Un-betaed Ginny's Seventh Year Part 1
Live Journal may not be set up for taking so much text in one post so I've chopped this in half. Thanks to stmargarets and crumpledhornki and mollywheezy for letting me know about the problem.
Author: Grandma Kate
Story: Ginny's Seventh Year at Hogwarts
Rating: Everyone
Setting: After DH- Pre Epilogue
The Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I’m just borrowing the characters for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N This story is told from Molly’s Weasley’s point of view and continues from where Ginny’s Sixth Year at Hogwarts leaves off. It takes place the year after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, therefore eighteen years before the Epilogue.
1: The New and Improved Hogwarts- September 1998
Molly was up early the morning that Ginny and Hermione were leaving for their last year of Hogwarts, but let Arthur have a bit of a lie-in as she headed into the loo. She was still a bit worried that Ron wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to audit classes when he had the opportunity and she was certain that Harry was going to be too busy with his Auror responsibilities to manage to sit for his N.E.W.T.s at all. Hermione had more influence with Ron than she did with Harry so she was relieved that at least Ron would be prepared. Neither Ginny nor Harry seemed to realize that they might regret his choice to have his scores waived so he could start his Auror career a year early. She shook her head. Minerva and Kingsley thought that they had been so clever, awarding Harry ‘life experience’ credit.
She knocked the door of Ginny’s room and heard Hermione answer, ‘Ginny and I are both awake. We’ll be right down.’ Harry and Ron were less reassuring with their moans, but she was sure that Hermione and Ginny would make them get up to come to see them off on the Hogwarts Express. Molly gave an audible ’Humph!’ as she went down the stairs to the kitchen.
She was still muttering as she started porridge, some water for tea, and a small pot of coffee for George and Hermione. Molly realized that someone must be up because she heard water running in the upstairs bathroom. Nevertheless, she was surprised when George was the first one down the stairs. He was dressed in his magenta work robes so she knew he planned to go into Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes before joining them at Kings Cross Station.
‘Good Morning Georgie,’ said Molly. ‘Going into the shop for a bit? Do you have time for breakfast?’
‘Do you have any coffee?’ asked George, looking a bit queasy. ‘And maybe a bit of toast?’
Molly poured George a mug of coffee and floated a jug of milk to his place at the table. Summoning the butter and the apple butter, she waved her wand. The toast buttered itself and fell in a stack on a plate. The jar of apple butter and a knife settled down next to the toast.
‘I may be coming down with something,’ said George, sipping his coffee. ‘I feel a bit queasy this morning.’
‘Arthur says the Muggles are convinced it’s exposure to germs that make people sick. Or is it jeans?’ said Molly. ‘You have obviously been exposed to one of them.’ She looked sadly at her son and thought, ‘and exposed to far too much fire whisky if you ask me, but nobody does. Poor Georgie.
George nodded back at her as Ginny and Hermione came down the stairs, arguing.
‘If you had done as I suggested,’ Hermione stated in a rather firm voice.
‘Yes Mum!’ answered Ginny in a sarcastic voice.
Molly looked at the girls. ‘Ginny, what are telling me ‘yes’ to?’
‘I was talking to Hermione,’ Ginny said, coming over to kiss her mother. ‘She thinks I should shrink my robes and put them in my knapsack. I want to keep them in my trunk like I always do. She already put hers in her beaded purse.’ Ginny made a face at Hermione. ‘Morning George,’ she said, ruffling his hair. George shook his head.
‘Suit yourself. Good morning, Mrs Weasley. Thank you again for putting up with me for the last week of the summer. My folks needed some time alone together and I needed to be here at the Burrow.’ Hermione picked up a bowl from a stack of them on the table. ‘May I have some porridge? I like the way you make it.’ Hermione looked very emotional to Molly.
‘Certainly dear,’ she said as she gave the full bowl back to Hermione. ‘I’ll teach you how to make it over the Christmas holidays. You’ll be back for them before you know it.’
‘I guess I am a bit nervous, going back to Hogwarts after all this time.’
‘Harry says he can’t get it out of his mind when he is there… the battle and all that happened then,’ Ginny said as she started on her porridge. Ron and Harry clumped down the stairs.
‘Morning, little girl students,’ said Ron, putting his arm around his mother and sister before nuzzling Hermione.
Harry kissed Ginny and grinned at her until she stopped glaring at her brother.
George got up and started toward the door, hugging Molly on his way. ‘I’ll be there before the train leaves.’
Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny didn’t eat much even though Molly kept offering them more food. Arthur came down the stairs, drank some tea, and ate some toast, before he commented, ’Time to bring the trunks down. The Ministry car will be here in a few minutes.’
