Chapter 29

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Since that night Harry spent with Ginny he had been in much better spirits. She certainly had a unique way of pulling him out of his brooding moods. It had been the same way last summer; all it took was her telling him off. Though, last summer her laying into him hadn't ended with the two of them… laying into each other.

He couldn't believe what they'd done that night after they'd seen Potter Manor for the first time. He had been a right git to her really. To her and Sirius. What they did after she told him off though, wow. It has been absolutely incredible. He couldn't believe how lucky he was. It wasn't even just that. Ginny was right, he was surrounded by people who cared for him and were willing to give him their time and expertise to ensure that he was prepared for whatever was going to wind up happening between he and Voldemort.

What was going to happen would happen, but who knew when, it could be years from now and he didn't want to spend that time being miserable.

Sirius had taken him back to Potter Manor yesterday to tell him a few stories about what it had been like to run around with his dad there when they were teenagers. He'd talked through with him how it was they were going to get the Death Eaters squared away in the stacked cells he and Remus had put up in the Stable House; the Death Eaters wouldn't feel a thing, it was actually much more humane than the way the Ministry would have dealt with them if they had the authority to put the 'rumored' Death Eaters in Azkaban, Sirius assured him of that fact, and he would know.

As a few days had passed since Harry had found out that he was essentially the last obstacle before the final demise of Lord Voldemort would be brought about, the more he felt okay with it.

He'd known the prophesy for nearly a year now, clearly the prophesy had been missing a piece of vital information, but up until the death of Snape and Nagini last week it had still seemed like it was a problem to be dealt with in the distant future. Like some other version of himself would be the one to deal with it when the time came. Now he had just needed a bit of time to realize that he was that version of Harry now, and it was on his shoulders.

The when of it all wasn't something that had been discussed though.

It wasn't like everyone was going to sit down and make out a calendar for him. April- extra lessons, May-studying for end of year exams, June- exams and everyone else gets out of school. Then in July he is officially of age at the end of the month, then Bill and Fleur are getting married and he had a date with 'Matilda' for that wedding, so it couldn't be before then. So really if he could fit in the duel with Voldemort in August it would be the best for his schedule.

He really didn't think it was going to work out like that.

It would be nice though.

The possibility that he wouldn't make it wasn't weighing on him as much as it had been. He had been mulling over the possibility that he could simply incapacitate Voldemort and they would store him away in the Stable House until Harry was well over one hundred years old. But the reality of what was going to happen would probably be the same as what Voldemort was expecting, just a quick 'zap' and Harry Potter is the Chosen One no more. Honestly, how likely was it that he, Harry, would survive, really? That hadn't stopped him from dreaming that things might turn out in the best possible way; The Order could get every last Death Eater locked away and have the former Tom Riddle bent down on one knee before him, but then he was supposed to tell everyone that they simply needed to put him in an induced coma and store him away without explaining the true reason why?

Harry didn't want anyone knowing, and he couldn't work out if it was for selfish reasons or not. He simply knew he didn't want to die. He also knew that the rest of them were thinking he didn't want to kill though. Because they all believed that it had to be him that delivered the Coup de Gras.

Harry didn't see that playing out either.

He'd said as much to Ron when they were hanging out for a few hours during the days when he came over, but Ron still seemed to think of this like Harry had; a problem for their future selves to make up scenarios about.

Ginny and Sirius were more solemn about this eventuality. Sirius had told him that they only had so many choices in life when it came to the hard decisions and he'd made the wrong one's before. Harry appreciated that Sirius wasn't trying to influence a decision or reminding him that there were so many people that could get hurt if he didn't do what was needed. Sirius was simply there for him and being supportive and lending an ear.

Ginny on the other hand talked through all the scenarios that could happen, including him dying. Including her dying. They had agreed that it would be worth it to try and make the world a better place and he felt a little better having properly discussed this likely outcome. Even if, to her, it was hypothetical.

Harry didn't think he would ever stop marveling at how strong she is.

Currently he was sitting in the kitchen, it was the last evening there before Ron had to go back to school and Ginny was adamant that she was going to make him something special. The rest of the Weasleys were coming over for dinner as well, but right now it was the two of them and Sirius.

