Things Change
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything, but I definitely own this piece of writing! J.K Rowling owns all the characters and stuff. I do, however, own her 'friends', and the plot is ALL MINE!
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"Avada Kedavra!"
There was a brilliant flash and a rush of cold wind as the jet of green light hit Draco squarely in the chest. As if in slow motion, Ginny watched him as he tumbled to the ground, lying spread eagled on the cold stone floor, his face holding a shocked – but empty – expression.
Time slowed down as Ginny watched him, the edges of the room blurring as she stared, ice cold tears prickling her eyes and spilling down her cheeks as her breathing seemed to slow, the sound amplified by the lengthening out of time.
'Draco…?' she thought, staring at him stupidly, 'Draco…? Wake up…why aren't you waking up?'
Her gaze shifted to his chest; to the soft black silk covering the pale flesh; to the stillness lying over his body; her mind grasping how his chest neither rose nor fell, and the sudden realization that hit her like a truck.
"No…" she whispered, beginning to gently shake her head, blood-stained auburn curls bouncing around her face. "No…No…No!"
This last word was screamed, her voice having risen slowly throughout the sentence until she was crying out at the top of her voice. Her knees trembled, finally giving away under her – she fell to the floor, hardly even noticing the sudden pain shooting through her kneecaps as they hit the hard stone – all she could think of was the emotional pain seizing her heart and making her feel as if someone had stabbed her. Her eyes were riveted to Draco's face – his perfectly still, beautiful face – and the startled expression crossing his features. In one second Ginny knew in her mind what her heart would not believe – he was dead.
"No..." she wept wretchedly, sinking down on her knees and putting her head in her hands. Tears fell down her cheeks in streams, and she dug her nails into her forehead with grief, overcome. "No!" she screamed desperately, reaching out one shaking arm to Draco she cried out with choked sobs. He lay twenty feet away across the floor, a cut he must have sustained when he hit the ground now bleeding freely across the stone slabs.
"A necessary sacrifice Lucius," said Voldemort's voice from the top of the room, obviously directed at Draco's father. "He was not quite as loyal as you would have liked to believe. He…loved the girl" he added, saying the word 'love' as if it was a food he disliked. "But no matter; his death will not affect the plan. Bellatrix – deal with her"
Ginny vaguely heard the sound of footsteps walking in her direction, and the next moment hands roughly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up, wrapping their arms around her chest to keep her from falling – at the same time constricting her breathing. But she didn't really notice – her mind was concentrated on the pain that had grabbed her heart. She felt such incredible grief that she thought she should surely burst; but no, her sobs continued as she looked up to find Voldemort staring at her with his vile gaze, his wand now pointing at her. She curled her hands up to her chest, tears still falling freely down her cheeks as sobs made her slight body shake almost uncontrollably – she didn't care what happened anymore. Indeed, she hardly seemed to know what was happening at all; shock was beginning to take over.
"And now, Little Weasley, it's time for fate to come your way. You see this hall; this gathering; this insignia?" he said, gesturing around with a pale hand at the stone walls, Death Eaters and, finally, the Dark Mark in front of him. "These will be the last things you ever see. Do you have anything to say to that brother of yours?"
Ginny looked at Ron, tears blurring her vision as she felt her heart reach out to him.
"I love you Ron" she choked out, her voice cracked and weak. He nodded at her, a tear trickling down his own cheek.
"You too" he whispered back, still holding onto Hermione. "Gin—"
"Enough!" cried Voldemort, interrupting Ron with a harsh and impatient tone. "I have no time for this. Now" he said, raising the wand to chest height and pointing it at Ginny's own. "It's time to say goodbye, little girl. The world is tired of you. Excessus Spiritum Devotum!"
At these words, a stream of black light shot from the end of Voldemort's wand and hit Ginny in the chest with an audible 'splush' as it split the flesh. The breath caught in Ginny's throat for a second, stifling her, before everything faded and the world spiralled into darkness.
///*///*///*///*///*///
—She leant against her mother's legs, crying harder and harder. She wasn't a part of their little huddle, she realised, right when they all needed each other most—
There was white everywhere…
—Before Ginny knew what was happening, Mrs Weasley had stormed across the room towards her and raised her hand—
…A strange white nothingness
—"Christmas?" Ginny replied, her face pressed up against the glass as she gazed at a beautiful display of dress robes. "I haven't even thought about Christmas yet..."—
that surrounded her completely,
—The memorable feeling of electricity running down her spine overtook Ginny completely as she closed her eyes, and she found herself responding to his kiss, going on tiptoes and pressing her own body up against his in an attempt to get closer to him—
like a blanket protecting her from the cold winter's snow…
—"Hey Gin," Thom said, sliding his arms around her and kissing the end of her nose. Ginny closed her eyes momentarily, before opening them and gently sliding from his grip—
…so peaceful…
—"This is some talk we're having…" Ginny murmured, her eyes fixed on his face.
