A/N: Please Read and Review

A Book and Some Gnomes

The wind blew through the wildly growing grass, bringing with it a strong stench. It was like something old, something that had been locked away and died over time. It carried over the hills and scattering of trees, dead limbs branching out in every direction. There was no sign of life, no sign that any living thing had been in the vicinity in a long time. The full moon cast an eerie glow upon the earth.

Sounds of popping suddenly filled the air. One by one, figures appeared out of no where, there long robes billowing in the gusting wind. The figures, ten in all, stood still, drinking in their new surroundings. One figure broke out of his reverie, stepping forward, staring at the ground. At first glance one would only notice the tallness of the grass, but looking closer revealed littering of bones all around. The figure stumbled for a moment as the strong aroma of death filled his head, singeing the inside of his nose and mouth. He coughed and spit onto the grass trying to remove the unpleasantness.

One of the other figures stepped forward and spoke, his voice deep and powerful, "Is this the location, have we finally found it?" It was hard not to hear the anxiousness in the man's voice.

"I believe this is it my brother. I can sense the ancient magic in this area. This must be where it resides," the first man answered. He extended his hand holding his wand and slowly made movements with it across his body, left to right. After only a few moments he ceased his actions and turned around to face his companions. "Farov step forward!"

A rather short man with a medium build stepped out of the crowd. He trudged forward stopping in front of the other man. "What do you need sir?"

"I want you to get me the book. Do not use another blasting curse like last time. Do you understand me? You drew far too much attention at the last location, and we were almost discovered. Make sure to use one of the digging spells," the first man ordered.

The short man stepped forward; drawing his wand he aimed it toward the earth and shouted, "Emoveo Humus!" There was brilliant beam of white light that escaped from the wand and burrowed beneath the ground. As the light built up under the ground there was a great boom as dirt and stone were propelled upward towards the night sky. In the debris that was expelled, there was a shape that stood out among the rest. It was rectangular and looked to be covered in a faded red color.

The first man stepped up and pointed his wand saying Accio Book! The object switched from its current direction and flew into the man's outstretched hand. The man stashed his wand in a pocket on the inside of his robes. As the last of the debris settled back around him, he held the book in front of him as if holding a great treasure, handling it with the utmost care. Undoing the clasp on the book, he opened it revealing pages and pages of text. He flipped through the pages as if searching for something in particular. After several long minutes, he removed the hood concealing his visage, revealing his old face as a large grin spread across it. The man stepped back and with a quick turn Disapparated. Following his lead the others quickly vanished. In their haste to leave no one seemed to notice as a silver haired fox crept into the field from behind one of the trees. And as quickly as the fox appeared it quickly was gone and turned into the form of another hooded figure. The figure surveyed the area once before shaking its head beneath its cloak and disappearing.

XxXxXxXx

As the ground developed beneath his feet as he Apparated, Harry could see the inside of the Burrow was filled with activity. Most likely it was Mrs. Weasly running around preparing dinner. The light outside was starting to dim as the sun started to set. The trio headed towards the door with Harry's eagle on his shoulder and Ginny holding her carrier containing her new kitten. As Harry approached the door into the kitchen he heard a rustling sound and then a thump as something hit the ground.

"Ahhhhhh! Get these bloody effing things off of me!" Ron was lying on the ground as a group of gnomes were jumping on his stomach. With the commotion, the door opened to the kitchen and Mrs. Weasly stepped out with a furious look on her face.

"Ronald Weasly! If I ever hear you using that kind of language again I am going to magically seal your mouth!"

"But mum… I'm being attacked…. by crazy little… monsters." Thinking Ron had had enough; Harry moved away from the door and drew his wand. With a quick wave, the gnomes currently pummeling Ron were thrown a good twenty feet in various directions.

"Now Ronald, since you have trouble controlling the words that come out of your mouth, you can spend the rest of the time until dinner getting rid of the rest of the gnomes." Leaving no room for a retort, she went back into the kitchen. Ron picked himself off of the ground with a giant scowl on his face, mumbling more undistinguishable obscenities, and went off after the closest gnome.

Harry turned to Ginny who seemed to be immensely enjoying the recent festivities. "Do you think we should help him? I don't think his day has gone very well."

Her face got a mischievous grin on it before she replied, "Oh no, lets go inside. There are much better ways to spend our time without Ronald around intruding."

