The Unforgettable Fire

CHAPTER 4: Year 3, Part 2, Burned

So I owled my mother, telling her to send the white dress robes she had bought me, and put my transfiguration skills to work. It took me the better part of a Sunday afternoon to get it looking how I wanted it. It really is amazing what you can do when you are a genius. The dress started as a white, linen, old, and slightly ugly dress, and ended up as a dark green, stiffish silk feeling fabric, high necked, long sleeved dress with silver swirls at the bottom that were slightly sparkling. It was beautiful. And even though I own very little jewelry (not counting the rings), what I do own is very nice. On my tenth birthday, I was given a beautiful silver chain necklace by my late grandmother. All in all, my dress and jewelry would be fine. I did however opt for wearing Nefertiti's ring; I would need to feel as confident as I could. I left the other two safe and sound in my hiding spot in my dorm.

The matter of hair only required a Piling Charm and it would be in a messy bun on the top of my head with delicate tendrils hanging down. I had to admit I was beautiful; green happens to compliment my skin and hair.

There was only one downfall to my dress...

Ginny struggled with her dress. The damned thing was a bitch to get on. It fit her fine sure, but she thought it would be cool to have buttons all the way up the back of it. They were very small buttons and very close together, the type that had the little loop they went into.

"Urgh!" she said aloud, "Stupid dress!"

"Having some problems," a cold drawl said from behind her. She turned sharply, saw it was Draco and relaxed.

"Shut up or I'll wipe that silly grin off your face. If you must know yes, I can't reach these buttons," she said coolly.

He only smirked wider and made a turning motion with his hand. Ginny rolled her eyes and turned around. "You know it is weird that a guy is doing this right," she said.

"You love it," he said, she could tell he was smirking.

"I love not having dorm mates," she answered.

He purposefully brushed a few of his knuckles on her bare skin and she stiffened. "Where did you get this dress?" he asked her, it was almost a whisper, in her ear. He had never made any sort of comment on the wealth status of her family to her face, but she couldn't blame him for being curious.

"I made it," she answered simply.

"Transfiguration?"

"A bit," she answered. He buttoned the last button and she turned around to face him. She couldn't read the expression on his face.

"Who are you going with, I've asked around, no one knows," he asked.

"Alexi."

He frowned. "You will dance with me. Five dances."

"Two."

"Four."

"Three."

"Deal," he said. He looked her over again and left quietly.

What the hell was that about? Ginny wondered. She preformed the Piling Charm, bushed on some light green eye shadow and blush, and then headed outside. She got the appraisal of those who weren't going as she left, many whispering behind their hands and pointing. Ginny ignored them and walked outside the common room.

Immediately she was met by a grinning Alexi, he was wearing a plain black robe and holding some silver petaled flower in a box. She watched as he had trouble keeping his gaze on her face again and tried to give him a warm smile, after all, he had bought her a flower, whatever it was.

"You look beautiful," he complimented. Ginny smiled and let him put the silver flower on her hand. It was very beautiful, and very, very...she didn't know the right words, proper, regal, cold? All of them worked. As flowers went, it was on the other side of the spectrum from dandelions and daisies. "It is called the Santaplata by the English, but my people call it святой серебряный цветок."

"It's lovely," she said, looking up at him. He smiled and extended his arm. Ginny took it and they started off to the ball.

Most of the people had already entered the Great Hall by the time Ginny and Alexi arrived. It was much different, Ginny decided, different in a way she liked. There was also a huge stage where she suspected the Weird Sisters would be playing and many tables were set up around a dancing area. No one had begun yet because the dinner hadn't been served and the first dance hadn't been taken.

Alexi smiled as they walked by the people. Many of the Hogwarts students were wearing faces riddled with surprise and amazement, and to tell the truth, Ginny was soaking up the attention. Then HE looked at her and she almost faltered. Harry's eyes made contact with hers. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. Disappointment maybe, concern, fear? It didn't matter to her, it was widely known that he was head over heals for Cho Chang, the pretty Ravenclaw girl with the Hufflepuff champion. And Ginny was by no means in love (or whatever) with him anymore. That all ended at the end of her first year, when people had deserted her. He was looking at her too, his gray eyes boring into the back of her head. Ginny made eye contact for a moment and saw he was indeed with Pansy, who was looking particularly foolish.

"I haff a seat vith the rest of my school, vould you like to sit there?" Alexi asked her.

Ginny looked at Draco again and said, "Yes, please."

They headed over to the Durmstrang seats and sat by many of Alexi's friends, most of whom were Russian or at least knew the language. Ginny had done a bit of extra research, and understood a lot of what they were saying, but couldn't put a sentence together to save her life.

"она сексуальная, какой Ð'ом - она из," one of Alexi's friends asked.

"она - из змей, и Ð'а, она" Alexi replied.

