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SIYE Time:10:49 on 29th March 2024
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Not From Others
By FloreatCastellum

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Category: Post-HBP, Post-DH/AB
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, General
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Extreme Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use, Violence
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 348
Summary: She may not have been able to join Harry, Ron and Hermione, but Ginny refuses to go down without a fight. As war approaches, Ginny returns to Hogwarts to resurrect Dumbledore's Army and face the darkest year the wizarding world has ever seen.

DH from Ginny's POV. Canon.
Hitcount: Story Total: 108044; Chapter Total: 3209
Awards: View Trophy Room






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September rolled over Hogwarts with shocking pace. The days became greyer and darker with each passing evening, and the surrounding highlands took on a bleak and imposing character, looming over the cold lake. The presence of the Carrows and Snape created a bizarre and threatening tension something akin to looking over the edge of a very tall building. The atmosphere seemed to manifest itself in stressful and slow days yet blindingly fast weeks, so much so that by the time October arrived Ginny was quite distressed that the DA had made such little progress.

‘We should just use the Room of Requirement,’ she said huffily, pushing her quiche around her plate. ‘We all need to be together, the small groups thing isn’t working.’

Neville’s forehead creased with worry, and he seemed almost nervous to look at her. ‘But Malfoy-’

‘Sod Malfoy!’ She looked over at the Slytherin table. ‘He doesn’t seem to have it in him anymore anyway.’ Much like last year, Malfoy looked pale, sickly and anxious. He was eating his lunch in isolation, turned away from a cheerful looking Pansy Parkinson, who was giggling at Goyle.

‘Even so,’ continued Neville, ‘It’s proved to not be very safe.’

‘It’s safer than what we have now!’

Neville was about to answer, but was distracted by the arrival of Colin, who sat next to Ginny with a flump, looking extremely irritated. ‘They found the dungbombs.’

‘Colin! Bloody hell, how?’

‘Are you all right?’ asked Neville seriously. ‘Are you in trouble?’

‘No,’ muttered Colin. ‘They don’t know it was me, they just found my stash behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy.’

‘In the passageway?’

‘No, they’ve blocked it up, so I just sort of tucked them into his hood.’

‘Oh, Colin!’ Ginny put her head in her hands, trying not to growl. ‘My brothers spent ages trying to work out how to smuggle those in for us!’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said miserably, helping himself to a ladle of soup. ‘I just thought that if they’d blocked up all the passages, they’d stop checking there.’

‘Well that’s it then,’ Ginny said irritably. ‘We don’t have a distraction for me, Neville and Luna to get into the office.’

‘Don’t snap at Colin,’ said Neville sharply. ‘He tried his best, we’ve had loads of problems.’

‘Sorry,’ she said moodily, still playing with her food. She felt as cooped up and helpless as she did at the Burrow. Communication with her family had been limited and heavily coded.

…We went to the old place to see if it still needed spring cleaning but of course it was completely empty, so the Cornish Pixies must have moved on to Merlin knows where…

…Dad thinks he might have spotted an old friend at work, but only had a brief chat in the elevator before he had to dash, everything’s been so busy these days…

…Fred and George send their love, they spent ages picking you out a present as they missed you leaving, they got you some top quality broom polish in the end, it smells quite strongly though, best make sure you only open it outside…


From what she could gather, Harry, Ron and Hermione were, to all extents and purposes, missing, which added another obstacle to her plan. How was she going to get the sword to them once she had it? The best she could think of was hiding it until her next Hogsmeade trip and smuggling it out to a family member, who would be in a better position to get it to Harry.

‘I’m not sure that will work,’ Neville said when she had first explained it to him. ‘Nobody knows where he is, and if he doesn’t want to be found he won’t be.’

Yet now, even he couldn’t think of a better option, and he eventually had to concede that the sword was better off in the hands of the Weasley family than Snape. The Carrows, however, proved to be difficult adversaries. Despite their lack of intelligence, they seemed to have a sadism that was intuitive and precise, and much like Filch, they had an unwelcome habit of appearing at the most inconvenient moments. The D.A had fought back with remarkable spirit, unlike Ginny had seen since Umbridge had attempted to be Headmistress. They had struggled to get hold of joke products through the heightened security, but their creativity knew no bounds; Luna had impressed them all the most by luring a Blast-Ended Skrewt into Amycus Carrow’s office, and it had taken several hours and many burns for the Carrows to get it out. Hagrid had oddly been deep in the Forest and unable to contact.

