The Unforgettable Fire

CHAPTER 13: The Rebirth of Hope

"Here! This way!" the small boy cried. He had found her over the lake of Hogwarts that morning as he took the long way to his Care of Magical Creatures class. Immediately he had gone to his head of house, Minerva McGonagall, who in turn went immediately to Dumbledore.

Faster than people would have thought a man of his age could move; Dumbledore was on the field by the lake and looking up at the atrocity. She was covered none too modestly by shards of a green dress. It was a Crucifying Curse he knew, he could tell by the way she hung on an invisible cross, her hands and feet bloody and red, the only things propping her up. And above her, the atrocity was furthered, by the Dark Mark burning up the morning's glory.

There was a crowd by now, but that couldn't be helped.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" a crazed voice said from the crowd. Cutting through the mass, Dumbledore saw Harry Potter, tears in his eyes, Ron and Hermione following him. "GINNY! NOOOOOOOO!" Then he fell to the ground and heaved in sadness.

Dumbledore tuned back to the body of Ginny Weasley. She couldn't still be alive, it was impossible. But gently he took off the curse and levitated her to the Infirmary. Such a beautiful mind, he thought, such a beautiful person, such a horrible waste. I never should have let her go, she didn't deserve this.

Ginny's body was lain down on the white sheets and Madam Pomfrey gasped before she began examining her. Tiredly, Dumbledore sat down on the chair by the Slytherin as he watched Pomfrey do her work. It should never have come to this. He should have known when she didn't come back with the rest of the students that something horrible had happened. He had simply put to much faith in her abilities. He had underestimated the reaction of Voldemort. He looked on the small woman, she looked more like a girl now, blood on her face and neck, her hair matted and torn.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey.

"What?" Dumbledore asked, hoping it wasn't too awful.

"She's...and...she's...I've never...Albus...just...just look..." the stuttering nurse said dumbly.

Dumbledore stood and walked next to the young Slytherin. "Holy mother of Merlin," he said just as dumbly as Madam Pomfrey. "Poppy, this girl isn't dead."

"She just started breathing Albus...I've never...this is unprecedented! She just breathed when a moment ago she wasn't!"

"Well," Dumbledore said, pleased with this turn of events, "Cure her, Poppy. I'll stay until you are done. School has been postponed and I am waiting for the board to tell me what I'm supposed to do."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and went to work on Ginny. Deftly her hands worked their magic over the young Slytherin as Dumbledore watched. Magical soothing potions, burn soothers, internal organ repairing spells, charms to mend her skin and bones, other magical remedies to help the poor girl.

"Albus," Madam Pomfrey spoke a few hours later, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I'm done. But...oh, it is so terrible Albus! She'll never get rid of those scars!" the nurse cried sadly.

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked. He had no formal education in mediwitch training, he only knew the basics.

"The Crucifying Curse, the scars don't go away, it's impossible to make them. She'll have them for the rest of her life the poor thing. Her hands, her feet, they were torn up by the nails, they'll never smooth again," Madam Pomfrey said sadly, her eyes welling with tears from stress and sadness.

Dumbledore sighed, trying to decide what to do. "Poppy, I want you to tell no one she is alive yet, not even the teachers, let no one in unless it is an emergency and put her in a separate room."

"Yes, Albus," she agreed, immediately moving her gently to the next room.

Dumbledore left the room and went into his study. The first thing he did was call his four councilors to him, Sirius Black, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin. Solemnly, they entered one after another. The grief in the room was heavy when Dumbledore spoke. "I assume you've all heard what happened to Virginia Weasley."

McGonagall sobbed heavily and blew into her hanker-chief before Dumbledore continued. "I know you know what you all saw, but it's not as though it appears. Virginia Weasley isn't dead. In fact, she is in the infirmary as we speak and Madam Pomfrey is giving Miss Weasley the up most attention."

"How can this be?" Sirius asked, shaking his head.

"I don't know," Dumbledore answered. "It's a miracle surely. But I need you all to be strong. I've never been in this position before. Miss Weasley can be a great help to us if this is done the right way."

"You can't mean...Albus! After all, the girl has gone through! You can't ask her to do any more!" McGonagall said harshly.

"You are letting your emotions control you, Minerva," Snape said calmly. "We must think clearly, for Miss Weasley's sake."

Dumbledore nodded and looked over at Lupin, who was yet to say anything. Lupin looked up at him with tired eyes. "We can ask no more of her, Albus."

Dumbledore sighed. "And yet we must. She has a part to play, for better of for ill in the future of this world. I've seen it in her eyes; she has something she has yet to do."

"What?" Snape asked.

"She is of the Prophesy of Three," Dumbledore said calmly. "I believe she is the Virgin Of Light and has been for some years Harry Potter, I'm convinced, is The Green Knight, and Voldemort is The Dark One we know. The fact she lives makes me think she does have an important role yet."

"But to put her through more, Albus," McGonagall said in a sorrowful voice. "There must be a better way."

"Sometimes the right way isn't always the easiest," Lupin said darkly from the corner.

"Precisely," Dumbledore collaborated. "That is why we need to think of a plan. Should we tell the public she is alive, she we tell them she died? Should we get her special training?"

