PhoenixSong.net :: A Harry/Ginny Fanfic and Fanart Archive

Author: Grandma Kate

Story: Ginny's Fourth Year at Hogwarts

Part: 12:Summer at the Burrow-June 22-30, 1996

Rating: Everyone

Setting: Pre-HBP

Status: Completed

Reviews: 3

Words: 3,490

Updated: July 12, 2008, 6:09pm

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12:Summer at the Burrow-June 22-30, 1996

The Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I’m just borrowing the characters for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Bold Face Type indicates a direct quote from Chapter Thirty-eight, The Second War Begins, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, or Chapter One, The Other Minister, from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

A/N This story is told from Molly’s Weasley’s point of view and parallels Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the summer after it.

A/N #2 Here is the missing original Chapter 10 (Late June 1996). It first disappeared when Word for Macs decided to take the finished chapter and chew it up and spit it out randomly with bits here and there or with machine language inserted. After I rewrote the whole chapter, I sent it and the remaining chapters to Trelawney2213 so that she could do the proofreading and make suggestions whenever she had some free time. Her Real Life has been overwhelming between her job and her husband’s diagnosis with a serious health problem.

Meanwhile I was blithely writing the rough draft of Ginny’s Fifth Year and did not notice that a different Chapter 10 had been corrected and posted. It was the original Chapter 11 (July 1996). Therefore, it and Chapter 12 (August 1996) actually come after this one.

Beta Note: This chapter has just refused to fall into line! As you know, my life has been a little hectic lately and this just got by me. My sincerest apologies to you faithful readers and especially to Kate who has been a faithful, supportive and understanding friend.

The remaining days of June were busy for Molly. Corrine and Amos were holding a memorial service on the anniversary of Cedric’s death. Molly had offered to be in charge of some simple refreshments so needed to make them. Wednesday, June 24^th, was sunnier and warmer than it had been since the Dementors had started breeding. Before the time scheduled for the memorial, Molly set up a table in the Diggory garden with food and things to drink. Then she and Corrine walked together to the site of Ceddie’s grave.

Professor Dumbledore, Professor Sprout, some Hufflepuffs, and Cho Chang came by Portkey. They arranged themselves behind Cedric’s headstone. Bill, Fleur, Fred, George, and Molly stood with Corrine. Amos, Arthur, and several of the people in Amos’ department arrived together and took their places alongside them. Former Minister Fudge and Percy arrived and stood off to one side. Molly thought that Percy looked very thin and tired. He avoided eye contact with any family members.

Dumbledore raised both of his arms as he reminded them that they should be celebrating Cedric’s life rather than mourning his passing. He asked them to remember the good that he did. Each person there put a flower on his grave. Professors Sprout and Flitwick and the Hogwarts students returned to their school. All the rest followed the Diggorys over to the table with the food that Molly had prepared.

Professor Dumbledore assured Molly, Arthur, and the rest of their party that all of the students who had gone with Harry Potter to the Ministry were well enough to take their exams. Before he left to return to Hogwarts, he expressed his condolences again to Corrine and Amos and told them that Professor McGonagall was not yet walking well enough to attend but sent her regrets.

The afternoon the Hogwarts Express was to bring the children home for the summer, Molly dressed in her best Muggle clothes and Apparated to the alley by King’s Cross. Arthur joined her at the magical barrier between platform nine and ten. He was dressed in his new three-piece Muggle suit and was shrinking his Ministry robes and stuffing them in his coat pocket as he approached. Mad-Eye Moody had his bowler hat pulled over his magical eye. Tonks, with bubble-gum-pink hair, and Remus Lupin dressed in an overcoat joined Molly and Arthur waiting for the students. Fred and George in brand-new jackets in some lurid green scaly material stood off to the side.

Ron and Ginny seemed to be discussing something with great vigor as they came through the barrier, followed by Harry and Hermione. ‘Ron, Ginny!’ called Molly, hurrying forward and hugging her children tightly. ‘Oh, and Harry dear—how are you?’

‘Fine,’ lied Harry as she pulled him into a tight embrace…

‘Hello, Harry,’ said Lupin, as Molly let go of him and turned to greet Hermione… Jane and Hugo Granger hugged their daughter as they and the Weasleys commented on how much the children had grown since Christmas.

