Ginny Weasley:

The Lion-Snake Prophecy

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; I only worship JKR!

Hey All,

NymphPatronus is going to kill me. I credited Comet Moon with edging me to get back to me fic but forgot the also-ever-loyal NymphPatronus!!! So it can fairly be said that both sent me emails/reviews and urged me to get my lazy-ass back in gear …

To all who have reviewed – thank you! I'll post comments at the end of the chapter.

Chapter Fifteen – Breakfasts and Birthdays

The rest of the day past in relative normalcy. Only Harry got 'hexed' that morning, Ron and Hermione were getting quicker on the uptake. Fortunately Hermione removed her jelly-legs jinx before Ginny had to wobble very far.

In fact, the day passed in such usual tones that had Ginny not known Harry very well, she might have thought he'd forgotten about his birthday entirely. But of course Ginny did know Harry, and he hadn't forgotten his birthday. If her reading of him was correct, in fact, it was all Harry had been thinking about for the past few days.

There was a line of tenseness around his jaw that grew firmer as the week progressed. His expression grew – if that were possible – even more closed off. As the day's shadow's lengthened, Ginny watched Harry retreat into himself and sighed with the helplessness of one who could do nothing.

He missed Sirius, of course. They all did, but Harry missed him most of all. He was the parent/uncle/older brother that Harry never had. The one he could turn to in his darkest hour and ask for advice. The one who could not be here with him on the day he turned sixteen.

Ginny remembered that afternoon in the library when Harry had looked so completely, utterly alone that Ginny felt the need to ask the one question she hated the most – are you okay? Ginny shook her head from her place on the lawn where she was watching the Trio practice. She hated that question, hated it because if there was a reason someone was asking you it, there was never a good answer to give.

Lying and saying, "oh yes, I'm fine" was the cheap way out. It put people at arm's length and forced you to keep the pain inside. And yet when your pain was personal and couldn't be shared, it was the only answer you could give.

It was the answer Harry most often gave, and Ginny herself, and it was the answer Harry had given her that afternoon when she brought him his Easter egg.

And yet Ginny had persisted, and finally Harry had admitted that he wanted to talk to Sirius, and so Ginny had gone to Fred and George knowing that they could help. And more importantly, knowing that Harry might actually accept their help. She doubted he would have accepted hers.

He had seemed so much better the next day, too. Though Ginny still had no idea what he had talked to Sirius about, his entire body appeared to release some sort of strain. A tenseness that was eating him up from the inside.

That same tenseness was back now, only it was doubled a hundred-fold. She knew that Harry blamed himself for Sirius's death, and knew that he had no right too. It was Sirius's decision to go to the Ministry that night, and taking that choice away from him made him less than the person he was.

She wanted to talk to Harry about this, a painful lesson but a needed one, and yet had no idea how too. And with the recent animosity between them, even though Harry seemed to trust her now marginally more than before, Ginny felt her chances of having a serious conversation with him were slim to none.

So Ginny didn't talk, she simply sat watching him, Ron and Hermione practice their spellwork with extra intensity that day. It was defensive work, and Tonks shot spells at them to test their shields. "Protego" rang out across the lawn so often, Ginny was sure she'd hear the spell being cast in her dreams.

Tonk's attacks moved higher and higher in intensity. She started with simple spells such as jelly-legs and engorgio, then moved up to things like obliviate and deletrius. Ginny breathed deeply to summon her 'magic vision', and shuddered as she watched spell after spell collide against the Trio's shields.

By the time dinner was served; Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Tonks were a shuddering, sweating, exhausted bunch, but Ginny couldn't help but notice that some of the tenseness was gone from Harry's face. He appeared too tired to press his guilt tonight, and from the wink a worn-out Tonks shot her, Ginny was sure that had been the purpose all along.

Supper passed in that same normal, tired state; though Ginny caught Harry glancing several times at her mum, as if watching for any sign that she had something planned for the 'morrow. But mum was engaged in another tug-of-war with Bill about his hair, and nothing appeared unusual.

Sleep that night came neither easily nor restfully to Ginny. She was still worried about Hiss, concerned about what the wards would try and do to him when she attempted to sneak him through. They had to get him from one shielded area to another without any time to spare, and with no way to contact Dumbledore, and without knowing where else to turn, Ginny felt she had no choice but to try.

Hiss didn't appear too concerned - he fell asleep almost instantly, leaving Ginny to toss and turn.