"You need to tell them," Snape said, "If you tell them she's dead, you'll have renegades trying to go after Voldemort, especially if you run her picture in the paper. But get her training for Merlin's sake. Get her auror training or something, have Moody teach her, Mundungus, Abrella, someone."

"I agree," Sirius said solemnly. "We can only prepare her for what is to come."

"The way you tell it," Lupin said quietly, "is that she will, at some point, have to face Voldemort. When she does, all when can do is hope she had the best training available. Do it."

McGonagall took a deep breath. "Selfish! You are all selfish! She is young, sixteen! How young must she be for you to see that she is only a child, a talented, powerful child albeit, but a child nonetheless! To throw this at her, to put another burden on her, the mental stress alone would kill her. Especially now that we've been informed Draco Malfoy is dead, her one person she could depend on."

"Minerva," Dumbledore said, trying to be calm with the willful Gryffindor, "We must, we have no choice now. The war is upon us, upon her, upon everyone, young and old. If she is not prepared she will die and we will have no hope, it is all we can do."

McGonagall was silent for a long time. Her sense of right and wrong were very strong, and this stank of wrong. She needed to help the poor girl, but three against one...Lupin should have backed her up. "She cannot say at Hogwarts then. I won't allow it. I shall quit Albus Dumbledore. You will send her to a private, protected place where she can be trained, where Moody or Abrella or Mundungus or whoever the hell you want can go and train her. If you think for one minute that I will allow her to stay in those Merlin forsaken dungeons you have another thing coming Albus Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore was silent for a long time, everyone was silent while the enraged Minerva McGonagall fumed, staring them down bravely.

"I agree," Snape said quietly. "She can't stay in the dungeons, she can't stay at Hogwarts."

"I agree as well," Lupin said. McGonagall smiled, satisfied with the outcome.

"Fine," Dumbledore said, agreeing to the idea. It was better than having Moody or Abrella or Mundungus coming here. "She will live with Moody, he will agree. Her parents will be allowed to see her, and her siblings, that is all."

McGonagall sighed a great sigh of relief and Dumbledore released his councilors so he could brood on what to do. He had been keeping Alastor Moody up to date on everything that had been happening at the castle. He and Alastor had been Hogwarts buddies, friends when it didn't matter what house you were in, for Moody had been in Slytherin. It had been too long since the glory of Slytherin had been apparent. Once such a respected and powerful and righteous house, now a shamble, now a shadow of its former self. Yes, Moody would agree with him, agree with McGonagall that is. The Weasley girl couldn't stay at the school, not with these Slytherin. Moody would be happy to have a student, as would Mundungus and Abrella. Especially one so gifted at Ginny, one who could live up to his expectations; be the daughter he never had. All that was left was telling Harry, he would need to know, even if no one else could.

~~~

She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't. She was too strong to cry, she couldn't look weak like that. She wanted to ask why, why she'd been made to live. She was supposed to be dead, happy and with Draco. But she wasn't. She was here in the damnable school in a bed covered in cool white sheets.

She'd woken up alone and in the semi-dark between dusk and night. The fist thing she wanted to do was cry. She'd been happy in heaven, content. There wasn't pain there, there wasn't hurt there, just loving acceptance. She hadn't even been able to find Draco in the Elysian Fields yet. Who'd of guessed the Greeks had been right, but with a twist. People had a good and bad side to their soul. Everyone's good side went to the Elysian and everyone's bad side went to Hades. That meant even Tom's good side was welcome in Elysian, in fact, it was there already, she'd met him in her brief time. He'd said he'd been waiting for her, waiting to apologize. She forgave him. She'd almost reached Draco when she'd been torn from Elysian.

She'd met Reonet and used her last bit of power to send her back to Earth. Reonet had been sad, sad and lonely, but wise and beautiful. She'd kissed Ginny on the forehead and gave her back to the world of the living.

Ginny had now awoken and she felt the pain of her evil and good souls being bound together again. She'd awoken and taken labored breathes for several minutes before raising a twitching hand to eye level. A scar of monstrous proportion covered her palm and top of her right and left hand. The Crucifying Curse, she thought. The scar was horrifyingly ugly, her veins appearing larger than before because they were sore from the mending. The skin was pale and almost clear. She had no other scars save the identical ones on her feet. She touched her scars lightly and found they were only a bit tender.

"They will be better in time," the calm voice of Dumbledore said from the doorway. Light poured in the room where Ginny sat, her arm clutching her legs to her chest. "Time heals lots of things."

Ginny said nothing. It wasn't really his fault, not this time. She'd made the decision to go; he'd warned her against it. She'd caused Draco's death. It wasn't like Cedric where she could only have done a little; she could have actually saved Draco. Shame burned her hotter than ice or fire could have.

"Miss Weasley...Ginny," Dumbledore said kindly, "I realize this is hard on you. I also hate to ask more of you, but you need to understand. I know about the Prophesy of Three, I know you are in it. You need training. You need to become stronger. Your parents have already agreed; you will be taken out of Hogwarts." Dumbledore paused, as though he was expecting her to say something. She didn't so he continued. "You will be taken from Hogwarts and be put somewhere safe, with Alastor Moody, the auror. He, Abrella Figg, and Mundungus Fletcher will train you. They are the best in their fields and can train you to be too. Do you agree to this? For Ginny, you are our last hope, our one saving card."

Ginny stood and walked to the window, watching the setting sun. It was almost gone. She folded her arms around her waist. "How long have I been gone?" she asked.

"You left at the beginning of break. You were found the Monday after break. You have been asleep for two weeks now," he answered.

Ginny looked out at the sun again, it was beautiful, a sight she rarely saw thanks to her location in the dungeons. "Do you know what heaven is like Headmaster Dumbledore?"

"No," he answered plainly, wondering where this conversation was going.

"I do," she said quietly. "I was there, you see. All is good in heaven, Headmaster. People sit on the cool grass and talk, love, live. It is a great sadness to live in this world again with a soul that is tainted. In heaven, your soul is purified and the evilness is sent to Hades. I can feel wrong easier now, I can feel right easier too. But Headmaster, I know I haven't been awake for that long, but I haven't felt any good in this world. So what is the point? I'll never feel the good again; I don't think I can even go back. Reonet said something. She said, 'I give thee, Virginia Weasley, an immortal soul so that thy might defeat The Dark One.' I truly believe my soul, at least, is bound to walk this earth forever, never knowing happiness. So, I ask you again, what is the point?"

So they have torn her from Heaven, Dumbledore thought, she has become a fallen angel then. No wonder she is so sad. How do you comfort a person who has known real goodness?

"There are still things that are good on Earth. Love is good, when you find it. Family is good, friends are good and when you find them you feel great goodness, Ginny. You could make the world good; you could do it if you helped us."

Ginny turned from the setting sun to look him in the eye. She had ageless eyes, brown. They should have been warm, but they were distant, living in a different time. "How? The world just can't go back to being good again when so much evil has terrorized it."

"It can be repaired. People are durable, they will live through it, they will still have hope," Dumbledore answered.

Ginny turned back to the sun. "There will be no dusk for me, Headmaster."

"But will you help us?" Dumbledore pressured.

"I will do as you ask."

