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SIYE Time:6:29 on 29th March 2024
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Charming Ginny
By lilyevans_Jan30

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Category: Pre-OotP, Post-DH/PM
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Action/Adventure
Warnings: Mild Language
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 12
Summary: Impetuous Decisions made in childhood are meant to stay there, but Ginny's first year at Hogwarts was more life-threatening than most. She swears never to do anything to put Harry at harm again, but never is a long time. Voldemort is dead, but will echoes of the Chamber prevent her and Harry from ever finding happiness?
Hitcount: Story Total: 15599; Chapter Total: 2079
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Thanks to those who are reading and reviewing - I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!




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Dear Harry,

You have to promise to destroy this letter as soon as you get it; I’m not supposed to be writing you anything important. You’ve likely guessed that from the news-free notes from Ron and Hermione, but what can I say? I think letting you know what’s going on is more important than Dumbledore’s rules.

I can’t actually tell you very much — I can’t even tell you where we are right now. I want to, but . . . I literally can’t. You will find out soon enough, I suspect. Not much is going on. At least, they don’t tell us anything important. We are mostly doing manual labor. It’s exactly as fun as it sounds. There are a lot of adults here, mostly who you would expect. Some are greasier than others, if you know what I mean.

The good thing is that I get to see Padfoot. He’s pretty furious about you not being here and he’s trying to change that as soon as possible. He and mum don’t really see eye to eye on a lot of things. It’s fun to watch and try to predict who is going to come out on top in their arguments.

I have been working on my Patronus charm; this . . . where we are, has some of my ‘favorite’ friends, if you know what I mean. The happiest thing I can think about right now is getting you here with the rest of us. Wish me luck! I’m supposed to be telling you to stay out of trouble and let the grownups take care of everything, but I’ll save that sort of rubbish for Ron and Hermione’s letters.

Your friend, Ginny.


HPHPHPHPHPHP

Dear Harry,

Holy shit — Dementors! Are you really okay? Mrs. Figg says you are, but still, that must have been horrible. I just can’t believe it. Padfoot almost went mental; it took the efforts of Bill, my dad, and Remus to keep him from Apparating straight to you. Even now, they are keeping a close eye on him.

Hermione says not to worry about the hearing; I’m sure she has a million reasons she read in some book that you are going to be fine. I hope she is right.

Anyway, I suspect I’m going to see you really shortly. In the meantime, trip Dudley for me.

Your friend, Ginny.


HPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

She didn’t know until after everyone had left that this was the day some of the Order was going to rescue Harry. For the first time, Ginny felt a little twinge of nervousness about writing him over the summer. What if she had told him something she shouldn’t have? Granted, none of them who were underage knew much of anything, but still, she paced silently in the bedroom she shared with Hermione until she heard Mrs. Black screaming downstairs and knew they had all arrived.

Ginny walked down the hall to the room Harry and Ron were to share; her brother and Hermione were there waiting. Harry appeared seconds later, looking mulish. Ginny only had a moment to give him a look that she hoped conveyed his need to keep their correspondence quiet before he started yelling.

He was angry at Ron and Hermione about their silence all summer and listening to him rant, Ginny finally felt some relief about her decision to give him information in her letters. Harry wasn’t dumb; he included her when he berated them all about the unfairness of keeping things from him, and Ginny had to bite back a grin. She added her apologies to those of Ron and Hermione.

“We are so, so sorry,” Harry. “Dumbledore made us promise not to tell you anything,” she said in the most serious voice she could muster. She didn’t think she could manage near tears like Hermione, but her voice sounded properly upset, she thought.

“Yeah, well, the least one of you could have done is write me a letter telling me you were all together and what you were doing!” Harry had his back turned to Ron and Hermione and he gave Ginny a tiny wink. She put her head down in apparent shame, but really, she was trying not to laugh.

