Swinging through the air, a hundred metres from the ground, had not been on the agenda for this sunny September morning. No, I couldn't see it in my personal diary, squeezed in next to "Go shopping with Fred and George".
Somehow, my mother thought it would be safer for me to spend the day with my twin brothers, than to go shopping all by myself in Diagon Alley. Well, the joke shop was still in one piece, so I guess that does mean they are half-responsible.
But, you know how my brothers are. They got a little side tracked showing students the newest and most dangerous products, and soon I was as bored as hell. Everyone seemed busy today. Even Sirius Black, who swore he was "professionally unemployed" now that he had his cash from the Ministry, was up to his armpits in errands.
Fred and George told me that I could do some deliveries for them. After I stopped yelling at them for thinking I could run around in my condition, someone mentioned an order from Hogwarts and I was out of there faster than a greased pig.
Charming analogy. In fact, the broom was the greasiest thing I had ever had the luck to try to fly on. My brothers bought a semi-decent Nimbus 3000 and spent every spare moment polishing it. This made it shiny, for one thing, and impossible to fly.
So, I was hanging underneath it, trying to get back on, when the delicate sensors of the broom mistakenly took my jerky movements as the signal to go. That's just marvellous. That's just fantastic. I'm so glad I'm about to die you STUPID BROOM!
Ok. Kicking, screaming and swearing isn't going to get me back atop the broom. Maybe if I actually pay attention to where I am headed, I might survive the trip. My hands are getting sweaty and horrible, but what else can I do? Wipe them on my trousers? Are you nuts? I bet you are and you want to see me plummet to my death.
I could see the tips of the towers of the castle and my hands nearly dropped in relief. The Nimbus floated down, but stopped short of reaching the ground. I was busy trying to touch the stones with my tiptoes when I heard a familiar voice.
'What the devil are you doing, Miss Weasley?'
Snape. Evil dude. Ok, so he isn't as evil as he looks and sounds, but he definitely looks and sounds evil. Or at least semi-evil. Quasi-evil. He can make seven years wet their pants if he tries hard enough, doesn't that count for something? I suppose his reputation was shot when he was in the Order. That amuses me no end.
So, Snape was wondering what the "devil" I was doing. I thought it was pretty obvious. I mean, what else could have happened? I could have been trying to do a cool loop-de-loop and fallen over, but that doesn't seem very likely. I had better say something.
'I'm delivering a package to Headmaster Dumbledore.' I was cool. I was calm. I was collected. I was hanging off a frickin' broom!
'Owls are far more reliable, it would seem.' Smarmy git. I'll give you owls!
I took a breath and quoted, in a tired voice, "We'll deliver personally to anywhere in Europe." My brothers were going to pay for that stupid slogan. It only came because they liked giving autographs after their amazing exit from Hogwarts, and they always got autographs.
'And Floo Pow--,'
'WILL YOU LET ME DOWN?!' I shouted. My entire body shook and the broom skittered like a spooked horse.
I felt him help me down and shuddered at the idea of his hands touching me. I bet they were gross and slimy and horrible. It took an incredible amount of will power to stop myself from being violently sick. I bent over to brush some invisible dirt off my trousers so I could regain my composure but my face remained bright red. 'Where's Remus?'
'The werewolf,' Snape's voice dripped with disdain, even after all these years. He's worse than a woman for holding a grudge! 'is in his rooms. You may see him after you have delivered the package to the Headmaster.'
He turned around and began walking off. I stuck out my tongue and hurried after him, while the Nimbus floated over to the broom shed. Hogwarts had not changed one bit since my time there. Not that it is very surprising, after all, not much has changed since it was built. The Headmaster's office was in the same place, but the password was different. Snape lowered his head down and whispered it, clearly not wanting me to hear it. Talk about trusting me as much as he could throw me. Snape may be terrible, but he wouldn't chuck a pregnant woman, would he?
'Ah, Miss Weasley!' Called a cheery voice. 'I was wondering when you'd bring the package! Thank you Severus. You may get back to your potions.'
'I should escort Miss Weasley off the grounds afterwards…' Snape said, his eyes glittering. Ugh, creepy.
'No, I'm sure Remus can be of assistance there.' Dumbledore's glitter was way cooler. Go Dumbledore! Whoo! Hmm, I think this baby is making me act like a child myself. I'm sort of in the mood for ice cream now. And jellybeans. What kind of cravings are those? I'm going to have a kid with a sweet tooth, I can feel it!
'Very well. Good day Albus.'
Snape left and I turned back to Dumbledore. 'Please, take a seat Miss Weasley. I don't like to make it a habit to keep my guests standing.'
