Morality

(2) Deserted

The once busy street of Diagon Alley stretched ahead of her, unlit and gloomy. Today, Madam Malkin's was open for the first time in a week. Glancing inside, Ginny saw a frightened looking child clinging to his mother as Madam Malkin pinned up his robes. That was the mood these days: abject terror. It was the kind of fear that was too real, too fresh, and anyone with half a mind knew better than to tempt fate by heading outside.

Everyone realized that there was, perhaps, even more danger now than there had been at the time of You-Know-Who's previous reign of terror. But Ginny couldn't help looking down at the witches and wizards who secluded themselves entirely. It wasn't as if most homes were any safer than the streets. There had already been several killings, each with a glowing Dark Mark hanging above, illuminating the scene in a ghastly green glow. Ginny knew from the pictures in the paper that there was more reason than ever to be afraid, but she tried to worry as little as possible. Being afraid accomplished nothing; only "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" would do anyone any good. At least, that was Moody's take on it. Of late, he had taken to hanging about the Burrow, looking menacing and slightly out of place. In an attempt to avoid her mother's raging tempers and Moody's penetrating eye, Ginny had asked her brothers if they would mind her visiting for a week.

They had been glad to have her, despite Mrs. Weasley's attempts to convince her not to go. Although they had promised to entertain her, Fred and George were busier at the store than they let on. From the first day she had come to stay, the twins had been preoccupied with marketing, inventing and testing their newest concoctions. Ginny had rather expected to be ignored, though she didn't mind it: anything was better than staying at the Burrow everyday during the summer. However, she couldn't help but feel that the deserted air of Diagon Alley was getting to her. Sometimes she could not help but allow the hopelessness to seep into her. It was highly contagious. The twins managed alright by keeping themselves busy, and Ginny's parents worked constantly for the Order, so at least they felt as if they were making a difference to the resistance. She wondered if she was the only one who felt as if there was sometimes just not enough spirit to go around. It wasn't as if Dumbledore's demise had helped the morale, Ginny thought absently. This was the point that she found herself ceaselessly returning to each time she allowed herself to delve too deeply into her thoughts. He had led the Order, kept everyone in line. He was the man with the plan. Now, the Order's attempts at reconnaissance were scattered, at best.

Harry was their only hope. It was as simple as that. Ginny, along with all the rest, realized this. No one had come around to saying it, but it weighed on their shoulders as heavily as a block of lead. No one could bring themselves to say that they were useless if not for Harry. They didn't want to put that pressure on him, but he had always known, ever since the day he found out the truth about his parents. Which was, perhaps, one reason Ginny found it so strange that she had heard no news of him. The most that had been said was that he would be staying at the Burrow indefinitely, starting the night of his seventeenth birthday. From what she had gathered, his protection with the muggles would end the moment he came of age. This thought brought about the fate of Hogwarts, which, from what she had heard, was uncertain.

Professor McGonagall had taken over as the Headmistress at the end of last year's term, but there had been no decision as to the state of the school. The teachers were all calling for it's reopening, but many parents refused to even consider sending their children back to the school where a murder had been committed. Ginny couldn't blame them after the turmoil at the end of last year, but she knew that if the school reopened, her parents might also prevent her return to the school. Their alliance was to Dumbledore, to the Order, and no amount of Ministry protection would keep out the Dark Lord if he chose to storm the castle.

Ginny continued on her way to the Leaky Cauldron, occasionally glancing at the few open shops that were surrounded by boarded windows and doors on either side. Most of these stores remained closed for good. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was the only shop that was open on a set schedule; the rest of the "in-business" shops would open sporadically for safety purposes. Ginny knew, of course, that they had every reason to be afraid, but she couldn't exactly commend them on their bravery. At least Fred and George kept their business open, despite their fears.

As for the missing wand-maker, Ollivander, Ginny knew that he had not been kidnapped. This she had managed to gather from listening in on some of her parents' hushed conversations. However, some suspected that he had agreed to work in the Dark Lord's service, with a promise of protection, while others believed that Ollivander had removed himself from Diagon Alley to a place where no one could find him. Ginny hoped sincerely that the wand-maker hadn't handed himself over to You-Know-Who. If he had, that was one more asset for the Death Eaters, and one less for the Order.

