Adam and Ginny trudged across the garden with two of the Weasley family brooms in their hands. Today was the first chance they'd had to practice Quidditch.
Over the last couple of weeks Adam, Ron and Ginny had spent a lot of time together around The Burrow. Since his apology, Adam had been getting on well with Ron and, as a peace offering, Ron had helped Adam improve his chess skills. They still, however, had one major disagreement: Ron was adamant that Ginny couldn't play Quidditch with them. So whenever Ron asked Adam to play, he politely declined unless Ginny could play too.
However, today Ron had gone to visit Neville so, after asking Mrs Weasley for permission, Adam and Ginny were heading out to the orchard to practice.
When they reached the small makeshift pitch, they mounted their brooms. Ginny immediately shot off around the pitch. Adam was slightly more cautious, but he soon was zipping around the small paddock almost as skilfully as Ginny.
"Don't go above the tree line!" Ginny called out as Adam began to climb.
Quickly coming back down towards the ground, Adam and Ginny hovered just over the centre of the pitch. Ginny grinned at Adam and shot off across the pitch again. Adam flew after her in pursuit. When they reaching the far end of the paddock, they looped around and raced back to the other side. Adam had to admit that Ginny was faster than him, but only just.
As they circled for the second time, Adam heard a chorus of claps and hooting noises coming from the edge of the trees. Circling around, Adam saw the twins standing on the ground with their brooms. They were staring up at them.
"Bravo! Bravo! Looks like our sister and her friend have some talent!" the twin on the right said. Adam still couldn't tell them apart.
"Thanks, Fred!" Ginny called, blushing slightly.
"You two are quick, probably because you're both so titchy," said George.
"Brother, are you thinking what I am thinking?" said Fred.
"Why, if they can catch as well as they can fly, we might have some candidates to fill our Seeker spot this year," George continued. "Our Seeker last year was awful; he only played because we had no other choice. He didn't even try out for the spot."
"It was why we lost the Quidditch cup," Fred finished.
It annoyed Adam slightly when the twins spoke like that in rapid secession. It made his neck hurt.
"I prefer Chasing though," said Ginny, pouting slightly.
"We have three really good Chasers at the moment, and as good as you are, Sis, I don't think you'll stand much of a chance," said Fred.
"You could both be good Seekers though, I reckon," said George.
"Let's put them to the test," finished Fred.
The four of them mounted their brooms and hovered above the paddock. George grabbed a couple of apples from nearby trees.
"Okay, I'm going to throw these apples and I want you to catch them," said George.
George and Fred took turns throwing the apples across the orchard for Adam and Ginny to catch. The first few were easy and Adam only had to cross from one side of the paddock to the other in order to reach out and grab them. Fred threw the next one low. Adam dived rapidly towards the ground. As the ground rushed towards him, he reached out, closed his hand around the apple and pulled up, just barely in time to avoid hitting the ground. Adam swore he even felt his shoes brush the ground. Looking over at the other side of the pitch, he saw Ginny reaching out and grabbing an apple that had gone sailing above the tree line, she seemed to quickly realise she was too high and sank back below the trees.
After an exhausting session of apple catching, Adam returned to the ground and was soon joined by the twins and Ginny.
"You guys are both good. Ginny is slightly faster," complimented George.
"But Adam seems to be a bit better at catching," finished Fred.
"Unless we have some undiscovered talent at school, or we have some first-year prodigy join, then I think one of you will make the team."
The twins slapped both of them on their backs and then the group started walking back towards the house.
"Give him hell at the trials, Sis," Adam heard one of them whisper to Ginny as they walked.
Ginny turned and grinned at Adam. He rolled his eyes in response, and they continued walking, side-by-side, back towards The Burrow.
August 11th 1993
"Happy birthday, Ginny!" The crowd at the Weasley dinner table cried and Adam watched as Ginny excitedly blew out the candles on her cake.
The birthday tea that Mrs Weasley had made for Ginny was, in Adam's opinion, simply flabbergasting. Ginny had obviously enjoyed it as she hadn't stopped grinning since Mrs Weasley had brought out the first dish. How Ginny was able to grin and eat at the same time, Adam wasn't quite sure.
