CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Harry packed his trunk quickly, knowing that sitting on his bed was a sad looking sixth year red head clutching his pillow to her chest. Her trunk was already downstairs with McGonagall. She sniffled. Seamus, Dean, and Neville were all bunking in the sixth year dorm at the moment. The three of them quickly made their break for it when Harry came back into the room cursing and throwing stuff into his trunk with loud bangs.

Seamus, having only a slight idea what might be going on, ushered the other two seventh year boys out of the room as soon as he spotted a red-eyed Ginny standing in the doorway. Now, Harry and Ginny were the only ones in the room and, having calmed down a bit, Harry was packing his trunk neatly, but quickly.

"I'm afraid that with Dumbledore gone the four of you are in grave danger here. Voldemort sent a message through one of his followers' sons here at Hogwarts – the Dark Lord threatens to show up at Hogwarts to find you and harm you," McGonagall had told them in the Common Room a few minutes earlier.

"Why all of us?" Harry asked. "Why not just me?"

"Because he feels you all are his greatest threat. He knows he cannot fight you, Mr. Potter, without them there by your side." McGonagall cleared her throat then and the four Gryffindors noticed how straight she was standing, almost forcing herself not to collapse. "If necessary I shall have to send Mr. Longbottom and Miss Lovegood away from Hogwarts as well."

"What! Why?" Harry already felt terrible enough that McGonagall and the Order were sending him and his friends away from school. He knew it wasn't just for their protection, it was for the protection of the entire school. Voldemort and his Death Eaters would have no problems killing anyone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when he came looking for Harry.

"They've fought along your side in the past. Lord Voldemort does not forget."

Now, ten minutes later, Harry was finishing up packing his trunk. It was unknown whether or not they'd be returning to finish out their seventh year. Harry could only imagine Hermione having a fit about the possibility of not being able to take her NEWTs. Closing and locking his trunk, Harry thanked himself for not being Ron and having no choice but to listen to her ranting about NEWTs.

After rising from his knees to his feet Harry surveyed the room. Four four-poster beds were all aligned against the walls in the circular room with desks next to them. Each of the beds had trunks at the end of them. None of the beds, except for Harry's were made and random bits of clothing and crumbled up bits of parchment were strewn over the floor. Harry sighed.

"What are you thinking about?" Ginny asked him softly.

"Whether or not I'll ever see this room again."

Ginny let go of his pillow and swung her legs over the bed. She walked over to him and took a hold of his hand, leaning against him.

"I wish I hadn't dragged you into this."

"I dragged myself into this. I didn't let you push me aside when you went to try and save Sirius and I didn't let you push me aside last year either. I was already involved though… even before my fourth year."

"It just seems like ever since you've known me all I've done is put you in danger."

"You can't possibly blame my first year on yourself. That was when I was first introduced to Tom. That's when it all started with me. I've been a part of this battle since I was eleven. There was never any choice. You couldn't have stopped me from trying to destroy him – I would've helped you no matter what."

"But, now, you're being taken away from school!"

Ginny shrugged. "At least that means no more Potions."

Harry pointed his wand at his trunk. "Locomotor trunk." They walked down the staircase, Harry's trunk in tow.

Waiting at the bottom of the staircase was a disgruntled looking Ron and a puffy-eyed Hermione. Immediately Harry felt guilty, his stomach tied itself in a tight knot. With his head held high he looked straight at Professor McGonagall.

"Are we going to Grimmauld Place?"

"No, Mr. Potter. You are going to a safe house somewhere else all together. Even I know not where it is. Only one other person knows where you'll be staying and that is your Secret Keeper. The house is untraceable and has more wards around it than even Order headquarters. You'll be safe there. Although, I must warn you not to leave the house. Ever." McGonagall looked down at them through her spectacles.

"But, where will we get food and all that?" Ron asked.

"You'll be fully supplied with everything you'll need, don't worry."

"What if we need to owl someone?" Hermione asked. "What about lessons and NEWTs?"

Harry looked at Ginny and gave her a look that said "I told you so."

"A complete list of what you'll need to learn in order to pass your NEWTs for each subject will be provided to you. Although, when you can take your NEWTs, I cannot say. Don't fret, Miss Granger; it will all work out. As far as your need to owl anyone, you have owls, do you not?"

"I have Hedwig."

"And I have Pig."

"I must insist you do not write anything specific in your letters of your whereabouts. Replies to any letters that you feel you must send will be sent to your Secret Keeper and he shall bring the notes directly to you."

