Chapter 1: Once Again
The sky was a bright, clear blue as 3 cloaked figures stood in the middle of a crowed London suburb. One of the figures nodded and removed the hood to reveal sleek, combed brown hair and small, square glasses. His companions followed him inside one of the houses. Hours later, when the sun had already set, they left the house with a packet of papers in hand. The tallest removed a sign from the yard. If someone had looked out the window at them, they would have thought the sign had disappeared. If that same someone had looked out the same window, they would have thought the three people had disappeared. And indeed they had.
The brown haired boy rang the door bell of a different house miles away. "Who would be calling at this time! It's nearly midnight!" A man inside yelled, but still came to the door. "Oh, it's you. Well, you'd better come in. That old coot isn't with you, is he?" Harry Potter stepped through the door. After the door was closed, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger removed their hoods, both showing brilliantly blonde hair.
"You'll not get anything to eat, mind you. What did you do to your hair? You've finally combed it, have you? Gotten all the dirt out of it? You! Didn't you have red hair? What are you doing here? That old man said you'd come back, but when you didn't show up a few days ago, we'd figured you weren't coming. How long do you expect we'll let the three of you stay here?"
Harry ushered his friends into the living room while his uncle fussed about anything and everything. They all sat on the couch while Aunt Petunia stared at them. "Hello, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon. I've things to discus with you." Vernon sat next to Petunia, looking just as flabbergasted as ever. "As you know, Voldemort, stop it Ron, has returned. Dumbledore, the "old coot", is gone. He was killed by one of my teachers. Hogwarts, my school, is closed because of Voldemort." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hermione grab Ron's hand as it began to twitch. "I'm here because I have to come here because, like it or not, you're my family. We're looking for a way to stop Voldemort so everything can go back to normal, or at least as normal as it can get. But we've had to hide, so we changed our hair. We'll go to my room now. Good night."
For a few moments, Harry's Aunt and Uncle sat silently on the couch. Harry made it to the door before either of them said anything. To everyone's surprise, it was Aunt Petunia who spoke first. "You…you think you can just tell us this and…what's going to happen to us! Normal people have been suffering because of your…your people! You listen to me! This is our house, and you and your friends are guests in it! You!" she yelled, pointing violently at Hermione. "You will sleep in the guest room. Now…go! All of you!"
"She's not usually like that," Harry said when they got to the stairs.
"Goodnight, Harry. Goodnight, Ron," Hermione called as she disappeared into the guest room.
"Hermione. Hermione! Wake up!" Harry opened the window while Ron shook Hermione awake. The sun wasn't up yet, but they'd already packed what little stuff they'd brought. "Hermione, we have to get going!" Harry didn't say anything, but dropped their things out the window. He and Ron grabbed onto her hands and lifted her out the window, then climbed out themselves. It was dangerous to use magic here or anywhere nowadays.
When they were a few streets away, near Magnolia Crescent, Hermione stopped the boys. "Why are we leaving your Uncle's house? What's wrong? Did he attack someone? Is it Ginny? Won't someone stop me from asking questions!"
Ron just grabbed her hand and they ran farther. They were almost to Hampshire before they stopped again. "Will you please tell me where you're going? Why am I always the one out of the loop? Can we stop for just one minute? I'm tired of this! Stop!"
"Hermione, will you please keep your voice down. You don't know who could be hiding here! We're going somewhere…familiar. We're walking. Now, shut up!" Harry turned around and kept walking. The sun was beginning to rise, but they didn't stop. They simply put their cloaks up and kept walking, wands at the ready, just in case. Harry could hear Hermione getting restless again. He hadn't told Ron where they were going either. He couldn't risk anything, even telling his best friends what his plans were. But he was risking this. One last trip to the place he wished he could call home.
They walked for hours and they were still in Hampshire. It would take them days to get to their destination, Harry knew, and it would be dangerous, but he had to. He just had to see…. When the sun set, Hermione stopped again. "We have to keep moving," Harry told her. She set her face and kept walking behind him. They'd just made it to Wiltshire when she collapsed. Harry realized how long they'd been walking. Without food. And without water. But he couldn't stop.
