The next day, Ginny, Harry and Lisle left for home after assuring everyone that Ginny was fine. Ginny convinced a worried Hermione that she was fine, and waved goodbye as her and Ron left for their honeymoon.
Lisle, as predicted, was a little let down at the news of no baby. Still, she soon got over it and was back to her normal self in no time. Once at home, the days flew past, then the weeks, and soon Ginny was eight months pregnant. Barely able to even do the laundry, Harry helped around the house instead, but Ginny kept noticing that socks were getting mismatched (although she didn’t want to say anything).
Ginny’s nights were still proving to be hard. She would wake up at obscure hours and need food. Walking downstairs was getting harder and harder, but Ginny could just about make it. She was getting a little tired of pregnancy, like any other mother, but knew it would be over soon.
One particular night, Ginny went to bed as normal. She kissed Lisle goodnight as normal. She did everything else in a normal routine, including locking the back and front doors.
However, she couldn’t even predict how abnormal the night she was about to begin would become….
Rain beat down on the windowpanes and the wind howled outside. A tree blew about, their branches creaking and twigs snapping off. The wind let out a mournful whistle and a tree branch banged against the window, making a sudden, loud noise.
Ginny woke up with a start. She rolled over and peered out of the window. Rain lashed against the glass as the storm thundered on.
Ginny closed her eyes and attempted to sleep, but found she was already awake, and was thirsty. Silently, she pushed the covers off her, trying not to wake Harry.
She took her wand off the bedside table and lit it with a soft whisper of “Lumos!”. She gently eased the door open and made her way downstairs.
When she reached the kitchen, she lit the hanging chandelier and blinked in the bright light. She took a mug from the cupboard and poured some orange juice into it.
Vitamin C,Ginny thought as she drank it,good for the baby.
CRASH!
Ginny jumped violently as a bolt of thunder clapped outside, illuminating the dark, cloudy sky.
“Damn,” Ginny said to herself, “that’s a nasty storm outside.”
She drank the last of her orange juice, and peered up at the clock on the oven. It was a normal, Muggle clock that read: 2:30 AM. Ginny yawned, but didn’t feel tired. On the contrary, she felt wide-awake.
BOOM!
The thunder clapped again, but Ginny was ready for it this time, and did not flinch. Instead, she put the mug in the sink and made her way to the door, extinguishing the chandelier as she went.
She was about to go upstairs when she realised she’d left her reading book in the living room earlier on that day, and decided she’d quite like to read it now. It might help her to drift off.
She entered the living room and spotted her book. It was lying on the sofa. Ginny walked over and bent down to get it. As she was bending over, something white dancing on the wall caught her eye.
She turned around, looking for the dancing white thing. She soon spotted it on the wall again. It was coming from an open cupboard that was usually kept shut. Ginny had never opened it, it had always remained locked, but she’d never thought about what could be inside it.
Curiously, Ginny walked over to it. She squatted on her knees and eased the door open. Inside was a remarkable, marble basin, which contained a swirling silvery mass. It was a Pensieve.
Ginny had seen them before, in books for her classes, and she knew Professor Dumbledore had had one. Tracing her finger lightly round the rim, she gazed into its shining depths, watching every swirl. She moved her hands down the basin part slightly, picking it up gently. Underneath it, she noticed an old piece of folded parchment that was crinkled and torn slightly, as though someone had folded and unfolded it many times before.
Ginny set the Pensieve down again and picked up the parchment. Inquisitively, she unfolded it and recognized the curly handwriting as she read it.
To Harry Potter,
My great grandfather gave this to me when I was a young adult, saying I would need it one day. For a long time I never used it, but then one day, I discovered I had too many thoughts in my head, so I used the Pensieve, and found it a tremendous help. I decided, in your fifth year at Hogwarts, to leave this to you when I am gone. I realised there will be a time one day when you are old and grey, and you too will have too many thoughts in your head, so you will need a place to keep them safe. I hope you find it useful in years to come.
My kindest regards,
Prof. A. Dumbledore.
Ginny stared at the curly writing, then back at the shining Pensieve. So this was Dumbledore’s Pensieve. Why was it that Harry had never told her about the cupboard, and what lay inside it?
