Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, plain and simple. Nor do I own The Phantom of the Opera. I wish I did, though… then the DBCA (Dramatic Black Cloak Addicts) would beat him up and destroy him and I would get Erik. Totally. –nods- That's what would happen. And it's a nice picture, too!

I'm sorry for the wait for this chapter. I'm afraid that the next chapter will be even farther off, as I haven't even started yet. I write at every second I can (including at school) but I have other stories too, and my friend is going to get mad at me for not writing on a story that we share (you guys should read it if you like LilyJames. It's by YouAndIBoth –our shared penname- and is called Dear Whoever.), so I need to write that too. I'll try to do better, though.

At the moment, my little brother is in the emergency room. –cries- He was at tennis (he's 9, by the way) and they were playing some game and a girl ran into him with her teeth in his cheek. It was bleeding all over the place, more than you would think. It was kinda scary, you could see three teeth marks. So he's getting checked out. That makes me sad, that he's hurt. That's my rant for the day. Sorry.

On with the story!

The portraits on the walls had all apparently all heard of Ginny's disappearance, as they were whispering and pointing. She couldn't shoot all of them dirty glances, so she ignored them. Ginny swore that the suits of armor were in cahoots with the portraits, as they kept sniggering at her.

"Ginny?"

Oh, geez, Ginny thought, now she was hearing things too. Nonetheless, she called out, "Yes?"

The figure of Meg hurried into view. "You're back!" She took a closer look at Ginny as she walked nearer. "Merlin, Ginny, you look awful!"

"Thanks," Ginny said sarcastically.

"You know what?" Meg continued. "Go to bed. I'll cover for you. You can't go out in public looking like that."

"Thank you," Ginny said gratefully. Meg shrugged.

"Anytime, but now you have to tell me where you were."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Fine."

"You've got something poking out of your pocket," Meg observed. Ginny looked down in surprise and took out an envelope. It was addressed to Minerva McGonagall. Ginny gave it to Meg.

"Here, give this to McGonagall."

Meg took the envelope and pushed Ginny in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. Ginny snuck to her dorm and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Draco Malfoy was cursing fate, life, and himself. Why had he allowed that little Weasley girl to enter his lair, his home? Now she would tell everyone who and where he was and he would be captured and sent to Azkaban.

She's not so little anymore. And she promised not to tell, his mind reminded him. He scowled and moved further through the tunnels behind the Hogwarts walls. One voice on the other side of the wall stood out. He was in a very secret passageway that was behind the Transfiguration classroom. The voice was that of Ginny's friend (Draco had forgotten her name). He stopped as Ginny's name was mentioned.

"Ginny has returned," the girl announced. There were gasps and whispers coming, Draco imagined, from the classmates.

"Where precisely is she now?" McGonagall's voice asked.

"I thought it best she was alone. She needed rest."

"May I see her?" a male voice piped up.

"No, monsieur, she will see no one." This amused Draco, and he guessed Ginny's friend was French by her words.

"Will she be OK?" the same guy piped up.

"Here, I have a note," Ginny's friend said.

"Let me see it," McGonagall said sharply. There was a pause, in which Draco assumed the teacher/headmistress was reading his note. He knew she couldn't recognize his handwriting; he had used a charm on it to make it unrecognizable, but he still wished he could see her face. After a while she said, "Mr. Creevey, you are in charge. Miss Giry, come with me."

Their voices faded and Draco went back to his chambers deep below Hogwarts. It was time to invent again.

Ginny was rudely awakened by Meg shaking her roughly and her headmistress at the door. "Mmph."

"Ginny," Meg whispered. "Ginny, wake up. McGonagall- sorry, Professor McGonagall, wants to talk to you."

Ginny sat up and combed her fingers through her hair in an attempt to straighten it out and flatten it. "What?"

"Miss Weasley, where were you last night?" McGonagall asked. Ginny shrugged.

"Not really sure."

Meg started to say something, but Professor (Headmistress) McGonagall put up her hand and Meg promptly closed her mouth.