Lupin told Harry that a group of them had decided to have a little talk with the Dursleys before he went to stay with them for the summer. Harry glanced at Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley looking apprehensively at him and the people standing by him. He shook his head and mumbled that he didn’t think it would be a good idea.

Molly watched as Arthur, Mad-Eye, Tonks and Lupin walked Harry over to the Dursley family and engaged them in a rather heated discussion. Uncle Vernon was clearly outraged and Aunt Petunia seemed to be in shock. Dudley kept looking back and forth between his parents and Harry’s supporters with a shocked look on his face.

Molly and Ron, with Hermione and her parents following them, hurried over to say good-bye to Harry when the conversation seemed to be over.

‘Bye, then, Potter,’ said Moody, grasping Harry’s shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.

‘Take care, Harry,’ said Lupin quietly. ‘Keep in touch.’

‘Harry, we’ll have you away from there as soon as we can,’ Molly whispered, hugging him again.

‘See you soon, mate,’ said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry’s hand.

‘Really soon, Harry.’ Said Hermione earnestly. ‘We promise.’

Ginny and the twins came to join the group around Harry. The three of them grinned and gave Harry a thumbs up as he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around, and led the way out of the station toward the sunlight street with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley hurrying along in his wake.

‘That went well!’ said Arthur to the rest of them. ‘We’ll go to visit if we don’t hear something every three days.’ Mad-Eye nodded ominously.

Hermione’s parents promised to get the children together soon and said that they’d be in touch. Then they and Hermione walked off to where they had parked their car. The rest of the group went to the alley where it was safe to Apparate. Molly told the twins to take the trunks and Pig’s cage, took Ginny by one arm, and Side-Along Apparated to the Burrow. Arthur clasped Ron’s arm and did the same thing. Fred, George, Mad-Eye, Tonks, and Lupin joined them in the garden for an outdoor supper and celebration.

Bill and Fleur came from Gringotts in time for Fleur to comment on the difference between eating outside on the terrace at her home in France and eating in the Weasley’s back yard ‘wiz ze chickens pecking about.’ She complained loudly to Bill about ‘le pique-nique avec les gnomes de jardin ‘ so Ginny and the twins amused themselves imitating her distain every time they saw either a chicken or a garden gnome.

After the cake was finished, Ginny helped her mother carry the dishes to the kitchen, leaving Ron to stare stupidly at the part Vela who was his oldest brother’s girlfriend. Fred and George took turns gently closing his mouth but he didn’t notice.

‘Does she ever say anything nice about anything except what her family does in France?’ asked Ginny, drying the silver that he mother had washed.

‘She was very pleasant at the expensive French restaurant where we celebrated Bill’s birthday,’ said Molly in a cheerful voice.

‘That doesn’t count because she probably picked out the place to eat and ordered all the food. Besides, it was French, so she’d like it.’

‘She gave me some sparkly earrings for my birthday.’

‘Have you ever worn them?’ asked Ginny.

‘I would have worn them at Christmas but your father was bitten by that snake.’ Molly suddenly felt very sad. ‘I miss Sirius. Harry looks as distraught and miserable as he did the last time I saw him. It was the morning of the night he died.’

Ginny put down the silverware she was drying and clung to Molly as they both cried.

Arthur made quite a bit of noise when he carried in some platters. He put them down and hugged his two favorite women as he asked, ‘Would you like some help cleaning up?’

‘That would be lovely, dear,’ said Molly, wiping her eyes with the hem of her apron. She held up her wand with a wry look. “This old wand must have poured out too much soap and some must have got in our eyes.’

Ginny wiped her eyes with the dishtowel she had used to dry the silver. ‘You get to dry the glasses and pans. I specialize in plates.’

As Molly and Arthur were cuddling in their bed before going to sleep, Arthur asked his Mollywobbles if everything was all right with Ginny. She said that she thought that she was remembering Sirius and that they all needed to grieve.

•••••

The children were very pleased with some of the refurbishing that the house-elves had done when they were staying at the Burrow, Ron thought his room looked better than it ever had. All of his posters were hung straight so there was more room for the Quidditch players to fly around. Ginny’s wallpaper had been restored to its original colour along with the quilt on her bed. The ghoul was far more agreeable now that the attic had been sorted out and dusted.

