AN/ This chapter features the first real piece of broom action in the story, never been very good at this sort of passage in the past, and to be honest wasn't comfortable with it here, but i was asked to leave it in.
AN/ Where in other chapter i have tried to show what is happening in the wider world, this chapter is a little different in that it remains focued on the Burrow.
It was the year 1997, nearly a thousand years after the founding of the first of the magical schools. Located deep in the Scottish highlands. The school was a port of call for Purebloods, the muggleborn, halfbloods, werewolves, politicians, and students from many lands.
It could be a dangerous place, but we all knowingly accepted the risks, because Hogwarts was our last, best hope for peace.
It failed.
But in the final years of the War, Hogwarts became something much greater: it became our last, best hope – for victory.
(adapted from the opening credits Babylon 5)
"The family is one of nature's masterpieces"
George Santayana
Chapter Nine: Family
The Burrow, 13:00 30 June
By the time Harry reached the kitchen, he was in considerable pain, his thigh was felt like it was on fire, and forcing him to cry out with each step he took. He had quickly discarded the cane in favour of Ginny. When he had nearly fallen, on his way down the stairs, she had moved quickly and saved him from a head first plunge down three flights of steps.
She had positioned her shoulder snugly under his armpit, placing her arm tightly around his waist, and despite any discomfort it caused her, she was supporting a lot of his weight as he descended the stairs.
Harry was concentrating so hard on not falling over that he never saw Molly bounding across the kitchen towards him and Ginny. She swept them both up into a hug, although for once she was careful not to squeeze Harry too hard due to his injuries. Ginny however was not so lucky, Harry could see her face turning red, almost matching the colour of her hair.
Finally releasing her hold she kissed them both on the cheek. And then it was Arthur's turn, although he was slightly more restrained than his wife, the emotion was just as genuine. By the time he had stepped back Harry had also blushed red.
The kitchen was empty except for the four of them, which was unusual considering how many people were crammed into the burrow at that moment, there was normally always someone passing through for a drink, some food or just hanging out.
Arthur ushered Harry and Ginny to empty seats while he and Molly took seats opposite them, they had very strange looks on their faces. Ginny looked over at Harry nervously, whatever was going on, it was clear she had no idea what it was either.
Harry had a sudden fear that somehow Ginny's parents had found out about him laying his hands on her breasts, and they knew about the thoughts that had been running through his head about seeing their daughter naked, maybe they were about to ask him to leave! Or even worse, to stop seeing Ginny altogether!
"Harry, we, that is Molly and I, have to tell you something, something important. We were really hoping Remus would be here to when we told you, but he had to go and do something for the Order."
Both of them were sat there wide eyed with fear, looking from Arthur and then to Molly, both dreading what was coming, under the table they found each others hands and clutched desperately at each other in the hope they would still be able to be a couple after their parents had stopped talking.
"Since the very first moment we met you Harry, you have always been polite, considerate, generous, loyal and brave to a fault. We have watched you grow towards manhood with the same pride we have felt in all our other children."
Harry blushed again under the praise, he really was not very good at taking compliments.
"You have been a member of our family in our hearts probably since you pulled Ginny from the chamber of secrets."
Feeling the little shudder in her hand, Harry looked over at her and gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand. He better than most understood the trauma that still remained from that experience, she still had the occasional nightmare.
Ginny turned to face him and gave him a little smile of gratitude.
"But we thought it was well past the time we did something to make our relationship official, today we filed the necessary paperwork to make everything legal and above board. Harry, welcome to the Weasley family!"
Ginny squealed with pleasure and shot from her seat, ran around the table and embraced her mother, Arthur sat watching Harry, who had not moved an inch, his face frozen. Arthur frowned, his expression concerned at the youths lack of reaction.
"Harry, it is what you wanted isn't it?"
Harry sat there, shocked into silence. His brain had completely locked up, he was really struggling to take in the information he had just been given.
Family, such a simple word, yet one that so many took for granted, it was the one thing he had been missing all these years, oh he had the Dursleys, but they had done nothing but abuse him.
For a moment he tried to contain the emotions that were welling up inside him, but it was no use, within seconds hot tears were cascading down his cheeks. He finally had everything he could ask for, family and a home, somewhere he belonged. It was like looking into the mirror of Erised during his first year at Hogwarts, yet this wasn't a magical fantasy, this was actually happening.
"I don't know what to say, thank you seems somehow to be terribly inadequate"
Harry looked at Molly and Arthur and could see nothing but love in their eyes.
"Thank you is more than enough for now, son"
There was a quiet scraping sound at the closed kitchen door, Arthur spun around and rose from his seat, he moved quickly to the door and flung it open. He was nearly buried for his trouble by the press of Wizarding kind that collapsed into the room in a big heap. Fred and George, Bill, Ron, Neville and most surprisingly of all Draco, other than the twins, they all had the good grace to look guilty at having been caught in the act of eavesdropping.
Arthur stood there, hands on hips, looking incredibly stern, but he couldn't hold the expression for very long, he grinned at the pile of wizards on the floor at his feet.
"Well you may as well come in I suppose" Raising his voice he called out into the yard "That goes for you lot as well, come in everyone"
Before long the kitchen was full of laughing and joking people, eight of them were now Harry's family, and he was still in a state of shock. He had not yet moved out of his seat, his body was taking even longer that his mind to catch on, he was no longer alone, and he had a family.
Helen jumped onto his lap and flung her arms around his neck.
"Thank you for rescuing me Harry"
"That's ok little one, you're welcome"
Draco had come up behind them, he leaned down and congratulated Harry, and he then messed Helen's hair up.
"Come on short stuff, give Potter some peace, poor guy's still in shock"
Draco turned and regarded Ginny.
"Oh by the way Weasley, I tripped over this just before I left Death Eater central, thought you'd want it back"
Draco held out Ginny's wand to her, she just looked open mouthed at Draco, she had believed the wand lost forever. Throwing her arms around Draco's neck, she kissed him on the cheek. Draco had the good grace to look flushed at this display of emotion.
"Thank you Malfoy"
Ginny replaced Helen in Harry's lap before he could say anything about her kissing Draco. She ran a hand through his hair, and scrunched her nose up, as if studying him for the first time.
"Well it was fun while it lasted, but I guess its time to move on"
"What are you talking about Ginny?"
"Harry I'm afraid I'm going to have to break up with you, now we're brother and sister, it just won't work out, it's not natural, I'm so sorry"
Harry stared at her open mouthed, he couldn't believe the words she had just spoken, he looked for a hint of humour in her face, some sign that she was winding him up, but there was a look of complete seriousness. Oh Merlin, she meant it, so what was he supposed to do now?
"Oh Ginny that's just great…"
"You should see your face Harry…"
"It's a treat, where's Colin and his"
"Camera when you need him?"
Harry shot a look of pure hatred at the twins, which just seemed to amuse them further, and then spun back around, to Ginny his anger building.
She lent in and kissed him on the lips, letting her tongue gently brush against his teasingly, his anger quickly cooled, he could never stay angry at her for very long and she knew it. Leaning in close, so that only he could hear her, she whispered.
"Welcome to the family, oh boyfriend of mine"
"Just wait, oh girlfriend of mine, vengeance shall be swift and brutal"
Ginny grinned, slapped him gently on the nose, then gave him a quick peck before going to speak to Luna, who Harry had just noticed was stood holding hands with Neville. Catching the eye of his friend, Harry grinned at him, Neville just shrugged and rolled his eyes. Harry laughed, pleased beyond measure that another of his friends had found some happiness.