"Mmm…" Draco replied, his voice fading into nothing as their lips touched—
///*///*///*///*///*///
"Ginny…"
A hand caressed her cheek, the soft skin feeling gentle against her own. She leant into it, smiling slightly with sleepy contentment.
"Ginny, open your eyes…" said the voice again, the tips of the hand's fingers now tapping her gently. Reluctantly, Ginny paused, before opening her eyes and coming face to face with the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her mouth fell open in surprise and she sat up sharply, causing her head to spin.
The woman's hair was remarkably long, reaching down her back to below her waist, and was the colour of midnight black. Her eyes were a vivid and brilliant blue, the outer edges tilting slightly to give her a foreign look, and her skin was creamy white, contrasting with the strange blue dress that matched her eyes.
"Who…who…?" Ginny asked, staring at the woman in bewilderment. The woman just smiled, making her beauty even more startling; so much so that Ginny gasped. The lady stood, making her way over to a little table in the middle of the room they were in. For the first time noticing her surroundings, Ginny looked around, getting even more confused by what she saw. The area looked like a miss-matched representation of the entire history of the world – a large fire burned in the rustic looking grate; whilst a small painting of Michael Hutchence was propped against a wall, and Ginny looked down to find herself sitting on a Native American style bed.
"In this form, my name is Eleni" the woman said, busying herself with something on the table, which was a small square thing that looked like something out of 19th century Austria. Her voice was a beautiful as her face, sounding like a flowing melody from the sea. "But as I have many forms, I must also have many names"
"What?" Ginny replied, now looking at her again. Eleni smiled again as she returned to her, a little wooden goblet now cupped in her hands. Ginny looked at it warily – for some reason she felt suspicious of the little chalice. It had something to do with…something to do with…
"Do not worry" Eleni said gently, holding the cup to Ginny's lips. "This brew will not harm you – it is simply meant to heal you; well, heal your mind anyway. Go on, drink it"
Watching Eleni with cautious eyes, Ginny accepted the cup and took a sip. Seeing that the liquid didn't taste all that bad, she took another, longer draft, finishing the contents and handing the cup back, wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her top; but it was cold and seemed somewhat…wet. She put a hand to the black fabric, and when it came away she found blood staining her fingers, vivid crimson against her pale skin.
"But…what…how did that get there?"
"Hmm," Eleni replied, spotting the blood soaked material. "I should have remembered that. Now, what to do…ah yes"
As Eleni unhurriedly waved a hand, Ginny watched as her bloodstained clothes disappeared, to be replaced by a simple white dress made of soft muslin. Any trace of the blood was wiped away; even her hair was now smoothed and no longer matted with the red liquid.
Ginny looked up at her in amazement, her mouth once more agape as she stared at the beautiful woman.
"How did you do that?" she managed to say through her surprise, examining the dress she was now wearing. Eleni paused for a second, looking at her with mild curiosity before sitting next to her on the bed.
"I can do many things here; that is just the start of it all – look"
Eleni waved her hand once more, and instantly the scene changed before them. Instead of the cluttered walls of the cabin, Ginny now found herself staring at the blue sky, and sitting on soft, crisp snow instead of a mattress. They were on top of a mountain. She looked round at Eleni, intrigued, raising her eyebrows in a questioning glance.
"This you see before you," Eleni said in reply, sweeping her hand across the sky to indicate the scene, "is not really here. It's all just a way for me to make you feel more comfortable. You see, mortal minds just cannot cope with the idea of…nothingness, so I have to build a scene for you to 'live in', effectively, whilst I talk to you"
"Talk to me?" Ginny asked, settling herself comfortably on the snow with her legs curled under her. Surprising it wasn't that cold on the top of the peak; in fact, Ginny felt perfectly warm and at ease.
"Yes," Eleni replied, nodding. "I need to talk to you about what just occurred"
"What do you mean?" Ginny enquired, feeling slightly confused. "I don't…I don't…I don't seem to remember anything about…"
"Do not worry Ginny, it is not unexpected. Up here there is no sense of time, no sense of…order in point and moment, and memories…they function around a time scale. But just think Ginny; think…"
Ginny looked at Eleni questioningly for a moment, puzzled, and then all of a sudden it was like somebody had opened a floodgate, and memories came back to her in a torrent of colours and shapes. Memories of a room; a voice; a sound; a face…such a hideous face…and then Ginny gasped and found herself once again sitting on the snow with Eleni.
