Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Except for the ones I made up myself :) Happy reading

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CHAPTER FOUR

Harry spent the rest of the day enjoying Ron's company. Usually the Burrow was packed solid with people, but today only Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny and himself could be found in the lopsided house. Bill and Charlie were out doing god knows what task for Dumbledore's Order of The Phoenix. Percy had moved out last year and married his long time girlfriend Penelope Clearwater. They had purchased a nice house in Hogsmade and Penny was currently pregnant with their first baby. Much to Percy's annoyance, Fred and George had turned an old building into a joke shop not far from his house. They lived on the upper level, while the shop was on the lower. Harry had yet to see this shop, since they only got it opened towards the end of his sixth year at school. He was looking forward to seeing it on his first Hogsmade weekend. Mr. Weasley would be due back later tonight from his job at the Ministry. Harry was currently only half paying attention to the game of chess Ron was beating him at. His thoughts were still on the youngest Weasley, who had not yet come back out of her room. What could she be doing up there? He asked himself. He immediately shook his head at the rush of dirty images that came rushing into his mind. What the hell is wrong with you Potter? This is Ron's little sister your thinking about.

The truth is, ever since he stepped out of the fireplace earlier today, she had caught his eye and wouldn't leave his mind. There was something different about her. He knew she no longer had that silly crush she carried through her first three years at Hogwarts. He now realized that today had probably been their first real conversation. Harry had never paid much attention to her before; she was always just there in the background. Realizing that he had practically ignored her for six years made him feel quite ashamed. He had established some kind of relationship with all of the other Weasley's, and knew them quite well, except for Ginny.

Today when he had seen her, she no longer looked like the shy, timid Ginny he was used to. She was grown up, her eyes sparkled with something he had never seen there before. He felt his mind drift from her eyes to some of her other features that had caught his attention. Her hair, it was long and tumbled down her back in waves of fire. She had worn some simple muggle clothes, but he couldn't help but notice the long shapely legs that had protruded from her black knee length skirt. Or her well shaped curves that were well displayed in her blue tank top. She wore no make up, and her lips had been soft and heart shaped. Her nose was small and showered in freckles. Stop! Stop! Stop! He told himself as he felt his stomach muscles tighten. Just think of something else… As Harry wracked his brain to come up with something else to concentrate on, Ron's hand waving in front of his face brought him back to reality.

"Hey Harry, your move." Ron looked at him oddly before saying, "What could you possibly be thinking about that would put that ridiculous smile on your face. I know you can't possible be enjoying me beating you that much."

Harry flushed guiltily before saying, "Nothing, just good to be back here that's all."

Ron seemed to think this answer was sufficient for he shrugged and went back to concentrating on the game.

About five minutes later Ginny came bounding down the stairs. She inspected their chess game before raising an eyebrow in Harry's direction, "He's really killing you, I've seen Fred put up a better game than that and he's not got one ounce of patience!" Ginny giggled as Harry smiled guiltily.

"Ya," he replied, "I've always been rubbish at chess." Harry noticed that Ginny had her broomstick in hand. "You going somewhere?" He asked curiously

"Yup!" She gave him a secretive smile that told him she was up to something. It was eerily similar to Fred and George's except he couldn't help but notice how much better it looked on her. "I'm just off to go for a walk before dinner, maybe fly around the paddock." She said this with absolutely no trace of the mischief Harry had detected earlier and looked as innocent as can be.

"Well go on then," Ron said finally looking up from his game, he threw his sister a look that said plainly that he thought she was bothering them. "We are in the middle of a game here."

"Sorry Ron," Ginny said with enough false sweetness to make Harry wince. "I didn't mean to interrupt your male bonding time, but if mom asks you know where I am."

"Sure," Ron replied, totally oblivious to his sister's annoyance. Ginny huffed and stormed out of the room. "Don't know what's gotten into her lately." He told Harry watching his sister storm out of the room. "She's been acting strange all summer. I reckon her nightmares are back, she used to have bad ones after her first year you know?"

