A/N: Is an updated version of this chapter, which has now been beta read. Thanks to 28signs for beta reading this chapter.

Prologue

-June 1997-

Behind her desk in the Headmistresses Office of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Minerva McGonagall sat pondering the conversation she had with two of her students. It was rare for students to talk directly to the Headmaster or Mistress of the school, but in the case of these two students, it had become something of a common occurrence. Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley had been a regular pair of visitors to this Office when her predecessor, Albus Dumbledore, had occupied it. She had initially thought that he was going to be to the topic of their conversation and in a way, she had been correct, just not in the way she expected.

-

"Professor, what we are about to tell you cannot be revealed to anyone and we do mean anyone. You won't like it but we are under orders from Dumbledore. We need your word that you won't reveal to anyone what we are about to say." Harry said as he entered the office, Ginny following just behind him.

While she would not normally allow a student to speak to a teacher in that way she decided to ignore it for the moment. Minerva knew that Harry had been taking private lessons with Albus over the past year and had been the last person to speak to him before he died, so whatever he had to say, could be important.

"You have my word but remember I would normally punish you for speaking to a teacher like that but I will ignore it for now. Now, what is it what you need to keep quiet about?"

"Harry and I will not be returning to Hogwarts next year." Ginny said in a voice that left little doubt she was serious.

"Why not?" It was the only possible response to such a blunt statement.

"Dumbledore left us a task," Harry began vaguely, "we cannot go into details but it's the key to defeating Voldemort. I'd rather not take anyone with me but Dumbledore told me not to push Ginny away and I have to admit I will need help so she can come."

The Headmistress was curious now "Why Miss Weasley?"

"That will remain between me and Ginny for the moment." Said Harry firmly.

"Need I remind you Miss Weasley that you must return next year, you will still be under-age so you cannot withdraw yourself from school. Not to mention that the trace will still be on you so you would be unable to use magic for a year so would be of little help to Harry." Minerva knew she could not stop Harry but she may be able to stop Ginny, and she was certain Harry would not go without her after what he had just said.

"Don't worry Professor; we have ways of neutralizing both those little problems. I assure you my parents won't have any say in the matter." Ginny responded.

Minerva raised her eyebrows at that. She could imagine it was possible to remove the trace; it was simply a spell after all so with the right counter-spell it could be rendered inactive. However, she could not imagine any way to prevent Ginny's parents having any say in the matter, unless, but they wouldn't, would they? Minerva decided it would probably be better not to know, after all the less she knew about that particular aspect the better. And the less Molly Weasley could blame her for. She now knew she would not be able to talk them out of it, they were two of the most stubborn individuals she had ever met, and that was saying something as she had been teaching in a school run by Albus Dumbledore for longer than she cared to remember.

"I don't suppose anything I could say would change your minds so I won't ask for details, I think it best if I don't know."

"Thank you, we wouldn't tell you anyway but you'll find out soon." Ginny said.

"We also need to ask you a favor, the sword of Gryffindor; we need it to complete our task. I understand it was left to me in Dumbledore's Will but I don't think the ministry will hand it over and it's very important we have it. If you need proof, I can show you but I am afraid I cannot explain it, the fewer people who know the better. I would also need an unbreakable vow that you won't reveal what you would see." Harry spoke, his voice making it clear that there was no room for negotiation.

Minerva was stunned by what she had just heard, how did Harry know what was in Dumbledore's Will unless Dumbledore himself told him, and why would he reveal that unless he knew he was going to die? Albus had never told her where he was going the night he died, just that he was leaving the castle with Harry on Order business. She knew they had been gone for quite some time; it had after all been long enough to Death Eaters to infiltrate the castle. Luckily, Harry had alerted Miss Weasley that they were leaving and she, obviously with agreement from Harry, called the D.A together to defend the castle. It still had not been enough to stop Severus from murdering Albus when he returned, but she did not want to think how much worse it would have been if they hadn't been there. Though this did raise the question over whether Dumbledore had arranged his own death, or at least been aware of what was about to happen.

She decided that it was best for her to know as little as possible about the pair's mission. After all they were obviously under instructions from Albus, although she found it hard to believe he hadn't told her, and it was obvious whatever it was needed to be kept as secret as possible. She was a likely target for people to extract information from but they could not extract what she did not know. Therefore, she had agreed to release to sword without any further explanation. She knew she would probably regret it later, probably as soon as Molly Weasley realized she had let the pair of them do this, but she didn't have any other choice.

-

The Headmistress set the papers she was holding down on the desk. She had expected Harry to visit, Dumbledore's death had hit him hard but at the same time, he seemed to accept it. It was almost as though he had known it was going to happen. The boy had always been somewhat of an enigma to her, particularly in his friendship with Miss Weasley. The two had become friends after the Chamber of Secrets incident, Harry had helped her get over the experience and to live with what happened to her. Minerva had watched as the two became closer, particularly when Ginny remained by Harry after Ron had abandoned him after the Goblet of Fire had spat out Harry's name. Ginny had replaced Ron as Harry's best friend even after he had seemingly forgiven Ron; Minerva suspected he never fully had. After the Yule Ball she had been expecting the two to start dating, they had seemed so perfect together, she could almost feel something between them, and it seemed almost magical. But then it never happened, instead they seemed to become more like siblings, unusual in that they never seemed to argue, but still siblings.

Her suspicions had been raised when the two had never dated, or even seemed interested in dating, anyone else. She had initially suspected the two of them may be dating in secret, but she dismissed it knowing that secrets were almost impossible to keep for long in Hogwarts. Rumors had a tendency to travel so fast it seemed like where were traveling by Firebolt. She had eventually passed it off as either they decided their school work was more important than their social lives, or that they simply hadn't found the 'right' person.

-August 11th 1997-

Molly Weasley was cooking breakfast in the kitchen of her family home when she heard a tapping on the window and looked up to see an owl perched on the windows sill. Going over to the window she was slightly confused as she recognized the owl that was sitting outside the windows with a letter clutched in its beak as Hedwig, but Harry was staying in their house so why would he be writing to them? When she opened the window her confusion deepened when, instead of hopping inside Hedwig simply dropped the letter in front of her and flew away leaving Molly staring at the front of the envelope.

Molly recognized the handwriting as that not of Harry but her daughter. Now, receiving letter from Ginny with Harry's owl was not unusual. Hedwig had delivered most of the letters her daughter had written from school after her second year. What was confusing was that her daughter was supposed to be sleeping upstairs, having a lie-in on her birthday. Why would her daughter need to send her a letter from upstairs? Deciding there was nothing else for it; she opened the letter and began to read.

Dear Mum & Dad

I know you don't approve….

A small explosion, which was Molly Weasley's shriek, could be heard across the village of Ottery St. Catchpole. It was so loud it caused birds sitting in the trees near the Burrow to take off in fright.

"THEY'VE DONE WHAT!"