Around the time Fred and George showed up with Extendable Ears to try to eavesdrop on the Order meeting, Harry decided that her brother and Hermione had suffered enough. Her mum had put an Impeturbable Charm on the kitchen door, but when they finally were allowed in for supper, things got more interesting. Unfortunately, it meant that Ginny was sent to her room without any of the others, and she stomped upstairs angrily. Little Ginny, not able to handle the important news again.

But her misery was short-lived and ended with a knock on her door.

“You weren’t lying, Ginny, your mum and Sirius are fun to watch.” Harry was standing there grinning at her. “Can I come in? I think of everyone, you deserve to have me tell you what’s going on.” She motioned him into the room and then listened with growing concern about Voldemort, his attempts to recruit more followers, and his apparent desire to find a weapon this time, something that would be effective against the opposition.

“But that’s all horrible!” Ginny said with a shudder. “Does the Order know what the weapon is?”

“It didn’t sound like they do,” said Harry heavily. “But it sounds bad. It’s something they didn’t have last time.”

“What’s different from last time?” Ginny mused. “I’ll have to think about that.”

Harry grinned. “Right. You get on that and let me know when you figure out what even Dumbledore doesn’t know.”

Ginny swatted at him. “Prat.” Then she turned serious. “They can’t find you guilty of that Dementor attack, can they? Hermione says . . .”

“I know what Hermione says,” said Harry with a sigh. “I dunno. I told Sirius that if I’m chucked out of Hogwarts, I’ll come live with him.”

Ginny’s reply was interrupted by the arrival of Hermione informing them that Mrs. Weasley was on her way upstairs and everyone had better be in their own bedrooms before there was hell to pay. Ginny gave Harry a small smile as he left. That night, she stayed awake for a long time, thinking about what kind of weapon Voldemort might be trying to get that he didn’t have last time.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

A week later, Ginny came down to the kitchen early, to find her mum bustling nervously and Sirius pacing.

“So they’ve already left for the hearing?” she asked, feeling disappointed. She had wanted to see Harry before he went. Sirius nodded tersely.

“It doesn’t start for a couple of hours, but Arthur thought it might be a good idea to . . .” his comment was broken off by the appearance of a silvery weasel dropping out of the ceiling. Ginny squeaked in surprise.

“Shh,” said Sirius, as the weasel began to speak.

“Hearing moved earlier. Just barely made it on time. Harry there now. More news when I have it.” The weasel faded away.

“That, that sounded like dad!” said Ginny. “Was that a Patronus?”

Sirius nodded. “Something the Order developed. Damn useful for communicating across long distances.”

“Harry has been teaching me to cast a regular Patronus,” said Ginny with some pride. “I’m not that good at it yet, I’ve only made silvery smoke, but I’m getting better. I can’t wait to find out what my animal is.” She had spoken without thinking and a crash from across the room startled her.

“And why would you need to learn such advanced magic?” broke in her mum. She had dropped a cup into the sink and now she turned around to look at Ginny. “I don’t expect you will be spending too much time around Dementors, now will you?”

Ginny groaned to herself. She should have been more careful. Until then, Harry teaching her the Patronus charm had been a secret between them. She should have realized her mum would take it wrong.

“The Patronus can be used for more than repelling Dementor’s, Molly.” Sirius spoke mildly and Ginny remembered that Harry had already told Sirius about their lessons; it made her feel warm inside to have Harry’s godfather stick up for her. “It’s a projection of all that is good in your heart and your mind; that is powerful magic that can fight against all sorts of dark thoughts and forces. Not to mention the usefulness of the talking Patronus we just saw.”

Ginny gave Sirius a grateful smile. “I was just helping Harry with his practicing, Mum,” she said. “It’s not a bad thing to learn — I’ll be ahead when we get to that lesson in DADA.”

Her mum didn’t look entirely convinced, but the arrival of Ron and Hermione in the kitchen and Ron’s plaintive request for breakfast took precedence over her desire to continue lecturing Ginny about her Patronus lesson.

They all celebrated that night when Harry arrived back home with the news of his acquittal. He was happy and relieved, but Ginny saw him mutter something to Ron under his breath, and by his expression, she suspected that not everything had gone well at the hearing.

