Cinderella

Beaner-Bop

A/N: Ugh - sorry its so late.

Disclaimer:P

Chapter Eleven: Singing to Trees

You can't fall off the floor. - Anon.

Ginny supposed that she probably should have felt silly, but she didn't. She had taken Stephen's advice and searched out her other self's memory for where the grave was. The wind was whipping around her fiercely and she brought her arms up to hug her chest, shutting her eyes so her hair wouldn't get into them like it wanted to.

She thought again about why she was doing this… Really, she had no reason to trust Stephen - he was this world's Ginny's butler, or servant, or whatever, not hers. He didn't have any reason to know who or what she really was - so then why for the love of Merlin was she listening to him?

She shook her head and trudged on deeper into the countryside. Having told Lady that she was going to make a bouquet of flowers, she had the day full to as she pleased. On an impulse, her thoughts began to run towards Malfoy.

What the heck is he doing here? Ruining my life most likely. She sighed as she shook her head and began to climb a hill she stopped thinking about Draco though when she came to her mothers grave, and growing over it was a full grown willow tree.

Her mouth hung open in shock and her eyes widened at seeing it. She thought that Stephen was joking with her when he said that the tree would be fully grown. She swallowed when she remembered what she came here to do. She looked around, though she knew that no one but her and the 'magic' tree were there…she was feeling embarrassed about what was coming up.

Positive that no one was going to see, or for that matter, hear, what she was about to do, she began to sing.

She thought about what she had to sing to the tree on the way up.

"Snap, sizzle, fizzle, drop

Magic with and without a pop

Sing a tune, and use your voice

Now it's time to make your choice"

Ginny watched as some birds began to fly around the tree and begin to sing with her, whether they knew it or not. Ginny got unnerved by one, having it stop, turn, and look at her for a moment in mid-air before continuing to fly around the tree.

"Am I worthy to see the queen?

I sing this tune the best I can

Praying to be the best I can be.

Don't turn away from me…me" Ginny added weakly, knowing that that wasn't the end of the song, but it didn't really matter - All the birds were out of the tree, and instead of flying around it, they were flying around her. There had to be around twenty in the final total, going around in the large circle. One bird broke out though and stared at her for a moment before doing something that Ginny definitely wasn't expecting - it began speaking to her.

"Hello, dear." It said in a sic kingly high pitched voice that made Ginny's skin crawl like when Professor Snape would intentionally screech the chalk on the black board. She tried not to let it show.

"Hello."

"What brings you here?" The brown bird asked her. Ginny was then assaulted with, "Yes!" "What brings you here?" "Oh, why did you come here?" from all the other birds flying around her head.

It took her a while to answer, feeling disoriented.

"Umm…" She started, looking around. "I'm trying to find a cave…" She told them. The birds began whispering around her but this time she didn't understand them at all. She concentrated on the bird in front of her.

"Judge her, now!" The bird in front of her sang to the others. One by one, the birds got into a straight line and then all but three broke away. "Well then, that's it." The bird sang. "You three," The bird was still singing to the others, "go and see if the queen is ready." The bird turned back to look at her. "This shouldn't take to long." Before Ginny could question in it, she saw the birds fly into the tree and disappear. Her eyes widened and she sat down by the trunk quickly and quietly, trying to hide her surprise - not that she needed to bother, as all the birds were now acting like normal birds and ignoring her.

Just like the other bird said - it didn't take to long. The birds came back, all singing happily. They talked to whom Ginny now dubbed 'Dumbledore', because…well…she must have had a reason for dubbing him that. After a few moments of conversing, Dumbledore flew over to her.

"The queen is expecting you arrival." He went over to the tree and began to fly in circles around it, somehow causing the bark to open carefully in front of her.

"Go, now. You mustn't be late, and the queen hates tardiness."

Draco remembered hearing something about getting married more than once. He knew he did - and he also remembered a splash of red hair.

He remembered an angry girl and a rock thrown on the floor and a sick feeling in his stomach…

But none of that mattered, as 'Hare' constantly reminded him.

"It doesn't matter if what you saw was real or not Draco. The fact is, is that your mind is here, the body you're currently using is here - and right now, you're mother is asking you whether or not you want the main decoration colors to be red or green…I think you should go with both." Draco turned to glared at him in which case Hare just shrugged. "What? I'm thinking of an early Christmas." Draco shook his head and pointed at the green, and before his mother could ask, said "Silver trimmings." Hare looked at him confused.

"Green and silver? Won't that be awfully…sinister looking?" He asked, thinking about it. Draco shrugged.

"I don't care - really…you know…I remember being at school and seeing green and silver constantly." He looked at the other boy who was looking more confused than ever.

"Draco…you've had tutors all your life. What crack have you been smoking?" Draco nodded at Hare's answer.

"I thought so."

fin chapter-