Disclaimer: I'll put it this way- if I owned these characters, why would I be putting a disclaimer on this story?
The Redwood Prophecy
Chapter One: To Be Happy is a Great Gift
Hermione owled Ginny as soon as they were sure; they had found the "lovers". Hermione had to admit, now knowing who those two were, she didn't think that they would do too well together. I mean…Her trail of thought led off.
Ginny got the owl the next day at breakfast. It was short and simple:
Dear Ginny,
This coming weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. Harry and I will meet you at the Three Broomsticks at noon on Saturday. We have something very important to discuss. Don't be late.
HermioneGinny knew from the lack of a "love" or "sincerely" before Hermione's signature alone that something was amiss. The abruptness of the note was another clue. Ginny felt a knot growing in her stomach. She was anxious; obviously Harry and Hermione had discovered something, probably about the prophecy. Today was Tuesday; Saturday seemed too far away.
Yet somehow, before Ginny knew it, it was Saturday. She was at the Three Broomsticks fifteen minutes before the scheduled time- she thought that she might have some extra thinking time. But no such luck. Harry and Hermione were there, though they didn't notice Ginny's arrival- they were too caught up in each other. Though they looked anxious, they still managed to flirt admirably. Ginny smiled to herself, thinking that they really did make a cute couple. She walked over to the counter and ordered a butterbeer. She sat there, quietly sipping her drink when Harry met her eyes and gestured for her to come over and join them.
"Ginny!" Hermione said, blushing only slightly. "You're early."
Ginny smiled. "So are you."
Harry frowned slightly. "We decided to discuss how we were going to break this news to you." He paused. "I'm sorry, but there is no nice way to do it." Ginny frowned.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, though she had an inkling. Why else would Harry and Hermione be here, apologizing, unless…she decided not to continue that train of thought. Hermione was watching her intently and seemed to know what she was thinking.
"Ginny, you're one of the lovers." Ginny nodded dumbly. Of course, this was just perfect. Maybe though, it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe her husband would be some nice-
"Gin?" Harry interrupted her reverie, looking concerned. "You look really pale."
Ginny waved her hand at him to hush him. "I'm thinking!" But Ginny didn't think her husband would be some nice guy, after all, he had to be on Voldemort's side, and Voldemort was not known for picking the sweetest people as followers. "Who is it?" Ginny asked quietly, not being able to stand not knowing.
"Draco Malfoy." Ginny's mind whirled around and round in her head. What the hell was happening? "No." she said calmly. "No."
"Ginny, I'm so sorry, but that's what…you're the only people it could be, and the prophecy fits you so well. It's almost like it was written for you-well, technically, it was, but still-"
"No. I can't marry Draco Malfoy." Ginny interrupted. "I can't."
"I hate to tell you, Ginny-"
"No, you don't get it." Ginny said, interrupting Harry again. "His father would never let me marry him. I won't be able to." Harry and Hermione exchanged looks.
"Well, Gin, we've considered that." started Hermione calmly. "And we think if we explain it-"
"You guys are crazy!" Ginny muttered.
"-we think that Lucius might be accepting."
"Ha!"
"But we were planning on talking to Draco first. I know that he can be…difficult-"
"That's an understatement."
"-but he's not unreasonable, or at least not nearly as much as his father."
"And you want me to marry into that family. I'd probably go just as crazy as the rest of them." Ginny muttered under her breath.
"First, Gin, we really don't need the running commentary, and second, believe me, we don't want you to marry into that family." Hermione sighed. "However, we do need you to."
Ginny took a deep, long sip of her butterbeer and wished it were something stronger. If –if- she were to marry Draco, she would need a massive and constant supply of liquor. If she were to marry Draco, a lot of thing would change. Ginny sighed, and decided not to think about a possible marriage with Draco Malfoy. After all, her name would be Ginny Malfoy! She shook her head in distaste. The name change alone would be reason enough not to marry him (though it was better than Weasley), however, there were hundreds of other, more tangible and creditable reasons not to marry him. She took a deep breath, and told the couple before her, "I'll think about it. I won't promise anything, but I will think about it." And Ginny knew that she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about her decision. Her brow furrowed in concentration. "Her decision." The words echoed in her mind. It was not just her decision, it was Draco's too, and Ginny had a fairly strong feeling that he wanted to marry her even less than she wanted to marry him. Her mood lightened up a little bit, because the more she thought about it, the more certain Ginny was that Draco would not accept her as a wife. So she wouldn't be the one letting Harry down (which made her feel a lot better, she didn't like saying "no" to Harry, especially when it was something so important). "I'll think about it." She repeated.