As the lights went out and even breathing settled across the house, Ginny found her thoughts turning towards Sirius. This was about the time of night when they would meet in front of the fire at Headquarters. Not every night, of course, but most nights before Harry came Ginny would lie restlessly in her bed, unable to sleep, and would finally give up and head downstairs for a warm cup of cocoa. Sirius would usually be there, and they would sit up for half the night talking in low tones, so as not to wake the rest of the house.

She learned many interesting things on those nights. The details of Sirius' escape from Hogwarts, the extent of Pettigrew's betrayal, and the way Ron had bravely stood in front of Harry, balanced precariously on one leg and declared, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!"

Sirius had laughed after that story, and Ginny had glanced into his puppy dog eyes and knew he was thinking, I had friends like that once …

Professor Lupin had come for breakfast the next morning, and Ginny had watched with a smile as Sirius personally cooked his friend eggs and bacon, and knew that he was enjoying the last, best friend he had.

And now Lupin was the only one left, Ginny thought as she wrapped a pillow around her head, trying to force herself to sleep, with Peter Pettigrew currently worse than dead.

She so badly wanted to get up and go downstairs. A part of her almost believed she would see Sirius there, sitting morosely in front of the fireplace. She would make him a hot cocoa, and he would smile at her in that tired, painful way and thank her. Ginny always felt that somehow that smile was hers, though he shared it with Professor Lupin, too. It was the smile from one being who has gone through hell to another.

When Ginny did finally sleep that night, it was to dreams punctuated by low, growling noises and intermittent images of the tattery wooden swing bridge. The bridge looked as if it had been casually sewn back together by an unskilled hand, and Ginny hesitated to cross it. The fire on the other side was roaring even louder than she remembered, and yet she felt that same strange urge of longing. Cautiously, Ginny stepped back onto the weakened wooden planks …

… and was awoken by the thumping of a fist across her door. Ginny groaned and rolled over, but a gruff yet familiar voice yelled at her, "Get up Ginny!"

Ginny blinked and sat up in bed. "Charlie?"

There was no direct answer, but a noisy humph answered from beyond her bedroom, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps on the stair.

Smiling now, Ginny hurried to throw on a pair of shorts and a clean t-shirt. She looped her long red hair into a ponytail as she leapt down the stairs, skidding into the kitchen with a bright grin on her face.

"Charlie!"

Her second oldest brother turned towards her and scowled. "You've gotten spoiled since I left," he twisted to look at the twins, both already seated at the table, "I told you's to get her up early in the morning."

Fred shrugged, "We tried to jinx her alarm clock early by two hours, but ended up putting it back instead."

Ginny grinned and settled into a seat across from Charlie. "You'll just have to stay at home more often, then. No one else can quite manage your authoritatively irritated humph."

Bill, at the head of the table, laughed, and Charlie glared at him. Mum carried over a plate from the stove, loaded high with blueberry flapjacks. George eagerly reached for one, but mum slapped his hand away.

"George! I told you five minute ago, you're waiting until Harry comes down. Fred! That means you too. Nobody touches the food without risking severe cleaning duty."

"Aw mum," Fred complained as he stared at the steaming flapjacks, "Harry won't be up for hours yet. Come on, just one for the tummy to help hold us over."

But Ginny, pouring herself a glass of milk from the jug on the table, shook her head, "Ron's getting him up just now," she replied without thinking, "thirty seconds and he'll be down – tops."

The table turned to look at her, and Charlie frowned. "I didn't hear them up."

Uh oh, Ginny thought to herself. I heard them, didn't I? Ginny looked back at Charlie, seeing now the slight tingle of extra-vision that hovered on her sight. The thin thread was visible again, pulling towards the ceiling this time. Glancing up, she could 'see' – or more like 'feel' – Harry just getting out of bed. For a moment, she even felt Ron pulling on her arm. Damn, she thought, looking quickly back at the table, I'm going to have to learn to control this. She had, after all, just jumped out of bed. She'd have to take a few minutes in the morning to orientate herself. Had she dreamed of Harry during the night? She couldn't remember.

"So I was up after you," Ginny shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant, "big deal."

The rest of the table seemed to accept that, but Charlie still stared at her, frowning. Ginny hurried to think of some way to reply, but a moment later Ron and Harry could clearly be heard descending from the upper floor.

Mum unloaded another batch of flapjacks, and smiled widely at Harry as he appeared in the kitchen, flanked by her youngest son.

