Somehow, the morning light shown through Ginny's curtains as glorious as ever. She had the sudden urge to yell at the sun, to tell it to go away, that it didn't belong in such a place. Ginny could not remember if she slept or not, if she did, it was more fitful nightmares than sleep. Flur, apparently did not share Ginny's problems, as she slept peacefully in Ginny's bed. Growling at Phlem's perfect body and the golden rays of sun, Ginny left her post at her black leather journal and dressed for her morning run not caring how loud she was. Hermione's once occupied cot near Ginny's desk was now vacant, reminding Ginny that they were gone.

Around seven that morning, Tonks and Remus apparated to the Burrow. Though her parents are normally early risers, Ginny had not seen Mr. or Mrs. Weasley, but continued to cook breakfast for herself, Bill, Tonks and Remus. Flur would most likely stay in bed until the last possible moment, and in her usual routine, Ginny made enough eggs and toast for her parents, Bill, Flur, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Draco, Remus, Tonks and herself.

"Gin," Bill asked his sister softly as she began to toast the ninth piece of bread.

"What?" Ginny snapped at her older brother.

"I think that's enough toast." Bill answered simply removing the homemade bread away from Ginny's hands. Realizing her mistake, Ginny was forced to remember who was missing.

"Oh, of course. How stupid of me." Ginny hurried to fix her mistake as Remus and Tonks gave her sympathetic looks.

"Gin, what's going on?" Bill asked bluntly, yet his voice was still soft.

"Doesn't really matter now." Ginny replied moving the scrambled eggs around in the pan so they would finish cooking without burning.

"Don't say that, Ginny. You can't give up." Remus told Ginny sternly.

"Please tell me it's not what I think." Bill pleaded as Ginny choked back her tears.

"It's not what you think." Ginny answered cheekily with a forced smile.

"Ginny." Bill pleaded.

"It doesn't matter because he has a really good chance of dying out there and –" Ginny began laughing in a way that scared Bill greatly, "and I won't be able to stop it or help him. I won't know if he's dead or alive or captured or anything! And I don't know what to do. I know it hasn't even been 24 hours, but it seems like it has been like this all summer. And now I'm rambling like an idoit-"

"No, your not." Bill engulfed his sister in his arms, "He loves you, you know." At this remark Ginny pulled herself from her brother.

"How do you know?" Ginny asked surprised and shocked that Draco would consult Bill in his feelings.

"He told me before they left. Security I guess." Bill gave a small chuckle, "I mean, even though Ron's his best mate, I think he's been scared that Ron might explode if he knew." It took Ginny a split second to decide her next plan of action.

"Yeah, Ron would." Ginny nodded before turning back to the eggs.

Grief is a funny creature. It shows many different emotions all at once or individually according to the person. But more importantly, grief can make people believe anything by forming the truth into something impossible to untangle. For example, everyone either forgot Ginny's outburst about Draco's leave or believed her to have simply directed her anger towards the easiest victim. Remus and Tonks, of course, knew the truth, but kept it to themselves as they promised. Fred and George suspected, but their theories never traveled farther than the shop. Fred tried to ask his sister about Draco, but his firm position to keep her thoughts as far away from the topic strayed him from the truth.

For others, grief was something that occurred when one gave it room to enter. Hermione found this many times between summer term and the present. She hated having the evening of guard duty off for this reason. Draco refused to hear of 'such nonsense' when Hermione presented the idea.

"I don't see why I can't!" Hermione had yelled when Draco shot down her suggestion multiple times.

"Because a person cannot function without proper sleep!" Draco had yelled.

"Oi! Don't yell at her!" Ron had stood from the bench at the table so Harry fell as it crashed to the ground. Ready to respond with a quip, Draco rounded on Ron but held his tongue.

"It doesn't make sense, Granger. If you keep watch every night, then what use will you be when we need you? If we rotate every two to three hours, then we should all have ample sleep and be alert when we have to guard." Draco explained, his practice of self-control becoming stronger. He watched her heave with anger, before he made his decision.

"Go cool off, your off duty tonight." Draco commanded.

"You are not in charge!" Hermione hissed.

"Yes, we should just all go follow lord Potter, because he has a plan. Do you, Potter?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"You are being ridiculous." Harry scoffed.

"Is it, Potter? Let's think about this, shall we? You know nothing about Horcruxes, only what Dumbledore told you, which I'm guessing is not a lot. I have grown up learning dark magic like you three learned your letters and numbers. His Horcruxes became a bedtime story when I was a child. So, let's give you the authority to make the decision, why don't we?" Draco questioned. When neither Ron nor Harry complained, Draco stepped towards Hermione again, and this time she cowered under his authority. "No more than four hours at a time for each shift."

"Thank you." Hermione murmured while she rubbed her neck in embarrassment.

"Just doing my job." Draco answered, "I'll take the first watch. Come relieve me at 2am, Potter. Granger, go get some sleep."

"I thought you said we'd do shifts of two or three hours." Harry interjected.

"I'm taking Granger's shift. I don't think it is a good idea for her to guard tonight." Draco answered defiantly.

"I can do it." Ron interjected.

"I think she need you more than anything right now. Potter." Draco looked to Harry for a consenting nod before heading outside the tent with his wand, a quill and his journal.

A sigh escaped Draco's lips as he sank into the warm ground in front of their tent. He had been gone only two weeks, and they had already run into problems. It seemed like finding the Horcruxes would be easier than destroying them. So far they had leads, but nothing in their hands for weapons and Horcruxes. Professor McGonagall, however, was supposed to meet the quartet at the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade with a package of Basilisk fangs the day before. After hours of waiting in disguise, Hermione and Draco left the pub empty handed.

Draco contemplated their next move; a Horcrux with nothing to kill it would be an absolute death. Bill and Flur's wedding would be the following day. Due to security reasons, both Harry and Draco would take Polyjuice Potion to attend Bill and Flur's wedding. To avoid cover stories, Harry would use Ron's hair and become a Weasley cousin, while Draco would morph into a muggle man and stand guard near the tree line, one of the easiest places to be without being seen. He wished he could stay himself, enjoy the party with Ginny, but he knew that was impossible, so he volunteered in a position deemed boring and lonely.

After the wedding, the group would to the woods off the coast, their exact location housed in the memory of Hermione Granger. There they would search for the next horcrux.

Glowing, the rings around her leather-bound journal announced Draco had written her. Hastily, Ginny grabbed her journal a quill and her bottle of ink before leaning against the stone wall that surrounded the Burrow's garden. Draco's now very familiar handwriting looped gracefully across the page.

Ginevra,

We are all safe for now. Found one. Please ask Moony about pick-up.

All my love,

Draco

Hasty to reply, Ginny's normally neat and tiny penmanship became a messy scrawl:

Draco,

Thank Merlin. I will ask. See you tomorrow!

Wishing you were here,

Ginevra

Knowing the quartet was safe eased Ginny's dreams, though the many possible ways of murder plagued her every day and night. The first two nights it was Draco's mangled face that tortured her, but now all of them appeared regularly. After shutting her leather-faced journal, Ginny pondered the meaning of the pick-up, knowing if Draco had mentioned it to Ginny, then it must hold high importance. Due to the chance of the journal falling into the wrong hands, and someone else reading thru the conversations, Draco and Ginny kept their entries as neutral as possible.