Unofficial Portkey Archive

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Chapter Eight

Saturday, Sept. 7.

Ginny woke up and started slightly, not knowing where she was. She looked around and saw the familiar surroundings of her room, then sighed in relief and collapsed back onto her bed, grateful it was a Saturday.

She kicked her feet a bit, frowning as she felt something amiss. Pulling off her blankets, she looked down at her feet. She was still wearing her shoes! Come to think of it, she wasn't in her pyjamas either... Her going-out robe was still on, as were her nice clothes. Ginny got out of the bed and tried to remember what happened the night before...

She remembered going to the mansion with her brothers... Then she remembered learning a new spell and going in the next room to be tested... As all of the night's events filled her mind, Ginny sat on her bed in shock.

It was then that she realised that she didn't remember coming back to Hogwarts. To be honest, she didn't really remember leaving the mansion either...

"Ginevra!" She heard her brothers' voices calling, and then they hammered on her door. She went over to it irritably and opened it, frowning at them. "Thank the Gods!" Fred and George said and enveloped her in a huge hug.

"Good morning to you too... What's wrong?" Ginny asked when they eventually put her down.

"We thought we'd lost you! We took you to our shop last night after the testing and when we woke up this morning, you were gone!" They said sounding extremely worried. Their tone made Ginny's irritable mood dissipate quickly. "What happened?" They asked.

"I have no idea... I don't even remember how I got here," she said with a shrug.

"What about the Boggart... Bexley?" The twins asked. Bexley flew out of Ginny and looked at them.

"Do you know what happened?" Ginny asked him. Bexley nodded, but didn't say anything. "Well? How did I get here?" She prompted. Bexley sighed softly and floated over to Ginny. He whispered in her ear and she went a light shade of red. "Oh... Thank you, Bexley," Ginny said. With a bow, he flew back into Ginny.

"What was all of that about?" Fred asked, George nodding in agreement.

"I sleep walked, that's all," Ginny replied.

"You never sleep walk though..." George said in surprise.

"Well, I do now," Ginny said, her tone indicating that she didn't want to discuss it anymore.

"All right then... Next time you have the urge to sleep walk, at least tell us so we don't get so worried," George said, hugging her tightly. Ginny nodded.

"I'll try to remember next time," she said with a small grin. Fred hugged her to then went with George to the door.

"Before we go... We just wanted to say we're sorry about not being there for you in your first year," they said, sounding sad and forlorn. Ginny hugged them.

"It's all right... What was done is done. We can't change the past, no matter how much we'd like to..." The twins still didn't seem very happy and Ginny sighed. "I forgive you both," she said. They gave her small smiles then left, happier than they had been.

Ginny shut the door and groaned. She'd walked in her sleep just to see Draco Malfoy... She was surprised that she felt disappointed that she didn't remember it. Ginny shook her head and went to have a shower to relax.

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Ginny stepped out of the shower and dried her body off, refusing to look at the images that were trying to get her attention in her mirror. She just wanted one day where she didn't have to See anything!

Through no will of her own, Ginny's eyes looked up at the mirror and she was lost in a vision immediately.

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Virginia looked at the woman before her, a disgusted sneer on her beautiful face.

"Why, you're nothing but a fraud... You couldn't truly See if a vision was right in front of your face!" She said, sounding both disgusted and astounded.

"The Inner Eye does not See on will! If I can not See something for you, then it is meant to be that way!" Trewlaney replied, getting angry. "Now, if you have nothing else you require of me, I suggest that you leave!"

"I met your grandmother, you know, Sybil... She would be disappointed with you," Virginia said shaking her head.

"You know nothing of what my grandmother would think of me, whether you have met her or not!" Sybil protested. "Now leave!" She yelled.

"Of course. Once you have returned my Galleons, I will be glad to leave," Virginia drawled.

"My services are non-refundable," Sybil said coldly. Suddenly, her head dropped forward and she started to cough raggedly.

"Do not think that your pathetic act is going to fool me," Virginia said angrily. Sybil looked up, her eyes pure white.

"She is soon here... She will destroy you..." Her voice rasped.

Virginia looked interested and slightly scared at the same time.

"The girl to look out for is even more beautiful than yourself... Even without your enticement powers, she will have followers... They will be truer than your own and will willingly die for her... Riding forth on a unicorn, she will destroy you..." Sybil rasped.

Her head snapped up again and she looked disorientated for a moment then glared at Virginia.

"My services are non-refundable, so leave," she said. Without a word, Virginia stood and left.

At 12 Grimmauld Place, a new name was being threaded into the tapestry: Ginevra Molly Weasley.

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"Oh shit..." Ginny groaned in annoyance. She had the urge to just crawl back to bed and not get out for the next twenty years! She reluctantly got changed into her fighting outfit, thinking about everything that she was supposed to be.

She was Queen, the world's greatest treasure, and now she was supposed to destroy her ancestor! Well, if Virginia did everything that Ginny had Seen her do, the last part wouldn't be a problem... She thought with a sarcastic grin.

Ginny put her robe on then left her room and arrived at the Room of Requirement for her lesson with Moody. She went into the room and looked around. Moody was in the corner, putting a crossbow together.

"Ginevra... Do your exercises then sit down," he instructed.

Ginny nodded and took off her school robe then did her exercises quickly. She sat down in front of Moody, wondering what was going on.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked, showing her the hand-held crossbow.

"It's a hand-held crossbow, also known as an arbalest," Ginny said. Moody nodded.

"Good... Have you ever used a crossbow before?" He asked.

"Not yet," Ginny said grinning.

"And you won't for until a few more lessons... How about a bow and arrow?" Moody asked.

"I used to steal Ron's play Muggle one as a child, but I wasn't very good," she replied grinning sheepishly.

"All right... You will begin learning on a bow and arrow," Moody said. Ginny nodded. "Get the bow and quiver of arrows, then I will show you how to use them," Moody instructed as he conjured a target. Ginny went over to the wall, taking the equipment off it. "Hold it with the string facing you," he said.

Ginny tried not to roll her eyes. So she'd never used a real bow before, but that didn't mean she was completely idiotic to not know what way the bow had to be!

"Put your left hand up a bit... It needs to be in the middle of the bow," Moody instructed. "That's better... Now get an arrow with your right hand. Put the string in the notch on the arrow, and place the tip just over your left hand. Now, pull back and release," Moody said simply.

Ginny did as he said and let go of the arrow. It flung forward, barely landing more than one metre away from her. Somehow, she didn't think that was supposed to happen...

"I forgot to add that you need to aim. Hold your left arm straighter and pull back so your right arm is completely bent. That's right... Now try," he said.

For one of the first times in her life, Ginny cursed her breasts. Her left one kept getting in the way and she couldn't hold her arm straight enough! Moody saw her predicament and smirked.

"Amazon women used to cut off their left breast so they could shoot arrows properly..." He said. Ginny glared at him.

"I may not be able to shoot this properly, but you're close enough to get stabbed by it Moody, so watch yourself," Ginny snarled. Moody just laughed harshly.

"You want to fight me, then you can do it in your own time," he said. "Now shoot the blasted arrow."

Ginny glared at him again then shot the arrow, remembering what he had said. It went straighter and further this time, actually piercing the target board. It wasn't on the main target, but it could be improved with practice.

"Good... It's time for your next lesson. Shrink the bow and arrows and take them with you. Practice as often as you can," Moody said. "And don't forget your exercises," he said sternly. Ginny just looked at him pointedly.

"Of course not... Thank you for teaching me today, Professor. I will see you tomorrow," Ginny said, then shrinking the equipment, she put on her robes and went to the Defence Against the Dark Arts room.

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Ginny knocked on the door and waited until Lupin called for her to enter to do so.

She walked into the room and sat down in front of Remus, wondering why he looked so stern and angry at her. She'd changed into her normal clothes and was barely a minute late, so she didn't think he had a reason to look angry with her. Then she remembered Bexley and winced inwardly.

"Good morning, Miss Weasley... I trust that you are well?" Lupin asked.

"I am fine, thank you sir... And yourself?" Ginny asked.

"Angry, as you can probably tell. What reason did you have to steal the Boggart?" He asked, glaring at her.

"Uh, no particular reason... I didn't want the Boggart to die just because it scared a few third years," Ginny said shrugging.

"Don't think I'm going to believe that..." He said indignantly. Bexley flew out of Ginny and looked at Remus.

"I apologise for leaving your drawer, Mr. Lupin. I did not want to be killed, and I begged Ginevra to spare my life... If I had known that my actions were going to get her into trouble, I would have gladly died..." Bexley said.

"Oh, don't say that! I mean it, don't ever say that!" Ginny protested, angry that he would 'die' for her and they didn't even know each other properly.

"I apologise Ginevra," Bexley said with a bow.

"What are you?" Lupin asked, looking at the mist-like being in front of him. Bexley sighed.

"Oh dear... I think this is going to have to be explained the hard way," he said sadly and began to change. A full moon appeared in front of Lupin and he paled drastically. He fumbled for his wand and pointed it at the Boggart. As he went to say the incantation 'Riddikulus', Ginny went between him and the mist.

"Please, sir... Put your wand away..." She said softly, convincing him to lower his wand. "Thank you," she said with a sigh of relief.

Bexley floated back into her quickly and Ginny sat down again. She looked at Lupin's pale face and grinned suddenly.

"At least you can believe me now," she said. Lupin looked at her, then shook his head for a moment before returning to his desk. He pulled out a scroll and passed it to Ginny.

"This is a list of books that you will need to study for this subject... Most of them are from the Restricted Section, but you have unlimited access to those books, so it should not pose a problem for you. If Madam Pince has a problem with it, then I have signed the bottom of the parchment," Lupin instructed. Ginny nodded.

"Thank you, Professor," she said.

"You're welcome, Miss Weasley," he replied. "I apologise for my anger before," he said reluctantly, but Ginny waved it off.

"No need to apologise. You're human, you have every right to get angry," she said then smiled at him. "What wonderful lessons are you going to teach me today?" Ginny asked.

Lupin gave a grin then went over to a stand nearby and took off two thick coats. He gave one to Ginny, who put it on, then followed him outside. Lupin led Ginny out to the furthest gate of Hogwarts and they passed through the barrier with no great difficulty.

"Do you know how to Apparate?" Lupin asked Ginny.

"Not yet, sir... My Apparation tests start next month," she replied. "But I have Apparated with Fred and George before."

"That will do. Please, take my arm," he said.

Ginny held on to Lupin's arm and they Apparated. Air seemed to disappear and Ginny's lungs weren't able to take in any oxygen. She tried to quench her fear and concentrate on her heartbeat, as her breaths were no longer available to calm her. Ginny's lungs felt that they were about to pop and with that, they arrived at their destination.

The first thing Ginny noticed was the freezing, bitter wind. It seemed to be intent on blowing her away, or at the very least, freezing her to the spot. Clutching the thick cloak around her, Ginny looked around the frozen land and wondered where on Earth they were. Seeing her confused look, Lupin smiled.

"We are in Antarctica," he said.

Ginny stared at him in shock, her facial muscles too frozen to yell at him. Lupin performed a warming charm on Ginny's coat and she relaxed into the warmth before sending him a glare that Death itself would have been proud of.

"How dare you drag me out to this frozen wasteland without even telling me! For the Gods sakes, Lupin! I would have thought you would have more sense than that! How in the Gods names did you even know how to get to this Gods forsaken place?!" Ginny yelled.

"Ginevra, I would suggest that you keep your voice down, unless you would like to cause an avalanche."

The thought of an avalanche, after yesterday's tests made Ginny go quiet quickly. She just nodded and had to be content with glaring at him instead.

"As you will soon see, this place is not a wasteland, nor is it Gods forsaken... I will presently tell you exactly how I knew to get here," Lupin said, then started to walk away. The wind blew his coat every which way and Ginny was reluctant to follow him, in case they got lost. "I know where we are going, Ginevra. Please, follow me," Lupin said and started to walk away again.

Ginny considered staying where she was, but getting lost in the middle of a frozen and foreign land was not going to get her anywhere, especially as she didn't have the ability to Apparate yet. With a sigh, she followed Lupin, the wind guiding her along.

When Lupin stopped at an iceberg, Ginny looked to him for an explanation. Lupin didn't notice her, taking his wand out of his robe and tapping the iceberg in a particular way that Ginny would never know. The iceberg started to rumble and without warning, a hole formed in front of them, creating a portal-like door. Lupin smiled at Ginny, then indicated for her to enter the iceberg first. Wary, but eager to get out of the cold, Ginny complied and walked down into the ice, Lupin following.

Ginny was shocked to find that as she went deeper into the iceberg, it actually got warmer. When she entered a large lair-like room, Ginny saw that there was furniture and other homely items strewn about the place.

"Where on Earth did that door lead?" She asked incredulously.

"Into the iceberg," Lupin replied with a simple shrug. "The walls are protected so the iceberg doesn't melt with the heat, and the heat is actually contained within here, not going elsewhere within the iceberg," he said, pride seeping into his voice. Ginny looked at him as his final words sunk in.

"You mean there's more places like this in this iceberg?" She asked. Lupin nodded.

"Of course... Why wouldn't there be?" He asked.

"I... don't know..." Ginny said, then shook her head for a moment. "So how did you know how to get here?" She asked.

Lupin indicated to the seat nearby and she sat down, watching him expectantly. He cleared his throat for a second and looked away. When he looked back to Ginny, his eyes were wide and he looked frightened. It was only then that Ginny noticed he had a large mental block on his mind. She frowned inwardly as Lupin usually didn't have a mental block that big when with her. She could usually read him as she did a book!

"When I was younger, before this... curse," he said in disgust, referring to his werewolf side. "My parents used to go travelling everywhere. Africa, India, America, Australia. You name it, they went there... My parents rarely took me with them, so whenever they did I made myself relive it for weeks afterwards, just so I wouldn't forget it when I grew older. My parents brought me here about twice before I was bitten and I loved it both times. I made some great friends here and I found out about magic here too, so this place is very special to me..." Lupin trailed off. With a sudden snap back to reality, he stood up then helped Ginny up. "I will show you around. You may need this place one day, and it will do no good to you if you do not know where to go," he said.

Ginny wondered how she would need it, but gave a nod and followed him out of a door that she hadn't seen before. Lupin showed Ginny around the entire honeycomb iceberg. There seemed to be rooms overflowing from the icy building, but the rooms didn't affect anything on the outside world, unlike much Muggle houses and buildings.

They passed a kitchen, more than one bathroom, and Ginny was almost positive that she saw a miniature hospital at one point... Soon, a small alarm went off inside Lupin's robes and he sighed, searching his many pockets. He eventually pulled out a small waistcoat watch and shook his head, then smiled at Ginny.

"Time's up, I'm afraid... We have to return to Hogwarts so you can finish your lessons for today," he said, then took her arm. "Ready?"

"Yes," Ginny said through gritted teeth. The Apparation back didn't seem as bad and Ginny breathed easier through the short trip.

"There you are... It wasn't so bad, now was it?" Lupin asked smiling.

"No, it was interesting... Thank you, Professor," Ginny said giving him back the thick winter coat. She walked into the Hogwarts grounds quickly and sped off as a wolf so she could get some recess into her stomach before her next lesson.

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Ginny's friends watched as she ate even more food than usual and at ten times the speed.

"Would you calm down? You're going to give yourself a heart attack if you keep eating like that without so much as taking a breath," Pansy said, then lowered Ginny's fork slowly. Ginny finished her mouthful and grinned at her.

"Sorry... Been walking and training since I got up... All that work makes me slightly hungry," she said looking at the half-finished third plate of food.

"Why do you have to do so much work? You're not that dumb to need all the extra classes to catch up to our year..." Blaise said with a wink so she wouldn't get offended.

"This work's not for school..." Ginny said vaguely. The others nodded in understanding. Suddenly, Blaise glared over at the Gryffindor table.

Ginny turned to see Lavender sitting on his lap, whispering in his ear. The seventh year from her vision grinned, blushing brightly as he nodded eagerly. Lavender grinned and then got off of his lap daintily, making sure she rubbed up against him along the way. The poor boy blushed even brighter, positively staring as Lavender left the Great Hall, winking at him 'discreetly'.

"Can I at least find out the little prick's name?" Blaise asked Ginny quietly.

Ginny considered it for a moment then gave a brief nod. Blaise got up and went over to the boy, who still hadn't recovered from the episode with Lavender. Ginny decided to tune out, but when she heard the name 'Tom' she paled and looked over to Blaise and... Tom.

"Excuse me for a moment..." Ginny said, then left the Great Hall quickly, avoiding her friend's questions and worried looks. She ran.

Blaise walked back over to the Slytherin table and sat down. Neville waited expectantly, knowing that whatever Blaise had found out made Ginny look like she was back in her first year. The realisation hit him like a Bludger.

"His name's Tom, isn't it?" He asked. Colin and Luna went pale too.

When Blaise gave a surprised nod, Neville got up and ran out of the Great Hall as fast as he could, almost knocking over other students along the way. Neville ran, barely hearing the others following him. When he burst out of the castle, he yelled something loudly in a language that not even he recognised.

Wind whipped around him, trees started to grow and shrink around him, and even the grass seemed to react to whatever he had said. Almost as if he'd expected this, Neville gave a quick bow to the earth and ran back inside.

Pansy panted as she ran along, not used to such strenuous activity with two legs. She'd seen the look of horror on Ginny's face, then on Neville's and knew it had something to do with the name 'Tom'. Pansy had a fair idea and if she was right, then... Well, Lucius Malfoy had better wish that he was dead, because Azkaban was going to look like a picnic when she was through with him!

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Ginny ran through the building, not caring where she was going, or where she would end up. She just wanted to get away from that name. Fast...

She was stupid to have thought that he didn't affect her anymore. She feared him more and more every day. Her fear had once been a seed, and now... Now, it was growing and branching through every part of her body, so that she couldn't even hear his Muggle name without being frightened half to death that he was coming back for her. She loved Tom... He would come back for her... He promised... He always kept his promises... Always...

Ginny ran faster. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

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Neville's speed picked up and it was only as he left half of the others in his wake that they noticed the path he'd been creating. Flowers and small plants followed Neville's path, though they weren't happy nice flowers that one would give to a friend or lover. Each grotesque flower was jet black and the vines were blood red... Neville was scared and worried.

The dying flowers spurring on more adrenalin, the others picked up their speed again, following the flowers that seemed to get even darker and uglier with each bend they turned.

Pansy and the other four came to a short stop when they saw Neville standing at a black door where the Room of Requirement was. Luna and Colin walked over to Neville, who was staring at the door, his shoulders heaving with each sob that he breathed. Draco looked upset and Pansy was shocked that he had even allowed that much emotion to filter through his mask.

"She won't let us in," Neville said, looking at them. Colin was shocked at the scared, almost wild look in his friend's face.

"She will eventually," Luna said confidently. "Pansy will help with a spell," she said, her dreamy voice having a definite edge to it. Pansy looked confused, but as Luna's eyes continued to pierce into her mind, she paled.

"I couldn't! Do you know the dangers of that spell? Professionals haven't even mastered that spell properly! It takes years upon years to even understand what half of the spell means! I haven't looked at it for so long anyway! I've probably forgotten half of it!" Pansy protested. Luna just smiled and nodded.

"I did not say that you will help right at this instant, Water Pansy..." She said, her voice dreamy once more.

Pansy breathed a sigh of relief, leaving the others wondering. Colin banged on the door, but it didn't open. He called out for Ginny, but there was no answer. Neville sighed.

"She won't let us in," he repeated sombrely. "I tried all of that before you arrived," he added.

The flowers around him were now withering and dying at a rapid pace. He flicked at a few of them, wondering if flowers had souls and could go into the Otherworld after they died. He wondered if they could be scared of death... The thought sparked something in him and he grinned suddenly, the flowers bursting into life again.

"Bexley!" He called loudly.

Draco's face lit up with hope and he began calling out for him too. Soon all ten of them were calling for the Boggart. A mist floated out from the door and Ginny appeared in front of them, her eyes sunken and hollow. She looked like she was dying!

"If you would all stop thinking about Ginevra dying as your worst fear, then I would gladly return to my true form," Bexley announced. With relief, they all stopped thinking about it, except Colin, Neville, Blaise and Draco. "Please, I urge you to refrain in those thoughts... I can not concentrate properly while you are thinking like that," he pleaded. Reluctantly, the four stopped that train of thought and Bexley sighed as he returned to his mist form.

"What's wrong with Ginevra?" Draco demanded instantly.

"I apologise, but I do not know... She will not allow even myself to see," Bexley said, sounding quite upset about it. "She's in that small dark room and will not come out until she's ready to," he said looking back to the door. "I must make sure that she will not harm herself... If you will excuse me," Bexley said and floated through the door again.

"That's it," Pansy growled. She grabbed Neville and pulled him along to an empty classroom. "What in the Gods names happened to her?!" She asked.

"We only know small bits and pieces..." Neville said reluctantly, Colin and Luna nodding in turn.

"Not even you know more about what happened to her?" Pansy asked sneeringly at Luna.

"She would not allow me to know any more than she told us and I can not See into the past, I'm afraid. My Sight only allow me to see the present and future. It takes a very skilled witch to See the past too," Luna said with a small shrug. She knew that Pansy was just worried about Ginny and so did not get offended by her tone.

"I think that Ron and Harry know more about it than we do though," Colin said sounding almost nervous. Pansy's eyes narrowed and she left the room. Draco paced angrily, his hurt showing with each step that he took.

"You had better tell us what you know," Blaise suggested and sat on a table in front of them. Neville looked to Colin and Luna. Colin looked scared, even Luna's face had lost the full dream-like state of it, to be replaced by something fearful.

"We can't... Ginny made us promise by a Blood Oath and an Unbreakable Vow. If we break it then we all die, Ginny included," Neville said eventually. Shocked silence fell over the room and even Draco stopped pacing in shock.

"You promised on a Blood Oath and an Unbreakable Vow?" Blaise asked the three of them in shock. The two of those spells on their own was powerful and unnerving, but together... Together was dangerous and so much more that he didn't even want to think about. Blaise shook his head.

They nodded, almost surprised at their reactions.

"Why wouldn't we? We knew that whatever Ginny was going to tell us was important for our friendship and we trust her with our lives... Besides, no one would think that we knew anything about it, or if they did they wouldn't believe a thing we said. We're no one, remember?" Colin said.

Draco started pacing again and the room fell to silence, his footsteps echoing against the stone walls.

In a few minutes, Pansy had returned, Ron and Harry with her. She'd obviously used an immobilisation spell on them, as they didn't try to move.

"What do you want with us?" Ron asked glaring at them.

"We want to know what happened to Ginevra... And you are going to tell us," Pansy said glaring at them.

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Ginny took comfort in the darkness around her. She didn't have to look around and see anyone staring at her, cringing away from her, glaring at her. Ginny hugged her knees tightly, trying all the while to stop thinking about her first year.

Ginny watched happily as Tom came out of the diary. She was about to meet the one person who understood her and loved her for who she was. He loved her enough to help her out with Harry. And by the Gods, did Tom look a lot like Harry!

She saw him and fell in love with him immediately. He charmed his way into her life, making her want to tell all of the information about Harry to him. He told her he loved her. She followed his instructions to get to the Chamber and watched as he came out of the diary to open the Secret Chamber for her.

"No. No! NO!" Ginny yelled and blocked her eyes, shutting her eyes tightly. She didn't want to see this ever again! The memory continued, oblivious to her protests.

She'd been scared when she saw Harry with the diary. And jealous. How dare he talk to her Tom?! She stole the diary back, wanting to know how much he'd told Harry. How much Tom hadn't told her.

Ginny was stupid to think that he didn't affect her. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Tom affected every part of her. Gods, how she missed him! She wanted Tom back!

Bexley floated out of Ginny, though she seemed unaware of it. When he returned seconds, minutes, hours later, he looked at her for a moment before plunging headfirst into her mind.

Ginny fought him. She didn't want anyone to know about this. They didn't have to know. Once they knew, then they would all hate her for sure... She'd only just got friends who she could trust...

After a few minutes, Bexley flew out of Ginny in shock. He changed his form into that of a human and pulled Ginny off the ground, looking into her eyes.

"Fight him, Ginevra!" He growled, pleaded and begged all at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, shocked enough out of her present state of mind to think coherently again.

"The memories from last night triggered something that he left in you. You need to fight it," Bexley said.

"Tom left something in me?" She asked, then the shock began to wear off, anger replacing it quickly. "I'll kill that lying, two-faced bastard with my bare hands!"

"I'm sure you will, but in the meantime you still need to fight him," Bexley said then placed her on the ground. "Breathe as you do when you need to change your form," he instructed.

Ginny closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing.

"Good. Now, imagine your mind as a colour. Red will do," he said smiling at the obvious choice. "Got that? Good work. Now, imagine that Tom is in your mind but as a different colour... Blue or black so you can spot him easily," Bexley said. Ginny gave the smallest of nods and he continued. "Now, imagine that colour changing. Instead of being Blue or black, the red is starting to seep into it. The red is covering all of the other colour, making it fade away."

Ginny tried to do as Bexley said, but the colour was intent on fighting back, not willing to leave her mind.

She loved Tom. Tom would return for her. Tom promised. He never broke his promises.

"I can't do this, Bexley! He's stronger than I am!" Ginny said sobbing as the black colour began to spread into the rest of her mind.

"Fight him, Ginevra..." A voice said beside her.

If Ginny had control over her eyes, she would have opened them. She was positive that was Malfoy's voice!

"Fight him," Draco said in her ear.

Ginny clutched onto his robes and imagined as hard as she could that the black was fading and being replaced by red. She heard voices of encouragement all around her, then another voice interrupted. Ginny knew who it was, but she could only think of 'evil' to describe it, not his name.

"Go back to your slimy little body you half-Muggle wimp of a bastard!" Pansy hissed at the voice. It hissed back at her, but Pansy continued to taunt it instead, still giving Ginny encouragement at the same time.

Ginny kept thinking of the red taking over until all of the black had disappeared, then made sure that everything else was the right colour too before allowing herself to open her eyes, that were now in her control again. She looked around the light room and saw her friends beside her, looking worried to say the least. Ginny realised that she was clutching onto Draco's robes with a white-knuckled death grip and slowly pried her fingers away.

"I... I'm sorry," Ginny said quietly as their worried thoughts flooded her mind. Surprisingly as he was often blocked, Draco's mind was the loudest. Ginny looked at him for a second and then looked away quickly. Pansy walked over and wrapped her arms around Ginny tightly.

"You should have told us, Ginevra," she said quietly.

"I didn't want to lose you all so soon," Ginny replied then burst into tears. Pansy soothed Ginny and watched as the others looked on in concern.

"Ginevra... Stop crying for a moment," Pansy said softly. "Look at me," she instructed. Ginny reluctantly raised her head and looked at Pansy. "We are your friends. Though that may seem little to you, for us it means so much more. We Slytherins are very loyal and for all of us to be friends with you means that we will do anything for you; to protect you. Look at all of us. We are completely serious," Pansy said, indicating to the others standing around them. Ginny looked through blurred eyes and smiled softly as she realised that what Pansy was saying was right.

"You should already know, but that goes for us too," Neville said for himself, Colin and Luna, who both nodded in agreement.

"Thank you..." Ginny said softly. Luna walked over, her face no longer dreamy. In fact she looked sad.

"I need to speak with Ginevra for a moment," Luna said and instantly a barrier came up around two of them, as was the requirement. Luna looked at Ginny, her eyes sadder than Ginny had ever seen them before. Without a word, Luna rested her hand on Ginny's forehead and closed her eyes. As images played in front of her eyes, Ginny reluctantly followed suit.

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Ginny searched everywhere, unable to find her friend. She called out for her in a loud tone, no longer restraining her voice to whispers. She didn't hear a worded response, but in fact she heard the reply in her mind. Ginny ran, following the instructions of her friend.

Ginny pushed open the large door and her senses were immediately overloaded with a disgusting foul stench.

"Pansy! Are you in here?" Ginny called, trying to block her nose.

The reply was in the affirmative and Ginny lit her wand softly. Big mistake... Dead bodies littered the floor and by the smell of them, they seemed to be weeks, even months old.

"Where are you Pansy?" Ginny asked softly, trying not to breathe in the stench.

She began to move slowly across the floor as per Pansy's instructions. Ginny arrived at the spot and saw a beaten and bruised body lying in front of her. If not for the sigh of relief that sounded in her mind, Ginny would not have recognised the person.

"Pansy?" She said quietly. Tears fell from the broken face and Ginny dropped beside her friend. "Do you think you can Apparate with me?" Ginny asked; the answer in the affirmative.

She took Pansy's bony hand and held her as close as she could without fear of breaking or hurting her more. With a small breath to calm her racked and shocked nerves, Ginny Apparated to Antarctica.

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"Why the fuck did you have to show me that!?" Ginny shouted as soon as it had finished. "This is the exact reason I do not want to do this! I don't to want to have to See that! Gods... I don't want to be responsible to know that! Any of it!" Ginny yelled. "Why did you have to show me that Luna?" Ginny cried, her emotions still everywhere. "Why?!"

"It was necessary for you to See it. If it had not been through me, then you would have been forced again to See. You should not try to stop Seeing. If you stop then you will not have the means to stop events that could have been prevented," Luna said softly.

