Hello everyone, sorry for the long time that there wasn't a new chapter, as I said, I had completely forgotten about this story, though I plan on at least taking this to a stopping point before I quit again.

This chapter, I hope, will make up for the long time, and there will be one more chapter at least before I can post the long one I wrote but never posted before I stopped working on the series back at the end of July.  Please leave reviews and tell me what you think about this chapter, and the story in whole, and to those who have already commented on the story, I thank you very much, I will notify all reviewers when I post the next chapter, so if you wanna know when it comes out, you best leave a review J

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Chapter 5: Aftermath

As Ministry wizards popped up everywhere, with the intent to secure the area, they all stopped dead in their tracks, staring around at the total carnage that happened out of the Weasley's house, then The Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge apperated onto the scene, expecting it to be fully secured by now.

As soon as he had appeared, he stood shocked, twisting around, looking at all the dead bodies, and then looking at his men, like him, shocked and staring, "Well, what are you people waiting for, secure this place now, don't just stand around looking."  At once, all the wizards and witches standing around went to their jobs, searched the premises, and concluded that no one was still around, and that the grounds were now secure. "I do wonder who could of done so much killing, I hope the family isn't in similar shape as these people," with that he walked to the house, and stepped inside, just as Albus Dumbledore, Molly, Arthur, and Charlie Weasley walked down the steps.

"Aah, Cornelius, good, I was hoping you'd get here soon, we need to talk," exclaimed Dumbledore, with a bit of stern-ness in his voice that has recently been reserved solely for Fudge.  Fudge stepped inside and walked over to meet Dumbledore as the 3 Weasley's went into the kitchen.

"Aha, now I understand the mess outside," said Fudge, "I was wondering how such a huge force could be defeated like this, glad to see you got here in time to aid them."

Dumbledore interrupted Fudge; "I only got here a few minutes ago, and was only informed a few minutes prior to that, I didn't lift my wand once in attack, the few that remained alive and conscious disapperated as soon as I arrived on the scene, unfortunately just seconds too late."

"Oh, I see," stated a shocked Fudge, "then who did thi… did you just say too late? Why, what happened."

"It seems that young Mr. Potter had a vision of Voldemort and his servant talking, and woke to come here and warn the Weasley's, and it is in fact, Mr. Potter who happened to do most of the damage you see outside.  As I said, I arrived unfortunately late by a few seconds, giving Lucius Malfoy the needed time to shoot an Avada Kedavra at young Ginny, who was not fighting in the battle, and was in fact standing there shocked to see how many the group had fended off."  A shocked look came over Fudge's face, and he caught himself, his look saying he didn't believe for a minute that Malfoy had been involved, "if not for Harry again, Ginny would have died, but instead, Harry jumped in the way of the blast, taking the hit himself."

A totally stunned look came over Fudge's face yet again, and he stammered, "y, you mean, L," he shook his head furiously, "one of them hit Harry with the K, Killing curse," his right hand covered his mouth, Dumbledore nodded. "It just can't be, Harry dead, oh my, this won't help the ministry at all."

Dumbledore's eyes turned to a steel gaze and he shook his head slowly, "Harry is not dead minister, he, luckily, was protected by a rather strong Rutilus Navitas, I believe you know of it, he should be fine in a week or so," Fudge sighed slightly and nodded.  At hearing Fudge's comments on how Harry's death would affect the Ministry, all 3 Weasley's stood up and walked behind Dumbledore.

"This is still bad, really bad for us Albus," commented Fudge, "when the press finds out about this, they're going to have a field day with Harry."

He was going to continue, but was interrupted by Dumbledore, "the press is not going to have a field day with Harry, because they won't know about Harry, because you will not inform them of Harry."

Fudge looked bewildered, "not tell them about Harry, are you mad, there are already reporters from the Daily Prophet that are taking statements from guards and neighbors," he shook his head, "no, no matter how much this may hurt us, we can't keep this from the people, not something this big."

"Cornelius," Dumbledore said warningly, "if you would just take a minute or two to hear what I have to say, you will understand."

He began explaining his plan to the minister, who, half way through, got a strange expression on his face, "I can't believe this, are you still on about that foolish Voldemort rubbish, I can't believe your so over-paranoid."

Charlie cut him off, "I can't believe you're so naïve and fearful that you would try and cover-up and deny his return, what do you call that out there."  He pointed his hand in the direction of the battlefield, and as they saw one of the wizards starting to revive, Charlie pulled out his wand and performed a stunning spell, knocking the wizard out again before he was even able to fully raise his head.