~~~

Ginny had no belongings with her, and as she was reluctant to go back to Malfoy Estate to ask for them back, she donned a spare school uniform and school robe, houseless of course. Dumbledore was waiting for her in the hall.

"Alastor will meet us in Hogsmeade. The two of you will go to Diagon Ally and get you whatever you need, wands, robes, etc. at the school's expense. Then you will meet your other five instructors the next day. I assume the day after that you'll begin training," Dumbledore said as he led her out of the building that morning. It was very early, four o'clock. He didn't want anyone to see her, much less talk to her, and by walking her to Hogsmeade, he could make sure they were unseen.

Ginny nodded at him and walked after him. Their trip was undisturbed and fast. They walked off campus and down to the small village. It was asleep and quiet, but Ginny felt no good in it, no rest.

Soon, a hooded man approached them a glowing blue eye in his head. Ginny remembered what Moody looked like, but wouldn't have been shocked anyways.

"This the girl?" he asked in a raspy voice, sizing her up and frowning.

"This is Virginia Weasley," Dumbledore said concurred.

Moody studied her again then nodded curtly. "Can't stay here long, Albus. I'll contact you, as always."

"Good-bye Miss Weasley," Dumbledore said. "I'll be in touch if you need to speak with me. Just remember, the world lies in your hands now."

"I remember, Headmaster," Ginny said quietly.

"Good," Dumbledore said. "I'll talk with you later Alastor."

Then the headmaster left Ginny with Alastor Moody, who was again studying her. "Virginia was it?" he asked sharply.

"Yes - call me Ginny," she corrected herself. Only Draco called her Virginia now. And he was dead.

"Are you hungry?"

"A bit," she conceded.

Moody grunted and they walked into a pub that was devoid of people save two men in the back and the bar tender. He ordered their breakfasts and checked both for poison by passing a magical poison detector over their plates.

Ginny ate slowly aware that Moody's blue eye was always on her. They ate in silence as neither felt compelled to talk. For Ginny, it was still a little soon. She'd been given a week to rest before the training and now she was here. She hadn't seen anyone, refusing to see her parents. She'd done basically nothing, not ever cry, she promised she wouldn't.

When Moody had finished, he took a long drink from his flask and studied Ginny with both eyes again.

"It's rude to stare you know," she said quietly. "Besides, how much can you tell by appearances? Nothing. Nothing that matters anyway."

Moody grunted. "Sure know a lot don't you, Sprite?"

"I thought I did," Ginny answered, bringing her eyes to meet his. His good eye was black, a beady black, sharp and intelligent color.

He nodded. "We'll fix that. What do you want to do?"

Ginny shrugged. "Go to Diagon Alley I suppose. I need a wand, clothes, shoes, some money from Gringots, and a few books."

"Done," Moody said. "Hey barkeep! Mind if we use the Floo to Diagon Alley?"

"Nope!" the tall and balding man answered. They took the Floo to Flourish and Blotts and Ginny picked up an Animagus book. Moody just shelled out the money, Hogwarts money at least.

After that Ginny got some robes too, all black. Madam Malkin seemed to want to put her in reds or greens, but Ginny put her foot down. Draco was dead. She only wore black now. She got some Muggle street clothes, all black, and some personal items. Moody was very patient, silently watching and judging her.

