Harry Potter and the Unlikely Gryffindor

Harry didn't really know what he was expecting when he saw the first rays of light peeking over the snow capped mountains in the east. Perhaps it had been something grand like an army of Death Eaters, or some such magical show of force.

But what greeted them at Durmstrang Institute at 7:36 in the morning, was something so mundane as to knock the wind out of everyone gathered. The Post Owl from the Ministry of Magic sat on the window sill, holding its leg out expectantly. Tied to its right leg was a rather thick document, rolled so tightly they had almost mistaken it for a solid piece of wood.

Hermione got up the courage first, and untied the three knots of leather that bound the parchment to the bird's leg. Unfolding it, she laid it on the table, smoothing out the curls on the edges.

“What is it?” Harry asked, trying to make sense of the hand written calligraphy crowding the large piece of parchment.

“It looks like an old Minutes from a meeting of the Wizengamot from over a hundred years ago. Listen;

'On the Eleventh day of the Twelfth month of the year Eighteen-hundred and Ninety-Seven, the Assembly of the Wizengamot has been called to discuss the recent studies that have come to this council's attention. The most esteemed head of the ancient House of Black, and Hogwarts Headmaster; Phineas Nigellius Black has accepted the position as head of this council.

'At the behest of certain members inside the Department of Mysteries, this council is to review and decide the course of action, if any should be taken at all, to combat the phenomenon of high numbers of Squibs being born into houses of Full-Blood lineage. According to a report filed with the Minister of Magic three weeks prior to this meeting, the numbers are continuing to grow despite the families best efforts.

'There are those within the Wizarding community and within the Ministry who suggest that 'inbreeding' is to blame, though that notion has been dismissed as 'pure balderdash' by those families afflicted with this malady. However unappetizing the causes are, the remedy is proving to be infinitely more infuriating than first thought. It has been observed that those who are regularly referred to as 'Blood-Traitors' and Muggle-Born wizards are increasing in number and power. This newest development has put a rather unique strain on the oldest families of Wizarding status.

'As it now stands, one out of every sixteen children born to families of Pure-Blood lineage are Squibs. While the numbers on parchment do not inspire much fear, the knowledge that this number will double within fifty years, and again half a century after that certainly do. The current Minister has so decreed that one hundred years from this date, an act shall be put into place, giving the Minister of Magic complete autonomous control over the marital affairs of all families within the wizarding world.

'The Marriage Act, which states verbatim: Any wizarding family who has been pure of blood for at least sixteen documented, consecutive generations, will for one generation, have a member of the opposite sex of a lesser blood status chosen for them to procreate with.

'If, at the passing of this act, a male member of a pure blood house is without children, and whose wife, if living, is no longer able to bear children, will have the Ministry's special permission to take a second wife of childbearing age from a house of lesser blood status.

'If a woman of a Pure-Blood household, at the passing of the Marriage Act, is widowed or unmarried, and still able to bear children, the Ministry shall grant said woman a consort with which to extend her bloodlines. Given consort shall take the woman's sir name and be known only as 'Consort to' and never 'Spouse, or Husband of'.

'To offset any ill reaction to this act, there shall be a supplement put into place along side before mentioned decree. This supplement will be named the Distribution of Wealth Act. This act states that when chosen, the family of lesser blood purity shall receive a dowry of no less than ten thousand Galleons as compensation for the acquisition of that family member into the higher house. The chosen spouse is to be given the house's name, and afforded every modicum of respect given to one who was born into the Pure-Blood family.'

The entire room stood stock still as Hermione finished, utter silence filling it from wall to wall. “Minerva...” Moody spoke, causing the Hogwarts Headmistress to literally jump. “What is today's date?”

Harry looked at his watch, his eyes meeting McGonagall's for confirmation. “December, the eleventh...” McGonagall confirmed, her eyes wandering across the room. “Hera's birthday...”

XXX

Ginny couldn't help it when she wrapped her arms around herself as she read the Decree from the Ministry of Magic. There was no hope of it not being official because of the seal and signature of Rufus Scrimgeour on the bottom of the parchment. The crowd of girls in the Gryffindor common room pressed against Ginny's back, as one of them began to read the Decree:

“I, Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister of Magic, and Head of the Wizengamot; do here by decree that on the Eleventh day of The Twelfth month of the Year Nineteen-Hundred and Ninety-Seven, to affect all families within the Wizarding community, and effective as of sunrise of above mentioned day; The Marriage Act has been passed by unanimous vote of the Wizengamot.

