|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Author: Grandma Kate Story: Ginny's Fourth Year at Hogwarts Rating: Everyone Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 2 Words: 35,779
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 Twenty-four, Qcclumency, or Chapter Twenty-five, The Beetle at Bay, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 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.
Molly cooked a huge haunch of pork for a New Year's dinner and made applesauce to serve with it along with roasted potatoes and carrots. She also made a very special New Year's cake with what looked like fireworks on the top of it. Tonks offered to help her in the kitchen but Molly waved her away and told her to entertain the children and to remind Sirius, Fred, and George that several members of the Order were coming for dinner. The dinner was delicious and many guests complimented Molly. Mad-Eye Moody assured the children that the Order had plans for getting them back to Hogwarts without danger of attack. Molly noticed with some interest that Sirius and the twins always seemed to be talking about something in low voices. She was happier that Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to be including Ginny more in their activities. Arthur was not released from St Mungo’s as soon as Molly had hoped he would be. She missed him a great deal and went to visit him every other day, usually bringing a couple of children along with her. Arthur was always glad to see her and they were both upset that he was not yet ready to be discharged from hospital. She was extremely dubious and vocal about Healer Pye using Muggle stitches to close his wound and consulted with Healer Hippocrates Smethwyk every time she was at the hospital. He promised her that he would find a proper Wizarding method to stop the bleeding caused by the enchanted snake’s bite. The children and Sirius continued to enjoy being together during the long Christmas holiday. While Harry and the Weasley boys spent a lot of time with Sirius, Molly decided to teach Hermione and Ginny some basic cooking and potion making skills. Hermione pointed out to Ginny that they both involved following a recipe and changing the properties of ingredients through heating. The girls enjoyed learning to make desserts and simple healing potions while listening to Molly’s favorite WWN programs. The natural child of Lord Lyle by his very forgiving wife’s evil twin sister was named Lyla. Both Ginny and Hermione thought that everyone on Days of Destiny should notice their resemblance and her similar name. However, much to their disappointment, no one did! The girls approved of the defensive spells classes for parents and students that Healer O’Malley was teaching. ‘I wish some of our professors were teaching us the same spells and counter-jinxes that Healer O’Malley is teaching them,’ said Hermione wistfully. “We are having to learn them from other students or on our own.’ ‘If I hadn’t learned some good spells from Bill and Charlie before I was old enough to go to Hogwarts, I’d be more worried,’ said Ginny, spreading icing on a chocolate cake. ‘Professor Lockhart didn’t teach us much my first year but Professor Lupin was a good teacher.’ ‘And Professor Moody was a good teacher last year even though he wasn’t really Mad-Eye Moody but an evil Death Eater,’ continued Hermione thoughtfully. “But the person we have this year seems to want us not to learn anything that would defend us.’ ‘Ginny and Hermione, please listen to me,’ said Molly in a worried tone. ‘Do not underestimate Professor Umbridge. I know a little about what is happening at school and want you to be very careful about trusting anyone.’ The girls nodded solemnly as Molly put the finished cake in the cooler. ‘Now let’s make some more of that strong yellow Bruise Paste.’ ***** As the time grew closer for Hogwarts to resume, Molly became aware that Harry and Sirius seemed to be growing sadder with every passing day. Sirius spent more and more time with Harry as the end of the Christmas holidays approached. On the day before Hogwarts was to resume classes, Molly was surprised to have Severus Snape suddenly arrive in the kitchen and ask that she call Harry down to meet with him. She walked up the stone steps and tiptoed through the hall and went up the staircase. ‘Harry dear,’ said Molly, poking her head into Harry’s and Ron’s bedroom, where the pair of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione, Ginny, and Crookshanks, ‘could you please come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like to have a word with you.’ Harry continued to egg on his chess pieces and then said, ‘Sorry, Mrs Weasley. What did you say?’ ‘Professor Snape, dear. In the kitchen. He’d like a word.’ Harry seemed very confused about why Professor Snape would want to talk to him, but he finally left to go down the stairs while Molly checked with the rest of the children about whether their school trunks were packed and if they needed any last minute laundry done. Ginny and Hermione assured her that they were all packed and ready to go while Ron mumbled, ‘Me and Harry are going to do it this afternoon.’ Molly decided to check whether the twins were packed. They solemnly swore they were all ready to go back to Hogwarts. She had just started down the staircase toward the front hall when she saw the front door open and Arthur enter. ‘Hello!’ Arthur said softly. ‘They’ve brought me back to my family at last!’ “Children!’ she called in a quiet voice. ‘Your father’s home.’ She ran to embrace Arthur while the four Weasleys and Hermione all crowded around him. ‘Wait until Sirius and Harry see you,’ Molly said, leading them down the stone steps and into the kitchen, all looking very happy with Arthur walking proudly in their midst dressed in a pair of striped pyjamas covered by a mackintosh. ‘Cured!’ he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. ‘Completely cured!’ He and the other Weasleys froze on the threshold, gazing at the scene in front of them, which was suspended in mid-action, both Sirius and Snape looking towards the door with their wands pointing into each other’s faces and Harry immobile between them, a hand stretched out to each of them, trying to force them apart. ‘Merlin’s beard,’ said Arthur, the smile sliding off his face, ‘what’s going on here?’ Both Sirius and Snape lowered their wands. Harry looked from one to the other. Each wore an expression of utmost contempt, yet the unexpected entrance of so many witnesses seemed to have brought them to their senses. Snape pocketed his wand, turned on his heel, and swept back across the kitchen, passing the Weasleys without comment. At the door he looked back. ‘Six o’clock Monday evening, Potter.’ He was gone. Sirius glared after him, his wand at his side. ‘But what’s been going on?’ asked Arthur again. ‘Nothing, Arthur,’ said Sirius, who was breathing heavily as though he had just run a long distance. ‘Just a friendly little chat between two old school friends…’ With what looked like an enormous effort, he smiled. ‘So… you’re cured? That’s great news, really great…’ ‘Yes, isn’t it?’ said Molly, leading her husband forward into a chair. ‘Healer Smethwyck worked his magic in the end, found an antidote to whatever that snake’s got in his fangs, and Arthur’s learned his lesson about dabbling in Muggle medicine, haven’t you, dear?’ she added, rather menacingly. ‘Yes, Molly dear,’ said Arthur, meekly. Molly smiled at him and suggested that Fred and George accompany him upstairs to get dressed while she and Ginny and Hermione made a welcome home dinner. ‘Harry, you and Ron have some packing to do,’ she said in a gentle tone. ‘Is everything all right with Professor Snape?’ Harry looked at Sirius and shrugged his shoulders before following Ron up to pack his trunk. Sirius followed them. Dinner that night was a bit strange. Arthur was delighted to be out of St Mungo’s. Molly and the Weasley children were happy to have their father back with them. Hermione seemed eager to get back to school and had already started asking about homework assignments. Harry and Sirius were sometimes happy and joking and other times quiet and a bit sad. Molly overheard Harry telling Hermione and Ron in a low voice that he was having to take Qcclumency lessons with Snape, and that made the disturbance between Sirius and Severus more understandable to her. Sirius and Severus did not get along and Sirius thought that the Potions Master picked on Harry. Molly sent everyone to bed early saying that they would have a long day on the Knight Bus going to Hogwarts. Tonks and Remus would accompany them so they would come to no harm. She noticed that Sirius followed the children upstairs but thought that he was probably giving her and Arthur a little alone time. Arthur helped her cast the charms for cleaning ups the kitchen and suggested an early night for them as well. ‘We should be able to return to The Burrow tomorrow,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye. ‘We’ll be on our own again, like newly-weds.’ ‘We’re all alone now,’ pointed out Molly giving him a warm kiss before they climbed the steps out of the kitchen. Molly woke the children early the next morning and said they wouldn’t have much time for more then porridge for breakfast. She told them to put their trunks in the front hall, as quietly as possible, so as not to wake Mrs Black. Then she and Arthur joined Sirius, Remus, and Tonks in the kitchen where Sirius was telling them that he did not like the idea of Snape teaching Harry Occlumency. He said he was worried that he would use it as a way of punishing Harry for reminding him of James. They stopped whispering among themselves when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the first children to arrive for breakfast. Ginny and the twins arrived a minute later. ‘Why is everyone looking so strange?’ said Fred, looking at the adults and children staring at each other. ‘What just happened?’ added George, sitting down as his mother began to dish up bowls from the porridge cauldron. ‘It’s too early!’ said Ginny and started eating the bowl of porridge that Molly put in front of her. The children dressed warmly for their long journey back to Hogwarts. Molly tried unsuccessfully to persuade the twins to wear the mittens she had knit for them. She noticed Sirius giving Harry a small package as she tied Ginny’s hat on more securely and wondered if it was a forgotten Christmas present. She reminded everyone to write to them at The Burrow as she kissed each child on the cheek. ‘Good-bye, Harry, take care,’ said Molly, hugging him. ‘See you Harry, and keep an eye out for snakes for me!’ said Arthur genially, shaking his hand. Sirius gave Harry a brief, one-armed hug and said gruffly, ‘Look after yourself, Harry,’ and the next moment Harry found himself being shunted out into the icy winter air with Tonks (today heavily disguised as a tweedy woman with iron-gray hair) chivvying him down the steps. The purple triple-decker Knight Bus screeched up to the front of Grimmauld Place where Remus was standing with his wand raised. Everyone hugged and said good-bye and left Molly, Arthur, and Sirius in the front hall with Mrs Black shrieking. Sirius pulled the curtain closed and went up to his room, leaving Molly and Arthur to plan their return to the Burrow later that day. As they left, he told them that he would miss them and reminded them that they could visit at any time. He said he certainly understood why they wanted to go home. ***** Again, the Burrow was spotless from the care that had been taken of it by the Hogwarts house-elves. Arthur joked that they should take a little holiday every winter because they had split so much wood that he’d not have to do any. Molly and Arthur settled in again and contacted their friends to let them know they were home again. Arthur returned to work at the Ministry the next day but was supposed to only work a half-day for the first week. He returned at lunchtime looking very grave and asked Molly to sit down before he showed her the Daily Prophet. ‘Molly my dear, two extremely disturbing things happened last night. The first was at Azkaban.’ Arthur began to read from the newspaper, ‘Ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening.’ Molly stifled a scream and said, ‘Not the Lestranges? I dreamed about Bellatrix on New Year's Eve.’ ‘Yes, she is mentioned. The newspaper says she may be following Sirius, but we know this is not true.’ ‘What else happened? You said there were two disturbing things,’ said Molly in a small voice. ‘It’s way back on page ten,’ said Arthur, reading from the newspaper again. ‘St Mungo’s Hospital promised a full inquiry last night after Ministry of Magic worker Broderick Bode, 49, was discovered dead in his bed, strangled by a potted-plant. It was Devil’s Snare.’ Molly gasped. ‘Bode was an Unspeakable. We don’t know how he lost his memory and the ability to speak but it happened at the Department of Mysteries.’ ‘He may have given his life for the Order,’ said Arthur gravely. ‘Oh, Arthur!’ Molly put her arms around him and leaned her head on his chest. ‘That could have happened to you.’ ‘Or to you, my Mollywobbles. I believe that I fancy an afternoon nap now,’ said Arthur, leading Molly up the stairs of The Burrow. ‘I need a great deal of rest and relaxation to get back to normal.’ ***** After Arthur returned to work full time, Molly and Corrine resumed their twice-weekly dueling practice inside at either the Burrow or Diggory Downs because it was so cold the rest of January. They had missed each other a great deal while Molly had been staying at Grimmauld Place. Molly also began Apparating to her Witches and Stitches group and took her turn on watch over the sites of interest to the Order. She and Arthur were at meetings at Grimmauld Place every week so they got word from their teachers that the children had arrived at school safely but that teaching conditions were becoming increasingly difficult. A rather tired school owl delivered the only mail that came from Hogwarts during the final week of January. Molly opened it with an uneasy feeling. It was a rolled copy of Educational Decree Number Twenty-six. It had jagged edges as if it had been cut out of a frame and stated that- ‘Teachers are hereby banned from giving any students any information that is not strictly related to the subjects they are paid to teach.’ It was signed and sealed by Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor. Arthur laughed when he read it. “That woman is boxing herself in. I can just imagine how our fourth and fifth sons interpret this. ‘She’s already banned them from playing Quidditch, what else can she do to interfere with what they are doing in their secret defense class and the jokes they are developing?’ asked Molly with a sigh. The last Sunday of January, Molly asked Arthur if he’d like her to invite their friends Nic Meath and Kate Wallace, along with their neighbors Amos and Corrine Diggory to dinner the Sunday before Arthur’s birthday. He was enthusiastic about seeing their friends after being in hiding for so long. They all knew that he had somehow encountered a snake and had been badly bitten but no one knew any of the details. The Order insisted that the particulars must remain unspecified. Molly sent Errol to Nic and Kate at the WWN with an invitation on a particularly fine day for January. She invited the Diggorys for the same date when Corinne came over to exercise and practice dueling. Both couples were delighted to accept so Molly went into full birthday feast mode.
|