– CHAPTER ONE –

New Beginnings

The cold and pale hand reached outwards towards his face, threatening to squeeze the very life out of him while an equally pale wand is pointed every slower towards his chest. A pale body veiled in black robes and two gleaming red eyes filled with the murderous intent and the chance of final victory.

'Die.`` Said the high pitched and cold voice. The voice of the most feared man in all of Wizarding history.

There was a flash of green light, and Harry Potter woke. He was panting and sweaty, sat upright in his bed in The Burrow. Mr and Mrs Weasley had allowed Harry to use Charlies old room while Harry himself decided where he would live for himself. He had not wanted to go back to the Dursleys and no longer had a reason to.

It had been two months since the fall of Lord Voldemort at the hands of Harry him, elf, and finally the worst blight in the Wizarding world was other and order was slowly being restored. The dead had been buried, which had in Harry's mind been the single hardest part of the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Saying goodbye to Fred, Lupin, Tonks and even Colin Creevey had left Harry feeling hollow.

The loss of Fred had had a profound effect upon his twin brother George. The twins, even in the darkest of times, had been a source of entertainment and merriment for many. The were always the first to crack a joke or quip in an attempt to lighten the mood. The remaining Weasley twin attempted to show this whimsical side of him whenever in public, but the playful laughter was gone from the prankster's eyes.

The entire Weasley family had taken the loss of Fred in particular the hardest. Each of them did their best to hide their grief behind smiles and forced laughter. But everyone close to the family could see through their facade, Harry and Hermione especially.

Then there was little Teddy Lupin, who would grow up without ever knowing his Mother and Father, much like Harry himself. Even his grandfather had been cruelly taken away from him before his birth, leaving Teddy entirely in the care of his Grandmother Andromeda Tonks.

So much death surrounded Harry that did not have to ponder or wonder why he was still having nightmares about the very man that had caused them all. Even now that he was dead and buried, the Wizarding World still refused to speak his name allowed, using instead the moniker of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Even though the taboo that had been cast upon the name Lord Voldemort had been lifted, the magical community still associated the name with terror and death.

Harry could already feel the panic attack coming on as he sat there with the memories of the nightmare that had awoken him, and the memories of the recent months flashed in front of his mind.

'He's dead.`` He muttered to himself at barely even a whisper in an attempt to control his nerves. 'You survived.'' These four words had been Harry's mantra for the past few months now, every time the same nightmare woke him up at random times in the night.

Once he had stopped the shivers and shaking of his body, Harry glanced towards the window to see the sun's rays slowly beginning to filter through the dark closed curtains as the sun began to rise over the horizon. From this, he guessed that it was still early morning and although he had no plans to fill out his day, decided that it would be time to get up anyway. He pushed the covers from off of him, reached over to the bedside table for his glasses and clambered out of the sweat soaked bed.

After putting on glasses, Harry looked down at the bed and sighed to himself. He took his wand from the spot next to where his glasses had been on the bedside unit and waved it through the air, as he had on several mornings lately. A small wave of heat emanated from the holly and phoenix wands tip and quickly dried the sheets and bed coverings, thus hiding Harry's own shame. He knew that it was silly to think that Mrs. Weasley, or any of the Weasley family currently at The Burrow would think any less of Harry for having nightmares, but he couldn't help himself.

With the task done, Harry quickly dressed into a clean pair of clothes and left the room, heading downstairs in search of breakfast.

``Oh, good morning Harry dear.' Came the familiar voice of Mrs. Weasley when Harry found her sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of now cold coffee clutched in both hands.

'Morning Mrs. Weasley.`` Harry said cheerily.

'Please Harry, call me Molly. How long have you known me now? There's no need to be so formal.' The red haired woman gave him that same motherly smile that Harry had come to expect from the generous and warm woman.

'Sorry Mrs Wea- I mean Molly.' He corrected himself. He still wasn't very comfortable being on a first name basis with the person who had treated him like a surrogate son for so long.

'Are you hungry dear? I'll cook something up now.' She stood to rise, tipping the full mug onto her fingers slightly having apparently forgotten that it was there. Harry wondered just how long Mrs. Weasley had been up for, the dark circles under her eyes were almost always present these days. Not that it wasn't uncommon for her to be the first up in the mornings, but these days she appeared to sleep very little, and no matter how the Weasley family pleaded with it's matron to get some rest, Mrs. Weasley always insisted that she was fine.

'No, no. That's okay!' Harry said hurriedly 'honestly Mrs. Weasley I can make something for myself.' He insisted when she gave him that warm smile she used when she felt he was being silly.

'How about some bacon and eggs?' She said with a simple wave of her wand, to rid the table of the coffee and make the mug float into the sink before continuing to her feet.

``I don't want to be any trouble, especially as you and Mr. Weasley have put me up until I decide on my own place.' Harry said, joining Mrs. Weasley in the small kitchen just as she took out a frying pan and made eggs and bacon meet her.

'Harry, you know that me and Arthur are happy to have you with us.' Harry knew that there would be no further point in making his case now, and instead just sighed and smiled to the kind woman as she set the pan on the flame and lowered a few strips of bacon onto it.

'Is Mr- I mean is Arthur already at work?' Harry couldn't help but give Mrs. Weasley a guilty smile as she turned to him the look that all mothers gave their children as a warning.