Ginny cursed that she didn't know more of the Order's current business. Most of what she knew was either embellished and told in whatever light the Ministry wished, or it was from a few snatches of hushed conversations in her kitchen late at night. For, while everyone had commended the students who had fought the Death Eaters, no one seemed to have thought to include them in anything. Hermione and Ron still weren't informed as well as they believed they should be; Fred and George were only told what "pertained to them." And, as far as Ginny knew, there had been very little correspondence between Harry and anyone. She, as of yet, had received no letter from him, which perhaps was to be expected, as they were now officially "just friends." But still, she couldn't help but worry every so often that he wasn't entirely safe with those muggles.

Pushing open the door to the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny made her way in. The barkeeper, Tom, rushed to her and inquired as to her preference of drink, before ushering her to a table. He had gotten so little business lately, it was a surprise the bar remained open, but Tom was not to be shaken, especially not by "those nasty good-for-nothing rabble-rousers," as he had commented to Ginny on a previous occasion. She chose a seat at a small table near the fireplace to wait for Ron and Hermione to arrive. They had promised to meet her and bring her any news on the Order, as well as to bring her up to date on Bill and Fleur's wedding that was scheduled to take place in about two weeks.

With a casual glance at her watch, Ginny noticed that they were ten minutes late already. Hermione, the queen of punctuality, was never late. This fact would have worried Ginny, had Hermione not had to travel with her brother, Ron. But, just as she started to contemplate the many reasons that might have caused their lateness, the fire in the Leaky Cauldron's grate flamed green suddenly, and the swirling figure of Ron Weasley appeared. He stepped out, dusting himself off, before turning to look at the grate. Within moments, a girl stepped out of the flames, her hair covered in ash.

"--which is why I said, you know I did, that you should never have made such a fuss about it. You know how your mother gets when you don't listen properly! I told you. Did I not tell you? I said, 'Just forget it, Ron, otherwise we'll be late,' and what did you do? You went and--" Ron turned away from her, gritting his teeth. He saw Ginny and smiled, seemingly glad of an excuse to ingore Hermione.

"Hey, Gin!" he said, his voice too-loud to block out a few more of Hermione's words. "How have you been?"

"Great," she replied.

"Hello, Ginny. Oh drat," Hermione said, making a face as she caught sight of her hair in the mirror across the room. "I knew I should have brought a brush with me." She shook her head, in a futile attempt to shake some of the ash out of her hair.

"Hermione, why didn't you just apparate? I thought you passed your test." Ginny asked in surprise.

"Well, I did, you see, but your brother didn't like the idea of me leaving without him while he Floo-ed here." She shot Ron a sharp glare before shrugging and coming to sit beside Ginny at the table. "But, what's done is done, and I fully intend to apparate back. Anyway, that's not why we're here. Your mother wanted us to give you this --" she extended a letter to Ginny. "And to tell you that all plans for the wedding are going smoothly." Ginny took the letter and jammed it into her pocket.

"So is Phlegm, I mean, Fleur -- is she being a little more cooperative?"

Ron shrugged absently. "She's doing great, I think. I know no one else wants to hear that, but I've never had a problem with her. She's very helpful."

Hermione snorted. "Helpul, in that if you need lessons on how to be sickeningly annoying, she's the perfect teacher. Otherwise, she's still being quite herself. On the plus side, she's been taking care of Bill most of the time and that keeps her out of your mother's hair."

"Well, that's good I suppose. And they have the flower fiasco sorted out?" Ginny said, in reference to their flower company problems that included three birds and a very large blooming plant of which no one was quite sure what to think.

