Ginny found the only time she faced boredom these days was in Defense Against the Dark Arts. There was never any talking, and they spent every lesson reading the excruciatingly dry textbook to themselves silently. Ginny and Lena sat in the back of the class and played hangman, doodled, and drew mazes for each other to solve and while Umbridge sat at her desk and smiled around at them all with her wide, sadistic grin. Observant though she was, she did not have Moody's magical eye, and Ginny and Lena were able to avoid being spotted by keeping themselves hidden behind other students. Umbridge would occasionally walk around to make sure everyone was focused on their assigned work, and Ginny and Lena kept written chapter notes handy to move into view when she passed by them.
October bled into November, and Harry's newfound upbeat demeanor since the start of the D.A. meetings evaporated after he, Fred, and George had been given a lifetime ban from the Gryffindor Quidditch team by Umbridge for beating Malfoy to a pulp after he had insulted their families. Fred had not, in fact, even laid a finger on Malfoy, but Umbridge had banned him as well for what Ginny supposed was for the crime of looking like George. Ginny felt bad for Harry, who loved Quidditch and was taking the ban like one would upon hearing of a death in the family. She could not help but feel, however, that this would also be a great opportunity to get an earlier start on her potential Quidditch career; the spot for Seeker was now open with Harry gone. The Beaters would need to be replaced as well, but that was not a position Ginny had any interest in at all. Fred and George had taken their ban surprisingly well, though they were seventh-years so it only meant missing two more matches.
"The only thing I'm hacked off about is that I didn't get to sink my fist into Malfoy's skull," said Fred savagely as they sat in a corner of the common room after the match. "I would have happily accepted a ban for that. And believe me, if the Chasers didn't hold me back, I would have."
"Of course, this makes things much simpler for us now," said George.
"What do you mean?" said Ginny.
Fred and George looked at each other, then smiled, and Fred said, "Well, we almost didn't come back at all this year to begin with, and now that Quidditch is over for us, that seals the deal. We're going to move on to bigger and better things."
It took Ginny a second to register what he had just said, but then she remembered her conversation with them over the summer.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with those doxies you all were sneaking away with over the summer, would it?"
"It might," said George evasively. "What do you think, Fred, should we tell her?"
"I think it's as good of a time as any," said Fred with a grin. "You do the honors, George."
"Well, sis," George said dramatically. "We're going to be opening a joke shop."
Ginny stared at them incredulously.
"A joke shop?"
"That's right," said George. "As soon as we get the premises we're outta here."
"How are you getting the gold for that?" said Ginny at once. This did not add up at all.
"We're going to keep that one close to the vest for now," said Fred. "But rest assured, we're not doing anything illegal."
"Of course, once we do get the premises, we need a plan for exactly how we're going to make our exit."
"We want it to be worthwhile and memorable, you see," said Fred.
"We've considered splattering the walls with Stinksap and putting a Permanent Sticking Charm on it —"
"— And watch Filch try and remove it —"
"— Or we've thought about blowing up Umbridge's office —"
"— Or Umbridge herself," Fred finished with a malicious grin. "Anyway, further ideas would be greatly appreciated. If you're in need of some serious mayhem, we'll make it happen, just make sure it's for a good cause —"
"— because we can only do it once."
Ginny stared at them, trying to imagine the look on Mum's face when she found out about this. She told them she couldn't think of anything.
"Well, there's plenty of time. Like we said, we don't even have the premises yet. But if you think of something good, let us know."
Aside from the prospect of potentially joining the Quidditch team, the other thing keeping Ginny going was that D.A. meetings resumed after they had taken a short break to allow for more Gryffindor Quidditch practices in the lead up to the match against Slytherin. They had moved on to Stunning; Ginny was having some difficulty with this one, but she was not the only one. The spell was harder to aim, and many of them got inadvertently Stunned as people missed their targets. After a couple lessons worth of practice, however, there was dramatic improvement among everyone. She marveled at just how much progress Neville had made; he had always been poor at any subject that wasn't Herbology, but after several weeks of practice and encouragement by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he had become almost as good as the rest of them. Luna had improved remarkably too, and she also seemed to get an odd enjoyment out of getting Stunned repeatedly.
