Author's Note:
Alright Ladies and Gentlemen...I promised to put up the new version with all the corrections and such after book six had come out and I had read it and decided whether or not to follow through and make it compatible. I'm afraid that with how I have this particular story written it will not be able to mesh properly with book six which I am proud to say I managed to read in less than six hours because my husband took off work sick so I could lay in bed and read rather than chase after our ten month old daughter. This story might take a bit for me to finish because now I am dealing with not only our now one year old daughter but our newborn son. Sorry. But anyways, I promised the new version whether it flowed with book six or not so here it is...it does NOT flow with book six. Sorry.
If you want to read the story that I have been obsessed with that DOES flow with book six then you need to read my new story Crimson. It is the first of a two-parter. The first story is Crimson and the second will be Emerald. Both will tell the same story but from two very different sides so when you read them both you get the full story that otherwise you wouldn't know. I might write another story that follows after them to tell the story of the main character, Abby, you'll understand if you read them, but I am not quite sure about it and if I do it probably will take awhile. Our computer is without internet so I have to use my mother-in-law's and she has this pop-up ad blocker that sometimes blocks me from uploading onto chapter that I upload for this story and all my other stories from now on will be at least ten pages in WordPerfect12 so be prepared and since you are fore-warned please do not tell me that the chapters are too long for you to read. If you only have a certain amount of time to be online either print out the chapter or download it to disk. However, as I have said before, DO NOT STEAL my work. I will take the time out of my day to track you down and do everything I can to either get you kicked off this website or have your own website taken down for copyright infringement. Got that? Good. Now enjoy the story.
Chapter 1. The Weasley Secret
"She should know Arthur. It's her blood right; her history."
"No Molly, no, she's too young."
"She's 16 about to turn 17 this yuletide."
"She shouldn't be told. Keep it quiet and out of mind. Just be thankful that she came out looking like you and not like that bastard."
"He wants her to know Arthur. He wants to know her. He wants his son to know her. And I want her to know that she has other family. I'm tired of keeping this secret."
"We are her family Molly and just because you opened your legs for Lucius Malfoy one night does not mean that he should get a say in anything around here. I don't care if he's really her father or not. This is my home, and you are my wife, and dammit she does not need to know and you will not tell herཀ GOOD NIGHT!"
The loud and angry voices receded into the darkness as they moved into the living room but in the kitchen a red-headed teen quietly made her way to the side of the connecting living room door so that she could hear better.
"Where are you going?"
"Away from here. Oh Molly, dear, since we seem to be repeating the past here, should a silver-headed git come through that fireplace to comfort you how about you try keeping your legs closed so I don't end up taking care of another kid that isn't mine."
Her mother's sobs grew louder as the sound of a slamming door reverberated throughout the house and then all that could be heard was the soft sounds of the woman's weeping as she made her way to her bedroom, alone, not noticing her daughter's still form at the kitchen table. For Molly Weasley the horrible night had ended but for her daughter, Ginny, the night had just begun. She glanced up at the odd clock on the wall and watched as the spoon holding the face of the man she had thought of as her father slowly move from home to traveling.
Her brow furrowed Ginny sat back down at the kitchen table and picked up the fork in order to finish the slice of apple pie she had been about to pilfer from the dessert rack for the next day's dinner party. She replayed what she had heard over and over in her head and still no matter how many times she thought about it none of it made any sense. The Weasley adults didn't have problems. They never fought. They didn't even really lift their voices to each other.
Or at least they didn't anymore Ginny thought as a vague memory from when she was younger drifted to the front of her memory. She had been three and they were out at Diagon Alley getting Charlie his new books for school when she had tripped over a small pile of books that she hadn't even seen and a pair of strong arms had caught her and picked her up. Her bright blue eyes had met the most electric pair of blue eyes she had ever seen before in her life. A boy about her age that looked like a small miniature of the man holding her came over holding a toy broomstick. He smiled but before he could say anything her father had come and plucked her out of the blonde man's arms and said something to him that had made the smile on her angel's face disappear and turn to stone. Not two minutes later she and her mother had flooed back to the Burrow and left her father and brothers to shop.
