Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches

Chapter 48: Soul Anchors - Part One

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text
Harry's trunk was still and silent.

Ginny Weasley sat in one of the armchairs, fiddling with the skirt of her robes, and occasionally glancing towards her current sole companion.

Opposite her, Daphne Greengrass sat in another armchair, silently staring into space. On the table between them, Daphne's pet, Freekey, nibbled on a brazil nut.

Every few seconds, Ginny felt the acute squeezing sensation that always accompanied apparition. She'd been feeling it for many hours now. "We must be getting close," she muttered, easily loudly enough for Daphne to hear.

Daphne nodded. "Soon," she said, her eyes not leaving the small spot on the wall she'd been staring at for the last ten minutes.

Ginny took a deep, shuddery breath and gripped the armchairs tightly. When they'd left Hogwarts, her heart had been beating heavily, a rhythmic pounding she could feel in her ears. It faded down as they crossed the English Channel, and the journey since then had been calm, but focused. Daphne had gone over the plan with her again and again, until it felt like they'd both be able to recite it in their sleep.

"That's enough," Daphne had said, somewhere over the south of France. "Let's get some rest before we arrive."

But whatever rest the future Lady Slytherin had thought they'd get, hadn't accounted for the sheer restlessness that would accompany doing nothing. Ginny felt the tension rising back up in her. She could feel her heart pumping blood. She could focus her brain on no one thing for more than a second or two before it jumped off again to some other small detail.

Her wand in its holster.

Her silk robes against her skin.

The dagger concealed under her skirts.

Would she be able to kill, if needed?

Would she hesitate?

Would she regret?

Would she let everyone down?

No.

Ginny's heart pounded faster. She recognised this feeling. It was the feeling she always got whenever she was about to do something new and dangerous. She'd felt this way when first sneaking out of the Burrow to practice flying. When she'd first followed Harry away from home. When she'd stolen her broomstick back from Mum and Dad. And when she'd gone after the teenage version of Lord Voldemort. This feeling. This... rush.

Ginny took another deep breath and gripped the armrests tightly again. She shut her eyes.

Suddenly, something felt different. Something was missing. The apparition squeeze, which pressed in on them every so often — it wasn't there any more.

She opened her eyes.

"We're here," Daphne murmured.

Ginny nodded.

They waited.

Eventually, a feeling of intense confusion swept over Ginny. She remained confused until Harry climbed in and told her the secret to the new fidelius charm he'd set up around the trunk. They all climbed out of the trunk and Ginny got her first ever view of the city of Rome — the former capital of the Roman Empire, and current seat of the International Confederation of Wizards.

It was a massive stone wall. She knew this was the first layer of defences of the Castel Sant'angelo, an almost most most ancient fortress, predating Hogwarts by almost a thousand years. There would be more defences inside.