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Author: Grandma Kate Story: Ginny's Sixth Year at Hogwarts Rating: Everyone Setting: Pre-DH Status: Completed Reviews: 8 Words: 45,693
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-two, The Deathly Hallows, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. A/N: This story is told from Molly’s Weasley’s point of view and parallels Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the summer after it.
As she Summoned the cake ingredients, she thought of the day eighteen years earlier, when Mary Margaret Carroll had delivered her largest baby. Ronnie had been a good eater, right from the start. His enthusiastic nursing had been the reason that the midwife they shared had brought the very young Lily Potter to The Burrow for the first time. Lily and James were friends of Fabian and Gideon, but she and Arthur didn’t know them well. She remembered being flattered that Mary Margaret had chosen her to help the young mother-to-be prepare for breastfeeding the baby she was carrying. She and Lily had bonded from the very beginning As she used her wand to mix the cake, she reflected on how the boys had become best friends. Now Ron was with Harry, helping him to do whatever task Albus Dumbledore had left for them to complete. Molly sighed as she remembered that last spring Ginny and Harry had been together, just as their mothers had hoped they would be. Although they were now apart, Molly was sure that they would be back together again as soon as Harry and his friends finished whatever they were doing. She remembered how happy they had seemed during the weeks they were together. She put the small cake in her cheeky oven. ‘Call out loudly when it’s done,’ she told it sternly. She moved the small radio to the fireplace mantle and tuned it to a station that was playing lively music. The next thing she knew, Arthur had sneaked up behind her and put his arms around her. ‘Our baby boy is eighteen today,’ he said softly. ‘I’m sure you have a cake in the oven to celebrate the occasion.’ Molly nodded and began to make a substantial breakfast while Arthur cast a Muffliato Spell around the kitchen table and Molly flicked her wand to turn the wireless up a bit. Arthur sat at the table as he read the Daily Prophet and muttered about the further restrictions for Muggle-borns that were detailed there. ‘They’ve already made it impossible for anyone who is Muggle-born to hold any kind of job that wizards usually do. Now they’re questioning if witches and wizards with one Muggle parent are capable. Soon no one but Pure-bloods will have a job!’ Molly shook her head at the daftness of the Ministry and put platters of eggs, sausages, and toast on the table. As she cast Warming Charms on them, Arthur looked at the amount of food and asked, ‘Are the twins joining us for breakfast?’ Almost as if in answer to his question, two loud pops signaled the Apparation of Fred and George, dressed in identical magenta Dragon-Hide jackets. ‘We can’t stay long,’ said Fred. ‘We hate to eat and run but we have a shop to open soon,’ added George. ‘Lovely! Sausages as only our mother can make them!’ said Fred, kissing his mother and Summoning a plate at the same time. ‘We didn’t appreciate you enough when we were living here, did we, Fred?’ George also kissed Molly and Summoned a plate and a mug. ‘Did you make coffee this morning?’ ‘Good morning, boys!’ Molly poured coffee as the twins tucked in. ‘I was about to remark to your father that the Ministry has already got rid of nearly everyone with mixed blood at the WWN. I hear more proof every time I listen to it that most of their new hires may have 100% pure bloodlines but can neither write scripts nor act!’ ‘Pure-bloods are too snooty to write well,’ commented Fred between bites of sausage. ‘What will they do next to get rid of anyone with mixed blood?’ ‘The Ministry can’t prohibit intermarriage, can they?’ asked George, waving a piece of toast with apple butter. Arthur shook his head sadly. ‘I think that is exactly what they intend to do. First, they will make it very difficult to get a license for a bonding. Eventually, they may make it illegal for Pure-bloods to marry anyone except another Pure-blood.’ Molly gasped. Arthur grew more serious. ‘I’m glad you boys could come by today. Has Bill explained what the plan is in the eventuality that Ron is caught and taken into custody by Snatchers?’ Both heads nodded as they continued to eat. ‘If Ron is snatched, we drop what we are doing, go immediately to Hogwarts, and snatch Ginny ourselves,’ said Fred. ‘And activate this Portkey to bring her to the safe house,’ said George, holding up a brass key that was on his key chain. ‘We won’t know where it is taking us until we are there.’ ‘Your father and Bill are the only ones who know where we will be under Fidelius,‘ said Molly. ‘Bill and Fleur will be safe unless the charm is broken at Shell Cottage’ ‘We’ve made preparations for closing Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes in a wink,’ said Fred. ‘We’re not bothered because our Owl Post business is making more money than the store since the attacks in Diagon Alley have become more frequent.’ George spread apple butter on one last piece of toast and kissed each of his parents. ‘Thanks for breakfast. See you soon,’ he added. Fred followed suit. They went out the door and Apparated to their shop. Molly turned the wireless down as Arthur took the Muffliato Spell off. ‘The cake is done!’ shouted the oven. Molly floated the small cake to a cooling rack. ‘I hope Ron will be well enough to enjoy this,’ she said in a loud voice near the fireplace. ‘He’s been sick for so long.’ She winked at Arthur as he directed the dishes toward the sink with his wand. For the next two weeks, Molly continued shrinking and packing items she thought they might need when they had to leave The Burrow. She stored them in the large handbag that she had brought back from one of their trips to Egypt and kept it next to the kitchen door so she would be able to pick it up on her way out. She understood why they must Portkey to a safe place when the word came that Ron had been captured. They were both sure that their lie about his bad case of Spattergroit was not going to go unpunished, Pure-blood status or not. Molly knew it was only a matter of time before the bounty hunters would catch the three missing children. Harry’s picture was posted everywhere, and there had been a picture of Hermione in the Daily Prophet, noting that she was known to be traveling with him. Except for one afternoon visit at Andromeda’s to give Tonks another baby blanket and to find out if Kathleen had heard from Charlie, Molly was reluctant to leave The Burrow. She was afraid that the word would come to leave while she was gone. Corrine came over to practice dueling with her twice a week and helped her strengthen the charms on the garden that watered and weeded it as needed. She seemed to know that something was troubling Molly but refrained from asking exactly what it was. It made Molly feel better when Corrine offered look after her garden if she and Arthur were ‘able to get away on a holiday’. Kathleen and a very pregnant Tonks stopped off on the day before Ginny was to come home on the Hogwarts Express for the Easter holidays. They had just been to St Mungo’s to become familiar with the procedures for a delivery there in case there were complications in the planned home delivery due to Tonks being a Metamorphmagus. They said that Andromeda wanted Molly, Arthur, and Ginny to come for dinner on the way home from King’s Cross so that Ginny could see for herself how huge Tonks had become. Even though Bill offered to pick up Ginny, Molly and Arthur wanted to meet her themselves. Molly put on her warmest traveling cloak, picked up the handbag that contained everything she and Arthur might need, and put Impenetrable Charms on The Burrow before she Apparated to the alley next to King’s Cross Station. Arthur was already standing by the barrier that the Hogwarts students usually came through. He kissed her tenderly and asked if she had had any word from Bill. Molly shook her head as the first few students came through the barrier and were hugged by relieved parents. Ginny was among the last to appear. She looked exhausted and had a bruise on her cheek but smiled and ran to her parents. They both hugged her, Arthur shrank her trunk and put it in his pocket, and they went into the alley. ‘Do you feel up to going to dinner with Tonks and Kathleen?’ asked Molly. ‘Or would you rather go straight home?’ ‘I’d love to see Tonks and Kathleen,’ exclaimed Ginny. ‘I can catch up on sleep tomorrow.’ ‘Hold on to Arnold’s cage,’ cautioned Molly as she took her arm and Side-Along Apparated to the boundary of the yard around Andromeda Tonks’ house. ‘We’ve been invited so we can enter despite their protective charms.’ They walked to the front door and knocked. Kathleen answered the door and led them into the living room where Tonks and Remus were sitting together on a comfortable looking sofa. Ginny ran to Tonks and kissed her. ‘Tonks, it’s so good to see you,’ she said. ‘Oh, you’ve got much bigger since Christmas. It must be a good sized baby!’ ‘The midwife says he’s just right for his week of gestation, not too large or too small,’ said Remus, smiling at his wife. ‘When will he come?’ asked Ginny. ‘I hope it’s when I’m home.’ ‘Around the end of March or the beginning of April,’ answered Tonks with a laugh. ‘We’re aiming for Fred and George’s birthday.’ ‘They were due on May Day. Maybe they would have been less lively if they had waited to be born then.’ ‘Molly, your twins would have been lively no matter what their birthday was,’ said Remus. ‘Lively and clever!’ Andromeda greeted her guests and said that dinner was ready. Molly was struck by how much more weight she had lost in the three weeks since she had last seen her. Ted had been gone for nearly seven months, and no one knew if he was dead or alive. The dinner conversation was mostly about what Charlie was doing in Romania and his planned visit in early May. Remus asked Ginny some rather specific questions about the curriculum at Hogwarts. He said that he had heard nothing good about the brother and sister who had been hired by Severus Snape. Ginny agreed that Amycus and Alecto Carrow were not only even worse teachers than Dolores Umbridge but were much more cruel. She told them that Neville was enduring the most severe punishments from them, and said that he had not come home for Easter so that his grandmother would not worry about what was happening to him. Everyone around the table listening to Ginny’s description of some of the unpleasant things that were happening at Hogwarts had the feeling that she was hiding quite a bit of the suffering. She became evasive when Tonks began to ask about what sorts of punishments Neville had undergone. Ginny was more than a bit cryptic in her answers, saying only that the Death Eaters didn’t want to spill too much blood that was as pure as Neville’s and hers. The Weasleys left as soon as dinner and pudding was over. Remus said that he would let them know as soon as the baby was ready to be born. Molly and Arthur walked to the boundaries of the Tonks yard, where Arthur took Ginny’s arm and Side-Along Apparated them home. Molly put her large handbag by the door and the three of them went straight away up to bed. Arthur stopped at Ginny’s door, pulled Ginny’s trunk out of the pocket of his robe, reversed the Shrinking Spell, and quietly suggested that she unpack only what she needed to wear each day. ‘It would be best if your trunk was packed, ready to have your mother shrink it and put it in her handbag at a moment’s notice,’ whispered Arthur. ‘We can’t be sure how long your brother will continue to suffer from Spattergroit.’ Ginny understood and nodded. Molly hugged her and said, ‘I want you to have a lie-in tomorrow. It’s Saturday and you look like you need one.’ Molly resolved to find time to be with her daughter so that Ginny would be able to tell her what was really going on at Hogwarts. The bruise on her cheek looked too much like a handprint for Molly’s comfort. Fred and George came by on Sunday evening and spent considerable time in the shed with their father. After dinner, Fred whispered, ‘Tuesday night!’ in Ginny’s ear and went into the garden to Apparate. George leaned in to kiss her and softly said, ‘Albus is the password.’ Ginny nodded as he waved from the kitchen door. On Tuesday night, Molly and Ginny followed Arthur to his shed to listen to Potterwatch. Ginny was very excited because, although there were rumors at Hogwarts about the underground resistance broadcasts, she had never actually heard one. Lee Jordan introduced himself as ‘River’, apologized for their recent absence, and then announced confirmation of several deaths, including Ted Tonks. Molly immediately thought of his wife and daughter and how sad they would be that Ted would never see his about-to-be-born grandson. When Lee made a plea for any word about Dean Thomas, Molly heard Ginny draw in her breath. She remembered that he had been the boy who had given her the heart-shaped hairclip at Christmas before last. Then Lee introduced ‘Royal’, who was obviously Kingsley Shacklebolt. He warned of the dangers of ignoring injustice because it was happening to people from a different group. ‘And what would you say, Royal, to those listeners who reply that in these dangerous times, it should be "Wizards first"?’ asked Lee. ‘I’d say that it’s one short step from ‘Wizards first’ to "Pure-bloods first," and then to "Death Eaters," replied Kingsley. ‘We’re all humans, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.’ ‘Excellently put, Royal, and you’ve got my vote for Minister of Magic if we ever get out of this mess,’ said Lee. ‘And now, over to Romulus for our popular feature ‘Pals of Potter’.’ Molly laughed at Ginny’s excitement when she recognized Remus Lupin’s voice. Lee asked him if he still maintained that Harry Potter was still alive. ‘I do,’ said Lupin firmly. ‘There is no doubt at all in my mind that his death would be proclaimed as widely as possible by the Death Eaters if it happened, because it would strike a deadly blow at the morale of those resisting the new regime. ‘The Boy Who Lived’ remains a symbol of everything for which we are fighting: the triumph of good, the power of innocence, the need to keep resisting.’ Ginny rose to her feet and shouted, ‘I know you’re right! We have to keep doing what we can to resist!’ She had tears pouring down her cheeks but was smiling. Molly felt her own eyes dampen and blew her nose on the hem of her apron. Arthur held out a small box with soft paper sticking up out of the top and said, ‘Ginny, this is Clean X. They work like handkerchiefs, but you throw them away.’ Ginny took one and wiped her eyes. ‘That was the best speech I have ever heard. I wish Neville could hear Potterwatch. It would make him even more courageous than he already is. We know Harry is coming back to fight with us.’ They listened approvingly as Remus sent a message of support to Harry in case he was listening. Ginny was upset at the imprisonment of Luna’s father and the narrow escape that Hagrid had when Death Eaters heard he was hosting a party. ‘A ’Support Harry Potter’ party?’ she asked, shaking her head. “What was he thinking?’ The final part of Potterwatch featured the twins and their corny jokes, which added the levity that was needed after the sad news of those who had been killed or imprisoned. Molly thought that Fred and George were brilliant. They all went up to bed in a more hopeful mood. While they were still asleep, Molly heard a pounding on the door and looked at the clock by the bedside. It was just on four. She poked Arthur lightly and said, ‘We have company.’ He immediately put on his dressing gown and slippers and went to the back door and demanded, ‘Tell me who you are!” ‘Dad, it’s time. I am the Secret Keeper for Shell Cottage.’ Arthur opened the door. Bill ran up the stairs and met his mother on the landing. He was calm but firm and said that she needed to dress quickly and wake Ginny. Molly sprang into action. She woke Ginny while Arthur dressed. Ginny dressed quickly. Bill said that he would shrink Ginny’s trunk so Molly could grab any last minute items. Molly ran to the lounge and grabbed her book of Christmas Memories, the picture over the mantle of all nine of them waving and smiling, and the one of Bill and Fleur dancing on their wedding day. She also took the special clock that she had made so long ago off the wall. All the hands except Charlie’s and Percy’s were pointing to Mortal Peril. She picked up her large handbag and cast the Shrinking Charm on the book and pictures before she dropped them in it. Arthur was carrying the large wireless from his shed and two boxes that had WWW written on their sides. Bill and Ginny came down the stairs, with Ginny carrying Arnold’s cage. Bill handed Ginny’s shrunken trunk to Molly and she put it in her purse. Then he kissed all of them and handed them a garden fork. ‘Be safe! The twins will be along as soon as they can manage to join you.’ Molly, Arthur, and Ginny grasped the garden fork. Molly felt the Portkey take effect. She hated the feeling of being squeezed and hoped it would not damage her rather delicate clock. Arthur steadied her as she landed on a country road. He spoke in a clear firm voice, ‘‘This welcoming house is safe for Weasleys.’ Molly and Ginny repeated what he said and watched as a familiar house appeared, surrounded by fields and a forest. They were at Macmillan Manse’s outer boundary. They looked at the familiar towers, cupolas, and many chimney pots on the roof of the estate, which was shrouded with what looked like gigantic black spider webs. Black webs were also draped over the pointy windows with leaded glass. It was obvious that someone magical lived here. As the three of them walked down the wide path to the front door, Molly thought how clever Arthur had been to arrange for them to be under the Fidelius Charm at Auntie Muriel’s.
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