Bedtime Stories

Chapter 1 - Survival

I'll never be an angel
I'll never be a saint it's true
I'm too busy surviving
Whether it's heaven or hell
I'm gonna be living to tell
-Madonna - Survival

Ginny Weasley was sitting in her bedroom. It was the same bedroom she shared with Hermione Granger for part of past summers. Currently her entire family was at the Burrow, well for the most part. Fred and George were living above their shop in Diagon Alley. Bill was sharing an apartment with Charlie who had come home to help with the Order. Percy was still not talking to anyone. But this night, they would all be there. Harry was arriving from the Dursley's.

After Ron and Ginny had returned from Hogwarts, their mother had been talked to them endlessly, berating them about going to the ministry. Ron was still recovering from the brains and Ginny was dealing with the loss of Sirius, among other things.

Ginny was tired of it. She was tired of overbearing parents telling her that their youngest shouldn't be involved with clandestine groups or rescue missions. Ginny was tired of her older brothers telling her that she should leave the big things to those that were better trained. The girl was mostly frustrated that no one seemed to understand that she had seen more evil at age eleven than they would ever see in their entire lifetime, but no one seemed to remember that.

It had aggravated her that she had to remind Harry of that fact when he was the one that had saved her from the chamber. Did no one know that she went through the possession? Or did they take the explanation that Harry had given when they emerged from Slytherin's lair at face value? Of course no one would ever believe that the Weasleys youngest, their angel would ever do anything wrong. In the minds of her family, the big bad wizard possessed Ginny and she shouldn't have to worry about any of the blame.

What none of them seemed to realise was that she relived the chamber nightly! It was a never-ending replay of her first year. She could see Hermione, her best female friend and Penelope, her brother's girlfriend petrified. There were times that she couldn't even look at Colin during classes, and he was one of her friends. The worst came from Justin Finch-Fletchley during DA meetings last term. The guilt would come back every night as she closed her eyes. It was one of the things that drove her to perfect her duelling skills. She never wanted to be possessed again. She never wanted to be under the control of a Death Eater again.

When she thought back to the Department of Mysteries, a part of the girl wanted to be stronger so that she could have hexed Lucius Malfoy. He was the one that gave her the diary to begin with. At least, everyone knew now that Malfoy was a Death Eater and locked away in Azkaban.

Tonight, Ginny was going to tell her family to leave her alone. She was stronger now than her first year and could fight her own battles. The problem was what would they say. Ginny Weasley couldn't be the perfect student that her parents wanted. She couldn't be the angelic little sister. Gin could only be what she was and that was a survivor.

A knock sounded at her bedroom door that broke her out of her thoughts. "Little One, Mum wants you downstairs to help with set the table," Bill called through the door.

She rolled her eyes at the little one comment. Granted he was over six feet tall, but she wasn't that little anymore. "Coming, Bill."

"Ok, I will let Mum know." She heard him walk back down stairs.

Grabbing her sandals, she ran down the stairs dropping them in the living room for a walk after dinner. Ginny walked into the kitchen where her mother was making a large dinner for the family and Harry. Molly was standing over the stove monitoring the different pots and cauldrons that were bubbling with her amazing cooking.

"Mum, you called me?"

Molly wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist. "Yes, I did. Can you set the table? Bill and Charlie are doing something in the living room and the others are in the back paddock playing Quidditch."

"Sure. When will the other guests be arriving? Should I set a place for them?" She grabbed plates from the cupboard.

"Well, I think that Harry, Remus, Tonks and Mad-Eye will arrive in time for dinner. So make sure there are places for them. Your brothers have already set the tables up in the garden."

"Yes, Mum." She walked out with the plates in her hands. Ginny was seething about Ron, Fred, and George all playing Quidditch. Did they not think that she might want to join them? Or was the baby too fragile to play with the boys? She thought to herself. She laid out the plates and walked back into the kitchen to get the silverware and napkins. The girl wandered back out to the garden and finished setting the table. Her brothers began to walk out of the orchard sweaty with their brooms tossed over their shoulders.

"Did you three ever think that I might want to join you?" Ginny asked casually.