"Вы собираетесь иметь секс с ею," another of his friends said.

"если она хочет," he answered.

She was fairly sure they were talking about her and whether or not he was going to have sex with her, but she wasn't sure. They continued for a bit then Alexi said something like, "I have prettier people to talk to, get your own girls/dates/wives," in Russian. He turned to her, smiling, and said, "Sorry, just catching up a bit. Many of my class mates didn't find dates as pretty as you."

"I noticed," she said dryly. They ordered their food and ate, their conversation circulating around school mostly. A bit of Quidditch to, which Alexi was very fond of. He said he was going to try out for the Russian National team when he was out of Durmstrang.

Finally, the four champions danced and everyone was allowed on the floor. Ginny was a bit worried that Alexi would trod on her toes, he was quite a bit bigger than she and didn't look to graceful. And even though he said Karkaroff (whom she was beginning to dislike because he kept leering at her like she was a piece of meat) required them all to learn how to dance.

They stepped onto the floor and were swept away by the song, which was fast. They almost got run over by her brother and his date, Angelina Johnson too. But finally, a slower song came and Alexi smiled as he brought her close to him. In Ginny's opinion, it was a bit awkward because he was so much taller than she, he reached almost six feet and three inches and she was five feet and five inches. But he just put his hand on her lower back and pulled her in, rotating slowly in one spot.

"Ð’Ñ‹ красивые поÐ'обно бризу пружины, пасущемуся вновь расцветенное цветы. Ваши глаза напоминают нас холоÐ'ного мрамора в царе Ð'ворцовом, плавном и серьезном. Ваша кожа - похожий porcelin Я хочу разорить снова и снова," he whispered in Russian into her ear. She had no idea what it meant but it was very alluring in a rough, primal sort of way.

Ginny was sure he was going to kiss her until the music started again and Ginny saw Draco walking over. He tapped Alexi on the shoulder and said, "Virginia has reserved a few dances with me, I hope this is okay."

"Yes, I vill just go and get drinks. Haff fun," he said politely, backing off.

Ginny drew a deep breath and Draco took one of her hands and secured the other around her waist. "I told you he was bad news," Draco said once they were dancing.

"What is it with you and saying that? He's been nothing but polite to me," Ginny said in a dull, sort of cold voice.

Draco snorted.

"Did you know everyone is looking at us?" Ginny said to Draco.

"And why shouldn't they?" he asked back.

Ginny rolled her eyes and said, "What do you think they would say if they knew you tucked me in every night?"

Draco shrugged, "I'd just make more 'Potter Stinks' badges."

"Well that is childish," Ginny said.

"You can only expect so much out of a fourteen year old boy," Draco said dismissively.

"I guess," Ginny said. Then they lapsed into one of their comfortable silences and Ginny caught herself enjoying the dance a few times. She also caught something else. She wasn't sure if Draco knew it or not, but the thumb of the hand on her back was making little patterns on her back. Ginny decided he did know and decided to ignore it for now. But soon their dances ended and Pansy came over with some lame ass excuse to 'steal Draco for a minute.' Ginny nodded at Draco and he nodded back.

Ginny danced with Alexi for a few more dances and then they sat in the far corner of the room talking. He never again tried to kiss her. They actually laughed at the other people, especially Viktor whom looked particularly silly dancing around like a duck. They laughed as Fleur Delacour dragged Roger Davies out of the room. Alexi didn't seem too taken with the half-Veela, which encouraged Ginny about his personality.

Looking back, he really was a nice guy. I mean, he was very polite and everything. He didn't even try to kiss me as he left me at my common rooms. I think now a reason he was attracted to me, was because of Nefertiti's ring, it has a sort of 'glamour,' if you will. I have got into the habit of wearing my rings all the time, sometimes around a necklace and sometimes on my fingers. You find out later why that decision was good.

Anyway, I went into the dorm rooms and Draco had to help me out of my dress, it really was kind of embarrassing, but oh well. He said good night and I flopped down on my bed. I had 'left my hair down,' as McGonagall says, for a night and I was pretty relaxed. Soon I drifted to sleep...

The mist enveloped her again. Spinning in what seemed like slow motion and suspended in the air, Ginny was only vaguely aware of what was going on. She tried to open her eyes, and when she did, the mist cleared and she was standing in the middle of a beach scene on some island. It appeared to be quite small as she could almost see the other side of it over the horizon.

"Virginia," a husky sort of voice said.

Ginny turned around and was face to face with the most exotically beautiful woman she had ever seen. She wasn't so much intimidating like Morgan, Nefertiti, and Nysilia, but more like she was just an un-ignorable entity who was just there. She had almond shaped eyes, darkly tanned, bronze skin, long black hair, and wore a sort of leaf skirt decorated with shells. She wasn't that much taller than Ginny, standing about two inches taller, and she was very shapely.