The four teenagers went back up to the girls’ room to get the trunks. Molly called up the stairs after five minutes to say that the Ministry car had arrived and the trunks floated down the stairs, followed by their owners and boyfriends, all four with swollen lips and disheveled hair.
After so many years of starting for Kings Cross and having to return multiple times for something that had been left behind, Molly was surprised by how quickly they arrived at the train station with only two students. No one spoke much on the trip. When they were out of the Ministry car, Ginny slipped her knapsack on her back and locked arms with Harry as he pulled her trunk behind him. Hermione clutched her beaded purse in one hand and held Ron’s hand with the other. He dragged her trunk along with an increasingly distressed look. Molly and Arthur held hands, as well.
‘I can’t believe that this is the last time we will be putting a child on the Hogwarts Express,’ said Molly, starting to tear up. ‘Ron, are you sure that Hogwarts is restored enough for classes to be held?’
Ron nodded. He spoke in the patient voice that he had used whenever they had discussed this topic before. ‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ he said. Professor McGonagall and Minister Shacklebolt wouldn’t have sent the letters out if the school wasn’t ready.’ Molly gave him a hug. ‘Geoff me! I’m not going off to school. Pick on Ginny.’
Molly turned to Ginny who was clutching Harry almost like she used to hang on to her Dance with me Harry Potter doll before she was sent up to bed. This Harry Potter was clutching back.
‘Let’s get these trunks up on the train,’ said Arthur, in what Molly thought of as his cheery voice. She looked at him to see if he was already crying as much as she was.
Harry and Ron picked us the trunks and paused. ‘Where do you want these?’ Harry asked.
‘We have to go up front to the Prefects’ car,’ said Hermione. ‘Good-bye, Mr and Mrs Weasley. Thank you for having me visit.’
Molly threw her arms around Hermione. ‘Good-bye, my dear. Write to us. Let us know if you need anything.’ Hermione smiled as she backed away toward Ron. Then Molly attacked Ginny. ‘My baby is going to school for the last time. Write and tell us if there are any problems or if you need something.’ Ginny nodded, holding hands with Harry as they headed for the first carriage.
Ron and Harry climbed the steps and stowed the trunks. Then they stood at the foot of the steps while both girls stood on the bottom step. Arthur had tears in his eyes as he said, ‘it doesn’t look like George will make it.’
At that moment, George ran down the platform with a box with the distinctive WWW logo on it. ‘I forgot you were Head Girl and Seventh Year Gryffindor Prefect,’ he wheezed. ‘I was at the wrong end of the train.’ He handed Ginny the box and said, ‘Ginny, honour Fred.’ She nodded.
Neville Longbottom and his Grandmother walked slowly down the platform to the same carriage that Ginny and Hermione were in. ‘It won’t be the same without you,’ he said as he clasped Ron and Harry on the back. Augusta Longbottom kissed him on the cheek when he bent down so she could reach him. Hermione moved to let him go up the steps.
Molly felt tears pouring down her cheeks but through them, she saw Ron kiss Hermione and Harry kiss Ginny. The whistle blew and the train hissed steam so the girls climbed the steps and waved out the window. Both boys ran alongside the train until it left the station.
‘I’ll be home a bit later than usual tonight,’ said Harry, walking back to where Molly and Arthur were standing. ‘I am going to look at a cottage next to Andromeda and Teddy’s. It’s small but becomes available the first of next month.’
Ron and George kissed Molly and they and Harry went to the alley to Apparate.
“Mollywobbles, I fancy a cuppa and some of the excellent scones at our tea shop,’ said Arthur, guiding her out of the station.
Molly drank her tea slowly, holding hands with Arthur across the small table. ‘I’m worried that Hogwarts may have too many bad memories for Ginny. They tortured her. Fred died there.’
‘And Harry finished off Voldemort and you outfought Bellatrix Lestrange. There are good memories to help with the bad ones.’ He kissed her before he left for the Ministry and she headed back to the Burrow to do some garden cleanup.
As they were getting ready for bed that night, Molly began to cry again. ‘George is so sad that he doesn’t know what to do. Ron can’t be at the shop all the time to keep him doing what he needs to do there. Now Harry is looking for a place to move to that is closer to Teddy. He isn’t home yet tonight.’
‘Mollywobbles, the changes we are all going through are not the end of the world. George will learn to cope. Ron has his own life to lead. Harry will always think of the Burrow as home.’ Arthur reached for the pendant between Molly’s breasts. ‘Is it still warm?’ She nodded. ‘Someone who loves you very much is thinking of you.’
