Chapter Four: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words After a long drive in the Ministry cars back to The Burrow, Ginny was glad to be finally home after such a long time away from her family. It was just like nothing had changed; as if she was simply returning after one day not after more the a year of not knowing when or if she would be able to return to the home she had grown up in, and see the family she loved. The house still had the same flowery wallpaper, the same beaten up but still just as comfortable furniture and the hundreds upon hundreds of photographs of redheaded Weasley's waving at her from all of the walls. Dimly she was aware of her mother saying something about "a nice cup of tea" and leaving the room taking the rest of the family with her. She was alone for the first time since she had left Australia, and she didn't know what to think or what to do. It had certainly been an eventful year but somehow the last 24 hours seemed to have been even more eventful then the other 364 days put together. One thing was for sure, just like the Muggle rollercoaster ride she had been on during a trip to a theme park, it had been one hell of a ride and she wasn't quite sure how she was going to show her parents just how much she had grown, tell them all of her experiences and show them just who the new Ginny was. Putting those thoughts out of her mind for the time being she got up from her seat and slowly walked around the room looking at all of the new pictures that had been taken since she had been there last. There weren't that many of them and they were relatively easy to spot; they were the ones with only eight waving Weasley's instead of nine, the ones where the subtly hidden fear was all too evident in their eyes as they all wondered when or if they would ever be reunited with the youngest member of their family. ***** Molly Weasley caught sight of her daughter through the partially open door to the lounge and reflected on how quickly she had been forced to grow up during the past year. Shooing Arthur and the boys out of the house on a list of obviously made up errands she quickly made a cup of tea for herself and one for Ginny. She took her time, glad of the opportunity to simply look at her daughter and bask in the fact that she had in fact returned to them none the worse for the enforced separation. Placing a plate of chocolate cakes on the tray with the drinks, she carried them into the lounge and sat on the sofa. It seemed like Ginny hadn't noticed her but after a few moments she spoke so softly that her mother had to strain to hear her "That looks like a good day" she said pointing to a photo of her brothers and Hermione down by the river having a picnic one summers day. "Fun. Can we have a picnic one day? I always thought that river would be a good place for one." her voice trailed off. Moving slightly she picked up another picture, one of them at Christmas by the looks of it although Molly couldn't see clearly from where she was sat. "Last Christmas was so strange, it was so hot and it was just me, Harry and Arabella." "It was strange here too, sweetie." her mother assured her. "Ron came home for once, the first time he's done that since he's been at Hogwarts," putting her arms around her daughter as she sat down next to her, "and he kept telling everyone that they still had to buy presents for you and for Harry; that you'd be back to open them soon and how mad you'd be if you didn't get presents. We bought him a camera and he went mad with it after that taking pictures of everything so that you would be able to see what had happened when you were home" Ginny smiled at that and jumped up from the sofa walking over to where her trunk was waiting to be carried up to her room and opened it. Mrs Weasley wondered just what it was her daughter was looking for when her daughter reappeared from the depths of her trunk carrying two Muggle ring binders. "The first few weeks I was really homesick, we both were really, and Arabella suggested this might be something to do to fill the time." Handing the first folder to her mother she continued "this was a kind of diary I kept, of course it was too dangerous for me to use an enchanted one, and after my first year I didn't want to, but I figured that if Muggles could manage with diaries that can't think for themselves, I could too. The good thing about doing it the Muggle way too is that you can do things in them that magical diaries won't let you" Molly took it but just looked at the cover, she wasn't quite sure what her daughter had meant by her last comment and she couldn't bring herself to open it and read her daughter's private thoughts and dreams even though she seemed to have given her silent permission for her to do that. Realising her mothers dilemma, the self assured young healer nodded to her and gestured to her to open it and read. Opening the book slowly, Mrs Weasley found herself looking at a picture of her daughter that had obviously been taken soon after her daughter had left home. There was no evidence of the sun-bleached braided hair that she had returned to them with, the deep tan and masses and masses of freckles that currently covered every inch of exposed skin on her daughters body, instead there was the scared little girl her had left home over a year ago looking very formal and small in the photograph, barely moving as if she really didn't want to be there and that if she had moved it would have been to run far, far away and back into her mothers arms. Looking at her now, it was clear that her fears had been unfounded; Arabella Figg had taken very good care of her child and she would have to be sure to thank her deeply next time she saw her, for who knew whether she would have had her daughter home safely if Dumbledore had agreed to let her accompany the children instead of the old Auror? She had argued and argued and argued with them until she was hoarse from shouting but it had been to no avail, they would not listen and now she had to admit that they had been right. ***** "No!" the anguished cry came from Molly Weasley, who felt like she was being strangled, like she couldn't breathe. Albus Dumbledore was mad, there was no way she was sending her youngest child off to who knew where with Harry Potter and only a former Auror who had never had children and didn't know how to deal with them. She didn't care how big the threat from You- Know-Who was; surely sending two teenagers who had just discovered their hormones to spend god knows how long with no contact with family or friends was a very bad move! She trusted her Ginny but she had had a crush on Harry for years and who knew what she would do without her around to guide her? Plus, Harry had never had a proper family apart from those dreadful Muggles; who knew if he would behave properly under those circumstances without appropriate supervision? No matter what the danger to Ginny from Voldemort because of these supposed extra powers of healing she possessed, surely there had to be a safer solution then sending her off for god knows how long with only The Boy-Who-Lived and a childless old Auror for company.

"Molly they must go; it is the only way we can guarantee their safety." the old Headmaster had told her. "Arabella will take good care of them, she's been watching over Harry whilst he's been in the Muggle world for years and nothing has ever happened to him there has it?" "I'll go with them as well" she said, resolute that should her only daughter really have to go into hiding she wouldn't be going without her. "No Molly, the boys need you here. You have to trust Arabella," her husband had said, wrapping his arms around her as she broke down in tears at the thought that her baby was in real mortal danger ***** The sound of loud chattering voices, as the rest of the family returned from their errands broke both mother and daughter from their reverie over the diary. "Hey Gin, we bought you a present" said Bill. "Kind of like a welcome home thing, hope you like it" he said passing her a present wrapped in brown parcel paper decorated with the words "Welcome Home Ginny!" She smiled at that and eagerly opened it. As she saw what was inside she gasped and felt tears spring to her eyes when she saw the beautiful silver charm bracelet they had bought her with seven different charms on. One chosen by each of her brothers and one from him and her mother, her father explained, smiling down at her as he helped her to put it on. Then the tender moment was broken by Percy turning blue with pink polka dots and turning cartwheels all around the living room for ten minutes before turning back to normal, before chasing Fred and George around the room threatening to kill them for giving him coloured cartwheel cake instead of the chocolate one that was on the tray, with their mother moaning at them about not getting enough NEWTS and their father trying not to show how amused he was by their actions. Ginny laughed so hard at that, that she had tears streaming down her face. Ron put an arm around his little sister as they stood there laughing "Glad to be home, sis?" he asked, smiling at her. At that Ginny burst into real tears of joy. It definitely was just a normal day at the Weasley's, and it was like a dream come true.