Ginny

Wales

The Easter holidays came quicker than Ginny had imagined they would. Perhaps it was because she was getting to know people more - and they were getting to know her - so she was far more involved in what was going on.

She still hadn't started lessons, because the General Opinion was that it was best that she started lessons after Easter, because it was a new term, they'd be starting new topics, and it was best that she didn't just catch the ends of subjects. Ginny had agreed because she wanted to put off actually doing anything for as long as she possibly could.

"I wish I was staying at Hogwarts," Narcissa said. "It's my great grandmother's 100^th birthday, big family gathering..." she sighed. "I bet it'll be really boring. My great grandmother can't tell the difference between me and my brother. I'm sorry I'm not staying too, I could help you with catching up and things."

"Oh, it's OK. I'm not staying at Hogwarts over Easter anyway. I'm staying at James'."

Roìsìn leaned towards them, having been sitting on her bed, packing. "You're doing what?"

"Staying at James' over Easter," Ginny repeated.

"Why?" said Roìsìn, as though Ginny had said she was going to be spending Easter with her limbs strapped to the uppermost branches of the Whomping Willow.

"Well... he asked. Anyway, you two are going home over the holidays - "

"- Family gathering -" Narcissa cut in.

"Hello, Lily!"

"Uh... I thought you were staying at school?"

"I thought you were. We all make mistakes!"

"So ... you're going home?"

"Hell no. I'm staying at James' over the holidays."

Oh dear lord, thought Ginny. The entirety of the Easter holidays with Sirius and James. Both of them. For a month. With no escape. She wasn't sure she'd survive.

"Oh," she said, trying to sound as indifferent as she possibly could. "So... James has enough spare rooms?" The alternative didn't bear thinking about.

"Oh, yeah!" Sirius said happily. "His house is huge! It's a bit wonky but there's these great tunnels and secret doors and hidden passages and stuff everywhere, it's really fantastic! Hi James!" The last part sounded so much like the rest that it took Ginny a moment to realise what he had said. She looked in the same direction as Sirius was, and sure enough, there was James, carrying an awful lot of luggage.

Along with a suitcase that looked big enough to contain twice as many clothes and books than Ginny supposed James would pack, there was a broomstick case and a heavily bound chest.

"Hello Sirius," he said, dumping his luggage down next to theirs. There was a rather frightening rattling sound from the chest, as though something alive was trying to get out. Ginny stared.

Seeing her expression, James grinned. "It's the Bludgers."

"Oh." Ginny was a little surprised. Why would anyone need a whole set of Quidditch equipment when the school already had them? Ah well. James was, after all, more than a little fanatical about Quidditch. "So you have your own balls?"

Fortunately, they managed to resuscitate Sirius just before the train arrived, a task made all the trickier by James' frequently spluttering "My own balls!". Once they were on the train, Ginny muttered "I didn't mean it like that!" at regular intervals in an attempt to stop Sirius' incessant giggling.

*****

The train was far emptier than Ginny was accustomed to. She assumed that this was due to the fifth- and seventh-year students staying behind to study for their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s respectively, but through her own experience she knew that exams rarely stopped anyone escaping Hogwarts for the holidays. Maybe they took things more seriously back ... now. Anyway, the result was that they could shove their trunks in one compartment and have another one to themselves - well, so to speak. Within minutes of the train leaving the station, Ginny was forced to flee the compartment an onslaught of strange expanding dungbombs and the like from some fourth-year Hufflepuffs who had launched a brave attack on James and Sirius. She took refuge in their luggage compartment, with a book Roìsìn had lent to her.

Ginny slid the door shut behind her, instantly blocking out the yells and shouts from the battle she had left behind. Tucking herself into a corner close to the window, she pulled her feet up onto the seat and settled herself with her book. While she flicked through the pages to find her place she let her thoughts drift. This had been a regular occurrence for her during the past week. She would open a book, or one of the ever-present copies of Which Broom? that lay around the common room, and simply stare blankly at the pas, thinking. About her family mainly. She missed them now, terribly. At first it had seemed like a holiday. No parents; no school (well, not for her); no whispers behind her back or mocking glances following her wherever she went.

