Chapter Twenty Eight

Harry and Ginny were relaxing in the sitting room, talking with Harry's parents when they felt the call to visit Tom's mind.

'Well I guess that answers one of our questions,' stated Harry as they excused themselves and disappeared to their suite.

'Yes, but it seems different somehow,' replied Ginny.

They quickly settled onto the bed and summoned Xavier.

'Xavier, can you please tell Albus that something is happening with the Death Eaters?' Harry announced as they entered their mind and made their way to the door to Tom's mind.

When they entered, the first thing they noticed was how organized it was.

'Looks like he finally woke up. We need to proceed cautiously as we don't know what has changed with the link,' stated Harry as they continued to look around and proceed to their normal vantage point.

Tom was pacing around his throne room, looking down at the cowering Death Eaters.

"Once again I find myself disappointed in you. Since waking up earlier today, I have learned that it has been five months since the attack on St. Mungo's and it has taken you this long to help me," sneered Voldemort before torturing each Death Eater in turn.

"I also find myself severely disappointed to find that you have not even determined who the mystery person was. Then I learn that Potter is the Heir of not only Gryffindor, but Merlin himself."

"Lucius, please can you explain to me why you have not taken advantage of the disruption that was caused by the changes at the Ministry?" asked Tom in a dangerous voice.

"We tried, my Lord," Lucius offered as he knelt before Tom. "The Goblin scum arrived and helped defend the Ministry."

"Are you telling me that you couldn't defeat a few Goblins?"

"They had a large force of heavily armed Goblin Warriors, my Lord. They also knew a spell that could destroy the Dementors and wiped out all that remained," replied Lucius, knowing it would anger Tom greatly.

"What do you mean wiped out?"

"There are no more Dementors. Every last one has been wiped out," replied Lucius.

"You have failed me for the last time, Lucius. Yes, I know that the Goblins seized all your money too. Let this be a lesson to each of you. I don't accept failure." Tom stated as he pointed his wand menacingly at Lucius.

"I am sorry, my Lord. I am trying…"

"Avada Kedavra," shouted Tom before Lucius could finish his sentence.

Tom looked around at the other Death Eaters, "Bellatrix, where is your useless husband and his worthless brother?"

"They have disappeared, my Lord," she replied quietly.

"Well, I hope, for their sake, they don't return. I have a mission for you: there is an object in your vault that I need," stated Tom.

Tom watched closely and could see the fear and worry in Bellatrix.

"Legilimens," shouted Tom as he blasted through her weak shields and saw everything that she was trying to hide. As soon as he left her mind, she was also struck down by the Killing Curse.

"Anyone else wish to hide anything from me?" asked Tom angrily as he looked at each of his Death Eaters.

"No, my Lord," they each replied, allowing him access to their minds without any restrictions.

"I can tell you, without any doubt, that Mr. Potter was the mystery man that appeared at St. Mungo's. We have mistakenly underestimated him several times in the past, but never again.

"Now leave me. I will call you soon. I expect each of you to appear immediately when summoned," spat Tom angrily before disappearing from the room.

Harry and Ginny left Tom's mind and reported everything that had happened to those staying at Potter Castle, before making sure that Amelia and Ranok were also advised. Once they had finished briefing everyone, they returned to Potter Castle for the night.

'I didn't notice anything different with the link to Tom's mind,' stated Ginny once they arrived in their room.

'No I didn't either. We will have to continue to be cautious to see what this could mean.'

They then climbed into bed and banished the memories of what Tom had done to the Death Eaters to a far corner of their mind.


Now that Voldemort was awake again, Harry decided it was time to release the information about his heritage so that people would not fear him so much. Thankfully with the changes at the Prophet, due to the arrest of Rita Skeeter, they knew the news would be published as reported.

Heritage of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Revealed

By Felix Grubbs

Last night the Daily Prophet received the following information regarding He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. After verifying the information with the Goblin nation, we are pleased to publish the same information.