``Oh yes, he and Percy have been so terribly busy at the Ministry these days. It's to be expected of course with the mess it was left in and attempting to ferret out those put under the Imperius Curse.' She said, returning to her work as she made the eggs break themselves into a second pan.

'Is Kingsley's transition as Minister going smoothly?' Kingsley Shacklebolt had replaced Pius Thicknesse as Minister of Magic a few days after the fall of Voldemort. It had taken a bit of effort, Arthur Weasley told everyone around dinner one day, to get him to step down. Apparently, even though Thicknesse had been under the Imperius Curse during his tenure as Minister, he still felt as though the position should continue to be his.

'About as well as to be expected I suppose.' Mrs Weasley continued. 'There have been those that have spoken out against Kingsley, but most agree that he is right for the position. I don't think he likes being Minister very much though.'

'I think he will make a good Minister.' Harry said plainly. He had always disliked the Minister's prior to Voldemort's coup. Their desire to use Dumbledore, and Harry, as a scapegoat and then the denial of fault and blame on their behalf still caused his blood to boil. He glimpsed down at his right fist and the white hue of scars on it. "I must not tell lies."

'I think so too.`` Molly Weasley said as she started dished up Harry's breakfast, complete with a glass of cold pumpkin juice. 'There we are.' With a wave of her wand, she sent plate, knife, fork and glass over to sit on the table.

'Thanks Molly.' Harry grinned at her before taking hintoat to dig in to the hot meal.

'You are welcome dear.`` She smiled in return and made herself a fresh cup of coffee before sitting opposite Harry just as Ron ambled down the stairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

'Mornin.' He mumbled, evidently still half asleep. Normally the second youngest Weasley woke much later than this. Harry suspected that the smell of cooking food to be the cause of his early rise.

'Morning, Ron.' Harry said, dipping a chunk of bacon into the yolk of his egg.

'Whas for breakfast, mum?' Ron asked, slumping into the chair next to Harry's.

'Honestly Ron, is your first thougMrslways food?' Mrs. Weasley asked with a tut before she started making her sons breakfast.

'Nightmare again?' Ron asked in a huMrs voice when Mrs. Weasley was sufficiently out of earshot, leaning closer to Harry to be sure that his mum wouldn't overhear.

'Mmn..' Harry nodded with a mouthful of egg white and bacon.

'Written to Hermione yet?' The freckled redhead asked as he helped himself to Harry's glass of pumpkin juice.

'Not yet, I was hoping to see her in person first.' Harry said, running his last chunk of bacon around the egg yolk on his plate with his fork.

'We could apparate to her this afternoon if you want?' Ron offered after draining the glass of juice. Harry knew why Ron wanted to see Hermione, the pair had been spending significant amounts of time together lately now that they were an "official couple" as Ron put it.

'You know I'm not supposed to be apparating yet. I still haven't taken the test.' Harry had had to remind Ron of his several times over the past few weeks.

'Kingsley isn't going to throw you into Azkaban just for a bit of illegal apparition Harry, come off it' Ron rolled his eyes and thanked his mum for his plate of food as it came soaring over to him.

'No. Harry is right Ron. He needs to pass his test first.' Mrs. Weasley said as she sat back down opposite the two.

'But he did it loads when we were doing all that stuff for Dumbledore.' Ron frowned across the table at his mother, waving his fork in the air with a bit of egg on it.

'Don't wave your food around Ronald.' Mrs. Weasley said, raising her voice just enough to make Ron groan. 'When are you two going to tell me and everyone else what it was you were doing anyway?' She kept the edge to her voice as she turned her gaze upon Harry.

'We can't Mrs. Weasley.`` Harry repeated, as he had so many times before. He still felt guilty that he continued to hide the secret mission that Dumbledore had left him, Ron and Hermione to do after his demise. But Harry couldn't bring himself to break his silence now. It was Dumbledore who had told Harry that he was to tell nobody else but his two best friends.

'Honestly Harry, I am sure Dumbledore didn't expect you to never tell anyone.' Her eyes stayed trained on Harry, who could practically feel it's intensity seeping into his stomach like a snake. Years of raising Fred and George had made Mrs. Weasley a force of nature when it came to parenthood.

'Drop it already mum, we can't tell you.' Ron said with that bored monotone voice he used when he thought it was pointless to continue a point further.

'I wish I could tell your Mrs. Weasley, I really do. But I swore to Dumbledore.`` Harry continued and saw Molly Weasley's eyes soften before she sighed, defeated.

'Fine, fine. You two win. But really Harry, it does more harm than good to keep things bottled up.' She gave him that pointed motherly stare that told Harry she knew better and he smiled to himself. He might have never known his own mother, but because of the woman sat across from him, Harry knew what it was to have one all the same.

'I know Mrs. Weasley. Thank you.`` Happiness almost seemed to creep back into the woman's otherwise sad eyes, even for just a moment before it was gone again. Harry, like all those close to Molly Weasley, knew what was troubling her and causing her to spend countless hours alone or with her husband. The loss of Fred was a void that could never be filled, especially for a mother and father.

At that very moment, and perhaps it was for the better, Ron belched and cleared the otherwise healthy y atmosphere in moment. Harry can't help but grin to himself as Mrs. Weasley began to berate and scold her son who could own sheepishly smile back in return.