Harry, who had just been revived by Hermione after being Stunned by Neville, blew his whistle and shouts of "Stupefy!" were extinguished.
"I think that's enough for today — it's getting late," said Harry. "Good work everyone!"
There were some upbeat mutterings around the room as people gathered to leave. Harry pulled a piece of aged parchment from his pocket and started letting people leave in groups of three and four as usual. Ginny was about to leave with Michael, Terry, and Anthony, but she glanced at Harry out of the corner of her eye, trying to figure out what exactly the piece of parchment was that he was studying so closely. She had seen him look at it at the end of each meeting, but she hadn't thought much of it until now. She hesitated briefly, but her curiosity got the better of her.
"You all go ahead; I want to ask Harry something."
Michael did not object and merely said, "Okay," and the trio of Ravenclaws departed after Harry told them it was safe to do so.
"What is that you're looking at, Harry?" she said, walking over to him.
Harry looked at her and opened his mouth slightly, and Ginny could tell he was trying to decide whether to tell her or not. Ginny placed a curious smile on her face and looked him in the eyes unblushingly. Hermione, who was standing next to him, seemed to feign obliviousness and allowed the conversation to play out naturally.
"Oh," said Harry awkwardly. "It's — er —"
Ginny glanced down at the parchment as she noticed movement on it and saw small labels flitting about in every direction. Her curious look was replaced with one of shocked realization.
"Hang on!" she blurted out. "Doesn't that belong to Fred and George?"
Harry stared at her for a second, looking surprised, then said, "In fact, yes it did. They gave it to me two years ago. You know about it?"
"Yeah, I caught them looking at it a few times; they wouldn't tell me what it was, though. It's some kind of map, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Harry. "It's a map of Hogwarts. I can see everyone who's in the castle at any time. Their dots move around, look —"
He turned the map so she could see it. Sure enough, she caught sight of dots labeled "Michael Corner", "Terry Boot", and "Anthony Goldstein" walking along the sixth floor together.
"I'm watching for Umbridge and Filch, mainly," said Harry. "Want to make sure they're nowhere around when I let students go."
Harry motioned for the last group to leave. Now Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were the only ones left in the room. Ron had left early to finish homework he had procrastinated after Hermione nagged him about it one too many times during the lesson.
"We're not on here!" Ginny said, looking at the spot where the Room of Requirement should have been.
"I don't think the Marauders knew about this place," said Harry.
"The what?"
"Marauders. They created the map. This thing is called the Marauder's Map. And you'll never guess who they are."
He had a wide grin on his face now and was clearly eager to reveal this information.
"Who?" said Ginny automatically.
"Guess."
Ginny was surprised to be put on the spot like this. She needed a witty response. She racked her brains for the stupidest people she could think of.
"Crabbe and Goyle?"
Harry, who expected a serious answer, looked blankly at her for a second, then burst out laughing.
"No," he said, pulling himself together. "Actually, it was Sirius, Lupin, and my dad. They created it when they were at Hogwarts together."
"You're joking!"
"Nope."
"Wow, can I see?"
Harry handed the map to her. She looked closely at all the tiny dots, which given the lateness of the hour, were mostly cluttered in their respective common rooms. She found Umbridge sitting in her office and Filch pacing around the fourth floor. Michael, Terry, and Anthony had made it safely back to their common room on the fifth floor. She handed it back to him and caught Hermione's eye. Ginny almost forgot she was still there. She expected to see a smug, knowing look, but she simply gave Ginny an encouraging smile instead.
"Well, Filch is heading upstairs," said Harry. "Guess we better get out of here before he reaches us…"
They hurried back to Gryffindor Tower. Ginny was rather miffed that Fred and George had never told her about the map. As amazing as she found it, she also thought the thing could be quite dangerous in the wrong hands, and something about it made her a little uneasy. What was it? Her memory stirred. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't think of what. It was such an incredibly intelligent piece of magic. Then with a gasp she realized, as she heard her dad's voice replaying in her mind from three years ago: Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. The diary! Tom Riddle's diary! She panicked for a moment, but then remembered who Harry told her had created it. Ginny relaxed as she realized there were few people less likely to use Dark Magic than Sirius, Lupin, and James Potter.
