The rights to Harry Potter, I own not.

This chapter may be rushed… because it is… sorry. But on the bright side it is also the longest chapter I've ever written. So..Pros and Cons.

After the Game

Victor Krum caught the Golden Snitch but Ireland wins! Who would have guessed? Well, Fred and George did but that's besides the point.

Currently all of the Ireland fans were partying like it was the end of the world, including the Weasley tent, there was music, dancing and Firewhiskey. The firewhiskey was only for those of age, though that didn't stop Fred and George from trying to sneak some.

It truly was a fun time for all. So much so that nobody noticed when Bill grabbed Ginny by the arm and took her outside and into the girls' tent.

"So… thanks for not telling dad about the prank I pulled before the cup…" Ginny said knowing exactly why they were talking.

"Didn't think that one out did you."

"It was early in the morning and I was mad, so no I wasn't thinking clearly. I didn't realize that I could get into serious trouble until I saw you three and dad in the same place. He might have not allowed me to watch the Cup, so thanks for waiting to tell him."

"Awfully bold of you to assume I was going to tell dad… or mom for that matter."

Ginny looked to her eldest brother in confusion. "Uhh, why wouldn't you?"

" You being grounded for a day isn't going to make it up to us."

"Make it up to you- I changed the colors on your body! I only used enough so they would say changed until like ten this before the cup would have started. And besides the cure is something a first year could make."

"That is not the point. The point is you did something petty and childish because of an ability you aren't old enough to do yet."

"So why not tell dad, or mom for that matter?"

" Because you're the favorite and you wouldn't be grounded for more than a day."

"I am not the favorite!"

Bill was surprised by the tone. Did she actually think she wasn't the favorite? Well, he guessed that was a good thing. It was far better that she didn't know.

"Moving on,"

"Moving on, nothing. If you aren't going tell mom or dad than why are we even talking about this?"

"Okay, that's enough." Bill said finally. He only had so much time until someone would notice they were missing. He needed to get through this as quickly as possible, "I'm giving you two options either sit down and shut up or I'll show you the reason why Fred and George respect me so much." That was of course a lie. Bill had no idea why they respected him. But Ginny didn't know that.

She looked at her eldest brother with a slight look of fear. Bill could see the wheels turning in her head trying to decide what the best course of action. She gave a huff and started walking over to to a small chair and sat down. She looked to Bill with her arms crossed and said with an annoyed voice " What's this about?"

" I need you to do two things for me." he said, not wanting to beat around the bush. "First I need you to tell me as much as you know about Harry, Ron and Hermione."

"... Why?"

"My reasons are my own."

"They're in the next tent over, why not ask them personally." she said catching on to what Bill wanted to know.

"Because I know they won't tell me anything of substance, now tell me what you know."

Ginny sighed. After playing chess with Ron for so many years, she knew a losing battle when she saw one.

"Look, Bill I don't know a lot… they're pretty secretive."

" Just tell me what you know."

"... I've heard some things from Ron, and some other rumors hanging around…"

Ginny held her hands tightly. She wasn't sure how to feel. She felt like if she told Bill she would be betraying the trio's trust, on the other hand she knew she could trust Bill ... Even though she was not happy with him at the moment.

"Ginny, what do you know?" She was quiet for a moment before relenting.

"... I wasn't there for their first year so I only know what Ron told me… He said that before Hermione started being friends, the three of them and Neville Longbottom were sneaking out at night to do… I think a wizard's duel. Hermione was trying to stop them and Neville just tagged along. Uhh, they saw Filch and made a run for it. They somehow went into a locked room with a cerberus. It was asleep at the time so they all made it out unharmed.