They then went into Ollivander's. The shadowy old man looked at her with his mercurian eyes as she entered giving her the feeling she was having her soul judged.

"A new wand then?" Ollivander asked.

"Yes," Ginny answered.

"I have one more Rowan Wood/Oak hybrid. Good thing too, wands like that with a stardust core are hard enough to find. The fact that I have one that is 12 inches is amazing. Here you are Miss Weasley, do make sure to keep good track of this one, won't you?" the silvery old man said kindly.

Ginny took the wand and smiled at the familiar rush of magic flow through her veins. She paid Ollivander and she and Moody left.

They then went into Gringots, the wizarding bank.

"How much?" the goblin asked.

"Two hundred galleons to vault 709," Ginny said. "And a note if you don't mind. 'From Ginny' will do. I would also like to remove fifty from my vault 1106."

"Key," the goblin said. Ginny gave the short creature her key and he came back not too much later with a bag of gold for her.

"Thank you," she said with a nod.

"What was that for?" Moody asked once they were out of the bank.

"I've hurt my family enough, don't you think?" Ginny asked pointedly.

"That you have," Moody conceded. "Are we done?"

"I have two more places to stop. One is the Ministry. The other is my house with a letter telling my father he has a job now, a damn good one too," Ginny answered.

"I don't think I want to know how you are going to do that," Moody grumbled.

"You don't," Ginny replied.

Two hours later, Ginny came out of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge's office carrying a letter asking her father to come back to work as the head of his old department and a pay raise.

Ginny was walking towards Moody when Fudge came from the office. "Feel free to come back any time, Ginny!" he called down the hall. Ginny watched Moody frown when he saw the state of Fudge's robes and hair. Ginny looked clean and unruffled however, collaborating on his theories about her. He also watched as Ginny didn't turn back to the Minister and just kept on walking.

"I just have to go to the Burrow now," Ginny said calmly.

"To the Burrow then," Moody said. They took the public Floo and landed in the kitchen of a homely yet slightly run down house. There was a clock on the wall with each of the Weasleys on it. Moody noticed that Ginny wasn't on the clock. Pictures of the Weasley family decorated the walls, but Ginny wasn't included in these. Moody watched her; if she noticed or cared she didn't show it. He followed her down the hall and into a living area.

"Ginny!" the plump Mrs. Weasley. "And Mr. Moody! Oh, do come in. Arthur!"

"Hello, Mother," Ginny said quietly.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her cold eyed. Moody could tell that there was a high level of animosity between mother and daughter. "What have you come here for? Surely you don't need funds or approval."

"No, Mother. I just need a book, the one I entrusted you with," she answered solemnly.

The plump woman nodded. "I have it."

"Ginny!" a deep voice said from the doorway. "Alastor, how are you? Come, both of you, sit!"

"Thank you -" Moody started.

"- but no thank you. We will be leaving soon Father," Ginny interrupted. "But before we do, I have something for you."

Mr. Weasley took the letter from his daughter's hands and looked at it speculatively. Mrs. Weasley, who had left a moment ago, returned with a green leather bound book with silver writing on it. Mr. Weasley opened the letter and began to read it. His mouth dropped open and his eyes bulged a little. "Ginny...how...I...how?"

Ginny smiled sadly. "It doesn't matter, not now anyway. I must be leaving."

Moody examined the scene with interest. Her parents seemed to not only not care, but want to get her out as soon as possible, well, her mother at any rate. Her father seemed sad, his torn clothing and fading red hair making him look older and more pitiful.

"No need to thank me," Ginny continued bitterly. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you didn't. I won't be seeing you all for a while, maybe never. I just wanted you to know that...that I've had some time to think. I apologize for anything I may have done to hurt you. You may not love me, but I want you to know, I wanted to love you. I'm sorry I can't. Good-bye Mother, good-bye Father."

