Author's Note: A gracias and some credit to Charlie, because part of the G/H dialogue was expanded from our rpg dialogue...

Chapter One: Death Eater or Death


One Year Later…


Ginny Weasley stared though the rain-streaked window as the train pulled to a slow stop at King's Cross Station. The light outside was a dreary grey and the filth on the streets was saturated with a cold drizzle that hadn't stopped in weeks. It was the kind of weather that made you want to end it and if she didn't know better, Ginny would say that Harry had found a way to manipulate it, but he wasn't that powerful.

Not yet anyway…

The train was a muggle train, but Ginny wasn't the only wizard aboard. It had been barely two weeks after Harry killed Voldemort that he and his death eaters stormed the Ministry of Magic. They took it over within two hours, killing most of the wizards who worked there. Everything had seemed to crumble after that. While half of Harry's attention was spent in making new acquisitions, taking over ministries around Europe, the other half was spent hunting down any who dared oppose him and more besides. No witch or wizard was safe anymore, especially with the routine searches for those from the Order of the Phoenix who still survived. Obscurity was best in times like these and this is exactly why so many more wizards were using muggle instead of wizard transport.

If they only knew…

The fact was that once Harry had crushed the few wizarding governments that remained and gained complete control of the wizarding world, he'd turn his attention to the muggles. Chances were that he wouldn't even wait for that. They were such an easy target and Harry liked to have his fun. He also wouldn't settle for anything less than world domination. A lot of things had changed in a year.

Ginny wasn't so foolish as to think she wasn't being watched either. Harry had taken to sending a few death eaters along "for her own protection." That was why the train, this way she had a chance of losing them and after switching stations three times, she was fairly sure she had. If not, there was nothing too incriminating in what she appeared to be doing, not yet anyway.

Eventually, Ginny turned back to the woman across the aisle from her. As always, she couldn't bring herself to ask the one question that mattered to her the most. How's Ron? Two simple words, but each time she was determined to ask; they caught in her throat. She had only seen him once in the past year after that night that their family had died and it too had been under extremely bad circumstances; a raid.

Ginny hadn't even wanted to go along, but Harry had insisted. She guessed he had been trying to make a point with the death of her brother. Though maybe she was being overly suspicious and Harry didn't know that Ron was supposed to be there. Right. The answer was evident enough when he blamed and killed two death eaters for his escape. Either way, it was actually a good thing she'd did go along. The soonest chance she got, having no desire to kill any of the old Order, she had slipped away from Harry and his force of death eaters. It was purely by accident that she had found the fleeing wizards' secret escape route. She wasn't far down the passage when she had come across Ron. She didn't know who was more surprised, but she did know who reacted first. She could hear the voices of Harry and the Death Eaters calling after her, thrilled that she had found where they had run to. Ginny hadn't meant for them to see… Ron was hesitant to decent to attack his baby sister, but Ginny knew that she'd have to do something, so she cast petrificus totalus on him and rendered him immobile. He fell flat and Ginny just barely managed to cover him with some of the trash that had littered the alley when the others burst out. As they ran off in the direction she pointed, she couldn't shake the look of hatred that Ron had given her in his frozen state. It still haunted her now. He had thought she was turning him in or worse… She'd left him alone, petrified, and unprotected in cold alley in London, which was almost as bad. Furthermore, several of the Order was caught that night, some killed, and it was all her fault. Ginny had a few ideas before then, nothing planned. She knew she had to sabotage the death eaters when she could, but after that fiasco, she knew it would have to be more coordinated then that or more people would get hurt.

No, Ginny couldn't ask about Ron… at least she knew he was still alive. That would just have to be enough. The train doors opened and Ginny stood up, giving Luna Lovegood a slight nod.

"Remember to the ears of the wolf as soon as you can. I don't think there is much time. I don't know whether I'll make the next train, they changed the schedules."

Ginny admittedly felt somewhat stupid talking in code, but it was necessary and furthermore, sounding stupid was the least of her worries. Luna would pass the message on to Lupin. Ginny just didn't know when she'd be able to pass on new information. It was getting harder and harder to get away. She was lucky she was able to give them as much as she had, but that was entirely due to Luna's ingenuity. The Quibbler was now of vital importance to the resistance, mainly because so few paid attention to it and the crazed ramblings within its pages. It seemed harmless and that's why it hadn't been shut down like the other papers. What Harry and his death eaters didn't know though was that Luna had trained the photographs in each paper to pass on messages to key people. This was how Ginny first knew she could contact Luna… Luna had already been trying to contact those of the Order who were still alive. The people in the photographs were under the strictest of orders. Ginny didn't know how Luna had managed it, but it seemed to work. She supposed it was because few people bothered to be careful around an old newspaper and even fewer suspected the photographs to say anything other than the usual nonsense. The details were unimportant, what was important was that Luna was in touch with all the right people, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, among others.