‘And who might that be?’ asked Molly with a smile.
*****
Author: Grandma Kate
Story: Ginny's Seventh Year at Hogwarts
Rating: Everyone
Setting: After DH- Pre Epilogue
The Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I’m just borrowing the characters for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N This story is told from Molly’s Weasley’s point of view and continues from where Ginny’s Sixth Year at Hogwarts leaves off. It takes place the year after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, therefore eighteen years before the Epilogue.
1: The New and Improved Hogwarts- September 1998
Molly was up early the morning that Ginny and Hermione were leaving for their last year of Hogwarts, but let Arthur have a bit of a lie-in as she headed into the loo. She was still a bit worried that Ron wouldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to audit classes when he had the opportunity and she was certain that Harry was going to be too busy with his Auror responsibilities to manage to sit for his N.E.W.T.s at all. Hermione had more influence with Ron than she did with Harry so she was relieved that at least Ron would be prepared. Neither Ginny nor Harry seemed to realize that they might regret his choice to have his scores waived so he could start his Auror career a year early. She shook her head. Minerva and Kingsley thought that they had been so clever, awarding Harry ‘life experience’ credit.
She knocked the door of Ginny’s room and heard Hermione answer, ‘Ginny and I are both awake. We’ll be right down.’ Harry and Ron were less reassuring with their moans, but she was sure that Hermione and Ginny would make them get up to come to see them off on the Hogwarts Express. Molly gave an audible ’Humph!’ as she went down the stairs to the kitchen.
She was still muttering as she started porridge, some water for tea, and a small pot of coffee for George and Hermione. Molly realized that someone must be up because she heard water running in the upstairs bathroom. Nevertheless, she was surprised when George was the first one down the stairs. He was dressed in his magenta work robes so she knew he planned to go into Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes before joining them at Kings Cross Station.
‘Good Morning Georgie,’ said Molly. ‘Going into the shop for a bit? Do you have time for breakfast?’
‘Do you have any coffee?’ asked George, looking a bit queasy. ‘And maybe a bit of toast?’
Molly poured George a mug of coffee and floated a jug of milk to his place at the table. Summoning the butter and the apple butter, she waved her wand. The toast buttered itself and fell in a stack on a plate. The jar of apple butter and a knife settled down next to the toast.
‘I may be coming down with something,’ said George, sipping his coffee. ‘I feel a bit queasy this morning.’
‘Arthur says the Muggles are convinced it’s exposure to germs that make people sick. Or is it jeans?’ said Molly. ‘You have obviously been exposed to one of them.’ She looked sadly at her son and thought, ‘and exposed to far too much fire whisky if you ask me, but nobody does. Poor Georgie.
George nodded back at her as Ginny and Hermione came down the stairs, arguing.
‘If you had done as I suggested,’ Hermione stated in a rather firm voice.
‘Yes Mum!’ answered Ginny in a sarcastic voice.
Molly looked at the girls. ‘Ginny, what are telling me ‘yes’ to?’
‘I was talking to Hermione,’ Ginny said, coming over to kiss her mother. ‘She thinks I should shrink my robes and put them in my knapsack. I want to keep them in my trunk like I always do. She already put hers in her beaded purse.’ Ginny made a face at Hermione. ‘Morning George,’ she said, ruffling his hair. George shook his head.
‘Suit yourself. Good morning, Mrs Weasley. Thank you again for putting up with me for the last week of the summer. My folks needed some time alone together and I needed to be here at the Burrow.’ Hermione picked up a bowl from a stack of them on the table. ‘May I have some porridge? I like the way you make it.’ Hermione looked very emotional to Molly.
‘Certainly dear,’ she said as she gave the full bowl back to Hermione. ‘I’ll teach you how to make it over the Christmas holidays. You’ll be back for them before you know it.’
‘I guess I am a bit nervous, going back to Hogwarts after all this time.’
‘Harry says he can’t get it out of his mind when he is there… the battle and all that happened then,’ Ginny said as she started on her porridge. Ron and Harry clumped down the stairs.
‘Morning, little girl students,’ said Ron, putting his arm around his mother and sister before nuzzling Hermione.
Harry kissed Ginny and grinned at her until she stopped glaring at her brother.
George got up and started toward the door, hugging Molly on his way. ‘I’ll be there before the train leaves.’
Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny didn’t eat much even though Molly kept offering them more food. Arthur came down the stairs, drank some tea, and ate some toast, before he commented, ’Time to bring the trunks down. The Ministry car will be here in a few minutes.’