"Miss Weasley, this is very important. Miss Giry gave me a note about your whereabouts. They are, however, very vague. If you could clear anything up, that would be very helpful."

"What did the note say?" Ginny asked curiously. McGonagall raised her eyebrows.

"I assumed you knew. It is, of course, about you."

"No, I only saw the outside and gave it to Meg before coming up here."

"Very well." McGonagall said, opening the note again.

"'Dear Minerva McGonagall,

"'Do not worry about Miss Weasley. She was safe and will continue to be safe. She was with the Angel. She will not get in trouble, or a great misfortune will befall you.

"'Your local Angel'"

McGonagall stopped reading and looked up. "Do you know anything about this 'Angel'?"

"No," Ginny lied, fighting a smile. "No, I know of no 'Angel'. I don't know how in the world the letter got in my pocket."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows but left after ordering Ginny to her next class. Meg was given permission to stay with Ginny so that Ginny would not 'run off again'.

"So where did you go?" Meg asked after the headmistress had gone. Ginny shrugged, waving her hand so that a skirt and shirt (and underclothes) floated out of her trunk and into her hands. Ginny went into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and got dressed. When she got out, brushing her hair, she and Meg had five minutes to get to class. They ran and made it to their next class, Charms, just in time to skid to their seats before the bell rang.

Flitwick nearly fell off his stack of books when he saw Ginny. "Goodness, you're here!"

"In the flesh," Ginny answered dryly. Flitwick just nodded and started the lesson.

Next was lunch. Although Ginny tried to avoid them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were soon at her side. Ron was livid.

"Merlin, Ginny, you worried us! How could you do that at a time like this? There's a war going on! We don't need to worry about a missing 16-year-old too!"

"Then don't!" Ginny said loudly, her temper rising at the sharp words. "I never asked you to look after me! I was perfectly fine, and I came back!"

"Came back from where?" Harry asked. "Ginny, this is too much. You learning wandless magic from an unknown person, you disappearing… it's too much to be a coincidence."

"Harry James Potter, it's none of your business where I go. You sneak out too. Don't think I don't know."

"That's completely off the point!"

"Ginny, it would really help us if you could tell us," Hermione put in.

"Ever if I was going to tell you, I wouldn't help you here," Ginny snapped, then grabbed a roll. She stuffed it in her mouth whole and washed it down with a swig of pumpkin juice. Meg stared at her.

"Hungry, are you?"

"Starving. I haven't eaten anything since dinner last night."

"Ah, the Angel had no food?" Meg asked slyly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ginny said, stuffing another roll in her mouth. After she swallowed, she added, "I don't know of any angel."

"The one in the letter, Gin. Remember, it said you were with the Angel."

"What angel?" Ron asked, his mouth full too. "I don't know of any angel around here. Ghosts, yes; angels, no."

"I have no idea what this 'angel' is, Ronald Weasley and Meg Giry, so if you're quite done interrogating me, I have to get to class."

"The bell hasn't-" Meg started, but then the bell rang. "OK, let's go."

The whole day was filled with whispers and stares, much like after the duel. Ginny hated the attention. It made it so hard to concentrate. Meg made it hard too, always following her around.

Ginny missed meeting the Angel three days in a row, mostly because she was always being watched. Meg was almost always with her, and if Meg wasn't there, somebody else was.

Eventually people grew content that she wasn't going to run away, and by Christmas everything was normal again in terms of keeping Ginny company.

Christmas Day, however, wasn't so positive.

Ginny was awakened by Meg jumping on her bed. "Get off," Ginny mumbled, pushing Meg's legs.

"Get up!" Meg said. "Happy Christmas, Ginny!"

Ginny opened her eyes. "It's Christmas already?"

"Yeah, it is!" Christine (another Gryffindor 6th year girl) said, picking clothes out of her trunk. "There are presents by your bed!"

"What, did you think I was that naughty?" Ginny asked, sitting up and yawning. "'Cause I wasn't really that bad."

Christine shrugged and disappeared into the bathroom to dress. Ginny yawned again.