Lupin was the only one who could possibly organize a resistance against Harry and his death eaters and that was exactly what he had done. As for Ginny, she met with Luna and passed on the information that Lupin and the others needed to know. Beyond that, she asked no specific questions about who was now a part of it or what their plans were. As it was, she could still guess who was involved and that was dangerous enough. She didn't want to know anything that might cause them harm or thwart their plans if Harry discovered that she was giving information to those who would bring him down. The one provision Ginny made in all this, aside from the fact that the information needed to go directly to Lupin, was that Luna was not to tell who her source was. As twisted as it was, if Ginny was found out and Harry decided to kill her, she'd rather they think that she'd died a death eater. It would cause her brother less pain that way… maybe. It was for practical purposes as well because knowing Ron, if he actually believed that Ginny hadn't betrayed them all, he'd want to drag her out of it, and that would never do. As hard as this was, she knew that she was of most use staying with Harry and passing what information on she could about his plans. Harry had to be stopped.

Luna nodded at Ginny's remark then gestured grandly out the window.

"Be careful, Gineesely Weaslvra, the red-winged queaslenewts are out in full force tonight."

That was not in code. That was just typical Luna and a smile came unbidden to Ginny's face. It was nice that no matter the times, Luna would always be Luna. Shaking her head slightly, Ginny walked down the aisle and off the train. Hopefully Lupin would put what she'd told Luna to good use.

Stepping onto the train platform, she breathed in the cold dirty air and sank down slightly into her black leather jacket as she began to feel the effects ofthe scummy drizzle. Glancing up at the cracked yellow clock of the station, she cursed silently. She was already an hour later than she said she'd be and still had a twenty minute walk back to the house. She couldn't apparate though. Harry had long since placed bans on that, not liking to be surprised, and the last person who had tried it had met with a very gruesome and fiery death. Despite the fact that depending on Harry's mood, her belated arrival might cause some problems, Ginny was in no hurry to get back. Still, even though each step was an effort of willpower, in no time at all she found herself turning onto Grimmauld place.

The area had once been a muggle neighborhood, but that had changed when Harry took over. Most of the houses were owned by death eaters now and Sirius Black's old house, number 12, left to Harry upon his death, was the hub. Ginny didn't like staying there. It had changed a lot since that summer that they had all holed up there, before her fourth year at Hogwarts, and Harry's fifth. She had little choice though. Passing through the wards and through the gate, Ginny walked down the overgrown garden path to the front door and pulled it open. As usual, there were death eaters hanging around, most of which Ginny hadn't bothered to learn the names of. Though there were a few she couldn't have forgotten even if she wanted to. It wasn't really rudeness, but rather practicality as a third of them would be dead within the week, usually because Harry offended easily and killed quickly. Of course, though his actions were clearly abominable as he murdered his own so easily, most of them were unctuous little cutthroats and she detested the lot.

Studiously ignoring them, Ginny strode through corridors,attemptingtodisregard theuneasy feeling between her shoulder blades that she always felt when she saw the rectangular patches of wallpaper. These were only places where the wallpaper hadn't faded into grey and spot was a testament to the paintings that used to hang along the walls. Harry had burned every last one of them, the screams echoing through the large house as if they had been real people and not flecks of paint. Harry hadn't liked the way they'd been talking to him.

Coming to a stop outside the door to the study, Ginny hesitated for a moment then knocked lightly on the door. Despite the fact that he probably already knew she was back, she'd seen far too many death eaters die from one of the unforgivable curses because the unfortunate wizard or witch has just burst in. Harry might not mean to do it to her, but she'd be dead just the same and then there would be no voice of reason for him whatsoever. Ginny harbored no false hopes that she could somehow make Harry the way he used to be, but she knew that she had influence over him. Whenever he went into one of his psychotic rages, she was the only one who could calm him down. If she died and that was unchecked… well Ginny pitied the people left behind.

Pushing the door open, she poked her head into the room, a small smile on her face as she looked at him. Once Harry had firm control of London, he'd decided that he needed a new image. He'd opted for muggle technology, losing the glasses and going for contacts. He looked more handsome without his glasses, but also more sinister. She supposed that was the point. On the whole she preferred the old look. At the moment though, he was wearing his glasses as he stared at a computer screen, another bit of muggle technology Harry had adopted. He was finding uses for everything. She felt a familiar pang as she looked at him. He almost seemed like the Harry she used to know.