"All I see are a group of death eaters, who managed to grab a group of Dementors, probably more of the same group who got drunk and showed themselves at the World Cup last year.  They probably still, after all this time, want to take out Harry, and knowing how close your family," he pointed to the upstairs area, "is to him, they thought he'd become so mad he'd leave the protection of his home, and attack them, making himself an easy target."

"Cornelius," said Dumbledore, more sternly than ever before.

"Very well," interrupted Fudge, "I will do as you ask with the press, but, if there is another attack on him, then it will be obvious that your plan will fail, and that I will then reveal the whole thing to the press for the very next paper."  Dumbledore nodded, and Fudge left the house to begin his public statement, and had said exactly what he had been instructed to say.

"Are you sure you can trust him," asked Charlie, the rest spun around upon hearing the accusation, "how can you be sure he isn't secretly in Voldemort's pocket?"

"Because," explained Dumbledore, "I know him, he is not a traitor, he is simply an extremely frightened man who happens to be very naïve, he believes that if he just ignores this threat, it will go away, if he turns his back to it, it'll disappear.  Foolishness, Naiveté, and Cowardice is a combination that no person with power should have, it leaves them open for all kinds of trouble."

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Early the next morning, Lucius Malfoy entered a dark study, and bowed respectfully at the chair facing away from him, "My lord, I have great and interesting news to report on the activities of last night."

A high voice came from the chair, "why did you wait so long to report back to me Lucius?"

"My lord, I am sorry, but I had to retreat to my mansion, as to continue the appearance of non-involvement, I am regarded quite highly by the fool Fudge, and that can still prove very useful to us."

"I see," said Voldemort, "well then, what great news do you have for me, Malfoy?"

Malfoy stepped a couple steps closer to the chair, "My lord, we had some trouble with the Weasley's, it seems that they were informed ahead of time about the attack, though I wasn't quite sure how at first.  When I had arrived there were a mess of bodies all around, most of our number were down, only the ones I brought with me were up, and several of those had already gone down when I arrived.  I couldn't understand how they had managed this, as far as I knew, none of the Weasley's could conjure a Patronus, yet nearly 100 Dementors lay dead near my feet.  I took a shot at the house, and it dispersed on a barrier surrounding the house, but a large gaping hole in the wall told me that it was wearing down, the windows and the door didn't seem protected.  None of our troops had managed to get closer than 30 feet, I decided to go around the area of battle, and come up the side, and I had succeeded, only about 10 feet from the closest window.  Standing up, stunned by the battle going on in front of her, the little Weasley girl was standing a few feet back, in perfect light from the window, I decided to hit her first, but just as I shot, someone jumped up and dived in front of her, taking the blast."

He was cut off, "that is supposed to be the great news, someone sacrificed themself for her?"

A shocked Malfoy replied, "no my lord, I was just getting to the good part, as I was saying, a boy jumped up and dived in front of her, she screamed out 'Harry' as it hit him, and for just a second, I could clearly see Harry Potter in the light, hit full on in the back with my curse."

"Well now," stated Voldemort, "that is interesting news, so it was the boy who alerted them, makes sense, so then, did you finish the rest of the group off?" Malfoy said no, "Why not, with Harry out of the way, the rest should have been easy picking."

"My lord," responded Malfoy, "about a second later Dumbledore arrived, and about thirty to forty of us who were either still standing or had regained consciousness immediately disapperated, but Harry was hit, and was no doubt dead before hitting the ground."

"Indeed," exclaimed Voldemort, and then he turned his chair to face Malfoy, a sneer on his face, in his hand lay a copy of the morning Daily Prophet, "then how come this paper makes no mention whatsoever to the boy, and claims no one was killed or badly harmed?  In fact, it says that reporters on the scene minutes afterwards saw the adult Weasley's as well relaxed and perfectly calm and strong as ever, so, if they managed to fight off as many as you say, which this paper co-oberates, then why wouldn't they look exhausted?" Malfoy had a look of shock and surprise on his face, "and as to knowledge of your attack, it only says they had an informant alert them ahead of time."

"My lord," a shocked Malfoy responded, "I do not know why they would look rejuvenated, and I do not know why no mention of Potter is made, except that if they were to report his death, there would be a public outcry that the ministry would not want.  I assure I did hit him, he dived right in front of the blast, the Avada Kedavra curse, it hit him full on the back, and I assure you, he is dead."

An amused Voldemort replied, "do not forget Malfoy, he has escaped that curse once before, and even if he is dead, be sure not to come into conflict with the Weasley girl on your own, for you have an outcome far worse than I did with young Potter."  He became hard once again, "I do not believe he is truly dead, but we will have to wait and see, won't we, the Weasley house will be too well protected for any of us to approach any time soon, and as you know, we cannot approach his relatives house."

