Author Note: I forgot to put this in before the previous chapter. So in the timeline this comes before the previous chapter where Dumbledore died.
===xxx(Story Begins)
"Ginny, your parents are here." the nurse said calmly.
Ginny smiled at her, feeling better than she had in months. "Thanks Becky. I'm ready to see them I guess."
Becky smiled back, "Yeah you are. You're doing great."
Molly and Arthur came bustling in. Molly immediately engulfing Ginny in a hug that was tearfully happy. Arthur giving his daughter a warm and happy hug as well when molly finally released her. Healer Masterson behind them watching happily.
"Oh Ginny. We're so happy you've come so far." Molly gushed.
"Yeah thanks mum. I feel a lot better." Ginny replied with a quiet sigh.
"So you ready to go?" Arthur asked looking at the small duffel bag on the bed.
"Yeah I guess so." Ginny replied looking at the healer.
Healer Masterson looked at her and nodded, "Now remember the coping mechanisms we worked out and that its okay to step back and calm down if you're feeling overwhelmed."
Ginny nodded, "I know. I'm ready to go. I'll manage." She took a deep breath and nodded again.
"Alright. Well I'm not going to say goodbye because I hope you stay in touch. Remember if you really need the help to call us before it gets too bad. That's what we're here for."
Ginny stepped up and hugged the healer, "I will."
===xxx
The three Weasleys arrived in the Burrow. Ginny looked around as she stepped out touching the things in her home that held so many memories, sighing as she processed the feelings she had inside.
"So you want to have some lunch?" Molly asked hopefully.
"Yes mum. Please?" Ginny asked, "Then we can go back to Hogwarts? I know they helped me keep up some of my studies but I miss the friends I have at school."
Molly looked at Arthur who said, "Well Minerva wanted to meet you before you go back to classes. I'll contact her and see when she wants to get together."
Ginny nodded, "Okay dad."
"You sure you want to go back?" Arthur asked softly as he set her duffel on the couch.
"I do. I want to get back to school and learn and help Harry with the fight. I also want to get to know my new sister in law. Especially if I'm going to be an aunt." She chuckled slightly.
Arthur sighed wryly. "Yes. Well Ron and Lavender are working things about so it would be nice."
"I know."
===xxx
Minerva sat at her desk looking at Ginny who was sitting between her parents. The redhead felt smaller than she had been in her first year, and twice as nervous.
"Welcome back Miss Weasley. Your parents and the healers have all complimented you greatly on your progress."
"Thank you ma'am." Ginny said softly.
"And you are certain you feel up to the challenges at hand?" Minerva asked.
"Yes ma'am. I may need a few days to get back into the classes and routine but I feel ready." Ginny said more firmly.
"Good. Your efforts during your time away have been reported and noted so your grades have not suffered. We will give you a few days to get yourself back up to the current position in classes. Although Professor Snape may be his usual self." She frowned.
Ginny laughed, "I wouldn't expect special treatment from him."
Minerva smiled, "No. I believe one should not."
Ginny felt a lot more relaxed.
"And we will not have any issues over Mr potter and his relationship with Miss Granger?" Minerva asked pointedly. Ginny felt a spike of emotions but used the coping methods they had taught her in the hospital. Calming herself she shook her head, "No ma'am. I'm not going to cause trouble for Harry or Hermione."
"Very well. You still remember your schedule?"
"Yes ma'am. I should be in History of Magic."
"Yes. I will write you a note just in case Binns does manage to notice you arriving but I'm certain your arrival will go quite unremarked by him." Minerva said with a slight frown.
"Ginny smiled as she took the note, "Yes ma'am. I'll try not to wake anyone when I go in either."
Minerva sighed, "Perhaps. But welcome back once again."
Ginny laughed then gave her parents a hug and turned. Squaring her shoulders she took a deep breath and walked out of the office.
Molly wrung a handkerchief a few times worrying her lip. "Are you sure she's going to be alright?"
Minerva gave a slight shake of her head, "She will be as alright as she can be. It depends greatly on her strength of will."