"On Halloween , Ron said something mean about Hermione that she had overheard. She cried in one of the girls' bathrooms for hours. Then, somehow, a troll made its way into Hogwarts. Ron and Harry realized Hermione didn't know about the troll. So they went to warn her. It was too late though, the troll was in the same bathroom as her. So Harry decided to jump on the troll's back to distract him, while Ron cast the levitation charm on the troll's club and knocked him out. Then-"

Bill gave her a hold on gesture. He needed some time to process this new information. You mean to tell him that when those three were first years, they met a man eating dog and a troll within their first two months at Hogwarts!... And why wasn't he aware of this… " Ginny continue,"

She was throw off by the voice, she didn't know exactly what the emotion was behind it other than intense. " Uhh, at some point they heard the name of Nicolas Flamel and figured something of his was hidden under a trapdoor in the celebrus. A few months later they found out about the philosopher's stone. Then about a week before summer break, they all figured out that the stone was going to be stolen that night. They went to Mcgonagall but she didn't believe them, and Dumbledore wasn't there so they decided to get it themselves.

"They were too late though, someone else was in front of them. They made it through some kind of plant barrier, got a flying key needed to open a door, then there was a giant chess match that they won. But Ron sacrificed himself in the game and got knocked out. Then Hermione and Harry moved on and Hermione solved Snape's riddle. But for some reason Hermione didn't join Harry into the last room. So he faced You-Know-Who alone. I was never told what happened but Harry did spend several days in the hospital wing unconscious and a few more recovering. And that's all I was told about their first year."

Bill gave her another hold on gesture, he really needed to think. So she didn't know everything that happened. If she did she would have mentioned the dragon since she had no problem talking about the other dangers those three were in that year. Which only made him wonder what else she didn't know.

And there was what she did know, it was choppy and left a lot of gaps. If Bill had to guess she was told these things through letters over a period of time. Which would make sense, Ginny and Ron were somewhat close, at least when they were younger anyway. It would stand that Ron would tell her some things about what was happening at Hogwarts… Okay let's move on to third year- Bill knew better then to ask about their second year considering who he was asking. " Okay, so about their thi-"

"Second year was a mess." Ginny said. Her voice was in a very controlled voice. She was clearly trying her best not to cry.

" First those three get caught being the only ones around with a message written in blood on the walls, and then they were blamed for killing Mrs. Norris. She wasn't dead though. Then there was the whole dueling club where Harry got outed as a parselmouth. Then everyone starting blaming him for the petrifications and being the heir of Slytherin , then Harry got the diary which I had to steal back. Then Hermione got petrified. The one upside was that most everyone got their heads out of their asses and realized that Harry wouldn't petrify his best friend. So they started to leave him alone. Then I get... then Harry saved my life with Hermione and Ron's help. " Ginny said, talking faster and higher with each sentence.

Ginny then curled in onto herself. Bill knew what to do. He simply hugged her silently supporting her. She didn't cry but she was shaking. Bill subconsciously started rubbing her back, while he started thinking. Ginny had just told him about her first year. She had never been able to talk about her first year before! He was well aware that Ginny had been given a diary that had once belonged to the Dark Lord. It took over her mind and made her do horrible things.

And with that traumatic experience, their parents agreed that she should see a mind healer. And even though she did put forth an effort to get better, it didn't turn out well. She practactly shut down after the first meeting. She didn't talk to anyone and slept all day. The second visit caused the same reaction. It was then the mind healer said that it would be better to wait until she was older and better able to process the events that happened. Their parents reluctantly agreed. However, the mind healer did say that in the meantime did say that she should keep a sketchbook so she could draw out her feelings or something. Normally it would have been a journal… but they all agreed that would make things worse.

She actually wasn't that bad of an artist. Although, for whatever reason she was constantly drawing the Gryffindor fireplace. He did also see a girls bathroom once too. He didn't ask. She would tell him if and when she was ready.

Expect maybe she was better. She managed to talk about her first year with him. Even if it was more about the trio then herself, but hey, progress was progress. He would talk to his parents about getting her to see a mind healer again.

However his mind did a backflip when he started to process what she had told him. Wait Harry was a parselmouth! Hermione was petrified! Harry got his hands on the Dark Lord's diary… oh dear Merlin. Was it too late to back out of this? Probably.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Bill asked, noticing that her shaking had diminished.

"...I don't know."

"That's okay."

"...You still want to know about last year."

"If you want to, it's not necessary." He didn't want her to shut down on him. It was truly horrifying as an older brother to see.

