Disclaimer--If you like it, assume I don't own it. The Potterverse belongs to JKR, Steve Klowes, Scholastic and WB. Fanon belongs to the multitude...I'm simply paying homage with the sincerest form of flattery. Most of this scene is from GoF by JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made.
Author's Notes-- Progress has been a lot slower in this work. I hope you're still willing to stick with me anyway. As you all know, I may not own it, but I work hard, and I love it, so if you read it and enjoy it, please review it! Please don't print or post this elsewhere without my knowledge.
Hairy-Hen--I think you have a point. Ginny is experienced in hiding how she feels, and Occulumency complements that. I'm glad you enjoyed the way I handled her reaction to the Mark. You make a good point about VOldemort, and I admit it might be something I could change, but I kind of tend to think she would be more likely to call him by TOm or V than anything else...and she might later use You-Know-Who just out of consideration for the audience...which she wasn't thinking about here. Thanks for the great input! :-)
J.Rhaye--I'm glad you feel stuffed with good scenes. *winks* So do I. Thanks...I do like to see things from earlier chapters/stories make an appearance. It makes you feel like you're sharing a personal joke with the characters. :-) It would be funny if the strong stuff is one of those episodes...I'll have to think about it and see if anything occurs to me. I imagine Ginny's family is all a bit distracted, and they're used to her slipping off somewhere to be on her own...they probably think she's somewhere around the house. I'll take them any way I can too! *winks* *hugs*
EEDOE--Your name belongs here, too. *hugs*
Bill--I can't take credit for the tire, as much as I might like to. *grins* That was JK. I loved the twins reaction to the whiskey...I just couldn't resist. *snickers* Nope...Rita and the Weasleys are definitely an oil and water kind of combination. YOu're right about the tea...I hadn't thought of that. *giggles* It is surprising Ginny could stray so far...but then I've noticed the magical world seems much less protective than their muggle counterparts...the kids can do things that are a lot more dangerous without raising eyebrows! I suspect you'd fill in for me just fine, but I kind of like having this story to myself. *laughs sheepishly* *hugs*
************************************************************************************************************************
The Lovegoods weren't home all week.
Ginny used her time in their garden to write Remus Lupin, former Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and her dear friend. She told him all about the events of the Quidditch, including Harry's weird behaviour afterward-she knew if Professor Lupin would tell her if he heard anything, and she felt better knowing he too was thinking about what it could mean.
She would have liked to think Harry had noticed her absence during this time, but she knew he hadn't. Of course, he wasn't in the house either, most of the time. He was outside, playing Quidditch. She watched him from the upstairs window sometimes. Hermione usually sat in the garden with her nose in a book, surrounded by a dozen or more others, occasionally glancing up to shout encouragement. She tried to talk Ginny into sitting with her, but the idea left a tense hot knot in Ginny's stomach. She didn't want to sit there and watch her brothers play Quidditch without her, feeling left out. But if she asked to play and they said no... It was hard enough to be ignored by Harry as it was...but having him dismiss her ability to play Quidditch was more than she could bear.
When they were in a room together, Ginny found herself at a loss for anything to say that wouldn't in some way intrude on things she wasn't supposed to know. She tried to push thoughts of the Dark Mark and what it might have to do with the events of the last year school year from her mind, but she couldn't seem to stop thinking about them. She almost resented Harry for all the things she couldn't say, just a little bit. She even spent the Sunday evening before they went back to school sitting cross-legged in the middle of living room floor, mending the spine of her much-abused copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi with Spellotape, trying not to look at him at all while Percy explained why he and Dad hadn't been able to spend much time with them for the last week of their vacation. "It's been an absolutely uproar," he said importantly, "I've been putting out fires all week. People keep sending Howlers, and, of course if you don't open a Howler straight away, it explodes." Ginny grinned, remembering the Howler Ron had received from Mum at the beginning of her first year. "Scorch marks all over my desk, and my best quill reduced to cinders."
"Why are they all sending Howlers?" She asked, more to prolong the distraction than from any real interest.
"Complaining about security at the World Cup. They want compensation for their ruined property. Mundungus Fletcher's put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite Jacuzzi, but I've got his number," sniffed Percy. "I know for a fact he was sleeping under a cloak propped on sticks."