"What time is it?"

"Seven," Meg replied. "Open your presents already!"

In the end, Ginny got five bags of Bertie Botts, two Droobles, a sweater, and a pair of earrings.

"Come on!" Meg said, yanking on Ginny's arm. "Let's go see what the others got."

Ginny allowed herself to be pulled down to the common room. Everyone in Gryffindor who stayed for Christmas seemed to be down there. Most were done opening their presents and those who weren't done were almost finished. Strangely enough, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were absent from the room.

"Neville!" she called across the room.

"Yeah?" the boy called back.

"Where's Harry?"

"I don't know, but he was having a fit again when he woke up. Sorry I can't help you more!"

"No, that's what I wanted. Thank you!"

Neville nodded and turned back to Dean Thomas and continued his conversation.

"So," Meg said. "Gonna visit the Angel today?"

Ginny could have smacked her. "Meg, there is no Angel! And I'd appreciate if you didn't spread rumors!"

"I'm not," Meg said, looking hurt. "I was just wondering."

"Well, don't," Ginny said crossly. Meg pouted childishly.

"Well then, if you're going to be mean, I'm going to go hang out with Christine instead."

"Christine is with her boyfriend, Meg," Ginny pointed out.

"Oh, that guy with the weird name? Raoul or something like that? He's no fun."

Ginny snorted. "How do you know? You've never even talked to the guy."

"I can tell by the way he looks. Guys like him are almost always boring."

Ginny couldn't help but laugh. "OK, let's go down to breakfast. I wonder how many tables there are this time. There's hardly anyone left at Hogwarts."

"I bet there's only one or two," Meg guessed.

"We shall see in a minute," Ginny said, grinning, all former irritation gone.

"Excuse me," a voice said behind them. The two sixth years looked back and saw a first-year girl. Ginny thought her name was Erin, but she wasn't quite sure. She hadn't exactly been in the best of shape at the beginning of the year when the Sorting happened.

"Excuse me, but is one of you Ginny Weasley?" the girl continued.

"Aye," Ginny said, causing Meg to throw a quick amused glance at her and mouth, 'PIRATE!'. "That's me. Why?"

"Professor McGonagall wants you in her office, right now," Erin said.

"I didn't do it," Ginny said instantly, causing Meg to snort with laughter.

"God, Gin, you sound like your brothers."

"Hopefully not Percy…" Ginny said, and remembered that Erin was there. "Any word on why she needs to see me so urgently?"

"No; she just told me to find you. I had to ask seven people to find you. I knew your name, though; you're quite famous among us first years. Running away and all…"

"I didn't run away!" Ginny said through gritted teeth. "I was in the castle!"

"Mmhmm. Well, anyway, I've got to get to breakfast and you'd better hurry to McGonagall's. She sounded serious." Erin gave Ginny and Meg a smile and scurried off into the Great Hall. Ginny gave a helpless look at Meg.

"I'm sorry, Meg, I have to go. Tell me how many tables there are if I don't get back in time for breakfast."

"'Kay," Meg said. "I hope you're not getting in trouble for anything. You'd better not be, anyway, Miss Weasley!" She gave Ginny a mock-stern glare.

Ginny shrugged. "We'll see." She jogged off in the direction of McGonagall's office and reached there in about a minute and thirty seconds. She was about to open the door when she heard voices inside.

"Do you really think this is wise, Potter?" Professor McGonagall's voice said.

"No," Harry's voice said. "But nothing's wise these days. She deserves to know. I remember how I felt when I didn't know anything until my fifth year. I don't want that to happen to Ginny."

Ginny got a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't a visit to be chastised for something she hadn't known she had done wrong. She knocked on the door and it was instantly opened by Harry. She slipped past him into the room and looked questioningly at the occupants in the room. Harry was there, and Professor McGonagall. Ron and Hermione were also present.

"Sit, Miss Weasley," Professor McGonagall said, indicating a chair. Ginny dropped into it and continued to look curiously at Harry and the others.