After dinner was over, Adam sat next to Ginny in the living room. She was busy pouring over the Holyhead Harpies album she had been given for her birthday.
"Adam, when’s your birthday?" Ginny asked suddenly.
Adam hesitated. "Um, I don't know."
"What?" said Ginny staring at him. "You don't know?"
Adam shook his head.
"I asked one of the people at one of the homes once, they didn't know. As I was abandoned, they didn't know anything about me,"
"So you never had a birthday party?" said Ginny sadly.
Adam thought back to when he was younger. "When I was little, I can remember I always used to say my birthday was the same date as my two friends'." Adam blushed. "I was always embarrassed because I didn't have one."
"What date was that then? We can use that!" Ginny said brightly.
"July 10th," replied Adam, smiling.
Ginny always seemed to know how to make him feel better.
August 13th 1993
Adam was sitting at the breakfast table with the Weasleys. As usual, he was one of the first up this morning, so he had practically finished his breakfast by the time the others joined him. Adam was polishing off his third piece of toast when an owl swooped into the kitchen with a pile of letters tied to its leg. Percy immediately jumped up from where he was sitting and grabbed the bundle of letters.
"Hogwarts letters?" Ron asked.
"Yes. Why is there one with no name here?" Percy asked as he flicked through the letters.
"That's me," Adam replied quietly.
"Why isn't your name on it?" Ron asked.
"No idea," Adam shrugged. "Would have thought they could have sorted it out by now though."
Adam and the Weasleys all opened their letters.
"YES!" Percy shouted suddenly. He nearly jumped up from the table but at the last minute collected himself. "Mum," he said trying to attract Mrs Weasley's attention.
"What is it, dear?" asked Mrs Weasley.
Percy held up a gold badge that read Head Boy. Mrs Weasley squealed and wrapped Percy in a hug.
"Well done! Well done!" Mrs Weasley gushed.
Adam looked around the room, all the Weasleys were grinning.
"Percy! Let's Floo your father and tell him," said Mrs Weasley and she dragged him out of the room.
Once the door had closed the twins and Ginny both burst out in giggles.
"Head Boy!" said Fred.
"Big Head Boy more like!" continued George.
The four Weasleys burst out in renewed laughter. Adam smiled, unsure if it was appropriate for him to join in.
Ginny August 23rd 1993
Ginny was being a good girl; she was helping fold the washing. The boys had all been sent out to de-gnome the garden. It annoyed Ginny that she always had to help with the laundry. Surely, it was only fair for one of the boys to do it every now and then. She would quite happily go and help de-gnome the garden.
"Ginny! Come outside quickly!" Adam called from the doorway.
Ginny was only about halfway through the first pile of washing but was glad for any excuse to get away from the laundry, so she followed Adam outside. He ran across the garden, away from where her brothers were busy throwing gnomes over the fence. Suddenly he dropped to his knees and began searching in the long grass.
"Adam?"
"I was chasing a gnome and I saw it!" he replied.
Ginny knelt down next to Adam and looked into the grass that Adam has pushed aside. A long green and grey snake lay coiled up. Ginny felt herself recoil automatically. The last snake she had seen was the Basilisk.
"It's okay. I'll talk to it," Adam replied.
"Hello, wake up, Mr. Snake!" Adam said with a slight hiss to his voice.
Ginny heard Adam but maybe it wasn't Parseltongue, maybe Adam did it wrong. The snake stirred and began looking frantically around.
"Hello," Adam said, once again with a slight hiss.
"Hello, speaker, why did you wake me?" the snake replied.
Ginny whimpered and felt her heart sink. She could understand the snake. Tom had done something to her, he had made her body speak Parseltongue when he controlled it and now she could still understand it.
"Ginny, you could understand me, couldn't you?" asked Adam hesitantly.
Ginny could only nod in response.
"I wanted to see if my friend was also a speaker and, well, she is," replied Adam.
"Greetings," the snake replied as it turned towards Ginny.
Ginny stared at the snake. She didn't want to speak to it. She didn't want to hear that hissing noise coming from her own mouth.
"Ginny, can you speak to it?" Adam prompted.
"Human?" the snake hissed.
