Chapter 36
Flashbacks and Confessions
Author's Note: This chapter will be in Ginny's PoV.
The Monday after Halloween, Ginny woke up in her four-poster bed. She pushed back the curtain and peered out. The sun had yet to rise, but Ginny could see a hint of daylight coming in. This was usually the time she woke up every weekday, so that she could take a shower and get herself prepared before going down to breakfast. Today, however, she was really tired. She didn't want to take a shower, and even going down to breakfast and even her classes was something she was thinking about skipping. The only real thing she was looking forward to was this meeting she would have with Professor McGonagall.
If it wasn't for Quidditch and the fact that Ginny wanted to fulfill her dream of becoming a professional Quidditch player, Ginny would have left Hogwarts that very weekend. She didn't care what her parents would say. She knew they would have a fit, especially her mother. She didn't really care. At the moment, she wanted to be far away from everyone, especially a certain boy with messy hair and a scar on his forehead.
It was true, she wasn't really that mad at Harry anymore. She knew it was stupid to be mad at him. She knew he wasn't the complete reason Gryffindor lost on Saturday. It was that broom: the most evil piece of magical wood Ginny had ever laid her eyes on! She could still blame Harry, of course. It was his fault the broom was his in the first place. He bought it, completely ignoring Ginny's warnings about what the broom could do… or could not do in this case.
Quidditch wasn't the only thing that had kept Ginny staying at Hogwarts. Hermione tried to tell her that everything was going to be all right. And in Ginny's opinion, she did a very good job of it. Ginny remembered the conversation. It had taken place on Sunday morning…
Flashback begins… Halloween fiasco, she had not been sleeping. She kept opening her eyes and peering out her curtains to see if she was alone. Everyone besides Lavender and Ginny had left the dormitory around seven-thirty that morning. But every time Ginny would peer out her curtains, she could see Lavender snoring, but in a deep sleep, in her four-poster bed. Ginny wanted to wake her up and yell at her to finally leave the room! She wanted peace. She believed that if anyone else was in the room, she would not have that peace.Halloween Feast here at Hogwarts, so I wasn't going to avoid it. But I was mad at Harry, and he had tried to talk to me earlier in the day."
Ginny's eyes were closed as she lay in her four-poster bed, but for the past two hours on Sunday morning, the day after the
Ginny opened her eyes once again and peered out of the curtains. Lavender was not in her bed. Ginny sat up and looked around. She was the only one in the room.
"Finally," Ginny said, laying her head back on her pillow, "Urgh!"
She sat up and grabbed her pillow. It was wet with sweat and probably a few tears. Ginny had done a fair bit of crying after escaping the Entrance Hall and the Grand Staircase. She hated to cry, and made sure that if she did, there wouldn't be anyone to see it. She threw her pillow against the wall and laid her head back down on the sheets of her bed. She was about to close her eyes, when she heard a voice.
"Ginny?" the voice said, "Are you up here? Can I come in?"
Ginny immediately recognized the voice. It was Hermione's.
"No!" Ginny said, "I want to sleep!"
"Ginny," Hermione said, "It is almost nine-o-clock. You can't sleep forever."
"Yes, I can!" Ginny said.
"I want to talk to you," Hermione said, "Please let me in. Remember, I am the Head Girl, and no matter what spell you used to lock the door, I can still use the skeleton key to come in. I am giving you a chance to open the door."
"Skeleton key?" Ginny said, scoffing, "There is no such thing!"
"Ha!" Hermione said, "You know, I figured you would be one of the few who actually read Hogwarts, a History, Ginny. But I guess not. Very well, then."
Ginny knew Hermione was joking. Or at least thought she was. A second later, Ginny heard the door unlock and creak open. Ginny gave an annoyed sigh and looked toward the door. Hermione was walking inside the room. She shut the door and walked over to Lavender's bed and sat down.
"How do you do it?" Ginny said.
"Do what, Ginny?" Hermione asked.
"You come back to Hogwarts after a full year of being away from education," Ginny said, "And it is like you never left. Here you are… Head Girl, still the top of your year and will probably have high scores on your N.E.W.Ts test, which you can take in December, and you aren't even flinching at the sound of it!"
"You sound a bit jealous," Hermione said, with a slight grin.
"I am serious, Hermione," Ginny said.
"I make sure I am focused," Hermione said, shrugging, "But to be honest, it is not always a piece of cake, Ginny. I've had my problems too, you know."
"You know," Ginny said, "Last night, when I came up here, I did a lot of thinking. I almost left Hogwarts last night."
"What?" Hermione asked, shocked, "Ginny…"
"I know what you are going to say," Ginny said, "So don't say it. Don't worry, I am not going to leave Hogwarts. I want to become a Professional Quidditch player, and this is my biggest chance. It's my only chance really…"
"I think you have a great chance of being a professional Quidditch player, Ginny," Hermione said, "You are doing great."