"I'm back."

Harry's fingers didn't even pause on the keyboard as he responded.

"I can see that."

Taking a few steps into the room, Ginny was going to see exactly what he was doing when he finished typing and stood up, walking over to her. He rested his hands against her shoulders as he looked down at her.

"You're over an hour late, what took you so long?" As usual, Ginny had to wonder if he knew exactly what she was up to, but then she was sure if he did. The questions would go much differently. She just smiled at him and shook her head.

"Sorry, the train was held up." That wasn't a complete lie, there were always delays. Harry clearly wasn't happy about it though.

"If you insist on traveling by muggle methods, I could have someone drive you…" That was the last thing Ginny wanted and she shook her head emphatically in response.

"No, that's alright. I just lost track of what time it was. I really should take to wearing a watch. There's no reason to waste manpower by having someone drive me around." Of course, the reason Ginny didn't wear a watch was for the excuse. She knew there'd be times when she couldn't get back sooner. She shrugged casually, the very picture of innocence… well she hoped so anyway. "Next time I'll apparate closer, I just felt like a walk." She hated to hear herself offer up excuses, but it was important to keep him appeased.

Harry watched her face as she rambled on, then finally just shook his head slightly then pressed a kiss against her lips before pulling back again, resting a hand against the side of her face, before letting it drop to take a hold of one of her hands as he led her over to the desk.

He gave her a sheepish smile. "You know how I get when you're gone. I've missed you. You've finished all your errands?" Now this was tricky. Outwardly he seemed like a caring boyfriend, but she knew there was a subtle exertion of his power going on here. He seemed perfectly amiable now, but that could change faster than one of his death eaters could drop after he hit them with the killing curse. If she said yes, then it meant that she'd have a hard time getting out by herself again and if she said no, he'd get annoyed. It was frustrating, even more so because if Harry had acted like some supremely over-possessive boyfriend comment before, she would have told him exactly where he could shove it. Now if she did it, other people suffered. Ginny had once yelled at one of her friends at Hogwarts for staying with her abusive boyfriend, for humoring him all the time. She had acted like two different people when she was with him and when she was away. Now Ginny got it, well to some extent… though she still thought her friend had been acting like a moron… and of course, their situations were vastly different. The premise though was the same.

"Almost. I still need to get my wand checked. You know, since Oliviander is dead. It's hard to find someone as good." Probably not the best idea to bring it up as Harry had killed the man personally, but it was a statement of fact. If he didn't like it, he had only himself to blame. Harry nodded slowly at her before moving to sit down at the desk again, sliding his hand around her waist as he pulled her down with him.

"True enough. Next time though, I'll come with you. We haven't had much time alone together lately."

Ginny sighed inwardly. She definitely wouldn't be getting anything to Luna for a while. She wasn't so flattered as to think that this was all just because he missed her. She knew very well it was also because she knew too much. Ginny forced a smile onto her face and nodded.

"Great." Ginny moved her hand to ruffle his hair an outwardly loving gesture, but as she looked at him she was trying to find out what it was about him today. He seemed excited about something. "So what have you been up to, aside from playing with muggle toys?"

Harry grinned at her, leaning forward slightly.

"This is going to make things a whole lot easier. Take a look."

He gestured towards the monitor and Ginny turned to look, her whole body stiffening at the sight. There were several rows of names on the computer, followed by their locations, as well as their status.

"In here I can keep track of everyone. All the death eaters, the ones who've died… the threats that need to be eliminated… or those who might join the cause… I can even plug in who is going after who. That way I don't need to waste any effort sending the several people to handle a given situation. Unless it's needed of course. The locations work like that clock that used to be in your Mum's kitchen, of course, it still needs to be tweaked. Right now it's arranged so I need to know a person's starting whereabouts for the computer to track them… You can do cross-reference searches and everything… It's a great mix of muggle machinery and magic."

Ginny scanned the lists, barely listening as Harry continued to explain in excited tones. She couldn't believe how casual he sounded. She was completely intent on the names though, focusing on the ones she knew. Some were marked for "recruitment possibilities," death eater or death such as Dean Thomas and Oliver Wood… She was surprised that they were there. Ginny wondered if Harry remembered that Dean had been engaged to Pavarti. And Oliver Wood… well she simply knew he'd never become a death eater. Ginny moved on through the lists, to the names of those who were already marked down as dead such as Sibyll Trelawney… Gilderoy Lockhart. The computer used the term "deceased," but Ginny knew that what it really meant was terminated.

