Dark Mark's Orders and Auror's Chapter 9.
Alternate ending epilogue.
By Chris.
Authors note: This is an alternate ending; you should not read this chapter if you liked the previous ending because it throws everything, and I do mean everything, on it's head and out of whack. If you feel up to it though, read this chapter as the epilogue, and I guarantee you probably won't believe the twist ending... Twist, twist, twist. Betrayal.
Note: Once more, this is an alternate ending. This is not the correct ending to the fic. as I envisaged it, the true fic actually ended in chapter 8... this is just a little bit of fun!
Oh boy, I am going to get shot for this... read on...
(Flashbacks a many... Brace yourselves!)
Alternate end—Chapter 9: Epilogue.
~~*~~
'Fred, George,' Ginny greeted happily. 'Long time no see!'
Both men looked up, stopping their discussion on their latest product immediately. 'Ginny,' they shouted from across the room, at the same time, in the same way: It was a nasty habit they had, and must feel to an outsider as though they were the same person (Well, it used to anyway). Neither gave a second thought as to how their younger sister had gotten past security and into the building, they were to busy bounding towards her.
Fred was the first to reach his younger sister, pulling Ginny into a bear hug, so tight it cut off her air supply and she was lifted off the ground. As soon as her feet touched the ground again, she was pulled into another identical hug by George.
Her brothers looked a lot different from when she'd last seen them. Oh, they still had the same mischievous smile they'd had ever since they were three, a smile that seemed to travel all the way to their twinkling eyes; that was something that would never change. However, they did seem a little more mature—though Ginny guessed not a hell of a lot more—with a bit of life-experience under their belt. In an attempt to distinguish themselves, George had grown a goatee beard which Ginny couldn't help laugh at, whilst Fred had grown his hair into a ponytail; though it didn't look at all like her other older brothers, Bill, long hair.
'So, what, are these fakes?' Ginny joked, pulling Fred hair lightly; she wouldn't have been surprised if it fell off.
George stroked his beard defensively, whilst Fred pulled combed his hair back giving a wince as Ginny gave it one final tug.
'Well, looks like there's a comedian in the family, Fred!'
'Yep, looks that way...' Fred said, looking at Ginny with a grin. 'Ginny, wait there, I'll go get a drum kit. You could do a stand up act!'
'Too late, she's already used her A-material.'
Fred shrugged. 'Care for something to eat, Ginny?' he asked innocently.
'I wouldn't eat anything you gave me, Fred,' said Ginny, adamantly.
Fred and George steered her to a small coffee table with surrounding chairs. Ginny took a single seater whilst Fred and George collapsed into a three seater settee, both with matching hurt looks.
'Ginny, I'm truly hurt that you still believe we'd be involved in such childish pranks,' exclaimed Fred sounding outraged.
'You have to understand, we've become more sophisticated over the years, Gin,' explained George. 'We no longer go for just cheap laughs...'
Ginny just raised an eyebrow. 'Yeah right...' she scoffed. 'You must think I'm still twelve.'
'Damn!'
Fred picked up a tray that had been placed on the coffee table. 'Thought we'd get you then...' he said, disappointedly. 'Oh well, here, have a cupcake,' he said holding out a plate full of delicious looking cakes and waving them in front of Ginny's nose.
They were by far the biggest, creamiest, most chocolaty and tempting cakes Ginny ever seen or smelt. She could feel her mouth watering in anticipation, and her stomach seemed to be waging a war with her mind: one adamant she shouldn't eat them, the other she should. The temptation to take just one was almost too great, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad is she took one little bite. Ginny brought her hand up... then stopped. 'Okay, you must really think I'm stupid,' she said angrily.
Fred and George looked stumped. 'How did you resist them?' said Fred, incredulously. 'We put in trace amounts of temptation berry.'
'I knew it wouldn't work,' said George. 'She takes down Death Eaters for a living, for Merlin's sake... Now Percy, it would work with Percy.'