"Am I?" Ginny asked, "My only shot to become a Quidditch player is to make sure I am one of the greatest captains Hogwarts has ever seen. I have to impress Gwenog Jones, Hermione. You don't know how hard that is, believe me. But that is not all. I am beginning to think I am annoying every single person on my team. I've seen what happens when I try to talk about Quidditch in front Ron and Harry. They almost ignore me."
"Ginny, I think Gwenog Jones is impressed with you," Hermione said, "I really do. I mean, you were busy on the Pitch, so I don't think you saw her reaction when…"
"You don't have to tell me about that, Hermione," Ginny interrupted, "Lavender told me. Yeah, Gwenog was impressed when we scored twenty points in one play. There is just a couple things wrong, Hermione. One: I didn't come up with the play. Seamus and Dean did. They copied it from a Professional Quidditch play they saw. And two: we lost the match, Hermione!"
"Were you even listening to the judges at the meeting?" Hermione asked.
"How could you know what they said?" Ginny asked, "You were not there."
"Ginny, I talk to Ron and Harry everyday," Hermione said, "They tell me everything. They said that the judges did not care who won or lost. They wanted to know how well the players did out on the Pitch. I don't think you have anything to worry about, to be completely honest."
Ginny sighed inaudibly. She wanted to believe Hermione. She just had a feeling that her chances were already being compromised.
"Are you still mad at Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know," Ginny said.
"It wasn't his fault that you lost the match," Hermione said, "This time we can actually blame it on the broom. Although I must say that Harry should have read more about the broom before he even thought about buying it. But you know how he hates to read."
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked.
"Harry couldn't catch the Snitch because the broom had a certain flaw," Hermione said, "Actually, it is more of a security measure, I suppose."
"Get on with it!" Ginny said, sensing her temper rising.
"When Harry was going after the Snitch," Hermione said, "The Snitch suddenly went higher in the air, right? Unfortunately, Harry was right under it. So if he wanted to be the first to get the Snitch, which of course he did, he would have had to follow it right away. He flew higher into the sky, chasing the Snitch, but he was at a vertical motion. This is where the broom's flaw comes in. The broom can only go so high at a vertical motion. When it hit its limit, it gave up and dropped out of the sky. The makers of the broom wanted to make sure there was no chance of a player harming themselves by falling off the broom that high up. So you see? It wasn't Harry's fault. He really wanted to catch the Snitch."
Ginny didn't say anything. She was still trying to work out everything Hermione had said.
"Ginny?" Hermione said.
"Okay," Ginny said, "So it wasn't actually Harry's fault. But I still want to be mad at someone."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"So what happened last night?" she said, "Where did this…'Ginger'… come from?"
"I wanted to go down to the feast," Ginny said, "I mean… it was my last
"Yes, I know that," Hermione said, "I let him come up here. You know… he got so bored because he couldn't talk to you that he actually got some homework done early."
"Can I continue?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, right," Hermione said, "Sure."
"Anyway," Ginny said, "Lavender got the idea that she could help me with a disguise."
"Wait a second?" Hermione asked, "She did that? I had no idea she was so good at Human Transfiguration."
"No, she did not do that!" Ginny said, with an annoyed sigh, "When she got done with me, my eyes were two different colors and I had long blonde hair. Unfortunately, I still looked like myself in appearance, because George recognized me."
"Yeah, I saw him," Hermione said, "He was sitting up at the Professor's -- oh, right… sorry, continue."
"So he asked me what was going on," Ginny continued. "I told him, and he didn't think Lavender did such a good job. So he decided to use me as a guinea pig for a new invention of his: something called a Polyjuice Pendant."
She expected Hermione to respond, but all she got from her was raised eyebrows.
"I turned into the girl you saw," Ginny said, "Apparently it was someone George saw when he was thinking of the idea. Well, he didn't tell me everything that could happen. Well, you saw the results. When the pendant's magic ran out, a huge plume of smoke burst out of it and around me, and I was myself again."
She felt tears in her eyes and brushed them away.
"It was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me," Ginny said, "I couldn't face Harry after that."
"He was worried about you, Ginny," Hermione said, "He didn't go to sleep until after midnight in hopes that you would have gone down to the Common Room to talk to him."
"I probably fell asleep shortly after I decided it would be best if I stayed at Hogwarts," Ginny said.
"So can I tell Harry that you aren't mad at him?" Hermione asked.
"Not yet," Ginny said, "Please?"
"I don't know why you are doing this," Hermione said, "But okay. Now, will you please come downstairs?"
"Maybe in a little while," Ginny said.
Hermione sighed, but nodded. She left the dormitory, leaving Ginny to her thoughts.
