When Up Meets Down § A Hogwarts/Twilight Story by Hermy, Ginny, and Lavender

I'm writing this story with my friends, and I just felt like sharing it ... so, here we are!

(I write from Ginny Weasley's POV - Ron and Hermione's kid)
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Ginny Weasley
A Bit of the Unwanted

“Who are you?”
I sighed and turned toward the unfamiliar voice. I was constantly getting asked this question; it had grown to not bother me as much. Hermione Potter, a thin, average-sized girl with curly brown hair, said, “That’s Ginny Weasley. And who are you?” These were the times I was thankful that she was my friend – and cousin.
The boy with short brown hair looked irritated for a moment, but quickly rearranged his face. “Why do you care?”
I was still silent as Hermione retorted. “Why do you care who Ginny here is?”
“Never seen her before … wondering who her parents were,” he muttered so quietly I could barely hear him as he stared intently at his shoelaces.
I ran my fingers through my long red hair and contributed to the conversation: “Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.”
“Oh. Right.” And with that he turned and left the Gryffindor common room.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is my home-away-from-home. The day I turned eleven, five years ago now, I received a letter from a place called Hogwarts. I already knew this, of course, my parents being a witch and wizard themselves. I am indeed the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley, who also once attended this school. They were and still are a pretty famous name around the wizarding world. Hermione Granger, whom my best friend was named after, was one of Harry Potter’s best friends. He married Ginny Weasley, my dad’s sister, whom I was named after.
“Odd bloke,” said Hermione. I nodded. Hermione was very well-known around Hogwarts, being a Potter herself. “Anyway, we better get to History of Magic.”
I groaned and reluctantly picked up my bag. History of Magic was so boring that I have fallen asleep several times listening to Professor Binns drone on and on with no excitement whatsoever in it. It most likely did not help that he was a ghost.
We excited the common room and joined the throng of students scurrying off to their classes.

“In 237 B.C., what creature helped in the Goblin’s War of 237 B.C.?” asked Binns ten minutes later, in his usual voice. No one raised their hand.
“Giants,” said Professor Binns after a pause. He continued his monologue, but I was not really listening. Instead, I was gazing out of the window, as if staring could transport me out of this classroom and into the warm September air. I continued to do this until the end of class forty-five minutes later.
“Ginny,” Hermione said, nudging me out of my trance. “Class is over.”
I looked down at her desk and saw that she had filled up an entire piece of parchment. Mine had two lines on it.
“It’s okay. You can borrow mine.”
I beamed at her. “Thanks.”
Once in the Great Hall, where we ate all meals, I could see that the staff situated at the head table of the room seemed very tense. Professor Trelawney, a petite woman, draped in shawls and wearing glasses that hugely magnified her eyes, was talking to Hagrid. He was an enormous man, being half-giant. Even so, he would never hurt a fly. Hagrid was Dad and Mum’s best mate, along with Hermione’s father. Professor Trelawney only came up to his elbow while sitting. Headmistress McGonagall was chatting with Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, while the rest of the staff ate silently.
I sat down on the bench next to Hermione at the Gryffindor House table, my stomach rumbling with hunger. The empty dishes suddenly filled themselves with luscious-looking food; I seized a chicken leg and dug in. Once I was done with my third helpings the table cleared itself of everything while McGonagall stepped up to the front of the Hall. She was a tall, thin woman, with graying hair that was always up in a bun and hidden under her pointed hat. I had always liked her best.
“Attention, students,” she said in a booming voice. The Hall silenced instantly. “Thank you. Now, I have an announcement to make.”
“Wonder what it is,” I whispered to Hermione, my blue eyes not leaving their place at McGonagall.
“Dunno …” she whispered back.
All around us, several students were also whispering their suspicions of what the announcement was.
“As you all know, vampires are known to have been seen in the magic world. Not many, however, come out of their homes more than four times a year. It is known that some are not to be conversed with. Nevertheless, there are few that are tamed, some may say. Which is why, during your year at Hogwarts, vampires will be allowed on the grounds for – for observing.”