What possible benefit could he have in killing Trelawney and Lockhart, other then just for fun.

Neither of them posed a threat. Ginny knew Harry had the habit of whimsically ordering the deaths of countless wizards, but it was worse to see just how many he had gotten. However, it was the other list, those marked for death, that affected her the most. Another reminder of how Harry liked to toy with people, even her. At the top of the list was one Ronald Weasley, location, London. Lupin's name was there at well, only his whereabouts were still unknown. That was fortunate, but Ginny was worried enough about Ron. Ginny closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remain calm. She opened her eyes again when she realized that Harry had stopped speaking. His eyes were locked on her face, appearing a green so dark, they were almost black.

"What's wrong?"

Ginny tried to keep her voice steady as she responded.

"Nothing, it's all very organized."

Ginny got up and walked over to the window. What was really going through her mind was that Harry had clearly stated on his precious little program that Ron was to be killed outright. He wasn't even going to give him the chance to join up, not that he would or should, but it hurt her that he'd do this. That she'd find out like this. He even knew that Ron was in London. It was Ron's name that made the crack in her composed veneer. It was terribly dangerous, but she couldn't stop the tears that pricked against her eyes. Harry was still watching of course, so she looked away, staring at the bleary cityscape, anything, she just couldn't look at him right now. Not after this. It was one thing to suspect or even know something and yet another to see it written, or typed, down. It made it more permanent. She didn't risk a glance, but she kept on talking, a futile attempt to try and pretend there was nothing wrong.

"It will definitely help things run more smoothly."
Ironically, her voice cracked at that last word and since it was completely useless to even pretend she wasn't upset at this point, her temper won out as she whirled on him. In the past year, it wasn't her fear, but her temper that had been hardest to control. Ginny was a good actress, but sometimes, there was nothing else to be done.

"Ron. The only brother you haven't killed and he's marked for death! You aren't even going to give him a chance are you? To try and convince him? After being friends so long—"
Ginny stopped, covering her eyes with her hand as unwanted tears once again threatened to leak from her eyes. She couldn't even trust herself to continue. Seeing Harry's face though, it was probably best though that she didn't say anything further.

"Ginny, I am only going to say this once. No one speaks to me that way. No one. Don't even begin to pretend that you didn't know this was going to happen. You knew… Ron was my friend, but that's changed now and he has to die. People change… you should know… I remember when you were just Ron's little sister with the huge crush that I tried to ignore. Everything changes. His death is inevitable and the sooner you get over that, the better off we'll be."

His words were both harsh and demeaning. She couldn't believe he'd brought up the way she'd acted as a first year in Hogwarts and how Ron had to die all in one breath. Harry continued to give her a cold look for a moment until suddenly he moved forward, lifting his hand. It was as if deep inside of him, someone had flicked a switch and suddenly he was all consolation and sorrow.

"I'm sorry Ginny. I know he's your brother and you're bound to be upset. It's just that everything has already been set into motion. If I spare Ron now, people will think I'm weak. I can't have that Ginny. You know that."

As Harry moved his hand towards her cheek, she instinctively took a step back. Ginny just couldn't bear for him to touch her at this moment. His hand dropped away and she regretted it, but she couldn't take back the action. Seeing the hesitation and remorse written on his face, all the anger and upset she felt drained from her expression and all that was left was weariness. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she opened them again.

"Harry, you and I both know that you have enough power and the will to do anything you want. No matter what anyone says."

Shaking her head slightly, she slipped past him and headed for the door.

"I'm going for a walk."

She didn't turn around when she heard the angry sarcasm in Harry's voice

"Another one? Great! Fine, go!" He shouted after her and Ginny kept walking. After closing the door she could hear a loud crash coming frominside thestudy of something being thrown around. Ginny just hoped it wasn't the computer. She knew that wouldn't solve her problem and once Harry realized what he did, his rage would be even worse. A death eater ran by her towards the study, probably to investigate. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, the death eater's had released a terrible scream of pain and continued to do so, only breaking off into a gurgle by the time she had reached the front door. Opening it, she stepped outside in time to hear a loud shatter before death eater's already scorched and broken body fell to the pavement. She paused for a moment, looking up to see Harry staring down through the broken window, a satisfied expression on his face. She flinched slightly. She knew it was her fault that Harry had just killed that man. Tearing her gaze away from Harry she turned back to look at the death eaters who had come outside to see what was going on.

"You better clean it up or else he'll just get even angrier."

With that Ginny turned around and kept walking. As she had so many times before, Ginny began to tell herself that she was doing more good than harm by staying here... She wasn't very convincing.