Food was left to rot in awkward and hidden places; Permanent Quills were used to draw rude pictures of the Carrows on the walls, tapestries and blackboards; a Bludger was unleashed in the first floor corridor, hurtling into every fragile object it could find; and one industrious second-year managed to smuggle a good proportion of Alecto Carrows Moronic Muggles books out of her classroom, dumping them into the lake.

For Ginny, all of this was satisfying, but not enough. Though the small group tactic worked well for establishing a little chaos into daily Hogwarts life, they had made no progress in teaching each other new defensive spells because they quite simply couldn’t gather for long enough. Snape had reinstated Umbridge’s rule about unauthorized groups, and many students felt afraid to break curfew. Punishments had varied; for the most part they were as mundane as they had always been, but there was always a continued feeling that the Carrows were actively resisting doing worse, and they seemed to relish in threatening, yelling and generally terrifying students. On a handful of occasions, they seemed to lose control, throwing objects and striking short, swift blows to the most outspoken of students.

‘Let’s try and do it tonight,’ said Ginny. ‘We can use some other distraction. We could get Seamus to blow something up on the sixth floor.’

Neville gawped at her. ‘You sure? I mean, nothing’s gone right for us. We still haven’t-’

She waved a hand. ‘If we plan too much, we’ll lose the element of surprise. When do you next see Seamus?’

‘Er… Well next lesson I suppose.’

‘Good. Talk to him then and see what he can do. I’ll let Luna know in Potions this afternoon. Colin, you all right to switch to lookout?’

Colin nodded, though he looked resentful. Ginny felt a twinge of guilt. Without Quidditch, she’d had a distinct lack of release for her anger and frustration. Shouting at Ron’s useless goalkeeping would have been perfect. Instead, she’d taken to snapping at her friends. She headed to Potions feeling thoroughly ashamed, and eager to confess her guilt to her best friend.

‘You need to remember who you’re really angry at,’ Luna said as they chopped dried snargaluff pods.

‘I know,’ said Ginny, looking around the steamy dungeon. ‘Everyone’s in the same position, aren’t they? All these people are worrying about friends and family too.’

‘Their friends and family aren’t in as much danger,’ said Luna kindly. ‘And they’re not planning to become thieves.’

It was remarkably lucky that the dungeon was so noisy, because Luna made no effort to hide their plans. For some reason, Ginny couldn’t help but smile. With all of Luna’s fanciful stories, when she spoke about the realities of the situations they were in they always seemed a little further away.

‘You’re sure you’re happy to, though?’ Ginny asked. ‘It doesn’t really need three people if you don’t want to.’

‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’ asked Luna, looking up at Ginny with wide eyes.

‘No! Not at all! I just don’t want you to get hurt.’

Luna smiled, and swept her snargaluff chippings into her cauldron. ‘We should be the ones to do it. Us three. Like when we went to the Ministry, only without Harry, Ron, and Hermione.’

Luna was still just as eager when she snuck up to the Gryffindor common room with Ginny after dinner. With a bright smile at Neville, she linked arms with both of them and practically led the way, even remembering to jump the trick stair.

Other members of the D.A were gathered by the fireplace, rehearsing alibis and helping Seamus load his bag with an odd powdery substance.

Ginny had not told everyone the purpose of the break in. Only Neville, Luna and Colin knew that she was planning to steal the sword, and only Neville and Luna knew that she was trying to get it to Harry. She had told the other students that she was simply planning to trash it and “maybe take a memento”. Whether they believed her or not was irrelevant; they displayed a fierce loyalty and a great desire to see Dumbledore’s murderer punished in any way possible.

‘I wish we had Harry’s cloak,’ Ginny said to Neville as he anxiously untangled some Extendable Ears.

‘Me too,’ he said enviously. ‘I always wanted to have a go with that. He’s got it with him, I suppose?’
‘I hope so,’ said Ginny. ‘He kept it on him constantly last year.’

‘It’s weird, isn’t it?’ said Neville quietly. ‘I don’t think I realized last year, but some people, like Harry, they could see all this coming. They were already preparing.’

Ginny wasn’t sure why, but suddenly she felt awkward and embarrassed. ‘I wasn’t,’ she admitted. ‘I barely focused on my O.W.Ls, let alone impending doom.’

