Diagon Alley was like it had always been- a bustling busy Mecca of wizarding society. There were people buying, people selling, and many people browsing. This was the haven for home-schooled witches and wizards. This was the business centre for their entire society. One could dismiss Hogsmeade as a tourist trap- close to Hogwarts and the only all-wizarding town in the United Kingdom. The other towns were small, just enough to support the folk who lived there. But Diagon had always been busy- just like it was that day.

Of course, it wasn't odd to see a group of Hogwarts students being lead down the streets. But it wasn't the students that caught everyone's eye- it was the teacher. It had been years- decades even since an elf was last seen in Diagon Alley. In fact, the elves had last been seen before the first Reign of Terror. It was often said that the elves had felt the rising evil in the wizarding world, and had left before it affected them at all. It was also said that the elves had sold some of their magic to the Dark Lord for money. None knew the real truth- not even most of the elves.

The students hadn't gone into the alley the day before. Supper had been given to them as soon as they had got there, and then they were sent to their rooms. There were twelve pairs of students, and one teacher. This of course meant the Hogwarts group had taken up thirteen rooms, but the Leaky Cauldron magically expanded to accommodate them all. A handy spell, that the students soon learned, had been built into the wards of the establishment.

So, after a night's rest, supper, and breakfast, the students finally had a chance to spend a day in the Alley. They would go to three stores, and three stores only. The Armourer's and Madame Malkin's. Madame Malkin's, it seemed, was too small to hold all of these students. So, in the end, they went by year. Fifth year first, and then second. The groups were not segregated, according to house, and the children spent a very dull couple of hours waiting for their peers to be done their fitting.

There was of course a lesson to be learned through all of this. Hermione, being the curious girl that she was asked a very useful question. This was of course almost the first time that she had done this, and needless to say, all but Ron and Harry were rather shocked.

"Professor! Wouldn't it make more sense to separate us into groups and send us to the different stores? It would save so much time that way, and then we could have some free time."

"Yes and no Ms. Granger. This was an exercise meant to teach a very important lesson. There will always be a time in life where you have to wait for something. It might be something big- like a battle, or it might be something small- like waiting to get fitted for robes. It also teaches us a secondary lesson- that you can't always get what you want. You all might want free time to wander around the alley, but you cannot have it. We are here to learn, and not here to have a good time. Understood?"

"Yes Professor," chorused the entire class.

"See now, you are all actually working together on something. Next group!"

A groan went out through out the students. The teacher just smiled knowingly, and turned to see the processions.

When the hours had passed, and all the students were done their fitting they group travelled down the alley to the bookshop. There seemed to be a small crowd around Flourish and Blotts so all the students could fit in. The Professor walked up to the front counter.

"Hello, I'm a professor for a ministry-mandated course at Hogwarts. My name is Professor Kiliani, I placed an order about a week ago for the books- I believe that they were The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, How They were Able to do It- A study of You-Know-Who and Grindelwald, and How to Identify and Remedy Dark Magic. I was told in a letter that came by owl, that they would be in by today. That is why, I brought my class."

She gestured to the students dressed in everyday robes. They of course, for the most part, were just milling about. It was to be expected of course, they were just students with no training. "Obedience will have to be a part of their training," she mentally filed away. But, then again, in her opinion, it was always best to have obedience in tools and in soldiers.

The clerk checked his parchment. "Of course," he said, "your order came in last night. To whose account should I charge these? I don't imagine," here he smirked, "that all of your students have money to pay for these."

"They will be charged to the school's account. A bill will later be sent out to the student's parents. They will then be paid for. Do you have anymore questions?" she grounded out. Smug people, unless being used for information purposes, were a waste of time.

"No, of course not. Do you need a bill for the Headmaster?"

"He already has one." With that, the elf systematically handed one of each book to the students, and ushered them out of the store. This store, they found, had taken less time than Madame Malkin's.

What the students didn't know, was that the next could take up to five hours. There were twenty-four students in the class, and most of them needed to be fitted to four weapons. The ones that found daggers in a set would be lucky. Fitting someone to a staff and sword took time. Luckily the time that magic shortened things was quite large, so the entire process was pretty short- well comparatively it was.

When they got to the store the teacher turned to them all. The students knew that she had something to say, and wisely they stopped talking. None of them wanted to run two laps around the Hogwarts grounds.

