The Carrows' Calling
Chapter Fourteen
Disclaimer: None of this belongs to us, all credit goes to J.K. Rowling, even though she wouldn't want this piece of crap writing.
A knife's blade gleamed in front of her; her reflection bouncing back, showing her confused expression. It sat on a beautiful mahogany table, complete with elaborate carvings. On the four tall legs, Ginny could see a forest, leaves and branches gradually winding up the sides, making the edge of the table seem like the canopy.
She was sitting on a hard, ice-cold surface. Ginny lifted her hand off of the chair, suddenly realising it was wet.
Blood. Blood was smeared across her hand, fresh and dark, with the metallic scent Ginny had gotten so familiar with.
She shivered, still not quite used to the horror of fresh blood, and looked around in the room she was in, trying to take her mind off it. She wiped the blood on her jeans, staining them.
It was quite dark, Ginny had to squint to see her surroundings, or at least until her eyes adjusted, which was still hadn't happened yet.
The room was painted cream white, with green banners draped over the walls. The Slytherin house symbol graced many of the banners, adding a touch of silver to the scene. Inky black curtains were drawn over large French windows; maybe this was why the room was so dark.
Another banner, separate from the Slytherin symbol, hung from the cream wall. It was a coat of arms , with a large 'M' in the middle. Ginny immediately recognised it.
Malfoy Manor?
She had heard Ron complain about the family more than a few times; enough that she knew about them. Ginny had never really liked the pureblood family; according to Ron, they believed in blood purity and all that crap, just like the Carrows did.
Thump. Thump.
Ginny looked over to the sound, of footsteps coming closer to the room, through the tall, dark wooden door that she had curiously not noticed before. The silver door handle turned slowly, as if it knew Ginny was waiting for it.
The door opened, as slowly as the door handle turned, and in walked…
Professor Carrow. What is he doing in Malfoy Manor?
His eyes glittered, his smile vile. "Such a pleasure to find you here, Miss. Weasley," Professor Carrow sneered, walking up to the table.
"Not as much as it is mine," Ginny replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice as it did his. Professor Carrow didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he didn't seem to care.
He raised his wand and muttered a spell. Ginny felt a sudden restraint around her arms, squeezing tighter the more she struggled. When she looked down, she was tied down to the hard backed chair by unseeable ropes. Ginny shuddered as she felt the blood, originally on the chair, slowly seep into her pants.
"You!" she seethed. Professor Carrow simply smiled at her, no warmness in the grin. She watched as he picked up the knife with his right hand and approached her, walking around the beautiful carved table, creating unbearable suspense.
Ginny stared at him in horror when he pointed the knife at her cheek. Oh, come on, not again!
"This is what you get for being a rude little girl," he spat, his disgusting spit flying everywhere, smelling like onions and dirty socks, his trademark scent. Ginny raised her head high and closed her eyes, preparing for the familiar pain.
It was rather quick; only a short cut in the cheek, but still, she could feel the blood trickle down her face. It came yet again, with no warning, to the other cheek. This time it felt deeper, stronger than the other one. Ginny didn't even flinch.
She felt a peculiar sense of deja-vu, but called it off as just a hallucination from the sting. She sat as still as possible, not wanting to give Professor Carrow the satisfaction of her pain.
Ginny was succeeding, until the knife came to her throat. Professor Carrow smiled sweetly at her, mocking Ginny. She glared back at him, unresisting. He dug the knife farther into her skin, not enough to kill her, but still that blood ran down from the blade, so that she felt the pain slowly build up.
Seeing still no response from Ginny, it was pushed even further. Pain suddenly burst through Ginny's body like a firecracker lighting up. She couldn't help but let out a weak shudder.
She could feel the blade halfway through her neck, the blood splattering onto her clothes.
Her vision was fading; Professor Carrow's vile grin being the last thing she saw.
Ginny Weasley bolt out of her bed, gasping for air, her mind taking in the horrors of what she had just seen. How is that possible? she ran into the washroom, to look in the mirror.
The horrors of cuts and gashes from the dream, were gone. Except there were two faint scars on both of her cheeks, and one right on her throat, a faded pink.
