Eleven Years Later
The spinning sensation of the portkey ended as suddenly as it started. Ginny's feet once more hit ground and a sentimental smile spread to her features. It had been too long since she had last stood on these grounds. Her eyes wandered the distance until they fell onto the white marble of the grave marker. Sad memories hit her mind for a moment. Yes she had seen a lot of bad things here but the good would always outweigh the bad.
"Where are we mum?"
"Home."
Ralph looked at Alysia obviously expecting some greater explanation but there didn't seem to be one coming. No Ginny was too busy reliving her past. She could see the hut that Hagrid had always called home, but there was no smoke from the chimney. Her brow creased slightly wondering what had happened to him, but she didn't have time to ask.
Hermione was ushering the twins up towards the main steps into the school. Reluctantly Ginny followed them inside. The morning sun was already high as she stepped into the shade of the building. Closing her eyes she could just imagine being sixteen again and walking these halls. Her memory brought forth Quidditch games and lessons. Running around the school with those she had been closest too. Yes all the good times.
"I can smell eggs."
Ginny turned to see Ralph licking his lips his nose pointed in the direction of the Great Hall.
"We've just had breakfast Ralph surely you can't still be hungry."
"Alysia come on smell the food, it's got to be good stuff."
"Ginny lets head up to my room."
The two women nodded in agreement and headed up the marble staircase. The twins were complaining behind them but seemed to be following. Ginny could hear their muffled remarks about what they were seeing. They stopped at the top of a staircase and waited for it to move back into place. A quick peep at the children showed that their mouths were hung open with surprise.
They reached Hermione's room in one piece and Ginny sat on the chair while the twins looked around at the collection of things in the room.
"The potion lab is still in the dungeons but I couldn't bear to sleep there. So my office is up on this floor."
"It's nice Hermione."
Her friend nodded before looking around.
"We need to get some things sorted and the first thing is someone to keep an eye on this pair."
"We're old enough to take care of ourselves."
Alysia had thrown Hermione one of the dirtiest looks Ginny had seen in a long while. But her friend didn't seem to notice.
"Amber's with Molly but we can't send them there yet. I know George!"
"What? Hermione no –"
But the girl was already out of the door. Suddenly Ginny became frightened and aware of how terrible she looked. Eleven years since she had seen a single family member. She couldn't let George see her like this. Without hesitation she pulled her wand out of her bag. For the first time in years she looked at it. A smile spread to her face quickly as she looked at the willow wand. She remembered being told that a unicorn hair made up the core of the 10" wand. Yes it had been years since she had held it but it was still her wand.
She thought the words to some grooming spells and ran the wand through her hair. She felt it become straight and tidy. Then putting her wand away she began to pull at her clothes. Why hadn't she put on a better top? She pulled at it making it sit properly.
"You look fine mum."
"Thanks Alysia."
"Mum whose George?"
Ginny looked at her children and sighed gently. For so long she had tried to put this off but this was the time. They had to know the truth.
"Okay there are some things that we need to talk about. Now you must have noticed that this world is a little different to what you're use to."
"It's like magic mum."
"Yes Ralph. That's the thing. You see there really is magic."
Both her children went quiet watching carefully. With a small smile Ginny pulled out her wand again and looked around. There were some photo albums up on a shelf and she pointed her wand at them.
"Accio photo albums."
Gracefully they crossed the room and landed in a neat pile on Hermione's desk. Ralph's mouth was now hung open and Alysia was blinking too quickly for it to be natural.
"You see I'm a witch. This is my world, the world I was brought up in. You however have been brought up in hiding in the muggle world, non-magical world."
"What you mean in hiding?"
Her son had crossed his arms and was giving her a typical Draco stare.
"There's a war going on and I had to leave. But that doesn't matter. What does is that you learn the truth. This is Hogwarts and it's a school to learn magic. This is where you're both going to spend the next seven years."
"Now let's take a look through here."
