Author Notes- Well, here it is, a longer chapter, just as I promised! I think that this is the best chapter for this story so far. Let me know what you think! Just a note to say that this fan fic is based when Ginny and everyone else has come of age and are able to use magic, though Ginny and Harry haven't passed their apparation test yet. Latin translations can be found at the bottom.
Chapter 5 – She did WHAT?
As soon as Ginny woke up, she wished she hadn't. With only a few hours sleep, she was extremely tired and had a throbbing headache. She sat up, and the first thing she saw was a picture of her and Harry, hugging. When they saw her looking, they waved through the picture and grinned. They did not reflect Ginny's mood in the slightest. She scowled and pulled the picture off the wall. It dropped to the floor and the glass smashed. Ginny let out a sob, and picked it up carefully, avoiding the glass. To her astonishment, instead of a picture, there was writing. It said:
'Love made this picture. Lost love broke this picture, and therefore this picture cannot be repaired.'
Ginny howled in frustration. If her heart hadn't been broken before, it certainly was now. She made her decision, and rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen, where her mother was making breakfast, though she was subdued. Ginny thrust the empty picture frame into her mother's hand, tears pouring from her eyes.
"Mum, what HAPPENED? Fix it! Fix it! Bring the picture back! Bring Harry back! Well, don't just STAND there, looking at me as if I'm mad! DO SOMETHING!" Ginny shouted, letting out her bottled up frustration and sadness.
"Ginny, sit DOWN, and be quiet!" said Mrs. Weasley's stern, but soothing, voice. Ginny sat down, and stopped ranting. "Now, about the picture. Ginny, I'm terribly sorry, but there is no way that even the best witch or wizard could bring this picture back. It was the love shared between you and Harry that made this picture what it was. Now, that Harry has . . . gone, and you are heartbroken without him, the picture has vanished. There cannot be a memory of love where love no longer is." She put a comforting hand on Ginny's shoulder, but Ginny pushed it off roughly, standing up and heading for the front door.
"Then there is only one thing I can, and must, do. Mum, I'm going to find Harry!" Ginny almost screamed this last line, she was so upset, and no one could console her. Mrs Weasley moved as if to stop her, then hesitated, and eventually nodded slowly.
"When a young witch such as yourself has a desire, none can get in her way and stop her, especially where love is concerned. I am not going to stop you from leaving this house, Ginny, but I offer you no more than my hope and good wishes. The quest to find love is a perilous one, and the only thing that can guide you is your heart. Good luck Ginny, I hope- no, I know that you will find Harry." With that, she blew a kiss goodbye, and carried on making breakfast. Ginny stood and gaped at her mother for a few minutes, she had expected her mother to stop her from finding Harry, she had been preparing for and argument, but her mother had simply wished her luck on her quest! Ginny was astounded, but thankful.
"Well, are you going to go, or not?" Mrs. Weasley asked kindly, and Ginny ran over to her and gave her a big hug, then hurried out of the door, calling back as she went:
"Tell Hermione and the others where I've gone!"
Mrs. Weasley smiled sadly, before turning to the clock on the kitchen wall. The hand with Ginny's face on it was turning to the caption marked 'ON A QUEST', which was positioned in the four o'clock position. She sighed, and finished making breakfast, before walking slowly up the stairs to give the others the news.
Ginny walked up the gravel path, smiling as she passed the sign saying 'The Burrow'. She didn't know why, but she got some strange comfort out of leaving her safe haven and going out into the world to find a boy who could be anywhere. She felt… free. Free to do what she wanted. She got to the end of the path and opened the gate, shutting it noisily behind her. Shivering, she got her wand.
"Accio broomstick!" she said, and she heard a crash as her new Nimbus 2000 broke out of the broom shed and came whizzing round the side of the house. She caught it easily and hopped on, casting an invisibility charm over her as she did so. She would have to keep redoing her invisibility charm every hour on the hour, but she was sure that she would cope.
"Timefactum!" she said to her wand, and florescent number piled out the end and formed the time in the air- 9:34. As soon as she finished the spell, and the numbers faded away, Ginny felt faintly alarmed at the prospect ahead of her. Harry could be anywhere- anywhere- and she didn't have a clue where to start looking. She would just have to think logically, that was all. Ginny shivered again, and longed to go back to the house for something warm to eat, and the logic that was Hermione's brain. She cast this thought aside, however, and took off from the ground, flying higher and higher until she went through the clouds.
It was immediately colder, and wetter. The small droplets of water smacked her in the face and drenched her hair and clothes. Then she broke through the top of the clouds, and whooped for joy. She had to do some thinking. She determined that Harry would fly beneath the clouds with his invisibility cloak on, so as he could see where he was going. Well, I'm just going to have to do that too, she decided and braced herself for the dive back down. The cold hit her harshly, water droplets biting at her face and hands. After what seemed like and age, she got out of the cloud, and performed a drying spell on herself and her clothes. Although this got rid of the wetness, it did not get rid of the cold, and Ginny had yet to perfect her warming spells. Unwilling to perform a spell that she was not accustomed to while flying, invisible, just underneath the clouds, she settled for folding her cloak more tightly around herself, and began to make a mental list of possible places for Harry to go. He could have gone to Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Godric's Hollow, ummmmmm, I can't think! Ginny mentally slapped herself in frustration, and decided that the best place to try first would be Diagon Alley. Wishing that she'd tried harder on her apparation test, Ginny continued to fly. Then she reminded herself that Harry hadn't passed either, so she didn't haven't that much of a setback. Well, apart from the fact that Harry had left the previous day, and he was flying on a Firebolt, while her own broomstick was a measly Nimbus 2000.
"She did WHAT?" Hermione screamed, when she was aroused from a fitful sleep by Mrs. Weasley. Hermione raised her shaking hands to tuck her messy hair behind her ears, calming down a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. I was just . . . shocked." Mrs. Weasley smiled sadly and said: "Don't worry about it. And try not to worry about Ginny too much, either. She'll be OK. It is the force of love that stimulates her, and as you well know, love is a great protection. Nothing will happen to Ginny or Harry while they still love each other."
Hermione nodded, and then they both heard two tiny popping noises, and, turning round, saw Fred and George, who had obviously just apparated there.
"What's up with you?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, we heard a big racket," George chipped in.
"We thought that Hermione had accidentally conjured a heard of elephants in here," Fred said, mock seriously.
"We couldn't resist coming down to join in the fun-" George stopped midway through his sentence, as both twins realised that the faces of both their mother, and Hermione, were not happy ones.
"What, Fred and I were only joking!"
"Um, mum, where's Ginny?"
"You guessed correctly, Fred. Ginny went to look for Harry."
The twins sat on the end of Ginny's vacated bed. Mrs. Weasley explained to them the love binding of Ginny and Harry, and just as she was finishing, they heard angry shouts from downstairs.
Latin translations:
Timefactum- I used this word because it contains the word time, not because it translates to time. Its actual translation is frightened or alarmed, which explains why Ginny was suddenly feeling all panicky after she conjured the spell.