"Ok, here is what we will be doing. We will go into the store in groups. First the students with swords. That will be, if I am correct, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley, Mr. Finnegan, and Mr. Zambini. Then Ms. Lovegood, Ms. Braeleigh, Ms. Parkinson, and Ms. Chang will go into the store, following the fifth years will be the rest of the female sixth years, and then the sixth year males. After each group is done being outfitted they will return to the inn through Floo. They will empty their stuff from their room, and they will return here immediately.

"We will be going to a muggle hotel for the night, as the places that we are going to are in the muggle world. I have decided against letting you all wear your own outfits. Your clothing will be transfigured into the uniform of a small private school. If you mention anything otherwise, you will be severely punished by the school, and then by the Ministry. I would suggest keeping your mouth shut.

"Alright, I will escort the first group into the store, and then I will return. If any of you are gone, you'd better hope we don't find you."

The teacher escorted the four of them into the store. It smelt surprisingly familiar to Ginny, it smelt of old memories and dust. It smelt of metal, and an under lying scent of blood that couldn't quite be gotten rid of.

'Probably from the swords, and maybe a little bit from the staffs. Wood is hard to clean sometimes,' thought Ginny.

By the time Ginny came out of her stupor the Professor had already left the store. The first thing she saw was the shopkeeper she had seen in the summer. He was old, just like she had known before. His hair was frazzled on his head, and through his wrinkles he had clear brown eyes. Unlike Ollivander's in all ways except one- they showed the same wisdom acquired only through years.

"Hello Ms. Weasley, welcome back. I thought it would be awhile before I saw you again. But it seems I was wrong. It seems that you were enrolled in the Combat class. Since you are a lady, we will begin with you. Why don't you look around for a few minutes before deciding. That way we'll be able to tell what sort of style of weapon you are looking for.

"Your professor tells me that you four will need two daggers, and a fighting staff. Now, I have been instructed to only give standard staffs to students. These will be made of a hard wood, and will be the proper length and weight for your height. Where did that measuring tape get to? Ah yes, there it is."

The measuring tape measured Ginny, from her feet to her head, and the length of both of her arms. Once all that had been recorded, the tape measure moved on to measure Seamus, then Draco, and finally Blaise. The man went into the back room to go get their staffs, Ginny looked through the store. She needed to find her daggers.

In the end, she did find a pair of daggers. The blade was about ten inches, they seemed to be the right length for her. It was really the handles that drew her to the daggers. They were black, but they had a stylized rose etched in silver on them. From the thorns of these roses there were drops of something that might have been blood- Ginny wasn't sure, and she didn't ask.

By the time that their group had finished, it had been forty-five minutes. Ginny knew that the others wouldn't be pleased, but she knew that in the end the others would probably take more than forty-five minutes.

After having reported to the teacher that they were, in fact, done being outfitted with weapons, they one by one put the Floo powder in the fireplace and travelled back to the inn.

Just before Ginny was about to step into the fireplace she heard a voice.

"Ms. Weasley, wait! The Ollivanders and the O'Rourkes will always answer to the call of the Princess." After a little bow, the old man turned towards the front of the store, and went to help the newest bunch of students.

Soon Ginny was in the inn, and just as she was about to turn to go to her room she bumped into a very solid being- when she had picked up her bags, she realized that it was Seamus.

"Oh, I'm sorry Seamus," Ginny said apologetically, "I wasn't looking where I was going. I have a bit on my mind."

Seamus smiled. "It's okay Ginny, I was actually waiting for you. What took so long?"

"Oh, the old man, he just mentioned something about the O'Rourkes. I don't know who they are. Do you?"

"The O'Rourkes?" said Seamus, a bit surprised. He did continue though, "the old man is an O'Rourke. Me dad took me to see them one day. A very powerful wizarding clan it seems. Me mam is related to them some how, I've never asked. But, the O'Rourkes are very powerful, and most of them are light wizards. Nary but a handful have ever gone dark. What did he tell you?"

Ginny decided that lying would probably be the best thing to do now. "Oh, he just said to tell Dumbledore that if he called, the O'Rourkes and the Ollivanders would answer."

"Dark times, it seems, are ahead," said Seamus, sounding kind of nervous.

Ginny nodded. "There will always be something better to talk about."

"Aye." Responded Seamus.