"Does that mean I can go dismember that bitch Brown by any chance?" Blaise queried 'innocently'.

"No. That event has been told for years. For you to try and stop it now will cause something even worse. Do not try to stop her, or the consequences will be even worse than what you have already Seen," Luna said.

"Brown is part of it?" Draco asked, a steel edge to his voice. Ginny looked up at him in fear, hoping that he wouldn't go and do something rash.

"Until you know what 'it' is you can not even try to think to stop it Draconius," Luna said. "And even though you will See it, we both know that you will not stop it," she added. Draco glared at her.

"Why not?" He asked angrily. Luna just smiled and looked to Ginny, the barrier disappearing.

"You should leave for your next lesson now, Ginevra... I took the liberty in telling Firenze and Trewlaney for you earlier today," Luna said. Ginny frowned for a moment then looked from her to the others and nodded.

"Thanks for helping me," she said quietly then left, listening as the others started quizzing Luna immediately.

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As it was already past halfway through the lesson with Professor Binns, Ginny decided to skip it and just went down to her room instead.

After reading for ten minutes, Ginny looked around at all of the reflective surfaces around her. With the vision that she'd just Seen still in her mind, Ginny muttered a spell and sheets immediately began to cover each and every one of the reflective surfaces.

She didn't want to See anything for as long as possible, never mind that she was supposed to show Draco The Vision before the weekend ended...

She looked at her watch and sighed, seeing that she was late for her lesson with McGonagall and Tonks. Shaking her head, Ginny grabbed her books and headed to the Transfiguration classroom, rubbing at her red eyes. After casting a Glamour on her face to conceal her eyes, Ginny entered the Transfiguration classroom and saw McGonagall and Tonks waiting for her impatiently.

"There you are, Miss Weasely! We have been waiting for you for five minutes. What do you have to say for yourself?" McGonagall asked sternly.

"I have nothing to say for myself, Professor. I was late and I can not change that without the help of a Time Turner," Ginny said simply. McGonagall glared at her, not impressed by Ginny's retort.

"All right... You were late, let's get over it. Now can we start the lesson? I want to try and change into an animal again," Tonks said, noticing the shimmer on Ginny's face, hence knowing that she'd cast a Glamour.

McGonagall glared at Tonks, who just smiled innocently as if she'd had nothing to do with taking the attention away from Ginny.

"Very well..." McGonagall said crisply, knowing that it would not be good to start yelling at another teacher for a complete lack of regard to the rules of the school, especially in front of a student. "You are not going to change into an animal today. Instead you will be changing your features with the help of... Tonks," McGonagall said crisply. "I have business to attend to, but I will be back by the end of the lesson to see your progress."

"Yes Professor. I look forward to seeing you at the end of the lesson," Ginny said with a smile. Minerva just nodded and left quickly, shutting the door with slightly more force than necessary.

"Right... Glamour off, right now!" Tonks said. Ginny gave a small pout then took the spell off. "Wow... What the hell happened to you?" Tonks asked in shock.

Ginny frowned, wondering what Tonks was going on about. Tonks grabbed a quill and did a basic transfiguration.

"Be quick, I never was good with those spells," she said, handing Ginny the mirror.

Ginny looked into the mirror and saw her red puffy eyes from crying. It wasn't until she actually looked at her eyes properly that she noticed anything different to cause Tonks' odd behaviour. Her pupils had changed colour... Instead of the normal black colour of her pupils, they were now a very dark red colour. If Tonks hadn't pointed it out, Ginny may not have noticed, they were that close to black. Her eyes still had the red wisps in them too, which Ginny thought would have gone by now as the danger of being allergic was long gone. She made a mental note to go and ask Dumbledore about it during lunch. The mirror changed back into a quill and she handed it back to Tonks.

"I don't know what happened to them," Ginny said with a small shrug, realising that Tonks was waiting for an answer.

"All right... I hope you've been practising how to change your features," she said with a small grin.

"Uh... Not really. I've been busy and I haven't had much time to practise. Sorry," Ginny said quickly. Tonks just waved off her apology, still grinning.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll find time to practise over some period of your life," she said laughing. "All right. Change your left eye, then your right and then we can get onto changing other body parts," Tonks instructed.

Ginny did as she was told and in a few moments her eyes had changed from brown to blue.

"Very nice... Now try to change your hair. Go blonde..." Tonks said, daring her to do it.

Ginny smirked and concentrated for a moment, her hair changing blonde and going into curls. Tonks whistled, grinning brightly.

"Well, that look is enough to make any guy drop to his knees drooling over you," Tonks said with a wink. Ginny just batted her eyelashes prettily.

"Personally, I think blonde and green eyes look just as good," she said after a moment's consideration and her eyes changed. "Well, it doesn't have to be curls or blonde," Ginny said and her hair grew past her backside and changed between a very dark brown and black colour.

"Very good. Now go back to your normal self and I'll explain how you change your other body parts," Tonks said.

Ginny nodded and was back to her normal form in a minute or two. She sat on a chair in front of Tonks, waiting patiently.

"Right... Do you know anything about the human anatomy?" Tonks asked. Ginny shook her head, hoping that she didn't have to. "Well, neither do I, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem... According to the "officials" it's better to know about the human skeletal structure so you don't mix up and get a left rib taken out instead of the right when you're changing into a male," Tonks said with a shrug.

"Wait a minute... I have to change into a guy?! Why?" Ginny asked, not too thrilled about the prospect.

"Well, it helps if you're trying to get away from people. If they're looking for a woman, and you're suddenly a man, they won't suspect a thing," Tonks said as she changed her body to look like a man. "You don't have to change all of your body, just as long as everything private stays private, you should be fine," Tonks said with a wink. "Although, there are some benefits in having all of the male body parts," she said obviously reminiscing a past memory.

Ginny winced at the images that were being presented in her mind. She shook her head and blocked the images quickly.

"Uh... Sorry about that," Tonks said with a grin as she realised that Ginny could see what she was thinking. She flushed brightly and turned her mind to safer topics of discussion. "When you try to change your body shape to something bigger or shorter than your own skeleton, you have to imagine your bones either growing or shrinking. If you don't do this, then the entire process will be for nothing because you'll just have extra skin flapping off you without any skeletal structure to keep it in place or any real use... Speaking of men," Tonks said with a wink and laugh. Ginny smiled back and Tonks gave her the go ahead to attempt lengthening her arm.

Ginny concentrated and thought about the bones in her right arm growing longer, her skin and nervous system growing with the bones. She felt a pull in her right arm but refused to look until the process had finished. Once the pulling feeling had stopped Ginny tentatively opened her eyes, almost expecting nothing to have happened. She saw that her arm was longer than her left one and tried not to get too excited too soon. She tried to flex her hand and it thankfully moved. Ginny kept experimenting with her hand, waving it and moving one finger at a time, almost oblivious to the proud look on Tonks' face.

"You can try changing you left arm now," Tonks said smiling at Ginny.

With a nod, Ginny concentrated and felt her left arm growing. She rushed the process, her eagerness getting her ahead of herself. When Ginny looked at her left arm, she saw that it had grown longer, but was more floppy than her right. She tried to move her hand but it refused to budge and she sighed in disappointment.

"I tried to rush it," Ginny said in an upset tone. Tonks just nodded.

"Put it back and try again at a pace that you can actually handle," she said sympathetically, knowing exactly how it felt.

Ginny nodded and concentrated, her arm returning to its normal state. Within another ten minutes Ginny had lengthened her left arm to the same length as her right.

"Excellent. Now try your feet. Always do your feet first. You don't want to get longer legs and suddenly lose the capacity to stand properly. Believe me, the taller you are, the more it hurts when you hit the ground," Tonks said grinning. "Oh, and take your shoes and socks off first. Feet really hurt when they're pushed into tight spaces," she said with a frown.

"You've done that before?" Ginny asked with a grin. Tonks shook her head.

"No. I was forced into high heels," she said laughing. "Bad experience all around. My feet were not made to go in pointed high heels that no normal foot should be able to fit into to start with!" Tonks said grinning broadly. Ginny shook her head with a grin and concentrated on making her feet larger. After testing them, she changed her facial features, just for the fun of it, before she began to grow taller via her legs.

"Your body will have to become slightly larger to, so it's in proper proportion to you legs and arms now," Tonks said after Ginny's legs had grown.

"All right..." Ginny said and after a few minutes, her body was proportional to the rest of her. "So, how do I look?" Ginny asked grinning as she gave a twirl.

"Very good. I wonder if you could fool people though. Some people can just see straight through it. Something with recognising the soul instead of the person, or something like that," Tonks said shaking her head. Almost as if on cue, the door opened and McGonagall walked into her classroom.

"Tonks... Where is Ginevra?" She asked looking around the room. "And who is this?" She asked looking at Ginny quizzically. "I trust you to teach Ginevra and you've let her wander off somewhere and let another person in here! This behaviour is most unprofessional!" McGonagall said. Ginny shook her head for a moment.

"Professor. I am right here... Tonks has been teaching me, that's why I look like this," Ginny said as she began to change her body back to normal.

McGonagall watched in shock as the person in front of her changed into Ginny. As she looked like she was about to faint, Ginny conjured a chair for McGonagall and convinced her to sit down.

"I believe an apology is necessary," Ginny prompted, noticing that Tonks looked hurt. McGonagall gave a brief nod and looked at Tonks.

"I am sorry for accusing you like that... My business didn't go very well and, well... I took it out on you. I apologise," McGonagall said, sounding both annoyed and upset.

"Apology accepted. I think Minerva has seen your progress. You can go now, Ginny," Tonks said.

"Thanks Tonks," Ginny said grinning as she grabbed her bag and left. She knew she was going to have some fun with the results of that lesson!

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Ginny cast a Glamour on her eyes so no one would freak out then went to the Great Hall to find Dumbledore. She saw him sitting at the teacher's table and went over to ask what was wrong with her eyes. Ron and Harry, both of whom looked extremely angry with her for some reason, stopped her from doing this.

"We need to talk to you outside," Ron said angrily and pulled Ginny out of the Great Hall roughly. Ginny wrenched her arm away and slapped him across the face.

"Do not touch me! I swear, if you weren't my brother, you would be unconscious right now!" Ginny said angrily. Ron stared at her for a second, clutching his stinging face.

"I swear that if you weren't my sister you would be in St. Mungo's! Parkinson and your Slytherin buddies just forced us to tell them about what happened in your first year!" Ron said angrily.

"Well, that's not my fault, now is it?!" Ginny said. Ron's thoughts came at her angry and loud.

It is your fault! You didn't stop even try to stop Voldemort! Ginny stared at her brother in shock.

"Very well... If that's what you think then..." Ginny shook her head sadly, refusing to cry yet again.

Swiftly, she pierced Ron's chest with extended fingernails. She didn't say anything, Ginny only stared at her brother. Ron stared at his pierced chest in shock, then at her before the images overloaded him and he fainted.

"What the hell did you do to him?!" Harry yelled as Ron slumped to the floor.

"I showed him all of my first year..." Ginny explained then went into the Great Hall, leaving Ron shaking and unconscious and Harry trying to levitate him to the hospital wing. "You might want to go take Ron to the hospital wing, Hermione," Ginny said to her.

With a nod, frown and confused look, Hermione grabbed her bag and headed outside quickly. Ginny went to the teacher's table again and waited until Albus acknowledged her presence before speaking.

"Miss Weasley, is there something I can help you with?" He asked smiling at her kindly.

"I was just wondering how, when and why my eyes became like this?" Ginny asked, the Glamour disappearing. Dumbledore paled and his face filled with shock, but in the next second he was smiling again, making Ginny wonder if she'd just imagined it.

"I think that had best be explained in private. I will explain it to you during our lesson, if you do not mind," he said. Ginny nodded. "Put the Glamour back on and go eat your lunch... Do not worry about it for now," Albus said, dismissing her.

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Ginny made her way down to the dungeons with no real enthusiasm. All her eagerness to learn and show her brothers that she could be happy had somehow left her, leaving her drained and lethargic. Dismissing it to having to work for seven days straight, Ginny entered the Potions classroom.

"Miss Weasley... How very nice of you to actually turn up," Snape said, having heard about Ginny missing class and arriving late from the other teachers.

"Now, now... Don't be mean or else you won't get your present," Ginny said with a mischievous grin.

Snape gave a small frown, wondering what on earth she was talking about. Ginny brought the Jobberknoll out of her bag and presented it to him.

"You're low on Jobberknoll feathers," she said with a shrug.

"But these are fresh... How did you get this? Are you playing a prank on me, Miss Weasley?" He asked sternly.

"Of course... I would only ever give you a gift to piss you off, wouldn't I, Severus?" Ginny drawled. Snape stared at her in shock for a moment, then glared at her.

"Do not use that language while you are in my classroom," he said. Ginny laughed harshly.

"Language can reflect the truth. Besides, I've used far worse than 'piss' while in your classroom Severus..."

"Are you all right?" Snape asked, frowning. Ginevra was rarely this easy to provoke.

"I'm just tired from having to work all day, every day. And I'm kind of hungry, but I'm sure I can wait until dinner," Ginny said. Her stomach growled, protesting to that comment. Suddenly realising the feeling of unusual emptiness in her stomach, Ginny swore loudly. "Uh... Can I go to the bathroom?" She asked, her face flushing.

Snape nodded, having come to the same conclusion as Ginny had. Not wanting to give Snape a reason to change his mind, Ginny ran to the closest bathroom, all the while cursing her hormones and the fact that she was a woman. The trip to the bathroom only proved her theory correct and needless to say that she was not a very happy person when she returned to the dungeons.

Quite aware of how women were at that time of the month, Snape warily proceeded to teach Ginny on how to keep a straight face when speaking to someone that you either didn't like, or were going to kill.

It was good in one sense that her monthly menstruation had started when he was teaching that, Snape mused to himself, smirking inwardly.

Ginny dragged herself out of the dungeons, her weariness finally catching up with her. She was grateful that Snape hadn't provoked her during the lesson. Not even Ron was that dumb to provoke her while she had her periods! Although Ginny was positive that he could disprove that theory in seconds...

She made her way to the Room of Requirement and waited for Albus to arrive. She was slightly shocked that he hadn't arrived yet, as he always seemed to be there before her...

"Miss Weasley. I do apologise for my tardiness," Albus said as he entered the room.

"That's all right, Headmaster... What's wrong with my eyes?" Ginny asked, straight to the point. She was too tired to beat around the bush with all of the trivial hello's and how are you's...

"There is nothing wrong with them, per say... Your progress is just going a lot faster than it should," Albus said.

"What on Earth does that mean? Is it good? Bad? Tell me something without your cryptic bloody answers!" Ginny cried. Albus just smiled, infuriating her further. He took of his glasses and proceeded to clean them calmly.

"I have been told of your situation, and so I will not take offence to that comment, Miss Weasley," Albus said. He finished cleaning his glasses and put them on, looking at her.

"Snape told you?!" Ginny asked in shock.

"Not necessarily... I figured it out myself when he failed to say exactly what was wrong with you," Albus replied with a small smile. "It is good that you are not using spells to prevent menstruating. It interferes too much with the natural... flow, if you will excuse the pun, of the human body," he said with a smile.

"There's spells to stop menstruation?" Ginny asked in shock. Then she realised whom she was talking to and what she was discussing and shook her head.

"Of course... What are you being taught?" Albus asked with a smile as he shook his head. "Never mind that... I think we should cancel today's lesson for you to recuperate and catch up on some sleep. I understand that last night must have been quite taxing for you," he said sympathetically.

"I'll be fine. I don't want to miss out on Hagrid's lesson again," Ginny said.

"That is understandable, but you must get some rest, so you can sleep through this lesson and if you feel well enough, you may attend Hagrid's lesson," Albus said, guiding her out of the room. "Oh, Miss Weasley? Next weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. I suggest that you take the two days off and have some fun and a rest," Albus said with a smile.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Ginny said smiling gently.

As Ginny made her way to her room she yawned, getting tired with each step. If she'd had any thoughts besides sleep, she might have realised that only spells made someone this relaxed and tired...

Ignoring the sheets covering most of her furniture, Ginny crawled into bed and conjured a hot water bottle. She was still muttering about the stupidity of menstruation and why men didn't have to go through the same thing when she fell asleep.

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Ginny knelt before the seated woman, desperately wanting to glare at her, but refraining, knowing her status within the magical community.

"My dearest daughter... What a pleasure it is to see you again. I apologise for not coming to greet you personally last night, but your messenger arrived only moments before you did yourself and I barely had enough time to organise sleeping quarters for you," the woman said smiling at her.

"I accept your apology, and I thank you for your hospitality," Ginny replied frostily.

"Is there something wrong, my daughter?" The woman asked. Ginny didn't know whether to tell her or not, but in the end she gave a small sigh and relented into telling her.

"Last night after I'd received your guest room, some men came in offering their... services to me. They said they had been sent by you," Ginny said, looking to the woman for her reaction.

"Yes, that is correct. I thought that you would be lonely, and I do not like my guests to be lonely whilst they are in my house," the woman replied.

"Then you did not realise that I am engaged to be married and have been for over three months now?" Ginny asked.

"I did not think that would matter. What Draconius does not know will not hurt him, now will it?" The woman said, her voice not telling of the expression that was on her face.

"It does matter if Draconius knows of my adultery or not, my lady. And if I had then I would have told him, as I would have been the one to commit the crime," Ginny said.

"I hardly think adultery and crime are necessary terms for something that happens before marriage, my daughter," the woman replied.

"They may not be necessary terms to yourself, my lady, but in my opinion I think they are," Ginny replied. "I apologise for my complaints, my lady. I know you are a busy woman and I will not impinge on your hospitality any further. Thank you for your hospitality," Ginny said with a bow.

"You are very welcome, my daughter. You will be welcome in this house always," the woman said smiling.

With another bow of respect, Ginny Disapparated.

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Ginny woke up, angry that she couldn't even escape Seeing in her dreams. After her initial anger had faded, Ginny looked for the source that had woken her up.

She looked at her watch then got out of bed, feeling surprisingly refreshed. With a small shrug, Ginny straightened her clothes with a spell and headed out her front door to go to Hagrid's hut.

"'Ello Ginnee..." Olympe said, smiling at Ginny.

"Good afternoon, Madam Maxime. How are you?" Ginny asked politely.

"Veree well, thank you Ginnee. 'Agrid is in ve Forbidden Forest," Olympe said and led Ginny along a concealed path. They ended up in a clearing and Hagrid smiled at them as they came in.

"'Ello Ginny," he said in a whisper, beckoning her over. Ginny walked over and looked at what he was indicating to.

"Is that an Erkling?" Ginny asked, staring at the elfish creature. The pointed face was a dead give away, but Ginny just wanted to be sure...

Erklings had entranced her with their high-pitched cackle at a younger age, though she never remembered what happened when she'd gone with them. Ginny thought she remembered lights, music, dancing and laughter, but there was no proof to that part of her memory. She'd woken up in St. Mungo's a day or two later, with Molly and Arthur anxiously hovering nearby.

As the memory resurfaced from the depths of her mind, Ginny shook her head in amazement. She'd forgotten all about that happening!

"Yeah, that's an Erkling," Hagrid said proudly. "It asked Olympe personally to see yer. She made it promise it wouldn't hurt yer, so yer can go talk to it now," Hagrid said smiling at Olympe. "If it tries anythin', we'll be 'ere watching," he said.

Ginny nodded and walked out of the clearing. At the sound of footsteps, the Erkling looked up. Seeing Ginny it gave a high-pitched cackle and wandered over to her. Offering her its long bony hand, the Erkling smiled and Ginny's memory flashed in her mind.

The Erkling was no taller than she was. It smiled and offered her its hand. Ginny took it and wandered down into the forest, leaving her blanket at one of the trees so she wouldn't forget it on her way out. The Erkling gave another laugh and skipped merrily into a clearing, Ginny following happily.

"Thank you Relo," Ginny said smiling at the Erkling. She took his hand and Relo laughed.

"You remembered! We thought you'd forgotten about us... You never came back to visit us," Relo said sadly.

"I wasn't allowed anywhere near the forest after that. Mum had someone follow me around until she was sure I wouldn't go into the forest," Ginny said, some anger popping up at that memory. Relo nodded.

"We thought so... We got something for you," Relo said grinning. He let go of her hand then scrounged around the forest floor, muttering to himself. "We know it's around here... We left it right here," Relo muttered, scratching his head. Then he laughed and grabbed something, putting it behind his back so she couldn't see then turned back to Ginny. "You have to guess or we won't give it to you!" Relo said smiling.

"A hat?" Ginny guessed, having no idea what he was hiding. Relo laughed again and shook his head.

"No! We saved your blanket!" Relo said, producing Ginny's blue baby blanket with a large smile. "We knew you were worried about it, so we saved it so it wouldn't get bad!" Relo said smiling still.

"Thank you Relo. That was very kind of you," Ginny said genuinely.

She took the slightly frayed and dirty blanket from him, amazed that it still looked the same as when she had left it at the edge of the forest. Not a thread was out of place, nor was there a stain on it that hadn't been there before!

"We told you that you would be a Queen, didn't we!?" Relo asked smugly. Ginny gave a small laugh, remembering that he had told her exactly that.

"You definitely did... Thank you for the warning," she said.

"Warning? No, it was not that! We told you so you could get ready! We did not want you to just... find out," Relo said. "You did forget, didn't you? We thought you had remembered!" Relo said and started to cry in a loud-pitched tone.

"I did remember, Relo... I just remembered about it too late," Ginny said trying to comfort the elf-like creature. "Don't cry, Relo. Now that I know what I am, you can help me, ok?" Ginny said. Relo stopped crying and looked at her hopefully.

"Not 'what'! 'Who'! You are not a what Queen, you are a who Queen!" Relo said adamantly. "We will help you!" He added before she could change her mind.

"Thank you, Relo," she said with a smile.

"You are welcome... Can we live with you?" Relo asked smiling.

"You're not going to try and eat anyone, are you?" Ginny asked suspiciously. Relo shook his head adamantly.

"We would never eat them! Not after our grandfather was killed by that awful fat boy with a cauldron! Evil little fat boy used a cauldron to kill our grandfather! That evil fat boy was famous for it too! Stupid fat boy," Relo growled, no longer smiling and happy.

"All right... If you don't eat children, what do you eat now?" Ginny asked Relo.

"We eat little birds and fishes! We will find our own food. We just need somewhere to stay so those big centaurs don't try to hunt us again!" Relo said with a whimper. "Centaurs don't like the clearings, so we live near them to be safe," he said. Then he smiled at Ginny. "But we don't need to now," he said happily.

"Do you know why the centaurs don't like the clearings?" Ginny asked curiously. Relo shook his head.

"No... We have our thoughts though," Relo said.

"Perhaps you could share them with me later," Ginny said with a smile. "I hope you don't mind if I go now," Ginny said as she heard Hagrid shifting restlessly behind them. "I still have to finish my lesson," she explained.

"We will go with you!" Relo said in excitement. Ginny looked at Hagrid for confirmation.

"What did he say?" Hagrid asked, looking confused.

Ginny looked from the Erkling to Hagrid and back again in confusion, wondering why Hagrid couldn't understand Relo, who was speaking close-to-perfect English for a being of his nature.

"It is your ability as Queen, Ginevra," Bexley whispered softly, recognising her confusion.

"Oh... Uh, can Relo come with us? He's staying with me from now on," Ginny explained.

Hagrid looked at the creature for a moment, then gave a nod. Relo laughed happily and jumped up onto Ginny's shoulder. As he was fairly small for an Erkling, he was able to sit on her shoulder without causing any discomfort.

"Yer not going ter try an' pick up a stray manticore any time soon, are yer?" He asked with a hint of a smile. Ginny just grinned and didn't reply. "Yer not, are yer?" Hagrid asked, more serious now.

"If you can keep a dragon, I should be able to keep a manticore," Ginny said.

"Knew I shouldna told yer 'bout that..." He muttered under his breath, shaking his head.

"It's all right, Professor... Where's Olympe gone?" Ginny asked him.

"She's gone to check up on Grawp," Hagrid replied.

"Oh, all right... So what are we going to see today?" Ginny asked.

"We're not going ter see anythin'. The unicorns want ter see yer alone fer some reason. They're a little further in ter the Forest. Third clearing apparently... No others allowed, including yer new Erkling an' Boggart," Hagrid said.

"Ginevra has a Boggart? Can we see it?" Relo asked excitedly. Bexley flew out of Ginny and over to Hagrid. Relo followed eager to see the Boggart. "Can you change into lots of things?" Relo asked grinning in an evil but surprisingly child-like-happy way.

"Bye Ginny," Hagrid said. Relo waved and Bexley bowed as Ginny went further down the path.

Ginny wandered down the path at a leisurely pace. Her stomach was beginning to get cramps and she really didn't feel like changing into anything, even if it meant getting to see the unicorns sooner.

Evita neighed when she saw Ginny walk into the clearing and trotted over to her, resting her horn to the ground. Ginny bowed in return, trying to ignore her cramps.

Hello, my daughter... I have an offer for you... Evita said. Ginny nodded for her to continue. I would wish that you would ride on me... The tone of her 'voice' implicated that she also knew what this meant for Ginny.

I accept your offer with great honour, Lady Evita, Ginny said with another bow. She was extremely honoured, and didn't want to seem negative, but this meant yet another thing that she would have to deal with...

Ginny sat on Evita hoping that this month's menstruation wouldn't be too heavy... She was glad that her first day wasn't the heaviest. That usually happened on the second and third day. Well, it had before she'd turned into a Vampiress... Shaking her head, Ginny turned her thoughts back to Evita.

Do not fear, my daughter... It is a natural process for one of your kind, and it will not bother me if something happens... Evita said, hearing Ginny's thoughts.

Thank you, Lady Evita, Ginny said, relaxing slightly.

Evita gave Ginny permission to hold onto her mane, then she galloped away at an amazing speed, the rest of the herd following. Evita galloped through the Forest even faster than the nundu had, and Ginny had to hold on for dear life as the unicorn's speeds increased even more. Stopping gently in a clearing, Evita waited as Ginny dismounted, shaken. However, Ginny wasn't that shaken to not notice the sounds around the clearing.

Do you know who is outside of the clearing, Lady Evita? Ginny asked. Evita just gave a smile and with a bow of her horn, she retreated from the clearing.

Ginny spun around as the sounds came from behind her. She looked at the person who had entered the clearing in shock. Alexander Tobias Therode was standing in front of her!

"My Queen," he said with a bow.

Ginny returned his bow, still in shock. Alexander walked over to her, smiling. He lifted his hand, with his palm facing her. As Ginny did the same action, a bright white-red light formed between their palms and Alexander went to the ground, kneeling before her. Ginny noticed that a symbol was glowing on his forehead in the same coloured light and wondered what it was.

"I, Alexander Tobias Therode, have been assigned to protect you, my Queen. I pledge that I will protect you and those around you with all of the power in my possession, or my life if I have to," Alexander said.

"I accept your pledge, Alexander Tobias Therode," Ginny said, wondering if that was all she had to say. As Alexander stood up again and didn't seem too fazed, she guessed that was sufficient...

"Is there anything my Queen wishes me to do for her?" Alexander asked.

"Firstly, my name is Ginevra, not my Queen," Ginny said. Alexander nodded his head in recognition, so Ginny continued. "Secondly, can I ask what that symbol on your forehead means?" Ginny asked curiously.

"The symbol means that I am a Protector, and I must protect you with my life, if the need arises. If I do not fulfil my job while in your service, then I can be stripped of all of my power and my memory will be erased. If the case is serious, then I can also be put to death," Alexander said.

"You can be stripped of your power?" Ginny asked with a shudder.

Stripping someone's power was almost as bad as taking away their soul. Shuddering again, she ignored the thought that reminded her of the vision she'd had featuring Alexander...

"Yes. It is uncommon, as all of the Protectors will protect their assigned with their lives. It is rare that a Protector should not fulfil his or her duty," Alexander said. Ginny just nodded, her mind intent on throwing her vision at her...

My daughter? It is time for you to return. Protector Alexander, you will not accompany Ginevra. You will watch over her from the boundaries of the Forest until the threat against Ginevra becomes more apparent.

"Threat? What threat?" Ginny asked, frowning.

There is no time, my daughter. Please, we must hurry if you are to return in time for your next lesson. I was given strict instructions by Hagrid... Evita said sounding worried. With a sigh, Ginny mounted Evita again and they sped off quickly.

What threat exactly? Ginny asked as they practically flew through the Forest.

We are not sure yet, my daughter. The threat is still hidden, even to those that are skilled in reading the future. The threat will not show until you are first hurt by it, Evita said, sounding both apprehensive and sad at the thought.

Do you know how long that will be? Ginny asked. Evita chose not to reply.

"There yer are Ginny! We've been waiting fer yer," Hagrid said. Ginny got off of Evita and gave a bow. Evita just nodded in recognition, then galloped away quickly.

"Sorry I'm late... I just got assigned my Protector," Ginny said.

Bexley floated into her and Relo jumped onto her shoulder, cackling happily.

"I know," Hagrid said as he led them out of the Forbidden Forest again.