Lord Voldemort, as he calls himself, was born Tom Marvolo Riddle, Jr., the son of Merope Gaunt, who was believed to be a Squib, and Tom Riddle, Sr., a well respected Muggle. It is known that Merope used a Love Potion on Tom Riddle, Sr. so that he would marry her. Riddle abandoned Merope after she became pregnant and allowed the love potion to wear off.

Merope died shortly after giving birth to Tom, Jr., who grew up in a Muggle orphanage until he was invited to Hogwarts. Ashamed of his heritage, Tom changed his name to an anagram "I am Lord Voldemort".

It may surprise a number of people to learn that the most feared Dark Wizard since Grindelwald, who champions the cause of pureblood supremacy, is in fact a half-blood.

A copy of the Goblin identification parchment that proves the information provided is authentic has been included in the paper.

Several Death Eaters were shocked to see that the man they had followed for many years was actually a half-blood wizard. However, most of them decided that regardless of that, he was their best hope to purge the Wizarding World of undesirable elements.

Several Death Eaters questioned Voldemort directly and quickly learned with their lives not to do that.

Tom was livid. He knew it would be harder to recruit people to his cause now and, to make matters worse, he was rapidly running out of people he could trust. Realizing that he would have to find other allies soon, Tom quickly disappeared again to start recruiting.


Christmas Eve was spent visiting Hermione's parents. Because Hermione and Fred were now promised to each other, Fred and the family had been welcomed with open arms by John and Jane Granger. Unfortunately, as the Grangers were not able to protect their minds, they could not spend time at Potter Castle while Voldemort was still alive, so they agreed to visit the Grangers as a whole family.

To avoid any unwanted attention, Harry had contacted the Grangers and asked if he could transport all of them directly to their house. This would stop anyone from spotting them arrive, which would be hard to explain for such a large group without any cars.

John had agreed happily as he was still getting used to everything and didn't want to have to answer questions from his neighbours.

They all arrived and were soon enjoying a Christmas Eve dinner of turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, and numerous types of vegetables. Ron was soon in his element as he filled his plate full of food and proceeded to shovel it into his mouth. Everyone else was trying to slow him down, but it wasn't working. As the dinner progressed, the talk focused on what everyone wanted to do for Christmas and what presents they would like.

Once the main course had been cleared away, Jane walked out of the kitchen, holding a large plate with a flame covered Christmas pudding. None of the Weasleys had seen anything like this from a Muggle before and Arthur was immediately bombarding her with questions about it.

"Arthur Weasley, stop harassing her and let her serve dessert," Molly said dangerously.

Arthur immediately settled down and looked sheepishly down at his plate. Everyone could tell that he would be asking again later.

Once dessert was served, everyone once again settled down and enjoyed themselves. Jane also put Arthur out of his misery by answering his questions quietly.

Harry noted later that Ron spent most of the evening jealously watching Fred and Hermione together. Ron knew it was his own fault and wasn't about to make another mistake, like the one that cost him so much last time.

The Grangers introduced them to several Muggle games, which were complete lost on them. Charades had been the most entertaining of them. Once they all got the general idea of the game, everyone started to get very competitive and the game went downhill from there.

At the end of the evening, everyone had spent an enjoyable time celebrating Christmas together and had exchanged presents. As they were leaving, Harry felt that something was wrong. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he wasn't going to take any risks.

Ginny had sensed the same thing and they both changed into their Phoenix forms and started scanning the local area to determine what was out there. They still found that their senses were stronger when in the actual form, although they could still scan in their human form.

Harry detected several Death Eaters close to the house. It seemed from the numbers that they had not been expecting any resistance.

"It appears that Tom is already on the move. We just detected a few Death Eaters. They will not be any problem, but we are going to have to check the houses of our other friends tonight," explained Harry.

"Fred, come with me. There are two Death Eaters hiding in the backyard. George, you go with Ginny. We will flash you directly behind them," Harry directed as they prepared the attack.

"Everyone else remains in here to protect the Grangers and the house," Harry said.

As soon as Harry had finished talking, they all leapt into action. Harry disappeared with Fred and reappeared silently behind the two Death Eaters, who were quickly disabled and their Portkeys removed. At the same time, Ginny had disappeared with George and they had dealt with the other two Death Eaters, just as efficiently.

