Chapter Ten

Going Home

The rest of the week was uneventful for Harry and his friends. On the last Friday the students had, students were filled with excitement although they didn't leave until the next day. On Saturday, students were rushing to get to Hogsmeade and go home. Everyone was excited to see their families that they had not seen since September. Of course, there were many students who hadn't packed when it came time to leave, and they were all rushing to pack. Harry himself still had a few of his possessions to pack but he had more time than the students as he would be leaving midday instead of the morning. Ginny had dropped off her trunk in Harry's room early that morning and rushed off to eat breakfast. Harry decided to forgo breakfast and opted to work on his curriculum for the next semester. He worked through the students leaving and was still working when Ginny knocked on his door. "Did someone forget that we're supposed to be leaving in five minutes?" she teased.

Harry looked at his wrist watch, he realized she was right and met her with a sheepish smile. "Oops," he said rubbing the back of his head. "I guess I got a little caught up in my work."

"A little?" Ginny snorted. "Come on big teacher man, let's go."

He laughed and put his work back into his bag. Ginny had outstretched her hand, offering it to Harry. He took it and together, they walked out of his room. Harry sent their trunks to the Burrow before they proceeded to the apparition line. On their way, they fell into a comfortable silence for a short period. During the silence Harry thought he heard movement in the snow. He glanced at the direction the noise came from and saw nothing. Harry put it down to an animal in the brush and thought nothing more of it. A few seconds after he heard the noise, Ginny started talking to him. The next time the noise sounded, it went unnoticed. They continued on their way until they were a few steps outside the apparition line before they stopped. Harry turned to Ginny. "You ready?" He asked her. She nodded with a big smile on her face. Harry grinned right back at her. He leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. Harry opened his eyes from the kiss to find them surrounded. His eyes grew wide when he realized who was surrounding them. With his right hand still tightly clasped around Ginny's left hand, he slowly slipped his wand out of his jacket pocket and held it by his side. He proceeded to slowly turn his back to Ginny as she did the same. They stood back to back and took in the people surrounding them. It was dead silent, no one said anything. Harry glanced at Ginny and saw her pull out her wand and raise it in defense. Harry followed her lead and raised his wand. He could feel the sloppy but effective anti-apparition spell that had been put on by the soon to be attackers. He knew how to take off the spell from the books he had been reading to become an auror. He knew that, since the spell was sloppy and it was a temporary one. He would have to find the caster and knock him unconscious. The only reason it would work to simply knock him unconscious was because it wasn't professionally done. He surveyed the people around him, looking for any tell-tale signs of someone over concentration. He found none, but had a feeling he'd find one if they started attacking. So far they hadn't, no one had moved from their spot since Harry and Ginny had noticed that they were surrounded. It was an intense show down; seemingly, both sides afraid to make the first move. It was in the silence that Harry had an idea. He knew they would either need help, or run, and as they couldn't run at the time, he decided to get help. He squeezed Ginny's hand, telling her he was about to do something that was potentially crazy. It set her on high alert and Harry thought of the happiest memory he could. He cast the patronus charm and whispered "help" and sent it to McGonagall. It was at that moment that all hell broke loose. The attackers were throwing curses left and right. It took all Harry and Ginny had to just defend themselves. They couldn't go on the offensive at all. If they didn't get help soon, they wouldn't make it past that fight.

Harry kept casting his shield. Trying to find an opening to go on the offensive. It didn't take long for him to find who was casting the anti-apparition spell. Although everything was a frenzy, but he could pick out the attacker like a sore thumb. He was a shorter man, shaking with nerves. He stood a couple steps behind the rest of the attackers and was obviously scared. Harry just needed a slight opening to place a well placed spell that would render the short man unconscious. But he couldn't get his opening. It took all he had to hold his shield. So much that he had to drop Ginny's hand to concentrate on the protection spell. They were outnumbered ten to two which made it extremely difficult to hold the spell. Harry felt his concentration and strength weakening. He knew he'd have to act fast if he wanted to save himself and, more importantly, Ginny. He put everything he had into strengthening his shield so much that it gave a push back to his attackers. There was a moment of peace and Harry took it. He quickly shot a stunning spell at the short man and hit him right in the chest. In that instant, he could feel the sloppy anti-apparition spell lift and he reached for Ginny's hand, getting ready to apparate. Just as he turned his head and grabbed her hand, the attacks started up again. Harry didn't have time to raise a shield and was hit with a cutting curse. It hit him directly in the stomach and he fell. He was exhausted and in tremendous pain. His body couldn't take it and he soon was unconscious like the short man he had just attacked. He faintly heard Ginny screaming his name, but then, everything was silent.