"How do you know? Why does everyone know everything that's going to happen to me before I do?" Ginny complained.

"Yer not the only one who can See, Ginny," Hagrid said. "And if yer hadn't been silly enough to cover up yer mirrors and the like, then yer would have known," Hagrid admonished.

"Ok, just how did you know that?"

"I apologise, Ginevra... I did not know you wanted that fact to be kept from others," Bexley said from inside her. Ginny sighed and shook her head.

"It is fine, Bexley..." Ginny said.

"I'd invite yer in fer some tea, but I know Relo wants ter go see yer place," Hagrid said with a smile at the Erkling. "Bexley translated fer us," he explained at Ginny's confused look.

"All right... Thank you Hagrid," Ginny said then went over to her rooms.

She wrapped her robes around her tighter as the cool air seeped into her skin. It was going to rain soon, she could practically feel it.

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At eight o'clock Ginny began her exercises. She found that it wasn't the same as actually having someone there to exercise and fight with you, but she did the exercises nonetheless.

Ginny finished her last exercise and did some cool downs before calling for Relo, who had run off as soon as they'd arrived in her rooms. In seconds, Relo had returned, puffing slightly.

"You called us?" Relo asked smiling happily.

"Yes... I'm just going to dinner now, ok? Are you sure you don't want me to bring you something?" Ginny asked. Relo shook his head.

"No, we will be all right. We is going hunting for birds and fishes now," Relo said smiling. He waved and left quickly, scurrying away. Ginny gave her head a small shake then headed to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Hello Ginevra. You look happy," Pansy noted dryly.

"Uh... Thanks? Should I be unhappy about anything?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"Oh, ignore her. She's just being a sour snake," Millicent said smirking at Pansy.

"Shut up, Millicent," Pansy growled. "You're just jealous because you don't have a love life to fuck up..." Pansy said.

"You have a love life?" Millicent asked, feigning surprise. She was rewarded with a punch on the arm. "Ohhh... That really hurt me," she sneered. Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Drama queen," she muttered.

"So how did you fuck up your love life then?" Ginny asked casually.

"I can't choose between them," Pansy said, looking over to Vincent and Gregory.

"Who says you have to?" Ginny asked. Pansy looked at Ginny in surprise.

"Well... No one really... I kind of feel bad that I'm sleeping with both of them though," she said looking slightly guilty.

"You have a conscious? I've got to owl the Daily Prophet straight away!" Millicent announced laughing. Pansy glared at her. "Wait, are you sleeping with them at the same time?" Millicent asked, grinning evilly.

"No! They're not like that," Pansy said, regret sounding in her voice.

"Have you asked them if they're 'like that'? Or are you just assuming?" Ginny asked.

"Uh... Assuming," Pansy said, wondering where this was leading to.

"Then ask them. Go talk to them at the same time and tell them what you've been doing. If you love them both as much as they love you, then I'm sure you could come to some sort of agreement," Ginny said with a shrug.

"I don't love them!" Pansy said.

"I think someone's in denial!" Millicent crowed, absolutely loving the fact that she could screw with Pansy's mind.

"Would you shut up?!" Pansy growled as people turned to look at Millicent. "Fine, I'll do what you said... I just hope they don't hate me for it," she murmured with a sigh. Getting up, she went over to Crabbe and Goyle and whispered in their ears. They nodded and followed her outside surprisingly tamely, considering the way they usually argued to stay with their plates of food.

"Do you think she'd let me watch? I want to see what happens," Millicent said laughing.

"You can be such a mean person Millicent," Ginny said shaking her head. "Although it would be interesting to see how it ends up..." She said with a grin. Millicent just laughed. "So what are you going to do about Theodore?" Ginny asked. Millicent stopped laughing immediately and stared at her in shock.

"What... How... What do you mean?" She asked, trying to sound indifferent.

"Exactly what you're in denial about," Ginny said with a smirk.

"Now, now ladies... No one's allowed to be in denial without me knowing about it," Blaise said silkily as he sidled up to them. Looking at them intensely, he tried to judge exactly who was in denial. Turning to Millicent he put an arm around her shoulders. "Now, why don't you tell your Uncle Blaise what you're in denial about?"

"I'm not in denial!" Millicent protested.

"Please! The mere fact that you are in denial about being in denial shows me that you're in denial!" Blaise said smirking at her. "Now, tell me what you're in denial about..." He said. Millicent shook her head then indicated to Ginny.

"How do you know that Ginevra's not the one in denial?" She asked pointedly.

"Because Ginevra is the one who said that you were in denial... Anyway, she's in denial about something, but as I already know what that's about, then I need to know what you're in denial about," Blaise said with a grin.

"Oh, bugger off already! I'm not in denial about anything, so let it be!" Millicent said, getting up and leaving.

"You certainly know how to clear the room," Ginny drawled, smirking at Blaise.

"I try..." He replied with a grin.

"Why don't you tell your Aunty Ginevra what she's in denial about?" Ginny said mocking him.

"I couldn't do that! Then you would protest about being in denial too and leave," Blaise said, feigning a pout. "And since Neville's playing in the Greenhouses I need someone to talk to," he said with a wink.

"Why is he in the Greenhouses?" Ginny asked.

"He's testing your unicorn hair on some of his plants," Blaise said with a shrug. "He wouldn't let me watch. Says I get him all nervous... I think he's said the same thing about Snape though, which I think is something to worry about," Blaise said with a wink. Ginny shook her head.

"I'm sure it is... Now tell me what I'm supposed to be in denial about," she said.

"Damn, thought you'd forgotten about that," Blaise muttered.

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair, as if considering not telling her. He leant towards her and in a single whispered word, Blaise caused Ginny to go pale then red in anger.

"Seeing."

"Are you all right?" Draco asked suddenly, looking at her from the other side of the table. He hadn't looked up from his food after Ginny had sat down, but now he was looking at her with something that could have been concern on his face.

"Fine," Ginny replied. "I've suddenly lost my appetite," she said, pushing her plate of food away.

"See, I told you that you would leave," Blaise muttered.

"It's not because of that, Blaise... I'm just not feeling well," Ginny said.

It wasn't a complete lie... Her stomach cramps had now spread through to her back and now her lower body was hurting like she'd been cursed with the Cruciatus Curse!

Blaise just nodded and watched as she left, then turned to see Draco narrow his eyes at him. With a small sigh, he listened as Draco angrily started questioning him.

"What did you say to her?"

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Ginny curled up in her bed with a hot water bottle, muttering about how Blaise was wrong and she wasn't in denial. Realising how much she sounded like Pansy and Millicent when they were in denial, Ginny sighed and knew that she probably was in denial...

"Ginevra?" Ginny heard a voice call.

It sounded strangely like Draco's voice, but he didn't know what her password was, so how could he be in her rooms? Putting it to being half-asleep, Ginny ignored the voice and closed her eyes again.

"Ginevra? Are you decent?" Draco asked from the other side of her bedroom door.

"What are you doing here?" Ginny asked groggily as she got out of bed reluctantly.

"I just wanted to see if you were all right..." He said uncertainly.

"No, you just wanted to see if you could make me show you The Vision," Ginny said, one eyebrow raised.

"Well... That too," he added with a shrug. Ginny shook her head and went to close her door, then stopped.

"How do you know the password to my rooms?" She asked.

"You like Latin far too much, and you've got a ironic sense of humour. Kind of makes sense that the password would be lamia," Draco replied.

"Leave my room before I set my Erkling on you," Ginny said seriously.

"You don't have an Erkling," he said, then seeing her serious face, added, "Do you?"

"Can we play with him? We think he looks like fun!" Relo said from behind him, cackling in a high pitched tone.

"No, Relo. You can't play with Draco. It's his bed time," Ginny said with a smirk.

Draco stared at the Erkling in shock, then at Ginny.

"Yeah. Bed time... See you tomorrow then," Draco said and left the room quickly. Relo pouted and went to cry, but Ginny offered for him to go hunting and he left happily.

Unable to go back to sleep, Ginny looked at her Vampire book for a while. She stopped at a particular passage in shock. After re-reading it, Ginny read it again three more times before cursing loudly.

As with everything, there is a good side and a bad side to a Vampiress menstruation.

The bad side is that during the menstruation period, the Vampiress will become more irritable, prone to anger and the more common reason, is that they will have the need for blood. If left for too long, the need becomes almost overpowering, making the Vampiress powerless in their lust for the Thirst.

To stop this, most Vampiresses choose to lock themselves away so as not to risk not only themselves, but also others. If married, or with another, a Vampiress will often drink from their spouse during their menstruation cycle, as a long Feed will quench the Thirst for the menstrual period.

The good side however, is that once a Vampiress Feeds, then the usual cramps and other menstruation-associated ailments will lessen considerably.

Ginny sighed in frustration. This was not going to be a good week! With a small groan, she got up and started to close and lock all of her windows and doors.

Shouting a spell at her wardrobe, all of the corridor doors closed abruptly and locked themselves. The wardrobe door shut and locked itself on the outside, therefore not allowing Ginny to leave her rooms.

With the sudden wind from all of the doors closing, the sheets on Ginny's furniture and reflective surfaces flew off, disappearing into thin air as they left the solid surfaces.

Ginny went over to her bed, conjured a hot water bottle and then lay down for a very long sleep...

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Sunday, Sept. 8

"Ginevra! You left us all alone..." Relo whined, waking Ginny up. She looked at him sleepily, then in confusion as his words sunk in.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You locked us out of your rooms and left us alone last night! You didn't even talk to us when we called your name!" Relo said, his bottom lip trembling. Ginny realised that Relo meant that she'd been sleepwalking again and sighed.

"I'm sorry, Relo... I didn't mean to lock you out... I wasn't leaving you on purpose, I was just sleepwalking. I've been doing that lately. You should really leave my rooms now. I might get the Thirst and I don't want to hurt you," Ginny said.

She felt something stirring in the back of her mind and tried to hold it off. Almost as if sensing it, Relo's eyes filled with a mix of fear and surprise and he left her room quickly.

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"Ginevra! Are you in there?" A voice called from one of the other rooms.

Ginny woke up groggily. As the person opened the wardrobe and walked in the room, Ginny could only smell blood. The sound of pumping blood filled her ears, inviting her to taste it. Blood coursed through her own veins and Ginny listened as their two hearts pumped the delicious liquid around two different bodies.

"There you are, Ginevra! Why haven't you come to breakfast? I wanted to tell you about Greg and Vince..." Pansy said, stopping at Ginny's doorway. "Are you all right? You look like shit," Pansy muttered, walking over.

"No!" Ginny yelled loudly.

Pansy stopped in shock. The taste of blood filled Ginny's mouth again and she fought to keep control of her actions.

"Go away. Right now," Ginny said tensely, but Pansy didn't move. "I mean it, Pansy... Don't stay here... Leave," Ginny said and Pansy finally left the room, the taste of blood leaving with her.

With a shudder, Ginny flicked her hand and her door shut, locking too. Ginny crawled back under her blanket and clutched the water bottle to her weary body. In mere minutes, Ginny could hear a door in the corridor open and more than one set of feet were coming towards her.

"Ginevra! I don't care what you said, I'm coming in with the rest of us, so you better be bloody decent!" Pansy called.

Ginny could practically taste their blood in her mouth as eight other people walked into the room. She held the covers down over her head tightly and tried to stop herself from jumping up and drinking each and every one of them.

"I mean it, Pansy! Go away! I don't want to hurt you!" Ginny called, her voice muffled underneath the thick blanket.

She could hear their blood pumping through their veins, as loudly as drums beating in her ears. She held the covers tighter as need and the Thirst washed over her. In vain, Ginny tried to block her ears.

"What do you mean, hurt me?" Pansy asked, coming closer to Ginny's bed. The blood pumped faster and louder and it became too much for Ginny. She jumped out of bed and grabbed Pansy by the throat.

"I told you to leave!" She cried, tears streaming down her face. Her fangs bared and with a cry of pain, Ginny made them retract back into her mouth. She flung open her front door and ran into the Forbidden Forest with a loud cry, changing into a wolf as she did so.

"I think I know what's wrong with her," Blaise announced from Ginny's study room. The others went into the room and saw him looking at Ginny's Vampire book.

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"I'll do it," Pansy announced after reading the small passage.

"But you can't go into the Forest. I'll do it," Blaise said. Pansy glared at him.

"I'm the one that made her go there, I should be the one to get her..." She retorted.

"I doubt that either of you will be able to now," Luna said and indicated to where Draco had been standing only moments before. They looked out the front door and saw a wisp of blonde hair entering the Forest.

"She's going to kill us if he gets hurt," Neville said and sighed shaking his head.

Draco walked into the Forest, Ginny's robes folded over his arm. He couldn't believe he was actually going ahead with this! It was something noble and brave; something he would have expected from a Gryffindor, not from a Slytherin, especially a Malfoy Slytherin!

He sighed reluctantly and walked deeper into the Forbidden Forest, making sure to keep to the clearings.

"Ginevra!" He called softly. He heard a howl and went in the direction of it. "Ginevra! Are you here?" He called, feeling slightly foolish.

There was another howl nearby and when Draco entered a clearing, he saw a reddish wolf sitting there, howling at nothing in particular. He walked over to the wolf and crouched beside her.

"Ginevra, you need to change back... Come on, change back to your human self," he cajoled unsuccessfully. Ginny just looked at him with big brown eyes and mewled pitifully. "I can see I'm going to have to do this the hard way..." Draco muttered and pulled out a small knife from his robe pocket. He made a small incision in his forearm and they both watched as the crimson blood flowed down his arm and onto the ground. "You're not just going to let this all go to waste, are you?" Draco asked as Ginny gave another mewl, staring at his arm.

Suddenly, Ginny leapt on him, changing back in record time and began drinking from his wrist hungrily. She licked and sucked at his flowing blood eagerly, eventually getting her fill. When she pulled away, Ginny healed the wound and wiped the excess blood from her lips.

"Why did you do that, Draco? I didn't want to do it..." Ginny muttered. She put the offered robe on, realising that she was still in her pyjamas.

"Sometimes need overtakes want, Ginevra... Let's go back before the centaurs find out we're here," Draco said and stood up, offering her his hand. Ginny stood up and they went to leave the clearing, but were stopped. Alexander stood there, glaring at Draco full heartedly.

"What did you do to her?" He hissed at Draco.

"Who in the Gods names are you?" Draco sneered at him. Alexander glared at him and put his hand up angrily. A red ball started to form, and realising what he was about to Draco, Ginny stood in front of him.

"Leave him alone, Alexander! He is my own, and I would not be very happy if you hurt him," Ginny said. With a curt nod, Alexander closed his hand, the ball disappearing.

"I apologise for the misunderstanding," Alexander said with an extremely small bow to Draco. "I did not know that Ginevra had already found her own," he explained coldly.

"Apology accepted," Ginny said for Draco, pulling him away quickly. "You should leave now. The centaurs are coming," Ginny said to her Protector.

With a low bow, Alexander changed into a bird and flew away quickly. Ginny pulled Draco out of the Forbidden Forest in record time, the centaurs hooting one arrow at their feet in warning.

"Aren't you supposed to be their Queen or something?" Draco asked.

"They won't accept me as their Queen yet," Ginny said with a small shrug as she pulled the arrow out of the ground. "Bane," Ginny muttered, recognising the feathers on the end of the arrow.

"Is that why they kidnapped you yesterday?" Draco asked as they headed back to Ginny's rooms.

"No, I think that was more of a challenge. They wanted to talk with me, but you stopped it... I don't think I thanked you for that," Ginny said with a smile. Draco shook his head.

"No, you didn't..."

"Then thank you for attempting to save me," Ginny said with a smirk.

"Attempting?" Draco repeated in shock.

"Well, you tried to, but in the end got captured yourself, so you didn't really save me... Blaise was the one who got the centaurs to let us go," Ginny said.

She was trying so hard not to laugh at Draco's expression and felt bad for teasing him so, but it was too good an opportunity to miss!

"So what would you have done if I had saved you?" He asked smirking at her.

Draco Malfoy was flirting with her... Ginny was surprised to find that she didn't really mind.

"I would have repaid the debt," she said, flirting too.

They were going to be married eventually, why wouldn't she flirt with him now?

"Oh, really? I think you should show me exactly how you would have repaid the debt, just so I can make sure that it's good enough for Blaise's high expectations," Draco said stopping to face her.

"I think you're just working up an excuse to kiss me again," Ginny said grinning.

"Maybe I am," he said, kissing her.

Ginny had expected him to deny it and glare at her for suggesting such a thing, but this?! A small voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she didn't want this to happen again.

Ginny tried to remember exactly why she had promised that she wouldn't let him do it again, then as the answer didn't come to mind (or seem very relevant), she just kissed him back.

"By the Gods!" They heard a voice scream. Pulling apart quickly, Ginny and Draco saw Lavender running up to the school grounds.

"We should go up there before the entire school finds out," Draco suggested.

"By the time we actually do get up there, the entire school would have already been told. Brown's got gossipers at every corner in every hallway..." Ginny said shaking her head.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Draco asked smirking at her.

"Where in the Gods names have you two been? What's this I hear about you kissing?" Blaise asked smirking at them.

"Brown really works fast..." Draco drawled, lazily smirking at Blaise.

"No, we heard her yelling from Ginny's rooms... You better go to your lessons Ginny, or else you'll be late," Blaise reminded her. "Pansy's been waiting very impatiently to tell you about what happened last night with her boyfriends," he said with a smirk. Ginny grinned.

"I'm sure she'll be very happy that you spoiled her story," Ginny said as they went back to her rooms. "Have you seen Relo? I made him leave my room this morning and I don't know if he's all right," she said, only just realising it.

"I'll take it that Relo is your Erkling? He's in your rooms talking with Theodore. Relo said he got in through the other doors before you locked them, according to Theodore. When I left they were talking about an evil fat boy with a cauldron..." Blaise said with a shrug, indicating that he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Relo's grandfather was killed by Bruno Schmidt when he was hit over the head with Schmidt's father's collapsible cauldron... Haven't you read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them yet?" Ginny asked with a smirk.

"Of course I have. I just don't remember every entry in that blasted book," Blaise growled.

"Ginevra! We were worried about you!" Relo cried and ran over to her, hugging her legs tightly. "Is Ginevra all right now?" Relo asked sniffing loudly.

"I'm fine, thank you Relo... Sorry about before, is your throat all right?" Ginny asked Pansy.

"It's all right... Is it really true that you two were caught kissing by Lavender? She's been screaming to the Otherworld about it," Pansy said smirking at them.

"Where's Pansy and who let Skeeter in?" Ginny said smirking.

"Funny, Ginevra..." Pansy drawled.

"What happened in the Forest?" Neville asked looking at them. Then he saw the small wound on Draco's wrist and shook his head. "Don't worry," he said with a grin.

"Hope none of you mind, but I would really like to get changed... So would you all kindly remove yourself from my bedroom?" Ginny said grinning at them.

They all left quickly, letting Ginny change into her fighting outfit.

"You're not all going to take me to the Room for Requirement, are you?" Ginny asked when she saw that they were all waiting in the meeting room for her.

"No... The spell Pansy used to get past your locks and wards only let us get in. We can't get back out unless you take the wards off," Theodore said.

"Should I even ask what spell you used to get past them?" Ginny asked smirking at Pansy.

"You can ask, but that doesn't mean you'll get an answer," Pansy replied.

Ginny just laughed and took the wards off, then left with them down the corridor.

"The next door on you right is closest to the library," Ginny called out, knowing that they had some essays due.

"Hey Ginny. Do you know where Luna's gone?" Colin asked, coming up beside her.

"No, actually I don't. Do you want me to check for you?" Ginny asked. Colin nodded and Ginny stopped walking to concentrate. "She's heading to the Owlery," Ginny said. "The door after this one will take you closest to it."

"Thanks," Colin said.

"We'll see you at recess, Ginevra," Pansy called out as she left with Theodore, Millicent, Gregory and Vincent.

"All right! Bye," Ginny called back.

"Ginny? Which door is closest to Gryffindor?" Neville asked.

"It's a few doors down. Colin, this door on your left is to the Owlery," Ginny called.

Colin said good bye and left through the door. With a smirk, Blaise started to whisper in Neville's ear quietly. A very Slytherin-like grin formed on Neville's face and they both started to send messages to Ginny.

"Not again... Why are you teasing me?" Ginny asked them as the first lot of images and thoughts started to appear in her mind.

"We're not doing anything," Blaise said innocently.

"What are you going on about?" Draco asked, looking between the three of them.

"They keep teasing me," Ginny pouted. Blaise laughed at her expression.

"How do they tease you?" Draco asked in confusion.

"Uh... They purposely send me specific thoughts and images," Ginny said vaguely.

Confusion filled Draco's face, then as he realised what Ginny meant, he glared at Blaise and Neville.

"You're... sending her... Blaise, you're a sick person..." Draco said shaking his head.

"You can argue about it later," Ginny interrupted as Blaise was about to answer back. "I've only got a few minutes to get to my first lesson. Moody's going to put me on a spit and roast me if I'm late," she said with a smirk. "The door on your right Neville," Ginny called out.

"Thanks Ginny!" Neville called as he climbed out of the door. "See you later, Blaise," he said with a grin, closing the door.

Ginny picked up the pace, hurrying along the corridor. She really wouldn't put it past Moody to spit and roast her... As she climbed out of the door, she headed around the corner to the Room of Requirement. Ron was waiting there, looking extremely angry.

"Hello Ron," Ginny said, wondering why he looked so angry.

"Did you kiss Malfoy?" Ron asked, glaring at her.

"What?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"What don't you understand?! I asked you if you kissed Malfoy!" Ron yelled at her.

"Permissum suus vado!" Draco yelled, pulling his wand out and pointing it at Ron. (Leave her alone!)

"Operor non dico mihi quis efficio!" Ron hissed. He turned on Ginny and asked her again. "Did you?" He asked, glaring. (Do not tell me what to do!)

"Yes, I did," Ginny replied. "Why is it any of your business?" Ginny started to ask, but Ron had stalked over to her.

Without a word he slapped Ginny across the face. Not really expecting this, Ginny fell to the ground. Draco grabbed Ron's hand to stop him doing it again.

"Don't touch her," he hissed. "Es vos totus vox, Ginevra?" Draco asked, helping her up. (Are you all right, Ginevra?)

Ron grabbed Draco's shoulder, pulled him around and punched him squarely on the nose.

"Ron! Leave him alone! He had nothing to do with it!" Ginny yelled, pulling Ron away from Draco. Ron pulled away from her roughly.

"Don't touch me! Vos meretrix! How dare you do this?! Do you have any idea what Mum and Dad are going to say? Do you know what the entire school is saying about you?" (You whore!)

"Do not call me a whore!" Ginny yelled, slapping Ron hard. He glared at her but didn't do anything. "None of this is your problem to deal with, Ronald," Ginny said, going over to Draco.

She healed his nose and helped him sit up. When Draco could stand properly, he glared at Ron and threw a hex at him.

Ron dodged it and pulled his own wand out. Ron pushed Ginny to the sidelines and she watched as one of her visions played out in front of her.

Draco and Ron glared at each other, wands drawn. Ginny and Blaise stood on the side, worried.

"Please, don't do this! Ron, Draco, see reason, will you?" She yelled to them. Ron glared at her.

"He deserves it! Do you know what the entire school is saying?" Ron hissed.

"That's their problem and mine. It is not your problem to deal with!" Ginny repeated, yelling angrily.

"That's not the point!" Ron yelled back and glared at Malfoy again.

"Draco, please! You don't have to do this!" Ginny said.

"He has no right to hit you just because we kissed," Draco growled and glared at Ron again.

"Blaise, can't you do something?" Ginny asked Blaise. He shook his head.

"As much as I don't want this fight to happen, I'm not that stupid to try and get between your brother and Draco. They'll tear me to pieces," Blaise said apologetically. Ginny nodded and took her robes off determination filling her face.

"I understand... Can you hold these for me? I'll be right back... I just need to knock some sense into these two boys," she growled and looked at Draco and Ron. They were duelling, both looking as angry as the other.

Ginny stepped in closer, careful to avoid the spells they were throwing.

"Ginny! Get out of the way!" Ron yelled.

"Move out of the way, Ginevra!" Draco yelled.

Ginny stepped in between them and looked at both of them.

"I will not move. I will not allow you to fight the fights that I should be fighting... If you wish to fight me, then I am ready... Bring it on," Ginny said and looked at them.

"I'm not going to fight you! That's not fair!" Ron said. Ginny raised an eyebrow at him.

"I will not use any of the extra powers I have been given... I think that is a fair fight, Ronald. Now make up your minds. Either stop this nonsense and fight me on your own, or I will kick you both so hard that you'll be put into last week," Ginny snarled at them.

"I refuse to fight you," Draco said and put his wand away.

Ginny looked at Ron expectantly. He glared at Draco over Ginny's shoulder.

"This isn't over, Malfoy," he snarled.

"Oh, yes it is!" Ginny said getting angry at her brother's stupidity. "Listen to me, Ronald! I will fight my own fights! I don't need you to do that for me! I am not eleven any more!" She yelled and her entire body glowed red as her hair began to crackle with anger. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?" She yelled.

"Yes," Ron muttered. Ginny calmed down in half a second and looked at her brother sadly.

"No, you don't understand, Ronald... Let me fight my own fights. I can handle it. If I get myself into trouble, at least allow me the chance to get myself out of trouble," she said softly then, grabbing her robes from Blaise, she went into the Room of Requirement.

8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8

"Sorry for being late, Professor... I had to deal with a fight in the corridor," Ginny said. Moody just nodded.

"Exercises, then bow and arrow," he said curtly.

Ginny nodded then did as he said. As she was doing the exercises, Moody set up the target for her. After setting up the bow and arrow, Ginny waited until Moody gave a nod to shoot the arrow at the target. The arrow hit the board and Moody shook his head.

"Again. Keep shooting arrows until you hit the bullseye," he said and flicked his wand, making the arrow return to Ginny's quiver. "Give me the quiver," he instructed. Handing it to him, Moody cast a spell on it. "I will return in half an hour. There is a spell on the arrows so they will return to the quiver each time they hit the board. If one hits the bullseye, it won't return," Moody said.

"Thank you, Moody," Ginny said. He just nodded then left the room.

Ginny put another arrow on the bow and aimed at the target again. She let loose and the arrow flew through the air. It returned to the quiver immediately and Ginny repeated the process.

After about ten minutes, Ginny was finally onto the actual target. As she got closer to the bullseye, Ginny was surprised in another fifteen minutes that the arrow she'd just shot hadn't returned to the quiver. Walking over to the target, Ginny saw that the arrow was on the red part of the target. Grinning, she went back to her original spot and kept shooting the arrows. A few of them returned but Ginny didn't really care, she was just happy she'd hit it once! Continuing to shoot the arrows, Ginny was relieved and pleased when none of them returned to the quiver.

She relaxed her weary arms for a moment then frowned as an all too familiar weight returned to her quiver. Checking to make sure that the arrows were still on the target, Ginny reached behind her back and pulled out one of the new arrows. It looked to be the same, except it was slightly longer. Not so much that it would make a difference in her shooting or aim, but just so that it could fly to hit a target further away.

With a reluctant sigh, Ginny moved to the next marked line that hadn't been there moments ago, and put the notch of the arrow onto the string of the bow. Pulling back and aiming, Ginny let it fly. It completely missed the target. Realising that she wasn't standing correctly, Ginny readjusted her stance and repeated again. This time it actually hit the target board, but not the target itself. Sighing, Ginny continued to practise.

"Ginevra... I see that you have progressed," Moody said as he entered the room and saw the target full of arrows. "Could you get those three boys to leave? They're attracting too much attention and making an awful lot of noise for two boys," Moody said.

"Didn't you just say there were three..." Ginny began to ask then shook her head and went over to the door.

She opened it and saw Draco, Blaise and Ron standing out there. Blaise was keeping them apart with a spell, but that didn't stop Draco and Ron from quarrelling with each other.

"Thank the Gods! This spell's beginning to wear thin," Blaise muttered quietly. At Blaise's comment, both Draco and Ron looked to the door to see Ginny standing there.

"Ginny!" Ron said.

"Ginevra," Draco began.

"Shut up!" Ginny said pointing her bow and arrow at them.

They shut up, but didn't seem to take her too seriously with such a primitive weapon. She let two arrows fly at them. Both of them missed, but it made the two boys more attentive and wary.

"The next two won't miss," she growled.

Well, they probably would have, but Ginny didn't want them to know that!

"Blaise, please tell me why you're all still waiting out here," Ginny said.

"Well, I'm just waiting for Draco. He's not leaving without saying something to you, and Ronnie-kins won't leave until he leaves," Blaise said, giving her the basics of the situation.

"Fine... Draco, I will talk with you later. Ron you can leave now and Blaise, please make sure they leave each other in one piece," Ginny said.

Blaise nodded and Bexley flew out of Ginny to help him. Shaking her head, Ginny went back into the Room of Requirement and apologised to Moody.

"As long as you got them away, it's fine," he said gruffly. "You better go get changed now. Remus will be expecting you," Moody said.

"Thank you," Ginny said then went into the side room.

8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8----8

Walking to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Ginny hoped that Bexley was all right. He still hadn't returned to her, and she was starting to worry. Entering the classroom, Ginny saw Lupin talking to Bexley and sighed in relief.

