Disclaimer- Harry Potter and all related material belong to Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. No infringement intended on my part.
"Glad to be on break?"
"Huh? Oh, hi, Harry." Ginny looked up from the couch where she was sketching a face that had been haunting her dreams the previous night, after she had finished tossing and turning. She was lazily drawing this morning, a cup of coffee in one hand and a fresh snowy sketchbook propped on her knee. "Yeah, no more detention for a few weeks. That's always a good thing." Harry nodded sliding down beside her.
"What are you drawing?" He glanced over her shoulder. "Snape?"
"Oh yeah, I was just thinking of him for some reason. I don't really want to though, you want a portrait done?"
"Sure, brilliant." Harry turned to face her as she turned onto a new page. She was doing the curve of his face when she felt a hand on her knee. She looked up into Harry's warm green eyes. "Ginny?" Oh god. She did not need this right now.
"So Harry, you must be really disappointed about Luna." She drew his scar, carefully, but jagged. Like a dagger. Harry and Luna had broken up a week previously, her doing rumor had it, but Harry hadn't seemed to be extraordinarily torn up.
"Things weren't working out. So we kind of mutually separated, you know. We weren't seeing too much of each other as it were."
"Yeah, but still, there's a routine to being in a relationship. You must miss that at least. Or at least the articles in the Daily Prophet, every time you and Luna would go off to snog." She grinned at him and he grinned back. Her grin faded a little, knowing who Harry was and simply hating the fact that he was the enemy. She had wanted a normal life, but what was normal after all? Harry and Hermione were her friends, even if they were a tad annoying and obnoxious at times. There was something painful about how normal all this was, and how comforting the idea of not worrying about the attack or anything was.
"I don't really."
"Huh?"
"I don't really miss the routine. Or the articles, especially." Harry sat back again, his hand flopping to his own knee. "Am I moving too much?"
"No, I've captured the idea of you, which means I can touch things a time or two when you move."
"I'll stay still all the same."
"Much appreciated." There a few minutes of silence before Ginny handed him the notebook, taking a sip of her coffee and watching him for his approval.
"Absolutely brilliant." He breathed. "I can't believe what you can do in that short amount of time with only a pencil."
"Sometimes I can't either, but it's really my hands guide me. I barely know what I'm drawing sometimes until something surfaces and I realize what it is I'm capturing."
"You're a true artist, Ginny."
"Thank you, Harry." They paused for a moment, she took another slurping gulp of coffee. A head appeared in the fireplace suddenly and Ginny choked a little. "Professor Dumbledore, sir!" She cried. "How's it going?" She slowed her tone, realizing there was nothing to panic about.
"It's not going so well, I'm afraid, Miss Weasley."
"Oh." She wasn't sure how to respond.
"Should I get Molly or Arthur?" Harry clambered quickly to his feet.
"Both if you can." Harry was out of the room in a flash. Ginny picked up her sketch pad and showed it to the fire.
"Not a bad likeness, don't you think?"
"Where were you last night, Ginny?"
"I rode the train home, my brothers drove me here, and I did a little homework before I went to sleep. Just like every other kid."
"I see. Can anyone prove that?"
"I guess Mum could, but we weren't sleeping in the same bed or anything."
"I see."
"I'm glad you still can, sir. Sometimes I think those glasses would be more sufficient if they covered your whole eye." Before he could respond, Molly skidded in panting, with Harry at her heels.
"Arthur will be down momentarily, Albus. Whatever is the matter? Harry said it sounded urgent." She breathed in deeply, clutching her chest slightly. Both her and Harry's faces were tinged a little with red, which made Ginny pause a moment before shifting her weight and sitting down on the carpet, watching Dumbledore with as much interest as he was watching her.
"I'm afraid it is, Molly."
"People say I'm the spitting image of my mother, but she's over there, I swear. Maybe glasses like Harry's." She pointed to her own eyes before gesturing towards her mother. Neither Albus or Molly said anything, but both tensed a little.
"Severus is dead. Found in his office. I believe they found out he was a double agent." Ginny gasped, pulling her hands to her face, letting her coffee slop into her lap. She jumped up cursing. Albus watched her with vague interest as her mother cleaned things up for her, and Harry moved to comfort her.
"He told me about an attack in Hogsmeade, at least, before he died."
"He was always so reliable." Molly sniffed, her face steely. "Do you have any idea, Albus."
"None." He sighed, heavily. "The wand was Millicent Bulstrode's, but she had sent an owl saying that she had forgotten it."
"But how can that be, a wand it like an opposable thumb, you just don't walk off with it." Ginny exclaimed. "That's stupid."