Ron was the first to respond. "Well, no. Harry will get his place back on the team, so you won't be Seeker."

"Is that the only position that you think I would play next term?" she asked quietly, her anger just under the surface.

Fred and George looked at each other and then at their younger brother. They could see that she was upset with them, but they didn't want to be around when she started in on Ron. The twins kept walking toward the house leaving the youngest two to deal with this alone.

Ron, on the other hand, didn't see the tell tale signs of his sister's temper. "Why Ginny? What else can you play?"

The wind around the garden began to pick up and Ginny didn't know why the beautiful weather was beginning to change. "Well, Ron..." The tension in her voice sounded like hardened steel. "Angelina and Alicia are gone this year. There are two Chaser positions open and I want to try out for one, but you are too dense to remember that fact, aren't you?"

Ron stood there watching and listening to his sister. "No. I had no idea that you wanted to play Chaser, but you shouldn't be playing at all. What happens if you get hurt? I can't protect you from the goal posts."

"Ron, I never asked you to bloody protect me. Get it through your thick skull that I can protect myself!" She turned on her heel and started back to the house. "You know something, Hermione was right. You do have the emotional range of a teaspoon. I don't know what that girl sees in you!" She left her brother speechless and continued into the kitchen.

She went into the living room where her two oldest brothers were chatting over a game of chess. She dropped onto the sofa to watch the match. It looked like Charlie had backed Bill into a corner with his rook and a castle and Bill had no way of recovering from the move.

"Hey, Little one." Bill called to his sister. "Get everything done for Mum?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I was the good daughter and helped Mummy in the kitchen." Venom dripping from her very words.

Charlie picked up on her tone. "What's wrong with you?"

"I am just tired of being so perfect." She got up and walked to her room, leaving the two oldest of the Weasley children in stunned silence.

Her bedroom still looked like it did when she was a ten year old. The soft lilac walls with the same pictures depicting fairytales graced the sun-faded paint. Here she felt safe. It was her own private hideaway from whatever threatened her personal well being. Her books sat on the shelves and her homework was waiting on the desk crying out to be finished, but she wanted none of it. Flopping on her bed, she stared at the ceiling.

Gin's thoughts began with a vengeance. My family needs to learn that I am not what they think I am. I am not a fragile doll that can't be touched. My brothers think that innocent little Ginny can't do what they do. Will they ever get that I have been through hell and I came out the other side alive? So, maybe I was a bit singed. The nightmares never go away, but I survived. She was brought from her own mind when Fred knocked on her door to say that dinner was ready.

Must mean that Harry and the guard are here. She paused at her vanity table to run a brush through her mid-back length wavy red hair. She laid the brush back down and ran to the garden.

The family had settled around the dinner table. She noticed a seat open by George and sat down without speaking to anyone. The twins were still giving her looks from the meeting after their Quidditch play. Charlie and Bill were both giving her side-glances and Ron was still trying to decipher her words from their confrontation. The only ones that seemed to be oblivious to anything going on were Molly and Arthur.

"Mum when is Harry getting here?" Ron finally broke the silence.

"They should be here soon. Why don't we get started so the food doesn't get cold, shall we?"

The boys unceremoniously began diving into the food. Ginny decided to wait till they were done at the trough before filling her plate. As the boys began to tuck in, she placed some chicken on her plate along with some of the cold salads that Molly had made earlier in the day. A light conversation began between the two oldest and her parents, it wasn't till someone mentioned the ministry that she understood what it was about.

"The Unspeakables were unable to tell us about the veil other than it was a gateway to the other side. There is no way we can get Sirius back," Arthur explained to Bill and Charlie, "but they are planning on changing the security in the department so that Children can't just walk in at anytime."

Ron and Ginny shared a look at this revelation. "Dad, the security had nothing to do with us walking in, Harry already knew where he was going," Ron explained.

"Yes, but you shouldn't have been there at all. I don't know what you were thinking!" Molly started on one of her trademark rants. "What would have happened if one of you had died!"

"Mum, no one from our party died. Sirius did in a duel with Bellatrix," Ginny reminded them, "and we were thinking about saving Sirius at the time."