One day, Molly heard Ron teasing Ginny about the boy from Ravensclaw that Ginny had been in a study group with. He told her that he thought he was a git for getting upset when Ginny caught the Golden Snitch and won the match for Gryffindor. Then Ron said something about her needing a boyfriend from her own house who would not be such a sore loser. Ginny told him to be careful what he wished for. Molly wondered when Ginny would tell them about having a boyfriend. Then she wondered how Arthur would feel about the whole idea.

The children and Molly settled quickly into their familiar summer holiday routine. The children slept late, did a few chores, and joined Molly to listen to Days of Destiny and Bedside at St Brigid’s most mornings. Some days Ron and Ginny joined Molly and Corrine for target practice or dueling, but mostly they just enjoyed being home. They said that it was a relief to be free from the regulations of Dolores Umbridge. Fred and George came by a couple of times that week for dinner but said that they were working frantically to make items to sell during the back to Hogwarts shopping.

She and Arthur had decided that they would wait until Ron and Ginny were ready to talk about what had happened during the trying school year and on that momentous night at the Department of Mysteries when they had been injured and Sirius had died.

Ginny was the first to tell Molly about the Defense Against the Dark Arts group that they had formed. She and Molly were alone in the kitchen, making lunch on Monday after Days of Destiny and Bedside at St Brigid’s.

Ginny said, ‘I wish that we had Healer O’Malley for our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. She would have taught us how to defend ourselves. That Toad made us do nothing but read. She wouldn’t even let us take our wands out. Hermione got the idea of having Harry teach us what he had learned but I was the one who suggested that we call ourselves Dumbledore’s Army.’

Molly nodded encouragingly as she put a flask of pumpkin juice on the table next to the platter of sandwiches

Ginny laughed as she said, ‘I got very good at casting spells. Cho Chang didn’t learn them as fast as I did even though she is two years ahead of me. She was always asking Harry for help with every little thing. Her Patronus was a swan, a silly pretty bird. Mine is a strong useful Phoenix.’

Molly was surprised about Ginny having a Phoenix for a Patronus but didn’t say anything.

‘We went to the Ministry that night because Harry had a dream, like he did when the snake bit Dad. Only this time, he dreamed that V-v-voldmort had Sirius and was torturing him. They were in a place that Harry had been dreaming about. He said that he needed to get in touch with Sirius to be sure it was not a trap.’

Molly nodded again.

‘We knew that the fireplace in Dolores Umbridge’s office was the only one that was still connected to the Floo Network. So, Ron told her that Peeves was smashing up the whole Transfiguration department to get her out of her office. Harry made a Floo call to Sirius but Kreacher said he was gone. Then the Toad came and caught him and Hermione. Luna and I were outside keeping people out of the corridor. Her pet Slytherins dragged us off to her office. Neville tried to fight them.’ Ginny shook her head at the memory of Neville fighting.

‘Then Professor Umbridge got even more crazy acting than she already was. She wanted Professor Snape to give her some Veritaserum but he told her it would take a long time to make. Then she said that she was going to use an Unforgivable Curse on Harry. She said that she had sent the Dementors to take care of him but that he’d wiggled out of that. Suddenly, Hermione started acting very scared and telling Harry that they’d have to tell Professor Umbridge about the secret weapon.”

‘The secret weapon?’ repeated Molly.

‘Not a real one, it was what Hermione thought of to get her out in the Forbidden Forest. Umbridge followed Harry and Hermione out there. Meanwhile, Ron and Neville and Luna and I fought with Umbridge’s pet Slytherins. I hit Malfoy with a Bat-Bogie Hex.’ Ginny smiled at the memory.

‘We went out into the Forbidden Forest and found Harry and Hermione. They said that the Centaurs got very angry and took Professor Umbridge away. Grawp, that’s Hagrid’s brother, rescued Harry and Hermione. Then Harry said that he was going to the Ministry to rescue Sirius.’

‘Exactly where was Sirius?’ asked Molly.

‘Harry said he was in the Department of Mysteries. Luna was the one who thought of riding the Thestrals.’ Ginny shuddered and leaned up against her mother. ‘Harry and Luna had to help us get on them. We couldn’t even see them. They fly really fast. But it feels weird because even though you can feel them under you, you can’t see anything.’

