Fourth Year, Part Two.
They'd barely got into the train when Ron and Hermione buggered off to the Prefects' meeting, stranding her with him.
Being in his company wasn't as unbearable now as it had been when he'd first arrived at Grimmauld Place, mainly thanks to the copious amounts of time she'd forced herself to spend with him.
She still felt a deep current of rage whenever she was with him, but she was so used to it that the flame in her chest felt almost normal.
She just had to keep reminding herself of how important gaining his trust was.
In fact, all she had to do was think of how proud the Dark Lord would be when she finally gave him the keys to Harry's weaknesses.
It was as clear as anything in her mind, how he would Mark her and declare to all the other Death Eaters that she was his most trustworthy, that she was most worthy of baring his sign on her skin.
It would be better than when she'd still thought her parents' opinions mattered before Tom had taught her the truth.
As much as ignorance had been bliss, she knew better now. Tom had shown her better over hundreds of late-night written conversations, and Barty had only confirmed those facts.
"You wanna go and find a compartment?"
She shook her head slightly, pulling herself back to the here and now and turning to face him with a smile.
"Sure."
The pistons began to thrum as they walked, the train departing King's Cross with a lurch.
All throughout the hallway, people kept staring at them.
"They probably all believe the Prophet," Harry said glumly.
"Hey," she said, "enough people know the truth. You'll see, there's plenty who don't think you're a liar."
"I don't know. It-"
"Ginny!"
The underlying rage at Harry vanished, joy filling her at the sound of Luna's voice.
Luna was standing just outside an open compartment, beaming and waving at Ginny to join her.
A moment later, Ginny had Luna in a tight hug, leaving Harry standing awkwardly behind them.
"I missed you," Luna said, "The summer was good, but I wish you could have come."
Ginny said nothing, simply enjoying the sensation of Luna's body against her, enjoying the long white-blonde hair draped over her head.
For a moment, she felt more peaceful then she had the entire summer.
And then Harry had to break it.
"Luna, right?" He asked.
She tensed up at the sound of his voice, making Luna look at her oddly for a second.
'She's only been in our common room almost as much as you have! You should know who she is, you arrogant bastard!'
"Yes," Luna said, extricating herself from Ginny. "And you're Harry Potter. The Prophet hasn't been very nice to you. Do you want to join us in the compartment?"
"Please," He said, sounding distinctly unexcited by the prospect.
"I think you're telling the truth," Luna announced when they had settled into their seats, "and so does my father. The Daily Prophet is always full of lies anyways."
Looking slightly cheered up by this, Harry opened his mouth.
Before he could talk and make her gorge rise, Ginny quickly asked: "So, what did you do for the rest of your summer?"
"Not too much. I helped my father fix his press when one of the cogs exploded, and otherwise mostly just read and drew a bit. What did you do?"
"Lots of cleaning," she said with a groan from Harry, "don't get me started."
"Ok. Did you get a chance for any Quidditch over the summer? You said you were hoping to play a bit."
She shook her head ruefully, Harry's presence in the compartment feeling like something scratching at her back.
The rest of the ride was far and beyond the most uncomfortable experience she'd had with Luna ever since they'd first become friends.
There was a tension between them, a heavy sense of a conversation waiting to happen.
It was there in the glances they shot at each other, the stilted way they both spoke.
It got a bit easier once Ron and Hermione arrived and turned the conversation toward Malfoy and Parkinson's absolute shittiness.
With the addition of the two of them, the conversation flowed less awkwardly, although Ginny didn't for a moment stop wishing that she and Luna had simply been given some time alone.
'It's just an act,' she reminded herself for the umpteenth time as the train pulled up in Hogsmeade, 'She doesn't matter that much, it's all just an act.'
But Luna did matter, much as she told herself not.
As much as she pretended that she didn't, she still wanted to just sit alone with Luna and feel, just for a little bit, like she was a normal girl.
As they were getting off the train, Luna leaned over to her, squeezed her hand and whispered: "Let's go to the lake during lunch break tomorrow."
"I'd love to," she replied, squeezing back with her stomach doing a flip.
"I haven't stopped thinking about it," Luna said, staring unnervingly into her eyes, "That kiss."
"Me neither," she admitted.
"I've...I've never felt this way before. Ginny, I think I'm in love with you."
'It's just an act. Just an act.'
But knowing that it was all just an act she had to play did not keep her heart from fluttering.
"Luna-I-"
"I know," Luna said, her eyes swimming with sudden tears and her voice turning sad, "you care too much about what other people say."
"It's not just that," Ginny whispered.
"So what else is it?"
She couldn't tear her gaze away from Luna, couldn't stop herself from seeing the pain and confusion in those brilliant grey eyes.
But she couldn't admit either, couldn't tell Luna the truth.
She couldn't tell Luna what she'd realized a few days before school started again, how the obvious method of getting close to Harry had prevented itself.
She couldn't tell Luna what it was she would have to do.
"It's-I just…"
She trailed off, finally looking away.
The lake was calm and peaceful, a few ripples spreading here and there. A group of students sat by the edge, their laughter carrying on the breeze.
The sight of them filled her with jealous fury, the knowledge that they could just be while she had to walk this tightrope act infuriating her.
"What aren't you telling me?" Luna asked. "What is it, Ginny? You know that you can tell me anything…"
Ginny shook her head, suppressing the wild cackle that tried to make itself heard.
'Yeah, right. Tell her how I'm helping the Dark Lord, that should go down well.'
"It's nothing. Luna, I do love you. I just-I don't know. I don't know how I feel, I don't know what I want. But I do know that I wouldn't be able to handle it if-if people were pointing me out all the time, making comments to their friends and laughing about me."
