Words Can't Say

            Ginny forces a smile onto her face when she greets the others at the Thanksgiving dinner.  She hates being so fake when all she wants to do is tell them all what's going on in her life.  She sees her three brothers laughing and joking with everyone and wishes she could feel their carefree attitude.  Even though Ron is having anxiety issues with Hermione, he seems able to forget his problems while being with his friends.  She envies their friendships and coping capabilities more than she can ever describe.

            "Hey, Ginny!" Fred calls excitedly.  "Glad you could make it!"

            Ginny sits with her older brother and smiles as Denise hands her a plate full of turkey, mashed potatoes, and assorted vegetables.  "Sorry it took so long.  Had some catch up work with Professor Zimmermann to attend to."

            Harry raises an eyebrow.  "How was that?"

            "Enlightening, to say the least," Ginny replies sadly.  "I learned a lot."

            Hermione smiles.  "See?  He's not all bad."

            "Except he framed Johnny," Colby says hotly.  "We're not going to let him get away with this, are we?  She's our friend.  We have to do something."

            Daniel pats his friend on the shoulder.  "That's what we're working on, right, Harry?"

            "Right," Harry says slowly, though he honestly has no idea what he's going to do.  So far, everything that's happened this year hasn't affected him much, which, he must admit, is a relief from every other year they've attended Hogwarts.  "What happened at Zimmermann's?"

            Ginny sighs miserably.  "You'll have to ask Johnny.  She won't let me say anything."

            "What?" Ron sputters.  "Why not?  She's mad if she doesn't want to set things right!"

            Ginny pushes her fork around on her plate.  "I don't know.  Zimmermann said that there's more going on than we know and everything will go into effect a lot sooner than it's supposed to if we butt into it.  I don't understand."

            "Well, if it's Johnny's problem, let her deal with it," Alicia says.  "No offense, but she came here and immediately started getting into trouble.  Serves her right to get into a lot of trouble with Zimmermann."

            The four younger Gryffindors exchange concerned looks.  The others of their house never had to deal with the kinds of issues that they had to.  They have no idea that Zimmermann could conceivably be working for Voldemort himself.  "I guess so…" Hermione mutters, keeping up the ruse for now.

            They all finish their meals, pretending to be as cheerful as the rest of the group.  There is no more mention of anything upsetting, except for the occasional gripe about Potions.

            Harry is helping to clean up when he hears a low whine coming from the Forbidden Forest.  He looks around to see if anyone else can hear it but no one seems even vaguely concerned.  He sighs and sneaks off, clutching his wand tightly.

            Though it is a bright fall afternoon, the Forbidden Forest is dark as night.  "Lumos," he murmurs.  A soft glow emanates from the tip of his wand as he wanders deeper into the darkness.

            A hand touches Harry's shoulder suddenly and jumps up, forcing himself not to gasp.  He sees Ron standing beside him, looking worried.  "What are you doing here?" Ron whispers nervously.  "There are spiders in here.  Big ones, in case you've forgotten!"

            "You scared me out of my wits, Ron!" Harry hisses.  "I heard something."

            "It was the sound of you losing your mind!" Ron snaps.  "Let's get out of here."

            Harry shakes his head and continues his investigation.  Knowing he's lost this battle, Ron follows him.  They walk in silence when they both hear the same noise.  Harry smiles triumphantly and they both follow the sound together.

            From a distance, the boys could see Hagrid waving his arms animatedly as he spoke to something in the forest.  They suddenly recognize the creature as being a Giant.  It's a female Giant and she seems less than pleased that Hagrid's there.  "Yeh shoulda seen it, Mum.  Bloody brilliant tail I put on the boy!"

            "That's Hagrid's mother?" Ron mouths incredulously to Harry, who shrugs and presses a finger to his lips.

            "Dreadfully sorry yeh have the stay out here.  But Professor Dumbledore says it's best not the frighten the students with the presence o' yeh and the others.  But don't yeh worry.  Aragog and his children will be here the keep yeh company an' safe," Hagrid continues.

            Ron shakes his head.  "Like when they kept us company.  Sure.  Thanks a load, Hagrid," he murmurs.

            Johnny bursts through the trees suddenly, falling short at Hagrid's feet.  She looks up at him, pale and out of breath.  "Hagrid, there's trouble at your hut.  The cooking fires that the Gryffindors used are out of hand.  You have to do something!"

            Hagrid breaks into a run through the forest.  "Take care, Mum, I'll be back in a bit!" he calls back.

            The large Giantess walks away from Johnny, seemingly not interested.  Johnny just stares at her for a moment, shocked at what she's seeing.  Harry and Ron creep out of their hiding places when the Giantess is gone.  "Johnny, what's going on?  Are the others all right?"  Harry asks.

            "What are you doing here, Potter?" the voice coming from Johnny's mouth does not sound like the Midwestern witch.

            "Pansy Parkinson?" Ron gasps, recognizing the voice.  "You used Polyjuice Potion to turn into Johnny!"

            Pansy turned to run but Harry caught up with her and tackled her to the ground.  They wrestled for a bit but Harry over powered her.  "What are you doing out here?  Talk, or I'll have Ron turn you into something nasty!"

            Ron points his wand at Pansy, though he is very aware that he'd never be able to turn Pansy into anything.  Harry pins her down angrily.  "Say something!"

            "I just wanted to know what Hagrid's been keeping out here!" Pansy shouts.  "He trusts Parker because she works for him now.  He's got Giants!  Did you see that?"