The door opened and Thomas entered followed by Remus.
Remus looked at Arthur questioningly, who nodded back at him. Remus turned to Harry and gave him a small smile of congratulations.
"I take it the meeting went well!"
Arthur asked quietly, concerned about his friend.
"We'll discuss it later Arthur, i don't want to spoil the mood"
Thomas engulfed both of his sisters in an enormous hug, Katie quickly filled him in on what was happening, and he looked over at Harry and grinned. Taking an empty seat at the table, Thomas pulled out a black weapon that had been completely hidden under his robes, expertly removing the magazine he pocketed it. Pulling back on the slide, the weapon spat out the unfired round from the chamber which Thomas deftly caught in midair.
"Had a busy afternoon Tom?"
Thomas grinned at him.
"Yeah I had a lot of fun"
Harry groaned, knowing at first hand what kind of stupid, dangerous activities the man considered fun.
"How many of them were there?"
"Four, and nothing got hurt except a brick wall and their pride, I'm just going to put this where young hands can't find it"
Thomas stood and moved to the door, pausing he looked back over his shoulder.
"It's a beautiful day, shame to be stuck inside"
"Thomas is right, let's take this outside"
Arthur quickly had the group organised and all the furniture was levitated outside, with the customary midair furniture battles. Harry got himself sat down as quickly as possible, his thigh still hurt and he didn't want to be stood up longer than was necessary.
Before too long the group had put together two Quidditch teams, Fred, Ginny, Ron, Luna and Neville on one team, and George, Bill, Percy, Draco and Katie on the other side. Despite Bill's urgings, Fleur declined a spot on one of the teams, Harry couldn't actually ever remember seeing her on a broomstick, he wondered if Beauxbatons placed as much emphasis on teaching its students broomstick flight and competitive Quidditch as Hogwarts did
Harry also noticed that originally Neville and Draco had started out on each other's team, but had put their heads together and agreed to swap. So, in Harry's opinion, they could each be on the team with the girl they were interested in.
Fred, George and Ron were each on their clean sweep 11s, Draco and Katie were both riding Firebolt's, and Ginny had borrowed Draco's Nimbus
He sat watching them with Helen for about five minutes, listening with some amusement as the seven year old picked apart each players performance, comparing each to Viktor Krum. She really was quite knowledgeable about a game she had never played.
Molly approached Harry, she had seen him watching the play above him with a wistful expression on his face, she knew how much he loved flying, and how much it hurt him to have to stay on the ground.
"As long as you are careful, I don't see why you can't join them, just make sure you stop when you have had enough"
Harry grinned up at her.
"Thanks, mum"
Nothing he could have said would have pleased Molly more than that, she walked away with the biggest smile on her face.
Harry's firebolt was in his room on the second floor, standing, Harry almost collapsed immediately, sitting back down, Harry gritted his teeth in frustration, he wanted more than anything to play Quidditch but there was no way he could get his broom with his leg in this condition, he really wanted his Firebolt.
There was a slight tingling sensation in his hand like pins and needles, he opened it to stretch off the muscles, and there it was, the neck of the firebolt nestled comfortably in the palm of his hand as if it had always been there. Harry smiled, he knew now that his new gift was driven by his wants and needs, he had to really want or need something to make it appear before him.
Looking over, Harry saw that Helen was regarding him open mouthed in shock, even in the magical world things didn't just appear out of thin air on demand. Leaning closer, Harry dropped his voice to a whisper.
"It's magic!"
Sliding his injured leg carefully over the neck of the broom, Harry performed one of the most unconventional takeoffs anyone could say they had ever seen. Rather than the standard push off, it was more like a hop, skip and a one-footed jump.
Tucking his feet into the stirrups, Harry leaned forward over the neck of the broom and accelerated, until he was flashing along at near the Firebolt's top speed, with the tips of his toes only inches above the ground.
He was grinning like an idiot, he was in his element, there was nothing holding him back, his injured thigh couldn't slow him down here, even his injured shoulder was not holding him back. He cried in the delight of being on a broom once more.
Those playing Quidditch above him had not yet noticed him streaking along below them, he was lost in the ground clutter, and they weren't looking for him. Looking up he caught flashes of Ginny's lithe figure as she darted in and out of the pack above him.
Pulling back hard on the neck of the firebolt, Harry entered a vertical climb aiming straight for the pack of ten brooms and riders circling and wheeling above him. Leaning further forward over the neck of the broom , the firebolt reached its top speed of 150mph just as it passed through the centre of the aerial melee.
Whooping in the pure joy of flight, Harry roared straight through the centre of the pack and straight out the top, not slowing until he had climbed several hundred feet above the pack, he allowed his speed to bleed off, and hung there watching the ten riders below him milling about in confusion. Opening his robes, Harry grinned down at the Quaffle safely hidden there.
It took only a second for Ginny to realise that the Quaffle that should have been in her hands…wasn't, and from Fred's puzzled expression, he had carried out his part of the pass.
Looking up for a moment she grinned, and pulled her broom into a climb.
"Excuse me Mister, but can we have our ball back please?"
Harry grinned at Ginny as she pulled up alongside him.
"What, this little thing?"
He waved the Quaffle at her, and she nodded.
"It'll cost you a kiss"
"That's a fair price I guess"
Ginny nudged the Nimbus in closer until the two brooms were side by side, then she lent across and with her hand gently caressed Harry's cheek, sliding her hand down behind his neck she pulled his head down and gifted him with a passionate kiss to the lips.
"Alright you two get a room. Potter, are you playing? Longbottom just took a bludger to the head and is dropping out, leaves their team a player short"
Draco had climbed up to join them, Harry, still smiling from the kiss, tossed him the Quaffle.
"Sure, how does that sound, oh girlfriend of mine?"
"Sounds good to me, boyfriend of mine!"
"Oh please you two, I think I'm going to be sick"
Draco dived back to the pack, while Ginny and Harry began to spiral downwards more sedately.
The two teams had a quick mid-air chat as to rules. Each team would have one beater, unsurprisingly the twins would perform this function for each team. One seeker per team, again unsurprisingly Harry and Draco were nominated. Harry was pleased to see that the others seemed at least to be talking to Draco now. Three chasers on each team, with rush goalies, made up the team roster.
It was a close fought and evenly matched game, skill wise it was as well played as any game Harry had ever taken part in, but then of the ten players, eight of them had or still did play for house teams at Hogwarts, only Luna and Percy did not.
Harry had never seen Luna on a broom before that day and he was quite impressed, without seeming to put any effort in she effortlessly flowed between players, avoiding collisions and bludgers with grace and style.
The scores were 80-60 in his teams favour when Harry saw the snitch for the first time, it was at nearly ground level, flying in the opposite direction to him. Pushing his broom down into a dive, Harry began a vertical spinning descent to confuse any opposing players watching to which way he would pull out of the dive at the bottom in pursuit of the snitch.
He passed between Ginny and Luna, accelerating towards the ground, although the sound of the wind was loud in his ears, he thought he heard Ginny urging him on.
