Chapter 10: Survivor

Ginny plastered a smile on her face as often as possible. It was surprisingly easy to fake happiness for the rest of term. After all, everyone was cautious around her so they did not question anything she did, and on the days she couldn't wear the mask, she just sat alone instead. There were only three people Ginny thought could see through her: one was far away, one refused to speak to her, and one was the cause of this whole mess.

Home was both better and worse than Hogwarts. In both places, she was surrounded by her family constantly, but at home it felt right. At home, she didn't need to worry about the looks from anyone else, and if she ever needed to get away, she could just go up and slam her door shut – one of the advantages of being the only girl in the family.

However, there was simply less stuff going on at home. Fred and George spent a lot of their time in their room working on their potions, spells, and plans for another year of future pranks. They were still happy to regale her stories of their past deeds or tales of the glorious Marauders, the most infamous pranksters, but the stories had much less interest for her now that she had been to Hogwarts. All the mystery and anticipation were gone.

It was her problems with Ron that took an interesting turn. On the first day back, she cornered him in the garden. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Ron looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

"You've been avoiding me. You afraid of me?" Ginny said, jabbing at him with a finger.

"What? No. It's just… Well… You know."

"You think I'm going to shatter into a million pieces? You think I'm that weak?"

"No. It's just I'm worried about you."

"So you think I can't take care of myself then?" Ginny said, tossing a garden gnome at his stupid face. The gnome gnashed its teeth as it arced through the air (screaming "bonsai"). Ron went down quickly, struggling to toss the ferocious gnome away.

"What's your problem?" he asked, sitting up. Ginny threw another gnome at him. "Stop it!"

"Not until you admit I can take care of myself. Even without using magic," She said, hefting a third gnome.

(Above her, she could hear Fred and George chanting, "Go Ginny! Go Ginny!")

Ron held up his hands in surrender. "Alright. I give up. I give up." Things went back to normal after that.

Percy locked himself in his room the moment they got home, probably to write to his girlfriend. At least he was not following her around. Whatever Hermione said must have worked.

Mum took over Percy's role. She was always there. Always hovering. Ginny appreciated that she cared so much, but it was simply suffocating. The first night back, her parents sat her down on the couch and asked if she was willing to talk to anyone.

"Mum, Dad. I don't need to talk to anyone. I am fine."

"Ginny," Mum said, "Madam Pomfrey told us you were having nightmares."

"She told you?"

"Yes dear. We're your parents, and we are only trying to help."

"Then stop. Please," Ginny begged. "I may not be fine yet, but I will get there. On my own. I am not broken!"

Ginny stormed off and slammed her door shut. Maybe it was time for an early night.


She was back in her dorm room in Gryffindor. She walked down the stairs to the common room. Drawing her wand, she moved to face Tom. He was still sitting there, as infuriatingly calm as ever.

"Hello Ginerva."

"How are you still here? Harry killed you. He destroyed your diary."

"Did you really think it would be that easy to get rid of me?"

"No. You're not here. You're gone. You're dead. This is all just a dream."

Tom smiled maliciously. "Yes, but that does not make it less real."

Ginny sat awake in her bedroom, staring at the walls. Madam Pomfrey had warned her that the nightmares would probably come back as soon as she stopped taking the potion. Ginny sighed and slipped out of the room. She crept down the stairs, carefully avoiding the creaky step.

There was a light on in the kitchen. She could hear voices talking. It was her parents. She crept closer to listen in.

"… if she won't talk to us," her mum's voice said.

Dad replied, "Barney said we need to give her time. She's a victim of trauma. We can't force her to talk to us. She lost control; we can't take it away from her again."

"What does Barney know?"

"He's a counselor who consults with the department. He knows what he's talking about. She'll find someone to talk to when she's ready. Besides, she's a kid. Kids are incredibly resilient."

"She's your daughter, Arthur."

"I know. She's hurting, and there's nothing we can do."

Her mother sighed. There was a rattle and Ginny could hear the sound of water. Washing dishes? She was about to slip away when her mother continued talking, "Are you planning on entering the galleon draw?"

"May as well. We could use some luck."

Ginny silently crept upstairs and back to bed. Sleep was a long time coming.