The four teenagers went back up to the girls’ room to get the trunks. Molly called up the stairs after five minutes to say that the Ministry car had arrived and the trunks floated down the stairs, followed by their owners and boyfriends, all four with swollen lips and disheveled hair.
After so many years of starting for Kings Cross and having to return multiple times for something that had been left behind, Molly was surprised by how quickly they arrived at the train station with only two students. No one spoke much on the trip. When they were out of the Ministry car, Ginny slipped her knapsack on her back and locked arms with Harry as he pulled her trunk behind him. Hermione clutched her beaded purse in one hand and held Ron’s hand with the other. He dragged her trunk along with an increasingly distressed look. Molly and Arthur held hands, as well.
‘I can’t believe that this is the last time we will be putting a child on the Hogwarts Express,’ said Molly, starting to tear up. ‘Ron, are you sure that Hogwarts is restored enough for classes to be held?’
Ron nodded. He spoke in the patient voice that he had used whenever they had discussed this topic before. ‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ he said. Professor McGonagall and Minister Shacklebolt wouldn’t have sent the letters out if the school wasn’t ready.’ Molly gave him a hug. ‘Geoff me! I’m not going off to school. Pick on Ginny.’
Molly turned to Ginny who was clutching Harry almost like she used to hang on to her Dance with me Harry Potter doll before she was sent up to bed. This Harry Potter was clutching back.
‘Let’s get these trunks up on the train,’ said Arthur, in what Molly thought of as his cheery voice. She looked at him to see if he was already crying as much as she was.
Harry and Ron picked us the trunks and paused. ‘Where do you want these?’ Harry asked.
‘We have to go up front to the Prefects’ car,’ said Hermione. ‘Good-bye, Mr and Mrs Weasley. Thank you for having me visit.’
Molly threw her arms around Hermione. ‘Good-bye, my dear. Write to us. Let us know if you need anything.’ Hermione smiled as she backed away toward Ron. Then Molly attacked Ginny. ‘My baby is going to school for the last time. Write and tell us if there are any problems or if you need something.’ Ginny nodded, holding hands with Harry as they headed for the first carriage.
Ron and Harry climbed the steps and stowed the trunks. Then they stood at the foot of the steps while both girls stood on the bottom step. Arthur had tears in his eyes as he said, ‘it doesn’t look like George will make it.’
At that moment, George ran down the platform with a box with the distinctive WWW logo on it. ‘I forgot you were Head Girl and Seventh Year Gryffindor Prefect,’ he wheezed. ‘I was at the wrong end of the train.’ He handed Ginny the box and said, ‘Ginny, honour Fred.’ She nodded.
Neville Longbottom and his Grandmother walked slowly down the platform to the same carriage that Ginny and Hermione were in. ‘It won’t be the same without you,’ he said as he clasped Ron and Harry on the back. Augusta Longbottom kissed him on the cheek when he bent down so she could reach him. Hermione moved to let him go up the steps.
Molly felt tears pouring down her cheeks but through them, she saw Ron kiss Hermione and Harry kiss Ginny. The whistle blew and the train hissed steam so the girls climbed the steps and waved out the window. Both boys ran alongside the train until it left the station.
‘I’ll be home a bit later than usual tonight,’ said Harry, walking back to where Molly and Arthur were standing. ‘I am going to look at a cottage next to Andromeda and Teddy’s. It’s small but becomes available the first of next month.’
Ron and George kissed Molly and they and Harry went to the alley to Apparate.
“Mollywobbles, I fancy a cuppa and some of the excellent scones at our tea shop,’ said Arthur, guiding her out of the station.
Molly drank her tea slowly, holding hands with Arthur across the small table. ‘I’m worried that Hogwarts may have too many bad memories for Ginny. They tortured her. Fred died there.’
‘And Harry finished off Voldemort and you outfought Bellatrix Lestrange. There are good memories to help with the bad ones.’ He kissed her before he left for the Ministry and she headed back to the Burrow to do some garden cleanup.
As they were getting ready for bed that night, Molly began to cry again. ‘George is so sad that he doesn’t know what to do. Ron can’t be at the shop all the time to keep him doing what he needs to do there. Now Harry is looking for a place to move to that is closer to Teddy. He isn’t home yet tonight.’
‘Mollywobbles, the changes we are all going through are not the end of the world. George will learn to cope. Ron has his own life to lead. Harry will always think of the Burrow as home.’ Arthur reached for the pendant between Molly’s breasts. ‘Is it still warm?’ She nodded. ‘Someone who loves you very much is thinking of you.’
‘And who might that be?’ asked Molly with a smile.
*****