Author's Note: I really like this chapter. So far it might be one of my favorites. It just flowed so well. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, as always they were appreciated and enjoy.

Summary:

Three months have passed since that fateful night when Dumbledore was killed and Harry vowed to kill his murderer, and it's been a year since Harry found out Severus Snape was his father, but this time it is not the worries of making a relationship work that cloud Harry's mind but how he will deal with the war that has now become all too clear, how he will find the Horcruxes in solitude, and how to distract himself enough to not think about his father. But how can he accomplish all of this when he's worried sick about his best friend and he has no idea where to begin searching for the pieces of Voldemort's soul.

Disclaimer:

I don't own anything but maybe the plot, Faye, and Imogen.

Chapter Two

A Birthday Gift

July 31, 1998

Harry had not been expecting a party when they arrived at the Burrow. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had simply said they wanted to have some sort of dinner in honor of his coming of age, and Harry who at first had protested that it wasn't necessary had finally given in to her, when his decision to leave had been completely cemented into his brain, and he had decided that this would make a for a nice good-bye party in which no one but he knew that he was saying good-bye. What worried Harry most was that if something were to happen it would happen that day and it would affect the Weasleys because he was with them.

As it was, when Harry stepped out of their fireplace in the kitchen, following Remus, he didn't expect to see a congregation of his friends from Gryffindor, and everyone that had been in the D.A. back in fifth year. The only person that seemed to be missing other than Hermione, was Imogen, and Harry couldn't think of any reason other than that her parents had not allowed her to attend. Among the Hogwarts students, and graduates like Angelina Johnson and Oliver Wood, were the Order members, some of whom Harry had only ever met once, if at all. Harry decided then, when spotting Dedalus Diggle who he had only ever held a conversation with once, that this was an elaborate meeting of the people in Harry's life who were all in some way working against Voldemort.

After remarking to Remus that he really could have done without so many people, he began to politely greet everyone, shaking hands here, being pulled into hugs by others – like Katie Bell who grinned at Harry afterwards and began relating to him that she had been very excited to have been invited to his party. Others shared the same sentiment.

"I'm telling you!" Dedalus Diggle exclaimed to a tall graceful man with brown hair that was held back by a leather band, and piercing warm amber eyes. "That man has done nothing to help the—" he trailed off upon spotting Harry. "Oh, hello, Mr. Potter, a pleasure to meet you again, I'm sure. But you must not know Sawyer. Harry Potter, this is Sawyer Argentum."

"Hello," Harry said, extending out his hand, "pleased to meet you."

Sawyer took his hand in a good grip and shook it. "The pleasure is mine, Mr. Potter," he said in a gruff voice.

Harry nodded and then turned to continue greeting his guests. Sawyer looked after him for a while and then turned back to his conversation.

By the time Harry had said hello to everyone in the room, some form of dancing had begun, and Harry tried hard to not get pulled out there. Mrs. Weasley, he knew, had been trying to get him to dance with Ginny whom Harry spotted dancing with Seamus.

Harry was actually having a good time by this point. He had talked to a few Order members that he knew had been quite impressed by all of his knowledge which Harry hated knowing had been imparted to him by, of all people, Severus Snape. He had also talked to Oliver Wood and Angelina who were both now playing Quidditch professionally but were having problems because of the issue of Voldemort. That had led to them talking about Angelina and Oliver wanting to be part of the Order.

"Hey, mate," Ron said, handing him a bottle of butterbeer a few minutes later.

Harry took it with a grin and they clinked their bottles together. "So, how're you liking the party? Ginny and I had to track everyone down. It was horrible," Ron said. "All those letters we had to write – my hand's been cramping up for days."

Harry laughed, but didn't respond.

Ron continued, "We haven't seen each other since the end of the year. Mom hasn't really wanted us to come bother you and Faye while you work on finding a cure for Hermione. How's that going anyway?"