End Flashback
Ginny knew that, however much it had annoyed her, Hermione was right. Ginny had no real reason to be mad at Harry. There was no point to avoiding Harry, which Ginny had done on Sunday, and Ginny knew that she should talk to Harry again. Besides, she had bigger problems then continuing to be mad at Harry for no real reason.
Ever since the loss to Ravenclaw on Saturday, Ginny had not thought about the actual team at any time. How would the loss affect the team? Was Seamus going to leave the team, as he had said when he talked to Ginny on Saturday morning? If so, Ginny would have to find a new Chaser. Not to mention that with over half of the team possibly leaving Hogwarts at the end of December, the next game would be the last one with the current team. Ginny would have to find more players after Christmas break.
"Well, I did want to prove to Gwenog that I have what it takes to be a professional Quidditch player," Ginny said, "If this doesn't do it, I don't know what will."
Ginny sat up and decided that she should take a shower before breakfast. Ginny hurriedly rounded up her shower things and left the dormitory.
--
Throughout the day, Ginny could tell that Harry was trying to find the time to talk to her. When Ginny finally got the nerve to reply to Harry, Professor Browne had interrupted with a cough that had clearly told Ginny and Harry to get back to work on their essays.
Somewhere between Defense Against the Dark Arts and lunch, Harry must have changed his mind about talking to Ginny. Or perhaps, Ginny thought, someone changed it for him. Ginny did remember that she asked Hermione to not tell Harry anything, and this might have translated into Hermione trying to get Harry to avoid the situation altogether.
After the final class of the day, Ginny decided once-and-for-all to talk to Harry and tell him that she wasn't upset with him. But when she went to the Common Room, Harry wasn't there. Hermione explained that Harry wanted to do some more studying for the N.E.W.T exams and did not want to be disturbed. Ginny waited in the Common Room for Harry, and during this time, Seamus confronted Ginny and said that he would stay on the team. When Seamus walked away, Lavender smiled at Ginny. Ginny expected that Seamus didn't come up with this decision all by himself.
When it was time for dinner, Harry didn't show up to the Great Hall. Even Hermione thought it was strange that Harry would miss dinner to study. Ginny hoped Harry would come down, but soon it was time for Ginny to go to Professor McGonagall's office for the meeting, and she had to rush there.
She reached the office a couple minutes after seven and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Professor McGonagall's voice rang out.
Ginny opened the door and walked in. Professor McGonagall was the only one in the room. She was writing something on a piece of parchment.
"Sorry I am late," Ginny said.
"No matter," McGonagall said, "Unfortunately my other guest is late as well."
"Other guest?" Ginny asked.
McGonagall slightly smiled, which was rare for her.
"You will see," she said.
McGonagall continued to write on the piece of parchment. Ginny chanced a quick glance and could tell that whatever she was writing was pretty long. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," McGonagall said.
Ginny turned around as the door opened. Gwenog Jones walked in, followed by Professor Browne. Ginny looked back at McGonagall, who was looking rather annoyed at Professor Browne. Ginny guessed Browne wasn't the other guest, and assumed that it was Gwenog.
"Sorry I am late," Gwenog said, "I was talking to Samuel, and all of a sudden, he gets sick. Well, a moment later, Headmaster Browne came by and he helped me escort Samuel to the Hospital Wing."
"I hope everything is all right," McGonagall said.
"Madam Pomfrey said she can fix Mr. Simmons up very quickly," Browne said.
"I wasn't exactly sure where this office was," Gwenog said, "So the headmaster said he would escort me."
"I was delighted to come," Browne said, "But now I must be going. Before I left my office, an owl delivered a letter to me and I haven't had a chance to open it. I will leave you to your meeting. Good evening."
"Good evening, Headmaster," Gwenog said, "Thank you again for your service."
Browne exchanged glances with McGonagall and frowned. Ginny looked back at McGonagall who had the same annoyed look as before. Browne then quickly left the room.
"Wonderful gentleman," Gwenog said.
McGonagall didn't say anything, but continued to look at the door. Ginny noticed this.
"Professor?" she asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Hmm?" McGonagall said, looking at Ginny, "Oh, no, nothing."
"Is it something to do with Professor Browne?" Ginny asked.
McGonagall sighed and looked down at the piece of parchment for a moment. She then looked back at Ginny.
"If I tell you this," she said, "You must make sure that only trustworthy ears hear it. Understand?"
"Of course," Ginny said.
McGonagall paused, then continued. "I am not sure I trust Professor Browne," she said.
"Oh?" Ginny asked, rather surprised.
"Over the past few weeks," McGonagall said, "I have noticed that he has acted very strange."
"Perhaps you should talk to the school governors," Ginny suggested, "If you believe he is unfit for his job, I am sure they would want to know."
