Disclaimer: I don't own the characters L I do own the plot though..
THE FOURTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS
The next day, Ginny could be found sitting at the same table in the library as the day before. Anyone passing her would first marvel at the beautiful hair pins tucked into her wavy red curls, then not to long after, start to question her sanity.
"Bloody hell, I know you're here somewhere…" She could be heard muttering to herself. A couple of first years had stopped looking at her wide eyed and frightened after one of her more colorful bouts of obscenities. She didn't even notice they were there.
Ginny was actually totally oblivious to the stares she was getting by passers by, or the threatening glares from Madam Prince. The only thing running through her head was finding some sort of spell, or even potion to find out where these gifts were coming from.
The person in question was watching her flip through a book with unusual ferocity, laughing quietly to himself.
She's feisty… he thought pleased. To bad all her effort is going to waste.
If she indeed came across a spell that should be of some assistance, she would be disappointed to find it had absolutely no effect. He had made sure to block all of those unwanted magical methods of finding something's origination. He was even aware of a spell that, if the letter is left unblocked, will tell you exactly who wrote it.
Can't have all my plans being ruined now can I? He thought smugly. Though he didn't show it, he was worried even his plans wouldn't prove to be enough in the end.
Ginny threw another book into the ever growing pile in front of her. "Useless…" she grumbled, switching to the next one. Even though she had absolutely no patience with this sort of thing, she was to stubborn to give up without finding what she was looking for.
She stopped fuming when she came across a likely looking paragraph.
'originaro' pronounced 'O-rigi-nAro' while directed towards an object will tell you where the object in question came from, or
originated. This spell can be frustrating considering it may tell you the obvious origination, not the one you are looking for. For example, preformed on wool sweater, (lets assume you wanted to know who sent it to you), it may show you a picture of a sheep rather than the information you long to receive. The reason for this being, the sweater obviously originated as a sheep (the poor thing). Immense concentration is required to get the desired results.
Good luck!
"It's worth a try, I suppose." Ignoring the rule stating plainly no magic is to be used within the confines of the library, Ginny took her wand from her pocket, while practicing the pronunciation in her head.
O-rinI-nArO…wait no… O-rigi-nAro…that's the ticket!
Closing her eyes, and directing all her thoughts to the person behind the gift giving (which wasn't difficult considering that was all she was thinking about lately), Ginny whispered the incantation out loud, pointing her wand at the small slip of parchment she had up on the table. A small beam of white light shot out of her wand (thankfully it didn't make any noise or she would be kicked out by Prince.) It hit the parchment, and at first, the paper just glowed eerily. Looking almost like a Muggle comic book thought bubble, a cloud rose, hovering over her table. Inside was the unmistakable picture of a tree.
"Arg!" Ginny scowled, using her hand to swipe the picture from in front of her face.
"Miss Weasley!" A shrill, unhappy voice rang out from behind her.
"Yes Madame Prince?" Ginny asked, trying to look as innocent as possible with the remains of a spell hovering over her table.
"You know magic is not permitted here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, but not without taking off ten house points." Madame Prince then stomped away, but Ginny could still feel her beady glare from across the library. Ginny cursed to herself, picking up her things and bringing them with her out of the library.
"O-rigi-nAro!" Ginny shouted for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Once again, the annoyingly accurate picture of an oak tree rose above her head.
"Blast, well at least I know that this paper came from an oak tree…"
Ginny's thoughts stopped there when a loud 'squawk' came from the other side of the barricaded charms door. (For Ginny had barricaded herself into the classroom to ensure privacy.)
"What the hell…?" She muttered, making her way to the door, levitating a desk out of the way.
When she pushed the door open, she was shocked to see four small white birds looking up at her.
"Squaaawk" One of them said, this time louder without a door in the way. They all waddled into the classroom uninvited, and perched on Professor Flitwick's desk.
Ginny stuck her head outside, but there didn't seem to be anyone lurking through the corridors. "Where the devil did you come from?" She asked to no one in particular. "This couldn't be another gift could it…?" She grimaced, thinking of her Mum's reaction to four squawking birds waking her up every night. That's when she noticed that one of the birds had an envelope tied to it's leg, much like you would do to an owl (though this one didn't look like it liked being used as a messenger.)
She made her way over, thinking about what she was supposed to do with these unexpected pets. Even though they didn't seem anywhere near as exciting as the previous three presents, her hands still trembled while opening the envelope.
On the fourth day of Christmas,
Your true love gave to you,
Four ornate golden eggs.
"Eggs?" She whispered, looking up at the birds doubtfully. But just as she was about to read the letter again, the birds got up, and headed for the exit.