Harry liked the way she moved around. It was almost a dance that she did, turning this way and that as she moved around from the ice box to the cutting board to the stove top, her hair swaying as she bobbed slightly to a song in her head. He didn't think she knew she was doing it, but it made him happy to see her in her element like this.

If there was a wireless in here she would probably be dancing around more, completely unconcerned that she had an audience. He could picture her hips swaying more, adding a twirl as she went halfway across the room for this and that.

Sirius gave him a nudge while he was absentmindedly watching her flit around the kitchen. "Yeah?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes off her and still half in his own little dreamland.

"You've got it bad," Sirius chuckled.

Harry blinked a few times before turning his head to his Godfather. "What?" he asked stupidly.

Sirius chuckled and shook his head. "Nothing. Just saying how awkward it would be if Ron found the knickers of hers that you tucked away in your luggage if you were heading back with him. You know, your trophy from when you two," he waggled his eyebrows.

"What?!" he asked incredulously in a loud whisper. "Ginny and I haven't… what?!"

Sirius smirked at him. "Good to know," he said before leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head.

"Oh, nice tactic," Harry deadpanned, cottoning on to what Sirius had done.

"I have to attempt at some form of parenting," he said by way of apology. "I feel like I'm responsible for the both of you, and not to belittle you or anything, but I didn't want to attempt and get it out of her, she can be pretty scary."

Harry gave a snort. "Yeah, she can," he agreed.

It wasn't long before all the Weasleys came in, including the Twins and Bill and Fleur for dinner. It was a loud meal and happy conversation about Quidditch, tales from Charlie's latest letter, and Ginny and Fleur defending their choices for certain aspects of the wedding to Mrs. Weasley.

It was refreshing to have such normal family talk going around the table, and Ginny's roasted chicken and vegetables with biscuits and gravy had been topped off with Mrs. Weasley's amazing treacle tart. It had Harry walking away from the table that night feeling full, happy and sleepy. Ron and he managed to get in two rounds of chess before Ron left for the night with his mum and dad, Harry had given him his mirror, with Sirius' permission, so they could still easily stay in touch. There was a bit of an awkward half hug moment before Ron stepped through the Floo.

Harry was getting ready to head up to bed when Bill came into the room.

"Oh, though you and Fleur had already left," Harry told him.

"Not yet. She and Ginny are still talking about some wedding things," he told him. "How are you doing then?" he asked, the inflection in his tone not indicating he was simply asking about his surface emotions.

Harry took a moment to think it over. "I'm coping," he landed on. "It's weird to say, but this has been a long time coming. I wasn't doing so well earlier in the week when it had just escalated, but now," he gave a shrug. "I've talked it through a few times with Sirius and Ginny, Ron too, and it's helped a lot."

"That's good," he nodded. "Great you've got this large support network. You know we're all standing beside you, right?"

Harry appreciated the comment, but he couldn't do more than give a pained grimace in an attempt at an appreciative smile, so he dropped the pretense all together. "I hope no one get's hurt while you're all waiting around for me to be prepared enough to face him for the last time."

Bill's eyebrows went up at that. "You know this isn't all on you though, right? If anyone else get's hurt, we're blaming Voldemort, not you. If he hadn't have put so much stock into the prophesy in the first place none of this would have happened. I don't know if I'm the first to point this out to you, but you may very well just be the bait we use to take him down."

Harry could do no more than blink at him as it truly sunk in that he and Dumbledore were currently the only one's in the Order that knew he was a Horcrux, and yes, they did need him to do something in order to finish Voldemort off properly; Harry had to die.

But, if it was helpful to everyone else to think that way, if it allowed them this glimmer of hope, then he wasn't going to squash that out. Perhaps it was making them all sleep easier to think that way; that announcing when and where Harry would be could simply be enough for the rest of the Order to attack the remaining Death Eaters with all they had and kill Voldemort off. To think that it could simply be that Voldemort was putting too much faith into the prophesy made by his crazy Divination teacher.

"I can't think like that though," Harry told him finally. "I have to be prepared to duel him and end this properly. I can't go into that situation thinking that all I'll have to do is simply stand there and do nothing." He couldn't help hearing Moody's voice in the back of his head yelling 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE'.

