Dedicated to yukikiralacus and KariMaud who were out there when I thought no one was listening ... thank you my friends.


Ginny wasn't sure how long it had taken her to persuade them all to remove their masks, but one was still holding out, a girl she thought, though she'd only heard a brief, hushed whisper, so Ginny couldn't be absolutely sure. It seemed pointless now as it was obvious they were all very young witches and wizards and three House Elves of indeterminate age. Ginny wondered if the witches and wizards had been too young to go to Hogwarts when the War had started and were Muggle Borns and Half-Bloods who were being hunted down and punished for their blood status. Most of them looked old enough to be at Hogwarts, but some were younger.

Some smaller children came from out of other rooms and joined them. They were roughly half and half, girls and boys, about a dozen or so of them altogether. They'd all crowded round Ginny, sitting on the floor as close to her as they were able. And then they told their strange and disjointed tale, each of them chiming in to finish a sentence started by another and it took awhile before it starting making much sense.

"Lucrezia has premonitions."

"She knew that you would be able to help us, but we couldn't trust ... "

"We don't know who the traitor is, so we called you somewhere we knew we could get you here ..."

'The redheaded woman, loved by the Chosen One, will rise up and vanquish the traitor allowing the Hoard to return to where they belong.'

"We kinda reckon that that's us being able to go Hogwarts finally, when you sort out the traitor."

"That's us, we're the Hoard!"

"They called us a Hoard of Mudbloods and Blood Traitors and it stuck."

"Some of us should be there already, we're not all that young. But we can't until you do something about the traitor and ..."

"We're just not sure if it's a traitor at Hogwarts that's stopping us going there or someone in the Ministry, or anyone really who'd hurt us or stop us doing what we want."

ENDING VERSION ONE: Originally planned as a two alternative versions story, but lost impetus with lack of reviews.


Ginny stood on the balcony looking out over the forest, wondering what Harry was doing and just how worried he was about her. And then Lucretia, the one who'd left on her mask longest, and kept herself separate, slid up to Ginny and leant in conspiratorially.

"It's me. I'm the traitor," she said with a sigh. "I lied to them about the prophesy. There's nothing stopping them all going to Hogwarts. But I can't go. I can't go, as they'd never speak to me again."

"Why?" asked Ginny, matching Lucretia's hushed tone.

"Because I'll be in Slytherin," she confided. "And none of them lot will be. They'll all be in Gryfffindor or Ravenclaw or maybe even Hufflepuff and none of them will want to know me. None of them will want anyone else to ever know they knew me."

"My boyfriend says that the bravest man he ever knew was in Slytherin," said Ginny. "And when this hero grew up and became a teacher he was Head of the House of Slytherin. This man died avenging the death of a friend who was a Griffindor and in doing so protected all of us and helped to rid the world of Lord Voldemort. Not just people he knew and liked. Some he knew and didn't like and others he had never met. And he died a very nasty death and knew that it was likely that would be the case when he signed up to do so. And I'd gladly tell all your friends that and they'll be proud to know someone from the same house as this man and so will I, and so will Harry Potter."

Lucretia's eyes grew round and, for the first time, she looked right at Ginny. Ginny though how pretty she was when she wasn't looking at the floor and scowling, even with the jet black dyed hair and all the facial piercings.

Ginny called the others back into the room. "My future husband, Harry Potter, has told me this story," she said grandly, setting the scene. "I'm telling you all now as it's going to shape the kind of people you're going to be and what happens in Hogwarts from now on and the whole of wizarding society." And then she told the sad tale of a boy wizard who fell in love with a witch and had his heart broken. That he felt so responsible for her death that he finally died himself trying to make up for what he had done. And she ended the tale by saying, "And the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, says this man, Professor Severus Snape, was the bravest man he has ever known."

There was a hushed silence in the room when she finished and Ginny looked around to see what reaction her words had had. Several of the children were crying and hugging each other and two of the very smallest children were holding onto Lucretia, one with his head on her lap and the other looking up into Lucretia's face saying earnestly, "I hope that I'm in Slytherin." Lucretia had a slightly bemused look on her face, but she was smiling.

And then Ginny saw Harry smiling at her from just inside the room. His sudden appearance had a profound effect on the gathering. Some of the little kids were looking up at him shyly, while the Six were looking rather uncomfortable and glancing over at Ginny to see, presumably, what she was going to say about them. Hermione and Ron were hanging back in the doorway, but Ron was looking rather relieved and he'd slipped his hand into Hermione's at some point, so he wasn't about to hex anyone in defense of his sister.

