Chapter 6- Mors Animus
A/N: Apologies for the long delay, but Professor Reallife has this nasty habit of grabbing me by the ear and leading me into detention and other places I'd rather not go. Fortunately, I'm now free of my captivity and able to write again. Sorry it took so long and you guys have been awesome! Thanks for the wonderful reviews :)
Also, many thanks to my beta Falling Damps who's really helped keep me on track and has proved invaluable. I wouldn't have gotten this far without her.
After breakfast, Ginny headed off to a double class of Potions with Slughorn. Today they were working on a Blood-Replenishing Potion and Slughorn made a circuit of the room, looking over each students shoulder to see how they were progressing. Her lab partner, Christian, showed neither a wealth of skill with potions or an overabundance of intelligence and most of Ginny's time was monopolized with explaining to him what they were supposed to be doing. So when Slughorn came around to their desk, neither one were even halfway done with their project.
"Mister Tess, what do you have here," Slughorn asked, leaning over Christian's shoulder to look in his cauldron. "Is that servae root?"
"Uh…," Christian looked over at Ginny and when she nodded her head minutely answered that it was.
"Hmm… clever. But you'll need to hurry up if you want to get full credit," he said off-handedly and looked in Ginny's bowl. "Interesting. Servae root."
Slughorn chuckled quietly and Ginny strained to hear if he muttered anything while making notes on his board.
"Miss Weasley, whatever did you do to your hand?"
Ginny growled as she pulled her hand under the table to try and draw less attention to herself. She hadn't yet found a way to restore the natural color to her hand rather than the disgusting green color that Alek had turned it into.
"A prank, Professor Slughorn."
"Well, shame shame. I trust you've tried the Finite spell?"
"Yes Professor. It turned it blue for an hour."
"Mm-hm," he said and Ginny turned to look of her shoulder. By his tone, she could've sworn that he was amused and she found her suspicion confirmed by the smirk on his face and the twinkle in his eye. She sighed and went back to her work as the Potions teacher continued his circuit around the room. By the time he got back around to the front, class time was up and everyone had to turn in their potions. Pouring her concoction into a phial and putting a stopper in it, Ginny was one of the last to make her way to the front and when she turned hers in, Professor Slughorn asked her to stay a moment.
"Miss Weasley, " Slughorn began as the last of the students filed out. "Tomorrow night I'm having a first meeting of the Slug Club just after dinner. If you would like to bring a friend, I'd be delighted if you would attend. And perhaps… by that time I could have a potion prepared that could take care of your little… problem," Slughorn said with a smile that nearly disappeared under his silvery moustache.
"That would be nice, Professor," Ginny said through a forced smile and quickly exited the room. She remembered Slughorn's parties from the past couple years and it was still a mystery to her as to why Sluggie kept bringing her along. At first, she had figured it was because she had been with Harry at the Department of Mysteries two years ago, but now Harry was gone and she was still part of the Slug Club. But then again, Slughorn had always been something of a mystery to her. He certainly wasn't what she thought of when she pictured the stereotypical Slytherin.
As Ginny headed up the stairs, she passed Christian talking to a group of second years who were hanging on his every word. She chuckled, remembering how when she was their age so many of her friends were fascinated by the older students. The seventh year boys just seemed so much mature and wiser than the ones in their year. The boy could've told them that the world was actually shaped like a pear and they might've believed him if he told them they'd read about it in class when they were his age. But for Ginny, there was only one older boy that she truly listened to and the only one that she believed when he told her something too fantastic to be believed.
She just waved at her lab partner when he nodded to her as she passed them on the stairs and heard the sounds of laughter and chatter as she headed towards the Great Hall for lunch. As she stepped into the room, she stopped suddenly, almost as if struck. All this school year, she had been walking about in a sort of haze. Making the motions of going to class and doing the things a dutiful seventh year student should do, while the whole time it just felt like she was killing time. Waiting for something to happen. Time was something she had become painfully aware of since the end of the war. It seemed not to fly as it did when she was young. It crawled. She was no longer the little girl with bright eyes and a mind filled with wonder at what the world held. She was older and wiser. That last little bit of childhood innocence had started bleeding away when Voldemort took hold of her and it died when he did.
