DISCLAIMER: All right I don't own any of the characters that appear in any of the Harry Potter books created by the brilliant JK Rowling. However there are some original characters that appear that I will take full credit for :)


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CHAPTER SIX

Harry found some weeks later that Ginny was quite right about him having to go through the same grueling training as she had. He was just surprised at how much it really took out of him. Harry thanked the gods that Ron was as inobservant as he was, or surely he would have started suspecting something going one with his best friend and his sister. They had become pretty close over the summer. Harry had realized that she was a great person to pass the time with, and had started to include her in whatever he and Ron decided to do. Ron thought this odd, but shrugged it off as Harry just trying to be nice to his lonely baby sister. He also seemed to barely notice that both of them were constantly tiered and distracted. Though the rest of the family was quite a bit harder to fool. Mrs. Weasley was constantly commenting on how pale and drawn his face was. He decided to just tell them that he had been having his nightmares and wasn't getting much sleep. Surprisingly enough, this was the one time it wasn't true. With all the training Harry would be so exhausted when his head hit the pillow, he slept so deeply even his nightmares couldn't find him. Ginny was finding the same thing was happening with her, though she didn't tell her parents she had been having nightmares because she was better at glamour charms than Harry. Aside from Ron's questioning at the beginning of the summer, it seemed that no one suspected anything. Apart from the nightmare that had driven her to the druid forest in the first place, her dreams had been blissfully peaceful.

"Quite a night wasn't it?" Ginny questioned Harry on their way back to the burrow with a week left in their summer holiday.

Harry just grunted; he had finally become an animagus and was completely worn out. Alainez hadn't shown him as much mercy as he had Ginny, it seems he had a soft spot for females.

Harry had made it through though, and could proudly transform into a griffin (no surprise there huh?) Ginny had been there to watch his first transformation. She had been awed and amazed by what she saw. He had an enormous body, completely covered in golden and scarlet fur. His wings were deep scarlet and when stretched came to about six feet long. His paws were golden and had sharp claws that looked they could cut through anything, (They probably could, Ginny mused), Harry, getting used to his new voice box had started to purr, and growl. Ginny had felt the low rumble of it throughout her whole body. His piercing green eyes were the only thing that was recognizable about him, (and the disarray of his main). Ginny had never seen a more beautiful creature in her life.

They had learnt about everything there was to know now, and would be going into the forest only to practice starting tomorrow night until the end of the summer. When they reached the end of the forest they picked up their brooms from where they had left them waiting (it is too difficult to weave your way through a forest with a broom). They mounted in companionable silence when they heard a giant explosion coming from somewhere not too far in the distance.

"What the hell-" Ginny heard Harry mutter, but any reply she had was cut short when she saw the dark mark rising into the sky from the direction of the Burrow.

"OH MY GOD!" She screamed, launching herself into the air quicker than she imagined possible. The only thought entering her mind was 'get to the burrow, help your family'

Harry was directly behind her. She was glad he didn't try to stop her from getting to them. He was like a son to the Weasley's, and probably had the same thought going through his mind as she did hers. They had to help. The consequences didn't matter. If anything happened to their family, neither knew what they would do, nor did they want to find out.

Harry's broom was faster than hers, and he managed to get a few feet ahead of her in the air. As they streaked through the air like lightning, the Burrow came into view in the distance. Ginny let out a cry of despair when she saw that it was in flames. This couldn't be happening. She kept telling herself it's only of my nightmares. They had returned and she would wake up soon, sweating and shaken in her cramped bedroom. Her mother would be cheerily cooking away in the kitchen, her father getting ready to leave for work. Ron would be stuffing his face with whatever food got in his path, and the twins would be barricaded in their room, small explosions shaking the house. Nothing would ever change that! Ginny willed herself to believe that nothing this horrible could have possible happened to her family. She knew it was possible, but somehow never thought it would actually happen. Now she realized how stupid a thought that was. Witches and wizards have been being attacked by death eaters with no mercy and no survivors. The fact that she didn't think it would happen to the Burrow was simply foolish.

The dark mark seemed to taunt her hovering just above her only known home. The scull leered at her, as if daring her to come closer, daring her to behold the remains of her family, and her home. Ginny had her broomstick in a white knuckle hold that if she was paying any attention to, would have been quite painful. She didn't notice of course, and wouldn't notice until much later, the only thing that mattered was the safety of her family. Her knuckles could be damned.

But Ginny still couldn't bring herself to fully comprehend the situation.