Bill nodded. "I fully believe we need to get you trained up for every eventuality, but if you are feeling the pressure getting to be too much sometimes, just remember, it could be a hell of a lot easier than you think it will be."

"What I'm really hoping now is that you all manage to capture as many Death Eaters as you can and leave him without his army," he told Bill honestly. This coming week was when a few of the Order members had volunteered to start nabbing the Death Eaters on the list Dobby and Mrs. Malfoy had given.

"Yeah," Bill grinned. "I think we all might have some fun with this."

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Another Unexplained Disappearance

The latest in a slew of unexplained disappearances has us visiting the home of Gwilliam Travers, a Ministry Liaison with Gringotts. Mister Travers was not reported as missing by the Goblins until he had been absent from meetings two days in a row. No one at his office was able to corroborate his disappearance as Mr. Travers regularly worked from home.

'We don't care that he's missing, we care that he wasted our time by not showing up for his appointments,' the Goblin Shrgisldi Wrunghook, an executive level Gringotts Goblin, told the Daily Prophet.

Since Mr. Travers disappearance, his neighbor has reported that he had been known to go out and come home at odd hours, but little is known of his social life. We are hoping that mister Travers is found alive and well soon.

For those of you keeping count, this disappearance is now just one of eleven from over the last four weeks that are currently open cases with the Aurors. Most that have gone missing are single men, who it has been reported that, like Mister Travers, keep odd hours, however there are two couples that have gone missing as well, and one noble woman.

The Auror's are unwilling to share any information about the victims regarding something linking them all. Head Auror Gawain Robards has declined to give a comment about any progression in the cases. Unfortunately this rash of disappearances has the public concerned due to the similarity between the start of the previous war when disappearances like these were a regular occurrence.

The Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour has released a statement warning that everyone should be going out in pairs, preferably more.

And let us all remember that it is not simply fully trained wizards that have gone missing. Two sixth year students did not return after the school break and have not been seen since. The case of Harry Potter not returning to Hogwarts after Easter Holidays has many of us worried. The fact that the Chosen One's disappearance was timed with the death of reformed Death Eater and Hogwarts Potions Professor Severus Snape has caused many theories to come to light.

Could all of these disappearances of witches and wizards with questionable comings and goings be linked to our missing hero? Could Harry Potter be fighting against You-Know-Who in an underground network that involves the mysterious missing persons?

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"There's another sacked away," Sirius said tiredly coming into the kitchen for breakfast. He rubbed the back of his neck and stretched it to the side until there was an audible crack of his joints. "Colton Russell is now occupying room nine."

Remus was due to show up any moment to teach Harry and Ginny that morning but judging by how Sirius seemed barely able to open his eyes Ginny rather wondered if Remus should take the day off.

They had been making quite the progress with nabbing the Death Eaters on the list in the dining room. He and Remus, Bill and her dad, Hestia and Dung, they had all teamed up and taken shifts to follow and capture the Death Eaters at ideal times. Dumbledore and the twins had even captured one; the twins had been out for a drink in Hogsmeade and Dumbledore had been there when Geoffrey Goyle showed up for a meal. George made a bit of a spectacle while Dumbledore did a seamless Transfiguration spell turning Goyle into a pocket watch which Fred picked up and Apparated away to Potter Manor with, coming back before anyone noticed George was playing the part of both twins.

The Daily Prophet had been looking into all the disappearances and the Aurors were very interested, but Tonks confirmed that they didn't have any definitive proof that they had been kidnapped, because of the odd hours that each individual or couple had been keeping there was nothing showing that they didn't all simply leave, and there was much speculation beforehand that each of them had been in league with Riddle, so they could have simply gone into hiding as well.

This was good news, it meant that the Auror's wouldn't be launching too thorough an investigation, like the one they had done when Harry hadn't gone back to Hogwarts.

There had been a few Owl's from the Ministry inquiring into Harry's whereabouts. They were all addressed to him, and a few of them had been brought from Dumbledore that had been sent to Hogwarts. The Ministry had reached out to Harry's friends as well, Ron and Hermione had spoken to Ginny and Harry through the mirrors about the letters that had arrived for them.