When she stood here now, looking at the small first years that joked and smiled and showed that innocence she once possessed, Ginny couldn't help but feel a bit envious of them and protective. They had the privilege of getting to grow up in a world without knowing fear. The time they spent here at school could be spent in having fun with their friends and learning spells to help them in a career. Rather than spells to save their lives one day. Their life wouldn't be rushed, but spent as a childhood should- with laughter and love, not lamentation and loss.
Ginny smiled at Heather and headed that way, but stopped and headed over to the Hufflepuff table.
"Hey," Ginny said and Alek turned to look at her warily.
"Uh… hey."
"I was just invited to Slughorn's Slug Club and he said I could bring a friend, so I thought I'd see if you'd like to go. I should be… fun," she said with a sweet smile. This immediately put Alek on alert as she figured it would. She figured he must be thinking that she was plotting some serious payback for the prank this morning. And while she was, she wasn't going to be so obvious as to do it the same day. Oh no. She would wait until her prey had dropped his defenses and thought there would be no reprisals. Ginny knew she was correct about Alek as he eyed her suspiciously, trying to work out what she was up to.
"Shhhh-ure," he drew out the word and a small smile crept onto his face. Ginny grinned and patted him on the back before walking away. She glanced over her shoulder as she headed to her table and saw Alek turning to see if she had put something on his back.
"By Merlin, this is going to be TOO easy," she muttered to herself with a big grin and took a seat at Heather's side.
"Heather? Were we that small when we started school here," Ginny asked, drawing her dormmate's attention to the first years.
"Nah. I know I was about twice as tall as Sebastian when I was his age. But don't tell Sebastian that," she said in a stage whisper. "Boys are so fragile."
Chuckling, Ginny stabbed her fork into the haggis and took a bite.
"How's Alek turning out?"
"He seems like a good kid," she replied, after washing her food down with some pumpkin juice. "At least he's got a sense of humor."
Heather chuckled softly and Ginny saw her friend glancing at the discolored hand.
"Shut up," Ginny muttered good-naturedly and her dormmate laughed out loud now.
"And how do things look on the boyfriend front? Any sparkage with a dark-haired Ravenclaw? As in… Baroun?"
Ginny rolled her eyes and took another bite of her food before answering.
"I'm not interested in boys right now, Heather."
Her friend frowned and put her fork down, looking uncharacteristically serious.
"Ginny… Harry's not coming back…."
"Drop it," Ginny said severely and glared at her friend. Taken aback, Heather picked up her fork and the rest of the meal was spent in a tense silence.
After lunch, Ginny had Defense against the Dark Arts with Professor Doge and then went on to Muggle Studies where she and Heather ended up sitting next to each other without talking. A first for Heather.
When they headed down to the Great Hall for dinner together, but uncharacteristically distant, Ginny was surprised to receive a visit from Pig. The owl landed on the table in front of her, pecking at her finger insistently.
"Pig! Stop. I'm getting the bloody letter," she swore and untied the letter from the owl's leg.
Ginny,
Hermione has come to the Burrow and is requesting that you return home as soon as possible. I have already spoken with Minerva and she has granted you permission to use her access to the Floo network. Hurry home dear.
Love,
Mum
Ginny looked up at the teacher's table and seeing that McGonagall wasn't there, she headed up to the headmistress' office. McGonagall called out for the student to enter and let Ginny use the Floo without further ado. Ginny sped home and found her parents, Fred, and Hermione in the living room.
"Ginny dear, come sit down," her mother said and patted a spot on the sofa next to her. Looking at her parents, Ginny could tell that by their somber expressions and the heaviness in the air that Hermione had already informed them about why the Hogwarts alumni was here. She frowned and sat down, leaning against her mom as Mrs. Weasley put an arm around her daughter.
"Okay," Hermione began, standing in the middle of the room, pacing and ringing her hands. "I think I know of a way that we can help Ron."
"What? How?" Ginny inquired moving forward, but relented to her mother trying to ease her back into the cushions and relax.
"Well, there's a spell… well, let me start at the beginning," Hermione said and anxiously ran a hand through her hair.
"Someone tore out the story of Icarus from Bulfinch's mythology and slipped it under my door. When I got over the initial shock and anger at someone violating a book like that, I actually read the story and it gave me an idea. The story of Icarus is largely regarded as a metaphor for a social fall. I thought… maybe what must be done is to…," Hermione paused and cleared her throat. "Look, the fact that Ron is still in a coma is due to a spell that is feeding off his magical ability. The spell is keeping his consciousness subdued. What needs to be done is… deny the spell its food source."