The talking ended there, until Ginny was about to go to her room when Seamus said something rather surprising. "Say, Ginny. If you ever need a stretching partner for class… I'll be free."

Ginny smiled sweetly, although she was surprised. "You know Seamus, I think I might just have to take you up on that offer."

A smile of relief made its way onto Seamus' face. It seemed that he had been rather nervous. A girl could get used to something like that.

Looking at her room, Ginny realized that it wouldn't be too difficult to pack. She would just have to fold her stuff back up and put it in her bag. She was glad that she had her dad put a weightless charm and an expanding charm on the bag. That meant that her bag wouldn't get full, and no matter how much she put in it, it wouldn't get heavy. An amazing development she thought, she couldn't imagine having to lift very many heavy things. Sure, there was a bit of lifting and heavy work to be done at the Burrow, but it was nothing like lugging a bunch of books around with you all day. That was just bad for you- and quite hard. So, she had asked her father to charm her bags.

When she had packed everything but her sword, daggers, and staff she thought it best to keep her daggers with her. So, she transfigured a normal belt to be able to hold her daggers, and put her robes on overtop. She was glad that she had chosen to wear open robes with something underneath. That gave her plenty of access to them (even if she didn't know how to use them, thrusting blindly at someone might work) and afforded them plenty of coverage so that people didn't start to freak out.

By the time she had done that Braeleigh walked into the room. "There's someone waiting outside the room for you. Weird guy that one, but judging from the look on your face, I'd say that you know him. So, tell me about him tonight, and meet me and Aubrey by the bar in the hotel tonight. You said you had something to talk to us about." With that, Ginny was bumped out of the room with her stuff, and eventually her and Seamus made their way back to the store. It was time to rejoin their classmates.

It wasn't a spectacularly long wait, when they were waiting for their classmates. Not spectacularly long for what they were doing of course. It took perhaps three hours, or maybe a little more. The hours were enjoyable though, Ginny chatted with Seamus, and a bit with Luna. Luna was perhaps one of the most enjoyable people her age at the school. She was always guaranteed to make you think about something else, if you were having a bad day. And her way of thinking was refreshing. Underneath the dottiness, Luna was a really intelligent person. Ginny hoped that even though she had moved up a year, they could still be friends. Luna would probably be helpful in the near future.

By the time everyone had gone into the store, gotten their stuff, and returned to the store dark was falling, and Ginny had taken off her daggers, although, she left them at the top of her bag. The professor waved a wand at all of the students and their clothes were transformed. The female students now wore black kilts, black vests, black shirts, black socks, and black leather shoes. The male students work black pants, black shirts, and black shoes. The carriage that they travelled in was there to pick them up. They imagined that it would look like a normal bus to muggles, but no one bothered to ask. They hadn't eaten since breakfast, and they were tired, and they just wanted to relax and talk to their friends.


The bus ride took maybe half an hour, and when the bus stopped, it was in front of a rather large hotel.

"Alright now students. This is where we will be staying for the night. We will unload the bus in single file, from front to back. No pushing."

It felt like forever to unload the bus, and it felt like forever to get checked in. But finally they put their stuff in their rooms, and they finally got to the table reserved for them. It was a relief to sit down and not have to wait for someone to be done what he or she was doing. But now all that was done, now they could relax for the night before travelling and then going back to school.

"So, where do you all come from? What school I mean." It was the waitress, natural curiosity taking over her.

The teacher smiled. "We're from a small and very exclusive private school in Northern Britain. It's hidden from view. All these students have been on the list since they were born."

The waitress smiled a fake smile. It was clear she thought they were snobs. "So, what can I get for all of you?"

Arranging a meeting with Aubrey and Braeleigh was relatively easy to do. What was hard though, was actually being able to meet without getting caught. Adding to the difficulties of meeting without getting caught, they were, all three, underage.

Aubrey and Braeleigh walked up together. Ginny had been leaning on the wall waiting for the two of them. Now the conversation could begin.

"Hello Princess," started Aubrey smiling like he always did.

"You two know each other. And you both know me, how?" Ginny demanded. This was her life that they were talking about. This was her fate- and something about it was being hidden from her.

Braeleigh spoke next. "I think you know Princess-"

Ginny cut her off. "Call me Ginny."

