Spoiler Alert - If you have not read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I strongly advice you not to read.

Anything or anyone you recognise comes from the wonderful mind of JKR

Chapter 4

"What a day." George muttered, sitting himself down at the table.

We'd returned to The Burrow shortly after my incident, and I knew that I'd never be able to live it down.

"Alright honey?" Mum asked, cooking a pot of stew.

"Sure, if my little sister slapping Cho Chang counts as alright."

I tensed myself, swiftly glaring at George before burying my head in my hands.

"Your little sister what?" She yelled.

I sighed inwardly. I knew this was coming. It'd been completely and utterly stupid of me to slap her. I'd acted so strangely all day long - first going totally spastic about going to Hogwarts, then slapping Cho Chang for calling Luna by her completely ridiculous and offensive nickname. She hadn't even been wearing her radishes, or her bottle-top necklace. I actually thought she looked pretty today. Obviously Cho had something wrong with girls looking pretty.

"He said she - ow! Hermoine, don't hit me!" Ron said.

"Can you tell me why your little sister decided to slap Cho Chang!" She demanded.

"Apparantly," Said Luna, "She called me Loony."

"Oh! Well that explains it all, doesnt it?" Her voice was laced with sarcasm, "Well if you decided to slap someone every time they called Luna Loony, you'd have a pretty sore hand, Ginny."

"Mum." I groaned. "I don't even like Cho!"

"Good for you! Since when does that give you a one way pass to slapping her?"

I knew I couldn't win this.

"I said I was sorry." I mumbled.

"What was that, sorry? I couldn't hear you."

"I said, 'I said I was sorry.'" I answered.

"Oh, Arthur, have you heard?" Mum said, keeping up the annoying charade as Dad marched through the door, "Apparently it's okay now for you slap someone because you 'don't like her' and because 'she called Luna, Loony', then tell them 'you're sorry'."

"What?" He asked, taking off his coat and putting it up on the stand beside the couch in front of me.

"George and Ginny were just telling me the wonderful tale of 'How Ginny Weasley Slapped Cho Chang'." She said the words like they were the title to a well known story.

"Cho Chang?" He asked.

"Oh yes, we forgot to mention that Neville's going out with Cho." George muttered, obviously not enjoying all the attention.

"Neville Longbottom you mean?" Dad asked, bewildered.

We all nodded.

"Let me get this straight." He said, "Neville brought Cho along today, and you don't like Cho, Ginny, so when she called Luna, Loony, you decided it was the perfect time to slap her?"

"She's been really rude to Harry, too, hasn't she Harry?" I asked, turning to him for support.

"I - uh, yeah." He looked at me questioningly.

"It's a rule of etiquette that you don't talk about your dead boyfriend to your totally alive boyfriend who just happened to be watching it all fold out." I snapped.

"Oh, yeah, that. Yeah, she's been rude to me." He said.

I scowled at him.

"But she's never actually hit you, has she?" Mum asked, but we were interuppted by something that I didn't ever want to have to see again - a patronus.

Although I was somewhat glad for the interrution, it brought a flood of memories with it, memories that I wished to never face. I was at the wedding dancing, and then all of a sudden a patronus conjured up, and everyone was apparating away. Bill grabbed me and Fleur, and then the next thing I knew, I was in their empty cottage... I was firing jinxes as fast as I could, then all I could feel was cold. Then from behind me, I see a swan shimmering over and around me, leaving me okay to keep fighting. The memories swam in my head, making me feel lightheaded. I forced myself not to faint, trying to concentrate on what was happening right at this moment. There were no Dementors in this house, so that could only mean one thing:

"All members of The Order to Three Broomsticks, please." The patronus said before dissapearing.

We all looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Members of the Order?" It was Ron who broke the silence.

"But why?" Mum sounded horrified, the slapping incident entirely forgotten.

"There's only one way to find out..." Dad said.

"I'm coming." I said. "Whether you liking it or not."

Mum thought for a moment, then nodded furiously.

"Alright, we're all going." She said.

"What's the Order?" Luna wondered.

"Think of it as an adult version of Dumbledore's Army." George said, and he sounded severely pained.

"George?" I asked.

"It can only mean one thing." He said, his voice grave.

"What?" We all asked, for I was sure no one else had the faintest thing.

"We're the only survivors, people!" He almost yelled. "The Order is dead! That was McGonagall's way of telling us that we need to receive what was in their wills."

The silence was rang after he spoke, and it was painful.

He was right. Soonly after his short speech, we all apparated to Three Broomsticks where Professor McGonagall was waiting with pieces of parchment spread before her.

We walked over to her cautiously, a learned habit from the past. We took seats around her.

"I expect you all know why you're here." She said, apparantly forgetting about greetings.

We all nodded.

"Alright, then... I'm sorry that it wasn't any sooner, it's just the cleaning you know? I think it's done, but I also thought that last month, and last week... And then there's the paperwork, and the meetings, which children are attending Hogwarts after summer, which ones arent..."