She smiled good-naturedly at Ginny and said, "I see you have made it this far, Virginia. I'm sure you wouldn't mind going a little further."

"I suppose I wouldn't," Ginny answered.

The woman smiled, "I'm Hina, the Maiden of Primal Lust, in other words the Sex Maiden. That is a bit of an oxymoron. How can you be a 'maiden' of sex? It just sort of implies that you can't be a virgin. And you, your supposed to be a Virgin of Light. Pft, like that'll last long. Your what, thirteen, fourteen? If you lived on my islands, you'd already have kids. Virginity can suck it as far as I'm concerned."

Ginny looked at Hina blankly. She sure wasn't like any of the other maidens. She was more down to earth, more sensible. And she obviously like to talk.

"So, about your ring," Hina continued. She muttered something like 'where'd I put that damnable thing,' and searched through a leather pouch on her side. "Where the fuck did that thing go?" she grumbled, "Ah! Here it is!"

Ginny took the ring from Hina. It was different from the other rings, this one was made of wood and the words were engraved in it. "It says, 'Virgin-Maiden of Lust,' on it. I'm sure you can guess what you'll want to do when you wear it. Use it wisely, because when used in combination with Nefertiti's ring, you can basically make men, or women if you prefer them, do whatever you want."

Ginny looked at it speculatively, "I don't think I'll be using this one."

The woman raised her eyebrow and said, "Oh, well if you don't want it I'm sure we can find some other Virgin Of Light. NOT! And if you want your damnable powers, you have to learn about every ring; that means wearing it."

Ginny's eyes widened, "What powers?"

"Nefertiti didn't tell you?"

Ginny shook her head.

"Well do wonder you are lost! You were probably getting high off of Nysilia's ring, weren't you," Hina said with a smile. Ginny blanched and Hina laughed at her. "That is some potent stuff right there. But that isn't what they are for! Geeze, rookies. Anyway, to gain the powers of the Virgin Of Light, you have to have all seven rings in your possession and you have to know them. Before you ask, no, I don't know what they are, but supposedly they are awesome. So in order to 'know' a ring, you have to use it. So I suggest go getting yourself un-virginized and fast."

"Un-un-virginized?" Ginny choked out.

Hina gave her a disbelieving look, one eyebrow up and her jaw a-jar. "So, when two people are in love, they start getting urges to share their love-"

"I KNOW WHAT SEX IS!" she yelled, her face getting a little red.

"Thank the gods, I thought I was going to have to give you the birds and bees lecture," Hina grumbled.

"Why do I have to have sex to 'understand' the ring? I thought I was supposed to be the VIRGIN Of Light," Ginny argued.

"Technically you are the Virgin Of/From Light. The description is sort of hazy," the woman said with a sarcastic nod of her head. "So, go, make sweet beautiful love, and understand the ring. Oh, fuck! What was that line again? I give - no, impart, my knowledge and training to you. Yes, so off you go! Oh, one more thing, my ring is a contraceptive device! Bye!"

And the mist rose again and Ginny woke with a start.

I know what you're thinking, "Dude, she's like, thirteen. Isn't that, like, a little young...or something?"

I KNOW! I was thirteen. Who ever heard of sex (I take that back, good sex) at thirteen? Not you? Not me either. Needless to say, that ring was going to stay on my necklace for a while...a long, long, long while.

Anyway, after the Yule Ball was winter break and I basically hung around the common room. I don't do that too much because I am quote-unquote shunned by the other Slytherins. I'll show them. I'll show them all.

I remember Christmas morning...I don't know what to say about Christmas morning. I don't know how to describe how I felt.

Ginny woke and rolled out of bed. It was Christmas. She sighed and looked over the edge of her bed. Not like she really thought she'd get a Weasley sweatshirt, but it could happen.

It didn't.

But there was something else there. She frowned. Who would give her a present? Alexi, she though. Maybe Draco, but I never pinned him as the Merry Christmas and caroling type. Ginny crawled to the edge of her bed and looked at the box on the table. It was small, about the size of her fist.

Ginny was carefully unwrapping the present when a dull voice from behind her said, "Most people just rip it open."

She didn't have to turn around, she knew it was Draco. "Well, Draco, unlike most people, I haven't had a Christmas present in over three years." She continued unwrapping the present and found a box. She opened it and frowned.

"Don't like what you got?" Draco asked from behind her.

Duh, she loved it. It was a silver chain bracelet; you know, the type that have your name on the plate. It was very beautiful. Ginny licked her lips, unsure how to continue. "Draco-"

"It is called a gift," he said coldly, apparently getting upset.

"I know what it is! I don't know why!"

"It is what friends do," he growled.

Ginny closed her eyes and shook her head. "That is where you made your first mistake. I can't have friends, Draco. To have friends you have to have emotional attachment. I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't have emotions. I'm dead inside. Do you know what is driving me to live?"