It was late before Ginny learned more, and it had required a lot of silent sneaking up and down the stairs before she was sitting with Hermione in Harry and Ron’s room.

“Dumbledore was there, he gave testimony on my behalf. I think that is what convinced everyone not to convict me.” Despite the fact that his words should have boded well, Harry was wringing his hands.

Ron seemed to notice as well. “So what’s wrong with that, mate?”

Harry took a breath before answering. “It’s silly, really, but . . . he didn’t stop to talk to me afterwards. He wouldn’t even look at me. It was like he didn’t even want to acknowledge I was there.”

“Maybe he had someplace to be?” asked Hermione hesitantly.

Harry shrugged. “Maybe. But it didn’t seem like that.” He winced suddenly, putting his hand to his forehead.

“Harry?” asked Ginny. He looked pale all of a sudden.

After another minute, Harry’s face cleared. “Happens all the time now,” he said with forced casualness. He gave Ginny a look that she interpreted to mean she had something else to think about, in addition to what Voldemort might be using as a weapon: why Dumbledore was ignoring him. She gave him a tiny nod back and the huffed in agreement with Ron, who was blustering about Harry’s report that he’d seen Lucius Malfoy chatting up Fudge after the hearing. She would have to talk to Harry more later on.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The last few days before they left for school passed in a blur. Ginny finally had the chance to show Harry how far she had gotten in producing her Patronus; it still didn’t have a real shape, but the mist was so thick you couldn’t see through it. “What is your happy thought?” he asked her after applauding her effort.

“The fact that you get to come back to school and that it makes Fudge angry to have to let you,” she said with a grin.

Harry chuckled. “He certainly wasn’t happy.” But then his face grew serious. “I can’t believe he’s being so stubborn about Voldemort coming back. Doesn’t he know how many people are likely to die because of his refusal to see the truth?”

“It’s hard to admit you are wrong, even when the evidence is staring you in the face,” said Ginny. “Look at Percy. Bill reckons Percy knows that You-Know-Who is back, but he is too stubborn, or proud, to admit he was wrong. So instead, he’s sticking with the Ministry’s story.”

“I remember the Boggart your mum saw,” said Harry. “I know she’s thinking about Percy a lot.” He took a deep breath. “Enough of this,” he said briskly. “I expect that the next time you show me your Patronus, it will have a real form. Maybe Gryffindor’s fabulous success in Quidditch will be just the happy thought you need.”

“I’m counting on it,” said Ginny.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Ginny watched as Harry’s shoulders slumped when he realized that Ron and Hermione had prefect duties on the train; she didn’t think he had ever traveled to Hogwarts without them. He agreed with her suggestion to find a compartment. They ended up sitting with Luna Lovegood and Neville, chatting aimlessly and then dodging Neville’s Stinksap plant when there was movement at the door of their compartment.

“Uh, hi Harry.” Ginny thought Cho Chang sounded a bit hesitant to interrupt them. And Harry looked mortified to have her see him covered in Stinksap goo.

Ginny thought quickly. “Scourgify!” she said, waving her wand. As soon as the mess was gone she pointed at Harry. “Cho wants to talk to you — go find her,” she told him. Harry looked blankly at her.

“Uhh, what? She does? How do you know?”

“Because I’m a girl, Harry. Go ask her how she’s doing. Be sensitive about Cedric. Offer to buy her a licorice wand. Talk about Quidditch, anything! Just go!”

Harry stumbled to his feet. “Umm. Right. Okay. Quidditch.” He looked back at them. “I’ll just umm . . . “

“Harry, go!”

Ginny was gratified to see Harry take her advice and leave the compartment. The poor boy needed a distraction, and given all the muttering about him Ginny had heard on the train, he was also going to need as many friends as possible. Cho was pretty and popular. Dating her could help people decide to support Harry, despite what the Ministry was saying. Ginny stood up too.

