Chapter Two: Ginny's Reason

"Ginny is acting really weird," Ron observed over dinner.

"Maybe it's because of her hair," Bill, who had just Apparated behind Ron, said. Ron screamed.

"Maybe you scared her," he snapped at Bill, and pulled Bill's ponytail. Mrs Weasley moaned, and Ron laughed. Everyone in the room knew that she wanted to give Bill's hair a trim but couldn't, because he wouldn't let her. "Did that hurt, Bill? Are you going to let Mum trim it now?"

Bill said nothing, and Ron scowled.

"Mayhem," Bill said as he seated himself. "Fleur can't decide what colour she wants her wedding dress to be. She keeps changing it with her wand. First it was pink, then blue, then a sickly green, then purple, then black and now white. The colour it was in the first place."

"No one wants to hear about wedding plans, Bill-A-Nator," Ron said, turning pink when everyone looked at him. "What am I doing wrong? I'm allowed to call Bill names, aren't I?"

Ginny hid under the table, bright pink, as Ron joined her. "Emergency," he hissed at his sister. "Harry wants to know why your picture isn't on the clock any more, same as Percy's picture."

Ginny's face went white. "Did you tell him?"

Ron frowned. "Of course not."

"You're such a good brother, Ron, you know that? Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred or George would never have kept that secret." She held his hands and kissed him on the cheek.

"So why is your picture absent from the clock?" Ron asked after everyone else had gone outside for a walk. "I don't know the whole story, you only told me a little bit."

Ginny put a finger to her lips. "No one can ever know the truth, not even you."

Ron burst out laughing. "Really? God, Ginny, you're like Percy now. You've become so secretive that I'm not allowed to bring you breakfast on a tray anymore, in case I come in when you're kissing your boyfriend. Now you will not even tell me what I deserve to know."

Ginny snarled, jumped on him and put his nose close to her nose. He was pinned down. "Okay then, smart boy, who am I going out with?"

Ron shrugged.

"I don't know... Dean?"

Ginny's face went white. Her lips trembled at the sound of the name. "How did you know I'm going out with Dean Thomas? Have you been spying on me?"

Ron held up his hands. "No, I haven't, I swear - "

Ginny's facial features returned to the pleasant facial features of a happy girl who loved life, instead of a savage tiger who wanted to kill anyone who stepped in her path. "Okay, I guess I believe you. But come to think of it... I think I might have told you sometime last year..."

Ron laughed. "Oh, really? Well, I guess you can't kill me for knowing that you snogged Dean in the Trophy Room last year and then acted innocent in front of me, can you?" He swallowed a helping of mashed potato and then looked at her in the eyes with a triumphant smile.

"No, I guess not."

Ginny's misty smile suddenly faded and became an evil grin. "No, I can't kill you for knowing that but I can kill you for letting Harry and Hermione know." She brought out her wand, aimed it at the bridge between Ron's eyes. "Feeling scared, bro? I am not the type to give sympathy, you know."

"Please, don't do this." Ron brought out his own wand.

Everyone in theroom was silent. Ron looked around, embarassed but shocked. If everyone was watching them, then why wasn't Mrs Weasley running over to them and telling them to stop? Ron frowned. Everyone was in the room, but they were frozen. Unable to move.

Instinctively, Ron turned to Ginny and pointed his wand at her. His breathing became sharp, and forced. It hurt to find air in his lungs. "What have you done to them, Ginny? What have they ever done to you?" The room became dark all of a sudden, and it became cold. "What reason do you have for hating them so much?"

Ginny's upper lip trembled. She was showing emotion. Determined not to let Ron see this, or any other emotion she could harbour, lashed out at him with all the energy she could muster... through words. "Well... if you want this to be quick, I hate them and I hate you."

"Is there a longer answer?" Ron asked, swallowing. He didn't really want to hear what his sister had to say, but he wanted to know the reason.

The true reason for why she'd frozen them, and decided to finish off Ron last. "If I get out of this situation, you're going to be in horiffic trouble," Ron said coldly. He ducked behind the sofa, twirling his wand between his thumbs.

"So?" Ginny replied, muttering under her breath.

"Well, they were born," she said after an uncomfortable silence, the second one of the day. "I hate them because of that. Happy now?"

Ron jumped out from behind the sofa, where he'd been hiding for the past minute. "Stupefy!" The spell hit Ginny squarely in the chest and she collapsed. He then tried to unfreeze everyone else while holding Ginny in his arms. He wanted to tie her up so she couldn't hurt anyone else.

"Rope... rope, where does she keep the rope?"

Ron didn't really want to tie his sister up, but couldn't see a way out of the problem. If he left her to recover, he would also be frozen like everyone else. If he tied her up and didn't do it very well, she'd use her want to cut through the ropes and she'd freeze him anyway.

"What am I going to do?"

Ginny used her wand to burn his hand. "Let me go?"

Ron dropped her, cradled his hand and frowned. "Why are you doing this? Don't you want to be good? Don't you want to go to Hogwarts?"

Ginny shook her head.

"No, to all your questions. I'm a rebel now. I want to be my own person. I want to start by harming someone close to me and go from there."

Ron suddenly saw a way out of the problem. A way to make Ginny realise that what she wanted was to be good. Normal. "I have an idea. Hurt Malfoy for me. I'll love you forever if you make Malfoy have a fatal accident, so bad that he can't go to school this year and so bad he can never hurt me again."

Ginny's upper lip curled over. "No. I like your idea, but I like Malfoy too much to harm him. I've taken a liking to him, you see. I might shut out Dean and date him instead. I haven't decided yet." She sighed. "Actually, it's really hard to be evil. I think I'll be normal for a while."

Ron sighed, relieved.

Ginny's eyes widened. "But don't tell anyone that I need to become evil every now and then to stay alive. That was my big secret and why my picture is not on the clock anymore."

Ron gasped. He said nothing and couldn't. He fainted. When he woke up, there was silence. A pool of blood lay on the carpet in the hall, and there was a scream from Hermione. He was so weak that he couldn't go and investigate, but he had a huge suspicion in his brain.

Ginny had joined Lord Voldemort.

Or, at least, that was what Ron thought.