"No."

"Neither do I! The day I was put in Slytherin I died. I've been dying a bit more ever since. So what is this? What am I supposed to do? I can't be your friend, Draco, I can't even love. I can't even ANYTHING!"

Draco gritted his teeth, "In answer to your questions, it is a gift; you are supposed to wear it. As to your other question, how the hell should I know?"

Ginny was silent for a while, then she said quietly, "What am I, Draco? What have I become?"

"You are a Slytherin and you have become heartless."

Ginny fell on her bed, looking on the ground. "Have I really become so callous?"

"Virginia," he said. She looked at him. "My father is a Death Eater. I probably will be one too. You should ask him about being callous, I'm not quite qualified yet."

She must have reacted in some way at him telling her that because he said, "What, like you didn't know? Draco Malfoy, not a Death Eater? I'm practically Voldemort's heir."

Ginny looked him hard in the eye, "I know. Everyone does, or at least suspects. Your secret is safe with me."

"That is why you could never be a Death Eater. My father wants me to recruit you, did you know?" he said.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "A Weasley to spy on the Gryffindors; it would be perfect. Does he know I am not part of them?"

"Probably. But those Gryffindors are so stupid they would probably believe you if you said you changed your ways."

"Yes," Ginny agreed. "They would believe me. But I could never be a Death Eater."

"Why? I mean, for curiosity's sake," he asked.

"Well, first off, I know Tom too well. We don't really get along too well. I'm sure you know all about that though."

Draco nodded, "I found it out about a year ago; I wondered why that stupid house-elf left."

Ginny snorted, "Watch who you say that around; say it too close to the Gryffindors and you'll be having a bit of social commentary with you breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next week. That reminds me. Breakfast, I'm starving. Get out."

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Meet you in the common room."

I'm actually surprised the whole thing went over so well. I still wear that bracelet; even to this day I wear it. I wear it as a constant reminder of...well, you'll find that out later.

So break ended and I took on a new project. No, not getting laid. I took on becoming an Animagus. I figured that I should do it legally, so I talked to Professor McGonagall, and although she was hesitant about taking me on as an extra credit student, she finally agreed. More like I hounded her for over an hour about it during the Christmas Dinner. She said I could start my forth year, because that was the year she started. She said at my level, I should me done sometime in my sixth or seventh year.

I also talked to Professor Vector, my Arithmacy teacher. She talked to me about moving ahead of my year as well, take a fifth year course or something. What can I say, I'm a genius. Once again, I attribute this to Tom, which just happens to be very weird.

So anyway, the break ended smoothly and school started again. I went to class, did homework, went to classes, talked to Alexi, went to classes, talked to Draco, went to classes, studied; you know, the usual.

Really, I'm not sure what that horrid Rita woman is thinking, trying to villainize Harry and all. I mean, I could write better that that in my second year. The trash she was putting out was so far less than convincing, I almost laughed. Ah, my sides...they hurt. Of course stupid people believed it, and even contributed to it. This is where I began having problems with the fourth year girl Slytherins. Normally, I ignored them; they ignored me, standard fair. Of course that didn't stop them from talking about me behind my back when gossip was thin; but again, standard fair. But when I read what they said about Hermione in Rita's interview, I almost blew a gasket. Accusing her of brewing Love Potions, calling her ugly, putting that puss on her envelope; the griffin lived. The griffin was furious. The griffin was going to get even.

"Virginia, will you please tell me why we are still here?" Draco asked in a bored voice.

Ginny looked over at the Gryffindor table having chose a seat so that she could easily see Hermione and gauge her reaction. "Because, I told you, some one will be getting their just desserts."

Draco looked at her hard and said, "Will it be funny?"

"Sufficiently so," she answered.

Millicent and Pansy walked into breakfast late, as usual and sat down a few people away from her and Draco. That would make it harder, but not impossible.

Two words: Harry Houdini.

One more: misdirection.

"Draco," Ginny hissed, "Ask them how their classes are going!"

He gave her a look like she was crazy. "I'm not suicidal, Virginia," he whispered back.

"Do it," she said between clenched teeth.

He looked at her for a moment, then put on his greasiest smile and said, "Pansy, Millicent, how are your classes going?"

Ginny smiled inwardly and took her wand from her robe. In her bag was the powered from of the potion she was going to use, all she had to do was get in their food. Doing a Banishing Charm, she slowly edged the powdered substance discretely down the table. Inch by inch it traveled, until she got it close enough to their food, and sprinkled it over it.

"Have a nice day, ladies," Draco said in his most fake-polite voice that Pansy and Millicent happened to love and they giggled.

Then it happened. They took a bite of food.

"Ten...nine...eight..."

"What are you doing Virginia?"

"...five...four...three...two...one."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ah, it was music to her ears.

