Settling down at the rickety desk in the corner of her bedroom, Ginny fully intended to take advantage of the peace and quiet that she currently had. She knew that the second she left her bedroom, she wouldn't have a moment to herself for the rest of the day, and she desperately needed some time alone to steel herself for what lay ahead that day. The day they laid her father to rest and the family said goodbye to Arthur forever.
Since Arthur had died, Ginny had spent most of her time at her mother's side, helping a devastated Molly deal with her grief, while her brothers had taken charge of the more practical side of things. Even though Ginny knew she could have played a part in helping organising her father's funeral, she'd been content to spend time with Molly as comforting her mother was also helping her deal with her grief.
Although helping Molly hadn't been the only thing for Ginny to worry about as the previous week, Ron and Harry had been involved in an incident in Diagon Alley. Officially the incident had been connected to events up in Hogsmeade a few weeks ago, and a gang of anti-social youths were blamed for the chaos caused. However, Ginny knew what had happened to Harry and Ron was revenge for what had happened to Draco. The problem was, they couldn't claim it was a revenge attack without admitting being responsible for the initial attack on Draco, which was something everyone agreed was better to keep quiet about. Her brothers had vowed something would be done to avenge Harry and Ron, but at the moment their focus was on Arthur's funeral.
Ginny focus was also on helping Harry and Ron heal from their injuries. Ron's injuries had been the easiest to sort, but he'd still needed dozens of potions to help mend the badly broken bones in his hand. And even now a week later, his hand was still fragile and would be more likely to break in the coming months if he wasn't careful. As for Harry, he'd been lucky to escape losing the sight in his right eye, but Ginny feared the situation was worse than he was letting on. Harry's vision had suffered, and he was now wearing extra thick glasses just to be able to see, but Ginny had caught him squinting more than once and looking worried when he thought no-one was looking. Even though he swore his sight was getting better and the fogginess was clearing, Ginny wasn't so sure and when she got the chance she planned on talking to him and trying to get him to open up. If he did still have a problem with his eyes, they needed to know so they could help him. Burying his head in the sand wasn't going to help anyone, and Ginny wasn't going to stand back and do nothing when he clearly needed some help.
With all that going on, it had meant Ginny hadn't had much time alone since her father had died, which was why the precious moments now were so important to her. Over the course of the last few weeks, Ginny had pinned several pictures of her father on the old cork board stuck above her desk, and now she had a pretty substantial tribute to her father laid out on front of her. The desk itself was clear except for one lone candle, which had been a gift from her friend, Luna. Luna had sent the candle via owl a few days earlier, explaining that it was enchanted and would release smells associated with the person who was being remembered. Ginny didn't really know if a candle could really invoke smell that reminded her of her father, but she was willing to give it a go, so as she sat gazing at the pictures she'd collected, she lit the candle.
As the flame burst into life, Ginny waited for some sort of familiar scent to hit her. Just when she thought the magic in the candle wasn't working, she got her first hints of lime and ginger, which was the smell of the soap her father used. Arthur had never been one for fancy aftershaves, and he'd used the same sort of soap all of Ginny's life. As the smell grew stronger, Ginny closed her eyes and allowed herself to imagine she was curled up on Arthur's knee, where she'd spent so much time as a child.
The smell of Arthur's soap led to Ginny recalling fond memories of time spent with her father, and as the scent changed to the smoky wood of her father's shed, Ginny recalled the days she'd spent in there with him when Ron had first gone off to Hogwarts and she'd been without any of her siblings for the first time in her life. During the course of that year, Ginny had spent countless hours in Arthur's shed with him as they messed around with muggle bits and pieces he'd picked up from his work.
As the scents continued to change, morphing into freshly cut grass and blooming flowers to roast dinner, Ginny was hit with dozens of precious memories, from going on nature walks to family Sunday lunches. All of her memories featured a smiling, happy Arthur, and despite how much she was missing her father, Ginny couldn't help but smile as well. She may have lost her father, but she would never lose her memories of him and no-one could take away the precious time they'd spent together.
"I love you, Daddy," Ginny whispered, opening her eyes and gazing at the collection of pictures of her father pinned up in front of her.
As the candle scent drifted back to the familiar lime and ginger scent, Ginny took one final moment to remember what it felt like to be held by her father, before standing up and blowing out the candle. It was time to join the others and say goodbye to her father. But at least she'd had some time alone to remember her father, and she knew she would be burning the candle again, as it had helped her feel closer to Arthur.
Taking a few deep breaths to prepare herself for what lay ahead, Ginny grabbed her wand, put it in her bag and exited the bedroom, unaware that not five minutes after she'd left the room the candle flickered back into life, it's bright flame dancing perilously close to the pictures of her beloved father.
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In her office, attached to her Dark Arts classroom, Bellatrix watched as the elegant white candle she had placed in a jar in the corner of the room, flickered to life without her even having to raise her wand to light it. Even though she hadn't been sure if the candle would light up before she lit it herself, she was thrilled with the fact it had done so. It made what she had planned all the more perfect.
While the candle was still burning, Bellatrix walked over to it and raised her wand. Muttering a soft incantation she waved her wand over the burning flame, which was connected to a twin candle burning at the other end of the country. Satisfied that everything was in place, she turned and headed into her classroom for the first lesson of the day, leaving the candle burning away in its jar.
