Author's Notes: One of the things about writing a novel or a fic is that sometimes you get so lost in a particular scene that you forget the details or you overdo them. The mistake can lead to great confusion of the story that you're trying to convey. For example: when you're writing a comedy about a man walking down the street reading a newspaper not mindful of where he's walking then he swiftly falls down an uncovered manhole, you mostly think how funny it is. What's lost in the medium of reading this is that if you were to look down the manhole you would see the man most likely bleeding with several major broken bones. That detail makes it a tragedy. Do you understand? Let's try again, a man slipping on a banana peel, funny. A man breaking his hipbone, because he slipped on a discarded banana peel, tragedy. It's a fine line between tragedy and comedy with only details separating the two. By the way, if you've heard of this analogy before, then you're definitely an Alfred Hitchcock fan.

What does Alfred Hitchcock have in common with Harry Potter? If you've ever read the Goblets of Fire… READ not watched the movie, READ! Then you would recognize the graveyard scene as being very Hitchcock-ish. A single scene filled with numerous details from a single point of view, Harry, which has everyone in fear till the very end of his escape. In Chamber of Secrets the climax culminated as Harry fought the Basilisk and then Tom Riddle to save Ginny. That detailed scene alone managed to take up a good-sized chapter.

Now here's the problem - if you get caught up writing like this it can also come across as being too prolonged and stuck in a moment of time. Sometimes the story telling does require that you have a more distant and timely view of the story. Like writing about a war, you really can't write everything about one major battle. You have to spread it out and explain the steps of why this happened and that happened during a course of a war. For example, why did Ron really come back to Hogwarts? What part does the blue Phoenix, Bonnet, play? Is Hermione really out of danger now that Antonio Dolohov is dead? What about Ron's fortune that the Gypsy read in Romania?

Hmm…

"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible." Alfred Hitchcock.

:::


Chapter 56 – Blue without you

Dedicated to the Master of Storytelling, Alfred Hitchcock

Ginny's POV:

After dinner, Ginny was feeling a bit tense with reading pages after pages of scribbled numbers and letters in the Goblin's ledgers. Clearly, it was also having an effect on the rest of her family, as they too seemed to be struggling with the finances of Draco Malfoy's Trust Fund.

"Ron, do you need me to help you?" Hermione warmly offered as Ron seemed to be pulling on his hair in frustration.

"I ah… yes." Ron reluctantly declared dropping his ledger onto the table in front of him in defeat.

Normally, Ron would've been hard-headed enough not to admit defeat. However, even Ginny had to admit that she was just as lost as Ron was about how to understand the Goblin's system of tracking collections and receipts. She glanced around the table to find Harry looking over at Hermione with the same look of exasperation and lost that Ron was exhibiting. Even Fred, George, her Dad, her Mum, Penelope, Fleur, and Bill who works at the bank seemed to be in the same predicament as they all too stopped to listen to what Hermione had to say. The only exception was Percy who was busy making notes and carefully marking pages with tabs.

"The Goblins work on a hex-" Hermione knowingly explained a bit louder for everyone to hear.

"A hex! The ledgers are hexed?" Ron nervously asked as he pushed the ledger away from him in fear it might hex him into a slug or something worse.

"No, Ron, you didn't let me finish – so be quiet." Hermione stated a bit rudely to Ron as if she was a Professor trying to give a lecture to a class.

"They use a hexadecimal system for accounts name. Hexadecimal uses the number zero thru nine and the letters A thru F represent ten thru fifteen. Quite efficient I must say. Now with the account name at the top of the ledger they are a grouping of numbers rep-"

It was Harry's turn to interrupt. "But what are the groups?"

Hermione a bit less tense when Harry interrupted her quickly responded. "The first two numbers represents the country of the bank. For example, zero one obviously represents Great Britain-"

"The letter E, so that would mean I got a fourteen over here," offered Fred pointing to his ledger.

"Seventy-two," answered George pointing at his.

It started a wave of answers as every family member said out loud the different countries they were reading from.

"Thirty-nine," said Harry who then drew closer to her to peer over at her ledger.