===xxx
Ginny had gone to class walking down the corridors. Happy to be back at school and feeling the buzz of the school. She had never mentioned it to anyone, not even Ron, as she wanted to not sound crazy. Chuckling at the thought now that she was crazy she might talk to Luna about it at least. Crazy. A word that had so many implications and meanings and she had feared it, but now that she was on the other side of the mirror it wasn't as bad. It just meant she had been sick but got better. She would never be what people called normal but then who really was?
She had a friend that saw invisible creatures, a friend that a terrorist wanted to kill, a friend that could have been the target of the terrorist, a friend who knew almost everything there was to know and what she didn't know she would learn by looking at a book. And then there were her brothers. So the word normal really didn't hold as much meaning as it had once upon a time.
Going through the normal day the first one of her friends she had run into was Luna. Ginny had walked into the classroom and sat beside her for a second before she saw Ginny. Ginny smiled at her causing Luna to smile back.
"Hello Ginny. Welcome back. Are you feeling better?" Luna asked without any judgment or reservation.
"Yeah I am. How's things going here?"
"Lavender is gestating quite well. Ronald is adapting. The Nargles have not touched my things in several months since I started dating Neville. So it has been going quite well." She said in her breathy happy voice.
Ginny smiled, "Good. That's nice. I need to talk to Lavender and say hi. Mum has told me all about how her and dad have welcomed her into the family."
"Yes. Ronald had to accept that quite rapidly." Luna agreed.
"I bet. Mum can be quite formidable." Ginny chuckled at the vision of Ron trying to deal with their mother and her love of grandchildren. Ron never stood a chance.
"You are avoiding the subject of Harry and Hermione. Yet you desire to know about them."
Ginny sighed. Luna could see through your head sometimes she thought. She nodded at her blonde friend, "Yeah. Are they okay?"
"Their relationship is going quite well. They have talked about your letters and are happy you have been getting better. They will probably be pleased you have returned."
Ginny relaxed smiling weakly, "You sure?"
Luna looked at her with her head tilted, "Of course I am."
Ginny smiled. Somethings never changed.
===xxx
Ginny walked into the Common Room before dinner. Her things had already been taken to her dorms so all she had to do was take her book bag up and drop it on her bad. She looked around the dorm and smiled as it looked pretty much the same as before she left. Abigail's bed still had her night clothes neatly folded and laid out for bed already. Her hair brush neatly aligned. Her other dorm mate Olive almost as messy as Ron but still a nice girl. She had missed these people.
Coming down the stairs she saw Harry, Hermione, Neville, Ron and Lavender all at once. They were clustered by their table in the corner. She felt a surge of jealousy briefly as Harry brushed a hair out of Hermione's face and she leaned close to him. Taking a deep breath to push it down she walked over. Harry was the first to notice her as his emerald green eyes locked with hers. There was a brief flash of concern and then they softened and he smiled.
"Ginny. You're back." He said with a happy grin.
"Well spotted MR Seeker. You ought to play professionally with observation skills like that." She teased to cover her nervousness.
Harry laughed as the group shuffled around to give her a space at the table. She hesitated but Ron stood up and gave her a hug before pulling her chair out.
"Damn Lav. You're actually getting him housebroken." She said to bite back some tears.
"Yeah. If he keeps going we'll work on which fork to use next." She laughed as well. Causing Ron to frown as he sat back down, "I still say what's the point they all do the same job."
The group laughed and acted like Ginny had never left. Hermione sat beside her and asked if she was up to date on her class work and they talked a bit about some of the transfiguration homework.
Ginny felt the old pain and jealousy fade as she saw how Harry and Hermione worked together on their homework before going to dinner.
===xxx
As the group was walking to dinner from the Tower Ginny stepped into the loo taking a few deep breaths she splashed some water on her face. When she opened her eyes and looked back up Hermione was standing there.
Swallowing deeply Ginny turned and smiled at the brown haired girl. This was the test she was dreading. She felt her legs start to shake and met the brown eyes of the girlfriend of Harry Potter. She reminded herself that Harry had chosen Hermione but had not thrown Ginny away. He was her friend still too. Another big brother if she would let him.
"Ginny? Are you okay?" Hermione asked softly.
