Hello! Jut a few things,

I of course do not own Harry Potter, I am simply amusing myself until the next book comes out.

I have taken a few,(hopefully a very few) liberties with the characters. Hopefully nobody seems too out of character,… but oh, well. If you see a major conflict with the real books, let me know and I'll try to fix it.. (ex, spells, spelling of names…) Please enjoy!

THE SHADOW WAYS

Unexpected Meetings

Ginny heaved a sigh, tossed the latest issue of the Daily Prophet, and got to her feet. Rubbish the whole lot of it. They should know by now, that simply because the dark lord was laying low, did not mean that he had decided to catch a port-key to the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. It was just a respite. All of last school year the public fought with the knowledge that he was back. Mass panic broke out. Many wizarding families had relocated.

She snorted, as if that was going to save them. All the while adults across the world looked to Harry to fix their problems. If he did it once he can do it again was the common refrain. This was usually said as they packed their bags to live somewhere else until all this 'unpleasantness' was dealt with. Really, grown adults trying to force all of that responsibility upon a young teen.

She grabbed a dust rag and started to swipe the counters and shelves down. At least this year she didn't have to worry about her OWL's again. Her fifth year had been rather hectic. Now that she was in her sixth year she could slow down a bit. Although she rather felt sorry for Ron, Hermione, and Harry, as this was their last and final year. They had their NEWT's to prepare for.

As she worked the doorbell jingled and she turned around to great the newcomer with a plastered on smile.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes where mischief is a work of art." Ginny felt her fake smile turn into an honest one when she recognized the new arrivals. She dashed down the isle and to the door to greet them.

"Harry, Hermione! It's so good to see you!" she grabbed Hermione and gave her a quick hug as she smiled brightly at Harry. "How was your summer? Did the Dursleys treat you ok Harry? Hermione did you bring Crookshanks with you? Are you staying with us until the start of the school year? What do you think about…" Ron interrupted her string of questions as he grabbed her around the middle and threw her over his shoulder and spun around.

"Ron!" she shrieked, "Put me DOWN!" she half yelled, half laughed as she watched the interior of the store whirl before her eyes.

"Not going to happen. You can't even say hello to your favorite brother after not seeing him for a whole month? Oh the pain! The agony!" he cried as he non to gently set her back on the ground and clutched his chest as if in pain.

"Of course I would, but Bill isn't here! All I see is an overprotective git who keeps trying to run off all of my boyfriends!" she retorted even as she hugged him in a warm welcome.

"Aww Ginny, your not still mad about THAT are you?" he glanced down at her as she frowned up at him with a disgusted look on her face, and her hands upon her hips.

"And WHICH that would you be referring to? The time you threatened to lock poor Dean Thomas in the vanishing closet if he ever looked at me? The notice on ALL of the message boards that promised vile mysterious and painful deaths, and or dismemberment to the males who dared to touch me. And then claiming that you had the entire backing of all of my brothers when you know full well that Charlie wasn't consulted." She was advancing on Ron as he backed up into a shelf of Portable Swamps.

"Or perhaps about the time you threatened that poor Hufflepuff err.. what's'-his-name with the disembowelment of the family kneasel if he ever touched me again?" Ginny's eyes were flashing dangerously at this point.

"Hey, he was touching you under your robes, I'll not apologize for that one. You should be happy I didn't kill the little rat!" Ron grumbled looking as irritated as Ginny as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"HE WAS TYING MY SHOE!" she yelled while waving her arms wildly. Ron shrugged one shoulder as if to say it didn't matter why he was there.

"Oh Ron," sighed Hermione. "Will you ever learn?" She shook her head in sympathy for Ginny's burden.

"What do you mean by that Mione?" Ron asked clueless as usual. Hermione sighed again. He turned to Harry

"You got any idea what she's going on about mate?" Harry saw Hermione start to scowl and quickly tried to change the subject.

"So how do you like working for the twins?" he asked Ginny in a desperate attempt to stem the upcoming argument between his best friends.

Ginny took the hint and ran with the conversation even as she was watching the byplay between her brother and Hermione with great interest. Harry got the feeling she was learning more than he was.