Harry nodded in understanding, he knew exactly what that was like, but he doubted that was the reason for Ginny's strange behavior this summer. However he kept this knowledge to himself, he had promised Ginny he wouldn't say anything. His thoughts then drifted to later tonight when he would find out what is going on, could Ginny really know something that Dumbledore himself is unaware of? Or is Dumbledore just keeping secrets from him…it really wouldn't be unlike the man to do that. He had kept the reason for Voldermort killing his family a secret until last year. Harry sighed and looked at his watch, the day was going by achingly slowly.

Two hours later, Mr. Weasley came walking in from the kitchen, his soot-covered robes making it obvious that he had just arrived by flu. "Harry! I see that you arrived all right." Mr. Weasley smiled and gave Harry a fatherly handshake. Harry returned the smile, but frowned slightly and asked, "Mr. Weasley, why didn't you just apparate in, it would have been easier wouldn't it?"

"Well…with everything going on, Dumbledore reckoned that we ought to have apparation wards up on the house."

"Oh…" Harry felt a stab of guilt, him being here was making the burrow a target for attack. He honestly didn't know what he would do if anything happened to anyone in this family, especially if it was his fault.

"Don't go looking like that now Harry, you're not the cause of it. We've been meaning to do it for a while now, what will Bill, Charlie, and I all openly working for the Order. You coming here just sped up the process a bit. It's really a good thing." Mr. Weasley gave Harry a friendly pat on the back. "You know your like family to us Harry, I'd rather you be here than with those awful relatives of yours." Mr. Weasley then turned his attention to Ron. "Do you by any chance know where your sister is? Molly can't find her and she was supposed to help with supper."

Ron frowned trying to remember where Ginny had said she was going. Harry decided to save Ron the trouble, "She came down a couple of hours ago and said she was going out for a walk and a fly around the paddock."

Mr. Weasley smiled worriedly, "I keep telling her not to go out there alone. You never know what could happen these days…well knowing her she is completely oblivious to the time. Ron could you and Harry go find her and bring her back for dinner?"

One half hour of searching the Burrow's land with no sign of Ginny was getting both Harry and Ron very nervous. "You don't think something happened to her do you?" Ron asked Harry nervously as they walked along a cheerful looking stream.

"I doubt it. I mean, if there was an attack they probably wouldn't only take Ginny right, and death eaters always make it blatantly obvious that it was there work. There would be a giant dark mark in the sky, and everything would be blown up…" Harry shuddered at the mental image of the Burrow lying in ruins with a dark mark hovering over it. This seemed to reassure Ron, but Harry remembered what Ginny had told him earlier about being the other person in the prophecy. Could Voldermort have found out and ordered to have her captured? Harry put that thought out of his mind for now, convincing himself that she would turn up any minute and all his worries would have been for nothing. "Is there any where else left to look?" He asked Ron.

Ron sighed and shook his head. They were standing in the middle of the paddock, the farthest place Ginny could have gone without leaving the Burrow. He suddenly looked very nervous, "Harry…I don't want to have to go back in and tell mom that we couldn't find her. She'll have a fit. You're probably right; she's around here somewhere. Maybe we should look once more…"

Harry looked at his watch and shook his head. "If we don't get back soon, they will think all three of us has disappeared. Maybe Ginny slipped in after we left to find her and we didn't notice."

Ron nodded seeming a little bit more relieved at this new bit of optimism. "Yeah, she was probably ducking behind a bush waiting for us to leave the house to look for her, than snuck in just to get me riled. Definitely something she would do…alright lets head back then!"

Harry's stomach gave a sickening lurch when they arrived back at the Burrow and found out that Ginny had definitely not arrived back home. Molly's face paled, while she asked shakily if they were certain they had looked everywhere. A tense silence followed, while everyone convinced themselves that she would come bouncing through the door any second. Ron tried to tell his mom that there would be absolutely no reason for them to kidnap Ginny. It just didn't make sense. However, no one began to know anything about how Voldermorts mind worked, so no one was actually convinced by this theory. Arthur was in the middle of a conversation with Dumbledore in the fireplace when Harry heard the door open and Ginny came striding into the kitchen, a pleased smile on her face.