But them home-sickness set in. Although life in 1975 seemed in so many ways better than life in 1995, there was a gap inside her like a chunk of herself was missing. Her family had always been close - physically, as well as emotionally. It was hard to be so far away from them. She tried to limit her thoughts about them, but they always crept back. She would pretend to herself that it really was a holiday and some day soon they would all come walking back into her life. But she knew it wasn't true. She knew one day the pain would fade and it would hurt less to be away from them. She had this second chance to start again, make right where she went wrong. Not many people got that; she had to make it work. But she wouldn't forget them - she couldn't. But how could she make a go of this second chance, be Lily, when she was still trapped by Ginny's problems?

*****

The train pulled into Kings Cross station at around 5. Ginny lugged her case out onto the platform, with some help from James. They were all dressed in muggle clothes, Ginny sporting a new long, dark brown dress with an empire line waist. She was fortunate that the fashions in the muggle and the wizarding world were at the time relatively similar, meaning that the small fortune she'd spent on clothes in Diagon Alley wouldn't leave her devoid of anything fit for forays into the Muggle world.

They passed through the barrier in a group, James immediately flying off to the right, quickly followed by Sirius. Ginny stood uncomfortably by the barrier, guarding the trolley with their three trunks and James' Quidditch kit. She had lost sight of them in the crowd of busting people filling the station. A sudden shout caught her attention and she saw James running towards her, out of breath.

"Where did you - " she began, but James grabbed her arm, and pulled her with him, as he sped off again.

She just had time to grab onto the trolley, before they set off at a sprint across the station. There was no time to ask questions as they flew past the small café and packed waiting room which were the predecessors of the mini shopping centre that was to come in later years. James turned a sharp corner onto platform 3 where Sirius was waiting, wearing an expression Ginny guessed was anxious. Whatever it was, he snatched up their trunks - which was no mean feat taking into account James' excessive Quidditch paraphernalia - and stowed them onto the strange train that stood by the platform with a speed that didn't seem possible for the Sirius she knew. Not that she really knew him, she reminded herself.

James hopped up on the train, pushing Ginny in front of him, and pulling the door shut as the platform slipped away from them.

"God, almost didn't all make it that time," panted James.

"It's Lily, you had to go back and get her, that's what held us up," replied Sirius, looking somewhat icily at Ginny.

"Sorry," she muttered meekly.

"Oh, don't worry about it. You're new. It takes a few times to get used to the change. You'll do better next time, " James said looking amiably at her.

"Next time, eh?" Sirius winked at the other boy.

"Piss off, " retortedJames, following it up with a badly judged kick at Sirius' shins.

Abruptly the door to Ginny's left clattered open and a head stuck out.

"Sorry to interrupt this witty repartee, but are you coming, or do we have to save these seats for another couple of hours?"

The voice came from a woman in about her mid to late 30's, or so Ginny judged, with raven black hair laced with deep red that caught the light. She had smooth skin, with only a hint of wrinkles around her eyes that looked like they came from smiling a great deal. Her distinctive hazel eyes marked her out as a relative of James.

"Were coming, mum, "said James, "don't worry."

Mum? That was James' mother? Her head disappeared back behind the door.

"Now that is a woman who knows how to moisturise," stated Ginny, awe-struck. James and Sirius stared. "What? I'm just saying. She has good skin. I'd never have guessed her for a mother. Well, not of a 15 year old, anyway. How old is she?"

"Um... 37? Can we go in now?" James said in clear discomfort, pulling the door open.

"Really? When the hell did she have you?"

"My, aren't we full of personal questions today," said James, stiltedly. He squeezed through the door followed by Ginny and Sirius.

"It's just a question."

"Of course it is, dear." James' mum was looking up at her from one of the uncomfortable-looking seats. "We Potters marry young. I plan to see great-great-grand children, myself." She grinned toothily at Ginny, with a look in her eye that made Ginny feel like she was a piece of meat being priced up.