Paying no heed to what Ginny was trying to impart she continued. "Think back to the day when you woke up in the hospital wing. Things will make more sense then."

Ginny did think back to that day. The day when a lot of information had come to her. She had grown up hearing the story and had more than once wished that she could be her- beautiful and powerful. But she had never shown any particular skill or power. Finally, after almost ten minutes of thinking it came back to her. It had been in the hospital wing, when she had tried to escape from the professor.

'"But you own the sword now, so you'd know that. Wouldn't you?

"Now, not much is known about the sword or the heir of the founders. The legend of the sword has been lost into mythology, much like the myth of the heir. The public mostly just knows that neither have been found. Up until now. You have the sword. Now, the real question is, where did you find it?"

"I found it in the alley. Same time I saw him," she said pointing at Aubrey.

"His name is Aubrey, Ginevra. He's the watcher. He'll take care of you. No matter what. And she's," pointing at Braeleigh, "the companion. She will keep you company if you ever are alone."

"Who am I?" asked Ginny Curiously.

"You are the Princess of Hogwarts."'

All Ginny could do was look at the two of them. Five minutes passed, then sixth, and then a seventh before she could speak.

"And you two… you knew about this?" She asked tiredly. It was almost too much.

"Not until this year," assured Braeleigh, "not until school started. You see, we both knew each other before we came here. We're both orphans, but I still have family. We went to a school together up until last year. We were both transferred to Hogwarts, but neither of us knew where the other was to be transferred. When we both showed up here, we noticed something was up. Eventually the King of Centaurs and the Swords-Woman of the Forest of Fate explained things to us. And tried to let the three of us figure it out. When things took longer than expected, and I was called from the castle to take care of some business, they decided to take things into their own hands. And things escalated from there, until now. When the Order has lost its spy, and things are getting darker by the moment."

"Who are the King of Centaurs and the Swords-Woman of the Forest of Fate? Do I know them?" asked Ginny. Sometimes this whole destiny thing was a bit hard to comprehend. Especially with all the titles and such.

Aubrey felt that this was his time to include himself in this. "They are Firenze, and Professor Kiliani. Those are their ceremonial titles. You know the Forest of Fate as the Forbidden Forest, and are not to go in there. The trees are ancient, and the creatures even more so. Firenze was banished from the forest by the beings that are supposed to serve him. Each race will have its Queen or its King."

"Oh," said Ginny eloquently. Wizards had got it wrong it seemed. Assuming that each race would bow to them, when they had their own leaders and their own masters.

"Bane and Ronan are so adamant about keeping Firenze from the forest, because the rest of the races do not look upon them as the Leaders. If Firenze were to come back and declare his Kingship over the centaurs the rest of the forest, even if no centaur did, would side with him. It would be a massacre and that is why he will not go back. Or at least, not before the Princess proves herself to the world." It was Professor Kiliani.

"Now Princess. Do you see why you are so important? If you do not do what you have to, the order of things will never be restored. As soon as you prove yourself to the world it will be. But first you must know in your heart it is you that we speak of, and then you must let your followers know in their hearts that they have sworn allegiance to the Princess. Perhaps it is time to show Braeleigh your hands. I'm sure that by now, Aubrey has already seen them."

Ginny took off her gloves and put her hands out in front of her. She saw these every morning and every night. It was no longer a surprise to look upon them, as it had been in the days following the accident. Braeleigh took one of Ginny's hands and looked at it, turning it over to see both sides, and she did that with the other.

"Do they hurt at all?" she asked finally.

"Not anymore. I got them during a dream. It was a power surge. I was trying to right a wrong that had already happened. A fire I was trying to put out with magic and I fell."

"Who was in the fire?" asked Braeleigh.

"It was my face on someone else. If you saw yourself going into a fire you'd do all that you could do to stop it. It was an overly weird experience, and I woke up in St. Mungo's. All the fires had gone out."

While Ginny was putting her gloves back on, the other two sat silent, and the professor went back upstairs to her room. Before the second glove was fully on, Seamus came down the stairs. Unfortunately, she was not fast enough for him.

"Ginny? What happened to your hands?"


The trip to Godric's Hollow wasn't a long one, but it felt that way. It was kind of awkward to be in close proximity to Seamus, after him finding out about her Destiny, and how here fate intertwined with the fate of the world. He was shocked, and quickly left after that. She knew that it wasn't his fault, but she was a bit angry. He was somehow an O'Rourke, and the patriarch of the clan had sworn the allegiance of his clan to her and to her cause. Things were made even more awkward when he came to apologize, but Ginny wouldn't answer.