'Oh please, Percy's too easy.'
'I thought you didn't go for cheap laughs?' said Ginny.
George shook his head. 'No, I said we didn't just go for cheap laughs. We occasionally do something sophisticated.'
'Besides, those were damn expensive to make.'
George, unhappily, placed the plate full of cakes back on the desk, licking his lips as he done so. 'So what brings you here, little sis?' he said, still looking greedily at the cakes. 'Fred, want a cake?'
'Okay,' Fred reached out, but, suddenly, realised what he was doing, mentally slapped himself. 'I think we better get those out of here... I don't want to end up looking like a werewolf, no matter how good they taste.'
George picked up the plate, not daring to look at the temptation it held. 'Good idea,' he said, quickly disappearing into another room, still holding the plate away from him as though it held some sort of poison.
'So, what brings you here, Ginny?' asked Fred as always with a grin. Voldemort's reign of terror would no sooner dampen Fred and Georges spirits then it would stop goblins collecting money.
Ginny smiled serenely. 'I came to ask you about your self-spelling wands!'
Fred's grin faded, though he still looked amused. 'Oy, George,' he called. 'Ginny thinks we've got some sort of self-spelling wands!'
A crash sounded from the other room, George had apparently dropped the plate full of cakes. A few seconds later he reappeared. 'Self-spelling wands,' he laughed, but his grin soon faded. 'You haven't told her anything, have you, Fred.'
'What, no...' Fred said, looking angrily at his brother. 'But you practically did...'
'No I didn't...' George hissed. 'I couldn't have because we DON'T have self-spelling wands!'
'Listen,' Ginny said calmly, still with the same serene grin. Both twins shot her an angry grin. 'I doesn't matter how I know, I do... I want to take a look at one.'
'We don't have-' Fred tried, but he was cut off by Ginny.
'Don't deny it, Fred. I already know you have self-spelling wands, so it would be pointless. I just want to see them... and if you don't...' Fred and George shot her challenging looks, as if to say "you'll-do-what?" 'I'll accuse you of being a Death Eater. I'll accuse you of being a Death Eater on the sly, I'll mention it... and you'll have Harry banging on your door in ten seconds flat!'
Fred and George stared at her, completely taken back. 'You're blackmailing us?' one of them asked; Ginny just nodded. The twins glanced at each other, and Ginny suddenly felt much less confident. A look of great appraisal playing across her brothers faces, a very odd look for them to say the least. Finally, they seemed to have come to a conclusion, both wore matching grins. Suddenly, without warning, they dived at her. Before she knew what was happening, she had been pulled into a group hug, as the twins danced around crazily each holding one of Ginny's arms.
'I always knew you were a proper Weasley, Ginny,' said Fred, almost in a sing-song voice.
'Yeah, about time you showed your true colours,' cheered George. 'I was beginning to think you were another Percy or another ickle Ronikins!'
'God forbid!' said Fred.
Ginny finally pulled away from her brothers grips; though they continued to dance. 'So, you'll show me then?'
'Course,' said George as the crazy dance finally came to and end. 'But whatever you see doesn't go further then this building: Top Secret,' he added gravely.
'Follow us,' ordered Fred, who then glanced at George. 'Shall we get her one of those special VIP tags?'
'Nah, it'll take to long,' groaned George, 'The people at reception are really crap.'
'We should fire them then!'
'But they're perfect guinea pigs though!'
'Good point. We should keep them.'
The self-spelling wand was quite amazing; by far the most amazing magical discovery of the century. The wand could cast a spell without Ginny so much as whispering an incantation. All she had to do was point the wand, and a spell shot from the end. It was so easy, Ginny assumed even a regular Muggle could perform magic with one... perhaps that's why there hadn't been more research into self-spelling wands in the past. Even so, if used in the right hands, these could come in really handy. If used in the wrong hands... well, they could make her brothers rich: Blind stinking rich. And to think her mum nearly stopped Fred and George's from pursuing their dream of creating joke products. Luckily they were just as head strong as any of the Weasley's.
