Lupin looked back at the rest of the class. “Class is dismissed,” He said, “The rest of you can try tomorrow.”
Ginny went to quickly collect her things, “Stay behind for a moment, please” Lupin said as she went to leave. For some reason he wasn’t looking directly at her, but slightly off to the side.
He didn’t say anything else and Ginny remained there holding her school bag as everyone else filtered out. Jack shot her a concerned look, and she looked away from him. After a few seconds he left the classroom too.
Lupin spoke again, staring at something just over Ginny’s left shoulder. She twisted around and tried to figure out what the professor was staring at. But there was nothing.
“Harry,” Lupin said mechanically while his eyes began to glow slightly with a yellowish light, “There is no shame in seeing a Dementor. In fact it is quite wise, for Dementors represent everything that one should fear. For the boggart to turn into one shows that you fear the embodiments of fear and despair itself. Are you interested in learning a method to defend against them? It is an advanced charm, beyond even your NEWTS. But I think a third year will be able to manage it if you practice enough. It’s called a Patronus charm.”
“Professor?” Ginny asked, “What are you talking about?”
Lupin blinked and the golden light in his eyes winked out. He looked around confused for a moment before looking back at Ginny.
“Ah. Sorry, Ms. Weasley. I got lost in thought there. I wanted to talk to you about your Boggart manifestation. I just wanted to ask you if you were alright. It was rather more… involved than the manifestation of the other students were.”
“Nope. Totally fine,” Ginny said while edging towards the door. What had happened to the professor before? Lupin stared at her and seemed to notice her discomfort.
“Well, remember that your fears don’t define you,” Lupin said, “Now, I won’t keep you any longer. You’ll be excused from facing the Boggart again if you wish in class tomorrow. Have a good day.”
“Good day, Professor,” Ginny said cautiously before leaving the room as quickly as she could. Jack was waiting just outside for her.
“Ginny! Are you alright? What did Lupin say?”
“I’m fine, Jack,” She replied, “Let’s just go to our next class. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, okay. I’m just trying to help.”
“I know. I’ll be fine, Jack. Lupin said that I wouldn’t have to face the Boggart again tomorrow.”
“Well, there’s that,” Jack said, “I wonder what Dumbledore will think when he hears that he was some people’s greatest fear.”
“Hah. I mean he did stop the fighting though. That Slytherin seventh year tried to kill him. Dumbledore didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t think.”
“Still scary though, that he’s that powerful,” Jack said, “People knew. But people didn’t really know just how powerful he was.”
“How would you make Dumbledore funny?” Ginny asked, “If he was your Boggart manifestation?”
“Hmm. Turning his wand into flowers worked pretty well for the people who got humans…” Jack began.
On their way to their next class they talked about all the different ways they would alter the Boggart if it had turned into Dumbledore. Throughout the rest of the day, people gossiped about what had happened with Ginny’s Boggart. But after the weekend and with a few days for more drama to come up, the incident seemed to be forgotten by almost everyone. Everyone was at least a little embarrassed by whatever their Boggart had been so Ginny’s, while frightening, wasn’t so different from what everyone else had experienced.
Everyone stressed out over midterms and took their exams. Ginny and Jack felt good on them. Alexa was a little more shaky on her answers, but didn’t feel like she’d done terribly. All that Gryffindor rubbing off on her, Ginny and Jack had joked as Alexa had stressed about how she’d done after. Alexa had studied with them, she couldn’t have done that much worse than how they had done.
Ginny had followed Olivia’s advice, and talked to Fred and George to help protect Alexa from the bullies. They had complained and been resistant at first, not wanting to ‘waste time babying her’. But after Ginny threatened to send a letter to their parents and complain, the two of them fell into line and started helping Alexa by telling off the people who were making snide and mean comments to her in Gryffindor.
It hadn’t fully worked, but Alexa told them that things were much better now than they had been earlier in the year. She’d been able to make more friends among the first and second years in Gryffindor now that the old years weren’t bad mouthing her as much anymore.
It seems that it was the older years that cared the most about house loyalty from the younger years. The younger ones like Ginny and her friends weren’t as attached to their houses yet and didn’t seem to care that she had friends outside of Gryffindor. But many of the younger Gryffindors had avoided Alexa so they wouldn’t make the older years upset with them.
