Disclaimer: You all know the drill…the characters you recognize are owned by the wonderful J.K. Rowling…
Author's Note: Hello all! This is my second R/H story. I've been hitting a dry spell in terms of creative juices lately. I have, so far, three unfinished stories. But this idea suddenly popped in my head and I figured, I might as well start writing a new story – it might help me out with finally getting the right ideas for my unfinished stories. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy reading this story. Of course, please let me know how it measures up!
Chapter One: A Little Family Reunion
Raechel Jayne Weasley awoke with a start, a silent wince escaping her lips as she propped herself up from her lying position on the cold stone floor. Sniffing from the slight cold, the eight year old scanned her surroundings with bleary eyes, gasping as the unfamiliar sight of tall bookshelves came into clear view. Unsure of herself, Raechel rubbed her eyes in frantic hope, as though making sure her mind was not playing tricks on her. Once I open my eyes, I will be sitting in front of mummy and daddy, sipping on hot cocoa, the girl mumbled to no one in particular, deeply sighing as she slowly opened her eyes to prepare for the inevitable. The color drained from her face as reality suddenly hit: she was no longer in the warm confines of The Burrow; she was no longer around her jovial and loving family. Instead, Raechel Jayne Weasley sat all by her lonesome, eight year old self, in the middle of a large, musty-smelling library.
"Uncle Fred? Uncle George?" Raechel called silently, chocolate orbs anxiously waiting for a reply as she stood up, brushing non-existent dust off her clothes.
Where am I, thought the girl, small and delicate arms hugging the width of her body, as she made her way to the end of the bookshelves, cautiously poking her head in sight in hopes of catching a simple glimpse of anything that might give her any clue as to where she was. A sigh of relief escaped Raechel's lips as she caught sight of a group of older children poring over books at a circular table about 300 feet from her spot, their black school robes triggering familiarity in the girl's mind. "I'm at Hogwarts," she mumbled happily to herself, returning to the corner she had woken up on a mere ten minutes ago. She recognized Hogwart's trademark black robes anywhere; after all, her older cousins often showed off their school robes on the first of September before boarding the Hogwart's Express.
Biting her bottom lip, a habit acquired from her mother whenever she began to think, Raechel sat back down onto the cold stone floor a confident smile now etched on her small, cherry-red lips. "I'll just stay right here and hope cousin Edward would drop by the library anytime soon," the young girl said to herself, taking off her jacket as she leaned against one of the tall bookshelves around her. "Uncle Percy's a bookworm…I'm sure Eddie got his study habits from him."
And with that last thought, the young girl draped her jacket over her small body, closing her eyes as she lulled into a light sleep…
~**~~~**~
Ginny Weasley heaved an exasperated sigh as she exited the Great Hall, her right hand lightly clutching the strap of the old book bag hanging loosely on her right shoulder, oblivious to the presence of other Hogwarts students making their way around the castle. She had opted to eat a light lunch that day, owing to the fact that she had some much needed researching to do for a particularly lengthy essay on Veritaserum potion for Professor Snape. To add to an already difficult writing assignment, the 6th year Gryffindor also had mountains of homework for her other classes, all waiting to be finished by the end of the day.
"This day could not get any worse," Ginny mumbled, stopping in the middle of the hallway as she rummaged through her bag. Before successfully brandishing out the item she had been searching for – a fragment of parchment bearing the name of three books she deemed helpful for her potions essay – something, or rather, someone had the grace to bump into her dainty figure.
"My God, Weasley," drawled the familiarly annoying voice of one Draco Malfoy. "Are you that amazed with the sight of so much space? I know your home is no larger than a bathroom stall, but must you honestly stand in the middle of the hallway and gawk at Hogwarts' spacious halls?"
And the day just turned from bad, to plain horrible, thought the redhead as she turned to face the blond Slytherin with an irritated huff. "For your information, Malfoy, I was not gawking; I was looking for something!" retorted the girl, waving the fragment of parchment in front of Malfoy's pointed, aristocratic face. Too busy to say much of anything, Ginny turned on her heel and resumed her trek to the library, swearing silently at the blond she had just confronted mere seconds ago.
Finally reaching her destination, the redhead chose a secluded table at the corner of the study area, dropping her book bag onto the circular table as she looked through the list of books she needed to begin her research. Ginny hastily made her way to the rows and rows of tall bookshelves at the back of the library, waving at a group of 6th year Ravenclaws busily studying at one of the large, round tables in the library.
"Alright, what books did I need again?" asked the girl to no one but herself, looking through her list again. "The Truth Behind Veritaserum Potion: An Account of its Uses Throughout Magical History, by Arturo Venicelli…that should be easy enough to look for," Ginny mumbled to herself, walking past a Hufflepuff prefect with a smile. As she passed another row of shelves, looking left and right to check as to which section she had just passed, the Gryffindor 6th year suddenly stopped. An interesting lump of what looks to be a small girl caught Ginny's attention. Curiously, she walked towards the little girl's sleeping form, kneeling in front of the child with a mixture of concern and anxiety on her face.
Prodding the girl gently with a finger, Ginny slightly jumped back as sleep-ridden brown eyes stared back at her, slight grumpiness evident on the child's face as she looked at the redhead teen responsible for halting her sleep. But in a mere second, the once irritated look on the girl's face disappeared, replaced with a now happy and relieved expression.
"Auntie Ginny!"
Ginny remained rooted to the floor as the young girl jumped onto her, tiny arms wrapping around the teenager's body with pure joy.
"I can't believe you came to get me! I've bee waiting here for an hour or so already! What took you all so long to realize that I'm not at The Burrow anymore?! And where are mummy and daddy?!"