Ron was a bit confused. "What if this Secret Keeper is being followed by Death Eaters? Won't they see him coming to the house and know immediately where we're staying?"

"Oh, honestly, Ron," Hermione said, a tone of exasperation in her voice. "We learned about Secret Keepers in History of Magic and in Charms class."

"Would you like to explain it to me, then, since you're so bloody brilliant?" Ron snapped.

"May I?" Hermione asked Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall raised up both her hands in a surrender. "Be my guest, Miss Granger."

"If a Death Eater is looking through the dining room window and we've all seated ourselves to dinner he won't know we're there – he'll see naught but an empty room. He won't know he's seeing us because it's a secret. No one will know where we are staying unless the Secret Keeper tells someone and it's no longer a secret anymore."

"I don't really understand, but as long as it's safe…"

Hermione almost shook from the restraint to roll her eyes. Instead she just turned her gaze back to McGonagall.

"Professor…"

"Yes, Mr. Potter?"

"If the prophecy is true and I'm the only one who can destroy Voldemort… er, well, if I can destroy Voldemort… then is going into hiding the best way to do it?"

McGonagall straightened up. "Yes, Mr. Potter. You can work on your Shield Charms and your Defense Against the Dark Arts like you had been doing in the DA. Don't think of this as an imprisonment… think of it as a time to expand your learning capacities. You are all of age – well, except, you, Miss Weasley, but I still expect you to act mature. I am fully aware of the goings-on in this school. Some of that behavior should not be tolerated. Your Secret Keeper will be around daily to monitor you, but he cannot be there every hour of each day so I must insist you act within the same rules that Hogwarts imposes."

"Yes, Professor," the four teens mumbled.

"However, since you follow those rules as well as you do, you will notice at the safe house there is a cauldron for working on any… potions… you might find yourself needing."

Hermione looked thoroughly mortified and the shade of red her face turned could have competed against any Weasley blush. Harry smirked and Ginny had to look away to keep from laughing.

"Although, I hope you use the cauldron and any ingredients there to work on Potions for NEWTs. Come now, grab your trunks, there's a portkey waiting."

The house was small and somewhere in the English countryside. No, Harry thought, looking out of the window, the Irish countryside. The lounge had a bright purple couch and two overstuffed, patched blue armchairs all in front of the fireplace. A red and orange rug on the floor underneath a short coffee table. Sconces covered the walls and the candles inside were already lit.

Instead of a dining room there was a large room filled with cushions on one end of all shapes and colours and a row of bookshelves filled with books on the other. Several of the books were ones they had used as text books or reference books in their subjects, the other books were all related to the Dark Arts – or Defense against them.

The doorway from the dining room went into the kitchen which looked much like the kitchen did at The Burrow only with a Muggle refrigerator and electrical oven. There was a table with six matching wooden chairs and cabinets filled with Muggle food – canned soup and boxes of elbow Macaroni. The food and supplies in the pantry were of the sort the two Weasleys were used to; it was none of this pre-prepared food.

There were stairs leading upstairs from the kitchen as well as from the lounge. The stairs went upstairs to the next floor where three bedrooms were located. All the rooms were the same and looked much like the rooms at Hogwarts did – four poster beds with curtains, a dresser, and a desk. The difference was that there were wardrobes in these rooms. A bathroom was at the end of the hallway next to another flight of stairs and unlike the British houses Hermione and Harry were used to, this one had a toilet and a shower in the same room.

The next set of stairs led to another level of bedrooms. This level looked exactly like the one below it only with two bedrooms instead of three and another bathroom. Portraits of sleeping witches, wizards, and animals decorated the walls between the doors – the walls downstairs were bare.

The last flight of stairs led to a dusty attic that was as big as the floor space of each of the lower levels.

"Should we pick rooms?" Hermione asked, holding back a sneeze from all the dust of the attic.

"I suppose so," Harry said. "Is it odd no one was here to meet us?"

"You mean the Secret Keeper," said Ginny. She shrugged and moved towards the attic door and made her way down the steps. "Perhaps there's a note somewhere or something for us. I can't imagine that our parents and the Order would turn us loose in a house all by ourselves."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed. They went back down to the ground level where they had left their trunks in the lounge. Hermione sat herself down on the couch and pointed her wand at the fireplace. Sparks flew out of it and a nice roaring fire gave more warmth to the cold room.