The Death Eaters had not even had a chance to get off a single spell during the attack.

Harry and Ginny quickly disappeared after checking that everyone was okay to check their friend's houses. As they had feared, a small ground force was found at Longbottom Manor, The Burrow, at Katie's house and finally Luna's. They quickly and quietly dealt with each group with equal efficiency. The only difference being that the Death Eaters were Portkeyed to Azkaban. Harry had already alerted Ranok that there would be new guests arriving, who needed to be dealt with properly in the traditional Goblin way.

Harry and Ginny returned to the Granger's house to find the Granger parents' bags packed. They could not risk staying at the house now and needed to find somewhere safe to live until this was all over.

Harry and Ginny quickly agreed to allow them to stay at Potter Castle and would transport them shortly.

"We found several more groups this evening. It appears they were planning to attack all those involved in The New Marauders," explained Harry.

"We found this while searching this Death Eater," replied George.

Dear Mr. Potter,

You may have injured me last time, but I will not stop until you have been destroyed. Once you and all the creatures that have united with you have been crushed, I will once again take my rightful place. I know it was you that released the information about me. It doesn't matter. Those who are loyal to me don't care. As a demonstration of our intent and power, your stupid Mudblood friend's parents have been taught a lesson, which your other friends will soon learn.

Lord Voldemort

Harry suspected it was going to be something like this. What concerned him more was how much they knew. It was clear they knew who their main friends were, but that wasn't hard as they would meet outside by the lake every morning.

They all returned to Potter Castle with Hermione's parents. As soon as they arrived, Harry greeted them formally and allowed Molly to take them on the tour of the castle. Harry did have to advise them that because of the danger they were now in, they would basically have to give up their dental practice until Tom had been dealt with properly.

Later that evening, Harry and Ginny retired to their room to relax before going to bed.

'I don't understand why we didn't know about the attacks before they happened,' stated Ginny as she ran a bath.

'I know and I don't like this at all. Do you think Tom knows we have access to his mind and used another method to communicate with them?'

'I don't know and don't want to think about him until after Christmas,' answered Ginny before stripping off and inviting Harry to join her.

They spent several hours relaxing in the bath. It wasn't long before they were slowly making love in the warm water.


Harry woke early on Christmas morning. For the first time in his life, he would be able to celebrate Christmas in his own house with family and friends and was too excited to sleep.

"Wake up, Gin. It's Christmas morning," Harry said excitedly as he bounced up and down on the bed like a five year old.

"What time is it?" moaned Ginny when she finally opened her eyes.

"Five," replied Harry happily as he presented her with a large bouquet of Fire Roses.

"Harry, these are lovely but can we please get some more sleep? I am rather tired from last night," Ginny said sleepily as she started to fall asleep again.

Harry reluctantly laid back down. He was too excited to sleep so he just lay on the bed, thinking about all the previous Christmases and having his excitement crushed by the Dursleys when they forced him to serve them without any presents or acknowledgement that he even deserved anything.

Ginny sensed Harry's sadness and saw the memories that he was watching.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I forgot this is your first real Christmas," Ginny said as she got up and hugged him.

Once they were both dressed, they made their way down to the dining room for breakfast and were not too surprised to see most of the others already awake.

"Happy Christmas," they all shouted when Harry walked into the room.

After breakfast the castle was full of people: all the Weasleys and their partners, Hermione's parents, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Augusta Longbottom, Neville, Luna, Albus and Minerva, who had been invited as Albus had finally admitted his feelings to her. Harry had also insisted that all the house elves be there when they opened presents as he felt they were part of the family too, much to Hermione's delight.

They spent the whole morning opening presents. Molly, despite being injured, had managed to create a knitted sweater for everyone, including all the adults which everyone thanked her for. They all wore them with pride. The twins were messing around as usual when Molly suddenly said 'Tame the Twins'. Everyone just looked at her with confusion until Fred yelled. They all spun around to see that the sweater arms had wrapped around the twins, acting like a straitjacket.

