Story: Broken But Brave
Chapter Eighteen: Ginny's Adventures

(5 PM, 17th December, 2005)

The first drops of the rainy day were beginning to fall on the face of the earth. That did not stop the anxious redhead from running. She was afraid but she would never admit that. Raindrops mixed with sweat ran down her pale face as her brown eyes sought the houses lining the street. The house she was looking for was near. Despite being a witch, she could not apparate or in more technical terms, teleport, to the house due to the sole reason of being spotted by non magical folk, who were referred to as muggles. After a few minutes' run, Ginny found herself standing in front of the Potter Cottage at Godric's Hollow. She puffed and panted to regain her breath. Inhaling sharply, she withdrew her yew wand. Muttering the light charm and holding it in front of her, she entered the house quietly. The house was still under the Fidelius charm and hence, she had to prove herself in order to enter, the reason why Ron sent her to this place.

"I, Ginevra Potter, request entrance to The Potter Cottage, Godric's Hollow," she said, clearly. The door clicked open and she went in.

The house was in a very dirty state. Cobwebs hung above her head. Dust was accumulated over the furniture. The floor was very dusty and sandy. In all, it looked more or less like a haunted house but that did not stop the Gryffindor. She walked past everything and ventured into the living room where she was met by a similar site. Her nose was getting itchy due to the state of the house. Book shelves were half moth eaten and Ginny turned her gaze away from it. There seemed no evidence of someone's visit, let alone a tidy person like Harry's visit but she had to check. She lifted her wand and muttered another spell.

"Homonum Revelio."

Nothing happened as the petite redhead waited. The sound of water droplets: rain; splattering against the glass windows was the only sound heard. Ginny sighed, her despair adding to the splash of rain. She looked around once more and walked out of the room and into the hallway. As she walked through the hallway, silent tears flowed from her eyes. She regretted fighting with him now. Wiping away her tears rather harshly, she reached the entrance. She closed the door with a loud bang owing to her frustration and was about to leave when the door clicked open. She groaned and looked back at the door. She had accidentally broken it's lock due to her frustration. She withdrew her wand and was about to mutter the locking charm when she remembered that she couldn't use magic outside of the house due to the house being under a Fidelis charm unless Harry gave her the permission in that damned protection rune stone. The protection rune stone was placed in the basement of each and every Potter property to ensure the protection of family. Ginny sighed in frustration before looking around. The faint shimmer of a metal chain lying on the grass caught her eye. She quickly took it and tied it to a thin iron rod erected nearby. As soon as she was done, she ran out of the house and into an alcove before apparating to her next destination - her home, The Potter Manor.

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(5:35 PM, 17th December, 2005)

Heavy drops of pure water fell from the sky on her drenched red hair as she stood in front of the mansion, hidden to everyone but it's master and mistress. The wind blew her hair gently as she made her way towards the automatic opening gates.

The grounds of the manor stretched out, green moist grass covering it. The flowering bushes on the grounds smelt wonderfully fresh. They seemed to be happily dancing in the rain. A smile appeared on Ginny's face as she walked through the grounds and finally reached the house, five minutes later. She opened the door using the spare key which she carried in her purse and stepped in.

Potter Manor was very huge. It's ceiling stretched up to almost 20 feet and the hallway it self was wide. Ginny walked on, her low heels clicking on the marble floor as she did. The smell of an unoccupied house greeted her nose but she kept looking around, hoping Harry to pop in out of thin hair and hug her and comfort her. Unfortunately that did not happen.

She entered the main hall and found the place shining clean. It was the total opposite of The Potter Cottage. The floors were shiny and the furniture were dusted. The book shelf contained several interesting books, their fonts shining. The chandelier hung elegantly above her head. The soft chime of the wind chime was heard.

Ginny walked forward, towards the stairwell. The marble stairwell was mopped clean and it seemed to have been done just a few minutes earlier. She had high hopes of finding Harry here just because everything was tidy unlike how dirty it was supposed to be. She had never come back to this house as soon as he was arrested. Hence she hoped it would be a very dusty house but this turned out to be quite the opposite to what she thought. As she reached the landing, she looked around and withdrew her wand and the keychain. She extended her hand and turned the door knob to see if it was locked or not. Surprisingly, it was unlocked so she opened it wide and walked into the master bedroom of the house. 

The bed looked really welcoming. The curtains were opened, letting Ginny look at the rain that pelted against the closed glass windows. The door to the attached bathroom was closed and the table lamp was lit. Ginny wondered who had done all this as she exited the isolated master bedroom. She walked down the stairwell and into the kitchen. The kitchen too was tidy but empty. She sighed and was about to leave the house when she heard a shuffling noise coming from above - the master bedroom. She walked upstairs again and into the master bedroom. She strained her ears to listen to any sign of movement. She could hear someone scrubbing the floor. Turning her head towards the closed bathroom door, she slowly walked towards it, wand in hand. She reached her hand and turned the door knob open and screamed, sounding startled. 

Kreacher the house elf was cleaning the bathroom using magic. A scrub was cleaning the bathtub and a mop stick was cleaning the tiles and floor of the huge bathroom. Kreacher looked around and found Ginny standing there.