For a long moment, Luna said nothing, simply taking Ginny's hand.
"No one has to know anything," she finally whispered, "We can be careful. No one will think we're anything more than good friends."
With a laugh as clear as a summer's day, Luna continued.
"It won't even be that different, actually. We'll just kiss each other sometimes."
The image of Luna from her dream popped into Ginny's mind, Luna naked and writhing under her tongue.
"I'd like that." She said.
"That woman is evil," she said, staring down at his hand and trying to keep her joy hidden. "Pure evil."
"And McGonagall just says to ignore her," Harry said, "even though she's doing the best she can to rile me up."
That, Ginny knew, was no exaggeration.
As hectic as the first week back had been, she'd made a point of spending as much time as possible with Harry, even more than she had with Luna.
She hadn't done much talking during those times, only giving him some encouraging words and pushing him to vent.
Even without that though, she'd have known how Umbridge was treating him. The school was buzzing with it, her roommates seeming to be unable to talk about anything else.
It was the topic on everyone's lips, people whispering the latest rumours to one another between classes.
Umbridge had given him a week's worth of detentions, Umbridge would give detentions to anyone else who said that the Dark Lord was alive, Umbridge wanted everyone to inform her if they heard of anyone repeating what Harry said as fact.
Even Ron managed to pull himself out of the stupor his new role on the Quidditch team had placed him in, at least for long enough to tell Ginny that she should keep her mouth shut in front of Umbridge.
Luna, at least, didn't feel the need to talk about it all day. Luna seemed content to discuss other things with Ginny.
Or to try and improve their kissing.
"I can't imagine how infuriating it must be," she said, "it's really impressive that you don't just lose it whenever she talks."
"She's not even teaching us anything," he went on, "and with Voldemort out there...I keep thinking of Hermione's…"
He blushed, looking down and muttering to himself.
"Hermione's what?"
"She-you can't laugh, alright?"
"I promise I won't."
"Fine," he sighed. "She wants to make a defence club, where we'll learn it ourselves. And she thinks I should be the teacher."
"That's not such a bad idea at all," she said after a moment, "You've got more practical experience than any of the rest of us."
'Except me.'
"I don't know," he said, "I just don't know. I don't want-I don't want anyone to think they know how to fight because I taught them a few spells. I don't want anyone to die because of me."
"I'm sure whatever decision you make will be the right one."
"Thanks," He said, his frown vanishing, "you're great, Ginny, you know that?"
Chuckling, she rubbed his shoulder.
"Thanks."
Burning with curiosity, she opened the envelope, pulling Percy's letter out and beginning to read.
He'd obviously wanted her to have some privacy when she read it, and so hadn't sent it along with the usual morning post. Unfortunately, the owl had arrived in the Common Room in the middle of an exploding snap tournament, one she'd decided to take part in.
She'd simply crumpled the letter up in her pocket and kept it there for the last few hours, waiting for a chance to read it. Now, with her roommates asleep, she had the chance.
'Dear Ginny,' it said.
'It is very difficult for me to write to you in such a way, but I feel, as your older brother who cares a great deal for you, that I have a responsibility to do so.
I do not wish to speak ill of our parents, I truly do not. I love them dearly, and I hope that reconciliation between us will be possible at some point, and I will be more than glad to accept any apologies offered.
Nevertheless, I must say the truth.
Ginny, our parents have made disastrously wrong decisions, decisions which have led them to fall in with a very harmful crowd.
Dumbledore is, sadly, not the wizard he once was. You may have heard that he has lost his positions in the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards, but you have probably not heard that many of his long-time friends have abandoned him, saying that he appears to be falling senile.
He is not the brilliant wizard he was, Ginny. With age and the terrible decline of his faculties, he has become hungry for power, desirous of anything that will keep him in his roles.
Harry Potter, I believe, is a misguided, unstable boy who deserves our pity. Knowing the boy, I am certain that he is not acting out of malice, but is being manipulated by Dumbledore to further the headmaster's political goals.
Many feel as I do, that Harry would do well with a short stint in St Mungo's. The trauma of his parents' deaths and his upbringing may well have acted as catalysts to leave him unhinged, possibly even deranged.
Ginny, our parents have chosen to blindly follow Dumbledore, even though, discounting Harry, there is not a shred of evidence to support his outlandish claims, claims that would throw this country into chaos and hand him all the power he could want.
Our parents' decision to remain close with Dumbledore is not merely unethical and immoral, but is terrible from a pragmatic perspective and downright irresponsible as well.
Dumbledore will not retain the few positions of power he still has for much longer. He has always believed himself above the law, and the Ministry is determined to finally call him to task for this. When Dumbledore falls, he will not fall alone. He will drag everyone foolish enough to follow him down as well.
It terrifies me to think of this, but we may one day be in a position that we will have to travel to Azkaban if we wish to visit our parents.
I have been kept up at night, wondering what would be with you and Ron in such a situation. Would our cousins take you in? Would the Ministry place you in foster care? Would I be able to support you both on my salary?
I do not know, and it frightens me greatly.
You may think I am being overdramatic, you may assume that I am merely overstating the risk.
But, Ginny, Sturgis Podmore, a well-known friend of Dumbledore, has recently been arrested and sent to Azkaban. Mundungus Fletcher, another known associate of Dumbledore, has been imprisoned in Azkaban on numerous occasions. Even Harry Potter was almost expelled from Hogwarts, were it not for a very shaky loophole.
Ginny, the Aurors and Hit-Wizards have been searching, and have found nothing to support Dumbledore's claims. If You Know Who truly had returned, we would know.
His use of You Know Who as a political tool is not merely disgraceful, but it is a slap in the face to all those who suffered at his hands, you included.
