Cowabunga - I know 2 weeks is kind of quick to plan a wedding..it took almost a year to plan mine. But, I figured that in a time of war the process would speed up a bit!
Ginny Guera - I kind of skimmed over that part about Sirius being free now, didn't I? Sorry. But I wrote in one of the chapters after the battle that Sirius was free because the Ministry members saw Peter Pettigrew with Voldemort at the Dept. of Mysteries.
To all my other reviewers and readers...Thanks for keeping me motivated! I hope this chapter doesn't seem too rushed or out of place. But I have to get Maggie to Hogwarts for reasons that will become clear soon and this was the way that I came up with. I am going on JKR's info that Ginny is a really powerful witch!
Chapter Twenty-Five – The Women Who Love Them
Later that night…
Waiting was not something Maggie Thompson liked to do. But she found that she had absolutely nothing to help her pass the time except worrying and waiting. So she had retired to her bedroom on the third floor, where at least there she did not have to worry about keeping up appearances. She would lay down on her bed, rise, pace back and forth in front of the fire, become frustrated with herself, plop down on the bed again, and repeat the process all over again.
And still she waited.
The young teacher was too anxious and worried to concentrate on anything, and she could not bear to be around anyone else. She knew she would be too transparent to them, but more than that she just did not want to deal with people at the moment…not even Ginny and Molly. She knew she was far too likely to fly off the handle at the simplest provocation, and she was also liable to interpret absolutely anything as a provocation.
Which wasn't fair, given the fact that the Weasley women were just as worried as she was.
"Are you asleep?"
Maggie turned her head away from the crack in the ceiling that she had been staring at and smiled softly as Ginny pushed open the door to her bedroom at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
"Not by a long shot," Maggie answered, pulling herself up to a sitting position and motioning for Ginny to join her on the bed by patting the empty spot on the quilt next to her. "Is your mum still cooking?"
Ginny nodded as she folded her legs underneath her on the bed and sat next to Maggie with her head down. Wild, tangled, red hair concealed her pretty face, but the flames from the crackling fire threw their burning light on her small silhouette. Her fingers twisted a piece of parchment while she sat there, defeated.
"She always cooks when she is nervous or scared," the redhead informed her softly, "I guess that she thinks it will take her mind off things."
Maggie nodded in agreement and asked, "Time may fly when you are having fun, but it dies when you are worried." She realized that she was being a bit impatient, but she could not help how she felt, so she asked, "How long have they been gone?"
Ginny shrugged and scowled as she answered, "Hours. This is driving me insane. I hate not knowing what is going on."
Unable to keep still, the teenager rose up from the bed and moved to look out the window into the darkness and finally allowed herself the satisfaction of giving in to the confusing jumble of emotions creating a maelstrom within her. The faint voices of the Muggles walking along Grimmauld Place carried on the wind, completely unaware what was going on at Hogwarts, and their happy chatter only succeeded in making the achy, empty hole in her chest more pronounced. Turning back to Maggie with sad eyes, Ginny said, "It seems to be the story of my life…wherever the people I love are going, I can't go."
"Gin…" Maggie began sympathetically, but the young girl kept talking as if she didn't hear her interruptions.
"My brothers all went off to Hogwarts before me and left me at the Burrow for years. Ron and Hermione run off with Harry on his adventures all the time and never tell me where they are going, and now they've all gone off to fight Voldemort and they've left us behind. I am just as smart – I'm just as bright. I can whip up a Bat-bogey hex within a milli-second and conjure up a patronus, something Hermione isn't even able to do. I'm more fearless than Ron – but," she finished, giving a quiet, resentful laugh, "we can't have little Ginny getting hurt, can we?"
"Well, it could be worse," Maggie said, trying to sound helpful, "You could be a completely useless Muggle like me who has no idea what a Bat-bogey Hex is, let alone how to whip one up." She gave Ginny a half-smile and added, "Or have the man that you love worried that you are just a silly woman incapable of grasping the cold, hard facts of war and worried that you are simply taken up with the grandeur of being in love with a wizard."
"Sirius doesn't really think that," Ginny responded sympathetically. "He just wants to make sure that you are safe." Shaking her head in frustration, she muttered, "Stupid, noble men."
Maggie chuckled and agreed, "It's not as if this house is all that safe anymore, anyway. Sirius doesn't trust Professor Snape at all and knows that he saw me the night of the Battle at the Department of Mysteries. And Kreacher is only loyal to Sirius because he has to be…his real loyalties lie with that Death Eater cousin of his."
"Bellatrix." Ginny agreed, shivering involuntarily at the woman's name. "Harry, more than most, understands that nowhere is entirely safe now. And he and Sirius are definitely cut from the same cloth. Harry doesn't want me anywhere near his showdown with Voldemort when that day comes…whether it be tonight or years from now."
