Disclaimer: I am not Timothy Zahn or J.K. Rowling.
Enter Harry, Ginny, and Hedwig (pulled along on a travois), on the Isle of Drear.
As they approach a tangle of vines, Ginny fingers Harry's lightwand to clear a path.
Ginny. Just keep your shirt on. This will only take a minute.
Harry. You really don't have to go for finesse, you know. It's not like the lightwand's running low on power.
Ginny. Yes, but we're running low on forest. You have any idea how far the hum of a lightwand can carry in woods like this?
Harry. Not really.
Ginny. Me neither. I'd like to keep it that way.
Ginny ignites the lightwand and cuts through the vines, then deactivates it.
That wasn't so hard, now, was it?
Ginny hooks the lightwand to her belt.
Hedwig. [beeps and whistles]
Harry and Ginny turn.
Enter the Quintaped.
Ginny raises her rifle and shoots it. It dies.
Harry. I wish you'd change your mind about giving me back my lightwand. You must be getting tired of shooting Quintapeds off me.
Ginny. What, you afraid I'm going to miss?
Harry. You're an excellent shot. But you've also gone two nights without any sleep. That's going to catch up with you eventually.
Ginny. You just worry about yourself. Come on. Get moving. We need to find someplace clear enough to send up the sonde balloon.
Harry, pulling Hedwig along on the travois, follows after Ginny as they continue their journey.
Hedwig. [beeps and whistles]
As Harry moves along, he nearly tips Hedwig over.
Ginny. So who's getting tired now? That's the third time in the past hour.
Harry. It's just my hand. It seems to be permanently numb this afternoon.
Ginny. Sure.
Harry, Ginny, and Hedwig move into a clearing.
There's our hole. Put the droid in the middle.
Harry sets Hedwig down in the center of the clearing, as Ginny sets up the sonde balloon.
All set.
Exhausted, Harry has fallen asleep.
Ginny snorts with contempt.
Auror. [to Hedwig] Come on. Let's get going.
Hedwig glances at Harry.
Hedwig. [beeps and whistles]
Ginny. [harsh] I said let's get going.
Hedwig. [beeps and whistles]
Hedwig performs a message dump from the far-off Firebolt's computer.
[squeals excitedly]
Ginny. What?
Ginny draws her rifle and looks around.
What, there's finally a message?
Hedwig. Affirmative.
Ginny. Well, let's have it. [impatient] Come on. If there's anything in it he needs to hear, you can play it for him later.
Enter the Floo image of Percy.
Percy. Good day, Master Harry. I bring greetings to you from Captain Dumbledore . . . and, of course, to you as well, Mistress Ginevra. He and Captain Weasley are most pleased to hear you are both alive and well after your accident.
Ginny. [aside] Captain Weasley? What in Merlin's name does Aberforth think he's doing? Did he actually tell Weasley and Thomas about Potter?
Percy. I trust you'll be able to decrypt this message, Hedwig. Captain Dumbledore suggested that I be used to add a bit more confusion to the counterpart encrypt. According to him, there are Ministry Hit Wizards waiting in Dufftown for you to make your appearance.
Ginny. [curses] So Grindelwald wasn't fooled. He knows Potter is here and is waiting to take us both. [forces herself to calm down] No. Grindelwald doesn't know . . . not for sure. He only suspects. If he knew for sure, there wouldn't be anyone left back at the camp to send us this message.
Percy. The story Captain Dumbledore told the Ministry is that a former employee stole valuable merchandise and tried to escape . . . with a current employee named Weasley in pursuit. He suggests that, since he never specified Weasley as being a witch, that perhaps you and Mistress Ginevra could switch roles when you leave the forest.
Ginny. [sarcastic] Right.
Percy. At any rate, he says he and Captain Weasley are working out a plan to try to intercept you before the Hit Wizards do. If not, they will do their best to rescue you from them. I'm afraid there's nothing more I can say at the moment. Captain Dumbledore has put a one-minute real-time limit on this message to prevent anyone from locating the transmission point. He wishes you good luck. Take good care of Master Harry, Hedwig . . . and yourself, too.
Exit Percy.
Harry awakes, having heard the entire message.
Harry. It's a good idea.
Ginny. [glares at Harry] I thought you were faking.
Harry. Not faking. Drifting in and out. It's still a good idea.
Ginny. [snorts] Forget it. We'll try going a couple of kilometers north instead, circling out and back to Dufftown from the plains. [glances at her watch] We might as well save that for tomorrow. You want to get . . .
Ginny notices that Harry has drifted off again.
Oh, never mind. [to Hedwig] Stay put.
Ginny turns to set up camp.
Hedwig. [shrieks]
Ginny turns, rifle raised, as a Quintaped pounces on top of her.
Harry awakes, alert.
Rising to his feet, Harry imitates the cry of a Chinese Fireball.
Startled, the Quintaped turns toward Harry. As it turns back toward Ginny, Harry howls again, and Ginny seizes her chance. She twists around onto her back and grips the Quintaped's throat.
Pushing off from a nearby tree, Harry charges at the Quintaped, but its tail knocks the Auror backwards. As he struggles to his feet, the Quintaped advances. Hedwig approaches and tries to attack the Quintaped, but the monster snaps the welder in two.