Turning away from the slice of dutch apple she walked into the living room and picked one of the memory books off the shelf behind the sofa. Sitting down she began to leaf through the pages not quite sure of what she was looking for but knowing that she would recognize it when she saw it. Flipping through the pages she watched as Bill, Charlie, Percy and then the twins and Ron each had their picture with their magic pre-school class taken. She smiled in anticipation as she looked at the next page expecting to see herself and her class but instead finding a faded square where the picture had once been. Frowning she got up and pulled the memory book of herself off the shelf behind her and began to flip through the pages. The more blank squares she saw the angrier she got. Why were there pictures missing? Who would take them? What harm could they have done?
Biting her lip Ginny sifted through the argument she had overheard her parents having. Malfoy. If Lucius Malfoy really was her father then surely she would look something like him. Wouldn't she? But she didn't, she thought as her gaze shifted over to the portrait of the family across the room from her. Same red hair as her mother. Same nose and ears. Granted she was a bit paler than her brothers but that was because she stayed indoors more often. The sun tended to just make her skin burn and peel. But she didn't look any different. She had both the Weasley tale-tell traits. Bright red hair and deep blue eyes. Ginny held in her gasp. Her eyes. They weren't the same as her mom's. They were the same wide shape but the coloring was off. In fact the blue of her eyes was several shades lighter than all of her brothers'. It wasn't really noticeable unless you really looked but swallowing the lump in her throat Ginny knew instinctively that should she compare them to the blue of Lucius Malfoy she would find an exact match. Letting the memory book fall from her dead fingers Ginny backed out of the room and headed towards the back of the house.
Slowly the red-head made her way up the spiraling staircase towards her room. She opened the door as if in a daze and fell face first onto her bed. Thoughts flew through her mind at an astounding speed. The only one that really stuck was the one that caused her to begin to giggle. Her father had almost killed her. Well, not intentionally. Well, maybe. Soon her giggles turned into laughter and she was gripping her stomach from the spasms that were assailing her abdomen. She didn't even notice when the door opened slightly and three pairs of eyes watched in confusion as she continued to laugh hysterically.
Hours later she fell into an exhausted sleep unaware of the quiet conversation that was occurring only two doors down the twisted hallway.
"So what do you gather that's all about?" Ron asked his older brothers as they slowly went over their store ledgers for the past week.
"Don't know."
"Maybe she finally cracked."
"It's happened to plenty of Hogwarts students as they enter their sixth year."
Fred glanced up for a moment. "But I must admit I did rather fancy it would be you instead of her."
"Yea," George agreed looking up. "No offense little bro but at least she studies before the day of the test."
"But why were the memory books strewn all about the living room like that?" Ron asked his face contorting as he tried to figure it out.
Fred shook his head. "Don't know, maybe she got bored."
"Maybe mom and dad didn't take as many pictures of her as they did of us. After all we are the perfect two in the family you know."
Ron shook his head, there was no way he was going to get any help out of these two. He'd ask Harry. Maybe he'd have an idea.
Fred offered one last piece of advice as he turned back to the rows of numbers he was calculating. "Harry will be here tomorrow for the rest of the summer. Get him to ask her. You know she has always had a thing for him. Maybe she'll tell him."
Ron nodded and thinking happily of all the quidditch matches with his best mate that were merely a day away he headed out the door and up to his mess of a room.
Morning broke only a few hours later and as usual the group of kids woke to the smell of frying bacon and sausage and to pancakes on the griddle. Stumbling downstairs the lot of young red-heads managed to make it to their chairs at the long table just as a jet-black haired boy entered through the back door.
"Morning Harry." The twins chorused as they used a spell to pour him a glass of juice and managed to spill the rest of the pitcher on the table. If no one else noticed that no rebuke followed as Molly cleaned up the mess it really wasn't a surprise.
Ginny, however, glanced up and watched as her mother went back to the stove and stirred the pancake batter. Her mother hadn't slept all night if the dark circles under her eyes were any indication. Good, Ginny thought harshly. Why should a liar be able to sleep at night?