Moody followed her to the fire place again and they took the Floo back to his house in the country.

~~~

Ginny sat on the porch of Moody's house drinking her tea. They were waiting for the other four instructors to arrive. Ginny had settled in the quaint house quite nicely. Her room was spacious and tactfully decorated with natural colors and earthy hues. Moody was kind, if not overly so, and understanding that she would need some time. Apparently he had done this before, or something like it. She discovered he wasn't nearly as obsessive as he was made out to me. After the Hogwarts incident, he'd gotten some new treatment that brought him back to the frame of mind he'd had before he was tortured by the Dark Lord's servant. He was quiet and private, though he did carry a flask around with him and check food even he himself made for poison. She liked him well enough. He had a extensive library he gave her complete access to as well as several interesting rooms filled with anything vaguely related to the dark arts like spy glasses, lie detectors, foe mirrors, you name it.

But the thing Ginny liked about Moody the most was he never pried. She volunteered information sometimes, but he never pushed the envelope. He was patient and kindly and Ginny grew to have a certain amount of trust in him.

"Ah, Alastor, how nice to see you!" a tall, graying woman said, approaching the porch with her hands open.

"Hello, Abrella," Moody said in his gruff voice. "Nice to see you again too."

Though she was nearly six inches taller than he (for Moody was an unimpressive five feet eight inches, barely taller than Ginny) she stooped down to kiss him on each cheek and sat down next to him at the porch table.

"And you must be Virginia Weasley," the tall woman said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Abrella Figg."

"Ginny," she said courteously as she took Abrella's hand. "Call me Ginny. It's nice to meet you."

After Abrella Figg arrived, three men came, two together and the third not to long after. The two that come together seemed to be related to each other, or they looked enough like each other to be brothers at least. Their names were Orion and Demetrios Bellatrix. Orion was tall and slender, dark even though he had gray hairs in his head. His eyes where dark blue and sharp. His brother, Demetrios was tall and slender as well, but fairer and had brown eyes. They weren't solemn and they weren't light hearted either, in fact, they had no personality to speak of. The third man reminded Ginny of what a young Alastor Moody would be like. His name was Mundungus Fletcher and he was lethal. His very gaze was enough to pierce the metaphorical dagger though your heart. Ginny liked him automatically.

They were all sitting around the table when Moody finally spoke. "As you all know, Dumbledore has sent Miss Weasley away from the castle for her own protection. We, those who sit here, are obligated to train her in the ways of the auror and to keep her secret and protected."

"This is about the Prophesy of Three then?" Abrella asked.

"Yes," Moody answered. "She is the Virgin Of Light."

All eyes went to Ginny. She could tell Moody had trained them all by the way they saw. That flick in their gaze as their eyes traveled from one place to another, the sharp expression they got when analyzing something, yes, they were Moody's students.

"Let us hear from the girl," Fletcher said slowly. Be brought his glass to his lips and took a slight sip.

"Yes," Orion said, "let's hear what she has to say. I assume you have an opinion about this Miss Weasley."

Ginny searched the faces at the table. "Suppose I do. I doubt you would care anyway. It was made quite clear to me that my opinion wasn't welcome by Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore has too much to worry about to spend time trying to appease you, girlie," Abrella said wisely. "He has war to wage. You tell us your opinion and don't bother Dumbledore with your petty problems."

"I haven't been a girl for a long time," Ginny said calmly. "If you want my opinion, here it is. We have no hope. You all will die if you try to face Tom and anyone who tries to oppose him will find a similar fate. This is foolish and will get us no where."

"Don't you have hope?" Demetrios asked.

Ginny snorted. "There is no hope on this world, not now at any rate."

"That will be the first thing we have to fix," Fletcher said to Moody.

"That will fix itself in time," Moody said after a while. "She's still recovering. She has seen a lot. Now is not the time to discuss that however. You all know what you are doing, but Miss Weasley doesn't." Moody turned to Ginny. "The group of people you see before you are the five most talented aurors in Britain. Abrella is a powerful arithromancer, the most powerful female auror in the world and our top information gatherer about the movings and where abouts of Voldemort. Orion and Demetrios are intelligence agents that work for Abrella, though they specialize in infiltration more than Abrella. Fletcher is an excellent field auror and has caught just as many Death Eaters as me. I am, of course, a bit too old for any of these things. Strategy is more my game now, though there is still a punch left in this old wand. We will train you, mold you into a warrior fit to face off with the Potter boy against Voldemort."

At this Ginny frowned. She didn't want to work with Harry. She didn't even want to talk to him or see him. It was well enough and good enough to repent before death, but she would never see true death, not now that her soul was bound to this earth again. Nothing could cause her to want to love again. She was separated from Draco, separated from her other half. No, she reminded herself. He will never be your other half. Neither of you could admit it, neither of you knew how to love and never will.

"Yes," Abrella said, "you will work with Harry Potter. You are a team in this prophesy and will have to work as a team to defeat Voldemort. Get over it."

"Sound advice," Ginny spat, "from a woman who doesn't know what she is talking about!" This was the first sign of emotion since waking from death. She felt the inner fire. The wheels of hate began to turn again, moved by the heat burning in her heart. The griffin, so long in slumber, was awake and beating at the snake for dominance. But Ginny didn't care about keeping her new found temper in check. "You all think you can just walk over me like I'm nothing? Aren't I the prophetical Virgin From Light? Don't I deserve a little recognition and respect? I look around the table and I see five people past their prime trying to save a desperate world of people who've lost the will and desire to fight the battle you've strived to win your whole life. Do you know why you are the last? Because they HAVE lost hope! They have lost already and you just keep it all going! Let them die or leave them! They want no part of this world!"

"And what would you have us do?" shouted Fletcher. "Leave them to die? Leave them to suffer at the hands of Voldemort and the Death Eaters? You are their hope! You are their will and desire to win! If you don't believe in this, no one will! You are selfish and you are the one who will pay for it. You will see them die and you will regret it! Pull yourself together girl!"

Ginny clenched her teeth. Her heart's wheels screeched from lack of use as they powered up. Then the tell tale sign of wrongness came over her. Her hands began to shake and the veins in her palms twitched. Ginny slid off the gloves she wore to hide the ugliness off her hands and looked at them. Her veins throbbed and she held her hands together. Her heightened sense of right and wrong told her she was deathly wrong. Her conscience told her she was wrong. A will to fight came over her, the hope and desires of the people she needed to fight for infused itself in her rusty soul. She had been wrong and now she needed to fight. Suddenly her hands calmed and she massaged her wand hand lightly.

"You're right," she said slowly. "I can see it now. I have much to do."

Moody nodded. "Good. It has begun. That was enough for today. Tomorrow the training will start in earnest. You may leave Miss Weasley."

