Chapter 16: Chapter 16: End of Term (U)
A/N: The U in the brackets stands for unedited. I will come back and some point and edit it properly. Till then just bear with errors.
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After Lockhart was tossed into Azkaban to be livestock for Dementors, Snape was finally able to fulfil his dream of being the Professor for Defence Against Dark Arts - much to Ginny's chagrin. Her points suddenly started to drain a lot faster. She somewhat regretted screwing over Lockhart so early. Though, Snape at least knew what he was teaching. That was her only consolation.
McGonagall did not like that. So she dumped even more work on Ginny during and started to give her points for it. Mcgonagall still played fair and gave her progressively more difficult work, but she completed them anyway, maintaining a steady 5 point per week gain, for her personally.
-x-x-x-
Just like that, days transformed into weeks, weeks evolved into months, and time flowed onward in its ceaseless journey until it was time for exams.
"Huh? We have exams next week?" Ginny was baffled. How did time move so fast? Wasn't it only a while back that Lockhart was sacked? Her confused gaze earned looks of pity from both her roommates.
Her life had been so busy that she had not even realised it was the last week of May until just now.
"Well… damn." She wasn't really worried about her exams though.
-x-x-x-
"Tomorrow?! I have my exams tomorrow?!!" An utterly flabbergasted Ginny exclaimed.
"Yes, Miss Weasley, I do remember telling you last month that your 1st year exams will begin a week earlier. After which - if you have at least an E in all your subjects - you will take your 2nd year exams with the rest. If you've achieved, again, at least an E in all your subjects, you will be allowed to skip a year." McGonagall told the young girl.
"But it's tomorrow!" she exclaimed.
"Oh stop being so melodramatic Miss Weasley, with your competence it should not be a problem for you to get 'O's!" McGonagall scolded her.
"But it's tomorrow!" Ginny was experiencing what was called performance anxiety. Despite having lived for nearly three decades in her previous life she was still startlingly nervous about exams.
McGonagall sighed lightly. No matter how brilliant the girl was, she was just a child. A feisty one, but a child nonetheless. Her prodigious competence in magic had almost made her forget that she was still just a child.
"Miss Weasley," McGonagall spoke in a surprisingly soft tone, while patting her shoulder. "Don't worry. You will do just fine. Your understanding of subjects is second to none."
"I know I'll ace it without doubt, it is me after all. But still…" McGonagall's mouth twitched. In her mind, she added the tag 'arrogant' to Ginny's file.
-x-x-x-
The tests were, quite unsurprisingly, easy and she breezed through them with no effort at all, be it theoretical or practical.
She wrote two exams per day, resulting in her exams ending halfway through the week and she received her results at the end of said week:
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Transfiguration: O*
Charms: O*
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O*
Potions: O
Astronomy: O*
History of Magic: O*
Herbology: O*
* indicates full marks
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'Tsk, Snape's such a killjoy.' Ginny felt irritated at that missing star. 'Would it kill him to be nice for once?
'Knowing Snape he that just might be the case.'
She knew Defence was graded by Flitwick: he'd told her so at the end of her last DADA extra class. Otherwise, she'd miss out on another star. Wouldn't that be devastating?
She went to the Owlery to write to her family about her results. Even Percy never got as many O*'s as she did. A smirk appeared on her face. She could finally take revenge for that discipline book. She looked forward to seeing his reaction when he realised that despite her misbehaviour she still got better grades than him.
Unable to wait anymore, she happily skipped her way back to the Gryffindor Common Room.
The next week, she had completed her 2nd year exams along with the rest of the second-years, much to their confusion. Those were nothing hard either; she managed to blaze through them with absolutely zero difficulty.
Her results were basically a copy of the last one's: Snape was still a greasy git that was a killjoy. 'No wonder Lily chose a bully over you.' she thought viciously.
"You scored better than me, Ginny!" Hermione exclaimed happily. She was very happy that there was someone who was just as much a bookworm as she was. That she finally had someone to compete against. It lit a fire under her. She was totally pumped up for next semester, she would not lose!
Ron, on the other hand, was doubting his life. He already had so many older brothers who all seemed better than him at everything and now there was his sister, who made all of the others blush in shame. He felt incredibly stifled.
It was really hard being him!
Harry was just very happy for her. He had thanked her many times after she'd given him his Christmas gift: about all of the good that can be done with Parseltongue. The way he saw it, she went out of her way to compile that list, putting who knows how many hours of her time into this - all just to make him feel better. That, in Harry's books, was more than enough to warrant her as a best friend.
Luna was also happy for her. She mentioned many times how immensely jealous her fellow housemates were. Skipping a year, now that was stuff straight out of a Ravenclaw's wet dreams.
The problem was Gwen and Aileen. While both were happy that she had achieved something far beyond what most students could ever hope to do, it also meant that they would not be able to spend as much time together as before. Gwen really burst into tears and had shoved her face into Ginny covering her in tears and had to comforted. Aileen cosplayed a pufferfish for the better part of the day before finally hugging her and saying that she had better get first place for the next several years, or she would really end their friendship!
