Author's Note: So, I will admit fully, that this is sort of a filler chapter. It is a necessary chapter, though, and I hope you enjoy it anyway.



Chapter 21: Preparation - a gathering of strength



"So, did you get them?" Harry looked up from his dinner to see that Ginny had plopped down in the seat next to Ron and was now leaning over the table, blocking Ron from access to his plate.

"-nn-y! -n -uhdng-," Ron protested, his mouth stuffed full of mashed potato and a large dinner roll. Ginny just grinned myschievously and stayed where she was. Her elbow remained firmly between Ron and his food but Harry saw her give a quick glance in Hermione's direction before turning back to her brother and batting her eyelashes clownishly. Ron gave and exaggerated sigh and, roll still stuffed into one cheek, began digging around in his pockets. Harry glanced at Hermione to see what her take on this was only to find her hidden behind a massive tomb of a book, which appeared to be entitled "Glow-in-the-Dark Radishes," but he couldn't be sure as the words sort of seemed to shift around.

"What's up?" Harry leaned across the table and made to look into the box that Ron had just handed over to Ginny and of which she was now carefully inspecting the contents. Ginny jerked back before he could see, however, the box clutched protectively to her chest and a strange, angry look on her face. She seemed to remember herself, though, for she then relaxed and held the box tipped toward Harry so that he could see what was inside. She remained very still.

Harry's eyebrows went up when he saw that the box just held a bunch of what looked like Salamander's Heart seeds. He gave Ron a baffled look but Ron just shrugged, clearly equally puzzled as to what Ginny would want with the seeds. He looked very happy, though, and Harry was reminded that, for all of their bickering and sibling rivalries, Ron still loved his sister very much.

Harry's curiosity got the better of him. "What do you want with those things?" he asked.

For a second Ginny didn't answer, she'd frozen and her expression become one of a deer in the headlights, but then she raised her chin and sniffed, saying, "None of your business, Harry Potter." Harry laughed in surprise. Ron laughed too, until he caught the look that Ginny was sending him, and then his laughter cut off as abruptly as it had begun.

Ginny rose from the table, absently tucking the box of seeds into a pocket of her robes. "Well, I've got loads of homework. Best be going," she said. "Thank you, Ron." She patted Ron on the shoulder as she left and an odd corner of Harry's mind noticed the way her hand lingered on Ron's arm, like a reminder of some shared secret. What Harry didn't notice was the way that Ginny's hands shook as she walked away from the table, or the way she clutched the pocket of her robes, her fist balled tight around the small wooden box inside.







Ginny stumbled slightly as she hurried from the Great Hall. It had almost been too much. She had been glad that Hermione was entrenched in her book. Her questions about the seeds would surely have been much harder to avoid.

Ginny paused, leaning against the wall of the corridor. Her heart was beating so fast. She wasn't sure why that had been so hard, why she had felt so cornered when Harry had asked her that question. It hadn't helped that she'd thought she'd seen Him there. She'd caught sight of Draco Malfoy out of the corner of her eye as he turned to sit down at the Slytherin table and, for a second he had looked so pale, and his eyes so dark and haunted, that she'd thought it was Him. That He'd come to take her early, promise or no promise.

She was ashamed of the panic that had bubbled up within her at that moment. Her soul hung upon the thought of that moment when He would come for her, would set her free, and yet, when she had thought that that moment had come, her entire being had screamed, "Not Yet!" and she had felt her brother's presence beside her like an aching wound that refused to heal.

While it was true that all of her preparations were not yet completed, the fact that she had felt some reluctance, even for a moment, nagged at her. If her goals were ever to be accomplished, she must be an iron tower of resolve. Shaking these thoughts away with an angry toss of her head, she pushed away from the wall and continued off down the hall. There were other things she needed to do before night, and time was growing short.

When she reached the deserted classroom at the far end of one of the south wings, she paused to check that no one was about before ducking inside. Well familiar with the room, Ginny moved confidently through the dark to the far wall and a small, well concealed cupboard set near the floor. Kneeling down, she took out her wand and quietly muttered the charm to unlock it.

Her heart began to beat faster as she reached inside and such a feeling of panic and joy welled up within her that her breath stuck in her throat, forcing her to pause before drawing out the box kept within. At first glance, this box bore a very strong resemblance to the box Ginny had given Ron to put the Salamander's Heart seeds in. It was larger and flatter than the other box but it too had the look of something crudely cobbled together, barely finished and rough about the edges. However, upon closer inspection, one would note that this box was lined with a series of spider thin cracks running seemingly randomly over its surface and that those cracks in turn were caked with some sort of reddish brown substance, giving the odd appearance of strange wooden veins running through the grain of the wood. Ginny set the box on the floor.

Next she drew the box of seeds out of her pocket, placing them beside the larger box, before then producing a needle from the inside of her sleeve. Two drops of blood dripped onto the strange large box and soaked into the wood before the needle was once again put away and Ginny lifted away the box's lid.

Ginny felt a soothing contentment steal over her as she looked down upon everything laid neatly in order before her. It was all right there, or nearly all of it. She had worked so long, carefully, patiently building up the necessary stores, holding herself until the time when it would all come together, when she would be ready to take that next step down her fated path.

Many of the seeds had been ridiculously easy to obtain. Yarrow she had gotten from the stuff that grew along the back wall of their garden at home. Heather grew not far beyond the lake here at school. Others of the seeds had demanded careful study and planning. Nightshade from Professor Snape's secret store. Tears-of-the-Dragon grew only in certain mountain caves and had required a special foray. It had been surprising, really, how easily she had been able to get ahold of the Salamander's Heart seeds. She had resigned herself to another month or two of waiting before she learned that the sixth years were studying it in Herbology. Now she placed the small box of seeds reverently amongst the other boxes and pouches filling the larger box, protected by her blood and the tears of her nightmares.

For several minutes she simply knelt there, breathing in the calm of the darkened room and basking in the sense of power she felt radiating outward from her box of seeds. The time was so near now she could almost taste the wonder of it, sweet and heavy on her tongue like honey, filling her with a liquid fire and tingling through her veins. Yes, it would be soon.

Gently, Ginny reached into the box and pulled out a small, soft pouch, crudely stitched together from cotton and tied with a frayed hair ribbon. So important this one. So shabby and small and vital. Forget-me-not. She smiled wearily and brought the pouch up to her face to rub the soft cotton against her cheek then merely sat back on her heals and contemplated the seeds in her hands.

She didn't even notice the tears until they dripped onto her fingers, but even then she felt too weary to care, too hollowed out and thin. She let her body feel the emotion she no longer could, and felt as though she sat at the end of a long tunnel, separating her forever from the young girl that she used to be. Instead of light at the end of the tunnel, there was only darkness.