“I’m going to go find Michael,” she said.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Over the next few months, Ginny thought privately to herself that the only time Harry looked anything close to happy was when he was with Cho. Ginny had been right; getting Harry to date her had eased some of the pressure he was feeling being surrounded by people who thought he was a nutter, a liar, or worse.

He stumbled into the Gryffindor common room just before curfew looking particularly disheveled one night in October and Ginny bit back a snort. “Looks like you had a good night, Potter,” she said.

Harry smirked at her. “I could say the same for you, given what I saw in the third floor secret passageway,” he said under his breath.

Ginny grinned back. “Maybe we can go on a double date or something next Hogsmede weekend,” she said.

Their whispers were interrupted by Hermione’s huff of frustration. This time, Ginny had to agree with her about the sad state their DADA education had taken, and the conversation turned, not for the first time, to what they all might do about it. The four of them talked late into the night, planning. It felt good to finally be doing something.

Dear Snuffles,

I hope you are staying warm; the weather here finally feels like winter is coming. I hope this school owl finds you well. I picked a particularly drab looking one because for some reason, white owls are getting attacked in the sky! It has people rather spooked. But no one seems particularly interested in what a stupid Fourth Year girl has to say to her sweet doggie.

We’ve had quite a time here. Did you hear that I’m the new Gryffindor Seeker? The original one had to take a break. He’s working especially hard on DADA lessons in preparation for his OWLs — they have given him an ‘army’ of homework. I hope he can teach me and some of the others what he knows; he is especially good at that class. I did get the chance to fly with him so that he could show me some tricks; I think it really relaxed him to get back up in the air.

Speaking of the former Seeker, did you know he has a girlfriend? I’m sure he’d want me to tell you, haha. She is in Ravenclaw and she’s very pretty. I think he is teaching her DADA too, if you know what I mean.

I’m looking forward to Christmas next month when I finally get to see you again. I’ll bring you a new bone as a gift.

Love, Ginny


Ginny looked critically at her letter. After Hedwig had been attacked and Hermione figured out that Umbridge was trying to read Harry’s mail, Ginny had decided to write Sirius herself; it was true that no one seemed to care who she was sending owls to. She hoped he could somehow understand her cryptic message about what Harry was up to in teaching the DA; those secret lessons had rapidly become Ginny’s favorite thing to do at school. Playing Seeker was wonderful too, but the fact that she only had the position because Harry had been banned from the team dampened her enthusiasm a bit.

Ginny sealed the letter shut with a tap of her wand and left to go find a sufficiently boring-appearing owl. She was meeting Michael to practice some of the spells Harry had been teaching them in the DA. It annoyed Ginny a little bit that Michael got cranky every time she disarmed him; Demelza had suggested just letting him win once in a while but Ginny had refused. Letting a boy win just to massage his ego was definitely not her style.

Dear Ginny,

Thank you so much for your letter; I just wish you could have put some kibble in there as well. Congrats on being named Seeker! I am sure you will be just as fabulous as the original one. It’s too bad he had to take a break, but it sounds like things are very busy for him.

Tell me because I forgot; when do they teach the Patronus charm at Hogwarts these days? It’s a dead useful spell to know for many reasons. And once you master the regular spell, did you know there is a way to make them talk? Maybe I can show you the spell when I see you over Christmas. It would be a good thing for some of your friends to learn too.

I hear from reliable sources that there seems to be a number of Gryffindo-Ravenclaw relationships right now. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. Within reason, of course.

Take care and write me back soon.

Your friend,

Snuffles


HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The next DA session was their best yet. Everyone had mastered disarming spells and was making good progress on their shield charms and a introductory hexes such as Stupefy. Ginny sidled into the room just as Harry was quieting everyone down so he could introduce their next lesson. He raised his eyebrow at her hand, still clasped in Michael’s but said nothing. She huffed to herself. Snogging had been fun, but what they were doing with the DA was more important. She wouldn’t let Michael distract her as much next time.

