1 The Sisterhood Ch. 8

Author's Notes: This is a definite action chapter. Thanks for reading!

It was hard to believe that they had already been at Hogwarts for a month, Harry mused over dinner one evening. So many things had changed, it seemed, and all for the better, in his opinion. He looked to the girl sitting at his right. Ginny had undergone a major transformation during her summer with her 'sisters'. The change was so drastic that he now referred to her two 'personalities' as Ginny and Lady Virginia. Ginny was the shy, lovable little girl who had blushed and stuttered in his presence. Lady Virginia was her new persona. She was dignified, refined, benevolent, and yet tough as nails at the same time. She positively radiated power. The teachers, even Professor Dumbledore, had taken to calling her Lady Virginia. Snape said it with a particularly sarcastic drawl every time they met in the hall. Harry had witnessed several of these incidents. Each time she would remind him that he need not call her the name and he would remind her that he should because that was who she had become. Each time Ginny would storm off, eyes flashing. An electric storm almost always followed. The ghosts had been bowing to her. Nearly Headless Nick kissed her hand once in the middle of dinner. She looked as if she was embarrassed enough to die, but she handled it well by thanking Nick for his courtesy. Fred and George had taken it as one big joke and insisted on bowing to her and seeing her to her chair, those sort of things, until she had gotten fed up and threatened to hex them. They didn't do it nearly as often now.

Other students also had been behaving strangely. There was much controversy over Ginny's symbol when they had first arrived. About a week after start of term, Parvati and Lavender had appeared in the Gryffindor Common room with symbols of their own charmed on their foreheads. They had obviously thought it was some sort of trend, but Ginny was not at all tolerant. She told them in a deadly voice that they were to go upstairs and remove them immediately. When told point blank by Parvati that she could not order them around and that they would not allow her to have a monopoly on the newest 'thing' she went into a storm and loudly explained to them that she had earned her symbol and that they had done nothing deserving such a distinguishing mark because they followed every article of Witch Weekly. Lavender squeaked and dragged Parvati up the stairs to the Girl's Dormitory. They appeared the next morning sans anything but their robes.

Malfoy was positively terrified of Ginny now. At first, after the initial shock of the train incident, he teased her as normal. But after incidents where he and Harry had exchanged words, and Draco was foolish enough to insult Harry, he had been found in the halls unconscious looking like he had put his finger in a light socket. He would never tell what had happened, and this had happened a total of five times now. Malfoy now made his best efforts to avoid Harry, Ginny, and Ginny's brothers at all costs. He almost never made eye contact with Ginny, and when he did it was with a ghost of his former smirk.

The strange thing was that Harry loved both sides of his angel. They contradicted each other strongly, almost to the point of being two different people, and it was amazing to him that she could be both. She was angelic when she was kind and had a furious, dangerous beauty when she was angry. He had been forced to admit to himself that he feared her, in a way, when she was raging. Harry Potter, 'The Boy Who Lived', feared Virginia Ophelia Weasley. The mystery of exactly what her capabilities were added to his uneasiness. While they had slowly found out more and more of her whereabouts and activities over the summer, most of it remained in shadow. For example, Ginny constantly wore the emerald necklace given to her. She now gave violin concerts in the Common Room, but Ron had said that she had never taken lessons. Most strangely, she always disappeared just after dinner and did not return till well after curfew. Hermione had cornered her in the Common Room one evening and asked her a million questions as to where she had been. Ginny answered not one. When Ron had demanded her whereabouts, she had threatened to hex him. Harry had even asked, but she only looked at him sadly and answered that she couldn't even tell him. It was maddening not to know, and Harry had to fight himself to keep his distance.

On this particular evening, as he was musing the above thoughts, Ginny had was making to leave as she did every night when a black portal appeared above the student's heads. All eight of the mysterious women who had been with Ginny on the night of her return stepped out of it. They all had their hoods lowered, and were gazing at the door with a determined look. As Ginny stood from her chair, the green dress and cloak that had become so familiar to her over the summer replaced her robes.

"What's going on?" She asked, anxiously.

"Lady Jupiter, prepare yourself for battle." The one in deep blue answered, never taking her eyes from the door.

"The Dark Lord's servants are on their way." Said the one in aqua, also staring at the door.

As the teachers rose and drew their wands, the one in red spoke-

"No, you are not to join in this battle. It is not your time." She then nodded to the one in blue who flew to the teachers and formed a bubble around them.