Harry felt his lips form into a smile, "You know what, I think Ron has it under control." He grabbed her hand and led her into the kitchen, quickly letting go as Mrs. Weasly turned her attention from her cooking. She looked surprised for a second seeing them standing in the kitchen. Harry thought she must not even have noticed them standing outside while she was reprimanding her son for his language

"Oh hello dears; dinner will probably be ready in another hour. Oh my! What is that on your shoulder!" Mrs. Weasly looked like her eyes were going to pop out the sockets. She started patting herself down like she was searching for her wand, which was actually currently in her hand.

"Mum don't worry it won't hurt you, well unless you're George, but it's Harry's new eagle. He bought it today while we were in Diagon Alley. He also bought me a kitten as an early birthday present," Ginny informed her with a bright smile.

"That was very sweet of you Harry. Sorry I lost it there for a second, just haven't had many eagles around the kitchen before," Mrs. Weasly replied before she turned back to the pots and pans she was using to cook.

"Ok, we'll be back down for dinner in an hour Mum," Ginny told her.

Mrs. Weasly turned around from her cooking once again with a searching look on her face. "And what are the two of you going to do upstairs?" She asked.

Ginny looked liked she was struggling for an answer, "Well..um..we're going to go get the animals situated and maybe try and think up names," she finished with a sigh of relief that she was able to come up with a believable story. Mrs. Weasly kept eyeing her with that curious look not at all convinced, but she grabbed Harry's hand quickly and led him up the stairs. They kept walking until they hit Ron's bedroom and hurried inside. Harry dropped down on his bed while his bird flew up to the window ledge. Ginny put her carrier down and pulled out her kitten, talking to it like it were a small child.

"You know, I think your mum knows something is going on. I know you saw that look she was giving you when you said we were going upstairs together."

"She probably does, mum is really perceptive. She can always tell when something is happening with one of her children. It can be really annoying sometimes, but it doesn't matter anymore because we're going let everyone know tonight."

Harry felt his stomach roll over a few times, as his nerves started to kick in to full gear. It wasn't that he was really worried about Mr. and Mrs. Weasly, but the rest of her brothers, who were all bigger than him. Ginny seemed to have noticed his anxiety because she came over and sat directly on his lap.

"Don't worry about it Harry, I promise nobody is going to hurt you. If they do then I get to hurt them," she smiled sweetly.

Harry laughed as his nerves receded some. Now it felt like there was a niffler rolling around in his stomach in place of the hippogriff that had been there a few seconds prior. He pulled back her hair and started placing kisses on the back of her neck. She shivered at the contact of his lips on her skin, and leaned back against his chest.

"Can I ask you something Harry?" She got up and straddled him so that she could look at his face.

"Gin, you know you can ask me anything, especially when you're sitting on my lap like this," he grinned at her.

She got a serious look on her face before she started. "You weren't serious today were you?"

Harry thought for a second, but had no idea what she was talking about. "You're going to have to remind me what I said Gin."

"When you were talking to Ron after we got hounded by those people, you said you were going to move to a different country to get away," she finished softly.

He was taken aback for a second by what she said. Grabbing her chin and pushing it up so that she was looking him straight in the eye he answered her. "Gin I was only joking. I'm sorry if I scared you, but there is no way that I would ever leave any of you. The only way I would ever leave is if you were coming with me. Do you know why that would be?"

"No," she answered still looking him in the eye.

"Because I love you more than anything Gin."

Ginny's eyes lit up and Harry could see tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She put the kitten down on the floor that had still been in her hands. Before he even new what was happening, she had thrown her arms around him and was squeezing him in a death grip. If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't able to breathe it would have been rather enjoyable. She held him for what felt like several hours, and let go and sat back down in his lap. They just sat and looked at each other for a while before either of them said a word.

"Are you serious? Did you really mean it?" Ginny asked with a hopeful look.

"I'm dead serious Gin. I can't even describe how much I love you. It was so stupid that it took me six years to see what an amazing person you are. Every night while I was away last year, searching for the horcruxes, all I could think about was you, and that amazing kiss you gave me for my birthday."

"I love you too Harry," she voiced sincerely. She moved her arms back around his back and moved her lips to his in what started as a loving, chaste kiss. As time started to pass, Ginny moved her arms under the back of his shirt. This caused them to increase the passion of there kiss as Harry reached under the back of her shirt and started to massage the muscles in her back, causing her to lean into him even more. Reluctantly Harry pulled his face away from hers, their hands still under each others shirts.

"Gin we need to stop. Ron's my best mate and he would never forgive me if I did anything more in his bedroom with his little sister."

Ginny sat back and sighed. "You're right, unfortunately. We'll just have to continue this later. What do you think?" she grinned.

