Confusion
By Lauren G. (aka RowlingIdol)
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in the update. All right folks. Here we go. Please keep your arms and legs and all other body parts inside the Fan Fiction vehicle at all times. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
Chapter 1: Firewhisky and Beggars
Smoke. She never thought she'd ever smell fresh air again. With the war against Voldemort over, wizards and witches meekly ventured out of their homes one by one to help the remaining Ministry Wizards clean up the towns and wreckage left by the battle. Buildings stood cold stone. Some crumbled and smoking from fire, others were complete, smoke still trailing from their broken windows and open doors.
Ginevra Weasley peered out onto the street of Diagon Alley from the window of the apartment above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Her brothers Fred and George were downstairs cleaning the wreckage of their store. Or more like it, Fred- with his broken leg, was ordering George around. The other employees silently swept pile after pile of broken glass and ash into a large trash bin. The smell of the smoke made Ginny's eyes sting. She sighed as she watched the figures in the street pile burnt rubbish from the stores on the sidewalks.
"Gin! Come down and help!" Fred called from the store below.
"Coming!" She called. She stared back out the window and spotted a cloaked figure walking slowly down Diagon Alley. She stared suspiciously at the figure who had stopped just outside the store. Suddenly, the figure looked up right at her. Ginny's eyes narrowed as she spied the narrow features and blond hair of a face she hadn't seen in ages. She blinked several times. She was seeing things. He was dead… Right?
"GIN!" Fred yelled again. She turned her head away from the window.
"All right, all right!" She called to him. She turned and looked back out the window. The man was gone. All that was in the street were the busy witches and wizards.
oooooo
She clamored down the stairs and emerged into the damaged store. All the windows had been broken. Several letters had been scorched off of the sign, marking the store as We ley Wiza Wh z s.
"Help Jan with the candy section. George, take this bag." Fred ordered. He handed a large black bag to George.
"What for?" George asked. Fred hobbled forward on his crutches and whispered something in his ear. Ginny didn't know why he bothered whispering. She had already seen the broken box and dead Pygmy Puffs lying in the front of the store.
"Oh. Right." George said. He donned a pair of gloves and headed towards the front of the store, glass crunching beneath his feet.
"Gin, what time does Mum want you home?" Fred asked, hobbling behind the counter. He reached beneath it and pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky.
"Any time after dinner." Gin said, brushing her hair out of her face. She bent down with a dustpan and began sweeping burnt toffees into it.
"Right then." Fred said, taking a swig of the Firewhisky.
"Oi! Don't hog it!" George yelled at him, waving the bag with the Pygmy Puffs in it.
"Oi yourself! Don't wave that thing around!" Fred wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Mr. Weasley, I've got the wood you wanted." Said one of the store employees, walking through the open door with a large bundle of wood.
"Excellent." Fred said. He took another drink.
"Gin, why don't you help Pam board up the windows?" He asked.
"All right." Ginny dumped her dustpan into one of the trash bins and went up front to patch the windows until they could be properly repaired.
"I hate hard labor." George muttered as he walked past Ginny. "All this cock and bull about magic limitations."
"Oh shut it, will you?" Fred said. "Everyone is exhausted. People are dead. People are hurt. A few more days and we'll be able to do whatever we please. We just need to let the Ministry get back into gear."
"Whatever." George said, grabbing the Firewhisky from the counter. Ginny frowned as she peered over the board she was holding at her brothers. She knew her mother didn't like Fred and George drinking. And Mrs. Weasley would flip if she found out that Fred and George had also taken up cigarettes in the past year. Ginny held the board up to the window and Pam hammered it in place.
oooooo
Several hours later, all the windows were boarded up and the orange light of sunset streamed through the cracks. Fred and George were lounging behind the counter and smoking.
"I ought to go." Ginny said, sitting on top of a cardboard box. Pam, Jan, and the other two employees had gone home already.
"It's too late now, Gin." George said, waving his cigarette around. "Owl mum and let her know you're staying the night."
"But I can Apparate home." Ginny protested.
"Bullocks." Fred said. He blew out a puff of smoke. "Apparation has been limited as well." Ginny frowned and crossed her arms.
"Fine." Ginny walked upstairs and took the Weasley owl and wrote a quick note home. She sent the gray owl on his way and walked into the small loft kitchen and rummaged around for something to eat. She found two cans of soup and a hard loaf of bread. She sighed as she heated up the oven and began her search for a pot.
oooooo
"What would we do without you Gin?" Fred drunkenly slurred, leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach. Empty bowls and several more bottles of drinks littered the small buffet table.