"Mistress. What can Kreacher do for yous?" he asked, bowing. Ginny snapped out of her astonished state.

"Kreacher! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Kreacher is here to clean the Manor of Kreacher's master and mistress. Kreacher senses that it will be used soon," Kreacher said. Ginny blinked. Why would she live in the Manor?

"Kreacher, have you seen Harry?" Ginny asked, pushing aside other thoughts from her mind. Kreacher shook his head.

"Kreacher is sorry, Mistress. Kreacher has not seen Master Harry."

Ginny nodded. "That's okay, Kreacher. You can leave now. There is no need to clean anymore," Ginny said, kneeling down to the elf. Kreacher smiled.

"Thank yous for being such a wonderful, Mistress, Lady Ginny. Kreacher is apologizes for Kreacher's mistake before. Kreacher hopes yous and Master Harry will forgive Kreacher."

Ginny smiled and enveloped Kreacher in a hug. "Kreacher, we have long since forgiven you."

"Thank you, Mistress. Kreacher wishes to say that Kreacher will always respect yous and Master Harry," Kreacher smiled. Ginny backed away, smiling.

"Thank you, Kreacher," Ginny said. Kreacher disapparated with a loud crack after bowing respectfully to her. Ginny could not help but ponder why Kreacher talked so respectfully but she pushed that thought aside too and walked out of the bathroom. She looked longingly at the bedroom one last time before walking downstairs. 

"Homonum Revelio," she mumbled. Nothing happened. Dejected, Ginny left the manor, hoping to find Harry in the least expected place - Grimmauld Place.

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(8 PM, 17th December, 2005)

Ginny stood in front of an apartment complex. She thought of the location which she wanted to visit and then slowly the houses numbered eleven and thirteen began to move aside, revealing the number twelfth house. Ginny walked up the worn set of front steps. The battered door stood locked. On the door was a silver knocker in the shape of a twisted serpent but it had no keyhole, knob, handle or anything else that would indicate it to be a door. Ginny knew that it opened only by magic, so she did a double take to find out if any pesky muggles were present. The answer became negative, hence she withdrew her yew wand and muttered the unlocking charm. The door creaked open and Ginny groaned. This would wake Walburga Black.

"FILTHY BLOOD TRAITOR! HOW DARE YOU?!" came the voice of Mrs Black. Ignoring the big deal of insults thrown at her, she walked forward. As she passed by the portrait, she pointed her wand at it.

"Thank you for your warm welcome, Mrs Black," Ginny said sarcastically and sealed the curtain shut, muffling Walburga's shouts of protest.

The entrance way was lit with gas lamps. Silver serpent ornaments glimmered in the faint light and a huge chandelier hung above her head. The carpet was dusty and the wallpaper was peeling off. Cobwebs littered the walls. The umbrella stand of the severed leg of a troll stood off to the side, empty. Ginny was reminded of Tonks who often clashed with it due to her clumsiness.

At the end of the entrance way was the stairwell which led to the upper rooms of the house. To the left was the dining room. Ginny decided to take a look at the first landing which consisted of three bedrooms, the drawing room and a bathroom. She started on the stairwell, hoping against hope to find Harry.

"Homonum Revelio," she said. Instantly, a white light appeared from the tip of her wand. However it didn't move, hence Ginny walked on.

As soon as she was at the third landing, the ball of light left her wand tip and floated to one of the bedroom doors. Not just any bedroom door. It was Sirius' bedroom! She slowly made her way towards it and reached out toward the knob. She twisted it but found out that the door was locked. She muttered the unlocking charm to open it but it did not open. She was quite surprised. The unlocking charm usually opened all kinds of locks besides complex locking charms. Everything clicked into place. Complex charms. . .Auror level charms. . .Harry!

Harry James Potter, you are going to pay! She thought and backed away. Sorry, Sirius though I know you won't mind. She pointed her wand at the door.

"Reducto!" she shouted. A white light shot out of her wand and the door exploded into ashes. Ginny could hear Walburga Black shout insults again but she was too wide eyed to pay attention to the shouting portrait. Inside the room was a messy looking Harry Potter with something red on his wrist - blood.

Phew! That was one long chapter! The longest ever! It just crossed 2k words, can you believe that?! No wonder it took a lot of time to write but nevertheless, here it is.

So, the long awaited scene is here. Note that all these events took place with Ginny and Harry simultaneously. When Harry was in Sirius' room, Ginny arrived. I hope you understood the timeline. If you have any queries, you can comment!

Also, I don't know if elves can see the future but it's my change that elves can somewhat know about the future vaguely. They won't know about the events that would take place but they would know if the future will be happy or sad.

The description of Grimmauld Place is just as it is described in the books. I looked up on Google and found out how it looked like. So, no copyright intended. The Potter Manor and The Potter Cottage's descriptions are all mine.

Italic font was Ginny's thoughts.

Edit: Forgot to add the time when Ginny arrived at Grimmauld Place.

Thank you so much for your lovely support. I will try to update soon for y'all. Have a nice day!

Miyoko x