She felt a sharp pain. Something pushed its way into her head. "Hello Ginerva," Tom's voice said. "We're going to be talking a short walk."

Ginny struggled to break away, but Tom just chuckled. "There's nothing you can do Ginerva. You see, I have complete control. Besides, you won't remember anything happened. After all, you just fell asleep while writing an essay for History of Magic. Don't worry. When you wake up, I'll be right there to give you all the answers you need. Now march."

Ginny felt her legs move forward. She tried to speak, but no words came out. She was heading toward the grand staircase. Tom guided her down the stairs and through the entrance hall. "You remember your tea with Hagrid two days ago? Of course, you do. What you don't remember is the new roosters he had just purchased. We're going to take care of a little problem."

Ginny tried to remember. Charlie sent her a letter. He spent a lot of time with Hagrid when he was in school and suggested she try to as well. She stopped by that afternoon, after Herbology. She saw him outside, bringing in some crates. They went in to have tea. He offered her some cakes, but they were grey and rock hard. They talked about Charlie's work with dragons in Romania. Hagrid asked about someone called Norbet. What was in the crate? She didn't know. She couldn't remember. Tom chuckled at her frustration.

"Well this is interesting," Tom said. Someone was following them down from the castle. Was that Luna?

"Lovegood. I thought I already dealt with her," Tom muttered. "Alright, slight change in plans. Time to kill two birds with one stone."

He pulled out her wand. Ginny tried to yell out, but no sound came.

Ginny got out of bed, pulled a chair up to the window, and sat, waiting for the sun to rise. This was a good thing. She was starting to remember. Whatever Tom tried to bury; it was starting to become unearthed. Then why did she feel worse than before?

Now that she knew what happened, it was time to visit Luna again. She would need to tell her about Tom and the diary, but of everyone she knew, Luna was most likely to understand.

The sunrise was duller than usual. Ginny stayed in her room until midmorning when she was sure Luna and her father would be awake. She tried to sneak out but was (of course) caught by Mum. "What would you like for breakfast dear?"

"Nothing," Ginny replied, a bit irritated. "I'll be back later."

"And where are you going?"

"Out."

"Out where?"

"I thought I would stop by Luna's."

Mrs. Weasley smiled, probably a bit relieved. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. I haven't seen her around here yet this summer. How is she?"

"I'll let you know," Ginny replied as she finally escaped the kitchen.

The Lovegood home was a squat stone tower perched on a hill. Ginny marched up to the door and knocked. Receiving no reply, she pounded on the door again. Still nothing. However, there was smoke rising from the chimney. Someone had to be home. She called out, "Luna! Are you in there?"

She got no response.

"I'm not leaving until you talk to me!"

Still nothing.

"If you don't open the door, I'll have to do something rash."

Again, no response. It was probably worth a shot.

Ginny started looking around for another way in. As it was summer, she technically didn't have access to magic, even though she may be able to get away with a quick spell this close to a magical residence. She looked down at her wand sadly, recognizing it was not a real option. She really didn't want the lecture that would come with the official ministry warning. Her status as 'traumatized' probably would not protect her from her mother's wrath.

She would need to do this the muggle way. She pulled a pin out of her pocket and probed the lock. She was able to extort some lock picking lessons from Fred and George a couple years ago in exchange for not telling Mum about their dungbomb stash. She was actually pretty good at it, but this lock defeated her. It was old fashioned and extremely heavy.

She circled the tower. The windows on the bottom level were all firmly latched. The windows on the upper level would probably be locked as well. From her previous visits, she knew there was a trap door on the roof which she doubted was locked. That would need to be her way in.

"Luna, could you just open the door and save me the effort?"

Of course, she got no response. Ginny took a deep breath and started to climb. The five-story climb to the top of the Rookery was grueling. The hewn stone walls provided plenty of hand holds, and Ginny was not afraid of heights Afterall, what was the worst that could happen? She falls from five stories up and broke her neck? What a tragedy that would be.

Ginny made it to the top without incident and found the trap door was indeed unlocked. She pulled it open and said, "Alright Luna. This is the last warning. I'm going in."