"How do we do that?" Mrs. Weasley asked and Ginny swallowed nervously. Afraid she already knew the answer.
"There were some very powerful spells in the journal of Rowena Ravenclaw. One of those was the Mors Animus spell. It's the spell that the Ministry used to destroy the dementors. On a wizard… it would… s-strip them of their ability to perform magic," Hermione replied soberly. "Instead of a wizard, they'd become, essentially, a squib. A social fall," she whispered.
"NO!" Ginny cried, standing up and breaking away from her mother's grip. "How could you even think of doing such a thing!"
"I have talked with the mediwizards, Ginny. The spell that is on him is preventing magic from healing him. It has also proven to be resistant to all attempts to dispel it. There's no…."
"But you said it was the Cruciatus!"
"I… thought it was. I don't know. I was busy fighting for my life at the time, Ginny! It looked like the Cruciatus. But… what's affecting Ron is some sort of Dark magic that the mediwizards can't identify. Presumably something that either Lucius Malfoy created himself or maybe Voldemort created and taught to Malfoy… I don't know. Unfortunately, the secret of that spell is locked away with Malfoy in Azkaban."
"Then the Ministry can make a deal with him," Ginny said and looked to her father for support. Her resolve weakened when she saw the defeated look on his face.
"Even if the Ministry was willing to make a deal with a Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy would never give up the secret of that spell if it meant… helping us," Mr. Weasley said quietly, his face grim and Ginny didn't like where this conversation was going.
"What happens if we don't strip his magic?" Fred asked, speaking up for the first time.
"Then, most likely nothing. Ron will continue to stay in a coma and the mediwizards will have to continue performing the spells to prevent the atrophy of his muscles. He'll never… he'll never wake up. But it doesn't have to be…."
"Hermione, we'll have to think about this," Mr. Weasley interrupted.
"But it doesn't have to be…."
"Hermione! Thank you," Mr. Weasley said firmly and Ron's parents left to speak in private.
Neither Ginny nor Fred heard Hermione's last comment before Hermione apparated away, but the Weasley family soon found out what she meant when an owl arrived from St. Mungos an hour.
"Mom!"
Her parents re-entered the room and Mrs. Weasley scowled at her daughter for yelling clear across the house until Ginny thrust the letter into her hands.
"Oh dear."
The family immediately apparated to the hospital and made their way up to the fourth floor. Ginny was the first into the room and she saw a very worried Ron who was fighting with the nurses to get out of bed.
"I have to see her! Where's 'Mione?"
"Ron!" Ginny shrieked and threw her arms around her brother's chest, crying into his chest. The nurses threw up their hands in relief.
"Thank goodness! Perhaps you can keep our patient from bolting," one of the nurses said to Mrs. Weasley.
"Let me go," Ron said, pushing away a very hurt-looking Ginny. "Where's Hermione? What did she do?"
"Do? What did…?" Mrs. Weasley shook her head, looking at the nurses.
A particularly grim-visaged nurse took Mrs. Weasley's arm and directed the parents out into the hall to speak while Ginny and Fred stayed with Ron.
"Ron, breathe," Ginny instructed. "You're looking a little red in the kipper."
Ron turned his attention to his little sister and Ginny realized she had never seen him looking this scared.
"Ginny, what did she do?"
"I don't… I don't know," Ginny said and then her eyes went wide. "She didn't!"
Fred's eyes also went wide as the same thought occurred to him.
"Didn't do what!"
"H-Hermione was talking about a spell. The, uh, Mors Animus spell that would… get rid of the magic that was keeping you in a coma, but it would take away your ability to work magic."
Ron was still red in the face and grabbed Ginny's wand from her side. He pointed it at the chair and chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa."
The two siblings watched in wonder as the chair lifted up off the floor and then crashed back down.
"That's not it, Ginny! WHAT DID SHE DO! She… she looked so… pale…."
Ginny was shocked and a complete loss now. She didn't have to answer as their parents came back into the room. Mr. Weasley was positively ashen and Mrs. Weasley had tears streaming down her cheeks. Their mother came over to the bedside and took Ron's hand, patting it lovingly.