Pulling out of the dive with his toes brushing the ground, Harry zeroed in on the snitch, it was flying a straight course at his level. Gaining on the gold winged ball all the time, Harry took a hand off the broom to make a grab. The snitch chose this moment to climb vertically away.
Harry travelling at top speed, overshot the snitch and pulled into a climb trying to keep his eye on the little golden ball as he climbed after it. Spinning away from a well hit bludger, Harry sped back through the main pack, this time though Harry was aware he had company, Draco had seen the snitch climb and was after it now too.
Levelling out above the pack, Harry scanned the skies for a sign of the elusive snitch, he had lost it in the sun, and the only good thing about that, was so had Draco, who was circling slightly below him.
"Just like old times, Potter"
"Sure is, gonna beat you this time too!"
"We'll see"
Harry saw the snitch at the same time as Draco, it had doubled back and was diving below them. Both seekers dived at the same moment and neck and neck they dived for the ground, they were on identical brooms, it was all down to the skill of the player.
Then suddenly a third figure was diving straight for the ground alongside them. A unknown man wearing a dragon scale flight jacket and a helmet and goggles, he was lent low over his broom, matching them for speed, he was riding another firebolt! The three men screamed towards the ground neck and neck at 150mph.
The snitch levelled out, and Draco, knowing his skill wasn't up to the task pulled out of the dive early to cut the corner off, but Harry remained in the dive, urging every last bit of speed from the broom, so to Harry's surprise, did the newcomer. The ground was rushing up to them, and Harry knew he had to pull out soon, or he would make a mess on the lawn.
The two men pulled out at exactly the same moment, and the extra momentum pushed them well beyond Draco's reach, the two of them, Harry and the stranger both now flat on the neck of their brooms, tore after the snitch. Above them play had stopped as the pack watched the progress of these two maniac speed demons.
The snitch climbed again, but Harry had been prepared for that this time and didn't overshoot, but the newcomer was prepared as well, and together they both climbed hard in the snitches wake, matching each other move for move. Harry was beginning to think the other rider was in fact his shadow, so closely did he match Harry's movements.
Tearing upwards again, Harry reached for the snitch, narrowly missing the golden ball, the other player's hand was even closer, his arm was a couple of inches longer than Harry's, but he missed as well. Then the snitch did something Harry had never seen it do before, rather than change direction, it just stopped dead in the air.
Harry and the newcomer flashed passed either side of the stationary snitch, but Harry's reactions were simply outstanding, he reacted far quicker than the other rider.
Kicking his legs out of the stirrups, Harry threw himself backwards on the broom. So instead of laying flat along the neck, he now had his head over hanging the brooms tail, the only thing keeping him on the broom were his toes wrapped around the Firebolt's neck.
Reaching out as he passed it, Harry snatched the snitch out of the air by his fingertips.
Pumping the air in triumph, Harry regained his position on his broom, and looked around. The pack was all clapping and cheering, climbing up to him. The newcomer was sat hovering a short distance away, shaking his head in disbelief. He guided his broom over to Harry and sat upright.
"That was the most incredible catch I have ever seen any seeker make in my whole life, well done"
The flying helmet muffled the voice, but the newcomer tugged it off to reveal a familiar mass of untidy red hair, a heavily freckled face and a broad smile. Charlie Weasley offered his hand and Harry took it, gripping it with affection.
No wonder the other rider had kept up with him, Charlie had been the last Gryffindor seeker to come within touching distance of lifting the Quidditch cup before Harry had come to Hogwarts, for over seven years no Gryffindor team had won the cup, until Harry lifted it.
From the very beginning, Harry had been compared to Charlie Weasley at every turn, and long before he had ever met him, Harry had taken a strong dislike to the man. It was a completely unreasonable feeling which once he had come to know Charlie, he felt ashamed of.
He had not seen Charlie since the triwizard tournament, where he had supplied the dragons for the first task. Other members of the family had visited him in Romania, but not all at once. For the first time in many years the entire Weasley family was to be gathered all together at home.
There was no warning, with a yell of welcome the twins just flew their brooms right into their brother and began a massive midair hug, the other Weasley brothers quickly joined in, creating a mass midair huddle of red headed bodies.
Ginny came to a hover beside Harry, she threw her arm around his waist and squeezed him tight and leaned in to whisper to him.
"That was the most sensational piece of flying I have ever seen. Now go and join your brothers. You belong in there too, oh boyfriend of mine, take your rightful place"
Harry looked over at her startled, but she nodded at the scrum of red heads, he had never even considered he should be in there too. He floated over hesitantly, not sure he would be included. He need not have worried, as soon as an enthusiastic Bill had him within arms reach he found himself dragged into the scrum.
It must have lasted about five minutes as the brothers shouted news back and forth in a seemingly random manner. Harry stayed quiet, just absorbing the whole experience, he was still unused to this whole family dynamic thing.
When they finally separated from the aerial family gathering, the brothers began playing an energetic game of follow the leader. Harry looked around, Luna, Katie and Draco had headed down to land. It was the ideal time to practise his new skill, and spend some private time with his girlfriend.
"Ginny, will you come with me, I need to show you something"
She nodded, looking at him with a slightly puzzled expression on her face.
Leading off at a fairly sedate pace, so Ginny could follow, Harry dipped down into the trees of the wood bordering the Weasley land, and accelerated. Harry zipped in and out of the trees at breakneck speed, behind him he could hear Ginny shrieking with excitement as she followed him though every twist and turn, it was almost as much fun as Quidditch.
Finding a clearing, Harry slowed the firebolt and gently set it down, as he almost expected it to, his thigh buckled under him immediately the second that he put any weight on it, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap.
Ginny joined him on the ground in an instant, having seen his collapse, she discarded Draco's Nimbus and rushed to his side.
"Harry! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine"
"You always say that, even when you're plainly not, let me help you up"
With her help, he managed to get to his feet and limp to the edge of the clearing, lowering himself with his back to a fallen tree, with his leg stretched out in front of him, the tightness in his thigh had eased considerably.
Settling down beside him with her back to the tree, Ginny worked her way in under his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. For a long time they sat there together in comfortable silence, Harry with his cheek pressed to the top of her head and the fingers of both of his hands interlinked with hers.
It was funny how you could get so much enjoyment out of a moment where you were doing absolutely nothing at all, just being sat beside her was enough.
"Ginny I want to show you something, something I found out I could do completely by accident. When I set out to rescue you, before I let Wormtail bring me to Voldemort, I handed my wand to Thomas, I didn't want anyone else to get their hands on it."
Ginny had turned slightly so she could listen to him.
"During my escape, I found myself under fire from three Death Eaters, and without my wand I was helpless, and convinced I would die, then at the moment of greatest need, when I actually willed my wand to be in my hand, I looked down and found my wand actually was in my hand, and I had no idea how it got there"
"That's just not possible, no summoning spell could work over that distance!"
"I know, I didn't summon it, I called it! At least that's the term I'm using to describe this talent. I've used it twice more since. When you were all playing Quidditch and I needed my broom, my leg would not support me to go get it, I wanted to play so badly and suddenly my firebolt was in my hand!"
"And the third time?
Harry grinned and tenderly kissed her forehead.
"Well when you pushed me over in your bedroom, you do remember that right!"
Ginny gently cuffed him on the ear.
"Ah, so you do remember! I didn't want to hurt you or me when I hit the floor, so I called your bedding from the bed to give me a softer landing, I did it without even realising it, it just happened instinctively."