Olivia had handled Preston and anyone else who tried to do the same to Ginny and Jack in Ravenclaw, so luckily things had worked out there.
Now midterms were over, and it was time for Christmas break. Ginny had sent some letters to her parents, and had gotten permission to invite Jack and Alexa over to their house during the week. Both of them were very interested in seeing a real magical home for the first time.
All of them took the Hogwarts express back to King’s Cross Station in London. The three friends left the train together, Ginny not struggling to lift her luggage nearly as much this time. Those recovery potions that Hagrid had given them had done wonders to help increase the strength they were able to get from training. Even Alexa told them she had improved a bit even if neither Jack nor Ginny were able to tell the difference from before.
Ginny saw that Ron, Fred, and George were already near her parents. The adults were talking with another two couples. Jack’s dark skinned parents stood out in the pale crowd of the rest of the station. His dad was wearing what Harry’s memories told Ginny was a very fancy muggle suit, and his mom was rather well dressed as well.
The other two people who must be Alexa’s parents looked extremely fit, lean and with wiry muscles and both built like runners.
The three of them approached.
“Ah, yes. We both sell exercise equipment. Treadmills, exercise bands, protein shakes. You know, the whole thing,” Alexa’s dad said, “Use it all ourselves. Can’t know if your product is really good unless you use it yourself.”
“That’s an excellent philosophy,” Jack’s Dad replied, “I work in finance. You’d be amazed how many people invest in products that they don’t understand in the slightest bit. I always try to do my research, but sometimes nothing beats just using it yourself.”
Dad was staring between the two men, looking rather confused as he absorbed the conversation. But he looked fascinated and like he was trying to puzzle out what exactly the other two were talking about as the conversation continued.
“You wouldn’t believe the sorts of things my husband has ordered just to satisfy his curiosity even after he’s already invested,” Jack’s Mom added, “Remember when you ordered that unicycle from that entertainment company, John?”
“Ha, I’m just glad I thought of wearing a helmet before I tried to ride that death trap. No idea how people can actually move around in those things without throwing themselves to the ground.”
Alexa’s Dad saw the three of them approaching and turned, “Ah! There’s the children,” He said, “Alexa! You didn’t tell me that your friend's parents were so interesting! Arthur here had the most interesting story he was telling us about enchanted objects he works with before we got distracted.”
“No, I found your discussion interesting. Never had much experience of the muggle world first hand,” Dad said, “Fascinating to hear it from the source.”
Alexa’s mom spoke up after Dad stopped speaking. “Well, Alexa? How was school?”
“Good! I told you there’s potions to help with muscle fatigue, right?” Alexa said, “We’ve been using them all the time and they really work! We can do a full intensity workout and just have a totally normal day without our muscles screaming at us whenever we move afterwards.”
“Wow, honey. That’s amazing!” Alexa’s mom said, “Did you exercise with your friends? You said they were completely new?”
“Yeah,” Alexa said, “But with the potions they’ve improved really quickly.”
Jack’s Dad looked over Jack with a raised eyebrow, “Good job, Jack. Your mother is always telling me that I should exercise more.”
“John, you sit around all day. Got to get the blood flowing when you can,” Jack’s mom said lightly.
Dad and Molly were looking at Ginny in confusion. “Exercise?” Molly asked in confusion, “What are they talking about, Ginny? You didn’t mention it in your letters?”
Ginny coughed. Ughhhhh. Now everyone was staring at her.
“Yeah, Mum,” Ron said. Her brothers had been watching the conversation from the side. Fred and George seemed a little interested before while Ron was completely disinterested until Molly asked her question.
“She goes running and swimming around the castle in the mornings before school. Waste of time, really. When will we ever have to run anywhere?”
Alexa’s parents looked rather startled at the statement and looked between Ron and Ginny.
“I bet I could beat you in a footrace,” Ginny said, growing rather annoyed at Ron’s dismissive attitude to all of her hard work that she had put in with her friends, “You’ve just been sitting around eating all the time, so you’ll lose for sure.”
Ron flushed a little as Fred and George chuckled. “She’s got you there, Ron,” Fred said, “You’ll never get on the school quidditch team without exercising a little.”
“No. I would beat her still,” Ron said, “C’mon guys! Of course I’d win, she’s a girl!”