"She c-cured you Ron. She l-loves you v-very much," Mrs. Weasley broke out into an almost wail and fell into her husband's arms.
"What did she do?" Ron asked again, getting really sick of sounding like a broken record.
Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and stroked his wife's back.
"Hermione found a way to draw that effect that was feeding off your magical essence into herself. She then collapsed as the spell started to work on her," he said so softly that Ginny had to strain to hear what he was saying.
"Hermione told us about an ancient magic spell. The Mors Animus…."
"Yes! Ginny mentioned it. What about it? What's wrong with Hermione?"
"She's… she's okay now. She gave up her ability to work magic to destroy the spell that was inside her."
Ron's eyes widened and Ginny gasped. As long as Ginny had known the older girl, Hermione had loved magic. She loved the theory of it. She loved the history of it. She loved being able to use it. Now, she had given it up.
"She… gave it up for me," Ron whispered and no one answered. They didn't have to.
Ginny got permission from McGonagall to stay at the hospital for an extended weekend, getting out of classes on Friday. Saturday morning, she was sitting in the chair at Ron's bedside and laughing softly with her brother's Bill and Charlie who had showed up yesterday after their dad sent an owl saying that Ron was awake. When they found out what Hermione had sacrificed for Ron, Bill joked that Ron should marry that woman. They all grew quiet when Ron's eyes widened and they turned to see Hermione in the doorway, smiling at them and looking… vulnerable.
"Why don't we give them a moment alone," Ginny said, grabbing Bill's and Charlie's hands and dragging them out of the room. When Fred didn't follow them out, Ginny stuck her head back in the room.
"You too git!"
He smiled and shuffled his feet as he left the room and closed the door behind him.
"Wow," Charlie said and shook his head.
"I'll see your 'Wow' and raise," Bill said and smiled slightly. The other three just looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "What? Didn't you guys learn anything in Muggle Studies? I learned how to play poker."
Charlie shook his head and looked at Ginny.
"So, runt, anything interesting happening at school?" Charlie asked as an attempt to change the mood. Ginny thought about going with the flow and lying, saying that things were frightfully dull, but the idea of confiding in her brothers about the prophecy and the Falcons took hold and Ginny went with it.
"Yeah. There is," she said and told them everything. As she was finishing up the story, the door opened and Hermione smiled at the collected family.
"Ginny? Ron wants to talk to you."
Ginny nodded and started to move to the room but Bill caught her arm.
"We'll talk about this when you get back out," he said and Ginny nodded. She stepped into the room and Hermione closed the door behind her. Ginny turned and pulled Hermione into a hug as the other girl ran her hand over the long braid Ginny had her hair done up in.
"I like what you've done with your hair," Hermione said as they parted.
"Thank you for what you did…," Ginny started and found that she couldn't finish, suddenly getting choked up and tears welled in her eyes. Hermione just nodded and let go of her friends' hands as she directed the younger girl up to the bed and bring Ginny's attention to her brother.
"How are you Ron?"
"You do realize that's the third time today you've asked me that, right? Like… today?"
Ginny blushed slightly and gently punched her brother's arm.
"Ow! Ow, still wounded here!"
"You are not," Hermione mumbled and shook her head at her hopeless boyfriend. Ron smiled and Ginny took his hand in hers. Running her thumb over his knuckles and her eyes wetting again as she felt his hand responding beneath hers, as it hadn't done for the past few months.
"Look, Ginny, before we left the castle, Harry told me that he wanted you to have his place in case… anything happened to him. We used it as a base of operations while doing research in the library at Hogwarts or going through Dumbledore's private library."
Ginny's eyebrows raised and her eyes widened in surprise and Ron chuckled.
"Yeah. McGonagall allowed us access to his stuff and the restricted section in the library. I thought Madam Pince was going to go mental when she found out. We kinda hoped that we'd find something about the horcruxes that Dumbledore hadn't had time to share. Maybe a book or something, but there was nothing. Anyways, it's Number 10, Warwick Avenue, London. He said that anything in there is yours and… that the, uh, password was…," Ron mumbled something and his ears turned red.
"What? You'll have to repeat that," she said impatiently.
"The password to release the spell on his trunks was… was… somethinghesaidtoyouinbed!"
Hermione snorted and Ginny's ears turned as red as Ron's as she figured out what he was saying.
