Ginny Weasley:

The Lion-Snake Prophecy

Chapter Eleven

Mundungus Fletcher came out from the kitchen just as Ginny reached the backyard proper. She paused in mid-stride and thought for a moment – she didn't really feel like moping around the Burrow and trying to startle Ron all afternoon long. Standing on her toes then, Ginny waved a little to catch the old thief's gaze. Mundungus lifted his baleful eyes to the red-headed figure, then saw that it was Ginny and promptly grinned. Waving her further back into the yard, the part-time thief pulled his much-abused pipe from its pocket, lit it with the end of his wand, and took a large puff.
"Ahh," he sighed contently as the sharp acidic smoke rose through the warm air. Looking over at Ginny, he winked.
"Still has a fit whenever I try and smoke it in the house, your mum does." He shook his head, and the matted ginger hair swung haphazardly across his face. "Mentioned once she should try a puff on the ol' girl herself, and nearly got tossed from the house. Siri … uh, Fred and George, thought it was funny, 'course," he finished gruffly, the laughter gone from his tone, "but there you go."
Ginny had been ready to reply to whatever the old thief said with a quick smile and a friendly disposition that might get her what she wanted, but the half-mention of Sirius stopped her. There was a sadness in Mundungus' voice, a loss that shook her deeply. She had forgotten, of course, that Sirius's death would affect more than just Harry and Professor Lupin. And she'd been so wrapped up in her own affairs these past few days that she'd never realized just how much Mundungus must miss him.
Still, it wasn't the time to mention that now. Feeling somehow closer to the old thief than she had a moment earlier though, Ginny got on with her original question.
"I was wondering, actually, if you'd mind getting away from the Burrow for a while." Ginny asked, "There's a muggle town not far from here, and a new bookstore that's just opened ..." She let the question hang.
Mundungus paused to take another puff on his pipe before answering her. When he did, he kept his gaze fixed on some point above the Burrow's many chimneys.
"I'm not going to ask why you don't want to go out with the others, 'cause I'm not as blind an old bat as some people I could name. And I don't blame you for wanting to get away, especially after what happened this morning." He shook his head, whether at Ginny's open-mouthed ready reply or his own musings she couldn't tell. Either way, she paused and let him go on.
"But the fact is that I can't take you, 'cause there's something else I've got to see too. Oh nothing of that nature o'course," he replied in an admonishing tone at Ginny's one-eyebrow-raised glance, "Molly would have my head in the soup pot if she caught me pawning something again. No," the old thief continued, "– this is for Dumbledore. A mission, something important, though bringing Harry here took priority." He shook his matted head again, "Sorry Ginny, but you'll have to talk to Mad-Eye. Not that I'm confident he'll take you, o'course."
Ginny, however, was no longer listening. Instead her brain had picked up and focused on one particular phrase that caught her attention. She swarmed over it like a bee on honey and delicately tried a lick.
"You got a new mission, from Dumbledore?"
"Aye," Mundungus fixed her with a glance, "but don't go asking questions because you know by now that I can't answer."
But Ginny was shaking her head, "Oh no, of course not. I mean, I wouldn't dream of it, but ... well, just out of curiosity you understand ...how do you receive a message from Dumbledore?"
"I mean," she hurried on, for Mundungus looked confused, "I know that you did, but I don't understand how the Order sends messages now that ... well I mean without them getting intercepted. Is there, uh, a secret code. Or," she asked, her heart beating wildly within her chest, "does Fawkes carry his messages for him?"
Mundungus chuckled loudly, "His phoenix? 'Course not, a bird like that has more important things to do, don't you think? Can't just be treated like a common owl! No, no," he shook his head, "get all our orders from Pouch, in code and all you know. Dumbledore's got one of these little bags," he explained, "that's got our names on it, and we've got the other. He puts in a package of parchment and we check it on our side and take it out. And it's in code, of course, magically scrambled so only the right person can read it. Very top secret and all that. I wouldn't worry about lost messages if I were you."
And with another chuckle, a wink and a puff on his pipe, Mundungus walked around to the front of the Burrow where presumably his broom was waiting.
Ginny waved as he left and heard herself wishing him a safe voyage, but her mind was already racing ahead to new prospects.
Dumbledore never used Fawkes to carry the Order messages! But then, Harry might be a special case … but then again, why wouldn't Dumbledore have charmed his letter? If it was supposed to be for Harry's eyes only, she never would have been able to read it … and if he didn't charm the letter, then maybe – just maybe – he hadn't written it after all …

