Harry Potter and the United Power

Chapter 8

Ginny left breakfast rather early the following morning and made her way up to Dumbledore's office. She'd been told by Professor McGonagall to see the Headmaster this morning. She didn't really know what to expect. Dumbledore had seen her briefly last night and told her that Pansy was perfectly fine and that he'd explain the situation to her in more detail later. She assumed that now was the time Dumbledore intended to explain what had happened to her and what was going on with Pansy. As she reached the top of the spiral staircase she reached up and knocked on the door.

“Ah, Miss Weasley,” Dumbledore announced as he opened the door for her. “Come in,” he instructed and returned to his desk. Ginny followed Dumbledore in and took a seat in front of his desk. “Well I assume you would like me to tell you about what has happened to Miss Parkinson,” he inquired.

“Yes sir, if you could,” Ginny answered.

“Yes, I should have guessed this news would worry you a great deal given the new relationship you and Miss Parkinson have established. Miss Parkinson is perfectly safe at the moment and you can go see her now if you wish,” he informed her.

“Oh can I? That would be great,” she asked excitedly.

Dumbledore laughed politely, “yes of course you can my dear. You see that portrait over there?” he said pointing to the portrait that led to Pansy's room. Ginny nodded. “That's her room for the time being. The password is `fawkes',” he told her and indicated for her to go there. Ginny slowly got up and walked towards the portrait. She said the password as she reached the portrait and it flung open to reveal a beautifully carved oak door. “Go ahead,” Dumbledore told her as she reached for the door handle. Once she opened the door she saw a beautiful lavender coloured room.

“Pansy!” she exclaimed as she saw her sitting on the plush sofa in the centre of the room.

Pansy turned “Ginny!” she called excitedly and ran over to her and hugged her.

“I'm glad you're alright,” Ginny told her as she sat down on the sofa next to her.

“Yeah, well Dumbledore always knows what to do,” she told her and began to tell the whole story of how Voldemort had come to her house and killed her father right in front of her eyes. “I'll never forget it… it was so horrible…,” she stammered as tears began to stream down her face.

***

“Where do you think Ginny went to this morning?” Luna asked the group as they meet up outside the great hall at lunch.

“Oh she went to see Dumbledore,” Ron told them as he joined the group. “I heard McGonagall tell her to go see Dumbledore,” he explained as he noticed the questioning look the others where giving him.

“Oh right, well do you guys want to go sit outside? Its quite nice today,” she asked. The others nodded in agreement and they headed outside. They sat down by the lake and ate some lunch. “So why do you think Ginny went to see Dumbledore this morning?” Luna inquired as they all settle down and started eating some of the sandwiches and cakes they'd brought from the Great Hall.

“Well I guess it's got something to do with Pansy,” Neville chimed in before anyone realised he'd had very little to say on the matter since it was first brought up, on the train. Neville actually knew more about what was going on then the others and he understood why Ginny was hesitant to tell the others. The others weren't incredibly accepting of Pansy's sudden change and had excluded her from as much discussion as possible. It was only Ginny who'd actually accepted what Pansy had said. It was because of this they had become such good friends. Neville had only found out about it as he too had found himself out of the loop with the others. He knew it was because he just couldn't understand the spells that they were trying to learn.

Luna glanced up at him surprised to hear from him. “Yes well that's rather obvious isn't it? What else would she be seeing Dumbledore about? It's what all this stuff is about that we want to know,” Luna replied. Neville sensed that she was becoming rather irritated by the whole situation. Despite the fact that Luna was one of the youngest in the group she seemed to be taking control of the group with incredible ease. This was most likely because neither of the other boys wanted to take charge.

“Why do you care so much?” Neville questioned angrily.

Luna was surprised by Neville's outburst. “Well, because she's a part of this whether we like it or not. She's one of the heirs she can't just disappear on us. We deserve to know what's happening. How are we supposed to prepare if she's not here,” she answered.

“Why? Harry and Hermione aren't here at the moment either. We can't do anything without them can we?”

“Well that's different we know where they are. We don't have a clue where Pansy is something could be wrong and we have to know what.”

“Why? You were the one who was so sceptical about Pansy's involvement anyway. Well now she's not involved is she, so what does it matter what happened too her. It's not like you really care anyway,” Neville spat becoming annoyed at the façade Luna was putting on - pretending she really care what happened.

Neville stormed off and headed up to the common room. He knew Ginny would be there by now, and he'd be able to find out what had happened to Pansy. He knew the story about what had happened to Pansy's mother and so was quite worried when Ginny said she wasn't coming back to Hogwarts though he'd managed to keep quiet about it around the others. Ginny had told him she was seeing Dumbledore this morning to find out what had happened to Pansy.

***

Neville entered the common room and spotted Ginny sitting in a dark corner of the common room. He walked over to her. “Hi Ginny, is everything alright?”

Ginny glanced up at him, tears streaming down her face. “Hi Neville, Pansy is fine if that's what you mean,” she told him.

“That's good, but why are you crying?” he asked as he sat down beside her.

“Oh, well it's just that Pansy told me what happened at her house, just before term started. It's really awful what he did. So I'm just upset that she's had to endure so much. I really want to help her but I don't know what I can do to help. Dumbledore says he'll keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do anything to harm herself, but she's really traumatised by it all and depressed,” she explained.