I am well aware of what our family presumably thinks of me. I am confident that you have heard many unkind words and names applied to me.
But Ginny, I truly do care for you. I only wish the best for you. I am not trying to tear our family apart.
What, you may wonder, can you even do? After all, our parents have made up their minds, and it is unlikely that you will be able to encourage them to see the truth.
I would advise that you try and make your way into Madam Umbridge's good graces. Having had the pleasure to work with her on occasion, I can reliably tell you that she is a truly lovely lady, and one who would be willing to help you as much as she is capable. She is a wonderful person to talk with, and she is likely to have good advice to impart. Not to mention that if you want a prefectship next year, showing her that you are a responsible young lady will be a good start.
Other than that, there is, unfortunately, little I can offer in terms of practical advice.
I hope your studies continue well.
Yours in love and sincerity,
Your brother,
Percy.'
She finished the letter, her expression caught somewhere between sorrow and joy.
It would be nice to be able to tell Percy the truth. It would be nice to be able to talk to him again.
But if she was to pretend to be on Harry's side, she had to do the pretending properly.
With tears in her eyes and a laugh in her chest, she Vanished the letter.
"Do you really think he's telling the truth?" Jasmine asked, her tone indicating exactly what she thought.
"I do," Ginny said, pulling the comb through her hair again.
The first time that her roommates had brought it up, she'd had some quick thinking to do.
The fewer people that believed Harry's story, the better things would be for the Dark Lord. Not only would it make everything easier for him, but it would have the nice side benefit of Harry feeling alone and pushed away, which itself would only serve to make him like her more.
But at the same time, she needed to really pull off her act. She needed him to think of her as someone who was totally on his side, as someone he could trust and rely on.
In the heat of the moment, she'd decided that the Dark Lord's orders for her to do whatever she needed to make him trust her outweighed his general plans for the public as a whole. She'd checked with him later, of course, and he'd approved of her choice.
But her roommates just wouldn't let it lie.
Jasmine was the worst, but Priscilla and Evelyn were almost as bad. They kept questioning her, wanting to make sure she really thought that Harry was telling the truth.
It was becoming more and more annoying every day.
"I think that he just wants the attention," Jasmine continued in her oh-so-cultured voice, "And Dumbledore just needs an excuse to maintain his position in politics, so-"
"Come on," Ginny blurted, "Dumbledore screwed himself over with this! He's lost all his power!"
"Oh, Ginny," Jasmine said pityingly, "you don't understand politics well enough. Father says that this is all a ploy for Dumbledore to regain greater strength."
'What other pearls of wisdom did your father tell you?'
"As for Potter," Jasmine continued-"
"You were ready enough to suck him off last year if he'd only given you any attention."
A ringing silence greeted her words, Jasmine blushing and looking taken aback.
"I don't think there's any call for such language!"
"Fuck off, Jasmine dear," Ginny called, standing up and walking toward the door, "and could you try not to act like you're eighty years old?"
Careful to not let it slam, she closed the book with a sigh, covering her mouth to not inhale the cloud of dust that erupted.
Learning theory just wasn't good enough anymore.
She'd read up on everything Barty had suggested, making her way through dozens of chapters discussing Memory Charms and Apparition, and frankly, she needed to put her knowledge to the test. Not only with those, but so many other things as well.
It was all well and good knowing that she could cast spells on animals. If, as she knew she someday most probably would be, she was in a fight, she'd need to be able to cast them on people as well.
It wouldn't be enough to simply hope that just like she'd managed on animals she could manage with a person. She needed to know that she could do it.
For the past two weeks of term, she'd been beyond careful, not even allowing herself to think too much about stealing another pet for her experiments.
Now, she was finding it harder and harder to resist that need.
It was terrible, not actually doing anything. She was stagnating, not growing in anything except theoretical knowledge and the stuff she had to do for class, almost all of which she already knew.
She was stagnating, and she felt sure that if she waited too long she'd go crazy.
'I'm going to have to actually try this stuff at some point. I'll have to prepare to try the Apparition, read up on how to fix Splinching. The Memory Charm—if I screw up, I could use the Imperius or Parerum to get them not to tell anyone, I guess. At least until I manage to do it properly.'
Unless she just waited till the Dark Lord had told Snape to teach her.
He'd mentioned it again when they last spoke, only a few days before. He'd been pleased with her reports of how Harry had been confiding in her more and had told her to continue drawing him closer to her.
'I'll read up on Splinching as much as possible,' she decided, 'go over the Memory Charm stuff again as well. If nothing's happened with Snape in another week, I'll think more about that.'
Feeling far more cheerful, she left the library.
"Colin? Could you come and help me with something?"
He smiled up at her, putting down his quill.
"Well, I did just finish this essay. What's up?"
She hesitated for a moment, a tiny voice in her mind begging her not to do this.
'Barty said it's an indispensable tool, he said it's one of the most important spells to learn!'
'But if you screw up-'
'I've read everything about it, I know how to do it! Besides, if I don't, I'll just stay useless forever! He's just a Mudblood anyway.'
"I've been practising this one spell," she lied, "a variant of the Disarming Charm. But I can't see if it's working properly unless I've got someone there. You wanna give me a hand?"
He agreed easily, getting up from the armchair and following her out of the Common Room, down to a Charms classroom.
Peeves had been in there, she thought. There were rude drawings on the chalkboard, and half of the chairs were upside down.
'Can't be too long. The elves will come and clean soon enough.'
"So what should I do?" He asked expectantly.
"Nothing. Just stand there, make sure you're holding your wand tightly."
As she raised her wand, he asked: "This won't hurt, right?"
"Not at all," she said, holding her wand straight and trying to remember everything she'd read. "Obliviate!"