They were in the same exact place as in the dream. Resisting a shiver, Ginny ran a finger over the scars, one by one. She tightly shut her eyes closed, remembering the torture a day ago. After a moment had passed, Ginny felt slightly better, and so she washed her face and brushed her teeth as quickly as she could. Her mind wandered back to the other day.
She had, really, left Headmaster Snape's office rather disrespectfully, but she didn't care at that moment. But even so, her mind wandered to Snape's words. "I don't care," she remembered herself saying. "But I do." Did Snape really care? Or was he just messing with her mind? Ginny shook her head, pushing those thoughts away. Anyways, he hated her one way or another. It was probably just so she wouldn't die, so he wouldn't have to explain anything.
Professor Carrow's torture didn't even hurt anymore, really, after all of the Cruciatus Curses she had gotten. Ginny placed a spell on the scars, hiding them from everyone else. She didn't want people worrying about her; she could do things on her own. She didn't need others' help. So this is how Professor McGonagall feels.
Ginny walked back to her bed, and realised immediately that something had changed. She hadn't noticed this during her dash to the bathroom, but she did now. The air felt colder, and she was aware that the usual, sunny light that shone through her windows every morning seemed different. It was more… pale, but somehow not in any way lacking in brightness.
Squinting out the foggy window, Ginny gasped with excitement.
At first, she could only see white. But after her eyes adjusted, Ginny swiveled her head around, taking in the view, amazed at the sight that lay outside her window.
The world was blanketed with a thick layer of snow, sparkling in the light. Trees were covered with powdery frost. Even the Whomping Willow seemed more placated. And now, Ginny noticed the webbed, patterned lines of ice framing her window. Beautiful feathers of downy snow drifted down from the pale sky.
It had snowed, finally. It's, what, late December now? Ginny thought. And-Merlin, it's almost Christmas! I'll get to see my family!
Still smiling at the view, and from her thoughts, Ginny got dressed, and walked out of her dorm much more cheerfully than when she had just woken up. She almost skipped as she walked to the Main Hall to eat.
She saw Luna and Neville chatting amiably to each other, but immediately hushed up when they noticed Ginny saw coming their way. That's weird, I wonder what they are talking about? Ginny pondered for a moment, gazing at the two suspiciously.
Luna quickly started up a conversation, obviously trying to take Ginny's mind off what just happened.
"Look at the snow!" Luna exclaimed. "Isn't it amazing?" Ginny nodded; she was completely right.
The newfound weather seemed to lift almost everyone's spirits, as the Great Hall seemed much louder and chattier this morning.
And it wasn't just the students, either. Even the professors seemed more in the holiday spirit—well, at least most of them. The Carrows and Snape were (obviously) not very cheerful; they acted like it was a normal day to them. As usual, Ginny thought, shrugging. Too bad for them.
Even so, it still didn't stop the other professors from spreading holiday cheer—throughout the week, in almost all of her classes, the professors were gradually starting to wear Christmas-themed, red-and-green clothes.
Professor Trelawney had gone totally overboard, Ginny had heard, with red and green shimmering sparkles covering her entire body one day.
Professor McGonagall had added a small wreath of holly to her hat; that seemed as far as she would go.
But even more surprisingly, Snape seemed to be less grim than usual (if only a little). Ginny was extremely glad; it seemed (if only just for a month) as if everyone was finally happy. Enjoying Hogwarts. Making it their home. Just like old times.
Luna slid over to where Ginny and Neville were chatting, during dinner.
"Hi!" she said, glancing over at Neville. "I've got something D.A. related planned, just for the three of us, but it's safer if we talk in the Room of Requirement. What do you think, Ginny?" Ginny was rather surprised for Luna to say that; it was normally her who called the meetings, but of course, she was fine with it.
"Yeah, that sounds great! So, same time?" Luna and Neville agreed, and so it was decided.
That night, Ginny entered the Room of Requirement, expecting a long night of planning and discussing, only to find something that was quite a shock.
As soon as she opened the door, a cloud of glitter exploded out from what seemed to be nowhere, and Ginny found herself covering her eyes to prevent it from possibly blinding her.
When she opened them, she drew in a sharp breath of surprise.
A huge, shimmering banner swept from one side of the room to the other: MERRY CHRISTMAS, GINNY! Dozens of hand-cut snowflakes hung from the tall ceiling.