The room erupted into laugher when they saw that the twins had been pranked by their own mother. In response to what had happened, they both got on their knees in front of Molly and started bowing to her feet, saying "We are not worthy."

Molly smiled sweetly at them before turning to Hermione and Katie and whispering something to them. Both twins suddenly looked very worried when they saw the large smiles that had appeared on the girls' faces as Molly continued to talk.

The girls eventually relented and released the twins, but not before telling them they would not be able to take the sweaters off for the rest of the day and if they didn't behave, they would reactivate them. Hermione then whispered something in Fred's ear that caused the traditional Weasley blush to appear.

Harry brought Arthur a large Lego robot set for Christmas. No one heard another word out of him after that as he spent the whole day building various models and controlling them with the remote control. He even experimented with Magic on them, much to everyone's amusement.

Harry gave Ginny a photo album that he had created. It had several sections in it and had pictures from their time together. Harry told her that it would magically expand as they added more photos to it and that he was looking forward to adding many more, including pictures of their children.

'Thank you. I don't deserve this after what I did to you,' Ginny said quietly.

'Gin, I have forgiven you for that and don't want to ever hear about it again. I have every intention of fulfilling that promise and it would only ever be with you,' replied Harry. Harry then flooded the bond with all his love and quite a number of illicit thoughts, which immediately caused Ginny to blush, much to everyone's amusement.

'Thank you,' replied Ginny with a smile, not caring for once how red she was.

He also told her that he had some additional presents, but they were hidden in their room. She could tell from the way he acted that she would have been mortified if he had allowed her to open them in front of everyone.

Ginny gave Harry a handmade scarf and hat to keep him warm and another painting, this time of Harry in some of his Animagus forms.

They had both come to the conclusion recently that small handmade gifts were much more meaningful than getting extravagant gifts that would hardly ever be used.

They had a light lunch to get them through until dinner and planned to spend the afternoon relaxing. After several hours of talking, they decided to go outside and enjoy the snow. A large storm had hit overnight leaving a deep covering of fresh snow around the castle.

They quickly broke into several teams and a large snowball fight broke out. To everyone's surprise, Dumbledore was one of the most active participants in the fight and was enchanting the snowballs to follow people until they hit them. This caused Harry and Ginny to do the same against him and soon they had a very large number of snowballs racing around the field until the magic wore off.

A little later, Hermione asked Harry to flash her to the top of a nearby hill. She then conjured a sled and set off down the hill very quickly, screaming all the way. It wasn't long before they were all joining in. As they continued, they were trying different sled designs to see which was the fastest.

At one point, Fred managed to hit small bump in the snow, which caused his sled to launch into the air landing 100 feet further down with Fred still holding on tightly. Of course he thought this was absolutely brilliant as did several of the others. It wasn't long before Albus and Harry were conjuring various jumps on the hill. Soon it became a competition to see who could go the furthest on each jump.

Arthur and Molly were sitting on the patio watching the others playing in the snow, Molly deep in thought.

"Knut for your thoughts," said Arthur as he watched Molly staring.

"I don't think I have ever seen Ginny or Harry so happy as right now. I am just glad that Ginny came to her senses and Harry forgave her," she said, while still staring off into the distance.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" replied Arthur as he watched them too. "It's times like these that we have to remember, especially with the war."

"At least they have each other. I remember when we were not much older than they are now," Molly remembered with a dreamy look on her face.

"Yes, I remember," replied Arthur, smiling fondly. "I think that is why it wasn't such a surprise when we found out. I know he will do everything he can to protect her as he has already shown several times."

"I don't like that they are the ones that have to end this war. It's just so unfair," Molly said a few minutes later as they both continued to watch the sled races.

"War's never fair, as we know personally. However I have a very good feeling about the outcome of this one. I just hope we are right," replied Arthur as he comforted Molly.


Dinner that evening was a noisy affair as they talked about the activities of the afternoon. To everyone's amusement it was Dumbledore who won the longest jump competition, although everyone was convinced he cheated. Katie and Hermione won the two person sled race, which the twins protested the result. They had been winning until the girls activated the twins' sweaters and caused them to lose control of the sled.