"Ginny!" He shouted, rousing the attention of the rest of the house. Molly gave a cry of relief and was the first one to reach her daughter and envelope her in a tight embrace. Mr. Weasley, face pale took his turn after Molly, getting his voice back enough to ask the bewildered Ginny where on earth she had been.

"I was just out in the grounds, why?" Ginny's face turned pale as an idea occurred to her, "Nothing's happened to anyone has it?" Her lower lip trembled at the thought of anything happening to any of her older brothers.

"Oh, no dear! Every one is fine. Harry and Ron had gone looking for you and when no one could find you we all thought…" Molly trailed off a tears clouded her eyes and she enveloped Ginny in another hug. "Just don't go wondering off like that again, you know it isn't safe."

"Sorry mom, I would have gotten back earlier but I lost track of time. I'm really sorry I worried all of you." She gave her family a reassuring smile.

Mrs. Weasley dabbed at her eyes before saying, "Well, dinner is ready, into the kitchen!"

Harry saw Dumbledore, who had been watching from the fireplace give everyone a wave before his head disappeared. "I'm glad you're all right Ginny." Harry said quietly as he sat down beside her and Ron at the table. Ginny gave him a smile before loading her plate with food. "God, I'm bloody starving!" she exclaimed.

"Ginny! Watch your language!" Mrs. Weasley scolded, giving Ginny a stern look. But Harry couldn't help but notice it wasn't as stern as usual. Her eyes softened, as she looked at Ginny, in perfect health across the table.

The rest of the night passed pleasantly, while everyone argued good-naturedly over things like quidditch, or who their new defense against the dark arts teacher would be this year. The problems with the war seemed so far away to everyone as they sat peacefully, enjoying their loved ones company. Times like these shouldn't be taken for granted in these dark times, where there would likely be an attack or two per week.

Harry sat in Percy's old bedroom, he had just said goodnight to the rest of the Weasley family and was waiting anxiously for the sounds of people rustling about to die away. He couldn't help but be grateful for his own room. Ron was great company when he was awake, but he snored when he slept and that sometimes got on Harry's nerves. He also didn't like people noticing when he would wake up with sweat covering his face and neck, his scar throbbing in pain. They tended to get very concerned. With Voldermort at full power, his nightmares were getting worse as well as more frequent. Having his own room would keep people from fussing needlessly over him. When the house became quiet. Harry grabbed his broomstick, like Ginny had told him to, and crept across the dark hall as quietly as he could manage. He reached Ginny's door, debating weather he should knock or not. He decided against it, not wanting anyone in the house to hear knocking.

Ginny had said goodnight as early as possible after dinner. She scolded herself for almost getting caught earlier today. It had been a spur of the moment thing to go see Cassia about Harry. She just wanted to make sure it would be okay to bring him along tonight. She would have to be more careful; people were already starting to get suspicious. Ron was content now thinking it was her nightmares. However Harry had walked in on her doing wandless magic, if that had been anyone else, she could be in serious trouble. Ginny checked her watch again, 11:23, everyone had just gone to bed, and so Harry should be arriving any minute. Ginny pried open her window, and slipped on her cloak. She then lay down on her squishy bed and waited until she heard the tell tale opening of her door. Harry's head appeared, followed by the rest of him after a moments glance around the room. He carefully shut the door behind him and glanced at Ginny expectantly, taking in her cloak, and open window.

"You planning on going somewhere?" He asked nervously.

Ginny smirked at his nervousness. She grabbed up her broom, and slipped on her shoes. "Come along Harry, we've got a long night ahead of us." With that Ginny mounted her battered broom and flew straight out the window.

Harry gaped after her. Was she insane?? He decided to go after her and bring her back safely, she could be in danger wandering around alone after all.

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Authors note: I don't really have one at this point in time...it won't be long till the next chapter is posted. I will however remind everyone once again how much I love reviews. (hint hint ;)