"Oh."
"I don't want to know," Ron said, holding up his hands and shaking his head. "I swear I think Harry was trying to kill me when he said that. Or get me to kill him! I don't want to know. What I DO want to know is when the bloody hell I'm getting out of here!" Ron said, looking over at the still smiling Hermione.
"Soon," his girlfriend replied. "Your parents are talking with the mediwizards now to see about letting you come back to the Burrow."
"Oh, okay," Ron said, slumping back on the bed. "And where is George? I figured he was taking care of the shop while Fred was here, but I thought he'd drop by at least once. I didn't do something to piss him off, did I?"
The smile disappeared from Hermione's face and Ginny's previous good mood suddenly evaporated. She really thought that she had gotten over the loss. That with time she would feel it less when someone mentioned his name and reminded her of what happened. That's what everyone has told her at least. So far, it seemed like a lie. The pain would never go away.
"He… George was with the Order of the Phoenix when they got us into the caves. While we went after Voldemort and his closest cronies, they fought at the mouth of the cave against his other Death Eaters," Hermione explained and Ginny was grateful for it. She didn't have the heart to tell the story. "While we fought against Lucius Malfoy, Lestrange and Pettigrew, the twins managed to slip in and came to back us up. That's when Malfoy hit you with… whatever spell it was. George moved to help you while Fred covered for him and Pettigrew took advantage of George's split attention. Pettigrew killed him."
Ron paled and his hand tightened around Ginny's, almost to the point of crushing it. Ginny winced and tried to pull away.
"Ron," she gritted out and he looked down at where her finger was becoming red.
"Sorry," he muttered and ran his hands through his hair. He then swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. "I want to go home."
"Ron, just calm down," Hermione said, quickly closing the distance between them and laying her hands on his chest. "The war is over. Voldemort is gone. Pettigrew… is gone."
Ginny bit on her lip. While she knew that Peter Pettigrew had escaped, he had abandoned his lord to save his own skin, she knew that Ron would take his being 'gone' in the sense that Hermione intended it. That he was no longer a threat. And while this was more or less true, Ron would probably assume that he was dead. But given the look on his face and the state he was in, that little lie was probably for the best. It was something that right now Ron wasn't ready to handle. She didn't really think Hermione should have told him the truth about George, but she knew her brother well enough that he would have pressed them for the truth until they gave it up. The youngest Weasley sighed and moved over to help Hermione with pushing Ron back into bed.
"She's right, Ron. You still need your rest. There's nothing to be done now," she said and between the two of them, Ron let himself be placed back in bed and covered with the sheet. Hermione moved to the bedside and quietly started talking to Ron. Feeling like a third wheel all of a sudden, Ginny quietly let herself out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"How are they?" Charlie asked.
"Fine. I'll catch up with you guys later. There's someplace I need to be," Ginny said and started to leave before Bill grabbed her arm again.
"Hey, we need to talk about this Order and the prophecy."
"We will. How long will you boys be home?"
"Rest of the week," Bill answered and Charlie nodded. Ginny smiled and gave them both a hug.
"Then I'll see about stopping by one night this week."
"Ginny," Charlie began, in a fair imitation of Percy. "you know that it's against the rules to leave the school unless it's on a school trip."
"Hey, I'm a teenager, right? I guess I have to rebel every now and then," she said with an impish smile.
Fred mock sniffled and wiped away an imaginary tear.
"Our little girl is all grown up."
Ginny smiled and swatted at Fred's arm, really needing the brief playfulness her brother's could provide in order to alleviate the heaviness that had set in shortly after stepping into that room. She had been fortunate in not having to spend a whole lot of her youth in the hospital rooms at St. Mungo's or at Hogwarts. Most of her time was brief in that she visited Ron when he was hurt by Sirius in her second year, or Harry when he had been hurt… just about every year. The hospital rooms always felt almost… repressive in their atmosphere. Attempts were made to cheer up the rooms with bright colors, flowers and colorful decorations, but they couldn't hide the fact that in those hospitals many people lay in beds dying or waiting for death to take them. Some, like Neville's parents, would most likely spend the rest of their lives in those rooms. Some, like Hermione, would have their life irrevocably altered in one.
Determined to leave this all behind her, Ginny gave each brother another hug before leaving the hospital and apparating to the address Ron had given her.