Harry and Ginny spent most of the rest of the day together, a lot of it with Ron and Hermione as well. Ginny even accompanied the trio for their secret business in the forest, though Harry made her promise not to tell anyone what they were doing. And in turn she made him promise not to mention it being her birthday to anyone because she thought they all had enough on their minds at present.

Harry put on a smile all day for Ginny; however, he was very worried at the fact that Hedwig had still not returned by night fall, or in fact by the time he went to bed.

Images of his past filled Harry's dreams, they were all changing very quickly, flashing from one memory to the other until at one point the images seemed to be stuck. Stuck on the memory of Hagrid tapping the brick wall behind The Leaky Cauldron, over, and over, taping the bricks in the same order, but the wall didn't open and just stayed closed. On and on the dream went until Harry realized that he was awake and he could hear a tapping. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked all around the room and there he saw a bright white shape framed in a dark square.

Harry quickly grabbed his glasses and put them on, and then he saw what it was. There was his snowy owl, Hedwig, tapping her beak on the window to get in. He jumped out of bed, opened the window and Hedwig fluttered in the window.

Harry picked up his wand, said "Lumos!" and began to examine his owl. 'Surely if she's this late she had to have been injured' Harry thought…but, he couldn't find the slightest thing wrong with her. Her eyes did have a very slight glazed look to them, but other than that there was nothing. So, he figured that she must have just been out hunting a little longer than usual.

"I'm sorry, Hedwig, I know you just got back, but I need…" Harry started to say when he remembered something

Harry retracted his hand and the letter from Hedwig and sat down on his bed.

"What where we thinking?" Harry said to himself "We can't go sending them owls, it's the headquarters for the Order for Merlin's sake! What if Lupin had been on a mission and my letter arrived and blew the whole thing?"

Harry sat on his bed for quite awhile considering his options on how he could get the letter to Lupin. 'I could use Kreacher' Harry thought at one point 'No, that won't work, it'd be the same as sending an owl, only worse.'

Finally after about an hour Harry determined that his best option was to simply chuck the letter through the fireplace to Grimauld place and hope that Lupin would be there reasonably soon.

Fully dressed and with letter in hand Harry opened his door and began walking down stairs for breakfast, but as he did so Hermione came rushing up the stairs towards him.

"Harry! Have you sent the letter yet?" She said as she caught her breath

"No, I was going…" Harry tried to say but Hermione cut him off

"Good, I just realized that the Order can't have owls flying in and out of there."

"Yeah, I…" But Hermione cut him off again

"Remember, they told us that the first time we got there, that they needed to not draw attention to the house. And what if he were on a mission, it would be just terrible."

"Yes, I…" But he was cut off for a third time

"So, I was thinking that we'll have to come up with a different to get Lupin the…" It was Hermione's turn to be cut off

"HERMIONE! I know, I realized all this last night as I was tying the letter to Hedwig." Harry said, quite annoyed at her cutting him off so many times

"You did? Oh," Hermione said with a look of utter shock on her face "I mean, that is to say… you did?"

"Yes, I did, does that surprise you?" Harry asked, a little insulted

"Oh, no, I didn't… Well, to be honest, yes, it does, but it's a good thing." Hermione said looking a little ashamed

"Alright, whatever, I'm hungry let's go eat." Harry said as he started down the stairs again

"So, did you think of a way get it to him?" Hermione asked

"Well, I thought about using Kreacher, but…" Harry said but was cut off yet again

"No, no, Kreacher would never do, it would be the same as an owl." Hermione said fretfully and Harry rolled his eyes

"Hermione, am I ever going to get to finish a sentence?" Harry said

"Oh, sorry, what were you saying?" Said Hermione

"I was saying that I thought about using Kreacher but then I realized I couldn't." Harry began "But I came up with another way so it's fine."

"What did you come up with?" Hermione asked with a look of great skepticism

"I'm just going to send it to Grimauld place through the Floo network." Harry said as they reached the bottom of the stairs

Almost immediately Hermione got a very 'I-don't-think-that's-a-very-good-idea' look on her face, but, she wasn't able to further the point because of Ron interrupting them.

"Oh, good you guys are here, I was about to come get you, look what just arrived." Ron said as he held out three large, parchment envelopes, all three of which baring the Hogwart's crest.

"So they are going to reopen the school, this is fabulous." Hermione said excitedly "Oh, and look, Professor Flitwick's been made Deputy Headmaster. That's great, he really deserves it."

"Yeah, it's a shame that we won't be going back, huh Hermione?" Ron asked, but she now had her back to them and wasn't paying any attention

"It is, it really is," Harry said looking sorrowful "I whish we could go back, Hermione will you write the letter?" Harry asked but he got no response "Hermione?" but still nothing "Hermione!" But she still appeared not to of heard him

Harry and Ron exchanged puzzled looks then looked back at Hermione and said in unison "Hermione!" This time it got her attention; she reacted as if being awoken from a deep sleep and whirled around to face the others.

"Are you all right Hermione?" Ron asked looking concerned

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine, what were you saying Harry?" Hermione said

Harry didn't look wholly convinced but continued. "I was wondering whether you'd write the letter."

"Letter? What letter." Hermione said looking confused

"The letter informing McGonagall that the three of us aren't returning to school." Said Harry

"So we're not going back?" Hermione asked weakly

"Hermione, I told you last year that I wasn't going to come back." Harry said

"Oh, I know, I was just hoping you changed your mind, and, well, look." Hermione said as she took something out of the envelope and showed them.