World Cup

The world cup was several days in the past now, and yet it still preyed on Ginny's mind. How, in Merlin's name, could it have gone so horribly, terribly wrong? What made the Death Eaters decide to do what they did. Oh yes, it sounded very silly – almost childish even – that they were in masks and dangling people in the air. Not exactly the stuff nightmares are made of, and yet there was something about what had happened that troubled Ginny. Her dad had pointed out the muggle-baiting attitude and the deeper things it implied and the idea terrified Ginny.

'Mum?' she said tentatively one day while they sat together in the Lounge watching the boys around them play several raucous games of chess and exploding snap.

'How will I know that Tom Riddle is totally gone from me? I mean really gone?'

Molly turned to her, concern etched all over her face. 'I thought you had dealt with that, Ginny.'

'I did, Mum. But ... the World Cup made me think about it some more. I mean ... those people didn't have ... him in their heads and yet they decided to attack the quidditch, and ... and it seems so weird.' The words all tumbled out of her and it was hard for Molly to make them out, but she eventually worked it out.

'Oh, Ginny. The reason they made those choices and the reason they did those things isn't because they are 'evil' and have You-Know-Who standing over them invading their thoughts.' Molly leaned forward earnestly, making sure Ginny was paying attention. 'They made those choices because they believe some very scary things.'

Ginny blanched as Molly spoke, so she leant over and gave her daughter a quick hug. 'You don't have to worry, dear. Let's look at it another way. How do you feel about the things those people did?'

Ginny's forehead creased as she forced herself to think about what had happened. 'I ... well, it was awful, Mum. There was no reason for it. They just ... just attacked those people because they were muggles.'

Her mother sat back and clapped her hands together as if proving a point. 'Exactly dear, and there you have the difference between you and them.'

Ginny looked confused, her brow furrowed as she tried to process this. 'So ... because I think it was silly I won't ever do it?'

Molly laughed. 'Almost. It's not that you think it was silly, it's that you think it was terrible that they attacked those people because they are muggles.'

'I guess.' Ginny still looked thoughtful and her mother tried to put herself in Ginny's shoes. She had been invaded by one of the most evil people who had ever existed and she had recently witnessed atrocities perpetrated in his name. She was young and confused and she had yet to learn that the values you have can't be compromised from the outside. Molly glanced sideways at Ginny, and rethought that last idea. Ginny wasn't worried about an attack from outside; she had proven herself to be remarkably resilient in the time after their last talk about You-Know-Who. No, it became clear suddenly that Ginny was worried about a lingering taint inside her that would turn her 'bad.'

'How are your friendships going, dear?' Ginny started at what appeared to her to be an abrupt change of subject and looked up at her mother in confusion.

'I ... Okay, I guess. Why?' The voice was puzzled as Ginny looked up at her mother.

'I was just wondering. We haven't really talked about your fears from last year. Did you make some nice friends?' Molly flicked her wand at her knitting and kept an eagle on the wool as the needles starting working.

Ginny blushed as she answered her mother. She vividly remembered telling her that she wouldn't be friends with Luna Lovegood because she was weird, and yet Luna was now one of her many friends. 'Well, yeah, I did.'

'I'm just wondering what criteria you used to choose them.' Molly was angling towards some point, Ginny could tell and she let out an exasperated huff.

'I dunno. I chose people I like, I guess. Like Hermione, and some of my room mates, and Colin Creevey and Luna I guess.' Ginny smiled as she thought about her friends and her mother grinned as she watched her.

'And are all those people influential? Do they all have pure blood like yours? Can you get things out of them?'

Ginny's head snapped up and she stared at Molly in horror. What possessed her mother to think Ginny would choose on that sort of basis?

'What? No! Of course not, Mum. What a thing to ask.' Ginny's voice was strident as she denied the idea.

'Well, then do you think they are inferior because you can't get those things out of them. Do you want your muggle and half-blood friends to serve you?'

Ginny sank back against the cushions of the couch they were sitting on and sighed.

'I see where you're going, Mum. And no, of course I don't. It's wrong to judge people like that, or only be friends for what you can get and I wouldn't do that.'

Her mother squeezed her hand and said, 'So, you see, Ginny. Despite having once been taken in by a very evil person, despite having had him,' she shuddered, 'in your head ... you still know the right things to do. You didn't choose your friends based on blood or influence, so I think you're safe.'

'Thanks Mum.' Ginny smiled and gave her mother another hug as they watched the boys squabble over the current game of snap.

'That's not to say, Ginny, that you can relax your vigilance though. All of us are susceptible to making the wrong choices, so we all still have to consciously do what is right.'

Ginny turned her eyes towards Harry, who was playing Ron at chess with a serious look on his face. He always tried so hard to win and yet he never managed to beat Ron. That didn't stop him from honing his skills and trying again and again to do it. She grinned as she thought about it. This was an attitude she could take up, she realised. Her ridiculous crush on Harry may as well have some good impact on her life.

As Molly watched her, Ginny's shoulders firmed and she straightened her back. It was obvious that she had come to a decision. She heard her murmur something like, 'If Harry can do it, then so can I,' before she turned to her mother with a grin and said, 'D'ya wanna have a game of snap with me? I bet we could beat those boys.'

Over the next few days, Ginny thought about what her mother had said. She realised it was about time to stand up and look after herself. It wasn't that her parents weren't wonderful and wouldn't look after her as well, but she was away from them so much at school that she didn't always have them as a guide. She needed to learn who she was inside so she could be sure that she wouldn't make any slip-ups back towards Riddle's brand of evil. In all the horror of the year she spent with that diary and the time since when she had made new friends, she had lost sight of who she was and what she wanted. Well, that wasn't quite true. Ginny knew what she wanted, but she had drifted away from discovering who she was deep inside and that had led her to these fears. It was time, she told herself firmly, to reconnect with Ginny.

Who did Ginny want to be? The sweet, quiet girl so many people knew at school, or the outgoing, cheeky girl she knew she really could be? Her mother was right about one thing. It was time to look at her core values and see what she could become when she lived by them rather than by fear.

Ginny slipped up to her mother one day and slid her arms around her waist. 'I love you, Mum, you know that?'

A flood of warmth washed over Molly and she hugged Ginny's arms to her as she said, 'well, of course I do dear. What brought this on?'

'I don't know. Maybe knowing I can talk to you about anything and that it will always help me somehow. Thanks for everything, Mum. I really appreciate it.'

Molly turned around and gave her daughter a warm hug back. 'You're always welcome, dear. I'm your mother and I'll always be here whenever you want to talk.'

'I know.' Ginny smiled impishly at her mother and hugged her again for good measure.