"Potter. Wake up Potter."

Harry groaned, he couldn't recognize where he was nor who was shaking him. He painfully opened his eyes to find the worried face of McGonagall staring straight at him. He was confused. Why was she standing over him? Why was he laying in what felt like snow? Why did he have a sharp pain coming from his gut? Harry slowly sat up after McGonagall had moved upon seeing him awake. He put his hand where the pain was originating from. His gloved hand came up with red blood on it. He looked around. He was surrounded by blood red snow. Probably mine, he thought. He heard McGonagall let out a small gasp. She had been too distracted by the unconscious teacher to notice the blood. She told him that she would fix that on the spot so he wouldn't lose anymore blood. Harry mindlessly followed her instructions as she told him to lay back down and stay still. He felt the unusual sensation of his wound almost sewing itself back together and felt as the pain slowly faded. He closed his eyes to feel for any other major pain from an injuries. Besides a few superficial cuts, Harry was fine. He looked back up at McGonagall. He had yet to say a word as he was still immensely confused. She still looked worried for him and just as confused. She offered him a hand to help him stand up and he gladly took it. Harry went as slowly as possible, knowing he'd probably get lightheaded from the loss of blood. He was right, as soon as he stood to his full height, his vision darkened so he couldn't see anything, he felt dizzy, and his knees grew weak. McGonagall gave him her arm for Harry to lean on, seeing his disorientation. He tried not to fall over, knowing he'd have to get up again and repeat the process of lightheadedness. It took more than a minute for his vision to come back and for him too feel as normal as he could in the current situation. When he did feel normal again, he stopped leaning on McGonagall and stood on his own.

"What happened?" Harry finally croaked out.

McGonagall looked astonished, "I... don't know. I got here and found you laying on the ground. Harry, do you remember what happened?"

"Umm..." Harry rubbed his head, trying to remember. "I-I was walking off the grounds to go home when-when a group of people surrounded me and-and then they attacked once I sent a patronus to you. I held them as long as I could, and reached for Ginny to apparate away when a curse hit me and I fell unconscious... Ginny! Where's Ginny?"

"She wasn't with you when I got here."

Harry was frantic, he looked around for any sign of her. Harry saw a print in the snow that looked like someone else had fallen right by him. The print was longer than a normal body however, like she had been dragged. Suddenly, the tracks stopped, liked someone had apparated with her. She was most likely unconscious. "They have her," Harry exclaimed. "We have to find her. They're gonna kill her."

"Harry, calm down. Who took her?"

"The same people who attacked us in September, it was them Minerva. They knew we wouldn't be on the train. They knew we'd be exposed out of the Hogwarts lines for a small moment which is when they attacked. We have to find them."

"And we will. But first we need to get help. The Weasley are probably worried out of their minds. Come on, hold my arm," McGonagall held out her arm so Harry could side-along apparate and Harry obliged. She could tell he was too weak to apparate on his own. They appeared at the Burrow to be met with a hysterical Mrs. Weasley. She immediately saw the weak state Harry was in and ushered them into the Burrow. Ron and Mr. Weasley met them in the kitchen and jumped to help Harry. Saving their questions until he was comfortable. Mrs. Weasley ordered Ron to get him a glass of water and for Mr. Weasley to get him a blanket all the while being the hospital host to McGonagall. If Harry wasn't in such an unstable state, he would have been amazed at how efficient Mrs. Weasley was.

"There you go dear," Mrs. Weasley cooed once Harry was settled. She didn't say anything else, but Harry saw her eyes begging for him to answer the one question she had. Where was Ginny.

Harry answered her question by telling them what had happened, "We were just about to apparate here when they surrounded us- the same people from September- and we were outnumbered. I called McGonagall for help but we could hold them long enough and right as we were trying to escape, I was hit and knocked unconscious. Ginny must have fallen soon after me. And then- and then they took her," Harry looked defeated. His posture was slumped and eyes down-cast. He knew it was his fault, if only he had just gotten them out of there sooner. If only he had just been more vigilant. If only...

Mrs. Weasley was horrified. She held back a sob and turned away to hid the tears sliding down her face. Mr. Weasley went to comfort his wife, trying his best to hold himself together. Ron was the only one who spoke up. He knew his best friend, and he knew that Harry was blaming himself for them getting Ginny. He also knew that Harry had, undoubtedly, fought as hard as he could to keep Ginny safe. "It's not your fault Harry, you can't blame yourself."

"The hell I can't," Harry shouted, his frustration coming out as he stared Ron down. His eyes fell again. They all just looked at him, surprised by his sudden outburst. "Sorry," Harry apologized, realizing what he had said. He took a deep breath in and desperately said, "What do we do now?"