At Ginny’s suggestion, Harry had decided to teach everyone the Patronus charm. Everyone was excited; it was advanced magic usually not taught until students’ 6th year. He explained the theory behind the charm and its utility for battling Dementors.

“It also can be used to help fight other types of bad feelings; fear, sadness, stress, things like that,” Harry said. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. A minute later, his stag shot out of his wand to the collective amazement of the group.

“It took me a long time to learn,” he said modestly. “And I had a bit of extra incentive, what with the Dementors breathing down my neck.” He grinned and gestured to Ginny.

“Want to demonstrate?” he asked. “I know you haven’t quite got a full Patronus yet, but you are really far along. I think it will be helpful to see.”

Ginny nodded and walked to the front of the room. She closed her eyes and thought of the day she and Harry had snuck out to go flying after he had been kicked off the Quidditch team. He had been near shock at Umbridge’s decision — furious and depressed all at once. Ginny had cajoled him into the air so that he could teach her a few Seeking moves and they had spent a wonderful half an hour flying, just the two of them. They had landed with the promise to try to do it again, but so far, hadn’t been able to find the time.

Even before she opened her eyes, Ginny knew the charm felt different this time, a fact that was confirmed by the collective oohs and ahhs of the assembled DA members.

“It’s a horse! Ginny, you made a horse!” Harry sounded almost as excited as she was. Ginny watched fondly as the horse cantered around the room before disappearing. The DA surged to congratulate her before spreading out to practice on her own. It only occurred to her later that Michael had not said anything about her achievement.

While everyone was working, Ginny sought out Harry.

He grinned at her. “That was amazing, Gin,” he said.

She shrugged. “You’re a good teacher.” She lowered her voice. “Snuffles told me that over Christmas he wants to start teaching me the speaking Patronus charm. It could be useful for all of us.

Harry nodded, eyes now half trained on Cho. “Good idea, Ginny. You ask Sir . . . I mean, Snuffles about that.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “I will, Harry.”

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

She was jerked awake suddenly. Professor McGonagall loomed over her bed and Ginny shook her head in confusion. “Pro . . . Professor?” she asked uncertainly.

“Get up, quickly, Miss Weasley. I can’t explain now. Don’t take time to dress. We need to go to the headmaster’s office immediately. There has been an . . . an . . . accident. Harry saw you father get injured.”

Ginny barely remembered the walk to Dumbledore’s office. She latched onto Harry’s white face when she and the twins arrived. Harry looked awful, sweating and shaky as if he had just been sick.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Not now, Miss Weasley,” said Dumbledore. He gestured to an old teakettle on his desk. “If you would all touch this please. We need to get you to Gimmauld Place.”

Ginny was standing next to Harry. At the very second the Portkey activated, she felt Harry jerk next to her and make a tiny, hissing sound of anger. Ginny’s stomach dropped. It sounded like a snake.

Things did not get better when they arrived in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. The hissing was gone, and Ginny hoped she had imagined it. But then Harry started speaking, telling them that he’d had a vision of her dad being attacked; that he actually had been attacked. By a snake. Ginny’s stomach turned over again. Her dad had been bitten badly, he was bleeding somewhere, and a snake had done it.

She gave a low moan and staggered over to vomit in the sink. Everyone jumped up. Harry was the closest; out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw him take two hesitating steps towards her. She couldn’t stop herself from recoiling and he stopped, a tortured look on his face. Ginny forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to will away the vision of her father.

Sirius stepped up with a towel and a glass of water. “Sit down,” he said gently, guiding her to a chair. Ginny sat heavily and put her face in her hands.

“Could you, maybe . . .?” Harry was speaking. It sounded like he was still across the room.

Ginny looked up.

“. . . . try a Patronus?” Harry was saying. “You know, since it helps when you are sad or scared or . . .”

Ginny shook her head quickly and Harry quieted, looking upset.


Sirius jumped in. “It’s okay, you may not have a happy thought right now, but I’m sure we are going to get good news soon.”

Harry slumped at his godfather’s words. “Sorry, Ginny,” he said quietly.