"Holy fuck!" Draco said loudly, though the laughter had already started and no one could hear him.

Millicent and Pansy ran as fast as they could out of the hall, every one laughing at them as they left, crying.

Everyone laughed, that was the best part. Ginny looked over at the Gryffindor table and stood up to be almost eye level with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They looked at her as she was one of the only Slytherin standing. She smiled ever so slightly. Ron's jaw dropped, as did Harry's and Hermione's. Hermione pointed at Ginny and Ginny nodded her head once, very slowly. Then she sat down and continued her breakfast, enjoying the laughter of the others, and pleasantly content with herself.

Draco looked at her funny and she said, "I'm not a very nice person, Draco."

He looked down at his plate and said, "I didn't say a word. But you were right, it was worth it."

She shrugged and headed off to Arithmacy.

Heh, you want to know what I did? Of course you do. You know the Polyjuice Potion, and how it can change you into another person? I put dog hairs in the potion and powdered it. Yes, yes I am smart, thank you.

The second task came and went just like the end of winter. My class load wasn't lightened a bit, training already for OWLs and everything. It was madness if you asked me, but no one did.

Not much notable happened. I studied hard, whatnot. I have to say, besides writing and painting a bit, and talking to Draco, my life was boring...yeah.

Fast forward I guess to the third task.

You know how I had bad feelings about the Triwizard Tournament. Well they got stronger. I'd been having dreams, not about the Ring Maidens, but...other...dreams. Death. And pain. I never really remembered them, just the feeling that the cold hand of death had scratched my heart and the stench of death in my nose. I tried to ignore them, I tried zoning with Nysilia's ring; they invaded me everywhere.

There was only one thing I could do...

Ginny waited outside the Headmaster's office, she didn't know the password, otherwise she would have gone up. She had been waiting over an hour when she heard footsteps. She stood and dusted off her robe. The headmaster needed to know, it was worth missing class over.

"Ah, Ms. Weasley, what can I do for you?" Dumbledore said kindly. Really, she thought, you can't help love but love him. Then again, you also can't help but wonder if he is totally sane, too, so...

Ginny looked into his eyes without fear and said, "I need to speak with you, it is urgent."

He looked at her with his piercing blue eyes for a moment and then said, "Follow me."

They entered his office and Ginny sat down across from him, politely crossing her legs.

"What was it you needed to speak with me about?" he asked.

Ginny frowned, trying to decide where to start. "Tomorrow is the third task."

"Yes."

"I've been having dreams. Someone is going to die, Headmaster, I know it," she blurted out.

He looked at her over steepled hands and said, "I'm sure you can see how that is hard for me to believe, perhaps if you could give me some more proof."

Ginny sat for a moment, not looking at anything in particular and thinking. I'm nervous, she thought, what do I do? I put on Morgana's and Nysilia's rings. I can't do it here...but I do it in the dorm...when I'm studying...before I go to bed...and I never remember to take them off...

"Professor, do you know if Morgana Le Fay was clairvoyant?" she asked suddenly.

"She did sit as the Oracle of Delphi, why?" he said, looking confused.

It made perfect sense. Nysilia's ring made things clearer and Morgana gave her gift to Ginny...her clairvoyancy. "Professor, I can't tell you now."

He gave her a completely unreadable expression and said, "Is there anything I can do?"

Ginny nodded her head, "Take care of Cedric."

Then she fled the room, she needed to think a while and look over some of her journal entries.

I knew it would be him, I'm not sure how I knew it would be him, it was like he had an aura I could see. I hated it! It was all so FRUSTRATING! I couldn't tell him and I wanted to! Isn't it odd that even though I was Slytherin, I still supported Dumbledore? It was like I had a job to do and it involved being loyal to him. I really don't even know how to communicate my emotions to you.

Draco watched me intently as I put on my black petty coat. I had made it earlier that day, expecting that I would have a funeral to go to that day. Isn't that morbid? Though it was quite pretty. It was a knee length black skirt and formfitting black petty coat; I also had a black hat with veil that went with it.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"Preparing for the funeral," she answered.

I went down to the pitch to watch the third task, feeling awful that I knew what was going to happen. I sat in the Slytherin section and people looked at me weird because of what I was wearing. I just sat there, impassive, no thought really in my head, but Nysilia's ring on my pointer finger so I would have control of my body and not have to feel the pain writhing inside me.

Red sparks went off and I almost though that someone had gotten the trophy. No, it was just Fleur and Viktor needing to be rescued.

Red sparks again. But still no one had won. In fact, there wasn't anyone on the course anymore. No one at all. I frowned as the headmaster and the teachers ran down to the course and began looking for something, or someone.

Ginny stood up and began walking off the stadium. She needed to know if she was right. A hand tried to hold her back.

"Virginia," Draco said, his voice sounding distant to her ears, "What are you doing?"

