"Harry! How lovely to see you!" I cried out. I threw my arms around him, and he gave me a one armed hug back.
"Let him breathe, Ginny," Amber chuckled. She drew up a seat, and sat on Harry's left. I sat down on the right side, and started stroking his hair.
"Ginny, are you going to keep him to yourself?" Hermione asked, knocking and walking in.
"Of course, Hermione. You can give him a quick hug if you want," I responded. Harry laughed at that one, and allowed himself to be hugged by Hermione. Last in the room was Ron, who stuck to a handshake.
"How long have you been here?" he asked.
"Got here about one in the morning. You two?" he answered.
"About three days. Hermione wanted to see Ron, and honestly, the sooner us three came together, the better," Amber told me. Hermione glared at her, but sat down on the bed with Ron all the same.
"Wait, why us three? And who us three?" I asked, panicking slightly.
"You, me, and Harry. I wanted to talk to you about… the prophecy…" Amber said, hesitantly. "I honestly wanted to tell Darion at the same time, but Hogwarts is just a touch too crowded to let something this bad out…"
"The prophecy is bad for us? No wonder the Death Eaters wanted it…"
"It's not so much bad for our side… it's just… disgusting. It honestly shames me that it's predicted that… no, I can't say…"
"Amber, tell us. Get it off your throat," I comforted. I knew that yes, Darion being here may have been a good idea, but if it was this bad, she may want to share it quickly.
"Oh, well… let's think…
The Dark Lord's bane are born while the seventh month fades
One born to lead, one born his lover, and one just aids.
The Dark Lord leaves the Riddle of his rival
But what really matters for the three is survival.
Yes, two must fall to the hand of one, and one to the hand of two.
And the one called dawn will never recover, never renew…"
The four of us stared at her in shock.
"The one called Dawn?"
"Never recover, never renew?"
"Two must fall to the hand of one, and one to the hand of two?"
"Riddle of his rival?"
Amber held up a hand to quiet us.
"What I can tell you are all suspicions, but listen well. One of us, Ginny, is actually Harry's sister," Amber started laying hints as to the prophecy's meaning. "Harry's sister is going to survive a broken girl. Of the rest of us… there will be one death… according to the prophecy, by another."
"A betrayal?"
"Amber, you can't."
"Quiet! Listen… I trust both of you," Harry stated.
"As do I!" both me and Amber agreed.
"If one of us is going to be killed by another, it is going to be an accident. Or unintentional. But whatever way the battle flows, I am not going to be listening to that stupid Oracle!" Harry continued. I hugged him.
"Agreed."
"Harry, Ron, girls! Breakfast is done."
I made sure to be seated next to Harry and Amber during the meal, careful not to let my fear be shown.
I don't think I'm going to get Harry…
Calm down, Ginny. Summer is just a figment of everyone's collective imagination. And no one is going to die.
How can you be so sure?
My panicked mental discussion was cut short by the arrival of the post owls. They swooped in, dropped five letters, and launched back out. Amber grabbed them, and tossed them to their owners.
"Oh, look. It's our O.W.L. results."
"And the booklists as well," I almost insisted. The other four nodded, smiled as a silent apology, and checked over their results.
"I think I got what I needed here."
"Hm. Better than the twins, at least."
"Oh… well… I guess this is alright."
"At least I know my stuff."
Ron checked the Granger twins results.
"Yes, Ginny… they did get all 'O's. Except Hermione got one 'E' in Defence against the Dark Arts."
"Here, Ginny… want to look at mine?" Harry asked, giving his results over. I giggled, and looked through them.
"Only failed Divination, which is worthless, and History, which was that one you fell asleep in… just scraped through Astronomy, probably thanks to Umbridge attacking Hagrid halfway through… passed everything else with an 'E', and even an 'O' in Defence!"
"Darion always said you got better marks by teaching a subject than just learning it," Harry remarked, pulling out a badge. "Quidditch Captain! Thanks, Dumbledore!"
"Amber's supposed to quote Darion, Harry," I pointed out, pulling out a badge myself. I had been made Prefect.
"Ginny, is your entire family in charge of stuff?" Amber said in a slightly sharp tone, blushing all the same. Mom ignored her, and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Fifth Prefect, Ginny! Five out of seven, me and Arthur must be doing something right!" she said. I smiled, gave her a pat on the back, and quickly let Harry give me a hug.
"Well, I suppose we'll have to go to Diagon Alley, now we've got the booklists. Hermione, can you tally these up?" Mom commented. Hermione quickly looked it over.
"This isn't going to be good. We've got quite a bit. You have enough money here?" Hermione asked.
"I'll chip in for Ginny's books," Harry piped up.
"That's sweet of you, Harry, but we'll manage," Mom said. A knock at the door.
"Bill! Come on in!" Mom said, walking to the door.
"Out of curiosity, Harry, why did you just offer to chip in for Ginny?"
"I wanted Mrs Weasley to feel like she was still helping with her children."
"Oh… in that case…" Ron said.
When I said only seven chapters, I meant the ones with only a little as well. Sadly, I think that's all of Half-Blood Prince. At least the Deathly Hallows chapters will be longer... if you saw the plan size, you'd agree.
Tomorrow is my last school day. After that, five or six weeks of leisure time. I'll try to devote as much of that as I can to writing. If I'm lucky, I can get this thing done by Christmas.
Speaking of which, if there's a particularly bad taste chapter scheduled for a Christmas release, would it be OK to leave that update for the next day? I know, it makes me feel bad to not update when I can, but I don't want something awful released on Christmas...
Two must fall to the hand of one...