~~~

May 30, 1997

Dear Diary,

I feel it less now. When I was given life a second time the wrong and right in the world was so clear. The pain of my two halves of my soul joining has lessened too. The rejoining is less apparent. Once there were clearly two different souls residing in my body, now there is a mesh of them in which you can barely distinguish the good from the bad.

I think this is why I can't feel good and bad as clearly. Like the day before, when I was at the Ministry getting Father his job back, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but it didn't pain me to do it like it pained me to do other things that weren't right earlier. I think that a person has always had two souls but they were so closely linked no one knew. Just like good and evil are linked. For example, when Cornelius Fudge fired my father on order of Lucius Malfoy; that was wrong. And the means of getting my father his job back were wrong, but giving my father the letter was good.

It's rather confusing to tell the truth. I wanted so much in the beginning to die again and live in Elysian with Draco, but now it's like I've regained my will to live. When you are dead, you are happy and content. When you live, you are miserable and always fighting for a bit of heaven. But there is something special about living that makes humans crave it. It's the ability to be I think. People underestimate this ability. Just to be able to sit and breathe...it is something you can't do in heaven...there is something not the same about it.

This is what Tom craves, being human enough to be. It's the power to do this that he craves as well.

I don't know what I'm going to do. They told me I'd see Harry. I don't want to. How childish does that sound? Merlin! All I want is the peace I had, the peace I deserved! I just want to feel clean like that again. I feel diseased now, infected with some gross plague and utterly filthy. Sometimes I just want to puke I'm so disgusting.

The scars don't help either. They serve as a constant reminder, a reminder that I am disgusting and tainted again. They are ugly too. Every time I wash my hands it isn't like I'm washing them at all because all I can see are those wretched scars. So I use gloves, I always wear them. They are black dragon hide and basically nothing can spoil them. Fire proof, water proof, acid proof, and anything else proof you can think of.

Oh, well. Tomorrow my "training starts in earnest." I guess I'd better get some sleep.

Ginny put down her diary and placed the locking charm back on it. Good thing I got this set otherwise I would have lost all those writings, she thought as she lay down to sleep.

~~~

"How would you go about defeating Voldemort?" Moody asked her that morning after breakfast. They sat on his porch (Ginny gathered this was his favorite place, really it was a nice porch, as far as porches go) under the shade of the great oak tree.

Ginny thought about it for a moment. "I guess I'd take a knife to him. Conventional magic doesn't seem to work."

Moody nodded. "Seems like a good plan when put so simply. You choose a physical way, not magical, which is interesting. Traditionally, poison has been the woman's weapon of choice, but you choose a way of direct confrontation."

"No one's done it before," Ginny pointed out.

"True enough, but there is a reason for that. It can't be done, he has magic. It isn't possible, much less plausible."

"So how would you do it?" Ginny asked defiantly.

"I'd like to do it the same way," Moody confessed. "But as I said, not possible. No, it is a sad thing, but Voldemort needs to be overpowered. The side of good will defeat him."

"You place so much faith in the light," Ginny said. "I don't understand why. The fight has so far been won by evil. True Harry was able to escape, but so many others, Cedric, the Longbottoms, the McKinnons, and so many others, dead. They were good. They fought for the light. They are dead now and only their murderers survive."

"But you forget; Harry Potter is alive by the grace of love. His mother Lily (bless her heart I knew the child) used old and powerful magic, the magic of love and light, and she banished the dark spirit of Voldemort, defending Harry as a baby," Moody countered. "We've seen that good can conquer evil on a small scale, now we need to use it on the real thing, the real evil."

Ginny looked away. He was right of course; Harry had lived by the grace of love. She closed her eyes against the breeze and breathed in the sweet country air. "How?" Ginny asked.

"That is what Ministry Arithromancers have wondered for decades. Thankfully Abrella Figg is the greatest Arithromancer known to the wizarding world and she doesn't work for the Ministry, she works for Dumbledore. She's come up, after hours of study, that Lily Potter must have used wandless magic to save you. We found her wand in the dining room when we looked through the destroyed house. There was no way she could have reached James' wand. She used an old form of wandless magic to protect Harry."

"So you are saying you have to use powerful wandless magic to defeat Tom. That means like seven people in history can defeat him. Good, we are definitely going to win this war," Ginny scoffed.

"Actually, that isn't entirely correct. The elves do it."

"House elves. Perfect. Let's get the goblin/brownie hybrids to teach me to do wandless magic. They are witless, spineless creatures; they care nothing unless it involves serving you tea."

"I meant the wood-elves," Moody corrected.

"Oh, well, let's go to Germany and dig the lot of them out of their damnable forests and get them to teach me! Better yet, why don't we get them all out here! We'll have a regular old party!"

"You know," Moody growled dangerously, "this would go a lot easier if you wouldn't be so fickle and bad tempered. This is for your own good, girl. All I have to do is train you, but if you're going to be a selfish little child, we can turn you loose on Voldemort right now and see how you fare."

Ginny clenched her teeth. She really needed to work on cooling down a bit and she knew it. A few hours of Nysilia's ring should calm me right down, she thought. "Fine," Ginny bit out. "I'll work on that."

"Good," Moody said with a frown. "Now, as I was saying, the wood-elves have been doing it for centuries. Also, the Dali Llamas of Nepal have been doing for as long as there's been one. It is possible and powerful, ancient and good."

"It can't all be good," Ginny said.

"Yet it is," Moody said, his good eye flashing excitedly. "That is the beauty of it. The fact that wandless magic was the original magic, the oldest magic; it proves that all magic was originally good. This means it is more powerful and can, wielded through the right person, defeat the abomination that dark magic is."

Ginny's eyes widened. "And you want me to kill Tom...with wandless magic?"

"No, don't be daft. You can't, you aren't The Green Knight. We don't know what you have to do, only that it's important. That is why you are being trained," Moody explained.

"So Harry is the ultimate savior?" Ginny groaned and put her hand on her forehead. "Do you know how disgusting that is?"

"I was a Slytherin," Moody answered. Ginny snorted. "But yes, I know what you mean. It hardly seems right. The one boy who survives Voldemort, the one boy who escapes his evil every year, the one boy who literally owns the hearts of all witches and wizards, is the one boy destined to defeat him. No great distinguished wizard like Dumbledore and no descendent of some great wizard. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the liberator of the wizarding world will save us all after all."

"It isn't right, it isn't fair," Ginny said grumpily. "He doesn't deserve it. He's barely lived, he is only seventeen years old and he is going to defeat Tom! It should have been me. Hell, it should have been you...or even Dumbledore!"

"I know," Moody said. They sat their in silence comfortably. Ginny realized that there was a bond between the two. They were traditional Slytherin; that is why she never fit in, she realized that now. Moody was of the glory days of Slytherin, the days where being in Slytherin didn't mean you were automatically a Death Eater. She was that type of Slytherin, the Slytherin of old. That was what brought them together. So few of them left now, and two sitting on a porch in the sunshine of a perfect spring morning...it would have brought anyone together.

"Anyway," Moody said after a while. "You will be trained, like Harry, with wandless magic. Actually, you will be trained by the only two people I know who can do wandless magic, Orion and Demetrios Bellatrix, wood-elves incidentally."

"Really," Ginny said with a light snort, raising an eyebrow. "I guess I can see it. I didn't notice the ears."