'What's the verdict?' one of her brothers asked from behind her.
Ginny gave the wand one final glance over. 'I want one,' she said, excitedly. 'Can you make a perfect copy of anyone's wand?'
'No can do,' said Fred shaking his head.
'Not possible,' said George, grabbing at the self-spelling wand.
'Fred, George, you have to make me one,' said Ginny eagerly. 'Come on, for your favourite sister.'
'No, you don't understand,' said Fred angrily. 'We physically can't! The self-spelling wand is by far the most difficult device we've ever made. It's so difficult, time consuming, and so expensive, we wouldn't even be make a commercial profit from them.'
'And that's not all,' continued George. 'Each self-spelling wand can do one spell only—and even then only if it's a very simple spell. That wand you were looking at: it's the only self-spelling wand we've managed to make! All other attempts to repeat it have failed... all the others do are cause a load of pain; must be some sort of torture spell... Though it wasn't supposed to be!'
'You can do it,' said Ginny, encouragingly. 'I know you can... Money's not a problem. I can get you money.'
~~*~~
It was a dark night, and Ginny stood at the edge of a large group of trees standing in silence. An occasional wind blew through her silky, wavy hair. A sudden tap on her shoulder made her jump. She spun round; no one was there. Normally, seeing her jump like that, and the invisible person would have laughed madly; they never did.
A hand suddenly appeared in front of Ginny, almost as though it were a floating severed hand; the person had an invisibility cloak. Clutched in the grip, was a long, thin wand. 'Here it is,' the voice whispered from beneath the invisibility cloak, nervously. 'I don't know what you want it for, and frankly I don't care.' A paused followed. We never made it, right?'
Ginny held her hand out, and with a grin, took the wand. 'Right,' she said.
~~*~~
{{{But Fudge warned Voldemort... He must have, because Voldemort was ready for them all... A great many Auror's died that day.}}}
'...What are you doing here Weasley... I should kill you now...'
'...You can try: You'll never even reach your wand...'
'...It's tomorrow night! Tell him it's tomorrow night! The Order of Auror is coming for him...'
~~*~~
Ginny took in the scene from her vantage point way above the room; she could see everything. The room was large, and judging by the mountains of boxes, containers and packages, was obviously used as a storage room. At the far end of the rectangular room, three people were whispering in hushed voices; they were obviously scared, and had only just realised the room had but on entrance. A few seconds later, and a familiar figure also entered; it was Harry. He was obviously after the three people he deemed responsible for the death of his fellow auror's. Immediately, the three people—two wizards and a witch—scattered diving behind the many boxes just as a spell hit.
Harry stepped further into the room, his wand clutched in typical duelling position. 'Flint,' Ginny heard him call angrily. 'Come out Flint, I'm taking you in... You killed them, you killed them all. It's your fault they're dead. Flint, Henson, Lee? I saw you all... I saw you talking to that Death Eater.'
No one answered, the room was still. The only sound Ginny could hear was that of her own heavy breathing; Ginny feared for a second it was too loud, Harry glanced in her direction, but looked straight through the invisibility cloak, Ginny all the while holding her breath.
Suddenly, Harry dived across the room, ducking under another large box full of magical items. It reminded Ginny of one of those Muggle movies her dad had played one time; where the Muggle law enforcers shot each other with guns. Mid flight, Harry pointed his wand at Jason Flint...
'Oh god,' Flint shouted as Harry dived into view, his wand pointed and ready to fire. Flint himself dived in a similar—if not a little more awkwardly—fashion to Harry, landing just out of reach of the spell. 'Harry, no,' Flint called again. 'No, please!' Fudge had warned them that Harry was dangerous, that he would kill them without mercy if he caught them.
Ginny looked back at Harry who had ducked behind a box looking at his wand completely bewildered. He shook it slightly like it were broke; after all, he hadn't said a word, and yet a spell had been fired. Perhaps it was just his rage... Yeah, that was it.