“The Marriage Act; which is in direct response to the long feared phenomenon of Pure-Blood families 'Squibbing Out', states that any female member of a non-Pure-Blood household of childbearing age, shall have her name entered into a lottery, to be chosen as a breeding partner to a man of a Pure-Blood household. Chosen female's family; shall by the passage of the Distribution of Wealth Act, receive a Dowry of no less than Ten Thousand Galleons, for each of its contributions.

“To be eligible for consideration, the family needing the female's services, must prove its status with documentation showing its lineage for no less than sixteen consecutive generations.

“If, at the passage of this Act, the eldest male member of a house of Full-Blood lineage is childless, and his wife, if living, is unable to bear children for whatever reason; The Minister shall grant, on an individual basis, permission for said head of house to take a second wife from a house of lesser blood purity to procreate with.

“Under the Marriage Act, and supplemented Distribution of Wealth Act, the wife chosen to bear the head of house's children, shall be treated accordingly with the respect and comfort afforded to a Pure-Blood woman of her position.

“If, at the passage of this Act, there is no male head of household and the head female is still of childbearing age, the Minister shall grant her a male Consort with which to extend her bloodlines. This male's family shall also receive the Dowry, however, the male is only to be referred to as the 'Consort of', never 'Spouse or Husband to', because of the unique circumstances of said union. He is to take the Head of household's name, and will make himself available for her desires, when ever those may be.

“All female students of Hogwarts who are eligible for selection under the Marriage Act shall be notified via Post Owl no later than noon. Your parents will also be notified.

“Any attempt made to remove yourself, or female students from school grounds will be a violation of a direct decree from the Ministry of Magic. All offenders shall be charged with directly impeding the Ministry, and placed in Azkaban for no less than six months. Repeat offenders shall be punished with a permanent sentence.”


As Parvati finished reading, the entire room was silent. Silent that is except for soft sobbing throughout the crowd.

Most of the female students in Gryffindor House had been in the D.A., and knew what this was at its heart. This was a decree from the Minister of Magic himself, that they were to be given over to Voldemort himself to meet what ever fate he and his followers had in store for them.

There was an ancient English doctrine called Prima Nocta, which stated that the lord of what ever land had the right to take to his bed any woman he so chose on her wedding night.

This was Voldemort's echo of Prima Nocta. If he could not kill them all outright, he would breed them out of existence. And at the same time, put everything back the way it had been hundreds of years ago, when the Pure-Blood houses held all the power and wealth in an iron grip.


And just as the decree stated, at noon that day the Great Hall was filled with Ministry Post Owls delivering the notification to every Half-Blood and Muggle-Born girl that they had been placed into the lottery. The notices also informed the girls that the first drawing would start on the following day. Ginny stared blindly at her notice.

What she had not expected, was how young most of the girls receiving the notice would be. The young raven haired girl who had tried out for Quidditch a couple of days ago received one. She was only twelve. Ginny herself was fifteen, and still found it difficult to understand. She could only guess how hard the younger girls were taking this.

By contrast, the Slytherin table was full of happy talking. And unpopulated by Post Owls. Some of the Slytherin boys were shooting lewd looks toward some of the girls in other houses, making them weep openly.

At the Gryffindor table, the 6th and 7th year girls were talking among themselves, their voices low. “What the bloody hell is the point,” Parvati was shushed as she exploded in a rarely seen temper. “Why are they doing this now? They know what will happen! Don't they realize the kind of revolt this could inspire?”

“That is exactly the reason they're doing this,” all those who had been talking quietly looked down the table as Ginny wiped her face with her sleeve. “They know what will happen. And they will throw us all into Azkaban to keep things going,”

“Or feed us to the Dementors,” Luna's almost cheerful statement spun the situation in a new direction. “If they can find us,”

Parvati nearly choked on her sandwich. When did Luna Lovegood ever get a grasp of the situation? And when did she slink over from Ravenclaw?

Loony smiled serenely as she sipped a glass of pumpkin juice with one of the wildly curving straws that she had bought at Weasley's Wizard Wheezies. Hers was doing its best to bounce enthusiastically up and down in her glass while whistling the Hogwarts school song. The girls around her were hurriedly trying to get their parchments out of the way of the flying droplets. Although Parvati did not understand Luna very well, she did appreciate the unwitting humor she brought to the table.

Most of the food was untouched as the students got up to go to their next classes. Ginny, helped up by Lavender, left for Potions. She was not fond of taking the walk to the dungeons since Slytherins populated those halls. One in particular leered at her through his straw colored hair, threading his albino pygmy Python; Hrimfaxi through his thin fingers.

Ginny kept her eyes down as she hugged her books to her chest, walking as fast as possible toward Slughorn's class. She trotted in, settling into her seat as Slughorn paced the class room. The Potions professor was not in his usual jovial mood, and the cause lay on his desk where he had thrown the parchment down in disgust. He looked up at the students gathered, his face pulled down in worry. He had even forgone his usual bright colored robe for one that was most decidedly the mousiest mousy brown Ginny had ever seen.

