In just a few hours, Ginny was brought up to speed on the development of relationships over the course of the summer. Her dorm mate Lavinia Latium had started seeing Colin Creevey during the summer and told the girls all about their first "explosive" date. Turns out that they had Apparated to Florean Fortescue's to get some ice cream. Most of the Wizarding world was still celebrating the defeat of Voldemort and fireworks from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes were going off almost nonstop. While they were eating the newest flavor of ice cream at one of the smaller tables, a firework came zipping in through the open door. It exploded in the middle of the ice cream, sending chunks of every flavor flying around the room. The girls laughed until they cried at Lavinia's description of Colin pulling chilly globs of the Cool Ghoul flavor out of his hair. When they finally subsided into chuckling instead of outright laughing, they heard a noise at the window. Heather opened it, and Pig flew in. Ginny smiled as Ron's old owl landed on the bed beside her, and Ginny took the letter from Pig's leg. Unrolling the letter, Ginny read Hermione's tidy handwriting.
Ginny,
I fully know how you feel about classes! This is an exciting year for you at Hogwarts! N.E.W.T. year is one of the most challenging and I really regret that I missed mine due to the war with his ugliness, the Dark Lord Muck.
Ginny snickered at Hermione's play on Voldemort's title. And realized that it was fitting, since Lord Muck was the depreciatory name for a pompous conceited man.
Classes here are good. (And it's Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, not Ox College, Ginny.) I'm taking 21 hours and hoping to finish my degree in three years. Then, hopefully I'll have enough understanding of Muggle science to be able to come up with some spell that will help Ronald. It's very different being in a school where I have to hide my magical abilities. It's been a very illuminating couple of weeks, but I look forward to returning to the Wizarding world.
I plan on coming home for the Christmas holidays, and I'm hoping that maybe I can spend a week or so at the Burrow before coming back to Oxford. I miss you too and hope that I'll get to see you at the break.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
Hermione.
Starting to write a reply, Ginny looked up when there was a knock at the door. Lavinia went to get it and Ginny heard a soft voice call her name. Ginny turned and looked at the door, seeing a small second-year girl there, looking at her with wide eyes.
"Yes?"
"Uh… P-professor McGonagall wants… to see you. She said the password is… the same as it was at the end of last year."
"Thanks," Ginny replied and shook her head as the young girl stared at her for a minute longer before scampering off.
"That was weird," Ginny muttered and stuffed the letter from Hermione in her desk to reply to later.
"What? Her fascination with a celebrity?"
Ginny snorted and made a dismissive motion with her hand.
"Psh. Whatever. It's not like I'm the Boy-Who-Lived. I'm just the girl that… snogged the Boy-Who-Lived."
"Exactly," Heather said with a knowing smile. While Heather knew that Ginny and Harry had done more than just snogging, their dorm mates didn't. "I'll let you in on a secret here, Ginny. Coming from a Muggle family, I've seen some similarities between Muggles and wizards. Especially when it comes to celebrities. Muggles tend to believe that if you can, uh… rub up against a celebrity, so to speak, then some of that fame will rub off on you. Well, wizards kinda think the same way. And sometimes it's true. I mean, I'VE known since first year that you've always loved Harry Potter, but then a couple years ago the whole school found out that the feelings were mutual. You became the Girl-That-Harry-Potter-Loved. You're a celebrity now, yourself."
Ginny shook her head and frowned at her dorm mate.
"Just what I always wanted," Ginny muttered with a hint of annoyance and pulled her school robes back on to visit the Headmistress. Ginny passed through the Common Room with a wave to Colin and headed to McGonagall's office. Without running into any students or teachers, Ginny soon found herself in front of the stone gargoyle that hid the stairs up to the Headmistress' office. Ginny cleared her throat and spoke the password.
"Paracelsus," she said, and the gargoyle jumped aside, the wall split open, and Ginny ascended the moving stone stairs. When she came up to the door to the office, Ginny lifted the griffin knocker and dropped it against the brass plate twice.
