Never Again!

I stood there, frozen from shock, unable to form a single coherent thought.

There was my mother standing in front of me, smiling.

"Ah, Albus! It's always a pleasure to see you! And who might this young lady be?" she said, turning towards me.

At that moment, someone could have slapped me across the face and I wouldn't have felt a thing. My own mother, who I thought was dead was standing before me. The most appalling thing about it was she didn't even recognize me.

Dumbledore spoke. "Come now Molly, take a close look at her." My mother frowned, but did as he asked. She gazed at me for a moment, then put both of her hands on my cheeks and looked deep into my eyes.

"Those eyes...there's something familiar about them..." she murmured. She pulled away from and turned toward Dumbledore. "Albus, I don't know what kind of a joke you're trying to pull, but why on earth did you bring a look-alike Ginny here?"

My heart stopped, a look-alike Ginny? I looked at my mother, dumfounded. She was looking Dumbledore and me with a confused look on her face. There was no pain in her eyes from losing her only daughter; no blinking back tears...nothing. I swayed on the spot, my head spinning. I clutched onto Dumbledore's arm, whispering, "She doesn't know me?" Dumbledore looked at me sympathetically and then turned back to my mother. She was still looking at Dumbledore quizzically, her eyebrows raised in question.

"Molly, this is Ginny. She is still alive. She did not perish that night three months ago." My mother blinked.

"Nonsense, Albus. Ginny Watson was killed by Voldemort. She lived in the orphanage that was close to our home; she and Ron used to play together before he went to Hogwarts. I remember...she died the night Voldemort attacked the Ottery St. Catchpole Orphanage three months ago," she said, shaking her head sadly.

I tried to speak up, but couldn't find the words. A million questions were running through my head. Who in the world was Ginny Watson? Why didn't my own mother know who I was? What in the hell was going on?

"Well, thank you Molly for your time. We will be going now," Dumbledore said.

"Oh, well, thank you for coming by!" She pulled Dumbledore aside and whispered, "You're a wise man, Albus, but a little strange at times." She then gave me a little wave goodbye and shut the door.

As Dumbledore and I walked back down the passageway to his office, tears ran down my face.

"She doesn't remember me!" I thought, horrified by this very notion.

When we returned to the office, I couldn't hold my tongue in check any longer and started firing questions at Dumbledore.

"What just happened? Why doesn't she know who I am? Is she in denial? Is it a memory block? What is going on?" I asked through sobs.

Dumbledore put his hand on my shoulder. "Listen very carefully Ginny, because I will say this only once." I nodded to let him know I was listening, tears still running down my cheeks.

He continued, "That night, three months ago, we were expecting those Death Eaters to attack."

I gasped and my eyes grew wide. "WHAT?" I nearly screamed.

"A spy within Voldemort's inner circle told us that Voldemort planned to attack your family that night. We wanted to trap him and so I gave your parents Aztec protection amulets that were to protect everyone present at the Burrow that night. They are very rare and very powerful. When the person wearing the amulet in immediate danger, it transports them to a safe haven, which that night was Number 12, Grimmauld Place"

"But why wasn't I transported to Grimmauld Place? I don't even remember anyone giving me an Aztec Amulet," I cried.

"That is, indeed, very peculiar," Dumbledore said.

"Peculiar indeed!" I said starting to become annoyed.

"I can only tell you what I know, Miss Weasley. That night, we had a team of aurors standing by ready to fight when the Death Eaters attacked, but the aurors could not come near the Burrow. Voldemort had unexpectedly put additional wards around it when he arrived, thereby making it impossible for the aurors to capture him. As I recall, we gave your mother and father an amulet for you. The amulet only transports the wearer when a spell that can cause death is directed at them. When a person is being tortured, they are in no real danger of dying, so the amulet will not transport them. Do you understand what I'm saying, Ginny?"

I nodded, feeling miserable and still very much confused.

"The Avada Kedavra curse was directed towards all of you simultaneously and so everyone was transported to Grimmauld Place...except for-"

"Me," I finished for him.

"Yes. I was waiting at Grimmauld Place when your family was transported there. Your mother began immediately attending to the wounded. I asked her where you were, but she said, 'Who's Ginny? I don't know who you are talking about.' To this day, and I still don't know why, everyone in your family doesn't know you as Ginevra Jamie Weasley, the only daughter of Molly and Arthur Weasley, but as Virginia Morgaine Watson...an orphan from the village."

My tears had dried up. I sat glaring at Dumbledore, wondering how this could have happened to me.

"But why would they think that I'm an orphan from the village?" I asked.

"I do not know, but none of them have any recollection of Ginny Weasley."

None of them, no one in my family knew who I was. I suddenly needed to be alone, away from here, and away from Dumbledore. I stood up to leave, my hands shaking.

"Professor...I need to leave. I n-need to go home."

Dumbledore nodded, sadness etched in every line of his face. "Of course. This has been a difficult day for you. Go home and rest, I will be in contact with you shortly. Ginny, I am sorry that things turned out this way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I flooed back to my apartment and found Grace and Lizz sitting on the couch. Lizz was playing with Mister Wiggles and Grace was holding Miss Lady. They watched me apprehensively as I walked across the room.

"What's wrong?" they asked me simultaneously.

I shook my head, indicating that I didn't want to talk right now.

"I need to rest," I said and slowly I walked to my room. I locked the door behind me. Thankfully, I knew Grace would stay and watch Lizz for me. Once I was in my room, the tears began to fall again. What had happened when my family was transported from the Burrow? Why didn't they remember me?

"Everything is wrong, but somehow, some way, I am going to make it right again," I thought.

The following week, Lizz and I packed up everything that we would need at Hogwarts. I kept to myself mostly; Grace and Lizz both asked me what had happened during my meeting with Dumbledore, but I wouldn't tell them. I knew I had to handle this on my own. On top of the situation with my family, I was worried about what would happen to Lizz once she got to school. She was still a bit paranoid sometimes and I was very protective of her. I wondered sadly if this was how my brothers had felt about me... Since my meeting with Dumbledore, I have been trying to keep myself busy, trying not to give myself the opportunity to think about my family. I did begin to wonder though about Dumbledore's comment that Snape was looking for a second apprentice. If I was to be the second...who was the first?