"Happy sixteenth birthday, Harry dear!" She exclaimed, walking forwards to capture him in a hug. The table winced in sympathy, but Harry didn't seem to mind.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," he said after a moment, extracting himself from her grasp even as Fred called out, "Oi mum – you're suffocating the kid."

Harry looked over at the table and smiled. He looked more rested that he had all week, thanks to Tonk's training session Ginny was willing to bet, but there were still dark circles under his eyes. He came and sat next to Charlie, eying the flapjacks appreciatively.

Ron wasn't nearly so controlled. Taking his seat beside Ginny, he immediately started loading food onto his plate.

"Where's Hermione?" Bill asked, glancing back up the stairs. Ron started to reply, but his mouth was already full of flapjacks. "Mgshharghgh"

Mum slapped him, and Harry grinned. Ron rolled his eyes and pointed outside. Ginny leaned across him to stare out the kitchen window. Sure enough, Hermione was out on the yard, just walking towards the kitchen now. Ginny waved at her, and her friend waved back. She looked distracted, but as Ginny was craning her neck to see out the window in the first place, she couldn't be too sure.

Mum looked up as she came in the back door. "Hermione! When did you get up, dear, I've been here since dawn. Oh and sit down, there's flapjacks. Blueberry for Harry's birthday."

Hermione gave her a smile – definitely distracted, Ginny thought to herself – and sat down across from Ron, shifting a pancake to her plate. "I got up just before dawn, Mrs. Weasley," she answered, "Ron, chew with your mouth closed!"

The table laughed and everyone took turns snatching more flapjacks. As Ginny leaned over to take the plate, Hermione caught her eye. Her friend looked at her with intensity, obviously trying to say something no one else at the table would catch. Ginny stared at her, but didn't understand what she wanted. Was she feeling okay?

Ginny raised her eyebrows in concern, but Hermione shook her head slightly. She flickered her gaze outside and then back to Ginny. In a flash Ginny understood – Hermione wanted to have a private word with her after breakfast.

Ginny tried not to frown as she turned back to her flapjacks, but she couldn't help feeling a tingle of worry at the urgency in Hermione's expression.

For the next few moments, only the sound of chewing filled the Burrow, but then Mum gave a sigh of relief and Ginny looked up. Mum was staring at the clock on the wall, and Ginny could see that dad's indicator had moved from 'work', to 'travel'. Another second and it landed on 'home'.

Mum turned to look at the back door, and sure enough Dad could be seen coming up the lawn. He was carrying a rather large sack over one arm and looked exhausted, but smiled to see his family – minus one, plus two – in the kitchen together.

"Arthur!" Mum exclaimed as she hurried forward to take his cloak and the sack. "All night at the office again?"

Dad gave mum a weary smile and sat gratefully at the table across from Bill. He took a plate of flapjacks, and loading them with syrup as he spoke. "It wasn't all work, Molly dear. I, uh," he lowered his voice, almost unconsciously glancing around the table, "arranged our transportation for this afternoon."

Harry looked over and frowned. "Transportation?"

Dad started cutting up his flapjacks. "Yes – had to nip over to Hogwarts and get Dumbledore to make us a set of portkeys to take to Headquarters." His voice had lowered again, "I couldn't make them myself, so –"

But Harry interrupted him, staring at her dad. "Headquarters, this afternoon?" A tone of anguish entered his voice, "But I thought we weren't going till tomorrow."

"No, no, this afternoon." Mum bustled off to the stove, creating a new stack of flapjacks to replace the expired pile on the table, "And we're leaving before four, so I want you all in your rooms packing directly after breakfast. No time for dillydally – I want nothing left behind this time."

Ginny looked over to Harry, stark pain evident on his face. She glanced at Ron and Hermione, and saw they were confused at the change of plans. I thought we were going tomorrow, too …

Fred and George spoke up from their end of the table. Neither looked put-off. "We've already got our stuff at the Shop, mum," said George. "We'll hope over there just after breakfast," continued Fred.

"Fine, fine," nodded mum, looking distracted as she loaded more flapjacks onto the table. "Eat up, and then off to your room's to pack. Oh and Harry dear," Ginny looked up to see mum smile fondly, "Happy Birthday."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied, looking much less enthusiastic than he had only a few minutes ago. Ron and Hermione shot him comforting glances, but Harry was already looking back at his plate, and gave no indication of having seen.