"Faye's sure she's on the right track," Harry said and ran a hand through his hair. He shifted his feet, and looked around the Weasley's yard. "I don't know. I just feel like she's never going to wake up and it will all be my fault."

"Ah, mate, you can't blame yourself for this one," Ron said, throwing an arm around Harry. "You didn't let them in – you were trying to help Dumbledore."

Harry nodded and took a gulp of his drink.

About an hour later, when Harry was pushed towards a table piled with presents, everything changed – his scar began to burn. The pain was dull and throbbing but Harry recognized it for what it was and knew almost immediately what it meant – that something had happened, or something was going to happen.

Harry ignored the pain and pushed it to the back of his mind and threw on a smile for the rest to see. He didn't need to worry them. As soon as he got the chance, he would tell someone about his scar – Remus, Tonks, or Faye preferably.

The presents that littered the table were wrapped in a multitude of colors. Harry didn't know where to start off first, until Ginny grabbed one of the smaller boxes and handed it to him. "That's from Fred and George, I think," Ginny said.

"I don't know if I should open it," Harry said with a small somewhat forced laugh.

Ginny smiled at him, and motioned at him to go on. Harry ripped the paper off and found inside a small unidentified box though it gave the impression to everyone that it was one of their products.

"Just something we thought you'd need," Fred said, coming to stand next to Harry, and shoving Ginny unceremoniously away.

Ginny huffed at her older brothers, hit Fred hard on the arm and walked to stand next to her mother. Fred rubbed at the spot on his arm with a wince. George laughed at him.

"Anyway," George continued, "they're new products, all constructed to get you out of a tough spot."

Harry nodded and turned to the rest of his presents, putting that one on the table. He opened one from Lavender Brown, and found a small pygmy puff sitting in a small cage fast asleep on a pillow.

He smiled fondly at it and for a moment forgot the pain until it began anew. This time his scar throbbed and burned. Harry closed his eyes as the world began to spin and turn upside down and reached for the table. He held on to it and then everything seemed to stop and he knew without a doubt that something was wrong. He opened his eyes and found Ginny, standing next to him, looking at him with worry.

"Are you alright Harry?" She asked.

Harry nodded. "Fine," he said. "I'll be fine. Get Remus, will you?"

Ginny nodded and ran into the crowd to find Remus.

"You're sure you're not in any sort of pain, mate?" Fred, or was it George, asked.

"You look awful pale," the other twin added.

"And your hair's actually lying flat for once," George, Harry was sure this time, said. "You aren't sick are you?"

Harry smiled slightly and shook his head at them. "Really, guys, I'm fine. My scar burned, that's all. It stopped just as soon as it came."

The twins both stopped grinning and joking. "You mean something must have happened?" Fred asked from Harry's left.

"My birthday present, isn't it? Right on time, too, if you ask me, right as I was opening my presents," Harry said bitterly.

Just as Remus, followed by Tonks and Faye made their way towards them and the table full of presents, a silver figure came into the yard, coming to a stop right where Harry could see him, but so that it was standing somewhere in the middle of all of the guests to his party. The music that had been streaming from Mrs. Weasley's wireless as background music came to a stop suddenly and the caracal Patronus opened its feline mouth and began to speak, the voice of an undistinguished man spoke out to the crowd.

-

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-

It was chaos.

There was fire, and smoke. Pools of blood turned brown as they dried into the remaining floor and walls. Someone laughed; another screamed. Someone was running – a scampering of feet looking for somewhere to hide.

"Find them," a cold voice hissed, snakelike, but full of excitement. "Bring them to me alive."

There was more shuffling of feet – his Death Eaters going after those few people that had escaped them and their path of destruction. Imogen Copperfield hoped beyond hope that they wouldn't find her. She was well hidden in the unused hidden compartment in the corner of the Minister of Magic's office, where she had run the moment everything began. Tears stained her face and she tried to keep her hands from shaking while she looked out at Voldemort and his two remaining Death Eaters, sitting in the office as if nothing was the matter.

"Is there anything on Potter here?" Voldemort asked.

