InsaneJournal

Ginny Weasley has serious spunk. (holygin) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2016-02-16 11:02:00

WHO: Ginny, Bill, & Percy Weasley; NPC Stalker; later Alice Longbottom
WHAT: There's someone in Ginny's flat and she needs her brothers to save her
WHEN: backdated; Sunday 14 February 2002, Afternoon
WHERE: Ginny's flat
RATING: High
TRIGGERS: animal parts, blood, stalking, home invasion
STATUS: Completed in Docs

Ginny's week hadn't exactly gotten better. There were moments that distracted her from the notes and flowers that kept showing up in her flat, despite everything she was doing. She was still connected to the floo network, and she had sent them copies of the most recent messages to convince them to disconnect her fireplace. She enhanced her wards nightly, but new gifts kept showing up. Many of them hadn't been touched out of fear of a curse. The flowers were all transfigured and flushed.

But there was a necklace hanging from her lamp that she dared not touch. It'd been there since Thursday. She almost didn't want to leave her flat. If she didn't leave, nothing new could turn up. But this was Ginny Weasley. She didn't hide because of anyone. She would not allow some faceless shit imprison her in her own flat.

So she'd gone out. She wanted a new outfit for the party at Panquake House, and she felt she deserved a treat. The day before, Marcus had given her a kitten. She didn't want to leave it home alone, just in case, so she took the cat with her. She carried it in her bag, and it seemed content to sleep all day. Upon arriving home, Ginny was very glad that she'd been one of those ridiculous celebrities with the animal accessory. She knew something was very wrong the moment she walked in her flat. She saw that her furniture was rearranged, and there were rose petals in the path on the floor.

But that wasn't it. If felt like there was still someone there. Quietly, she followed the petals and stopped short of her bedroom door. Clapping a hand over her mouth, unsure if it was to stifle a scream or keep from vomiting, Ginny took several quick steps back. Stuck to her door with dagger was a heart and a note big enough to read. "True love comes from a real heart."

There was a thump in her room, and she, as quickly and quietly as she could, left her flat. She didn't leave the building, but she didn't even leave her floor. Ginny was a self-rescuing princess, but there would always be times when she needed her brothers. And now was one of those times. Jostling her kitten a little, Ginny extracted her journal and a pen from her bag and put all of her focus into making the ward to her brothers completely unbreakable. Help. There's someone in my flat. They want to hurt me.

Once it was written, she took her wand from its pocket in the top of her boot, set the bag with her kitten well out of harm's way, and waited.
---

Bill had been extra worried about his sister ever since she started receiving valentines. While it may have seemed nice, or sweet, to others, he was always going to air on the side of concern when it came to his youngest sibling. Random letters showing up at her flat? Professional Quidditch player or not, he didn't like it. So when he saw what was written in her journal, he barely had time for his mind to process it before he was Apparating to her apartment building, appearing just outside but immediately going in and up to her floor, wand in hand.

When he saw Ginny, safe for the moment at least, he went straight to her and instantly pulled her into a hug. From what she'd said, he hadn't known what to expect, but he was glad she seemed physically unharmed. He held her tightly for a long moment before pulling back, his hands resting on her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a low, quiet voice. "What happened? What is it?"

---

She was strong. Ginny Weasley was tough as nails. She could handle anything. But the second her brother (she wasn't sure which one at first) was hugging her, she was little again, and she was just waking up from a very bad dream. She wanted to cry, to cling to him and close her eyes, and not see any of the bad things that were happening in her flat. But she didn't dare to take her eyes off her door. They weren't standing where they could be seen through the peephole.

When Bill spoke, she made herself look at him. She felt pale and numb, all of the blood somewhere in her body that wasn't her head or torso. His words took a few seconds to reach her ears, and she had to shake her head to clear it of the buzzing.

"I'm okay," she replied, her voice as soft. "I--I've been getting Valentine's. They were sweet. It was funny. But Marcus was right about the potential to be dangerous. I enhanced my wards. I told the post not to deliver anything when I wasn't home. But they kept coming. And they got worse. And...and…" Ginny shuddered. "He--they're in my room."

---

Bill didn't let go of her, his hands staying on her shoulders as she spoke because he felt like as long as he had hold of her nothing could happen. He could feel his worry and fear from when he's gotten her message turning to anger the more she explained, because anyone who made his baby sister feel unsafe was bound to make his blood boil, but especially when it was done in a way like that... and they were in her flat when she got there... no.