She turned to him and saw concern on his face. Then she walked down the field. People looked at her as she left, looked at her like she was crazy, like she was cursed or diseased. She didn't care, it wasn't about them; it was about Cedric. He was a good person; good people didn't die, right?

She walked onto the field and through the path the teachers had cleared. The parents and siblings and close friends of the contestants were there too, along with a dazed looking Viktor and a sobbing Fleur. A person rushed by her, it was her house's Professor.

"What are you doing here? Go back to the stadium or I'll deduct points," he said harshly.

She was about to open her mouth when someone said, "Leave her there, Severus." It was Dumbledore and he was giving her the most piercing, intense look she had ever experienced.

Snape glanced at her sideways and Ginny got the feeling he was looking through her soul. Nervously, she added Morgana's ring for support. Images flashed by her mind so fast she could barely keep up with them. Then, as abruptly as they began, they stopped and Ginny had to take a step backwards to catch herself from falling.

Drowsily, she looked up at Dumbledore. In a hallow, dead sort of voice, eyes not fully focusing, she said, "It has happened. It is HIM, he has come."

Then she looked at where the trophy should be, "The Hufflepuff is gone; he didn't last though the fog."

Then she pulled down her veil and looked at the ground. The muffled voices of Snape and Dumbledore were like background to her thoughts. I could have saved him. I could have stopped him. I could have done something. It is my fault. Tom, you shall pay for the life you've taken here, you will pay with your life.

She was only vaguely aware of Snape leading her into the headmaster's office and sitting her in a chair. Everything felt fuzzy, everything felt wrong.

She looked around the office in a daze; it was as golden as she remembered it in her first year really. Just as safe, too. Then she spotted a dog, a big, black, shaggy-looking dog. Her face scrunched up in confusion. Why would the headmaster have a dog in his office? And how could it look at her like that? It was like his eyes were measuring her, it was weird; dogs couldn't do that.

Then another seizure of visions hit her and she jerked as they flashed before her eyes. Coughing and on the ground, she pulled off Morgana's and Nysilia's rings; teach her to do that again. But it was too late, she KNEW. She knew it all.

The dog was looking at her with a cocked head. She looked at it disbelievingly and whispered to herself, "Not a dog...not a dog...Animagus...Peter Pittigrew." Then louder and addressing the dog, "You're not a dog."

If she could speak dog...or whatever...she could have sworn the dog was surprised. It padded over to her and sniffed her carefully. She pushed his head away and said, "Not a dog." She stood and repeated, "Not a dog, not a dog. Black...Sirius Black. You're not a dog."

The dog/Sirius looked at her for a moment, and Ginny said in a more composed manner, "I know...everything. It is okay. I know."

The dog seemed to be measuring her up again and then he transformed. He was tall, gaunt and white, like he hadn't seen the sun or a good meal for months. Well, duh, Gin, she thought, he's been in Azkaban and then on the run. Those sorts of things will do that to a person.

"How?" he asked in a course, unused voice.

"How? How? I know," she scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm cursed," she spat.

He looked at her oddly, though not like other people did. He looked at her like she was a person who was troubled, not a person who was insane and beneath them. It was like pity. "Who are you?"

"Virginia Weasley," she answered, emotionally detaching herself.

He frowned in thought and said, "Ginny? Ginny Weasley?"

"Some people call me that."

He nodded, "Yes, I've heard of you, through Harry mostly. I knew your parents. They were three years ahead of me at Hogwarts; good people, both of them."

Ginny looked on the ground. "Yeah, good Gryffindors. Always good Gryffindors." Then she looked him in the eye, "I mean, that's what you meant. Good Gryffindors. How the hell did they get a daughter like me is what you meant. Bad things don't happen to good people, right? And now he's dead and I knew."

"That isn't what I said," Sirius said slowly. "And who is dead? What has happened?"

"Tom happened. He killed that boy...and it was my fault because I knew..." she said slowly. "Cedric died because I couldn't convince anyone..."

"Who are you?" he asked again.

Ginny looked ruefully in his eyes and said, "I don't know." She took off her hat and sat back down on the chair.

"Dumbledore called you because of me," Ginny said quietly. "He wanted extra protection for Harry because I came to him and said some one would die. He thought it was Harry and left Cedric almost defenseless. It shouldn't have been like this...I was supposed to be doing the right thing..."

"How'd-" he began, but Ginny looked at him and tapped her head. "Right."

There was an uncomfortable silence, and then a bit awkwardly, Sirius said, "Harry talks about you in his letters."

Ginny made a short, nasal laugh and muttered, "I bet he does. 'Watch out, evil Slytherin coming though. Look kiddies, even the best Gryffindors have their bad seeds. Oh, no, don't touch, you might catch it.' I bet he has a whole lot to write about me. Evil Ginny Weasley; that is me!"