"Great, just great. Once Fred and George realized that; one, the boys buy more when I am here, and two they can spend more time inventing while they have someone to watch the store for them they have been on their best behavior towards me. My stuffed toys never go missing anymore and they haven't put permanent color additives in my shampoo for months."

"Did they do that often?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, about once every two weeks during the summer. They once turned it a really striking purple color, but mom wouldn't let me keep it. They said they were trying for blue, but it didn't react well with my natural color." She replied as she picked up the dust rag she had dropped in her excitement earlier.

There was a stunned silence from Harry and Hermione for a few moments.

"Did they pull stunts like that often?" asked Hermione looking at both Ginny and Ron with a stunned expression.

"Oh, yeah! You should hear what they did to Ron about three years ago. One morning when he went to brush his teeth they…" Ron clamped his hand over her mouth mid sentence.

"That's enough Ginny! I'm sure that they don't want to hear about that!" he said while nervously watching Hermione. Ginny struggled free.

"But Ron!" Ginny cajoled, "It was REALLY funny!" she gave a muffled giggle.

"If you tell them I'll have to tell dad exactly what happened to the water hose he was trying to fix." He threatened.

"Ok, ok, geez no need to get nasty about it!" Ginny grumbled.

"Err…, right, well anyway the three of us came down to see if you wanted to go to Florean Fortescue's to get some ice cream. My treat." Harry offered.

Ginny gave him a bright smile.

"That would be great!" she said enthused.

"After dealing with customers all day I could use a break! Just give me a second to close up the shop and I'll be with you." She went to the back of the store and started to close up for the day.

After totaling the contents of the register she emptied all of the money into a little brown bag and used her wand to write the amount upon it. She then turned to the fireplace and grabbed a dash of Floo powder and tossed it in.

"Gringotts Bank, Business Quarter, Deposit, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes." She called out and waited a full three seconds before tossing the brown bag inside. She then turned to the three waiting seventh years who were browsing around the store while waiting for her.

"All done, I'll lock up as we leave." She announced as she herded them out the door before her. After the lights were off and the door locked she turned to Harry.

"Lead on great one. Ice cream awaits!" Harry and Hermione laughed while Ron simply grinned.

"I told you that she never turned down ice cream. She is simply unable to resist the call of the sweets." He teased as he threw his arm over her shoulders and started off down the street.

"Now you can tell us all that has been going on here at home. With Harry at the Dursleys.."

"For the last time! No more Dudley ever again." interrupted Harry with a fist raised victoriously in the air. Ron grinned at him and continued.

"And Hermione off in France helping spread the word around, and me in Romania with Charlie doing the same we want you to tell us what has been going on." He concluded as they drew close to Fortescue's.

After they all piled into chairs around a small table and ordered what they wanted Ginny proceeded to catch them up on all the happenings she knew about.

"Well, while living at home I don't learn as much as we did two years ago. However I have learned that Dumbledore has sent an emissary to try to talk the vampires, but no word on them yet."

"Do you think that they will join our side" questioned Ron eagerly. Ginny simply shrugged.

"I have no idea. I can't even find out who was sent as an emissary. I do know, however, that they are due back about a week before school starts back up." She broke off as their ice cream was brought to them and then started up again when they were alone.

Lupin has been actively trying to recruit some of the Werewolves, seeing as how the number of bites has tripled since HE has come back. Muggles mostly." She shook her head sadly

"They don't have the sense to stay inside during the full moon. Lupin thinks that HE has a squad of Werewolves that he takes and sets loose in the major cities during the full moon's. We can only speculate how many he has managed to make. We think he may be building an army of werewolves."

"Is the ministry still allowing the unjust prosecution of them?" Hermione asked with a frown. Ginny nodded.

"Yeah, with all of the new werewolves showing up everywhere fear has been running high. Even if the ministry wanted to do something to help them, I don't think that the public would allow it. Everyone is running scared." Harry snorted.

"And that only makes them feel inclined to join up with Voldermort," everyone at the table gave a small flinch that he ignored "because they think that maybe things might be better under his control." He shook his head sadly.