After dinner, Katie and George approached Harry and Ginny and asked if they could have their wedding at Potter Castle on New Year's Day. They immediately agreed as long as Arthur and Molly were okay with it. George and Katie were thrilled and disappeared to discuss it with his parents.

They returned a while later, saying that Arthur and Molly had agreed to the wedding, and they had asked Professor Dumbledore if he could perform the service for them. Harry told them that the elves would help prepare whatever they needed. The only restriction was they wouldn't be able to invite anyone else to the castle. They were happy with that condition and explained that they would have a small celebration when they got back to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore had explained that there were a small number of married student quarters available, but that they had not been used in a long time. George and Katie would be able to move into one of those in Gryffindor Tower when they got back. He also explained that he would announce the marriage during the feast when they returned to the school.

Once the plan had been finalized, they made the announcement to everyone else, causing quite a bit of excitement.

The girls immediately started planning out the ceremony and soon disappeared to Molly's room to discuss it further. Unfortunately George didn't get away fast enough and was dragged off with them, much to the amusement of the others.

Harry disappeared at the same time and informed Maxim to prepare the formal ballroom for the ceremony.


Tom was pacing around his throne room, having just tortured each of the Death Eaters that had turned up when he summoned them.

"I sent twenty five Death Eaters out yesterday and so far none of them have returned. There has been no news of the victims of the attacks," Tom hissed.

"Master, we have attempted to find out what happened, but there has been no news," offered a Death Eater quietly.

"How can there be no news?"

"We visited each of the houses and there was no damage, Master. We cannot locate any of the Death Eaters. They have completely disappeared," the Death Eater replied.

"I want answers and soon. There must be a spy. If I find out who it is, they will regret ever hearing the name Voldemort," Tom told them before torturing each of them again to remind them.

"Rockwood, there is a prophecy in the Department of Mysteries that I need you to retrieve. It is the key to unlocking Potter's power and finally defeating him," Tom stated.

"I will look into it, my Lord."

"Do not fail me. You know what the price of failure is," snapped Tom before dismissing him.

Rockwood left immediately, knowing that failure was not an option. He also knew that it was impossible to remove a prophecy unless you were specifically mentioned, but didn't want to bring that up yet, knowing that Voldemort would punish him even if it was the truth.


Harry and Ginny finally made it back to their room after a long but fun-filled day.

"Thank you for the present," Ginny said as they cuddled on the bed.

"You don't have to thank me. I look forward to the day when we can start filling the back of the album," replied Harry, while placing slow kisses on the neck.

"Hmm, that feels good," replied Ginny, feeling suddenly wide awake again.

"Oh, that reminds me. Your other presents are in the bathroom." Harry told her, while gently pushing her off the bed towards the bathroom.

Five minutes later, Ginny returned wearing a long flowing silk nightdress.

"These are amazing," Ginny told him as she gently turned on the spot to allow him to admire the outfit.

"Wow, you look absolutely stunning," Harry told her as he got up and kissed her.

He slowly peeled the nightdress off her shoulders and allowed it to fall to the floor.

'Hmm, I knew those would look good on you,' Harry said as he admired the silk underwear he had got her.

'You have very good taste, Mr. Potter," replied Ginny as she slowly removed them.

Ginny slowly pulled Harry towards the bed before climbing on with him and slowing showing him just how much she appreciated the gifts.

They both fell asleep early the next morning completely exhausted, but very happy.


Harry and Ginny woke early on Boxing Day morning. They had finally arranged to meet with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. While they were more accepting of Harry's magic since the trial, Harry and Ginny didn't want to just flash to their house, so decided instead to flash to the forest nearby and walk.

Harry and Ginny arrived in the woods, having surveyed the surrounding area to ensure no one was present. They quickly transformed and made their way to his aunt's house.

They approached the front door and Harry rang the doorbell. A few seconds later Petunia answered.

"Good morning, Harry, Ginny," Petunia said as she invited them in.