Ginny stared at the snake, feeling panic welling up inside her. She couldn't bear to look at it, she turned away.
"Hello," she said. It came out in English!
She couldn't speak it! She couldn't talk to snakes! Tom had still done something to her though! She wanted things to go back to the way they were. With a strangled sob, she dashed back into the house, ignoring Adam's calls as she ran.
When she reached her room, Ginny slammed the door, threw herself down on her bed and sobbed. A short time later, she heard a soft knock on the door. She ignored it. Eventually the door opened and Adam entered the room. He sat down on the end of her bed in silence.
"It could be kinda cool..." Adam said quietly.
"What?" she snapped.
"I bet we're the only two people in school who can understand snakes..." Adam trailed off.
"It makes me feel dirty," Ginny said softly.
"I'm a Parselmouth too. Does that make me dirty?" Adam asked, slightly annoyed.
Adam just didn't get it.
"The diary changed me! Whatever it did to me, I can now understand snakes! I can't forget about it because it changed me!" Ginny snapped and punched her pillow.
"It could be worse, Ginny!" Adam exclaimed. "Just because you can understand snakes, doesn't make you evil. Just like me being able to speak to snakes doesn't make me evil."
Ginny lay in silence, but she had managed to stop crying. She didn't say anything else to Adam and he eventually stood up and left the room.
Ginny didn't emerge from her room until her mum called her for lunch. When she reached the kitchen, she sat down next to Adam.
"Sorry about earlier," she said. It wasn't Adam's fault that she could now understand snakes. "Don't tell anyone, please?"
"I won't. I promise," Adam replied.
Ginny gave Adam a grateful smile and began to eat her lunch.
August 31st 1993
Ginny was pleased. Tonight a Mudblood would die. It had been a frustratingly long evening waiting for her chance to take control of the girl. It wasn't until after the school had gone to sleep that her chance had come. The girl had been sitting in her room in Gryffindor Tower, scribbling furiously in the diary. Once she had control of the girl's body, Ginny had been able to sneak out of the common room unnoticed and release the Basilisk.
She was now walking back towards Gryffindor Tower; it wouldn't do for the girl to wake up somewhere else tomorrow morning.
"Ginny?" a voice called from the far end of the corridor. "I saw you leave, is everything alright?"
Ginny pressed herself up against the wall behind a nearby tapestry and peered out into the corridor. She recognised Creevey. He had a camera in his hand. A Mudblood, this was almost too convenient.
"Kill," Ginny hissed.
She felt the Basilisk move towards her, she heard the sound of frantic scraping and slithering as it raced towards its target. Ginny heard Creevey emit a startled yelp followed by a thudding sound.
She heard the Basilisk hiss in anger.
Ginny emerged from her hiding place.
"Go, leave," she hissed.
The Basilisk had failed, stupid creature. Creevey had only been Petrified. Still, this would serve as a warning for others.
"Lucky boy," Ginny mused.
Ginny returned to the common room. She had better return the girl's body before it was missed.
Ginny fell to the floor with a crash. She looked around frantically, unsure where she was. Glancing up, she saw her brother and Adam sitting at a small silver table. Ron was laughing hysterically, while Adam was looking at her with concern.
"That was hilarious!" Ron squeaked between laughs.
"Are you alright?" Adam asked as she got back to her feet.
Once she was sitting back on the chair, she looked around. She remembered where they were now; Ron, Adam and herself had been having an ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They were out shopping for their school things today. Ron had arranged to meet Hermione here, so Mum had left them at the ice cream parlour to do some of her own shopping.
"I'm fine," she replied.
Adam leaned over and whispered. "Dream?"
"Yeah, tell you later," Ginny replied, she didn't want anyone else to know about her dreams.
"Hermione!" Ron called out suddenly and began waving enthusiastically.
Ginny looked up and saw Hermione with two people whot Ginny assumed to be her parents. She had a large cage in her hand. As Hermione and her parents were walking towards them, she glanced over and saw that Ron had a big grin on his face.
"Hi, Ron!" Hermione called as she approached. "Oh, hi, Ginny; hi, Adam." Hermione gestured to her parents. "These are my parents. Mum, Dad I think you've met Ron and Ginny before. This is Adam, Ginny's friend."
