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De Novo - Over and Again | ||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Romance Warnings: None Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 5 Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated in over 2 years *** *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated in over 2 years *** Harry and Ginny - over and again. This is a story about Ginny and Harry beginning at their sixth year break-up and continuing in an alternate universe beyond DH time frame. Hitcount: Story Total: 3644 Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. Author's Notes: Thanks to Spenser Hemmingway for beta reading this chapter and Cwarbeck for some soul saving advice. |
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Three years ago, Molly Weasley had tried her best to convince her daughter otherwise but with an uncharacteristic indifference to Molly’s more than vociferous pleas, Arthur Weasley had backed Ginny’s decision to leave England for Spain. Molly kept berating Spain as being no safer than England for an evil as powerful as Voldemort, but Arthur knew that the decision made by his daughter had more to do with the goodness that was Harry than the evil that was Voldemort. The nobility of Harry’s soul had many admirers, but none as staunch as Arthur Weasley. Ever since the day Harry had slain the fearsome basilisk riding on nothing but sheer bravery and selflessness and saved little Ginny’s life in the hidden Chamber at Hogwarts, Arthur had all but legally adopted him. There was nothing, short of cradling, that Arthur wouldn’t do for Harry that he would do for his own seven children, and he was immensely thankful that Molly shared his sentiments equally. She might have been even a few steps ahead of him in mothering Harry Potter. Knowing that Harry would bring upon such immense heart-ache to their only daughter was unfortunate for either Weasley parents but the sentiments behind the gesture were neither misconstrued nor unappreciated. Everyone in the Weasley family knew that Ginny was leaving England solely for Harry’s sake. If Harry wanted her to be safe and out of the way, Ginny would do it without missing a beat; she would go away to the farthest corner on earth and make sure their paths never crossed for as long as he wanted, even if it meant breaking her heart into a million pieces. For Ginny, the misery of watching from the sidelines while Harry went off on a journey of no assured return, took a whole lot more from her than she ever allowed to show or lead anyone to believe. On top of all that was happening around amidst the looming threat of the final war, Ginny tried her best not to subject her family to the spectacle of her abject misery. Being precious to so many people was not easy. Ginny had fought hard the frustration of everyone wanting to protect her for as long as she could remember. When Harry asked her to stay safe at home while he went on his dangerous journey hunting down bits of Voldemort’s Dark soul, it only fired up her frustration at being underage and unable to help him. Harry was her destiny. It was only fair that she be allowed to be a part of his destiny. She wanted to be there right by Harry’s side when he finally faced his nemesis. Over a miserably spent summer, Ginny realized that love has as much potential to lead one down the path of self-destruction as it has the power to elevate one beyond the limits of their abilities. To escape unscathed one must conquer the mischance of falling from the delirium that is love, to a ground full of responsibility and reality. Ginny knew it had gone beyond the need to take drastic measures when she realized that her days and nights were captive to an all-consuming anxiety that Harry’s absence had spurned in her consciousness. Despite Harry’s selflessly agonizing gesture in breaking-up with her in order to protect her from Voldemort, for her, loving Harry was involuntary and unstoppable. The only way out she saw was to distance herself from Harry, to begin with, in at least in the physical realm. With the question of Hogwarts reopening looming large at the beginning of the next school year, Ginny quietly said her goodbyes to her family and embarked on a mission to free herself - from the all consuming power of love. X-X-X The change in scenery might have cured a gravely ailing soul ready to kick the bucket; Spain was beautiful, fresh, warm and friendly - but Ginny’s struggle to find her nirvana was best described as unending. Thoughts of Harry and their future together consumed her beyond the awareness of the new world and the various opportunities around her. Her days and nights were only filled with thoughts of Harry - aspiring of a future full of loving, caring and sharing or apprehensive of the dreadful reality of Harry’s less than assured return