"Good morning," they both replied as they entered the house.

Harry was slightly overwhelmed by the memories of the treatment he received while living at the house. He had not returned since before they had bonded. Ginny sent her love through the bond, helping him to push the memories to the side.

"Thank you for coming," Petunia said as she showed them into the living room. Dudley was sitting on the couch next to a young lady Harry had never seen before. Harry quickly scanned her to be certain there was no threat and was rather shocked to see that she was a witch. The other thing that they noticed was how good Dudley looked. He had lost a lot of weight and was obviously working out.

"Hi, Dudley. Wow, you are looking good," Harry said as he held out his hand.

"Hi, Harry. Thank you," Dudley replied as he got up and hugged Harry, much to his surprise.

"Harry, this is my girlfriend, Natalie Samuels," Dudley said.

"Hello, Natalie. This is my wife Ginny," Harry replied before shaking her hand.

The five of them sat quietly for several minutes. No one really sure what they should say. Each could feel the tension in the air. Harry eventually broke the silence.

"Aunt Petunia, how have you been?" asked Harry.

"I am well, thank you, Harry. It was a little difficult in the beginning, but we soon adjusted," replied Petunia with a smile.

"We were rather surprised when the bank contacted us to tell us the mortgage had been paid off," added Petunia afterwards.

"I asked Bill to take care of that for you. You were willing to sacrifice your future for me. It was the least I could do," replied Harry honestly.

"We didn't deserve that, but are very thankful as we would have been kicked out already if you hadn't," Petunia told him.

Harry and Petunia continued to talk about the house and everything that had happened since. She told him that Vernon had written to her, asking why she had betrayed him. She never bothered writing back and refused to accept any letters from the prison.

In the corner of the room, the two girls hit it off immediately. Natalie was indeed a witch, who was attending Beauxbatons because her parents felt Hogwarts wasn't safe enough. They had a lot in common and were enjoying their time together.

Aunt Petunia and the girls disappeared to finish cooking dinner, leaving Harry and Dudley to talk.

"So, Dudley, how has life been since the trial?" asked Harry.

"Not bad, thanks. Mum put me on a diet, which has worked out really well. I met Natalie before she returned to her school and we wrote. I was a little surprised to find out she was a witch, but in the end realized that it really didn't matter," Dudley told him.

"Who would have thought that you would have fallen for a witch?" joked Harry kindly.

"I know I treated you badly when you were living here, but I really was doing it to impress Father. I wish I had realized just how much of a jerk he really was," replied Dudley.

"Well it is over now. The important thing is you stood up when it counted, despite what could have happened to you. Although your crimes were not as bad as your parents, you could still have spent time in prison if charges had been pressed. I am just grateful that you learned your lesson," Harry told him.

"Just make sure you never fall back into that old pattern. If things work out with Natalie, then it is very likely that any children you have will be magical," Harry added.

"I don't think we are close to that," replied Dudley with a slight laugh.

"You never know what will happen. Just be good to her. I can see she really likes you," replied Harry.

"Thanks," Dudley told him as he looked slightly embarrassed.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the ladies were all talking about Harry and Dudley.

"You and Harry seem so happy," Natalie said as she peeled the potatoes by hand.

"We are. Harry makes me feel like I am the only person who matters in the world," replied Ginny with a smile.

"I wish Dudley was like that," replied Natalie a little sadly.

"I am sure if you give it time, he will be. He has changed a lot from the boy that Harry knew growing up. The fact that he is even dating you is testament to that as they hated anything to do with wizards and treated Harry very badly," Ginny told her.

"Dudley told me about how they had treated Harry. I was very close to dumping him when I heard about it, but he told me what they did at the trial and I could see just how sorry he was," Natalie told her.

"I had a long talk with Petunia as well. They were both very lucky that I am underage or they would have felt the wrath of my hexes when they told me what they had done," continued Natalie.

They continued talking as they finished preparing dinner and before long, everything was ready to be served.

Dinner passed quickly as everyone enjoyed the food and talked quietly. After dinner, they exchanged gifts and spent the afternoon playing various games. Dudley found wizard's chess very entertaining while Harry and Ginny enjoyed playing his computer games.