It didn't help that Seamus was sitting behind Aubrey and Seamus, and that Aubrey was under orders to not talk to Seamus until Ginny was ready to talk to him. She knew it was childish, but a promise is still a promise. And with the war picking up momentum everyday you needed all the allies you could get.

Those who had fallen asleep woke to a very relieved Ginny, and those who had been awake the for the full bus ride had to laugh as they saw Ginny running around, happy to be free at long last. Of course, not everyone was laughing. Especially not those who were involved in the small feud.

The bus had stopped in front of a lot that had obviously once been a small house- a cottage perhaps. There hadn't been anything effort to clear up the ashes, and to clear any of the debris from the lawn. The house had burned when Voldemort had attacked, and now all that was left was a fraction of what had once been. The frame was blackened, and there was several years of weather damage to the wood.

"This was the residence of the Potters before that fateful Hallowe'en night. As you see, where there used to stand a small cottage, now there is nothing. In fact, there is practically no one who knows what it used to look like."

Harry, who was standing beside Ginny started to speak quietly, "There was a blue door."

The teacher looked shocked that someone actually had the audacity to interrupt her. "What was that Mr. Potter?"

Every one turned to look at Harry. "The door was blue. And the floor was hard."

No one said anything, until Harry, who was clearly in a lot of pain broke the silence. "Now, if you don't mind, I don't want to be here. Ginny and I have somewhere to go. Excuse us."

And with that, the two of them walked in the direction of the graveyard. Ginny let Harry talk through his emotions like she had done before school started.

"You know, all my life I've wanted a family, and I wanted to know all about my parents. Now I'm not so sure. There's all this stuff that I never thought that I'd hear, and that I don't want to know. All this stuff that I was told he wasn't. And Sirius was a part of all of the things I didn't want to know.

"But now I'm here after all these years of being alone, after betrayal and betrayal by the Headmaster, and I'm so tired of it all. I don't know what to do. And with every day I wish that I could just go back to my parents and love them for who they are, not for who they used to be. I'm tired Ginny. And I don't know how to get better."

Not knowing how to put what she thought into words she remained silent. They walked in the heavy silence of pain and fear. The graveyard was a small one, being as Godric's Hollow was a small village.

They found the Potter Mausoleum easily enough. It being the only stone building in the graveyard. The Potters had probably owned the land that the village had been on some time ago. Harry faltered when they reached the door.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know," said Ginny trying to be comforting.

"I have to do this. If I don't I may never get another chance. I don't want to die before visiting them at least once," said Harry, determination audible in his voice. With that he put his hand on the door, and they both entered the final resting place of James and Lily Potter.

There were rows, upon rows of coffins and sarcophagi that help the remains of Potters of generations long since passed. But finally they came upon Lily and James Potter. They shared a sarcophagus, and above them was a little shelf that would have been just big enough to hold a one year old. The little plaque on the shelf read 'Harry James Potter, Child of James and Lily Potter, They will love you forever'. Upon seeing that Harry could no longer hold in his tears.

He sunk to the floor, the tears he had repressed for years were coming out as sobs, racking his entire body, while he poured out his grief. His secret torment that had been with him for all these years. And the only thing that Ginny could do was hold him as he cried.


A.N: Here is a list of words I can't spell: receiver, suppliant, obedient, wield, un-important

This chapter was a bit dull perhaps, but it will be important in chapters to come. Look forward to more Seamus, sadHarry, Aubrey, Braeleigh, and a lot more Dumbledore.

Oh no, we have not seen the last of Dumbledore.

While writing this chapter, I went back and edited all of the chapters before this (or at least I think I did, tell me if I didn't).

I would like to sincerely thank all my reviewers. Good reviews are what makes writing worthwhile.

I got the length of a dagger from here: ?mpp42635AAAAAAATC!6xHvpRq3rhqgxf4w8vD0LfHyBslxvLSBYDfwZz4uJshw$$5AAAAAAAUGJyvGvleRHeS0Q8oj7DxriJD5JAWUxwpRx78$

And the talk of the Companion I got from Chapter nine of this story.

Ta

-Eireann