Sirius looked a little uncomfortable, "Well, not really..."

Ginny looked at him sharply. "Look me in the eye when you lie to me, it makes me feel better."

A muscle in his eye twitched and he said coldly, "Did you ever think maybe you deserved to get in Slytherin?"

"If I didn't then, I do now. I'm not a very good person, Black," she said dismissively.

"So they say."

"Ah, good, old, reliable they. Need to know the answer, go to they. They will know. They my ass," she spat.

Sirius frowned. "You sound as old as I feel."

"I sound like a person who has died, if that is what you mean."

"I'm pretty close to death myself," he said casually. "Just how old are you?"

"The ripe old age of thirteen," she replied sarcastically. "Once an innocent girl wanting nothing but to follow her older brothers' footsteps, now, after only three years on the poison, a heartless machine."

He raised an eyebrow though his dark, long hair, but didn't say anything. Then she jerked slightly. It was like the clairvoyance of Morgana's ring had side effects, because she was still seeing the future.

"What? What happened?" Black asked anxiously.

Ginny blinked her eyes a couple of times. "I...HE is alright. He's returned...alive, though barely. Amos has seen Cedric...oh, no."

Sirius let out a sigh of relief.

"But he is in trouble still...traitor...not Moody...not...Moody..."

"What are you babbling on about?" Sirius almost shouted.

"Moody isn't...Moody...never has been," Ginny said in a distant voice. "He's a traitor...I don't know anymore."

Sirius began pacing back and forth. A couple of times he stopped and looked like he was going to ask Ginny something. Ginny had curled up in a ball, fingering Nysilia's ring as she thought.

Then the door opened and Sirius swooped in on Harry. "Harry, are you all right? I knew it - I knew something like this - what happened?"

Sirius's hands shook as he helped Harry into the chair in front of the desk. Ginny still hadn't looked at him or moved. She knew HE was alive, but she also knew Cedric was dead...a good person...

"What happened?" Sirius asked more urgently.

Dumbledore began to tell Sirius everything Barty Crouch had said. Ginny listened intently, amazed how close her 'prediction' had been.

Then there was a soft rush of wings. Fawkes, the phoenix, had left his perch, flown across the office, and landed on Harry's knee. Ginny looked over at him.

"'Lo, Fawkes," Harry said quietly. He stroked the phoenix's beautiful scarlet-and-gold plumage. Fawkes blinked peacefully up at him.

Much to Ginny's chagrin, Dumbledore stopped, and looked at Harry. Harry avoided his gaze.

"I need to know what happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze, Harry," said Dumbledore.

"We can leave that till morning, can't we, Dumbledore?" said Sirius sharply. He had put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Let him have a sleep. Let him rest."

Ginny bit the inside of her mouth; Harry did look like he could use a good rest.

"If I thought I could help you," said Dumbledore gently, "by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time. I ask you to tell us what happened."

Ginny's lower lip trembled. It was like her...her and the ring. She made up her mind right then and there never to use it again like that. It was wrong and not worth it.

The phoenix let out on soft, quavering note. It shivered in the air and a tear slid down his face. Harry began, apparently strengthened by the healing qualities of the tears.

He spoke of everything and all of it confirmed what Ginny had seen, or clarified it. He explained what happened at the graves, with Cedric, how the Death Eaters came, the Priori Incantatum, the origin of his wand and Tom's, the ghosts, everything.

Ginny gritted her teeth, "Was he in pain?"

Everyone looked at her. "Tom," she repeated, "Was he in pain? Did it hurt him?"

Harry's mouth opened a few times, and he said, "I didn't see, I suppose though, I...I heard screaming."

Ginny leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms, "Good."

Dumbledore shook his head and said, "I will say it again. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you tonight, Harry. You have shown bravery equal to those who died fighting Voldemort in the height of his powers. You have shouldered a grown wizard's burden and found yourself equal to it - and you have now given us all what we have a right to expect. You will go to the hospital wing. I do not want you returning to your dormitory tonight. A Sleeping Potion and some peace...Sirius, would you like to stay with him?"

Sirius nodded and stood up. He transformed back into a great black dog and walked Harry out of the office, accompanying him down a flight of stairs and to the hospital wing.

"Ginny," Dumbledore said looking at her with his blue eyes.

Ginny raised her head to him.

He sighed and said, "You told me some one would die."

She nodded.

"I would like to know why."

But that was the problem, she didn't rightly know. If she were a true Slytherin, she would have kept it inside, right? "I suppose I thought it was my duty."

"Duty. I wonder, would you mind putting on the Sorting Hat for me?" When she shook her head, he got up and snatched it from the top shelf.

Ginny looked at it for a minute and then slipped it on. "Ah," a small voice said in her ear, just loud enough for Dumbledore to hear. "Back again so soon? What is this? A second sorting?"