Professor Snape, irked at being protected by women, called out:

"I will not stand by! You can not tell me when to fight and when not to fight! I AM SERVERUS SNAPE!!!!!"

"And there is no possible way we could care less." Answered the one in dark blue. "Now do shut up."

The one in white spoke next.

"Hotaru, protect the Heir of Gryffindor and Jupiter's brothers. Protect also the Mistress of Knowledge, for it is not her time to be of help."

The one in purple stationed herself in front of where Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Hermione had gathered. She whispered "Silence Wall" and encased them in a violet field of energy. She then took a fighting stance with that dangerous Glaive that she had held only a month before.

"Venus," said Ginny, "protect the other students. We can't have any causalities among them." The one in yellow, now identified as Venus, flew to stand above the Great Hall. She closed her eyes and formed a bright orange field of energy, much like the one that protected Harry and Co.

Setsuna addressed Ginny.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to take the offensive with us."

"You better believe it."

She, amazing Harry, flew to join the remaining women. They cast off their cloaks and let them fall to the ground revealing each one in an identical dress of either red, green, dark blue, white, aqua, or black. Harry found himself not liking this at all. Their defense was nine girls, and they all expected to fight Death Eaters in dresses. He hoped fervently that Ginny would be lucky enough to be spared some of the horrors he had experienced. As the occupants of the room seemed to find their voice, to doors of the Great Hall burst open and silenced them again. Standing in the doorway were seven Death Eaters, each robed and masked. The woman in red was the first to speak.

"So, the Dark Lord was foolish enough to send only seven of his Death Eaters against the Sisterhood?"

("The Sisterhood?" Hermione whispered. "I've read all about them.")

"Lord Voldemort in all of his wisdom saw that five of his faithful followers would be sufficient to silence nine ignorant little girls. He added two more in case you became troublesome." One of the anonymous Death Eaters answered.

Ginny spoke, her voice ringing through the Great Hall.

"It seems your Lord has greatly underestimated us. A grave mistake. Prepare to be taught a lesson! Jupiter Supreme Thunder….CRASH!!!!" With that, numerous bolts of lightening flew from Ginny's hands to the Death Eater on the far left. It surrounded him and electrocuted him, after which he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The next Death Eater, enraged, threw the Avada Kedavra curse at Ginny, but she dodged it, and he was left susceptible to an attack by the one in red (Mars Celestial Fire…SURROUND!!) which burned him as he screamed in agony. He too fell to the stone floor. At that, four more of the Death Eaters attacked at once, and the strange women began to give them a sound beating.

In all of the confusion, one Death Eater started toward the violet encasement that held Harry, the Weasleys, and Hermione. Ginny, noticing this, left the other Death Eaters to her sisters and rounded on the servant of Voldemort.

"I don't think so." She said, preparing her attack. At that moment, her eyes grew wide as she seemed to recognize the robed figure.

"You." She said witheringly to the almost cowering Death Eater. She seemed to seize up with rage and her eyes went wild as the rest of the room, including the other strange women, watched. Her head flew back and she uttered an echoed "Jupiter…Thunder…Dragon…ATTACK!!!!!" A dragon flew from her hands and encircled the shrieking Death Eater. He collapsed and the dragon returned to Ginny. She fell to the floor, her chest heaving.

"Keep everyone still." Ordered Setsuna as she and the one in dark blue went and helped Ginny to her feet. Then, they supported her over to where the Death Eaters had been lined up by the one in white. The woman in red removed some scraps of parchment from her dress and sealed one to each of the Death Eaters' foreheads. The one in aqua followed behind her and removed each one of their masks. Harry looked on in awe as the masks revealed four people he didn't know, and then:

Professor Karkaroff

Lucius Malfoy

And…

WORMTAIL???!!!

Professor Dumbledore stood quickly and gave orders.

"Minerva, get me the Minister of Magic. Don't take no for an answer. Threaten him if you must."

"Serverus, conjure stretchers and bring the Death Eaters to my office. We'll need to have them where if and when they wake up."

"Heads of Houses and Prefects take your students to their Common Rooms immediately and wait for further instruction."

"Ladies of the Sisterhood, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, the three Mr. Weasleys, and Miss Granger will please follow me to my office. We have much to discuss."



AN: Looks like a good place to end it. So, what the heck is going on? Will Ginny's secret finally be revealed? Will Sirius be pardoned? What does Serenity mean by the Heir of Gryffindor and the Mistress of Knowledge? Will Professor McGonagall threaten Fudge? Find out in the next chapter.