The silky recognizable voice of her Potions professor responded with, "Few things. I believe Alecto went in search of anything on transportation as well as anything of the Order's that has been protected by the Ministry."

Imogen knew that it had been Snape that had killed Dumbledore. She knew that Snape had betrayed everyone, but seeing him there, talking to Voldemort bothered her much more than knowing that he was a murderer. She had liked Professor Snape, as much as someone could like a man that snapped at everything everyone said. She had never expected him to be on Voldemort's side, though there had been rumors about the matter.

"Good. Good," Voldemort said.

They then fell into silence.

Imogen shifted slightly in the small dark space, listening intently. She heard footsteps nearing the room. The office was spacious. A large wooden desk sat right in the middle of the room, across from a large fireplace and a door. A few paintings hung on the blue colored walls, as well as a window displaying a nice sunny day.

Voldemort was currently seated behind the desk, ignoring the piles of paper work that were scattered all over the desk, with large puddles of ink covering some of them. Across from him, sitting in comfortable armchairs were his two Death Eaters, Severus Snape and a woman that looked as if she had just left a psychiatric ward.

The room was no longer what Imogen had first perceived when she had headed in there to hide, now there was the faint smell of blood coming from where the Minister of Magic's body had previously been. His formerly clean cream carpet was now mostly brown, and the walls where his hands had been placed had also left an imprint of the crimson liquid, and more than that, there was debris and broken objects littering the floor. And this, Imogen imagined, was probably the room most intact in the entire ministry. She gave the scorch marks on the door a small glance, and knew that out in the hall there was a fire. She had seen it when the Death Eaters had left.

"And Hogwarts shall fall next," Voldemort said with a cold laugh. "Severus, I'd like you to become the Headmaster of the school. Hmm. Yes. I think that will serve nicely. You can continue keeping an eye on Malfoy in the meanwhile – that boy is almost as much trouble as his father."

"Yes, My Lord. You please me with such a bequest," Snape said, bowing his head.

"Ah, but you have done me good, Severus," Voldemort said, "much more than I expected, I'll admit."

Snape said nothing in return, but the witch next to him cackled.

"And you Bellatrix. My most loyal, even if you are associated with a bunch of blood traitors."

Bellatrix looked affronted. "I have no ties with such people," she said.

"You do not," Voldemort agreed, but there was something underlying his tone of voice as he said it.

No one spoke again for a few minutes, and then the door opened and a masked man entered, holding a petite woman, whom he threw to the ground without care.

"Hiding in a closet, this one was," the Death Eater rasped.

Voldemort gave him a dismissing wave and then turned to the woman as soon as the door had closed behind the Death Eater.

-

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-

The Ministry has fallen...everything is in shambles right now. Be prepared for a fight. No one knows what's happening. It's chaos down here…I've just heard the Minister is dead. So are a number of the workers. No one knows how many. Death Eaters are everywhere. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is within the falling building.

No one knew what to say. There were gasps around the garden. Mrs. Weasley was the first to react, clapping her hands to her mouth, exclaiming something too low for Harry to hear and running into the house once again.

By this point everyone had turned to each other – friends were clasping hands with worried looks on their faces. A few screamed and others looked as if they wanted to join them but couldn't quite make a sound.

"My mum's at the ministry," Harry heard Lavender Brown mutter to Ron in a defeated voice.

That seemed to give others a new thing to think about – everyone knew at least someone that had to be in the Ministry right at that moment working or doing something else.

"Oh!" Cried Susan Bones, "My Aunt!"

Other such expressed sentiments went on all around not only from the Hogwarts students or recent graduates but from Order members, lamenting for their children, friends, or even parents.

"Everyone please be calm," Remus said loudly, pointing his wand at his throat. "It is best to be calm right now while everything is being sorted. For the moment the wards around the property are being strengthened by the Aurors we have present, and we will begin to evacuate everyone to Hogwarts. Until we know what is happening no one should leave the Castle."