"That doesn't matter. I am used to Ron going on Harry's adventures, but you had no place there Ginny! What do you think that I would be doing now if you had gotten more than a sprained ankle?" Molly rounded on her only daughter.

"You don't get it, Mum. This is my fight just as much as it is you and Dad's or Harry's or Dumbledore's. That monster possessed me and I won't rest till he is gone! Please understand that."

Arthur and the boys that were used to watching Molly or Ginny get angry leaned back in their chairs to watch the show. These two passionate Weasley women could have a good row at times. It was better to allow it to run its course.

"Be as it may young lady, I don't fancy my only daughter getting into a battle she shouldn't fight!"

"Oh, Mum I grew up with this lot. I have been protecting myself since I was three years old. I don't need you and Dad protecting me. Don't set Ron on me while I am in school because of the bullshit that happened my first year. I have the top defence scores in my year. I can handle what comes my way!"

"Don't use that language with me young lady. I won't take that from your brothers and I am not going to take it from you."

Arthur thought that he should try to stop them before this went too far. "Molly, Ginny, I think that you need to calm down. We can talk about this later."

"No Dad, let's talk about this now. This is as good as a time as any." Ginny stood up from her seat. "What none of you seem to realise is that I know pure evil. I have had it in me and I lived with it for almost a year. I know I shouldn't have trusted that bloody diary, but no one else seemed to be listening to me at the time. So this nice boy named Tom talked to me. I was no longer the forgotten child! I poured my soul into those pages. Tom knew about how Ron, Fred, George, and Percy ignored me for that year. Tom knew about that damn crush! Everyone seems to be so intent on protecting me, then why the hell didn't you protect me that year?!?"

The air around Ginny became warmer as a southerly breeze picked up. She stepped back knocking over the chair behind her. Her eyes began to change from their normal chocolate brown to an almost cinnamon golden brown.

"As I began to pull away from everyone, the two that noticed were Fred and George, but by that time it was too late! Percy finally pulled his head out of his arse by March and tried to send to me to Pomfrey for Pepperup Potion. But darling Ron kept pushing me away when I tried to tell him and Harry that something was wrong. Do you know how it feels to be pushed away by the one brother you trusted that was there?"

The light and fluffy clouds that had been in the sky suddenly became dark and stormy. The wind went from a breeze to about ten knots. Ginny's hair started to catch the air stream and dance along it. Her eyes flashed dangerously at her family.

"Merlin, when will you get it through your heads that this is my battle! I want Voldemort to pay for what he did to me. He stole my childhood and my innocence!"

Bill was the first to notice that Ginny was no longer standing on the ground. She had begun to hover a couple of inches above it. Her arms were spread partially at her sides as her rant continued. He reached for his wand to stun her if needed. It wasn't something that he wanted to do, but would. He noticed his parents staring wide-eyed at her as she continued.

Charlie was sitting on the other side of the table from Bill and saw four people port-key into the garden out of his sister's line of sight. He watched as Harry, Remus, Tonks and Moody all straightened themselves up. Charlie turned back to her as she continued.

"Until that bastard is dead and in the grave, I will not rest! Tom Riddle needs to pay for what he has done to me and to the rest of the Wizarding world. Too many of us died in the first war and I want to make sure that we don't lose too many in this one. We have already lost Sirius and he was a fighter! Tom stole twelve years from Sirius. I know that you didn't want me to get to know him last summer, to protect the baby from the escaped criminal, but he became someone I could confide in. He understood what hell was!" She threw her arms up in frustration as thunder crashed in the distance. "Sirius Black gave up everything for a boy that he loved more than his own life. There was nothing that he wouldn't do for Harry. Mum, I know that you love Harry as if he were one of us, but Harry and Sirius were all each other had."

Harry stood there and listened as Ginny seethed. When she mentioned Sirius' name, it was if she was the only person on the earth at that moment. He watched, as she seemed to be floating in front of the table. He could feel pure power radiating off of her - it was almost intoxicating. Some where in the recesses of his mind a comment that George had made the year before came back, that size was no guarantee of power. But what surprised him the most was that she knew and completely understood what his relationship with Sirius was.