After a light supper, Harry promised to keep in contact with them. He also told Aunt Petunia that there was someone that he would like her to meet at some point, but didn't elaborate further on that. He promised to arrange a meeting during the Easter holidays.

Ginny promised to keep in contact with Natalie. She could tell that despite her and Dudley's protests, they both cared for each other and it was very likely that they would be married one day. With that in mind, Ginny wanted to spend some time getting to know her better.


Harry and Ginny returned to Potter Castle and disappeared to the sitting room.

"Good evening," Lily said as he sat down.

"Evening," replied Harry as he pulled Ginny into his lap.

"What brings you here this evening?" asked Lily as she watched the young couple snuggle in the chair.

"We just spent the day with Aunt Petunia and Dudley," Harry told her watching carefully for her response.

"WHY WOULD YOU SPEND TIME WITH THEM?" shouted Lily, looking livid.

"They have changed, Mum. We were rather shocked to see that not only has Dudley lost a lot of weight, but he is also dating a witch," Harry told her.

Lily didn't look much happier, but didn't say anything else. Harry proceeded to tell her about their day and everything that happened while they were together.

Before leaving for the evening, Harry turned again to his mum and asked "I think you should meet her."

"I am not sure that is a good idea, Harry. I know you have forgiven her, but I am not sure that I can."

"As I said to Dudley, they may have treated me badly for a long time, but they did stand up for me when it really counted," Harry told her.

"I just think that you all need to resolve this. If Dudley does end up marrying Natalie in the future, then I can see them spending some time with us and they are going to see you then," added Harry.

"I'll think about it, Harry."

"That's all I am asking."


The next couple of days disappeared very quickly as everyone focused on getting ready for George and Katie's wedding. Molly was in her element and Hermione had everything planned to the second.

Harry and Ginny decided that they were not needed any longer for the planning as they had provided the venue and fifty house-elves to decorate and cater the food.

They disappeared off to Harry's private study so they could start preparing the fake prophecy. They had put it off since September and knew that they would need to ensure it was ready, especially after the failed Death Eater attacks on Christmas eve. They had also been advised that someone had been sniffing around the Ministry, trying to find out details of how to get into the Department of Mysteries.

"So, Mrs. Sexy Potter," Harry said as they sat at the desk.

"Mr. Potter, get your mind back on the task at hand," replied Ginny, pretending to be offended.

"I know where I would like to have my hands at the moment," replied Harry before reaching out to grab her. She playfully slapped away his hands before moving just out of reach.

"If you focus on the completing the prophecy, then we can enjoy a reward later," promised Ginny as she blew him a kiss.

"Oh, like I can concentrate on the prophecy now," replied Harry before laughing.

Ginny giggled at his expression before taking out some parchment to make notes.

"So what are we going to say then?" asked Ginny, as she wrote out the first part of the prophecy that they knew Voldemort was aware of.

"Whatever we use, I think it should be Muggle in origin. What better way to insult him than to use Muggle phrases?" suggested Harry.

Ginny's eyes lit up at the suggestion. The only problem was she really didn't know much about Muggles, other than what she had learned from Harry's memories.

They spent most of the afternoon researching when Harry came across an old English dictionary.

"Gin, I think I have found something." He had been looking up various words when he came across an entry for the word 'know' that related to having sex.

She looked at it and was confused until she saw what he was thinking.

"That's disgusting, Potter," she said before bursting into laughter.

Harry grabbed the parchment and added The Dark Lord shall know his supporters, but none will be satisfied…

"We need to add some more," Harry said afterwards.

Ginny grabbed the quill and wrote down He shall share his seed with them, but none shall succeed…

Harry looked confused for a second before realizing what she meant. He almost threw up at the thought.

"That is totally disgusting."

"Why thank you, Mr. Potter," replied Ginny with a laugh.

"And you had the cheek to say my contribution was disgusting," added Harry.

"We should add something about what will happen to him in the end," suggested Ginny.