"Is there something I should know?" she asked, breaking the silence that had crept over the room. "'Cause I'm getting a strong feeling that something's wrong."

"Potter?" McGonagall asked. "I leave the explaining to you."

Harry took a deep breath. "OK, well, you know how I get those dreams sometimes? The true nightmares?"

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, Neville said you were near having a fit this morning."

Harry nodded too. "Yeah, I have to say I was. I had a dream last night."

"OK, so why am I here? I mean, I'm not important or anything," Ginny asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Ginny, this involves you," Harry said. "It involves you as in, it was about you."

Ginny gaped at him. This can't be good. Everyone was waiting for her to say something, so she said, "What about me?"

"Voldemort said something about you."

"What did he say? Harry, tell me!"

Harry sighed. "He wanted you, Ginny. You to be captured and brought to him. He remembers you from Tom Riddle and he wants you back."

"Oh," Ginny said, feeling incredibly numb. She didn't feel truly frightened or angry. She didn't feel anything at all.

"Wait, you're telling me that V-V-Voldemort wants my baby sister?" Ron asked angrily. Obviously he had no such problems.

""Pretty much, yeah," Harry answered seriously. "We need to protect Ginny. Ginny, you need to help us. No going out at night. And don't do anything stupid."

"Me? Do anything stupid?" Ginny said innocently. "Don't be silly." A glare from everyone else shut her up.

"Gin, this is serious," Ron said sharply. "It could mean the difference between your life and death. Don't joke around like that."

"Joy. So what will you all be doing?"

"Beyond protecting you, trying to locate Voldemort," Harry answered.

'So let me get this straight. Voldemort wants me, probably to kill me, and probably because of the whole diary fiasco thing. You will all be making sure I'm safe while trying to find him and I will be trying to find something to do in the two feet of space I'm allowed to move around in. Am I correct?"

"More or less."

Ginny smiled as brightly as she could, considering the circumstances. "Happy Christmas."

Ginny was still as numb as ever as she made her way past the Fat Lady and through the corridors of the school late that night. Once she thought a ghost had seen her, but it had turned out to be her imagination.

"Angel? Are you there?" she asked, bursting into 'her' room.

"Goodness, Weasley, what are you doing here at this time of night?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Shouldn't you? Anyway, I have to tell you something, something important." And I need to see you. "And how many times must I tell you to call me Ginny?"

"What is it?" he asked, ignoring the 'call me Ginny' part.

"I can't risk anyone overhearing."

There was a sigh. "Ginny, I can't bring you in. People will worry. You're not supposed to be out of bed right now."

"I don't care."

"I do."

Ginny stared at the mirror in disbelief. "You care?"

"Only because they'd make you tell where you were."

"Fine, then I'll go back. I can't tell you here." Ginny turned to walk out.

"Ginny, you're being childish. It's the middle of the night in a room nobody knows about. Nobody's going to overhear."

Ginny sighed dramatically. "Fine then. Well, in a nutshell, Voldemort wants to capture and probably kill me. Everyone is going to keep a closer eye on me, and I won't be able to come down here anymore."

"What would the Dark Lord want with you?" he asked.

"Probably something relating to the diary thing. How he has Tom Riddle's memories, I don't know, but apparently he does."

"Well, look on the bright side."

"There's a bright side?"

"You could be like me."

Ginny laughed, but even to her ears it seemed tinny and false. "I guess. When are you going to come out?"

"Never. You'll have to find my bones when I die."

"I'll work on that."

"Go back to bed," he said firmly. "You need to be bright and chipper tomorrow morning or else they'll know you're up to something."

"But I'm not," Ginny said confusedly. "Am I?"

"By not turning me in, you're going against the law."

"Wonderful. I'm an outlaw."

"Not unless they know you did it. Go to bed."

"Fine," Ginny sulked. "Only because I'm tired." She yawned to prove her point.

"Liar, but go."

He was right, she was wide awake, but it wasn't very nice of him to call her a liar, she thought crossly. Especially knowing who he was.