"Nonetheless, her parent's concede that she was indeed distraught when she got home, not knowing where her wand was, finally remembering it was in the common room." Arthur came dashing in, and things were quickly explained to him. He slumped into a chair and buried his head in his hands.
"He was our only correspondent within the Death Eaters. Even better, he was in cahoots with the inner-circle. What will we do, Albus?" He choked, his voice muffled against his ragged sleeves.
"I'm not sure. We've lost a good man. I think we should remember that over the information we will be losing."
"You're right, you're right." Arthur stood up and began pacing. "But Albus, who could have possibly-?"
"Where was Ginny last night?"
"Albus, surely not Ginny! You couldn't be accusing my own child?" Molly cried out. "She came home, she went to sleep. I checked on her in the middle of the night and she was sleeping like a lamb. I like to watch my children sleep. "
"No, no. She is just vulnerable to being possessed because she has been so before by the Dark Lord. It was a silly question, Molly?" Ginny sobbed further into Harry's shoulder, real this time, for Severus Snape, the first man she had ever killed. It struck her for a moment that she had killed someone before she had even had sex or gone to second base. That wasn't an average teenage crisis. She wadded fists of Harry's shirt into her hands and cried harder. He rubbed her back softly with his wide hands, his thumb rubbing slightly over the knot of her bender, a wizarding bra. She gasped a little and looked into his eyes, completely ignoring what was going on otherwise. His eyes swam a little too, as if he was holding back grief, being strong. Probably for her. He wiped a lock of hair out of one of the streaming rivulets down her face. "I'm sorry, Ginny."
"You wanna go degnome the garden?" She said. His arms dropped from her and he stepped away. The vacuum of warm air that left was enough to make her stagger. She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew that she wanted to distance herself from the tragedy. She wanted something normal. The door slammed shut behind her and Harry jumped from the position ahead of her. He picked up the first gnome that went by and swung it for a long time before letting it fly. When it did, it went as far as Ginny had ever seen it. "I can't believe I was accused. The first person, maybe. They said it wasn't my fault, that they would never hold it against me. And there you go," She grasped a gnome by the ankles and started swinging it around in wide circles. "First thing, I'm accused."
"That was a lie you know."
"I know."
"I've never, ever seen anyone as quick as you. You're a threat. Especially since they think that you're in cahoots with the Slytherins."
"Do you think so?"
"I'm never sure." He answered honestly, sighing deeply. They ventured more deeply into the garden, searching for stray gnomes.
"Why don't you believe me?" She grabbed onto his hands, as he moved to bend, so he had to look at her.
"You scare me shitless, Ginny."
"Oh." She dropped his hands.
"But I think. I don't know why, I think I love you." He said it quietly, but it burst onto Ginny as nothing ever had before. She grabbed Harry and kissed him as furiously as she could. He responded quickly, after getting over his initial shock like a flash. He pressed into her like a bulldozer, knocking her against the rough brick wall, she drew him as close as she could. This was what teenage girls did. Good, normal teenage girls snogged Harry Potter in the back garden. His hands were in hair and his hips rubbed against hers and suddenly she knew what she had to do to distance herself from the world right now. Something that she could fall back on, a memory of normality. The rough brick crumbled as her shirt pulled up and the red rock scratched at her.
"You want to go upstairs?" She was surprised at how throaty her voice was.
"Yeah. I do." This seemed to be a surprise to him.
"Even if it never goes beyond this one time?" She stroked his hair and he paused for only a moment before answering.
"I think maybe I prefer it that way." She straightened out her clothes and they passed by the family room as quietly as they could, where her parents were still talking to Dumbledore. She closed the door to her room was thrown to the bed by Harry. And as they peeled away clothes, breathing heavily, pausing for noises, as they both admitted this would be the first, as she gritted her teeth as pain crept up her insides, as they searched for a rhythm, Ginny gazed up into Harry's eyes and never looked away.
When Ginny woke up, an arm around her waist, suddenly familiar with the smell of sex, she noticed three letters on her desk. She slipped away from Harry and stuffed the letters in a drawer, just as a knock came at the door. "Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit." She shook Harry awake, yelling, "Just a second." They searched around desperately for somewhere he could hide. Finally deciding on the closet, she grabbed a robe, stuffed him inside, closing the door and threw the windows open, trying to stuff all of Harry's clothes under the bed, the door swung open. It was Bill.
"What are you in your knickers?" He asked. "Cause I've seen it all before Gin, and it ain't that exciting." Ginny stood up, boxers still in hand, she quickly stuffed them underneath her comforter and ran for Bill, hugging him, hard.