~~~

"Focus, Miss Weasley," Orion said smoothly into her ear.

Ginny gritted her teeth. If some one told her to focus one more time she'd scream. Literally. She'd been sitting on the grass waiting to feel the inner energy for three hours now. It wasn't cold or anything, it was just annoying how Orion and Demetrios could do it so easily and she couldn't.

Ginny opened her eyes and groaned in agitation. There Orion and Demetrios were, levitating, doing the simplest form of wand and wandless magic imaginable and she couldn't.

They floated down to the ground, landing in the sitting position in front of her.

"Miss Weasley," Orion began.

"If you tell me to focus one more time I'll take your damn pointy ears and stuff them up your ass," Ginny warned.

Demetrios fought back a small smile. "That," Orion said calmly, "was uncalled for."

Ginny groaned again and fell down on her back. "I know, I'm sorry! It just pisses me off, this should be easy!"

"Orion and I were born with the ability," Demetrios explained, "of course it is easy for us. You need to learn it. Doing simple things is the easiest place to start. Now let's try again, I'll guide you, Miss Weasley."

Ginny pulled herself to the cross-legged position she was in before. "Okay."

"Now," Demetrios said soothingly, "close your eyes...imagine you are holding your wand. Feel the power in the wand, it flow through your veins. It is part of your cells, your heart, your soul...feel the magic flow. It is in your blood...feel your blood flow. Your heart pumps the blood and magic. Out and in...out and in...feel the magic in the blood. Can you feel it?"

"I can," Ginny answered. This was nothing new; she'd been able to feel in for three hours almost. Doing something with it was another story however.

"Good," Demetrios continued. "Now feel the soft breeze on your skin, you are as light as this breeze, as calm as this breeze. It is part of you, part of the universe; part of the magic. Feel its magic merge with yours, feel it connect with your blood magic. Can you feel it in you; can you feel its ancient magic?"

"I can," she answered. This was also nothing new; she'd been able to feel the magic in the world around her for hours too. Again, doing something with it wasn't a possibility as of now.

"Now reach out to it, let your blood guide you, feel yourself as light as the breeze, make yourselves one. Feel the air, you are the air, use the magic in your blood."

Ginny's breathing slowed and she felt the world in all its magic. Old magic, powerful magic. The world seemed clearer, more tangible than ever, and she felt it. And then she rose, not much, but a few inches. Then her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she hit the ground hard.

"Oof!" she grunted as she hit the ground. "Damn it!"