“It’s okay,” she quickly assured him. “Really. I’m fine.” Oddly, lying to reassure Harry that she was okay (when she wasn’t), did more to make her feel better than anything else. Her stomach settled and the dark thoughts of snakes swirling in her brain slowly evaporated.

“I’ll try a Patronus later,” she said to Sirius. “Right now I just want to hear about dad.”

He nodded, putting his hand gently on her shoulder. “Of course you do.”

Fortunately, the good news that her father was going to be okay came only minutes later. Amidst the happy tumult of the kitchen Ginny noticed Harry slip unnoticed out of the room. She thought about following him, but stopped. Despite knowing that her father was going to be okay, Ginny wasn’t convinced that she was completely over her earlier panic. It wouldn’t be fair to lay that burden on Harry when he apparently still felt guilty about being the one to see her dad get hurt. As daft as Harry was being — if he had not seen the attack, her dad likely would have bled to death before being found — he obviously felt he had done something wrong. Ginny vowed to set him straight as soon as she was sure she wouldn’t make it worse.

Later, when Ginny learned exactly why Harry felt so guilty - He thought he ‘was’ the snake! — she felt even worse for not going right to him. The poor boy assumed he was being possessed, something Ginny knew more about than most. “Next time, just ask me, Harry,” she told him. “I’m the only one here who has actually been possessed, remember?” She didn’t exactly roll her eyes at him, but the intent was certainly there.

Harry looked sheepish. “I’m so sorry, Gin. I didn’t mean to forget.”

Ginny waved him off. “You’ve had a lot on your mind.” She let her expression grow sly. “And on your lips, I think, right?”

“You should talk, Miss ‘late to a DA meeting’ Weasley,” retorted Harry.

Ginny was happy to see him becoming more himself as the days went by. And while she had stopped hearing hissing snakes in her head every time she was alone, Ginny knew her nerves had not settled completely. After finally getting to visit her dad at St. Mungos, and being reassured that he was actually okay, Ginny had sought out Sirius.

“I think I’m ready to start learning the talking Patronus,” she said. “I know Harry has a lot on his mind right now, but hopefully I’ll be able to learn it first and then teach him.”

Sirius hadn’t questioned Ginny’s motivation, but had reiterated the importance of banishing bad thoughts for the spell to work properly. “It both requires positive thoughts and, if successful, creates them too,” he explained. “Now, let’s try again. Focus on your dad’s recovery.”

It was harder than Ginny had thought, to learn how to make her fledgling Patronus speak. By the time they were all ready to return to Hogwarts, Ginny had finally succeeded in sending a message from her room down to the kitchen. Five minutes later, Ron appeared, looking rather disgruntled. “Here’s your tea,” he said. “Next time, just come down and get it, okay?”

“Thanks Ron,” said Ginny. “I’m glad you got the message.

“Yeah, well, it’s pretty cool that you figured out how to do it. You should start helping Harry teach the DA or something,” he said.

Ginny shrugged. “If Harry wants me to help, I will. I might just teach him though. He’ll be a lot better at showing all of you. His Patronus is much stronger than mine.”

But as it turned out, Ginny didn’t have a lot of time to see Harry outside of DA meetings when they returned to school. Now that Owls were getting closer, the Fifth Years were working harder than ever. And Ginny was was happy to see that Harry had apparently stopped brooding about being the one to see her father get hurt. He was spending a lot of time with Cho and seemed to be enjoying himself.

Over Valentine’s Day, she and Michael even joined them at Madam Puddifoot’s They were careful to speak of the DA only in hushed code but had a much better time when the discussion turned to Quidditch. Cho was an ardent Tornados fan and she chided Harry gently about his dedication to Puddlemere United. It was obviously a discussion they’d had before and soon, all four of them were laughing, particularly when Ginny revealed her brother’s dedication to the Cannons.