Ginny stayed as quite as she could, concentrating on the developing situation; she ran through the plan once more, but was unceremoniously snapped out of her musings when another spell shot across the room, accompanied by a shout of fear.
'HELP! SOMEONE HELP US! He's attacking us...' It was Jason Flint.
Within seconds, the placed was swarming with Ministry Wizards. A combination of the spells fired by Harry in his attempts to capture the three wizards, and the yells for help from those Harry sought to capture must have attracted the entire buildings staff. The room was filled with wizards and witches, so many so, Harry couldn't stop them entering; there was only so many he could keep at bay, what with keeping an eye on Jason Flint, Daniel Henson, and Samantha Lee as well. The ministry wizards spread across the room tactically, and spells and counter spells began to sound across the room; Ginny had to dodge several of the more off target ones.
'...Stupefy...'
'...Petrificus Totalus...'
More shouts, more jinxes and more spells. Some of them designed to injure, some designed to take down, and some of them, well, Ginny quite frankly didn't know what they were supposed to do. The Ridikulus spell for example; how was that supposed to stop Harry? Then again, the ministry was full of bunglers as well as less experienced witches and wizards. The chaos was getting out of hand, the room full of reds and greens, explosions and implosions... Now was her time. The cries of spell casting had reached such a volume, you couldn't tell who was shouting anymore. Ginny swished her wand, aiming for a large crate that stood midway between Harry and the many ministry members and shouted, 'Avada Kedavra.'
The whole room fell deadly—no pun intended—silent. For the first time since Harry had cornered Flint, Henson and Lee, no spells were fired. No lights filled the room. No one dived from box to box, or signalled to anyone else to do this or that. The entire room—including Harry—had stopped in shock and fallen quite. Amongst the ministry ranks, many looked white as a ghost, whilst others glanced around not sure who had cast the fatal curse that had, thankfully, missed. It had just become a life or death situation, and then... all hell broke loose...
'...Avada Kedavra...'
It was kill, or be killed. Every spell had become the fatal Avada Kedavra, many shooting blindly exploding boxes here, there and everywhere. Harry was fast being forced back by the sheer numbers of Ministry Wizards, the tables had turned; it would be incredibly difficult for him to escape.
The time was right. Ginny, poking her hand out of the cloak once more, brought Harry's wand down and, with precision accuracy, cast the fatal spell once again. Harry had aimed for the same person with the same curse on his lips, though—unkowingly—his wand was delivering a none fatal curse.
Flint was hit, his body tightened painfully, and he let out a strangles scream then fell dead. His body collapsing into the open for everyone to see.
'...He killed Flint...' someone screamed.
Harry's mouth fell open, he stood looking shocked beyond belief, oblivious to the fatal curses that flew past shattering boxes around him. He'd killed someone; he was a killer. A rising feeling in his gut followed his chests contraction, and a wave of dizziness fell over him. He couldn't comprehend what it'd feel like to kill someone, the way the spell swept from his wand, the look in the other mans eye's just before it hit... that haunted look... Harry was snapped back to reality as a box in front of him exploded, leaving him open. With a great dive, Harry managed to reach another cover of boxes as a wave of fatal curses shot by. 'Guess whose next, Henson?' he called, not completely aware he was speaking. 'This is for those auror's you betrayed; my friends... ' Harry poked his head round the corner, and shouted, 'Avada Kedavra.'
Again, Ginny was ready and pointed Harry's wand at Henson just as Harry himself did; Harry never noticed there were two curses, he never had time. As soon as he cast the spell he ducked back into cover and the ministry wizards were to frightened to pay to much attention to trivial things such as maths.
POP. Henson fell dead the same haunted look on his face as Flint. Seconds later, Samantha Lee joined Jason Flint and Daniel Henson: Three dead by Harry's wand.
With her work done, Ginny crept out keeping to the cover of the boxes. Then she was gone. Harry would escape moments later, though, to this day, she didn't know how... He was just the best as survival.
