Rewritten for punctuation and dialogue rules. I also added a small amount of Diagon Alley to the end. It has little effect on the story but shows Ginny and Harry growing closer. As well as a few minor things.

3rd person POV

As the summer holiday got started and Harry began to get used to his new life, he started spending more and more time at Hogwarts even though it was summer vacation. Because Hogwarts had the Room of Requirement. Sirius had helped him figure out how to get into the castle without being detected using the secret passages, but mostly let Harry have time to himself as he could tell Harry was using the time to work through his emotions. The one thing he did was send a letter to Ron and Hermione asking them to try to keep in touch with Harry as he would need his friends more than ever over the coming years.

Harrys POV

Another dummy struck the wall as he bent over leaning on his knees his face sweaty from the exertion of the practice duel the dummy had managed to provide with the room of requirements assistance. He had done three practice duels so far that morning and had already noticed that compared to a month ago his spells were hitting harder, and they were less challenging for him to cast whether on the move, silently, or some combination of the two. He thought back to what Dumbledore had said and realized that over the month he had pushed himself past his limits in a way he would not have been able to before. But something still nagged at him he wiped his brow sweeping the drops of sweat away. He suddenly realized that while practice helped it was getting his heart pumping and feeling his muscles burn that seemed to clear his mind. As the thought crossed his mind, he realized that getting in better physical condition could help him as much as practicing his magic. Being unable to dodge a spell because he is exhausted could be as fatal as being unable to cast a spell in time. After that session, every day began with a run and some light calisthenics.

Sirius noticed his behavior change and asked him one morning. "How have you been getting on with…everything after the tournament last year Harry?"

"Better than I expected but I think a large part of that is getting to…" the fire roared to life and Weasleys began to pop out one after the other until what looked like all of the underage Weasleys were present Ron was bent double when Harry grabbed his shoulder "What's wrong what happened?" he asked trying to keep himself calm noticing Ginny was not actually present.

Ron coughed. "Deatheaters attacked…mom and dad told us to get out…"

His blood ran cold then began to burn, his anger returning he ran to the fireplace grabbing powder and diving through the fire yelling 'the Burrow' as he went. The flames roared and he rolled out of the fireplace to spell fire throwing up a shield he was almost knocked over by the massive shield that expanded before him becoming ever so slightly visible as a golden-tinged layer of some clear material. Ignoring his curiosity, he took the stairs two at a time until he reached the landing checking Ginny's room. As he entered, he had to dodge a swing from a frying pan that almost knocked him flat. He grabbed it and turned to Ginny. "Stop it's me I'm getting you out of here." She didn't immediately move so he stopped "I saved you from the chamber Fawkes healed me with his tears."

She followed him into the hall and when he stopped for a moment she said quietly "I lost my wand."

He glanced at her but continued forward. "We will get you a new one. Now go to number 12 I'm going to help your parents." Even as he said this the two older Weasleys flew into the sitting room closely followed by four deatheaters. As if on instinct he waved his wandless hand and between the three remaining Weasleys, himself, and the deatheaters another shield expanded. The first two deatheaters slamming into it without it budging an inch. "Get out of here fast that won't hold for long." The strain showing on his face as they rushed to get through the fireplace. With one last look at the deatheaters, he threw an explosion jinx at the floor outside the fireplace even as he let his shield drop. He felt a small amount of vindictive pleasure at the sight of three deatheaters being blown off their feet into the walls as the flames whipped him out of sight. As he returned, he found a wand in his face. "How did I escape Azkaban?" Sirius asked clearly strained and trying to keep his voice even.

"You kept your sanity because you were innocent, you got out as a dog." He replied quickly knowing why Sirius was behaving as he was.

Sirius visibly relaxed then immediately hit the fireplace with a locking spell to seal the wards just in case the Fidelius charm somehow failed or weakened. Sirius rounded on him again "What the hell were you doing?" he barked and for the first time, he saw the face that Snape or many others saw when they thought of the notorious mass murderer and he didn't like it.

"I won't let anyone else die, not if I can help it. Nothing will change that I will fight. I have to fight." He broke eye contact with his godfather searching the room to see if anyone was seriously injured, only then did he notices that George's head seemed to be bleeding profusely under a rag. As his mother tended to him and Arthur tried to get her to calm down so they could get to St. Mungos for treatment.

