Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 2 – Of Goblets and Phoenixes

Much to Harry and Ginny's annoyance, her older brothers Bill and Charlie, who were visiting as the entire family, as well as Harry and Hermione, were going to the Quidditch World Cup, agreed with Ron's assessment that their little sister was getting too close to a boy. Luckily for Harry, Mrs. Weasley could see nothing wrong with their relationship and so stopped any overprotective brother talks they might have had with him. The chaos that the World Cup descended into with the resurgence of a group of Death Eaters and the Dark mark being cast into the sky once more didn't sit with well with anyone, though especially with Harry and Ginny. Harry's name being spat out from the Goblet of Fire didn't either, and both were convinced that Voldemort, whom they knew not to be dead, was planning something.

The Yule Ball at Christmas was an event all of itself. Harry asked Ginny to be his date, much to Ron's annoyance, and the two couldn't seem to look at each other the same way afterwards. They had gone as friends, Harry blushingly stammering out that she was one of his best friends and they should go together, but after a night of dancing and doing things that all the actual couples were doing, save the kissing, the two couldn't quite get the thought of being together out of their heads. Thankfully Ron forgot all about them after his blazing row with Hermione – the friend who was a girl that Harry had not asked because he and Ginny knew that Ron and Hermione liked each other, even if they didn't realize it themselves yet – over her date, the Durmstrang champion Viktor Krum. The Second Task didn't make things easier between the two friends when Ginny was taken as the thing Harry would miss most, though they managed to not allow any teasing from their classmates, or even their own feelings get in the way of their friendship.

During the Third Task, Ginny felt it when Voldemort returned. She wasn't exactly sure how, it was merely a feeling, like the piece of Tom inside her grew happy and stronger, but regardless of how, she knew. She rushed to Harry's side when he returned and sat with him in the hospital wing as he recovered. When Fudge denied Harry's claims that Voldemort was back she felt the anger backed by Tom's power well up inside her and it was only Harry's hand in hers that stopped her from attacking the Minister for Magic. Two days later Madam Pomfrey let Harry leave and Ginny came to walk him back to Gryffindor tower. As they walked they discussed the war to come, for neither doubted that it would be war. However, that wasn't the only thing on Ginny's mind.

"Do you think he knows I have a piece of his soul?" She asked. "Can he sense it, or something?"

"I don't know, Gin." Harry replied after a moment. "I wish I knew."

"If he does know…what if he comes after me?" Her real worry shone through. Harry stopped walking and pulled Ginny to a stop alongside him.

"I won't let him touch you, Ginny." He promised, a fierce look in his eyes. The moment she had voiced the thought of Voldemort coming after her Harry had been filled with utter dread, though it was quickly replaced by the same protectiveness he'd felt when he'd found she'd been taken for the Second Task, before finally being replaced by anger. There were many uncertainties to come, but protecting Ginny was suddenly something that Harry knew he had to do.

~~/~~

Ginny's fourth year was arguably her worst at Hogwarts, and that was saying something given the events of her first year and Voldemort's return last spring. Dolores Umbridge, the new Defense teacher, was a Ministry of Magic worker sent to Hogwarts to spy on Harry and Dumbledore, given their continued insistence that Voldemort was back and Fudge's continued denial. Umbridge proved to be a sadistic woman who greatly enjoyed inflicting pain of any sort on both staff and students. Her favourite target, of course, was Harry and at first he played right into her hands, until Ginny got her own hands on Harry. Like last year when Ginny had almost attacked Fudge in overwhelming anger, so too had she almost attacked Umbridge after Harry returned from his first detention with her with the back of his hand cut open by a black quill. Instead, Ginny had managed to turn that anger around and tapped into the extra power Tom gave her to heal Harry's hand, leaving not a trace of a scar. She'd then told him, in no uncertain terms, was he to rise to the bait, as no doubt Umbridge would try again to get him to act out. She used the argument that since they could do nothing about Umbridge being at Hogwarts, the best thing they could do would be to frustrate her and not give her what she wanted; no matter how hard it was, Harry could not lose his temper. Harry agreed with her, largely because Ginny could be scary and he was certainly more afraid of her than he was of Umbridge, a thought which was worth further investigating later on.