~~*~~
...Ginny shook her head, her hair shaking wildly as she done so. This was no time for daydreaming. There was much she had to do; finding the vice minister, Regina Ong, was just one of the many tasks.
All around her people were dancing; dancing for joy. Children played happily dodging through the crowd, people were drinking and then breaking into song. Ginny continued to walk through the crowd, constantly bumping into people but paying them no attention as they paid her none; the atmosphere was too happy for people to start arguments.
After ten minutes of walking, the crowds were beginning to thin somewhat; she could happily walk through them now, without the fear of being swept of course with the celebrations. There was a good reason theses celebrations were thinning; she was approaching Knockturn Alley. Even Knockturn Alley didn't escape the parade though, there were still crowds of people gathering, and celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord. Such was the fear that Voldemort had spread, and such was the relief that he was now, finally, finished.
After minutes more walking, though she was used to it by now, the rows of building began to grow ever more dark minded, many looking dirty and dingy, and the shops filled with ingrediants for dark arts. This was the heart of Knockturn Alley, here, amidst the many shops, not a soul dared to celebrate or rejoice in the defeat of the Dark Lord; this was where many of his willing followers came from. The mood was that of defeat and desperation. I what had been reported was true, the Dark Lord was defeated, then these would be the people to suffer.
Ginny came to a large shop building that stood empty and crumbling. A large sign over head read simply, "Potions." This wasn't just any shop, however, this was a shop that sold darker ingredients then those sold in the Hogsmead potions shop. She walked passed the window of the building, and despite the fact the window was dusty and completely opaque, she could tell it stood empty and abandoned inside. To the right of the window, a small door had a sign nailed to it. Written in a bold, curving script, the sign read: Closed for renovation.
Ginny drew her was and tapped the door. 'Kedavra,' she said, not bothering to hush her voice; there was no need to in this area. With the password said, the door swung open before her; it wasn't nearly as dramatic as when, perhaps say a wall or statue opened into a room. Ginny entered.
Just as the door had opened magically, it closed behind her magically as well. It very nearly caught Ginny's cloak as it done so. 'Damn door,' she cursed, angrily.
For the first time, Ginny took a moment to take in the surroundings. She was standing at the end of a long corridor that was pretty much empty. The walls had been half stripped of wallpaper, which of course meant that half of the fading pattern paper still hung, or half-hung from the walls; most of it peeling on it's own accord. The floor was bare of carpet, or even under carpet, allowing Ginny to see the old wooden floorboards that ran perpendicular to her. Either side of her, several doors ran all the way to the end of the hall, some of them newly replaced, others rotting and decaying. It was, in short, a half renovated building, as one would expect from the sign.
With no apprehension whatsoever, Ginny made her way down the carpet-less hall; the sounds of her steps echoed loudly through the house. At the end of the hall, one of the older doors still stood. It hung off it's hinges and looked as though even the slightest touch would send it crumbling to the ground. The door that lead to one of the main rooms was half ajar; a sliver of red light cast into the hall.
'Ginny is that you?' a voice exclaimed from the other side of the door; the sounding echoing through the expanses of the house... shop, whatever it was.
Ginny pushed the door open, the rusty old hinges creaking in protest as she done so. Whoever had spoke was hidden well from view. The room looked almost empty, bleak and void of life. The only piece furniture that stood in the room was an old armchair that had been pushed from the other side of the room to stand in front of the fire which raged in the other corner; clean streaks in the dust ridden floor bared witness to where the chair had been pushed from.
Ginny dropped to her knees and in answer to the earlier question answered, 'Yes, my Lord, it is I.'
'Is it done,' a weak voice whispered from behind the chair.
'It is my Lord; I would not fail you.'
A long silence followed, the sound of the raging fire filling the air; Ginny was sure her master was grinning widely to himself. 'As always, Ginny, you are my most faithful servant!'
The Alternate end... I am *so* evil!