Ginny narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, as if trying to discover if this was his idea of some big practical joke. In all the years since they had met, Harry had never teased her or treated her like baby of the family not the way her brothers did, he did however have a quite well developed sense of humour.
"Alright, show me!"
Harry sighed, he had known this was coming, but he hadn't been looking forward to this part. As yet he didn't know how to control this new ability, or what he had to think about to trigger it.
"Ok, but give me a moment, this is still new to me too"
Time to carry out a little experimentation. So far he had called his own wand and his firebolt directly to his hand, Ginny's bedding had just arrived where he needed it to stop Ginny or himself getting injured.
Harry reasoned that his broomstick and wand were both such intimately personal objects that he already had a connection to them. The bedding was a puzzle, although he was stood in the same room as it and knew exactly where it was. He had known where the Firebolt was as well, but his wand might have been anywhere, he had just concentrated on needing it.
Where he was leaning against the tree, his back was getting sore, it gave him an idea, he needed a pillow, he concentrated on the fact he really needed a pillow. After a few minutes of nothing happening, he gave up on that idea.
Next plan, he knew exactly where one of Ginny's pillows was in her bedroom, after she had thrown it at him, it had ended up on the floor under the window. Focusing on the floral pattern of the pillow, the location of the pillow, and the fact it smelt of the flowery scent of Ginny's hair that he liked so much.
Harry concentrated on his need for the pillow, on willing it to his hand. As before he felt the pins and needles in his closed hand and he opened it and looked down to see the pillow clutched in it. Although he was watching his own hand, he could not have put his finger on the exact moment it arrived.
"YES!!"
Harry screamed so loudly that all the wildlife went instantly silent. Ginny nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Gin, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, oh and here, have a pillow"
She stared at the pillow in open-mouthed amazement, she recognised the pillow from her bed, just how in Merlin's name had he done that? She kept looking from the pillow in her hands to Harry and back again.
"How…What?"
"All good questions honey, I'm afraid I don't have the answers. I knew where the pillow was, and I just called it here, it's the best explanation I have"
"Show me again!"
Harry sighed, he realised she was right, one item was not a successful test he needed to try something else, but what? His Cane! He knew where it had been placed, in the kitchen, by the stairs, he had watched as Ginny placed it down.
"Ok, you remember where you placed my cane, by the stairs?"
Ginny nodded, and watched him carefully.
He needed his cane, or he might not be able to get up again. Harry concentrated, and the cane was in his hand, much quicker than the pillow had taken, he was really getting the hang of this.
"That's…just incredible Harry"
"Ginny, I wanted to show you this, because I don't want there to ever be any secrets between us, you deserve to know everything I know, but for now let's just keep it between the two of us"
"Not even Ron?"
"Not for now, he has a lot on his plate worrying about Hermione"
Thinking about his bushy haired friend made him sad, he missed her most at times like this, she would have been so excited about his new skill, insisting she use her sharp intelligence to go off and research it comprehensively. Hermione and her books, Harry sighed.
"I miss her too!"
Harry's head snapped around, Ginny was looking off towards the burrow, she looked a little sad.
Harry bent down and gently kissed her cheek.
"mmm, don't stop, that feels nice"
Harry moved onto Ginny's ear, gently blowing into it, knowing before he did so the small giggle it would cause. He wasn't disappointed.
"We should get back, before mum sends out the Weasley search patrol to find us"
Harry was disappointed, but agreed gracefully that it was time to go. Taking a quick look around the clearing, paying special attention to a bunch of wild flowers on the opposite side, Harry tossed the pillow and cane to one side. Seeing Ginny's strange look, he shrugged.
"I'll call them to me when we get back later"
Accepting Ginny's help, Harry struggled back to his feet, and stood leaning against a tree.
"Wait here I'll get the brooms"
"No need, here you go"
Harry held out the Nimbus in his hand, the firebolt was in his other hand. Ginny looked from the centre of the clearing back to the Nimbus and frowned. She had been looking right at the brooms, lying where they had been discarded, and she was completely mystified as to what point they had changed location.
"Ok. That could start freaking me out"
Laughing, Harry mounted his broom and pushed off, slowly circling the clearing until Ginny was also airborne, then he accelerated and climbed, heading back towards the burrow. With Ginny tucked in alongside him, so tight it was almost as if she belonged there, and Harry was starting to think and sincerely hope she really did.
The six Weasley brothers were just coming to the end of an elaborate aerobatic display, they approached the burrow at high speed in a tight formation, and just before passing over the house they all climbed and the formation burst apart. Each broom was somehow leaving a coloured trail behind it in the sky.
One broom dived straight for the ground, leaving a trail of green behind it. Although he couldn't identify the rider from this distance, Harry had a feeling it was Charlie, both of them were well known for their Quidditch power dives. The six riders had formed the shape of a rose, complete with petals.
The six riders quickly reformed up ready for a formation landing, and Harry and Ginny fell in with them, congratulating them all on their flying skills. Harry again found himself flying alongside Charlie.
"I meant what I said earlier you know, any professional Quidditch scout who had seen that catch would have signed you up in an instant Harry, that was simply amazing"
Harry just blushed and said nothing.
"Oh and welcome officially to the family by the way, I see our pick-up Quidditch games are going to be a lot more interesting from now on!"
Whooping in barely contained delight, Charlie rolled away and down into a vertical dive. Harry watched him go, the dive slowly turned into a gentle curve, which to Harry's shock and amusement took Charlie straight in through the open kitchen door of the burrow.
Molly's scream of anger quickly became a cry of unadulterated joy as her second eldest son made his arrival home known to his parents in some style.
The family gathering almost immediately became a party, as the number of red heads in close proximity to each other quickly reached critical mass.
The Weasley family had never really needed a reason to declare a party, they took pleasure in each others company. But this was the first time they had all been together under the same roof for some time and they celebrated the fact they were all together again for the first time in two years, Molly was overjoyed at the news that Charlie would be staying until sometime after Bill and Fleur's wedding, having taken an extended leave from the dragon reservation in Rumania.
Arthur and Molly just sat back and watched their children catch up on the myriad events that had taken place in their lives, they both had a content smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eye. They had eight children now and they loved each of them dearly, and to see them all together, enjoying each other's company was the best feeling a parent could have.
Arthur touched Molly's shoulder and pointed to the wall of the burrow, leaning up against the wall was a collection of brooms a professional Quidditch team would have been proud of. Pride of place went to the Firebolt's, Harry's, Charlie's, Draco's and Katie's, and then there was Draco's Nimbus, Fred, George, and Ron's Cleansweep 11's. All told there was nearly fifty thousand galleons worth of broomsticks leaning against their house.
Harry sat on the fringes of the festivities, not because he felt left out, but because all this was such a novel experience for him, and he was trying to savour every last moment.
"Its all a bit overwhelming isn't it?"
Harry looked up into Ginny's bright brown eyes that were twinkling with amusement and smiled warmly at her, she knew well enough to know exactly what to say to put his mind at rest.
"Yes it is, but I wouldn't change it for a single minute, for the first time since I was a baby I have a real family of my own, not just people related to me my blood that never actually wanted anything to do with me."
Ginny bent down and enveloped him in a huge hug, kissing him on his forehead, Harry in turn wrapped his arms around her slender waist and pulled her closer.