“OBSERVING!” shrieked a seventh-year girl from Ravenclaw, as if the vampires were already here. Everyone in the Hall turned to stare at her. “How are we supposed to OBSERVE VAMPIRES!?”
McGonagall remained calm; though I saw her lips tighten and form a thin line. “Now, Randilyne, I assure you, this will be very secure. There will be guards stationed around them at all times, and the only time students will go near them is when they are studying them.”
At this the almost-silence broke; hundreds of students starting talking loudly at once, creating a piercing buzz that echoed throughout the Great Hall, all the way up to the enchanted sky on the ceiling. I turned to Hermione.
“Oh my wand! Vampires!”
“Can they do that?” asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow a bit.
I shrugged. “Guess so, if they are.”
“Kind of frightening.”
“Yeah …”
Meanwhile, Professors McGonagall, Sprout, and Hagrid were trying to get everyone to calm down.
Hagrid bustled by the Gryffindor table. “C’mon now, quiet down!”
I refrained from talking; Hermione did the same. Most of Gryffindor was quieting down. Eventually McGonagall had to yell, “SILENCE!” and the whole Hall stopped talking. The piercing buzz was now extinguished.
“Thank you,” said the Headmistress, looking a bit frazzled. “As I was saying, the process will be very safe. There will be a notice posted in your House common rooms when you return.” She looked at her watch. “Now, classes will be starting shortly.” McGonagall stepped down from the front of the room and walked over to Hermione and me. “Girls. You are aware that your parents were quite the rule-breakers?”
I exchanged a look with Hermione. I wouldn’t say that, I thought to myself, they just wanted to help and if rules stood in the way … who can blame them now? Look at them now. But I knew that if I said this aloud I would regret it, so instead I replied, “Well, um … uh-huh.”
She looked toward Hermione.
“Yeah,” said Hermione.
“Therefore, and I am fairly sure that it runs in your blood, for we mustn’t go over the events of the last six years at Hogwarts. For that reason, I must ask you two to do nothing with these vampires except study them. Do I make myself clear?”
I sighed – fortunately McGonagall did not hear – and grudgingly said, “Yes.” For those were my exact thoughts from the moment she had said that.
Hermione agreed.
“Alright. Now, off to class.”
So that is precisely what we did. But in Herbology I could not entirely concentrate on the Devil’s Snare we were learning about, and in Potions I accidentally set my elixir on fire. Do not ask me how I managed to do so; I could not tell you. Hermione, however, as always, was perfectly normal in the rest of the day’s classes.
“You know,” she told me later that night, while we were in the library reading Transfiguration books, “The vampires are really not that big of a deal, Ginny.”
“You were the one that said they were ‘kind of frightening’!”
“Yes, but I’ve given it some thought, and really, it’s not a big deal. We’re just going to be studying vampires, and they’ll be completely safe.”
“I don’t see how, Hermione,” I argued, “I mean, it is vampires we’re talking about.”
She scoffed and looked up from her book at me. “Exactly.”
“That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.”
“Well, that’s the point!” said Hermione, exasperated.
“What?”
“The vampires! Think about it, Ginny! What if they want us to think they’re harmless? What if they’re not and they’re just acting like they’re safe so … well, now you got me all confused!”
I smirked and said, “Um hum.”
She handed me her notes for History of Magic as we finished our Transfiguration essay. Now we had to write a ten-inch essay on the history of goblins.
“This is rubbish,” I declared.
“What is?” asked Hermione, already starting on her essay.
“This homework. How’re we supposed to write a ten-inch essay on goblins?” I stared feebly at the empty piece of parchment.
Hermione, now scribbling furiously, did not look up, but replied, “Use my notes. It’s all in there.” Sighing, I started flipping through them, looking for anything having to do with the history of goblins. Once I established something, I began writing:
History of Magic
September tenth, 2017
Ginny Weasley
Sixth year

The history of goblins begins around the time 200 B.C. Originally, house-elves worked at Gringotts Wizarding bank, as opposed to goblins. However, wizards objected to this, saying that house-elves were meant to be servants to them, and the house-elf era of Gringotts ended as fast as it had started.
Every few moments I would measure it, hoping that it would be ten inches. Just as I was measuring the parchment for what seemed like the hundredth time, Hermione dropped her quill on the table and proclaimed that she was done.