*~*~*
And Ginny did think about it; in fact, she thought about it so much that she started to fall behind in her classes. How could she not think about it? A few of her friends sat her down and demanded to know what was going on, but Ginny just brushed them off- they wouldn't understand.
It was not a good time to be distracted; this was her N.E.W.T. year, and could very well determine her future. "Though" Ginny thought critically, "If I were to marry Malfoy, my future would be settled. There would be any need to work and have a job." Then Ginny was angry at herself for even thinking about marrying him. So she tried to push all her thoughts of Malfoy, the prophecy and the Order to the back of her mind and just concentrate on studying. But, in the far reaches of Ginny's mind, a small part of her continued to mull the decision over. Marriage would be such a big step, and, according to the prophecy, they would be 'Together in holy matrimony for all eternity'. Ginny didn't like that 'all eternity' part- it meant that once Voldemort was defeated (Ginny was positive that Harry would win), Ginny could not just divorce Malfoy.
Even divorce itself was a disturbing thought for Ginny; her parents had a strong relationship, and Ginny had always imagined that her bond with her husband would be powerful and passionate, too. And somehow, Draco Malfoy did not seem like the kind of person with whom Ginny could share something as extreme as marriage. She didn't know him that well- he had never payed that much attention to her, preferring to taunt Ron- and everything that she heard about him was not pleasant. Ginny wondered at fate, that it could try to cast her together with someone that was so ill suited for her. And more than ill-suited, Ginny's whole family was likely to disown her if she…No, Ginny thought, her parents would accept it, and as long as her brothers knew the reason why Ginny was marrying Malfoy, they, while not being pleased, would not be angry with her. Briefly, Ginny wondered how Ron was taking the news of her and Malfoy being the two 'lovers'. At the thought of Ron's reaction, Ginny was very glad that she was miles away from him- she did not care to think of how he would respond.
There was only thing that could calm Ginny down, and that was something she did not want to do; talk to Malfoy. Talking to him could at least let her know where he stood on the whole marriage thing. For all she knew, Malfoy could be totally against it, and Ginny would never have to make the choice. Because, when it came down to this, Ginny wasn't sure that she would have the heart to say no. Other people –Sirius Black, Lily and James Potter, Frank and Alice Longbottom who, according to Neville's grandmother "gave their health and sanity"- had made so many incredible sacrifices; Ginny's would just be one more. She didn't think she could possibly condemn Harry to death, and if Harry died, all would be lost. No, the prophecy said that Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy (not by name, of course) had to be married.
The other part of Ginny's brain demanded to know why so much attention was being paid to some stupid, half ruined piece of paper Hermione found. It was just a prophecy- a prediction, and Ginny had never put much weight into Divinations or Trelawney. This was just like any other nonsense that came out of the top of North Tower, insignificant and incoherent illusions.
"Ahh!" Ginny cried out, to no one in particular, though several people in the library looked over at her. She was just confusing herself; overanalyzing everything…she really should stop thinking. The library was almost full today, as it was a Saturday, and Ginny didn't want to attract anymore negative attention. Ever since she came back from her meeting with Harry and Hermione, people had thought she was acting very oddly, and they weren't sure they liked the change. And what was worse was that Ginny knew she had been acting oddly, and the people were treating her differently because of her change in temperament. But, first, Ginny didn't care what people thought; she had much more important things to consider. Second, Ginny felt that she had a right to act oddly- some of the most disturbing news of her life had recently been delivered. How else was she supposed to act? "Stop overanalyzing things!" Ginny mentally scolded herself. And so she did; she stood up, walked up to her room, got her broom, and set off for Malfoy Mansion.
*~*~*
The wind whipped through her hair, and her stomach was in knots, but Ginny didn't care. She was numb, both physically (it was late January) and mentally. Every movement was mechanic, automatic, carried out without thought. Because Ginny knew that if she stopped to think about what she was doing, where she was going, she would turn straight around. Ginny had done many courageous things, meeting Tom Riddle in her first year, facing Death Eaters in her fourth, but right now nothing seemed as frightening as the challenge of talking to Draco Malfoy about the possibility of a marriage between them.
Her broom lurched, making Ginny grip her broom even tighter. She had been flying for a while now- hopefully the house was near. Ginny had to admit, she wasn't quite sure where she was going. She had a rough idea of where the house was, but she was counting on there not being very many mansions in the area. Though she was beginning to worry; she had thought to be there by now. Wait; was that it, there on the edge of the forest? "No," Ginny thought, as she got closer. " That's just a cottage." She was growing impatient, and her earlier numbness was wearing off. If it took much longer, Ginny didn't think she would be able to confront Malfoy.