As she continued to watch her mum with a look of thinly veiled contempt, Ginny noticed that she kept looking over to the clock. Looking over at first she thought everything was as it should be. There, on Home, were her, Ron, the twins, and mum. Charlie, Bill, and Percy were each on Work just like they were supposed to be. But, Ginny followed the longest spoon up to the picture of Arthur Weasley who was still sitting under the heading of Traveling. Biting her bottom lip she looked back at her mum and the drawn expression on her face and fought back the instinct to go and comfort her. Getting up from the table Ginny walked out of the room leaving her practically full plate on the table.
"Well that was rude." Fred said as he speared the sausages off the plate his little sister had left behind.
"Very." George agreed as he plucked away the remaining slice of bacon.
Harry looked at Ron and Ron forked more food in his mouth as he gave him a look that read 'Later'.
As all the boys were concentrating on gobbling up the rest of the food on the table they completely missed the guilty and sad look that their mother sent towards the retreating figure of Ginny's back.
Slamming her door closed Ginny looked around her room in confusion and anger. Why should she feel sad for that woman? She lied to her. Her entire life she lied to her. Her father had tried to instill a hatred towards the Malfoys in her ever since she had first met them and her mother had not said one word otherwise. But still, Ginny reflected, last night her mum and argued in her defense. She'd wanted to tell. But did she want to tell her so she'd know, Ginny asked herself, or to appease her guilty conscience? Sitting down on her bed the red-head was inclined to believe the latter based on the information she had at hand.
She needed more information. She needed truths. Instinctively she knew she needed the pictures. She was never going to get that kind of information here. Deciding to busy herself with normal things until she could figure out where exactly she needed to go the red-head pulled out her Transfiguration book and began to outline the chapters like her friend Hermione had taught her to.
By the time she had reached the eleventh chapter she knew where to go. Hogwarts Library. It would have the answers she sought. But how to get there? She knew for a fact after the last few years that it was not connected to the floo network. No one could apparate onto school grounds. The train wouldn't take anyone there except for students on the first of September. What to do? Now Hogsmede Ginny knew was connected to the floo network. And she did know her way from there to Hogwarts.
Making up her mind Ginny grabbed her personal stash of floo powder along with her broom and crept down the stairs. Listening carefully from the empty living room she realized that her mum was in the kitchen doing dishes and the boys were all outside playing a small quidditch match. Walking confidently over to the fireplace she threw in the powder and watched the green flames rise. Stepping into the flames she made her destination known. "The Three Broomsticks." She disappeared with a flash into the flames not noticing the red-headed middle-aged man dragging himself through the front door looking as though he had spent the night in a seedy pub.
As she stepped out of the fireplace and dusted the remaining green powder off her jeans and t-shirt she wondered exactly how she was supposed to get into the school let alone the library when the entire place was closed for the summer. Glancing around the room she saw only unfamiliar faces seated at the tables and Madame Rosmerta up at the bar. Deciding to at least have a drink while she figured out the next step in her plans she ordered a butterbeer as she took a seat at the bar. She watched as Rosmerta filled a clean glass with the foamy drink and handed it to her.
"Thank you."
"No problem. You mind if I ask you why you're here?" The curvaceous woman asked. "We don't usually get that many students up here during the summertime."
"That's alright." Ginny said her mind racing to find a suitable lie as she smiled brightly at the woman. "I have a summer project due for my Transfiguration class but I wasn't quite finding enough information on my topic in the books I have and I was hoping perhaps someone at the castle would allow me some time in the library to find what I need." Not quite a lie, Ginny thought, but not the truth either. Somewhere in the middle in that despondent shade of gray.
"Well that should be no problem dear. Professor Snape is upstairs right now reading a missive that came from the Headmaster. He should be back down in a moment. I'm sure he wouldn't mind taking you to the library so you can finish your assignment."
If Ginny's smile became a little fake at the mention of Professor Snape's name the bar owner didn't notice and she continued chatting on about all the gossip she read about in Witch Weekly. When a door slammed above and footsteps were heard on the stairs the bubbly woman walked over to the bottom of the stairs and waited until a robed figure came down. After exchanging a few words with the barkeep the figure walked over took Ginny by the arm and pulled her out of the tavern barely giving her enough time to pull out a few knuts from her coin purse to throw onto the bar from the door leading to the street. After being dragged a few hundred feet Ginny dug her heels in and forced the man holding her to stop.