Ginny finished her breakfast, and paused – not knowing what to do. Should she go outside and wait for Hermione anyways? Or should she head back up to her room? Before she could decide, mum saw her sitting and snapped, "Pack, Ginny! You heard me before. Everything you want to take in a trunk. Bring your bedroom things too, and call me up when you want something shrunk."

Ginny tried to catch Hermione's eye as she walked her empty plate to the sink, and then headed back up to her room. Hermione, however, was already moving up the stairs with Ron and the two were conversing in quiet whispers. Harry was ahead of them.

It must not be that important, Ginny told herself as she entered her room. Hiss was waiting for her, curled up on the edge of her bed. At her entrance, he cracked one eye open.

"Sssomething wrong?" He asked, sitting up and cracking his jaw. Ginny turned towards her closet, wondering if something was. Then it hit her … headquarters' – this afternoon!

Ginny turned back to Hiss, "Mum's moved ahead of schedule. Don't know why, but we're heading to Headquarters this afternoon."

Hiss blinked, but accepted the situation with a snake's effortless grace. "I think I'll go into the garden, little sssnake. I mussst ensssure the local rodent populationsss do not easssily forget me."

But Ginny walked back to her bed and dropped to her knees before him. "Hiss, are you sure you want to risk this? There must be some other way, I should stop all this worrying and go to Mad-Eye. He'll know if Dumbledore …"

But Hiss silenced her with a stare. "Ginny," he said after a moment, and the use of her first name startled her, "do no sssuch thing. We mussst enter together, we mussst make a point."

"What point? I don't understand! And whatever it is, it's not worth your life!"

But Hiss merely looked at her. "Sssome thingsss are, Ginny. And I think thisss isss one of thossse thingsss."

Ginny tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't. So she tried to believe him, but couldn't do that either.

Hiss rose from the bed, and slithered to the window. "I am going to hunt," he told her matter-a-factly, "join me later if you can. I would we teach thessse vermin a lessssion together."

Ginny raised her eyes to look at him. "I will," she promised.

Hiss slithered out the window with barely a sound.

Ginny sighed and slowly rose from the floor. She turned back to her wardrobe, determined to pack everything she owned as quickly as possible.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hey All …

Okay, onto comments! I, like all writers, love reviews. They make the act of writing that much more enjoyable.

I'll go in order: Comet Moon – sounds like a good plan for HBP! Don't think I could stay to simply listen to it the first time though .. it's so slow!! But then again, that way you don't miss things. Sometimes when I read I read too fast, and then I miss crucial details. Like .. why is Cedric falling down? Ohhhhh… (lol)

Weselan, are you a new reader? Welcome aboard! You'll see Dumbledore soon enough, but we all know how much he can say, and yet not say, at the same time … (cackles evilly)

Magsluvsaragorn – lol, so you got to read two new updates at once! Lucky you! And thanks for the med school plug … fingers are crossed ..

SeleneA – Glad you liked Bill. Again, original credit for individual feelings between the siblings goes to others. After I read that story on SIYE, I couldn't think of Bill or Charlie acting any other way with Ginny!

Inappropriate Goat – first, I LOVE your name. Hilarious! I will say nothing as to your inference, for if I say yes or no either way – it'll ruin something! But of course Ginny and Harry will fight … he needs someone to whip him into shape. And the transfiguration of Fawkes I can say "definitely no – but good idea!" There's another explanation there ….

Blyker – damn, you found my weakness – math. You're right, Harry is practicing magic a bit before his 16th birthday, but 1) it's at the Burrow, so wards disguise exactly who does what, and 2) he's the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Kick-Voldemorts-Ass, so the Ministry is being easy on him

Nymph-Patronus – you read my apology up top, right? You also deserve credit for reviewing and reminding me to write!!! She doesn't ask for Harry's help because, partly she doesn't trust him or he her, and also because there's nothing Harry could do. Hiss can't wait outside even for the time it would take to get Dumbledore. Besides, there is another 'point' to be made, that Hiss understands and Ginny doesn't. They have to go in together, and I think that'll be next chapter –which is about half done now. So not much longer before you find out!

Okay, that's all for now. I'll post this, head to the gym, do a bit of homework (groan – I reserve a dark piece of my soul for biology labs) and then write some more of chapter 16. A lot of this chapter was set up again, so the next one will be a biggie!

Remember – review review review!!!! And if any of you also read SIYE, I'm posting this story there. I'd still like thoughts on the few changes I've made to the other chapters, so you could post them on SIYE since you can't re-review old chapters on

Life Love Laughter!

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