A/N This was another quick update but I've almost typed to the end of my written chapters. There might start to be delays as I hurry to get the end of the story written.
Me playing with JKR's stuff again.
In the following weeks, no one would have remembered that Percy had been estranged from his family for almost two years. The fact that Percy had sacrificed himself for his father had redeemed him in the eyes of his family. Penny and little Janey had taken up residence at the Burrow and Tonks spent a lot of time there as the two women talked and comforted each other on their common losses.
When Harry saw the Weasley's at Percy's funeral, he was stunned. Typically, they were jovial and nothing ever got them down. However, this blow had been a shock and every face was lined with tears. Even Fred and George showed no sign of merriment. It was a simple ceremony that ended on a silen thill as Percy's father and brothers carried in the casket, laying him to rest in the damp earth.
Once they were back at school, Harry kept an eye on Ron and Ginny. In a way, he felt that maybe they were equal to him. They had now suffered loss as he had and they too had been touched by grief. He felt guilty for this thinking.
Even more disturbing was the fact that the Death Eaters had come out of hiding again and that their first move was against the heavily guarded Ministry. It was too bold, the papers said, and more attacks were expected.
Back at Hogwarts, life resumed. Ginny and Ron stowed their grief away so they could concentrate on the exams for the end of the year. Ginny in particular was hammering away at her studies. Harry watched her carefully. The haunted look that was in her eyes at the funeral had gone, leaving them dark and subdued, and more mature. He knew that the knowledge that her vision had come true was hurting her and with the stress of her upcoming OWL's, she hadn't been able to address what it was that ate away at her.
As usual, Hermione was passing out her color-coded study schedules and as usual, Ron protested.
"We have another month!" he complained as he and Harry were playing Exploding Snap one afternoon in May.
"That's what you say every year!" Hermione said, jumping back as the deck went up in flames, then going off to help Ginny with her Charms studying.
"Your girlfriend is insane," Seamus whispered, walking by.
"I know," Ron replied in exasperation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"During this week, I will be calling fifth years to my office for career evaluations. You will find in your common rooms, several pamphlets outlining careers that are available to you." McGonagall sat down as the students resumed eating and conversation.
"So, what do you think Ginny?" asked Ron, cramming bacon into his mouth.
"Actually, I wanted to try healing."
Ron suddenly choked. Harry slapped him hard on the back and Hermione passed him a napkin.
"But-but why?" He coughed again. "I mean, that's one of the hardest things to try for!"
Ginny shrugged. "After both the Ministry attacks and the World Cup fiasco, I realized that Healers are needed just as much as Aurors."
All four of them were silent, thinking about Percy, Lupin, and Sirius.
"It is a very noble profession, Miss Veasley," said Krum, coming up the aisle as the teachers headed to their classrooms and the students dismissed. "I once thought to be a Healer."
"Why didn't you? Were the lessons too hard for you? Ouch!" Ron added as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.
Krum smiled. "I vish it vere that simple. No, it was Karkaroff. I vas to be either an Auror or a vorld famous Quidditch player. He'd be very disappointed at my becoming a teacher." He leaned close to Ginny.
"Miss Veasley, take it from me. Don't let anybody tell you that your dreams are not vorthy of you. If your passion is to Heal, nothing else could be right for you." He straightened up and nodded to them all.
"Good day to you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The students had all gone to bed and the common room was dark as Harry approached Ginny.
"How are you doing?" he asked gently, laying his hand on her shoulder.
"To be honest, not that great."
He moved to sit by her. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She stared into the fireplace, the flames reflecting in her brown eyes and making her hair shine vibrantly. A lone tear ran down her cheek.
"I-I Saw it, Harry. If I had done something, talked to someone about it, maybe I could have stopped it from happening. I. . ." She dropped her head. "I feel like I am responsible for my brother's death."
Harry wrapped his arms around her. "You know, someone very wise once told me not to blame myself for the death of Sirius. She said that he made his choice and nothing I could have said or done would change that. Now, I see that same girl in pain. Ginny, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known! You said yourself that you didn't know who it was."
She lifted her head. "But why didn't I bother to find out? I ignored it, hoping that it would go away. Now Percy is dead!"
"He wasn't the original target, though. He chose death."
"Yes, by blocking the curse meant for my father! If not Percy, it could have been Dad just as easily!"
"Ginny, I don't pretend to understand this gift of yours. I know very little of prophecy. If you like, we can go see Dumbledore about this. But understand," he said touching her forehead to his, "I do not blame you and no one else does. Percy did make his own choice and you should be proud of him. He is a hero."
"What would I do without you?" Ginny whispered. Harry drew her close and tenderly kissed her. She relaxed in his arms and they both stared into the fire.
"Probably worry a lot less," he replied drily. She laughed.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Harry, you're probably my best friend in the world."
