A/N: Hi guys, I'm sooooo sorry it has taken me so long to update. I've been busy with TAFE and workplacement and have been sick over the last week with nothing much to do so i took the time to type some more up for you )
You'll be pleased to know that Chapter 12 is very near finished so i will try not to leave it another 3 months before i update again!
Hope you like this chappie and again I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. Now, on with the story.
Chapter 11
The Aftermath
Harry's world was spinning and all of a sudden he was thrown out of the fireplace into the Weasley's half destroyed kitchen. He looked around and soon spotted the Weasley family and many members if the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore had hurried over to Arthur who was comforting a sobbing Molly. Hermione had hurried over to Ginny as soon as she came in behind Dumbledore.
"Ginny! Are you all right? Where's Ron? Is he all right?" she gushed as she hugged her sobbing friend.
"Oh Hermione!" she said through her tears. "It was awful. He came and he …"
"Yeah I know, Harry saw it all." She finished quietly "Is Ron all right?"
"Yeah he's in the lounge room on the couch; one of the order who is a mediwitch is looking after him. If they had arrived just a few minuted later …"
"Shhh! It's all over now." Hermione soothed rubbing a hand through Ginny hair as she sobbed on Hermione's shoulder.
Harry was looking slowly around the room after a minute he slowly made his way over to where Dumbledore was talking with Mr and Mrs Weasley.
"Mrs Weasley?"
"Oh Harry dear!" she gushed, standing up and hurrying over to pull him into a bone breaking hug.
"I'm so sorry Mrs Weasley" he said quietly once she let go of him enough for him to breathe.
"Oh Harry, call me Molly, and it wasn't your fault!"
"But he was looking for me!"
"And it was a good thing you were staying at Hermione's" said Mr Weasley. "Who knows what could have happened otherwise." Harry smiled at Arthur thankfully.
"What's going to happen now Professor?" he asked turning towards Dumbledore. "Where are they going to stay while the burrow is being rebuilt?" Hermione and Ginny had wondered over during the discussion and Hermione now spoke up.
"Sir? Why don't they come stay with us? My parents said if there was anything they could do …. And we have plenty of room. I could floo home and ask them if you want me to."
"Oh Hermione we couldn't, we'd be too much trouble, what with 6 of us."
"Don't be silly Mrs Weasley! You would be no trouble at all. Plus, we would all be able to have Christmas together."
"All right Miss Granger. You floo home and have a talk to your parents and you know where I am if you need me" said Dumbledore handing her a small bag of floo powder. "Now I must have a talk to the order."
"Thank you sir, I'll try not to be too long." She said smiling up at the old man, then, after giving Harry a quick goodbye kiss, she hurried across the room and disappeared into the fire. Once Hermione had left Harry turned his attention to Ginny. She still had tears running down her cheeks and Harry pulled her into a tight hug, still believing that this was his fault, and his alone. Ginny wrapped her arms around him tightly and buried her head into his chest and began sobbing harder than she had so far that night. Harry just stood there holding her for a few minutes a hand running up and down her back. Once her sobs seemed to slow and her breathing became more rhythmic he asked:
"Are you all right? He didn't do anything to you did he?"
"Ginny shook her head without saying a word. She pulled away from him and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"It was only Ron …" she looked towards the lounge room. Harry noticed this and let go of her and slowly walked towards the door. Inside he could see Ron lying on the lounge and a mediwitch leaning over him giving him various potions, which were scattered all around her.
"Is he going to be all right?" He asked from the doorway. The young woman jumped at the sound of his voice and spun around quickly.
"Oh, it's only you Harry! Don't do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack." she joked.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you …. Err … I don't believe I know your name." he said as he entered the room and walked over to them
"Isabelle, Isabelle Bradley, pleased to finally meet you Harry" she said as she extended her hand for Harry to shake.
"You too" he said as he shook it. How are you feeling mate?" he asked, turning his attention to Ron.
"Like I've been hit by a bus"
"I'm so sorry mate this is all my fault." said Harry beginning to pace and running a hand through his hair.
"Don't be daft mate, that… that … 'thing' is a total maniac" Harry couldn't help but laugh. Fred and George appeared in the doorway next to Ginny at that moment.
"Hey Gin" said Fred as he wrapped his little sister in a tight hug.
"How are you?" asked George.
"Not to bad considering" replied Ginny giving them both a weak smile.
"How is he?" asked Fred indicating Ron.
"He'll be fine in a few days" said Harry walking over to them "How are you guys?"
"We weren't here; we were working late to finish our Christmas orders so that we didn't have to go in today" muttered George as he looked around the mess that was once their home.
"Yeah, we only just got home, Dumbledore sent us an owl. We got it just as we were locking up" added Fred, finally letting go of Ginny. There was a sudden whoosh and Hermione appeared in the fire, followed closely by her parents.
"Oh my," exclaimed Helen as she looked around the once cosy kitchen
Helen, Michael." called Arthur from across the room as he hurried over to shake their hands.
"Arthur, how are you? Is everyone all right?" asked Michael.
"I'm fine, luckily Ron was the only one who was hurt and he'll be fine in a few days, he just needs to rest."
Hermione mentioned that you and your family need somewhere to stay for a while commented Helen.
"Well … err … as you can see … our house" said Arthur looking around sadly.
"You must stay with us!" she insisted "It would be no trouble at all."
"Well … I … umm …" stammered Mr Weasley "Thankyou"
"It is least we can do after what you have dome for our Hermione over the last few years."
"I'll go tell Molly," Mr Weasley then hurried off to tell his wife the good news.
30 minutes later
"Come on you lot. You need to get some sleep" said Molly walking up to her 4 children, Harry and Hermione. Helen is going to make up some rooms for us all. I want you to go help her then go to bed!"