The little girl said all this in one breath, not noticing the still shocked look on the redhead's face. Finally regaining her composure, Ginny finally managed to squeak out one simple question: "Did you just call me Auntie Ginny?!"
"What do you mean? Of course I did!" answered the girl with a smile, her tone clearly that of disbelief. "I always call you Auntie Ginny!"
Furrowing her brow in confusion, Ginny stood up from her position on the floor, dusting off her robes as she looked at the girl in mild bewilderment. "I think you mistook me for someone else, little girl," Ginny began, giving out a hollow and slightly amused chuckle. "Because first of all, I'm only 16. It's highly unlikely that one of my brothers would have a six year old child without me knowing about it."
"I'm eight years old, Auntie Ginny!" said the girl, eyes scandalized. "And Auntie Ginny…you're not sixteen! You're twenty-eight years old!"
"What?!" Ginny half screamed, eyes wide with shock. "Wait a minute…"
"Yes you are! And mummy and daddy and Uncle Harry are all twenty nine years old," said the girl, cutting off the redhead without even knowing. "And Uncle Dr—"
"Wait a minute," began Ginny, trying to calm both herself and the little girl down. "I think you hit your head or something, little girl…Let me ask you one question then…"
"Sure!"
"What year is it?"
"Oh, it's 2009," replied the girl, rolling her eyes at the simple question. "Everybody knows that!"
Ginny bit her bottom lip, unsure how to break the news to the little girl. Finally giving in to the inquisitive – and highly adorable – look the little girl was giving her, Ginny finally mustered a reply. "I'm afraid you're wrong…it's actually 1997, little girl."
A wave of shock swept across the girl's face. "That can't be right! I wasn't even born then…unless…Oh no!"
"What is it?"
"I've been sent back in time!" groaned the little girl, brown eyes welling up with tears.
"Erm…" Not knowing what to do, Ginny pulled the little girl towards her, giving the young one a supportive hug. "Well, why don't you tell me who you are first? It's really not proper for an aunt to not know her future niece's name, don't you think?"
"Raechel Jayne Weasley," sniffled the girl, questioning eyes looking up at the redhead. "You believe me, Auntie Ginny?"
"After growing up in a wizarding family for sixteen years, you start to believe that anything is possible, Raechel," Ginny replied with a light smile, wiping the tears away from the girl's cheek. Looking at the little girl hugging her, Ginny could not help but wonder as to which of her brothers is Raechel's father. True, she did have the trademark Weasley freckles adorning the bridge of her adorable nose. And her brown eyes were similar to both Ginny's own and Molly Weasely's. But her hair – it wasn't the usual fiery red hair of a Weasley; it was slightly curly and a chocolate brown.
"Auntie Ginny?"
Ginny was jerked back from her thoughts when the little girl lightly tugged her black robes. "What is it?"
"Erm…do you by any chance have some food on you?" Raechel timidly asked, a sheepish smile creeping onto her lips. "I'm really hungry."
"Hmm…well, Madam Pince is a little mean about students eating in the library – or doing much of anything else, now that I think about it," Ginny said off-handedly. "So I'll tell you what: you stay here while I go and figure out a way to sneak you out of the library, okay?"
The little girl nodded.
"Now keep quiet, and try not to stand out!"
And with that said, Ginny hastily made her way out of the library, Raechel's curious brown eyes watching as her aunt scowled past a rather handsome looking boy with blond hair.
A knowing smile made its way onto the girl's lips.
~**~~~**~
After fifteen minutes of quiet, uneventful walking amongst students and convincing older friends, Ginny finally returned to the library, Harry's invisibility cloak folded neatly inside her book bag. Fortunately, she had charmed bag to not bulge due to all of its contents. She had come up with a clever, but most possibly unbelievable lie in order to convince Harry that she needed his invisibility cloak. Although unsure at first if the boy would agree, Ginny was thoroughly surprised (and pleased at herself) for convincing the boy to lend her his invisibility cloak. After all, what Gryffindor would ever pass up the chance of pulling a prank on Filch and his overgrown, walking zombie of a cat?
Sitting across from her future niece, Ginny could not help but smile. She has the appetite of a Weasley man, that's for sure, the redhead thought with a smirk, watching as Raechel practically inhaled a chocolate éclair with pure relish.
"Auntie Ginny? Is this Uncle Harry's invisibility cloak?" asked the girl, taking a swig from her glass of cold pumpkin juice as she nodded towards the invisibility cloak haphazardly thrown on the floor.
"Yes, it is."
"Cool!" exclaimed the girl. A sudden surge of excitement flooded her adorable face. "If Uncle Harry is here right now, at Hogwarts…then that must mean daddy and mummy are here too!"
And mummy and daddy and uncle Harry are all twenty-nine years old.
A sudden realization hit Ginny square in the face: Raechel's parents must be…
"Raechel dear, can you tell me which of my brothers is your father?"
A confused look was evident on the little girl's eyes. "You're so funny, Auntie Ginny. Of course it's obvious!"
A second of silence.
"My parents are Ron and Hermione Weasley."
~~**~~~**~~
And there you go: the first chapter of Realization. I know Ron and Hermione were not in this chapter at all. But please, stay calm! I have more chapters to follow this one. After all, a couple of questions may probably have been etched in your mind: Is there a reason why Raechel is thrust into the past? How did she get there in the first place? How will her future parents react to her? And why is Draco Malfoy in this chapter and neither Ron nor Hermione (or even Harry) was in it? The only way to find out is…to read the next chapter! And the only way for me to post the next chapter is…if you guys review! So please, click on the button down below and let me know how you liked (or possibly disliked) the story. A minimum of ten should do it for me. So please review. And I apologize if the chapter somewhat poorly written – I wrote this in under one hour.
Have a nice day! And thank you for reading!
~~:AzaleaFaye:~~