I sat down in the chair opposite his desk and handed him his order. 'Well, technically I'm not a guest. I'm doing my job.' Says she, the one already in a chair.
'Let's not go into great detail.' He suggested in a dry voice.
I'm one of those people who can not stand people taking forever to open gifts, or, in this case, a package. At Christmas, I'm the one sitting amidst shredded wrapping paper and broken presents, because I've just ripped right through them.
Now, Professor Dumbledore must be the sort of person who enjoys saving wrapping paper to turn into lovely pieces of artwork. He might frame it for all I know. He was peeling the brown paper my brothers used to protect their products like he had paid mega Galleons for it, instead of whatever was in it. It was all I could do not to yank it out of his withered hands and tear it open.
When I saw what he had bought, my mouth went limp. I bet Dumbledore could have seen every one of my molars. My hands lifted of their own accord and I started moving forwards, towards the items in the perfect brown paper.
Dumbledore held up one of my mother's patented chocolate cupcakes and looked at me with a raised eyebrow. 'Would you like one, Miss Weasley?'
I nodded and gave him puppy dog eyes. Dumbledore looked like he was weighing up whether to part with one or not, but, praise the Lord, he handed one of the prized cupcakes over. He poured some tea, and I had to remind myself that I was in company, and I couldn't just inhale the cupcake. I had to chew carefully, and swallow, and chew again.
Believe me, just remembering that when I was under the influence of chocolate cupcakes takes up all my brainpower. I was "out of action" for several minutes, and no conversation was held between Dumbledore and me. Any conversation carried out with the cupcake, however, is another story.
After I'd finished, I had to ask the question bugging me ever since Remus had told me about it.
'How's the cure going?'
If you must know, Remus is being a guinea werewolf for Snape and Dumbledore. They've decided that, now the war is over yadda yadda yadda, it is the safest time to begin testing for a cure for lycanthropy. Remus was into it big time as soon as he heard. Firstly, he'd get paid, and we need the money. He has his little flat in the bad part of London, but that's no place to raise a kid.
Secondly, you can't find a cause that Remus believes in more. He hates being a werewolf, but he'd never admit it (too loud at least). If he can have any part in finding the cure, he would die happy. No one seems to have told him that he could die finding the cure, but it's been on my mind a helluva lot since he told me.
'It's going, and that is all I can tell you, Miss Weasley.' Dumbledore had a funny little smile on his face. 'Professor Lupin is being a marvellous victim-- I mean tester-for all of Professor Snape's potions.'
'Any side effects?' I asked, worriedly.
'There has been some weight loss, but no more than which usually occurs during a transformation.' Dumbledore said carefully.
'Poor baby…' I murmured, forgetting all about him ditching me at my parent's place. Right now, Remus was my knight in shining armour. An hour ago, his name was mud. These bloody hormones are driving me nuts!
'Do not worry, Miss Weasley,' he said with another smile. 'Professor Sprout makes him eat twice as much as he would usually.'
I could just imagine Remus being forced to eat another kidney pie. "No, it won't fit!" I put a hand over my mouth to hide the giggles at the vision of him being whipped unless he ate it. Poor, poor Remus!
'That makes me feel a bit better.' I said, grinning.
Dumbledore nodded, then sighed. 'Miss Weasley, I'm afraid I had an ulterior motive for ordering your mother's chocolate cupcakes.'
Mum's cupcakes didn't deserve an ulterior motive. My brows knitted. 'What? You were going to turn them into a decorative headpiece or something?'
'No, no. Nothing as odd as that. I have a warning for you…'
'A warning? Huh? My name is Ginny Weasley, not Harry Potter. You must have us confused. Harry doesn't dress up like me on weekends and uses my name, does he?' I was a little worried now. Harry always seemed like a normal young boy...
'It is definitely you I need to speak to. I needed the cupcakes to get you away from your house. Your mother is worse than a warden at Azkaban!' He rubbed his face. 'I have a very strange feeling, and it's hard to explain.'
'Well, give me an example or something!' I said grumpily. I didn't like where this conversation was going, and I wanted to go meet Remus. I wanted to meet him now.
'I have the sort of feeling about you that you get when you know the house elves, or, in your case, your mother, is going to make chilli for dinner. You know something terrible is going to happen and you are completely helpless against stopping it.'
'That was a very good example.' I commented. 'So, you think I'm in danger or something?'
'Not so much danger…as in…great impending doom, perhaps?'
'Oh, what a relief!' I said with a roll of my eyes. 'May I go see Professor Lupin now?'
'Not before you promise me you'll be careful.' He said seriously.
'Fine. I'll be careful. I'll wrap myself up in cotton wool and knit booties!' I said the 'B' word!
He sighed again. 'I just don't want to have you get hurt.'
