A/N: Sorry the wait was so long! The next chapter will eb up soon, thanks for reading, and please review!

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Chapter 14:

The next morning Ginny learned that the day was to be spent cleaning. Ginny, who had been enjoying a breakfast of toast and eggs, sighed loudly when she heard the day's agenda. "Yes, the Drawing Room is infested with Doxies; Remus managed to pick up some spray yesterday, so it'll have to do," Mrs. Weasley was saying to Sirius, who looked as if he might fall to the floor due to boredom.

Half an hour later they all stood in the Drawing Room, a dreary olive green room filled with dust. Ginny fought the urge to stomp her feet and exit the room as she tied cloth around her mouth, feeling like a house elf.

"Cover you faces and take a spray," said Mrs. Weasley. Ginny grabbed a spray bottle and began spraying and catching doxies as they fled the curtains. She laughed when she saw that Fred and George were pocketing them. Soon after, the doorbell rang, but Mrs. Weasley made sure nobody escaped the room to listen. Ginny scowled and covered her ears as the portrait of Mrs. Black went off.

"FILTHY HALF-BLOODS, BLOOD-TRAITORS—" Ginny rolled her eyes. After they managed to clean out most of the doxies, Ginny went upstairs to clean off, not looking forward to cleaning out cabinets full of extremely sinister-looking things. From her window, Ginny looked out and saw Mundungus coming into the house. A moment later, Mrs. Weasley's screams could be heard.

"WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!" She frowned, wondering if she would ever get used to the noise people in this house made. After putting on some velvet purple robes, Ginny walked back down the stairs once more, into the kitchen, where Professor Lupin was sitting sipping tea.

"Good Morning, Ginny," he said smiling.

"Hi," sighed Ginny, proceeding to pour herself some hot cocoa.

"You look like something's bothering you," he observed quietly.

"How clever of you," said Ginny sarcastically. She then felt bad. "Sorry…" she said, sitting down. "But… I am bothered right now. You see, I am used to my new family already, and it feels like-"

"Like you are betraying your old family?"

"Yes," concluded Ginny.

"Ginny," said Lupin wisely, "It is up to you to decide what side of this war you want to be a part of. And what family you want to be a part of. And if both families truly love you, which I am sure they both do very much, then they will be willing to accept that the other one is there and that you will have to share your love for each."

"And now I don't know what I'm going to do at school… nobody at all will like me! The Slytherins won't respect or follow or like me, and the Gryffindors never have, and so I don't know how anything would change there… oh, I am so confused!"

"Ginny, tell me: how many people know and love you for your true self, not your name or status? Because those are the people who are your true friends." Ginny looked at Lupin thoughtfully.

"Well…" she began tentatively. "My best friend would have to be Ceridwen. And definitely Draco, and I suppose Blaise and Trista… and maybe Maeve, however little I like her. And there's Hermione, maybe… and I suppose Harry sometimes, though I doubt he'd have me on his list of friends…"

"Well that's a very good list, Ginny. All those people know you for who you are and love you for it. If all of them could see past what your name was or your looks or family into who you truly were and liked what they found enough to maintain their friendship, then you must be some hell of a friend worth having."

Lupin was going gray already, and he looked pallid and tired and wistful. Yet, through all of this, even though he was a werewolf, Ginny felt a strong sense of gratitude towards him and thought that if circumstances had worked out for the man, he would have made a wonderful father indeed.

The weeks passed with Ginny becoming more and more used to the Weasleys. Harry somehow managed to get off of his charges, much to the fury of Draco, and, as far as Ginny could tell, of Lucius. Ginny had been in a good mood that day, actually, and she had, to her amazement, danced around laughing with the twins upon hearing of Harry's trial.

All too soon, the time to go back to school was approaching, and Ginny was receiving requests from Ceridwen, Michael, and Ceridwen's boyfriend Aidan to meet them for lunch in Diagon Alley.