Of course, there was no response. Ginny descended the narrow ladder into the Lovegood's equivalent of a family room crossed with extra storage space. She had spent countless hours sitting with Luna on the comfortable couches in the corner playing games and simply talking. However, it was empty as was Luna's father's room on the floor below.

Ginny descended another level to Luna's room. It looked well lived in. Luna's trunk sat partially unpacked at the end of her bed. A pile of books lay on the side of the room. Ginny looked over them briefly. As expected, the standard Hogwarts texts for first years were supplemented by a pair of books on the theory of charms and a few on some magical creatures. She picked up one (The Terrifying Truth of Thestrals). The cover showed an empty forest with the moon shining high in the sky above. Ginny shrugged. Of course, Luna would have books on obscure, questionable creatures. Based on the room, Luna still was Luna. If she could just find her and talk to her, things could go back to normal. But where in Morgana's name was she?

Ginny checked Luna's father's workshop and finally the kitchen which were both empty. There was a small fire going in the hearth, but no one was there. Ginny briefly looked at the stairs descending to the basement that housed Luna's mother's workshop. Ginny had not been down there since her death, and she knew Luna would never go there voluntarily. The house was empty. Shit.

Ginny briefly considered leaving by the front door but decided leaving the front door unlocked with no one home was a bad idea. Instead, she climbed back up to the roof and picked her way down the outer wall, defeated.


Ginny's father won the Galleon draw the following morning. That night, her parents decided to use most of the money to take the family on a trip to Egypt to visit Bill. Two days later, they received the reply from Bill saying he was thrilled with the idea. An owl from Charlie shortly later had the news he would not be able to join them. Apparently, summer was the busiest time on the reserve, and they were currently understaffed with several handlers injured. (The letter had Mum bemoaning Charlie's life decisions, but he was safely miles away.)

The three weeks before the trip were exceptionally busy. In addition to packing for the trip, they would be returning less than a week before the start of term, so most of their school things needed to be prepared in advance. While their list of books would not come for weeks, they still needed to restock potions ingredients and find Ron a new wand (willow and unicorn hair).

Ginny felt like she was in the eye of a storm. All around her, everything was rushing (Are you packed yet? We're leaving in three days!) and panicking (I can't find Scabbers!), but for her, time moved so slowly. Not that she wasn't excited about Egypt. It was going to be really cool and seeing Bill again would be awesome. However, whenever she walked into a room, people would drop what they were doing to find out what she needed, each in their own way. She thought things were getting back to normal, but that was when nothing was going on. Now, she was not given any chores or assignments, and whenever she tried to help, someone would swoop in and do it for her. Normally, she would be happy to get out of the work, but now it made her want to scream "I am not a cripple!" She ended up just hiding in her room. She made several more trips to Luna's house, but it seemed like Luna and her father were away on an expedition. She probably should have stopped after the second time but scaling the side of the tower gave her a nice rush of adrenaline.

Ginny felt more relieved than anything when it was finally time for their portkey to Egypt.


Ginny woke up at four in the morning. As usual, her nightmares prevented her from getting a good night's sleep, no matter how tired she was. Apparently, no matter where in the world she went, Tom could still find her. She lay back in her bed, preparing to kill the hours until the rest of her family awoke. Bill was waiting for them at the Ministry in Cairo when their portkey arrived, and he gave them a brief tour of the city before taking them to his apartment building. They were split up between Bill's apartment and one of his neighbors who was out of the country for the summer and agreed to let them sublet. When they divided up the rooms, Ginny got Bill's couch.

Ginny got up to get a drink of water. As she opened the cabinet, Bill walked in. He smiled and said, "I guess I'm not the only early riser."

Ginny replied, "I guess not."

"You should get dressed."

"Why?"

Bill walked over to a closed and pulled out a pair of brooms, tossing one to Ginny.

"Really?" Ginny said with her eyes wide.

"Yup."

"What about Mum?"

"She doesn't need to ever know."

Five minutes later, they were both outside Bill's apartment. "What about the muggles?"

"It's four in the morning, Gin. No one is up."

Ginny stared at the boom. This must be a dream.

"Are you going to fly? I know for a fact you can."