"I say Ginny and I take one floor and Ron and Harry can take another one."

Ron sat down next to Hermione. "What? Why?"

"I don't fancy sharing a shower and a toilet with a boy."

Harry scowled and sat on the arm of one of the blue armchairs. "Hey!"

"I've seen Ron's room," Ginny said with a giggle. She sat down on the cushion of Harry's chair. "He's brilliantly messy."

"Well, I'm clean," Harry said. "It doesn't really matter where are rooms are, does it? It's not like you two will ever spend a night apart."

Hermione frowned and Ron laughed.

"Like you two will?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at his best mate.

"Oh, with you down the hall? Like I'd even try. I don't fancy seeing Ron's rage if he catches me snogging his sister." Harry leaned against the back of the chair, his right hand playing with Ginny's ponytail.

"We should at least try to obey the same rules Hogwarts has, especially if our Secret Keeper is going to check up on us every day."

"I want to know who our Secret Keeper is," Harry said. "My past experiences with them haven't been the greatest," he added in bitterly.

"I doubt the Order wouldn't give the responsibility to someone they didn't trust implicitly," Hermione said. She stared at the fire. "Although, I have to admit I am a bit frightened. Who would have ever thought that being away from Hogwarts would be the safest thing for us? I don't know about you lot but I am most certainly going to study and work on my charms and hexes so I'll be ready for Voldemort and his little Death Eaters."

"You? Study? Perish the thought," Ron teased.

"I suggest you do the same – unless you want Voldemort to take you hostage again."

Ron's ears turned red. He grumbled something under his breath but none of them heard what it was.

Harry yawned. "I'm tired so let's hurry this room bit up. I'd like to take one of the rooms on the first floor. If Death Eaters do come here those will be the first rooms they'll search." To Ginny he said, "I don't want them getting to you before me if I can help it."

Ginny smiled up at him. As much as Ron was beginning not to mind his best mate dating his sister, the looks they gave one another still unnerved him – he knew those looks. He gave Hermione those looks. And Ron knew exactly what he wanted to do to Hermione and knowing that Harry and Ginny had already been doing just that for months irritated him.

A loud CRACK made the four Gryffindors jump in their seats. Standing in the middle of the lounge in front of the fireplace was a shabbily dressed wizard with scars running down his cheeks. He was thin and tired looking and appeared to be a bit disgruntled as he steadied himself on his feet. Harry couldn't be happier to see him.

"Professor Lupin!" Harry cried out.

"Did you Apparate here?" Hermione asked. "I thought the wards here wouldn't allow anyone to Apparate just like at Hogwa—"

"I didn't Apparate," Lupin said, interrupting Hermione. "I used a portkey." He held up a tattered book and smiled a hollow smile. "I am your Secret Keeper. Tonks and I did the spell only a few short hours ago and I set up the portkey."

"Won't the Department of Transportation be able to track us by the use of the portkeys?" Ron asked.

"The head of that department is an Order member. I wouldn't worry about that." Lupin sighed as he looked around the house. "This house used to be a Muggle cottage a good many years ago - that's the reason for the Muggle applicances and light switches on the walls and things. Last summer I spent all the time I had away from Grimmauld Place here, fixing it up. It's a bit dusty – I haven't been back here in a while to clean or anything, but it'll do just fine." Lupin sat down in the unoccupied blue armchair. "Although, last summer there was a dining room. I daresay you lot have given yourself a tour of the house?"

"Yes, Professor," Hermione answered for everyone.

"Good, good. Anyway, yes, yes, the dining room was a real dining room. Tonks changed it last week in case we had to use this house as a safe house for you. She and I had our suspicions about Voldemort's return so after discussing with McGonagall we decided the best thing to do was to set up a safe house. McGonagall left all the details up to Tonks and myself." Lupin yawned. "Since the Secret Keeper spell was made to protect you the spell is not broken now that you know of this place. Although, no one other than us five and Tonks know about this house."

"Sir, what exactly is this place?" Hermione asked, curious. "I mean, why did you spend last summer fixing it up?"

Lupin cleared his throat and swallowed back a blush that tried to cross his cheeks. "Well, I was beginning to tire of Grimmauld Place and Tonks' flat is hardly big enough for her… Well, I daresay we thought getting a house would be ideal."

"But, it's so large," Ron blurted out. "What'd you need all those bedrooms for?"

Hermione elbowed him in the side. "Ron," she hissed.

"What?" he asked, clearly confused.

"Oh, honestly."