"How are you, Billy Boy? I've not seen you in what, a year?"
"Yeah, that's right. You've missed me?" He swung her around and kissed her face gently.
"My favorite brother right? It's kind of messy in here I just STUFF CLOTHES UNDER THE BED." She steered him out of the room and shut it loudly. "How have you been really? I can't believe what's happened." She sighed deeply. "What time is it?"
" Almost five."
"You're kidding me."
"I kid you not. You must have been really tired."
"Uh-huh. So seriously, what's up right now?"
"Not a lot. Severus was killed by Avada Kedavra, and a damn powerful spell. There's another thing, Gin. Dumbledore's here and he wants a copy of your fingerprints." Ginny froze suddenly. Bill stopped on the stairs and looked at her expression. "You okay there, kiddo? Look, no one thinks you did this, but they want to take every precaution in case of another case of possessing. Do you remember where you were last night?"
"I was just sleeping, I think!" She shook her head unhappily, had she remembered to wipe the fingerprints off the wand? She was unnerved to see Dumbledore and she shook a little. He was flipping through her sketchbook and her fists curled in anger. "That's personal!" She snatched it from his hands, and Bill looked thunderstruck.
"Gin, don't!" She didn't answer. "Sir, I'm really sorry."
"I have a feeling Ginny isn't completely herself. I'd like to talk to her in private for a moment." Bill left and closed the door. Dumbledore instantly faded away and a man with long black hair and slick little goatee took his place. "Ginny Weasley. I'm pleased to finally meet you. There is talk at headquarters about you."
"I don't know you." She said quietly.
"I know this." He stood and elegantly paced. "There is talk that you'll be queen." He grabbed her chin. "I have every hope that it fulfilled and every hope that the Death Eaters may show their queen their loyalty." She slapped him across the face.
"And I'll show you-"
"Now, Princess, let's not fight." He seemed to have taken the violence extremely well. "I've a message for you I think you'll like."
"Yeah?"
"Walk down to the village tomorrow and you'll meet someone who can help you with your little infatuation's preoccupation."
"What does that mean, where do I meet them?"
"I don't understand the messages, Princess, I just deliver them."
"Where's the real Dumbledore?" She asked, breathlessly.
"Well, he's in the kitchen with your parents. Soon they're going to figure out that there's been a little mistake and when they come back in you'll have been stunned." He pulled out his wand, a strange green color, and raised it high above her. There was a banging at the door.
"Hey! What're you-?"
"Stupefy!" Ginny slumped down, her head cracking on the coffee table. The man looked suddenly petrified, and apparated as the door slammed open and the real Dumbledore hurtled inside, picking Ginny up as her blood matted the carpet, leaking from her head.
"This'll be my head." Wormtail selected a card carefully from his hand and discarded it. It was a King of Spades. "Was she hurt?"
"I don't know," A sweet female voice intoned, plucking the King and setting down a two. "It's nothing that precious Dumbledore can't remedy, I'm so sure."
"And she won't recognize you? It's essential that she don't know our insiders until she's initiated and passing over information." Wormtail fumbled with a card and discarded it lazily. A Queen of Spades
"She's thinks that I'm a man, Peter. Don't worry your little, balding head." Wormtail looked up for a moment and paused. The woman, slightly hidden in shadows, smiled lusciously, and he was appeased. She picked up the queen and knocked. Wormtail flushed as she turned out a perfect Gin.
"Then I'd better go." He said gruffly, standing up. "If I'm going to help her with Lucius Malfoy. He must really care if he's going to all this trouble for her crush's father."
"Maybe he's going soft." She grabbed the cards in her pretty hands, pushing them together neatly. "Maybe there needs to be a change in the management."
"That talk is petty, and you know it. Probably better than I. No one can overthrow Voldemort." He shivered a little as he said the name and the woman's lip curled.
"Except maybe the little princess. If we got her on the side of a rebellion…"
"You'll rip us apart! How can we concentrate on the movement at hand if we start another within the heart of our society."
"Think of it, Wormtail. Think of what we could all offer. What I could offer." She touched under his chin, lightly.
"I have to go." He said again, apparating under her hands. She cursed slightly and sat down. She could corrupt Ginny Weasley and the Dark Lord would kill the little strawberry blonde wench. She, far more beautiful, more powerful could be queen.
"You sure you're okay to walk around after all that? I'm just not sure Ginny." Molly was wringing her hands.