"Well on Halloween," she said trying to calm down. "Sirius Black managed to get into the castle, a few months later he got into Ron and Harry's dorm room during the night and uhh… he left when Ron started screaming." Ginny was keeping something out of that statement. It didn't matter, he could always ask her later or ask Percy, Fred or George.

"Then after final exams the trio were nowhere to be found, we only found out the next day that Sirius Black was captured, but then escaped almost immediately after, and that all three of them were in the hospital wing all night. I don't know what happened, no one does. But it was pretty obvious that those three ran into Black."

Okay, this was interesting. "Ginny, how were they acting after they got out of the hospital wing."

"What do you mean?" She said, she sounded like she was back to normal.

"Just did they do anything… out of character?"

"...Well, I mean they were holed up in the library a lot. I assumed that they wanted privacy after the whole ordeal."

So, Black attacks them and their response was to spend there last few days in the library. Then Ron comes home and finishes all of his homework the first week and starts spending his time reading books too advanced for him. He wasn't stupid, he was aware Ron had read his old curse breaker books.

Bill knew his baby brother wasn't stupid, he just lacked the will power to do his schoolwork. Well, at least he did. Which begs the question, what is currently giving him the motivation now to do it, and more importantly why was he reading about advanced topics...

He had a lot of things to think over. He looked over at his sister. She looked exhausted, he had to wrap up this conversation before she passed out. (She had done it before).

"Thank you for telling me what you know. Now, the second thing I need you to do."

"I was hoping you forgot about that." she muttered under her breath.

"I want you to hear me out and not freak out. Deal?"

"...Deal?" she said slightly concerned

" I want you to watch the trio and report to me if they do-"

" You want me to spy on them!"

"Ginny-"

"No! You can't make me do that!" She made a beeline for the exit.

"Where do you think your going?" Bill said grabbing her arm.

"Away from you." she said trying and failing to get her arm free.

"You said you would hear me out."

"That was before you wanted me to become a snitch."

"Ginny listen to me." he said with a quiet intensity. She slowly stopped fighting for her arm. "Thank you. Look, I'm not asking you to spend all of your free time watching them. I just want you to tell me if they are sneaking out after curfew, getting detentions, things like that."

"Why?"

"Because I'm concerned. I don't know what the staff think they're doing but those three have been in danger for every year they've been in Hogwarts. I want to help them because it seems like no one else will."

"...Good reasons… but it won't work."

"I don't care if it won't work, I have to try something."

"By blackmailing me... not to mention they'll end up hating you if they find out that your using me to spy on them."

"Rather they resent me and have them safe then like me and leave them on their own."

"...Okay, fine, I'll do it. If I notice anything I'll write you about it."

"Promise me." Bill said taking out his wand, "Promise on your magic."

Ginny got serious look on her face. Promising on your magic was not something to take lightly. While you wouldn't die if you betrayed the promise,like an Unbreakable oath, your magic would weaken and alert the other person, Bill in this case, that you went back on your word. Your magic would only go back to normal if the other person allowed it to happen. Which she knew that Bill would… but still.

"Bill, this seems like overkill-"

"Ginny promise me… please."Ginny picked up the slight desperation in his voice. She reluctantly grabbed onto Bill's wand.

"...Okay… If I notice Ron, Harry or Hermione doing anything I'll write to you, I promise." Both siblings could feel their magic reacting to the promise.

"Thank you, I know you don't like this, but it's for the best…" Bill said at his very exhausted sister. " You should go to sleep, you look like you're about to pass out."

Ginny nodded and shooed Bill out of the tent so she could change.. If she knew pranking them would result in a night like this, she would have never done it. Honestly, he not only guilted her, but also used her exhaustion to his advantage.

Now she had to spy on the often called "Golden Trio". It made her feel dirty, nevermind that it was for their own "protection".

She wasn't sure she would even be able to do it. Ron and her were really close. Yeah, they made fun of each other a lot, but it came from a place of love. Also it was nice to have someone in the family that was comfortable enough with her to tease her. Everyone else was too afraid to her hurt feelings.(Beside Fred and George, but they don't count. Then make fun of everyone.)