Arthur looked embarrassed as he heard what Ron said. Molly grabbed Ron by the shoulder, “That’s enough of that, Ron,” She said, “I’m sure Ginny is very fit, but it's not proper for her to race against you.”
Ginny felt her annoyance build at that.
“But, Mom…” Ron protested.
“Ronald…”
“Sorry…” Ron said, apparently feeling the executioner’s ax above him at last if he said anything else out of line.
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Jack’s Dad cleared his throat, “Anyway. Nice meeting you, Arthur, Molly, Alan, Linda. See you all again in a few days. Let’s go, Jack.”
Everyone said their goodbyes and split up to leave the station. Alexa was talking all about their exercise program they had been going through, barely even mentioning magic as they left. Ginny faintly smiled at that.
Ginny and her family piled into Dad’s special enchanted car and started driving home again. Struck by a sudden bout of paranoia, Ginny flared her magic sense and scanned every inch of the car. But after a few seconds she leaned back and let out a sigh of relief as she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
“I’d beat you in a race,” Ron muttered sullenly while looking at Ginny.
“Yeah?!” Ginny said, all her annoyance from before flaring back to life, “Because I’m a girl? I can run six miles without stopping! Why don’t we race then if you’re feeling so confident about how fast you are!”
“Enough,” Molly said as she turned around from the front, “You two aren’t racing. Stop arguing.”
“Why aren’t we racing, Molly?” Ginny snapped, “You think that I’ll lose?”
Molly cleared her throat, “Ginny, there’s no need to be so competitive. I’m proud that you’re exercising to lose some weight and look fit for the boys, but it’s not proper to go around challenging people to competitions out of the blue.”
Ginny blinked at that. Losing weight? That’s why Molly thought she was exercising? So she would look prettier? That wasn’t why she was doing it at all.
“Why isn’t it proper?” Ginny asked, “Alexa has us race against each other all the time in the mornings when we exercise. It’s fun.”
“I’m sure that’s fine for Alexa,” Molly said, “But just because your friend does it doesn’t mean that it’s how a proper woman should act.”
“Proper woman?” Ginny asked, a little lost at trying to follow Molly’s thought process, “Why should I care about that? Aren’t most of the purebloods all stuffy racists anyway? I like my two muggleborn friends more than I would acting as a ‘proper’ girl so I could hang out around some stuck up jerks.”
“Mum, you should just let them race,” George said, “Don’t you see how Ginny’s crossing her arms? She’ll throw a tantrum if you two keep going.”
Ginny looked down and saw that at some point she had crossed her arms across her chest angrily as she was arguing with Molly. Ginny opened her mouth to yell at George too, but the boy turned to her and winked. Hm. Maybe he was trying to help her?
Molly looked annoyed for a second, “Fine,” She said, “Have your race then if you’re so invested. But I don’t want to hear any complaints if you lose.”
“I won’t lose,” Ginny said firmly. Molly turned back around.
“Not going to weigh in, Arthur?” Molly asked, “Having your daughter running around wild challenging people to duels in public. I thought I taught her better…”
“I’d like to keep my head on my shoulders,” Arthur joked as he kept driving, “I’m going to keep driving now and pretend I didn’t hear any of that.”
Ginny felt her spirits rise a little. Dad agreed with her at least a little. A fact that annoyed Molly as she glared at Dad, who pointedly ignored her and kept driving.
Ron looked a little nervous that the race would actually be happening now. Fred twisted around and gave a lopsided grin to Ron.
“Getting nervous, are we Ron? Ready to put the money where your mouth is?”
“Shut up…” Ron muttered.
Soon, they arrived home and started unloading their luggage and started getting settled. Ginny paused by a particular wall and stared at it for a long moment. If she just poked right there with her magic then this whole house would probably collapse in on itself. She felt an impulsive desire to just do it, and poke it. It was so obvious in her magic sense to her. She shook her head. Had to resist the urge. She kept moving and started unpacking her little travel case of things she was bringing for the holidays.
She sat in her room that had been magically repaired from when Pettigrew had attacked her a few months ago. It felt like that had been years ago. It had been, maybe, with how she spent so much time training with Balthazar in Teregatt every night. She looked at her little bookshelf and took out a single book.
She looked at the cover. ‘Harry Potter and the Dastardly Hydra Thief!’ It proclaimed with an illustration of a little boy wrestling with a massive Hydra with his bare hands, one of its heads biting the plushy form of Harry Potter’s famous stuffed animal. Floppy the rabbit, who he would always carry around with him on his lighthearted adventures.