The tip of her wand glowed with a bright blue light, momentarily blinding her.
When it faded, she saw Colin standing there with his eyes unfocused, looking confused.
'It worked,' she thought, her heart rising, 'it worked!'
"Ginny?" He asked, looking around, "what-when did we come here? What-what's going on?"
"You said you'd help me practice a spell," she said, trying to sound concerned, "don't you remember?"
"I-I don't know-Ginny, I can't remember coming here, what's-"
"It's ok," she said, thinking quickly. "Just relax, Colin."
His arms were shaking, his eyes darting from side to side.
"How long ago did we come here?" He asked, "I was just-I was just doing my Herbology essay, and now I'm here, Ginny-"
'I didn't think about the fake memory!' She realized, 'idiot, I'm an idiot!'
"Obliviate!" She repeated, focusing on him finishing his essay and agreeing to help her try out a spell.
Again, the bright light shone, and again when it faded he was standing there like an idiot, with his tongue sticking out of his half-open mouth.
She waited on tenterhooks until he blinked and gave a brisk shake of the head before turning to her and asking:
"So what should I do?"
She almost danced a jig, just managing to keep from bursting out in relieved laughter.
"Nothing. Just stand there and hold your wand tightly."
'It's a shame to waste this time. Why not try something you've never done on a person before? Something that you know for sure you can do and that won't leave any side-effects. Try the terror curse on him.'
Still coasting on the waves of her success, she decided to give it a try, raising her wand again.
"This-this won't hurt, will it?"
Doubt clamped down on her, sudden guilt at what she was about to do hitting her like a brick.
'He's just a Mudblood. You aren't doing any permanent damage to him. Do it or stay weak forever.'
"Not at all," she promised. "Facerus Timor!"
Like had happened every time she'd practised the spell, a greyish-black mist shot out of her wand, spreading out in a thin cloud.
But this time, there was a target.
"Ginny-"Colin started, but quickly cut off as the mist coalesced around him, vanishing into his form.
His eyes grew wide and distant, clouding over with what she knew were the nightmarish images the curse was forcing him to see.
His body started to shake, and as his mouth opened she realized he was going to scream.
She fired off a Silencing Charm a moment too late, wincing as a blood-curdling shriek erupted from him and echoed around the room.
'Someone's going to come!'
As she went to lift the spell, he dropped onto his arse, waving his hands before him in a pleading gesture, his mouth framing the word "no" over and over again.
She couldn't help but giggle at his expression, the fish-like way his mouth was moving.
Absolute power and success coursed through her veins, a feeling like she could do anything giving her more energy than she'd felt since Barty had been killed.
A full-blown laugh was ripped out of her when she noticed the dark spot spreading across his crotch, the acrid smell of urine assaulting her nose.
And as suddenly as it had begun, it finished, with Colin's eyes clearing and the trembling stopping.
He mouthed something, and she quickly cast the Counter-Charm for the Silencer, forcing her joy to vanish.
"What was that?" He croaked.
"Colin," she cried, rushing over to him, "I'm so sorry, I didn't-"
He pushed her arm away, using his hands to propel himself to his feet.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" He growled, reaching down and picking his wand off the floor, "how could you do that?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-look, this will help clean you-Scourgify!"
He glanced down at himself before turning back to her, looking like he was either about to burst into tears or start screaming.
"What did-"
"Obliviate!"
Luna's lips were sweet against hers, like a balm on a wound. Their tongues met, retreating instinctively after the first touch before hesitantly coming together again.
She fisted Luna's hair, pulling her face toward her.
She opened her eyes for a moment, to see Luna's closed beatifically.
She could feel the wetness between her legs, her heart hammering in anticipatory nervousness.
Luna made a noise, a soft moan in her throat that drove all thought from Ginny's mind.
Her right hand left Luna's head, dropping down and sneaking under her shirt, rising up to cradle the swell of her fledgeling breasts.
Luna paused for a moment, her body tensing up against Ginny's, her hand going tight against the side of Ginny's face.
Gently, Ginny moved her hand over Luna's curves, the heartbeat thumping against her palm. She rubbed the erect nipple, flicking her finger against it experimentally, feeling Luna tremble against her.
Leaving Luna's chest, she began to explore downward, letting her nails lightly scratch Luna's belly as she moved.
Ever so slowly, not interrupting the kiss for a moment, she slid through the elastic in Luna's panties, prickly hairs rubbing up against her fingertips.
She circled around the small raised nub of flesh, gently extending her thumb and stroking it.
Luna gasped, jerking sideways and falling off of the chair, gripping Ginny's robes and pulling her down along with her.
They landed in a clump on the dusty floor, the shock of their fall forcing a high-pitched giggle out of Luna.
Ginny just lay there, the fire in her belly slowly vanishing.
"I'm sorry," Luna gasped, laughter strangling her words, "I didn't mean that."
"I hope not," Ginny said, "I'd hate to think I'm that bad at it."
Luna erupted in another peal of laughter at that and began rolling around on the floor, cackling and clutching at her sides.
Laughing, Ginny got up and dusted herself off, stretching a hand out to pull Luna up.
"I think there must be Nargles in here," Luna said, looking around the empty classroom. "They don't like displays of affection, that's why they hide in mistletoe. Maybe if we found somewhere that there are no Nargles?"
Ginny shook her head, smiling to herself.
There couldn't be that many places in the castle where they would be able to hide whenever they wanted. At least, not places that no one else knew about.
But there was a place like that, she realized. A place that no one alive but she knew about.
"Ginny? Ginny, what's wrong?"
She pulled herself out of her reverie, realizing that she had started to shake.
"I-nothing. Nothing's wrong."