"I'm up for anything. Maybe we should try to figure out names for our new companions incase your mum asks for proof of what we were doing up here all this time."

"That's a good idea. Let me grab Ron's History of Magic book. There are some really interesting names in there that we could use." Ginny got up off his lap, much to Harry's displeasure, and went over to where some of Ron's old textbooks were sitting around, covered in a layer of dust. She came back over plopped down on the spot next Harry and blew the dust off of the book. For the next half an hour they sat on the bed paging through the book. Harry realized the book was much more exciting when you weren't using it for its intended purpose of learning magical history. Eventually he pulled out a quill and some parchment and they started listing names that peaked their interest.

"Well," Harry started, shutting the book and throwing it back over onto Ron's bed, "I think we can find something in this list, but I think it's about time we head down for dinner. I'm guessing Ron's done getting rid of the gnomes by now. That is if they haven't tackled him again and dragged him away."

"Ok let's get a move on before mum yells." She got up off of the bed and offered him her hand. As she pulled him up off of the bed, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her again before they started off down the stairs.

The kitchen was full of activity once again. Percy and Charlie were seated at the table in discussion about something. Mrs. Weasly was busy putting all sorts of food onto plates to be served. As they stepped into the kitchen and headed towards the table the door burst open and a very frustrated looking Ron came in with scrapes on his arms and a scratch right underneath his eye.

"That is the last time that I am ever going near those things. They seem to have some kind of personal vendetta against me. Every time I went after one, another five would come up behind and jump me. If I hadn't started stunning I would have never finished, although they'll probably all be right back tomorrow," Ron finished heading over the sink and cleaning out his injuries.

"Well Ronald, if you don't want to go near them again I would suggest that you shut your mouth the next time you have the urge to shout obscenities, especially in front of your sister," Mrs. Weasly lectured, not even turning around to face him.

"Oh yeah, because she's got the most innocent mouth," Ron said rolling his eyes.

"I have no idea what you are referring to my dear brother," Ginny challenged trying to put on the most innocent face she could manage.

"Yeah right," he answered.

Before the argument had a chance to get into its full stride, the fire place ignited and a figure stepped through the green flames. George Weasly dusted himself off before Mrs. Weasly came over and enveloped her son in a bone shattering hug, only she was capable of.

"How are you doing sweetheart we haven't seen you in while? How is the shop going?" Mrs. Weasly fired off questions.

"I'm fine mum, really. The shop hasn't been doing great, but that should change now that I have some new employees," George grinned.

"Oh really who are they, anybody I know?"

"I would hope so, considering that you gave birth to two of them," George laughed at his mother's confused expression.

"I'm referring to Ron and Ginny, and Harry is also going to come help me for the rest of the summer."

"Oh that's wonderful dear! That will give them something to keep them busy before they all head back off to school."

Harry did his best not to flinch at her comment or attempt to correct her. He wasn't sure what his friends feelings were on the matter, but he was definitely leaning towards not going back to complete his seventh year. Hermione most likely would go back, the draw of being able to take her N.E.W.T.s being too much to bear. Ron was a different story; Harry really had no idea what he was going to do about school. Just then there was a popping sound outside and the door to the kitchen opened.

"Good evening all, something smells good," Mr. Weasly commented as he strolled into the kitchen, hat in hand. He strolled over to his wife kissing her and taking a seat at the table.

Harry walked over and took the seat next to Mr. Weasly at the table, Ginny taking the seat next to him. "So Mr. Weasly, how is the ministry recovering so far?" Harry asked.

"Ah well, we did manage one tall feat today. We finally managed to put the Wizengamot back in place. It was a real job though, trying to replace the members who were either killed or were Voldemort supporters. Hopefully we'll be able to start putting the Death Eaters we caught on trial."

"Have there been anymore reports on the Death Eaters still at large Father?" Percy asked joining in the conversation.

"From what we've heard most of them have been reported to have fled the country, so you're department should be on the lookout for any information coming in." Percy had gone back to his job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Mr. Weasly had convinced the ministry on taking him back, against their judgment after his loyalty to the previous administrations. For the most part the family had forgiven him after he came to fight at Hogwarts, but you could still see that there were still fences to mend. Harry had gotten over it and forgiven him, but there was still some hostility their as well. He would never understand how anyone could abandon their family just for aspirations of furthering their career.

"What's going to happen to the people who go on trial? Is Azkaban still being used?" Ginny asked her father.