Ginny flipped through the pages, reading it like it was the first time. What would the world think if they had known the real Harry? Ginny wondered. Would they have thought he was some amazing hero, too humble to admit his natural talent at anything he tried? Or would they hate him for not living up to the image they had built up of him in their head? Not sure what to say when he wasn’t some amazing hero like in the stories.
No one would ever know. All they’d gotten was Eric instead. Ginny held the book and read it all the way through while lying back on the bed. Her anger at Molly seemed so petty now that she had read through the book to the end and put it down next to her. She rolled over and looked at the ceiling of her room, just thinking. Should she forgive Molly, just shrug it off?
They had never been the friendliest with each other, but something must have changed since Ginny had gone to Hogwarts. Either Molly had changed or Ginny had, they had never argued that heatedly with each other before. But Ginny had hardly done anything. Ron was the one who assumed that she’d be slower when he’d just been sitting around eating all the time at school.
While Ginny had been working her butt off with Alexa getting in shape. But because she was a girl of course she’d be slower. Something that Molly had seemed to agree with. Ginny hardened her resolve. She would absolutely trounce Ron in whatever race they decided on. And show Molly that she was wrong. Ginny was happier without being ‘proper’, whatever that meant.
Imagine if she ended up all stiff and stuffy like Malfoy or most of the other Slytherins? Ugh. Ginny shuddered a little thinking about it. That sounded like a nightmare. She’d much rather be with people like Jack and Alexa and be herself.
— — —
“And so then she said that I should be proper and that I was the one who was wrong for challenging Ron! She was sure that I would lose just because I was a girl!”
“Hmmm. Indeed.”
Ginny felt suddenly awkward as she realized that she had just dumped everything on Balthazar out of nowhere. But he always gave her good advice about these emotional things before. He was always so calm about everything…
“Do you think she was speaking out of malice? With the intention to diminish your achievements because you are a girl?”
“What? No. I don’t think so? She didn’t seem very excited about me exercising. Thought I was just doing it to look prettier for the boys… She really thinks I just did the bare minimum and couldn’t even beat Ron in a race even though he sits around all the time.”
“Is that a desirable outcome? What was your true goal for exercising? If your friend did not push you into it, would you continue?”
Ginny blinked. “If Alexa and Jack weren’t there with me?” She asked, “Would I still do it? I dunno. I like how I feel after. Strong. Like I improved myself a little each time. Sort of like how practicing my magic is here in Teregatt. But it's very hard and annoying while I’m actually doing it. I might not have done it at all if Alexa wasn’t so eager for us to go.”
“Then your mother is wrong about your desires for exercise. She made assumptions and did not verify them with the facts. Do you know if the old Ginny was obsessed with boys and into other traditionally feminine activities? I’m unsure what those are in your world, to be truthful. In my homeworld the females would traditionally battle for supremacy and otherwise compete with each other over every little thing. It sounds like it is different on your world.”
“The old Ginny? I don’t think she was that into girly things,” Ginny said, “It sounded like she was pretty rebellious. Sneaking out to practice on the brooms, always trying to play games outside with her brothers all the time… She was obsessed with her books and had a crush on Harry Potter. So maybe she was sort of obsessed with boys though.”
“Perhaps your mother is unwilling to accept you as you are. She is seeking to overcorrect and mold your behavior to how it was before the old Ginny’s death. Pushing the traditional feminine values harshly on you in a futile hope that if you act like the old Ginny that you will become the old Ginny.”
“You think? She was always upset that the old Ginny’s memories never returned to me over the summer. But what should I do?”
“You are a Queen,” Balthazar said, “You must allow your self worth and identity to come from within. You will have many subjects, all with their own agendas and interests. If you rely on them for your self image and confidence, then your identity will fluctuate with the fickle desires of the masses. You must be firm in yourself and know what you truly desire. And when what you desire shouldn’t be taken or acted upon. Of course you must respect your mother and family. But that does not mean you must listen to them when they tell you to change into something different than what you wish to be.”
“But what should I do? What if she keeps trying to say I should do more girly things?”
