There was a Hogsmeade Visit to buy dress robes, and such. Ginny did not attend; she didn't want to socialize. It had been Hallowe'en when she had last seen the Lady Hogwarts, and she was getting cold, and tired. So, she sat alone in the Common Room, that Saturday, the ninth of November.
She had sat for a few hours, alone, ignoring the stares directed her way by the first and second years. The third years had ended up going to Hogsmeade, even though they weren't to go to the ball. It was an escape from the school. If Ginny had the energy to care, she probably would have gone to town.
There were only so many stares one could take before it started to get to them. Ginny ran up to her room, and changed into some clothes suitable for the weather. There had been a sudden cold snap and most people hadn't had the time to unpack their winter clothes. It had been a relatively lazy week for Ginny, so she had been digging clothes from the bottom of her beaten-up trunk.
Quickly she grabbed a heavy winter cloak she had bought, she was pulling on her mittens when she slowly noticed her sword sitting on a bedside table. She paused. It had a scabbard, and she could easily hide it with her cloak.
She slowly walked back down the stairs, with the scabbard tied to her waist, careful to make sure that it wasn't too apparent that she had the sword. Ignoring the stares sent her way by wary youngsters she glided across the room, and slipped almost silently out of the Gryffindor Common Room.
Within minutes she was out in the forest. It took shorter than it had in her dreams. She was walking through the trees, trying to find the clearing with her sword out. The Centaurs were vicious now, from all the stories she'd heard, and clues she'd gathered. She had become quite adept at not being seen, and listening quietly.
She heard rustling of leaves, and quickly tightened her grip on the sword. She closed her eyes, and hoped and wished she could remember how to use it. The class was moving slowly, and the teacher getting frustrated. After the first couple of months things had slowed down, and most of the class was getting sloppy and joking around. As a direct result of that, they'd been doing a lot of running, and general exercises.
She backed away and held her sword up, ready to attack. And just like she had suspected would happen the Centaurs burst from the forest with bows pointed, ready to attack. In the lead were Ronan and Bane and they looked furious.
"We do not allow passage to humans in our forest, you enter at your own peril," ground out Bane- obviously he would be the one to do the talking.
Ginny, before frustrated, was now angry. 'How dare they?' she thought, 'how dare they deny me, I who am beloved of the castle Hogwarts?' She swung the sword in a circle before her.
"I think that it is you who come here on your own peril. I am beloved of the castle Hogwarts, and I shall pass. Look to the planets Mars and Jupiter. They should reveal their secrets to you, or have you become so blinded by your lies that you can no longer see the truth?" She said, surprised at her own eloquence.
What she did not know was that the very same Castle had chosen that moment to focus more of its power on her, and the words came without her even realizing it. It was quite surprising for her, but before she could think about it, she noticed the centaurs gathering to discuss something.
Relying on her memory, Ginny remembered that the sword sent out a beam of what she suspected was magic. She gathered a burst of anger and concentrated, but it was not the same type of anger she had felt earlier, rather it was the annoyance of being told she could not be where she wished. The early prickles of indignation that the residents of the forest would not allow her to pass. Especially when she was the chosen one.
She pushed the magic forwards, out to the point of the sword- something she no longer had to think about with her wand. The magic erupted from the wand tip, and hit one of the trees between two of the advancing centaurs. The tree burst, fiery pieces flew in all directions.
She turned to them, eyes flashing. Shouting, she issued a challenge: "Would you like to see that happen again? Is one of you willing to take me on, one on one?" Wind was pushing her hair into the sky, and making her robes flap in the air. The centaurs looked at her, and then they turned and ran away, not waiting to look back.
Satisfied that the centaurs were gone, she continued on her way, stopping every once in awhile to make sure that she wasn't being followed. She finally made her way to the spot where the spirit of the castle had last left her. There was nothing there. There was no note, there was no picture, and there was no sign that they had ever even been there.
Ginny stopped, and she looked around. She had put all her hope into this. She had felt so strongly that she would encounter the spirit where she had last seen her. It had been so strong of a feeling that she had known in her soul that Hogwarts would be there. And now it was all gone. All hope, and all the belief that she had ever known something before it happened.
It was more than Ginny could take. She crumpled to the floor and cried. All the frustrations of the year poured out. Her fighting with Ron, the knowledge of her new destiny, and most of all, the death the previous June of one she had cared so deeply about.
The burden of keeping it all in was getting to Ginny. She had to hide everything. The fact that she was now the one supposed to vanquish Voldemort. The fact that she had to hide her old friendship with Sirius. It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair!
It was many minutes before the tears began to stop. She sat on the floor, on the older paths of the forest and stared into the trees. She had to get out of there; she had to get out of the forest, and back to the castle. Ginny cleaned herself up as well as possible, and walked towards the school. The paths she followed automatically, not really thinking about anything at all.
As Ginny exited the forest, she noticed that the students were walking up the path towards the entrance of the school. She ran to catch up with them, and entered the queue at a position close to the end.
Not paying attention one way or another where she was, she did not notice that she had entered the line right next to a group of sixth year Slytherins.
"Well, well, well," drawled Draco Malfoy, "what do we have here? Looks like the Weaslette." Draco laughed to himself.
Pansy spoke next, "Let's show her what we do to Gryffindors too stupid to stay in large groups." A few of the Slytherins nodded fervently at her suggestion.
The group of them laughed cruelly, and advanced sinisterly. Animal instincts kicking in, Ginny made herself smaller and hissed at the group of Slytherins. A couple of them backed off, most noticeably Pansy and Millicent Bullstrode. Then Ginny struck Malfoy across the face, (Malfoy being the only one within hitting distance) and pushed her way out of the circle.
