Please Note: Most characters contained herein were invented by persons other than myself (read as: created by J. K. Rowling) but as I am making no money from this story, that's probably not terrible relevant. Anyway, I'm just doing this as a lark and haven't even really sorted what direction it will take (so don't ask me how it ends)
Prologue
Ginny strolled aimlessly down Knockturn Alley. She hadn't been down in this section of London for ages (and never with her parents permission) but from time to time she did enjoy wandering and taking in the sights offered in the "bad" section of Wizarding London.
The Wizarding World at large had been quiet for the most part since the end of Ginny's sixth year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when Harry Potter had defeated the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Ginny was, in general, not opposed to the recent quietude, but lack of a constant threat looming on the horizon did take a little of the purpose out of life… and a lot of the excitement.
As Ginny had developed a certain craving for the rush of adrenaline that was the result of her many brushes with danger during her years at Hogwarts, she had taken to occasionally prowling the streets at dangerous hours of the night in search of amusement at the expense of the unsuspecting muggles who would from time to time make the mistake of trying to accost her for the purpose of their own amusement. This and other assorted hobbies had kept her moderately entertained while attending a North American Muggle University on an exchange.
Ginny had no particular need of a Muggle degree, but studying to achieve it had offered a certain amount of novelty. Now, however, she had completed her degree and could feel the rest of her life stretching ahead of her- long, peaceful, and boring.
To make matters worse, she had not seen or heard from Harry Potter even once since The Second Fall, as the defeat of Voldemort had come to be known. This, more than anything was probably the true reason for Ginny's restlessness and dissatisfaction with her life. Since her first sight of Harry Potter eleven years ago, when she was only ten, she had been in love with him. At first it may have been just the idea of Harry that had attracted her, but as she got to know him, her feelings had only deepened and become more real to the point where she felt as though she were only half of a person without him. She didn't know whether or not Harry had ever returned her affections, but given that he had never so much as attempted to contact her, she felt reasonably confident that he did not.
In her glum mood, even revisiting Knockturn Alley didn't seem enough to spark Ginny's interest and excitement. She dejectedly kicked at an overturned trash receptacle as she passed, upsetting the family of rats dwelling within. A small, dirty child of indeterminate gender squawked as the fleeing rats caused it to trip and fall across the sticky pavement. Ginny didn't notice. She was too caught up in her own dreary thoughts to even notice much of what she saw in the windows of the shops she passed. Not that there was much to see- the insides of the shops tended to be poorly lit and the windows covered in grime.
So lost in thought was Ginny, that she did not notice the black robe and sandwich board clad fellow until she had almost run him down. He scowled at her and declaimed in a loud and wobbly tenor with hints of fanaticism at its edges, "When he returns, the Dark Lord shall bathe in thy blood! He shall drink of it and be made whole! Harken unto me, for the return of the Dark Lord shall soon be upon us!" Then he handed Ginny a leaflet.
The heading read, "The Return of The Dark Lord Shall Soon be Upon Us!" as did the fanatic's sandwich board sign. An amused chuckle escaped her before Ginny was able to restrain it, "Oh really?" she said in a voice dripping with distain, "and how do you suppose he's going to do that, pile of dust that he now is?"
The fanatic looked blankly at her and repeated, "The Return of The Dark Lord Shall Soon be Upon Us!" Ginny took that to mean that he didn't know. Much cheered, she continued on her way.
"A Death Eater Cult!" she chortled as she walked on, "What fun!"