Everyone listened to Remus and then began to mutter amongst themselves. Remus turned back to Harry and ended the spell to make his voice louder.

"You're alright, correct?" He asked.

"Yes. I'm fine," Harry said, and then asked, "How are we getting so many people to Hogwarts?"

"That is where we come in," Fred said, answering for Remus. "We've been working on it for a while and we've been trying to make at least a few more before actually using one, but really they're for emergencies."

"We developed this product, you see, that will allow large transportation of people, instantly. Like apparition but essentially traceless. It's like placing a blanket that hides your magical identity so that you can do anything, but also connecting a number of people so they can travel without being detected," George finished explaining for his brother.

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "Brilliant," he said.

"We'll go start setting up," Fred said and pulled his brother away.

"Come with me, Harry," Faye said.

Harry had forgotten that she come to see him about his scar, and nearly jumped when he heard her voice. She smiled at him sardonically and then motioned for them to go into the house.

"What?" Harry asked as she dragged him into the kitchen.

"We have to be prepared for an attack," she said. "If Fred and George don't get that ready in time, we'll have to fight, and I want to give you something."

Harry knew it was a possibility, and wondered what Faye could possibly want with him.

Harry frowned. "What is it?" He asked.

"A second wand," she said, "and a portkey, just in case they do attack and you get hurt. I don't expect you to run. That isn't you. I do expect you to leave the moment you are hit by anything. To activate it, you must simply want to leave and hold it in your hand. You can take anyone else with you but no more than two more people. It will take you to Grimmauld Place. Lucius is there, so you'll be safe."

She suddenly took him into her arms. Harry allowed himself to wrap his arms around her thin waist, and then she was pulling away, taking his face with her slim hands.

"Use the second wand at all times. Your wand is too important to lose right now. This wand is as close to yours as we've been able to find. Lucius and I have been working on this for a while now. It was – well…we really mustn't dawdle. We should be helping out there."

Harry tried to nod, but she still held his face. She smiled slightly and wrapped her arms around him again. Harry felt a certain amount of calmness come over him as she hugged him. It was the power of her hug, he decided, the caring that she had for him which had taken place since the night she healed Snape after that terrible meeting with Voldemort. She had become a friend and she had helped him so much recently that he had even decided that when he left she was the one he would miss the most.

"I know you were planning on leaving tomorrow, Harry," she whispered.

Harry's eyes widened. "How? I – I thought I hid it so well."

Faye chuckled. "You've been saying good-bye all week. I am not going to stop you. I think you've decided you need to do this, but in light of recent events, Harry, please wait until we know everything about this situation."

Harry knew she was right. He nodded. He couldn't very well leave now, not knowing exactly how much power Voldemort had over the ministry and if he would be the outlaw running from the ministry if he left. He needed to stay for the time being and help as much as he could to make sure that everything would be okay.

The Death Eaters arrived, popping into existence right outside the barriers of protection surrounding the Burrow. Harry noticed them at once, when he heard someone scream, pointing at the masked, robed followers of his enemy. For a second Harry allowed himself to wonder if his father was among them, but then he shook the thought, and turned away from them, looking for one of the twins.

"How's it going guys?" He asked.

"Ten minutes," George said rapidly, and turned back to work.

Harry didn't think the wards would hold for longer than five minutes, and he knew better than to use magic to help make them stronger. It was one of the rules that Lucius had instilled with him while they had done some training. His magic had continued growing and changed drastically, but it was a well kept secret. Only Lucius and Faye were aware of it, and he was supposed to keep it to himself until there was no other choice but to display his true power which, Harry knew, would never be as grandiose as Voldemort's.

The wards gave a shudder, and Harry felt a slight bit of panic come over him. If they attacked, how many lives would be lost?