"No offense Professor but my arm is about to be pulled out of its socket."
"Well then perhaps you would like to explain why you have a phony excuse about needing to get into the castle during the summertime?" the wizard said as he turned around to face her. "I don't have time to go escorting lying students around. I have more important things to do." Sneering the man started to stalk off in the direction of the road that led to the castle.
"Wait. Please wait." Ginny shouted as she followed after him. As he continued to get farther and farther away from her something in Ginny snapped. "Fine then, see if I care! Next time I see Lucius Malfoy I will be sure to inform him of exactly who you are!"
Stopping dead in his tracks the wizard turned around and looked at her as if she were a bug beneath his shoe. "And what makes you think that he will listen to you, you silly little girl?"
Walking up the hill until she could see his eyes she laughed. "Isn't that what fathers' do? Listen to their children."
His mouth open to deliver a scathing retort the dark haired man stopped as he saw the coldness in her direct blue gaze. A coldness that he'd only seen in one other person's eyes before. "Fine then. Miss Malfoy. Tell the truth. Why do you need the library?"
Ginny met his gaze, beat for beat. "I do believe you know. There are gaps in my own history that I need to fill. The library holds the books I need to find that information."
"Fine." Snape said as he turned back towards the castle. "But hurry up. I have other things to attend to."
Not another word was spoken all the way up to the castle where Snape merely dropped her off in the entryway as he headed toward the dungeons. Contemplating the question in her mind of whether or not the greasy-headed Potions Master might contact the elder Malfoy before she was ready Ginny decided it wasn't worth wondering about until she had filled the gaps on her own.
Walking quickly she made good time to the library where she strode past the empty front desk and headed straight to the history section. It took her a second to find the book she required, for as it did have a name, the pages on the inside were blank. Getting out an quill she wrote two names in the book, one on each page. Lucius Malfoy and Molly Bennett. A gold thread appeared next to Molly's name and linked it to the script of Arthur Weasley. Dropping between the two the names Bill, Charlie, Percy, George and Fred appeared. She watched as slowly a name appeared linked with a gold thread to the first name. Narcissa Black. A gold line appeared drawing down from the two of them the name of Draco Malfoy. Then back on the other page the name of Ronald was written. The threads all ended and a silver thread suddenly appeared linking the names of Lucius and Molly and weaved its way down the page underneath all the other names and there looped out the name of Virginia.
Ginny nodded. At least the book was honest. She stared at the two pages wondering at the two thin gold threads that fell next to Draco's name between Lucius and Narcissa and yet never went on to script a name. They just stopped. Her brow furrowed as she thought of what that could mean. Trying to figure out if they would change if she did just a Malfoy line search she swept the feather of her quill down the side with the Weasley names on it and watched as more names twined out of the Malfoy line. She watched as Narcissa's line eventually found its way to the Black's line and the Malfoy line reached all the way back to Rowena Ravenclaw. And yet still the two threads appeared under Narcissa's name. Other sets of empty threads connected to other Malfoy pairs including Lucius Malfoy's own parents. What did those empty threads mean?
Ginny shivered uncontrollably as a cold draft swept in through the open window across the way. Getting up she strode over and pulled the door shut against the once warm breeze and locked it with the bar on the side of the window. As she locked it she watched as a figure in a deep purple cloak came out of the Forbidden Forest and skirted the edge of the lake and disappeared around the side of the castle. She was so busy staring out the window that she forgot about the book until she turned back to the table.
Without glancing at it again she closed the damning book without ever noticing the silver thread that ran down from one of Lucius's great-aunts to a female child to a male child named Tom to a female child born two years before her. Walking back to where she got it she placed the book on the shelf and skipped a few rows over not noticing the book turning into mist and leaving an empty space on the row. Her fingers skimmed the books along the row she needed searching for the right year. Finally she found it. The yearbook for the Sorcerers' Preschool the year she attended. The year missing from the memory books at the Burrow.