“Already?” One more inch and I would be finished.
“Yeah … need help?”
I looked up at her and gave a small laugh. “Please.”
She assisted me through the last inch in a very short amount of time. “Thanks,” I said.
“Sure,” she responded as I rolled up the parchment. “I’m done with all my homework, you?”
I flipped through my notes. “Thankfully.”
We treaded back to the common room, which was full of students even at ten o’clock. This, however, was not irregular in the least: most of the older years stayed up until midnight or later. Our favorite seats, situated next to the fire, were occupied, thus Hermione and I sat down on the floor by the flames. The chairs above us were being sat in by some second years, who were talking about the vampires.
“Yeah, that’s what I heard … any idea when they’re coming?” said one of them, a small girl with short brown hair.
“Dunno,” said another, “probably soon, though.” The rest of the students nodded in agreement. I half expected Hermione to say something, like she did earlier, but then I remembered how confused she was about it.
At that moment, very suddenly, and small owl appeared at the window and tapped its beak against the glass. I stood up and quickly opened it. The owl, which I now recognized as mine, flew in and landed upon a table. He, which I had named Pig (after my father’s old owl, Pigwidgeon) held out his leg, which had a letter attached to it. I freed him of it and sat down again next to Hermione, in the now-empty chairs by the flames.
Ginny,
We just got word of the vampires. Minerva contacted all of the parents, it seems. She was taking a vote on whether to accept them to be there – most of the parents said no. We did too. It’s not safe, Ginny. Even though Minerva says so – you can’t be sure. Vampires are very deceiving. Some Ministry officials are on their way over now, as most of the parents were against it, and they decided to go ahead.
Harry and Ginny are here too. We’re very worried about you kids. The vampires are supposed to be arriving in about a week. The Ministry is trying to see if they can stop them. When Dumbledore was there, he banned vampires from ever coming into Hogwarts, but I suppose something has changed … Professor McGonagall has always been very good about things like that; I don’t know what’s gotten into her. But be careful, Ginny. It seems a bit suspicious to us. If Minerva does anything odd, tell someone, alright? I hate to say this, but she may be under the Imperius Curse. Write back to let us know what’s happening. We’ll see you soon. Tell Hermione ‘hello’ from us.
Love,
Mum, Dad, Uncle Harry, and Aunt Ginny
P.S. Be in the Gryffindor common room at two o’clock tomorrow night, by the fire.

“Well? What’s it say?” asked Hermione anxiously from beside me. I quickly read it to her. “Why do they want us to be here tomorrow night?”
I shrugged and a though came into my head. “They’re probably going to talk to us with Floo power,” I guessed, remembering the powder I had used so many times before.
“Maybe …” said Hermione, “Do you really think that Professor McGonagall is under the Imperius Curse?”
“I dunno … but it does seem odd, doesn’t it? She’s never gone against anything Dumbledore used to do before …” I pointed out.
“That is odd …” Hermione agreed, looking down at the letter.
I shook my head slowly and looked at the clock. It was now almost ten-thirty.
“Lemme write back …” I fished out a quill from my bag and a fresh piece of parchment. “Hey, Hermione!” I said as a though popped into my mind. “Remember the Defense Association that your Dad used to do?”
“Yeah …”
“What if we started it again! I know a lot about it, and so do you, and my brothers and sisters, and yours! And then we could defend ourselves against … well, anything!”
“I dunno, Ginny. We could get in so much trouble.” She shook her head.
“Hermione! Come on! Our parents did it, and they didn’t get in trouble! Okay, a bit, but now we know what to not do!”
“Well …”
I could tell she was about to give in.
“Yes!” I said.
“I didn’t say that! But, it just might work … and it probably would help …” she said, mostly to herself.
“Come on, Hermy.” That’s what Hagrid’s half-brother, Grawp (he was a giant) used to call my mum. Both of them hated it.
“DON’T call me Hermy,” she exclaimed.
“Then say you’ll do it! It’ll be fun, Hermione!”
She was silent for a moment. Then –
“Alright, fine.”
“Yes!” I exclaimed, jumping up.