Except that she wasn't – not anymore. Instead she sat underneath a large oak tree, the branches fanning out overhead to shade her from the heat. The tree was atop a hill; beneath her a valley was spread out, a little river winding across the countryside between the sides of the valley. It looked a lot like rural England.
"Now in this form, my name is Amelia"
The voice startled Ginny; turning, she found herself face to face with a girl of about seventeen or eighteen, sitting there quietly underneath the oak in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, watching her. She smiled at Ginny kindly, her hazel eyes conveying just as much compassion as her smiling mouth. It was this that made Ginny realise she was still looking at Eleni.
"The memories…" Ginny said quietly, looking up at the branches of the oak tree and trying to stop herself crying. "I don't…how did I get here?"
Sighing, Amelia's smile dropped, and at once she looked pained. She reached out a hand to Ginny and caught her wrist, tugging at her gently.
"Come and sit here," she said, indicating the spot next to her. Ginny obeyed, sitting next to Amelia between two particularly large roots. "Now," Amelia continued, leaning against one of the roots and turning towards Ginny. "I think it's time that I explained everything to you – everything has happened for a reason, a reason you need to know"
And so Amelia took a deep breath, and began.
///*///*///*///*///*///
"They attacked the dragon keepers because they were too important to the ministry. I know that generally dragon keepers aren't exactly considered important, but think about it; dragons are something that Voldemort's side really needed, so off him and followers went to get some. They killed every keeper, man and woman, until only one was left; Charlie Weasley. His death was not pleasant – but then, Voldemort was never a merciful creature. But of course it wasn't because of Charlie himself that his death was like that; it was because of you, Ginny"
Ginny looked up at Amelia with stricken eyes, but Amelia put a gentle hand on her arm.
"But do not blame yourself – it was just fate that things had to happen like this. You see, Voldemort had already appointed you as his target. He was slowly going to weaken you from the inside out – and so he began by killing your brother. He knew you were close, as all the Weasley are, and so he used Charlie's death to break you open, so that he could get at you from within your very core.
"But then, you know all this already; even if you do not quite remember. Voldemort told you of this before. But he was not the only one trying to find you; I was too. The only difference was that I was trying to help you, not hurt you. I was there from the very beginning – your first dream, even before Charlie died, was my doing. Do you remember? It was the book, Ginny; the book with the picture of the girl"
Ginny frowned for a moment, trying to recollect what Amelia was talking about; but slowly, it came back to her.
"You mean the girl whose hair was that odd colour? Somewhere between—"
"Blood and dirt. Yes"
"But…why…?"
"I was trying to protect you," Amelia replied, picking up a leaf and running her finger over the patterns in it.
"Was my dream about Charlie when I got home…was that…you?"
"No," Amelia replied, shaking her head. "That was purely a sister mourning for her dead brother. But now, let me continue.
"I don't just affect dreams of course; I can affect many things in the mortal world, although my best influence is over books. And so I used one to communicate to you during your tarot reading in Professor Trelawney's tower during one of your classes. I told you too choose wisely Virginia; although I do not know if you listened"
"So that was you?" Ginny asked, thinking back to that memorable Tarot reading. "You told me…in 'Unfogging the Future' when it was talking about the choices card"
"Indeed. I did nothing for a while after that, but then your dreams began again – and this time Voldemort was manipulating them. So I came to you and I helped. Voldemort would have performed an unforgivable on you had I not intervened, but when I did he stopped, and so I brought you a little further back from the edge.
"But now I knew that my power would not be good enough if still used from afar – and so I paid you a little visit in the flesh"
At the look of confusion on Ginny's face, Amelia smiled good-naturedly. "Not in either of the forms you have just seen, but as one you knew long before that time. Here, I'll show you"
Standing up, Amelia paused for a second, before all of a sudden she seemed to ripple, as if Ginny was watching her behind a wall of heat. Then, in the blink of an eye, her form suddenly seemed to rearrange itself, and Ginny found herself face to face with—
"Amy!" she cried, startled, as the girl that had only seconds before been called Amelia smiled at her. It was definitely Amy, from the fluffy brown hair and brown eyes to the large brown glasses and oversized dress robes.
"Oh my god…" Ginny murmured, staring at Amy in shock. "Are you actually…"
"Amy?" she replied. "Yes. There never was a Hufflepuff called Amy McGuire sorted in 1992. It's always been me, the nameless one"
As she said all this, 'Amy' pushed her glasses up her nose, a strikingly familiar gesture that gave Ginny the 'heebie jeebies' as Ron would say.