Harry. Hedwig. Next time that tail hits you, try to grab it.
Hedwig. All right.
As the Quintaped swings its tail her direction, Hedwig grabs hold of it. She screams as the Quintaped tears its tail free, nearly taking Hedwig's arm with it. Using this distraction to his advantage, Harry retrieves his lightwand and ignites it.
As the Quintaped turns back to him, Harry slashes at its nose with his lightwand. The monster screams in pain, as Harry uses his lightwand to drive the creature back. As the Quintaped lunges at Harry, he swings the lightwand and cuts it in half.
Ginny. [rising] About time. What in blazes was that stupid game you were playing?
Harry. I didn't think you'd like your hands cut off if I missed.
Ginny retrieves her rifle.
Ginny. Just drop the lightwand and move back.
Harry deactivates his lightwand and sighs.
Harry. [shakes his head] I don't believe you. Or didn't you notice that Hedwig and I just saved your life?
Ginny. I noticed. Thanks.
Ginny retrieves the lightwand.
I figure that's my reward for not shooting you two days ago. Get over there and sit down.
Harry. Do you mind if I look at Hedwig first?
Ginny glances at Hedwig.
Ginny. Sure. Go ahead.
Harry checks on Hedwig, only to find that she is not as bad off as he feared.
Well?
Harry. She's okay for now. She's been damaged worse than this before.
Ginny. I'm so glad to hear it. [glances at Harry] He got you good, didn't he?
Harry. I'll be all right."
Ginny. [snorts] Sure you will. I forgot. You're a hero, too.
Harry studies Ginny as she applies dittany to her wounds.
I said thanks already. What do you want, a medal?
Harry. [shakes his head] I just want to know what happened to you.
Ginny. [angry] You happened to me. You came out of a grubby sixth-rate farm on a tenth-rate region and destroyed my life.
Harry. How?
Ginny. [contemptuous] You don't have the faintest idea who I am, do you?
Harry. [shakes his head] I'm sure I'd remember you if we'd met.
Ginny. [sardonic] Oh, right. The great omniscient Auror. See all, hear all, know all, understand all. No, we didn't actually meet. But I was there, if you'd bothered to notice me. I was a dancer at Golgomath the Giant's palace the day you came for Weasley.
Harry. You weren't just a dancer, though. That was only a cover.
Ginny. Very good. That vaunted Auror insight, no doubt. Keep going. You're doing so well. What was I really doing there?
Harry. You were waiting for me. Snape knew I'd go there to try and rescue Ron. And he sent you to capture me.
Ginny. [scoffs] Snape? Don't make me laugh. Snape was a fool and skating on the edge of treason along with it. My Master sent me to Golgomath's to kill you, not recruit you.
Harry. [with a chill] And your Master was the Dark Lord.
Ginny. Yes. And you destroyed him.
Harry. You're wrong, though. He did try to recruit me.
Ginny. Only because I failed. And only when Snape had you standing right there in front of him. What, you don't think he knew Snape had offered to help you overthrow him?
Harry. I don't think it was a serious offer.
Ginny. The Dark Lord did. He knew. And what he knew, I knew. I was his Hand, Potter. That's how I was known to his inner court: as the Dark Lord's Hand. I served him all over the galaxy, doing jobs the Ministry fleet and Hit Wizards couldn't handle. That was my one great talent, you see. I could hear his call from anywhere in the Ministry and report back to him the same way. I exposed traitors for him, brought down his enemies, helped him keep the kind of control over the mindless bureaucracies that he needed. I had prestige and power and respect. And you took it all away from me. If only for that, you deserve to die.
Harry. What went wrong?
Ginny. Golgomath wouldn't let me go with the execution party. That was it, pure and simple. I tried begging, cajoling, bargaining. I couldn't change his mind.
Harry. No. Golgomath was highly resistant to the mind-controlling aspects of the Magic.
Harry looks away, as he recalls the vision of Ginny he saw at Mould-on-the-Would.
You would have succeeded.
Ginny. [glares at Harry] I'm not asking for understanding or sympathy. You wanted to know. Fine. Now you know.
Harry. So why are you here? Why not with the Ministry?
Ginny. [snorts] What Ministry? It's dying. You know that as well as I do.
Harry. But while it's still there . . .
Ginny. Who would I go to? They didn't know me. None of them did. Not as the Dark Lord's Hand, anyway. I was a shadow, working outside the normal lines of command and protocol. There were no records kept of my activities. Those few I was formally introduced to thought of me as court-hanging froth, a minor bit of mobile decoration kept around the palace to amuse the Dark Lord. There was nowhere for me to go after the Forbidden Forest. No contacts, no resources. I didn't even have a real identity anymore. I was on my own.
Harry. And so you linked up with Aberforth.
Ginny. Eventually. First I spent four and a half years sloshing around the rotten underfringes of the galaxy, doing whatever I could. I worked hard to get where I am, Potter. You're not going to ruin it for me. Not this time.
Harry. I don't want to ruin anything for you. All I want is to get back to the Wizards' Council.
Ginny. And I want the old Ministry back. We don't always get what we want, do we?
Harry. [shakes his head] No. We don't.
Ginny glares at Harry and tosses the dittany at him.
Ginny. Here. Get that welt fixed up. And get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day.
Exit all.