"Enter," summoned the Headmistress' curt voice. Ginny stepped into the office and found that it had greatly changed since Dumbledore's death, and even from last year as McGonagall had finally moved all her belongings into the office. While the portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses as well as the Sorting Hat remained, all of the odd little trinkets that belonged to Dumbledore were gone. In their place were a number of moving pictures of various former students on the Quidditch pitch performing unbelievable moves. Ginny noted, with a smile, that more than half of them were pictures of Gryffindors. Her smile faded slightly when she saw about half of those were pictures of Harry.
Taking a seat in front of McGonagall's black walnut desk with lyre-shaped legs and decorative floral iron stretchers, Ginny noticed an odd smell and looked around. She noticed a small box, looking more like some kind of tray, which was half-full of gray and white pebbles. Ginny was looking at it oddly and it suddenly dawned on her that she had seen Hermione create one of these for Crookshanks whenever she stayed over at the Burrow. She started to giggle at the sight of the Headmistress's kitty litter box until McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Something funny, Miss Weasley?"
"No, Professor," Ginny said with a straight, innocent face. "I, uh, I guess you wanted to see me about what happened on the train?"
"Indeed," McGonagall said, as the previously amused glint in her eye quickly disappeared and left Ginny wondering whether or not she had actually seen it. Certainly McGonagall didn't do something as… eccentric as use the kitty litter box when she was in her cat form. The Headmistress' words cut into Ginny's musings.
"I would like you to tell me what happened."
"Uh… I got to King's Cross with my parents and Fred about fifteen minutes before time to leave. The boy… who was killed… he was at the station and trying to find his way onto nine and three-quarters. My mother helped him out, and I boarded the train. After a while, the boy came to my compartment, saying that there wasn't any room anywhere else. Which, by the way, was a lie. So he was wanting to get a room with me for some reason, but anyways, I, uh, hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and so I ended up falling asleep on the train. When I woke up, I found that a silencing charm had been placed on the room and the boy was dead. I think he was hit by the Killing Curse."
McGonagall nodded and looked at Ginny shrewdly.
"Anything else?"
"No, ma'am," Ginny said, her hand unconsciously slipping inside her robe to rest on the parchment in her pocket. McGonagall held Ginny's gaze for a moment longer before nodding her head.
"Very well then. Get yourself off to bed."
Ginny nodded and went to the door. As her hand reached out, she was turned back by McGonagall's voice.
"I… never had the chance to say I was… sorry. About Mr. Potter. I understand that the two of you were…" McGonagall paused to clear her throat. "Close."
Nodding, Ginny took her hand away from the doorknob.
"You were in love?" McGonagall asked, and Ginny's brow furrowed. This was the first time Ginny had ever heard of the Headmistress speaking to a student of such things and on a level wholly different from a teacher speaking with a student. She sounded more like a concerned friend, attempting to comfort another. It brought a slight smile to Ginny's face.
"Do you… believe in love at first sight?"
McGonagall's eyes widened slightly, and a soft smile banished the perpetual frown that seemed to be permanently etched onto her face.
"I believe… that… such a thing is incredibly rare," McGonagall replied diplomatically.
"I knew I loved Harry from the first time I saw him. I loved him before I knew who he was, before I saw the mark on his forehead. Then over the years as I saw his courage… as I saw how he stood brave against the most terrible wizard of all time… I just loved him even more. I always have and I always will," she finished with a whisper and then looked back up at McGonagall to smile weakly. The Headmistress nodded at her student sadly and made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle. Ginny wiped the corner of her eye and opened the door to the office to leave. Just before stepping out, she remembered something she wanted to ask.
"Professor? Who was the boy?"
"Ah… Jeremy Trelawney."
Ginny blanched slightly, and her hand touched the parchment in her robes.
"So… he was a Seer."
"Pardon?"
"Oh, uh, was he related to Professor Trelawney?"
"Her son. It's… I've written to Sibyll to notify her, but after she left when… Albus…" McGonagall cleared her throat and looked at Ginny. "Well, she's hard to get in touch with."
Ginny nodded and said goodnight to her Headmistress before leaving the office and returning to her room.
The next morning during breakfast, Ginny looked over her new class schedule and scowled. Heather leaned over her shoulder to look at Ginny's schedule.