"I want all of you to understand something right now. Anytime there is a fight or something that needs to be done, I will be in the middle of it. Nothing that any of you can say will ever stop me from that. When Tom is gone, then I won't get involved, but until then, this is my fight! I will do anything that Harry or Dumbledore needs to win!

"I am smart enough to know that the prophecy Voldemort wanted had something to do with his destruction. The prophecy might have been lost, but it doesn't mean that it won't be fulfilled. Ron and I were there; we know that it said Dark Lord and Harry Potter. There has to be a reason that Tom has targeted Harry for the past sixteen years. There has to be more to it than just spite."

As Ginny began to lose steam, the weather started to change back to the sunny summer day it had been previously. Remus laid down Harry's trunk and moved toward the dinner table as the wind began to calm. The wolf in him knew that something was going wonky concerning the weather. Since he was in tune with the changes of the moon, he could also feel weather patterns. The professor in him knew that the girl before him had just released a large amount of power. It was something that her parents and Dumbledore needed to speak about and soon.

"All I really ask is that you let me out of the box you have all built for me. I am not perfect, I do not need to be protected, and I have survived. I will keep on surviving until the end. I don't know what my place is in the grand design, but I will be there to meet it when it comes." She turned and walked from the table leaving her family silent. She moved toward the orchard to get away from them.

Moody and Tonks approached the table as the girl left. Moody was the first to speak. "Well, I think that the sprite is willing to join us," he growled.

The Weasley brothers watched their sister walk away. Ron had tears streaming down his face at his sister's words. He had never known that she felt that they had all failed her during that first year she was at Hogwarts. The sheer force of her words would stick with him for a while. The youngest had understood from the beginning what was at stake. He had always helped Harry because he was his best friend but she had a personal vendetta against Voldemort. It had never sunk in what she went through until this moment.

The twins were in awe of the balls that Ginny had shown them all. They never had an inkling of what she felt because it wasn't something they as a family ever talked about.

"Molly and Arthur, I think that we need to get a hold of Albus. It seems that Ginny has more power than any of us ever thought," Remus finally spoke.

Molly looked up at the werewolf her face bright red from shame and tears. "I believe you are right Remus. Arthur, can you take care of it? And someone needs to go after Ginny."

Harry decided to speak. "I'll go. She was the only one willing to come after me last term." He started to follow the girl into the trees.

"Harry, it's fine. Let her calm down and I will go and talk to her when I am done speaking with Albus," Arthur told the boy.

"No, I know what she is going through after last summer. I'll make sure Ginny comes back."

Molly placed a hand on Arthur's arm. "Thank you Harry. You might be the only one that she talks to after this." The matriarch of the Weasley family put her napkin on the table. "There is food here everyone. Have something to eat and save Ginny and Harry something for when they return." She went in to the house to sort through what she had just heard.

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Harry walked through the apple trees trying to find Ginny. He knew that she had headed this way. He continued toward the paddock when a broom flew past him. He paused for a moment before heading back to the house. Running to his trunk he took out his Firebolt, and turned back to find her. Since she had a broom now, there was only one place she would be.

He reached the paddock to find her flying without a care in the world. He stopped to watch her, a slight smile on his face. He had noticed she had a great deal of natural talent last school year when she was on the team, but considering how she was flying now, it was pure poetry. The small girl dipped and rolled with amazing grace and precision through the air. He didn't want to break her concentration. He mounted his broom and decided to fly in silence for a while with her.

She looked up after losing herself to the sky and saw him flying at the other end of the pitch. She could see the look of pure joy on his face with each feint. He looked at peace back on a broom. Maybe I understand Harry more than I thought. I know that look; I wear it anytime I fly, she thought as she came to stop to watch him.

Harry was in heaven. It was the first time since the Slytherin game when he was banned that he had been back on a broom. Oh how he has missed this bit of freedom. The rest of the world could sod off for all he cared when he was in the air. His peripheral vision noticed the lack of movement where she had been flying. He turned his Firebolt and headed over to her.

"Are you all right," he asked quietly.