Ginny glanced back out the window at the vast sky, millions of stars blinking back at her. For a moment, she wondered what would happen if they fell out the sky and she didn't think the world would be any more confusing. Leaning her head against the cool glass, she whispered, "The world is falling apart, and they act like we're just a couple of helpless girls watching it crumble into dust."
"But we're not helpless." Maggie told her sharply, her frustration finally reaching the surface. "If there is one thing I have learned in my life, it's that when the world around you is falling apart, Ginny, that's when it's imperative that you trust yourself." She looked at Ginny, her eyes two bright spots lit up by the rising moon. "We can't just sit here and wait for fate to decide our lives for us. We should do something about it."
"How are we supposed to—" Ginny stopped mid-sentence and she felt a sudden rush of excitement and smiled to herself. She looked up to see Maggie smiling in return. "There's nobody here to stop us from going to Hogwarts."
"Your mum…"
"Is completely caught up in her pot of stew." The teenager finished and Maggie could see the wheels in her head begin to turn. "But how are we going to get there?"
"Do you know how to apparate?" Maggie asked, knowing that their means of transportation were limited due to her own lack of skills.
"Not with someone else," Ginny answered with a frown. "Fred and George taught me a little, but I wouldn't want to put you in danger. And we can't use the Floo Network because mum will definitely find out." She looked thoughtful for a moment and then muttered, "If only we had a portkey…"
"We do!"
Ginny looked up at Maggie in confusion as she bounded off the bed and ran out of the room. She returned moments later with a large plaque that she set on the end of the bed.
"What is that?"
"It's the Black Family Crest," Maggie informed her young friend. "Also known as the portkey that Sirius and I took to Hogwarts back at the beginning of your new term."
"Sirius made a portkey out of his family crest?" Ginny asked, a grin spreading over her face as she studied the golden markings in the dark wood. "Classic."
"Do you think it still works?"
"If not, I can create a new one with the Portus spell." the redhead said, taking out her wand.
"You can do that?" Maggie asked in amazement.
"Harry taught us all during DA lessons."
"DA?"
"Dumbledore's Army." Ginny told her, studying the crest carefully. "Harry formed it to help us protect ourselves and fight back against Voldemort. A lot of the kids at school were a part of it. Okay, now Harry said I have to hold in my mind the destination that we desire…"
"Hogwarts."
"Right," Ginny agreed and then continued, "and we must also decide whether the portkey is to be a there-and-return key, in which case I must also hold the return destination in mind."
"Sounds complicated," Maggie remarked, pursing her lips and watching Ginny apprehensively.
"Give me a minute." The teenager snapped, holding her wand over the crest and muttering an incantation under her breath. As the two of them watched expectantly, the crest suddenly began to vibrate and glow bright blue before it returned to it's original form. Ginny grinned triumphantly up at Maggie and exclaimed, "I did it!"
"Outstanding!" The young teacher replied happily, high fiving her young friend. "Are you ready?"
Ginny nodded and the pair reached out to touch the crest simultaneously. In an instant, it felt as if someone were tugging them from behind with a large hook and in the blink of an eye Maggie's bedroom disappeared around them. The next thing they knew, Maggie and Ginny were once again tumbling across the great lawn as if they were gymnasts in a circus.
"That doesn't ever get any easier, does it?" Maggie muttered, as she steadied herself for a moment before lifting herself off the ground.
The night sky above Hogwarts was dark so far out from London and it was an absolutely clear night. A flood of stars sparkled above, virtually covering the tops of the trees. In the distance, the castle was lit up by red and green flashes of light that one might have mistaken for fireworks set off by Fred and George if they didn't know the reality of the situation.
"Stay close to me," Ginny commanded, grabbing Maggie's hand in hers as they made their way up to the castle. The weight of what they were doing suddenly settled into Maggie's chest as they got closer to their destination. Maybe this had been a mistake…they didn't really have a plan as to what they were going to do once they arrived at the battle. But the thought of Harry and Sirius staring down the wrong end of a wand during their last moments kept Maggie and Ginny moving as if possessed.
The inner courtyard of Hogwarts was the last barrier between the dark forces and the castle itself and it was hard to tell if the members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army, a fellowship much larger than the mere handful of students who started it, was winning. Truthfully, though, Maggie did not see or hear much outside of the enemies in front of them. Her entire world narrowed to encompass the bolts of energy that flew from the tip of Ginny's wand and the incantations that flew from her lips as they made their way into the heart of the battle.
Chaos.
A blast of red light, brilliant in its intensity. The glowing jet shot toward them like lightning, then seemed to freeze for a moment in midstream.
As Maggie shrunk back in fear, Ginny shouted, "It's okay…I put up a Shield Charm to protect us."