It was just starting to get dark now, and Percy was busy running around the garden enchanting candles to float around the garden to provide light for the continued revelry. While no one other than Ginny was looking, Harry called Ginny's pillow and his cane from the clearing, the effect was nearly instantaneous now.
Harry, while he tried hard to ignore it, was starting to feel very tired, as all the excitement of the day and the pain from his injuries began to catch up with him. The Quidditch game had taken more out of him than he had realised, he felt more tired than he could ever remember feeling in his life, and his very bones ached with exhaustion.
But he was determined to remain outside, he had been without family for so long that he didn't want to miss any of the family time he had available to him, he had a lot of years to catch up on. So he forced himself to push his exhaustion to the back of his mind and struggled to stay awake.
Ginny slid onto the bench beside him, and worked her way into her favourite spot under his arm, leaning back against him, she looked up and smiled.
He had looked happier today than she had seen him look since before Dumbledore had been killed, without the worry lines that he seemed to permanently wear on his face he actually looked his age, and very handsome with it.
"Sickle for your thoughts, oh boyfriend of mine?"
Harry gave her a tired smile, leaned down and planted a sloppy kiss on her forehead. His arm snaked around her shoulders and pulled her even closer into his embrace.
"I was just thinking that I must be one of the luckiest guys alive right now, I have so many friends, and now even a former enemy, I can trust with my life, I have a large family, filled with love, and most importantly, I have you, my dear sweet Ginny, I am truly blessed"
Ginny smiled happily, and snuggled in tighter under his shoulder, she reached up and stroked his face. She was the lucky one, to have him willing to watch out for her and protect her, As long as he was there to hold her hand, she knew everything would be alright. They sat there like that, allowing the party to go on around them for many minutes.
She felt Harry suddenly tense up for a moment, and she looked up concerned, worried that he might be in some pain, but he was grinning tiredly at her like an idiot and holding out a handful of beautiful blue wild flowers.
"To the most beautiful woman I have ever met, I wish every moment I spend in your company would last for eternity. I love you Ginny"
Ginny was suddenly silent for a time that seemed to last forever, and Harry faltered unsure of himself, oh god, she was crying! What had he said, had he hurt her feelings in some way, it seemed he still had so much to learn about women.
"I'm sorry Gin, I didn't mean to upset you"
Ginny reached over and gently slapped him on the nose.
"Shut up you idiot, I'm not upset"
"But you're crying?"
"Only because you make me feel so happy and so loved. Oh boyfriend of mine, I love thee so!"
Ginny threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, and then she grabbed the flowers and quickly stood up, her back to him.
"I'm going to put these in water, and to see if mum needs any help, I won't be long"
"Ok, don't be too long, I miss you when you're not around"
Harry watched as Ginny hurried away and out of sight, watching how her hips moved when she walked, shaking his head, he would never understand women, but it would be a lot of fun to find out a little more about just one of them.
Molly and Arthur had watched the byplay between Harry and Ginny with interest, their daughters' relationship with Harry was blossoming, and neither could remember Ginny ever being as happy.
Both of them knew that their daughter and Harry were growing closer with each passing day, and the couple reminded Molly and Arthur of another pair of teenagers that had been very much in love thirty years ago.
"I suppose this means I shall have to have the 'little wizards' chat with another one of my sons. The only difference this time is that the son in question is having impure thoughts about my only daughter. Any advice about how I should handle this topic?"
Molly smiled and caressed her husband's cheek, secretly taking more than just a little bit of pleasure in his discomfort.
"Oh Arthur, I'm sure something will come to you, it normally does, you're a very good father"
Ginny was stood in the kitchen trying to recover her composure, every time she thought she had Harry pegged, he came along and surprised her. Wiping her eyes dry, she was nearly ready to go back outside.
"He loves you very much you know! But inside there is something eating away at him, he is so terribly afraid of losing you that he is having trouble opening up to you completely."
The voice behind her nearly made Ginny jump out of her skin, turning she glared angrily at Luna. This appeared to make very little impression on the empath who just returned her glare with a level and calm look.
"I thought you kept yourself shielded to prevent picking up other peoples' unwanted thoughts and emotions."
Luna frowned, and appeared to consider her next words very carefully.
"Yes, I do. But although I am getting much better at blocking out what I don't want to hear, Harry is a special case, he broadcasts his emotions particularly strongly, and whenever you two are together and enjoying each others company, even more so, it cuts right through my shields."
"What does it feel like? Is it uncomfortable?"
Ginny asked
"No, not at all, quite the opposite in fact, Harry's feelings for you are like being wrapped in a warm blanket, would you like to feel what its like?"
Ginny nodded, and smiled at her friend. Luna crossed to her and placed a hand on her cheek.
"Shut your eyes, and relax, just focus on your breathing."
Ginny did what she was told and concentrated on her breathing.
Ginny
The voice appeared in her mind, and she was so startled she nearly opened her eyes.
Ginny, its Luna, can you hear me?
Yes, what's happening?
I'm projecting my thoughts directly into your mind.
Ginny was amazed, she had never heard of this skill.
What you will experience next is how Harry's emotions for you feel to me, ready?
Yes.
Ginny was conscious of a feeling of warmth spreading throughout her body, surprisingly it actually felt of Harry, an intense feeling of happiness and love with a slight tint of…fear, oh, Ginny was unprepared for the fear that Harry felt, it was so unexpected that Ginny didn't know what to do with the information.
Ginny broke the link and took a step back and blinked rapidly until she could focus on Luna. There was look of complete understanding mixed with slight amusement on Luna's face.
"I told you didn't I!"
"What do I do now, what do I do with this information?"
Luna cocked her head over and looked at Ginny.
"I know you love him Ginny, and I know he loves you, in the end does anything else really matter? Harry has had a very hard start to life Ginny, and he's known so little love, he's afraid you will be taken from him like those others he has loved or that you will leave him, all you can do is continue to be there for him, over time his fears will fade away until they are just a figment, something the wind will blow away."
"Thank you Luna"
Ginny hugged her friend hard. Then she turned and left the kitchen.
As Ginny went back outside, she passed Neville, he had a smile that went from ear to ear, and Ginny wondered what other secret skills Luna had that Neville was being exposed to. She shook her head and had to smile, poor Neville, he was so completely and utterly out of his depth.
Harry was sat with his head resting on the wall of the burrow, his eyes were closed and he was snoring quietly. Ginny smiled and for a long time she just stood there watching her boyfriend sleep, his face was so peaceful.
Although she was reluctant to disturb him, she knew he would get more rest if she could get him into his bed.
"Harry, Harry wake up lets get you into your bed"
Ginny gently shook his good shoulder. Harry opened one eye and regarded her for a second.
"Much rather be in yours honey"
Ginny laughed out loud at the front her boyfriend had shown, no one had been close enough to hear it, but statements like that could cause an awful lot of controversy in her family.
"Be that as it may, I'm not strong enough to carry you, you're going to have to provide at least some of the effort here!"
Harry grinning at her, levered himself upright and offered her an arm. She tucked herself under his shoulder and with her help he managed to make it up to his borrowed room on the second floor. But by the time he got there Harry was almost asleep on his feet. He was swaying alarmingly with exhaustion, and forcing Ginny to take more and more of his weight.