Ginevra Erin Malfoy-

I swear on the grave of Merlin that you had better get permission to come, or I will be stuck all day with Aidan and Michael, who will drag me through Quidditch shops all day. I like the game and all, but its an obsession to them! And now I will give you an incentive to do everything that little Slytherin-raised part of your mind will be persuaded to be cunning and find a way to come: I have spoken briefly with Draco, and he will come that day and meet up with us! Now you have to come- even though I am not really sure how well three Gryffindors, a Ravenclaw, and Slytherin will mix… but who cares! Anyway, not much here. So Harry Potter got off? Figures. Oh well, I guess I am glad for him... but one question: are all those things they are saying about him in the Prophet true? Because if they are, I definitely hope he isn't staying with the Weasleys this summer. But- back to the point, cause I gotta go. Write me and tell me if you can meet us at the Leaky Cauldron Tuesday?

-Ceridwen

Ginny rolled her eyes as she reread her friend's letter a week before term started. Tuesday was tomorrow, and Ginny still hadn't asked the Weasleys. She supposed it was now or never, and she held her breath, starting down the stairs. Of course, Ginny should have known that it was asking for a miracle to wish to get down the stairs peacefully.

She ran head-on into Tonks first, who was carrying some boxes upstairs. "Wotcher, Ginny," she said, winking. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," she sighed. :Just contemplating the idea of asking the Weasleys to go to Diagon Alley with some friends tomorrow. Do you think they'd let me?"

Tonks looked doubtful. "I don't know… After all, you are on You-Know-Who's most-wanted list."

"What?" asked Ginny, frowning.

"You have to know that already," said Tonks. "I mean, there had to be a reason he wanted you raised by the Malfoys when you were just a few days old, you know?" Ginny nodded slowly.

"I guess, but you don't think he'd have forgotten about it by now?" she asked hopefully.

"Well- it could be, but I have my doubts. Anyway, don't worry; the Weasleys are fair, but you may have to go with a guard."

"No way!" protested Ginny. "That is not fair! A guard- how embarrassing! And what ever did I do to deserve it? I mean, it isn't like I defeated the Dark Lord when I was one; I didn't do anything to deserve him to come after me!"

"None of us did, Gin. It's not like we drew big red target signs on us, saying, 'I believe You-Know-Who is back and I want to defy him!' No, he chose us; every last one of us."

"What did he do to the Weasleys?" asked Ginny, confused. Tonks raised her eyebrows.

"Well, He stole you, for starters. He also killed your Mum's two brothers, Gideon and Fabian. And he killed a fair amount of your cousins, and his Death Eaters, dear Uncle Lucius, namely, made sure that the Weasley vault became completely depleted, causing your real family to be poor."

"No, he didn't!" protested Ginny. "He wouldn't do that… Dad wouldn't do that…" Tonks looked at her pityingly.

"Ginny, dear, your father has committed countless acts of stealth, vandalizing, murder, and even kidnapping. I'm sorry to break it to you, dear, but he is not a good man." She was right and Ginny knew it, but that only made it worse. How dare these common half bloods go around trampling upon the name of her family? Ginny continued down the stairs, in a rather bad mood, and when she reached the entrance hall she was sure to make a lot of noise to ensure the awakening of a certain crazed portrait.

Almost as if on cue, Mrs. Black's screams filled the air as Ginny pranced out of the hall, giggling. "HALF-BLOODS, TRAITORS, BEINGS OF FILTH, BEGONE FROM THE HOUSE OF—" She yelled. Ginny paused by the door to listen to the complaints of whoever ran down to shut the portrait up.

"WILL SOMEBODY GET THAT?" yelled Mrs. Weasley from downstairs. A moment later, Sirius, Ron, Harry, and Lupin all ended up in the hallway trying to close the curtains.

"HALF-BREEDS, MUDBLOODS, SCUM—"

"Sounds like my bloody sister," commented Ron, laughing. Harry and Sirius chuckled, and Ginny felt a wave of anger fire up inside. How dare they?