Ginny nodded, "Yeah. Just adjusting."
"Do you want me to leave?" Hermione's voice sounded worried.
Ginny shook her head swiftly. "No. No I was actually hoping to talk to you at some time. Now's as good as any other."
Hermione nodded and leaned against the sink. Purposely giving Ginny an opportunity to strike her. Slash at her...Ginny slammed a barrier down on those thoughts. Those thoughts were not hers. Those were his. She was safe. Hermione was not taking anything from her that was hers. She was her friend and cared about her.
"I'm bothering you Ginny. I'll go." Hermione stood and turned to leave before Ginny softly called out, "Please don't. I just need to take a moment and focus. I'm better and I can deal with it. This is just the first time around you and some of the whisperman is back. But I can deal with him."
Hermione stood and looked curiously at Ginny who had her eyes closed and breathing regularly.
After a few moments Ginny opened her eyes and smiled weakly at Hermione, "Healer Bill said I would probably have him try to get me to do bad things again, but to focus on the good things and the happy thoughts. To count and relax."
"Whisperman? Is that a possessing spirit?" Hermione asked gently.
Ginny shook her head ruefully, "No. Its part of me. Part of my own mind that kinda went off and got broken. There's nobody home but me." She tapped the side of her head with her fingers, "I wanted to talk to you. I know you guys are treating me like normal and like nothing happened. Thanks. I appreciate that."
"Well the way I look at it is you had a illness. You got treatment and are now better." Hermione said with a smile.
"Have. I have a sickness. I'll be fighting whisperman all my life. When Riddle was in my head he broke things. Broke parts of me that I've had to rebuild, and will have to keep rebuilding." Ginny confessed.
Hermione stepped closer carefully, not wanting to push Ginny, until she pulled the younger girl into her arms in a hug. Ginny flinched but returned the hug.
"Okay. We'll do what we can to help. What do you need?" Hermione asked.
"To get back into the training. To. To be part of the group and don't feel like you guys need to be fake around me. Please." Ginny asked with a concerned expression.
Hermione nodded, "Okay. We can do that."
Ginny worked her lip before asking, "Is Harry mad at me, really?"
Hermione shook her head, "No but if you're worried about it why don't you ask him?"
Ginny turned to the mirror and sighed, "Because I don't trust myself. When I saw him I felt this, surge of wanting him, of needing to have him and take him. I wanted to kiss him and touch him and grab him right there and was so angry because you were the one doing that."
Hermione bit her lip briefly before saying, "But you came up, said hello and talked to us without doing that."
Ginny took another deep breath, "Yeah I did but I felt that."
Hermione wrinkled her nose before saying, "We all have feelings. There are times I want to pound your brother into his hat."
Ginny laughed, "Oh that's normal. We all have that."
Hermione chuckled, "well finding Harry handsome and attractive is pretty normal too. Half the girls in the school look at him with a bit of lust in their eyes."
Ginny shrugged. She had overheard Romilda Vane talking about how she had wanted to ride Harry's broom and wondering how Hermione had snagged him. She had also noticed Colin following Harry around with the same moon-puppy expression. "Yeah I guess so. But I actually tried to love potion him."
Hermione nodded, "Yeah you did. But it was caught before you could. And you got the help you needed. Plus your brothers realized selling those things was a bad idea and stopped. So in the end everyone learned a valuable lesson."
"So you're not mad at me?"
"I was. But Harry has forgiven you, so I have too. And we're willing and wanting to go on. What we wrote in the letters to you was true." Hermione explained after a brief pause.
Ginny smiled, "Thanks. We better get to dinner. Ron will have half the table eaten by the time we get there."
Hermione smiled, "Amazingly enough Lavender has been getting him quite housebroken."
Ginny laughed, "Wow. You have got to tell me how she managed that." Ginny felt whisperman fading back, his powers fading even further as she walked beside the girl who was not her enemy.
By the time the two of them reached the great hall, whisperman was just a faded whisper.
===xxx(Review Responses)
dennisud: Okay cool. Here is this. Working on more.
Jadesabrexiv: Not sure about the wedding. Draco is going to have his hands full for a lot of things.