"Ah. That. Supposedly, it's an overgrown rose-tentacula hybrid. Which in theory, should make a lovely wedding plant. Or so they said. However, the moment it ate that decorative dove, Fleur went batty. You left right before the big finale. Fleur stormed over to it and tried to hex it, but it snapped down on her wand and almost broke it. Then she got really angry with it and set it on fire. Later she explained that these things just ''appen when a veela gets angry -- eet is nothing,'" Hermione said in a spot-on imitation of Fleur. "Your mum had to go after it with a watering can, and Moody was having a great time shouting all the ways to go about disarming it, which, of course, was useless. It was a plant, for goodness' sake! Anyway, your mum got the flames put out, and the chaos died down after a bit."

Ginny stared in shock, imagining the blonde-haired veela descendent sprouting fangs and setting a plant on fire with her eyes. Well, maybe not with her eyes..

"So, why don't we head back to the twins' flat?" Ron interrupted deliberately, right in the middle of Hermione's further explanation as to Fleur's attempts at 'helping' Mrs. Weasley put out the fire.

"Oh, right, you'll stop me when I'm insulting her, but when she sits around picking little quarrels with me and your mother, you just sit and watch as if it's an interesting tennis match!"

"What's tennis again?" he asked, egging her on.

"OH!" gasped Hermione in disgust. "How dare you!"

"Right, the flat it is, then." Ginny left a couple coins on the table for her drink, then tried to usher her brother and his girlfriend out of the restaraunt. Eventually, they made it out onto the street. Hermione let out an audible gasp as she saw the empty shops and boarded windows.

"When everyone said it was deserted, I never thought..Oh dear. Flourish and Blotts is closed today. Oh, and Fortescue's shop is still all boarded up. I thought he would have returned by now but maybe -- well. Malkin's is open though, that's a comfort I guess. It would be better if any of us needed new robes. Has is been like this the entire time you've been here?" she asked Ginny, looking slightly downcast.

The other girl nodded, but then said, "Sometimes Flourish and Blott's and a couple other shops open. Gringott's is always open," Ginny gestured absently down the street. "But the Quidditch supply store and the owl emporium haven't been at all, that I've seen. Knockturn Alley's shops are all in business though."

"Go figure," Ron said darkly. "I would bet they are. Otherwise how would You-Know-Who get all of his stuff. Wait -- have you been down there?"

"No, Ron, I've stayed out of Knockturn Alley the entire time I've been here. Fred and George warned me expressly that if they found out I'd gone, they would send me straight to mum and she would flay me alive."

"Ah good. The threat of a flaying."

Ginny shook her head, laughing. "I doubt she'd do it. But they would probably tell her."

They continued down the street, Hermione alternating between looking worried and asking Ginny about all the shops. "Where have they all gone, do you think? Ollivander and Fortescue can't be the only ones to have mysteriously disappeared, right? I really think Ollivander's been taken. Maybe the Death Eaters need new wands or something."

Ron snorted, "What about Fortescue? He was an ice cream maker. Do you think they took him, too, to ensure success in their dastardly plot to use ice cream for evil? Ah, perhaps they wanted Harry to take a big bite of ice cream and choke! Oh, or maybe they want to give him a really terrible brainfreeze! You think that's it, Hermione? Do you?"

Hermione looked slightly deflated, but replied strongly, "You wouldn't understand, Ronald. This is serious."

They continued to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, with only sporadic interruptions from the few street vendors who were left. All of them attempted to sell the teenagers various 'protection devices' that really just looked like cheap knockoffs of Fred and George's safety products. Suprisingly, the twins, who had finally taken the initiative and tried to help people, had started an entire line of products to aid in the fight against evil. Ginny was forced, by her mother, to carry a minimum of three of their protections with her at all times.

"Here we are," Ginny said as they arrived, pushing open the shop door. Fred and George stood behind the counter wearing smirks.

"Oh no. What have you two done to the--"

"Nothing, little sister, nothing. Don't you worry. We were just looking at the cute couple and thinking how darling they are together. Aren't they just the fetchingest young things you've ever seen, George?"