from his battle with Voldemort. Sandra De Costa had noticed Ginny the very first day of her Advance Defense Spell class lecture. In the ten years of her academic career at Spain’s Wizarding Academy of Advanced Learning, it never ceased to amaze her how students always failed to appreciate the ability of a teacher to tell whether or not they were paying attention in class, even in a class as large as fifty. That Ginny was only physically present in her class would have been visible to a person blind as a bat, but what might have escaped them not being equipped with Sandra’s deep insight into student behaviour, was the perception that the absence of her mind over the body was attributed to the matters of heart. Sandra let Ginny alone for the first five days. On the sixth day, she purposely asked Ginny to explain the five basic combat defense spells, taking her by surprise. It was obvious to the whole class that Ginny was caught off guard but sniggers were soon replaced by admiration at her precise unfaltering answer - Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Incarcerous, Somnabulus and Reducto. Sandra was further impressed by the advance defense spells that Ginny had practical knowledge of as compared to the theoretical knowledge that most of the other students in her class had. But slacking off was not to be tolerated in her class. “Miss Weasley, meet me at sunrise tomorrow near the lake on the campus grounds.” Sandra calmly stated and went on with her lecture to which Ginny was no more attentive than before: Sandra let her be. X-X-X Ginny sat in silence staring the calm waters of the lake. The morning was warm and pleasant and the sun was rising slowly above the horizon. It had been a long while since she had given herself time to admire the beauty of nature and its wonders. The last time she had treated herself to the spectacle of a sunrise was in Harry’s arms lying under the transparent ceiling of the secret chamber atop the centre turret of Hogwarts, after a night of intermittent star gazing. Ron had shot daggers at Harry with his eyes that morning when they entered the Great Hall for breakfast, but Harry had unabashedly walked right up to him with a discerningly fearless stare in his eyes and a serene smile on his lips as he looked at Ron and quizzed with a raised eyebrow. Ron had stared right back at Harry, but the death glare had dissolved into a defeated yet forgiving ghost of a smile within no time. Harry’s cocky smile was too endearing to be ignored, and somewhere in his heart Ron Weasley knew it was only a matter of time when Ginny Weasley would become Ginny Potter. “Hurry up you two. The practice starts in thirty minutes. By the way the treacle tart is gone,” Ron had supplied winningly as he left for the field. It was difficult to imagine what Professor De Costa would want with her so early in the morning outside the classroom; perhaps some physical task to accomplish as part of her punishment — something like laps on the track and field. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sandra approached Ginny and halted her light jog. “Good morning, Professor.” “I am sure the morning is good Ginny. But what are you going to make of it?” Ginny looked at Sandra thoughtfully as if attempting to answer the rhetorical question. “Would it matter to you if it were wet, soggy and intensely dull?” Ginny was flustered by the rude line of questioning, and tried to maintain her calm waiting for the physical task, but none came. “Miss Weasley, it does not take a genius to figure that you are as far removed from our physical world as the distance between the sun and Pluto, but your existence on this earth is as real and physical as the existence of life on earth. And you owe as much to this world as you do to yourself.” Oh God! Not a lecture. Give me lines or laps but not this. “Your first assignment is to visit the Noble House of Spain an hour a day for a month and help take care of the class of five-year-olds.” Sandra conjured a piece of Parchment and wrote the co-ordinates of the place for Ginny’s benefit. “The class will be yours for the one hour for the whole month beginning tomorrow, with no exceptions for the weekends. I will owl the director Senor Hector Ruez to see that you are welcomed and introduced to the class. Your first trimester assessment will be done on the basis of this assignment.” Ginny watched Sandra’s retreating back as she resumed her light jog. Ginny was too confounded to react to Sandra’s alleged assignment. Merlin! Of all the placed in the world this is where I chose to come to? X-X-X Ginny tottered up the steps of the great big renaissance period building after Apparating to the co-ordinates provided by Sandra. She was shown into a visitors’ area while the director was being informed but instead of staying put, Ginny decided to wander into the