Throughout the first lesson, Bellatrix kept popping back into her office to keep an eye on the candle. By her reckoning it burned thanks to its twin for almost half and hour before being extinguished. However, less than five minutes after the candle went out, Bellatrix's spell sprang into action and the candle in the jar burst back into life. Only the longer the candle burnt in the jar, the larger the flame grew and the more ferocious the fire became. Within half an hour the glass jar was filled with flickering flames and Bellatrix was thrilled when her first lesson of the day ended and she found the small inferno burning in the corner of her office.
"Burn, my pretty, burn," she muttered to the candle, raising her hand towards the jar and smirking when the heat of the flames made it impossible for her to touch the glass, which was keeping the fire from getting out of control.
However the second candle, which was magically linked to the one in Bellatrix's office, had no such protection and while the fire in Bellatrix's office was controlled the one raging from the twin candle was soon out of control.
All morning Bellatrix kept an eye on her candle and she could hardly contain herself when it was still going strong come lunchtime. Unwilling to leave the flame, as she wanted to see when it was finally extinguished for good, she called an elf to bring her some lunch, and she settled down in her office to eat. By the end of lunchtime, she was convinced the flames were slowly starting to fade, but it was almost the end of the day before the last embers of fire burnt out and the candle which had started the day so tall was nothing more than a charred bubble of wax at the bottom of the jar.
Unable to do anything more as long as school was in session, Bellatrix impatiently made it through the remainder of her lessons. However, the second she dismissed her final batch of students, she locked her office door and hurried off in search of Hermione. Having already cleared what she was going to do with Severus, she didn't bother to seek permission as she found The Dark Lord's daughter and asked to have a private word with her.
"Is there something wrong?" Hermione asked as Bellatrix caught her coming into the castle from the Herbology greenhouses, which had been where she'd spent the final lesson of the day, and pulled her away from her friends, Draco included.
"I hope not," Bellatrix replied with a grin, virtually vibrating with excitement. "Come with me, we're going on a field trip."
"A field trip?" Hermione questioned with a frown. "What sort of field trip?"
"I want to check out the results of a little experiment I've been working on all day," Bellatrix explained. "Do you want to come or not?"
"I'll come," Hermione said, eager to see what the older witch had been getting up to. "What about Draco?"
"Not this time," Bellatrix replied with a shake of her head. "We have to be quick and not be noticed. And I don't know if you've realised, but my nephew stands out from the crowd. I blame Lucius. No-one needs hair that colour. It makes blending into the scenery pretty hard."
Chuckling at Bellatrix's rant about the Malfoys distinctive hair colour, Hermione followed the older witch out of the castle. Bellatrix led the way down towards the main gates of the school, and the second they were off school premises, she took hold of Hermione's hand and with barely a word of warning she whipped them away from Hogwarts.
When they landed a few seconds later, Hermione stumbled slightly as the apparition had taken her somewhat off guard. However, when she did regain her footing, she looked around the countryside lane they'd landed in with a frown.
"I know this place," she muttered, sure she'd walked these streets before.
"I should hope so," Bellatrix replied with a chuckle as she hopped over a nearby fence into a field. "Come on, if we go this way we can simply walk to the top of the hill. Even if we are spotted, we'll be to far away to make out."
"Too far away from where?" Hermione asked, following Bellatrix, who set off towards a steep hill over the other side of the field.
"You'll see," Bellatrix called with a laugh.
Following Bellatrix, Hermione tried to recall why her surroundings were so familiar. However, it wasn't until they reached the crest of the hill and she looked down at a familiar valley that she realised where they were.
"The Burrow," she gasped, hardly able to believe her eyes.
The Weasleys unusual house, which normally stood a decent way from the bottom of the hill, was nothing more than a smoking pile of ash. Even from the top of the distant hill, Hermione could see the smoke still billowing from what remained of the house. From this distance she could see figures milling around, but she was too far away to see who exactly was down below. But even from where she was standing she could see The Burrow was completely gone, a fire had somehow totally gutted the entire house.
"What happened?" she eventually asked a grinning Bellatrix.
"Candles can be such fire-hazards," Bellatrix tutted. "They should never be left unattended."
"You think a candle did that?" Hermione scoffed.
"I don't think, I know," Bellatrix cackled. "It might be too soon to tell now, but I'm sure when things cool down the cause of the fire will be determined to be a candle left burning by the young Weasley girl."
"Why would Ginny have left a candle burning?" Hermione asked. "And how do you know this?"
"I know because I sent her the candle," Bellatrix explained. "I used that dippy friend of hers as the sender. I told her the candle created scents which would remind her of her father."
"Did it?"
"Yes, I used a real memory candle," Bellatrix answered. "I just used a matching pair, which were enchanted to burn together. She used hers this morning, but after she put it out, I made sure mine re-lighted and burnt rather ferociously. This is the end result."
"Amazing," Hermione muttered, staring down at the carnage of The Burrow. From what she could see the Weasleys would be lucky to salvage much, if anything, from their home. "But what if she denies leaving the candle burning?"
"It doesn't really matter in the long run," Bellatrix remarked with a shrug. "She might think she forgot to put it out in her grief addled state. But even if she's sure she put it out, it doesn't matter. After all, the whole point of this is to get The Order to come after us, and that only works if they know this wasn't an accident. For now, let the Weasley girl blame herself, but very soon they'll learn there were other forces at hand. And when they do, my betting is that they'll strike."
"And look like the ones re-triggering the war," Hermione concluded with a wicked smirk.
Personally she couldn't wait for The Order to make a move, so they could end their resistance and her father would finally be free to rule as he wanted. But for now, she would have to wait a bit longer. Although that was much easier to manage when she knew that things were in motion and soon it would all be over and the dark would finally be victorious and extinguish The Order once and for all.