Mum sighed. "Your father hasn't had to go into the office on weekends since the days of You-Know-Who." Ginny stiffened at the words. The Dark Mark had appeared for the first time since Voldemort's defeat. And now... "They're working him far too hard. His dinner's going to be ruined if he doesn't come home soon." Well, Ginny thought dryly, I guess that puts things in perspective. But she had to admit she was a little relieved not to see Mum taking things too seriously.
"Well, Father feels he's got to make up for his mistake at the match, doesn't he? If truth be told, he was a tad unwise to make a public statement without clearing it with his Head of Department first--"
Ginny nearly threw her book at him. "Don't you dare blame your father for what that wretched Skeeter woman wrote!" Mum shouted before she could.
"If Dad hadn't said anything, old Rita would just have said it was disgraceful that nobody had commented," Bill said reasonably from where he was loosing-though narrowly-at chess with Ron.
"Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. Remember she interviewed all the Gringott's Charm Breakers once and called me 'a long-haired pillock'?"
"Well, it is a bit long dear," Mum insisted. "If you'd just let me--"
"No, Mum."
Harry grinned over the broomstick-the Firebolt-he was polishing.
"What are you two up to?" Mum asked sharply.
Ginny jumped, and belated realized she was talking to the twins.
"Homework," Fred said unconvincingly.
"Don't be ridiculous," Mum said suspiciously. "You're still on holiday."
"Yeah, we've left it a bit late," George said.
"You're not by any chance writing out a new order form, are you? You wouldn't be thinking of restarting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, by any chance?"
"Now, Mum," Fred chided without answering the question, "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel to know that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"
Ginny was sure Mum knew he was stalling, but she laughed along with everyone else.
"Oh," she exclaimed, watching the clock, "You're father's coming!" The hand with Dad's name on it had spun from "work" to "traveling", and a second later, it came to rest comfortably on "home" and they heard him calling from the kitchen. Mum ran to greet him.
A few minutes later they came back into the room, Dad carrying his dinner on a tray. He looked so tired Ginny's heart twisted. "Well, the fat's in the fire now. Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess-ups to report. And now she's found out about poor old Bertha going missing, so that'll be the headline in the Prophet tomorrow. I told Bagman he should have sent someone to look for her ages ago."
"Mr. Crouch has been saying it for weeks and weeks," Percy added, and Ginny's fingers tightened thoughtfully around her book.
"Crouch is very lucky Rita hasn't found out about Winky," Dad informed him irritably. "There'd be a week's worth of headlines in his house-elf being caught holding the wand that conjured the Dark Mark." Harry's wand. Ginny winced, glancing quickly in his direction. He was bent studiously over his broom, but he was listening as avidly as she was-somehow, she just knew.
"I thought we all agreed that that elf, while irresponsible, did not conjure the Mark?" Percy snapped.
"If you ask me," Hermione interjected with a toss of her head, "Mr. Crouch is lucky no one at the "Daily Prophet" knows how mean he is to elves!"
"Now look here, Hermione, a high-ranking Ministry official deserves unswerving obedience from his servants--"
"His slave, you mean-because he didn't pay Winky, did he?" Hermione said. She had a point, but Ginny remembered Hermione's own description of how Winky had pleaded not to be dismissed, and wondered if service loved so passionately could really be slavery...
"I think," Mum said, surprisingly calm, "you'd all better go upstairs and check you've checked packed properly! Come on now, all of you."
Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her up the stairs, hardly even waiting to be sure they'd gathered up their books.
"Can you believe...of all the nerve...I mean...honestly..."
Ginny shook her head with a sigh and tried to count underwear. "Percy means well," she said, as much to herself as to Hermione. "He's just a little...Sometimes he looses sight of things because he's so ambitious."
"He's too impressed with that Mr. Crouch, if you ask me," Hermione continued, handing her the stack of books Mum had bought in Diagon Alley. "There's something odd about that man. Why, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he'd conjured the Dark Mark himself!"
Ginny opened her mouth to tell her not to exaggerate, then closed it and tilted her head to the side, considering. "You know," she said slowly. "You might just have a point..."