Luckily for her, or at least for the prophecy, she sighted the sprawling grounds soon afterward, and slowly started to spiral down, the whole while looking for what would be the front. Presuming that the front was the entrance that did not have a quidditch field, rose garden or forest alongside it, she settled down by the east side of the house. The door to the house was enormous, made of solid redwood and set in gold. Ginny's eyebrows rose in appreciation, and she hesitantly knocked on the door. Her knock barely made any sound against the sturdy door, though she began to straighten her clothes just in case someone had heard. She had worn some of her best clothes, not wanting to make a bad impression, though she doubted anything she did would impress Malfoy. "Not that I want to impress him," she amended hastily. Though there was no reason to make a bad impression. Ginny sighed, and knocked again at the door, this time a little harder. It opened abruptly, Ginny's hand still at the door, to reveal a stern-looking man dressed in black, obviously a butler.
"Can I help you miss?" he asked in a controlled voice.
"Um, yes, I need to speak with Draco Malfoy." Ginny said, equally composed, though she was shaking inside.
"Mister Malfoy is currently unavailable."
"Oh." murmured Ginny, disappointed. She had flown all the way, and for what?
"Is that all, miss?"
"Um, yes. I'll go now."
"Have a nice day, miss." And with that, the door shut resolutely, leaving Ginny standing on the doorstep.
"There goes another day wasted." muttered Ginny. Another day that she could have used studying for her N.E.W.T.s, or catching up on homework, which she badly needed to do. Why was nothing going right in her life anymore. Ever since Hermione had uncovered that ridiculous prophecy, everything had started going down the drain. She lowered her head into her hands, and began to cry. Why couldn't things go back to the way the used to be, before this wretched prophecy?
"What the hell?" asked a steely voice. Ginny wiped her faced and looked up. A blond head and gray eyes were staring down at her. She sniffed one last time and stood up.
"Malfoy?"
"What are you doing on my front porch?"
"I came here to talk to you. They told me you weren't here." whispered Ginny.
"Why?"
"I don't know, ask your butler, or whoever you have to answer the door."
"No, I meant why did you come here?" His voice had not softened at all during their conversation.
Ginny took a step back and asked if he had talked to Harry. When the reply was negative, Ginny almost started crying again. "So you don't know about the prophecy?"
"I know about the prophecy, I got an owl from Potter. I just didn't talk to him." Draco stressed the word 'talk' as if he were talking to a small child, pointing out Ginny idiocy at not perceiving the difference.
"Oh. What do you think?"
"What do I think?" repeated Draco. "It doesn't matter what I think; there is no way that my father would ever let me marry a Weasel." He spoke as if he were glad that his father would not them be married, which he probably was. "I just ripped up the letter." He paused. "It was probably a scam. One of you Weasels probably decided you didn't like being poor." Ginny was incensed- he had some nerve suggesting that this was a ruse to get his money. She just glared at him.
"It wasn't." she replied coldly, enunciating firmly. He just raised his eyebrows.
"Now if you would just get off my doorstep, I have somewhere to be." And with that Draco Malfoy walked off. Ginny didn't know what to think. She wasn't sure if she was overjoyed or disappointed. She knew that she was glad she didn't have to marry this git, but she was distressed on Harry's behalf, and wasn't sure what he would do now. She stood there for a full minute before she mounted her broom and flew away.
*~*~*
As soon as Ginny got back to school, she sat down and, instead of studying, wrote to Harry and told him exactly what had happened. Recounting the entire encounter in detail, she was slightly worried at what his reaction would be. She took a deep breath before sending it off, but at least Ginny did send it. She didn't get a reply, but she wasn't really expecting one.
Ginny,
There might still be a wedding. Lucius found out about the prophecy, and it seems that he is desperate to do anything to help his Dark Lord, including marrying his only son off to what he termed "Muggle-loving filth". Unfortunately, I am also desperate. This conflict needs to end, and now that we have an opportunity to fulfill the prophecy, we have to take it.
Harry
A tear dripped from Ginny's eye.
A/N
Hey guys, sorry if this chapter is kind of boring. Don't hate me too much. In fact, do me a favor and review. No one has any idea how much I love reviews. I hug myself every time a see a new one!
Thanks so much guys, you're great. And thank you inu-yasha4ever89, kneh13, Harmonia1, Laura, Kristina, FRENCHiE-EM0RY, LuSa, shock-a-lot, F75 and Cassie for reviewing the prologue. You guys are so sweet!
~Miss Auburn