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Thirteen
The forest was getting dark now; the trees cast their unruly shadows against one another, dappling the path with the silhouetted setting of the sun.
Ginny looked about her nervously, she still wasn't entirely sure where she was, and was exceptionally surprised that Draco hadn't arrived to drag her back. She worried, too, about Arthur; the natural worry, of a mother.
The path seemed to stretch out in front of her forever, always winding away through the trees and out of sight. It almost seemed as though she was travelling the same tract of burled stones over and over, but she thought that may be a trick of the twilight.
The redhead rounded a sharp, overgrown corner in the path and nearly jumped out of her skin. Sitting in front of her, on a fallen log, sat a young man.
A sharp mop of red hair stood out on his forehead and when he looked up at her she found herself falling into familiar icy-grey depths. He had on traditional wizard robes and looked to be about seventeen; Ginny would have noticed her son anywhere.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hi," Ginny replied slowly; he must be another of her 'visions', because the son she had was not even two months old yet. None of the other images had been able to converse with her though, she frowned.
"Oh you bought the twins with you," he exclaimed, his features breaking into a grin.
She watched as a dark haired young woman went and perched on the log next to him and a pair of red-haired boys arranged themselves cross-legged at his feet.
"Hi cousin Arthur," the one on the left said brightly. "Daddy said you were coming."
"Daddy didn't say you were going to be sitting in the Forbidden Forest though," replied the other doubtfully.
Ginny watched, wondering who these three newcomers were. This visage wasn't of her past; this was an imprint of the future… which meant that that dark-haired young woman could only be…
"Did Holly not tell you?" Arthur smiled down at the identical boys. "We sat here when we were students at Hogwarts."
"Why?" asked the boy on the left, both of whom, Ginny noted, bore a startling resemblance to Charlie.
The dark-haired woman leaned down. "It was because I was sorted into Slytherin and Arthur was in Gryffindor, so we'd come down here when we couldn't see each other at school to talk almost everyday."
"About what?"
Arthur smiled at Holly, his eyes clouding wistfully.
She beamed down at them; "Everything and anything; how his father, our mother and her two brothers had helped put the Wizarding world back together, about what we would do when we grew up and we always talked about how we came to be siblings, rivals and best friends: all at once!"
"Yes," agreed Arthur. "We always played games too and spent so much time together it was unbelievable."
"We still do," added his sister. "Inseparable." They both hitched identical smirks that reminded Ginny forcibly of Draco.
"We're inseparable," piped up one of the boys.
"And we're in different houses too; just like you!" The twins looked so proud of this fact, and Holly and Arthur grinned at them.
"Let's hope it's always that way."
Ginny clutched her hand to her chest, feeling her heart beat at a thousand miles an hour. She felt a tear trace a track down her cheek as the image of the four young people faded; two of her brothers had survived? Holly was still alive? How could she get to this place?
She stopped then, and frowned. Holly had said that she and Draco had revived the world of magic, but that couldn't be right: she had vowed never to return – Hogwarts didn't even exist anymore - after all, how would Arthur be educated? She wasn't even sure she wanted him to learn magic; it could be a cruel and crippling tool in the wrong hands.
Ginny revived for a moment, coming out of her reverie. The woods had brightened a little, as she watched the winding path in front of her morphed from the greyness of winter into the gentle heat of summer, the trees sponged with leaves and the path led to a familiar and huge Castle. Warmth filled Ginny's veins and a sense of fulfilment her heart.
The path was long and winding and seemed to stretch on and on, but she knew, then, that this was the path that she must take. For Arthur's sake, for Holly's, for the broken world of magic but, most of all, for herself; it would not be easy, but she could hide from magic no longer.
She could hide from her nature no longer.
Blinking, the image of the towering Hogwarts was gone, instead she saw the small hut that had been her home through the trees and Ginny knew that her lesson was over. She had remembered what she needed to remember, and learned what she needed to know in order to walk the path that had been set out for her.
Mustering her courage, she strode forwards through the trees letting the soothing natural magic wash over her. She was unsurprised to see a strange man standing outside the house. He appeared to be having a conversation with Draco, although the tall blonde seemed to be looking quite defensive.
The redhead knew why he was here; she thought that she may actually have known all along.
Her destiny called; it was time to answer.
A/N Yes… it's been too long! I'm so very sorry :'(
On a slightly different note; a shameless plug for my good friend Aubrianna (who updates for more regularly than I!) if you have time please take a trip to her site; Thanks!!