CHAPTER 9

Common Sense

"For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out." – James Baldwin


George was watching Ginny address the Aurors on a screen that stood in his apartment, his back to the door. He recognised the voice she was using all too well. The tone that appeared calm, sturdy and authoritative to the rest of the world, but he could hear the fear behind it, the uncertainty. She had used many times to Fred and George when they had suggested ridiculous tasks or challenges she should do in the dullest parts of the holidays. She hated being considered a chicken; and always wanted to reach outside people's expectations of her.

Suddenly, there was a crash near the door, with such force that splinters burst off it and scattered to the floor.

"What the?" He muttered, frowning, his eyes torn from the screen, his hand instinctively reaching for his wand.

Harry had sat up straight and fast, his hand moving to his chest. He was wide awake now, his heart slamming up the edges of his ribcage as another crash was heard before the door gave way. It fell to the ground, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

Immediately, before Harry could even respond, a spell was sent at George and he collapsed, falling sideways off his chair and to the ground with a thump. Harry grabbed his sword, dodging a spell, just as he heard,

"That's him, we've got him." He recognised that voice… it was one of the Death Eaters. Harry removed his sword from its sheath, fear ripping through him, how did they find me?

He swung his sword humming through the air, before he aimed it at the closest Death Eater, his face masked. It hit his thigh and sliced deep, blood ran down the blade, the Death Eater yelled in pain, clutching the leg and crumpling onto his knees, crimson staining the floor.

"Stun him for God sakes!" He said to the other Death Eater with a pained voice,

"Stupefy!" Harry dodged it, jumping to the ground, his eyes continuously moving to George's motionless body and praying he hadn't been hit with the Killing Curse.

"Thought you could get away huh Harry? Believe me; we punished your friends when they seemed rather… unable to tell us where you were." The one closest to Harry said, throwing a well-aimed curse at his chest, he dropped just in time.

"What'd you do to them?" He muttered through clenched teeth, the second Death Eater grinned, his hand pressed up against his thigh to kill the flow of blood.

"You'll soon find out, won't you Potter?" He muttered, throwing a curse at Harry. It hit and Harry felt his knees buckle painfully underneath him as he fell to the ground. The Death Eater came to Harry's side, and kicked him in the face, he felt his teeth dig into his lips with impact, he tasted blood, his eyes drooped under the weight of the spell. The man grabbed the top of Harry's head, jerking it upwards into a painful position.

"We are going to be so rewarded when they discover we've caught you." He muttered, Harry's blood ran cold, he tried desperately to move his limbs but they refused to, as if they were no longer under his control. He couldn't talk, couldn't move, all he could feel was pain and fear, coursing through his veins and for a minute he willed himself away from his body, to somewhere else. Suddenly, he was hit hard over the head, he heard a sickening crunch before everything went black.


Harry squinted, his head ached and throbbed in pain… he was alive, he knew that much. The sun was streaming into his eyes causing blurry patterns to develop,

"Are you awake?" Said a female voice, Harry blinked rapidly as blood ran down from his head and he was temporarily blind with tunnel vision.

"Hermione?" He asked, his voice choked.

"No, Ginny." She said impatiently as his eyes came to focus; she was darting around George's apartment, throwing things into a large bag. Her eyes didn't meet with his as she went around.

"…What happened?" He asked, his hand moving to the back of his head where a large lump appeared to have developed, he winced. Ginny paused, a shirt scrunched in her hand, Harry watched her eyes trace down to a spot near Harry on the ground. He looked down; there the two Death Eaters lay dead, a pool of blood circling them, mouths agape. The murders had been done with such ferocity that it seemed unlikely that Ginny could have done it.

"Did… did you do this?" He asked with a mixture of shock and disgust,

"Yes, of course I did," She said, continuing to pack the luggage. "I come in to you and George passed out, the Death Eaters just about to take you and I killed them, nothing more to it." Harry noticed the desperation in her voice, "would you have preferred me to let them take you?" Her eyes challenged him, he shook his head. It wasn't that he wasn't appreciative of what Ginny had done, he was just surprised. He glanced down at the Death Eaters again, realising that both their blood was seeping from a sword wound in their chests.