"You just need focus," Orion said with a smile. Demetrios was smiling as well.

~~~

March 16, 1997

Dear Diary,

I've been working really hard. Demetrios and Orion say I'm the fastest learner they've ever taught. Not surprising, I wear Chani's ring to basically every session. If I didn't I'd be so lost it wouldn't even be funny.

They say that the basic form of magic is elemental, and if I learn to control the natural aspects of magic, I'll be able to perform wandless magic better. There are five components of elemental magic they say, water, fire, earth, wind, and ether. I've learned how to control wind, fire, water, and earth so far. It hasn't been easy. For wind I had to learn to manipulate the winds to do my bidding, start small tornadoes, levitate myself. They made me set a dead tree branch on fire to learn to control flame. Then they made me levitate flame when nothing was burning. I just held the fire in my hand. For earth I had to learn to communicate with what Orion and Demetrios call the mother. I had to tell them what the trees were saying, what the ground was saying. Then I had to ask it questions. That was really weird. But I felt the magic. For water, I had to freeze something, make water rise and fall from my glass, make it spin and control its direction, all sorts of stuff. Ether is hard though. I don't know what they want me to do. It is something like seeing the world or the stars or something on a different plain. I think it's tough, but they do it easily. They say you can detect lies with it and stuff...really I'm not sure what it is good for...

Anyway, my training will go on with them until they think I'm completely ready. Moody doesn't do much yet, just watches. He seems to be waiting, judging, predicting. I've talked to him often, though nothing too personal. We have a bond there, a bond shared by a dying breed, the righteous Slytherin.

I miss Draco terribly, especially now that I can't feel the goodness in me, the separation of my souls is no longer there, they are one entity again. It's sad to know goodness and then have it taken from you, Draco was a goodness. I can't stop thinking about his last words. He said he loved me. He didn't know what love was, neither did I. Yet in the end, he said the words. Maybe part of him truly did love me, maybe part of me truly loved him...we'll never know. I know I must move on, but it is hard, so hard. I don't want to forget, I don't want to forget ever. But I feel the separation strongly and long for the pain to go away. Maybe it will; time fixes a lot of things I've heard. Does it fix this though?

I now have hope; it has been instilled in my soul. I haven't felt it to this day, but I've heard it is a human thing to have. I'm more human than I've ever been. I can feel, little by little at least. "Baby steps, Gin, baby steps," I remind myself. I said as I was dying I'd like to have loved. I don't shy away from that. Here I feel safe to fill that promise, that declaration. But unlearning the things that have tainted me is a slow and long road. It rains on that road constantly; hail, fire, wind, and death line the edges of that path. But this I knew when I started down it. Lord Saiph said I'd find salvation. I think now she meant I'd make my own salvation, those things just aren't given to you, you know.

I feel out of place right now, like some sort of freak really. I know things and see things the way no one else on the planet does. I don't know, maybe I'm getting a bit paranoid.

~~~

"Ether is the hardest of elements to conquer," Orion said wisely as sat under the night sky.

"I feel stupid," Ginny complained. "How am I supposed to see this power of the universe you speak of if I can't see it?"

"You have to feel the power of the stars," Demetrios explained. "Feel the star fire in them; feel their age then you will feel their power."

"This will give me enlightenment?" Ginny questioned, her head turned to the heavens but her eyes shut.

"Among other things," Orion said. Ginny could tell he was smirking by the way he said it.

Ginny frowned and worked harder. She was supposed to feel the power of the universe and possibly be able to harness it. What this was supposed to do Ginny didn't know. They mentioned soul traveling (whatever the hell that was), far seeing (possible telling the future which Ginny could do), using the universe to power an attack, and other things Ginny had no understanding of. She'd tried using Chani's ring for this one, but it wasn't working. Nothing she tried worked.

"It isn't working!" Ginny growled. "Why do I need this anyway? Who cares if I can feel the universe at whim? I just want to feel Tom's blood on my hands."

"Patience, Fiery One," Demetrios said, using the nickname she'd earned. She'd got it when she accidentally set her sleeve on fire when trying to control the power of fire.

She stuck her tongue at him and tried again. The universe always opened to her easily enough, she could feel the power of it, but beyond that, she was lost. She imagined a flush of power and understanding would come over her if she was doing it right and Orion and Demetrios said that would be what it was like. But it seemed as though she wasn't opening the right door, either that or she wasn't using the right key...

"You know how when if you use a different key," Ginny began, "on the same door, it will open to different places? Is the universe like that?"

"I've never heard it put like that," the dark haired Orion said, "but essentially, yes."

Ginny sighed and concentrated again. Different keys, she thought slowly. What key have I been using? Taking a deep breath Ginny reached out again. The universe was at her finger tips, she could feel the galaxies in their slow rotations, the stars shining and twinkling. Licking her lips Ginny pushed at the feeble image. To her surprise, it sent out waves, ripples like water. She tried it again, but this time she punctured the surface. Immediately she was assaulted with a cool feeling rising behind her eyes. The stars in her mind burst to life and the universe became clear. Then a soft song, like that of night becoming day, the earliest and purest of songs, rang out of the dark. It echoed in the abyss and carried Ginny's soul with it on a tremor of light, bringing her to the symphony. To describe it would have been a sin; it would have been like trying to compare Beethoven and Mozart to Picasso or Michelangelo. There were no words to describe the beauty she felt. Her eyes welled with unshed tears at the splendor of the universe.

"Now isn't this worth fighting for?" Demetrios asked.

Ginny could only nod. Had she known how, she would've cried.