I drank the rest of my tea. 'Look, I'll be careful, honestly, as long as I can go see Remus now.'
He nodded without saying a word. I hurried out of the room before he could tell me any more bad news.
I walked out of this office and into the halls. For a moment, I felt like breaking a rule and running through a corridor, or using magic, but I kept myself in check and made my way to Remus' rooms. I knew the way like the back of my hand.
I knocked on his door and shifted from foot to foot impatiently. I was going to throw my arms around his neck and tell him that Dumbledore was crazy. And that Snape deserves to be decked. And that he is a bastard for leaving me in the Burrow.
Thank goodness I didn't have my eyes closed when the door opened. Instead of Remus standing in the doorway, a goddess was there in his place. She was leggy with blue eyes and blonde hair that looked like it should be on the head of a fairy princess from those corny books we read in Muggle Studies.
'Uh hello?' I asked in a threatening tone. I wasn't worried, I promise.
'Oh hello!' She replied in a posh accent that just reeked of culture and intelligence. The woman sounded smarter than me already. Uh oh. 'You must be Virginia Weasley.' She took my hand and shook it.
'It's just Ginny.' I responded, quite stunned.
'I just assumed…' She trailed off, then seemed to catch herself. 'Remus has told me so much about you.'
'Really?' Boy, I was quite the conversationalist today!
'Of course. He is head over heels for you. Come in, come in! Remmie is just having a nap.'
I followed her immediately and she forced me into the couch. 'Remmie? Nap? Heels?' I blinked. 'I think I missed something.'
'Oh I'm sorry.' The woman said, instantly apologetic. 'I'm Fay. I'm an old friend of Remus'. Well, I've always called him Remmie.'
'He never lets me call him Remmie.' I muttered.
'We knew each other when we were children. The only magic folk in the entire town I believe. We were so close…' She smiled brightly and had teeth even Gilderoy Lockhart would envy. 'Remus is just tired from being tested on all day. Poor baby.'
The couch was the sort that ate people, so I was struggling to avoid being swallowed whole. 'And why are you here, Fay?'
'I wanted to see Remmie again.' She announced. 'He wrote me about the wedding and I thought it would be a great excuse to meet up with him.'
'Oh yeah.' I was exhausted after my battle with the Couch of Ultimate Evil. 'I get where you're coming from.'
Fay nodded then let out a piercing scream. 'REMMIE!'
I turned my head and saw that Remus had come out of his room, looking sleepy and rubbing his eyes. He was thinner than when he dropped me off at my parents' place, but looked healthy enough. Well, apart from the burst ear drum that is.
'Fay,' he acknowledged, then saw me. 'Ginny! Hey! What brings you to Hogwarts?'
'I had a delivery for Dumbledore.' I told him. 'I was, as they say, in the neighbourhood and thought I'd drop by.' I smiled and stood. 'I'm sorry we couldn't talk, but I have work to do.'
He raised an eyebrow, but I was feeling sorry for myself. I wasn't blonde, I wasn't tall and curvy. I was plain old Ginny Weasley.
At least I was plain, old, Ginny Weasley who would soon have a block of Honeydukes chocolate in her possession.
Review Replies:
Monika1: Thanks! I'm glad you love it. Sorry about the wait, hehe.
Iselin: I think you did put pressure on me! I couldn't write *anything*! Thanks for the syrup, and for telling me exactly what was wrong with the chapters.
Killer Angel: Sorry for not updating sooner. Thanks, though.
C.L.Rhodes: Yeah, yeah, I know. I took forever in updating-- again! But this is a very hard story for me to write! Anyway, the reason I do things like: 'I want a cookie' instead of: "I want a cookie" is because I always read stories that used " " for quoting someone or something, and ' ' for dialogue. Sorry if it confuses you, but I rarely quote, and I start a new sentence when someone else is speaking! Thanks for reviewing!
Chocolate Muse: Thank you for the review. I'm sorry about how loooooong it took. I'm terrible. I had the..."W.B word"! And messenger doesn't work on my computer so I can't talk immediately to my guinea pigs...arr, my life is tough! Thanks!
Xela: Lol, thanks. I have a better idea of what I'm writing now. Before it was difficult to think up chapters because I had no idea what was going to happen. Naughty Pidgie.
tripchick: Hehe, thanks. I'll continue, if there aren't any nasty surprises waiting for me!
Rosi: Thank you so much :) This fic has a lot to go through before I can post it, though. It needs to be tested, beta read (sort of), "funkified" if it has something lacking, it has to be read a zillion times, and sometimes I even let my friend Irene read it over. After all that, I'll post it. Whoo, that made me tired just looking at it!
And to the rest of you... thanks if you read this fic but don't review. You guys are semi cool too!
