Chapter Eleven – Tale Of The Past

"You may now close the curtain."

The room had been in a stunned silence for minutes on end as they watched horrified as Ginny Weasley was executed. Now all that was heard was the sobbing and snuffles of her family, friends, and the order. Suddenly a new sound joined into the ruckus and caused people to pause and listen. Footsteps where approaching, sounding as if the person was running at full speed.

In stumbled a heavy-breathing Dumbledore. His silver beard and hair looked like he had come from the inside of a storm, his glasses were slipping down his sweaty nose, and his hands rested on his hips and he struggled to talk and breath at the same time.

"Don't do it." Wheezing he coughed, "Ginny is," he took another long gulp of air, "innocent!"

A buzzing noise filled the room as everyone present began to talk. Murmurs of "Could this be true?", "I knew it!", and "He is wrong!" floated around the room until Dumbledore called for silence.

"I have interviewed Ginny earlier today to inspect her and see if she was in fact guilty of her heinous crimes. Never trusting the words from someone in Azkaban I looked in her mind and saw that she was magically changed last year when she fought deatheaters in the Ministry of Magic.

"Ginny was hit by two dark spells that should have, by themselves, caused her immense pain. The thing is both spells were cast at the same time. This rarely happens, and when it does it is called Duexaune. Duexaune means that the two dark spells will not harm her physically, but mentally. Ms. Weasley was forced to…"

"Albus it is too late, she has already been taken care of." Scrimgeour hesitated before adding, "Your words mean nothing now."

Dumbledore's face fell at the minister's words. His eyes misted over and he ran on of his strong hands threw his hair. "She is dead?" A nod and sob from Mr. Weasely confirmed his fear. "But she was innocent!"

"At the time we didn't know that." Rufus was looking irritated, "We didn't know so we went ahead and did what we always do. No one is to blame."

"Professor, please tell us what happened to Ginny." Dumbledore turned to face Harry and said, "Of course. You all have the right to know.

"As I was saying before, she was forced to become dark. Her mind began to hate what she would have normally loved. The pattern of her thinking changed from hers to the spells. Slowly overtime Ms. Weasley gave up to the thoughts and began to believe in them. She acted out on what the spell wanted her to do, understanding it to be her ideas and wants.

"She loved being what she had become because she was forced to. She brewed a potion that killed a girl, as we all know, but it wasn't Ginny who truly did this. It was Duexaune."

"So you expect us to believe that a spell could make her do all of this!" shouted one of the aurors in the back.

"Yes. If an unforgivable can control you, why not another spell?"

Ron looked up into his headmasters face and whispered, "So it is my fault she is dead."

Shocked at his words he explained his reasoning. "If I had been more strict and told her she had to remain at Hogwarts this would have never happened. I was supposed to look out for her. She is…was my only younger sister and I let her down. I should be the one who is strapped to that table."

"Ron sweetie, don't say something like that. You couldn't have seen this coming."

"That's not the point mom, I should have never let her go. It was far to dangerous and she could have been…" He stopped mid-sentence. He was going to say killed but, well, she had been.

"Mr. Weasley, I hope that you will stop blaming yourself. There were a lot of things that could have been done to change the outcome of this night. Now it is too late to reminisce on what could have happened. If only time could let us change things."

"That's it professor!" Hermione faced the others and excitedly yelled, "We can use a time turner, go back in time, and not execute her!"

"If only that could happen. All of the time turners were broke in the fight last year. Remember?"

"Yes, but what about my old one I used in my third year?"

Shaking his head, Dumbledore replied, "That had been given back to the Ministry. It too was destroyed."

"So that is it, my sister is dead and there is nothing that can be done to get her back!" Fred held back George as he tried to get at Dumbledore, his arms stretched out as far as they could reach.

"I am terribly sorry."

Dumbledore slowly turned around, opened the door and left the yet again silent room.

Scrimgeour looked rather uncomfortable as the angry crowd gathered around him. He began to plead with them, saying that he would make up for her death. He promised money, higher status, a grand funeral, anything he could think of. No one accepted his offers because the lose of Ginny couldn't be refilled with anything he gave them except her life back.

Three weeks later the school grounds at Hogwarts was covered in white chairs. People in black were milling around, waiting for the ceremony to begin. A large white tomb sat on a stage behind a podium. Fiery red flowers were laid on the tomb in respect for Ginny. At the front stood the headmaster of the school. He brought the funeral to a start and after proclaiming how great a student she had been; let family and friends approach the front.

After everyone had spoken, a long line formed to come by and say their last regards to the teen in her casket. Soon after that Ginny's brothers picked up her casket and walked her over to the burial plot that had been constructed for her. It was by her favorite place on the Hogwarts' grounds. Below the shade of a large tree and close to the great lake, Ginny was lowered into the soft ground and covered with dirt.

"May she rest in peace." Dumbledore whispered, "May she rest in peace."

The End.