"There you are, Bexley! I worried about you," Ginny said.

"I apologise, Ginevra. It was not my intention to scare you... All three boys are still in one piece, and your brother is now with Harry and Hermione," Bexley reported.

"Thank you, Bexley," Ginny said.

"You are welcome, Ginevra. If I may return?" He asked.

Ginny nodded and he flew back into her body, not liking being out in the daylight for so long.

"Follow me please," Lupin said and Ginny followed him out of the room, wondering what this lesson would be about.

Remus stopped in front of the Room of Requirement and a silver-metallic door appeared. Ginny watched as different colours swirled around the door, shimmering in the non-existent light. She realised that the door had no handle and wondered how they were supposed to get in.

"This test may be hard for you to do, but it is necessary. Wait five seconds, then follow me in," he said and walked through the door.

Ginny stared. People weren't supposed to walk through doors. Ghosts and sometimes beings, sure, but people?

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Ginny walked towards the door. Bracing herself for the solid impact, she was surprised when it didn't come. Bumping into Remus, Ginny opened her eyes and saw Remus looking down at her.

"You thought that the door was solid, didn't you?" Remus asked grinning.

"Yes..." Ginny said and looked around the room. "What is this room?" She asked. It looked empty, but she could hear hundreds of footsteps walking around them. Remus looked out at the dark around them for a moment before replying.

"There are people walking around us, and even through us right now... Every person in this room is someone you would know. They could be your best friend, or someone you saw across the street. The difference between them and these people is that these people are not going to talk to you. To these people, you are invisible. They don't see you, they don't know you, and they can't hear you. You have to walk from one end of the room to the other and back here before the test is completed. It sounds easy, but believe me, it's not," Remus said, memories haunting his face. "Also, they will be saying the most hurtful things about you to one another..." He said. "I will be back when you're done. Just don't curse me, all right?" He said.

Ginny gave a small nod, not really looking forward to this. Remus put a hand on her shoulder and tried to look encouraging.

"I will hold your bag for you... Good luck Ginevra," he said then left with her bag.

As his form passed through the door, the lights came on and Ginny could see the people. It was not hundreds of people, it looked more like thousands! She took a deep breath then started to walk.

"Ginny is such a slut! I saw her with Draco Malfoy the other day and just this morning I saw her with Blaise Zabini! She's getting on really well with those Slytherins, don't you think?" Hermione asked Harry.

Ginny watched as Harry agreed with her, saying how disgusting it was. Shaking her head, Ginny kept walking. It hadn't happened, therefore it couldn't affect her.

"She should have been the seventh son. I never wanted a daughter," Arthur Weasley said.

Ginny didn't want to admit that hurt. It probably wasn't true, but to hear someone that sounded and looked exactly like her father saying it...

"Why couldn't Ginny be more ladylike!? She's always playing rough with her brothers. It makes me look like a bad mother! The things people say in public when she's walking around cursing like a trooper and hexing her brothers..." Molly complained to her childhood friend, shaking her head.

Ginny winced then shook her head. She didn't swear like a "trooper" and never hexed her brothers in public! Putting the insult behind her, she kept walking.

"I don't even know her, but she's a complete tart! I mean, the way she was staring at me on the Knight Bus! It was repulsive!" One boy complained.

Ginny flushed at that. She hadn't thought he'd noticed... She had just been looking. It was normal for a fourteen-year-old to look at someone who looked fairly decent...

"I know! You saw the way she was staring at me and in front of my parents too!" Another boy agreed.

Ok, now that one wasn't fair! She'd been five and the boy was about seven. He'd been allowed to play with his parent's wands and Ginny had watched as he made little streamers come out of them. She'd pestered her parents for their wands for over a year before and they hadn't let her use them, saying she was too young. Therefore, she'd been watching the magic, not the boy and she was only five! She definitely couldn't have been a 'tart' that young!

Glaring, Ginny continued to walk, annoyed that they couldn't see her so she could give them the finger.

"I can't believe Ginevra's a Vampiress! It's bad enough that she's part of the human race and in the magical community, but to become part of our species..." Agnes said shaking her head.

"I know what you mean... As if she's a threat to me!" Virginia said with a scornful laugh. "That little witch couldn't even bring herself to bite someone, let alone kill them!" She said.

Ginny bristled with anger at Virginia's words. Everyone else she knew were fake, but Virginia sounded the same. She meant those words... Ignoring both of the Elders, she continued to walk, wondering who would be next.

"Ginny is not my friend! As if I would like her after what happened in the Chamber! She's the one who set the Basilisk on me!" Colin said. Neville nodded in agreement.

"She hasn't even apologised to you about it either!" Neville said in disgust.

"She's a poor excuse for a friend," Luna said shaking her head.

Ginny winced as her latest fears were brought out into the open. Repeating 'it's not really them' in her mind, she continued to walk across the room.

"She's probably going to drink our blood while we're sleeping," Ron said to his older brothers, all of whom nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we can't even muck around now. What if we cut ourselves? She'll latch onto us like a leech," Fred said. George only nodded with the rest of his brothers.

Ginny sighed in relief and walked faster. Fred and George didn't ever not talk in turns or unison!

"Did you see Ginny this morning? She's getting so fat! She won't be able to fit through the Great Hall entrance soon!" Lavender gossiped to Parvati, both of them giggling loudly.

The comment didn't really hurt Ginny, but again, it sounded so like Lavender that she stopped walking and glared at her.

"She'll take up at least half of the Gryffindor table just sitting down!" Lavender said, giggling again.

Taking deep breaths, Ginny tried to remind herself that it was not really Lavender. It didn't work. She hexed Lavender, but the spell went straight through her and absorbed into the wall.

"There won't even be enough food for her! Not even if she ate everything at the Sorting Feast!" Lavender crowed.

Ginny glared at her again, really annoyed with the people not being able to see her. Realising how fruitless her actions were while in this room, she continued walking to the other side of the room.

"Ginevra's such a bitch! She'll go out with anything that moves! I'm going to try and hook up with her tonight," Dean said to his friend. Seamus just laughed.

"You can't, mate! I've got her all booked up for tonight," he said laughing again.

Ginny shook her head. Not only would that never happen, it was really wrong to hear them discussing it! She kept walking, seeing people she'd seen on the street, just as Lupin had said. They were discussing her family loudly and how loud and poor they all were.

"Can't even get a decent job!"

"They probably had to whore out the girl to get money to feed them!" One of them said laughing cruelly. They all laughed, the sound ringing in Ginny's ears.

Ginny walked faster, her cheeks burning.

"She's one of the worst students I've ever had the displeasure of teaching! Even worse than Longbottom!" Snape sneered. McGonagall nodded sympathetically.

"She can't even transform a match into a needle! And that's basic third year magic!" She said in disgust.

"You think that's bad? She couldn't fly a broom to save her life!" Madam Hooch said with a disgusted snort.

Ginny shook her head at the pathetic form of insults her 'teachers' were making. She'd heard worse from Malfoy, for the Gods sakes!

"She thinks she's so smart just because she can use magic without a wand! She's probably never had a boyfriend in her life and that's why she spends so much time working on stupid insignificant stuff like that! Even Hermione's had a boyfriend!" Some random person called out.

Ginny huffed slightly... She had been out with Dean and Michael, so there! And who cares if she'd spent most of her time going through her family's books during the holidays... That shouldn't be anyone else's problem!

Her face grim, Ginny kept walking, determined to finish this stupid test.

"Not only can she not deflect a spell, she can't even shoot an arrow properly!" Moody said in disgust.

"Ginevra doesn't even control her emotions long enough so I can actually teach her!" Lupin said shaking his head.

Ginny ignored them and kept walking. She'd managed to shoot arrows properly today and she'd gone to Lupin's lesson without any events both yesterday and today!

"She can't even control her strength! Look what she did to my neck!" Pansy said, showing the group her bruised neck. Gregory and Vincent looked ready to find Ginny and murder her.

"She shouldn't even be allowed at the school! If she can't control herself properly then there'll be broken bones left right and centre!" Theodore complained.

"I should have just let the centaur's take her and get her away from everyone," Blaise said.

"She's probably put a spell on Draco to make him like her," Millicent muttered, the others agreeing straight away.

"That's bloody ridiculous! Why would I stoop that low?" Ginny said angrily.

None of them replied, they just continued to mutter and complain about her. With an angry growl, Ginny kept walking. She hadn't seen Draco yet, but she had the awful feeling that his comment would be the worst out of them all...

"Ginevra is stupid. Even as a youngling she was stupid. She didn't listen to her parents. Ginevra followed me into the forest," Relo said.

"She's stupid enough to think that I am scared of being killed. She's so stupid that she offered to take me into her care!" Bexley said laughing.

Ginny shook her head. She had no idea that the room would make them as part of it! She kept walking, wondering with a laugh if Ron's Puffskein, Bob was going to say anything hateful about her...

Ginevra is not worthy to be our Chosen... She is not pure. She nurses a hate so large that she could not quench it, even if the person who caused it died. Evita said. We will revoke our offer tomorrow... She said, the other unicorn's agreeing.

"Ok, this is getting stupid. Are you going to do all of the creatures from the Forbidden Forest? They've all seen me and I do have another lesson to get to you know!" Ginny called out shaking her head.

There was no answer, but to Ginny it seemed like some of the animals and people disappeared.

"She was so easy to control. She liked having someone else in control of her... She really thought that she was in love with me!" Voldemort said laughing with his followers. The Death Eaters laughed too, then Lucius spoke up.

"Her family is easy prey too. Just a simple few words and they'll react with boring prediction! Even my son has the little weasel eating out of his hand, don't you Draco?" Lucius asked evilly.

"Of course, father. She's too easy. One word from me and she'll do anything I tell her to do... May I ask my Lord why he thinks he needs her? She's so ugly and after one shag she'll probably get so knocked up that there'll be hundreds of your babies everywhere! Her mother can't keep her legs crossed, so she won't either. Like mother, like daughter," he sneered in disgust.

"Of course! That is precisely why I need her... I can groom all of our children to create an army," Voldemort said.

"You fucking bastard!" Ginny yelled. "Evil fucking son-of-a-bitch! I'll kill you with my own hands!" Ginny yelled storming up to them.

She tried to strangle, punch and hit Voldemort but her fists flew straight through him. With a small sob, Ginny stopped her pointless attack. With a very deep breath to calm her anger Ginny kept walking. She was slightly surprised when she reached a wall.

Turning around, she saw that more people had appeared. Ginny started to run past them. She just wanted to get out of this room. She wanted to be in a place where no one was going to judge her and treat her like she was a leper. She didn't want to see this room ever again!

She ran faster, then stopped abruptly when she heard sand crunch beneath her feet. Looking around properly, Ginny saw that all of the people had gone, as had the room. She was now standing on a beach. Waves lapped at the sand and the sun was beginning to rise.

A door opened nearby and Remus' head poked into the room. He looked around with the same confusion that Ginny felt. He walked over to Ginny and touched her shoulder, making her turn to him.

"How did you change the room?" He asked, sounding slightly afraid.

"I didn't mean to, Professor... How did you know it had changed?" Ginny asked.

"The door changed," Remus said, indicating to the door that was now pale yellow. "You should finish the test now," he said, leaving the room.

Ginny watched as people appeared around her. Feeling strangely calm and reassured, she walked the last few metres to the door, ignoring the comments about her.

"Ginevra's so poor she can't even afford new clothes!" Blaise sneered.

"Ginny's not my sister..." Charlie said in disgust.

"I wouldn't touch Ginevra with a ten-foot wand," Neville said.

"She's definitely not my friend!" Pansy said glaring.

"I wouldn't even interview her!" Rita Skeeter said shuddering.

"Any chance that could be true?" Ginny muttered with a grin.

"I would never fall in love with Ginevra! She's a disgrace to the wizarding community!" Draco announced.

"Her entire family is a disgrace," Lucius said, seconding his son's opinion.

"Ok, that argument is getting really old..." Ginny said shaking her head.

"The only thing Ginny's good for is to give me an army..." Voldemort somehow managed to say this as if he was whispering in her ear.

"You sick, disgusting, foul, evil creature... The only thing you're good for is dying," Ginny retorted. She reached the door and walked through quickly before anyone else could say anything about her.

"Excellent work, Ginevra," Remus said with a gentle smile as he handed her a large portion of chocolate.

She ate it gratefully, only just realising how tired she felt. With a small nod she watched as the door disappeared.

"I don't have to do that again, do I?" She asked. Remus shook his head.

"Never again if you don't want to," he said with another smile.

Ginny relaxed considerably.

"There was one good thing about that," Ginny said suddenly.

"And what might that be?" Remus asked.

"Rita Skeeter said she wouldn't interview me," Ginny said with a laugh that was half-forced and half-genuine.

"That's always good news," Remus said grinning. "May I ask what I said to you?" He asked.

"You said that I didn't control my emotions long enough for you to teach me... Nothing that's going to hurt me," she said with a slight shrug.

"Very well... Thank you Ginevra. You should go to recess now," he said.

Ginny nodded then grabbed her bag and left eagerly. Stopping at the end of the hallway, she turned back, realising that she hadn't said good bye to Remus. Lupin wasn't there, but the silver door was shimmering brightly.

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As Ginny reached the Great Hall she took a small breath. She knew that the people in the room weren't real, but it was going to be hard to face them without being reminded of what they'd said about her...

"Are you coming in, Ginevra?" Pansy asked coming up behind her. Ginny relaxed when nothing hateful was said, and that Pansy could actually see her.

"Of course," Ginny replied with a smile.

"Well, come on then! You're not the only one who wants food!" Millicent growled behind them.

Ginny laughed and went inside with them. She sat with Colin and Neville, relaxing when no comments were being said about her. She hugged Neville quickly just to make sure that he was there and her arms wouldn't go through him.

"I missed you too, Ginny, but it really hasn't been that long!" He said hugging her back.

Ginny just smiled and ate her recess. Looking around, she noticed that Ron was looking at her with a confused expression on his face.

"I'll be back in a minute," Ginny said to Neville and Colin who both looked at her in concern for a moment. "I'm just going to talk to Ron, that's all," she said. They nodded, but both watched as she walked over to her brother.

"What do you want?" He asked, stabbing a sausage with slightly more force than necessary.

"I just wanted to see if you were ok," Ginny said sitting next to him. "Did you want to talk about something?" She asked quietly. Ron turned to her, looking both angry and amazed.

"Why didn't you just get someone to take the memories away?" He asked suddenly.

His face and thoughts showed Ginny that he really hadn't wanted to ask that. Ginny motioned for him to follow her and they went somewhere more private to talk.

"So, why didn't you?" He repeated when they'd sat down.

"And lose an entire year of my life, Ron? Besides, no one offered to take them away. There must be a reason for that," Ginny said with a small shrug.

"But... All of those things... He made you do it all... Aren't you still angry?" Ron asked.

"Of course I am. I can't not be angry about it. The thing is, I am as angry with myself as I am with Voldemort for making me do it," she said, saying Voldemort's name in a quieter tone so no one would start screaming. As it was, Ron paled and visibly flinched.

"Don't say that name," he muttered.

Ginny didn't think that she could say 'Tom' in reference to Voldemort so soon after what had happened to her yesterday.

"Anyway, why are you angry at yourself? You didn't do anything!" Ron protested.

"Exactly! I didn't do anything to stop... Riddle," she said, coming to a compromise for both of them. "I threw away the diary, but as soon as I saw someone else with it, I did everything I could to get it back into my possession. It wasn't something I did to be noble or to save someone. I did it because I was jealous that Riddle was talking to someone else," Ginny said.

Ron stared at her in shock. Ginny resisted the urge to see if she'd grown another head and just waited for him to talk.

"You were jealous?! But... Why?" Ron asked, still shocked.

"At the time I was certain that Riddle was the only one who understood me. I didn't have any friends. I didn't have you, or Fred and George. Not even Percy was talking to me due to the Penelope thing. Riddle had told me that I was his secret and after so long of talking to him I couldn't go to any of the teachers, especially not Dumbledore. I couldn't go to Mum and Dad because they wouldn't have believed me..."

"They would... Well, they might have," Ron finished lamely as he actually considered it.

"They would not have believed me, Ron. They would have thought that I was just making stuff up to get attention. Besides, they were too busy worrying about you and Fred and George to even give me another thought..." Ginny said with a shrug.

"But what about Charlie or Bill? They would have done something," Ron said. Ginny gave a small laugh.

"You don't think I tried to write to them? Every time I went to write something I couldn't think of what to say. 'Dear Charlie. Roosters have been dying and I've found feathers on my clothes. I think a book is making me kill the roosters...' That sounds really convincing! 'Dear Bill. People are being Petrified around the school and I can't remember what happened last night! I was writing in my diary and then I remember waking up in bed this morning...' That's a convincing story for them to send me to St. Mungo's, don't you think?" Ginny asked sarcastically.

"Fine... What about me?" Ron asked.

"Oh, please! You were always with Harry and Hermione at some point in my school year! I tried to tell you more than just that one time the morning he kidnapped me, but you were always with them! You were never there for me, Ronald," Ginny said. "You said it yourself that you weren't there for me during my first year. You weren't there for my second year, or my third year, or my fourth. Not even last year as a fifth year were you there for me. It's only now, when you feel threatened of losing me, that you're trying to be there for me," Ginny said.

"I know... Don't know what you've got 'til you've lost it, hey?" He said with a small grin.

"Something like that," Ginny said in reply. "Now, can we be friends again? I'll take the memory away if you want," she offered.

Ron nodded quickly and Ginny pointed her wand at him, muttering something quietly. After trying to think of Ginny's first year, he sighed in relief and thanked her.

"You're welcome Ronald," Ginny said reluctantly. "I don't want to say this after just having got on your good side again... But I have to... If you hurt me again I'm not going to be the make amends, is that understood?" She asked.

"Understood... I'm sorry Ginny," Ron said, grinning sheepishly. "Why did you kiss Malfoy?" He asked, his grin turning into a frown.

"No reason you'd understand," Ginny said smirking at him.

"Come on, Ginny! At least tell me why!" Ron whined.

She shook his head at him then went back to the Great Hall. Ron frowned after her, then continued to ask persistently until she threatened to hex him silent.

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"I'll see you all at lunch, ok?" Ginny said, hugging them all before she started to head for the Divination Tower.

"Ginevra, wait!" Draco called, catching up to her. "You said you would let me talk to you," he said.

"Then talk," Ginny said with a slight grin.

"About this morning in the Forest..." He began to say then trailed off as he saw some first years staring at them.

Draco glared at them, but they seemed more interested in Ginny than in him.

"Can we see your fangs?" One of the braver ones asked.

"If I say yes then will you leave us alone?" Ginny asked smirking at them.

The four of them nodded quickly in agreement. Ginny bared her fangs and they left quickly, talking about 'how cool it would be to be able to extend your teeth and scare your sisters with them'... Ginny shook her head.

"Can we talk somewhere more private?" He suggested. Ginny nodded.

"We'll go to my rooms. I need to get my bowl anyway," she said, leading him over to a tapestry.

They stepped down into the corridor and Ginny led him along the dark passageway, lighting a few of the torches for Draco's benefit.

"What about this morning?" Ginny prompted as they walked.

"Oh... I just wanted to point out to you that I don't usually do that," Draco said.

"That as in helping me, or that as in kissing me?" Ginny asked.

"Both," Draco said after a moment.

"All right. Why did you think you needed to point it out to me?" She asked, looking at him.

"I don't want you to get some stupid idea in your head about me being a saint or something..." Draco said.

"No chance of that happening, Draco," Ginny said smirking. "Don't worry, I'm not exactly going to spread it around the school if you do help me. And I'm not going to think that you helping me now is a sign of pre-marital over-protectiveness. Don't worry your pretty little head about it," Ginny drawled.

"Pretty?" Draco spluttered as he realised what she'd said.

"Sorry, is cute a better word?" She asked cheekily.

"No, it is not," Draco said glaring at her.

"Oh, is wittle Draconius upset that Ginevwa's teasing him?" She mocked him.

"Shut up, Weasley," Draco said angrily. Ginny was quiet for a few moments and Draco thought himself triumphant when she started speaking again.

"So if you didn't mean to help me this morning in the Forbidden Forest, why did you help me this morning before my lesson? Not that I couldn't have taken care of Ronald myself," Ginny added.

"I don't like people who hit women," Draco said. He felt anger boil his blood again as he thought of Ron hitting Ginevra and clenched his fists tightly.

"He didn't mean it really... He was just upset," Ginny said with a shrug. A part of her wondered why she was defending Ron for hitting her.

"Yeah, so now any time he's upset he'll have the right to hit you?" Draco said the sentence without really thinking.

"Of course not! Do you really think I'm that stupid to let him hit me again?" Ginny asked shaking her head at him.

"No, but that doesn't mean your brother won't try to do it again," Draco muttered. "Why didn't that guy in the Forbidden Forest help you? He's supposed to be your Protector, isn't he?" He asked.

"I don't think Alexander is allowed out of the Forest yet," Ginny said with a shrug.

She went into her room and grabbed her bowl, then came back into the corridor.

"I'm going to be late if we don't get there soon. Can we hurry this up a bit?" Ginny asked in a tone that implied a dare. Draco smirked then indicated for her to go.

"Wouldn't want you to cry... You better have a head start," he drawled.

"That's a lame excuse, Draco. I am not going to have a head start! Now, get ready," Ginny said grinning at him as she began to take on her Vampiress form.

"Can't believe I'm going to do this," Draco muttered as he got ready beside Ginevra.

"Ready... Set... Go," they said together then sped off.

Ginny ran along the corridor quickly watching as the torches were extinguished with their speed. Soon they were running in complete darkness and she laughed wildly as she sped up further.

"I hope you can see in the dark, Draco! Wouldn't want you to cry..." She taunted laughing.

"Of course I can see in the dark! I'm a Veelan, aren't I?" Draco's taut reply came from slightly behind her.

Draco was glad she'd refused his offer of a head start! If she had, then he still would have been near the start of the bloody corridor! He ran faster to get beside her then Ginevra made her speed even faster still. With a small growl, he increased his own speed again.

"Keep up, Draconius! Almost there!" Ginevra said, laughing and taunting him again.

With a smirk, Draco sped up for one final time, overtaking Ginny. He abruptly stopped at the brick wall and realised he'd won. His triumph was short lived, as Ginny ran into him. Windmilling his arms, Draco fell backwards onto the ground, Ginny falling on him.

"Now I think that was a bit extreme just to get on top of me, Ginevra," he drawled, seeing her blush in the darkness. "I won, you know... That means I get a prize," he said smirking broadly.

Ginny didn't seem to be thinking straight. She wanted to ask what prize he wanted, but instead she managed to get out 'yeah?' as that single word was the most coherent word her mind could come up with.

"Yeah," Draco replied then for the second time that day, he kissed her.

"Thought you said you didn't do that?" Ginny muttered as they pulled away.

"Well, I could stop if you like..." Draco said, smirking at her.

"No," Ginevra said far too quickly. "I wasn't complaining," she said, aware of his arrogant smirk. "Stop smirking, you conceited prat," she grumbled as she reluctantly got off his very comfortable lap.

"You wound me, Ginevra..." Draco drawled, still smirking at her.

"I've got to get to my lesson," Ginny said lamely.

"Well, that was the point of coming down here, wasn't it?" Draco asked smirking at her.

"No, I just wanted to kiss you again," Ginny said cheekily, grinning as she got out of the corridor.

Draco stood up and looked at her from inside the corridor.

"You did?" He asked in slight confusion.

Ginny just smirked and closed the door on him. She laughed softly as she climbed up the ladder to the Divination classroom.

It was odd that only days before she'd been horrified at Seeing herself kissing Draco, and now in less than a day, she'd managed to kiss him twice!

"Ah, Miss Weasley... No need for apologies," Sibyl said before Ginny could say anything. "Sit down while I get the tea for you," she said smiling at Ginny.

"Thank you, Sibyl," Ginny said as Trewlaney passed her a cup of tea.

"You're welcome... For you at this particular time of the month your Inner Eye's senses will increase and you be able to See far more than you have before," Sibyl said smiling broadly. It took Ginny a moment to realise what Sibyl was actually referring to.

"Does everyone know? Am I just walking around with 'I'm menstruating' written on my forehead or something?!" Ginny asked, shaking her head in annoyance.

"No, of course you're not. I was in Albus' office when Severus talked to him via the fireplace network, that's all," Sibyl said smiling at Ginny.

"Oh..." Ginny didn't know whether to be relieved or not.

"Drink your tea before it gets cold," Sibyl prompted gently. "Read your own teacup first..." Sibyl said.

With a nod Ginny sipped at her tea. She finished it in a few minutes and looked at the tealeaves carefully. Ginny almost dropped the cup in shock halfway through reading. Frowning, she read the rest then set the cup down, really wanting to hurl it at one of the brick walls.

"Are you all right, dear?" Sibyl asked.

"Not really," Ginny muttered.

"Would you like to tell me what your teacup says?" Sibyl asked.

"I would like to say 'not really' again, but I know it's rude..." Ginny added before Sibyl could say anything. "I have to erase the school's memory of Draco and I kissing this morning. 'Not one person can remember about it, especially not yourself and Draco'," Ginny quoted the tealeaves.

"Well, that doesn't seem to be fair, now does it?" Sibyl asked. "Is there a reason for it?"

"Our relationship is moving too fast apparently," Ginny said looking at the teacup.

She had a large urge to hex the stupid cup and smash it into millions of tiny porcelain pieces. Trewlaney picked up the cup and looked in it. She nodded, then set it down, away from Ginny's reach.

"Very well... How do you propose to achieve that then? I sincerely doubt there's a spell to erase everyone's memory at the same time..." Trewlaney said.

"Oh, there is a spell like that, but it's in a Restricted book..." Ginny said with a shrug. "I better go to the library at lunch time," she said with a small sigh.

"Good morning," Firenze said coming in through the door. "I apologise... Was I interrupting?" He asked, seeing the surprised expression on Trewlaney's face and the annoyed and angry one on Ginny's face.

"No, not at all... I was just about to ask Ginevra to pack her things for you, but you arrived earlier than I expected," Trewlaney said. Firenze nodded.

"I'm ready to go," Ginny said to Firenze. "Thank you, Professor Trewlaney," Ginny said.

"You're welcome, Ginevra... I am truly sorry that you are forced to do this," she said, sounding genuine.

"So am I, Professor," Ginny said leaving with Firenze.

"Should I ask what you have to do, or will I find out when it happens?" Firenze asked gently. Ginny sighed and shook her head slightly.

"I have to erase the school's memory about Draco and I kissing," Ginny said.

"Oh... Do you have to erase your own as well?" Firenze asked. He already knew the answer by the look on her face, but still wanted to be sure.

"Yes. I wouldn't not want to anyway... I don't think I could handle it if no one else knew about it and I was the only one who remembered," Ginny said quietly.

"Did you bring your bowl?" Firenze asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, I brought it," Ginny said.

Firenze just nodded and led Ginny outside. They walked past students relaxing on the grounds. Students were reading on the benches, while others were looking up at the dark clouds, wishing it would snow instead of rain. Leaves crunched beneath Ginny's boots and she pulled her robe around her tighter as the wind picked up. She filled her bowl with water from the lake then followed Firenze quickly.

"You should be quick. The rain might not hold off for long," Firenze said, ushering her into the Forest.

Ginny walked into the clearing and sat down.

She reluctantly looked at her bowl. Nothing appeared at first, then images appeared, capturing Ginny's attention.

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Draco watched Ginny as she read the Restricted book. She was frowning as she wrote down the spell. Carefully folding the parchment, she put it in her pocket then went up to Madam Pince.

"Thank you, Madam Pince," she said.

The librarian nodded then waved her wand. The book flew back to the Restricted Section, organising itself in the proper order.

"You should leave quickly... Filch wasn't told of your being out of bed, so if he catches you then you will get into trouble," Pince warned. Ginny nodded.

"Thanks for staying up late for me," Ginny whispered, then slipped out of the library.

Draco followed Ginny out of the library. Seeing a clock, he was surprised at the time. It was almost twelve o'clock!

Expecting Ginny to go into a tapestry, he was surprised when she walked past all of the nearby tapestries and headed to the Hogwarts entrance.

Touching her wand to a nearby door, Ginny whispered a spell that Draco couldn't hear, and the door opened. She slipped outside, Draco following quickly.

Rain poured around them and Draco watched as Ginny pulled the parchment out of her pocket. He saw that her face was wet, and had a feeling that it wasn't rain that was causing it.

"Please don't watch this, Draco," she said softly.

Her voice was quiet, but it seemed to cut through the rain and fill his ears. Taking off his Cloak he looked at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, walking over to her.

"You won't want to know..." Ginny said, putting the parchment in her pocket. Draco smirked.

"I sincerely doubt that, Ginevra," he said. Ginny stepped away from him, tears running down her face freely.

"Don't make this harder for me, Draco. Please, just leave," she begged. Draco shook his head.

"Not yet. I haven't had a good night kiss," he said smirking at her.

Ginny paled and shook her head as she moved back further still. Staring at him, she began to recite the spell.