She sighed at the question. "Yeah, I am. I just got tired of them trying to run my life for me. How are you doing?"

He knew that was a loaded question considering everything that had happened at the end of the spring. "Better than expected, I think. I still miss him you know."

"I miss him too." She sided her broom next to his and wrapped her arms around his thin frame. She was used to him not responding to hugs, but what surprised her was that he did this time. She felt his arms enfold her body pulling it closer to his. Using her knees, she directed her broom down to the ground, pulling him along with her.

He could sense what she was doing and followed her down. They dismounted leaving their brooms on the ground and hugged again. He felt something he had never felt from a hug from a girl, comfort and understanding. Hermione's hugs always seemed to be of the mothering variety, comfort alone. But Ginny's hug was full of love, understanding and pure calm. The wall he had built since Sirius' death was trying to crumble in the arms of a girl he had known for years. Add in the words she spoke in the garden, and he understood that she was a kindred spirit. Ginny Weasley was a survivor, just like he was.

They broke apart and sat in the grass. She wasn't ready to go back to her family just yet and she sensed that he wanted to talk, but wanted him to be the one to initiate the conversation. There were many things that she knew about the boy in front of her, and one was he didn't like to be pressed.

"How have you been filling your summer?"

A distant look flashed across his eyes. "Mostly reading and a few summer chores. Remus came by a few times to talk. We spoke about Sirius for the most part. He also told me some stories of my parents."

"It's good that you had someone to talk to. I want you to know if you ever need to talk, I am here. Our personal hell might be different, but I do understand." As she spoke, she picked at some grass in front of her.

"Gin, I wanted to apologise for last Christmas."

A look of puzzlement crossed the girl's face. "Last Christmas?"

"When we were talking about being possessed."

"Harry, you asked for forgiveness then. It's ok. I forgave you the moment you asked."

He sat quietly for a moment or two. "Ginny, what caused the outburst when we arrived?"

"How much were you there for?" she asked.

"I arrived when you were talking about Sirius."

"Well, what started the whole thing was Dad was talking about the Department of Mysteries tightening up their security so that children couldn't just walk in." Harry could hear the sarcasm in her words. "And Mum started in about Ron and I being there. Which lead to Ron going on your yearly adventures, and that is fine because he is a boy. But their little girl isn't allowed to join the boys on said adventures. My entire family has been treating me like glass since we got back from Hogwarts. I finally snapped. So I told them all that I was a part of this whether they liked it or not and I would be fighting till Tom was gone.

"I know that you didn't want me to join you at the Ministry, but this my fight as well. There is nothing that will stop me from joining until Voldemort is gone."

He listened to what she was saying. It had never crossed his mind that she would want to fight. "Why did you say that I wasn't the only one that cared what happened to Sirius?"

"Because you weren't. I was able to speak to the old dog quite a few times last summer. Padfoot never treated me like a little girl. He saw me as a survivor. He talked about you a bit as well. He was worried about what would happen to you when this was all over with.

"Harry, no matter what, I want you to know that Sirius loved you. I didn't matter to him that he was given a directive to stay in the house when he found about the Department of Mysteries. You could have been fighting Voldemort in the middle of Diagon Alley and Sirius would have been there standing beside you, protecting you and fighting with you. That was just his way." Ginny reached out and patted his right hand.

Harry reached for her hand, horror dawning in his eyes. "Why didn't I notice that you've grown up?"

She smiled with a touch of sadness. "It's been happening for a while now; I've just not been on your list of things to pay attention to.

He winced as her words hit him, and he realised he was unable to deny it. "Would it help if I noticed now?" He fixed his eyes intently on hers.

She started to shake her head, but stopped. Something in his eyes was talking to her. She could see the understanding there, that he knew what she meant. He knew what it was like to be almost suffocated by overly protective people who cared. Slowly, she smiled at him. "Maybe."

He grinned at her, not releasing her hand. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

"Why?"

"Now I've noticed, I've got years to catch up on."

A/N: I wanted to thank a wonderful friend and Pre-beta, Tim. And also thank ChaoticK for the beta. **Grin** Enjoy!