corridor overlooking the central arena enclosed in the circular wings of the three-storied building. The ground below was a melee of children of all ages, toddlers to teenagers, enjoying what seemed to be their play time. Ginny had guessed from Sandra’s short instruction to her that this was an orphanage meant to serve as a home to the unfortunate young witches and wizards, but she was unaware that the misfortune of the children she was watching play was not merely in losing their parents. There was darkness beyond the obvious in the minds of these young lives and the objective of the House was not only to provide for them and educate them, but above all, to restore their faith in humanity. Director Hector found Ginny intensely watching a game of mini-Quidditch as he came looking for her in the corridor. “Thought I would find you here. I am Hector Ruez. It’s so nice of you to volunteer to help us out.” Ginny shook his extended hand and introduced herself as Sandra De Costa’s student. “Thanks for letting me do this. Professor De Costa is my Advance Defense teacher.” Amidst casual conversation Hector led Ginny right down the stone steps to the playground arena. Ginny was immediately drawn to the game of Quidditch being played out with players as young as seven or eight zooming past them on their small sized brooms. They looked exhilarated and happy — not a trace of the sadness that Ginny had expected to see on their faces. “How long does their play period last?” “About an hour, it will be just another fifteen minutes.” “How many children do you have here?” “About forty-seven. The last addition was made two days ago. Do you see the girl sitting on the bench in the corner watching the Quidditch game with wondrous eyes? She was found passed out in the Muggle zoo ten days ago. The Muggle police tried to find her parents using all possible media, but were unsuccessful. She was finally brought here day before yesterday. She had been crying nonstop until this morning; her tears must have finally exhausted.” Ginny noticed a small redhead sitting in the corner bench gaping at the brooms zooming over her head. Suddenly a thought occurred to her and she turned her head to Hector, “How did they send her here? Did she know she was a witch when she came here?” Hector was impressed at Ginny’s Auror - like insight into the plight of the little girl. “She blew up the breakfast trolley at the hospital with accidental magic when she was in their custody. The director of the Muggle orphanage is a good friend of mine and she sent her here immediately. The girl didn’t know about witches and wizards until yesterday.” “Can I be put into her class? I would like to help her in particular.” Ginny couldn’t help feel pangs of sympathy for the little red head who didn’t know about her own magical powers — someone very much like Harry Potter. X-X-X Ginny rushed into the House the next day to meet her class and get started. It was the first time in months that Ginny’s thoughts were not dedicated to Harry; the little redhead had cropped up in her thoughts many a times the night before: something about the melancholy in her big brown eyes made Ginny want to take her by the hand and help her out in ever possible way. The motherly senior matron Senora Dempsey greeted her upon arrival and led her towards the second floor. The classroom they entered was barely filled with a meager number of five students all seated in the front row. “Is this all there’s going to be?” Ginny had spoken before she could think twice about it. Senora Dempsey gave her a sly smile noticing her enthusiasm, “I know you are eager Miss Weasley, but we thought we should give you a manageable number to begin with. All these students are relatively new to our world and need to be taught the basics of spells and charms. “Everyone, say hello to Miss Ginny Weasley. She will be your guide and mentor to give whatever help you need in getting adjusted to the magical world. She will be here with you for one hour every day and you can ask her for any help.” The matron spoke gently to the frightened looking pupils. Ginny gave her a slight nod as the matron returned an encouraging smile and left her alone with the students. Ginny looked at the five faces in-front of her. The oldest was a kid no more than ten, but he seemed to quite at home; the youngest was the redhead with the most frightened face. She hadn’t planned anything for the class as she didn’t expect to teach anything other than defense spells or the basic magical charms and spells; this proposition of mentoring was a different ballgame altogether. “All right everyone. Are there any questions that you have been wanting to ask someone but couldn’t? Let’s try to answer all questions first and then…” Ginny spent the next full hour answering the curious questions of the innocent minds trying to grapple with the