But that didn't make any sense; because if Dumbledore didn't send the letter, then who did? She severely doubted that Fawkes could be made to fly for anyone else, even if they were in the Order. And who else would have a phoenix like Fawkes? A phoenix that if anyone should be able to identify, it was Harry Potter.
No, Dumbledore had to have sent that message; though why didn't he simply send Harry one of these magical bags instead? And why, oh why didn't he contact Ginny herself? The old question came back to haunt her.
Dumbledore had been there for her during her second year. When she'd gotten back to school and realized she couldn't remember writing her end-of-term exams, she had raced to the Headmaster's office in a panic. She had been so sure that she had missed her exams completely, that she would have to re-do her entire first year … But Dumbledore had only smiled at her and reminded her with a gentle twinkle in his eye that school exams for that year had been cancelled. As she collapsed in relief, remembered fear, and loneliness to be again without Hiss at her side, Dumbledore had wordlessly enfolded her in a very grandfather-like hug. To Dumbledore had she explained the nightmares, every single one, that she'd suffered through all summer without telling anyone but Hiss.
All in all, Dumbledore had been there for her when no other human being was, and with Mundungus's chuckling laughter still echoing in her ears, Ginny felt her first real glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, he hadn't given up on her yet.
She would have to talk to him herself, would have to ask him straight out if he'd sent Fawkes to Harry at any point during the summer. Thinking quickly, Ginny wondered if those bags Mundungus spoke of worked both ways – could she possibly send a message through Tonks bag, for example, back to Dumbledore?
Heartened now, Ginny went looking for the chirpy, accident-prone Auror. She found her moments later in the front yard; Tonk's bright pink hair shone like a beacon out at sea, but Ginny felt her excitement dwindle.
Tonks wasn't alone; far from it. Hermione, Ron and Mad-Eye Moody were all with her in the front yard, wands at the ready and practicing a few extra charms. Ginny didn't recognize the bright purple sparks that shot viciously out of Hermione's wand, but Moody was looking awfully proud and saying something about 'constant vigilance!' from the sidelines. Tonks was over near the chicken coop, helping Ron from the looks of it. His sparkles were decidedly more green than purple.
Ginny stood and watched them, wondering if she could perhaps take Tonks away for a moment, just to ask her a quick question. But then Harry came around from the other side of the Burrow and Tonks got busy trying to teach him whatever spell they were learning. Ron continued practicing on his own, his face screwed up in concentration.
Ginny sighed; there was no way she could ask anything now. She'd have to get Tonks alone after dinner maybe, but that was when Hiss was coming back. Tomorrow then, Ginny decided, she'd ask her tomorrow.
Now that she was here though, Ginny found that, almost despite herself, she was interested in watching the Golden Trio practice. Always in the DA she'd been busy working on her own charm-casting and had never really stopped to watch other's attempt to learn.
Ron was definitely doing it wrong, and after a few moments of watching Ginny was sure the problem lay in his foot position. The curse they were doing looked complicated; one had to step forward in order to swish the wand properly, or so it seemed. Hermione wasn't quite steady on her feet yet, but her natural grace with the wand more than made up for it. Harry, of course, had grasped the principal probably without even realizing it. He was now trying to explain it to Ron, who was looking more and more confused.
After a few minutes, during which Ron succeeded in turning his sparks purple, even though they didn't shoot nearly as far as they had while green, the Trio moved on to another charm. This one apparently caused your opponent to forget their next spell, allowing the curser time to launch a more concentrated attack. It was complicated too, but Ginny was fairly sure she had the hang of it. Of course, she recognized that watching a curse and performing a curse were two completely separate things, but as it was her wand hand was itching to try out the spell herself. Following that course of action would obviously get her expelled, however, so Ginny forced herself to simply stand still and watch.
Ron wasn't having much better luck with this one. Her poor brother, trapped between the brightest witch of their age and a man who'd been born ready for Defense Against the Dark Arts; it was no wonder that he looked less than adequate out there. Realistically, Ginny knew that he was probably better than most sixth years at Hogwarts, what with all the practice he'd had.
Deciding that if she was going to watch she might as well get comfortable, Ginny found herself a nice piece of grass and settled down into it. She watched the way Tonks explained a new spell, often citing a particular instance in which it'd be useful, and then how Moody would add in his two cents, following the short lecture with a demonstration. They'd all go through the motions together, and then let the Trio try it out themselves.
It was, to be honest, fascinating to watch, but as the minutes ticked by Ginny felt herself growing sleepy. She yawned for what must have been the sixth time in a row and remembered that she'd been up all the night before. Her quick nap that morning obviously hadn't re-energized her as much as she'd thought, or maybe their walk through her insides had been more draining then she realized. Ginny yawned again, blinked, shook her head to wake herself, and tried to re-concentrate on watching her brother practice.
Several minutes passed. Harry had mastered the new charm and Hermione was half-way there. Ginny yawned again. It occurred to her that she had never really stopped. She blinked heavy eyelids, concentrated on her brother – who was really just starting to get the hang of whatever they were doing – and blinked again.
When she re-opened her eyes, the world was subtly altered. Ron's distinct form had blurred around the edges, and Ginny watched him move as might sluggish water, his form turning and twisting in her mind's eye. She shook her head and blinked again. The world returned to normal and Ron was just finishing his first successful charm.