When the class was full, he commanded the door closed with a flick of his wand. He almost looked as though he wanted desperately to say something, but one look up to the back of the class stopped him. Most of the Slytherins in the class were looking smug with themselves all huddled together like the snakes they were. Ginny knew that he would not dare say anything in front of anyone from his house. So instead, he continued with the previous day's lesson.

Ginny lost herself as Professor Slughorn called out which page he wanted them to open their books to, thankful that he was not giving any pop quizzes. Though her reading was brought to a screeching halt when a Hufflepuff girl cried out, jumping away from the pack of Slytherin boys who were busy fondling the lock of blond hair they had severed from her head. And that was about all it took for Slughorn to explode. Mr. Knott! Mr. Harper! This class is not for you and your Death Eater want-to-be flunkies to buggar off in!”

Ginny joined the other group of girls who were comforting Rose Zeller, who now sported one stub on the side of her head where the weedy little Theodore Knott had cut it. She hid none of the disapproval from her face as she shot a scowl over to the boys as they got themselves a right talking to, by the head of their house no less. Slughorn was red in the face and huffing like he had just run around the castle when he was finished. Though cowed for the moment, Ginny and the other girls knew that the 'teasing' would only escalate until someone really got hurt. Or expelled.


The rest of the day was tense as those who had received notices struggled with their feelings. There were rumors going around that someone said they would drink poison before they became some Death Eater's concubine. In fact, Ginny had considered that option herself. If Harry was not there to get her out, then there would be no point. She would never live under some dirty old man's thumb, prancing around like some living doll with perks.

Though Scrimgeour thought he was being smart. He had ordered Filch confiscate all potions that could remotely be used as poison. There were places the students hid things that not even Filch knew about.

Ginny kept to herself as she followed a group of Gryffindor girls into the dormitories, going directly up the stairs to the girls' side. She set her books down on her bed and went into the first year dorms. She knew that Hera had smuggled in a muggle CD player with a few of her CDs. She had also smuggled in a small vial of what looked like jelly. Fred and George had given this to her, certiantly with out their mother knowing, since it would negate the anti-electronics charms all around the castle.

Most of the bands she had never heard of, but there was one in particular that she loved. She dug out the player, checked the batteries and took the two CDs with her to her bed in the 5th year dorms. While she was serenaded by H.I.M, she did her work, trying to forget the decrees and the pranks. She wished that Fred and George had been here. Those two would show the Slytherin boys what real pranks were.

Ginny smiled to herself as she switched CDs, the player shuffling to her favorite song.


“Shivers run through the spine,
Of Hope as she cries
the poison tears of a life denied.”

She sang softly along, laying back down on her bed, the red curtains drawn. Perhaps this song spoke to her above all the others right this moment, because she had cried those same tears.


In the raven black night,
Holding hands with...

Dark Light
Come shine in her lost heart tonight.
And blind
All fears that haunt her
With your smile.
Dark Light”


And those tears came again as she sang. Tears for her mother, her father, and the man-child who had captured her heart. He would not be here to save her this time. She knew that, even if she would not let that thought reach her heart.


“In oblivion's garden
Her body's on fire.
Writhing towards the angel defiled
to learn how to die
In Peace with her God.”


And perhaps in that verse itself lay the real reason she cried. She would never get to experience that one fleeting moment when her and her love's soul became one. Her mother had been discreet with her descriptions, but the walls at the Burrow were thin. She knew what it sounded like, and her heart had thrilled at the chance of hearing those same professions of love and devotion from Harry's lips. Maybe not soon, but when they were older, and all their troubles had passed them by. But those were the dreams of a child who had yet to see the cruelty of the world. And those visions of love were fast fading in the harsh light of reality.

Those professions would not come from Harry's lips, but from those of a man who would never feel them in his heart.


“Dark Light
Come shine in her lost heart tonight.
And blind
All fears that haunt her
With your smile.
Dark Light.”


Ginny sang the chorus as it faded, her breath hitching. She took a small phial she had stolen from Slughorn's class room, letting the shimmering liquid catching the light in sluggish prisms. She would never experience Harry's embrace, nor hear his voice in her ear. But perhaps she would save herself for him for when they met again. In the next life, perhaps.

She tipped the phial into her mouth, swallowing the sour tasting liquid. Her final revenge on the man who had stolen so much from her and those she loved, slid down her throat.

She shivered as her body went cold, her teeth chattering as her eyes lost their focus, and the world faded away in a curtain of silver shimmers.