Hermione stared. "You can't be serious!"
"I don't know," Ginny said, shaking her head.
After that, there didn't seem to be much to say.
Author's Notes-- Progress has been a lot slower in this work. I hope you're still willing to stick with me anyway. As you all know, I may not own it, but I work hard, and I love it, so if you read it and enjoy it, please review it! Please don't print or post this elsewhere without my knowledge.
Hairy-Hen--I think you have a point. Ginny is experienced in hiding how she feels, and Occulumency complements that. I'm glad you enjoyed the way I handled her reaction to the Mark. You make a good point about VOldemort, and I admit it might be something I could change, but I kind of tend to think she would be more likely to call him by TOm or V than anything else...and she might later use You-Know-Who just out of consideration for the audience...which she wasn't thinking about here. Thanks for the great input! :-)
J.Rhaye--I'm glad you feel stuffed with good scenes. *winks* So do I. Thanks...I do like to see things from earlier chapters/stories make an appearance. It makes you feel like you're sharing a personal joke with the characters. :-) It would be funny if the strong stuff is one of those episodes...I'll have to think about it and see if anything occurs to me. I imagine Ginny's family is all a bit distracted, and they're used to her slipping off somewhere to be on her own...they probably think she's somewhere around the house. I'll take them any way I can too! *winks* *hugs*
EEDOE--Your name belongs here, too. *hugs*
Bill--I can't take credit for the tire, as much as I might like to. *grins* That was JK. I loved the twins reaction to the whiskey...I just couldn't resist. *snickers* Nope...Rita and the Weasleys are definitely an oil and water kind of combination. YOu're right about the tea...I hadn't thought of that. *giggles* It is surprising Ginny could stray so far...but then I've noticed the magical world seems much less protective than their muggle counterparts...the kids can do things that are a lot more dangerous without raising eyebrows! I suspect you'd fill in for me just fine, but I kind of like having this story to myself. *laughs sheepishly* *hugs*
************************************************************************************************************************
The Lovegoods weren't home all week.
Ginny used her time in their garden to write Remus Lupin, former Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, and her dear friend. She told him all about the events of the Quidditch, including Harry's weird behaviour afterward-she knew if Professor Lupin would tell her if he heard anything, and she felt better knowing he too was thinking about what it could mean.
She would have liked to think Harry had noticed her absence during this time, but she knew he hadn't. Of course, he wasn't in the house either, most of the time. He was outside, playing Quidditch. She watched him from the upstairs window sometimes. Hermione usually sat in the garden with her nose in a book, surrounded by a dozen or more others, occasionally glancing up to shout encouragement. She tried to talk Ginny into sitting with her, but the idea left a tense hot knot in Ginny's stomach. She didn't want to sit there and watch her brothers play Quidditch without her, feeling left out. But if she asked to play and they said no... It was hard enough to be ignored by Harry as it was...but having him dismiss her ability to play Quidditch was more than she could bear.
When they were in a room together, Ginny found herself at a loss for anything to say that wouldn't in some way intrude on things she wasn't supposed to know. She tried to push thoughts of the Dark Mark and what it might have to do with the events of the last year school year from her mind, but she couldn't seem to stop thinking about them. She almost resented Harry for all the things she couldn't say, just a little bit. She even spent the Sunday evening before they went back to school sitting cross-legged in the middle of living room floor, mending the spine of her much-abused copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi with Spellotape, trying not to look at him at all while Percy explained why he and Dad hadn't been able to spend much time with them for the last week of their vacation. "It's been an absolutely uproar," he said importantly, "I've been putting out fires all week. People keep sending Howlers, and, of course if you don't open a Howler straight away, it explodes." Ginny grinned, remembering the Howler Ron had received from Mum at the beginning of her first year. "Scorch marks all over my desk, and my best quill reduced to cinders."
"Why are they all sending Howlers?" She asked, more to prolong the distraction than from any real interest.
"Complaining about security at the World Cup. They want compensation for their ruined property. Mundungus Fletcher's put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite Jacuzzi, but I've got his number," sniffed Percy. "I know for a fact he was sleeping under a cloak propped on sticks."
