Only Half-Weasley

Chapter 1

A/N: I'm so sorry that this has taken me so long to write! I had a cold and midterms and I just couldn't concentrate long enough to write this. So, here it is! The first chapter of the story! Thank you to all of you who reviewed! I appreciate the comments ) I hope this part of the story meets to your expectations…if it doesn't, let me know. If you see a loophole, let me know. Hopefully, you'll enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing!

Harry sat behind the desk with a pile of parchment sitting in front of him. On each piece, the date and the contents of the letters were typed, and only needed the name of the child and Harry's signature. This was Harry's least favorite part of his job as Deputy Headmaster: sending off letters to all the new and old students. He found it dull and boring, incomparable to a good game of Quidditch, and a complete waste of time he could be spending with his friends. However, this was the only negative aspect of his responsibility. Harry knew no one else was going to send these letters if he didn't and so Harry was taking his sweet time about it, despite McGonagall's sharp looks every time she came into Harry's office.

When the sun was about to set and Harry was almost ready to call it a day, a quick knock on the door caught his attention. "I'm almost done, Professor," Harry called out, getting up from his desk to open the door. "Just give me another day-"

Harry's voice stopped mid-sentence when he saw Hermione and Ron standing on the other side, both with identical cheesy grins. "Harry! What a surprise?" Hermione greeted, marching past Harry and into his office.

"Writing letters to Hogwarts students?" Ron added, following his wife into the office. "That must be a long chore. Need some help? We're always around to help, Harry."

Harry rolled his eyes and shut the door behind the pair. "If you want to know, both Michael and Daniel are on the list. I would have told you sooner, but the letters are going out tomorrow. Couldn't you guys wait?"

Hermione's face lit up at the announcement of her twin boys. "They're on the list?" she exclaimed excitedly, ignoring Harry's last comment. "Ron, they're on the list! Our boys are on the list!" Hermione embraced her husband and the two twirled around the office with Harry looking on with jealous eyes.

At the young age of thirty-three, Harry had never managed to find his match. After he had left Ginny that dark night twelve years ago, he had only dated several women, but none suited him at all. Harry new perfectly well that there was only one woman in the world that he could be happy with, but the anger and bitterness that filled his heart when he left her never disappeared like he'd hoped. To keep his mind off the past, Harry took the job as Defense against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts in hopes that he could immerse himself into a new life there.

"Are you listening to me, Harry?"

Harry woke up from his daydream and met Hermione's anxious eyes. "What?"

"The family is getting together for dinner tonight. Are you coming?" Hermione repeated.

"Who's going to be there?" Harry asked, glancing at the pile of parchment and weighing his options. If he did go to dinner, he knew that there was no chance the letters would be sent the next day.

"Oh, you know-the usual," Ron answered casually, "Bill's family, Charlie's family, Percy's family, both twins' families, and our family."

"That's a lot of people," Harry responded gloomily, thinking of how little sleep he would get that night if he did join in the fun. "I don't think I'll be able to join you guys. If you all want your Hogwarts letters tomorrow, it will be better if I can get enough sleep to remember why I'm waking up in the morning."

"Come on, Harry," Hermione persuaded. "The kids love you and you're just as much a part of the family as the rest of us! Except for Ginny, of course," Hermione added. "No one has heard from her in ages."

Ron's face dropped at the sound of his sister's name. "Let's not talk about Ginny, especially tonight at dinner. Mum won't be able to take it- it's just like Percy all over again."

Hermione looked sadly at her husband and back at Harry. "Except no one knows where she is," Hermione put in. "I guess it is common knowledge that she married that Alex-guy. Molly was completely astounded over it when she found out, of course, but Ginny was gone by then. No one has heard anything since Ginny quit her job at the ministry almost twelve years ago."

This was nothing new to Harry, but he every time he heard about Ginny, it was like hearing it for the first time- it left him completely dumbfounded. "Hasn't anyone ever tried sending an owl?" Harry questioned.

"Of course!" Ron exclaimed. "We sent plenty of them, too! All of them came back. We even went to visit her house, but she had moved out and the people who own the place now don't know where she went."

"Don't get yourself worked up, Ron," Hermione advised. "I still can't believe that Ginny would walk out on us like that and I never will, but it has been over a decade since she left. Isn't it about time we got over it?"

Ron shook his head stubbornly and stared at his wife. "She's my only sister, Hermione. I can't just give up on her because she's so selfish that she would walk out on her family!"

"Harry," Hermione turned her back on Ron to change the topic. "Would you please reconsider coming to dinner?"

The depressing thoughts of Ginny had left his mind and Harry turned again to the pile of letters. Well, he could join them for a couple of hours and still get his work done… "Sure," Harry answered quickly before his mind could change again. "Just let me get my cloak."