Neville nodded. He knew something really bad had to have happened to prevent her from returning to Hogwarts. “Can you tell me what happened to her?” he asked.

Ginny nodded. “He killed her dad right in front of her. Threw heaps of curses at her dad and then he destroyed there house. He didn't do anything to her physically but she's pretty shaken up, and I guess he figured leaving her with no family and no where to live would be enough to kill her,” she described.

“That's awful,” Neville exclaimed. “Where is she staying at the moment?”

“She's at Hogwarts. Dumbledore's looking after her. I'm sorry I can't tell you more than that for her safety, but you can go see Dumbledore if you want. He'll show you where she is.”

“Okay,” Neville said to her as he put an arm around her to comfort her. “It'll be alright. Dumbledore's looking after her.” He knew that Ginny and Pansy had developed a very close relationship quite quickly and the fact that something awful had happened to her had affected her a great deal.

***

A few days later Dumbledore called the five of them into his office. They all arrived as soon as breakfast had finished.

“Hello all, please come in. Take a seat,” he told them all as he led them all into his office. Dumbledore conjured up a few extra chairs and then sat back behind his desk. After they'd all sat down Dumbledore began. “As I promised you all you are able to visit Hermione this weekend, however you cannot all go at once. I will take Ginny, Neville and Ron on Saturday and Justin and Luna on Sunday if they wish to go,” he informed them.

“I don't need to go sir,” Justin spoke up. “I didn't know Hermione before all this happened and the others have been much more involved in her life.”

Dumbledore nodded he had expected that Justin wouldn't want to go but he didn't want to leave him out. “Okay then, I'll take, Ginny and Neville on Saturday and Ron and Luna on Sunday, if that is fine by you all,” he said. They all nodded. “Alright then, you will all be able to see Hermione this weekend. I've been told that she is recovering quite well,” he told them as he poured a glass of water for himself. “Now I'm also aware that many of you have been wondering what has happened to Miss Parkinson. Well I assure you all she is quite fine, however she has been through a lot lately and needs a bit of time to herself,” he explained. Luna smiled, glad she was finally finding out what was going on, if not everything at least a little. “Don't worry it will not effect your preparation for the final battle in anyway. She won't be attending classes for a while but she will be able to come to your training sessions, however they will have to be done in here rather than the room of requirement,” he informed them. Luna seemed content with that and so Dumbledore didn't provide any further information on the matter. “Okay well that is all. Those going to see Hermione this weekend please come to my office after breakfast on the morning you are to go,” he told them and then got up and opened the door to allow them out.

“Thankyou for arranging that,” Ginny said to Dumbledore as she left.

“Not a problem Ginny, I'll see you on Saturday.”

***

It was Saturday morning and Hermione was happy as she'd been told she would be able to see Ginny and Neville today. “When will they be getting here?” she asked Harry becoming irritated that they weren't here already.

“Soon, soon,” Harry answered. “Dumbledore said they were leaving after breakfast, so any minute now.” The second he'd finished the sentence Dumbledore, Neville and Ginny were at the door.

“Hello, how are we doing?” Dumbledore asked as they arrived.

“Alright, Hermione's getting much better. She's been a bit apprehensive about the visit though,” he told them. “Here have a seat,” he said indicating three chairs next to the bed. “How is everything going at school, Hermione's been doing a bit of work. I've been trying to stop her from over working but she won't here of it. I think she'll be happy when she can get back to school. Only a couple of weeks now,” he told Dumbledore as Ginny and Neville moved over to Hermione and started to talk to her.

“Yes, not long now. It'll be good to have the two of you back at Hogwarts. There have been some events that have occurred since I last saw you,” he informed Harry.

“Oh, really what's happened?”

“Well I told you about Pansy's family earlier and what happened to her mother.” Harry nodded. “Well Voldemort's killed her father now. Pansy is a bit shaken up by it all.”

“Oh my goodness, that's awful. Is she alright,” Harry exclaimed.

“Yes she's fine.”

“Well that's a good thing I guess. Anyway you haven't got much time here the healers won't let you stay more than half an hour. Do you want to talk to Hermione?” Dumbledore nodded and headed over to talked to Hermione and make sure she was okay.

“We better be going. Ron and Luna will come and visit tomorrow,” Dumbledore told them and they headed back to Hogwarts.

The next day Ron and Luna visited. “Hi Ron it's good to see you,” Harry said as they arrive.

“You too mate. Hogwarts just isn't the same without you two there.”

“Yeah how's school been going? I've got some of the work here. I think I've been keeping up alright. It'll be good to get back though.”

“School's been alright. Malfoy's being horrible to you about this whole thing. I've no idea how he found out. So yeah expect hell from him when you get back. Aside from that everything's been pretty good, but I can't wait till you two are back.”

“Soon Ron, only two weeks now, anyway you wanna go speak to Hermione?” he asked. Ron nodded and went to talk to Hermione. Shortly afterwards their half hour was up and they left for Hogwarts.

“Well that was nice,” Hermione said as she lay back in her bed.

“Yes, you'll be back at Hogwarts soon,” he told her but she'd already fallen asleep. It took a lot out of her to have visitors and she still hadn't fully recovered. She needed to take a rest every few hours. Harry sighed and pulled out his school books and started work on a DADA assignment.

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