Yet again surprising him Ginny came to his defense. "Harry…Harry saved me. I had lost my wand and my parents were outside. If Harry hadn't have shown up…" She trailed off shivering her thoughts returning to the chamber and the various horrible stories she had heard about the first war.

The lines of Sirius' face softened slightly, and he said more to himself than anyone but he heard Sirius nonetheless. "You'd be proud James he gets more like you every day." Sirius smiled sadly at the thought pulling Harry into a side hug. "Let's get everyone into rooms they'll be staying awhile." Between himself and Sirius they were able to get everyone into rooms Ron sharing with Harry, Ginny across the hall in a room she would eventually share with Hermione. The rest spread throughout the house to attempt at some amount of privacy for everyone. As everyone finally began to get settled, they heard people arrive downstairs.

Mrs. Weasley calls up the stairs. "George is going to be fine he will be here in about 10 minutes with your father." He made his way into the kitchen where Sirius was already attempting to convince Mrs. Weasley she does not need to cook and that she should relax.

As he walked in Mrs. Weasley rounded on him. The distraction allowing Sirius to start cooking a simple pasta dinner without interference. "What in the world did you think you were doing?! You could have been killed!" She continued to rant for a few minutes chastising him for going to the Burrow and endangering himself.

When she paused to take a breath he cut in "But I didn't die. And you or Mr. Weasley or Ginny may not be here if I didn't go." Far more calmly than he felt surprising even himself. Even a few months ago he would have been angry at being treated like a child.

With all the Weasleys living at number 12, his summer had become much more interesting, and as days turned to weeks, he found another of his friends on the doorstep. "Hermione! I didn't think you'd be here for another week!"

She hugged him and simply replied, "I couldn't miss your birthday, now could I?"

Harry grabbed her trunk letting her carry the rest of her bags up to the room she would share with Ginny. Unfortunately, he didn't think to knock and as he pushed the door open, he heard a high-pitched shriek and he saw a lot more skin than he was used to. Ginny had spun to face away but Harry still slammed his eyes shut. "I…I'm so sorry Ginny…" He managed to stammer before fumbling out of the room, his face glowing like the sun as Hermione stood leaning on the wall nearly in hysterics laughing at him.

Ginny exited the room moments later rivaling Harry's blush with her own, she brightened at the sight of Hermione however hugging the older girl. Turning to harry "Did you…did you see anything?" Her blush returning in full as she refused to meet his eyes.

"No, I swear, as soon as I heard you scream my eyes were closed." That was all he could reply still blushing. Unable to meet each other's eyes he helped get all of Hermione's things into the room before finding himself buried in his room with a book on advanced defense against the dark arts that was talking about shield conjuration magical theory to learn more about why there was a visible distortion and color to what should be a perfectly invisible shield. He was lost in thought when there was a knock on the door, it opened to reveal Sirius and Mr. Weasley they looked serious though not angry. "What's up? Did something happen?" he asked sitting up quickly.

Mr. Weasley started to speak to alleviate his concern. "No nothing's happened. However, we need to talk about some things. The first of which being that you did wandless magic Harry, that is nearly unheard of let alone the power behind the spell you used."

Harry looked down at his hands. "Oh that… I don't know how I did it. I've tried to do other things since, but nothing has worked." He gestured to the defense book he had been reading.

"Impressive to be sure but the other part is that you said no incantation and I have never seen a shield like that before." Mr. Weasley replied somewhat curiously.

He looked at Sirius and was confused to see a combination of pride and mirth on Sirius' face. When he looked questioningly at him Sirius replied. "Leave it to Prongs Jr to confuse everyone by using a spell no one has ever seen before. Reminds me of your mother as well. She had a habit of making things up as she went. At least where charms were concerned."

He smiled at the information about his parents and the praise but frowned. "But it wasn't a different spell watch." Harry pulled out his wand and swept it across his body while clearly saying "Protego!" The slightly opaque barrier once again expanded, glowing ever so slightly gold in the still and dingy room. Both Mr. Weasley and Sirius looked astounded.

Sirius went so far as to move forward and touch the surface. "It might as well be solid rock!" Sirius moved back and took out his wand. "Careful Arthur I want to try something." He sent a wordless spell at the barrier and had to duck as the jet of silver light shot back at him hitting the door punching a hole clean through it. "That was an anti-ward shield breaking curse, it takes too much energy for a battle but that should break all but the strongest of shield spells. Protego should be easy work for it. But your shield repelled it like it was nothing more than a first-year's jelly legs jinx!"