They thought about it further and finally added The Dark Lord shall meet the same fate as those he has known…

They read it over several times and couldn't think of anything else to add, so settled for what they already had.

They had already researched how the prophecy containers worked and so knew how to record it. Ginny altered her voice to sound like the original prophecy as she had seen it in Dumbledore's memory.

"Are you ready?" asked Harry as he finished setting up.

"Yes," replied Ginny before kissing Harry.

Harry started the recording and indicated to Ginny to start. She read out the prophecy slowly in a voice that sounded very much like Professor Trelawney. As soon as Harry stopped the recording, Ginny finally relaxed and they listened to the playback.

"Perfect. Now we just need to switch them," Harry stated as she put the globe into a box for safety.

Deciding that there was no time like the present, they flashed directly to the Prophecy Room in the Department of Mysteries. Xavier had already determined the location of the Prophecy, so they knew exactly where they needed to arrive.

Using their Phoenix Magic, they checked to make sure that no one was nearby before appearing next to the shelf containing the prophecy. Harry quickly located the actual prophecy on the shelf. He carefully picked it up and removed the tag so they could place it back on the fake one.

Harry pulled out the fake prophecy and placed the tag on it so they could avoid confusing them. He then passed them both to Ginny so that he could scan the original and transfer any magical enhancement on it to the fake, including the one that allowed only Tom or himself to touch it. They carefully placed the fake prophecy on the shelf, making sure to not disturb anything else so that no one would know it had been tampered with. Harry then sprinkled dust over the shelf just in case someone looked closely.

They returned to Potter Castle with the original prophecy and placed it securely in Harry's study. They noticed as they did that the castle also added its own protections.

By the time they had returned, it was dinner time so they both headed down to meet the others. Most of the guests had left to spend time with others, leaving only the New Marauders, Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Dumbledore in the castle.

"Good evening," Harry said as he arrived for dinner.

"Evening, Harry. You and Ginny look very pleased with yourselves," replied Dumbledore as they sat down still holding hands.

"We created the fake prophecy today and swapped it with the real one," replied Harry as he filled Ginny and his plate with food.

"Excellent news. I take it the original is secure," replied Dumbledore, looking very happy with the news.

"Yes, Sir, it is very secure," replied Harry. who gave a look that indicated that he was not going to offer any further information about its location.

"Do you mind me asking what the fake one says?" asked Dumbledore.

"No, I don't mind you asking," replied Harry with a smirk.

"Very funny," replied Dumbledore with a large smile.

Harry disappeared to get his Pensieve so that they could see the memory of the new prophecy. He returned moments later and placed it in the middle of the table with the new memory already present. After tapping the Pensieve twice, they could all hear the prophecy clearly.

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, Born as the seventh month dies... the Dark Lord shall know his supporters but none will be satisfied... He shall share his seed with them but none shall succeed... The Dark Lord shall meet the same fate as those he has known… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

As the prophecy ended, all the others except Hermione looked thoroughly confused by what they had added, which was exactly what Harry and Ginny hoped would happen. Hermione was deep in thought, trying to work out what the rest of it meant. Suddenly she burst out laughing and looked at Harry.

"That is disgusting," she finally said.

"That's exactly what Harry said too," laughed Ginny. All the others looked completely confused still.

"Would one of you please explain what the bloody hell it means?" asked Fred, earning him a slap from Hermione for his language.

Hermione then proceeded to tell everyone the translated prophecy. Harry was amused to see the looks of absolute disgust that passed over the faces of everyone around the table at hearing it. A few moments later they all burst into laughter.

"Oh, to be a fly on the wall when he hears that," Sirius said.

"I wouldn't want to be the Death Eater that explains the real meaning," added Tonks, her hair still changing color.

"Do you really think they are going to find out?" asked Harry, looking amused.

"What do you mean?" asked Remus.

"Think about it. None of you knew what it really meant except Hermione and that was because she is Muggleborn. If anyone does find out what it means they would be completely stupid to tell Tom. Oh, just a minute, we are talking about Death Eaters," replied Harry, while laughing at his own joke.