Biting her lip, looking like she was going to burst into tears, Luna walked up to her and stared into her eyes.
"There's something you're not telling me," She said softly, "I know it. What's going on?"
"Nothing-"
"Don't lie to me!" Luna cried, her voice suddenly full of pain and fear.
"I just want to know what's going on," Luna said, "I just want to help you, Ginny. Something is hurting you, and I want to help."
For a moment, Ginny wavered, that old desire to tell the truth and beg for help returning with almost-overwhelming force, the nearly forgotten guilt crashing down on her.
'Yeah, tell her the truth. I'm sure she'll still love you, I'm sure she'll want to help you when you tell her what you're planning. Tell her how you've met the Dark Lord, how you promised to help him, how you've been passing him all the information you can. Tell her what you did to Colin. She'll still love you then, won't she?'
She emptied her mind, forcing that stupid idea to disappear.
"I'm just-I don't like hiding what we have."
"I told you," Luna said, "I would be happy to stop hiding. Love doesn't care about what people say."
"But I do."
Luna chewed on her lip, a thoughtful look crossing her face.
"Do you think your family wouldn't be happy?" She asked slowly, reaching out and putting a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "If they knew about you? That you like girls?"
She almost barked out a laugh at that.
She would have much bigger problems if her family knew all about her than them knowing that she liked girls.
"I don't know," she said, "and I'm nowhere near ready to find out."
Glancing at her watch, she swore under her breath.
"I need to go, I've got Potions now. You're coming with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow, right? We've got that meeting with Harry and Hermione and all of them."
"I'm looking forward to it very much," Luna said, "I'm sure Harry knows a lot about defence."
She smiled, her left eye twitching slightly.
"Yeah. He does."
She kept her disdain completely hidden as she looked around the room, watching the newly-coined DA learn how to do a spell they should have all known years before.
Even Colin seemed to be loving it, for all that he'd known how to do the Disarming Charm for almost two years now.
'It's not the spell they're loving, idiot. It's the chance to be taught by the great Harry Potter.'
Laughing, Luna picked up her wand.
"You're really good at this," she called, "let me have a turn."
'You should have known how to do this before he showed you!'
"Sure."
"Expelliarmus!" Luna cried, waving her wand wildly.
Ginny didn't even try to block the pale red jet which flew at her.
It hit, and her wand gave a little jerk.
"I think you need to make your movement tighter," she said, "it's far too wide."
"Could you show me again, please?" Luna asked.
"Sure," she said, raising her wand, and slowly going through the spell's motion. "Expelliarmus!"
Her spell shot forward much faster than Luna's had, and when it hit, Luna's wand flew from her hand.
"That was very good," came Harry's voice from right beside her.
She turned to find him standing there with an appreciative grin, watching her.
"Thanks," she said sweetly, "it's easy when we've got a teacher as good as you."
Between schoolwork, spending time with Luna and Harry, doing her own study and spell practice, and the DA, Ginny soon found her schedule as full as ever it had been.
What with all the extra work she'd been putting in for the previous two years, she was easily maintaining her position near the top of the class. Her Potions marks had dropped, as had History and Herbology, but in her other subjects, she was still among the top five or so.
Of course, no matter how well she knew the stuff, homework still took time to do, especially when they were essays. This was particularly noticeable in Transfiguration, where Professor McGonagall had started teaching things that Ginny had only read about in passing before.
After that, she was probably spending equal amounts of time between her own studies and with Luna.
Most of her breaks were spent with Luna, usually just relaxing and talking, but occasionally finding a nice hiding spot where they could snog.
Strangely enough, Luna had been more prudish after the time they fell in the empty classroom, and by the time Halloween came around Ginny had barely managed to get her hand up her robes again.
Once her roommates were asleep and the common room was quiet, Ginny would often sneak out to the library, to go continue her reading.
So far, she hadn't learned that much. After reading about Splinching and how the person Splinched usually couldn't heal themselves, she'd put Apparition on the back burner, instead researching eavesdropping charms, the Disillusionment Charm, and spells which could come in handy in a fight.
Out of those, the eavesdropping charms had been the only ones she'd really managed to get. Disillusionment Charms remained firmly out of her grasp, and she knew that the only way she'd really improve in her combat abilities was through practice.
She was sure that the DA could have been useful for that, if only any of them would have posed a challenge. As it was, the only one who even came close to a fair fight was Harry, but she was being careful to avoid showing him just what she was capable of. It was annoying as hell, having to mess up spells on purpose, all the time with her mind shouting at her that she knew how to do them properly, but it was the only thing to do.
She couldn't show them all just how good she was. Even ignoring all the questions it would raise, it would remove the element of surprise if she was ever in a situation where she had to fight them.
She did, of course, have the option of trying spells out on Colin and then Obliviating him again. If she needed to, she could always do that.
She'd decided, however, to wait a while before trying any spells out on Colin again. She'd figured that it wasn't worth it to risk doing serious damage to his mind. If was better to leave it for a while and see how he acted toward her.
So far, it seemed like the Memory Charm had worked properly, but she would wait until at least the winter break before doing anything more.
Other than all that, the majority of the rest of her time was going to Harry and gaining his trust.
It was definitely working. He'd been talking to her more and more, slowly opening up to her about how he felt.
He told her how furious Umbridge and the Ministry were making him, how terrified he was of open war coming again, how frustrated he was that Dumbledore was just ignoring him, how, as much as he feared it, he wanted the Dark Lord to come out into the open because then people would know the truth, how scared he was that Sirius would leave Grimmauld Place and get caught.
And best of all, she learned how guilty he felt about telling Cedric to take the cup along with him and how afraid he was that more people would die because of him.
Of course, as soon as she learned anything new, she told the Dark Lord.