discovery of the world around them. “Can we really do magic? Can we create food? Can we create clothes? How can brooms fly? What is Quidditch?” The list was endless and Ginny tried her best to give them simple comprehensible answers as close to the truth as possible. She noticed however that the little redhead did not ask her a single question. Anxious to break the ice and help the little girl, Ginny wrapped up fifteen minutes before the hour and took them all to the playing field taking the little girl by the hand. She picked up a broom from the broom closet on the way. “Now, remember how all those grownup boys were playing zooming past on their brooms in this field yesterday? Would you like to go for a ride on a broom with me? How about I take Jonathan first since he is the oldest?” In fifteen minutes Ginny had taken each of the five kids on a broom ride with no encouragement needed except for the little redheaded girl. Ginny was very careful not to take her higher than six or seven feet above the ground, but was still rewarded in the end with the most beautiful smile and the first words that the girl had ever spoken since coming to the House - her name was Tracy. At the end of the day Ginny had concluded that a broom ride was the best icebreaker in the whole wide world. That night Ginny’s thoughts didn’t get much of a chance to stray to Harry. Tracy and the mystery of her past had filled them up in every possible way; Ginny couldn’t wait to get to the House the next day and to get Tracy to open up to her. To her delight, the next day, Tracy wanted to know quite a few things from Ginny — “Where are my mummy and daddy? Why can’t I stay with my mummy and daddy? Can I go back to Uncle Delogan’s house?” Ginny was torn to see the sadness in her eyes when she asked about her parents. Ginny learned that the only family she had known was her aunt and uncle who left her at the zoo a few days before on her sixth birthday. While crying aloud wandering in the zoo she was abducted and mistreated by four grown up men who hurt her very badly. Ginny swore that if only she find those bastards they would regret the day they were born. She vowed to get as much information as she could from Tracy; to learn anything about those men and help the Aurors catch them. By the end of the first twenty days of her assignment, Ginny realized that Sandra De Costa was a crafty little witch. The assignment was meant to give Ginny the opportunity to experience, secondhand, abject misery in all forms and guises; and to brazenly contrast the spirit of the young bearers, who could hardly be described as miserable, with her own pitiable self. Compassion drove misery out in no time giving Ginny a purpose to fulfill and to do something meaningful in life instead of wallowing in her own misery. At the end of the month, Ginny requested an extension of her assignment, which was granted quite readily seeing how well Tracy had bonded with Ginny in the first few days of their acquaintance. It took her more than a month to get Tracy to even talk about the zoo incident. Very delicately, Ginny extracted as much information as she could from the little girl who couldn’t possibly have had any idea about the magnitude of the wrong that had been done to her. Ginny relayed to the Spanish Auror Department whatever she learned from Tracy over the next couple of months. Thereafter, on director Ruez’s recommendation Sandra let Ginny continue her classes twice a week instead of daily as there were other new entrants to the House who could benefit greatly from Ginny’s compassionate personality and sharp Auror skills. Sandra was more than pleased to see her objective fulfilled above and beyond her expectations. Ginny Weasley was one of the brightest students the academy had seen and there was no better direction that Sandra could have steered her in, other than the exposure she was getting to elementary Auror investigation techniques, out of her own interest in helping the unfortunate young children at the House. It was not that she did not find Ginny brooding in her class thereafter, but Sandra was positive any brooding on Ginny’s part was not on account of the heartache that she was captive to at the beginning of the term. The heartache had been mercifully overshadowed by her compassion for the children at the House, which had manifested into this newfound mission to bring their criminals to justice. Sandra had often wondered about the boy that had caused someone with Ginny’s spunk to retract into a state of constant moroseness, but had never deigned it fit to inquire about her private matters. She let Ginny be - even when she was, although now much less frequently than before, distracted in her class; if her mentoring was any good Ginny would open up to her on her own accord, Sandra decided. Although Sandra had to admit to herself that Ginny’s