He put his arm around her and sighed. What will I do if I can't make her love me?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Good afternoon, Harry, Ginny. "What can I do for you today? Please, take a seat."
"Thank you Professor," Harry said. "Ginny wanted to talk to you about something."
Dumbledore shifted his gaze to Ginny.
"It's about my visions," she said.
"Ah, I understand." Dumbledore leaned back, folding his hands. "Am I right in saying that you feel guilty for what happened to your brother?" Ginny nodded.
"I see. Let me think. You had this vision in March, am I correct? The night that the two of you went to Godric's Hollow."
"How did you know?" asked Ginny, bewildered.
"My dear Miss Weasley, you'd be surprised to learn of all that I am aware of." He stood up.
"When you Saw this, did you happen to See who it was you spoke of?"
Ginny shook her head. "I only felt all the pain and saw the aftermath of it."
"Miss Weasley, I have some advice for you. When you have these visions, premonitions, or prophecies, it would be best to not try and prevent it. If you had actually Seen that it was Percy, what would you have done?"
Ginny shrugged. "I would have told him and he could have not been at the Ministry that day and. . .and. . ." She trailed off, understanding dawning in her eyes. Dumbledore nodded gently.
"Yes, instead of Percy it would have been your father. By attempting to change the future you could inadvertantly cause something worse to happen. Do you understand?"
"I do. But what about Harry?"
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "What about him?"
"I mean, can I tell him what I See? He's been here for me all this time and I can't keep this all locked up inside of me."
Dumbledore glanced at Harry. "Yes, if you feel that you must share it with him, feel free to do so, for Harry already knows his fate. Is that all?"
"Yes," Ginny said.
"Actually," interrupted Harry. "I have a question. When I saw Trelawn-Professor Trelawney have a vision, she wasn't aware of what she said and it didn't hurt her either. What's so different about Ginny?"
Dumbledore smiled. "I was wondering when you would ask that. Ginny, could you sense when good or bad was happening before the visions started?"
Ginny nodded.
"I thought so. Think back now to what happened last semester before all this began."
Harry's eyes widened. "That Quidditch match! The one when Ginny was hit by a Bludger and fell from her broom!"
"Exactly," said Dumbledore. "We may never know why, but when that Bludger hit you, combined with the fall, it triggered a stronger sense of prophecy. Something changed in your brain so that instead of a "bad feeling" you could actually See what was going to happen and remember it."
"And the pain?" Ginny asked.
"Much as an old scar aches from the rain, it's your body remembering the pain from the accident. That with the stress on your mind creates the physical pain and mental anguish all over again."
"That's all I wanted to know," Harry said, standing. "Thank you, Professor."
"Yes, thank you," Ginny said, rising as well.
"You're welcome. Oh, and Ginny?"
She stopped. "Yes?"
"If you have another vision and you feel that you need to discuss it, I'm always here." His eyes twinkled.
Ginny smiled. "Thank you, Professor."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"That's it!" Ron roared. "I've had it! Hermione, if you shove that schedule under my face one more time, I will tear it into about 20 million pieces!" He threw his quill down. "I am sick and tired of you nagging me!"
"I'd like to see you try, Ronald! I guarantee that you'll regret it! Anyway, you need to study. Exams are coming up!"
"I've had it with these sodding exams!" Ron yelled back.
Harry and Ginny exchanged bemused glances.
"I mean, what good are they gonna be with all these attacks and, and deaths!" He collapsed onto his chair again, breathing hard.
Harry was shocked to see Ron's eyes beginning to fill with tears. In his six years at Hogwarts, he had seen Ginny cry, Hermione cry, and Cho cry, not to mention his own many outbursts. However, while they'd had many disputes, Ron had never, never cried. Hermione stopped yelling as well and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder.
"Ron, this isn't about the exams, is it?"
Ron looked up at her. "What good is any of it? Why prepare for a future when we might not have any?"
GInny walked over to her brother and gave him a hug. They sat that way for a little bit, then Ginny pulled back.
"Why fight for a future that we're not prepared for?" she asked. "It may be all that we can do. And if that's all I can do, I'm going to make sure that I do the best job I can at it. We owe it to Percy," she said quietly. "He sacrificed himself so we can continue to learn and to fight. . .and to love."
Harry moved to join them. Ron wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Do you. . .think I could take another look at that schedule, Hermione?"
She smiled. "Of course you can." She hugged him, kissing his cheek. "But don't forget to take breaks every now and them. A little time off is healthy for the mind."
Harry looked around at his friends. For the first time, it occured to him that he loved them. They had shared each other's memories, dreams, and even each others blood and Harry knew he was stronger for it.
You know the drill, please leave me a review on the understanding that I will respond.
"Get some sleep, Harry. You're starting to talk crazy."
"Your first patient ever."
Okay, not exactly a gripping spoiler, but I had to put something.
Cool note here for all you lotr fans, Viggo Mortensen is 47 today(October 20). Long live the King!