Ginny looked over at the Aurors, who were now moving the Trio onto their third charm of the day. Everything looked normal. She shrugged; weird, but her eyes were probably just tired. She really ought to go to bed and nap, but it was probably almost dinner time anyways, and she'd be meeting Hiss directly after. The thought woke her up a little. She didn't have enough time to nap now.
Ginny managed to keep her eyes bright and open for the next few minutes, but soon found herself blinking again. This time she was watching Hermione. When the world went fuzzy, however, Hermione's form didn't roll like water as Ron's did. She swirled instead, like a wisp of air roaming the countryside. Ginny watched in half-asleep amusement as the currents and eddies inside Hermione gathered themselves into a half-organized mob before hurtling towards her wand hand. The wand moved with a fluid motion and bam! Hermione completed another perfect charm.
Tonk's wild cheers startled Ginny awake. The Auror was grinning at Moody, who grudgingly admitted that he'd never seen anyone master that particular charm so quickly. Ginny watched the scene for another moment more before it finally dawned on her what she had just done.
What was it Hiss had said? 'when all other sssensssationssss have passsed into the inner darknesss, then one can turn the mind to thossse around one, and sssmell them for who they really are.'.
Well it certainly couldn't be classified as a smell, but Ginny wondered if what she had just done was seen the magic inside of Hermione as she completed her spell. Could that be what Hiss was trying to tell her? That he smelt her magic, and through that magic could learn her moods, her abilities, and even if she was being possessed? Ginny felt her breath coming in short bursts, her mind completely stripped of all thoughts of sleepiness. What an amazing ability that would be! Like Hiss, Ginny would be able to tell if others were lying to her, to see if they were around ... the twins would never be able to sneak up on her again!
But wait, wasn't this magic? And wasn't she an underage wizard? Suddenly nervous, Ginny scanned the skies for any delivery owls. If this could be picked up by the Ministry of Magic, she'd be expelled for sure. Briefly she wondered at her defense, 'honest professors, I was just falling asleep ... I didn't mean to do anything ...and oh, the snake? Bugger, just ignore him ...'
But several minutes passed and no owls could be seen. Ginny allowed herself to breath evenly again. They must not be able to pick this up; either that or it wasn't real magic. Ginny screwed up her eyes in concentration. What if it was nothing at all? What if she had just fallen asleep and thought she'd seen something?
She shook her head, the best thing to do was to try it again, owl or no owls. Now let's see, she thought to herself, glancing around. I was sitting like this, with my hands behind my back here ... I was watching the Trio, oh, there goes Ron again ... ouch, looks like that smarts ... and anyways, then I just sort of drifted off ...
Ginny tried to blink her eyes sleepily, but she was wide awake now. Forcing herself to yawn she tried again. Nothing. Bloody hell.
She thought back to Hiss's instruction ... allow all other sensations to pass, embrace the inner darkness, and then look to see other's true selves ...
Ginny took a deep breath and forced it slowly through partially open lips. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. It took a few moments for the tension in her muscles to let go, but as she took another deep breath, Ginny felt herself sink a little into her own consciousness. Encouraged, she repeated the motions, breathing deeply and forcing herself deeper and deeper into her own mind. Just as Hiss had promised, Ginny felt a subtle kind of darkness gather around her. Briefly she wondered how long she'd been sitting here for, but quickly forced such physical thoughts away. She had started to feel the breeze on her arms, the ground against her legs, and felt herself rising from the comfortable darkness she had descended into. Quickly she took another deep breath and forced herself to stay down. The darkness around wavered, got cloudy, and then solidified again.
Ginny breathed in comfortable nothingness and simply let herself exist for a moment. This was wonderful; she should make a practice of doing it more often. There was further down she could go, too ... for a moment, Ginny caught sight of her house, her inner mansion, still surrounded by its network of snakes, but she let the image pass. She wasn't looking for that now, though it was good to know that it was still there, accessible, the next time she had use for it.
Instead of descending deeper, Ginny took a deep breath of the darkness before abruptly opening her eyes. She blinked, disorientated, and then quickly saw why.
The world had indeed changed, less subtly then before. She saw the plants and trees around her glowing faintly red with energy as they hummed the song of life. She saw the Burrow itself to her left, pulsating slightly pink with the movement of her family inside of it. The vision of her home was blurred however, by the numerous protection spells that encircled it.
For a moment Ginny gasped – there were so many layers of shielding! – before forcibly turning her attention towards the lawn. She didn't know how sensitive those protections were, or even if they might sense her staring at them.
Besides, the lawn held so many sights to behold. There was Mad-Eye and Tonks, the former a tightly controlled network of magical energies, primarily orange as he guided the Trio through their exercises but towards the edges he was purple and blue, maintaining, Ginny realized, 'constant vigilance'.
Tonks was controlled too, but with a sloppy precision no-where near Mad-Eye's advanced control. Hers were a brilliant leap of swirling colours, a bubbling red as she laughed with Hermione, and a watching blue towards the edges like Moody. At her core, however, Tonks held a ball of calm leafy green, and Ginny understood that her constant good humour was a result of being, in the center of her being, at peace with herself.
Excited now by what she was learning, Ginny turned her wandering eye to the Trio, and almost gasped at what she saw.