Mum sighed. "Your father hasn't had to go into the office on weekends since the days of You-Know-Who." Ginny stiffened at the words. The Dark Mark had appeared for the first time since Voldemort's defeat. And now... "They're working him far too hard. His dinner's going to be ruined if he doesn't come home soon." Well, Ginny thought dryly, I guess that puts things in perspective. But she had to admit she was a little relieved not to see Mum taking things too seriously.
"Well, Father feels he's got to make up for his mistake at the match, doesn't he? If truth be told, he was a tad unwise to make a public statement without clearing it with his Head of Department first--"
Ginny nearly threw her book at him. "Don't you dare blame your father for what that wretched Skeeter woman wrote!" Mum shouted before she could.
"If Dad hadn't said anything, old Rita would just have said it was disgraceful that nobody had commented," Bill said reasonably from where he was loosing-though narrowly-at chess with Ron.
"Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. Remember she interviewed all the Gringott's Charm Breakers once and called me 'a long-haired pillock'?"
"Well, it is a bit long dear," Mum insisted. "If you'd just let me--"
"No, Mum."
Harry grinned over the broomstick-the Firebolt-he was polishing.
"What are you two up to?" Mum asked sharply.
Ginny jumped, and belated realized she was talking to the twins.
"Homework," Fred said unconvincingly.
"Don't be ridiculous," Mum said suspiciously. "You're still on holiday."
"Yeah, we've left it a bit late," George said.
"You're not by any chance writing out a new order form, are you? You wouldn't be thinking of restarting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, by any chance?"
"Now, Mum," Fred chided without answering the question, "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel to know that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"
Ginny was sure Mum knew he was stalling, but she laughed along with everyone else.
"Oh," she exclaimed, watching the clock, "You're father's coming!" The hand with Dad's name on it had spun from "work" to "traveling", and a second later, it came to rest comfortably on "home" and they heard him calling from the kitchen. Mum ran to greet him.
A few minutes later they came back into the room, Dad carrying his dinner on a tray. He looked so tired Ginny's heart twisted. "Well, the fat's in the fire now. Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess-ups to report. And now she's found out about poor old Bertha going missing, so that'll be the headline in the Prophet tomorrow. I told Bagman he should have sent someone to look for her ages ago."
"Mr. Crouch has been saying it for weeks and weeks," Percy added, and Ginny's fingers tightened thoughtfully around her book.
"Crouch is very lucky Rita hasn't found out about Winky," Dad informed him irritably. "There'd be a week's worth of headlines in his house-elf being caught holding the wand that conjured the Dark Mark." Harry's wand. Ginny winced, glancing quickly in his direction. He was bent studiously over his broom, but he was listening as avidly as she was-somehow, she just knew.
"I thought we all agreed that that elf, while irresponsible, did not conjure the Mark?" Percy snapped.
"If you ask me," Hermione interjected with a toss of her head, "Mr. Crouch is lucky no one at the "Daily Prophet" knows how mean he is to elves!"
"Now look here, Hermione, a high-ranking Ministry official deserves unswerving obedience from his servants--"
"His slave, you mean-because he didn't pay Winky, did he?" Hermione said. She had a point, but Ginny remembered Hermione's own description of how Winky had pleaded not to be dismissed, and wondered if service loved so passionately could really be slavery...
"I think," Mum said, surprisingly calm, "you'd all better go upstairs and check you've checked packed properly! Come on now, all of you."
Hermione grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her up the stairs, hardly even waiting to be sure they'd gathered up their books.
"Can you believe...of all the nerve...I mean...honestly..."
Ginny shook her head with a sigh and tried to count underwear. "Percy means well," she said, as much to herself as to Hermione. "He's just a little...Sometimes he looses sight of things because he's so ambitious."
"He's too impressed with that Mr. Crouch, if you ask me," Hermione continued, handing her the stack of books Mum had bought in Diagon Alley. "There's something odd about that man. Why, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he'd conjured the Dark Mark himself!"
Ginny opened her mouth to tell her not to exaggerate, then closed it and tilted her head to the side, considering. "You know," she said slowly. "You might just have a point..."
Hermione stared. "You can't be serious!"
"I don't know," Ginny said, shaking her head.
After that, there didn't seem to be much to say.