Eventually, Harry had to leave — reluctantly — to go see Hermione and Rita Skeeter. He and Cho “said goodbye” for so long that Ginny considered sending a stinging hex at them. The other three walked slowly back to the castle. Michael and Cho kept up a running conversation about Quidditch, but Ginny was thinking again about the DA, and when she would have time to teach Harry how to make his Patronus speak.

In the end, Ginny never got the chance to teach Harry. Only a couple of weeks after Valentine’s Day, Marietta Edgecomb told Umbridge about the DA and she and Cho got into a loud and public row in the Great Hall. Cho went crying to Harry and everyone was in an uproar over rumors that Dumbledore had escaped Ministry arrest by disappearing in a puff of smoke and flame.

Things were getting darker at the school and with the disbanding of the DA, its former members were too scared to talk in anything larger than groups of two or maybe three; Umbridge remained firmly determined to catch one of them in something illegal. Ginny desperately wanted to talk to Sirius — she knew Harry’s visions had been getting worse — but her fear of getting caught prevented her from doing anything. Still, she couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that something bad was going to happen.

It came when the Fifth Years were taking their OWLS. Ginny had been hanging around the doors to the Great Hall, ostensibly waiting for Michael to finish, but in truth, even more concerned about Harry.

And when he stumbled out of his final exam before it ended, his face white as a ghost, Ginny’s heart dropped. Something has happened.

But before she could even approach, Harry had bolted in the direction of the hospital wing.

Ginny grabbed Ron and Hermione when they left their exam ten minutes later and the three of them sat tensely, soon joined by Luna and Neville.

And when Harry returned with the news of Sirius’ capture and torture by Voldemort and the fact that no members of the Order remained at Hogwarts to warn, Ginny felt her knees give way. Only Hermione’s quick thinking to conjure a cushion for Ginny to fall on prevented her from crashing to the stone floor.

Conversation swirled around her but Ginny couldn’t focus. She could only see Sirius in her mind, in pain at the hand of Voldemort. She had come to care for him almost as much as Harry did over the past year, and the thought of him being tortured was almost too much for her to bear.

But falling into her familiar panic would not help. She shook her head, trying to clear it, and listened to Harry and the others try to figure out how to confirm if Sirius was really in trouble.

It came to her in an instant. “I can . . . I can sent a talking Patronus,” she said shakily, feeling five sets of eyes suddenly looking at her.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

They snuck off to the Room of Requirement where it was quiet. Ginny closed her eyes and focused as hard as she could on the particularly nice snog she and Michael had shared just the day before outside the kitchens. When her horse appeared, Ginny closed her eyes again and focused on the feel of Michael’s lips on hers while she spoke the message to Sirius, begging him to contact her immediately.

She couldn’t tell if it was working, but she didn’t want to say anything. Harry was counting on her. Sirius was counting on her. Better to be wrong and try to save someone who didn’t need to be saved than to fail to go and let Sirius be tortured.

The horse was gone by the time Ginny opened her eyes.

Sirius did not respond.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It was only when the six of them arrived at the Department of Mysteries and very definitely did not find Sirius there that Ginny allowed the little bubble of doubt to break into her thoughts. Harry tore down the aisle in the room full of glass orbs, so certain that he’d find his godfather at any second that Ginny couldn’t bear to admit that maybe her Patronus had never reached the man. Hogwarts was a long way from London . . .

And then, suddenly, they were all fighting for their lives against the Death Eaters and Ginny knew it was all her fault. Buying herself only a few seconds of time with a well-placed Reducto curse, she ducked behind a shelf and forced herself to focus. This time, unbidden, an image of Harry laughing on Valentine’s Day rose into her mind. It was the last time she really remembered him laughing.

Her horse felt stronger, and when she sent it to Sirius, this time begging for help, she knew it would reach its mark. He would be there soon, she knew. She only hoped it was soon enough.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

White hot anger overflowed inside Ginny, so strong that for a moment, it even masked the pain. She chased after Harry and Bellatrix, ran faster than she had ever run before, as if catching the woman before she left the room could somehow reverse things, somehow make it so that Sirius wasn’t really dead.

