All things Harry Potter belong to the wonderful JK Rowling…  :-)

Chapter 4:  Tolling Bells

Ginny sat bolt upright in her bed and frantically glanced around her tiny room.  She could hear the rhythmic breathing of her brothers, Fred and George, who were sharing the room with her during the holiday.  The red-head could not sleep so she quietly got up out of her bed and placed slippers on her feet and a nightrobe around her body.

She reached for her wand, which was laying on her bedside table, "Lumos," she whispered.  The tip of her wand began to glow and she silently stepped out of her room in order to make her way downstairs.

Fred and George continued their light snoring… small smiles playing on their lips.

***

As Ginny made her way down the creaky stairs… cringing with each creak that sounded… the large clock in the family room began to chime.  It was midnight.

Ginny continued on her way… not really knowing where she was going, though her feet moved her towards the Christmas tree as if they knew right where they wanted to take her.  She stopped suddenly and glanced at the lovely tree.  Suddenly, her eyes found what deep down she knew they were searching for… they fixed themselves on the little wooden wizard soldier placed under the tree as if guarding the whole of The Burrow from harm.

The red-haired girl could not help but smile.  She loved the little gift that her favorite brothers had given her.  It stirred such wonderful, yet painful, memories within her soul… but they were memories she never wanted to forget.

She sat down on the floor and picked up the wizard soldier and carefully looked it over… trying to drink in every little detail of the carvings and paint color.  Suddenly, her eyes were becoming heavy with sleep so she leaned back against the wall, clutching onto the figurine, just letting sleep consume her.

Ginny opened her eyes with a start and gasped.  She was frightened when she realized that everything around her was now enormous and she was the same size as the presents under the tree.

"Someone is using dark magic," she whispered to herself.

Immediately, she grabbed her wand not knowing what evil witch or wizard had entered the premises.  She knew that Lord Voldemort had been defeated only a couple years ago by Harry Potter himself and that most of the Death Eaters had been captured and sent to Azkaban.  Perhaps one of those still on the run had decided to break into The Burrow.  After all, Harry was visiting and her father and Percy both held positions at The Ministry of Magic… and though The Great Wizarding War was officially over, she could not deny the reality of present circumstances.

The girl began to shiver as she looked around the now gigantic room.  The Christmas tree was towering above her.  She then looked over at the large chess board nearby… the pieces as large, if not larger, than she.  Suddenly, she turned her gaze upon the wooden figurine… they were now proportional to each other in size.

At that moment, an eerie green light glowed in a corner of the room.  As soon as the light diminished, Ginny saw that she was now surrounded by Death Eaters.  She shrieked from fright.

Suddenly, the wooden figurine sprung to life.  He reached for his wand shouting, "Stupefy!"  Several Death Eaters fell onto the floor.

Ginny ran closer to the tree covering her eyes as the battle raged on.  When she could no longer stand it and chanced a look, she realized that the hooded wizard soldier had taken down all the Death Eaters.  The red-haired girl felt such relief.  Just then, she saw that a one Death Eater had managed to escape the curses and was about to pounce on the hooded wizard.

"Look out!" Ginny screamed.

But it was too late.  The Death Eater grabbed the wizard soldier from behind and had him in a choke hold.

At that moment, Ginny reached for her wand and shouted, "Stupefy!"

The Death Eater fell down onto the floor, slumped into a heap.

Ginny ran over to her protector only to see him fall onto the floor as well.

"No!" she exclaimed as she knelt down next to her defender.  Carefully, she pushed back the hood and gasped.  There beside her was a wizard soldier with the face and hair of the one man that held her heart… Draco Malfoy.