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The vision stopped and Ginny shook her head slightly. She looked into the bowl again and watched as her reflection faded out of sight.

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Fred and George watched as the Patil twins walked away, as if it was the first time they'd seen them. Considering the fact that the two girls were three years younger than them and not friends with Ron, Harry or Hermione, it probably was.

"Are you two all right?" Ginny asked waving a hand in front of their faces.

"Fine... Who are those two?" Fred and George asked.

"The one in the green robes is Padma Patil. The one in red is Parvati Patil," Ginny replied.

"They seem familiar..." Fred said.

"Have we met them before?" George asked.

"You might have, but I doubt it... They're coming to tonight, so you can meet them then," Ginny said.

"Why them?" They asked in shock.

"The Patil twins are also Gemini. The sign of Gemini is twins, right?"

Fred and George nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Well, the twins shared a soul, but they had their own souls... You and Fred share the soul of one twin. Padma and Parvati share the soul of the other twin. Since the twins shared the soul, you four are all integrated... Does that make any sense?" Ginny asked with a grin.

"In a weird way, it does..." The twins replied shaking their heads.

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Ginny shook her head. Fred and George and the Patil twins?! In a weird way, what she had said did make sense...

She would have to talk to Parvati and Padma and invite them for Monday's meeting...

Checking her watch, Ginny stood up and emptied the water on a tree then headed out of the Forbidden Forest.

"Did you See anything of interest?" Firenze asked her.

"Yes..." Ginny replied vaguely.

Firenze looked up at the sky. Thunder rolled in the dark clouds and a flash of lightning appeared in the distance. A few girls screamed and ran inside. Ginny shook her head.

"It's not going to rain until tonight," Firenze said.

"I know..." Ginny said then walked inside slowly for her next lesson.

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Ginny walked into the History of Magic classroom and sat down to wait for Binns. After a few minutes, Ginny pulled out her Vampire book and turned to where the bookmark was.

When a Vampiress takes care of a being, whether it be mortal, human, beast or animal, that particular being will become fiercely loyal to the Vampiress.

An example of this is the Vampiress Elder Anne. When she healed a wounded Pogrebin, even after it tried to attack her, the Pogrebin was loyal to Anne for the rest of its life. The Pogrebin was a very attentive lookout and often saved Anne's life. Even after repaying its debt towards Anne, the Pogrebin refused to leave her.

Other examples include Vampire Elder Xavier and Vampiress Elder Agnes, both of whom worked together to save Norwegian Ridgeback from a Great White Shark that it had been trying to carry off in the early 1700's. The dragon became very loyal to the two Elders, and in turn, taught its children and grandchildren to respect the two Elders and anyone else within the favour of the Elders.

"Good afternoon, Miss Weasley," Binns said as he floated through the wall. "I apologise for being late, but Peeves has been being quite reckless lately and the ghosts were required to meet with the Bloody Baron," he explained.

"That's fine, Professor. I was able to catch up on some reading," Ginny said with a grin.

Binns just nodded and sat at his desk.

"What do you know of the House-Elf Uprise?" Binns asked Ginny.

"The House-Elf Uprise started in 1802 due to the Vampire's mistreating the house-elves," Ginny said. Binns nodded.

"You've tried to get something from a house-elf and were refused, I presume?" He asked looking at her over his spectacles.

"Breakfast from the kitchens," Ginny said.

Binns nodded. He had often seen Fred and George in the kitchens while they were at Hogwarts, so Ginny knowing where the kitchen was wasn't a big surprise.

"Is there any way around the house-elf laws?" Ginny asked.

"It's not only house-elf laws that prevent you from being served, it is also the law of your own kind, Miss Weasley... There is a book about the Uprise and treaty and laws that were made at the end of it if you would like to read it," Binns said. "The bookshelf closest to the door on the third shelf. It's a blue book with the title 'House-Elf Uprise' on it... I didn't make up the title," he added when Ginny raised an eyebrow at the title.

She grinned and found the book he said. Taking it to her table, she began to read the book.

This book contains information about the House-Elf Uprise in 1802. There are accounts from house-elves that show exactly why they agreed on an uprise.

There are also accounts from both the leader of the Vampire's and the leader of the house-elves during the Uprise, and at the treaty. The laws that were agreed upon are listed at the end of the book, but it is recommended that you read the entire book instead of just skipping to the end.

There are four reasons for this... The first reason for this recommendation is that we have spent a lot of time in making this book accurate and want you to read it. The second reason is that both sides of the uprise want you to read the information so you don't make the same mistakes. The third reason is so you can actually get your money's worth and not spend... however much this book is going to cost just to read the last chapter! The final reason, and probably most important, is that I took a bloody long time in writing this book so therefore, you have to read all of it!

Ginny grinned and shook her head. Binns took the opportunity to get her attention again.

"Miss Weasley? I suggest that you go read that somewhere more comfortable than in this room," he said kindly.

"Thank you, Professor," Ginny said as she stood up.

"Don't forget to continue reading Compos Mentis. It is for your own protection," Binns warned. "Oh, and one more thing. I wouldn't normally suggest this, mind you... I think you should change the cover of the book and do not lend the book to Miss Granger. The house-elves are quite upset with her and if she finds this book, then they fear that she will start up her S.P.E.W campaign again," Binns said with a small frown that could have been a smile.

"Yes sir... She isn't doing Care of Magical Creatures, so I can change it to something about Flobberworms. I doubt that she'll want to read that," Ginny said grinning.

"That will be fine," he said. "Just do not forget to return it to me and not Hagrid," he said, dismissing her.

"I won't forget, sir," Ginny said as she left the classroom.

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Going over to one of the tapestries, Ginny went down to her room. As she got closer to her room, Ginny heard noises from inside. Frowning, she opened the door cautiously and walked in, her dagger in her hand.

"Someone's coming, be quiet," Colin whispered.

Shaking her head, Ginny let the dagger return to her boot and walked over to the meeting room.

"She's not supposed to be here yet," Pansy whispered back.

"It might be Draco," Gregory said.

"It's Ginevra," Luna said.

"I can hear you, so you can all stop whispering now," Ginny said as she walked into the room. "What's going on?" She asked looking at the others.

"I wanted to talk to you, and everyone ended up following me," Pansy said glaring at the others.

"What do you want to talk about?" Ginny asked, wondering what could be so interesting to have grabbed everyone's attention.

"She wanted to talk about us," Vincent said smirking at Gregory.

"And you all want to know about that?" Ginny asked looking at the others.

"I just wanted to hear some good gossip," Millicent said smirking.

"So where's Blaise and Draco?" Ginny asked as she sat down on the lounge.

"No idea... They left after breakfast and we haven't seen them all day," Theodore said with a shrug.

"Well, I've got to read this book, so can we talk about it tonight after dinner?" Ginny asked Pansy.

"Sleep over!" Luna said laughing happily.

"I don't do sleep over's..." Pansy drawled.

"Yeah, for her it should be a bloody talk over," Millicent grumbled.

"Well, you can still come over tonight. You don't have to crash here if you don't want," Ginny said grinning at them.

"Can we all come over?" Neville asked.

"Why not? I haven't had a sleep over in ages," Ginny said.

"We're not going to have to play something stupid like Truth or Dare, are we?" Pansy drawled. She threw the popcorn back at Millicent.

"You don't have to. I want to get as much juice out of all of you as I can!" Millicent said laughing.

"Shouldn't you be talking to Lavender and Parvati about that?" Pansy drawled.

Ginny shook her head as she listened to the two of them bicker. She opened her book and started reading. Stopping at a paragraph in shock, Ginny re-read it a few times to make sure that what she was reading was right.

Mistress locked me in a room. My brother, Bolly tried to help me get out, but Mistress wouldn't let me go until Bolly had finished his job. Mistress didn't let me out of the room for six weeks and I couldn't do anything.

Underneath the account was a note by the author.

Bolly, Netar's brother, had the job of bringing Muggles to their Mistress' house so that she could drink them. Even though Bolly did as he was asked that night, their Mistress still would not let Netar leave the room.

"Are you all right?" Colin asked, seeing that Ginny had gone a pale shade of green.

"Yeah..." Ginny muttered, putting the book down.

Manx, her Patronus manticore had shown her that in a vision! The "Mistress" was Virginia!

"I better get going... You can see yourselves out, I presume?" Ginny said with a grin. "McGonagall wasn't happy that I was late yesterday and that was only by a few minutes. I'm going to see if I can get there early and frown when she's late," Ginny said smirking.

"Evil much?" Pansy asked smirking at her.

"Me? Evil? Never..." Ginny said, laughing evilly as she left.

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Ginny arrived in the Transfiguration classroom and saw that McGonagall was already there. Slightly annoyed, Ginny wondered whether McGonagall ever left the classroom.

"Good afternoon, Miss Weasley. Nice to see you early for once," Minerva said.

Thankfully for Gryffindor House, Ginny didn't have the chance to reply. Tonks burst through the door dramatically, her neon green hair setting off her bright baby blue eyes. She brushed the long bangs out of her eyes with shimmering turquoise fingernails.

"Hey, we're all here!" She said grinning.

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Nymphadora," McGonagall drawled with a sniff.

Tonks ignored both the insult and the use of her first name.

"Oh, you're welcome! Are you doing the lesson today, or am I? I have some... business to take care of in Remus' office," Tonks said with a wink at Ginny.

"We're both doing the lesson today," McGonagall said sternly.

Tonks' face fell considerably and her hair began to go a light brown shade. Her eyes and nails dimmed and McGonagall sighed.

"Fine! Just leave if you're going to act childish," McGonagall said.

"Always works! See you!" Tonks said grinning. Her appearance returned to its former glory and she winked at Ginny before leaving quickly.

"Very well, now that she's sorted, I think we can organise our lesson," McGonagall said smiling at Ginny.

"Yes, Professor," Ginny replied. She was slightly wary of McGonagall's sudden change in attitude.

"How long do you usually stay in a transformation?" Minerva asked.

"Not that long... I stayed in phoenix form for an hour, I think, but other than that I usually stay in the form for a few minutes only," Ginny said.

"How would you like to go around the castle for a while? It may be necessary for you in future years to stay in one form for a prolonged period of time. You won't be able to do that if you are not used to the strain and draining it involves," McGonagall said. "Cat form should do. I suggest that you do not go in a form similar to Mrs. Norris," she said, rubbing one of her ears subconsciously.

"Thank you for the advice, Professor," Ginny said with a smirk.

She started to change her body and closed her eyes as the ground rushed up to meet her. Landing on four paws with a loud 'meow', Ginny stopped for a moment to get used to the new body. Although this feline was obviously not the same beast, Ginny could feel the same gracefulness she had felt with the nundu. Stretching out one paw, she admired her rust-red colour before a noise nearby made her ears twitch. Looking in the direction, Ginny saw the McGonagall was beside her in cat form as well.

"If you are finished admiring yourself... Hurry up, we will not have much time," McGonagall meowed at Ginny. With an apologetic sound, Ginny followed Minerva out of the classroom.

Minerva obviously knew her way around the castle at such a low view. After a while Ginny was completely lost, whereas McGonagall was making her way around like she knew it as she knew the back of her wand.

Sniffing, Ginny realised that she recognised the smell. Draco! With an excited meow, Ginny bounded forward, ignoring Minerva's calls. She wound her way around his feet, purring happily. Two hands picked her up and looked at her for a moment.

"Ginevra?" He asked, sounding shocked.

Ginny meowed happily and purred, rubbing against his hands. There was a hiss from Draco's feet and she looked down. Minerva was hissing at her, and was not happy. Ginny meowed and went to jump out of Draco's hands.

"I'll put you down, just a second," he said, putting her on the ground.

Minerva hissed at Ginny again and swiped at her with a paw. Ginny meowed softly in apology then with one more rub against Draco's ankles, she followed Minerva down the corridor.

"That was different..." Blaise said. Draco just nodded.

"You're not supposed to make yourself seen!" Minerva hissed at Ginny once they were back inside the Transfiguration classroom.

"You didn't tell me that," Ginny said softly. Minerva faltered, then hissed again.

"You should still have more common sense than that!" Minerva said. "Now change back," she instructed.

Ginny changed back into her human form, reluctant to lose the grace she had felt.

"What if it had been an enemy? You would have walked straight into them!" Minerva admonished.

"I knew who it was... I recognised his smell," she finished, knowing how lame she sounded.

"You recognised his smell..." Minerva repeated.

Ginny couldn't tell if she was saying it in disbelief or worry.

"Yes... Is that normal?" Ginny asked.

"It may be," McGonagall replied vaguely. "You should go to lunch now," she said, dismissing Ginny.

Ginny left the lesson, wondering why McGonagall was letting her leave five minutes early.

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"Hey Ginny! I thought you didn't finish until lunch actually started..." Colin said.

"McGonagall let me out early," Ginny replied with a shrug.

"A short announcement before lunch is served..." Dumbledore said, standing up at the teacher's table. "Firstly, there are Quidditch tryouts next weekend."

People started to talk excitedly. Dumbledore looked at them until they were quiet again before he continued to speak.

"Silence until I have finished, if you please... Secondly, next weekend is also a Hogsmeade weekend for third years and above," he announced. "So no one misses out, if you wish to participate in both events next weekend, then there will be afternoon carriages for those teams that finish their tryouts at lunchtime. Those that have their tryouts after lunch can use the same carriages to return to Hogwarts. But for now, enjoy the feast," Dumbledore said, sitting down again.

"That's great... I wonder when our tryouts are," Colin said, subconsciously touching his camera.

"Hi Ginny!" Ron called from down the table.

She waved at him then turned back to Colin and Neville. Ron frowned and called out to her again.

"What do you want, Ron?" Ginny asked finally going over to her brother.

"I just wanted to say hi," he said.

"You already said that," Hermione pointed out.

"Well, I wanted to see how you were too," Ron said, ignoring Hermione.

"You could have walked down to me, Ron," Ginny said raising an eyebrow at him.

"I know, but I'm too lazy for that," he said with a boyish grin.

"I'm sure you are... I'm fine, thanks for asking. Is there anything else you wanted?" Ginny asked.

"What Quidditch position are you trying out for?" Ron asked.

"Mr. Weasley... I suggest that you either move over or let Miss Weasley return to her seat. I am sure you would not wish for your sister to faint from hunger now, would you?" Snape drawled behind them.

"No," Ron said reluctantly.

As Ron didn't move or say anything else to her, Ginny went back to her seat between Neville and Colin. Snape watched after her, then continued to go up to the teacher's table.

"What was all that about?" Neville asked.

"He's annoyed that I'm getting so much attention from other people and he's not," Ginny said with a shrug.

"What did he want?" Colin asked.

"At first he just wanted to say hello. Then he wanted to ask how I was and then he wanted to ask what position I'll be going for," Ginny said.

"So what position are you going for?" Colin asked.

"I don't know if I'm going to tryout yet..."

"Why not?" Colin and Neville asked in shock.

"I have the tendency to get insulted easily while I'm on the Quidditch Pitch; I have more power and speed than everyone else; and I am a danger to the other players..." Ginny said simply.

"Surely you're not that much of a danger that you can't play Quidditch!" Colin protested.

"I could be... I haven't been on a broom since before I found out," Ginny said with a shrug.

"That was almost a month ago!" Colin said in shock.

"So? Contrary to popular Weasley belief, my entire life does not revolve around Quidditch," she said with a grin.

"It will when the season's started," Neville said grinning at her.

"I didn't say it wouldn't then..." She replied smirking.

"Are you going to the Quidditch..." Neville began to ask, but was cut off.

"Ginny? Can I talk to you for a moment?" Seamus asked looking at her.

"Neville was speaking before you were, Seamus," Ginny said with a glare at him.

"Sorry... Go ahead Nev," he said with a grin.

"It's fine. I can talk to you when you get back," Neville said to Ginny.

"I won't be that long," Seamus added quickly.

Ginny nodded and followed him out of the Great Hall.

"WouldyougotoHogsmeadewithme?" Seamus asked quickly, his Irish accent becoming so thick that Ginny was only barely able to decipher his words.

"You just asked me to Hogsmeade, right?" Ginny asked to confirm. Seamus nodded, going red.

"Yeah. I was wondering if you would go to Hogsmeade with me?" He said at a slower pace, not as nervous this time.

"I can't accept your offer, Seamus. I don't even know if I'll be going yet," Ginny tried to explain.

"Oh, that's fine. I was just wondering," he said smiling at her.

"Thanks for asking," she said as they went back into the Great Hall.

"It's all right. Good luck with the tryouts," Seamus said as he went back to his seat.

Ginny sat down and turned to Neville again.

"Sorry, you were saying?" She asked.

"Ginny?" Dean asked from beside her. "Could I talk to you for a moment?" He asked.

"All right... I'll be right back," Ginny said to Neville, who just grinned and waved her off.

"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" Dean asked as soon as they were out of the Great Hall.

"No, I'm sorry Dean. I don't even know if I'll be going yet," Ginny said. "Don't you have a girlfriend?" She asked.

"Uh... Well... We're not official yet," he stammered.

"So does the official part come before or after the tapestry?" Ginny asked.

Dean just went back inside quickly and chose not to reply.

"Did they both ask you to Hogsmeade?" Colin asked.

"Yes... I'm starting to think of writing, 'no' on my forehead, just so I don't have to get up again," Ginny joked.

"Funny..." Neville said. He blushed as Blaise caught his eye and Ginny nudged Neville lightly.

"Did you ask Blaise to come by tonight?" She asked him.

"Ask me where?" Blaise said behind them. He sat beside Neville and looked at Ginny curiously. "What's happening tonight and why haven't I been invited yet?" he asked, smirking at them.

"I'm having a kind of sleep over tonight. Only for our group though," Ginny said in a quiet tone.

"Really? That's going to be interesting..." Blaise said. "So, were you going to ask me?" He asked Neville.

"I was going to later," Neville said quietly.

"Are you embarrassed about us?" Blaise asked Neville softly.

"No! I just wasn't sure if you wanted everyone knowing..." Neville said, his face bright red.

"And what gave you that idea?" Blaise asked as he began kissing Neville.

"Uh..." Neville murmured, unable to respond.

"That is disgusting! What are you doing?!" Lavender screeched at the two boys.

"What did it look like we were doing, Brown?" Blaise sneered at her. "A first year would know what we were doing!" He said when she didn't respond. He called over a younger looking child from further down the table. "You a first year? Did you see what we were doing?" Blaise asked. The boy nodded bravely on both counts. "Good. Tell Miss Brown what my boyfriend and I were doing," Blaise said.

"They were just kissing," the boy said to Lavender, slightly confused by her reaction.

"Thanks kid... Here, have a Sickle," Blaise said, giving the young boy a silver Sickle.

The boy stared at the Sickle, then at Blaise. He ran off before Blaise could change his mind.

"Hope that answers your question..." Blaise drawled at Lavender.

Ginny tried not to laugh at Lavender's expression. She had gone a very bright shade that, until then, Ginny had thought only Ron could achieve. Lavender was glaring at Blaise and one of her veins seemed to pulse at her temple.

"Do you think she's going to explode?" Colin whispered to Ginny, who barely refrained herself from laughing.

Colin started taking photos of Lavender. The bright flash snapped her out of her state, and she returned to her normal colour, much to Colin's disappointment.

"Stupid flash... Can't get the right lighting without it, and I can't get the right picture with it..." Colin grumbled.

Ginny looked around the Great Hall and saw Tom sitting further down the table. He looked bored and didn't realise that Lavender was trying to get his attention by mouthing silent words.

"I'll be right back," Ginny said. "Sorry Luna. I'll be back in a minute," she said as she passed Luna in the small aisle between the tables.

"That's fine, Ginevra," Luna said and sat by Colin.

Ginny walked over to Tom, whom Lavender was trying to mouth words to unsuccessfully. Ginny forced herself to smile at the seventh year.

"Hi... I'm Ginny," she introduced herself.

"I know who you are... I'm Thomas; Tom," he said. "Thanks for getting me out of the Forbidden Forest before..." Tom said. "We didn't mean to wander off. We just wanted to look around the clearing," Tom said.

"It's all right... Mind if I sit down?" Ginny asked.

Tom moved over a bit for her and she sat down, continuing to talk to him.

"What is she doing?" Blaise asked Neville.

"No idea..." Neville said with a shrug. "Do you know what she's doing, Luna?" He asked.

"Well, it can be one of three things. Firstly, she doesn't want to be afraid anymore and she's facing her fears. Secondly, she's trying to take control of her future by befriending one of the people who will affect it so much. Or lastly she's just talking to him," Luna said. "I think it's the first two options, but that's just my opinion," she said with a eerie smile.

"I'm sorry about the five of you getting into trouble with Hagrid... Is the detention bad?" Ginny asked Tom.

"It's surprisingly all right. We don't have to serve detention with Filch, which is really good," Tom said with a grin. "Dumbledore offered to take our detention... He's an odd character, don't you think?" He asked quietly.

"Slightly odd... But then, all genius' are odd characters," Ginny said with a laugh.

She saw that Lavender had given up trying to 'talk' to Tom and instead was now glaring at him. Parvati looked extremely bored and annoyed by Lavender, Ginny noted.

"I've got to talk to someone else, but I'll talk to you tomorrow at lunch, ok?" Ginny asked.

"Look forward to it," Tom said smiling.

"Parvati? Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Ginny asked her.

"Whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of me too," Lavender said glaring at Ginny.

"It's all right Lavender. I won't be long," Parvati said, getting up and following Ginny out of the Great Hall.

"I'm having a sleep over tonight and I wanted to invite you and your sister..." Ginny said.

"Oh, that's... nice of you. I understand why you'd want to invite Padma, but why me?" Parvati asked, frowning.

"I just want to get to know you better while you're not around Lavender. No offence," Ginny added quickly.

"Believe me, none is taken..." Parvati said, glancing back to the Great Hall.

"Would you like to come over tonight then?" Ginny asked smiling at her.

"I... I want to, but if Lavender finds out... She's going to hate me for it," Parvati said shaking her head.

"You don't have to feel pressured to come. It's all right. I understand," Ginny said smiling at her. "If you change your mind, then just find Neville or Colin later tonight," she said. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Lavender about this," Ginny said. Parvati nodded. "You better go back in before Lavender thinks that I've sucked you dry," Ginny said with a wink.

Parvati laughed, then clamped her hand over her mouth, as if she had betrayed Lavender. She looked at the ground, then sighed and went back into the Great Hall.

Ginny followed her in then went over to Padma and sat beside her.

"Hi Padma. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ginny asked.

"Sure," Padma said, following Ginny to a quieter corner of the Slytherin table.

"I'm having a sleep over tonight. Did you want to come?" Ginny asked her.

"Who else is going to be there?" Padma asked.

"Pansy, Gregory, Vincent, Blaise, Neville, Theodore, Millicent, Colin, and Luna," Ginny said. "I'm going to ask Draco next."

"I saw you with Parvati. Is she going?" Padma asked, looking over at her sister.

"She wants to, but she said no in case Lavender finds out. I left the invitation open for her," Ginny said.

"All right. I'll come... How do I get into the Gryffindor Tower?" Padma asked.

"My room's not in there, so you won't have to. Just go with the rest of them. They know how to get in. I'll tell you how to get to my rooms when you're in there... Less ears then," Ginny said. Padma nodded.

"Ok. I'll talk Parvati into it... Never liked Lavender," Padma muttered. Ginny smirked.

"Ok, see you later," Ginny said.

She walked down the Slytherin table to where Draco was sitting.

"Hello Draco. Can we talk for a minute?" Ginny asked. Draco looked at her for a second then nodded and followed her out of the Great Hall.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I'm having a sleep over tonight. Did you want to come? The rest of the group's coming too," she added before he could misinterpret what the sleep over actually was.

"Where are we all going to sleep? Your room's not big enough for all eleven of us," he drawled smirking at her.

"Actually, it's twelve of us... It may be thirteen though. We're all going to sleep in one of my extra rooms, not my room... You see, there's this little thing called magic and it can make a room seem bigger than it really is," Ginny said slowly, smirking triumphantly.

"Fine... I'll go to your sleep over thing. As long as I get a good night kiss," Draco said softly, smirking at her.

"Now that depends on how good you are at the sleep over thing," she mocked grinning.

"Agreed," he said, holding out a hand. Ginny shook it and tingles ran up her arm.

"Agreed..." She said, then went back into the Great Hall to eat the rest of her lunch in what little time she had left.

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"See you all at dinner," Ginny called as she headed down to the dungeons.

"Miss Weasley... Our lesson is at the Quidditch Pitch today, not in the dungeons," Snape said behind her.

"Ok... Can I ask why?" Ginny asked.

"As you probably know, I accidentally heard your conversation with your brother. Albus heard what you said about not going for the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts and asked myself and Madam Hooch to instruct you on a broom again. I am already aware that you know how to fly, as shown by your spectac... your performance last season," Snape said.

Ginny grinned, knowing he was going to say 'spectacular performance'... Well, she had learnt from Charlie.

"But if you are to keep your emotions under control while you are trying to maintain a normal speed while flying, then you need to relearn. Is that understood?" He asked.

"Yes, sir... Thank you," Ginny said.

Snape just nodded and didn't say another thing until they were at the Quidditch Pitch.

"Madam Hooch," he said in recognition.

"Professor Snape," she replied curtly. "Miss Weasley, if you will please find a broom, we can begin. I would appreciate that we finish this before the rain starts to come down," Hooch said.

Ginny went over to the broom cupboard and brought her Comet 180 out.

"Sturdy broom, slightly old and frayed, but it will have to do for now," Hooch observed. Ginny nodded and mounted the broomstick. "You may want to remove your robe before we begin, Miss Weasley," she said.

With a quick grin, Ginny took her robe off, the cool wind biting at her previously warm clothes. Doing a small spell, Ginny relaxed as the wind seemed to go around her rather than through her.

She rose up into the air and watched as both Hooch and Snape flew up to her, Snape with the Quaffle under his arm.

"As you are a Chaser for your team, Madam Hooch will jostle you for a while and try to get the Quaffle from you. I will make sure that you don't overreact or use your powers when things get rough," Snape said.

"All right," Ginny said.

Severus threw the Quaffle to her. Almost as soon as she'd caught the Quaffle, Madam Hooch came barrelling into Ginny's side. With a small grunt of pain, Ginny barely managed to keep hold of the Quaffle.

She was shocked that this thin, wiry woman had so much strength! But then, knowing her own form was fairly small and thin too, Ginny realised that the opposition probably thought the same thing about her.

Hooch tried to wrestle the Quaffle from her and Ginny held it tighter beneath her arm. As Hooch tried to get it with more force, Ginny applied more force to the Quaffle in an attempt to keep it. More force was supplied by Hooch, in turn making Ginny hold the Quaffle tighter again. After Hooch tried one more time, there was a loud bang and Ginny felt a very large stinging sensation in her arm. Looking at where the Quaffle had original been, Ginny was shocked to see only strips and pieces of scarlet leather on her arm.

"What!? I... The Quaffle... How? What happened?" Ginny asked in shock.

That ball was supposed to be magically reinforced against bursting! Daisy Pennifold had not only bewitched the Quaffle so that it didn't plummet to the ground, but she had also made that it wouldn't burst if it had hit the ground, due to there being sharp rocks around some Quidditch playing areas.

"Do not worry, Miss Weasley. That was not the real Quaffle. It's just a duplicate," Hooch said.

"You could have told me that before..." Ginny muttered. Hooch looked at her sternly for a moment before continuing.

"Although, the spells were the same, so next time don't use as much pressure when holding the ball. When someone fights you with the same amount of aggressiveness that I did, then you can let it go. Firstly, it won't make people suspicious that you've got more strength than them. Secondly, it may surprise the opponent enough for them to loosen their grip on the Quaffle," Hooch said.

"Yes, Madam Hooch," Ginny said.

"Your emotions allowed your mind shield to come down momentarily. I doubt that anyone's going to try and get into your mind during a Quidditch match, but as lots of parents come to watch the games, you may want to be careful. I am not the only one skilled in Occulmency," Snape drawled.

"Yes, sir," Ginny said.

Balancing on her broom carefully, Ginny flicked her wand at the shreds of leather. They all rearranged themselves and soon a Quaffle was floating down to the ground. Without a word, she flew upwards, going vertical before spinning her broom downwards and shooting past the two adults. Spiralling as she plummeted downwards, Ginny caught the Quaffle and pulled up from the ground grinning triumphantly.

"Miss Weasley!" Snape yelled.

She flew up to him meekly and waited for a reprimand.

"Next time you do that, don't fly so close to Severus. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack," Hooch said, her hawk eyes twinkling as she shook with suppressed laughter.

"Don't do that when it's not necessary for you to do so. Showing off is not an agreeable trait for anyone, Miss Weasley," Snape said. Although his tone was considerably light, his words made Ginny feel ashamed and she nodded briefly.

"Sorry, sir," she said. Snape nodded then took the Quaffle from her.

"Again," he said, handing the Quaffle to Hooch this time. "Remember. Don't use as much force. You don't want to knock out someone's teeth... As entertaining as that might be," he said smirking.

"Don't give her ideas, Severus," Hooch warned.

"Of course not, Rolanda," Snape drawled frostily.

Ginny shook her head at them, then went to take the Quaffle from Hooch, whose hand instinctively closed around the leather ball.