Ginny opened the photo book and looked at the still photos of Hermione. This was obviously of her own muggle past. Gently she rested it back on the table and opened the next. This time there were moving pictures. Alysia took an intake of breath and Ginny smiled. She remembered Colin Creevey's face when she had shown him a wizarding photo for the first time.
"Don't worry you'll get use to the movement. There's a solution that we develop them in to make the photos move. Most if not all wizarding photos do so."
"Mum is that you?"
She looked at Ralph and nodded gently. It wasn't her best photo she'd admit. It was taken in her third year just before the Yule Ball. A smile spread to her face as she remembered it. Yes it had been fun dancing with Neville, and she'd met Michael that night. But the picture was of before then. She was stood next to Hermione and both were smiling happily.
"You look beautiful mum. Is that Aunt Hermione with you?"
"Who's Aunt Hermione?"
"Ralph she's the woman that just left. She's married to Uncle Ron."
"Who's Uncle Ron?"
Ginny just smiled as the two stopped their bickering to look at her. She shook her head dropping the photo album back on the table. There was one next to it that she picked up. It was better for her needs than the last. She looked at the photos of Bill's wedding and sighed.
"This is what I need to explain. You have to understand that my name isn't Molly Black. No I'm Ginny Weasley and I'm from a long standing wizarding family."
"Does that mean we're Weasley's too?"
"Yes Alysia. However you don't have to be called Weasley just because I am. You can remain as Blacks if you prefer."
"Is that dad's name?"
"No Ralph. You're father is called Draco Malfoy. Black was his mother's maiden name. But I'm not going to tell you about the Malfoys it's the Weasleys we have to talk about."
She turned the page to the family picture and smiled gently at it. It had been years since she had seen these faces even in picture form.
"This is my family and yours. Now the man at the back there with the balding hair, he's my dad. His name is Arthur Weasley and he works in the ministry. Now he's still around so when you meet him tell him all about life as a muggle."
"Why?"
"Because he loves it Alysia. Now the woman standing next to him is my mum. She's called Molly Weasley and she's a big family supporter. So she'll want to know everything about you two."
Ginny sighed gently before going on.
"Now you obviously knew that I had parents but what you don't know is that I'm the youngest of seven children. I have six brothers. Now you see the man with the long ginger hair and scars on his face. Well he's your Uncle Bill and the woman with the long blonde hair next to him is your Aunt Fleur. This was their wedding day. Now I don't know how often you'll get to see them because they live in France."
"Well next to Bill is my other brother Charlie. Now Hermione has told me he's dead so you won't get to meet him. But he was brilliant and he is family so you need to know. My next brother didn't turn up to the wedding Percy. He doesn't get on too well with the family but you might get to meet him. Are you two following?"
"Yes mum. That's grams and pappy and then Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie and the woman is Aunty Fleur."
Alysia pointed to each one in turn. Then as she finished Ralph added.
"And Uncle Percy isn't there. But who's George?"
"I'm getting to that!"
Ginny let out a breath and sighed. Impatience another thing they got from Draco. Well okay from her too.
"The identical men do you see them?"
"Of course like you can miss them!"
Ralph rolled his eyes at her but she ignored the comment.
"They are your Uncle's Fred and George. Now you'll get to see both of them. George in fact is a Professor in Hogwarts so he'll be teaching you. Then as for Fred he runs a joke shop, which you will have no products from."
"Then the last of the red heads, not including myself, is your Uncle Ron. He's Aunt Hermione's husband so you're definitely going to meet him. Then the messy black hair man is your Uncle Harry. He's no relation but he's family and I expect you to treat him as such."
"But mum…"
Alysia's voice failed as the door opened again. Ginny's breath caught in her throat. This was it. Eleven years had past and she was about to come face to face with her brother. Her stomach was already in knots.
Okay so I'm sorry its been so long since I posted. I'm rewriting this as I go because it no longer works in its original format. But hopefully I'll have another chapter ready for you at the beginning of next week, but no promises on that.
Kris xx