"Ron, help me." They picked her up and carried her until the moon had nearly set and the sun was beginning to come up again. His feet hurt. "Okay. We'll stop and rest here. If we start again in a few hours, we'll make it there by tomorrow, hopefully." The three friends sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
"Who's there?" a terrified voice yelled from inside.
"It's us," Harry said.
"Us who!"
"Harry, Ron, and Hermione."
There was a murmur of conversation inside the house and a pair of eyes appeared at a hole, looked at the three of them in turn, and looked back at the other person inside the house. "Prove it! Harry, if you're really Harry, what did we have for dessert the night before the Quidditch World Cup?"
"Strawberry ice cream."
The door opened and Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the warm kitchen of the Burrow. "If Harry got the question right, there's no use questioning the two of you. Come and sit down! Have a bit of…well, I don't suppose it's breakfast time yet. Soup? Toast? I bet Molly can make more of that strawberry ice cream!" Mr. Weasley pulled them all into a giant hug before they sat at the table where Bill, who was still wrapped in bandages, was sitting.
A few minutes later, they heard a scream of delight and were once again hugged tightly. Mrs. Weasley was weeping with joy as she fixed all their sandwiches. "We thought we were never going to see you again, with all the attacks on other students and muggles! There was an attack in Surrey a few nights ago and we feared the worst!"
"We left a few nights ago," Harry said. "My aunt and uncle weren't very pleased to see us, but we left a few hours after we got there. We walked here."
After a very hearty breakfast, lunch, and dinner they were all shuffled up the stairs to go to bed. Hermione left at Ginny's room, and Harry and Ron were left to traverse the stairs all the way up to the floor below the attic. Fred and George had come home after Diagon Alley had been blown up, so Harry would be staying in Ron's room once again. He didn't object. It was reassuring to look at all the orange Chudley Canon posters. Professional Quidditch hadn't been played since their 6th year had started and Harry realized that Ron probably hadn't had time to remove the posters, or the energy.
The sun was barely up when Harry awoke from his trancelike sleep. He felt as though he hadn't slept in weeks, which was almost true. Danger was lurking around every corner. Few Death Eaters had been caught in the past few weeks and Voldemort hadn't been seen in over a year.
He sat up in bed and swung his feet onto the floor. As quietly as he could, he snuck down the stairs and opened a door. He could hear Hermione conversing in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley. The door squeaked as he opened it wider. Ginny's red hair was already shining in the sunlight creeping from under her curtains. She was still asleep.
Harry bent over to kiss her on the cheek. Before he could, he was backed up against the wall, Ginny's wand at his throat. "What do you have tattooed across your chest?"
"Ginny…"
"Answer the question!"
Harry sighed and smiled. "A Hungarian Horntail. What's Ron got? Answer the question." He said mockingly.
Ginny looked him over. "He has pygmy puff. Oh, Harry!" She threw her arms around him. Harry felt as though he could never leave her warm embrace. He'd broken up with her at Dumbledore's funeral, but that was so she would be safe. She understood what would happen if Voldemort found out Harry was in love with her. He'd kill her. Harry didn't know what he would do if she died. He couldn't even stand thinking about it. He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist. Things had been different since Dumbledore died. Harry didn't talk much anymore, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ginny asked, looking deep into his eyes. Try as he could to change his appearance, Harry had not yet discovered a way to change his eyes. They were as brilliantly green as ever. "Harry, you're not telling me something. What is it?" She pulled away from him and the warmth evaporated from Harry's body.
He sighed and went to the window, opening the curtains. "He was there. In Surrey, on the night we left. I ran. I ran away from my destiny. I have to kill him, Ginny. He was right there and I ran away!" It was true. Harry had seen him, searching the houses of Privet drive. He heard the frightened exclamations of his muggle neighbors. He saw the flashes of green light and knew that in the morning, muggle police would be swarming.
"Harry, you would have been killed if you'd faced him then! You would have put Hermione and my brother in danger! You did the right thing," Ginny said calmly as she put her hands on his shoulders. "Come back to me. Just be here. With me."