December arrived, and Angelina held tryouts to replace Harry, Fred, and George on the Quidditch team. Ginny had seen the opportunity as essentially a freebee, as she hadn't originally planned on trying out until the following year, so it wouldn't have been a huge blow if she didn't make the team. Now that the day of the Seeker tryouts had arrived, however, she became incredibly nervous, as she had started fantasizing more and more about catching Snitches and celebrating victories with her teammates as the day of the tryouts got closer.
"You'll be great," said Michael encouragingly at dinner that evening. Ginny picked at her food and ate begrudgingly. "Do you want me to come watch you? Give you some moral support?"
"I think that will just make me more nervous," Ginny said sadly. "No offense."
"None taken," said Michael mildly. "I understand."
Once they had finished eating, Michael wished her luck and gave her a swift kiss before heading up the marble staircase.
Ginny borrowed one of the school brooms, a Cleansweep Five, and met Angelina down on the Quidditch Pitch. It was frigid, and Ginny had donned a green balaclava to keep her face warm in anticipation of the bitter cold air blowing in her face once she was off the ground. Angelina only recognized her by the long red hair protruding from under it.
"I didn't know you could fly!" she said, her eyes wide with surprise upon seeing her.
"Neither do my brothers," said Ginny with a smile that was hidden by her balaclava. "I was actually hoping to replace you as Chaser next year, but who am I to turn down a golden opportunity like this?"
"Well, good luck! Whoever wins the job has big shoes to fill. I feel this year is hopeless now but you never know." She gave a great sigh.
Angelina started by having her do a couple laps around the pitch. Ginny mounted her broom and kicked off; it had been a while since she'd ridden one. The excruciating cold stabbed at the bare skin that was still uncovered around her eyes, but she didn't care; the exhilarating feeling of being back in the air on a broomstick was enough to drive everything negative from her mind. The laps were a good way to start, as she was able to knock some of her rust off and get comfortable. Angelina then had her make some sharp turns, which Ginny was able to do quite well, as she was accustomed to the faster Cleansweep Sevens that Fred and George owned. Those were her brooms of choice when she snuck outside at odd hours of the day at the Burrow to practice. Angelina finished the first part of her tryout by having her make steep inclines and dives once Ginny could show she could handle maneuvering the broom up and down with no problem.
"Well done!" said Angelina, when Ginny returned to the ground. "You fly quite well!"
"Thanks," said Ginny.
"Next I'm going to throw some golf balls and see how many you can catch," said Angelina. She pulled a box of golf balls out of her bag and threw them high into the air. She started off easy and then progressively threw them harder and farther, and Ginny caught all but three of them.
"Not bad! I think we'll try with an actual Snitch now." She pulled the Snitch out of the wooden crate that contained all the Quidditch balls. "Give it about fifteen to twenty seconds to make it somewhat challenging, but don't lose sight of it, we don't want to lose it. Just focus on catching it."
The Snitch was far more challenging to catch than the golf balls; it moved suddenly and jerkily, and Ginny whiffed on her first three attempts, flying past it and coming up empty handed.
"Keep trying!" Angelina called up to her. "I didn't expect you to get it on your first go."
Finally on her fourth try she was able to clench her fingers around the fluttering, winged ball and hold it tightly against its feeble attempts to escape.
"Bravo!" squealed Angelina. "Very good, Ginny! Let's try a few more times!"
She let the Snitch go and allowed it to get a head start on her once again. This time she caught it on her second try. After repeating this several more times, she got better and better as she got more familiar with how the Snitch behaved.
"You did really well, Ginny! Of course, it's a whole lot different during an actual game when you have worry about avoiding other players and dodging Bludgers, but you did far better than what I could have hoped for. You're definitely the candidate to beat right now!"
Feeling far happier than she had in quite some time, she took a seat on the bleachers and watched the rest of the participants have their chance. Most of them were second- and third-year students and did quite badly, and a couple were not able to catch the Snitch even once. One of her fellow fourth year boys named Connell did about as well as she did, though. Her heart sank.
After the last participant finished his tryout, Ginny got down off the bleachers, her bottom frozen solid, and Angelina rushed over to meet her.
"You're the Seeker," she said, beaming. "Congratulations!"
"Really? Not Connell?"