Ginny looked down at her ledger to noticed the first two numbers all started with twenty-three.

"Twenty-three," Ginny announced with her face heating up with Harry's luscious lips so close to her's.

"One, so mine's local." Her Dad added with a glum look on his face, as he must've thought a foreign bank would've been more exciting.

Her mum also picked up on her Dad's emotions as she traded ledgers with him before speaking the number on where it came from. "Twenty-six, dear and you can have mine."

Ginny watched as her Dad picked up a bit at his wife's trading of ledgers.

"Got another fourteen here." Bill voiced to the family.

"Seventeen," voiced Penelope barely loudly enough for the whole table to hear.

"Zis is Sixty." Fleur said and whipped her hair around as if for some silly dramatic effect.

"Thirty-five," answered Ron shaking his head from Fleur's Veela spell.

Ginny noticed Hermione's eyes narrow in jealousy as she gawked at Ron's male weakness toward all things Veela.

"Percy honey, what country do you have?" Penelope asked in a stronger voice to Percy who didn't seemed to be the least bit interested to what everyone else was saying.

"Hmm? Oh, I have Romania number forty-two." Percy finally answered after realizing that Penelope was addressing him.

"Romania," inquired Ron who perked up at hearing this.

Percy seemed to marvel in himself as every family member was now looking directly at him and he was acutely aware of it. "Yes, I've noticed several large deposits posted to this account in the Gringotts of Romania bank. The account was given over twenty thousand Galleons."

A round of whistling in awe broke out among the boys at the princely sum of money.

"I wonder who got that?" Fred said aloud and looked toward George for the answer.

"Maybe they used it for their old DeathEater camp." George offered a reasonable suggestion on to what the Galleons went for.

Hermione in her vintage class know-it-all immediately dismissed the theory. "No, the camp was in Serbia not Romania. Serbia is numbered fourteen."

Harry was the first to jump to the heart of the matter by asking Ron a direct question about it.

"Ron, who do you think would warrant that much money?"

Ron's faced scrunched up as he appeared to give it some serious thought. Finally, after everyone waited a few seconds, Ron's idle brain came up with a possible theory as to where that huge amount of money went to.

"We were always suspicious that someone in the Ministry down there was a spy for Volde-"

Her mum gasped out loud and Penelope nervously pulled Percy a bit closer to her.

Ron realizing everyone disposition about saying his name, except for Harry and maybe Hermione, re-stated his theory. "We were always suspicious about a spy working with He-who-must-not-be named in the Romania ministry. It got so bad that we had to hold our own search parties without telling the Ministry about them."

"Bloody traitors," voiced Fred in disgust.

Even her Mum didn't speak up against Fred for using vulgar language as she no doubt agreed with him.

"It shouldn't take too much more work to find the spy. After all we now know his vault account number with this second grouping of numbers." Percy pointed out a column of numbers for everyone to see.

"That's the second group of numbers?" Bill asked scanning Percy's ledger and notes than his own.

"How come you two don't understand this Goblin gibberish?" voiced Fred at their eldest brother.

"After all, you work there." George said, voicing his twin's accusation for Bill not understanding the ledgers.

"I'm a Curse breaker, not a Goblin. I decipher Egyptian sandstone hieroglyphs not Goblin ledgers."

"Than what does Fleur do?" Ginny asked in an accusing tone as she watched Fleur preoccupied with her nails than she was with the conversation or her ledger.

"She works part time in the Wizards Relations department." Bill answered with a small glare directed at her not to start a fight with Fleur.

"I'z help open nez accountz for the Goblins. Peoplz come into my office and thez want to open nez account and I-"

Ginny couldn't bare to hear her nasal French voice any longer, so she interrupted her with a follow up question for Bill. "Bill, you no longer work with them in Egypt, so what exactly do you do now?"

"I still do Curse breaking work. Mainly remove old hexes and spells off heirlooms, properties, and money bags of Galleons, anything that the Goblins deal with."

Ginny nodded that she understood what Bill and Phlegm did at work.

"I have to say it looks as if Draco has lost everything. There have been several major withdrawals ever since his father went to Azkaban." Hermione spoke her conclusion instantly drawing out Ron's jealous rebuttal.