decision to stay back even for Christmas made her acutely curious about the whole affair. Ginny seemed determined to find happiness in devoting all her free time during the holidays to arranging celebrations for the children at the House. Sandra’s own involvement at the House due to her close friendship with director Ruez gave them the opportunity to cross over the boundaries of their mentor - mentee relationship and nurture a newfound friendship. Ginny Weasley, as revealed from the very horse’s mouth, was a rather accomplished prankster and had endless prank stories with which to regale the whole population of the House; tales about the pranks that she and her brothers played at their home — the Burrow and at Hogwarts; from turning the school corridor into a giant swamp to charming the Slytherin Quidditch male team’s uniforms to turn into polka dot bikinis at the end of their game with Gryffindor; the quack age potion that the twins sold to desperate hopefuls who wanted to defy the age restriction of the tri-wizard tournaments; the betting ring that the twins managed to run and make money out of during the dangerous Tri-Wizard Tournament; the wonderful effects of the ingenious artifacts - puking pastilles, extendable ears, venus candies etc., all invented by her brothers and sold at their Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes joke shop; not to forget her own impressive list of pranks from a brilliant detection proof plan of exploding all Slytherin cauldrons during potions class by switching alligator skin powder for a little plain old floo powder, to charming Ron and Harry’s broom to take them to Fleur’s bedroom window and making them stuck to hover there for a good half an hour, much to their consternation and panic at the prospect of being caught by Fleur or even more dreadfully by Bill. All in all, it was a valiant attempt to spend the Christmas with her family by proxy. Sandra noticed that with Ginny’s spirit restored to it’s full glory, the male population at the academy was implicitly challenged to quite the daunting task of asking her out on a date; a witch as good a Chaser as she was, was every wizards dream. Even the bully jockeys at the academy respected her for her Quidditch skills; that she was easy on the eyes was a bonus in more than one way. One late spring afternoon Director Ruez flooed Sandra to ask her to let Ginny know that the villains in Tracy’s case had been identified and captured at a bar in Muggle Barcelone and that Ginny might have to testify at their hearing. Sandra rushed with the good news to Ginny’s dormitory but the redhead was nowhere to be found. Sandra was late for her staff meeting, so she left a note for Ginny to meet her urgently but certainly not expecting to have Ginny knock on the door of her apartment at about twelve midnight. Sandra did a double take at this late appearance. “Ginny what are you doing here?” Sandra noticed Ginny was not in the highest of spirits albeit it was a bit late in evening to be chirpy as a bird. “Professor, you left me a note…” “Oh yes, yes, I did. Tracy’s criminals have been caught and you might have to testify.” “Really? Who are they? Wizards?” Ginny’s face showed a certain hardness that the satisfaction of a vengeance accomplished brought with it. “Only one of them. Three are Muggles,” Sandra supplied. “When will they be punished? Who will punish the Muggles?” “The Wizengamot of Spain does since the crime has been committed against a magical being. We have mutual expatriation treaties covering that. You might have to help Tracy testify next week. Is that okay?” “Definitely. Whatever I can do.” Sandra was rather disappointed to see the subdued response from Ginny to such great news, but the disappointment soon turned into alarm when she realized that Ginny was taking this to signify the end of a phase of her life leaving her to go back to her desultory ways. “Ginny, would you like to come in? There is some coffee left in the pot.” Sandra thought it was time to prod, a little. Ginny hesitated a moment but went ahead and entered the studio apartment taking a seat at the dining table meant for two. “I came looking for you earlier. Thought you might like to hear the news.” “I do. Thank you. It’s great news. I was just gone for a bit.” Sandra poured coffee for her and handed her the creamer and sugar to help herself. “Something on your mind that you would like to share?” Ginny looked Sandra in the eye as if considering the invitation but finally shook her head lightly. It was obvious to Sandra that she was crushing under the weight of her own heavy thoughts. “Sometimes the burden becomes too much to bear. One has to share or be crushed.” Ginny lowered her defeated eyes to the table desperately trying to abate the tears threatening to slide down her cheeks. “I will wait until you are ready to share. Let me