Harry was asleep before his head hit the pillow, and Ginny sat down beside him while she got her breath back, reaching over she removed his glasses and laid them on the bedside table. Then she removed his shoes and socks.
With great care so as not to wake him, Ginny removed his tracksuit top and bottoms, leaving him with a T-shirt and a pair of boxers on. For a moment she was tempted to take a look at his naked body, but she just shook her head and smiled to herself, all good things come to those who wait.
Pulling the covers over him, Ginny kissed his forehead and gently ran her fingers through his wild hair, bringing that half smile to his lips that she loved so much. Then with a final kiss, she went back to rejoin her family downstairs.
Much later, when the sounds of the party had long since faded, and the house was dark and quiet, a small figure slipped back into Harry's room and padded softly across the floor, reaching the bed, the figure looked down at the sleeping youth for a moment.
Coming to a decision, the figure let her silken nightgown slide to the floor, the moonlight shining off of her pale skin and her red hair. She moved around the bed before carefully peeling back the covers and sliding under them and sliding up close to the sleeping youth.
In his sleep, Harry detected a familiar scent, which scent triggered an automatic reaction in him, and he rolled so that he was facing the newcomer and placed his arms protectively around the slender shape alongside him, pulling the warm naked body in closer to him.
"Ginny"
Harry moaned softly in his sleep, and the slender figure just smiled, and settled comfortably in his arms.
Harry screamed. He had been having the most brilliant fantasy where he was sharing his bed with the witch of his dreams, not doing anything too provocative, just the two of them lying in each other's arms. And then the pain came, and along with the pain came the vision.
Trying to sit up, he clutched desperately at his forehead, as his scar threatened to split his head open. Crying out in pain, he flailed about wildly, looking for Merlin knew what to hold onto, something, anything to take the pain away.
As he thrashed on the bed, his wild movements made him over balance and he hit the floor with a loud thump. Ignoring the lesser pain in his thigh for the pure agony in his head, he brought his knees up to his chest, and he hugged himself, sobbing as the pain continued unchecked.
"Accio water jug!"
A familiar voice close by, a voice he knew he should take comfort in, he tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't, his eyelids remained screwed tightly shut against the pain, he could hear his own teeth grinding together, and his fists were clenched so tightly together his nails bit deeply into his palms.
Harry felt himself gently rolled over until he was sat upright, and a pair of soft arms envelope him in a loving embrace, rocking him back and forth, and a gentle voice softly crooning reassuring sounds to him. Something cool was pressed to his forehead, and after an indeterminable amount of time the burning pain eased.
Slowly, the worst of the pain began to fade, as he was able to raise his mental barriers against the worst of the intrusion that always seemed to hit him when he was at his most relaxed.
Finally able to open his eyes, he looked up into Ginny's blurred concerned face, he had never seen a more welcome sight in his entire life. She carefully placed his glasses in his hands.
She was cradling him in her lap, and had her dripping wet nightgown pressed to his forehead. This of course meant she was naked, but Harry was in no state to appreciate that fact, he felt so ill it was all he could do to maintain his lock on her worried and scared brown eyes.
"Harry, what is it? Is it your scar?"
Harry nodded, still too overwrought by his vision to speak, he clutched at her as if she was the only thing keeping him anchored to this world, as if his very life depended on keeping hold of her.
"Its ok, I've got you baby, just relax, I'm here shhh"
He was pale, almost grey from the pain, and his lightning bolt scar was bright red and inflamed, and a small trickle of crimson blood ran down his head from the scar. He was staring at her face with a strange intensity, as if trying to burn it into his memory so he would never forget it.
"Was there a vision?"
His eyes closed trying to shut out the horrifying vision out, with no success, and he nodded. His mind was already racing like a runaway train, he had somewhere to go, and once again he had to go alone. Raising his hand, he wiped the blood from his forehead, and then he carefully rolled onto his side.
"Gin, help me up"
"I think I should really get you back into bed and…"
"Gin! Help me up!"
He shouted at her.
It was the first time he had ever raised his voice to her in that way, he had been angry with her before, but he had never shouted. Ginny felt tears welling in her eyes, and tried to control her emotions, it wouldn't help him to see her crying like a little girl. Helping him up, she turned so that he couldn't see how upset she was.
"I'm sorry Ginny, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it!"
Harry suddenly realising what he had carelessly done without even thinking about it, scooped her into his arms and pulled her to him. It was at this point that it finally filtered through to his pain and sleep befuddled brain that he was in fact holding his beautiful and yet extremely naked girlfriend tightly to him, and that he only had a thin cotton t-shirt and a pair of boxers on.
Harry took a half step back and regarded his girlfriend with hungry eyes, her pale skin seemed to shine with an almost ethereal quality in the moonlight.
Only the remaining slight discolouration from the heavy bruising she had suffered at the hands of three Death Eaters marred the perfection of her body. Harry felt his pulse dramatically quicken, and suddenly his boxers didn't seem anywhere as roomy as they had moments before.
Knowing what would happen if he didn't act now, Harry reached forward and with a gentle pressure from his thumb and forefinger tilted Ginny's head up until they made eye contact.
"Ginny, I love you so very much, and at any other time I would truly appreciate and probably take advantage of you being here with nothing on, but I have something I have to do"
Ginny looked up sharply at his tone of voice, he sounded desperately sad and in pain, yet determined, she could see there was a fire burning in his eyes, and she could feel he was trembling slightly.
"You can't go anywhere in your condition Harry, you can barely walk!"
With an extreme force of will, Harry straightened and placed his weight down on his injured leg as if to spite her, there was a little wobble, and what little colour that remained in his face drained away.
Holding out his hand, a succession of clothing appeared in it and he put each item on. He handed a grey t-shirt with a dragon motif on the front to Ginny as well, and putting it on she found it came halfway down her thighs. She liked it, mainly because it smelt of Harry.
"Keep it, it looks better on you anyway"
Fully dressed now, he held out his hand one last time and his wand was suddenly there. Harry reached out and grabbed her up into a hug, whispering into her ear.
"Ginny, oh girlfriend of mine, I love thee so, I loved you with all my heart almost from the first moment I met you, it just took me a long time for my mind to catch up to what my heart already knew, and I always shall love you, never ever forget that. I'm sorry, I have to go now, I can't take you with me because it's a family matter."
Taking a deep breath, Harry turned and hobbled towards the door, Ginny stunned into immobility just watched him go, before the very fact he seemed to think he might not come back spurred her into motion. She caught him at the doorway, and grabbed hold of his arm, trying to turn him around.
But he just shook her off, making her stumble back into the room, and continued out the door, closing it behind him, there was the sound of a muttered incantation, and Ginny had a sinking feeling as she realised he had spelled the door shut behind him.
Slamming her petite body uselessly into the door, she hammered on it with her fists, screaming his name, but there was only silence from the other side of the door.
OoOoO
Privet Drive
Spinning rapidly, Harry appeared in a flash of green flame in the fireplace belonging to Arabella Figg, he had used her fireplace a few times in the past, but never without a direct invitation. She lived in Wisteria walk, just around the corner from Privet Drive, and as such it was the fastest way to get where he needed to go.
"You're too late Harry, you must know that, you can't save them. If you go out there, you'll just end up getting yourself killed!"
At the window, the small figure of Mrs Figg had turned to regard him with sad eyes, there were tears running down her cheeks as she watched the young man she had long ago been a babysitter for struggle with his inner demons. There was an extreme thunderous rage swirling behind his eyes, and his hair was being blown about by some magical wind.