All she knew was god help anyone who hurt her family.



A sort of numbness crept over her mind as she steeled herself for whatever she would find in her battered house, Ginny descended after Harry through the haze of thick black smoke right onto the front lawn of the Burrow.

The problem was that they weren't the only one's there.

Everything happened so quickly Ginny little time to assess the situation before she was frozen in complete shock. Five black hooded figures surrounded Harry and herself and were advancing gleefully.

Mother of god we landed in the middle of a circle of death eaters...

Harry's look of shock brought Ginny to the conclusion that he was thinking along the same lines. The both snapped out of this quickly though, and had there wands out at lightning speed.

They backed up against each other so their backs were covered out of instinct and Ginny heard Harry take a deep breath before speaking in a low and threatening voice.

"Nobody take another step!" Harry's demand was given so confidently and menacingly that Ginny was shocked when some of the Death Eaters stopped their approach uncertainly. Ha! She thought proudly, Death Eaters afraid of a teenage boy... Then she remembered who that teenage boy was, and how much luck evil wizards usually had when trying to kill him. She really couldn't' blame them, in retrospect. Harry Potter was a dangerous enemy to have, and now he has a truck load more of that magical ability to throw around. And, Ginny thought with a sudden rush of adrenalin, so do I and these guys all probably think I'm just a push over.

"Harry Potter I presume?" A silky voice questioned. The mans face was hidden behind his hood and mask, but the tone in his voice sent chills up the teenagers spines. "How kind of you and your girlfriend to drop in, your just who we were looking for."

No, Ginny thought. Nothing will happen to him, not while I'm still living to prevent it.

Little did Ginny know the same thought was going through Harry's head about her.

When the silky voiced Death Eater raised his wand to attack, Harry and Ginny both sprang into action. They didn't even move from their respective positions in the middle of the circle. (Except for the occasional maneuver to avoid being hexed. Harry threw curse after curse at the Death Eaters facing him, and Ginny took the ones on her side of the circle.

"Stupefy!"

"Impedimentia!"

"Expelliramus!."

"Stupefy!"

Red, and blue sparks and beams of light lit up the front lawn of the Burrow. To the Death Eaters it was almost blinding, but Harry and Ginny didn't even notice as they shot out their curses at a seemingly impossible speed and force. In no time to only sound that could be heard was Harry and Ginny's labored breathing.

"You al right?" Harry asked, turning to face a stunned looking Ginny.

"Yeah..." Ginny replied distracted. "Yeah, miraculously I am. I don't even think I'm scratched. You?"

"Peachy..."

A muffled moaning brought them out of their aftershock their minds had been swimming in. A Death Eater lay about two feet in front of them moving in slow motion trying to get back to his feet.

"Stupefy." Ginny muttered with little enthusiasm. A bright jet of light hit the him in the stomach, and he fell to the ground, his eyes open wide in shock.

"There was five." Ginny heard Harry mutter.

Ginny looked around at the three other stunned and bound Death Eaters lying sprawled pathetically on the lawn. "One must have disapparated." Ginny replied weakly. "We have to go check on the rest of the family...Harry..."

Ginny's sentence was cut off by her choked sob. She peered up at the Burrow, the flames had died down, the initial explosion seemed to have been the brunt of it. The walls all had ashes covering their normally chipped blue paint. It was leaning over even more dangerously than normal, as if the magic holding it up was at it's last. A thick spurt of smoke was still hovering around, blocking Ginny's view of the Dark Mark she knew was looming over her head.

Ginny didn't even have the strength to feel elated when Harry took her into his arms and stroked her hair. "They'll be alright, Gin. They have to be."

He pulled back from her and tilted her chin up so she had no choice but to look into his piercing eyes. "Come on, we've got to stop that fire and see how much damage had been done."

Harry watched as determination hardened Ginny's eyes. He had become pretty good friends with her over the summer, and never had he seen her look so horrified.

He never wanted to see her look like that again. She shouldn't have to go through this. It's him Voldemort is after, and it's the Weasley's that are suffering the most.

When they had landed on the lawn, Harry had never experienced such fear at the thought that something might have happened to Ginny. He was too shaken up to analyze his feelings for her at the moment, and instead directed his energy to making sure the rest of the Weasleys' were alright.

He told himself they were, because he couldn't even cope with the possibility of anything else being true.