Ginny wiped her eyes with her sleeve and continued to cuddle close to Molly. ‘Sirius wasn’t really being tortured. It was just a trap to make Harry go to the Hall of Prophesies. There was a whole room full of shelves with little balls on them. He was the only one who could touch the prophesy with his name on it. Lucius Malfoy tried to make Harry give it to him but he wouldn’t. He was very brave.’ Ginny picked up a half sandwich and began to nibble on it.

‘There were about a dozen Death Eaters and they tried to get us so we blasted all the shelves with Reducto and ran like crazy. Some sort of spell hit Ron right in the head and he was all silly acting and laughing. Some of the Death Eaters chased him and Luna and me into a room with planets and one of them grabbed me by the ankle and broke it. Luna was so brave. She blew up Pluto right in his face. And she helped me get out of that room. Then we found Neville and Harry. They were carrying Hermione because she had been Stunned.’

Ginny put down the sandwich and took a deep breath. ‘I was so glad when Sirius and Tonks and all the rest of them came. I didn’t see Bellatrix kill Sirius but Harry did. He says that Professor Lupin had to keep him from trying to get him back from behind the veil. Luna says that she and Harry could hear voices from the other side. They can see the things we rode to London on.’

Molly held Ginny as she cried. She knew why Luna and Harry could see the Thestrals and was thankful that Ron and Ginny had been spared seeing anyone die. ‘Ginny my brave girl, is it all right if I tell your father what you told me?’ Ginny nodded and then said that she wasn’t hungry after all and thought she’d take a nap.

That night when they were cuddling in bed, Molly told Arthur all that Ginny had told her. He hugged her tight and said that what she remembered was in agreement with what the paper had said and what he had heard from some of the people who had been there.

*****

Molly was quite thorough in rubbing Ron’s scars with the ointment that Madame Pomfrey had given her. She did it twice a day and thought she could see some fading. Ron didn’t think that the scars were changing much but seemed to enjoy having her undivided attention. He showed her a note that Harry sent. It was very short. ‘I am fine. They are treating me well.’ He apparently sent the exact same note to Mad-Eye. None of his friends could tell if he had access to The Daily Prophet, which was publishing a steady stream of news about Death Eater attacks. The newspaper also printed some information about the proposed security guidelines, which were being written by a committee.

Arthur laughed aloud when he read this. ‘You know what the old saying is about Hippogriffs-- that they were what an animals would look like if it had been designed by a committee. I suspect that the security guidelines will turn out about as well.’

Neither Arthur nor Molly thought that sensible people would pay much attention to the Official Ministry Security Guidelines. Molly agreed that most of the suggestions wouldn’t help protect anyone but said, ‘The Ministry needs to do something. At least Harry and Kate Wallace are trying to get people to learn to defend themselves.’

‘So I’ve heard. Kate’s Healer O’Malley may have more of an audience than she realizes. I hear people talking about it in the Atrium and in the halls and on the lifts.’

Despite their doubts about the official guidelines, Molly and Arthur were as saddened as her co-workers when Amelia Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was murdered. Ginny and Ron said that they knew her niece Susan, who was a member of Dumbledore’s Army. The bloody death of Madame Bones was followed by the murder of a member of the Order, Emmeline Vance. Everyone was in shock, Strange things were happening all over Britain that affected Muggles as well as witches and wizards.

Molly was happy when Arthur came home on the final night of June with a relieved expression on his face. He asked Molly to call Ron and Ginny down to the kitchen and got four glasses and the decanter of Elf-wine. He poured himself and Molly a full glass and put just a splash in the bottom of the glasses for Ron and Ginny. He raised his glass high and said, ‘A toast to the health of Rufus Scrimgeour, the new Minister of Magic.’

They all raised their glasses and clinked them together. Molly and Arthur took small sips, as did Ginny. Ron gulped his down all at once and went red in the

face.

‘What happened to Cornelius Fudge?’ asked Ron is a strange hoarse voice.

He was sacked for refusing to believe Dumbledore and Harry that You-Know-Who is back!’ said Arthur in a strong voice. ‘They called an election just as soon as they could arrange it. Scrimgeour has been in charge of all of the Aurors so he won’t make that mistake again. He’ll believe Harry and so will all of the people who support him.’

Molly smiled at Arthur and hoped he was correct. Ron and Ginny were smiling and clinking glasses again. They were obviously relieved that Harry would be listened to. Dumbledore had promised her that Harry would be able to come early in July. She thought everything would be less worrisome once he was safe with them at the Burrow.

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