"I just want to get out. This is my vacation, Mum. I don't think I'm in any danger that I can't handle on my own. I'll take my wand and you know that I'm quick and I can defend myself. I just didn't think that I needed my wand with Dumbledore, but even if you come up to me I'll rough you up a little until I'm sure you're really my Mum, okay?" Ginny let this all out in a long breath, and her mother smiled a little.
"Dumbledore told us that you really are an amazing dueler. I was so proud."
"Even if it got me a year of detention."
"You got appropriate consequences as far as I'm concerned, however, when you're in the Order of the Phoenix, though hopefully we'll have this nipped in the bud before next year," Molly said. Ginny rolled her eyes. "Well, we'll need someone like you around to help us."
"Thanks Mum, what's going on with the movement right now, anyway?" Molly paused, remembered that Dumbledore had instructed them not to speak too much to Ginny, just as precaution. All these close calls. Luckily, in all the excitement they had forgotten to fingerprint her, but even if she hadn't had something to do today, she would want to skip out in case Dumbledore remembered. "Mum?"
"Well, really nothing darling. We're preparing for the attack on Hogsmeade. Not telling the villagers because that might hurt our chances of catching anyone. If they think an attack is happening then they might just let the cat out of the bag and then word would get around and we would never have a chance to squash this bug."
"Yes, Mum."
"But we're putting everything forward. All of our troops in Hogsmeade, really duking it out." She looked pleased with herself. "We'll get them, don't you worry."
"I'm going to go now, okay?" Ginny stood up and ran to her room. She picked up the letters to look through them again, she had only glanced at them the night before. She started out the door and shook out the first one from Blaise.
Gin –
I hope this letter finds you well. Things have been kind of hectic here, I'm getting something like a million owls a day from everyone. You have to be super careful in keeping your nose clean. You might want to reconsider going to Azkaban like Draco had mentioned you might. But then again, Lucius Malfoy wouldn't be so bad on the Hogsmeade attack. About the Hogsmeade attack. I'm holding down the fort at Hogwarts, but I've got a couple worries about the attack. I'm pretty sure that they have wind of it, especially since Snape was a double agent (who would've known, huh?). Anyway, is there someway of keeping the attack on without targeting Hogsmeade? Some kind of trickery, aye? Yeah, I need something clever to write into headquarters and I need your help. Give me a little boost okay, you can't have credit for all your good ideas right?
Missing You Always,
Blaise
Ginny considered for a moment. Everyone in Hogsmeade. How could they possibly…? And then it hit her. All the power would be in Hogsmeade. If they sent a small artillery to distract the people in Hogsmeade, make them think that they were completely unprepared, while the bulk went out to Hogwarts.
Or even better, why not desert Hogsmeade until they come running to the castle and find that everyone was back on the Hogsmeade side of things? She prepared a small note mentally, throwing out a couple of ideas and accumulating a few more. She could write them on the way to Azkaban, and use Draco's eagle owl to mail them, later. She pulled open the next one, in the familiar spidery scrawl that she had seen more than her own in her first year. As usual he didn't specify to who it was addressed and he showed no discretion in the case of the letter being intercepted, but that was his way, that had always been his way.
I fear for the attack on Hogsmeade and the recent betrayal. You were quick to respond and quick to kill, which I appreciate. I do hate those who muddle about with torture when it is unnecessary. Quite fun, perhaps, but a dangerous sport when time is an issue. Now that that bumbling fool is out of the way (Snape, not Dumbledore, if only it were that bumbling fool we would be in the clear) I can reinstate someone in the position of the potions teacher. I have someone in mind that no one would ever possibly suspect, but I won't say the name here, because I don't want you to know, because I don't want that little blonde rat to know, meaning that everyone will know. But I suppose you'll figure it out when you go in on that lovely Monday and there will be nice smells in that dank dungeon and incense (disgusting) but following around with your new set of ideas, I'm letting things have a more feminine touch.
He was rambling. She hated when he rambled.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll see. I'd appreciate your input, I'm expecting an owl back from that little tart at Hogwarts. A brilliant mind. You know the one, you're her little advocate, oh she is so smart and you need women, don't abuse the women. Well, I've done my little bit and er-
Oh Merlin. She hated when he dictated to a Quick Quotes Quill even more.
Anyway, I gave someone a message to give to you, they'll be seeing you. You can go down anytime, anywhere and they'll find you. I suppose I could have just mailed the message to you in this letter, but isn't it fun never knowing when you'll get a little hand delivered telegram from someone. Oh and this someone is shape-shifter, so watch her wand, not her body. Tricky little blighter, with a little work in the Ministry, and Gringotts, but always wanted to be a teacher. So there you go. I've got to go have lunch with my subjects. Which is always a bore and my least favorite thing, but we might out to torture some Muggles or something later.