“It is for you to answer. But I’d suggest ignoring it where you can. And perhaps give it a try if need be. Perhaps you will enjoy some of them. Arm wrestling and wronak wrangling were enjoyed by many of the females on my homeworld despite how much of a stereotype it was. And no matter how many of them denied their enjoyment of it to the faces of us males despite secretly enjoying it when no one was paying attention to them.”
“Your world sounds like a crazy place,” Ginny said, “The women there are just constantly fighting each other? Do they look like you? With the horns and wings?”
Balthazar chuckled and shook his head, “Ah. I wish I could have you meet one. I’m sure you’d be fascinated by their vigor and energy. The females were massive, over fifty percent bigger than us males at least in most cases. And yes on the horns, wings, and reddish skin.” He lifted his hand and demonstrated the size difference by lifting his hand over his head to the right height.
Ginny looked up past the already tall Balthazar. “Whoa. That’s pretty big. Are they super strong too?”
“Stronger than a male like me would be. My love used to lift me over her shoulders and back down over and over again for a workout after she had a frustrating day at work. It was surprisingly relaxing for the both of us.”
“Your love? Is she here?” Ginny asked, “Will I be able to go see your homeworld one day?”
Balthazar looked away and Ginny saw an array of emotions flash across his face. Probably the most emotional she’d ever seen him.
“No,” He said softly, “My homeworld is no more. My love went with it.”
“Oh no! What happened? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up…”
“It was a long time ago. The original master of this place went there and gave my people access to the enchantments to create interrealm portals through the void. He traded it for many of our people’s resources. Eventually, we upset somebody we shouldn’t have in one of the other worlds. As I was one of the most promising magical talents in generations for our people, the original master took the effort to save me and offered me the contract to be bound to Teregatt when the end had come for my people.”
“Why didn’t he save them? He must have been powerful to own a place like this.”
“I… I do not know. He could have done it, saved them, but chose not to. Not everything was lost. My species, my culture, is still out there, spreading across many realities after our homeworld was destroyed. I’ve encountered several of my species in my time defending Teregatt.”
“Was… Was the old master of this place a good person? I thought he was since he didn’t want his inheritance to go to some spoiled noble. But why would he let something horrible like that happen if he could stop it?”
“He was a selfish, greedy person when he met me. Young and foolish for one with such power, even among wizards. After we traveled together for so long, he eventually changed and became somewhat more compassionate towards the end of his life. Despite never understanding him, I ended up respecting him in the end.”
“Oh. I’m sorry that happened to you, Balthazar,” Ginny said.
They stood there in silence staring at each other for a moment. Balthazar’s eyes glazed over as he seemed to reflect on the past, not even staring at her anymore.
“Do you want a hug?” Ginny asked.
Balthazar blinked and stared at her. “What? A hug? What do you mean? Your body is made of the black mud. What would be the purpose?”
“Can I hug you? It worked when I hugged Fawkes when I wasn’t feeling good. You look sad.”
Balthazar stared at her before awkwardly squatting down with his wings folded away on his back. Ginny stepped forward and hugged him with her goopy form. Balthazar hesitated before patting her muddy back awkwardly. After a long moment, Ginny released him and he remained staring at her crouched for a long moment, a complicated expression on his face.
“Thank you,” he said, “That did help things a little bit. Although I now appear to be quite dirty.”
Where Ginny had touched him his robes were filthy and covered in long streaks from her mud running over it.
“Sorry…”
“It’s quite alright. You are far different than the others that I’ve encountered… I’m glad that you are the one who became the Inheritor of this place. Now, I think we’ve talked enough for now. Let’s get back to our practice, hm? I think that it might only take a while longer in your world before you are ready to move on.”
“Thanks, Balthazar. You think so? I can’t wait to finally get to explore something new.”
“With all the variety I have prepared, I do not think that will be a problem for much longer,” Balthazar said, “With the basics down you will be able to improve in many other fields much more quickly than otherwise. Perhaps we could try ten orbs coming at you at once? I believe nine is our record before?”
Ginny took a few steps backwards and sat cross legged on the floor. Technically she could just stand in place without getting tired. But it felt more right to be sitting down when she entered the meditative state when they got deeper into their training.
“Very well, here I go,” Balthazar said, his calm expression back on his face, “Ten at once. Prepare yourself.”
The two of them kept training.
Time was fluid and Ginny improved. By the time she was drawn back to Earth, she was able to deflect twelve orbs at once.