"Nice to meet you all," replied Mr Granger. "Where are your parents?" he asked, looking around the alley.
"Mum should be back soon," Ron replied.
Meanwhile, Ginny was squinting to get a look inside the cage that Hermione had in her hand. She thought she heard a soft purring sound from inside.
"Is that a cat?" Ginny asked excitedly, she loved cats.
Hermione placed the carrier down on the table and Ginny put her face up against the bars of the cage. She peered inside. There was a large ginger-coloured cat in the cage, it appeared to be dozing.
"It's soo cute!" Ginny exclaimed.
"His name is Crookshanks," said Hermione proudly.
Ginny watched as Adam and Ron in turn peered into the cage. Both boys seemed relatively unimpressed by the sleeping cat.
"Is that a cat, Hermione dear?" Mum said from behind Ginny, making her jump.
"He's part Kneazle, they're supposed be very intelligent," said Hermione, beaming.
Mum smiled. "Yes, indeed they are." Looking around at the group she continued, "Well, I suppose we better get on with our shopping then," she said.
As the group walked towards the first shop, where they hoped to pick up sets of second-hand robes, Ginny noticed that Adam was hanging at the back of the group attempting to speak privately to her mum.
Ginny had to listen carefully to make out what he was saying. "Mrs. Weasley, what is happening about my things, I don't want to be a burden," Adam said in a quiet voice.
"Don't worry, dear. Professor McGonagall gave us your money from the school fund to get your things," Mum replied kindly.
Ginny saw Adam visibly relax, and she slowed her walking pace to draw level with him.
"Were you listening in?" Adam asked.
"Yeah, sorry," Ginny blushed.
"Naughty," Adam stuck his tongue out. "So what was the dream about?"
"Colin being attacked," Ginny said glumly.
"Are... are you okay?"
"I think so. I know it wasn't me that did it. It's just so creepy to think of someone controlling me. Y'know, seeing my body doing things and knowing I'm not in control."
"Yeah, but at least you sort of know now what it did to you," Adam paused. "Hopefully, once you've had all your memories from last year come back, the nightmares will stop."
"I hope so."
Adam gave her a smile. "Let's catch up to the others."
Ginny nodded and smiled back. Adam wasn't the best with words, but his presence at times when she was upset always made her feel better.
Remus August 31st 1993
Remus looked at the building he was currently standing in front of. It was an old red-bricked building, the windows had bars over them and the door appeared to have a steel plate over it. It didn't look homely at all. Remus shuddered. If his research was correct, Adam could possibly have lived here for two years.
It had taken Remus weeks of investigation to be able to find what he hoped would be his first step in tracing Adam's past. He had initially phoned all the children's homes in the London area and he had found three records of an Adam Winters. He visited two of these homes only to discover that the Adam Winters they had on their records wasn't the boy he was investigating. This was his last lead along this line of enquiry.
Remus approached the doorway and knocked on the door. A short time later the door cracked open to reveal a woman in a light blue uniform on the other side.
"Good morning, my name is Remus Lupin, I called on the phone," Remus said.
"Oh, come in then," the woman said.
Remus' first view of the inside of the building surprised him. It was unnaturally quiet. This was supposed to be a children's home. So where were all the children?
"Where are all the children?" he asked.
"They're all outside at this time of day," she replied stiffly.
Remus entered her office and took a seat. The woman sat behind the only desk in the room.
"So you are here to discuss Adam Winters?" she said, obviously having no interest in small talk.
"Yes, I was friends with his parents," said Remus. He hated having to lie but he needed the information.
The woman picked a brown file up out of a tray on the desk and glanced inside. She pulled out a photograph and showed Remus. Much to Remus' relief it was Adam. He had his first clue.
"Is this the boy?" she asked.
Remus nodded.
"Well, I can tell you that he was here between July 1989 and May 1991. He managed to escape, badly injuring another boy in the process," the woman replied.
"Can you tell me anything else? Where was he before he came here?" asked Remus.
The woman glanced in the file.