Harry looked around and noticed that Remus had been rearranging everyone in case of an attack. The Order members had been mixed in with the Hogwarts students and they all had their wands out and were talking strategy. Harry made to join them when he heard a muffled cry somewhere from the house. He turned and ran towards the kitchen, and entered. Mrs. Weasley had a hand clapped over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Ginny's who had run in after Harry ran to her side, and gasped, looking at the clock that Harry knew had to be showing them something horrible.

Harry approached them with caution, and looked up at the clock that didn't tell time. Unlike the last time Harry had seen it, the clock was one hand less. Where there had previously been nine hands, now there were only eight. Knowing that everyone but Charlie and Percy were there at the Burrow, Harry with a heavy heart found that Charlie's hand was pointed at work. It was Percy then that had died, and while Harry had, had his differences with his best friend's older brother, he had never wanted him dead, and now he was, probably because he had been at the Ministry.

"Oh, mum," Ginny whispered.

Harry felt as if he was intruding in something that he had no right to see, and retreated back out of the kitchen to the garden. He said nothing to the questioning looks, and walked directly to Arthur Weasley, not knowing if he should be the one to tell him that his son was dead.

"Mr. Weasley," he said.

"Yes, Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, absentmindedly. "Is everything alright inside?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Not quite," he said gently. "I think it would be best if you went inside. I don't want to be the one to have to tell you. I – Mrs. Weasley needs you."

Mr. Weasley gave Harry an odd look, but hurried inside. Harry looked around the garden, spotting Bill helping Tonks and Kingsley with holding up the wards. He saw Fred and George still attempting to get their unnamed product ready for the transportation of so many people. Ron was still with Lavender, offering her comfort, telling her that her mother was okay. None of them knew that their brother was dead, and that as much as they had become tired of him in the last years and as much as they had disagreed with his choice of a career over family, that they would care about the fact that he had left the world to never return.

The wards finally fell two minutes or so later. Harry watched it happen and was tempted – when looking at so many of his friends and knowing that they would be in danger – to throw it back up. As it was, he merely withdrew his wand and prepared himself for the fight.

Colorful flashes of light flew all around – spells flying at everyone and everything. Tonks, Remus, Faye, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye had put themselves as a barrier between the twins and the fight, keeping most spells from going past them to touch the twins or their magical contraption. Harry watched for a few seconds, ignored in the crowds of people, and then he was pushed hard to the ground. He heard a crack, and knew his glasses had broken.

He gathered them and slipped them into his pocket, turning, wand raised to begin dueling, but no Death Eater approached him looking for a fight.

What was happening? Why were they leaving him be? Harry didn't have time to continue his train of thought, as he saw a laughing Death Eater throw the Cruciatus at Dean, who had just been hit by a tripping hex. Acting quickly, Harry threw a stunning spell at the Death Eater and he fell back, his curse going astray and hitting an old car tire.

"Thanks!" Dean shouted.

Harry grinned at him and then turned, waving his wand at another Death Eater, who blocked his spell and shot one at Harry of his own.

"Incarcerous!" Harry shouted, but the Death Eater moved at the last moment and muttered something that made Harry's spell simply end.

The Death Eater waved his wand without saying a word and a ball of fire came directly at Harry.

"Aguamenti," Harry whispered, but the jet of water that was shot at the ball of flame did nothing to it. The Death Eater laughed.

Harry moved aside quickly to let the ball of fire pass him by, but it followed him coming right at him. Harry tried another spell, shooting ice at it, trying to cover the entire ball will ice. The Death Eater laughed at him again through the mask. There had to be something more to it – there just had to be something. Harry thought hard. What else could stop fire?

"It's ready!" Harry heard the twins call from somewhere around him. He couldn't concentrate.

Harry continued dodging the ball of fire, and as he did he noticed everyone trying to make their way to the twins. It was then that Harry saw what he had to do. He had to make a big enough distraction that would allow the twins to take everyone to Hogwarts. He had the Portkey Faye had given him and if anything else, he could apparate. He would use the fire to his advantage – if he could just make it bigger somehow.

Author's Note: Hope you liked this. Next chapter will probably be up next Friday. Please review.

-Erika