            "Yeah, I saw," Harry says harshly.  "You have to keep this to yourself, Pansy Parkinson, or you'll be in a lot of trouble.  How would you explain what you saw to anyone?"

            Pansy, in Johnny's form, sneers.  "Draco will believe me."

            "How sweet," Ron snaps.  "That doesn't explain how you'll use this information.  Is Draco going to give this information to his Death-Eater father?  They're going to turn this information over to You-Know-Who?"

            Pansy doesn't reply.  "I knew it.  What's the matter with you Slytherin?  Don't you realize that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is a monster?  He'll kill everyone and not think anything of it.  Do you think he intends to share his power?  What do you get out of it?"

            "An untainted wizarding line!" Pansy snaps.  "And it's none of your business how I use this information.  Now, get off before I tear you apart with my bare hands.  You wouldn't want Johnny Parker with Harry Potter's blood on her hands, would you?"

            Harry stands and lets Pansy pass.  They can see her changing back as she walks away from them.  They stare at each other hard.  "What's going on here, Harry?"

            "No idea, Ron.  But this is bigger than anything we could have thought," Harry says, thinking about the Giantess they'd just seen.  "A lot bigger.  Let's get out of here."

            "There's no fire here," Hagrid is saying to Johnny when the boys get back to his hut.  "The lot had the place cleaned up perfectly and were gone by the time I got back."

            Johnny shrugs.  "I really don't know what you're talking about," she looks as though she's in a terrible mood.

            "Yeh came runnin' out teh me in the forest sayin' there was a fire," Hagrid insists.  "Yeh can't be playin' jokes like that on people.  If there was somethin' serious…"

            "We put her up to it, Hagrid," Harry says suddenly.  "We wanted you to see that we kept good on out word to have the place look as though we hadn't been here by the time you got back."

            Johnny gives him a confused look but Harry just nods back to the castle.  She sighs.  "Yeah.  Just wanted you back to see the place cleaned up.  Sorry for scaring you."

            Hagrid shakes his head.  "Well, I'm disappointed in the lot of yeh fer such a cruel joke.  Five points from each of yer Houses."

            Harry grabs Johnny's arm.  "Sorry, Hagrid.  Won't happen again!"

            They all rush from the hut.  Johnny stops them outside the castle.  "What's going on, Potter?"

            "Pansy impersonated you using a Polyjuice potion," Ron explains.  "She saw the Giants in the Forbidden Forest."

            Johnny groans.  "Great.  Another bit of gossip those Slytherin jerks can use against us."

            "Another?" Harry asks.

            "Never mind for now.  What do we do?" Johnny asks.  "This is getting serious.  We need to lay all our cards on the table and figure things out."

            Harry nods.  "I'll go get Hermione, Daniel, Colby, and Ginny together and we'll discuss this tonight at the library."

            "Why Ginny?" Johnny asks suspiciously.

            "She knows things, too," Ron says.  "Besides, we'll need her brains to solve this mystery."

            Johnny shakes her head.  "She knows the same amount as I do.  Leave her out of this."

            Ron frowns.  "Why?"

            Johnny closes her eyes, as though weighing out something very important in her head.  She clenches her fists.  "I don't want her involved.  If she got hurt, I'd never forgive myself, all right?  It's my fault she's already this far in."

            "What do you mean?" Harry asks.  "We need to know everything if we're going to get this cleared up."

            "She knows where I was when Zimmermann was attacked," Johnny says.  "I was with her and Neville when he was attacked."

            Harry's jaw drops.  "Why didn't you say anything?  They would have backed you up!"

            "I was kissing her, all right?" Johnny cries, exasperated.  She pauses.  It feels so good to have that off her shoulders.

            The expressions on the boys' faces are almost comical.  Harry looks confused and Ron looks a bit horrified.  He stammers:  "Kissing?  Like, on the mouth, kissing?"

            "Yeah.  Didn't know it was her till Neville stopped us," Johnny says.

            "Who… how could you confuse her with a boy, though?  She was wearing a dress…" Harry asks.

            "I knew it wasn't a boy," Johnny's cheeks flush.  "Thought it was Hermione…"

            "Hermione?" Ron explodes.  Without thinking, he punches Johnny in the jaw.  "You stay away from her!  I'm already competing with one American!"

            Johnny staggers back a few steps, looking very surprised.  "Good arm, Weasley.  I ain't after your girl anymore, though.  She's all yours.  I've got eyes for Ginny now."

            Ron thinks about this for a second and Johnny is afraid that he'll be over protective of his sister next and try to hit her again.  "You know, I think I'm all right with that, surprisingly.  Never liked the idea of some guy treating her bad.  But you'd do all right by her, I'd wager."

            Johnny grins.  "All right.  You're a pal, Ron.  A real pal."

            "Look, is that why you haven't told anyone?  Because you're ashamed of your feelings for a girl?" Harry asks.

            "I just don't want Ginny taking any guff from anyone else, that's all," Johnny says.  "But… maybe now I can finally say something. She's been so mad at me for not speaking up"

            Harry sighs.  "It's too late now.  You're already in Slytherin, which I think is exactly where Zimmermann wants you.  Look, we'll figure this out tonight, in the library.  Don't do anything till we've discussed things.  Got that?"

            "Got it," Johnny says.  "See you tonight."

            "Tonight," Ron agrees.  He and Harry turn to leave Johnny when he suddenly turns and shakes Johnny's hand.  "Good luck with my sister, Johnny.  She deserves to be happy."