It was only after their little discussion that they realized Ron and Hermione had been there for the whole thing and were looking at Ginny with wide eyes after the powerful display of magic she'd just used, one that was well beyond a fourth year. The two began demanding answers, answers which both Harry and Ginny had kept from them for two years now. With a look, they decided to bring their two friends in on the secret and launched into the tale of what had happened to Ginny after the Chamber, and their belief that a piece of Tom, of Voldemort, still lived within her.

"Blimey…" Ron muttered.

"We're sorry we kept it from you." Ginny said. "Harry wanted to tell you, to tell Dumbledore even, but I asked him not to. I was scared and…I'm sorry I didn't trust you." In a rare moment of brotherly intuition, Ron saw that his sister needed to know that he, her family, wouldn't condemn her or hate her for what was beyond her control and so he did the only thing he could think of and wrapped his arms around her. Ginny melted into his comforting embrace and Harry and Hermione looked on in shock, not at all used to Ron being so perceptive when he was usually quite thick.

"It's alright, Ginny." Ron said after a moment. "We won't let him hurt you." Hermione vehemently agreed with him and immediately went into research mode.

"You said you think it's soul magic that's behind this." Harry nodded. "Give me a list of books you've already looked at and let me go to the library."

"We've looked at them all, Hermione." Said Harry, though he dutifully pulled a piece of parchment towards him and began trying to remember all the books they'd read back in his third year.

"You mean you think you looked at them all." She corrected. "No offense, but none of you are great at research, though I'm sure you did your best. I'm certain I can find something more." And she was right, as usual. Hermione found a book that had been forgotten in a far corner of the library that gave them a bit more insight into how soul magic worked. It wasn't much, soul magic was not a subject often written about, explaining why even with unauthorized trips into the restricted section Harry and Ginny had only found enough to suspect that it was soul magic based on what Ginny described was happening. They hadn't been able to find much of an explanation on what exactly soul magic was, beyond the obvious, and found nothing explaining how or why this could have happened, but Hermione did. The book she found explained two distinct types of soul magic, separate and merged, which explained why this was different than Ginny's first year. Based on her research, Hermione theorized that the piece of Voldemort's soul in the diary had been a separate entity that took over Ginny, which explained why she had not been in control of herself, but that in the Chamber something must have happened to merge the soul fragment with Ginny's, explaining why Ginny was now in control, but had access to some of Tom's powers and occasionally was influenced by him. That was as far as they got, Hermione finding nothing else, even in the restricted section after Harry coaxed her into sneaking in with his cloak. Still, it was more than they'd had before.

As the year progressed, Umbridge gained more and more power within the school, courtesy of Fudge, though Harry had yet to serve another detention with her, much to her annoyance. Ginny had been right that the best way to get under Umbridge's skin was to not rise to her bait and though she tried often, Harry steeled himself against her barbs and behaved himself. Her huffs of frustration every time her attempt to taunt Harry into acting out failed were almost as good as the look on her face when she saw that Harry's hand was healed. No doubt she'd thought to gloat about it, even to have Malfoy and some other students notice it and taunt him, but thanks to Ginny that hadn't happened. Just before Christmas, Harry had a dream of Mr. Weasley being attacked by a giant snake in a corridor at the Ministry of Magic, the same corridor he had been dreaming about for months. His dream turned out to be real, and Mr. Weasley was taken to St. Mungos Hospital. All the Weasley children were taken out of school early to see their father and when Harry and Hermione joined them a few days later at the actual end of term, it was to, understandably, find a morose bunch, though their father was alive and would be fine according to the healers. That night Harry and Ginny's relationship changed. Ginny allowed herself to cry on Harry's shoulder, having not allowed herself to show grief in front of her mother or siblings, feeling the need to hold it together, though she knew she could fall apart in front of Harry. Afterwards, as they were leaving the library at Grimmauld Place, they noticed the mistletoe hanging above them and with but a moment of hesitation, Ginny leaned up and kissed Harry, who eagerly kissed her back. They never actually talked about it, though the two settled in as a couple, much to Mrs. Weasley's joy, while Ginny's brothers each gave Harry the stink eye. However, later when he had a chance to talk to Ron, the Weasley brother whose opinion mattered most to Harry, Ron merely shrugged as if to say 'if you must' and simply told Harry not to hurt her.