"Fine. Goodnight and thanks for your wonderful advice. Happy Christmas." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. She stalked out of the room and crept up to her room, glancing back. No voice called at her back as she left.

Although Ginny went back the next three days, her Angel didn't speak to her. She wasn't about to beg her former worst enemy to talk to her. By the fourth day, the Trio had constructed a plan to 'protect' Ginny. It consisted of a bunch of words she didn't know and she had no clue what they were talking about, but it sounded impressive. It was completely unnecessary, of course, but it didn't matter to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"There's really no need for it!" Ginny protested. "How do you know he's not just messing with your mind?"

"I know it," said Harry simply. "I've got a feeling."

"Joy. Let's just hope I don't get killed as a result."

"Hey, don't think like that. Nobody's going to die," Harry said optimistically.

"Harry, this is a war. Of course people are going to die," Ginny pointed out.

"Well, you're not," Harry said firmly. "I won't let you."

"Aww, thanks. Now can I go to the bathroom by myself or do you need Hermione to go with me?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

Harry gave her a disapproving look. Ginny shrugged.

"I was just asking. But I'm serious. May I?"

"Uh, yeah," Harry said. "But be careful."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "What, afraid I'm gonna drown in the toilet? I'm always careful. It's yourself you should be worried about. You're the one who keeps getting into danger." She walked in the direction of the girls' bathroom, and Harry didn't call after her. Nor did Ron or Hermione, who had made agreeing noises after much of what Harry said.

Ginny didn't really have to go to the bathroom; she just wanted to get away from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. A girl could only take so much, especially right before classes.

She drifted in the direction of her first class. A voice called to her:

"Ginny! Gin!"

Ginny turned around to see Meg hurrying towards her with a grin on her face. The redhead waited for her friend to catch up before hurrying off again, leaving the blonde to rush after her.

"Gin, slow down!" Meg implored as she huffed, trying to keep up.

Ginny, upon reaching the classroom, turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Oh, Ginny, I've got the best news ever!" Meg exclaimed, evidently forgetting that she had had to chase Ginny to the classroom to be able to talk to her.

"What news?" Ginny wasn't complaining.

"Oh, Ginny, you know how much I like Michael Grakowski?" Meg was beaming and practically bursting with excitement.

Ginny grinned, pushing aside the darkness in her mind to make way for joy at Meg's news. "That's great, Meg! How did he ask you? When?" she asked. The pair sat down in their desks (which were next to each other, of course. What else?).

"I dunno," Meg answered the first question. "It just sort of… happened. Out of nowhere, he asked if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. And just now, before I chased you halfway across the school."

"Very romantic," Ginny said dryly. "To each her own, I guess."

"So that's my news. You look like you have some to share."

"You make it seem as if I have alcohol or drugs or something like that."

"…Do you?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm just loaded with beer and pot," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "My news is rather private."

"Is it important?"

"Very."

"Well, you couldn't have shagged somebody, you'd be glowing-"

"MEG!" Ginny screeched, causing the class to stare. "Meg, that's disgusting, especially for a classroom!"

"What?" Meg sounded amused. "I was just ruling out different options."

"Well, that definitely wasn't it!"

"Then what was it?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." It wasn't actually all that important to be secret, but Ginny didn't feel like showing off her new orders from Harry. So she kept quiet about it.

"You suck," Meg pouted.

"I know. Already established," Ginny said. Class started and Meg and Ginny faced forward and pretended to pay attention.

"I love Michael," Meg murmured in a sing-song voice. Ginny looked at her sideways.

"We know. Now be a good girl and shut up."

"Yes, mum." Meg whispered back.

"Good girl."

w00t! 3613 words without the author's notes! 12 pages! That makes me very happy. I hope it made you happy, too.

-Kinz

P.S. Update on my brother: he got back from the ER, he's fine. They had to open it up and see how deep it was and stuff, so it wasn't very fun. He's got that tape stuff that holds the cut together on. So he's good, although a bit disappointed that he can't sing high (he can normally sing higher than me… -grumbles- silly little boy, hasn't gone through puberty yet.).