"Who cares… why would you care about Draco's money?" He pointedly stared hard at a startled Hermione.

Harry came to her rescue and helped end Ron's scowl on a now testy Hermione. Apparently, Hermione just realized that she was going to constantly keep taking questions on any matter or subject related about Draco Malfoy and that Ron should've learned by now to just drop it. Ginny spoke up in Hermione's defense.

"Ron, Hermione doesn't care about him or his money. She was just stating a fact. The bigger question is why did the Goblins think that he would still have a vault full of Galleons when their ledgers clearly shows that it doesn't.

Her Mum answered that question. "It looks as if several payments were made to a Gringotts of London account. Bill, vault six thirty-nine-"

"The six hundred vaults belong to the Goblins. That's where they keep their own personal vaults at the bank. Hmm… come to think of it - only Gringotts Goblins are allowed on that level. It's strictly forbidden for any Wizard to go down there. They even use some pretty strong magical wards to keep out Wizards."

The portrait of the Headmaster was the first to speak up after the room went silent on hearing Bill's news.

"If Voldemort has a Goblin spy in the Gringotts bank, and I now believe he does, then they must certainly know by now that you have their records and where you're at."

Ginny watched her Dad almost fall off his chair as he started barking orders for what to do next. She, like her Dad, realized it was one thing to be brave by being on a secret investigative mission for the Order. However, it was entirely another thing to have Tom and his DeathEaters traveling there in person to kill every one of them.

"We need to get out of here right now! Bill, gather up the ledgers and we can take them to the Order's headquarters. Fred, George, close up shop and meet back with us at the headquarters. Fleur go with Molly and take the kids back to Hogwarts. Percy, take Penelope straight home and report directly back to me at the Ministry. To me, Percy, not the Minister."

Percy frowned a bit as he most likely thought it wasted a good opportunity for him with the Minister.

Hermione suddenly blurted out, "Mr. Weasley, I'm going to go see my parents."

Ginny was a bit shocked to hear this coming from Hermione, but not as much as Ron was.

Ron looked as if he was slapped silly, before his face drew red with anger, "Bloody hell, no you're not!"

"Ron, language! I'm of age and if you could visit my parents then I certainly deserve the right to go see them. Right now I have to go explain to them why I lied to them all these years about the war and to personally warn them they are in danger." Hermione shouted back at him with a tone that suggested that she wasn't going to change her mind or give in.

"I already did," explained Ron who grabbed Hermione's arm for her not to leave. "I had Harry and Remus tell them everything about the DeathEaters and what you've really been doing all along with us at Hogwarts."

A fiercely independent and private Hermione tried to yank her arm away from Ron who was just as adamantly refusing to let go.

"Hermione be reasonable – it's not safe. You heard Albus."

"Ron, let go. I can take care of myself. They are coming after you and your family here, not mine in London."

The raw declaration from Hermione left everyone a bit cold as Ron finally let her arm go in shock. Hermione sensing the mood in the room spoke her apologies.

"I'm sorry, it's just my family… I need to… Ron, you ruined everything." Hermione bawled before rushing out of the room toward the front of the store to leave.

"Hermione!" Ron and Harry shouted at her as she ran by them crying.

Ginny overwhelmingly felt sorry for Hermione even after her Mum and Dad shouted for her not to leave. All she could do was watch as Ron and Harry chased after her.

"Hermione!"

"You can't leave!"

Harry came back a minute later looking lost and defeated. "She Apparated away before we could stop her."

Her Dad understood more than she did as he comforted everyone about Hermione's rash action. "Poor girl is worried about her family and right now I can't fault her. We need to get out of here ourselves before-"

KABOOM!

The force of the explosion blew Ginny backwards against Harry on to the floor. Instantly, her heart was racing with an image of Tom walking straight into the store to kill them all. Only, the voice sounded nothing like Tom - it sounded like a livid Ron.

"FRED! GEORGE! I'm going to bloody kill you!"