tell you a story in the mean time. There was this girl I know who fell madly in love with a wizard. He courted her in all possible ways making all possible efforts to make their paths cross. They became close friends in a year but all the while it was clear to either as to where they were ultimately headed. Gradually and finally they kissed and mutually confessed. Nothing in the world mattered to the girl there after: her days and nights were captive to thinking and dreaming about her love. She didn’t care for a career or anything else in life. All she wanted to do was spend the rest of her life loving him and being his wife. They dated for two years before he went off to the Elite academy in Madrid for higher studies. She spent all her days pining for him, waiting for his owls, writing to him everyday, sharing every moment of her life with him. Do you know what happened at the end of the four years of their separation?” Ginny blankly looked at Sandra waiting for her to continue. “He never came back to her - didn’t event floo her or see her. She waited and waited for him but he never came. She cooked up all possible excuses for his in-excusable behaviour — maybe he wanted to study further and concentrate on his career and their love was distracting him, maybe his parents asked him to stop meeting her using emotional blackmail, but nothing made sense. All her attempts to talk to him were met with silence at his end. She felt humiliated and crushed, but she kept hoping. At the end of the month she couldn’t take it any more and went to meet him in person. Do you know why?” Ginny shook her head slightly wondering where Sandra was going with this random love story. “Because she figured that if she died that day in an accident or something, the only thing she would regret would be not talking to him in person and giving him a chance to explain. So she went to meet him only to be greeted by nothing but silence. He avoided looking at her and if he did it was a blank indifferent uncaring look that made her feel humiliated and unwelcome. She held herself together for as long as she could. Finally she could take it no longer and left him realizing that it was over but her compassionate heart made it impossible for her to realize that he was breaking up with her but didn’t have the guts to do it; she kept making excuses, lame excuses in her mind for his behaviour because she just couldn’t think him to be cold hearted bastard that he was.” “Professor, if you knew Harry you wouldn’t be thinking such things about him. He is not a coward. He broke up with me only to protect me.” Ginny stated heatedly unable to stop herself from defending Harry. Harry! Although she did not miss the breakthrough she has achieved, Sandra continued. “Ginny, the point is not whether Harry is brave or not; the point is not whether Harry is a bloody wanker or a noble soul; the point is that you broke up; the point is that you shouldn’t let it break you.” Ginny kept looking at Sandra fully in the eyes. “It was devastating on her young heart of all but seventeen years. It killed something in her deep inside. She was never the same again, ever. Some people can never forget their first love; she was unfortunately one of those…” A reluctant smile threatened to break out on Ginny’s lips at the thought of her first love — her first Harry Potter doll. Seeing that Sandra was caught up in telling the story she had started, Ginny sipped her coffee silently waiting for Sandra to go on. “…and too compassionate for her own good. Compassion sometimes does more harm than good, especially in circumstances where it hinders one’s ability too see a spade for a spade.” Sandra stopped to look Ginny fully in the eyes emphasizing that what she was about to say was noting short of life altering mantra. “Love is highly overrated Ginny. It has as much potential to addict as any other drug, to cloud judgment and to inebriate senses. Don’t let it enslave you.” Ginny’s eyes widened at Sandra’s words spoken like a sworn enemy of cupid. Promising herself to analyse Sandra’s advice later with a clear head, Ginny egged her on. “So what happened to the girl, did they meet finally?” Sandra contemplated Ginny’s blatant ignorance of her advice but gave into her curiosity for closure. “That’s the most bizarre part of this story. To date she doesn’t know why he broke up with her. To date she doesn’t know if he really loved her or she was merely a passing phase of a seventeen-year-old boy’s hormonal fantasies. She was not interested in any other wizard and often dreamt of chance confrontations with her first love, imagining him to be in all possible remorseful circumstances, but it never happened. She never contacted him later. She could have, if she wanted to. It took her a while, but she finally gave up, gathered herself and threw herself into academics. She needed a