His appreciative replies made everything worth it.
"Creevey," McGonagall said, "Where is your essay?"
His mouth dropped open, a confused look spreading across his face.
"I-"
"Again?" McGonagall sighed. "Creevey, this is the third time in the last two weeks that you have not completed your homework. I will see you in my office after dinner for your detention."
With a terrible fear filling her, Ginny tried to meet Colin's eye to reassure herself that it wasn't her fault.
He just kept his head down, holding his book bag with shaky hands.
'It's not my fault,' she told herself, 'it's not from the Memory Charms. He's just a stupid Mudblood, that's all!'
She lay awake in bed, the taste of pumpkin from the Halloween feast still strong on her tongue.
She itched to get out the parchment and write to the Dark Lord, even as she knew that he wouldn't be happy to be interrupted for small stuff.
Tom hadn't minded talking about minor things, he hadn't minded listening to her complain about her life. Tom had even started conversations sometimes.
Of course, she knew that the Dark Lord was exceptionally busy, and didn't have the time to waste on keeping her entertained. She knew that if she wanted his favour and attention she needed to earn it.
She knew all that, but still wished that things were the way they used to be.
At least she still could remember her conversations with Tom. His possession might have rendered half of her first year a blank spot in her mind, but their conversations were still as clear as if they had taken place only a day before.
'"Tell me, Ginny," Tom wrote, his words swimming up through the page to her, "I've been sensing some hesitance from you to continue my work. Why is this so?"
She stared down at the Diary, shaking slightly and thinking if her response.
It had only been a week since she'd gotten the Diary back from Harry after stupidly throwing it away. Only a week since Tom had been forced to punish her and make sure that she wouldn't do something that ungrateful again.
The pain was still fresh in her memory, but more importantly, the joy at having him back was there as well.
She wouldn't do anything that would make him doubt her willingness, wouldn't give him any reason to think that she wouldn't do whatever he wanted.
She had taken too long to reply, another message was appearing.
"I am waiting."
"I promise, Tom," She wrote, "I'll do whatever you want! I haven't complained, I'm not going to complain again, I promise!"
"You haven't complained," Tom replied, "But that isn't what I asked, is it? I asked why you are so hesitant to do what I want. Come now, Ginny. You know that you can tell me the truth."
She bit the end of her quill for a long moment before sighing and putting it back down to the page.
"I just don't understand why we have to hurt then. They're only children, Tom."
"Mudblood children," he wrote back, "who will grow to be Mudblood adults. Every one of our targets has been one who hasn't even tried to adjust to our world-Creevey with his ridiculous camera and his prattle about his family, Finch-Fletchley babbling about Eton. Not only are they Mudbloods, but they are the type of Mudblood who will do their very best to destroy our world."
"I just wish we could do it without hurting them."
"Poor, naive Ginny," Tom replied, "The end, my love, justifies the means. Sometimes, one is required to do distasteful things because of what can be accomplished."
"I don't know…"
"If you had to choose between the entire wizarding world and the happiness of a few Mudbloods and Blood-traitors, would it really be a hard choice? Would the many not outweigh the few?"
"But they're not so bad!"
"Aren't they? Have you forgotten everything I showed you? All the books I had you read, all the stories I told you?"
"I haven't."
"Tell me of the Mudbloods' crimes, Ginny. I want you to tell me about them."
For a moment, she thought she heard her father's voice pleading with her, begging her not to give in.
It was easy enough to ignore. Tom had asked her to do something, and that was what mattered.
"They want to make us more like muggles. They want us to forget about our history and culture and to act like Muggles are better than us."
"And are Muggles better than us, Ginny? Are they perhaps, our equals?"
"No," she wrote, "they're animals. They don't even care about each other's lives, they destroy cities with bombs and try to kill us. They're jealous of us because they know we're better than them, and we have to hide away because they'll kill us or put us in zoos if they discover us."
"Tell me, dear. If an American wizard was to join Hogwarts, would they be accepted?"
"Of course," she wrote, confused by the sudden change in his questions.
"And what if all this hypothetical boy spoke about was how much better everything was in America? Would he be accepted then? Would those who choose to bully him be correct or not?"
"They would. If he wants to come here, he shouldn't act like it's so bad here."
"Exactly my point. Replace the American wizard with a Mudblood and Hogwarts with the wizarding world as a whole, and you have answered your own question. Any Mudblood who accepts the deficiencies of the Muggles, sees them for what they are, and who strives to integrate themselves into wizarding culture will be accepted with open arms. It is the others who must be eradicated."
"I just-I don't know, Tom."
"The ends justify the means, my love. You must learn this. What would you do to give me a body?"
Her breath hitched for a moment, her belly fluttering with excitement.
"Anything. Anything you need."
"What if the only way to do so was to kill someone?"
"I'd-I wouldn't want to."
"I did not ask whether you would want to. I did not ask whether you would enjoy it. I asked whether you would kill someone if it was necessary to return me to physical form. Would you, or would you not?"
"I would." She wrote, tears welling up in her eyes.
"And that is because you understand that I am worth more than anyone else. Am I not?"
"You are."
"Even though you would hate doing it, you would still do whatever is necessary. That is because, on some level, you understand that the ends justify the means. I think the problem is that you do not care for the great damage Muggles and Mudbloods are doing to us. We must remedy this. Homework, Ginny. You will write a fifteen-page essay for me on the crimes of Muggles, Mudbloods, and Blood-traitors."
"Fifteen pages? That's-"
"You will write it in the diary," he interrupted, his words rising up and covering her attempt, "and you will begin now. You will not stop until you have finished."