He grinned. ‘No, you had something else to focus on.’

She smacked him lightly. ‘Time to go, I think. Luna?’

Colin and Seamus went ahead a few minutes before the rest of them, ready to get into position, leaving the entire common room silent with anticipation. Neville stared intently at his watch. They’d practiced the running times on several occasions, but not once had everything gone smoothly…

‘Time,’ he said gruffly, and led the three of them out of the portrait hole.
‘Watch out,’ warned the Fat Lady. ‘You’re breaking curfew already!’

They hurried down the corridors and staircases, using only a very dim light on Luna’s wand to guide them. At every corner, they would stop and crouch low against the wall, Neville listening around the corner with an Extendable Ear. On the sixth floor, they encountered Seamus, lurking in the shadows by an ugly bust of an eccentric warlock.

‘Three minutes,’ whispered Neville as they passed, and in the darkness Ginny saw Seamus give a short nod.

They found Colin hidden in the shadows of an alcove around the corner from Snape’s office. ‘Any patrols?’ asked Neville.

Colin shook his head. ‘Nothing. All clear.’

They all squeezed into the alcove with him, Luna casting a disillusionment charm over them so they blended easily into the darkness. ‘I hope Seamus gets the timing right,’ she said quietly. ‘This charm won’t last long, I’m not very good at it, especially with all these Nargles floating about.’

They waited silently in the darkness for what couldn’t have been more than a minute, though to Ginny it felt far longer. Above them, a muffled boom rumbled, and a sprinkling of dust rattled as it fell lightly from the ceiling. They held their breath. Ginny could hear the blood pounding in her ears.

The gargoyles leapt aside and Snape came rushing out of the office, his black robes billowing around him. As he passed them, Ginny could see the harshness of his face illuminated by his wand, and she felt a surge of satisfaction as she noticed how stressed and miserable he looked. They waited until they were sure he was out if ear shot, and hurried over to the entrance of the office.

‘You’re sure you know the password?’ asked Neville.

‘Of course,’ said Ginny, remembering how Snape had dragged her here in the dead of night. ‘Cokeworth.’

‘I wonder what that means,’ said Luna vaguely as they entered. ‘Seems an odd password.’

‘Yeah, well Dumbledore just named his after sweets, didn’t he? Probably doesn’t mean anythi- Oh.’ Neville blinked rapidly as he looked around the bright office. ‘It… It still looks like…’

‘Yeah, he hasn’t changed anything,’ said Ginny bitterly. Somehow she felt it would have been better if Snape had marked his personality on the room, filling it with dusty jars and tattered books. The room was still so inexplicably and obviously Dumbledore’s that Snape’s intrusion felt heightened and more painful than normal. The portrait of Dumbledore himself was snoring loudly, his fluffy white beard thrown over one shoulder.

‘Where is it?’ asked Luna, running a finger delicately over an odd brass instrument. ‘Or can we take anything we want?’

‘No,’ said Ginny firmly. ‘It has to be the sword. It’s over here.’

She led them to the display case, where the sword lay on deep purple velvet, its rubies glinting enticingly.
Neville jiggled the case. ‘It’s locked,’ he said, though he didn’t sound particularly surprised. ‘Where d’you think he keeps the key? In his desk?’

Ginny stumbled over to the ornate desk, pulling open the heavy draws as quickly as she could. She was starting to panic; Snape could be back any moment. She searched desperately for any metallic object, pulling out wads of parchment and old quills, barely glancing at a photograph of a much younger, though still ugly, Snape sitting next to a laughing girl.

‘There’s nothing in here,’ she growled, emptying the last drawer onto the floor. ‘Why didn’t I think of this? Of course he wasn’t going to leave it unlocked, he-’

There was a high-pitched crash and Ginny jumped, spinning round to see Luna looking very satisfied and holding a heavy looking book. The display case was shattered, shards of broken glass scattered across the floor. ‘I thought as you were making a mess, you wouldn’t mind if I did the same,’ Luna said.

‘Brilliant, Luna!’ yelped Neville, rushing forward. Luna looked very pleased.

Neville carefully picked up the sword, wrapping it in his cloak before handing it to Ginny. In her pocket, she felt her D.A coin glow with warmth. She swore.

‘We need to leave, that’s Colin’s signal.’

‘Should we try and clean up?’

‘We need to leave NOW, Neville!’