He waved his wand again and the shield faded leaving the room ever so slightly darker. The three of them went into the hall to see if anything else was damaged to find Hermione's face looking at them through a hole in the wall opposite Harry and Ron's door.

Looking accusingly at him. "What was that? We aren't supposed to use magic outside of school!" Hermione questioned him slightly irritatedly.

He immediately pointed at Sirius. "It was him not me. He just wanted to test my shield charm. Besides Hermione don't you know the trace just detects that magic was done near someone underage not who does the magic? So if there are adult wizards around, we can pretty much use whatever magic we want because they can't tell who actually cast the spell?"

Hermione gaped at him for a second before snapping her jaw shut. "That is so unfair! That only punishes muggle-borns and people like you Harry, well not like you anymore I just meant before you stopped living with your relatives." She kept talking asking Sirius. "If you were testing his shield why is there a hole in the wall? Harry's shield should have been strong enough to at least remove some of the energy from the spell even if he couldn't completely block it." Hermione looked rather confused and slightly concerned.

Sirius only laughed. "No Hermione you don't understand. He entirely reflected a shield breaker curse." Sirius looked at him and they both began to laugh at the look on Hermione's face. Sirius started to repair the door and the wall sending the two students with Mr. Weasley down to the kitchen for dinner. Mrs. Weasley already had the rest of the Weasleys around the table eating "Oh good Arthur found you. We still have plenty left."

After dinner, the returning Hogwarts students went upstairs leaving the adults in the kitchen to discuss what they had learned. As the discussion ensued Sirius used the fire to call Dumbledore. After assuring him there was no emergency, he explained what had happened and asked if he wanted to come to number 12 and talk to Harry himself.

His eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth. "No, I believe I can talk to him tomorrow as I am sure he will be around Hogwarts."

Sirius grinned guiltily in response nodding his head "Ill let him know to expect a visit, shall I?" the headmaster nodded, and they said their goodbyes. Sirius pulled his head out of the fire and explained to the other adults what was discussed.

At the same time, the trio was joined by Ginny, Fred, and George in the younger boys' bedroom discussing almost the same thing. Hermione was especially curious as to how a hole had been blown into her wall. Ginny wasn't in the room at the time but was equally curious, and the twins always loved to know what was going on because it made it far easier to plan pranks or mess with people. "Harry what did Sirius mean you deflected the spell entirely? A shield breaker curse is designed to not bounce off shields." The redheads in the room looked at him waiting to see what he would say.

"Well, I uhh…why don't I just show you." He pulled out his wand this time wordlessly using the Protego charm once again the light golden shield expanded in front of him.

The others in the room looked at him and almost immediately the twins asked simultaneously. "Can we throw anything we want at it to test it?"

He nodded but interrupted them quickly. "All I ask is you don't break the house, also Hermione and Ginny you should get on this side of the shield with me and Ron." They quickly moved to get to safety and the twins started throwing spells everyone either fizzled against the shield or bounced off and hit the walls. After a few minutes of this, they both gave up.

"That's amazing I've never seen anything like that before in my life." Fred managed to say slightly out of breath from the number of spells he tried to cast so quickly. He let the shield fall and they spread back out to their former positions around the room. He quickly repaired any damage to the room so there would be no evidence of anything happening.

"Yeah, it just happened I was trying to do a little research and find out if there were any records of anything like this happening before, but I couldn't find anything. I've been practicing in the room of requirement a few times a week and I've been to the library under my cloak a few times to try and find anything I can."

Everyone looked at him confused and Ron asked the question the rest were sure to be wondering. "What's the Room of Requirement?"

He laughed and nodded his head towards the door. "Sirius has been telling me some of the things he and his friends didn't put on the map." At this, he looked pointedly at the twins.

For a second neither moved then they shot to their feet. "Sirius? Which is he…is he really?" Both twins looked absolutely astounded.

"Why don't you go ask him yourself? He should be very curious how you managed to save the map from Filches clutches." The twins flew out of the room like twin bats out of hell one going up the stairs the other going down looking for Sirius. Ginny looked incredibly confused and looked at Hermione. "It will be easier if I just showed you." Harry cut in before Hermione could answer. Digging through his trunk for the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He recited placing the tip of his wand on the map. He laid it flat and Ginny read the title.