And in the center of the room, where normally the table would be:
Ginny's eyes welled up with tears. It was a Christmas tree, but not just any Christmas tree. Pictures of Ginny, Harry, Neville, Luna, and all of her other friends, along with her family, hung from the towering pine tree. Pictures of them together, having fun, laughing like she hadn't had in a long time.
Upon further inspection, she realised they were Muggle-pictures; they didn't seem to move. But Ginny didn't mind—not at all, no. It seemed even better this way.
She walked around the tree, gazing at the pictures, lost in her nostalgia.
It was the most beautiful Christmas tree that Ginny had ever seen.
"So!" Neville suddenly broke the silence, jolting Ginny from her thoughts. "Um… so, what do you think?" he looked strangely nervous. "I, uh, I'm sorry we didn't tell you… we stayed up all night, along with sending letters to your dad, for the pictures, I mean." Ginny noticed for the first time, the dark shadows ringing Neville and Luna's eyes. but she didn't say anything, simply stared, speechless.
Luna shifted on her feet.
"I'm sorry we didn't ask for your permission to sent letters to your dad, I mean, we wanted this to be a surprise. So, do you like it?" Luna tentatively asked.
"I…" Ginny found her voice. "This… this is amazing. You are the best friends that anyone could ever ask for!" Neville and Luna broke into relieved smiles. Ginny thanked them repeatedly, as the three shared a group hug.
Later, as they all sat around the round table, which was pushed to the side to make room for the tree, Ginny found that it was a group effort.
As told by Neville and Luna, they had wanted to give Ginny a surprise ever since they found out about her torture. Ginny smiled then, relieved that she didn't try and dig deeper into their secret conversations. They both agreed that the best time would be during Christmas, and sent letters to Ginny's family as to ask for ideas.
Neville pointed out Ginny's sparkling hair, and her dyed red-and-green clothes, courtesy of Fred and George. And Ginny's father had always been fascinated by Muggle technology; it was his idea to gather non-moving photos of Ginny to decorate the tree with.
Neville was aghast to find that the small pouch of powder George and Fred had mailed to them (which was actually the same type as the one Ginny threw at the wolf), did not wash off. In fact, even after nearly twenty minutes of scrubbing, the colour remained, still as eye-catching as ever.
Ginny, thankfully, found this incredibly amusing, and vowed to "return the favour someday".
The three of them sat around the table, and with the fire roaring and the tree glittering, they chatted on and on, happier than ever.
That night, well past midnight, Ginny drifted to sleep, finally having peaceful dreams in what seemed like years.
Why am I on the floor? was the first thought that came to Ginny's mind, as she slowly stirred into consciousness. She was, indeed, on the floor, and wrapped in a cozy sleeping bag.
A fireplace, not quite burned out, luminated the intricate snowflakes hanging from the too-high-to-be-hers ceiling. And the Christmas tree, pictures still unmoving, lights still flickering, looked beautiful as ever.
A grin crept on Ginny's face as she took in the sight, recalling the previous night bit by bit.
She checked her watch. 10:53 blinked back.
Ginny relaxed from her previous burst of panic; as she had realised it was Sunday. And the last day of Hogwarts! Mixed anticipation and sadness, but Ginny pushed those feeling away as her eye caught a sleeping Neville and Luna. Ginny smiled slyly as she crept towards them, and…
"WAKE UP! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" she shouted, breaking off with a uncontrollable laugh. Luna awoke almost immediately, smiling sleepily at Ginny. Neville groaned, buried his head into his pillow, and slept.
"Hey, sleepyhead!" Luna called out.
"It's almost eleven! Get up!" Ginny teased.
"Easy for you to say," a muffled voice responded, "Luna and I stayed up the entire night yesterday!"
"Well, I'm up, aren't I?" Luna retorted.
After five more minutes of irritable pestering, Neville finally rose, rubbing his eyes.
"And…" Ginny spoke, "there might be presents in our dorms!"
"No worries," said Luna breezily. "We can just teleport our presents here!" Everyone agreed, and so Ginny closed her eyes. She imagined her dorm, and her presents (if there were any) lying on her desk, in front of her. As she concentrated, she heard a faint "pop!" and opened her eyes, satisfied.