"And George is?" He asked, fearing the answer.

"Doing damage control at the Ministry with Jack, he was alright luckily, they only hit him with a light spell that knocks you out... clearly they were just after you. I was going to go but Jack used some excuse when I left that would not make sense if I returned, so I've taken the liberty to pack."

"…why?" He could answer the question as soon as he asked it. "Because the Death Eaters know where I am now…" Ginny slowly nodded,

"How else would they have been here?" Harry swung his legs over the side of the couch and stood, ignoring the pain whose absence he could no longer remember. He picked up his sword from amongst the fold of bodies and secured it onto his belt. The attack didn't appear to be coincidental that's for sure; they knew he was here. How? He didn't know.

"Worse case scenario," Harry said to Ginny, "Auror's don't believe us, we go anyway,"

"And get killed." She muttered,

"Smaller numbers could be less obvious so not necessarily," he said, walking into the next room to help clear out.

"No matter how small the number is it'll be obvious when we come to the gates." She answered, "right?" Harry paused, his head resting on the divider between the rooms. He looked at Ginny with one eye,

"Yeah." He said quietly.

"How did you escape last time?" She asked, her eyes glancing over him. He clenched his jaw, not allowing himself to speak and shook his head. Ginny nodded in understanding,

"You look more like yourself today." She said matter-of-factly,

"Maybe you're just getting used to the scars." He whispered, their eyes locked and they stood in silence. Harry broke away from the gaze and walked back into the other room. Everything appeared as normal, however all the necessities had been removed, the clothing pulled from the draws leaving only the ornaments and picture frames at the top – now without photographs.

"Where did all the photographs go?" He called into the other room.

"If the Death Eaters come and they see them they will know they are on the right track, best to be safe." Ginny replied; Harry felt a twinge of guilt, he had destroyed everything for something that could potentially kill them all. An old instinct told him to run, to do it by himself and save the grievance of his friends; but his common sense yelled in protest, and that was what he knew had to follow. He couldn't do this by himself.


"This is ridiculous!" Yelled a woman from the centre of the room, "If we are to hear the truth we should hear it from Ginny! She is the one who called the meeting,"

"And we've already told you, multiple times why she couldn't be here," said George, his hand rubbing over his forehead.

"Then we should have a meeting tomorrow, work out everything. We can't just jump into it, we aren't in school anymore – this needs planning if we are going to do whatever it is that you're suggesting. This needs time and effort and strategies."

"Time and effort and strategies are good for those who have time!" Said Jack angrily, "we don't! So strategies shall have to be made whilst on the journey." George gave Jack a look of 'we're in trouble,' but Jack dismissed him. A light-haired man with a scar stretching across half his face and tattoos swimming down his arms spoke in such a contrasting tone to the yelling voices that everyone stopped dead to listen.

"Has this even been discussed with the Minister?" He asked, when neither answered he leant forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "Did she even verify this meeting?" George clenched his teeth, lines of excuses ran through his head – ones used on many occasions by himself and Fred to get out of trouble, but none would help him with the situation at hand, and he was stuck speechless. This was what Ginny was meant to have done.

"Just because Ginny is an esteemed witch does not give her every right in the world to do as she pleases." The man continued, "You have to follow the rules to ensure safety and knowledge in fields such as these," he stood up, "and I won't stand another minute until she is here, she has spoken to the Minister and we actually are talking of plans rather than possibilities. We are Aurors, most of the men and women I see sitting around here are ones who have done a great deal for the Ministry. We don't have time for shenanigans of mythical lands and talk of going on massive journeys to a place we are sure doesn't exist."

He put his finger onto the table as if pointing to something, "we need evidence, we need proof, we need something concrete… and I see by the nods of those surrounding me that I'm not the only one who thinks so." He pulled his leather jacket off the back of his chair and walked out of the room, leaving a murmur in his wake. Jack and George looked at each other, urging the other to speak. A couple of Aurors, held by loyalty, shifted in their chairs but did not move – while the others stood and left without another word. Jack let out a silent sigh,

"The meeting is over," he muttered, and with those words the last few rose from their chairs and left.

