The last thing she wanted to do was listen to any words that he had to say.

"You're being so stupid with everything right now. All because of sodding Malfoy."

Ginny felt herself growing angry at Harry's words. "Stupid?! You're actually calling me stupid?!"

"Yup I sure am." said Harry. "You're allowing that prat to come between everything. You let him come between us, your own morals, and now you're allowing him to come between you and your mother. Some daughter you are."

Ginny was dumbstruck. She couldn't believe Harry was being so cruel. So bold to her. It was making her upset.

"Shut up Harry. You don't know what you're talking about." said Ginny in a low growl. She felt herself getting more and more angrier. Her body began to shake, her mind filling with thoughts of pushing Harry off the stands.

"I won't. I can't believe you would choose that Death Eater prick over your own family. Over your friends. Malfoy ain't shit and you know it Gin, so why do you put up with him?"

Ginny started to feel weird. Her head was starting to hurt, she felt hot, and she felt as if she wanted to kill him.

"Maybe you like Death Eater life. Maybe your want to be Malfoy's little whore. Or better yet, Tom's." said Harry, almost maniacally.

Ginny screamed as she all of a sudden felt like she was being ripped in two. She felt as if her body was on fire.

"Why don't you just go ahead and give it up to Tom like you fucked Malfoy?"

"Why are you being such a dick?!" screamed Ginny, though it seemed as if her voice sounded far off.

"Because you were a dick to me. And you deserve it."

Ginny screamed in agony and anger. She wanted to lunge at Harry but found herself not being able to move. The pain was unbearable and after a blinding red light, she found herself on the ground, fading out from the world.