Hermione and her weren't best friends or anything, but they got along. And Hermione was a hard worker and very smart. Ginny admired her.

And then there was Harry. She used to have a gigantic crush on the Boy-Who-Lived, now… she wasn't sure. She definitely still had feelings for him, but she wasn't sure what they were. It could be gratitude for saving her life… it could be love for saving her life… maybe it was just appreciation for never bringing up the fact he had saved her life and treated her like a friend… she didn't know. Her mind was messed up.

She really didn't want to this, but she had made a promise to Bill, her magic wouldn't let her back out of this now.

She had just laid down in her bed when a thought came to her. Wait… I only promised that if I notice anything that she would tell Bill about it… Well guess who's going to spend her time at Hogwarts avoiding the trio like a plague.

At some point Mr. Weasley told everyone to go to bed. Harry thought it would be hard considering all the noise coming from everyone else in camp celebrating Ireland's win. But the moment Harry hit the pillow he passed out. It didn't last long though.

"-get up. You need to get up now! Harry wake up!" Harry was awoken by Mr. Weasley loud, yet scared voice.

"Dad, what's going on?" Ron asked his father, who was currently shaking Fred awake.

"Get up now! This is urgent!"

Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were quickly ushered out of the tent, where they met Ginny and Hermione who looked as confused as they did.

"What's happening?!" Ginny yelled, trying to make herself heard over the screaming around her.

"There's been an attack." Mr. Weasley responded. Harry looked around and saw what he was talking about. There were a few dozen men dressed with long black robes and masks, firing spells at what looked like four people flying in the air. But upon closer inspection it was two adults and two young children. The masked men were laughing and jeering at the people they were swinging around the air.

"That's sick." Ron said in a disgusted voice. "Really, really sick."

That was when Bill, Charlie, and Percy came running out of the tent and towards the masked men.

"We're going to help the Ministry. You lot- all of you need to go into the woods and stick together. I'll find you when this is all over. Go!"

Fred grabbed Ginny and started to run with George right behind them. The trio followed their lead. It wasn't easy to follow them though. It was dark and there were many other people around them panicking.

That was when Ron gave a yell of pain. Hermione lit her wand to see that Ron had fallen.

"Damn, I tripped on a stupid root."

"With feet that size, it's hard not to."

Three of them turned, fully aware of who had just spoken. There, standing utterly relaxed at them, was Draco Malfoy. Harry turned to see where he was looking. If you looked just right, you could easily see the muggles being flung around. Harry was revolted.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron spat at the blond.

"Language Weasley," Malfoy said amused. "Anyway shouldn't you be getting her out of here, you wouldn't want her to be spotted now, would you?"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione demanded.

"They after muggles, Granger. Do you want to be blasted into the air, because if you do stick around they're coming this way and it would be hilarious to see."

Hermione had to hold Ron back. Which Harry was grateful for. Him yelling and attack Malfoy had never worked out in the past. Harry knew Malfoy wanted them to react, to be angry, to fight back. But this time Harry wasn't going to do wanted to catch the Slytherin off guard. He had already tried out his new technique in the top box to a great success. Let's see if it would work again.

"Draco, I'm touched that you would risk your own neck to try and save Hermiones."

"What are you talking about Potter!"

"You are willing to stand here in the line of fire, to help save those who would have otherwise been attacked." Harry said this with as much praise as his voice could muster while slowly getting closer to Ron and Hermione. "We'll be sure to tell everyone of your heroic deeds, Draco. Everyone will know the name ; Draco the Muggle Helper!"Then, Harry sprinted off with Ron and Hermione close behind him.

"Did you see his face?" Ron said not bothering to hide his laugh.

"You know he's going to try and get us back" Hermione said trying to tame her smile.

"We'll be ready." Harry said. "But on a more important matter. Do you guys know who those people in masks are?"

"You don't know- Harry those were Death Eaters. You-Know-Who's followers." Ron told him.