:::


Harry's POV:

Harry was a bit exhausted by the time they got back to Hogwarts in time for the evening dinner. It was bad enough having to mediate between Ron and Hermione, but it was ten times worse when it was his own girlfriend, Ginny, rowing with Ron. Whatever amount of civility that Ron reserved when he rowed with Hermione was completely out the window with Ginny. Ron even cruelly threatened to hex his younger sister's mouth shut forever if she dared send another letter or picture for the twins to use in their comic book. Ginny, a way-too-proud-for-her-own-good Weasley in her own right, wasn't the slightest bit fearful about getting in the face of an angry red faced Ron, even after Harry had to physically separate them from one another.

"You're lucky I didn't set them on fire for doing it." A red-faced Ron shouted as he was about to enter the Great Hall.

Ron was describing his previous lunatic action of magically shooting a fireball from his wand at the Dragonheart comic book store display at WWW. This immediately started a chain reaction that caused a huge explosion ripping half the store in pieces. To make matters worse, Harry had to offer his part of the profits that the twins had been saving for him to help pay for half the store that Ron blasted into rubble. Not that he wanted the money, but he certainly wanted his Starting Keeper alive for the last game of the season. That was about the only thing that stopped Fred and George from attempting to murder their youngest brother. Luckily the explosion drew half the department of Aurors and Magical Law Enforcement to Diagon Alley and the Weasley family was able to make it out of there safely from the distraction.

"Humpf. I can't believe you didn't think of the family's safety first. Do you have any idea how explosive some of their Fred and George's products were? You could've killed all of us, you stupid oaf!" Ginny growled to Ron, after Harry had to push an angry Ron to the side of the hallway by the front doors of the Great Hall.

Harry knew Ginny had a valid point as he could remember Fred and George exploding themselves and their bedroom to pieces during many of his summer visits to the Burrow. However, no matter what, he wasn't going to take sides either way.

"It would've bloody served them right if the place burned to the ground," griped Ron tussling with Harry to stand directly in Ginny's face. "Besides, Mum said that she wished I blew up the other half."

"You are such an idiot." Ginny declared as she opened the heavy doors to the Great Hall.

"Well you're a … you're a-" Ron stated to a departing Ginny no longer listening to him.

Harry feeling a bit tired with it all and merely wanted to settle down to a calm evening meal without explosions so he spoke to Ron's appetite rather than his pride. "Ron… Ron, let's get some dinner and we can talk about it later tonight. Hmm… you can smell the fresh rolls from here."

It seemed to work as Ron sniffed the air to smell warm fresh bread and grunted a small approval to Harry. He calmly released him and watched as Ron walked to his usual seat the opposite of Ginny at the Gryffindor table. Harry in response breathed a sigh of relief and made his way to his normal seat too. On the way there he couldn't help to notice a playful wink from Professor's Dumbledore at the Head Table. Professor Dumbledore was calmly sitting on his Headmaster's chair with a mixed expression of being distant and still giddy at the same time.

By the time Harry had sat down Professor Dumbledore stood up to make the evening announcements.

"I wish to say to everyone that even though the school year is rapidly reaching toward a close that you settle into a more honest approach of learning. Like I was telling Professor Sprout yesterday, we would all be amazed at the huge growth of children's minds if they dare to opened a school book to read from."

Harry had to smirk to himself as a number of his fellow students audibly groaned about studying.

"Now, now-" Professor Dumbledore consoled the audible moans to a silence. "There's still plenty of wasted idle time to read your favorite comic books like DragonHeart or even a wildly romantic novel." Professor Dumbledore declared to the student body and then quickly gave a small wink to a pouting Ron after mentioning the comic book's name.

"Stupid bloody comic-" grumbled Ron across the table for a smirking Ginny and Harry to hear.

"However, with fewer days remaining before your End of Term exams I can't stress to you enough to muster all of your mind's focused on studying. The staff and I would be greatly thrilled at such an unexpected surprise. Thank you."

Harry listened to an even louder groan from his fellow students before Professor Dumbledore sat back down into his High Chair. Immediately, as Professor Dumbledore sat down food magically appeared on all the house tables for them to eat.