"Most of the people will probably be sentenced to prison, but they'll have to stay in the ministry holding cells until the security situation is figured out at Azkaban. It's a problem now that the dementors are gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Ginny inquired.

"Well after the battle all we found left of the dementors were their empty cloaks. Whatever was underneath apparently just disappeared. The Unspeakables are currently looking into it because nobody has an explanation."

"I bet I could explain it," Harry interrupted.

"Really?" the table asked almost in unison.

"Yes. If you think about it, what is it that dementors do? They make you relive your worst memories and experiences. I can testify to that from personal experience on several accounts, but what happened when Voldemort was destroyed? I think that the first thing that entered everyone's mind was relief and wanting to celebrate the end of the war. All of those things are positive emotions. Given the amount of people who were at Hogwarts that night and all the positive feelings, I bet it was too much for them to take. They were probably either destroyed or left to go back wherever they came from," he finished.

Everyone around just gaped at him for a few seconds before Ron turned around from the sink. "Harry, I think you've been spending too many years around Hermione. I've only ever heard her come up with something like that. That was the most insightful thing I've heard you say in seven years." Everyone chuckled at that as Ron took a seat at the table next to George.

"Yeah, well it must have been Hermione I got it from because it definitely didn't come from you," Harry laughed.

"Hey, I'm not that dumb. I say something smart every once in a while," Ron defended himself.

"If every once in a while means never," George added causing the table to erupt in laughter once again.

"Alright, that's enough of that. Please set the table so I can put dinner out if you don't mind. George what happened to you?" Mrs. Weasly asked just noticing the scratches on him.

"Oh well, those three decided it would be nice to surprise me and break into the shop today. I thought it was somebody else and I sort hit Harry with a spell. His bird wasn't too happy with that and that's why I'm scratched. How's your back Harry? I really wasn't trying to blast you into that shelf."

"Don't worry about it. It's a little sore, but I think I'll live. It was our fault anyway."

"Here we go everyone, tuck in," Mrs. Weasly said as she levitated plates full of her cooking onto the dining table. Everyone immediately started helping themselves to her wonderful cooking. Ron started piling food onto his plate like it would be his last meal. The conversations they had while eating had absolutely nothing to do with war which a relief to everyone. Soon the plates on the table were full of significantly less amounts of food and the table's occupants were just finishing up their dessert.

"Well," Mr. Weasly started to get up, "I'm going up to change out of my work robes, why don't we all meet in the living room in about ten minutes and we'll have an after dinner drink?" There was a murmuring of agreement as he went to change.

Ginny whispered to Harry as he left, "I'm going into the living room, wait a second and then come and join me." Leaving no room for discussion she pushed her chair out from the table and left for the living room. After waiting a minute, he looked around to see if anyone at the table was paying attention, but to his immense relief they all seemed to be carried away in conversation with each other. Slowly, he pushed himself away from the table and tiptoed out of the kitchen without disturbing anyone as he left. Entering the living room, he saw Ginny spread out on the couch.

"It took you long enough," Ginny joked pulling down onto the couch next to her.

"Well I wanted to make sure it wasn't too obvious I was following you. So how do you want to go about telling everyone?"

"I don't know we'll think of something. First thing I want you to do is lay down on the couch so I can fix that back of yours." Using her surprising strength she pushed him down on his stomach and started massaging his back. He put his head down and felt the soreness in his back start to ebb away. What happened next really surprised him. She used her strength again to roll him over so he was on his back and proceeded to jump on top of him. Before he knew what was going on they were kissing so hard he thought his lips were going to fall off. How long they were like that he didn't know, but they were brought back to reality when they heard clapping and whistling coming from behind them. Harry thought immediately that all of the color in his face had disappeared as he saw the whole Weasly family standing at the entrance to the living room. George and Charlie were the ones who were clapping and whistling. Percy was just standing there. Ron looked like he wanted to hit someone. Mrs. Weasly had the largest smile he had ever seen on her face while unshed tears were in her eyes, and Mr. Weasly had an unmistakable grin on his face.

"Harry I'm going to pummel you. I can't believe you would go and jump my sister in the living room," Ron exclaimed.

"Ron calm down you prat. It looks more like it was Ginny that jumped him," George said chuckling.

"Oh I knew it, I told you dear," Mrs. Weasly said to her husband. "So how long has this been going on?"

"We just recently got back together," Ginny answered.

Charlie stood there for a second with a mischievous smile on his face, "So when is the wedding?" Everybody besides Ron immediately burst into laughter at the sight of what remaining color left Harry's face.