Ginny contemplated tickling Hooch, but didn't think that the action would be appreciated. Wondering if the move was illegal or not in an actual Quidditch game, Ginny put it in the back of her mind as she fought to take hold of the Quaffle.

"Not so much force, Miss Weasley," Snape's voice cut through the wind and she glared.

Still trying to take the Quaffle without as much force, Ginny barely managed to move back from Hooch's fist. Hooch pulled her fist back, grinning at Ginny.

"No contact, no foul," Hooch said.

Ginny just nodded and kept trying to get the Quaffle from Hooch's single-handed death grip. She went to pull back from the Quaffle, but Hooch only gripped the ball tighter.

"For the Gods sakes! How am I supposed to get the bloody Quaffle from her? She's probably got it stuck to her hand or something!" Ginny muttered after another five minutes of unsuccessfully trying to get the ball back from Hooch.

"Nonsense, Miss Weasley. It is against the rules to start with and secondly, I would never stoop that low to glue the Quaffle to my hand," Hooch said with a sniff. "There is a simple manoeuvre for releasing the Quaffle from someone. All you need to do is take their middle finger and pull it away from the object. Then the rest of the person's fingers will follow..." Hooch said.

She threw the Quaffle to Snape in order to demonstrate. He held the Quaffle with a reluctant sigh and Hooch flew over to him. Grabbing his middle finger, she lifted it enough to pull the two side fingers up and loosen the ball from his grip. Once that was done, she snatched the Quaffle with lightning speed from him and turned to Ginny.

"That's all there is to it," she said simply. "It also works well against people trying to attack you or grab you," she added.

"Of course... Just that and concentrating on flying at high speeds while dodging Bludgers... Sounds as easy as learning the alphabet," Ginny drawled.

"Well, you did learn the alphabet, therefore you can learn this," Rolanda retorted grinning at her. "We won't need you anymore, Severus. As you said, no one is going to try and read her mind during a Quidditch match," she said to Snape in a dismissive tone.

"Do not think that you are going to dismiss me that easily," Snape drawled at her.

"I won't have to think it if you just leave," Hooch growled.

"Madam Hooch? I think I have to go now anyway. I need to get to my next lesson," Ginny interrupted.

"Fine, Miss Weasley," Hooch said.

"Thank you for your assistance, Madam Hooch," Snape said frostily.

"You're welcome," Hooch replied, her tone matching Severus'.

Ginny flew down to the Quidditch Pitch and put her Comet 180 back in the broom cupboard. Looking around, she found that her robe had blown down the Quidditch Pitch. Too tired and getting colder with every minute, Ginny didn't want to walk down there and get it. Taking her wand out of her pocket, she pointed it down at the billowing material.

"Accio robe!" She called, taking the warming spell off of her body at the same time.

Her robe flew towards her quickly. Ginny caught her robe and put it on, shivering as the robe now chilled her body instead of warm it, as it had done before. Rubbing her arms, Ginny grabbed her bag and headed back to the castle quickly.

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Ginny entered the Room of Requirement and saw Dumbledore waiting for her.

He smiled at her as he indicated for her to sit down.

"I think that you should get warm before we are to leave," he said kindly. "Where we are going does not require flying, nor Apparation, so there is no need for you to worry about getting a chill," Albus said smiling.

"Where are we going, Professor?" Ginny asked curiously.

"As the glass was broken during your test, the rest of it will have to be completed at the Headquarters," he said. "We will get there via the Floo Network," Albus said, answering Ginny's next question.

A fireplace appeared behind him and he threw some Floo Powder into the flames. Indicating for Ginny to go first, he looked at her.

"You remember what to say, I presume?" He asked.

"I remember," Ginny said with a nod and stepped into the green flames. "12 Grimmauld Place, Order of the Phoenix Headquarters," she said clearly.

Dumbledore's smiling face disappeared and Ginny stepped out of the fireplace at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Glancing around, Ginny saw the tapestry and went over to it. She prodded her own name before tracing along the lines of her ancestry. She saw Draco's name at the other end of the tapestry, showing just how distantly related they actually were. Looking up, Ginny saw Virginia's name and scowled. Then she saw something that shocked her. Ginny went closer to the two names, just to be certain they were really who she thought they were.

"Ah, Miss Weasley. I see you have taken an interest in the tapestry," Albus said from behind her.

"Why didn't you tell me I'm related to Lord Xavier and Lady Agnes?!" Ginny demanded, pointing to the two names on the tapestry.

"After you announced it in the Forbidden Forest, I thought it would have been obvious to you," Albus said with a shrug.

Ginny looked at him blankly, trying to recall exactly when she had said anything about being related to Xavier and Agnes.

"Daughter of the four great bloodlines; Torleni, Weasley, Prewett and Malfoy..." She muttered, Albus nodding in agreement.

"Exactly. Now we must hurry if you are to finish the test in time for your next lesson," he said, quickly ushering her along the hallway.

Coming to the meeting room, Ginny could see that the drapes were shut firmly and the candles were lit, emitting a soft glow. Guiding Ginny inside, Dumbledore shut the door so no outside light could filter through.

"Thank you, my friend," Xavier said, coming out from the shadows.

"You are always welcome, my Lord," Albus replied.

"My Lord," Ginny said with a bow.

"Hello, my daughter. I understand that you only just realised of your relation to me?" Xavier said smiling at her. "Did you think that we called everyone upon meeting 'daughter'?" He asked, still smiling.

"I was not aware that you only reserved the title for those related to you, my Lord," Ginny confirmed.

"That is understandable... I see that you did not bring your brothers to meet me. Are all of your siblings the same as they are?" Xavier asked.

"No, my Lord. Fred and George are definitely unique in the aspect of their joy in life. My mother is grateful that my siblings are not like the twins," Ginny said with a smile. Xavier nodded in understanding.

"We should begin now. If you will please sit in the chair," Xavier said, indicating to the chair that had appeared beside him.

The blue light floated above the chair and Ginny eyed it nervously before sitting down.

"Try to relax... The memories may become too much, but you must try to hold on this time," Xavier said kindly.

Ginny nodded. Albus waved his wand and glass surrounded her. Ginny shut her eyes tightly as the ball of light flew into her forehead.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In fast forward, her memories from age four to ten flew past her mind. The orb seemed to find the last memory she had shown them instinctively and then came to a slow stop, continuing in the normal flow.

Ginny watched as Harry and Ron searched through the library over Christmas. She knew what they were looking for, but she couldn't tell them what she knew. She didn't want to tell them what she knew. Telling would betray Tom. She couldn't do that to him. Not when she loved him so much...

She wrote to Tom over Christmas, upset that she hadn't even been spared a single thought other than to say 'Merry Christmas' and 'Mum always sends you better jumpers'. Tom comforted Ginny and encouraged her to go down to the Chamber. He would spend Christmas with her. Ginny made up a lame excuse about meeting Colin. Neither of the boys even looked up from their game of wizard's chess. They hadn't even realised that she had spoken, let alone the fact that Colin had returned home for the Christmas holiday.

Ginny went down to the girl's bathroom and Tom helped her open the Chamber. She was more aware when he took her over now and in her own time, she was practising the hissed words he used to open the Chamber. She wanted to see if she could get in on her own...

Ginny spent New Year's Eve with Colin, Luna and Neville. She wanted to confide in them about Tom, but she knew that she couldn't do that. Tom was her secret, and they might not like her if she voiced her opinions about who she thought was really Petrifying the people. So she just smiled, watched as the twins let off some fire crackers in the Common Room, then said 'Happy New Year' and went to bed.

Ginny's grades dropped considerably. All she did was think about Tom. She wrote to him for most of her day, even writing to him during class if she thought she could get away with it. The teachers didn't seem to mind, as they all thought she was just taking notes on what they had said. Tom helped her with work if it was necessary. He had a brilliant mind and already knew more about magic than she could ever hope to know. So it began that he began teaching her. Every day, Ginny would go down to the Chamber and Tom would teach her about his kind of magic. He always seemed to make it interesting and fun, not like the boring teachers who always seemed to make the magic so mundane and full of rules and responsibilities. Ginny loved the way Tom taught her; she loved Tom.

Hermione was Petrified and this made Ginny further excluded from Ron and Harry than ever before. They spent all of their time in the library or in the hospital wing, looking after Hermione as they never would have done for her. Ginny cried to Tom about the unfairness of it all and as always, he comforted her with his charming words of reassurance and love.

Ginny was scared. Tom was no longer loving and calm. He wanted more information about Harry. He always wanted more... Ginny knew now that he had only been using her. When she confronted him about it, he'd only replied with 'you will only ever be used. No one will want you if you don't have a use for them'. His words had broken her and brought her to tears. Tom never lied, and now was no different.

She tried to talk to Ron and Harry at breakfast. They looked mildly interested but she couldn't tell them where so many people would hear. Percy walked over and glared at her, thinking she was going to tell them about Penelope. She ran from the Great Hall, thinking that she could talk to them at lunchtime.

Ginny didn't even attempt to talk to Tom, but he still managed to take her over, writing the blood-stained message to the Professor's before going down into the Chamber. He opened the Chamber and went back into the diary to recuperate, leaving Ginny cold and alone with the Basilisk.

She shivered, knowing that she wouldn't be found. No one knew where the Chamber was. She didn't know how to get out of the Chamber. Harry and Ron were still busy trying to help Hermione. They didn't have time to worry about her... It was her own fault. She hadn't told them about Tom. She shouldn't have worried about if other people heard. She should have just told them. Then she might not have been in this mess. She'd probably be expelled and disowned from her family, but wasn't that better than dying? Ginny shuddered at both the thought of being disowned and not being able to use magic. Maybe dying was better after all... No one would have to know what she had done and her family wouldn't be ashamed of her.

Ginny was starving. She hadn't eaten at breakfast. She hadn't eaten much during dinner the night before either... In fact, she didn't remember eating a lot over the past three days. After a while, she began to feel dizzy and light-headed. She watched as Tom started to climb out of the diary and her mind filled with darkness as she fainted.

Ginny woke up and saw Harry. She thought it was Tom and stared, her eyes brimming with grateful tears when she saw that it was Harry. Stammering an explanation, she cried about not being allowed to attend Hogwarts and just generally babbled in her confused state of mind. Harry pulled her along the Chamber and she grew quiet again. She saw that he was carrying the diary that had a gaping hole in it and a sword. She wanted to know where he'd found that, but didn't dare ask.

She saw Ron and went to him, tears flowing again. Professor Lockhart no longer looked like the handsome wizard he'd once been. In fact, he was rather repulsive. Harry made her hold Lockhart's hand. They flew out of the Chamber with the help of Fawkes and went along the corridors to Dumbledore's office. The next few hours were a blur; her mother crying, Harry's explanation and something about chocolate blending together to become nothing more than an incomprehensive memory that seemed like it should have been a dream.

Ginny was told off constantly for three week's on end for trusting something that she couldn't see where it's brain was kept. She wasn't allowed to leave the Burrow. Any time she walked into a room, the conversation died instantly. Ginny decided to stay in her room. Her brothers practically ignored her, excepting the occasional glares from Ron and the sympathetic looks from the twins. Bill and Charlie weren't home enough to do anything much, but Ginny still felt like they hated her and they stayed away from the Burrow because she was there. If she had the chance to go back into the Chamber, she would have gladly found some way to die, now that she knew what it was going to be like once she'd been rescued.

She went to do tests with Dumbledore every week. She never got the results, and never knew if she was contaminated or if Voldemort still lingered within her mind. After doing the tests, they returned to the Burrow and Ginny was confined to her room until Dumbledore had left. Even then, she didn't dare come out of her room. She hated seeing the worried and scared looks on her parent's faces. She hated that she scared them. Every night was spent thinking of how she could rid them of their fears, and crying when she couldn't go through with it.

Ginny's acceptance letter to Hogwarts came via owl. It had the same words as the year before, except that she was now in her second year. She went to Diagon Alley with everyone. She kept her head down and blushed when Harry spoke, whether the comment was directed at her or not. Ginny didn't really look where she was going, she just followed her family around.

The threat of her having Voldemort in her was long gone, but that didn't give them all reason to talk to her constantly or look at her. Fred and George were Ginny's only siblings who had accepted the news happily and had immediately gone to her, comforting her with their presence. They'd joked with her and talked with her about the shop they wanted to open. She didn't feel completely back to normal, but being with Fred and George helped her a lot.

Ginny went onto Platform 9 and 3/4 and said goodbye to her parents before boarding the train. She followed Ron and his friends to an empty compartment, sitting with them, but with no real great enthusiasm. She liked Harry, but as he didn't pay attention to her, there was really no point sitting with people who made you feel invisible... A professor was sleeping in their compartment. Well it seemed that he was asleep, but Ginny didn't buy it. She didn't say anything though, just in case she was wrong...

The train stopped and they all looked around. The window started to freeze and the air became chilly. The compartment door unlocked and a Dementor floated in. Tom's voice, words and images filled her head. She began to tremble, then rock and then she started shaking, but her terror barely got more than a glance as Harry fainted. The professor-who-wasn't-asleep said a spell and the Dementor left. He gave her a small piece of chocolate and handed Harry a larger portion when he woke up.

Ginny watched as they left in the carriages then went over to the transport provided for the second-years. She went with Colin and Luna to the Sorting Feast, but she didn't talk to them much. She knew that they were scared of her. They didn't say as much, but from their faces and sidelong glances, she knew that they hated her for what she'd done the year before. Ginny had no idea that Dumbledore hadn't told any of the Petrified people who had Petrified them. She knew that Hermione knew and that was enough to make her edgy.

Ginny was in her dorm room. The other girls didn't hear the whispered silencing spell, and Ginny cried herself to sleep.

Ginny made it through her second year without much incident. Without much of anything really... She didn't talk to Neville, Colin or Luna much, but they were always there for her, no matter what. Ron, Harry and Hermione were off on another adventure without her and Ginny was alone.

Ginny thought that her third year would be much the same as the year before. She heard rumours being whispered on the train about a tournament of some kind. Malfoy was being awfully smug about something he knew that no one else did. She hated it when he was smug. The look didn't suit him at all...

Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Tournament and Ginny looked at the Goblet of Fire he'd presented. The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students came and she shook her head at Ron's obvious infatuation with Fleur. Ginny heard Fred and George talking about an ageing potion so they could get past the restriction line that Dumbledore had put on the Goblet. Mad-Eye Moody looked at Ginny and she shivered as a feeling of unease swept through her.

Ginny watched, slightly crestfallen, as Harry showed more and more interest in Cho Chang. She knew that she could never compete and win against someone like that. She reluctantly gave up on Harry and started to become less timid and... embarrassing around him.

She studied constantly, getting approving looks from Hermione and shocked ones from her brother. Hermione confided in her about Viktor Rum and Ginny talked in small parts with her about Harry.

She was shocked when Neville asked her to the Yule Ball and accepted, even though she knew that he'd asked Hermione first. She was just happy to go out for a night. Her mother was thrilled for her, sending her a dress that she'd sewn herself. Ginny had real fun for the first time since going to Hogwarts. Hermione went with Krum, but looked at Ron for most of the time. Ginny watched Harry during the Yule Ball and saw that he'd gone with Parvati Patil. They both looked utterly bored and she contemplated asking him to dance when he left abruptly with Ron. Neville asked her to dance and she was pleasantly surprised at his gracefulness on the dance floor.

Neville confided in her about his sexual preferences, red in embarrassment. She congratulated him and gave him a genuine smile. He'd been shocked, wondering why she wasn't running for the hills or screaming at the top of her lungs. Ginny had explained to him that Neville had been one of the very few who had stuck around with her after her first year. She was happy that he had and would never tell of his secret.

In the Room of Requirement that night, Ginny talked with Luna, Neville and Colin at length. She'd made them take a Blood Oath and an Unbreakable Vow. She wanted to be sure that no one else would find out. They'd all promised and did the spells. After their amazing show of faith and trust in her, Ginny broke down and told them about her first year. Not all of it, but enough for them to know the basics of what she'd felt and what she'd done. They hadn't hated her, as she had first thought, but they were wary for a day. As her entire family had been wary of her for weeks, months even, the one day of her friends' wariness had seemed like a minute. A very long minute, but a minute nonetheless.

Ginny watched as Harry did the tasks. She worried about him during the tasks, but afterwards, she acted as she didn't care. No one seemed to notice her worry, nor her indifference except for Neville, Colin and Luna. Harry only had eyes for Cho, while Ron and Hermione had started to realise their feelings for each other. When they weren't looking at each other, they were looking at Harry and trying to help him constantly.

Mad-Eye Moody still scared her whenever she saw him. She kept feeling like something was wrong and felt sick so often that she went to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey could never seem to find the source of her illness and after the third time, it was dismissed as lies or "emotional times" for her.

Ginny didn't go back, not even when she was physically sick. Instead, she went to Snape and asked to make potions for herself. He'd scorned her, assuming that she was just as bad at Potions as her brother. After he'd reviewed her scores for Potions, Snape had realised his error, then agreed reluctantly. Ginny learnt how to make potions in the same methodical way that she had been teaching Neville lately and so, her Potions score had risen considerably, with much reluctance from Snape to admit so.

Wandering around the stands, Ginny saw Moody making his way away from the hedge. She looked around to see if someone else had seen, but no one had. Ginny returned to the stands and watched as the four contestants went into the large maze and began to wait impatiently.

After half an hour of sitting around and being bored, Fleur seemed to erupt out from the ground. She was covered in dirt with twigs and leaves in her hair, yet most of the males watching still swooned at the sight of her and ran to be of her assistance. Krum was the next to come out. The hedge literally threw him out and Ginny shivered at the white colour of his eyes, knowing he'd been hexed.

Ginny waited for Harry or Cedric to return. Cedric's father continued to call out that his son was winning and Potter would soon come out of the hedge too. Ginny shivered as another feeling of unease flew through her. Harry came out of the hedge, a limp body at his side, the cup in his other hand. Ginny watched in shock as some people began cheering. She seemed to be the only one noticing Harry's sick pale face and the fact that the limp body wasn't moving. The cheers died down and people ran down to the ground, Cedric's father yelling for his son loudly.

Ginny watched as Moody pulled Harry away, talking about going to his office. No one noticed, so Ginny tugged on Dumbledore's robes. He turned to her in irritation. Ginny flinched then took a deep breath and said 'Harry', pointing to where Moody had taken him. Dumbledore nodded, looking to where she was indicating, then left, a stern and angry look on his face.

Ginny sat in her room at the Burrow watching as her brothers played Quidditch outside. She wanted to go out and play with them, but as Harry was there, there weren't enough players for her to join in. Turning away from the window, she went downstairs to help Molly with dinner.

She watched as Hermione arrived and Ron went red when she talked about her summer visit to Viktor Krum's house. Ginny laughed to herself as his face went a different colour as Hermione continued to rattle on, then left to help her mother with lunch.

Ginny trailed along the others in Diagon Alley. Draco Malfoy was up ahead, looking bored. When he saw Harry, Ron and Hermione, he sneered and sauntered over to them. He didn't notice Ginny. She slipped away, her invisibility providing more than adequate cover, and went to the pet shop. She stayed in there until her brother came in, asking where she'd been and what a prat Malfoy was.

Ginny started dating Dean Thomas. She had some fun, and he made her laugh. They kissed sometimes but it wasn't that thrilling. In fact, she thought that all of the girls in her dorm were just liars who were trying to make kissing seem more than it really was for their own benefit...

They'd broken up and she'd started dating Michael Corner. They broke up soon after dating and when Ginny had seen him kissing Cho Chang in the hallway she'd felt anger at the too-pretty-for-her-own-good girl. First she'd taken Harry from her and now Michael! The fact that Ginny and Michael had broken up didn't matter...

Neville, Colin and Luna were there, as always. They listened as she grumbled about tests and exams and complained about their own unfair teachers and lessons. Neville's interest in Herbology was... blossoming and his grade in Potions seemed to be even worse. Luna's father interviewed Harry Potter and Colin was as interested in photography as ever, and just as keen to take a picture of anything and everything, mobile or immobile. Umbridge terrorised classes and students alike, Neville's fear of Snape being replaced by the large scary woman instead.

Harry, Ron and Hermione started the Dumbledore's Army, the name supplied by Ginny. They taught others weekly and Ginny, Luna, Neville and Colin progressed quickly in Defence Against the Dark Arts. So quickly in fact, that Ginny actually convinced Harry to let them go to the Ministry of Magic with the other three. Ginny's memory of the Department of Mysteries Battle was so clear that it could have been yesterday. She remembered everything from Neville protecting her and trying to hex Bellatrix; her evil laughter to Harry's distressed cry and the brains in the glass attacking her brother...

Ginny cried softly as Harry related what had happened. She hadn't known Sirius that well, but she did like him. Thoughts raced through her mind about the Veil he'd fallen behind. What if it hadn't killed Sirius? What if the Veil was just a doorway to another city? What if Sirius was on the other side of the world, alive but unable to communicate to them? What if it was a portal? What if it just made Sirius invisible and no one able to hear him? What if...

Ginny got the acceptance letter for Hogwarts and looked forward to the outing to Diagon Alley. Hermione arrived and again, the small amount of attention Ginny had previously received from Ron was diverted completely to his beloved... Ginny wasn't jealous, just mindful that Ron could be so easily distracted when in the presence of one Hermione Granger.

She walked over to the edge of the Burrow's forest, but didn't go in. Her mother's warnings at an early age made Ginny not actually go in the forest, but that didn't stop her curiosity... She wondered what it was like in the forest. A memory (or was it a dream?) of colourful dancing lights played in her mind for a second. Ginny shook her head then walked back up to the house...

They all left for 12 Grimmauld Place and Ginny got bored quickly. Her Dungbomb supply had run out and Bill and Charlie weren't due for ages. Fred and George were in their room, small explosions coming from the interior. After Molly complained about the noise attracting Muggle attention, they stopped their experiments reluctantly then started to give out the Extendable Ears instead.

Ginny glared at Harry, reminding him cruelly that she too had been possessed by Voldemort, a fact that he had conveniently forgotten. She suddenly didn't care about The-Boy-Who-Lived anymore. If he couldn't remember something that had changed her life so dramatically and suddenly, then he wasn't worth her time...

Ginny boarded the Hogwarts express and looked around for Neville, Luna and Colin. She wandered the train, looking in each compartment to see if they were in there. When she eventually found them, Ginny saw that Neville was absent. Luna told her that he'd gone to look for her and Ginny felt wanted...

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"I think that is enough. The last year is recent enough that it is not necessary for us to check it," Xavier said kindly, smiling at her.

"There is one more thing I want to show you," Ginny said shaking her head.

She closed her eyes and focused on the day before, with Voldemort and the Room of Requirement. There was silence once the memory had finished and Ginny opened her eyes to see Dumbledore taking the glass room away with a flick of his wand.

"If I had all of those tests with you, Professor, how did that happen? I thought you said I was cleared of anything," Ginny said. Albus nodded.

"Indeed, the tests showed that you were... We had no reason to doubt them, so we did not think of it. I will look on it once we return. You should say goodbye now if you are to return to Hogwarts in time for your next lesson," he said.

"Yes, Professor. Thank you for your time, my Lord Xavier. I hope that I did not inconvenience you on Friday night, or with today's lesson... I apologise about breaking your glass examination room," Ginny said.

"It is quite all right, my daughter. You did not inconvenience myself, nor Agnes, so there is no need to apologise. As for the glass, it is being repaired and so, again there is no need to apologise," Xavier said.

Ginny nodded then with a bow, she followed Albus out of the room, making sure no light fell on Xavier.

Albus and Ginny Flooed back to Hogwarts and after a brief goodbye, Ginny ran down to Hagrid's hut for her lesson.

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"Sorry I'm late," Ginny said as she arrived at the half-giant's hut.

"It's all right, Ginny. Did yer bring yer lil' friend?" Hagrid asked, referring to Relo. Ginny shook her head.

"No. I can go get him if you want," Ginny offered.

"It's fine. I was going ter tell him to leave anyway. Where we're going would have been dangerous for the lil' fella," he said then entered the Forbidden Forest.

After about ten minutes of walking, Hagrid turned off the 'path' and entered a large clearing where Olympe's carriage was waiting for them. Hagrid waited for Ginny to climb inside before following after her. Once he was seated and buckled in he looked at Ginny.

"Now yer have ter make sure that yer don't tell no one about this... I could get in ter a lot o' trouble if any one finds out where we're going," Hagrid said seriously.

Ginny nodded, wondering where on Earth he was taking her... The twelve winged palominos rose off the ground with ease, despite the crowded and tree-surrounded area around them.

As Hagrid didn't disclose any information as to where they were going, Ginny settled for looking out of the window for most of the ride. She didn't recognise any of the land from so high up and after a while started to get dizzy from looking down constantly. Looking over at Hagrid, Ginny saw that he was asleep and decided to rest her eyes too.

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Tears streaming down her face, Ginny ran into the Forbidden Forest, changing into a wolf as she did so. She howled in grief and anguish loudly then leapt deeper into the Forest than she'd ever gone before. She heard Grawp and Hagrid somewhere further back in the Forest. She kept running and howled again.

Coming to a clearing she turned back to her normal self and sat in the clearing. Her body glowed red, her emotions causing the glow to become even darker. The glow became a blood-red colour as lightning flowed around her body. Lightning cracked and became larger with each tear that fell from Ginny's eyes.

The glow became so dark that Ginny couldn't be seen and a large wave emitted from her. The red wave flew through the Forbidden Forest, lightning crashing all around.

Everyone in both the Forest and Hogwarts stopped as the wave passed through them. Almost as if pulled by an unseen hand, they all walked to the clearing, human, animal and beast alike.

Ginny cried out her pain and tears as lightning continued to flash around her. Thunder crashed and rolled around. Everyone flinched when they saw that the thunder was coming from Ginny somehow.

"Ginevra!" A voice called out. Ginny looked up through her tears and saw Draco standing in front of her. "Ginevra! Why are you doing this?!" He called. Ginny hissed at him and scratched his face with her long nails.

"Ginevra! It was not your love!" Leo-Bestia-Famulus called. "I swear it on the word that binds me to you!" Leo called out. Ginny hissed at him, her fangs extending. She looked at the hundreds of people in front of her and yelled a spell loudly.

"What the fuck is she doing to me?!" Lavender screamed, her voice going hysterical. Lightning started to wrap around Lavender's body and she was lifted into the clearing.

Ginny yelled another spell and her brother, Ron was lifted into the clearing by the lightning.

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Ginny woke momentarily, her shock resounding through her mind and body. Ron?

Sleep took her over again, the vision continuing in front of reluctant eyes...

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"You wish to break me?" Ginny hissed quietly and even through the lightning and thunder, everyone could hear her clearly. "You wish to break that which is not yours to break?!" She yelled at them and the lightning tightened around their bodies. "You think that I would not know? I would not find out who did this? Your knowledge is so limited if you thought I would not see that it was not my own! You will be punished!" Ginny yelled at them and the lightning tightened further.

Lavender and Ron started gasping for breath as the lightning continued to get tighter.

"Te nequam meretrix!" Ron yelled through his erratic gasps for breath. "Put us down, you fucking bitch!" Ron yelled at Ginny. (You worthless whore!)

"You chose this path, Ronald..." Ginevra whispered softly, the lightning getting tighter still.

"Can't you do something, Albus?" Minerva asked not too keen to see students killed in front of her. Albus shook his head.

"No... She is too powerful. Besides, Vampire magic is far older than anything we know. If I try to stop it then we will all die. Even if I try to intervene then the result will be catastrophic..."

"You chose to insult me and you will now pay!" Ginny yelled at Lavender and her brother.

The lightning tightened once more and then they dropped to the ground, shivering and red marks covering their bodies.

The pull on everyone faded immediately and the red wave flowed back from Hogwarts and into Ginny's body with enormous force. Ginny fell to the ground, Draco and Leo beside her in an instant.

"I take back that what I have caused to my own, three-fold," Ginny whispered and touched Draco's face.

A red glow surrounded them and the cut on Draco's face disappeared. On Ginny's face, even more cuts appeared, larger and deeper than the ones that had been on Draco. Ginny's eyes closed and her mind went black...

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"Wake up... We're almost there," Hagrid said, shaking her lightly.

Ginny woke up abruptly, shocked. Her mind felt numb from what she'd just Seen. Hagrid's kind face peered at her, concern becoming evident as he saw her pale face.

"Are yer all right, Gin?" he asked softly. He took her belt off and indicated to the window. "Try ter get some fresh air. Yer look sick," Hagrid said.

Ginny didn't reply. The numbness that her mind felt was now spreading through to her body and she was incapable of making any coherent sound...

"Ginevra," Hagrid said.

Ginny looked at him, her eyes wide. She could only see Ron. His face as he called her a worthless whore. The tone of his voice as he yelled it. Ginny knew that he'd meant it.

It was different from when Draco had said it. He hadn't meant it and he had apologised genuinely. Ron had meant what he'd said; every single word of it...

She'd made friends with Tom, and in doing so, she had changed the future. Her brother was now her enemy...

Ginny backed away from Hagrid as he moved closer towards her. She moved back further, even as he went to reach out for her. Ginny fell through the carriage's large window.

