Fate

Chapter 29 - Interlude 3: Cry for Him

Ginny was frankly shocked when Professor McGonagall poked her head into the charms classroom, calling out to Professor Flickwick.

"Excuse me, Professor, but might I borrow Miss Weasley for a moment?" she said shortly, not bothering to wait for the tiny man's answer before she reached out, grabbing Ginny's arm and non-ceremoniously dragging her out into the hall.

The door shut quickly behind them, cutting off Flickwick's chuckle of consent before Ginny found herself being pulled down the hallway.

"Professor? Professor, what's going on?" she asked uncertainly, not quite sure whether she wanted to know what McGonagall was acting in such a bizarre manner.

"Professor Dumbledore is awake, Miss Weasley."

----

She still didn't quite know why she was there, but Ginny was grateful at least that she was able to see her Headmaster looking somewhat alive again. He was still ghastly pale and couldn't talk very much because of his weakness, but his chuckle was still the same, the one or two times she had heard it, and his piercing blue eyes never ceased to startle Ginny into recognizing his incredible powers.

"You sent Severus back?" Dumbledore was saying softly to professor McGonagall.

Ginny didn't exactly know what they were talking about, but she had some clue, as she knew that Harry, Sirius and Remus had gone back in time....that must have meant that Snape was sent back as well...

She grimaced, just imagining Harry's reaction to that little revelation.

McGonagall looked hesitant, an odd look for her, but she recovered quickly, nodding. "We assumed that was your plan....if things went ill..." she stopped, gauging Dumbledore's reaction. His face didn't change though, he merely sighed, closing his eyes for a moment and breathing deeply.

"What happened, Albus," McGonagall whispered. "In the chamber?"

Dumbledore sighed again and opened his eyes. "Fate tried to stop us."

Ginny frowned at the old wizard's words. Fate? Was he serious?

"Literally, it looks like," McGonagall huffed, gearing up to become annoyed again. "Did you never think of the consequences of messing with time?"

"Oh, I have thought of them a lot....many times throughout the past few weeks." He coughed gently. "Almost as many times as I've thought about Harry and the prophecy."

McGonagall's eyes flickered to Ginny and it seemed for the first time, Dumbledore noticed that she was there. Or had he always know? You could never tell with that man.

"Ah, Miss Weasley. Yes, don't worry Minerva. I believe Mr. Potter has already taken the liberty of explaining the prophecy to her."

Ginny nodded nervously. "Yes sir....right before he left he....he told me."

"She was the only one who had any remote idea what you four were up to," McGonagall huffed, obviously ready to completely explode about Dumbledore's terrible lack of information to her.

"Well, thank you for your help, Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said gratefully, smiling at her. "At least Mr. Potter had the foresight to tell someone, even if I did not."

There was silence for a moment, the word "foresight" ringing in everyone's mind.

"Professor," Ginny started, practically bursting with questions, but knowing the one that she wanted to....needed to ask. "If they went into the future through the veil...why is it....why is it that nothing has, well, changed?"

Dumbledore let out a weak chuckle. "I suppose that is the penetrating question, now, isn't it, Miss Weasley?"

McGonagall huffed, but Dumbledore just continued.

"The truth is; I have no definite answer. But I do have two guesses." He coughed again but was able to scoot himself up a bit on the bed so that he was sitting up more and continued. "No change has happened either because time itself cannot be changed, which would mean that all our work will be in vain. "His voice sounded pained at that thought. "My other guess is that nothing is changing yet because of just what you said before, Miss Weasley."

"What?" Ginny frowned. Sometimes Dumbledore's omniscient riddles could be highly annoying. "What did I say before?"

Dumbledore smiled gently. ""Through the veil.' I don't know how much Harry told you about Sirius' return, but the main reason that the spell would actually work was because behind the veil-"

"-time is different." Ginny finished bluntly, remembering Harry's lengthy expression about the veil.

"Exactly," Dumbledore's eyes were starting to twinkle again, and Ginny could tell that he was hoping that this theory, at least, would be proven correct. "Mere minutes passed behind the veil for Sirius, where months passed in the real world."