mission in life, which she found eventually. Finally she was liberated from the misery of being hung up on love.” “Is that why you never married?” Ginny asked sincerely at the end of Sandra’s narrative, watching her solemn figure successfully hold back the tad bit of emotion clouding up her eyes. “Yes. Never fully recovered,” Sandra replied calmly completely at ease with Ginny’s astute inference. “And that is why young lady, you need to get over this Harry whoever he is and get a life of your own.” Ginny laughed at Sandra’s ignorance of Harry’s identity. “Professor, this Harry whoever is Harry Potter. THE Harry Potter.” It was Sandra’s turn to look at Ginny wide-eyed, her eyebrows shooting high up automatically. No wonder the witch was besotted. All she could say was, “Sandra. Call me Sandra. We are trading secrets of our love lives after all.” X-X-X It didn’t take much long for this newfound friendship to progress steadily after that night of shared secrets. The night that also happened to be the anniversary of Harry and Ginny’s explosive first kiss in the Gryffindor common room, prompting Ginny’s to seek solace in the company of her own solitary thoughts. In the days that followed, Ginny turned Sandra’s mantra in her head over and over again, questioned the cynical quotient of the advise given by the experienced academician, no longer merely a professor to her but a much relied upon confidante; but neither had her young heart yet been driven into the abyss of pessimism nor had it suffered long enough to acquire even a little bit of soul saving pragmatism. Ginny even boldly tried to set Sandra up with Director Ruez. It was too hard to ignore the draw that had fallen into her lap, of two perfectly eligible, seemingly compatible, single individuals, who had been friends with each other for eight years; the temptation to play cupid was too much to pass on. Sandra glared at Ginny when she tried the good old a mistletoe trick on her, but Director Ruez was quite a sport and gave her a soft kiss that she didn’t much care to reciprocate. Ginny’s own private life was however a much more interesting tale. Amigos wanting to pursue her found it pointless beyond the introductions. Some were wise enough to preserve their own sanity by leaving her alone after the first tryst, others not so fortunate. She even got to the opportunity to flex her bat bogeys at a few of the unfortunate folks. Ginny’s reputation as an ice-maiden and a heartbreaker had spread far and wide by the end of her first year at Spain’s Wizarding Academy of Advanced Learning. It was of no consequence to her as she was all ready to go back home and join Harry in the fight against Voldemort, as she was nearing her seventeenth birthday. The big blow to her secret plans came in the form of her birthday greeting from Ron and Hermione on the morning of her seventeenth. The excitement and anticipation of hearing from Harry was gutted in a moment when Ginny found out that not only had Harry not written to her directly, he had instead asked Hermione to convey to her that he wanted her to stay in Spain through the summer and continue further education at least until the end of the war. Devastated is not a word good enough to describe her feelings on reading Hermione’s letter; wretched, miserable, defeated - all together might make it close; and so she turned to her only source of comfort in a land far away from her home. X-X-X “Sandra!” Ginny barged into her mentor and close friend’s apartment at the far end of the teacher’s wing. “Ginny, would you learn to knock on doors please, at least when you are entering your teacher’s room?” Sandra glared at Ginny but was immediately concerned on seeing the look of death on her face. “What happened?” Ginny was handing out a paper that looked like a letter: her face was deathly pale as if she had seen her own ghost. Although she realized that Ginny was not even remotely interested, Sandra dropped a file on the mound of papers she was evaluating for Ginny’s Advance Defense Spells class. Reading quickly through what turned out to be Hermione’s letter, Sandra glanced thoughtfully at Ginny’s angry face. “So your man wants you to stay away from the war until it’s over. Does the idea of practicing safety and discretion repulse you so much that you become a category five hurricane taking down all and any general life form falling in your path?” Ginny glared back at Sandra who realized that the anger and hurt that was consuming Ginny ought to have been met with a lot more sensitivity than what she had shown. A person at the receiving end can hardly be expected to see the reason for the greater good. “Whether I am safe or not, Harry is putting his life on the line to fight Voldemort. He can’t expect me to just sit and watch, now that I am of age.” Ginny’s voice was cracking up. Sensing the deluge that Ginny was