"Our little sister… So helpful… Just like Mum." George agreed, just as drunk. Gin sat in her chair; leaned forward with her elbows on the table, chin in hands.
"Thanks." She muttered. It was dark outside and getting colder inside the house. Fred and George stood up and headed to their room, stumbling and tripping over each other. Gin shook her head and got up and started to clear the table. She piled the dishes in the sink and rinsed out the bottles, her nose stinging at the smell of the Firewhisky. She set the bottles on the table. The clock on the wall stuck eleven. Ginny sighed yet again as she rolled up the sleeves of her forest green jumper and began to scrub away broth left on the bowls.
When that was done, she gathered up the bottles she had set on the table and made her way down the stairs into the darkness of the store. She switched on a small lamp and walked into the backroom. She stuffed the bottles into the trash bin. She walked back out into the store and behind the counter. She hefted the half empty box of Firewhisky onto the counter. She picked up a bottle and twirled it in her hands.
So much had happened it was all too soon to try to comprehend anything. The war was fought. The war was won. Fred had broken his leg, Charlie nearly lost an arm, Dad was bedridden. Ron and Harry were cooped up in the Burrow with Hermione. She wished she could be with them instead of with her drunken brothers. But no, Mum had insisted that she go to the store and help them clean. She had too much on her hands already with making sure Dad was ok and that Harry stayed safe.
"Voldemort is dead Mum. What could possibly kill him now? The flu?" Ginny had said.
"Ginevra! You mustn't joke about death." Mrs. Weasley had scolded. And then she had sent Ginny on her way with the Weasley owl to Diagon Alley by means of the Floo network.
A flicker of light outside and the sound of someone tripping over a pile of rubbish startled Ginny. She looked up frightened and watched through the boards on the window. A shadow limped past. Ginny's breath quickened. Her heart began to race as the shadow stopped. Ginny looked around for some sort of weapon. Her wand was upstairs. As she looked around the store, she realized something. The lamp.
`They know someone is here' she thought rapidly. She reached out a shaking hand and pulled on the chain that turned out the lamp. It went out. The shadow began to move again. It stopped in front of the door. Ginny reached for the bottle of Firewhisky which she had previously set down and held it by the neck. The door began to rattle.
`The door is locked. No one can get in. The door is locked. People aren't supposed to use wands. Well, in case of emergencies, yes, but-` Ginny stopped thinking about the Ministry's rules and began to think about her safety. Fred and George were probably out cold upstairs. She was all alone.
The shadow out the door muttered something and the door clicked open. Ginny held her breath. She crouched behind the counter. The shadow moved swiftly into the store, hunched over. Ginny closed her eyes, hoping they'd realize nothing in the store was of value and leave. Ginny could hear the person hovering around the counter. Opening her eyes, she jumped out from behind the counter, brandishing the bottle of Firewhisky.
"Get out of here you filthy scumbag slimeball!" She screamed at the top of lungs. She flung herself onto the figure and raised the Firewhisky, ready to smash it on top of the intruders head.
"Lumos!" Grunted the person below her. Ginny was still holding the Firewhisky above her head, but she squinted her eyes from the brightness of the persons wand.
"WAND USER!" Ginny screamed and leapt at the person.
"Stop! Please!" the voice said, softly enough to hear.
"Scumbag! Slimeball!" Ginny screeched, she reached for the hood of the dusty black cloak and pulled it back. She stopped and the bottle slid from her hand.
"Please… I mean no harm." The figure said, their eyes adverted.
"You…." Ginny said. "You're dead." She said, sitting back on the floor, leaning breathlessly against the front of the store counter. The figure moved to a crouched position and turned towards her.
"Please… Food…" The figure gasped as he looked up at her with sunken gray eyes. Ginny's chest heaved, her mind was spinning. His obituary had been in the paper. Ron had smirked at it. Her mother had tutted. He was dead. The whole wizarding world had known.
"Please…" The figure said, his eyes pleading. Ginny got to her knees and slowly reached out a hand. Her hand shook as it approached the man's cheek. Her fingertips touched ice-cold flesh. She drew her hand back.
"What are you doing here?" She whispered.
"Please… Help." Was all Draco Malfoy could mutter before falling unconscious on the floor.
Author's Note- Well, how is that for Chapter One? I hope everyone liked it. I haven't written in so long and I am glad I have gotten back into the flow of writing. Please review!
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