"Now come on you all, she is trying," reasoned Lupin. Ginny smiled a bit. At least someone understood her a bit.

"Not hard enough," commented Sirius. "I know the boat she is in, though- I was in the opposite one my entire childhood."

"And you ended up running away," observed Harry.

"Great. If she runs away the way Percy did, Mum and Dad would be completely destroyed- I mean one kid turning completely against the family is enough, wouldn't you think?"

"I don't think she would run away, however difficult she seems right now," said Harry thoughtfully. "I think she has a good heart, and she is obviously a Gryffindor. After all, the sorting hat never lies." Ginny was touched by his sticking up for her, but she knew that Ron had a point, and Sirius. She wasn't trying. In fact, she was doing all she could not to try! But it was either Ginny's imagination, or she heard a very bitter note in Harry's last sentence. She vaguely wondered whether he had a run-in with the bloody hat as well. The people then managed to shut the old hag of a portrait up, though, and Ginny rushed away to the basement kitchen where Mrs. Weasley actually was not cooking or cleaning for once.

She sat at the kitchen table, looking reminiscently at photographs of the family through the years. Ginny felt sad for the woman, seeing the nostalgic look on her face. Mrs. Weasley obviously had been through a lot in her life. Ginny thought about the Prewett brothers and a kidnapped daughter and being unable to afford anything.

Mrs. Weasley suddenly looked up, surprised. "Oh, hello, dear," she said, quickly piling up the photographs. "What do you need?"

"Oh, nothing," lied Ginny, sitting down across the table. "May I look at some of those?" she asked quietly, almost afraid to see the family during the years she should have had fond memories of with them.

"Oh," said Mrs. Weasley, off-guard. "Of course you may." She then handed Ginny some of the pictures, and Ginny looked through them, very proud that she could tell all her siblings apart in the old pictures besides Fred and George, even though she had a slight suspicion that she somehow was getting better at telling them apart, too.

The pictures were quite average; of the family over the years. They sported children in their most fancy outfits for a family portrait, little boys playing Quidditch, little boys with teeth missing, on their first days of school, and other important and not-so-important firsts. Finally, Ginny looked up sadly, for the first time feeling regret about her kidnapping.

"I- I'm sorry that I wasn't in any of these," she said sadly. Mrs. Weasley smiled at her.

"It isn't your fault, dear. And it isn't your fault the way you were brought up. I am just so glad that you are giving us a chance…" Giving them a chance? Well, it isn't as if I have a choice in the matter.

But it didn't matter that Ginny was being forced into this- she had a chance to make the lives of these parents happy once more. But that would be treason to the people who brought her up!

Ginny sighed and decided to just get the question over with. "Mrs. Weasley? Mum?"

"Yes?" smiled her mother. Ginny looked like her when she smiled.

"Um… Well, I haven't seen my friends all summer, or my boyfriend, and they aren't Slytherins, and I was wondering whether I could go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to meet up with them please? It would only be a few hours, and—"

Mrs. Weasley frowned. "I really want to let you dear, but Dumbledore told us not to let you out of the house unless you had the guard with you- you are under the same instructions and restrictions as Harry. But- well, if some of the guard went along, then I don't see why ever—"

"No, thanks," said Ginny, downcast. "It would be too weird to have a guard watching us. I guess I will see them at school- unless of course a guard is to follow me there as well?"

"Nonsense. You will be perfectly safe under Albus' watch. But, Ginny, nobody has to know the guard is there. We can disguise some of them and make others invisible," she offered. Ginny perked at this.

Mrs. Weasley smiled. "Okay, here is what we can do… Tonks can disguise herself, and Moody can wear a disillusment charm; we can get Bill to wear an invisibility cloak, and if Remus isn't doing anything he can do something. That will work, right?"

Ginny nodded slowly, completely forgetting that Draco would be showing up, and the rushed to write Ceridwen a letter in excitement.

A/N: Review!