"Who are they?" she asked before realizing what he had said earlier. "OH! So, your dad, Sirius, and two other friends made this? That is so cool." He was once again surprised at how easily the younger girl was fitting into their small group. For the first time, he realized that she was only a year younger, and she had definitely grown up. At this thought, his cheeks burned slightly and he looked away towards Hermione who was beaming at him. He gave her a questioning glance and she just shook her head at him rolling her eyes.

She nudged Ginny. "Let's let the boys get their sleep we can have some girl time." The two girls left quickly leaving the two boys on their own.

Ron immediately turned to him. "Can you teach me that?"

He looked at Ron confused then his mind cleared. "The shield? No, I can't find anything about it in books. But I do plan on practicing a lot more on defense. Plus, Dumbledore said he's going to give me some 'extracurricular' lessons this year. You can help me practice, so you'll learn too."

Ron grinned and laid back on his bed. "Awesome it'll be good to get some more…" He trailed off towards the end of the sentence. "This is because you have to do it isn't it?"

Harry's blood chilled for a moment then he remembered why he had decided not to run from his fate any longer. "Yes. It is. I'll tell you and Hermione when we get back to school. I still have a few things to clear up for myself first." Ron looked at him and he saw two things. Acceptance and the same steel that he saw every time he looked in the mirror.

The next morning as Harry and Ron were getting out of bed, they heard Mrs. Weasley yell from downstairs. "Get down here boys the girls are already up, and your Hogwarts letters are here!" Both boys looked at each other rolling their eyes but both curious to see what was in the letters for this year. When they reached the kitchen Mrs. Weasley handed them their school letters. "We might as well go to Diagon Alley today as you have your lists and I already needed to go."

"Sounds like a good plan Mrs. Weasley." He leaned in to talk to Ginny so the others would not hear him. "We can sneak off and get you a wand if you don't want your mum to know it's the least I can do." She smiled happily.

As he opened the door to the oddly silent wand shop he remembered stepping foot inside the shop for the first time. He smiled to himself and then jumped as he heard a voice.

"A new wand Mr. Potter? So soon?" Mr. Ollivander moved to the counter.

Harry stepped to the side. "No sir Ginny here needs a wand."

She stepped forward slightly nervous. "I used to use my grandmother's wand but when the deatheaters attacked our house I lost it." She explained quickly.

"Oh, truly a first wand then. How exciting!" Mr. Ollivander came forward taking measurements then going and searching the shelves. He came back with wand after wand. Much like his own wand, Ginny seemed to need a very particular wand to suit her. Mr. Ollivander eventually found the one, however. "Oh, how splendid. Every witch and wizard should have a wand that truly chose them."

He paid for her wand and she tucked it into her sleeve much the same as he himself had taken to doing. "I'm glad we found a wand for you. It took almost as long as mine to find!" He laughed then grunted in surprise. Ginny had all but tackled him hugging him tightly around the middle.

She released him and backed away quickly. "Thank you Harry I...I never thought I would be able to get my own wand. How can I pay you back?" Ginny's face had grown serious as her Weasley pride reared its head.

"Just promise you won't bat-bogey me if you're ever mad at me and we can call it even. You're very welcome Ginny. I don't like to brag but I can help. I want to help you. The Weasleys are the only true family I have ever known. That's something I can't begin to put a value on." He smiled at her and she hugged him again. This time he returned the hug gladly. "Let's go meet back up with the others. Don't want to worry them too much do we?"

AN:

Most of the fifth book is going to stay the same and including almost the entirety of the book with this story seems slightly excessive so the next chapter will be jumping around to the changes I make throughout the story which should only really be how the DA is different and how the battle at the ministry takes place. I think the end will have people fairly split either you will really like it or you will hate it. Also, I appreciate anyone following or favoriting this story. I have three chapters written so far but after that, it will be a little slow as I had a long weekend this week due to Easter. So normally I won't have this much time. I will try to upload a chapter a week though at least. Once summer comes we will see what happens and where this story is. I'm not sure how far I want to go with it. Because I could easily write this up to the final battle or further. I'd like to hear what people think over the next few chapters.