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As she lay under his cloak, she could hear the intense action below her, worried, scared for their lives, she lay still, occasionally shuddering every time it sounded as if one of them had been hit, she worried, as anyone would do for their family.  But she was not worrying for her family, she couldn't care less about them, all she cared for was him, Harry, and she felt disgusted at herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling of worry over Harry, though she did feel somewhat worried for her family now.  Just then, he heard a loud thump, as if someone had just landed on the roof of her room, but it sounded as if it came from higher up, the attic.  She worried, perhaps the spells that her parents and Charlie had used on the house didn't work on the attic, and maybe within minutes hundreds of them would be storming down the house, killing her, then Harry.  Mere seconds later, a young wizard, 20, 21 years old rushed into her room and looked around, wand outstretched, a loud bang came from downstairs, she shuddered, and the cloak moved, the wizard noticed it, aimed at her bed, and almost fired.  Before he could though, she rolled off the bed, and set his robe on fire, and knocked his wand out of his hand, she got up and ran down the stairs, him close on her heels.  As it went on, she saw what was happening, stunned, worried, and not thinking, stayed standing, directly in the moonlight coming through the window, she was impressed with how everyone was handling themselves, but she was stunned by how tremendously great Harry was handling himself, far better than anyone else.

Then she saw it, out of the corner of her eye, a man standing to the side of the group, a second later.  Harry had jumped up and dived in front of her, taking the hit, a look of pain on his face as he struggled to tell her to get down, then he hit the floor, she flipped him over, and a look of pain was frozen on his face, his body dead.

Ginny sat up with a start, cold sweat dripping down her body, looking around trying to get her bearings, she realized she was in her room; it had just been a dream, Harry was alive and well, resting in Ron's room.  She got up, noticing it was still dark outside, she wondered how long she had slept, she immediately ran to Ron's room to check on Harry, when she opened the door, she looked around, a look of shock came on her face.  Harry was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Ron, she was puzzled, Harry wasn't supposed to be awake for several days, yet he was not here, she left the room and went down to Fred and Georges room, opened the door, no one there either.

Frustrated, she headed down to Percy's room, opened that door, again, no one there, feeling alone and scared, she headed for her parent's room, hoping to find someone there, but she didn't, feeling cold, becoming very nervous she headed down to the living room.  It was dark, no lights, no fire, she looked out the broken windows, no one, nothing, living or dead outside; she turned around and went out the back door, looking around she saw no one, but there was a strange green tint to everything, she looked up and gasped, horrified.  In the air, was a large Dark Mark, filling the sky, giving everything a green tint; around the Dark Mark were 8 large red "X"s, marking 8 people killed here tonight, she let out a scream, and everything dissolved around her.

She was standing in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, Harry was standing in front of her, but it wasn't Harry, it was his ghost, "Why did you let me die? Why were you so stupid?  How could you do it?  Haven't I been a good friend to you? Was my friendship worth nothing?" His voice got sterner, "why didn't you get down, be smart, be mature for once.  But no," he said sarcastically, "you had to pick that night to be the little whining girl with a big stupid crush," he became stern, mean, "and because of that, you killed me."

She was now at the Quidditch field at Hogwarts, standing there, with Ron's ghost, "how could you be so stupid," he yelled meanly, "letting us all die like that, killing my best friend, you little prat."  Now everyone else that was at the house was standing behind him, nodding, "I hope your happy, you piece of filth, I'm ashamed to have you as a sister, if I could hit you I would.  "Now we'll never see our joke shop," exclaimed Fred and George together.  "And I'll never get to work with another Dragon again, thanks to you," said Charlie.  "I'll never be able to tell you my true feelings," continued Harry.  "Thanks to you, we'll never be able to watch all our children grow up," retorted Mrs. Weasley, with Arthur nodding beside her.  "Thanks to you, dear sister," Percy said with contempt, "I'll never be Minister of Magic, and thanks to you, I died a-a-a, a Virgin." "Ha, ha," came the ghosts of Fred and George.  Then Harry said, "I do really hope you're happy for causing all our deaths."

Ginny awoke, cold sweat dripping down her, and drenching her bed all around her, she didn't even stop to get her bearings, she just jumped out of bed, and running for Ron's room, tripping on her own feet before getting to her door.  She ran up the stairs getting to Ron's room and nearly busting down the door she opened it so hard, then she sighed, lying down in a second bed was Harry, sleeping, looking comfortable, and calm.  Sleeping next to him in his own bed was Ron, who was snoring slightly, and sleeping almost as deeply as Harry was.  She panted with relief as she went back to her room, looked at her drenched sheets, changed them, and went down to the living room to think, seeing that it was 1:00pm, and everyone was still asleep on her down.