But what about you and Dad?" said Ginny climbing to her feet and hugging her mum.
"We'll be along shortly. There are a few more things we need to sort out first" Molly answered hugging her only daughter tightly.
"Can't we help?" asked George.
"No, now off you go. Helen is waiting for you/" The Weasley children grudgingly made their way to the fireplace, Fred and George supporting Ron between them, Harry and Hermione following.
Due to the magic which had been placed on the Burrow, the damage was not nearly as bad as it could have been. The upper floors were still standing, although no one was quite sure how or for how long. Once the group made their way back to the Granger's Arthur made his way carefully upstairs to assess the damage. He slowly and cautiously made his way into the master bedroom. He could see that much of the furniture had some sort of damage. He began searching to see if anything could be salvaged when he came across a large bad of brightly wrapped gifts which Molly had been planning to place under the tree later that day. Smiling to himself he grabbed the bag and an armful of clothes he had also found and hurried back downstairs.
"Molly! Look what I found" he called when he was halfway down the final staircase. Molly came hurrying from what was left of the lounge room and her face brightened slightly when she saw the bag of presents Arthur was carrying.
"Oh Arthur, I'm so glad you were able to find them" she gushed as her husband stepped off the last step and she pulled him into a tight hug before kissing him.
"What do you say we call it a night?" he asked, his arm still wrapped around her.
"Yes, you're probably right, it's late and it's Christmas Eve, there is so much to do today" she said as she rested her head on his shoulder.
By now most of the order members had left to return home to their families. Only Dumbledore, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley and Snape remained Moody and McGonagall having left only minutes before. Molly and Arthur thanked everybody for their help and said their goodbyes before flooing to the Granger's.
Harry woke later that day to Hermione lying next to him running her fingers through his extremely messy hair.
"Hey sleepyhead" she said softly when she saw him smile at her.
"Hey, what time is it?"
"1 In the afternoon, mum wants to know if you're getting up today or not?" she said with a small giggle "Everyone else is downstairs but they haven't been up long. Ron came down about 15 minutes ago so I thought I'd come up and see how you were." Hermione noticed his face drop at the mention of Ron and his family, and the memories of the previous night came flooding back to him.
"How are they all?" he asked sitting up.
"They're holding up as best they can" she sighed "The news travelled fast though, they've been receiving owls for the last few hours. Luna sent one to Ron, she's really worried about him. She'll probably be here within a couple of hours checking on him" she said smiling.
"I'm glad they got together, they make a good couple"
"Yeah me too, I hated seeing him mope about the school getting into more trouble than usual."
"Yeah I don't think we need to worry about him too much now, I'm sure Luna will keep him in line."
"What, just like I keep you in line Mr Potter?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Miss Granger." He leant down and kissed her softly, they pulled apart suddenly at the sound of someone clearing their throat from the open doorway.
"Oh, hi Gin," said Hermione blushing, making Ginny grin even more.
"Helen wants to know if you want lunch or not Harry."
"Oh, umm … yes please, tell her I'll be down in a minute." He said also blushing. As soon as Ginny left Harry went to get up but was pulled back down by Hermione. "Hey," he cried out in surprise as he fell back onto the bed.
"Don't go just yet." said Hermione, looking at him with pleading eyes and biting her lower lip slightly.
"Are you alright?" he asked. Tears suddenly came to Hermione's eyes and she fought to hold them back, but failed miserably. "Hey," he said pulling her closer and wrapping her in a tight hug "What's wrong?" Hermione had wrapped her arms around his neck and was now sobbing into his shoulder. "Come one sweetheart, you can tell me" he whispered softly as he rubbed her back gently.
"Oh Harry, I just can't stop thinking about what could have happened if you had gone to the Weasley's like you had planned. What if he had …?"
"Hey, there's no need to think like that, everyone is fine, no one was killed or seriously injured" he said pulling back to look into her tear filled brown eyes. "He didn't get to me and he won't in a hurry. I wouldn't let him do anything to let him take me away from you!" Hermione sniffed and pulled him into another tight hug.
"I love you" came the muffled voice of Hermione.
"I love you too, more than anything." He whispered kissing the top of her head. "We should probably go down before anyone else comes looking for us." Hermione nodded slowly and finally let go of him. She wiped the tears from her eyes and gave him a weak smile. Harry reached up and wiped away a stray tear before caressing her cheek with his thumb. Hermione closed her eyes and leant into his hand, enjoying the feel of his soft touch. Harry leant in and kissed her again before getting up and moving off towards the bathroom for a shower. Hermione was still sitting on his bed when she heard the water in the shower start running. Sighing, she slowly dragged herself off the bed and made her way back downstairs. When she reached the kitchen she was still wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Hermione?" her mother said when she saw her daughters puffy red eyes. "Are you alright sweetheart?" Helen came over and gave her daughter a hug.
"I'm fine mum." she whispered.
"No you're not, please tell me what's wrong, you know I worry about you."
"It's nothing mum really."
"You and Harry haven't had a fight or anything have you?"
"No, nothing like that, just me being silly"
"You weren't being silly" said Harry coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist
"So everything is alright then?" Hermione nodded again, so Helen went back to making lunch. Hermione turned around and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend once more.
"You sure you're okay? He asked as he held her. He felt her nodding against his chest but she didn't say anything.
A/N: Well there it is and i hope you enjoyed it... you know what to do now ...
... thats right just hit that little purple button down there and send me a review ... go on you know you want to!
I would also like to thank Harry's Lost Twin, lucy-lollipop and Zekki for their reviews on the last chapter
Chapter 12 up soon so stay tuned!
Meaka