Ginny didn't need to persuade the three of them that she didn't need rescuing, but she did go through the reasons for her abduction. Lucretia bravely faced up to her responsibilities and explained her part in it all, all over again. Hermione had some reassuring words about how things had changed in Hogwarts and how that now, the Houses weren't as separated as they had been previously. Harry reiterated what Ginny had said about Severus Snape, adding that Severus had been Harry's mother's best friend before she came to Hogwarts and for some time after and it had been her that he had loved and avenged when he infiltrated the Death Eaters.

Ron, by then, was enthusiastically telling several of the smaller kids about how the Sorting Hat worked out who went into which House. Ginny though she heard a couple of George and Fred's wilder theories creeping in and gave him a withering look, which he ignored, until Hermione raised an eyebrow, whereupon Ron started back-peddling at speed, saying it was all hocus pocus.


For the second time, Ginny slipped out onto the balcony, this time motioning for Harry to follow her. The kids were rather in awe of Harry and hung back, looking to see if the couple wanted anyone with them. When it was obvious they wanted to be alone, all attention fell to Ron, who was already surrounded with a band of loyal followers and to Hermione, who was checking that everyone was well and had started gleaning a list of particulars for those prepared to start sharing their personal details and anything they were prepared to say about their immediate family. She was doing much better than she'd predicted and found that many of the kids wanted to tell their stories very much to an interested adult. She felt that some, at least, stood a good chance of finding living family who would be prepared to take them in.

"So," said Ginny experimentally.

"So," Harry mirrored.

"Harry I'm so sorry. You must be so disappointed in me."

Harry looked confused and didn't know what to say, but he didn't have long to wait for Ginny to fill in the gaps.

"I let my guard slip. Worse than that, I didn't care about watching our backs. All I wanted was to find out what was happening with you. Ron kept shouting to keep our positions and cover us against attack. I ignored him - I know it was wrong, but I thought there were more important things ..."

Harry felt bad about giving Ron such a bad time. No wonder Ron had been so secretive, there would be no way he'd rat out his sister like that with Harry. Ginny was looking really worried when he looked up and he realised that he'd been scowling. He smiled and Ginny smiled back.

Then Harry took a chance, "Your future husband, eh? That's a bit presumptuous!"

Ginny wrinkled her nose. "Some things are worth sticking your nose out for," she said thoughtfully. "Anyway, if I wait for you to ask, one of us will be past our prime."

"Was that a proposal?" he asked, more interested in the answer than his tone might indicate.

Ginny was looking amused. "What would you say if it were?"

"I'd say that's definitely a bit presumptuous and you might have waited until I got on one knee," said Harry gently taking hold of her hand and looking progressively nervous. As much as Ginny had not been expecting this, what he said next was even less predictable. "Kreacher?" And with a loud pop Kreacher appeared and Harry whispered something into the House Elf's ear who, beaming, disapparated away again. Before Ginny had a chance to interrogate Harry, Kreacher reappeared as suddenly as he'd gone, adeptly passing Harry something that Ginny was unable to see.

Harry patted Kreacher on the shoulder before he could disappear again and asked him to wait in the other room with Ron, Hermione and the children and that they'd be in in a moment.

The second they were alone again, Harry dropped onto one knee and held out a small box to Ginny. If the world hadn't stopped revolving and time wasn't standing still, Ginny was sure she wouldn't have heard what he said next, but as time had stood still she could just process what was happening.

"Ginny, I love you more than words can say, more than anything in the world I'd like you to be my wife ..."

"Oh Harry, you got a ring ..." Ginny sounded choked and Harry wondered if he'd got it all horribly wrong.

"If it's not ok, we can exchange it, I should have listened to Hermione and let you chose. But when I saw this one and the colour of the stones was ...

"- exactly the same as your eyes -"

"- exactly the same as my eyes -" they finished together.

"Harry it's perfect, it's just that I'd not known ... I'd not thought ... Well, I thought it was pretty much understood between us that some day ... I just didn't think quite yet ..."

"We can wait. As long as you want. Really long engagement ... and even after that I'd not expect you to start having my children for a couple of months at least ... as long as you don't expect to leave getting going for too long. After all, fifteen kids can take it out of you and you need a few breaks between pregnancies ..." Harry's expression was so earnest that Ginny wasn't quite sure how serious he was being, after all they'd never mentioned starting a family before and she had no idea how many kids he might think was a good idea. And then she spotted the twinkle and punched him playfully in the shoulder.

"You've not answered," he said gravely.

"Oh Harry, well, yes, obviously, yes!" They were still kissing when the couple became of the sudden wave of sound from the other room. The Hoard was cheering and Harry could hear Ron whoop with delight, so he pushed the door open to find every eye in the room on the pair of them. And Ron, Hermione and Kreacher in front offering their congratulations and hugging both of them in turn.

"You've not been around here long enough to realise", said Hermione when she embraced Harry, "but the walls here are paper thin."