She heard Hagrid call out for her, but she was too numb to say anything, let alone cry out as her body plummeted towards the earth.

The palominos went to turn, but with a single coherent thought, Ginny told them not to. Bexley seconded her and the winged horses were still again. Ginny went numb.

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Hagrid stared as Ginny fell towards the ground.

Why wasn't she changing? Apparating even? Why wasn't she doing something to save herself? An awful thought flew through his mind that she didn't want to save herself, but he pushed it away abruptly and called out to her again.

He tried to get the winged palominos to change direction, but they didn't seem to move at his command. He tried again.

Ginny listened as Hagrid called to her again. She was completely numb. She couldn't move. Her mind and body were so numb that she couldn't even think about changing. Ginny watched as the sky seemed to get further away from her. She wondered if it would still hurt when she hit the earth when she was so numb.

"My Queen! You have to change!" Bexley called from inside her.

Ginny knew that he was right, but she still couldn't stop thinking about what she'd Seen. Ron's face and words made her numb. She couldn't even feel the wind as she plummeted downwards.

"I apologise, my Queen, but I have to do this to protect you!" Bexley said urgently.

Ginny felt her body beginning to change. She became smaller. Her mouth changed into a beak and feathers replaced her hair. She waited for the change to complete, feeling like she was watching everything happen, not that it was actually happening to her.

Ginny flapped her owl wings to stay in the air. With a loud cry of anguish and despair, she flew away quickly. Bexley watched as Ginevra flew away then floated up to where Hagrid was still attempting to get the palominos to go lower.

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Ginny flew. She knew where she wanted to go, but she had no idea where she was at the moment. She flew down to a lone tree nearby and hooted mournfully, her brother's face still in her mind.

Almost as if in response, the tree's leaves moved towards her. As the wind floated through the leaves, Ginny was shocked that she could hear a voice. The tree was talking to her!

You are not far from where you want to go... Keep flying with the same speed and in the same direction you were originally flying and you will get there within an hour... The tree said.

With a grateful hoot, Ginny flew into the air and continued to fly, going by the tree's directions.

Though she was shocked that a tree was talking to her, let alone that she was going by its instructions, Ginny's mind was still preoccupied with The Vision. She flew even faster, wanting to get there faster.

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"We've got ter go find her," Hagrid said as soon as Bexley had finished.

"No, we can't... She knows where she's going. If we go find her now, she won't be able to talk about it. She needs to speak with them, Rubeus," Bexley said.

Hagrid nodded with a sigh. He ran a hand through his hair and without a word being said, the palominos turned around to return to Hogwarts.

"Albus is going ter kill me when he finds out," Hagrid said, shaking his head.

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Ginny landed on the windowsill and began to tap, her wings too weary to fly any further. The window opened and Ginny literally fell into the warm room. Her body went into shock and Ginny returned to her human form.

"Fred!" George called out urgently. "We need to close the shop!"

Without a spoken word to his brother, Fred ushered the last few customers out of the shop, closing and locking the door behind them. He walked into the room with a warm cloth. George gently lifted Ginny onto the couch and began to dab her cold face with the warm cloth.

"Did she say anything?" Fred asked.

"Not a thing," George replied as he cleaned Ginny's face with the cloth.

"Do you think we should get someone?" Fred asked.

"She'll come around soon enough. If not, then we'll get Albus," George said.

"Don't want to worry Mum," Fred said, seeing his brother's point.

"Exactly... Do you think we should..." George began to ask, looking at Fred.

"We might have to if she doesn't wake up soon," Fred answered.

They watched as Ginny's face grew paler and she tossed and turned. A few times she looked angry, and at other times so sad that Fred and George's hearts almost broke. After half an hour, Fred turned to George.

"We better do it now. She doesn't look like she's going to wake," he said.

George nodded and took one of Ginny and Fred's hands in his own. Fred took Ginny's other hand and the twins closed their eyes.

Had anyone looked in the back room of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes at that moment, they would have seen something that seemed to be impossible, even among the wizarding community. Fred and George seemed to be talking in another language, and for those who had never seen pixies before, would have thought that the two shop owners were simply going crazy. To those who had seen pixies however, knew that the twins were actually speaking in the high-pitched jabbering language that only pixies knew.

As Fred and George finished their 'jabbering', a small electric blue pixie appeared in front of them. The pixie bowed then as they started jabbering again, he looked to Ginevra on their couch. When the pixie realised who the girl was, he spoke to them in excited high-pitched tones.

Fred and George nodded then with another bow, the pixie placed a small blue hand on Ginny's forehead. He indicated to their crystal ball and a white light covered his hand. Clutching the light tightly in his hand, he flew over to the crystal ball. The light transferred to the crystal ball and with a few more gibberish sounds, the pixie told them how to do it for themselves next time. He bowed to them and said good bye, before doing the same to Ginevra and disappearing into thin air again.

Fred and George let go of Ginny's hands, then went over to their crystal ball. As they watched The Vision, Fred and George bristled with shame, anger and sadness at the fact that it was now Ron instead of that other boy. Once they had stopped Seeing, George and Fred turned around to see that Ginny was now awake. She was taken aback at the look of pure hatred on their face. She blinked and they were back to their normal faces, worry on their faces instead.

"How do you feel, Ginevra?" George asked softly as they walked over to her.

"The flight must have been tiring for you," Fred added.

Ginny just looked down at their old brown and orange couch. She picked at it sadly and the twins sat on either side of her. With a body-heaving sob, Ginny collapsed into their comforting open arms and cried.

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The carriage landed in the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid looked out of the window for a moment before reluctantly opening the door and getting out of the carriage. He sighed reluctantly. Albus was going to have his head on a platter for this...

Bexley flew into Hagrid to get away from the sun. He knew that Hagrid was blaming himself and Bexley was aware that Ginevra would not be happy if she knew that Hagrid was going to lose his job, or head, because of her.

Ginevra still wasn't happy about the fact that people were willing to die for her... Hagrid was one of those people and by the half-giant's thoughts, it seemed that it was going to happen to her sooner rather than later.

Risking his intense dislike for the sun, Bexley flew out of Hagrid and headed to the only people he knew could help.

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"You can stay here for the night," George said.

"We'll look after you," Fred said.

Ginny's tears had dried up a while ago, but she still hadn't let go of her brothers.

"I'll be all right..." Ginny said quietly. "I just wanted to see that someone in the family still loved me," she said softly. "I can't stay. I'm having a sleep over tonight. If I cancel it, then they'll all get suspicious and worry about me again. I don't want to cause any trouble for anyone," she said, tears threatening to fall again.

"You're having a sleep over?" Fred asked.

"And we weren't invited?" George added, feigning hurt and shock.

"I was going to invite you but I didn't get to owl you," Ginny said, a small smile on her face.

"Well, thanks for the invitation," George said grinning.

"We'll be there at seven for dinner," Fred said grinning too.

"Actually, we better take you back now," they said together. "People are probably getting worried," they said. With a small look at the other, Fred and George lifted Ginny off the couch together. She laughed as they put her back down, hugging her tightly.

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"You mean he just let her fall?" Draco asked angrily. Blaise put a hand on his friend's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

"No! Rubeus can not do magic like you, remember? The only thing he could do was try and turn the palominos around, but Ginevra and I told them not to, so they obeyed us," Bexley said.

"Why did you tell them not to?" Pansy asked.

"Ginevra did not want to explain herself to Hagrid at that moment. She wanted to get away as fast as possible, but the shock prevented her from doing so. I changed her into an owl and she flew away to her brother's shop straight away. We need to make sure that Albus does not harm Hagrid or fire him," Bexley said urgently.

"Why? This place would be better off without that stupid oaf," Draco said.

"Just because you were stupid enough to not listen when he was telling you all something important doesn't mean that Hagrid is stupid or an oaf!" Colin said, glaring at him. Luna took his hand in her own and he relaxed slightly.

"We know that you're worried for Ginny, but we all are, Draco. She would hate it if anything happened to Hagrid because of her," Neville said quietly. "Where's Hagrid now?" he asked Bexley. "I'm going with you," he said.

"He's in Albus' office," Bexley replied.

Neville nodded then left quickly. Colin and Luna followed him quickly. The Slytherins stayed for a moment, looking from Blaise to Draco then to Pansy.

"They were right," Pansy said quietly. "As much as I don't like Hagrid, I know that Ginny would hate us if we stayed here and didn't do anything for him. Besides, his lessons aren't that bad..." She said.

Draco pushed Blaise's hand off of his shoulder angrily, then walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Theodore asked.

"To stop that stupid oaf from getting fired," Draco replied then left. The others quickly followed after him.

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Fred and George walked along the corridor, holding Ginny's hands protectively and to comfort her. They opened the trapdoor and looked around to make sure that the coast was clear before they climbed out.

Ginny hugged them tightly, grateful for everything they'd done for her.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "Sorry for making you close early," Ginny said.

"Oh, it's all right... We've been thinking about closing early so we can work on more products anyway," they said and hugged her again.

"We'll help you go find Hagrid so you can apologise for scaring the poor guy," Fred said, George nodding in agreement.

"There you are, Ginevra," Padma said, breathless. Parvati was beside her, looking just as puffed.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked immediately.

"Neville said that Bexley said Albus might fire or hurt Hagrid because you fell out of the carriage," Parvati said urgently.

"What?!" Ginny said angrily. She began to walk to Dumbledore's office. "Sorry... Did you want to go back and open the shop again?" Ginny asked her brothers. Fred and George shook their heads, looking just as angry as she felt.

"We want to see this for ourselves," George said.

"He can't fire Hagrid," Fred muttered as they all went to Albus' office.

Padma and Parvati looked at each other for a moment, then ran after the three siblings quickly.

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Neville, Luna, Colin and Bexley arrived at the griffin statue just as Draco and the other Slytherins caught up with them.

"What took you so long? You should have already been up there by now," Draco growled.

"We asked Padma and Parvati to go look for Ginny," Neville replied.

"Does anyone know the password?" Millicent drawled. No one said anything. "Well, this is really smart, now isn't it? We come here to bloody help and we're stuck out here while he's already in there..." She said.

"Very smart of you..." Ginny drawled from behind them. They turned to see her there, smirking at them. Fred, George, Padma and Parvati were by her side. Bexley flew to Ginny happily.

"My Queen... Ginevra! I thought you'd still be there... We were worried about you," Bexley said.

"I know... Sorry for taking so long, I had to do something. You should return now; thank you for being out in the sun for me, Bexley," she said. Bexley bowed and flew into her body gratefully. "Blood Pops," Ginny said.

Everyone looked at her for a moment, wondering why she'd said the name of a sweet for no reason. Grating sounded behind them and the griffin statue began to rise, the staircase being revealed.

"That man has an ironic sense of humour," Fred and George said shaking their heads.

"Well, at least it wasn't Ginevra is a Vampiress..." Ginny drawled with a smirk as she began to climb the staircase. Everyone followed her quickly and they waited impatiently as Ginny knocked on the door loudly.

"Come in," Albus called.

They all walked in to Dumbledore's office, the fifteen of them with Hagrid and the Headmaster making the large room seem very small in seconds.

"Hello... I assume there is a reason that you all had to come here at the same time. You can't all possibly have detention, now can you?" Albus asked smiling at you.

"No, we don't have detention... At least, not yet," Ginny said. "We wanted to make sure you wouldn't fire Hagrid just because I fell out of the carriage," she stated bluntly.

Albus began to laugh heartily, tears falling from his eyes in his amusement. No one else could see what was so funny, so they waited for him to stop laughing, trying not to feel nervous at his eccentric behaviour.

"Yer didn't have to come, yer know," Hagrid said to Ginny and the others quietly. "I deserve to be fired fer that... I should have tried ter do something ter help yer," he said.

"That's a load of nonsense Hagrid. You couldn't do anything because Bexley and I made sure the palominos wouldn't turn around! I didn't want to have to explain anything at that moment," Ginny said.

Albus finished laughing and wiped his tears, cleaning his fogged glasses with a small cloth.

"I apologise for my outburst... I just think that it is quite funny that you would all think that I would fire Hagrid. I do however, understand that it was inappropriate that Hagrid took you outside of the Hogwarts boundaries without even so much as telling me. Next time you wish to take Ginevra somewhere, tell me first please Hagrid," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, sir," Hagrid said, looking down.

"My friend... I am not going to fire you. Ginevra is unharmed and she doesn't appear to be any worse for the wear," Albus said looking at Ginny. "Her brothers have taken good care of her, and I am sure that Miss Weasley would not appreciate it if I fired you for something that you did not cause," Albus said, his gaze returning to Hagrid.

Ginny nodded, agreeing with the older wizard. Hagrid began to sob.

"Therefore, this will only be a warning. Make sure that Ginevra does not go near windows whilst you are in midair. More importantly, you should tell me where you are going, so if something unfortunate does happen, I at least know where to find you, or where you will be close to," Albus said.

"Yes, sir," Hagrid said. He was crying openly now and he noisily blew his nose into a giant red-polka-dot handkerchief.

Draco flinched at the loud noise and looked disgusted that Hagrid was blowing his nose in front of so many people.

"Now, were you all here to make sure that Hagrid would not get fired?" Albus asked, looking at the Slytherins.

"Yes, sir, we were," Blaise said as Draco didn't seem to want to answer.

"That was kind o' yer..." Hagrid said. "I didn't think that yer would want me ter stay, 'specially after the incident with Buckbeak... But it were kind of yer to stick up fer me," he said and hugged all of them in one shot.

For someone so large, the hug Hagrid gave them was surprisingly gentle and they all still managed to breath and keep their bones intact. Hagrid put them all back down and wiped his tears away.

"I am sure that you will all want to get cleaned up before dinner, so I think that it would be best if you go do that now," Dumbledore said. "You two are staying for dinner, I presume?" he asked Fred and George.

"If you don't mind," Fred and George said grinning.

"Of course not... Would you mind staying please, Ginevra?" Albus asked.

"We'll wait for you downstairs," Neville said.

Ginny nodded and watched as they all left. When the door closed behind them, Ginny turned back to Albus, who was looking at her over his glasses with an indescribable expression on his face.

"Do you feel up to telling me what happened to make you fall out of the carriage, Miss Weasley?" he asked her.

"Not really... But that doesn't mean you can't see for yourself," she said, putting her wand to her temple.

She pulled the wand away, a red-white wisp following it. With a nod of understanding, Dumbledore opened the cupboard in which his Pensieve was standing. Ginny placed the tip of her wand to the water in the bowl. She watched as the red wisp floated and swirled in the water, looking out of place amongst the other silver-white wisps.

"Thank you, Miss Weasley. You should not keep your friends waiting any longer," Albus said.

"Yes Professor," Ginny said then went downstairs to see everyone standing there.

"You better tell us what happened," Millicent said.

"I'll tell you all tonight," Ginny said with a nod.

"Good... I've got to go to the library, so I'll see you later," Pansy said. Blaise stopped her, staring in shock.

"Are you feeling all right? You never go in the library..." he said.

Pansy scowled at him. "Shut up, Zabini! I've got stuff to do, that's all..." Pansy said.

"I will help you," Luna announced and left with her. Blaise looked after them shaking his head.

"Well, since Pansy's gone we'll be in the kitchens," Gregory said smirking. Vincent smirked and they left quickly in case Pansy decided to come back.

"I'm going with them... Someone's got to make sure they don't over indulge," Millicent said rolling her eyes as she took off after the two boys.

"I've got to go develop some photos, so I'll see you all at dinner or at the sleep over," Colin said as he left.

"Well... That's nearly everyone gone... What are you going to do Theodore?" Ginny asked him.

"I was going to go to the hospital wing..." Theodore muttered quietly.

"Aren't you feeling well?" she asked.

"Oh, no... I'm fine," he said quickly. Theodore blushed brightly as he continued. "I help Pomfrey in the hospital wing. I'm studying to be a Healer," he said.

"Good on you," Ginny said grinning at him. "You better go then, if Pomfrey's waiting for you," she said. Theodore nodded then rushed off.

"He's going to be a Healer? How did we not know?" Blaise asked Draco, shaking his head.

"Well, I doubt that you would have welcomed him with open arms if he came out and said that he was studying to be a person who helps others..." Ginny drawled.

"That's not true... Well... I... We might have," Blaise said. Ginny just looked at him pointedly.

"I need to go to the Greenhouses. Want to come with me?" Neville asked Blaise.

"Thought you didn't like me watching you work," Blaise asked with a smirk.

"I'll just have to find out for myself," Neville said grinning at him. They walked away, hand in hand.

"Do you need help setting up for tonight?" Draco asked Ginny.

"I think I'll be able to handle setting up on my own," Ginny said grinning at him.

"All right then... See you at dinner," Draco said and sauntered down to the dungeons.

"I better go find Lavender before she thinks that I've drowned in the shower," Parvati said with a grin. "I'll try to get there tonight," she promised then left too.

"I should make sure that Lavender doesn't hurt her... That stupid little wench sure can get nasty when something doesn't go her way..." Padma said, going after her twin.

Fred and George watched as the Patil twins left, as if it was the first time they'd really seen them. Considering the fact that the two girls were three years younger than them and not friends with Ron, Harry or Hermione, it probably was.

"Are you two all right?" Ginny asked waving a hand in front of their faces.

"Fine... Who are those two?" Fred and George asked.

"The one in the green robes is Padma Patil. The one in red is Parvati Patil," Ginny replied.

"They seem familiar..." Fred said.

"Have we met them before?" George asked.

"You might have, but I doubt it... They're coming to tonight, so you can meet them then," Ginny said.

"Why them?" They asked in shock.

"The Patil twins are also of the zodiac sign, Gemini. The sign of Gemini is twins, right?" Ginny tried not to laugh as she began to quote her vision.

Fred and George nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Well, the twins shared a soul, but they had their own souls... You and Fred share the soul of one twin. Padma and Parvati share the soul of the other twin. Since the twins shared the soul, you four are all integrated... Does that make any sense?" Ginny asked with a grin.

"In a weird way, it does..." The twins replied shaking their heads. "We'll help you set up," the twins said and followed Ginny to a nearby tapestry.

Ginny stopped and didn't open the door, looking around as she frowned.

"What is it?" Fred and George asked.

Ginny shook her head then walked further down the corridor. Fred and George followed Ginny outside, wrapping their robes around them tighter as the cold wind flew into them. They frowned as Ginny went towards Hagrid's hut, but continued to follow nonetheless.

"What do you mean Malfoy and his cronies stuck up for you?!" Ron yelled. "They're evil and they probably just want to get closer to you so you can persuade the giants to fight for You-Know-Who!" he yelled.

"Now, wait jus' a minute!" Hagrid said, his voice bellowing over Ron's own voice. "No one 'cept the three of yer know about that! Unless yer've been stupid enough to go and tell them, then they should no' know of that!" Hagrid said.

"Ron, calm down would you? Can't you see that things are changing? The Sorting Hat said that we need to..." Hermione began to reason, but Ron cut her off.

"That fucking Hat knows shit-all! It's a piece of fucking material! What the fuck would that bloody Hat know about the outside world?! Nothing!" Ron yelled.

"Mate, sit down," Harry said softly.

"Don't you tell me to sit down! You're the one who's always suspicious of them! And now, when this is right in your face, you're all calm about it and doing fuck all!" Ron yelled at Harry.

Ginny shook her head. She went over to the hut's front door and opened it.

Ron turned in shock, then he glared, seeing who it was.

"What do you want?" he sneered at her.

"Peace and quiet," Ginny replied simply then pointed her wand at Ron. "Silencio!" she said.

"Ginny! You didn't have to do that!" Hermione reprimanded her.

"Yes, she did... He was being a prat," Fred and George said shaking their head at their younger brother.

Ron stared at them in shock, not believing that they were taking Ginny's side over his.

"Just because someone that wasn't you helped Hagrid, Ron, it does not mean that they are trying to use him!" Ginny said angrily. "Now stop your pathetic screaming! You sound like a girl," Ginny sneered at him. "I told you only this morning that I would not be the one to make amends next time you hurt me, Ronald... How quickly you forget," she said in a sad tone then left the hut, leaving Hermione to try and get Ron's voice back.

"What happened this morning?" Fred and George asked her.

"Ron and Draco duelled after Ron hit me and made Draco's nose bleed," Ginny said with a shrug.

"He hit you?! Ronald Bilius Weasley hit you?" They asked in shock.

"It's not the first time he's done it..." Ginny said. "I will deal with Ron if he tries to do it again, all right? Don't do something stupid, ok? He is still your brother," Ginny said.

"Not for very much longer, if he keeps hitting and upsetting you," the twins muttered under their breath.

"Don't disown him because of me! Please, don't do that," Ginny begged them.

"Fine... If you don't disown him, then neither will we, deal?" The twins replied after a moment's consideration.

"Deal..." Ginny said confidently.

She just wished that she felt as confident that it wouldn't actually end up happening...

"I'll let you two into my room. You can move the furniture in the meeting room so there are mattresses in there instead. I've got to go to the library for a while," Ginny said.

Fred and George nodded then followed Ginny around the outer wall of Hogwarts to her front door. Once they were inside Ginny went to the library.

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Ginny walked into the library, but she couldn't see Luna or Pansy anywhere. With a grateful sigh, she headed over to the desk where Madam Pince was sitting.

"Hello Madam Pince," Ginny said.

"Hello Ginevra... Would you like some assistance?" Pince asked.

"I need to look at a book from the Restricted Section, but I don't want the other students to find out," Ginny explained quietly. Madam Pince nodded in understanding.

"That's fine... First, I will need to know what book you need to use, then we will see if I can organise a time for you to read it without others being here," Pince said kindly.

"Thank you," Ginny said in some surprise.

She had expected Pince to be the stereotypical librarian with an attitude that would scare Voldemort himself if he'd even so much as looked at the Restricted Section without permission! Although, the way that Madam Pince was fond of all knowledge and books, she probably could have scared Voldemort...

"If you will just excuse me for a moment, I need to attend to the person waiting behind you," Pince said with an apologetic smile.

Ginny nodded and moved out of the way for the younger student. She tried to think of the title of the Restricted book and after a few minutes of going through her memory, Ginny finally remembered what it was called. She waited patiently as Pince finished with the other student.

"Thank you for waiting... Do you know the title of the book?" Madam Pince asked.

"Mundus Magus," Ginny said. (World magic.)

Pince took out a scroll nearby and pointed her wand at it. She said the title that Ginny had given her then nodded when it appeared on the scroll.

"You are allowed to use that book. When do you need to read the book? Is it urgent?" Pince asked.

"I would prefer to read it tonight, if you don't mind..." Ginny said.

"The library closes at ten fifteen. That gives me fifteen minutes to get the stragglers out. Another fifteen to organise the shelves and then about ten to find the book you want. Can you find a way of getting here by eleven o'clock?" Pince asked looking at Ginny.

"That's great. Thank you, Madam Pince," Ginny said then left again.

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Ginny quickly made her way down the corridor, hoping that the twins hadn't done any pranks to her room. She arrived and was grateful that there were at least no smell-produced pranks. Walking to the meeting room, Ginny was almost surprised to see that the twins hadn't done any pranks. There was a large mattress in the room, covering the entire floor. She wondered where the table was, then realised that she hadn't seen the twins either...

"Be nice and take your shoes off before entering the room," George's voice said from above her.

Ginny looked up and saw her table and chairs floating above the mattress, Fred and George perched ontop. The table was suspended by invisible wire, a newly invented product by the twins, but made up by Ginny, as was the swamp...

"Very nice... Why do I need to take my shoes off?" Ginny asked as she removed the said shoes.

"Well, for one, it's disrespectful to walk inside with shoes on. Secondly," the twins said as she walked onto the mattress and swayed before falling over. "We weren't sure if you had shoes with heels. We didn't want you to pierce the lovely water bed!" they said laughing at Ginny's expression. "You better not change it to a normal mattress! It took a lot of hard work for us to do that!" Fred and George said seriously.

Ginny sat up on the swaying bed and thought about it.

"All right. It can stay," Ginny relented when they both looked at her with small pouts.

"Thank you, dearest Ginevra... To show our appreciation, we will allow you to kindly get us down from here," they said with awkward bows. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Trust you two to make something completely genius then spoil the entire thing by getting yourselves stuck on a table in mid air," she said as she levitated them down. They stood up awkwardly and bowed again.

"Only we could achieve it," George said with a wink.

"Though Ron might have done something worse..." Fred conceded.

"Like not even get stuck on a table," George added.

"Yeah, he'd probably just get stuck in mid air," Fred said, laughing.

"All right, I think that's enough Ron jokes for now..." Ginny drawled. "Do you two want to do the bed linen as well? You can choose the colours..." she added when they just frowned at her.

"Why do I get the feeling we're being used?" George asked Fred, who nodded in agreement.

"Not child labour though. Brother labour..." Fred added grinning.

"We can pick all of the colours? And you won't change them?" they asked Ginny in unison.

"As long as it's not something disgusting like puce or vomit coloured, then fine... I'll even put up with hot pink if you want to colour the beds that way," she said reluctantly.

"We wouldn't do that to you! We don't like hot pink as much as you don't! Baby pink we can make you suffer with though," they said grinning mischievously. "Now scoot so we can get our brilliant minds working," they said, ushering Ginny out of the room. The door closed with a small thud and Ginny shook her head at them.

Relo came running up to Ginny and pulled on her robe in excitement.

"We heard that you is having a party! Can we come?" Relo asked grinning.

"I guess you can come, Relo... Won't you be upset if you don't have anyone to talk to though?" Ginny asked. Relo shook his head adamantly.

"We won't be upset. We have Bexley to translate... Is the elf-boy coming?" Relo asked happily.

"Theodore?" Ginny asked. Relo nodded quickly. "Yes, he's coming," she said. Relo grinned broadly and clapped his hands eagerly. "Do you want to go for a hunt before everyone arrives?" Ginny asked.

"We will go when you is having your dinner," Relo said. "We will be back and full by the time everyone else comes," he said smiling at her happily. "Is the pixie twins coming too? We saw them making the water-like-bed," he said grinning.

"Yes, they're coming too... I've got to study now, but I'll talk to you later, all right?" Ginny asked.

Relo nodded and went off happily. Shaking her head for a moment, Ginny went to her study room and read some of her Vampire book before reading the weapons book from Moody.

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At around eight o'clock, Ginny heard some noises from the corridor. She knew that it wasn't the twins, as they were still locked up inside the meeting room. The sounds were too large to be Relo's, so she went out to see who was there.

Ginny had her dagger drawn, just in case it was someone she didn't know. She couldn't hear anything from the person's mind, so she took the light off of her wand and waited until the person was past her to step out into the corridor and grab them from behind, putting the dagger to the person's neck.

"Who are you?" she hissed.

"Is that you, Ginny?" Neville asked. He didn't sound scared, only slightly confused. She let go of him abruptly and he turned around to face her.

"I am so sorry, Neville. I don't know what came over me..." Ginny said shaking her head. "You don't usually have a mind block, so I had no idea that it was you," she said apologetically.

"You mean it's working?" Neville asked in excitement, the incident already forgotten.

"What do you mean by that?" Ginny asked with a frown.

"I've been trying to put up a mind block for ages. Since... Bellatrix," he snarled.

"Oh... Well, it's working," Ginny said in an attempt to make him smile again. Neville gave her a grin, then they went down the corridor to her rooms.

Fred and George poked their heads out of the room when they heard Ginny close the wardrobe door. They grinned at Neville and said a quick hello before going back into the room.

"What are they up to?" Neville asked with a frown.

"I'm letting them decorate the linen..." Ginny said shaking her head. "So did you come here to practise fighting, or just to talk?" Ginny asked.

"Practise... We didn't get to practise together yesterday and it didn't really seem the same on my own," Neville said.

"I know... It felt odd doing them on my own after training with you," Ginny admitted. "We should practise together on the weekends too. If you want to," she added.

"Thanks... I was going to suggest it too," Neville said as he grinned and began the exercises.

They both finished the exercises easily, then began to fight.

Neville punched at Ginny's face. She blocked it and did a high kick to his chest. Neville hit her foot away then moved quickly to avoid her incoming fist.

Ginny heard someone open the cupboard door, but as she heard Pansy's mind she didn't worry and continued to fight with Neville.

Neville ducked below Ginny's arm and spun on the ball of his foot with one leg extended to trip her over. Ginny jumped up to avoid his leg then went to kick at him. Neville jumped backwards and up, punching at her face. Ginny didn't have time to react and his fist connected lightly.

"Nice shot... You win," Ginny said grinning at him. Neville looked at her for a moment.

"You didn't let me win?" he asked uncertainly. Ginny raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why would I bother fighting you if I'm just going to let you win, Neville? You won that all on your own. Congratulations, you deserved it," Ginny said grinning at him. "If you don't believe me, then ask Pansy..." she said, turning to the surprised Slytherin.

"Where on Earth did you two learn to fight like that?" Pansy asked in shock. "That was incredible!" she said.

"Thank you... We're still learning, so don't start thinking that we're professionals," Ginny said with a grin.

"Still, that was excellent. Do you think I could learn to fight like that?" Pansy asked.

"I'll have to ask, but I don't really see a problem with it..." Ginny replied with a shrug.

"Thanks... I came here to tell you about Greg and Vince, but I can wait for tonight if you want," Pansy offered.