And just as Harry had predicted, his workload after the party was worse. Not only did he have half of the letters to finish that morning, but he had a blinding headache to finish them with.

"Are you finished, Potter?" McGonagall walked into his office without knocking.

Harry was finishing the last of the students and didn't bother to look up from his work. "Almost."

"How soon?" McGonagall asked with a tone of annoyance.

"Now," Harry answered, signing his name on the last letter. Shrinking the letters enough to fit in his pocket, Harry made his way up to the owlry where he enlarged the letters and the school owls each flew down one by one to pick them up. When the last owl had left, Harry noticed one last letter sitting on the ground that was open- Holly A. Miller. As Harry had never heard of the name, he could only assume that it was an incoming first year student.

"Hedwig!" Harry called to the white owl at the top of the rafters. The owl flew down and landed on Harry's shoulder, holding out her leg. Harry tied the letter and sent the owl on her way, feeling the relief from having finished his job come over him. As Harry made his way back to his quarters for a good nap, Hedwig was flying high over England making her way to deliver a letter to the one person that Harry wished to see just one more time out of everyone he knew…

While most people are usually sound asleep in their beds on Saturday mornings, eleven-year-old Holly Miller was bouncing on the couch, watching cartoons. It wasn't her absolute favorite thing to do in the morning (she would have much preferred to read the dictionary like her father did at her age), but Ginny hadn't had time to take her daughter to the library to get a new book and so the youngster was out of things to do.

To Ginny's disappointment, Holly resembled more of the Miller family than the Weasleys. Holly had beautiful blonde hair like her Grandma Miller and chocolate brown eyes like Alex and her Grandfather Miller. The only way Ginny and Holly resembled each other was by their noses- small and round. Holly was very smart like her father, but wasn't as ambitious as Percy, as outgoing as the twins, or as athletic as any of the Weasleys were. In fact, if Ginny hadn't held her baby girl minutes after she was born, Ginny would never have thought that Holly was her own daughter.

The worse thing about Holly was that Ginny believed her daughter was a squib. It wasn't a definite conclusion, but in the past eleven years, Holly had never shown any magical capabilities and Ginny's worse fear was that Holly would be the first squib born in the Weasley family. Ginny never regretted having her baby girl- Holly was a delight that any mother would want- but some days, Ginny couldn't help wondering if her anxiety would be lifted if Holly had a wizard for a father instead of a Muggle.

"Mum!" Holly called out. "It's eight o'clock, Mum! Aren't we going out today?"

Ginny groaned loudly from the next room and rolled over in bed, barely opening her eyes to see anything. "I'm coming, Hon," Ginny called groggily and closed her eyes again. "How can she be awake at this hour?" Ginny wondered, making another effort to get out of bed, but failing. She had promised Holly to take her out school shopping for the next school year that started in less than a month, but found it quite difficult to execute her plan of getting out of bed first.

"Mum!" Holly cried again. "Let's go! Mum- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ginny was up in a heartbeat and into the next room. "Holly! What's the matter?" Ginny ran to her daughter who was white-faced and staring out the window.

"Mum!" Holly barely whispered and pointing across the room. "There's a- there's a- BIG BIRD OUTSIDE THE WINDOW!" Ginny turned around and followed her daughter's directions. There, standing on the ledge of their apartment window, was a beautiful snowy owl with a letter tied to its leg- one that Ginny instantly recognized.

"Hedwig!" Ginny shouted excitedly.

"What?" Holly looked at her mother, horrified.

Ginny opened the window and Hedwig flew inside and landed on the table. Holly ducked behind the couch and watched as her mother went over to the bird and began to speak to it.

"What are you doing, girl?" Ginny smoothed the owl's ruffled feathers. "I haven't seen you in so long! Oh, you have a letter for me. I'm sorry, but I don't have any owl treats for you. You'll have to get some from Harry. Ow!" Hedwig nipped at her hands while she untied the letter. "I'm sure that was heartfelt from Harry, wasn't it? Well, tell Harry thank you." Ginny stared at the owl, waiting for her to leave, but Hedwig just stood on table as if to ask what Ginny was doing there.

"Mum…"

"Yes?" Ginny answered, opening the letter unconsciously.

"You are talking to a bird," Holly informed her.

"So?"

"You are talking to a bird," Holly emphasized the last word. "Are you ok? Would you like to see a shrink?"

"Stop it, Holly," Ginny commanded and looked down at the letter. It was addressed to Ms. Holly A. Miller and on the back it was sealed with a purple crest that Ginny hadn't seen since she had left Hogwarts fifteen years before. Ginny knew exactly what it was and she could have screamed in excitement.