Her presents were on the large, oval sized table in the middle of the room. And beside it, two more were stacked up. Ginny glanced over at Neville, who was already beginning to rip over his presents eagerly, and thought that she should do the same.
After a short while of pondering, Ginny decided to open the closest present—a wonky-shaped box, covered with gold and blue wrapping paper. Ginny started opening it, at first gently peeling off the tape, but soon growing antsy, and just ripping off the paper. It was a box, patterned with red and green candy canes.
As Ginny opened the lid, a cloud of powdery red-green-silver substance billowed over her. As the fog cleared, Ginny rolled her eyes in amusement as her body was now not only green-and-red, but now also speckled with silver reindeer. Oh, Fred and George. Ginny reached into the box (which was also stained with reindeer) and pulled out… another box. And in that, another. This continued on with three more boxes, and just when Ginny was about to give up and move on to a different present, she came across a tiny jewellery box with a tab that read "Pull Me".
Bracing herself for whatever was going to happen, Ginny pulled the tab—
And the box exploded.
Neville and Luna both looked up from their own present opening and gawked as various sweets rained down from high above. The candies were of many colours and sizes, mostly red and green, continuing on with the Christmas theme. A few chocolate reindeer danced out, literally, floating around Ginny, leaving a silver sugar path behind them. Neville gasped, and quickly grabbed fistfuls of as much candy as he could find.
He ate the first chocolate frog in the handful of his candy almost immediately. Ginny laughed, and then noticed a card amongst the many, many pieces of candy.
Hey sis! Do you like your gift? We hope you did—it took us forever to gather this much. Eat them at your own risk, though—we added some, er, things to some of them.
And after Ginny read the letter to that part, she was interrupted by Neville as he yelped in surprise. Ginny glanced over and covered her mouth with her hand, as she took in the scene.
Neville's usually-brown hair was bright green, and shimmered in the light of the crackling fire.
Luna gasped. Ginny snorted. And Neville groaned.
"One chocolate frog, and this happens?" Ginny grinned, and continued to read.
Oh, and don't worry about gaining any weight, either. Just swallow the pill on the bottom of this letter, and you'll be completely fine! (Probably.)
Right after Ginny had finished that sentence, she ripped off the hastily taped on pill (which was indeed at the bottom of the letter), and threw it in the fire, having learned far earlier not to trust anything by George or Fred that should "help".
Ginny watched, not entirely surprised, as the fire suddenly shrunk down to the size of a sputtering candle flame. Wow, glad I didn't eat that. Ginny quipped as she relit the fire, and finished the letter.
We look forwards to seeing you! There are even more presents at home!"
-George and Fred
Ginny smiled at her brothers' goofy, but still heartwarming, letter. She set it aside, and went on the the next gift. This one was meticulously wrapped, with a handmade card on top. Ginny read the card—it was Mum, with warm wishes for a safe trip, and so on. It was placed on Fred and George's card, to read over again and again.
Ginny opened the present, and was not surprised to find, of course, jumpers. She picked up a neon red and green one (how did Mum get neon wool?) and frowned at it. It was hideous. But still, Ginny put it on—at least it hid her read-green-and-silver glitter-covered body (her face, on the other hand, was unmistakably patterned. She didn't know how it would ever get off, nor did she really care at the moment).
There were two sweaters left it the box, in which Ginny decided they would be for Luna and Neville.
As she gave out her sweaters, Luna and Neville each presented to Ginny their gifts to her; which were stunning (especially since they had already gave her one), and made Ginny incredibly guilty for not preparing one for them.
"What? With everything going on? No, don't worry; you've been through more terrible things than the two of us had combined, of course we wouldn't expect you to get a gift!" Luna responded breezily to Ginny's apology, in which Neville agreed wholeheartedly.
The day passed on, in which Ginny spent a large half of it reuniting with her friends, treasuring the moments before there would be dinner, then sleep, then the train.
While chatting aimlessly with Logan, he gave Ginny a sudden idea:
"It's too bad D.A. is canceled for now. Well, it's for the best; Hogwarts isn't as safe as before." And with that, Ginny blurted out,
"Y'know, we could always just hand out papers on the train." Logan looked at her, mouth slightly open.