"Hey, that's not so bad. Look, we've got Divination and Muggle Studies together."
Nodding, Ginny took a sip from her pumpkin juice, hardly hearing what her friend was saying. A moment later, Ginny felt Heather's hand grip her arm.
"Ginny! Don't look now, but Donninc Baroun is checking you out."
Ginny chuckled slightly and didn't look. She really didn't care about Donninc's Baroun's interest in her.
"Oh! He's coming this way," Heather said quickly and then tried to look nonchalant. Smirking, Ginny shook her head at her dorm mate's enthusiasm. Donninc was a Ravenclaw from the Baroun wizard family that dated back to 10th century England. He was a seventh year like the two of them, and rumor had it that he already had a position lined up with the Department of Mysteries once he graduated. Add to that the fact that he was quite the cutie, and Ginny could see how most the girls in the school fancied him. But Ginny didn't. To her, he was just another boy.
"Hey, Ginny. Could I have a word with you?"
Turning, Ginny saw Donninc standing behind her, a slightly haunted look to his eyes. Ginny started to say she had to get to class when she felt Heather elbow her in the ribs. Ginny snorted and nodded her head, following Donninc out of the Hall and into the Charms class.
"Uhm… Ginny, McGonagall told me that you were sharing the compartment where my… cousin was… killed. Did you… see anything?"
"Your cousin?" Ginny looked at him in surprise. She never realized that Trelawney was related to the prestigious Baroun family.
"Yeah," Donninc smiled sadly. "My mom's sister. We don't… well, when your aunt is a kook with a drinking problem you generally don't advertise your relationship. Plus, Aunt Sibyll never really wanted to have anything to do with us. Claimed that we never had the Sight," Donninc made a dismissive gesture and chuckled.
Clearing her throat, Ginny told Donninc the same thing she'd told Doge and McGonagall. Donninc sank into a chair and shook his head.
"You didn't… see anyone?"
Ginny shook her head sadly.
"Did he… have anything with him? Anything that…?"
Ginny frowned and quickly debated whether or not she could confide in him. He was the boy's cousin. He was related to a Seer. Maybe he could help. Ginny sighed and pulled the parchment out of her pocket. Without speaking, she handed the parchment over to Donninc. His brow furrowed, and he unfolded the page, reading what was written on it. The Ravenclaw took in a sharp breath and cleared his throat.
"Do you… know what this is?" he asked and saw Ginny shake her head. "It's one of many prophecies written down by Midas of Phrygia when he imprisoned, by means of copious wine, the satyr Silenus in his palace. Silenus, the adviser and instructor of Dionysus, was known to speak secrets into the ear of his captor with sufficient libation, and Midas wrote down these secrets into what became known as the Writings of Silenus. It is believed, by those who have studied his prophecies, that the future of the Wizarding community can be divined with a proper understanding of his words. Silenus foresaw the rise and fall of Grindelwald as well as the defeat of Voldemort. Silenus was… a true Seer," Donninc finished in a sort of awe. Ginny reached out and took the parchment from him, looking down at the writing and then back up at Donninc.
"But what does it MEAN? Am I the seventh? Is Harry the Sun? What is this temple? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?"
Donninc smiled and laid a calming hand on her shoulder.
"These are questions that we've been trying to answer for years, Ginny. I can't claim to have all the answers, but I'll help you any way I can."
"We?"
Holding up his left hand, which had a couple rings on it, Donninc smiled. One, Ginny recognized as the symbol of the Baroun family. The other was a gold band with an amethyst stone on it. Set into the stone was a gold falcon in flight.
"This is the symbol of the Hermetic Order of the Falcons. For… millennia, we have gathered and studied the words of Silenus at Midas' hand. Our collection is the most thorough throughout the wizarding world."
Donninc stopped as the door opened, and students started to file in for Charms class.
"I've got to go now. But Ginny," Donninc stepped closer so he wouldn't be overheard. "The Order's resources will be behind you. We'll help you find Harry," he said and squeezed her shoulder before leaving the classroom. Ginny herself was left with even more questions than she had woken up with this morning.