-x-x-x-
During one of the last few days of the last week, one could find her near the Great Lake, practising the Patronus Charm.
She stood by the lake, with her eyes closed. Slowly she used her occlumency to call up memories of her time with her friends, of the time she was teasing Gwen or Aileen, when she spent time with Luna and finally when she spent her Christmas with her family.
A happy, dreamy smile spread across her face.
Raising her wand she chanted, "Expecto Patronum!"
A massive burst of white light came from her, bringing with it the purest sense of joy and happiness that was reflected on her face.
The light gathered itself and formed a massive silhouette, which progressively got more defined before finally taking the form of a massive creature: an elephant.
"That was… unexpected." She was quite surprised. The elephant made a trumpeting action before dissipating. She did not dare keep it around for too long. It was already shocking that a first-year was able to cast a patronus. It would be too weird if she could cast it for a long time.
"That was very well done, Miss Weasley. Few old and powerful wizards would be able to cast a corporeal Patronus, much less at your age.
"Merlin's ball****! Who-", Ginny nearly jumped out of her skin. And then was horrified when she realised who the interloper was.
"H-h-h-h-headmaster, p-please don't inform mother or professor McGonagall about this. I am very sorry and will never use such language ever again." she stuttered.
"Miss Weasley, you don't have to make promises we both know you will not keep. Besides, when I was your age, I also had quite a mouth on me…" Albus freaking Dumbledore waved his hand casually.
"I will still deduct points, however. 30 points to Gryffindor for an excellent casting of a corporeal Patronus. It would have been 50 if it was not for your rather… colourful language, even if I surprised you." he smiled through his magnificent beard.
"Incidentally, I have a question." he gazed upon the young redheaded girl.
Ginny instantly had her guard up. It was better to step carefully around Dumbledore.
"You are absolutely free to refuse to reply if you so wish, I will not hold it against you. But what memory did you use to conjure your patronus?" she had relaxed when she heard the first part of the sentence.
"Family." The answer came before she could even think about speaking it, with zero filter between her brain and mouth, as if it had suddenly disappeared.
Instantly she realised what had happened and glared fiercely at Dumbledore, anger bubbling inside her like lava.
"You used a Confundus on me!" she spat out, almost hissing. Her magic roiled inside her, blazing with fury, wanting to be let out to unleash its wrath onto the world. Her bright brown eyes burned as she stared at Dumbledore. Her wand already pointed straight at his face.
Ginny Weasley was very, very angry.
Dumbledore had the decency to look guilty. He sighed wearily, "I don't expect you to forgive me Miss Weasley. I even hope you don't. I just hope you pay some heed to my explanation."
Ginny took several deep breaths before gaining a semblance of calm before nodding.
"A long time ago, around six decades ago actually, I encountered an orphaned boy named Tom Riddle…
"He was a quiet and polite boy. When he came to Hogwarts his sheer brilliance in magic had all the professors enraptured. All of them praised his brilliance. I was one of them too, at first. But throughout his years at Hogwarts, he changed… or perhaps he revealed his true face, I don't know. He became more and more power-hungry. I sought to… show him the right way, hoping that he would change. He reminded me of myself when I was his age, after all. Oh yes, I was very different back then from what I am now - but this is not my story...
"I failed. I failed and created a monster that goes by the name of Lord Voldemort."
She let her wrath return in full force, this time she allowed a small amount of her magic to leak through.
"So, you saw him in me, did you? You saw me trying my hardest at magic and ou saw a murderous, cruel megalomaniac. In me." she snarled. "That is very insulting Headmaster. That you believe that I would commit such… atrocities. I had never imagined that I would be likened to a Dark Lord for just… learning magic the best I could, which is supposed to be the purpose of this school."
Dumbledore winced.
"It was my paranoia, Miss Weasley… You are talented - extremely so - there is no doubt about that. And by virtue of this talent you will wield tremendous power sooner or later. And that worried me. Power in the wrong hands can do tremendous harm. Voldemort's example is out there for all to see.
"However, I can see today: I was wrong. Very wrong. You are not him. You are you. You cherish your friends and your family. Your willingness to tolerate my transgression not once, not twice, but thrice and still let me explain is enough to prove how wrong I really was." Dumbledore said earnestly. "You have what he never had: family and love and… I should have realised it."
Had she not been as angry as she was, she would definitely exclaim, "There it is! The classic Dumbledore 'love' preaching!"
"I do not expect you to ever forgive me. But I'm willing to make it up to you."
After a long silence, he heard, "It's going to cost you, you old goat."
And Dumbledore chuckled, quite merrily too. "Of course, Miss Weasley. I will fulfil your reasonable demands."
"Let's start by returning those 20 points. And then sacking Snape..."
Dumbledore's mouth twitched, already starting to regret his words. "Miss Weasley, when I say reasonable…"
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