First they put out all of the flames. This took seconds, summoning water from the stream. They worked in silence, neither daring to speak their mind in fear of breaking down. They were both sure that the direct danger had passed. They would be able to sense anymore Death Eaters roaming around. They should have been aware of the ones waiting for them when they landed, but they had both been to far into emotional overdrive to pay attention to their senses.

They were about to enter the Burrow when they were surrounded by another group of wizards popping in all at once. Harry and Ginny jumped, about to start hurling more spells when they saw some of the recognizable faces.

"Mr. Moody!" Harry said hesitantly. His first reaction was to panic but he sternly reminded himself that this was the real Mad Eye Moody, not the evil imposter. This was the good, world famous retired auror, or ex-retired auror. He had started working again after Voldemort became too large a threat to have any one with talent to be sitting around. That brought a wave of relief over him. It took help long enough to arrive. Harry thought bitterly. He and Ginny could have been killed ten times over with a little torturing on the side. Not to mention the rest of the Weasley's who were in god knows what state.

Halve of the arrival of wizards moved directly towards the unconscious Death Eaters, loud exclamations of surprise and dark muttering was heard as they pulled off their masks.

Harry and Ginny both tried to maneuver past the wizards and into the Burrow.

"Get out of my WAY!" Ginny shouted, her voice bordering on desperation. "They could be hurt in there! Let me through!" There were about ten witches/wizards blocking the entrance.

"Now now Mrs. Weasley please calm down, everything is under control..." A slim kindly looking witch tried to sooth Ginny.

"Under control?" Ginny and Harry both hissed disbelievingly. Harry was the one to elaborate his skepticism. "I don't think I have ever seen anything under less control in my life! Where were you all when we were ambushed by Death Eaters? Where are Ron and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?"

The woman looked indignant at being spoken to in such disrespect but decided not to comment.

Mad Eye Moody was the one to answer. "Now, now, I know you two are probably worried sick, but everyone is safe. We were warned about the attack two hours before hand, and the rest of the family is at The Leaky Cauldron."

Harry and Ginny both visibly sagged with relief. "Oh thank god." Harry heard Ginny whisper.

Now that Mad Eye had given them their reassurance, he was looking at them like they were about to get two months detention. "The pair of you have caused everyone a lot of trouble. The rest of the family if being physically restrained at this moment to keep from rushing back here and looking for you!" There was no mistaking the disappointment in his voice. "I would have thought better of you two, you know how dangerous it is to go running off on midnight strolls!"

Ginny only blinked for a moment before what Mad Eye said started to make sense. He thinks we snuck out for a walk together... Ginny shot a look at Harry and he shrugged at her. The look in his eyes plainly said we'll just have to go along with it. She knew he was right, but she couldn't bear the thought of her family thinking she would do such a thing. Especially when she was well aware of the danger involved.

There was a tense silence between the three, Harry and Ginny not knowing what to say, and Mad Eye giving them stern glares. Through the silence, Ginny caught some of the other Aurors talking.

"These kids took out four Death Eaters..."

"Unbelievable."

"Probably could have taken more if we weren't out looking for them in the first place..."

The relief Ginny felt for her families well being was slowly replaced with a feeling of unbearable guilt. What must her parents have thought when they were warned of the attack and Harry and Herself weren't in their rooms. They must have been horrified. Then to be forced to go to safety without knowing if we were alright...Ginny hung her head in shame. Not only had she caused her family horrible grief, but on top of it her and Harry were expected to lie to them! If anyone deserved a truthful explanation for her actions it was her family. Maybe she would have a talk with Cassia to see if she could confide in at least her parents...

Harry looked as if he was suffering from the same guilt Ginny was going through but worse. Ginny knew he was blaming himself again. Then again so was she...but he blamed himself for everything. He had so much guilt on his shoulders that Ginny wasn't sure how much more he would be able to take. The unfair part of it was none of was his fault. Some one just had to convince him that.

Maybe I can do something...she thought to herself. The thought was however squashed as soon as it popped up. She was the last person Harry would listen to. If he didn't listen to his best friends he most certainly wouldn't listen to her.

"Can we go see them now?" Ginny asked. Even thought she knew they were safe, she still had the most overwhelming urge to see for herself.

"Yes, I imagine they'll be pleased to know you two are alive...but I wouldn't want to be around after they get over their relief." Mad Eye chuckled, a sound that sounded more like a hacking cough.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other nervously before following Mad Eye into the house to the remains of the fireplace.

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Authors note: Yay!! I got this done :) I hope it was satisfying...I won't be able to write any tomorrow so it will be a few days or so till I get anything else up

*cheers