"It's all right, Hermione," Lupin said. "We thought a big house might be nice to raise children in. I'm not getting any younger and if I'm going to have children of my own I'd like to have them sooner than later. We didn't tell anyone of the house. We wanted to wait until…" Lupin swallowed. "Well, until the final battle. Neither of us fancied raising a small child without the other."

A smile tugged on Harry's lips. Finally the last of the Marauders would be happy. James and Sirius were both floating souls on the other side of that veil and Peter was in Azkaban. Remus, being left alone, more than deserved to be happy – even if it was someone over ten years his junior. Besides, there was something cute about the romance between Lupin and Tonks.

"I'll pop in every few days from Hogwarts to check up on you. I can, hopefully, assist you with any trouble you are having with schoolwork – I know, you, Hermione, will want to make sure you're still topnotch in all your subjects."

Hermione blushed. "Yes, sir."

"I bet you are all still thoroughly bewildered at all of this," Lupin said. "I can try to answer any questions?"

"Sir," Ginny piped up, "I have a couple. First of all, can I use magic? I won't be seventeen until next August."

"I'm afraid it would be best not to use magic. This location is unplottable but I wouldn't risk the Ministry trying to find out who in this area used magic illegally."

Ginny frowned. "Damn."

"What was your other question?"

"Oh. What exactly did Voldemort say that made you all decide we had to leave school? Do my parents even know what's going on?"

"Your parents have been informed, yes. Your mother reacted just as I would expect your mother would. Arthur calmed her down, though I daresay he had helped with a bit of Sleeping Draught in her tea. As far as Voldemort… Well, the Order decided it was best left unsaid. Back to your parents – it would be wise not to write them very often as the letters will have to go through me. If anyone noticed that the Weasleys were writing to me everyday they might get suspicious, as none of us can keep it a secret that you are no longer at Hogwarts."

"Will Tonks ever come by?" Harry asked.

"You'll see me far more often then you will see Tonks." Lupin checked his watch and stood up. "Oh, it's almost time for the portkey to reactivate itself and take me back to my office. Settle in and I'll be back sometime tomorrow to see how you've adjusted."

Lupin touched the old book again and with a CRACK disappeared.

"I thought only that cracking noise came from Apparition," Hermione mused. "I've never seen anyone appear with a portkey before unless I was with them."

"Imagine that," Ron said.

"Imagine what?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about Professor Lupin and Tonks. An odd sort of couple. She's so young and her hair's always blue or pink or something and Lupin's so much older and all that. I can't imagine what their children would look like. Are they even engaged?"

"Lupin likes to keep his mouth shut on their romance," Harry said. "And, yes, they are engaged."

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Lupin was best friends with my father and Sirius. Do you think I'd let that connection to my family just completely drop? I go visit Lupin a lot when I'm bored and don't fancy a fly. They've been engaged since right before school began. That's probably the only reason why Dumbledore allowed Tonks to visit during the full moon – he didn't have much of a reason to not let her come if she was going to marry Remus and all." Harry yawned again.

"Harry!" Ginny exclaimed.

"What?"

"That's the second time you've yawned."

"So?"

Ginny smiled. "And you haven't fidgeted once or completely changed the subject. You're calm." Ginny's smile faded. "That's so weird…"

Harry shrugged. "I feel really calm here, I suppose. Hogwarts held a lot of memories of the past… as does The Burrow, actually. Here is new. There's nothing to remind me of… Well, it's just new. Maybe that's it. Tell me which room you want, Ginny, and I'll levitate your trunk up there."

Harry and Ginny left Ron and Hermione sitting on the couch in front of the fire. Harry dropped off his trunk in one of the rooms upstairs, shutting the bedroom door before walking up the stairs behind Ginny with her trunk. Ginny chose a room for herself and walked inside. Once inside the room, Harry set her trunk down with his wand.

"Spend the night with me," Ginny said.

Harry nodded. Ginny took her nightgown out of her trunk and changed, having gotten past the stage where she would have been embarrassed to change clothes in front of Harry.

"Don't you want your pajamas?" Ginny asked.

Harry shrugged. "I don't care. Start warming up the bed for me, though."

Ginny smiled and nodded. She pulled back the covers to the bed and climbed inside. Harry took off his clothes and got underneath the sheets and blankets shivering in his boxers. He wrapped himself around Ginny and breathed in her scent. She yawned.

"Are you tired?" she asked.