She seized his arm and pulled him back to the door, Luna hot on their heels. She shoved the wrapped sword awkwardly under her own cloak as she rushed down the cold stone stairs, and perhaps that distraction was why she ran straight into Snape’s chest.

She stumbled backwards, only stopped from falling over completely by Neville, and looked up in horror at Snape’s furious face. He was practically shaking with rage, his hand gripping his wand so tightly she thought it might snap.

‘Hand it over,’ he said, his voice low and cold. ‘Whatever you’ve stolen. Give it to me now.’

Her heart sinking, she dully handed the sword over. To be so close to success and then have it snatched away from them was crushing, and the memory of the Carrows torturing her was floating unpleasantly to the front of her mind.

‘Get back in my office now,’ he hissed.

They reluctantly turned and trooped back up to the office, where conveniently the portraits had no woken. Phineas Nigellus looked particularly smug, and so Ginny threw him an aggressive scowl. Dumbledore simply smiled at them curiously.

They stood in a sheepish line in the middle of the room as Snape swiftly went over to his desk and coldly surveyed the explosion of parchment and glass scattered across the floor.

‘Which of you led this?’ he asked quietly. None of them spoke. ‘ANSWER ME!’

‘I did,’ said Neville loyally. He looked extremely pale, but stood straight and proud, fists clenched at his sides.

‘Don’t lie to me, Longbottom,’ spat Snape, throwing the sword unceremoniously onto his desk. ‘You don’t have the competency.’ He stared at Ginny, the same long, cold, sinister stare that she’d experienced when he’d questioned her.

‘You wanted this sword,’ he said quietly. ‘Why?’

‘I thought it would be a good trophy,’ she replied.

‘She was very insistent that they took the sword,’ came a sly voice. The portrait of Phineas Nigellus was watching them with a mixture of distaste and excitement. ‘It’s what they broke in for.’

‘Why did you want it?’ he asked again, on the verge of shouting. ‘Are you in contact with Potter?’

‘No,’ she said. Her hands were trembling.

He seemed to lose his temper, rushing over and grabbing her tightly by the arm, pulling her closely and looking into her eyes, wand raised. She yelped, and was vaguely aware of Neville and Luna shouting, but was suddenly assaulted by a plethora of memories flickering before her eyes.

She was six, and writing a letter to the famous Boy-Who-Lived, asking him what it was like to face You-Know-Who and whether he would like to come to tea, Dad promised he’d take it into work and find out where to send it to…

She was ten, begging her brother to tell her more about Harry, asking him what she could talk to him about…

She was eleven, writing out letters of thanks before scrunching them up and throwing them in the bin, wondering if he would ever be able to look at her as anything but a silly little girl…

She was fourteen, and Madam Pince was chasing them out of the library, and she was running side by side with him, and he looked exhilarated at the prospect of contacting Sirius…

She was fifteen, racing towards him in the crowded common room, and suddenly he had grabbed her and kissed her-

They were by the lake and laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe-

They were in the common room, and she was trying to study but his hand was tracing across her lower back-

He was walking away, through the rows of white chairs, and her heart was aching…

They were laying the table and he said he was joking but she knew what he must do and she could taste fear in her mouth…

Her father was ordering her not to contact them and she was furious…

Grimmauld Place…


Suddenly, she was back in the office again, panting and clammy, sure that she was going to throw up, feeling as though the room was gently rocking like the deck of a ship. Neville and Luna were either side of her, shouting, holding her steady, and Snape was turning away, looking frustrated and tired.

Her legs buckled underneath her, and Neville and Luna gently sat her on the floor. Snape now stood with his back to them, leaning on his desk with his head bowed in thought.

‘Ginny,’ Neville was whispering. ‘Ginny what happened? What did he do? Are you all right?’

‘Phineas,’ said Snape, his voice ringing low and cold through the office. ‘Are you still unable to see from your other portrait?’

‘Hold on,’ said Phineas. Ginny looked up at Luna, who looked uncharacteristically worried. Phineas returned within moments. ‘Yes,’ he drawled. ‘Still the very dull contents of a bag.’

Snape turned again and paced a little, one hand rubbing across his mouth and jawline. ‘Go to the kitchens and send up that house elf. The one that arrived last month.’

Phineas gave a short nod and sauntered out of his portrait. Ginny watched him walk through the different Headmasters until he reached the door, where he promptly vanished. She looked in desperation at the portrait of Dumbledore, who was watching the goings on with mild curiosity.