trying to hold up, Sandra gathered Ginny in her motherly arms, patting her on gently on the back; Ginny was shaking with contained tears of frustration. “Ginny, it’s the sign of a good fighter- to know his own weakness and keep it out of the way. You have supported him unquestioned so far. I know it’s going to be tough since you are of age now, but don’t lose respect for his judgment. If he wants you to be safe here in Spain than in the thick of it all...” “Sandra, I have lived a whole year, every moment, fearful of the inevitable swiping my life away from me and all I could do was watch from the sidelines. But I am of age now and I am NOT going to just sit here and wait. It’s my fight too. I won’t be the baby of the house forever. They have got to realize this one day. I am going to owl them right away that I am coming home.” “Your home has been evacuated Ginny. Don’t do anything rash. They must not be …” “That’s it Sandra. I don’t even know where my family is right now. I am guessing they could be at … but never mind, I don’t really know where they are. Anything I say will only be a guess. I just can’t take it anymore.” “Are they all right?” “Yes, Hermione’s letter said so. They have all gone underground to avoid detection and direct attacks.” “That means the situation is really grim, Ginny.” “That’s precisely why I should be there, not here.” Ginny’s hands were flailing all over the place by now. “Consider this. Harry broke up with you to protect you, and if he is the Chosen One, he has quite a task cut out for him. Do you really think you could make a really big difference by being there when all the Order members, every wizard on the good side, the Aurors, are all there to help him and your family has already been forced to go underground? Would it not be too much distraction for him to be worried about you all the time, especially if you were underground too? Would it not be too much for him to keep his mind off you to concentrate on the task at hand?” Ginny sank down on the visitor chair and buried her face in her arms. Civilization was lost to Ginny for the next ten days. Her birthday came and went by; no one could wish her happy seventeenth. Any trace of Ginny Weasley was fruitless; none of her friends and acquaintances bothered to look her up in the Pyrenees amidst a group of Muggles, out on an expedition to conquer the challenges of Mother Nature. By the end of the ten days of obscurity, self-healing and analysis, Ginny had survived an avalanche riding on pure luck, learned to control her breathing in order to preserve the limited supply of oxygen, and promised the captain of the expedition to come and visit his family in the next summer. Sandra surveyed her almost full afternoon class, Ginny’s empty seat jumping at her for the tenth straight day of her absence. She was tempted to write a letter to her parents, but had decided to give her favourite protégé some more leeway. Promising herself to do the needful if Ginny didn’t return in another day or two, Sandra went about her business as usual. As she returned from her lecture that day, Sandra jumped back at the sight of Ginny sitting in her office. “Deigned fit to join us back, have you?” Sandra’s fury was cold and quiet. “I needed to do it Sandra; nothing was working.” Ginny’s voice did not betray the slightest bit of remorse. Sandra waited for the explanation that was long over due. “I went to the Pyrenees climbing Aneto; joined a group of Muggles although I should have just made some quick money Apparating them to the top. I guess I needed the time and space. It was fun climbing the Muggle way using ropes and chocks; some of the folks were very nice and sweet...” “Ginny, why did you take off like that?” Sandra found Ginny to be far too perked up for her own liking. Ginny glared at Sandra for the interruption, then perched herself on the sill looking down at the blooms just by the window. She bent down to pluck a white Lillium. “Beautiful, isn’t it? These are my favourite.” Sandra’s impassive face did not encourage her further so she turned her attention back to the bloom in her hand. “When you are at the top, the view is full circle but a bit misleading. The next peak seems a stone’s throw away, but a peek into the valley sets the perspective right for you. The long path down and back up is more daunting than what you saw from below, only for half the effort. ” Ginny turned around to place the flower in the vase kept on Sandra’s desk. “One tends to take it for granted until it slips away just a little — our life. There was an avalanche at the mountain. We were very lucky to escape it narrowly by a few miles or so. I think I might have just found out that my life is not completely worthless, Sandra. I am going to train to be an Auror, come-what-may.” X-X-X |
| Reviews 5 |
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