"He's an asshole," said Angelina bluntly. "You flew better, anyway. He was awkward coming out of dives."
Ginny hardly dared to believe it. She was on the Quidditch team! It was a dream come true.
"Thanks Angelina!"
Before she could stop herself, she had pulled Angelina into a bone-cracking hug as the news had started to sink in.
"What about the Beaters?"
"Tryouts tomorrow. Well, see you later, I've got a lot of work to do. Congrats again!" She grinned broadly at Ginny and left.
She met Michael in the entrance hall, who was waiting for her.
"I did it!" Ginny squealed. "I'm on the team! I'm now the Seeker!"
"Congratulations, Ginny!" he said, kissing her again. "I'm not surprised, I watched from our common room, you were great! Though I guess I shouldn't be too pleased, considering we have to play you later," he added with a sly smirk.
She remembered with a jolt that Cho was the Ravenclaw Seeker. She was not going to allow herself to lose that match, no matter what it took. Michael would just have to get over it.
"Don't worry," said Michael, who apparently had noticed Ginny's happy expression fading slightly. "I don't actually care that much about Quidditch."
Ginny knew they didn't really have anything in common, and this was another reminder. But, Ginny reminded himself, that was okay because she didn't really have any genuine feelings for him anyway. He was, as Hermione had insinuated, a coping mechanism. She felt bad about this; Michael deserved better. He had been a good boyfriend to her and she worried that she was just leading him on.
Ginny found Lena, Amber, and the Creevey brothers in the common room that evening and told them the good news.
"That's awesome, Ginny!" said Colin. "I'd love to play Quidditch, but I'm scared of heights and I think one Bludger hit could do me in."
"I've never seen the appeal of Quidditch, to be honest," Amber said matter-of-factly. "The rules make no sense… why isn't it just two Seekers?"
"What fun would that be?" said Ginny indignantly.
"But logically, the Chasers don't really play an important role in the outcome, do they? The team who gets the Snitch almost always wins!"
"Didn't go the World Cup last year, did you?" said Lena coolly.
"No, of course not," snapped Amber, sounding very much like Hermione. "Like I said, I don't like Quidditch that much, I'd prefer —"
"Well, Bulgaria lost even though they got the Snitch," said Lena, who didn't appear to care what Amber preferred over Quidditch. "So it's not always the team that gets the Snitch that wins."
"But — that's rare —"
"But it does happen occasionally, that's why they play the game!"
Ginny, Colin, and Dennis watched the argument as if it were a tennis match, and while Ginny liked Amber very much, she had to agree with Lena on this, though she knew she was a bit biased in the matter.
It was nearing the end of term, which meant the workload piled up as teachers crammed in as much subject matter as they could in the last few classes. It also meant they had their final D.A. meeting before most of the students left for the holidays, Ginny included. They didn't do anything new and instead reviewed and practiced material they already had learned. Ginny walked back to the common room with Ron and Hermione following the end of the lesson, feeling quite exhausted.
"Hey Ginny, did you see how many times I Stunned Hermione tonight?"
"Of course not," said Ginny, as Hermione scoffed loudly. "I was on the other s—"
"I Stunned you way more!" Hermione shot back at Ron, cutting Ginny off.
"Only because I was distracted by Neville, who had to partner with us while Harry walked around the room checking on everyone else!"
"What rubbish," snapped Hermione. "If anything, that benefitted you! I had to help Neville with his technique!"
Ron gave a disbelieving snort. Just snog already, Ginny thought, half annoyed and half amused.
"Bloody hell, I just remembered I have to finish that Transfiguration essay that's due tomorrow," said Ron bitterly.
"I finished that yesterday," said Hermione smugly.
"Of course you did," said Ron, rolling his eyes at Ginny.
"Well, I do have other stuff I need to be doing too, like prefect duties and knitting elf clothes… and no I'm not writing your essay for you…"
"Who said I wanted you to?" said Ron hotly.
"Eggnog," said Ginny dully to the Fat Lady, interrupting their bickering, and the portrait swung open. They took a seat by the fire. Ron pulled out his Transfiguration assignment while Ginny retrieved an unfinished Herbology assignment. Hermione, it looked like, was writing another letter to Krum, though Ginny didn't ask about it with Ron there.