"A bit, actually. Think I can sleep without using that Dreamless Sleep Draught?"

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I hope so. It'd be nice to have the old Harry back."

Harry was silent.

"Not that I don't like this new Harry… I just liked waking up in the middle of the night to you snoring rather than doing a thousand shit ups."

"I do not snore."

Ginny smiled. "All right, you don't snore," she said, placating him.

"McGonagall said that my purpose was to live, kill Voldemort, and then die. I accomplished all that so now I'm searching for a new purpose. That's why I'm always agitated and twitchy and stuff."

"But, Voldemort isn't dead. Maybe that's why you're so restless – because your purpose wasn't fulfilled?"

Harry was silent again.

"What will be your new purpose once Voldemort's gone?"

"If I don't die again—"

"Harry, don't say that! I told you once before that I have a feeling everything will turn out all right. You won't die. And I brought you back once, I'll just have to do it again."

"Why is that?"

"Because you're my one shag, Harry, and you're going to fuck me for the rest of my life."

At that Harry let out a howl of a laugh. This small, slender, red-headed girl had just told him he was going to fuck her for the rest of her life. What a statement. Harry kept laughing.

"God, you're great," Harry said. He kissed her neck and pulled her in as close to him as possible. "I'm sorry we had to leave school, I feel responsible, but I love you, and you make me laugh and that's something Ron and Hermione couldn't do for the longest time. I appreciate it."

"Thanks. And you're welcome."

"Well, good night."

"Good night? We're alone and you're not going to even try to shag me?"

Harry smiled and kissed her again. "No. It isn't always about shagging. Sometimes it's about just being close and you smell really good. I know you're tired. Sleep."

Ginny couldn't argue so she sighed against Harry, wrapped a couple of her fingers in his black hair – hair that he hadn't cut since Mrs. Weasley had forced scissors upon him over the summer – and fell asleep.

Downstairs Ron and Hermione sat on the couch in silence. Hermione's eyes stung with unshed tears which Ron noticed.

"You all right?"

"Oh, it's all very overwhelming – being here, not going to classes or anything, Voldemort being back, and my parents still being gone… It still upsets me to think that I'm an orphan."

Ron gathered Hermione up in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "Let's just go to bed…"

"I don't think I'm really in the mood for that tonight. I mean, I'm really knackered—"

"I meant, sleep. All we have to do is sleep."

"I don't know…"

"Oh, for the love of Merlin, it's still technically the weekend. You always spend the night in my room on the weekends, yeah?" Ron stood up. "Come on, let's get our trunks. You don't have to put your trunk in my room, but at least think about sleeping there?"

Hermione didn't say anything. She just nodded.

Ron pointed his wand at his trunk. "Locomotor trunk," he said. He went up the stairs to claim a bedroom. One of the three bedroom doors was now shut and Ron surmised Harry must have taken that room. Taking one of the other rooms, Ron set his trunk down at the end of the bed and opened it, searching through it for his pair of pajamas.

Stripping himself of his cloak, jumper, and t-shirt, Ron realized just how cold the house was and quickly buttoned up his flannel pajama shirt. In the midst of undoing his belt he heard footsteps from the stairway walking down the hall. The steps passed by his room and he heard them going up the stairs to the hallway above. Ron hoped those steps would come back down.

After he was changed into his pajamas he pushed back the covers of his bed. Dust flew up from the quilt. Ron grumbled. He took his wand and waved it over the bed.

"Scourgify," he said. The dust disappeared. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over him. He wiggled underneath the covers, trying to create heat and warm himself up. The house was far too cold.

After almost half an hour Ron allowed himself to count sheep to try and sleep. He figured Hermione wasn't going to come down the stairs and he resolved to spend a nice night alone in his bed. Just as Ron dozed off a soft knock from the other side of his door woke him back up.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Imagine my surprise when I checked my email and found over thirty reviews for my last chapter. Wow. Do that again and I'll come up with a really fast update!!

Actually, no, I can't promise that but reviews do make me want to update more quickly. Life is very busy and sometimes it might take me a ltitle bit to update but I haven't gone more than 3 days without providing everyone who wants a chapter to have one.

This chapter seemed to have a lot of dialogue (although I guess a lot of my chapters do...) but I thought it was necessary to fully understand everything that's going on with the safe house and Voldemort. Hopefully it all made sense.

Who's your favorite Harry Potter character? Mine's Naked Ron and you just might see more of him in the next chapter if you're lucky.

Ciao.