"That's actually a great idea! There should be new Quibbler papers out by now, are there?"
Logan discussed the plan with Ginny some more, fine-tuning until it was near-perfect. Ginny waved goodbye to Logan as he left for his dorm, feeling refound energy. She left Logan, and went to find Luna for the plan.
Luna and Neville, were both equally excited by Ginny's idea. Luna had another copy of the new Quibbler that her father had mailed to her, and Neville decided to be the person who would hand out most of the papers ("it's my turn to do something dangerous!"), and so they agreed.
They were so busy talking, that Ginny gasped as she caught a glance at her watch, seeing that it was fifteen minutes until dinner. She and her friends ran down to the Great Hall and the scene that greeted them took Ginny's breath away. She could tell from the faint gasps around her that her friends were amazed too.
The Great Hall was sprinkling with beautiful sparkles of snow, falling everywhere it could. The white snow matched the kind outside, the one that made Ginny truly smile.
There were five large Christmas trees, each at the front of the hall, two on both sides of the staff table, and two right behind that. The fifth sat in the middle, draped in red and white decorations. They were decorated to the theme of each house; the Slytherin tree was in ribbons of silver and bright green, Ravenclaw in an elegant blue and shining bronze, and Hufflepuff in a smiling yellow with black highlights here and there. Each tree was topped with a star; gold, silver, or bronze.
They were all breathtaking, yes, but the Gryffindor tree was the one that truly made Ginny gasp. (Or perhaps she was biased, she might never know.) It was the same height as the others, but the blaring red brought out the evergreen of the tree, and the sparkling gold tinsel accented it further.
But it wasn't just what it looked like that made her heart swell. It reminded her of her family tree. The one they would put up months earlier, when they were already giddy with anticipation. The tree that made Ginny shake her fist at Fred and George from another tree-involving antic, countless times. And sure, it wasn't as big, or as beautiful in that matter than the Gryffindor tree, but nevertheless it was home.
A warm feeling wrapped around Ginny, as if her home was with her, that very moment.
Neville nudged her gently. "Better get to our seats." Ginny nodded absentmindedly, still soaking in the scene in front of her, trying to capture it in her mind, as if she would never see it again.
She walked down the aisle in a trance, her eyes still glued to the Gryffindor tree, trying to keep the feeling of home with her. Ginny came to an abrupt stop when she bumped in Neville, who had suddenly paused in front of her.
"Sorry, Ginny," Neville said. Ginny stared at him, in a daze. Her mind zoomed back to the kiss. It seemed ages ago, not a few weeks, or months, she wasn't even sure anymore.
She stared at his lips, remembering the warmth of them and the taste.
Ginny quickly shook her head. No, now is not the time, Ginny. She muttered an "It's OK." and sat down beside Neville. Ginny could feel the blood rushing to her face against her will, and hoped that she didn't look like a tomato. Ginny scanned the staff table to take her mind off it.
It seemed like the rumors about Professor Trelawney were true. She was dressed in what seemed like a half green, half red robe, completely draped with green and red sparkles. She had on an oversized Santa hat, with what looked like a lump of snow on top of it.
It seemed like while she was eating, some of the snow was falling into her food, seeming like a dusting of powdered sugar. Ginny hoped it wasn't poisonous.
Professor Sprout, also wearing Christmas attire (although not as overboard as Professor Trelawney, who was to her right, of course) was talking quietly to Professor Flitwick. Professor McGonagall was sitting beside Sprout, staring straight ahead and blank-faced, not seeming to be in the Christmas spirit, having only a large red witch hat, replacing her usual black one.
Snape sat beside her, honestly never looking worse, and the Professor Carrows were to the other side. Neither of them showed any awareness to it being Christmas—their robes were still the same dark, depressing black. At least Professor McGonagall had holly around her hat. Oh well. Guess there's no fixing some people.
Just as Ginny began to eat, having surveyed the scene, Snape stood up. "Good evening. Today you ungrateful brats will be leaving this place. I hope you will have an amazing Christmas," Snape sneered, not even trying to sound genuine. Ginny glared at him. But then she thought of something, and relaxed her face. Snape couldn't, no, Snape wouldn't, ruin Christmas. Not this year.