Suddenly, Ginny stiffened and sat up, listening hard. She had just heard a noise. It was a very faint scuffling, rather like footsteps.
She sat quite still, her heart thumping. Who was there? Or was it just Lisle?
After a few minutes, she decided it was probably Lisle or Harry moving in their sleep, so she relaxed. Then “ she heard it again, louder this time. The floorboards creaked.
“H “ Hello?” Ginny stammered.
Nobody answered. Ginny put the Pensieve and the note back, shut the cupboard and went out into the hallway. She gazed left and right.
“Harry, Lisle “ is that you?”
She walked slowly into the kitchen. She shivered. It was cold.
Then she noticed the back door in the kitchen was creaking open, letting rain in. Ginny was puzzled. She was sure she had locked the door “ so why was it hanging open like that?
Ginny walked over, shut the door tightly and bolted it. Then she stiffened, terrified. She heard could hear ragged breathing and footsteps behind her. She turned and her eyes widened.
A dark silhouette of a man was a few paces behind her, and he was pointing a wand at her. He was wearing black robes and a mask. Ginny opened her mouth to scream, but a hand behind her clapped over it and the next thing she heard was a thump and excruciating pain on her head. Everything went black as she fell…
Upstairs, Harry lay sleeping, completely ignorant to the storm and happenings downstairs. He rolled over and reached out to pull Ginny closer to him, when his arm connected with thin air. Groping blindly for her, he still couldn’t reach anything. He opened his eyes and looked at the empty space beside him.
“Ginny?”
He opened his eyes widely now, and looked at the window that was blurred with raindrops. The heavy rumble of thunder could be heard far off. Peering at his watch, he could just make out that it was ten to three in the morning.
Wondering where on earth Ginny could be at this hour of the night (but not at all surprised), he stumbled out of bed and pulled his dressing gown on. He lit his wand-tip and opened the bedroom door. He looked down the corridor, but Ginny wasn’t there.
“I’ll bet she’s had a midnight craving or something,” Harry muttered to himself as he walked downstairs. “She’ll be baking cookies with mayonnaise centres or something.”
As he walked past the living room, he saw white light dancing on the walls. Stopping, he walked inside to investigate.
The cupboard door to his Pensieve was creaking open. Harry walked over to it, wondering if Ginny had seen it. Taking the smooth basin in his hands, he peered down into his thoughts. He could see one of his memories looking back at him, but there was no present-Ginny in them.
He put the Pensieve back and locked the cupboard door to make sure Lisle wouldn’t fall into the thoughts. He scratched his chin as he walked out of the living room. He walked down the hallway, shivering. It was cold tonight.
He entered the kitchen and found it quite dark, and with no Ginny in it. However, the back door was wide open, and cold gusts of wind and rain were coming through.
Harry was perturbed. Didn’t Ginny always lock the door? Why was it wide open now?
He walked over to it and stepped outside. It was icy-cold, even for summer.
“Ginny?” Harry called.
He got no answer, except for the howling wind. He walked down the steps and onto the grass, looking around. Still no Ginny.
“Ginny, where are you?”
Suddenly, something sodden on the ground caught his eye. He walked over to it and bent down to pick it up. Screwing his eyes up, Harry could make out what it was.
It was a white, satin handkerchief. There was a name embroidered on it with pink cotton.
Ginevra Molly Weasley.
Harry remembered. It was Ginny’s handkerchief, the one she carried absolutely everywhere. It had been a family heirloom for many years, passed down from mother to daughter. A sickening feeling of dread arose in Harry. Ginny wouldn’t leave something like this lying around. Harry felt as though he might be sick as he frantically searched the bushes, desperately.
Many miles off, Ginny was frantically trying to scream a scream which could be heard by no-one.
A/N: Dun-DUN-DAAAA!!! Okay, it’s official, I am like, the meanest author ever, am I not?? Sorry about the EVIL cliffie!! Mwah-ha-hah-hah-hah!!!
Oh and do any of you have free time? If you have a moment, please pretty please, read and review another fanfic of mine (its R/Hr) and you can view it in my profile. Please read it!! I will be forever grateful!! I don’t have many reviewers for it!! Thanks. :)