"Their own fears are working against them." Hermione finished eloquently.

"Stupid gits." Ron summed up the whole sticky mess as he took a large bite out of his chocolate sundae.

"Their was also some kind of response from the Giants, but I have not been able to figure out what it was yet. Good or bad." Ginny said as she sipped from her Magical Mysterious Mix shake.

"That's it here, what about the three of you? What did you find out.?" For the next thirty minutes she listened to Harry, Ron and Hermione tell her about their summers.

When the four of them had finished all of their ice cream and Ron had finally wound down about the grand adventures he had been having with their second oldest brother Hermione caught Ginny's eye and arched one golden eyebrow at her in question. Ginny got the hint.

"Ron, Harry" she interrupted "Did you see the new Broom at Quality Quidditch? The Serenity. Not as fast as your Firebolt Harry, but it accelerates much faster and has supreme turn handling." Even before she had finished Ron and Harry had jumped to their feet.

"Coming Mione?" Ron called over his shoulder. Hermione shook her head

"No, Ginny forgot something back at the store I'll walk with her to get it, and then we will join you in a few minutes ok?" she said while looking intently at Ginny.

"Yeah, the twins wanted me to bring the monthly sales reports home tonight. But I forgot them when you showed up." Which, Ginny reasoned was the truth.

The boys, while on a normal day MIGHT have noticed something strange, were to preoccupied with the thought of a new broom to gaze at to notice anything strange about their behavior. They promised to meet them in about twenty minutes or so. And as soon as the boys had turned the corner Hermione turned to Ginny with an expectant look.

"So," she said, "how are your lessons going?" she asked eagerly. Ginny gave a huge smile.

"Not so bad, last week he told me that he was going to stop teaching me and if I wanted to learn anything else, I had best find someone else to teach me." Ginny finished proudly.

"And that was a GOOD thing?" asked Hermione incredulously. "How!" Ginny laughed.

"It's simply his way of saying that I have learned just about everything he can teach me." Ginny stated smiling.

"I tell you I couldn't believe my ears when you said that you were going get Professor Snape to teach you Occlumency. It still amazes me that he even agreed to teach you." Hermione said while shaking her head at Ginny. "How do you ever put up with him?" she asked.

"We have a very simple agreement. He can be nasty, rude, and vile and I can not care. I learned that you can respect someone and still not like them. And as for him teaching me. I simply told him why I wanted to learn to protect my mind." Replied Ginny calmly.

"How did he react to that?" questioned Hermione.

"Well, at first he told me no, and that if I ever asked again he would curse me, give me detention, and deduct 100 points from Gryffindor. But that was when we had just gotten back from Christmas vacation. All of the Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban and we noticed the absence of our least favorite Slytherin. I think that Professor Snape was worried about Malfoy at the time. Although I can't tell you why. The rest of the school year was certainly a lot quieter without him creeping around." She said thoughtfully as Hermione frowned in concentration.

"Did you know, something about that didn't seem right to me either?" she asked. "Not that I particularly miss him mind you, but I mean Crabbe and Goyle even came back, and that was their last year. I honestly didn't expect them to finish out." Hermione frowned still half in thought as Ginny gestured at the time.

"At any rate we had best go if we want to meet up with the boys on time. If we're late they may get worried. You know how they can be. If we are five minutes late the entire order would be out trying to find us." Ginny growled at this clearly overprotective tendency of the males in her family.

Both of them rose as they left the ice cream parlor and started back to the twin's shop. Ginny looked back in the direction that the boys had left in. Hermione noticed.

"You still don't want me to tell Ron and Harry about you practicing Occlumency?" Ginny nodded and Hermione looked concerned. "Ginny, I still think that Harry, at least, would understand. I mean, he has the same fears about being possessed, especially after our fifth year. And as for Ron, well… I'm sure that if you explained really really well,…" she broke off as she saw the expression that Ginny pulled.

"Mione, you surely do have it bad." Ginny stated as she watched Hermione flounder in her attempt to convince herself and Ginny that Ron could be reasonable about Professor Snape. Or anything else for that matter.

