IN MY VOICE

II. Ginny, Part 1: After Tom

Gilderoy Lockhart was a joke. He was supposed to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was supposed to know how to fight evil and protect us from it. He was supposed to do all of this, but he failed all of us, especially me. He never told me about Tom.

When I was in the Chamber losing my life, it wasn't Lockhart that came to save me. It was Harry Potter. How I loved Harry then! How I have since given up that he will ever see me, but he came for me then and Lockhart did not.

I had to continue my life after Tom in full knowledge of the depth of the Dark Arts. Would there be someone who could help me in a way that Lockhart did not?

After the pretty Lockhart with all his mirrors and portraits left the school, Remus Lupin came to Hogwarts. That is, Professor Remus J. Lupin, professional werewolf. We didn't know that at first, of course, but at least that explained why he seemed to get sick so very often.

Lupin was different; he knew right away how to fight evil. He helped us learn true defensive spells and fighting skills. I wondered what he had done in his life to know so much. He seemed so young somehow, even if his hair was accented with grey. When it was said that he was the best DADA teacher Hogwarts ever had, I agreed, though my opinion on the subject was skewed by both Tom and Lockhart.

After Lupin left, we had "Mad-Eye" Moody, or at least the person who we thought to be Moody. I feel somehow that I should have known he was an imposter. Hadn't I already had enough experience with trickery and deceit? Surprisingly when this Moody was in character, he was a good teacher. It just goes to show that being Dark himself, he really did know how the Darkness worked and how to fight it.

After that year I had hoped for more; I really did. We got that toad of a woman in pink cashmere, Dolores Umbridge. I think she was more of a joke than Lockhart was, but while he was merely incompetent, she was a bureaucrat.

When Harry began Dumbledore's Army, I knew I had to be there. I had learned too much already to ignore the Dark truth around me. So I practiced and practiced, honing my defensive skills. I felt that if Lupin could have seen us all he would have been proud.

He did see us, though, that night in the Ministry. He was there with the other members of the Order when they came to fight the Death Eaters. I had broken my ankle, but still I fought with every defensive spell I knew. He came to me in the rubble after the fighting was over.

"Well done, Ginny," he said to me when he found me.

"Thank you, Professor Lupin." I said to him earnestly.

"Remus," he corrected me with a weary sigh. Then he reached down his hand to me.

As I slipped my palm into his, I said as quietly as a prayer, "Remus."