"Hey! Come back here!" She called after them, not knowing if it was such a good idea to leave them roaming around the school. She turned back to the desk they had perched on, and gasped at what they had left behind. Four, shimmering, solid gold eggs sparkled at her in the dim classroom. They seemed to light up the dingy area around them with a golden light, making you happy and warm just looking at them. Not able to resist their pull, Ginny crossed the room and picked one up, holding it against her chest. Happiness immediately engulfed her whole body, leaving her fingers and toes tingling with the energy of it. Setting that one down carefully, she picked up the next. The same sort of thing happened, but this time images flashed behind her eyes.
Her family, her mother sweeping her into a giant hug after she got out of the Chamber of Secrets.
Percy, shaking his fists at the twins for turning his hair blue.
Arthur telling her about his new Muggle eklecktronik device.
Hundreds of memories flashed before her eyes. All of them reminding her just how much her family meant to her. She didn't realize she was crying until she set the gold egg back onto the table. She swiped the tears away hastily, reaching for the next egg.
This one was far from being as pleasant as the last. The first thing to cross her mind was Tom Riddle. For a split second, she had thought he was Harry, but his cold eyes, and humorless smile shot icy shivers of fear down her spine. He was bending over her, mocking her, laughing at how gullible she had been, and how Harry would die because of her naivety. Her face had gone pale, but no tears fell. She was to numb for crying. Other images followed that one, Hermione lying petrified in the hospital wing, her brothers anguished face whenever he saw her. All Ginny could think was, I did this, it's all my fault
But then the images seemed to shift. She was remembering the feeling of Tom taking over her body, and how she had tried to fight back. He had got even angrier then, telling her to listen to him, he was her friend, and he would never hurt her. She had still resisted. I won't let you hurt them. She had thought desperately.
She had fought him tooth and nail, sometimes even gaining a shred of control over him while he was possessing her.
"Kill her." Tom had hissed to the serpent, through the confines of Ginny's body. No, Ginny had thought desperately, as she helplessly advanced on Penelope Clearwater (the girl she had seen Percy kissing) and Hermione.
"Come now Ginny," Tom had said to her reassuringly. "She has found out our secret, soon she will find out your behind everything. I don't want you getting into trouble."
His voice sounded so calm, and sure of everything Ginny had almost wavered. But the thought of what this would do to her family came back full force and she pushed Tom aside for a split second, but that was all that was needed.
"Don't kill anyone!" She had hissed at the basilisk desperately. It turned it's head quickly, and Hermione and Penelope, instead of getting it's full blast, witnessed the eyes from the mirror they had been smart enough to bring. They fell to the ground seemingly dead, but Ginny knew they weren't.
"FOOL!" Tom had yelled in the back of her mind. Ginny could feel him pushing to regain control; to finish what he had came to do. She couldn't let that happen. With her last bout of strength she pulled out her wand and let out a loud bang, with sparks flying in every which direction that was bound to attract a teacher.
She had slipped into darkness, not waking up until that night, the diary lying open open on her chest.
Ginny opened her eyes again, she was trembling, but it wasn't from fear. She set the egg down carefully, marveling at what she had just seen. All her feelings of guilt had seemed to vanish. She had stood up to him. She had kept him from killing with all the strength she could muster, if it hadn't been for her Hermione and Penelope might be dead. If she hadn't been the one to use the diary, who knows who might have gotten it? That person might have even been one of Voldemorts faithful servants, then Voldemort would have surely risen again.
Ginny couldn't believe the effects of that simple realization. It felt as if she had been carrying a heavy load everywhere with her, and it had suddenly been removed. This egg had shown her her worst fears, and she had stood up to them, and realized she was carrying her burdens for no reason.
The hold Tom Riddle had over her was finally broken. She could never thank her 'Secret Santa' enough for this.
Now if she only knew who he was…
She looked at the last Egg dubiously; she had already had quite the emotional evening. However the egg was giving off a warm glow Ginny couldn't resist. Picking it up, Ginny braced herself for the images, or feelings that she expected to sweep through her system.
Surprisingly enough, nothing happened.
"Maybe it's defective." She mumbled, not really minding at all. The egg in itself was absolutely beautiful; having magical powers was just an added bonus.
She slipped the four treasures into her bag and left the classroom with a new bounce in her step.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*sniff* this was a rather sentimental chapter. I apologize for any formatting problems…I just got a new comp and I don't know if it will show up on FF.net properly, or will be all squished…n e ways…we'll just have to see when I upload won't I?
Thanks for the wonderful reviews! I would love to blurt out who Ginny's Santa is…but that would just ruin the story!! Be patient and I'm sure you will find out in time
Cheers
Imp