Ginny, spurred on by his challenge, pushed off and rapidly accelerated away from the ground. The wind whipped past her head, her hair streaming behind her. She pulled the broom into a series of sharp loops. It handled excellently. There was a blur and suddenly Bill was there, tapping her on the shoulder before accelerating away.

"Oh no you don't," Ginny laughed, before rocketing after him. They sped over the streets of Cairo, but Bill was somehow always a step ahead. They cleared the last of the buildings and were over open sand. Bill sitting on his broom, arms held out. He shouted, "Come and get me!"

Ginny put the broom on maximum acceleration. She feinted left, tricking Bill and finally tapping his arm. "YESSS!" She screamed.

Bill motioned, and she swung over to hover beside him. "Sunrise is in another forty minutes," he said, checking his watch. "We should head out if we want to make it in time."

"Where are we going," Ginny asked as the city fell away behind them.

"There's a rock formation out that way where you can see the most spectacular sunrises from."

Ginny nodded, before dipping down to skim across the desert. She pushed the broom faster, and sand started to stream behind her. She had never flown like this before. It was incredible. The sky. The wind. The speed. She pulled up to rejoin Bill, who had a brilliant smile on his face. "What type of broom is this?"

"A Cleansweep 8," Bill replied, "They're not as fast as the Nimbus series, but they handle much better at lower speeds. It's useful if you are trying to escape a hoard of inferi you accidentally awoke inside a tomb. It handles tunnels much better than a lot of other brooms."

"Wait. What?"

"I was with Kyle, I'll introduce you to him before you leave, and we were breaking into this tomb. The corridors were like a maze, but it wasn't that heavily warded. We were feeling a bit cocky and became reckless. We got to the central room and accidentally triggered the only real defensive measure it had. I think the final count was three hundred forty-two inferi in all. They started appearing everywhere, and Kyle pulls out a pair of brooms he has stored shrunken in his pocket, and we get out of there as fast as possible. To be honest, we barely got out. I think I may owe this broom my life. Needless to say, this is a story you should not tell Mum."

"Of course," Ginny replied. "Wait. How did you know I could fly?"

"Really Ginny?"

"What? It's a fair question."

"Who do you think removed the charms from the broom shed for you to break in?"

"What? There are charms on the broom shed!"

"Do you really need to ask that? We live with Fred and George."

"True. I really shouldn't be that surprised," Ginny replied with a giggle, "I just thought I broke in on my own."

"You did. You just needed a bit of help. I'm not sure if I should have told you that. Are you alright?"

"I'm glad you told me. It's weirdly comforting to know you were supporting me then."

The rest of their trip was spent in a very comfortable silence. Bill was right. The sunrise was spectacular.


Ginny found herself enjoying their time in Egypt immensely. The pyramids, tombs, and ruins were incredible. The normal tourist attractions were impressive, and the guides were knowledgeable. Bill supplemented everything with stories he experienced or heard from other curse breakers. His connections in Gringotts even got them into some new excavations that were still being cleared.

While Ginny still had nightmares and rarely was able to sleep through a night, Bill was always awake early. Sometimes they were able to spend time flying, and other times they just talked.

"How did you sleep last night?" Bill asked.

"Normally," Ginny replied. The Weasleys were camping overnight deep in the desert before visiting the tomb of some ancient Egyptian sorcerer. She was sitting with Bill on a short stone outcropping, a few feet away from the tents, watching the night fade away. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, this is the first night we spent actually in the desert, and I'm just making conversation. Is that a problem?"

"No. I guess I meant more of why haven't you asked me before now? Everyone else does. All the time."

Bill shrugged. "I guess because I know what your answer would be."

"And what would that answer be?"

"You'd deflect. If you don't want to talk, nothing will make you talk. Besides, it won't help if you don't want it to."

"I wouldn't object if you asked me anyways."

"Alright," Bill replied, putting his hand on Ginny's shoulder. "How are you really doing Ginny?"

"Bloody terrible," Ginny replied with a small grin.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Kind of. How much do you know?"

"Mum and Dad told me everything."

"How long have you known?"

"Since before you came here."