"I have to, because regardless of their past deeds they are still my family, and that has to count for something, if I do nothing I become like Voldemort. Have you alerted the Order?"
Mrs Figg nodded, looking sad and uncomfortable. Never had she regretted more that she was a squib, if she had any power at all she would have stepped out there to stand and fight beside this child.
"Yes, the moment they arrived, but the Order said it had its hands full tonight, it said they would send who they could spare."
Stepping painfully towards the door, Harry turned and looked back over his shoulder.
"You might want to tell them I just arrived and to hurry up, and what I'm about to do on my own, oh, and I hope you have adequate home insurance."
"Harry, are you sure you want to do this, he-who-must-not-be-named might be here!"
Harry gritted his teeth, remembering every vivid, graphic detail of his vision.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I know for sure Tom was here but he left some time ago, but he left behind some friends of his, and I am just going to pay my respects"
With that, Harry stepped out onto the street and drew his wand, and started hobbling up Wisteria Walk, trying desperately to ignore the Dark Mark hanging menacing in the sky above Privet Drive. His anger was building now into an inferno, his robes billowed out behind him as if he was running at a full sprint, and static energy made his hair stand up on end.
There were two Death Eaters standing guard at the front end of uncle Vernon's estate car, and another one at the rear, the estate car was as normal facing out of the drive.
They saw him immediately as he rounded the corner into Privet Drive, but they hesitated, because as he walked towards them the streetlights were exploding as he passed them in turn, creating a wall of darkness that seemed to follow like liquid in his wake. The very street surface appeared to ripple as he stepped upon it, and a cold wind that had sprung up from nowhere seemed to announce his arrival.
Harry didn't hesitate, not even for a single second, raising his wand.
"Bombarda!"
The spell struck the engine of the car, and such was the sheer power of the spell, the car almost folded in half and crumbled in on itself, flying backwards into the wall of the house, crushing one Death Eater with two tonnes of crumpled estate car, and demolishing much of the front of the house.
The remaining two guards were knocked off their feet, but it only took a few seconds for them to pick themselves up again.
Pointing their wands at Harry, they were just about to fire off counter curses, when one of them noticed they were standing in a rapidly expanding pool of some sort of liquid, the severed fuel line in the shattered engine of the estate car was rapidly leaking the entire contents of the vehicles fuel tank onto the drive.
"Oh shit!"
Two loud cracks could be heard as the two Death Eaters wisely decided to call it a night and flee.
"Incendio!"
The explosion had enough force to blow out every window on Privet Drive and Wisteria Walk, and knock down a dozen walls, several small fires had been started. The entire front wall of number four collapsed inwards allowing Harry to see part of the first floor, the house had been well and truly set ablaze, and he could see that Aunt Petunia's prized three piece suite had caught fire and was burning merrily in the living room.
The explosion also launched the remains of the car into the air, and sent deadly shrapnel flying in all directions.
Through the centre of the inferno created by the burning fuel walked Harry, somehow beyond his understanding he remained completely unscathed by the fire licking at his robes, a piece of shrapnel had imbedded itself in his forearm, but he didn't feel it, he was completely focused on what had to be done.
Another Death Eater appeared in the gaping hole where the front window and wall of the living room had been, the man threw a hasty cutting curse at Harry that passed harmlessly over his shoulder, he was having trouble spotting Harry because of the heat haze rising above the inferno raging on the drive and the fire that was turning the living room into a close proximity of hell, Harry however had no intention of giving him the time to get a clear shot.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
With a grunt of effort as his charm took the weight, Harry took control of the now falling burning car wreckage before it could injure any of the innocents living in Privet Drive, slowing its descent, Harry added a spinning motion and then tossed it in through the hole the explosion had made in the wall of number four with all the force he could produce. The wreckage struck the Death Eater and a muffled scream was suddenly cut-off as he disappeared in a spray of red gore.
Knowing that the muggle emergency services including the police would be arriving shortly to investigate the disturbance, he moved towards the shattered front door as fast as he could, barely sparing a glance at the remains of the misshapen figure lying smoking on the drive.
Blasting the front door off its hinges with a Reducto curse, the wreckage smashed its way down the hall, leaving a trail of carnage behind it, tearing through plaster, wood and wall paper. Harry felt an inner glow of satisfaction at such casual destruction. All the years he had spent virtually imprisoned here had not left him feeling all that house proud about 4 Privet Drive.
Stepping across the threshold, Harry found himself face to face with yet another Death Eater, stood over the body of his uncle Vernon lying partially clothed just inside the hallway, Vernon lay on his back, dead, sightless eyes staring up at the ceiling. Harry had known his uncle was dead, he had seen him die in his vision, but not before he had been driven mad by the continued use of the torture curse.
"Avada ked…"
The man's wand was in Harry's hand before he could finish the incantation, his eyes wide with fear at this impossible feat of magic, the man began to back away down the hall, looking wildly about him for any avenue of escape, as Harry raised his wand the Death Eater shut his eyes and disappeared with a loud crack.
Snapping the wizard's wand, Harry dropped it to the floor and with great difficulty, for even in death Vernon was not a small figure, Harry stepped over his uncle's corpse and moved down the hall, nothing moved upstairs, turning to his left he entered the living room, wand at the ready.
Dudley lay exactly as Harry had already seen in his vision, on his back, with an expression of utter terror on his face, as dead as uncle Vernon had been. The car wreckage that had smashed through the living room had decapitated the Death Eater in the room that had thrown the cutting curse, it had also started numerous fires on its path of destruction. The house was now well alight, and unless the muggle fire brigade were there in moments, a total loss.
Aunt Petunia's kitchen had also been virtually destroyed by the wreckage, not that it mattered now, there would be no one left to cook in it anyway. Out in the garden was another family member's body.
Moving to the conservatory doors, Harry blew them off their hinges, catching the two Death Eaters who had been running back to the house right in the face. The two men staggered backwards, faces streaming blood, snarling in anger both men raised their wands.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Harry picked the first man up and threw him into next doors garden, he cried out as he flew through the air, striking the sturdily built tool shed and sliding to the floor with a muffled groan. The second Death Eater looked down at his suddenly empty hand in astonishment, looking up, his eyes widened even further when he saw Harry holding his wand.
In a move that surprised even Harry, he tossed the wand back to the Death Eater.
"I believe in fighting fair, not something you lot would know much about!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Harry allowed himself to fall backwards, laying flat on his back on the ground, and the green flash of the killing curse passed over his head, exploding against some part of the house, Harry pointed his wand at the man's legs.
"Reducto!"
The spell hit the Death Eater at knee height, blasting him backward off his feet. Picking himself slowly and painfully up off of the floor, his thigh now numb from all the abuse he was giving it, Harry moved to stand over the now prone Death Eater. The man had virtually lost both of his legs at knee height, they were only still attached by scraps of skin and tendons. Bright red blood pumped rapidly from the wounds and the man was in the process of bleeding to death. He was moaning in pain, already starting to go pale, his lips turning blue, from the shock and loss of blood.
"Help me, sweet Merlin help me!"
"Even if I wanted to, there is nothing I can do"
Harry turned away.
"Please don't leave me like this!"