"Mum? What is it?" Holly noticed Ginny's odd expression.

Ginny shook her head and scanned the rest of the letter until the bottom caught her eye-

Harry J. Potter

Harry J. Potter

Deputy Headmaster

"Well, that explains why you're here, Hedwig," Ginny called out to the bird who was still staring at her intently. "But how did he know?"

"How did who know, Mum? Why am I so confused?" Holly cried in frustration.

"Harry," Ginny answered exasperatedly.

"Who's Harry?"

Ginny looked down into her daughters eyes for the first time that morning and reality hit her like a lead balloon falling from the sky- Holly didn't know anything Ginny was talking about and she was terrified. She was terrified about the bird that was sitting on their dining room table, her mother talking to herself, and the envelope that was addressed for her, but was made from an unusual type of paper.

How could Ginny explain all this to her daughter? Holly was supposed to be a squib! Ginny had purposely kept this world from her because she didn't want to her daughter to be hurt by what she could have had, but didn't. Now, Holly would be upset because she didn't know what she had and her own mother had kept it from her. How did Ginny get herself into this mess?

"Here," Ginny fell on the couch in exhaustion and handed Holly her letter to read over. "You decide."

"Decide on what?"

"Read it."

Holly took the paper shakily and read the contents. It was several moments before she even breathed and when she did speak there was a hint of amusement in her voice. "This is a joke, Mum," Holly announced. "My friend got one of these letters. Her mother said it was a load of crackpot jokes. I can't believe you're going crazy over it."

Ginny eyed her daughter. "A load of crackpot jokes?" Ginny repeated coldly. "Holly, I went to school there! I spent seven of the best years of my life going to this school. That man who claims himself as Deputy Headmaster- he's famous!"

Holly looked unbelievably at her mother. "Whatever, Mum. Perhaps you should get some sleep," Holly tossed the letter on the floor. "This is all making you crazy. If I were you, I would go see a psychiatrist."

"Holly!"

"Mum, listen to what you're saying!" Holly answered. "All of my life, you told me to use my head- listen to what my heart was saying, but with a sound mind. Now, you're trying to tell me that there's a world full of…witches and wizards and there's some school that teaches magic to students!"

"But it's true!" Ginny protested. She couldn't believe her hears.

"Mum, I don't know how famous this 'Harry Potter' is, but I sure don't know who he is. He wasn't in any of the books I read," Holly stated matter-of-factly. "He's probably just some pervert who's trying to lure kids to a place so he can kidnap them. I'm sorry, Mum, but I don't want to go to a school that's run by perverts."

Holly marched to her room and away from her astonished mother. As the door clicked shut, Ginny shook her head and could hardly believe her ears. Her own daughter was dismissing Ginny's entire life as a joke. All the magic she learned! Everything that she had enjoyed! Everything that she, her family, and Harry had sacrificed for! "It's all a joke," Holly had said. Perhaps Holly is more like her mother than Ginny could ever know…

Ginny didn't hear the soft wings soar until she felt claws dig into her shoulder. Hedwig's big eyes looked at her fixedly, holding out her leg for a response message. Ginny bent down to pick up the letter, sending Hedwig to regain her perch on a nearby chair, and read through it one more time.

"You're going to this school, Holly Alexis Miller!" Ginny yelled at the door. "Whether you like it or not, you're going to go to Hogwarts, perverts and all!"

"FINE!" a voice shouted back. "If you want to send your daughter to a perverted school, then go ahead! And if I die, it's your fault!"

"Fine!" Ginny claimed all responsibility. Ginny sat down grumpily at the table and began her reply letter to Harry. If Holly sincerely did not wish to attend a magical school, Ginny didn't want to make her. But Ginny felt her daughter had insulted her entire life and everyone who fought to make sure people like Ginny and Alex could live in peaceful times.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I am accepting the invitation for my daughter, Holly Miller, to join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Mrs. G. M. W. Miller

Ginny tied the letter to Hedwig and the owl flew off to return to her master. For the rest of the afternoon, Ginny and Holly didn't speak to each other. In her room, Holly couldn't believe that her mother was sacrificing her entire future to attend this crackpot school that was probably just a hoax. Holly was smart and bright and could follow her father's footsteps to becoming a doctor. Now, her mother was spoiling everything Holly wanted to live up to. She wished very much that the next morning when she would wake up, her mother would claim that this was all a misunderstanding and be the reasonable person she had been all Holly's life.

Ginny, on the other hand, wished that her daughter would finally realize that she couldn't be entirely like her father- she would always be half-Weasley.

Final Note: To anyone who wonders, Alex is based one a real-life character. He's not just someone I made up. Of course, his name was changed, but he is indeed real. Thankfully, he's not dead!