Out of the corner of her eye, Maggie saw Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin pause to cast a binding spell around the wrists and ankles of an stupefied Death Eater. Behind her, a goblin raised his ax.
Maggie nudged Ginny, but she had already seen and reacted quickly, whipping a cord of pure energy around the hilt of the snarling thing's weapon and giving a great heave. The large double-headed hatchet came barreling toward them, rolling sideways through the air in a tight spin. Maggie's arm instinctively shot forward to grab the hilt and the tightly bunched muscles of her arm sent the weapon hurtling back through the air where it lodged itself dead center in its owner's skull, cleaving the tissue and bone nearly in half.
"Who dared call you helpless?" Ginny asked, glancing quickly back at Maggie as they surveyed the fresh carnage, mouths grim.
The once vast lawns of Hogwarts were churned up into muddy fields that were half blood and all sorrow. The ground was littered with the bodies of the dead, lifeless and lacerated forms that bore hex marks and manifestations of curses, the worst of which were the victims of the Unforgivables, who lay stiff and pained looking.
"It looks like things are almost over," Ginny observed quietly as the pair headed toward the great steps that led to the main entrance to Hogwarts. "Let's see if we can find someone that we know."
They turned to survey the devastation and as her eyes roamed, Maggie knew she should feel something, but had no idea what. Gore was everywhere, the dead and dying strewn on the ground like broken pawns of wizard's chess and hexes charged the air with energy that made her hair stand on end. But nothing penetrated her haze of confusion, save an odd numbness that filled her weakened limbs, mind, and heart. There was only the dull ache pressing in her chest to remind her that she was capable of emotion at all. She didn't know whether her friends had lived or died and that, she thought, was the most awful part.
This was what Sirius had tried to protect her from. But she was convinced now more than ever that he had been wrong. This was exactly what she needed to see and experience.
Maggie scanned the crowd desperately, shouting Sirius' name until her throat grew hoarse. She knew something was wrong the moment she saw the crowd of people and instinctively began moving towards them. A feeling, deep in the pit of her stomach, sent a sharp pain to every nerve of her body. Her stomach was now full of lead and blood rushed through her ears, pounding so loudly she was unable to hear the muttered whispers or see the worried glances in her direction. Her feet seemed to remember how to work without her, and she allowed them to carry her with quicker, longer strides until she reached the large group of people. She swallowed, her throat so tight and dry she could barely breathe.
Someone saw her edging towards the crowd, and nudged the person standing next to them. The motion was repeated several times until part of the group moved closer, attempting to shield her from the view. The blurry faces seemed familiar to her and she could make out certain members of the Order and the Weasley family, but that didn't keep her heart from stopping.
"Let me through," she choked out, straining to get to him. "Get out of my way," she tried to scream, but only a shallow whisper was audible. "Please," she cried out, her voice breaking. "H-he needs me."
With a few more significant glances, Neville, Fred, and George edged to the side, allowing her to step within the circle. The crowd was surrounding three bodies; two of which were Death Eaters. And then she saw him.
Maggie felt something inside her break at that moment. It wasn't her heart, or her mind and sanity. She felt herself literally break. At that moment, that turning point in her life, she felt her whole being fall apart. And then she let the tears fall.
With tears streaming down her face in small rivers, she didn't bother to wipe them away as her knees gave way and she collapsed on the ground. Oblivious to those around her or the voices beginning to amplify, she pushed aside the two Death Eaters until she reached her destination.
"Oh, God," Maggie breathed as she saw the copious amount of blood soaking his body. His eyes were closed, and just from looking at him she could tell he had several broken bones; one in his leg, another in his arm. A large gash was bleeding heavily on his cheek, blood smeared across his paling face.
"Sirius," Maggie whispered, moving to cradle his head closer to her body.
Hearing her voice, his eyes fluttered open slowly, and he lifted a shaking hand to her face. Resting his fingers on a piece of her curling hair, he gently brushed it back and away from her face, breathing in her scent.
And he smiled.
"You're alive," she whispered, lifting one of his blood soaked hands and covering it with her own. The tears continued, but now that he was looking at her, she began to calm down a little.
He was alive.
"Shh, don't cry Magnolia," he said, hushing her. "I'll be alright. But…"
Maggie felt his body shudder slightly, and his breathing was becoming labored. "But what?" she demanded, trying to keep herself from whimpering. "Sirius…"
"He's gone." Sirius breathed, his eyelids fluttering closed as he struggled against his injuries and exhaustion to keep them open. "He fell."
The words took on meaning, and she felt her blood go cold. Fear clutching at her heart, she asked softly, "Harry? Did Voldemort get to him, Sirius?"
It seemed like it took every ounce of strength he had left for Sirius to shake his head and mutter the words that would change everyone's destiny…
"Dumbledore's dead."