It All Began With Dwarfing Draco

Ginny wandered aimlessly down one of the many Hogwarts corridors, a look of shock still on her face. Why, after so long, after all they had been through, why now did he decide to end it?

"I love you Ginny, you know I do. I love you with all my heart and soul. But I also love you enough to let you go, for your safety." These words repeated themselves over and over again in her mind and yet she still didn’t understand. Why did he want to put an end to all they had?

‘Because he wants to protect you,’ the voice of reason reminded her.

"If he wants to protect me then why isn’t he here?" she whispered back through clenched teeth, smothering the voice inside her head.

Turning to the wall on her right, she pressed her forehead and then the palms of her hands against the cold stone. Her fingertips gently ran over the creases that they found as tears began to fall from her eyes again. But as she traced, a light glow was left behind. Pulling back, Ginny stared at the glowing lines and watched as more began to form. Soon, the pattern of wisteria blossoms was before her. The pattern spread from the ceiling to the floor and about the width of Ginny’s left fingertip to her right when her arms were spread.

Carefully, Ginny reached out and touched one of the blossoms. She jumped when it came to life, pushing it’s self out of the wall and letting it’s blue-violet petals fan out. Then another sprang to life, and another, and another. Within seconds, what used to be stone was now nothing but wisteria and vine.

Ginny stared in awe as the sweet smell of the beautiful flowers washed over her. Before she could react, the wall of wisteria opened up and revealed a dusty staircase. Along the walls beside the stair the same flowers grew, each blossom giving off their own soft glow.

Curiosity getting the best of her, Ginny pushed through the flowers and cautiously began to ascend the staircase. She let her fingers run through the soft petals as she climbed, still amazed by her find. Once she stopped, close to the middle of the long, winding staircase, to wipe the tears from her cheeks and to take a closer look at the wisteria. They were real enough and Ginny trusted her senses but she still questioned as to how they got there and why they were there in the first place.

"Virginia," a soft voice said. Ginny froze in her place, her eyes darting everywhere to determine where the voice had come from.

"Who’s there?" she asked hesitantly, her own voice still shaky from crying. Despite her fear, her legs began forward again and forced her up the stairs. But as she climbed more upward, her interest began to outweigh her panic. Who was the owner to the voice she had heard?

Climbing the final stair, Ginny stepped onto a dusty landing and met eyes with a tall, thin woman. The woman said nothing at first but smiled kindly. Ginny’s brow furrowed slightly as she studied the stranger. The woman had long, dark hair that matched the colour of a rich soil and woven through out it was the same wisteria blossoms Ginny had seen on the walls. She also wore a long green robe that swayed around her feet even though she wasn’t moving herself. But it was the woman’s eyes that intrigued Ginny the most. They were clear, crystal blue and shone with laughter and mirth but looked like they held the secrets of the universe as well. There was something odd about this woman and Ginny intended to find out what that was.

"I’ve been expecting you," the woman said in an all-knowing but lighthearted voice.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Antheia," the woman replied.

"Why have you brought me here?" The woman laughed quietly and spread her arms wide.

"I didn’t bring you here my dear Virginia. You called me."

"But I…" Ginny choked on her words, unable to make her lips form and say the right ones. "How?"

"Your heart," Antheia said. "Your heart is breaking and you want to understand why?"

"But I know why," Ginny protested. "I just don’t understand why…"

"He has chosen this way to protect you." Ginny’s jaw dropped slightly but nodded, knowing that asking how this woman whom she had never met before in her life how she knew this would only get her a predictable answer. Antheia seemed amused by Ginny’s silence but said nothing. Ginny however hadn’t noticed the woman’s amusement. Her head was bowed and her thought s were only of Draco.

Another tear fell from Ginny’s eye before she could stop it, landing with a splash on her shoe. Without even realizing that the woman had moved, Antheia was by Ginny’s side and wrapping and arm around the sorrowful girl’s shoulder.

"All will be well in the end," Antheia cooed comfortingly. "You will see."

"It doesn’t look that way right now," Ginny retorted, more nastily then she had meant to. But Antheia just laughed again, brushing off the comment.

"I have something for you," she said in the same lively voice she had used this whole time. But as Antheia knelt before Ginny, the look of joy in her face melted away to become stern. "You must promise me to take great care with this gift you are about to receive. If fallen into the wrong hands, I’m not sure how long this world will be safe. Do you swear to guard it with your very life?"

Ginny hesitated for a moment. What was this gift that was said to be worth risking her life for? And why was she, Ginny Weasley, of all the people in the world, being entrusted with it?

‘What have I got to lose?’ Ginny mentally asked herself and then nodded. "I swear." Antheia smiled and gracefully stood once more. From around her slender neck, she unclasped the amulet that hung there upon a thin, gold chain. She handed it to Ginny, delicately placing it in the palm of the girl’s hand.

"Though it doesn’t looking like much, this amulet holds a great power all it’s own," Antheia began. "It will find anyone when asked, where ever or even when ever they are. Use it carefully Virginia and remember that some things are better left unseen."

"I understand," Ginny said, willing her voice to sound more confident than she felt. She lowered her eyes to the amulet in her hand. It was a small, marble size ball with a string of gold coiled around it. Inside the ball was the smallest wisteria blossom Ginny had ever seen. It was pure white and surrounded by the same blue-violet colour of the wisteria on the stairs. The blossom itself though was not yet open. How such a thing possessed so much power was beyond Ginny but then again, good things came in small packages too right?

"Thank you," Ginny said but when she raised her eyes from the amulet, it’s giver was gone along with the wisteria and the room itself. Ginny was back in the corridor she had been in before the wisteria had formed.

"Use it carefully." The voice of Antheia floated through the corridor and into Ginny’s ears.

"Don’t worry," she replied. "I will be." With that, Ginny slipped the chain over her head and tucked the amulet safely under the neck of her sweater before making her way towards the secret room behind the unicorn with a new hope.