‘Professor,’ she cried, and both Dumbledore and Snape looked at her. ‘Professor Dumbledore, I… Help us!’ She knew even as she said it that it was useless. It was not the real Dumbledore. Dumbledore was dead. Gone. He was no longer here to protect them against Snape, and his portrait could say nothing useful in the presence of his killer.
Dumbledore gave a small, sad, smile and said simply, ‘You’re doing very well, Miss Weasley.’

Snape looked impatiently at the portrait, and then turned back to the students. ‘Why were you trying to steal the sword? Were you trying to get it to Potter? Do you know where he is?’

‘You just broke into my mind and saw Grimmauld Place,’ retorted Ginny. ‘Why don’t you start there?’

He pointed his wand at her again, his face contorted with rage. ‘You are not in the position to-’
There was a loud crack, and to her astonishment, Kreacher appeared before Snape, his great bat-like ears drooping low towards the ground as he stared at his own feet.

‘Professor Snape called Kreacher,’ he said sourly.

‘Is your information still correct?’ Snape asked abruptly. ‘Has Potter left Grimmauld Place?’

‘Master said he would be back, oh yes he did,’ muttered Kreacher. ‘Kreacher had dinner waiting for Master Harry but nasty Yaxley-’

‘I know about that,’ interrupted Snape. ‘Could Potter have returned? Or will he return?’

‘Kreacher doesn’t know, and Kreacher wouldn’t tell sneaky Snape if he did, nasty man, evil man, Master Harry was very concerned-’

Ginny was dumbfounded. What had happened to the disloyal and unpleasant Kreacher she had known? Was this a trick?

‘Shut up,’ hissed Snape. ‘You will come to me if Potter summons you, if you discover his location. I need to know where he is.’

Kreacher looked up, his ancient face calculating. ‘Kreacher will serve his master,’ he said.

‘You are employed by me,’ reminded Snape loudly. ‘You are employed by Hogwarts!’

Kreacher nodded. ‘Kreacher will serve his master.’

‘Go,’ ordered Snape. ‘Back to the kitchens.’

Kreacher gave a half-hearted bow and slunk out of the room, muttering darkly under his breath. As he passed Ginny, he gave her an odd, curious look out of the corner of his eye and said ‘Weasley girl, Miss Ginevra’ to himself.

Snape looked down at them for several moments. Ginny felt fragile and weak on the floor, but when she tried to stand up, Luna firmly pushed her back down.

‘I will give you one more chance,’ he said coldly. ‘To tell me why you wanted this sword, and what you were planning to do with it.’

‘We told you,’ said Neville. ‘We thought it would make a good trophy.’

‘Very well,’ said Snape, his voice dangerously quiet. ‘If that is what you insist… I shouldn’t need to remind you that breaking into my office and stealing my personal possessions is absolutely unacceptable. The three of you will receive detention and if I catch any of you stepping out of line again you will be facing expulsion. I advise against attempting this stunt again; clearly the sword is not safe here where thieving children live, and it will be sent to a different location. Now get up.’

They rose, Ginny still feeling quite unwell but determined not to stumble. A deep unhappiness was taking hold of her, and she couldn’t stop thinking of Harry, and where he could be now that he had fled Grimmauld Place.

‘Your detention will be this weekend with Hagrid,’ said Snape coldly. ‘I will send you more details tomorrow. Leave now. Do not take any detours on your return to your dormitories. If you are found breaking curfew, I will not allow this to be an excuse, you will be punished for that as well. Get out.’

They returned in silence, only speaking to murmur a soft goodbye to Luna as they passed the way to the Ravenclaw tower. When they reached the common room, a large crowd was waiting anxiously for them. Colin leapt up. ‘I’m sorry!’ he cried. ‘The coin slipped out of my hands and when I found it again there was no time left, I’m sorry!’

‘What happened?’ asked Lavender. Her face was tear stained. ‘You’ve been gone for hours.’

‘Got caught,’ said Neville briskly. ‘Never mind though. We’ll think of other ways to get back at him.’

But Ginny couldn’t find it in her to shake off the disappointment and shame, and suddenly she realized that she was crying, and Pavarti and Demelza were guiding her over to a warm seat by the fire, and she sobbed as images of Harry holding the sword of Gryffindor ran through her mind.
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