He had come to their rescue, just as Ginny had known he would. And he had brought members of the Order too. The tide of the battle had turned and Sirius had even had time to give Ginny a quick one-armed hug before moving to battle next to Harry against Bellatrix and the others.

And then, suddenly, he was gone and Ginny had watched as Harry’s face had gone white with shock and pain.

I killed Sirius Black! I killed Sirius Black!

The voice would not leave Ginny’s head. And then suddenly they were in the Atrium of the Ministry. And Dumbledore was there. And Voldemort.

As soon as Ginny saw him, saw his snakelike face so different from that of Tom Riddle, she couldn’t remember anything else. A statute had moved to keep her back much as it was doing for Harry across the room, but Ginny was barely aware of it. She may have screamed, she may have gotten sick, she may have collapsed. But all the while, she felt forced to watch as the snake battled and swirled and slithered and hissed and got closer and closer to Harry. And then he was gone and Ginny heard Dumbledore’s voice calling, sounding more frightened that she ever could have thought possible.

She saw Harry. He was still trapped behind a gold statue and his face was etched with a mask of pain like nothing Ginny had ever seen. She was certain he was going to die and all she wanted in that moment was for it to happen quickly, for Harry not to be in pain a minute longer. Death itself would be better than what she saw. She just hoped that Harry would be joined with Sirius and his parents again.

And when it was over, truly over, and she knew that Harry was not going to die, Ginny ran. Healers and Aurors were pouring into the Mininistry and Ginny found one and begged the man to send her back to Hogwarts, to let Madam Pomfrey fix her injuries. For certainly, Harry would go to St. Mungo’s. Certainly, she wouldn’t have to see him and see the blame in his eyes. His godfather was dead and it was her fault.

What Ginny did not expect was that Harry and the others would also be sent back to Hogwarts, or that Dumbledore himself would soon return. She didn’t know when Harry came into the infirmary, only that he was suddenly there, talking first to Neville and Luna, and then checking on her brother, whose tussle with the brains had been particularly harsh.

And then there was a weight at the end of her bed and a hand on her side and Ginny knew she couldn’t hide anymore. She pushed herself into a sitting position and didn’t even try to hid her tears as she apologized over and over.

“Ginny, stop.” Harry’s voice was firm but gentle. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But I told you I could send a Patronus to Sirius and I couldn’t!” she said. “I should have known it wasn’t strong enough to make it all the way to London. We should have found some other way to . . .” she couldn’t continue, grief and guilt mingling again.

But Harry was shaking his head. “Your Patronus did make it to London,” he said. “Both of them. But Kreacher, he was waiting. He intercepted the first message before it every reached Sirius. I don’t know how, house elves have special magic. He was waiting to make sure that Sirius never knew we were trying to reach him, no matter what we did. We were meant to go to the Ministry that night, and it’s all my fault.” He looked tortured as he spoke.

Ginny started to open her mouth but Harry shook his head.

“If I . . . if I had just studied Occlumency like Dumbledore asked, Voldemort wouldn’t have been able to put the vision in my head in the first place. Or I didn’t have that ‘saving people thing’, maybe it would have occurred to me that Voldemort would do anything to lure me away from Hogwarts.” He shook his head. “If anything, it’s my fault Sirius . . . died.”

Ginny sighed and took Harry’s hand in his. Her fear and panic had faded at Harry’s distress and now she strived to find the words to make him feel better. And she knew she would, if it took her all summer. Harry simply had to stop feeling guilty.

“There’s something else too,” he said quietly, so quietly Ginny almost missed it. “About the prophecy. I . . . I need to tell you and Ron and Hermione. It’s important.”

“But the prophecy smashed . . .” Ginny started to say.

Harry shook his head, but whatever he intended to say next was interrupted when Cho flew into the infirmary and threw herself into Harry’s arms, crying hysterically. Harry gave Ginny a quick goodbye before turning his attention completely to his girlfriend.
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