Hermione flushed a dark red and faltered in her steps as she was careful to look at anything but Ginny.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about Gin." She mumbled.

Ginny stopped in the middle of the street and hugged Hermione hard as she could while Hermione fought with her embarrassment. Ginny made her look at her before she spoke again.

"If my stupid git of a brother ever realizes how much he likes you, and what a great girl you are Mione, I would be thrilled to have you as a sister." Hermione blushed bright red at this.

"I… Well… That is… I don't… Umm… It wouldn't… Err… Thanks…" she mumbled while trying to cover up her embarrassment.

Ginny simply laughed and they started back down towards the shop. They walked on in silence broken only with a few calls to Ginny form other store keepers closing up for the day. After a few moments Hermione spoke up.

"Ginny, do you think.. that is … Is it possible…" she was saved from finishing her question by Ginny's decisive answer.

"YES" she replied. "I have no doubt. I only doubt his timing." She laughed. Hermione sighed.

"I really do, you know."

"I know."

"If he ever… I would. He only needs to ask."

"That's my git of a brother."

"Well I at least would like to…" Hermione trailed off as the two turned the corner and became aware of the five figures in hooded capes in front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

One of them must have made a sound because all five of the wizards turned to face the two girls. Ginny caught a brief flash of a wand before she grabbed Hermione and tried to dart back around the corner they had just come around.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS" rasped a deep voice. The spell hit Ginny with full force and felt her arms and legs clamp together as she fell on her side to the paving stones.

"EXPELEARMUS" shouted Hermione as she pointed her wand at the wizard who had just preformed the full body bind on Ginny.

No Ginny tried to yell, Run, get the to the Order there are five of them.

"CRUCIO" Called another voice. Hermione ducked and the spell blasted past and struck the wall behind her. She opened her mouth to either yell for help or utter another spell when she was interrupted.

"SILENCIO" grunted one of the members and the spell struck Hermione. Her mouth opened in vain.

It would were off in a minute, but she had no chance against five armed wizards Ginny thought desperately. She gathered all of the knowledge she had gained from Professor Snape in the past six months and desperately forged an occlumency link with Hermione.

"Run! Get to the Order!" She saw the indecision in Hermione's eyes. The desire to help, but her aversion to save only herself and leave Ginny behind.

"RUN!" she shouted through the link with all of her might. "You must LIVE to get HELP! GO!" she cried again.

Ginny saw the tears forming in Hermione's eyes as she nodded and turned and ran like the hounds of hell were after her. And reasoned Ginny, they were. Or so she thought at the time.

"Leave the Mudblood. We got what we came for." Ginny's heart froze.

Malfoy. THE Malfoy. The one who gave her that horrific book in her first year. Ginny raged inside her body, unable to do anything else.

She felt a hand reach into her robes and pull out her wand. Then the Luscious Malfoy walked into her view holding her means of revenge. She watched with a cold heart as he twirled her wand around between his fingers. When he was sure he had her attention he smirked. It was like watching Draco smirk, but with much more hatred, and pure evilness. She allowed her own hatred of him to shine through her eyes.

"Well, Well, Well. Look at you. Fierce little Mudblood lover aren't you." His voice oozed with vehemence. Ginny was vaguely aware of being thankful you couldn't shake in fear when under the full body bind.

"We'll just see how fierce you truly are when you come face to face with the Dark Lord." He laughed all the while twirling her wand between his fingers. He noticed her attention was on her wand.

"Ahh, you would like to have this back wouldn't you? Well, I'm sooo sorry to disappoint you but…" And with that he snapped her only chance of immediate revenge. Ginny watched in fury as the two halves of her wand dropped from his fingers and fell to the street.

"Well enough fun," And saying this Luscious Malfoy drew his wand and pointed it at her.

"STUPIFY" and the world went black.

FIRST CHAPTER DONE! YAY!

Please review if you want, but if not, thanks for taking the time to read! Next chapter already under way… maybe by the end of this week?

PS Thanks to my best friend who has to listen to my stories over the phone… you're the best SCOTTY!