"He was transferred from a home in Cardiff. It says here he was a compulsive vandal, which is why he was transferred," she said. "I can give you the address but that's all I can give you from the file, I am afraid."
"Can you tell me anything about him? You must have had some interaction with him?" asked Remus. Even though he had the information he was after, he needed to see what the boy's life here would have been like.
The woman sighed.
"Please," coaxed Remus.
Remus put his hand into the pocket of the cloak and gripped his wand. He hated to do this, but Albus had asked him to get all possible information about Adam. Casting the spell silently as the woman began to talk, he gently viewed her thoughts.
"Adam was troubled. He was a very sweet boy, to be honest. At first, we couldn't understand why he was sent here. He was never very good at making friends and he tended to get bullied by the others because of this," she began.
Remus was looking down onto what appeared to be a large dining room. There were several large rectangular tables in the room, with chairs around them. The room seemed deserted. However, the sound of someone crying filled the room. Remus saw the woman he had been talking to walk across the room, to where a boy of about nine or ten was sitting alone. The woman approached the boy from behind and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Adam flinched violently and spun around, puffy red eyes glaring at her intensely. Adam had a partially healed cut on one side of his face and his left eye was black and swollen.
"Did they get you again?" she asked.
Adam nodded with tears in his eyes.
"Adam, can't you try and make some friends? They only pick on you because you're always alone."
"I can't," Adam in a quiet voice. He pulled he knees up to this chest and, wrapping his arms around them, began to rock backwards and forwards.
"Why not, Adam?"
"No one will want me! I'm a freak!" Adam snapped.
"You need to try, Adam," the woman sighed.
"Can you just get them to leave me alone?" Adam asked in a small voice.
"I'm sorry, Adam... but... I'll try," she trailed off.
Sighing, she left the room, leaving Adam holding his legs to his chest and staring into space.
Remus snapped back to reality.
"Then suddenly one day, he violently attacked another boy. We had no choice but to call the police, but by the time they got here, Adam was gone," she continued.
"Marie, come quickly!" a man dressed in the same blue uniform called to the woman that Remus had been speaking to.
She dashed quickly into the room from which the shout came. Adam was in one corner curled up into a ball and shaking violently. A large boy about twice the size of Adam was sprawled under the window lying in a pool of blood. It looked to Remus as if he had been thrown against the metal window frame.
"What did you do?" the man roared to Adam.
To Remus' shock, the man grabbed Adam by the scruff of his neck and roughly pulled him to his feet and shook him. Adam looked older than in the previous memory, probably by a year or so.
"Answer me!" the man roared.
Adam whimpered in response and the man slapped him across the face.
"Bill!" Marie cried out. "Stop! Let me take him, he may talk to me."
Bill put Adam back down on his feet.
"Lock him in the office until the police get here," said Bill.
The surroundings blurred slightly and suddenly Adam and Marie were standing in the office where Remus was currently sitting.
"What happened, Adam?" Marie asked.
"I-I-I d-d-don't know!" Adam cried. "He punched me and I fell. I got mad and when he tried to punch me again, something went bang and he flew across the room!"
"Adam! Tell the truth please! It's really important," Marie said. "Bill has called the police. I can only help you if you tell me the truth!"
"That is the truth!" Adam shouted.
"I'm sorry, Adam, if you won't tell me the truth, then I can't help you."
Marie left the room and locked the door. She leaned up against the wall and sighed. As she was leaning against the wall, Remus heard a faint pop from inside the room. Marie had obviously heard it as well. She scanned the area for the source of the noise. Finding nothing, she slowly walked away from the office.
"I can't tell you much more, I'm afraid. I probably shouldn't have told you this much," Marie finished.
"Thank you very much for your time," Remus replied, shaking her hand.
Remus replayed the memories he had seen in his head. The boy had obviously had an outburst of accidental magic in response to the bullying he received and had then managed to escape with further accidental magic. What was curious was that the Ministry hadn't got involved. Normally, a large accidental magic outburst would have triggered a visit from the Obliviators. What was more concerning to Remus was that the boy was clearly aware of his magical talents and had come to the conclusion that, because of them, he could not make friends with the others in the home. Something had clearly happened in his past to result in this attitude. Remus was determined to get to the bottom of this.