Harry Potter and the Games of Hunger

Chapter 1: She Has To Go

Ginny stared blankly at the list of required textbooks, printed neatly on the parchment clutched tightly in her hand. She was shaking, her red hair falling over her wide, bewildered green eyes in snatches, blinding her almost as much as her anger and confusion was. Her heart burned at the familiar Hogwarts crest, at the loopy scrawled signature of Delores Umbridge at the bottom of the seemingly normal Hogwarts letter. It didn't belong there. This paper didn't belong in her house as much as the signiture of that cow of a woman belonged near anything related to Hogwarts.

Angry tears stung Ginny's eyes, but she fiercely dragged the sleeve on her emerald green sweater across before they could fall. She calmed herself with an unsteady breathe. "Dad."

He peered up wearily from a mug of tea, a withered Daily Prophet in his hand. "I know," he sighed, setting the paper down. He closed his eyes, putting a hand over them. "It's in the paper."

"So it's true, then?" Ginny said disbelievingly, looking at the paper in her hand. 'Hogwarts welcomes you for your final year...' she skimmed again at the top. "This rubbish is true?"

Arthur held his hand out toward her. Ginny angrily put the paper in his outreached hand. "How is this possible?"

"Tones, Ginny, dear." Molly bustled into the dining room, a large pot of stew following behind her. "Leeks and bubbers tonight." she said as cheerily as she could, unable to hide the mask of uncertainty everyone seemed to carry these days. She brandished her wand with a flourish, sending the stew to the center of the table and beat up wooden bowls with tarnished silver spoons in front of duo, and setting a place for herself.

She waddled over to her seat, sitting down with a soft plop, and spooned herself contents of the couldron. "Now, what in the Prophet has very one disgruntled today?"

Arthur spoke as Molly spooned a clear broth into her mouth, only a single chunk of a green root-like substance - the tubber - to go with it. "Ginny's to go to Hogwarts for her final year, Molly."

The spoon fell from Molly's grip and cluttered as it fell onto the table, her mouth slightly open. Under normal circumstances, Ginny would have laughed. But the words her dad spoke were too true.

Molly quickly reposed herself, picking the spoon back up and taking another chunk into her mouth, taking time to chew and swallow before answering. Then, she put a bright smile on her face. "She most certainly is not, Arthur."

"It's been decreed by the Ministry." Arthur muttered, tossing the Prophet onto the table. He angrily served himself a helping of the stew, sloshing some onto the wooden table. "Along with a ban on buying more than a half pound of any magical substance."

Molly's eyes flickered. "Even Floopowder?"

"Even Floopowder," he agreed, replacing the hand over his eye for a moment. "Bloody hell."

"Arthur!" Molly shrieked. "I thought we agreed on an more positive environment to encourage Ron and George to...to..."

A cry arose from a bedroom down the hall opposing the dining table. Molly rose to her feet, slapping her hands onto the table. "Just lovely, we've woken Teddy!" she stepped away from the table, made her way towards the hall. "Now I want you to really think about what you just said, Arthur. Ginny shouldn't be going to Hogwarts because it was decreed by he ministry!"

With that, she stormed down the hall, turning into the last door on the left, where Teddy's nursery was. Ginny caught a ball of emotion in her throat. Harry would be here...he was Teddy's Godfather, not her family. Harry should be alive and healthy, living in Remus and Tonk's old house and taking care of him. If only Harry were alive. Then, that hole in her heart wouldn't scare her so much. She wouldn't have to worry about anything. She wouldn't have to be afraid to go back to Hogwarts.