"I don't mean to shock you," Amy said, smiling apologetically. "If you like, I could be someone else…"
Ginny nodded, wanting to stop feeling so weirded out as soon as she could. She watched again as Amy seemed to disappear behind a wave of heat, and in another second a young woman stood before her. She looked about twenty-five, with short red hair and blue eyes that seemed to bore into Ginny's own brown ones. She sat down on the floor opposite Ginny, folding her hands in her lap – Ginny couldn't help but notice her bright green nail polish.
"Is that better?" the woman asked, smiling. "I thought you might find Lenora more akin to the type of people you see around you"
Ginny nodded, looking up and down at Lenora's clothes; a bright green off-the-shoulder top that matched her nail varnish, a pair of indigo jeans, and a pair of shoes that also matched the nail varnish and top.
"Am I alright?" Lenora asked eagerly, smiling.
"Sure" Ginny replied, leaning against the tree. "But what happened after…Amy?" she asked, trying not to think of how weird it was that Amy was the same woman now sitting in front of her in bright green nail polish.
"Well," Lenora replied, her tone at once more serious, "I helped you to leave when Draco was talking to you. Remember, you were finding it difficult? Well, after that, I began to send you some more signs. Do recall a book that Thom was using once, when you were both in the library? It was after your first 'truce' with Draco"
"Oh yeah," Ginny replied, remembrance dawning on her face. "The one whose author was called Nynig Moth. I remember"
"Good. Because the author's real name was Hempden Smith. Nynig is an anagram of 'Ginny' and Moth is an anagram of 'Thom'"
There was a pause for a moment as Ginny took in what had just been said, and then her jaw dropped as she realised exactly what Lenora had just told her.
"Are you saying that you changed the name to…to what…what were trying to tell me?"
Lenora paused, looking intently at Ginny for a moment, before sighing and looking out over the valley. There was silence for a few seconds as her piercing eyes watched the wind blow through the trees, rustling leaves, before she turned back to Ginny.
"Fate is written in the stars. It's not set in stone of course – it can be changed – but there are some things that must just…be. Draco and you were always meant to fall in love, unlikely as it sounds. But the ancients decided it long before either of you were born; your fate would change the world. But I knew that I could not…I could not let Draco die. It would cause you too much hurt. And so I tried to stop it all together by giving you Thom. Oh, Thom and you were always going to fall in love, whatever happened – your paths would have crossed eventually" she added, seeing the expression on Ginny's face. "But I tried to give him too you sooner, to stop Draco from ultimately dying. I failed of course"
Lenora sounded bitter at these words, as if she hadn't done something quite well enough, and so Ginny reached out a hand and touched her arm. Lenora smiled thankfully at Ginny, looking a little forlorn for a second, before seeming to straighten and take a deep breath.
"Anyway," she continued, "when you collapsed, I knew that I had to do something again. And so, when your brother and his friends came to visit you in the hospital wing, I made it so that you'd tell them about your headaches, and Hermione, knowing that something was going on, would scoot off to the library and bury herself in some books, where I would plant information for her. They got them too, you know; the headaches" Lenora added, tapping a long green nail against her temple. "So when you told them about yours, it set Hermione off. Planting information into the books was the only way I could tell them about it all without Voldemort finding out. But I had to do it slowly of course. I had to give it to them in little bits and pieces so that they would get suspicious. They might have ending up think it was Voldemort's doing or something like that if I hadn't been careful.
"And then I returned to you as Ellia in another dream – your mind had conjured Professor Trelawney, as the Divination teacher, and so I used her in the dream to tell you of the importance of choices; and then I returned to you as Ellia, and I gave you hope, But then, everything went wrong again. You see," Lenora said, "It was Voldemort who caused you to do many things that you wouldn't normally do. If it hadn't been for him, you and Draco would never have fallen in love. But then you did, and you were going to break up with Thom—"
"Are you saying you stopped me breaking up with Thom?" Ginny interrupted crossly. "Did you stop me making that decision?"
"No" Lenora replied, looking surprised and a little upset. "That was your own choice. I've only ever tried to help you Ginny"
"Oh," Ginny replied quietly, looking down and feeling herself flush with shame. "Sorry"
"Don't worry about" Lenora replied. "It's only normal for you to feel mad; this is all very confusing for a mortal like you"
"Still," Ginny answered, looking up and giving Lenora an apologetic look, "I shouldn't have done it. But please, go on"
"Well," Lenora continued, "then you dreamt again – except that this wasn't a dream. Do you remember the strange white nothingness, and the voices that surrounded you? That was Voldemort and I, conversing on the events of the past months. To him it seemed as though it was all some kind of game, a victory for him to gloat over…But that, I suppose, did not help him in the end…
"But anyway," Lenora continued, "The information I provided in the books lead Hermione to occlumency – the magical protection of the mind – and so, when she read the article on it in the newspaper, she cut it out and gave it to you to read. You never did of course"
Ginny thought guiltily of the unread newspaper article stuffed in her cloak pocket, looking at Lenora apologetically.