"Where's Harry at?" he said.
"Cleaning up, probably," said Hermione.
After about ten minutes, Ginny completed her worksheet and packed away her things. Harry had still not come back.
"I'm going to bed," she told them. "Good night."
"'Night, Ginny," they said.
Ginny had a funny dream involving Ron snogging Luna Lovegood while Hermione laughed scornfully at them, but when she awoke she found the details faded fast. She was shaking slightly. Ginny opened her eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. She felt like lead.
"Miss Weasley," came Professor McGonagall's anxious voice.
"Mmm?" she mumbled.
"You need to come with me," she said. It was pitch dark out; she couldn't have been asleep for long.
"Whasgoinon?"
"I'll explain when we're downstairs. But you need to hurry."
Something was clearly wrong. There was worry in her voice and Ginny felt an awful sense of foreboding. There are certain people that you never want to see frightened, and McGonagall was one of those people; she was a stern and rather formidable witch, but also gave off an air of strength and security. To see her alarmed was quite unusual. Had something happened to Harry? That was her first thought. She remembered she hadn't seen him return to the common room before going to bed and Ron was asking about him. Ginny got up quickly, all traces of drowsiness gone, and followed McGonagall down the steps to the common room. When they arrived, Ginny saw Fred and George near the boys' staircase, looking confused and anxious, still in their night things.
"Your father has suffered a serious injury," McGonagall told them, ushering them along urgently to the portrait hole.
"What?" said Ginny in a small, high-pitched voice as Fred and George gasped.
"What happened?" whispered Fred.
"Harry was asleep and had — had a vision of your dad being attacked by a giant snake. I assumed it was a dream, but he was insistent that it wasn't and was completely frantic. I took him to Dumbledore and he confirmed that the vision was real…"
Ginny felt numb shock course through her body, and she suddenly found walking to be extremely difficult. The room was dark, but Ginny could see Fred and George looked just as shaken and their mouths were open in horror.
"But… how…" was all Ginny managed to say.
"How serious is it? He-he'll be okay, won't he?" said George anxiously.
"We don't know yet," said McGonagall in a strained voice as they went through the portrait hole. "He lost a lot of blood, but they found him quickly and are sending him for treatment now. If Harry hadn't seen it happen and alerted us right away, things would be very dire indeed… we probably wouldn't even know about it yet, in fact. Come on, we must hurry, in case that — woman — is around."
Ginny knew she was referring to Umbridge. They walked silently but quickly toward the stone gargoyle to the headmaster's office, Ginny in a state of horrified bewilderment. How could Dad have gotten attacked by a snake? Where on earth could he have been? How could Harry have seen it happen? None of this made any sense…
"Fizzing Whizbee," said McGonagall.
The gargoyle guarding the entrance leapt aside, and the wall behind split in two revealing a continuously escalating spiral staircase up to Dumbledore's office. They stepped on and arrived to see a white-faced Harry and Ron with Dumbledore behind his desk facing the portraits on the wall. Dumbledore turned to face them when they arrived, but it wasn't him Ginny wanted to speak to.
"Harry — what's going on? Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad hurt —"
"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," said Dumbledore, as Harry opened his mouth to speak. Harry gave him a look of annoyance, though Dumbledore appeared to take no notice. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."
"How're we going?" asked Fred anxiously. "Floo powder?"
"No," said Dumbledore, "Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." He indicated an old kettle lying innocently on his desk. "We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back… I wish to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you —"
Ginny neither knew nor cared who Phineas Nigellus was, all she wanted was news about her father. They needed to get to St. Mungos as soon as possible. There was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a single golden feather that floated gently to the floor.
"It is Fawkes's warning," said Dumbledore, catching the feather as it fell. "She must know you're out of your beds… Minerva, go and head her off — tell her any story —"
Professor McGonagall turned and was gone. It turned out Phineas Nigellus was one of the portraits behind Dumbledore's desk. He had left his frame temporarily but returned to confirm to Dumbledore that they were good to go, and Dumbledore beckoned them forward urgently. They all grabbed hold of the blackened kettle, and Ginny felt the familiar sensation of a jerk behind her navel and the Portkey whisked them away back to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
