Chapter 11

It had been nearly a week since Ginny's birthday and Harry was missing her terribly. He had sent her several owls, but letter writing wasn't the same as being with her in person. Her beauty, her brilliance, her humor was so captivating. It almost sucked you in like a vortex. Harry suspected he had been sucked in long ago, before he'd even realized the vortex existed.

"Potter! Get out here right now!" The voice of Richard Rygard shook him out of these thoughts. Harry scrambled out of bed, grabbing his cloak and wand, and quickly exited the tent they had been living in for the past few days.

"Shhh! They're over there, among the trees!" Sinclair whispered softly. Harry followed his gaze and saw several familiar looking death eaters, although he couldn't remember any of their names. Then, his heart nearly stopped when he heard a low raspy voice coming from the center of their huddle. His suspicions were confirmed when Fenir Greyback stepped out of the huddle of death eaters and turned to face them.

Harry and the other two aurors didn't need a cue, but they all fired a curse at Greyback at the exact same moment. The spells joined together, hitting Greyback squarely in the chest. His sneer captured on his face, he collapsed to the ground. Rygard walked up to him and roughly nudged the side of his face with his boot.

"Knocked out," He said, then he turned to the other death eaters, "You can either come with us and get a trial at the ministry, or you can fight us here. There's no guarantee you'll come out alive."

Most of the death eaters had given up in defeat. Without a master to lead them, they were worthless. They knew their fight was over.

Harry had just come back home from the ministry and collapsed on the couch. Home. It seemed so weird to call this place his home when he knew where his real home was: Hogwarts. But that wasn't the same Hogwarts that Harry knew. It had changed. But it had changed along with the wizarding world. And that was okay, Harry reminded himself for the millionth time. Change was okay.

He sat there for a while and then he went into the bathroom to take a shower. He didn't think Ginny knew he was back yet. Maybe he could surprise her at the Burrow.

A few minutes later, Harry was tossing powder into his fireplace, was sucked up into the floo network and deposited at the Weasley's house. They were all sitting in the living room, chatting quietly. As soon as he appeared, Ginny jumped up and ran to him, almost knocking him down with the force of her hug.

"Harry! I didn't think you were coming back until next week!"

"Slight change of plans. We captured the group we'd been after this morning." Harry told her.

Ginny smiled at this and pressed her lips against his. The kiss lasted less than Harry had hoped, for Ron cleared his throat in the background.

"We're still here, y'know!"

"Yeah, sorry mate, but I'm a bit preoccupied with your sister."

Harry sat down on the couch facing Ron and Hermione. Ginny sat down next to him and laced her fingers together with Harry's. Harry began telling Ron and Hermione what happened. He was amazed how well Ginny knew his body language. She let go of his hand when she knew he was going to use them to talk and when he was beginning to get lost in his thoughts she would kick him in the shins, but not enough to hurt.

When he was done telling the story, Mrs. Weasley came in and invited Harry to dinner. Dinner with the Weasleys' was always fun and Harry noticed a lot more smiles and laughter than there had been in a very long while.

He had such a good time that when he returned to his small little flat, he couldn't help but feeling lonely. He was sitting on the bed, when he heard the small crack; the sound of someone apparating.

But he had protection charms placed around his house! How could anyone get in?

Harry slowly got out of bed, his wand in his hand. He tiptoed into the kitchen and was not expecting to see whom he saw.

"Kreacher?"