"Why, I must say I agree with you on that count, Fred," said George, breaking into a smile. He waved Ron and Hermione forward, and Ginny shook her head in amusement. "With the way ikkle Ronniekins is blushing, you'd think it was a secret! But, alas, even though he has not seen us in months, he forgets that our dear mother writes us once or twice a week, just to let us know what's going on at home. Did he really think that she wouldn't tell us about you two's love affair?" Hermione rolled her eyes at the ceiling. Fred picked up where George had left off, starting with,

"Besides, it's not surprising. We could see, you know, for years. This has been brewing since -- what? -- second year? Actually, we were quite looking forward to the start of your wonderful relationship. We took bets, even, about when it would happen."

"Are you serious?" Ron asked, incredulous.

"About the betting? Sadly, no, though I would have been 10 galleons richer. But, we were rather looking forward to our little brother getting some action--"

"Enough," interrupted Ginny. "That's disgusting. Why don't you show them your new products or some such rubbish, instead of taunting them for wanting to be happy?" Fred and George laughed, before leading them into the back room. While they began explaining the many complexities of their newest line of products, Ginny headed upstairs to the flat.

She pushed open the door at the top, heading into her room. It was the only extra room they had; Ginny thought it was rather generous to title it a room at all. More like an overglorified storage closet. But a small bed managed to fit inside it, so she supposed it was better than nothing. Plus, it had a small window overlooking the rooftops of Diagon Alley. Ginny sat on the bed and looked out through the glass, barely able to see the small roofs that had at one time house booming businesses. You could hardly tell from up here that the shops were deserted. Unless, of course, you caught a glimpse of one of the Ministry's "Wanted" posters stuck to a store's boarded windows opposite her. She had hoped that sometime between her visit last summer and now, the street would become more active, as it had been; but it had, if anything, gotten even less so.

She turned away from the panes to search for a book to read, only to find that an owl had appeared outside, and was proceeding to tap at the glass vigorously with a talon. The moment she slid the window open, the small owl hooted and jumped inside.

"Shush, Pig." Pigwidgeon hopped up and down on her bed, it's foot stuck out. Ginny took the letters from him and gave him an owl treat. One was addressed to her; the other to the twins. Tearing her envelope open, Ginny pulled out the single sheet of parchment from within. She skimmed through it with little interest until she found a bit discussing Harry.

Harry is coming to stay with us right before the wedding, much to everyone's delight so we'll be increasing security around our house to prevent any mishaps. I'm sure you and Ron and Hermione will be glad to see him, though I'm not quite sure as to where he will be staying, what with everyone who's going to be staying at our house for the wedding. However, we'll find a place. We always do.

Ginny finished the rest of the letter quickly. It was, for the most part, another of her mother's weekly updates that said too much about the wedding and too little about anything important. Not that Bill's happiness wasn't important, too, Ginny thought guiltily. It was only that she was so hungry for information. Which, considering all things, wasn't surprising. If she really wanted to find out anything substantial, it was highly unlikely that it would be included in one of Mrs. Weasley's owl-delivered missives.

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she wrote a quick letter in return before heading downstairs to give the twins their letter. She walked into the back room where they had last been seen, before stopping suddenly behind a large shelf.

"Yes, you see? We heard them talking one night. About Harry. But we couldn't hear what they were saying about him. Then we heard them talking about Ollivander -- Ron had thought to get the Extendable Ears by that point -- and they said...they said he was working with them. But no one can understand why, apparently."

"Did you hear anything else?" Fred asked worriedly.

"No," Ron said, his voice betraying disappointment. "Lupin walked out of the kitchen and caught us. Boy, was Mum mad. She looked ready to spit nails. But then she just told us to get upstairs to bed." Ginny listened for a few more moments, before backtracking to the door. She coughed loudly, as if she had only just come to be standing there. George stuck his head out from behind a shelf; he looked as if he'd just had the fright of his life. "Gin," said Ron hurriedly. "What're you.."

"Nothing, just came down to give you this." She handed the letter to George. "Came from Mum a few minutes ago. Mine didn't say anything interesting...more about the wedding, you know."

"Right then," said George. "Well, let's go to the next shelf then, and we'll show you what else we have in store for the unsuspecting public." Ginny took her cue and exited, wondering what else Ron and Hermione had overheard. But she knew that whatever it had been, it wasn't good.