"Then you saw the crystal; I talked to Voldemort through it, warning him to stay away from the boy who was interfering with his plans – I speak of Thom of course. But he did not know that Thom was part of it all, and I did not want him to find out. That was not a dream of course; it really happened. The gift of the seer shines bright in your family history; I see you have a little of it left"
"The gift of the seer?" Ginny asked doubtfully, "I have a seer in my family?"
"Several actually," Lenora replied, "And it seems you have been given a little of their knowledge. Fate is an enigmatic force" she added, sighing. "But I must continue. After that, nothing much happened for the next month, but then, when I least expected it, Voldemort struck. I should have known he'd do it during a holiday, when none of you were under the watchful eye of Dumbledore. You were out buying groceries, and there was a Hogsmeade trip which all four of the others were attending. And so he whirled you away from safety and pulled you into his grasp. I failed"
As she said this, tears welled in Lenora's eyes, one single drop spilling out and trailing down Lenora's cheek. "I could not help you then; all I could do was reassure you that it wasn't your fault"
"That was you?" Ginny asked, vaguely remembering the voice that had spoken to her. "I thought that was Voldemort, but he didn't seem to realise…"
"It was me, yes" Lenora replied, wiping her tear away with the sleeve of her top. "I wanted you to know that it wasn't your fault"
She paused then, watching Ginny, who was now looking out at the valley and the sun sparkling on the river's surface.
"What is it?" Lenora asked, seeming to sense that something was wrong.
"It's just…I have a question" Ginny replied.
"What? I shall answer as best I could"
"Well…," Ginny answered. "I just wanted to know…Did Draco ever really love me?"
There was silence for a moment as Lenora hesitated, before turning to Ginny – but just as she was about to speak, she suddenly stopped, and a far away look came into her eyes as if she was listening to something happening far, far away, somewhere else…
Then she said something Ginny couldn't have though she would.
"Go home, Ginny" she said, a grin spreading over her face. "Go home and see them!"
And before Ginny had time to answer, the scene began to swirl before her, the colours and shapes bending and swirling until everything was just one mass of colour, and she felt herself being torn away from it all as if she was being ripped away. The colours weakened the father away she went, becoming greyer and greyer until at last, it faded away into black…
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A/N Okay, once again, please don't kill me for how long it took me to update. Like I said, I had a 2,500 word essay to give in, so I have a decent excuse! But anyway, yes…I have a feeling I have perhaps a couple of people to answer to who maybe aren't so happy with the way I dealt with the Avada Kedavra problems. Seriously though, if anyone flames me for that, I will just ignore it and feel incredibly sad for that person because, well, that's a pretty sad attitude to have.
Anyways, please review!
Thanks for reviewing:
Cashew (Wow, thanks for all the compliments, I'm seriously flattered! And I'm glad you picked up n the real/manipulated thing, that's important. And no, sorry, Harry doesn't die, obviously. Thanks for reviewing) fcuking cathy (Thanks for both of your reviews, you're a very nice reviewer. And obviously your question about Draco dying has been answered – sorry about that…Oh yeah, and Charlie's still dead. Hopefully my little bit about Charlie dying and all that will have helped unconfuse you) Beauty Eclipsed (Well, the cliffhanger's gone now! Thanks for reviewing) Vu (Thanks for your compliments on the powerful chapter – I hope this one was just as good!) Okeanos (Well hah, I did leave it one that1 But now I've continued so everything's great, yah? Anyways, thanks for reviewing) Lady Coia (It's all good…sorry I took so long to update, but I have now, so. Thanks for reviewing, and please review again!) Dirrty Girrl (Sorry about the cliffy, but it was the best place to leave it. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy! Oh, and Evanescence are great) Brenna (Yeah, I like chapter twelve too; I have to say that the same thing happening to you had me cracking up – coincidence is funny. And "Ahhh!" Scary Music! Thanks for your mucho nice review) ElveNDestiNy (Wow, thanks for reading my fic, especially as all your fics are LotRs. It was really nice to see I had review from you; when people who you respect read your stuff and say they like it, it's one hell of a good feeling! Sorry if my updating was a little long, but, well…you can forgive me, lol)
Wow, so many reviewers! Thanks guys.