"Okay," he said quietly, forcing himself to stay calm despite wanting to go straight into her apartment and curse the hell out of whoever was in her room. That wasn't the smart play, though, so instead he merely kept his wand at the ready and his gaze split between her and the door of her apartment. "We're going to get you out of here, and we're going to have someone come inspect your apartment, alright?"

---

Bill's words snapped Ginny out of her fugue and made room for her anger. "I will not hide while my home is invaded," she hissed, sparks spitting out of the tip of her wand. "I know it's a risk to see this fucker, because he might think he won or whatever, but I want to see who thinks they have the right to invade my space."

To her credit, she didn't shrug her brother's hands off her shoulders. She wasn't mad at Bill, and she had just enough presence of mind to remember that. "Whatever happens, I'm not leaving."

---

Percy did not get the ward immediately. Sundays were usually spent puttering around the house and he rarely opened his journal when his son was usually demanding his attention. Currently, however, Tristan was occupied with one of the children’s instruments that littered his playroom and Percy was able to sit down for a few minutes to himself and check in with a coworker or two. With the World Cup so near there was always something to respond to. He wanted to do it before he and his wife settled down for the evening.

He did not even get a chance to see what Geraldine had to say to him. Ginny’s practically slapped him back and before he knew it it he was grabbing a jumper off the coat rack and his wand. Not wanting to alarm his son, Percy sought out his wife and spoke calmly “Prue, I need to go to Ginny’s. I’m not sure what is going on, but it’s emergency.” Kissing his wife on the cheek, Percy first tried the floo, frowning when he found Ginny’s fireplace disconnected.

Apparation was the next option and he appeared just outside the building. Hurrying up the his sister’s flat, Percy had no time for pleasantries as he bypassed her neighbours, heading straight to his destination. Bill was already there, which was good. Bill could be trusted to keep a cool head and not do something that they could later regret. “What happened?”

---

Ginny looked up when Percy spoke, jumping a little harder than she thought was possible. She shuffled sideways, pulling her brothers with her, to keep them out of view of her door. "There's someone in my flat. He--they've been getting in for a couple weeks, getting through my wards." It was easier for her to talk about it when angry. She was still being vague and quiet, but she was less shaky in her telling. If she had to tell it again, though, she might hex someone.

Looking between her brothers. "Can we take care of this?"
---

Bill moved easily when Ginny shifted down the hall, glancing over at Percy and keeping his grip firm on his wand. He still wanted to get Ginny out of there, far away from whoever was in there, but he wasn't about to force her out. She was good with hexes, and with him and Percy there they had safety in numbers. He wished Charlie were there with them too, and preferably with a dragon at his side. Even a small one would be able to suit their needs.

"We can," he said quietly, looking to Percy then back to their sister. "Stay behind us though, alright? At least until we see what we're dealing with?"

--

Ginny nodded. She could agree to those terms. While she wanted to see the person who'd been messing with her for the last two weeks, who made her fear her flat, she didn't want to be the first person to encounter them. Carefully picking up her bag, she peeked inside to check on her kitten. He was asleep--she watched him for several seconds to be sure he was actually breathing. Putting it across her body, she held her wand at the ready and nodded to her brothers. "Okay."

As they pushed their way quietly into her flat, she heard shuffling and scraping in the living room, like her couch was being moved around. She put a hand on her brother's arms to stop them, hidden by the wall between the entry way and the rest of her flat. Forgoing silence, Ginny slammed her door, and the scraping stopped.

"Where are all the flowers I brought you, pet? I'm disappointed they're not here. I have to punish you for that." His voice was nasally, though he tried to make it seductive. Ginny shuddered but didn't reply. "Come on, Gingersnap. Come get your gift."

"You don't get to call me that," she snapped. When they'd entered, she had every intention to follow Bill's lead, to let him and Percy take care of this, but that had her blood pounding in her ears, and she saw red. Pushing around them, she shot off a petrifying spell the second she laid eyes on his greasy hair. It skimmed the shoulder of his wand arm, which was enough to disarm him, but not enough to take him down.

"Aww, love. That's no way to treat the man who loves you." Ginny's grip tightened on her wand, and she raised it, an unforgivable curse on the tip of her tongue. "Cru.." she started, but someone jostled her arm, cutting her off.