I interjected, "I'm not."

"Yes you are." Mum argued.

I shook my head furiously, "I've been through this already, Mum, and I'm not going."

Sighing deeply, she decided to divert her attention back to McGonagall.

"Actually, Ginny, thanks for reminding me." McGonagall said, "I wanted to ask whether you three would like to come back to Hogwarts for your last year..."

She was talking to Harry, Ron and Hermoine. I felt a spark of hope inside of me. If they were going, then I would definitely go. A brighter future was drifting towards me, and I -

"No." Ron said.

I gaped at him.

"How can you make your decision so quickly?" I snapped.

He shrugged, "I just really-"

"I happen to think it's a wonderful idea." Hermoine said. "Don't you, Harry?"

I looked at him, and perhaps he read something in my eyes, but you looked back to McGonagall nodding.

"I'll think about it, Professor, thanks."

"All right then." She sighed, "The next thing, Harry, would you like to discuss it alone?"

Without any hesitation, he said, "Anything you'd like to tell me, my family can hear."

I was truly touched, deeply moved. He called us family. He was family. And so was Hermoine. Luna was even getting there, too. The epiphany made me feel light headed.

"Alright, then... It's to with Ted Lupin. Your godson."

It was the last thing I had expected, and looking around, it was the last thing anyone had expected.

Harry recovered, nodding once again, saying, "What about him?"

"Well, you see, we all know the horrible fates of their parents, and so I think that maybe, and apparently I'm correct-"

"Get to the bloody point!" George said, then with a look from Mum he quickly added, "Please Professor."

She took a deep breathe, clearly uncomfortable. "You're a legal guardian of little Teddy, Harry."

He gaped at the woman. He wasn't breathing. Instinctively, I took his hand and squeezed it for reassurance.

"It's okay, Harry." I murmured. "I'm here."

"We're all here." Dad said gruffly.

Clearly dazed, he said, "What does that mean?"

"It means... It means that you and his grandparents share custody over him, and that's for you three to sort out... You may, however, decide that it's best for them to look after him for the time being. It means that you can see him when you want to."

He looked at me, his eyes wet, and they clearly said why is this happening to me? Lifting up our joined hands, I placed a kiss upon his. Blinking back tears, he was nodding again, and I learned that this was a sign of nervousness. He took a deep breath.

"Thank you, professor." He said.

"Alright, then..." She said, then very slowly and deliberately, she said, "They also bought a house during the pregnancy..."

No! Harry has enough on his shoulders!

"They're leaving that to you, Hermoine."

The silence was more shocking than last time.

"Hermoine?" Ron choked. "W-what?"

"They left Hermoine the house, probably because of her acedemics, and they know she'll handle it all well..."

"Where is the house?" Hermoine whispered.

I wanted so badly to hold her hand, too, but there was only so much I could do.

"Near The Burrow." McGonagall said.

She nodded, satisfied with this.

"Thank you, Professor." She said.

Flicking through more of the parchment, McGonagall looked highly stressed, and I, too, wanted to give her some kind of reassurance.

The next thing she said was hardly audible.

"Sorry?" Mum asked.

She cleared her throat, her breathing laboured. "The beach belongs to you, Mr and Mrs Weasley."

"The what?"

"Remus and Nymphadore had this thing about beaches... Dora's parents, very discreetly, bought them a beach as a wedding present. They slept there one night before returning to the job we had on hand..."

Tears were silently falling down my face now, and I wanted to wipe them away quickly, but Harry had both of my hands locked in his firm grip.

"They left us a beach?" Dad asked, stunned.

McGonagall buried her head in her face, nodding. The silence which hurt, was broken by the front door opening. I had completely forgotten our time and place. They quietly ordered drinks, and thankfully, they weren't in the mood for chat.

"Okay." Mum sniffed. "What else?"

"That's all from the Lupins..." She murmured, lifting her now-blotched face from her hands.

Her hands were shaking. She knew exactly what she was going to say this time, and apparently it was the worst bit. I braced myself, gripping onto Harry's hands like they were my life.

"Harry..." She sobbed. "Harry, P-professor-" She cried into her hands, apparently unable to speak.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" His voice was barely audible.

My heart hammered against my chest, and I was actually going to explode now, I could feel it.

Just speak! I almost yelled, Please! Just say whatever it is you need to say! Get it over with!

She wiped the tears trailed along her face, then spoke in a very clear voice. "Professor Severus Snape wrote his will while your mother was still alive, Harry. His parents were dead. He had to give someone his house, and it was the most he had, and he wanted Lily to have it if he ever died so she could at least have a small fortune." She stopped to cry again, and this time I didn't want her to speak. I didn't want her to say it.

"No!" Hermoine gasped. "No! No!"

I was in a living nightmare, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck standing on end. I ripped my hands away from Harry's burying my face into it.

McGonagall recovered once again, and then said the words that I could have gone my whole life without hearing:

"The house of Sevurus Snape belongs to you, Harry."

And then the darkness pulled me under.