“But we have to be really, really careful, alright?”
“’Course.”
“Who’ll we ask?” she questioned.
“Well, your siblings, mine … and then the kids of who were in your dad’s, I guess.”
Hermione merely nodded.
“So … tomorrow?” I went on.
“Tomorrow what?” she asked.
“Tomorrow we’ll start telling people?”
“Oh. Uh … sure,” she replied, looking a bit unsure.
“’Kay. Well, I better write them back now … they’ll be worried …” I picked up my quill again and scribbled a response quickly.
Everyone –
We’re fine, Mum. We’ll tell you what’s going on, okay? Don’t worry about us. See you tomorrow night.
Love,
Ginny and Hermione

I tied the letter to Pig’s leg and he flew out of the open window again. I watched him until he turned from view and sat back down. The clock, as I checked it for the third time, now told us that it was almost eleven o’clock. The common room was now slowly starting to empty of first and second years, the older years staying as they were. A slight breeze came in through the open window, making several people shiver.
“Close that, will you, Ginny?” said a seventh year named Amanda from behind me. I nodded and closed it.
Hermione and I sat up until midnight talking, as we did most nights. I then discovered that I had forgotten about a Charms essay that I had to write, which was due later that morning, and scrambled to write the ten-inch paper. When I had finished at last it was at least three o’clock (I was too tired to check the clock) and the Gryffindor common room was empty, for Hermione had retired to bed around two in the morning. When I finally went up to bed I fell asleep almost immediately, only to be woken up seconds – or so it seemed – later by Hermione, and my cousin, Lily.
“Come ON, Ginny!” cried Lily, her blonde hair a mess from sleeping on it.
I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up, slightly dizzy. “What time is it?”
Hermione checked her watch on her wrist and answered, “Almost eight. We need to get down to the Great Hall.”
I groaned, flopped back against my pillows, and sat back up. “Fine,” I grumbled, reminding myself of Hermione the previous evening.
I quickly got dressed, then left the dormitory and walked down to the Great Hall. Even at the top of the stairs leading to the Entrance Hall, you could hear the familiar dull buzz of students talking. The massive double doors were already open; Lily, Hermione, and I walked in and sat down at the Gryffindor House table.
“Oh, by the way, Lily – we wanted to tell you about an idea Hermione and I had,” I said, after looking around and making sure no one was listening.
Lily looked up from her eggs and said, “Okay, what?”
I looked around once more. “Well, we had this idea … you know Dumbledore’s Army – that was their nickname – that your parents were in while they were here?”
“Yeah ...”
“We were thinking of starting it again,” said Hermione quietly.
“Yep,” I agreed. “I mean, we know all about it. Defense, I mean.”
Lily seemed to be liking the idea. “Oh my wand, that’d be so cool!”
I laughed at how shocked Hermione looked.
“And with the vampires coming … my mum sent us a letter l –” I started, only to get interrupted by Lily.
“Yeah, I got one too.”
And with the vampires coming …” Hermione said.
“It would be the perfect thing,” I finished.
“It would … alright, I’m in,” said Lily after a moment.
I broke into a grin. “Great!”
“You’re sure?” Hermione asked. “We could get in so much trouble …” She looked a bit worried to me.
“Of course! This’ll be so much fun, I can’t wait …”
“Oh, and we prob’ly shouldn’t tell our parents about this …” I said, taking a bite of toast.
“Why? They were in it themselves,” Lily responded calmly.
“Yeah, but … well, just don’t okay, Lily?” said Hermione, very quietly.
“All right.”
I decided to change the subject. The Great Hall was filling up now; I did not want to be overheard. “Did your letter say to be in the common room at two?”
Lily nodded. “Yeah.”
Hermione opened her mouth to say something when McGonagall announced from the front of the Hall, “Good morning, students! We have had confirmation: the vampires will be arriving a week from today!”
I turned to Hermione and we both leaned across the table to talk to Lily.
“But Mum said Ministry officials were coming last night!” I exclaimed. I did not matter how loud I talked; the entire Hall had its loud buzz just as it had the night before.
“Something’s wrong.” It was not Lily, Hermione, or I who said this, but a second year that had just sat down beside Lily.