"Tom, it's late-"
"You promised to do whatever I ask. Would you prefer I find someone more suitable? If you cannot even do what I want, what use are you to me?"
"I'll do it," she hurriedly wrote, terrible fear smothering her, "I'll do it, I'll do it, don't leave me!"
"You will do it now. And if I am unsatisfied, you will repeat it."
She bent down, her quill beginning to race across the page.'
She had to smile, remembering that. True to his word, Tom had made her rewrite it. She'd stayed up all night and pretended to be sick to get out of classes the next day, and by the time she'd finished her fourth attempt, he was satisfied.
She'd only had the Diary for another two months after that, but every week for those two months saw her writing a new essay on the evils of Muggles, Mudbloods, and Blood-traitors. And every day she'd had to tell him, just in one or two sentences, about their sins.
She ran her hand through Luna's hair, idly twining a few strands around her fingers while she listened to her friend.
It was an unseasonably warm day, sunny enough even through the clouds for them to be outside without their coats. They were on the far side of the lake, near the forest, and there was no one around. At least, no one close enough to be able to see them clearly.
"So daddy asked the man how much he would sell the photographs for, but he refused. He said that the Unspeakables would be able to track him down if they ever saw them, and daddy wasn't willing to promise to keep them out of the Quibbler. It's a shame, really, because the public deserves to know, but I can't say I blame him."
"What do you think the Unspeakables would do if they caught him?"
Luna shivered, her head moving around in Ginny's lap and sending a thrill through her.
"I'd rather not think about it," she said in a hushed tone, "But nobody knows where Heliopaths come from in the first place."
Ginny waited a moment, but it seemed like Luna had nothing more to say on the subject. Shrugging, she asked: "What else did your father have to say?"
"Not very much. He's rather frustrated that people won't listen about He Who Must Not Be Named. He says it's so obvious, and that they're trying to do the same thing to Dumbledore and Harry that they did to Stubby Boardman."
The sun peeped through a gap in the clouds, a ray of light shining down onto Luna's face.
Luna's closed her eyes, her nose wrinkling in that rabbit-like way which always made Ginny feel like she would explode with need.
She pushed Luna off her lap, twisting herself and falling on the grass beside her with one fluid motion.
Before Luna could do more than give a soft giggle, Ginny had seized her head, pulling her close and meeting their lips together.
She kept her left hand tangled up in Luna's hair, her right one sneaking into her robes.
Luna tensed up, and for a second Ginny thought she was going to pull away. She didn't, instead relaxing, her hands moving from Ginny's shoulders to caress her sides.
Ginny danced her fingers across Luna's skin, gently stroking down until she found her clit, the soft fabric of Luna's underwear rubbing up against the back of her hand.
Luna's whole body shook when Ginny caressed it, a humming moan vibrating out into Ginny's mouth.
Luna's wandering hands fell lower, gripping at Ginny's thighs and ass.
Her blood aflame, Luna's noises filling her mind with nothing but urgent desire, Ginny let her fingers descend, pushing up against the wetness on Luna's lips.
Slowly, she pushed two of her fingers in, letting go of Luna's head with her other hand and pushing it up to Luna's tits, beginning to squeeze and stroke the hard nipples.
With a gasp, Luna pulled her face from Ginny, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts.
"Does it hurt?" Ginny asked, letting her fingers rest but not removing them.
"No," she gasped "it's wonderful."
She pushed deeper, pulling her fingers out and pushing them back in, rubbing up against the folds and clit as she did.
"Do me," she whispered, her body crushing up against Luna, "do me too."
She groaned as Luna's hand found her sex, the fingers hesitantly pushing their way in. She began to thrust her hips forward, mounting herself on Luna's hand.
Luna buckled under her, her hips arching and body shaking like she was having a fit, her neck stretching out and a sticky wetness flooding Ginny's hand.
"Don't stop," Ginny urged when Luna's hand paused its movement, "I'm almost there, almost-"
She broke off, a shaky moan erupting from her as her orgasm hit, a mind-numbing wave of pleasure starting at her crotch and crashing through her body.
Time stopped, nothing existing except the bliss that consumed her.
An eternity later, the ecstasy faded, leaving her lying in the grass beside Luna, their hands twined together.
"That was amazing," Luna said. "Is it always that good?"
An image of Higgs flashed through her mind, Higgs when he'd been slapping her and calling her his dirty little whore.
"I think so," she said, "If it's with someone you love."
"It's really unfair about your broom," she said, "and the Quidditch."
Harry just grunted, staring ahead with his jaw set.
"It's not forever though," she continued gently, "Umbridge won't last another year, no Defence professor does. And when the Ministry finds out the truth about the-You Know Who, you can bet all these decrees will go. You just need to hold out for the rest of the year."
'If you survive that long.'
"It's like she's taking everything away from me," he finally said, still staring at the wall, "I can't speak to Sirius, Hagrid's still not back, Dumbledore's ignoring me, and now I don't even have Quidditch."
"You still have the DA. You still have Ron and Hermione. And…you still have me."
He turned to look at her then, his eyes deep with emotion as they met hers.
She locked onto his gaze, allowing the air to grow heavy between them.
A minute or two later he coughed and looked away, reaching out blindly and taking her hand.
"Yeah," he said, "I do. Thank goodness for that."
Her potion simmered along perfectly, puffing out clouds of smoke of the exact reddish-brown shade the textbook described. For now, she just had to wait.
Snape was standing in front of Evelyn's cauldron, sneering down and commenting nastily about it.
As she always did when she saw him, Ginny wondered.
The Dark Lord had assured her that Snape was his spy, that he'd somehow convinced Dumbledore that he'd left the Death Eaters but was actually still loyal to the Dark Lord.
She knew, of course, that the Dark Lord could not be wrong.