---

Bill kept in front of Ginny as they went into the apartment, his wand at the ready and Percy by his side. He frowned at the sounds coming from the living room, and easily stopped when Ginny’s hand on his arm signaled him to. The voice was unfamiliar, and he wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but what the man said was enough to make his temper flare even more and his grip on his wand to tighten. Someone talking to his sister like that, it made him see red, but he didn’t have a chance to act before Ginny pushed past him and a spell shot through the air.

He had enough time to react when he heard the second spell starting to come out of her mouth, reaching out with his free hand to grab her arm and stop her, because even with the circumstances he couldn’t let her do that. Bill moved out past the wall to join her, flicking his wand as he shot a stunning spell toward the intruder in her flat.

--

It was good that Bill stopped her. She knew it was good. She might have actually felt bad if she had used that spell. She definitely would have gone to prison, because it wasn't exactly self-defense if she used the spell without him actively attacking her. Just because he'd been terrifying her for the last week, and he invaded her space on a daily, and he pinned a heart to her bedroom door--just because of all of that, she didn't have the right to use an Unforgivable.

But she felt like she could have justified it. There was a satisfying thud when the guy went down, and she had the urge to go over to him to kick him in the ribs. Or the face. Or...well, anywhere. But the thought of touching him made her skin crawl, and she didn't want to see his face again.

With the fight, as much as it was a fight, over, the blood drained quickly from Ginny's head, and her adrenaline faded. She reached out and grabbed Bill's arm as her head began to spin. She wasn't prone to fainting, but she thought she might be close. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she stumbled to her kitchen table and carefully sank into one of the chairs. She pulled Bob out of her bag and laid him, still sleeping, on the table in front of her. "We should get the Aurors or Hitwizards or…" She thought of Neville, which made her think of his mother. "Alice Longbottom. I'll ward her."

---


There wasn’t much to do on this Sunday afternoon, so Alice took up her journal and started reading the entries that she had missed that weren’t Molly’s. It seemed Valentine’s Day and a party at an unfamiliar (to her at least) band’s house were the topics of conversation. So not much changed from when she was in her twenties. Course when she was that age, there had been a war ongoing. It was good that now they could enjoy themselves without the constant threat of danger to their persons or their loved ones.

It was her name in a ward that attracted her attention and she tossed off a hastily written reply to Ginny before Apparating to her building and going up to her flat. Disregarding knocking, Alice stepped in to see Ginny, Percy, and Bill standing there.

“What happened?” she asked, walking over to the stunned, petrified man and glancing down at him before looking over at Ginny.

--

Ginny watched Alice move around. She was fast and straight to business, and that made Ginny's head spin a little. She was suddenly overwhelmed and ready to cry, but she knew she couldn't break down. Not yet. Her place was contaminated. She hadn't even been into her room yet, and the thought of looking at what he did in there made her want to puke.

She told Alice about the notes, pointing to a drawer in her kitchen where she'd put them, and the gifts. "I didn't touch the jewelry, in case they were cursed." She told about transfiguring and flushing the flowers, and how she'd come home to the rose petals and, "There's a heart stuck to my bedroom door with a dagger. I don't know what else he's done. I haven't been in there."

Ginny pet Bob, absently stroking his fur with shaking fingers. "We came in, and he wasn't in the room anymore, and I started to petrify him, but I missed, then Bill got him, and I warded you."

---

After telling Alice nearly everything, Ginny sat in a fugue at her table. She let the others talk around her, speaking only when she was asked a direct question. She disconnected herself from the situation on purpose in an attempt to make it less real. It was real. It was so very real, and that was why she was trying to make it more of a nightmare than anything. Nightmares can be shaken off, eventually.

At one point, someone handed her an overnight bag, and she pointed to where all of the notes were stored, which pieces of jewelry weren't hers. Except for the flowers he'd just set up in the flat, the rest had been flushed. There was a trip down to the ministry, where she gave an official statement, going on the record saying that she had not, knowingly, encouraged any of this. There was a moment when she thought the person--not Alice--taking notes and asking all the questions was blaming her for what had happened. But there was a calming hand on her shoulder before she could act on her anger.

Around 10 PM, Ginny finally ended up at the Burrow. Bill had offered to let her stay with him, and part of her had wanted to, but a larger part wanted her parents. So it was that an exhausted Ginny fell into their embrace and told them everything and let them get her to bed, tucked in like she was still very small. She cried until she fell asleep. At first, it was fitful, and she woke up often, but every time she did, she was calmed by the sight of her mother sitting near her. Finally, with Molly's hand on her head, Ginny gave way to exhaustion and, mercifully, didn't dream.