Strawberries
Epilogue
Things had started to finally return to normal again, if you could ever call their lives normal.
Ginny was currently working at a nice little café around the corner from the shelter, and Serena was going to a muggle school farther down the street,. After school, her mother would walk her down to the day care and spend her break with the other children before returning to work. Harry would take Serena home and Ginny would stop by an hour later for dinner. It was a nice arrangement, and thing started to fall back into routine.
Ginny and Harry were officially together and Harry was planning to propose to her soon.
It had been headline news for almost two weeks now. The Malfoy manor had been burned down with the family inside. Curiously, while Narcissa's body had been found neither Lucius' or Draco's were. It was reported that the fire had been started by magic, though what kind was unsure. The deaths of the Malfoy's had the whole Ministry in an uproar, and was suspected to be arson, but there was no proof. It was reported that the fire had started in their garden, The Garden of Lost Loved Souls, that was said to be 'haunted.' The news papers made the whole garden thing seem like a joke, as nobody in the wizarding world really took anything to be 'haunted' seriously. There was also the fact that the family had been rather involved with the minister for their 'special services.' Fudge was most displeased when all their 'service' had disappeared with their deaths. The whole thing was so sudden and made no sense, it had left the whole wizarding world shocked and puzzled.
There had been a picture of the house, nothing left but rubble ad ash. But what was most surprising was that even though the garden was dead and burned, the hedges still stood, only the twisted branches of the once lush leaves, left. The Garden of Lost Loved Souls lived on for another family to buy the land and rebuild the house, there forever more.
It was most curious when an owl suddenly landed on the open window sill in the little muggle café where Ginny now worked. She was in the back room, and the windows were now flung open to let in the soft breeze that swirled the curtains. It gave a hoot and Ginny looked up from the receipts she was looking at. She looked back through the window behind the counter where her boss was working, fearful that she might have heard. Ginny quickly rushed to the window and took the letter from the owl, who suddenly took flight again. Ginny watched it go, puzzled that she would be receiving mail at this time. But she didn't have time to read it, her boss had come back into the room with a bunch of boxes, stacking them neatly in the corner. Ginny slipped the letter into her pocket and smiled at her boss, a lovely plump women who reminded her of her mother.
"Come on Ginny, I need some help!"
Ginny smiled and walked back to the front of the shop to help.
Ginny only remembered the letter when she was on her break, slipping the green apron off her. She took a look at the letter again, curious. She called to Ms. Ginger, her boss, that she was taking her break and walked out the door into the sunshine. It was only a couple of blocks to Serena's school, and was about to open it when graceful, spidery, green penmanship appeared on the letter.
To Ms. Ginerva Molly Weasley and Serena Bethany Malfoy
She almost missed the curb of the road, and stumbled. Nobody but Harry had known who Serena's father had been. She remembered back to the article that had been in the Daily Prophet when the wizarding world first found out about the Malfoy's deaths. It had said that Narcissa's body had been found, but not Lucius' or Draco's. Was it possible they, or one, of them were still alive?
She thought about not opening it, maybe it was a trap? Ginny felt the letter, running it between her palms, checking to see if she could feel anything unusual.
She did.
She pressed the paper of the letter so see the outline of the shapes inside. There were four lumpy objects in the envelope, three of which looked like keys. The other one was impossible to tell.
Why would the Malfoy's send her keys?
It was when she was in view of Serena's school that curiosity got the better of her. She opened the envelope and the four objects, three of which were keys and a ring, dropped to the ground. Ginny carefully bent down, examining them, she didn't know if she should touch them. It looked curious, that Ginny should be bent over a couple of keys and a ring on the ground in the middle of a muggle neighborhood. Seeing as they didn't appear to be dangerous she quickly picked them up, slipping them into her pocket. She walked the rest of the way to Serena's school and found her waiting there for her as always.
"What's wrong mum? You look like you've seen a ghost,"
"What?" Ginny looked confused.
"Ok, wrong wording, you look like you've just seen You-Know-Who again," at this, Ginny did pale.
"Sorry, sorry," Serena mumbled, "What's wrong?"
"I'm not quiet sure yet-" Ginny started. She looked around to see if anyone was looking. Ginny bent down and whispered in Serena's ear, "You're father or your grandfather may still be alive-"
Serena gasped, and stared with a mixture of horror and happiness.
"Come on- let's go find somewhere to sit, so we can sort this all out,"
Obediently, Serena took Ginny's hand and they crossed the street. They found themselves in a park, on a bench a few minutes later. Ginny put the keys in Serena's hand and she looked up at Ginny with questioning eyes. Ginny shrugged and pulled the envelope out of her pocket. She carefully slipped the crisp parchment out of the envelope. A little piece of paper fluttered to the ground, nothing written on it. Ginny suspected it was important and put it in her lap as she looked over the official looking letter.
It was Draco's Will.
He had left everything to Serena, including the Malfoy inheritance (enclosed with a Gingotts key), an estate in Wands eye (another key), a summer home in Mountain's Keep (another key), and a silver and green ring bearing the Malfoy crest on it.
"What is it?" Serena asked. And suddenly, "Mum- look," she said it gently. And Ginny did, following Serena's eyes to the ripped piece of parchment that had been in her lap.
Now written there in bright green ink was:
I hope these tings can be put to good use for Serena All my Love
[Fin]
just fyi, i changed Ginny's name from Virginia to Ginerva because I read it was so off mugglenet.com...
hope you liked! PLEASE REVIEW!