"I have no proof that he is unfit for his job, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, "The school governors aren't going to do something because of an old witch's ramblings."
"But they have a high opinion of you, Professor," Ginny said.
"That is kind of you to say, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said, "But unfortunately, I do not believe it is as easy as you think it is."
She sighed.
"I should have seen this coming when I talked to Professor Browne," she said.
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked.
"I have known Emelius Browne for a long time," McGonagall said, "We met shortly after I graduated while I was attending a conference in northern England. We were both interested in teaching, and over the years we have been in contact. Well, he was the first one I thought of for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Well, at that time, the school governors were pestering me about the Headmaster job and what to do with it. At that time, I did not want to become Headmistress. I was fine with my job. Well, as you can probably guess, I asked Emelius Browne to take up the position of Headmaster. He was so delighted, that he decided that he would take both jobs."
She paused for a moment, then continued.
"But over the past few weeks," McGonagall said, "I have noticed things about Professor Browne. Just small things here and there. He has changed over the years. He is not the man I used to know many years ago."
Ginny seemed a little shocked, but she didn't voice her opinion. She had thought that Professor Browne was many years younger than Professor McGonagall, but she figured she shouldn't be that surprised. Professor McGonagall, herself, was fairly old, but she looked like a woman who was at least twenty years younger than she was. Of course there was one thing that she remembered Harry mentioning.
"I don't understand," Ginny said.
"You don't understand what, Miss Weasley?" McGonagall asked.
"I was under the impression that Professor Browne had a family," Ginny said. "Harry told me that he had seen a picture of Professor Browne's wife and children. Well, he said that the children don't look older than… well, myself, I guess. But if that was true, then…"
Ginny sighed. She didn't know how to put her thoughts into words.
"I know little about Professor Browne's family," McGonagall said, "But I am not surprised if the children Harry told you about were teenagers. They could be adopted. I have never thought of asking."
"Harry had wondered if Professor Browne didn't like talking about his family," Ginny said, "He said that Browne had put their portrait face-down when he caught Harry looking at it."
"That is a little strange," McGonagall said.
Ginny was about to say something when she heard a coughing sound. She looked to her right. Gwenog Jones was standing there. Ginny had become so immersed in this discussion that she had forgotten Gwenog was in the room.
"Oh, I am truly sorry, Gwenog," McGonagall said, looking at the slightly-harassed Gwenog, "I had almost forgotten why I arranged this meeting in the first place." She turned to Ginny. "Miss Weasley, Gwenog informed me on Saturday, after the Quidditch game, that she was wanting to talk to you. So of course, I arranged this little meeting. Gwenog, I know you want to say something, so please do."
"Ginny," Gwenog said, walking over to the empty chair and sitting down, "I know that you are one of the students wanting to become a professional Quidditch player. And I also have heard a rumor that you are a big fan of my team."
"Yes, mam," Ginny said.
"Well, I must say," Gwenog said, "That even though your team lost on Saturday, I was quite impressed with how you played. As you know, Samuel and I are not looking for people who can win every one of the games they are in. Why, the Harpies lost the first game that I was Captain."
Ginny had recalled reading that somewhere, but she didn't remember that until now.
"I have my eye on you, Miss Weasley," Gwenog said, "Let me assure you. I am not saddened to say that there are not many fans of the Holyhead Harpies. But we make sure we can entertain those who are fans of us. I just want you to know that you have a good chance of becoming a professional Quidditch player."
Tears went to Ginny's eyes. She was speechless.
"Well, say something, Miss Weasley," McGonagall said.
"It's just," Ginny said, "I thought that losing that game would put me on the bottom of the list. I was so upset after that game."
"I know it is hard to lose a game," Gwenog said, "Especially when it looks like you are going to win it. That is actually what I like about the game of Quidditch. Anything can happen."
Gwenog stood up.
"Remember that, Ginny," she said, "Anything can happen."
Ginny smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"If that is all, Gwenog," McGonagall said.
"Oh yes," Gwenog said, "That is all."
"It is rather late," McGonagall said, more to Ginny, "And I am sure Miss Weasley has some homework she really needs to get working on."
"Yeah," Ginny said, standing up, "Thank you, Gwenog. This means so much to me."
"That's the spirit I like to see in my players," Gwenog said, "Who knows? You might become the next Harpie after all."
Ginny was ecstatic, and the feeling of elation lifted her steps as she walked back to the Common Room.
--
Kind of a weird ending. But I hope it turned out as good as I thought it did.
I must admit, it is hard working out the character and story of Professor Browne. When I first introduced the character, I didn't expect to go the way I am going now. So some things might not make sense, but they will soon. There will be a lot more about Professor Browne coming up.
Hope you liked the chapter! Feedback would be welcomed!