Nevertheless, she couldn't quite bring herself to think of Snape as being on her side, and certainly not to admire him the way she had Barty.
There was something distinctly unlikeable about the man, something that made her want to disappear whenever he looked at her.
Barty had been cool, even when she'd still thought he was Moody. Barty had made her feel comfortable and accepted.
Barty had understood her in a way that she knew Snape never would.
Snape, like her, served the Dark Lord. But that wasn't enough to make her feel any camaraderie with him.
Even so, she still waited for the Dark Lord to order the man to teach her. It would be good to have someone to confide in, someone to show her how to actually progress. Even if that person was Snape.
And it was always possible that he would be slightly less caustic if he knew that she was also a spy, although she wasn't holding her breath.
She hadn't asked the Dark Lord again about telling Snape to teach her. Partially because the prospect of spending extra time with Snape did not excite her, but mostly because she didn't want to annoy her lord. She had, however, made a point of not meeting Snape's eyes ever since he tried to read her mind in Grimmauld Place.
A loud whistling noise sounded from behind her, followed by a loud bang that echoed through the dungeon classroom.
Turning her head to a chorus of excited whispers, she saw enormous multi-coloured sparks shooting from Colin's cauldron along with black smoke that looked toxic.
Snape was there in an instant, waving his wand lazily and vanishing the obviously poorly brewed contents.
"Tell me," he said, his voice cracking across the room like a whip, "Are you truly so idiotic as to leave out the armadillo bile after I warned that to do so could create a lethal concoction?"
"I-I forgot," Colin said, looking down with his shoulders shaking.
"You forgot? You forgot to add the ingredient I emphasised as being the most important one in this potion?"
'It's not from the Memory charm. He's just a stupid Mudblood. That's all.'
Colin was silent.
"Detention, Creevey. After dinner tonight you will report to the Hospital Wing where you will assist Madam Pomfrey with the cleaning of the bedpans. Perhaps that will engrave the importance of caution into your Swiss-cheese of a memory."
"Well?" Snape said, turning around, "have the rest of you finished your potions?"
When Snape had moved over to the Slytherin side of the classroom, Ginny turned around again and focused on Colin.
He was staring at his now-empty cauldron with tears in his eyes, a scared and confused look on his face.
'It's not my fault! It's not the Memory Charms that did this, he's just an idiot!'
When he looked up a few minutes later, she was still watching him.
His eyes widened at the sight of her, a look of total panic flickering across his suddenly pale face. His arm jerked, knocking a glass vial off of his desk with a crash.
Then colour started returning to his face, and the panic was replaced with an expression of pure confusion.
"You will stay after class to clean that up," Snape said, watching Colin with a small frown.
Before she could look away from him, Snape's eyes flickered to meet hers.
It began instantly, the ticklish pressure of Legilimency being used against her.
She exhaled, emptying her mind along with her breath, casting all her thoughts and emotions away.
The pressure didn't let up. If anything, it got stronger, so much so that she couldn't even think of splitting her mind, instead focusing all her energy on keeping her mind blank as thoughts of Colin kept trying to rise.
After what could have been seconds or hours, the pressure vanished.
'I need to tell the Dark Lord that he tried again,' she thought, 'He'd want me to tell him.'
She rushed out of the dungeons as soon as Potions finished, running back to Gryffindor tower as quickly as she could.
Snape hadn't tried Legilimency on her again. Instead, he'd spent the rest of the lesson alternating between watching her and Colin, all the time with that same thoughtful frown.
And now Colin was staying behind to clear up the mess he'd made. From what she'd read, a good enough Legilimens could pick up on Memory Charms.
Which meant that Snape was going to find out about her.
She couldn't quite imagine that a Death Eater would turn her in for experimenting on a Mudblood, but she had no idea how it was that Snape convinced Dumbledore to trust him.
For all she knew, Snape would turn her in just to make sure Dumbledore trusted him.
Huffing and puffing, she climbed up the stairs to her room, sighing with relief when she dropped into her bed and pulled the parchment from the hiding place in her bag.
"My lord," she wrote, "Snape tried to do Legilimency on me again."
She waited for a reply for a few minutes after the writing had disappeared before continuing.
"A few months ago, I tested Memory Charms on a Mudblood. I think it may have had some side effects, he's been very forgetful since then and today reacted with shock and fear to seeing me. I think Snape suspects something, it was right after the Mudblood's fright that he tried to invade my mind."
Ten minutes later, there was still no reply.
With a sigh, Ginny went down to lunch, hoping that the Dark Lord would see her messages before Snape did anything.
When she checked the parchment again that night, the Dark Lord had written back.
"I have spoken to Severus. Tomorrow he will take you aside to discuss the continuing of your training.
I find myself disappointed. I encourage initiative, but not stupidity. Your mission in Hogwarts is not to attack your schoolmates, worthy a task as that may be. Your purpose is to ferret out information for me. If you are the subject of suspicion, you will be entirely worthless to me.
I have no need for worthless servants.
But I am merciful. You will have one more chance. Do not waste it. Do not confuse your desires for mine. I want you to gain Potter's trust and to tell me everything he tells you, everything the Order tells him. I want you to learn how to fight and how you can be of use when your loyalty is revealed.
I do not want you to be taking any risks of being revealed unless directly ordered to do so by me.
My original feeling was that you could be of use.
Prove my original assumption correct. Do not force me to cast you aside. Be of value to me, and you will be high among my friends.
If not, you will be as useless to me as the rest of your family is.
One more chance. If you do not use it to prove yourself of value to me, you will be nothing to me."
By the time she finished the message she was sobbing, pawing through her bag for the knife while the silencing charms kept her roommates from hearing her misery.