Reputations

Ginny walked through the door and out into a familiar Hogwarts corridor. She had no recollection of the moment she first entered the Room of Requirement and found herself in a Potions class with Snape. Something had to have changed. Now she was aware of her surroundings and that it was not the true place. At least she didn't think it was the true Hogwarts.

She stood there, unsure what to do. She tried to remember what had happened earlier. Snape. Draco. Classroom. Detention! Snape had given her detention. He didn't tell her a time, he'd just said 'tonight'. Ginny gazed out of a window. It was definitely night time now. But was it real? Only one way to find out, she thought. She made her way down to the dungeons and to Snape's classroom.

She knocked nervously on the door.

"Enter," came Snape's familiar voice.

She walked into the classroom.

"Ah, Miss Weasley. After the earlier demonstration of your potions skills I think an essay on why it is unwise to dabble with potions you are not experienced will be an appropriate exercise." He handed Ginny a piece of parchment and a quill. She took it from him but lingered in front of his desk. Snape looked up at her. "Are my instructions not clear enough for you, Miss Weasley?"

"They're perfectly clear, sir," she said as she made her way to one of the empty desks. She started to write, but then set her quill down. "Sir?" she asked.

"Yes, Miss Weasley?" said Snape, who continued writing and didn't look up.

"I have something important that I need to speak to Professor Dumbledore about. Is he here?"

The quill in Snape's hand froze. "The headmaster is currently away."

This is not what I require, thought Ginny. If this was fake, surely Dumbledore would be here?

"Sir?"

"Yes, Miss Weasley?" Ginny could tell he was loosing patience. She stood up walked to his desk and calmly picked up a potion bottle. Then she turned and threw it against the furthest wall and watched as it smashed to smithereens.

"Sir?" Snape didn't say a word. "Why did you kill Dumbledore?"

Snape stood up and quickly walked around the desk to Ginny, who had reached for further potion bottles.

"Miss Weasley, stop!"

Ginny froze. She didn't know what he did but he'd definitely used a spell on her, she calmly placed the bottle back on the desk even though her head was screaming to smash it and every other glass bottle in the room.

"What's going on?" she said helplessly. "I don't know what's real and what's not anymore."

"Miss Weasley it's difficult to explain. Dumbledore is dead and I killed him, yes. But it wasn't as simple as that. There are things I can't go in to now but know that the headmaster made all his own choices. You know that Draco was about to kill the headmaster. I've sworn to protect Draco, which was also the headmaster's wish. But even though the death was carried out Draco is still in the greatest danger from Voldemort."

"I don't understand; what have I got to do with all this?"

"You still have a connection to Voldemort ever since he communicated with you through his diary. When we are here in this Room of Requirement and you are experiencing this as reality, Voldemort also experiences this as reality which gives me time to work against him and provide safety for Draco. Before his death the headmaster fixed it so that whenever you enter the Room of Requirement you will experience an alternate Hogwarts, no matter what you ask of the room. This alternate Hogwarts will continue even when you do not enter the Room of Requirement but it needs you to visit frequently in order to keep the connection to Voldemort active. It's an effective smokescreen."

"I don't care about the safety of Draco or the safety of you." Ginny desperately wanted to add 'murderer' to the end of that sentence but the word would jut not come out.

"When you are in the Room of Requirement it also provides a net of safety for the Order of the Phoenix and gives your friends more opportunity to do what they need to do. The cover is more powerful when you are here and enables others to continue in Hogwarts undetected."

Harry needs to kill you, Snape, she thought to herself.

"So how much does Draco know? Is he on this sick game?"

"Draco doesn't know that he tried to kill the headmaster. He does know that he is in a serious situation and that he is not supposed to do anything that will compromise this whole situation. When you mixed those potions earlier it must have had a chemical response on your memory. When you left the Room of Requirement it seems you were aware of where you had been."

"I have all these memories of running around all over the place with Ceridon - there's nobody at Hogwarts even called that. I've been running around like I'm in a comedy and acting like an idiot over Draco. Are the people even real?"

"Yes, they are. Although the people that are dead outside this room remain dead here."

"Then why is nobody talking about Dumbledore?"

"You won't find anyone talking about his death. In their minds he's just gone away somewhere."

They stared at each other for a moment. Ginny desperately wanted to scream and shout and use every curse and jinx that she knew on Snape, but she couldn't.

"I'm sorry," said Snape, eventually breaking the silence. Then he picked up his wand and muttered something that Ginny did not understand. Ginny closed her eyes. When she opened them again Ceridon burst through the door. Snape was no longer in the room.

'Oh my Merlin! Ginny you have to come to the Gryffindor common room right now. Draco's waiting outside there and he wants to speak to you!"

"Ceridon!" scolded Ginny. "Why did you just burst through the door like that? Snape could have been here."

"No, I waited for him to leave which is why you have to hurry. I've been waiting forages so that means Draco's been waiting for ages too."

"I can't leave I haven't even finished the essay."

Ceridon ran over to Ginny's desk and picked up five word-filled pages of parchment. "What, are you writing a book? Looks like you've done plenty. Come on, hurry up!"

Ginny grinned and followed her friend out of the door. She felt slightly tired but, she reasoned with herself, she had just written a five page essay after all.