"Oh," she said quietly.

"You must be Lily. We've heard all about you." Another wink from Sirius. "Oh, look at you, don't you look lovely in that dress. To tell the truth, when James told us you were coming we were a tad worried that you wouldn't dress quite appropriately."

"You were being ridiculous, dear, " put in the tall man sitting in the seat next to James' mum in a thick Australian accent. He had undistinctive brownish blond hair cut in a style that Ginny was sure was fashionable for the time, but somewhat resembled a mop. His long straight nose was set firmly between his wide brown eyes, giving him a serious yet understanding look. Even sitting down, she could tell he was built like a rugby player. "What would she have done? Turned up in pyjamas or something?"

What was it with these people and pyjamas? thought Ginny.

"Humph. Well, you do look lovely. That shade really brings out your eyes."

"Thank you ... Mrs. Potter," she said shyly.

"It's Gwendolyn, I'll have none of that 'Mrs. Potter' nonsense. It makes me feel middle aged. It's bad enough with those Gringotts Goblins. Oh, and this is my husband Dafydd. Don't mind his accent, he's been back here almost 20 years now and he simply refuses to lose it."

"It's part of my cultural heritage; you're suggesting I lose part of my cultural heritage?"

"Heritage? What heritage?"

Ginny could see where James got his conversational style. "Back?" she said, looking up away from her shoes that she had been staring fervently at during the exchange.

"Yes, I used to live in Wales," Dafidd began, putting more emphasis on his Australian pronunciation, "born there actually, into the Potter family, but my father was rather the black sheep, you see. He moved my mother and I to Australia before the War. Thank goodness we avoided all that."

"Yes, while I was stuck entertaining the troops in some godforsaken village in South Wales."

"Least it's warmer than in Snowdonia."

"Humph."

"Excuse me, " whispered Ginny, still suffering from acute embarrassment, "but where exactly are we going?"

Gwendolyn looked up at her. "Didn't James tell you? We live in South Wales, catching this train is the easiest way to get there from London. It is muggle transport, but our house is quite old, and the Wizarding National Heritage board won't let us install our fireplace into the Floo system. It's irritating, I know, but once we reach the station, there'll be a car waiting for us. Is that alright, dear?"

"Um," Ginny stuttered, but Gwendolyn had already moved on.

"Oh, Sirius! I didn't see you there, you were supposed to be coming, weren't you, yes, I knew that. You've gone and grown on me, haven't you? And your hair! That's grown, too, of course. Why won't you let me cut it? I could do such a lovely job. Smarten you right up." She paused to take a breath, then sniffed the air a couple of times. "Have you been using dungbombs? You know how I feel about them. We have rules, you know. Nothing that screams -"

"Screams, screeches," cut in the two boys in unison, "bites, bashes, burns or in any other way causes grievous bodily harm, nothing that smells, expands, explodes, erupts..."

Ginny tuned out, sat down on one of the uncomfortable looking (and feeling) seats, and began to assess the past ten or fifteen minutes. Gwendolyn was a very friendly person, as far as Ginny could see, but she did seem to talk in Italics; and Dafydd... well, he was quite a large character to say the least. And mix that with James and Sirius ... this was going to be a long journey.

*****

After several hours on the train, they pulled up in a small station with the long unpronounceable name of the town printed neatly on it. Directly outside the station was an elegant black Aston Martin and standing by it was a tall grey haired man in his mid forties. His face was lined and wind-beaten, but his eyes were intelligent. He took their cases and put them in the boot, whose inner proportions seemed suspiciously larger than its outside appearance should have allowed. It reminded Ginny of her dad's old Ford Anglia. She, Sirius, James and Gwendolyn all crowded in the back of the car, which became more and more reminiscent of the Ford Anglia with every look.

They had been driving for no more that five or ten minutes, James and Sirius chatting noisily all the time, when the car slowed down and turned off the road between two stone pillars. A wrought iron sign proclaimed the house to be 'Gable End'. The car swept up the tree-lined drive and the house itself came into view.

"Wow," Ginny breathed.