Apparently, they weren't looking so hard for Malfoy considering his dad was still in Azkaban and his mother had disappeared at the same time. Ginny had to wonder if the Ministry might be worried that Harry had been taken by them though.

Dumbledore had told the Ministry officials that he did not keep tabs on his students when they were not at Hogwarts, so that was his part taken care of, but through Tonks they knew that Ministry officials had been sent to the Dursley's new address to ask if they had seen him. That had the three occupants of Grimmauld Place laughing pretty hard just imagining what Petunia Dursley's face would have looked like when she found out he was missing, and Vernon Dursley finding out that wizards knew where his new home was.

The Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly, The Quibbler, Which Broomstick, every print media channel had been trying to figure out what had happened to Harry. They were mostly concerned for his safety, but the Quibbler had launched into an explanation for his disappearance; apparently he was actually a caped crusader and had been tired of wasting his time in school when he could be operating from his lair and taking down the criminal organization that was You-Know-Who's army. There was even a comic strip of him removing his glasses and turning into a vigilante justice provider.

It was hilarious to everyone in the Order but Harry.

"How many left that we know about?" Ginny asked as she poured Sirius a cup of coffee.

"Eleven," he yawned. "This one managed to dodge us a bit last night. Wound up in a bit of a duel. Don't worry though, we got the blood wiped up at the scene."

"Err… his or yours?" Harry asked warily.

"Remus'," he told him. "We were pretty lucky, he heals up really fast," Sirius assured him. "He'll be by later to walk you through your lessons. I assure you, you won't even notice."

Ginny exchanged a concerned look with Harry. The two of them had gone back to trading off cooking duties now that Dobby was firmly stationed over at Potter Manor to guard the unconscious captives. Dobby had been cleaning up Potter Manor as well, and the grounds, it looked even more beautiful there now.

But that left just Kreacher to keep Grimmauld Place again and his cooking was terrible, his cleaning only half-hearted.

The list of active Death Eaters was being worked through pretty quickly considering there were only three proper teams of Order members taking them out. Ginny knew that Harry was wanting to have a more active roll in that, but Sirius had put his foot down about it, and Ginny knew not to even think about asking if she could help out.

The two of them were simply trapped in Grimmauld Place.

Having Harry living at Grimmauld now had been really lovely though. It was obvious that it had been an adjustment for him. She knew that he had felt somewhat limited with his freedom before living in hiding with them, now he was really limited considering he didn't have Quidditch or his friends and the lovely Hogwarts scenery.

What he did have though were letters from Neville from over the past four years that he had told her she could read. It was nice being able to see how well Neville had been doing with his studies at home. She wished that she could have reached out to him herself, but now even Harry wasn't allowed to drop him a line, and Ron and Hermione had a gag in place over the Headquarters whereabouts.

Neville had been one of her two good friends at Hogwarts, and her only real friend in Gryffindor. He had been sweet to her. They hadn't done much other than simply do their homework at the same table and chat a bit. She could tell he had been desperate to fit in with his dorm mates, or even his year mates, and it had really gutted him that the other four Gryffindor boys in his year had paired off and sort of left him behind. He had admitted to her as well that he'd hoped he and Harry would wind up friends before he'd come to Hogwarts, because their parent's had been so close and because they had essentially lost them on the same day. But he had been to shy to bring it up. Their want to be Harry's friend had been something Ginny and he shared and bonded over.

It was slightly embarrassing, but they did get their wish.

She was more than Harry's friends now.

She and Harry had stopped spending every night in each other's bed. In her mind it was one thing to do it when he was only going to be there for a week, to make the most of their limited time together, but that time wasn't so limited anymore and she wasn't ready to keep progressing their relationship the way it had been going. She wasn't feeling any pressure from him, but she didn't entirely trust herself when they were wrapped up in each other's arms and snogging heavily. Hands had certainly wandered and certain articles of clothing had begun being optional.

It felt wonderful to be able to pass their time like they had together as a distraction from what was going on. When he had been at school she had always worried that he would get distracted by someone else, but now that he was here and she saw the way he would look at her when he wasn't realizing, she knew that she meant as much to him as he did to her.