Ignoring him, Harry moved to the body he had seen from the kitchen, it was that of his aunt Marge, and by her side was the dog, ripper, that had once chased him up a tree in the garden. They were both dead.
Harry frowned, these two had not appeared in his vision, the others had been personally killed by Voldemort. Marge and Ripper were not.
Squaring his shoulders, Harry retraced his steps and began to climb the stairs to the second floor. He knew what he would find up here too, but his mind for some reason was refusing to accept it, as much as he didn't want to, he had to see with his own eyes, not just through Voldemort's.
He found his aunt Petunia in the main bedroom, just as his vision had shown him, with shaking hands he covered her with the duvet from the bed, and sat down beside her on the blood stained covers and placed his head in his hands. No one should ever have to look at a thing like that more than once.
His adoption by the Weasley's had unwittingly removed the blood protection on the Dursley's house. When they had signed over guardianship, they had literally been unknowingly signing their own death warrants. More blood on his hands, more deaths on his conscience, it was his fault, he was now last of his line, there was no one left.
Harry had never asked for anything from the Dursley's, which was just as well because they had never given him anything other than abuse. The bond of blood had mattered little to them, and their indifference and downright cruelty had coloured and influenced all of Harry's relationships down the years.
Ginny loved him, deep down in his soul he knew that, it was confirmed every time he looked into her eyes, but he still couldn't shake the dreadful gut wrenching fear that she would see him for what he truly was, and leave or be taken away from him like so many others before her.
All his doubts and fears had come from his time here at 4 Privet Drive, it all stemmed from his treatment by the Dursley's.
"WHY COULDN'T YOU LOVE ME?"
Harry screamed at the top of his voice, but now and forever there would be no answers forthcoming to that particular question, he would never know why these people, his family, had been so incapable of showing any love to a frightened, lonely child.
Flames began to lick up the outside of the house as the bottom floor quickly became an inferno, Harry could feel the heat rising up the stairwell as the smoke started to gather in cloying thickness on the ceiling.
Standing with difficulty, Harry slowly trudged down the stairs, in the distance he could hear the sirens of the muggle emergency services, it was time to go, or he could find himself having to face some very awkward questions, to which he had no answers they would be able to believe.
Harry left Number 4 Privet Drive, he stumbled as the tremendous pain in his thigh began to reappear as the immediate rush of adrenaline faded, pulling himself upright, he began to walk slowly back to Wisteria Walk, and Mrs Figg's house. There was a series of loud pops behind him, but he kept walking and he never looked around.
He rang the doorbell, and Mrs Figg answered it, still dressed in her nightgown and tartan slippers, upon seeing him she screamed and dragged him inside.
"You're covered in blood Harry, where are you cut?"
Harry was in a kind of daze and just whispered to her.
"It's not my blood, can I use your Floo?"
He didn't wait for an answer, just moved to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of powder form the jug on the mantelpiece and threw it into the fire.
"The Burrow!"
And in a flash of green flame he was gone.
OoOoO
The Burrow
Harry had taken only four incredibly painful steps out of the Weasley fireplace, when he was struck hard by a fast moving red headed tornado, looking down he saw that Ginny had buried her head in his chest and was sobbing quietly, her arms locked around his chest so tightly that it was likely she had cut off circulation to his legs.
Molly screamed and raised a horrified hand to her mouth, her eyes wide at the state of his appearance, he was deathly pale, and his face and the front of his robes were covered in blood, and as he looked around, it was as he wasn't really seeing anything in the kitchen.
Ginny, hearing her mother scream looked up into his face and seeing the bloody visage, she paled and her knees went weak. Molly recovered quickly and grabbed him by the arm and guided him to one of the seats around the table.
"Harry dear, you have to tell me where you are hurt."
"I'm fine"
He answered, but his voice sounded very far away, as if someone else was speaking for him. Ginny had sat in the next seat and was still holding him tightly, almost as is she was frightened to let go, she looked up and gave him a fierce look.
"Harry, you'd say you were fine if you'd lost both legs and your intestines were hanging out, now answer the damn question!"
She swore, she swore in front of her mother! Ginny swore only very occasionally, and never in front of her parents. Harry was shocked out of his stupor, and turned to regard her with a tired smile. He reached out with his good arm and brushed his fingers gently through her long hair.
"My arm"
Harry placed his injured arm on the table.
Molly took his hand and very gently rolled his arm over, resting it on the table. An inch of twisted metal protruded from his forearm, quickly slicing his sleeve open, Molly examined the object trying to find a way of getting the metal out without causing too much pain.
Ginny watched her mother with wide eyes, that piece of metal was actually sticking out of her boyfriend's body!
"Harry I think for the moment we are going to have to leave that in, at least until madam Pomfrey has had chance to look at it…Harry what…no!"
Harry had just reached up with his good arm, placed his hand on the piece of shrapnel and pulled hard, it came free of his arm with a wet sucking sound that made both Molly and Ginny feel ill. Harry's face didn't even twitch, not even a muscle.
Dropping the shrapnel on the table with a metallic clatter, Harry regarded it carefully for a moment and then said something that made no sense to the two women
"Well at least I'll never have to clean it again"
Quickly binding the arm as tight as she could, Molly looked in concern at her black haired son, he seemed somehow out of touch with reality, almost as if he wasn't really taking in what was happening to him. With several sweeps of her wand she cleaned his face and the front of his robes, so at least he didn't look like an abattoir worker.
"Where have you been dear, you had us all so worried? The others are all out searching for you."
Harry just stared at her with a puzzled expression on his face, as if he didn't understand the question.
"I think I would like to get some sleep now"
Harry stood, or at least tried to, his thigh, which had already stood up to an astonishing amount of punishment that evening, finally let him down, and collapsed under his weight. If Ginny hadn't been there, he would have hit the table edge on the way to the floor. She moved fast, standing, she ducked under his shoulder and positioned herself under his armpit and took his entire body weight.
She staggered, but managed to remain upright, grunting with the effort, Molly joined her on his other side and helped Harry to a couch in the living room, with a wave of her wand, Molly widened it enough so Ginny could lie down beside him.
Ginny looked in amazement at her mother, she was actually encouraging her to sleep next to Harry.
"Don't look at me like that Ginny dear, I know you wouldn't leave him now even if I wanted you to, so you might as well both be comfortable."
Ginny smiled with gratitude as Molly raised her wand, she summoned the covers from Ginny's own bed, grabbing them as they came flying down the stairs, she carefully placed them over Harry, who appeared to already be asleep. Careful not to knock him, Ginny lifted the covers and slid under them, adjusting her position so that her back was to him.
It only took a few seconds for him to register her presence, he rolled closer and put a protective arm around her waist, gently pulling her tight to him until she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. She could feel him trembling slightly in his sleep, and occasionally his entire body would give a little jerk and he would groan, as if in pain.
Rolling over to face him, Ginny put her arms around him and pulled his head onto her shoulder, she stroked his forehead and ran her fingers through his hair until he settled into a dreamless sleep. She remained awake for a long while just watching him sleep, aware of the return of each of the searchers, all her brothers, Neville and Draco had gone out looking for Harry, but eventually she too drifted off.
OoOoO
AN/ I hope nobody loses any sleep over the fact i killed off the Dursley's off, what goes around, comes around.
AN/ Goodnight, don't let the Blast-ended skrewts bite, but since they will be busy fighting each other you many be ok.