Hermione was indeed a swirling form of air currents. There were no strong colours, however, but a general slipping and sliding from red to green to purple and all the colours in between. But her magic was far more interesting that Mad-Eye's or Tonk's had been. There seemed to be ... more of it ... somehow, and it swirled and moved inside of her. There!, a sudden gust by her right elbow, and look! a shimmering calm near her wand arm and, oh ... a mini-tornado by her belly. Ginny realized that this must symbolize her injury, and watched in fascination as even before her eyes the tornado shook, reasserted itself, and then shook again.
She's healing, Ginny thought relived, watching the tornado fight against the power in Hermione's frame; it's going to take more time, but she really is getting better.
Turning her attention now to Ron, Ginny smiled to see that her brother was far less organized inside than Hermione. Like her, however, his magic had few outstanding colours but rather shifted and changed as he used it. And there was the same feeling of compression inside his body too, as if there was almost too much power to put in there and so it all had to crowd a little. It wasn't doing this easily, however. As she watched Ron attempt to perform a difficult spell, his water-like insides swelled into miniature waves and rose towards his wand arm. But only half-way there they fell and splashed along with the rest of his magic, as if he couldn't concentrate hard or long enough to master their movement. Yet it was all there, packaged inside of him, and he simply needed to learn how to control it. Ginny felt a swelling surge of pride for her brother, once he mastered that final step he would surely be a magnificent wizard.
Hermione and Ron done then, Ginny turned her attention towards Harry. Frowning, she noticed instantly that something here was different.
For one thing, which didn't seem quite possible, it appeared as if Harry had no magic at all! His form shimmered and slipped like a shadow, and was nearly as dark as one too. But it wasn't the presence of darkness as a form in itself, Ginny had spied black as one of the colours bundled inside Mad-Eye Moody and knew that it must represent magic as well; it was simply that Harry appeared to be curiously empty.
Ginny shook her head. That simply wasn't possible. Harry was one of the most gifted students in the school. He'd run the DA last year, could now summon a fully formed Patronus on command, and had faced Tom what, three, four times now? There was no way he could be empty of magic! Ginny knew she must not be looking hard enough.
Leaning forward, Ginny concentrated and stared hard at Harry Potter. She saw his outlined form and his shadowy, empty insides. He was practicing against Mad-Eye, perfect. Ginny watched as he arranged himself into combat stance. There! A small flicker of magical energy, right down near his core. It flashed for a moment, not even very brightly, and then disappeared again. Without even looking, Ginny knew that he had perfectly performed the spell.
That's it? She thought to herself. No, she shook her head, it couldn't be! There had to be something more. Something she was missing. She watched for a bit longer but nothing happened; Moody was now helping Ron, and Harry was just standing over to the side, watching them.
Something tickled at her mind. Ginny watched Harry for a moment more, his form still strangely empty, while the idea took shape. I wonder, she thought, feeling her idea taking shape in her head, where that light went when it went out?
Curious now, she stared into Harry where the light had appeared. Nothing. She started harder. Still nothing.
Something ... moved ... inside of her though. It was a desire, a wish, that she couldn't give form too. It was like her hand itching to reach into the cookie jar, even when it knew it should not. It was that kind of a wish, and it rubbed itself against the edges of her mind.
Curious, wondering whether she should be apprehensive, Ginny relaxed and allowed the itching desire to show itself. She imagined giving in to the cookie jar, and reaching in her hand ...
At first she felt nothing, but then a vibration hummed somewhere inside of her. Once again Ginny could see the thin, golden thread that connected her to Harry.
Silently, in the depths of her mind, Ginny spoke with a voice she was not sure was entirely hers. It was playful, sing-song like, but somehow dark and frightening ... Come out, come out, wherever you are ...
The effect was dazzling. Ginny felt herself thrown back by the force of it, and knew without looking that Harry had collapsed on the grass, dizzy and disorientated. She thought she was going to be sick.
Trembling, Ginny closed her eyes and forced herself back towards the solid world. When she looked up she saw the Burrow as it had always been, real and defined, and looked over at the lawn to see that Mad-Eye was now crouching beside a dazed Harry Potter, calling for Ron to run and get a glass of water. Harry was protesting that he was fine, but Ginny, watching, knew better.
The power, the power! It was all there, hidden inside of him. Ginny stared at his back, hardly seeing Tonks and Hermione looked on concerned, as she remembered the brief glimpse she had seen before the force of it had knocked her back against the grass.
It was huge, terrifying, wonderful and ... challenging? Ginny shook that adjective from her mind. Really, as if she would dare to challenge that! It was like a rippling white lion, a force of lightening drawn and held to the earth. Ginny felt a sudden surge of sorrow towards Tom. He had no idea what he was up against!
Stumbling to her feet, Ginny looked once more towards the Golden Trio. Ron had come back to report that dinner was almost ready anyways, and that mum wanted them all inside. He helped Hermione back to the door while Tonks examined Harry and pronounced that he'd be fine with a bit of supper in him. Moody was glancing around as if searching for dark wizards to blame, but must have seen nothing out of the ordinary because he agreed with Tonks.
Harry himself still looked a little dazed but was trying to hide it. Before he went inside, though, he stood and looked quickly around the lawn himself. Ginny dashed behind the Burrow before he saw her and hurried over towards the kitchen. She took a few moments to compose herself before walking – calmly, she hoped – towards the backyard.