"You need a night off," Harry told Sirius. "Didn't you used to go out every now and then and let off steam?"

Ginny plated their breakfast and came to join the two men at the table. "Yeah, Sirius. We're stuck here, but you haven't left the house for anything other than an Order mission in a bit."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he asked in jest, digging into his eggs.

Ginny covered Harry's hand with hers and leaned towards him. "Yes, leave us please, would you?" she gushed, fluttering her eyelashes at Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes at her. "You could head out for a bit while Remus is here too you know," he told him.

Sirius just grunted in response and carried on with his breakfast.

Remus arrived before they finished up their plates with Tonks in tow.

"Morning chickie," Tonks gave Ginny a kiss on her cheek. "For you," she handed a long, narrow box to Harry. "It won't be as good as the one you're currently using, but if you master something with this then doing it with your own wand will be a synch." (AN- Yes I realize Pottermore says you don't need an untraceable wand under the Fidelus or whatever it says when you sink far enough into that universe. But this is how I've done it, so just move on.)

Tonks took a seat beside Ginny and stole a piece of bacon off her plate while Ginny gave Remus a looking over. Sirius had been right, she couldn't see any sign on him that he was any worse for the wear. He did have many years of trying to cover up any aches and such after the full moon, but he didn't look nearly as tired as he did after he transformed.

"Thanks," Harry told her, holding out an oak and dragon heart string untraceable wand and testing it out by attempting to levitate his empty plate back to the sink. It was slow going, and he accidentally dropped it once, but managed to repair it and get it into the sink after that.

It would be an adjustment for him, it had been for Ginny too with her new wand. Harry had told her that his current wand basically did half the work for him at this point, it was a piece of himself. She knew what he meant. The wand she had upon turning eleven had been second hand, but it had still worked well for her. Once she had the hang of her untraceable wand though she knew that when the day came that she could use her old wand everything would take half as much effort.

"Remus tells me he'll be helping Harry master that today and I get to play school with you," Tonks beamed at Ginny.

Ginny chuckled. "You don't have work today?"

"Nope, all yours. And I've been working on my Binns impressions so you're in for a treat."

"Fantastic," Ginny rolled her eyes.

Once Remus and Harry were down in the basement starting to work Tonks pulled not only Ginny into the second-floor study but insisted that Sirius join them as well.

"Remember that flyer we sent out last year?" she started. She didn't look to have much control over her facial expression or tone as she reminded them of that mischievous adventure of theirs.

Sirius and Ginny exchanged a look before nodding, obviously they remembered it but Tonks seemed in need of visual confirmation.

"Well. It seems the twins have sort of... taken it upon themselves to do something similar again. But this time it is a little more of a targeted marketing endeavor."

"What?" Ginny asked, not quite following.

She sighed and pulled out a Weasley Wizard Wheezes catalog. Ginny didn't quite understand at first, but then she started reading the descriptions beside the products and her eyes grew wide.

Peruvian Darkness Powder- Trying to escape that pesky Dark Lord worshiper? Try throwing a pinch of this in their face. Perfect for evasive maneuvers.

U-No-Poo- Need to make your enemies suffer a little? These creative constipators will leave them feeling more bunged up than a Death Eater trying to break into the Ministry!

Jinx Off- Protect yourself from those too stupid to deal with things in a reasonable way. It might not be as fashionable as an ugly tattoo on your arm, but Jinx Off will assist you in fending off the tossers.

Every description of the items that the twins carried had something about Riddle's followers or Riddle himself in it. Ginny flipped through every page that was there. Now she understood Tonks' expression. She wasn't sure to be amused or worried. It was one thing for them to have put that flyer in the Daily Prophet, it couldn't be easily traced back to them. But this was their business catalog, and they already had explosives that they sold; How easy would it be to make it look like an accident?

"I didn't see anything in here that wasn't already common knowledge," Sirius said slowly.

Tonks nodded, "I know. I had to read through it a few times to assure myself of that as well, but they've made themselves a pretty big target now."

Ginny didn't trust herself to say anything. Riddle was probably getting more agitated by the day with his Death Eaters going missing one by one and knowing that at least one of his Horcruxes was destroyed. How easy would it be for him to simply blow up the twins shop to let off some steam?

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