Harry couldn't believe what he saw next. He had to take his glasses off to re-wipe the lenses clean before trusting what he really saw. For the entire Gryffindor table was covered with various dishes of food that were all blue in color. In fact, every house table had food that was very blueberry-ish in color. Blue Sausage, blue Mash Potatoes, blue Marrowfat Peas and Gravy, even blue Strawberry Trifle. Harry looked up in bewilderment toward the Head Table and was surprised to notice an unconcerned Professor Dumbledore nibbling away at a blue Treacle tart as if he were colorblind. Even the public outraged of various students and a wide-eyed Professor Vector didn't perturb Professor Dumbledore in the least as he continued to eat away at his blue tart.

Harry, himself was caught completely off guard again when a blue foot long sausage was thrust in front of his face by a smiling Ginny. "Harry, wouldn't you say this look familiar after you got out of the lake during the Second Task?"

Harry was at a loss of words as Ron rolled his eyes at Ginny while Parvati and the rest of the Gryffindor girls started to giggled. Ginny quickly moved the sausage back down to her plate and cut off two inches. Then she forked it and thrust it up in front of Ron's face.

"Ron, this is what your' s would've looked like."

The entire table howled with laughter as a furious Ron scooped a handful of blue Mash Potatoes and pitched it straight at a jovial Ginny.

Splat!

Harry groaned aloud as he nervously looked beside him to see his no longer jovial red hair girlfriend who was now wearing blue Mash potatoes on her face and hair. It was definitely a clashing look for Ginny and something that Lavender was all too happy to point out.

"You look horrible wearing blue, Ginny. Ha-ha. It completely clashes with your hair. Ha-ha. Snort."

Ron turned his head in amusement to look at Lavender shaking with laughter. "Did you just snort?"

What Ron should've been focused on was Ginny reaching for a bowl of blue gravy.

:::


Ron's POV:

All in all, he has to say that he accounted for himself rather well. First off, he started against Ginny and then she quickly retaliated against him. The fight caught on with several classmates in Gryffindor's house then it quickly spread to the other tables. Peeves the Poltergeist was responsible for that part as he joined in by tossing blue plates of food at Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and then finally the Slytherin house table. After that salvo it became a house versus house fight. By the time Professor McGonagall was screaming at the top of her lungs for it to stop Harry, Ginny, and himself were pitching every bit of food they could muster at Draco and the rest of his Slytherin horde. Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall finally managed to stop everyone from food fighting before Ron and Harry had a chance to dunk a giant bowl of blue Pumpkin juice over Draco's pointy head.

In short, it was totally brilliant and the only thing that could've made it any better was if Hermione was in on it.

"Mr. and Miss. Weasley, do you have any idea how … irresponsible, immature, and adolescent that blatant disregard for school rules was? Do you!" Professor McGonagall exasperated to them with a furious and stern look on her face.

Ron didn't exactly know how to respond to that even if he could hear fully without the blue gravy dripping in his ears. The best he could muster as a response was a weak shrug of his shoulders.

"In my thirty years of teaching I have never-"

"Professor, I'm afraid I must interrupt." Headmaster Dumbledore stated with a sorrow and pained look on his face as he re-entered the Great Hall to speak with them.

"Albus?" Professor McGonagall said in confusion of the grim look that the Headmaster was giving her.

"Prepare yourself Ronald for I have some bad news to give you." Professor Dumbledore solemnly advised.

Ron immediately gulped in fear and wondered on what it could be. He had just left his family no longer than two hours ago at the twin's joke shop. He felt his sister's warm hands clutching him for support as she too was thinking along the same lines as him.

"Is it my family? One of my brothers? Did they…"

"No, Ronald. I'm afraid Miss Granger has been abducted by DeathEaters."

:::


A/N: Don't get all Hermione was Out of Character with me on her leaving and saying that to the Weasley family. Keep in mind that it was from Ginny's point of view. You will understand Hermione's reaction in the next chapter from her point of view.

The other argument that's been made to me is that I write Ron as a child. Yes and No. Generally speaking, when Ron is at Hogwarts I tend to write him as a teenager, and when he leaves Hogwarts I write him as an adult. More on that in the next couple of chapters.