Opening the page to the class picture she saw what she had suspected all along. There she was waving out of the picture with a bleach blonde boy next to her and her older brother Ron on the other side of her sneering at the boy on her left. She could easily recognize plenty of her peers here at Hogwarts in the picture as well. She flipped through the pages seeing herself in plenty of the pictures. And she saw why the pictures were no longer in the books back at home. In almost every other picture of her the young Draco Malfoy was beside her laughing and playing. Ginny slammed the book closed and replaced it on the shelf.
Now she knew. All the holes were filled. The only question was now that she knew what would she do? Ginny snorted as the fading light filtered through the window. It was rather obvious that no one else knew and that her 'dad' was tired of having her around and didn't want to have to look at her. But it wasn't as if she could just leave. She didn't have any money of her own. Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban after what had happened a few years ago. Granted it was guarded by aururs now and not the dementors, but still, he was in prison and she doubted his wife would just open the doors to the result of her husband's illicit affair. Besides, they were dark wizards and she didn't associate with that kind. Did she?
Ginny closed her eyes, hoping an answer would just pop out of nowhere, but it didn't. When she opened her eyes the room was hardly visible, the light from outdoors was fading fast as the night came on. She should head back and yet, she didn't want to. Something held her from getting up from her chair. Gathering up her willpower she stared out the window and watched transfixed as the figure in purple robes she had seen earlier slip back into the forest. She walked over and stood at the window as the purple robes weaved in and out of the trees until the figure was out of sight.
Gazing at the forest Ginny felt herself get lightheaded and before long her vision started to blur at the edges until suddenly she was assaulted by an image of a clearing in the woods and a scream cut short and a werewolf howling towards the moon with blood on it's muzzle and a figure in a purple robe laying unmoving on the ground by a pool of water with the moon's reflection. A hand on her shoulder dragged her back to the present and as her vision started to clear Ginny found herself on the ground with her Potions Master hovering over her.
"Are you alright?" he asked with a strange look on his face as if he was attempting to express some sort of concern.
Still woozy from the assault on her senses Ginny answered the only way she could. "No."
Getting to her feet Ginny glanced back out the window and knew instinctively that her little daydream had not just been a dream of an overworked mind. Somewhere in those woods a woman lay either dying or dead. And a werewolf was to blame. She undid the lock she had so recently made sure of and opened the window. Picking up her cloak from the back of the chair she had been sitting in earlier she asked a question of her teacher, that before that day, she would have never dared ask.
"Where is Lupin tonight?"
If he thought her question odd he did not let on he merely cocked his head slightly to the side. "On business for the Order why?"
She turned and looked him straight in the eyes. "It's a full moon and I heard a werewolf howl rather close by." At the small flicker in his eyes she continued as she turned towards the door where she had left her broom. "I hope the woman died for something important. For life to be wasted trivially in that manner would be cruel and inhumane. Even in the middle of a war." She did not wait to see her teacher's reaction to her words but merely climbed on her broom and flew out the window towards her temporary home.
Even in the wizarding world coming home past midnight was not acceptable. And so when she arrived at a quarter to two and began to walk through the living room to the kitchen for a piece of bread before she went to bed Ginny was not surprised to find her so-called parents sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. Or a few of the boys' shadows sneaking around outside the halfway opened window.
"Where have you been?" Her mum asked her in a firm voice.
"Nowhere." Ginny said as she snatched a roll from a basket on a shelf.
"Do not lie to me young lady. I am your father." Arthur Weasley began as he clenched his fingers into a fist.
Ginny interrupted him staring straight into his eyes. "Bull-Shit."
Two pairs of wide eyes watched through the window as Molly Weasley gasped and put her hand up to her mouth and Arthur Weasley started to turn as red as his hair.
"Now see here. You just can't go around talking like that." he began before she interrupted him once again.
"No. No more lies. If you can't say something honest then don't say anything at all. I'll be gone in the morning. Don't worry. I won't take anything of yours." Ginny said disgusted as she grabbed another roll and headed back through the living room to the stairs.