Ginny shook her head. Draco had told her, when she had showed him one of the odder letters that he sent out, that he dictated to a quill to save time, something Draco had seen him do once or twice before his father was put in jail. It explained a lot and showed something about the way he liked to move around constantly, something she had picked up on without ever actually meeting him. The third letter was in another familiar scrawl, but one that she saw every day and forged continuously when he was late in Quidditch practice and detention got too demanding to do everything he could. She recognized it as more neatly written than the notes he scrolled in study hours.
Gin, Do you still want to come? If you come by tomorrow, we'll be leaving in the afternoon and you can tell me if you got help. I don't know the time exactly, but I've got an idea of two so send me an owl or Floo to my house or whatever. The floo code isn't Malfoy Manor. It's Freesia Dandelion, my father figured that would be the last thing anyone would think of in the Malfoy Manor, so just come, alright? I really want you to help me and I really want to see you.
I love you,
Draco
Ginny had a guilty shiver, before stuffing the letter into her pocket. Her breath billowed out in fog, and she pretended, like she had when she was little girl, that she was smoking cigarettes like the models in the magazines her mother used to pick up. The ones that didn't move. She sashayed her hips and giggled a little, unsure of what she was doing. She was promised to the dark lord, but she had a boyfriend. She had a boyfriend, but she had just slept with his worst enemy, the person who should be her worst enemy. It was all very confusing.
She wasn't sure what she should do about Harry. It had been the right thing she was sure, almost sure. It took away the temptation of Draco a little, made it less forbidden to sleep with him, simply because she had already broken her unspoken vow to the Dark Lord and slept with someone. Whether she took that step tonight or when they returned to school, she wasn't sure. She knew, however, that he would need comfort tonight, above all, and she wasn't sure what form he wanted.
She also had to keep her parents from worrying, a hard thing when she would be spending the day breaking the most infamous prisoner out of Azkaban when she was supposed to be strolling the village. It would have huge coverage, and so she would need an alibi. She knew someone who would probably give it to her, if she asked, and blackmailed a little. A little more assured, and approaching the village, she skidded down the little path and had to stifle a shriek as Wormtail jumped out of the bushes.
"I've got a Portkey here, you can go to Malfoy Manor. It'll respond to your touch and then you can go."
"Aren't you coming with?" She asked. "I need help."
"Oh, right." Wormtail slapped his forehead. "Polyjuice Potion." He handed her two vials.
"What for?"
"You'll take the shape of Lucius and Lucius will take your shape and leave."
"How do I leave?" Ginny asked desperately.
"The Death Eaters will swoop down and carry you away, but you'll be home in bed." Wormtail explained, checking the instructions he seemed to have clutched in his fist. "All this is for is giving you an alibi, otherwise we would do it just a good ol' attack on Azkaban, which we've been planning for awhile."
"Have you? Are there a lot of plans that just aren't going through?" Ginny asked quizzically, Wormtail blanched.
"No, not at all. There are just some things that slip down the list, milady."
"Don't." She said sharply. "How do I know that Lucius won't kill all of my family members in their sleep?"
"He'll be under the Imperius until he's returned home for good. That way he'll remember to take his potion and everything." He flipped open a box from his pocket that contained a smooth, metal ball. It gleamed a little as Ginny slipped the vials into her purse and held out her hand. The ball slipped into her hand vibrating, as she felt a strong pull behind her navel and she was carried away, worries and fears rocketing alongside.
Thank Yous! I've been really pleased with the reviews that I've been getting. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to Leuca, Oceanbleu89, moony-blues, Wizzabee, Miss Melancholy, aurora59, Jessica, glaurificus
Now to those of you who asked questions. Here you go:
Keita: Thanks for all the reviews, you're a goddess
C.L. Rhodes : Thanks for the advice. I'll try and fix the story up a little bit, add a little bit more clarity
Skotos: I hate most portrayals of Draco in fics too, he certainly acts evil in the books and like he wants to follow in his father's footsteps. Thanks for the review.
Killtheposeurs: Toast! (Holds up peach pie filling)
Tonia Barone: hope you enjoy these little changes. And the pairings and everything have a huge thing to do with the dynamic of the story. You will see.
Aurora Noctifer: Glad you like the story. I've always hated the way that the whole Slytherin group seems to resolve around making everyone's life miserable instead of working together towards a common goal, which seems more logical. There common goal is a little iffy, but there you go.