"That's it?" George said, "The meeting is over, you weren't even going to say anything to them?"

"Well I didn't see you coming up with anything!" He said defensively. He sighed, "Ginny is going to kill me."


Jack and George came through the door, and immediately Ginny looked up.

"They," Jack began, shutting the door, "they want proof Gin. They want to talk to you and they want you to follow protocol by talking to the Minister and verifying the meeting." Ginny sighed angrily,

"You -," she opened her mouth and closed it again; "look, okay, whatever. I'll have to fix it." She thought for a split second, "You two should stay and continue packing then go back to our apartment and finish there. Har… James, you come with me." Harry nodded cautiously, George mouthed are you okay? He nodded in response,

"Why are you bringing him?" Asked Jack,

"They want proof?" Muttered Ginny, "I guess we'll have to give it to them." Harry frowned but followed her, curiosity running through his veins.

"Where are we going?" Asked Harry, walking swiftly next to Ginny, the asphalt was hard underneath their shoes,

"We have many places to go," She said, "and very little time to do it."

"So I guess it would help if I knew what we were doing?" Ginny smirked,

"Never did like being left in the dark did you?" She walked up a set of stairs and pulled a key from her pocket. The houses around glowed with life, with a drum beat heard from the neighbours, who were playing some form of old Metal band at full capacity. Ginny entered the house,

"This is… your's isn't it?"

"Sheesh Harry, you were only here very recently," she replied. The whole suburb appeared completely different at night than it did in daylight. Either that or at the time he was more focused on getting inside the door to see Ginny than he was on anything around him. Harry waited at the entrance to the room while Ginny ran upstairs at a quick pace, jumping two stairs at a time. A minute later she returned, a slip of parchment clasped in her hand,

"You came here for… that?" He asked, alarmed.

"Yes,"

"What is it?" Ginny paused and looked down at her hands, with a small sigh she handed it to him. Harry unfolded it, his eyes catching on two words in an elegant scrawl at the top of the parchment,

"My… Death Certificate?" He asked, his voice unbelieving, he was well and truly dead to the world. Harry James Potter, he read,

"I was given it," Ginny said, "after you disappeared mum logged you as dead so that it became final to the world and so that we could move on. Due to the fact you had no parents, I asked if I could take it… so, I did, and it's been hidden for a long time." She took it from him, and looked down, not meeting his eyes "we have to keep moving." Harry didn't like her business tone, but he nodded regardless.

She locked the door and in a swift movement she grabbed his hand. Harry heart caught in his throat and he laced his hand through hers, and with that Ginny appararated without warning, Harry felt the world fall away from underneath him and return just as quickly. He fell to the ground, the contact between himself and Ginny was gone and instead he felt damp grass underneath him, its water bled through the fabric of the knees of his pants.

"You don't just randomly apparate people!" he said angrily, steadying himself to his feet and brushing grass from his jeans.

"…bad habit," she said apologetically.

"I'll say," he muttered, angry at both Ginny and himself. He was mad at the teenage Harry inside him, the boy who was in love… the one which appeared to continuously raise its head and with it, all the emotions he remembered feeling. He knew better, but lust and the remembrance of what could have been put a stop in knowing and brought up possibilities. He sighed silently,

"Where are - "

"Around the corner from St. Mungo's,"

"…why?"

"To get a DNA test." She said simply, and without another words set off at her swift walk. Harry clenched his jaw but followed, pushing any emotion he felt away. They weren't important; they didn't even deserve a second thought. They were only memories and that was all they'd ever be. He was sure of it.


Sorry about the longer wait than usual - I've just gotten a new laptop (my other one died .. got to a point where it wouldn't save word documents anymore) and I had to re-write a great deal. Plus I'm not really up to where I'd like to be - having only just begun Chapter 12 (I've been focussing more on later chapters)

Anyway, hope you liked this one! Let me know what you thought.

Pheonixxsong