It was only once they were all seated around the table for supper, mum passing out the bread and dad describing his day at work, that Ginny guilty remembered about Hiss. She leaned back in her chair and quickly checked the sky; plenty of daylight left. An hour or so by the looks of it. Ginny sighed, relieved. She took a pile of mashed potatoes and a slice of kidney pie from Tonks, her mind still distracted and on her reptilian friend. It wouldn't hurt to be in the paddock early, she reasoned. She wondered if she'd be able to get back there without Harry following her.
Forcing a smile on her face as Tonks asked her how the afternoon went; Ginny passed the potatoes to Ron, and made up some bland sort of answer. At the other end of the table dad raised his head and asked if Mundungus had left yet, and Ginny took a bite of her sausage while mum told her he had.
Dinner continued on in its usual fashion, and Ginny forced herself to eat at a normal pace.
Just a few more hours, she thought to herself amid the bustle of the supper table, and I'll be able to find out where Hiss has gone.

Hey all,

Well I didn't change much here, just cleaned it up a bit. There were a few differences, and Gold Stars to whomever can point them out to me!

what did you all think of this chapter? any questions I can answer? any new HG fan fiction sites you've all thought up for me???

and please, if you made it through this chapter to the end, repay my work and feed the button!

(the button is hungry! the button is wise ... feed the button!!!!)

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