So instead, she plastered a huge, fake smile on her face.
"Once you brats come back, oh, and how I dread that day, we will begin with classes immediately. No dilly-dallying. Not like that old senile idiot.
"You may now begin your dinner," Snape finished and sat down, picking up his fork to eat.
Ginny scowled into her plate. She did notice that McGonagall flinched when Snape said 'old senile idiot', just like Ginny had.
She looked around her. The room had broke into a warm chatter, as if Snape hadn't spoke at all. Well, might as well enjoy it like they are.
Ginny still couldn't believe it—very soon, in mere hours probably, she would see her family again. Mum, Dad, Fred, George, Bill, and maybe even Charlie!
She dug into her meal; she didn't realise that she was hungry until she smelt the food. Ginny listened to the chatter around her, and joined in when she felt she needed too, though she was mostly just enjoying the amazing feast.
Dinner flew by, and Ginny excused herself from the table once she was full. She hated how Snape was ruining her Christmas Feast, though faking happiness didn't really seem to help her mood. It sort of even made it worse; like the false sense of happiness made Ginny realise how gloomy she really was.
She wandered down the halls, lost in thought, about her family, about Hogwarts, about everything in general. Is Harry OK? Are Ron and Hermione OK?
After a long time of just meandering down the halls, occasionally passing some students, the clock tower struck seven o'clock. Ginny ran down to the common room, taking the most direct and shortest route possible; she didn't want to get caught by the Carrows, even if it wasn't curfew yet.
Ginny reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and gave her the password.
She was greeted with a warm rush of air and the scent of burning marshmallows. The fires were burning bright and sometimes sending sparks flying. The room was mostly empty, though it still had that 'home' vibe.
Ginny found the familiar figure of Neville Longbottom lounging in a armchair by a crackling fireplace. He seemed to be reading something. Ginny approached him silently, and found in his hand a copy of the Daily Prophet. Displayed across the top of the paper was "Harry Potter, Undesirable No. 1."
Ginny scanned the paper, looking for the date. It said Sept 24th. How could she have known so late? How did she not keep up? What an idiot you are, Ginny.
She tapped Neville on the back, asking for his attention. He nearly jumped out of his seat, and turned around hurriedly to see who had startled him.
"Ginny? Merlin's beard!"
"Sorry Neville. What's that paper you're holding?" Ginny asked innocently. Neville looked down in his hands to what she was referring to.
"Oh. This. Well, this is a really old copy of the Prophet that I found, just lying on Professor Carrow's desk," Neville explained, staring at the paper. Ginny was shocked.
"Professor Carrow's desk?" she asked incredulously.
"Yep. It was just lying there, for everyone to see." Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Really! It was! I didn't purposely try to nick it!"
"OK. Sure you didn't." Ginny droned. "Can I read it?" And before he even had said yes, Ginny grabbed the article from his hands.
"Hey! Ginny!" Neville stood up and reached for the newspaper, but Ginny raised it out of his reach.
"Finders keepers!" Ginny teased. Neville rolled his eyes, but didn't do anything. She then plopped herself down in front of the armchair that Neville once sat in, and began to read.
"Harry Potter, Undesirable No. 1. Harry Potter is on the run, from what you may ask?" Ginny read the first part out loud, but Neville then grabbed the paper back from her.
"Don't read it here! I'll give it to you on the train. Promise," Neville said, his voice laced with panic.
"But why not—" Ginny's question trailed off as she realised why. If anyone heard her reading the article out loud, they would definitely suspect something. Ginny nodded.
Neville yawned, rubbed his eyes, and said, "Well, I'm going to bed. Big day ahead." Ginny was just about to ask why, having blanked out for a second, but then remembered that they were going home tomorrow. Home! Oh, how she missed her family!
"Of course! Goodnight, Neville."
"Goodnight Ginny." She watched as Neville walked up the stairs to his dormitory, not looking back once.
Author's Note:
Thank you so much for reading this, we hope you have enjoyed it! Even though it isn't Christmas here in Canada (with the snow it could be), this kind of put us into the Christmas mood! Thank you again for reading, and please, please, PLEASE, review!
Wishing it was Christmas,
Zigostia