She rounded the corner, and spoke the words of the spell, and was in front of the Gryffindor common room. She composed herself, and entered the common room. She walked past all the people looking at her, and up the stairs to her room.
Once in her room, she checked her reflection, and saw that she looked dishevelled. She washed her face, and brushed her hair until it looked proper. Ginny then changed her clothes, and sent a quick washing charm at her gloves. She was then ready to leave for dinner.
She left the room, and walked to the Great Hall where she ate her supper, and then quickly turned and left the hall. She did not feel like being around people at the moment. Rushing out of the hall, so that she would not have to deal with anybody, she ran up to Gryffindor, and then up to bed.
Sleep came easily to her this night, and she soon fell into fitful sleep.
Ginny drifted in and out of dreams that night. She dreamed of the forest, dark and looming in front of her. She dreamed of Aubrey, and Braeleigh, and Seamus, all pushing her to do things that she didn't want to. There were also dreams of Harry- he was circling around her, and there were tears dripping off of his face. He was talking to her, telling her about doors, and about parents, and about death. There was always an undertone of death around Harry these days. Finally she dreamed of Hogwarts.
She awoke, and above her bed there was the Lady Hogwarts. She smiled happily, in a mothering sort of way. "Finally my princess, you are awake."
"How long have I been asleep?" asked Ginny, her eyes still half-shut, blocking out the soft light entering the room from the curtains.
"Why my dear, you have been asleep for your entire life" the Lady Hogwarts then cupped Ginny's face in both of her hands. "There is so much that you must know, but there is so little time in which to teach you. You are the Princess, but you are also the heir. Come now my Princess, do no look so surprised, you've suspected this since September. You, however, have only inherited the pure amounts of power, not any of the specific talents."
The Lady helped Ginny out of bed, and walked her through the halls. "Much has changed in the world since the Founders were alive, so much that I find myself unable to relate to your life. Fate however, has placed you in a good position. Molly Prewett, from what I remember of her, was always the mothering type. She has helped you travel through life quite well. She has always loved you.
"I can however, help you solve the mystery of the entombment of the Founders. They were not interred at all rather they were burned. Burned and their ashes were scattered to the four directions. They have truly become one with the earth again. There will never be a grave at which to mourn them, I made sure of such.
"Now there is very little time for me to speak to you at this moment. You will soon awaken, for you will be needed. There is a lot going on at this point in time. Stay out of the forest for awhile, you will know when it is safe to re-enter it."
The spirit of Hogwarts shimmered and disappeared in front of Ginny's eyes again.
Not being able to sleep again after her dreams, Ginny walked down to the Common Room. She sat in one of the chairs, and she watched the fire.
At the same time Harry Potter sat on the window seat in his dorm. He was unable to sleep, and he had been unable to since the summer. Sure, he got some sleep, but never any restful sleep, and never enough. He was lost in contemplation until a small mewing noise caught his attention- it was one of Ginny's cats- and it was trying to get onto Ron's bed. Ron had been in a weird mood all year, and it was starting to grate on his nerves, and on Ginny's.
That thought startled him, he realized that he'd been thinking about Ginny a lot more often lately, but not in a romantic way- it was something different. It had started when he first saw the Weasleys again, back in the summer. Then it had grown, until he felt weird, different, when she was around. As if he wouldn't have to worry. As if she could take care of all his problems for him- but that couldn't be. He had to defeat Lord Voldemort, even if it was, and it likely would be, the last thing he did.
The mewling noise caught his attention once again, and he scooped up the cat, the black one, he believed its name was Thunder, and walked out of the dorm. He fully intended just to deposit the cat in the common room, away from any possibilities of Ron's wrath, and return back to his window seat, and his musings.
Harry started when he got to the common room someone was there. It turned out that the person was Ginny; she was just sitting on one of the couches staring into the fire. She looked so small, so fragile, and for the moment he didn't know why he thought that Ginny could solve any of his problems. But then he remembered her yelling at Ron, and at Malfoy, and he remembered her fighting Seamus. With all the flooding of memories, his faith in Ginny came back.
Ginny turned in her seat, she thought that she had seen someone- it was Harry. "Oh, gods Harry, you frightened me! What are you doing down here?" she said, looking all concerned.
Harry mustered a small smile. "I couldn't sleep, and then I saw your cat. He was trying to get up onto Ron's bed- I thought to rescue him."
A smile from Ginny- she looked tired. "Thanks Harry. I can never keep track of these two, they're so small, and they're really quick. I could have sworn that they were both in my room, but I guess that I was wrong."
Harry moved to the couch, and sat down. He looked into the fire, and he suddenly understood why Ginny was down here looking at it- it was entrancing. When he snapped out of his thoughts, he saw Ginny looking at him. She looked concerned. "Are you alright Harry? You've seemed sad since we went to Godric's Hollow. Should we have not gone to the cemetery?"
"I don't know Ginny. When he- Voldemort, I mean- came back in fourth year, I was scared. But then he didn't do much all of my fifth year. I mean, I knew something was going on, and that things would change- I witnessed horrible things- but it kind of lulled me into a false sense of security. Now he's back, and he's acting, and I don't know what to do. I can't sleep, I feel nauseous all the time. It's like Fudge and his family aren't the only victims. I feel like I was the first victim in Voldemort's second coming, well, you or me. But don't you see? Don't you understand. They, Fudge and his bigoted, stupid family, get to die, and we have to live with the pain and the scars! Why do they deserve the freedom? What did we do to deserve this? Betrayal? Pain? Fear? Oh gods Ginny, why?" and with that, Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding World burst into fits of tears.
Ginny pulled him into her arms, and rested her head on his shoulder. She kissed the top of his head, in an indication of her affection, and whispered, "I don't know Harry, I really don't know." Then she too started to cry.