"No," Dumbledore said, "I want you to tell me what house she should be in."

"I stand by my first decision, this girl should be a Slytherin," it said. Dumbledore frowned and took it from Ginny's head and put it on the shelf.

He sat back at his desk and said, "Are you sure there is nothing you want to tell me?"

"There are loads of things I want to tell you," she replied.

"Let me rephrase that; is there anything you can tell me?"

"Not now," Ginny said longingly.

Abruptly, Ginny stood, nodded to the Headmaster, and left the room.

Looking back, the smartest think I ever did was not tell Dumbledore about the rings. It would have been my undoing for sure. No! He isn't a traitor! Great Merlin, the things that go through your minds!

No, I say that because...hey, I'll get to that later, you have to go chronologically when explaining these things.

Anyway. Time moved on. Time moved on for everyone, even me. No, as cool as it would be, time doesn't stop when I want, nor does it speed up or slow down. Though I have noticed that although people say time is their enemy, she rarely chooses sides. And she moved for us all.

I finished top of my class for the third year in a row, much to the displeasure of many Ravenclaw students who reserved nasty glares just for me. On a side note, I'd show them. The bad news was, I wouldn't be taking Trasfiguration anymore. I mean, once you pass in the top of your class in the advanced curriculum, what is the point. Though I was doing the Animagus training with McGonagall. I would be taking the Arithmacy fifth year course next year as a fourth year, fun, eh? I think so!

On the other hand though, I wasn't over the whole 'my fault' thing; I still thought I could have...would have saved Cedric had I convinced someone. I wore black all the time, an eternal state of mourning I called it. Though it probably wouldn't be so eternal, until the end of the school year at least. I mean, I had transfigured all my clothes black, I could transfigure them back if I had an insane urge to wear pink...major if right there.

It was with a heavy hear that I packed my trunk that last evening, it was Leaving Feast already...oh (insert sarcasm) how I love Leaving Feast...cough, cough.

"Remember Cedric," Dumbledore said as he concluded his speech. He had just shocked people senseless by telling them that Cedric was killed by Tom, saying Voldemort in front of them, telling them everyone was welcome back, and telling them how Cedric died. "Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

Again they drank to the fallen boy. Just a boy, Ginny thought sadly, a boy with dreams, and hopes, and friends, and a chance at doing good things. Tom killed him.

She took a drink of her pumpkin juice and swallowed hard. It had been tough for the last couple of days, not using Nysilia's ring to numb herself. But she was pulling though. Fine time to go cold turkey, Gin. It was hard, but she was doing it. Though with out the ring, it was easier for the griffin to gain territory and this was dangerous, especially sitting in the middle of the Slytherin table.

Then she heard them.

"I know, Pansy, I mean, he was just, like, a Huffle-puss, it isn't like it was a Slytherin."

"I know! And they want me to raise my glass to Potter for doing what exactly, he brought back a dead body."

It was sick and wrong! He was dead! An innocent, dead, just like that! And they were - they were - were talking about him like he was some schmuck off the street.

"If I have to see Cho Chang crying in the hall one more time, I'll go berserk, Milly. Really, who does she think she is, just get over it."

It was the laugh that really got to her. She stood and said louder than was needed, "I WONT let you talk about Cedric like that."

Everyone was looking at her every one in the hall, including the teachers.

"Talk about him how?" Pansy said intimidating, challengingly.

"You FUCKING BITCH! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I WONT LET YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE HE WAS SLIME UNDER YOUR SHOES! CEDRIC WAS A THOUSAND TIMES THE PERSON YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO BE YOU SLUTTY WHORE!" Then she lunged at Pansy, jumping clear off the table and delivering her deadly right hook right into her nose. She heard the bone snap. But still Ginny kept at her. Pansy was so surprised by the physical attack she couldn't even fight back. Ginny had thrown her off the bench, pinned her on the floor, and was pounding Pansy into the ground.

Finally, once Ginny's knuckles were sufficiently bloodied, some one hauled her off of Pansy, it was Snape.

"Get away from me!" she screamed as Snape tried to pull her away. She turned to Pansy, who was crying and said coldly, "I'd say it is a drastic improvement from your first nose, bitch."

She threw off Snape's hand again as he was trying to calm her down, "Leave me alone!" she screeched at him. Then Ginny turned on her heel, and as she was leaving, she hesitated at the head of the Hufflepuff table. He jaw trembling and voice full of emotion, she said, "I'm sorry." Then she left the Great Hall.

I sat by myself that trip home; there wasn't much to talk about. I had successfully alienated myself from everyone and I mean everyone. I think Draco would have been there, but he was off getting himself in trouble with Harry and my brother, probably trying to get them all riled up.

Mum picked me and my brothers up at the station. All the ride home they looked at me oddly, I was getting used to it.

It was going to be a long summer.