Disclaimer: Harry Potter, associated characters from the seven books and the wizarding world come from the amazing imagination J.K. Rowling. They are owned by JK Rowling and the WB.

Chapter 5 – Relaxing Reminiscing

The room was silent but for the sound of gently running water as the large marble bath filled with multi-coloured bubbles. Fragrant steam wafted in the air and seemed to swirl around the only occupant. She sat down on the side her fingers swept through the bubbles and skimmed over the water testing the temperature. She turned off the taps and a few moments later slid into the water. Sighing contentedly she released the clip that held back her hair and scarlet tresses flowed over the white marble. Ginny Weasley smiled inwardly as she felt her muscles start to relax. It had been a long time since she had a proper bath.

The werewolf camps to which she had been traveling too were not exactly the lap of luxury. As she lifted her leg and picked up the razor she had put on the cool stone beside her she pondered the last three months. Hermione had discovered a new potion for Lycanthropy. It did not cure the problem but it was almost the next best thing. It offered the infected witch or wizard regular control during the change. They would still transform but the bloodlust was now all but removed. The timing could not have been better as there had been several outbursts of dissention in various world wide camps. Remus Lupin was a natural choice to go to the camps and talk with the infected people about the potion, however the International Ministries were not to keen on a new werewolf having free reign in their country and had insisted an Auror join him. The British Ministry had done one better and had sent not only a trained Auror, though she had not followed through with the career, but one of the Symbols of Hope. Ginny cringed slightly at the name as she changed legs. After the fall of Voldemort the name had been thrust upon the five remaining members of the small Hogwarts group that had fought against Voldemort and the hierarchy of the Death Eaters. For some reason Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna had seemed to be able to shed the title shortly after. After all they had not been the youngest and had not had 'the vision' so they had not really been thrust into the Ministry's limelight. It was not something she had enjoyed and if Remus had not asked her personally she might have told the Ministry where they could shove this task of theirs.

Ginny was thankful to McGonagall that she had helped her hide her pregnancy from the Ministry. She paused briefly as the image of her children popped into her mind. They were another reason she had agreed to the job. As long as she could keep the spotlight off them and on her then everything would be okay. The downside to this was that she had seemed to miss so much of their growing up. It was why she had told this Ministry that this trip would be her last 'favour'. Truthfully things had started off really well. The infected witches and wizards after hearing Lupin out had readily accepted the potion. They had also been informed about the legal work that Hermione was preparing to help them with their rights. Granted this was only for the British Werewolves to begin with but at least it would set precedence if passed. She and Lupin really did not come across any troubles until they had reached the final camp in Albania.

Ginny did not know what it was about the place but something about Albania made her feel uneasy. She put it down to the fact that this had been Voldemort's hiding place while he regenerated until Peter found him. They found the camp relatively easily but to say they were welcomed with open arms was probably the understatement of the century. There were probably about five dozen people in the camp and extraordinarily high number in Ginny's opinion. She doubted that there were even that many in Great Britain and Western Europe combined. Most of the occupants of the camp had been infected for a long time and because of the prejudices they had been subjected too they were not that fond of normal wizarding folk. Ginny recalled how on their first trip to the camp she and Lupin had been attacked and had barely escaped. It was only after a few well placed stunners on their second trip a couple of days later that the infected had been willing to hear them out. However if she and Lupin had thought it was going to be easy from this point onwards they were sadly mistaken. It had taken nearly two weeks and a full moon for them to truly understand what was being offered to them.

So a week and a half after the full moon with the job finally done she and Lupin headed to the nearest village to organize an international portkey home. Well she had been straight back to the Burrow, Remus had first been going to the Ministry to fill them in on their progress. Lupin had gone first with a promise that him and Nymphadora would pop around for dinner the following week. She had taken the next portkey and was just about to say the activation word when she saw … well even now she was not quite sure of what she had seen. Whatever it was had startled her though because she dropped the portkey and hurried to the other side of the clearing to where it had been. She gave a frantic search left, right, up, down. Nothing, there was nothing there. Ginny frowned in recollection as she stepped out of the tub and wrapped a terrycloth dressing gown around her. What had she really expected to find? Figments of the imagination will always disappear in an instant. Shaking her head at her idiocy Ginny emptied the bath and made her way into the bedroom.

She smiled as she looked around the room. A king sized mahogany four poster bed stood at the centre of the far wall. The rich burgundy cover and drapes were offset with antique gold sheets, granted not quite the colours she would have chosen but considering this was the Gryffindor tower she supposed it was to be expected. McGonagall had informed her when showing her around that afternoon that anything could be changed to suit her personal tastes. The rest of the room contained a mahogany wardrobe and matching chest of draws. If she had known the heads of house lived in this well she might have agreed to the job sooner. A frame on the chest of draws containing a moving picture of two children tickling each other caught her eye and changed her mind in an instant. She went over and picked up the frame the children stopped tickling each other and gave her cheeky grins. Smiling warmly she glanced down at her miracles realizing there is no way she would have optionally been away from them not matter what the luxury. For eleven years they had been her life and protecting them had been her main responsibility.

She had watched them grow from helpless infants to cunning toddlers to amazing, inquisitive children. She had studied them carefully as they aged watching for any unusual signs suggesting they might be more than usual wizarding children. So far she was thankful to say that she had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Granted there had been moments when their accidental magic had seemed almost controlled, but her mother had assured her that this was normal. Despite being hidden they had grown up as normally as could be expected amoung family and friends. When she had seen them this afternoon Ginny had been surprised to see how much they had grown over her three month absence. She had tried to answer as many questions as she could about where she had been but the less they knew the better. Ginny's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she thought of part of their earlier conversation and in particular something Lily said. "I was worried about where you were mum, but I knew you were safe." Ginny had not thought anything of it at the time but now looking back it Lily had just seemed so certain. According the conversations she had with her family upon her return that morning many of them had thought she had been lying dead in a ditch somewhere. So why had Lily been so certain that she was okay. Pondering over this Ginny dressed in her pajamas, put her dressing-gown on and started her first rounds as head of house.

A/N – I'm sorry that this is shorter than my other chapters and that it doesn't really seem to say much but it's in here for a reason. This story is mainly about James and Lily as told from their point of view but I believe it is important to get some insight into Ginny and what she has been up to. She has practically abandoned her children for lengthy periods of time over their childhood and the reasons need to be known. I'm sure some of you might have already guessed where this story might be heading but I hope I can throw some twists and turns in along the way. Next chapter I promise you regular length and back to Lily and James point of view (Well Lily's to be technically correct)

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