"What?" Harry was surprised not to mention angry. So Sirius is stuck in Azkaban for over a decade while over 30 real Voldemort supporters are running free, still causing mayhem. Harry was pissed to say the least.

The trio were silent after that. They kept trying to find Fred, George and Ginny but to no avail. But that's not to say they didn't run into nothing. They had found some young French students asking where there headmaster was. Hermione had spoken to them(in French) and they had run off in a different direction. They saw a veela, but only for a moment because Hermione changed their direction as soon as she saw the beautiful woman. Then they ran past Bagman who had disapparated soon after.

At some point Harry had realized he lost his wand. Ron and Hermione assured him that he had probably just left it in their tent but Harry wasn't so sure. Ever since Sirius had "attacked" Ron last year, he had slept with his wand on his person. Even though he knew the truth about Sirius now, the habit still stayed. So where was his wand… maybe he lost it while running through the woods… or maybe Malfoy took his wand when he was running away from him. It wouldn't surprise him.

Harry had bigger things to worry about. Why? Because the Dark Mark had just appeared in the sky and the three of them were currently under attack from a barrage of stunners. But before they could be hit, Harry's seeker reflexes kicked in and he was able to bring Ron and Hermione down to the ground before they were hit.

Apparently the adults assumed they were the ones who conjured the mark. Luckily Mr. Weasley was there to bring them back to reality.

"You really think Harry Potter had anything to do with conjuring the Dark Mark?" A few of the adults had the decency to looked embarrassed.

But that didn't matter to some of them(Crouch) , they demanded to know what had happened here.

They explained that they heard a voice saying the incantation for the Dark Mark from a bush a few yards away. A few of the adults to check out what they were talking about. They discovered a house elf. Mr. Crouch's house elf, Winky. Who also had Harry's wand.

The trio try to explain that they heard a man's voice, but no one listened to them. Mr. Crouch had given Winky clothes as a punishment for summoning the Dark Mark, then left immediately after.

Hermione was livid at Mr. Crouch's treatment of his house elf. But Harry assumed that she knew this wasn't the time nor place to be talking about it.

Mr. Weasley then brought the trio back to their tent, Harry saw that Percy was currently trying to heal a large cut on Bill's arm, while Charlie was heading for his father, trying to get more information about what was happening.

"Dad- what's going on- the Dark Mark!" They didn't get to hear anything else because they started walking away. The trio was about to follow but he was stopped by Fred and George blocking their path.

"Where the hell did you go?" George said angrily. Okay seriously, why was it that every single Weasley turned into the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen when they went in protective mode?

"I fell, Harry and Hermione stayed behind to help me. We tried to find you guys again but couldn't." Ron said.

"...Well don't let it happen again." Fred said , realizing they couldn't be mad at them for getting lost. The twins walked over to the other side of the tent, clearly trying to calm down.

"I've never seen them act so… protective before." Ron said.

"It was worse earlier." Ginny said, scaring the trio slightly. They hadn't realized she was right next to them. "Back in the woods, when we saw you weren't with us, they freaked out. Fred had started leading the way to look for you while George was teaching me a few spells that I could use if we ran into trouble."

"What kind of spells?"

"Defensive spells mostly...One's way too advanced for me…I wouldn't have been able to do anything if anything had happened…" Ginny said kind of put out. "Luckily Charlie had found us, he was put out that you three weren't with us… he just brought us back here and was about to go find you when dad had come in with you guys."

"So you guys weren't hurt?" Hermione asked.

"No, we never ran into trouble. But we did freak out when we saw- saw the Dark Mark. Did you guys see it?"

The three shared a glance. Should they tell her what happened to them? They decided not to. While she put on a brave face, she was clearly afraid of the Dark Mark - well what it stood for anyway.

At some point in the night(or was it morning?) The trio, Ginny, Fred and George started to play Exploding Snap ( They couldn't sleep) While Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Mr. Weasley were doing whatever they could to help the Ministry around the camp.

The six of them were told by Bill around five in the morning that they should head to bed. Bill wasn't sure how long they would being staying there. They complied, they weren't happy about it but they complied. Ginny and Hermione had just taken two beds from the boys' tent. Not wanting to leave. Although Harry had a feeling Bill would have regretted his decision if he knew what would happen after he left.