Outside Fred and George stared at each other wide-eyed as they heard their mother burst into noisy sobs that soon became interrupted with hiccups as their father began to yell at her about some kind of secret. Unable to make up their minds about whether or not they should make their presence known the twins crouched outside the window unable to move until the sound of a resounding slap shocked them into moving. Bursting into the kitchen they found their mother on the floor, her chair overturned, and their father gone. Together they carried their unconscious mother to her bed and placed a cold rag on the bruise that was beginning to appear across her left cheek. Neither said a word as they went ahead and cleaned up the kitchen and house and finally dragged a pair of chairs into their mother's bedroom and fell asleep there at her side. Neither even realized the next morning that during that entire time neither one of them had uttered a single spell. They had done everything themselves by hand as if they were asking for forgiveness from their mother in the only way they knew how. By doing the few things she had always asked them to. To do for themselves and not become lazy with their magic by becoming a slave to it.
Upstairs Ginny opened the door to her bedroom fuming and her attitude did not get any better as her eyes fell upon the two figures who were using magic to copy her work from the summer.
"What are you doing?" she asked barely restraining the magic she felt sparking from her fingertips.
"Oh, borrowing your potions work. You know we aren't as good as you." Ron said without looking up as he copied her work on the wolfsbane potion.
Harry next to him, copying what appeared to be her Herbology work, looked up. "We figured you wouldn't mind."
"Yea, well I do mind. It's called cheating. Maybe if you stopped playing so much quidditch you could get some of your own work done. It's time to stop depending on others and do for yourself okay? Now get out of my room."
Harry stood up slowly Ron beside him. "Are you serious?"
"What is wrong with you Ginny?" Ron asked rudely. "You've been acting weird and snobby the past couple of days."
"You don't really care!" She screamed at him. "Now get out!"
Harry walked out of the room staring at her in disbelief with Ron following behind after he finished gathering up the work they had been copying.
"Are you deaf Ronald? I said no cheating. And that means you aren't supposed to take those." Ginny said as she lit the offending papers on fire with a wave of her wand. Her brother dropped the papers and tried to put the flames out with a spell of his own but ended up freezing Harry's legs in a blizzard spell instead. Laughing Ginny went to close the door only to have her so-called brother punch her in the mouth.
She lifted her eyes to his gloating ones in a deadly glare and spit out a mouthful of blood before muttering a spell that had him fall on the ground clutching his face in agony. "Never ever touch me again Ronald Weasley or I will give you more than that to remember me by."
Closing her door Ginny put a spell on it so that it wouldn't open for any reason or any person for the next two months until the morning of September first. Getting out the cell phone that Hermione had gotten her for her birthday the year before she called up Bill's girlfriend Fleur. After a short conversation Ginny had achieved her goal. A position as an assistant at Fleur's father's muggle law firm for the next two months until school started and Fleur was letting Ginny sublease her apartment in France while she worked there.
Gathering up her clothes she folded them and placed them into her school trunk on top of all her supplies for the next year. Knowing that she wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, if ever, Ginny glanced around the room looking for anything that caught her eye or heart. Her eyes alighted on a picture of her at the age of four learning how to bake cookies with her mum. Blinking back the lone tear that threatened to fall Ginny picked up the picture and placed it on the top of the pile in the trunk before she closed it.
Placing the lock and shrink charm on the trunk she placed it in the pocket of the cloak she threw on and opening her window she flew out and then hovered outside for a few moments in midair while she performed the two month lock on the window as well. Flying off in the direction of Paris Ginny ignored the light rain that fell down upon her and refused to look back knowing that if she did somehow she would regret it.
For the next two months she fell into a routine of going to work, paying the bills, and saving as much money as she could. She buried the memory of her call to Fleur in the back of the other girl's mind obscuring it as much as she could. She contacted no one, not even Hermione, knowing that if she did there could be dire consequences. So she locked up her wand and experienced, for the first time, life as a muggle. Only one shock of the wizarding world intruded upon her solitude and that was a new hit sensation that was being played on the radio all day and night. Eventually the shock of the music wore off and she learned to enjoy it until the morning of September first when she packed up her things and sent the key back to Fleur, via a post owl, and headed back in the direction of London to board the train for Hogwarts.
...Continued in Chapter 2.