Their returned to Hogwarts as a couple did not go unnoticed by the student population, though for the most part they were left alone for many thought it was about time, while others had thought they were already dating given their closeness. Classes resumed and within short order the lack of actual teaching that took place in Defense had Hermione coming up with the idea of a study group where Harry, against his protests, would teach them. The study group grew to include many students from every house but Slytherin, and with the number of people involved it shouldn't have surprised them that Umbridge got wind of it. Dumbledore's Army, or the DA, met in the Room of Requirement once a week and the room kept them hidden from Umbridge, making it some months before she found them. As Umbridge tried to blast her way through the door, another was created with the room's magic that let the students escape to elsewhere in the castle, a powerful shield charm cast surreptitiously by Ginny giving them the time to get away. Ron and Hermione had just gotten out when Umbridge broke through, finding not a large group of people intent on breaking the rules she had imposed, but merely Harry and Ginny, holding each other's hand and looking quite shocked at the intrusion. The room was searched by Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, headed, unsurprisingly, by Malfoy, and the parchment they'd all signed was found, though thanks to Hermione's genius it could not be read by anyone who's name was not on the paper. Still, Ginny and Harry were dragged to the Headmaster's office where Fudge awaited and while Hermione's charm work was superb it did not fully hold out against the counter-charms Umbridge tried to break it. Hermione had put more importance on hiding members' names over the name of the group itself and so Fudge held in his hands a paper proclaiming Dumbledore's Army, if not its members. It was enough for Fudge to try and arrest Dumbledore though he escaped with Fawkes' help, taking the parchment with him so it could not be used against the students in the group.

With Dumbledore gone, Umbridge was declared Headmistress and since she could not punish anyone else without knowing who they were, Harry and Ginny were given several detentions in which the black quill was used, though Ginny always healed them after, making Umbridge furious though she could do nothing about it without crossing a line that even she wasn't immune from. As the end of the year came, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat their O.W.L.s and looked forward to a quiet end of the year. They should have known better. During his final O.W.L., Harry had a vision of Voldemort having kidnapped Sirius, holding him in the Ministry of Magic, behind the door he'd been dreaming about. Though he was advised against it for it was likely a trap, Harry was determined to get to London and save Sirius. Ginny, Ron and Hermione naturally went with him, though Neville and Luna did as well. Predictably it was a trap, and Death Eaters awaited them, appearing after Harry removed a prophecy from the shelf in the Hall of Prophecies that had his name on it, as well as the Dark Lord's.

That fight that ensued was bloody, and though he had not been kidnapped, Sirius did come to help, along with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, and the fight cost him his life. In his grief and anger, Harry ran after Bellatrix, who had caused Sirius' death, and was led right to Voldemort himself. Dumbledore arrived moments later and the two great wizards duelled in an awesome show of magic. In a last ditch attempt to win, Voldemort tried to possess Harry, hoping Dumbledore would kill him in the hopes of getting rid of Voldemort as well. However, the Dark Lord discovered that he could not reside within Harry's soul for long without experiencing excruciating pain, but it was long enough for damage to be done. When he left Harry it was to find his nemesis being held by a slip of a girl with ginger hair whom he'd seen in Harry's mind more than once and knew to be romantically involved with the boy, though that wasn't the only piece of information he'd gotten. If the Dark Lord had ever looked surprised before it was nothing to the shock he displayed now as he stared at Ginny. Before he could do or say anything, however, Fudge and several Aurors arrived. Having been caught, Voldemort fled rather than face Dumbledore, the Order of the Phoenix, and several highly trained Aurors. Finally Fudge could no longer deny that Voldemort was back, but that victory was nothing compared to the dread Harry and Ginny felt.

"He knows."

A/N - Things will slow down now a bit. The next chapter covers Half-Blood Prince and then the rest of the chapters cover Deathly Hallows, so there won't be quite so many time jumps and summary-like chapters, though they will still be there.

Review please!