Almost five minutes after Bill left, Mr. Weasley and another man came in.

"This is bad Arthur." He said in a whisper, not wanting to "wake up" the six "sleeping" teenagers. "Really, really bad! The Ministry is going to be busy for weeks-"

"Is that all you have to say!" Mr. Weasley angrily whispered at the man. "People have died tonight, and all you can say is how busy you're going to be."

"Look, I know that tonight has been a nightmare, okay! … And what are you talking about? I haven't heard about anyone dying."

"Figures they're trying to cover it up."

"What are you talking about?"

"... The family that the Death Eaters were torturing tonight, they killed them. All of them. Burned them alive." Harry had never heard him sound so defeated before.

"What?" the man said in horror." D-Did you see it?"

" I was there when it happened. I was busy defending myself from two of them at the time… But I saw the spell be cast- and then then screams…" Harry took a chance and glanced at Mr. Weasley, he was silently crying. " The children were five and seven, and the wife was pregnant." Harry felt like he was going to throw up.

"...Dear Merlin."

"I was just about to catch one of the bastards too, but then the Dark Mark showed up and they all fled."

"Did they catch anyone?"

"No, they all got away… again" The amount of bitterness in his voice was alarming.

Then someone else entered the tent. "Dad." It was Percy. " The Ministry is calling for everyone to clear out and go home. They're going to bring the Unspeakables and a few senior aurors in about an hour. We have that long to pack up and leave."

"What? But I was just called in to scout the-"

"Doesn't matter. Those who were recently called in are expected to head back to the Ministry, while those who've stayed the whole night get ten hours before they need to head back into work." Percy said.

"How bad is it?"

"You don't want to know, Gordon. But I could use your help. I was asked to spread the word about what's going on around the campsite."

"Yeah, I can help you with that. Anything to stay away from the Ministry at the moment."

The pair of them left in a rush out of the tent leaving Mr. Weasley to "wake" them up. Harry faked it the best he could, thankfully Mr. Weasley didn't seem to notice. He told them to get their shoes and jackets and to wait outside the tent for him, while he took care of a few more things.

When he left, the six of them all shared a look. A look of horror and disgust at what had happened to the muggle family the night before.

"Sh-Should we tell your dad we overheard him?" Hermione asked.

"...No, he's got enough to worry about at the moment." George answered soberly.

Harry couldn't help but agree. And he wasn't alone because everyone else was unconsciously nodding.

"...They set t-two children on fire…" Ginny said horrified, letting tears fall from her eyes. Fred and George went to comfort her.

Meanwhile Harry Ron and Hermione all looked at each other. Suddenly they knew exactly what war they were training themselves for.

Okay a few things.

Some of you may not like that I, essentially, made Bill force Ginny into spying on the trio. And that's totally fine. But please understand, this fic is not about the good guys making all the right choices while the bad guys are constantly fumble. So within my story, the characters are going to mess up, make wrong choices, and do things that may be questionable. They are going to be as human as I can possibly make them. What I'm trying to say is that you're allowed to disagree with the character's choices, I encourage that in fact. But that doesn't mean that a character will always act that way.(Hint Hint)

Now onto the whole Bill forcing Ginny thing, personally if I was in Bill's show this is what I would do. Does that make it right, no. But it is what I would do. If I had younger siblings put in danger all the time, I would want someone watching them for me.

And finally, question. Do you guys want me to explain what happened in canon? For example, when the trio is running through the woods, I basically summarized what happened, and only added details if I changed something. Do you guys like that style, or do you want me to fully explain what the canon series gave us. And I'm not just talking about plot points, but also descriptions of characters we'll meet later. (EX. Moody, Fleur, Krum, etc.) Or are you guys totally caught up with canon and just want to read the new stuff? Please let me know.

P.S How'd I do with Ginny... she's kind of hard to write at this age because J.K. didn't really use her that much until the fifth/sixth book. So I'm some what basing her off some thirteen years I've known in my life.

Until next time.