"How long do you think it will be before we feel the effects?" McGonagall cut in, catching on quick.

"It's hard to tell..." Dumbledore sunk back into the bed, letting out a long breath. "Probably not as long as I'll have to spend in this hospital bed." He smirked and gave Ginny a wink, but she didn't feel much like smiling at the moment.

----

Ginny glared daggers at the books and parchment in front of her, her heart pounding with fright, anticipation, anger and nervousness. In the long run, did it really matter if she got this potion's essay done? On the one hand, Professor Snape was still gone, and neither McGonagall nor Dumbledore could vouch for him coming back any time soon. On top of that was the fact that any minute, any second, the world as she knew it could be completely changed.

She gulped, pushing her chair away from the table and getting up, flopping onto the nearby couch in the commons room and trying to ignore the conversations all around her.

Just her luck, Hermione flopped down on the couch next to her, following suit and staring into the fire.

"You think he ran away because of us?" She finally whispered after almost a minute of silence between the pair.

Ginny whirled around to face the older girl. "What?!"

Hermione reached up, wiping her face and Ginny saw through the firelight that there were streaks of tears running down her face.

"Hermione?" Ginny said in a softer voice.

"Do you know where he is, Ginny?" Hermione said softly, turning to look at her, pure desolation on her face.

"Who?" Ginny breathed out.

"Harry."

Sucking in a knowing breath, Ginny closed her eyes for a moment trying to get a hold of herself. Merlin, she hadn't even thought about Ron and Hermione the past two weeks! She hadn't even remembered that they were Harry's best friends. They were the ones who were there for him from day one.

They were the ones that had a right to be worried. Ginny felt too much like a wannabe girlfriend.

Without a word, Ginny reached up, putting an arm around Hermione as the older witch began to silently sob, her face in her hands and her anguish going unnoticed by most everyone in the commons room.

"What would he just go?" Hermione whimpered. "Without a word to any of us...doesn't he know how much we care?"

Ginny felt a silent tear run down her own face. Maybe this was a way to get off her own fears, comfort someone else's. At least she knew where Harry was, or rather when. Hermione and Ron knew nothing. Speaking of which...

"Hermione....where's Ron?" she asked softly. The two had been becoming so close over the weeks before Harry left and now that Ginny thought about it, she hadn't seen the both of them together in a while.

Hermione sat up slightly, seemingly embarrassed about crying, but managed to still look positively devastated, even when she wasn't trying. She glanced over towards the stairway to the boy's dorms. "He didn't come down for breakfast today..." She sniffed and another tear fell down her face. "Merlin," she breathed out a sigh, trying to get a hold of herself, "we just had this huge fight about Harry and...oh I don't know!" She hung her head again and Ginny reached up and began to scratch her back in a sisterly kind of way, waiting for her to continue. "Harry was always the glue, you know? I don't think either of us realized how hard it would be for us to be the golden duo instead of the golden trio..." she took a deep breath. "Neither of us are mad at him but Ron...Ron just doesn't know how to take it..." she began to tear up again. "He's scared. He's scared just like me..."

Ginny didn't quite know what to say, but she knew that Hermione, at least, had Ron figured out.

"Do you know where he is, Ginny?" She finally repeated, sitting up straight and looking at her right on, tears continuing to fall down her face. She must have seen Ginny's hesitant face, for she suddenly reached forward, grabbing her arm, her bottom lip trembling. "You have to tell me. Please...please, Ginny..."

"He's fine, Hermione," Ginny said softly. She pulled away, trying to ignore, Hermione's continual silent pleading. Standing up, Ginny glanced down at the ground. "He's...he's where he should be right now."

Ginny was so terrified that she barely felt the tears that were now covering her own cheeks and continually blurring her vision. Not quite able to take it any more, she backed up a few steps before turning and walking quickly out of the portrait hole, practically collapsing in sobs as the picture of the Fat Lady closed behind her. She managed to grip onto the nearby stair railing and hung on for dear life as the sobs racked her body and for the first time since Harry kissed her goodbye, Ginny allowed herself to cry for him.