Ginny nodded, expecting nothing different. "Have you ever had someone you trusted, a friend, turn around and stab you in the back, and had been faking it the entire time?

Bill leaned back and took a sip of his tea. "Just after I took this job, I was on this dig. I think it was my third. Some muggle archeologists had unearthed a royal burial chamber which turned out to be magical. By the time we got there, the team had literally torn themselves apart. It was pretty gruesome. I was working with a guy named Julio and another named Hobbs. Both had worked together for years. Close friends, those guys."

"What happened?"

"Well, we started to clear the outer wards like normal. We found the trap the muggles triggered and were able to knock it out. We started to clear the main chamber, but, as is common with some ward schemes, the main set could only be disabled from the inside. Julio and I went inside to try to dismantle the wards while Hobbs remained outside to let us out in case things went wrong."

"Which they did."

"Yeah. Hobbs intentionally triggered a purge, a kind of ward that destroys everything inside the selected area. It's a common part of the defenses of autonomous warding systems. It uses the theory that if you can't figure out what's wrong, just destroy it. Apparently, he found a buyer for the trap the muggles triggered but didn't want to leave any witnesses."

"So how did you escape?"

"Brute force. There really is not much you can do when a ward system starts imploding. Julio just used a fiendfyre to destroy the entire tomb. Gringotts wasn't happy, but we survived."

"What happened to Hobbs?"

"We found him dead a few steps from the entrance. The trap he stole had a poison barb in the base. We had the antidotes with us when he trapped us."

"I'm glad Hobbs died. He deserved it."

"We'll I'm not, and Julio certainly wasn't. The guy did try to sell a potential weapon of mass destruction on the black market, but he was still a friend before he tried to kill us. I wouldn't say I'm glad he's dead. More relieved."

Ginny nodded silently.

"I realize it's not a perfect comparison, but sometimes it's hard to separate the people we know from their actions."

"He was nice to me, you know," Ginny said hesitantly. "When I first started writing to him. I could write to him about anything. He helped me with my friends and my schoolwork, and he always had the answers. He never told me to go away or that I was a waste of time. And the entire time it was just a trick." Ginny slammed her fist into the rock.

Bill sat there, waiting for her to continue.

"Even when I started to realize I didn't remember things, like where I was when the attacks took place, I never suspected him. I trusted him so completely. Even when I finally suspected him and tried to get rid of him, I couldn't help but steal him back later. I didn't believe it could be him. Not Tom. Never Tom. Not until the end when he stopped pretending."

"How much do you remember?"

"More every day. It's the reason I've been having the nightmares. I just want to forget. I want to move on!"

"It takes time."

"That's what everyone says, but he's still in my head. I want to get away, but I see him everywhere." Ginny pulled out her wand. "You see this. It's yew. Same wand wood Tom had. 'We're the same.' That's what he used to say. I used to think it was sweet, but I know it's not."

"Ginny," Bill said, placing his hands on hers, "You do not have Tom's wand. You are not Tom."

"I know," Ginny sighed. "I just want to get away from him?"

"You can't. Last year happened. There's nothing you can do to change that. You can't hide from your past Ginny. It will always find you. You need to accept that and learn to live with it."

"That's not that comforting."

"It's not, but it's true. You are a survivor, Ginny. There is no easy way forward. You need to make it through each and every day. Just try to live your life. Some days you will miss Tom and hate yourself for it. On others, you'll be so angry you just want to light a match and set the world on fire. More importantly, on some days you'll find yourself laughing again, despite everything you have been through, and it's those days that matter. Eventually the dark days will become fewer and farther between if you choose them to be. The scars will never heal, but they will fade. What truly matters is you survived and are stronger for it."

Ginny pulled Bill into a hug and whispered, "Thank you."

They sat in silence, watching the darkness fade before the rising sun.


A/N: Those of you who have been following the story may remember my previous comment that I was going to be taking a short break. That hiatus is now over! I took the opportunity to write a few more chapters and - more importantly - edit the previous ones. Chapter 7 got significantly more content, so I had to split it into two chapters and shift later chapter numbers accordingly. New chapters will now be posted at the beginning of the month until the end of the Part 2 (~ Chapter 15). Thanks for the support!