“How do you know?” I asked her.
“My mum works for the Ministry. She told me that they won’t let Hogwarts have vampires in it, and if McGonagall said that … something’s wrong.” The girl got to her feet and left the Hall.
“Alrighty then,” I said after a moment, turning back to Lily and Hermione. “That must be right, anyway.”
“What must be?”
“That something’s wrong!”
“Oh. Right,” said Hermione.
Lily stood up and explained, “I have to go to Potions. See you later!”
Hermione and I both said good-bye.
“We better go too, Hermione,” I told her after a few minutes.
“’Kay.”
As we excited the Great Hall it started to fill yet again with the laughter and conversation that was very well-known to my ears.
“I can’t believe we have History of Magic again,” I complained. “Twice in two days! How wrong is that?”
Hermione gave a small scoff. “Oh, very,” she said sarcastically.
“You’re too much like my mum.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Not necessarily, but sometimes,” I told her, grinning.
“Gee, thanks,” said Hermione.
“Welcome.”
We entered the History of Magic classroom, where we were a bit surprised to find that class had already begun. Fortunately, one of the good things about Professor Binns was that he did not really pay attention. While his ghost’s see-through back was turned from the door, Hermione and I snuck, stooped down halfway, to the back of the classroom to our seats.

That night Hermione, Lily, James and Albus (Hermione’s other siblings), the rest of my siblings (Rose and Hugo), and I stayed in the common room, as we were told, until two in the morning. By then almost the entire room had cleared out and retired to bed, except a small group of exhausted-looking first years who were struggling to finish their homework. James finally set off a bunch of dung bombs and they quickly cleared out.
Albus, who had untidy black hair and green eyes exactly like his father’s, moved forward and sat down on the floor beside me. We were all sitting in a semicircle, waiting for our parents to appear in the fire. A bit impatiently, I stared around at my family. Hermione, Albus, Lily, James, with his brown hair and blue eyes, Rose, whose appearance looked greatly like her mother’s, and Hugo, with his red/brown hair and blue eyes, looked back at me and smiled.
“What time is it?” Rose asked impatiently. I glanced at my watch and told her.
“One-fifty nine.”
“Knowing Mum,” said Rose, “she’ll be here right at two.” I giggled, knowing that she was right.
But, exactly three minutes later, something in the fire caught my eye …
“Aunt Ginny!” I said excitedly, leaning forward, closer to the fire.
Just her head, as I had known it would be, was lying in the fire, her grinning face staring up at us.
“Niece Ginny!” This was a bit of a joke between us, both me and her having the same name. And I had always looked strangely like her. “We’re so glad you all came!”
Hermione moved closer – everyone did too – and said, “Hi Mum!”
Aunt Ginny’s head grinned. “Everyone wants to talk to you … you know, why don’t you just come here? No one’ll notice,” she added when she saw Hermione’s worried face.
Her eldest daughter shook her head. “No, we better not. I think they started monitoring the Floo Network, anyway …”
“Hermione, then how am I talking to you this minute?” demanded her mother.
There was a pause in which I could clearly Hermione coming up with an excuse. “The people monitoring it must be slacking.”
I burst out laughing. I was not the only one: Hugo, Albus, Rose, James, Lily, and Aunt Ginny were too.
“Come on, Hermione, it’ll be fun!” Lily spoke for the first time. All of us helped her try to persuade Hermione.
“Hermione, we’re fine. You’ll be back before anyone knows you’ve gone,” said Aunt Ginny firmly. “There’s some Floo powder there, above the mantel … no one knows it’s there but us, we used it in our last year, even though we weren’t supposed to even know about it … okay, I’m going, but follow me to the house, okay, everyone?”
Rose made to leave the common room, but Hermione seized her arm and held her back, saying, “No, Rose! We can’t leave!”
I sighed. “Hermione, really, we’re fine! Just come on!”
She planted her feet and crossed her arms. “No,” she said shortly.
“Fine, then we’re leaving without you,” Lily told her. And with that, Rose, Albus, Hugo, James, Lily, and I stepped into the green flames, and cried, “Godric’s Hollow!”