"It's all right, you can tell me now... I'm sure that Neville won't mind hearing about it," Ginny said grinning at them.

"Go ahead," Neville said with a shrug. He and Ginny began to fight again and Pansy watched as she talked to them.

"I talked to them, like you suggested and I told them what I'd been doing. They said they already knew and were waiting for me to tell them," Pansy said.

"That was nice of them..." Ginny said as she blocked Neville's fist and went to kick at him.

"Then they told me that they'd been cheating on me with each other anyway," Pansy said.

Ginny stopped fighting to look at Pansy and Neville's fist hit her cheek again, though it was harder this time.

"All right... I think we should finish up now. Dinner's almost ready and I am almost positive that Millicent wanted to hear what happened between the three of you anyway," Ginny said.

"Fine," Pansy said with a sigh.

Ginny knocked on the meeting-cum-bedroom door and the twins looked out, making sure to block any view of the interior of the room.

"We're going to dinner now... You two coming or do you just want to get food from the kitchens later for us?" Ginny asked them.

"We'll finish up here then come to dinner," the twins said in unison then shut the door again.

"I hear that you've invited the Patil twins?" Pansy commented.

"Who told you?" Ginny asked as she started to walk down the corridor.

"Padma told me... There was no one around, don't worry," Pansy added.

"I won't... So what's wrong with inviting them?" Ginny asked.

"Do you think it's such a good idea to invite Parvati? She'll probably tell Brown everything that happens," Pansy said.

"No, she won't," Neville said suddenly. "Haven't you seen how annoyed and disgusted she's been by Lavender lately? She doesn't even sit with her anymore during Charms and at lunch and recess she looks completely bored," he said. "Besides, I'm sure that Ginny's got a good reason for inviting her," Neville said smiling at her.

"I'll tell everyone my reason for inviting them tonight... It's easier to tell you all together," Ginny said.

She opened a nearby door and they climbed out, walking down the empty side corridor to the Great Hall. Pansy went over and sat between Greg and Vince, who wrapped their arms around her grinning happily. Neville looked from Blaise to Ginny, then back again.

"You don't need my permission to sit with Blaise, Neville," Ginny said shaking her head.

"I know... It's just... I feel like I'm leaving you every time I see him," Neville admitted.

"It's fine, Neville," Ginny said and gave him a small push in the direction of the Slytherin table. She went over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Colin and Luna.

"Hi Ginny," Colin said brightly. "I developed the larger prints of the photos you wanted. I'll give them to you later," he said grinning.

"Is the one of Peeves there?" Ginny asked. Colin nodded, smirking.

"I made loads of that one... They should be ready to frame in a day or two..." He said.

"What do you mean 'frame'? Why are you going to frame it?" Ginny asked him, frowning.

"You'll see in time..." Colin said vaguely, a mischievous grin on his face. "The twins are here," he said indicating over to the Great Hall doors.

Ginny looked over to the entrance to see Fred and George simply standing there. They were looking at the Gryffindor Table and as they didn't seem to see Ginny, she assumed that it wasn't her they were looking for...

Suddenly, Fred stopped looking and nudged George, indicating with a minute nod further down the table. Ginny watched as their eyes grew cold and the same intense look of hatred they'd had at the shop returned. She shivered before looking down the table to see where their hatred was directed. They were looking at Ron. Ginny's eyes widened in shock as the twins began to walk in determination down to their youngest brother. She quickly got out of her seat and stood in their way to stop them.

"Don't do it," Ginny said. Fred and George just looked at her. "Whatever you're going to do, please don't do it," she begged them quietly. "If you do something now, then it will just give him all the more reason to do it later..." Ginny said trying to reason with them.

"Fine, Ginevra... We did promise you that we wouldn't hurt him after all... We were just going to give him a Ton-Tongue Toffee anyway," George and Fred said together.

"Yeah, right, and I'm going to be able to stop Seeing for a week," Ginny drawled sarcastically.

"Well, it was worth a try..." Fred said to George with a shrug. George nodded.

"Maybe next time we should just use an Invisibility spell so she doesn't see us," George commented. They sat down next to Ginny and ate dinner, talking of other ways to get past her.

"I am here you know! Stop talking about me, Gods damn it!" Ginny growled at them.

"Just stirring your cauldron, Ginevra..." they said winking at her in perfect unison. As they had stopped talking, Lavender's voice was now carrying down the Gryffindor table.

"I don't know why she's being such a bitch to me! All I'm trying to do is help her," Lavender sobbed to Ron, sniffing theatrically. Ron glared down at Ginny then looked back to Lavender.

"All right, now that is too much... Not even an Exploding Candy?" Fred and George asked Ginny.

"No," Ginny said reluctantly.

She watched in disgust as Ron comforted Lavender, telling her that he would talk to Ginny as soon as he possibly could. Ginny also saw that Hermione was staring at them, disgust, anger and sadness on her face.

With a loud commotion, Hermione got up and ran from the Great Hall. Ron looked after her in confusion before Lavender literally got his attention by pulling his face to her own. Harry shook his head, then left to find Hermione.

Ginny went down the table and sat next to Parvati. Lavender didn't notice that Ginny was there for a full five minutes until she heard Parvati laughing at Fred and George's antics. Lavender marched over to them, glaring.

"What are you doing here? Why are you sitting next to my friend?!" Lavender hissed at Ginny.

"You're doing a pretty poor job of being her friend!" Ginny retorted angrily.

"Don't talk to me like that! You don't even have real friends!" Lavender sneered at her.

In thirty seconds flat all of Ginny's friends were behind her and the fifteen of them glared at Lavender, Parvati included.

"It is you who have no real friends, Lavender," Luna said seriously. "You trick others into being your friend, but in the end you will be alone and no one will care," she said softly.

"You think that you can make predictions you stupid cow? Well, here's one for you... Loony Lovegood's father dies in a terrible accident involving some of those beasts he's always going on about!" Lavender hissed at her.

A loud slap echoed through the Great Hall and Lavender stared at Parvati in shock. Parvati glared at Lavender, trying to ignore the stinging sensation in her hand and hoping that it hurt Lavender more.

"Don't talk about her father like that! You are a poor excuse for a friend, Lavender! You haven't spoken to me for three days! You're only doing something now because you're afraid that you will end up alone! Well, I'm not putting up with you anymore! You can take back your stupid magazines and make up from my room after dinner! I am not going to let you bully other people around just because they're friends with me!" Parvati yelled at her, then left the Great Hall.

Padma ran after her sister, smirking broadly. Ginny gave Lavender a pitying look then left the Great Hall with the others.

"You see what she's done now, Ron? She's gone and stolen my best friend from me," Lavender sobbed to Ron.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you two give Ron an Exploding Candy... Do you think you could go back in and give Lavender one instead?" Ginny asked them. Fred and George smirked then went to turn around. "Maybe not now though. Do it in the morning. Or Valentine's Day," Ginny said smirking.

"Now that would be an excellent Valentine's Day gag," George said to Fred who nodded in agreement.

"That with the Melting Malts and a few Ton-Tongue Toffees and we could sell it as a gift basket," Fred added.

"Are you two sure you were supposed to be in Gryffindor?" Millicent asked them, one eyebrow raised. The twins just laughed evilly and winked.

"Are you all right?" Ginny asked Draco. He looked angry and hadn't said a single word to her.

"He'll be fine once Lavender's six feet under and pushing up witch's hazel," Blaise commented. "He was the one who heard what Lavender said to you... Never seen the man move so fast! Draco was the one who got us over there, though Luna got Colin and your brothers," Blaise said.

"Are we going in the right direction?" Gregory asked looking around.

"Did anyone see what way they went when they came out?" Vincent asked.

"They're around the corner," Ginny said when the others didn't reply.

"Second door on the left," Luna added after a few seconds.

They went around the corner and to the second door on the left, as per their instructions. Ginny opened the door and saw Padma sitting next to Parvati, her arm around her twin comfortingly.

When the door opened, Parvati looked up, mascara running down her face. She gave a small smile when she saw who it was, wiping the black liquid away with her sleeve.

"Sorry about that..." Parvati said softly. "I just hate it when people are teased or bullied for sticking up for others," she said angrily. "I can handle it when Lavender teases me, but other people... Rubs my robe the wrong way," she said with another small smile.

"Thank you for sticking up for me," Luna said, smiling at the older girl.

"You're welcome," Parvati replied. She rubbed at the running mascara, only succeeding in making it worse.

"I'm sure that mother told you not to wear water-based mascara," Padma drawled. She said a simple spell and the mascara disappeared.

"You don't need it anyway," George said, going red as he realised what he'd said.

"I think someone's got an admirer..." Millicent said, laughing as George went brighter.

"Speaking of admirers..." Ginny said and went to look over to Theodore, but Millicent clamped a hand over Ginny's mouth, thus refraining her to move her head too.

Parvati watched in amazement as everyone started nagging Millicent about who she liked. She was positive that only a few weeks ago that they'd all hated each other and now ... now they were acting as if they had been friends for their entire lives... It was definitely odd to watch.

"I'll say," Padma agreed. Parvati looked at her sister in shock.

"Did you just? I thought that it had gone..." Parvati said, her tears now forgotten.

"It was just lying dormant. The link between you can not exist if you are not willing to acknowledge each other," Luna said smiling at them.

"You've got a link too?" Fred asked suddenly. George looked at them with renewed interest.

"What do you mean by a link?" Pansy asked, leaving Millicent in peace for a moment.

"They can talk telepathically," Ginny said simply. "It's the main reason that I can't hear them," she said.

"Oh, is that all? I thought you meant... something else," Pansy said vaguely, then turned back to Millicent. "So who do you like?" she asked, smirking at her.

"Oh leave her, would you? She's too stubborn to give you the satisfaction of an answer," Ginny said with a smirk. Millicent nodded in agreement.

"Very stubborn," she added for emphasis.

"Well, as dinner is now over, you can all come and see our masterpiece," Fred and George announced.

"Masterpiece? I didn't think that decorating bed linen could be categorised as something artistic..." Ginny drawled smirking at them. George and Fred just grinned at her.

"You'll agree that it's a masterpiece when you see it," was all they said.

Intrigued, everyone followed them down to Ginny's room quickly.

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Fred and George waited until everyone was inside Ginny's room and for Parvati and Padma to stop looking around in wonder. With a minute nod, they both opened the door at the same time and stepped aside so they could look inside.

Ginny took her shoes off and walked into the room, shocked. It was a masterpiece! They'd not only decorated the bed linen in green, silver and red, but the walls and even the table and chairs were decorated in the three colours! As Ginny looked closer at the bed, she saw that each person had their name inscribed into the quilting. The names shimmered between silver and gold as she moved her head.

Ginny bobbed up and down as the others made their way into the room unsteadily. Pansy was delighted at the sea-like motion of the bed and moved so everyone else fell over.

"Don't be such a cow, Pansy! I only just finished eating!" Millicent growled.

"Don't ruin the masterpiece," Fred and George said instantly, conjuring up a bucket for her, just in case.

Millicent threw the bucket at them. The twins hit it easily, showing their skills of four years as Quidditch Beaters. Ginny transfigured the bucket into a balloon before it hit the bed and hit it into the air as it fell towards her.

"I love this game," Colin said as he hit the balloon too.

"What game?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"It's a Muggle game... You can't let the balloon hit the ground, or else you get out," Colin said simply as he hit the balloon up again.

"Muggle's have absolutely no creativity," Draco drawled as he watched the nearby balloon float to the quilt. Almost as if on instinct, he kicked the balloon up into the air lightly.

"And of course, that's why you're playing the game..." Greg drawled.

"I was not!" Draco retorted quickly.

"Yes, you were," Vincent said frowning. The balloon floated down to him and he hit it up into the air.

"No, I was not!" Draco said adamantly.

"Now, now, boys... No fighting. If Draco doesn't want to play the game, then he doesn't have to play," Ginny said, hitting the balloon over to Pansy. She instinctively hit it away from her face with her wand and the balloon turned into a feather.

"Now that's an interesting development to the game..." Neville noted as the feather floated towards him.

He hexed it with his wand and the feather turned into a piece of string. George grinned and changed the string into a piece of small parchment. Not wanting to be outdone by his twin, Fred turned the parchment into a rubber ball. They all watched as the ball dropped towards the bed quickly.

With surprisingly fast reflexes, Parvati changed the ball into a small origami crane. Padma smirked and changed it into an origami dragon. The dragon spread its wings and soared around the room, landing on Fred's head.

"Hold still... I'll change it!" George said, pointing his wand at his brother. Fred paled slightly.

"I don't think so!" Fred said.

Ginny smirked and pointed her wand at him. With a silent spell, the origami dragon changed into a miniature dragon and it breathed a puff of smoke onto Fred's head before flying up into the rafters.

"That wasn't very nice! What if you'd got me?!" Fred complained.

"The trust you have in me is astounding," Ginny drawled, smirking at him.

"I feel like we should have popcorn..." Colin said to Neville grinning.

"There's some in the third room on your right. It's in the cupboard," Ginny said.

"I was only kidding... But since you're offering," Colin said laughing as he crawled off the bed and headed to the miniature kitchen.

Colin returned with a large bowl of popcorn and sat down next to Ginny. Neville and Luna took a handful each and they all watched the others.

"Anyone up for a game of Truth or Dare?" Millicent asked smirking at them.

"No," Pansy said immediately.

Millicent glared at her then took some popcorn out of the bowl and began to throw it at Pansy's face. Pansy glared at her and started to hex the popcorn missiles with amazing accuracy.

"How are you hitting them so well? The popcorn's so small," Colin said picking up one of the hexed popcorn pieces.

"Secret," Pansy replied with a wink. Colin rolled his eyes and threw a piece at her.

"You look tired," Theodore commented, seeing Ginny's paler-than-usual face.

"It's just stressful working for seven days straight," Ginny said with a small sigh.

"You mean you don't even get one day free?" Theodore asked in shock. "That's not going to be good for your health," he said shaking his head.

"I've got next weekend free for the Hogsmeade trip. I should be fine..." Ginny said with a shrug.

"So if you end up in the hospital wing within a month due to stress and lack of sleep, can we say 'told you so'?" Millicent asked sourly, smirking at Ginny.

"If you want to," Ginny said grinning at her.

"Who are you going to Hogsmeade with?" Parvati asked Ginny.

"No one yet. Both Seamus and Dean asked me, but I said no to them. I don't think Dean's girlfriend would like it if I went with him. I was thinking about just going on my own..." Ginny said with a shrug.

"Why don't you go with Draco?" Pansy asked smirking at them.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Luna said suddenly. "Voldemort's got people on the lookout for him and after what happened yesterday..." she said, shaking her head.

There was silence for a few minutes as everyone took time to understand the threat and truth that Luna had just said.

"Are you going to keep the dragon like that or make it back into origami?" Colin asked looking up to the miniature red Norwegian Ridgeback, breaking the silence with safer topics of discussion.

"Don't destroy it," Draco said before Ginny could reply. "You can't give it the chance at life then take it away so soon," he said quietly.

"I was going to ask the dragon... I'm sure it should have some choice in the matter," Ginny said.

She gave a small whistle and the dragon flew down to her immediately. With a few growls and lizard-like hisses, Ginny had her answer. With another whistle to the dragon, Ginny watched as she flew up to the rafters again.

"What did it say?" Pansy asked.

"She wants to stay alive... Didn't you hear it?" Colin asked, frowning at her. "She was speaking perfect English..."

"She?" Fred and George asked in shock.

"Lyra is going to stay like she is now. Colin, she was speaking English only to your ears. Draco might have understood her..." Ginny added, looking over to him. Draco just shrugged in response, eating more of the popcorn. "I understood her because of the whole Queen thing, but other than that Lyra was just speaking in her dragon language, not in English..." Ginny said.

"Then how did I understand her?" Colin asked looking up at the dragon in wonder.

"Your mother," Luna said suddenly. "Your father is a milkman... What about your mother?" She asked.

"She was a witch... At least, that's what we were told," Colin said with a shrug.

"Haven't you ever checked in the school records?" Ginny asked him.

She looked at the time and saw that it was quarter to ten. If she left now, that would give her enough time to get to the library and look at the school records as an excuse before getting the Restricted book from Madam Pince.

"No... I didn't think of looking there," Colin replied.

"I'll go look for you now," Ginny offered.

"No, it's all right... You don't have to," Colin began, but Ginny was already standing up.

"I want to... I'm curious," she said with a grin. "What was your mother's name?" Ginny asked.

"Dad only ever called her Harmony. He never mentioned a last name," Colin said with a shrug. "Dad said that she had me at twenty-two... I was born in 1986, take away twenty-two, so she would have been born in 1964. Then add another twelve years to get accepted into Hogwarts... She would have been here in 1976," Colin said with a nod to confirm his mathematical calculations.

"All right. Relo!" Ginny called. The Erkling arrived in a few seconds, grinning happily.

"You called us, Ginevra?" He asked.

"Yes... Did you want to go in and play with the others now? Theodore's in there," she said. In a flash Relo was inside the room, talking to Theodore excitedly. "Bexley, if you will please stay in the room with them," Ginny said quietly. Bexley floated out of her and bowed before going into the room.

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Ginny left her room, taking a parchment and quill with her, putting the items into her pocket discreetly. She ran to the library quickly and entered quietly.

The library was practically deserted. All of ten people were in the library, all of them attempting to finish essays that should have been finished days ago.

Ginny made her way down to the very back of the library where the school records were kept, then pulled out the record book and accompanying photo album for 1976. She sat at a nearby table then flipped to the beginning of the book.

She looked down the list of names and found three people with the name 'Harmony'. Ginny wrote down the three names then turned to the photo album so she could see if there was any resemblance between the women and Colin or his younger brother Dennis.

Looking at Harmony Resler's photograph, Ginny shook her head, dismissing the woman immediately. The woman had black hair and all of the facial features were wrong. In a note beneath the photo, Ginny saw that she'd married Terry Jackson but had no children. Hoping that all of the photo's had these kind of notes, she turned to the next Harmony.

Harmony Barnathen wasn't the right woman either. It wasn't just the fact that she had the wrong facial features, but also the note beneath her photo saying that she had never married or had children.

With a small sigh, Ginny turned to the last possibility. With an annoyed frown Ginny saw that the last woman had also never married or had children. She got the record book and photo album for 1975, just in case Colin's mother had gone to Hogwarts at age eleven.

Looking down the records, Ginny saw that only one person had the name Harmony. She opened the photo album to the woman and looked at the photograph. The woman wasn't Colin's mother, that Ginny could see straight away. The likeness between this Harmony and Dean Thomas was amazing. The note said that she'd married a Muggle by the name of Christopher Thomas and had gone to live with him in the Muggle world, giving birth to one Dean Thomas...

"Would you like some help?" Madam Pince asked. She'd seen Ginny frowning at the record books for a good ten minutes and had decided it was time to check what was wrong for herself.

"I'm looking for a woman by the name of Harmony. She's Colin Creevey and Dennis Creevey's mother," Ginny added.

"All right. Come with me and I'll show you how to search for her in an easier way," Madam Pince said, going over to the front desk, Ginny following quickly.

Madam Pince gave her wand a small flick and the books that Ginny had been looking at returned to the shelves in the proper order. She handed Ginny a small piece of parchment.

"Write 'Harmony' and 'Colin Creevey' on the parchment," Pince instructed.

Ginny did this then handed the parchment back to her. Pince opened a small drawer beneath the desk and put the parchment in it before closing it again. She stood back and Ginny could see a faint white-gold glow emitting from the drawer. When it had disappeared, Pince opened the drawer and took the parchment out. She handed it to Ginny, pleased that the drawer had worked.

"There's two books that involve those words, and one photo album. The details are on the parchment... Do you want any help finding them?" Pince asked.

"No, this will be enough. Thank you Madam Pince," Ginny said genuinely.

Pince beamed happily and Ginny went to the school record section again. Suddenly a loud bell began ringing and Ginny turned to see Madam Pince's face get angry and stern. Pince pointed her wand at the Restricted Section and all of the doors slammed shut, locking and barricading themselves quickly.

"That better not be Peeves again," Ginny heard Madam Pince mutter as she stalked over to the Restricted Section.

Ginny watched in some amazement as Pince walked down the aisles of the Restricted Section. She pointed her wand in a particular direction and glared at the air.

"Take the spell off right now!" Madam Pince said angrily. "If you don't then I will be forced to curse you," she threatened, still glaring at the same spot.

A loud sigh came from the air and a person materialised quite literally out of thin air. Pince grabbed the young boy by the ear and dragged him out of the Restricted Section.

"You're going straight to the Headmaster! This is the second time I've caught you in here this term!" She said angrily.

Pince pointed her wand at the boy and an invisible rope went around him so he couldn't leave the library. Pince went over to her fireplace and threw some Floo powder in.

"Albus Dumbledore!" She called. Albus' head appeared in the fireplace. "Sorry if I woke you, Headmaster," she began.

"It's quite all right, Elizabeth... I see that young Mr. Jeremy Barlon is tied up again... He was caught in the Restricted Section again, I presume?" Albus asked.

"Yes, he was. And in the same part of the Restricted Section as well," Pince said.

"Very well... Thank you for getting me this time, Elizabeth. I am sure that Jeremy is relieved that you did not decide to punish him yourself this time," Albus said looking at Jeremy sternly. The boy went bright red and looked down at his shoes. "Come through the fireplace, Jeremy so we can deal with your punishment," he said. Jeremy walked through the fireplace reluctantly. "Thank you Elizabeth. It is nearly half past. Filch has been extremely determined to catch people out past curfew this week, perhaps you should close early," Albus suggested.

"Yes, Headmaster. Good night," Pince said.

"Good night, Elizabeth," Albus said and his head disappeared from the green flames.

Ginny stopped watching and turned to the books again. She looked at the parchment and took the photo album off of the shelf, even though it didn't seem that it was going to be relevant, as the album was from 1758.

She turned to the page that the name Harmony was on and stared in shock. It seemed that a more feminine version of Colin was looking back up at her, smiling and waving at the camera. Ginny looked down at the note, hoping that it only said 'grandmother to Colin Creevey', or 'the mother of Harmony'.

Harmony Cooper. Born in 1746- present. At her birth, Harmony was given the gift of immortality from the dragons. She is the mother of Colin and Dennis Creevey, both of whom are attending Hogwarts...

Ginny stared in shock at the birth year... That meant that she was over 240 years old! Shaking her head, Ginny took the book to Madam Pince who borrowed it for her, giving her the mandatory warning of making sure that the book was not damaged and to not fold the edges of the pages over.

"If you'll wait over there, I'll make sure the library is empty so you can start the other book," Madam Pince said then briskly walked down to the study areas.

In a few seconds, one couple left the library quickly, the girl giggling and blushing brightly. Others left the library reluctantly, their hands covered with spilt ink from a rush of trying to finish their essays before the library closed.

Once everyone had gone, Madam Pince returned to her desk then led Ginny over to the Restricted Section. Once Madam Pince had opened the doors, she directed Ginny down the aisles to where the book was.

"Mundus Magus," she said, pulling the book from the shelf and handing it to Ginny. "If I recall correctly, that particular book has the ability to scream at you. A silencing spell should do for now," Pince said, tapping the book with her wand.

"Thank you," Ginny said, going to one of the study tables and opening the book.

Madam Pince set about doing her end-of-the-day tasks, knowing how students disliked being watched while reading from the Restricted Section.

Ginny found the spell and began to write it down carefully, just in case she would need it again. As she wrote, she thought of Draco. She didn't want to have to do erase everyone's memory...

Draco watched Ginny as she read the Restricted book. She was frowning as she wrote down the spell.

Carefully folding the parchment, Ginny put it in her pocket then went up to Madam Pince to return the book.

"Thank you, Madam Pince," she said.

The librarian nodded then waved her wand. The book flew back to the Restricted Section, organising itself in the proper order.

"You should leave quickly... Filch wasn't told of your being out of bed, so if he catches you then you will get into trouble," Pince warned. Ginny nodded.

"Thanks for staying up late for me," Ginny whispered, then slipped out of the library.

Draco followed Ginny out of the library. Seeing a clock, he was surprised at the time. It was almost twelve o'clock!

Ginny listened as Draco tried to keep his footsteps silent, but with not much success. She walked past the tapestries and as she headed to the Hogwarts entrance, she heard thunder rolling in the clouds and rain began to fall heavily.

Touching her wand to a nearby door, Ginny whispered a spell that Draco couldn't hear, and the door opened. She slipped outside, Draco following quickly.

Rain poured around them and Draco watched as Ginny pulled the parchment out of her pocket. He saw that her face was wet, and had a feeling that it wasn't rain that was causing it.

Ginny felt tears running down her face as she thought of what she was about to do. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want him to watch her do this...

"Please don't watch this, Draco," she said softly.

Her voice was quiet, but it seemed to cut through the rain and fill his ears. Taking off his Invisibility Cloak he looked at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, walking over to her.

"You won't want to know..." Ginny said, putting the parchment in her pocket. Draco smirked.

"I sincerely doubt that, Ginevra," he said. Ginny stepped away from him, tears running down her face freely.

"Don't make this harder for me, Draco. Please, just leave," she begged. Draco shook his head.

"Not yet. I haven't had a good night kiss," he said smirking at her.

Ginny paled and shook her head as she moved back further still. Staring at him, she began to recite the spell. Draco watched as she grew pale with each word she said.

"Those who know, now forget... Make the past not happen yet... The memory of the kiss caught in a net... Those who knew, now forgot..." Ginny said clearly through the rain.

Suddenly, hundreds of small red lights flew out of Ginny. One flew directly at Draco but he was too stunned to even dodge the little red light as it entered his forehead.

Ginny watched as he fell to the ground and the other lights flew through walls into the Hogwarts castle. A few flew in other directions, presumably to others in her family that Ron had told. One red light remained. It bobbed in front of Ginny almost playfully, but didn't do anything.

After a few minutes, the other lights flew back and bobbed in front of Ginny too, waiting for instruction.

"The task is completed, memories wiped clean... Go to the earth, make sure to be unseen. Before you go, wipe the memory of your Queen," Ginny said. The lights flew down into the ground and seemed to disappear into the earth.

The single light that had been waiting in front of Ginny flew into her forehead. As her memory disappeared, Ginny fell to the ground, Draco's lifeless form in front of her.

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As a cool wind played with Ginny, she woke up and saw that the moon was starting to set. Looking around, she saw Malfoy nearby and wondered why she was outside. She remembered leaving the sleep over, but she had no idea why she had left or how she'd gotten outside...

"Hey, Malfoy!" Ginny called, going over to him. Malfoy stirred in his sleep and with a nudge of her foot, Ginny successfully woke him up. "How drunk did you get last night? Why are we outside?" She asked.

"Go away, Weasley... What do you mean we're outside?" Draco muttered as her words registered. He opened his eyes wearily and saw the light sky. "What am I doing here?" He muttered, sitting up.

"Oh, come on... Let's get inside before we freeze to death," Ginny muttered then began to walk to her room. Draco followed, glaring at her.

"What did you do to me? How did we end up outside for the Gods sakes?" Draco asked her angrily.

"I have no idea why or how I ended out here, let alone how you got here... You were probably stalking me, you slimy git," Ginny retorted. She was cold, tired and had no memory about most of yesterday... It was like Riddle was back again. She shuddered at the thought, then walked to her rooms at a faster pace.

"Would you wait, Weasley?!" Draco called as he increased his speed to catch up with her.

Ginny just kept going at the same speed and ended up at her rooms in a few seconds. She went inside to see everyone asleep on the water bed mattress. At some point they must have changed into their pyjamas, as she could see that Pansy was in a nightgown and Luna was wearing her usual pyjama shirt and shorts.

"Nice of them to notice that we were gone," Ginny muttered.

"They did notice you were gone, Ginevra... Luna told them not to worry about you. She said that you would be all right, that is why we did not go to find you," Relo said with a sob. "We missed you!" He said and hugged her legs, crying.

"Thank you for worrying about me, Relo... Do you know why I went outside to start with? Or why I left the party?" Ginny asked. Relo nodded his head, wiping away his tears.

"You went to find Colin's mother after you made Lyra and he understood her... We don't know why you were outside though," he said.

"I remember that, but I still don't know why I was outside," Ginny muttered.

"You can't forget about me... Why in the Gods names was I out there?!" Draco asked glaring at her.

"You went to find Ginevra," Relo said with a confused look on his face. "We is tired... Can we sleep now? We didn't want to go to sleep until we had seen that you had come back..." Relo said, yawning widely.

"Yes, you can go to sleep now, Relo... I'm tired too," Ginny said with a yawn. Relo went into the room and as soon as he was on the bed, he fell asleep, snoring gently. "I'm sure you can find somewhere to sleep in there, Malfoy," Ginny drawled, indicating to where Relo had just entered.

"Of course I can," Draco retorted, glaring at her.

Ginny just rolled her eyes then went to her room. She changed into her pyjamas and crawled into bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

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(a/n: Thanks for being patient (well, some of you were... ;) lol) and waiting for this chapter. I apologise again for not getting it out sooner, but I have been very busy lately! (Apologies!)

If you want any information on where I got ideas, or my information, then just ask and I will be glad to give it to you!

Thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed it!)

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