Chapter One

Homecoming

Harry Potter was standing by the ticket booth near the stone barrier that separated platforms nine and ten at King's Cross station. He was nervously thumbing through that day's Daily Prophet, carefully hidden inside a muggle newspaper. The station was busy for a Sunday afternoon, but he didn't mind at all, he enjoyed being amongst the bustle of muggles going about their normal lives. He checked his watch again for what seemed the hundredth time.
Finally, the students and their parents began to trickle out of the barrier that led to platform 9 3/4. Harry saw Colin Creevey walk out of the barrier with his parents. His mother smiled at Harry but said nothing as she passed. Colin's brother, Dennis died at the hands of the Death Eaters just two years before, and his parents blamed Harry for his death.
"Hello Colin." Harry said as kindly as he could when they passed.
"Uh, hullo Harry." Colin said dully, barely glancing at him as he walked by.
Harry thought it rather odd that Colin was so nonplused to see him. Colin was one of Harry's biggest fans, always taking pictures of him whenever he got the chance. Colin didn't feel the same as his parents however, and continued to befriend Harry after the death of his brother.
Harry put this all out of his mind however, when he saw the only girl that could take his breath away come through the barrier.

"Harry!" Ginny squealed, running towards him with her cart.
"Hey beautiful!" Harry said smiling at her. He embraced her, kissing her deeply as he did so.
"You have no idea how much I missed you." He whispered in her ear as he continued to hold her tightly.
Ginny pulled away and looked about curiously.
"Harry, where's mum? Isn't she here too?"
Harry avoided answering the question as best he could. Now was not the time.
"I'm sorry. She had to rush off to see the twins about something. She asked me to come fetch you. Do you mind?"
"Of course not! This is the first time since I've seen you since winter holidays. Where have you been anyway?"
Why did she have to keep asking the questions that I can't answer yet? Harry thought.
"I'll tell you later." Harry grabbed her cart and started to push it towards the gates. "Now come on, we have to get going."
"Great! I can't wait to get home. I've the Burrow, can you believe it?" Ginny said excitedly, but she stopped when Harry gave her a hesitant look. "What? Are we not going home?"
"Not exactly."

Harry took Ginny's cart and led her to the parking garage. He listened quietly as she went on about school.
"...and it was so strange that they kept us for an extra week. I still don't know what that was all about." She said.
Harry gave her a sideways look, but looked away quickly, avoiding eye contact with her as she noticed this and looked back at him.
When Harry stopped in front of an old, but well kept motorcycle, Ginny gave him a cynical look.
"Isn't this the motorcycle that Sirius gave you for your commencement gift?"
"Yeah."
"Well how would you suppose that you are going to get my trunk and all my bags on this thing?"
Harry pulled out his wand, looked around to make sure that no one was looking and said, "Porta baggage!"
Harry lifted her seemingly heavy trunk and easily tied it to the back of the motorcycle without it tipping the bike over.
"See, no problem." Harry said, winking at her as he put away his wand. He handed her his extra helmet. "Here, put this on."
Ginny strapped on the helmet. "You still haven't told me where we're going yet, Harry."
Harry grinned, trying desperately to keep up appearances. "I know. It's a surprise."
"Gee, that's reassuring dear." Ginny said in a sarcastic tone that reminded Harry of her brother. She hopped on back of the bike.
"Hang on." Harry said, jumping down to start his bike.
Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's waist tightly, and they started off.

* * *


"How much is it again?" Ron asked with is usual weak smile.
When the delivery boy told him how much it was, all Ron could do was look confusedly at the wad of money in his hand. He slumped into the door frame, he still could not figure out the exchange rate between Galleons and Pounds, even though Hermione must have explained it to him at least a dozen times.
A random thought crossed his mind. Maybe he should have taken Muggle Studies after all.
Ron guessed as best he could. The delivery boy seemed more than happy with how he fared in the end. He left Ron in the doorway, pizza box in hand, still counting in his head.
Ron walked over to the kitchen, nose pressed against the box. He was careful to step over Hermione's cat, Crookshanks snoozing on the rug as he walked to the kitchen table.
He sat down happily at the table and opened the box. He was inhaling the fresh smell of green peppers and sausage when the kitchen fireplace suddenly lit up with green flames, as Hermione appeared inside, books in hand.
"Hello darling!" she said as she stepped out of the flames into the kitchen.

Ron looked at her curiously as he picked up a slice of pizza from the box. "Why didn't you just apparate home, hun?"
Hermione trudged over to the table where he sat and released the stack of books in her hands all over the table.
"You know I just passed my test a few weeks ago." She said, looking nonchalant. "I didn't want to apparate with all these books. I could have left one behind."
Ron looked at her slyly, "Don't you mean that you're afraid to do it?" he said under his breath, he raised the slice of pizza to his mouth, about to take a bite.
Hermione snatched the slice out of his hand. "There is nothing wrong with not being entirely comfortable with apparating!"
"You failed the test twice."
Hermione gave him an offended look that immediately shut him up. She walked listlessly over to the counter to grab a napkin. Ron got up and walked behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kissed her on the cheek. "Calm down, it's really not that serious. You're much better than you used to be."
Ron felt Hermione cringe at his words. He realized that there was something else bothering her.
"Of all things, why can't I be good at apparating?" she pouted. "This should have been easy for me!"

Ron turned Hermione around, still in his arms. "You have a lot on your mind lately. You have been working like a (he wanted to say house-elf, but he knew that would make it worse) dog working with Lupin. Not to mention the wedding to plan, and now with everything happening with Ginny, I think that apparating would be the last of your worries."
Ron lifted up her chin with his hand. "Besides, I don't think I would want to marry you anyways if you were PERFECT." He winked at her and said teasingly, "I might just have to start calling you Percy."
Hermione giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him sweetly on the lips. "Don't you dare."
They walked back over to the table and sat down. Ron nodded to the pile of books now all over the table. "Have you made any headway at all with your research?"
"No," Hermione sighed deeply, finishing her bite of pizza she took from Ron. "Remus and I are so close, but we are somehow missing something. The Ministry is becoming impatient. They want to see results before they decide to name him permanent Headmaster at Hogwarts. We need to find something that will last longer than wolfbane potion."
"You'll find it soon, you don't give up on anything." Ron said assuringly.
Hermione smiled back. "So how about you? Have you talked to Harry yet?"
"Yeah, this morning before he went to pick Ginny up at King's Cross." Ron said, picking off some burnt cheese as he held up another piece of pizza. "He tried not to, but he looked nervous when I spoke to him in the fireplace. He's not too sure that Ginny will go along with it."
"She will." Hermione said, dabbing her mouth with the napkin. "It's for her own good."
She thought to herself and smiled. "Then again, she is a Weasley."

* * *


Harry slowed down and pulled into the garage of the flat he shared with his godfather, Sirius Black on the outskirts of London.
He turned around to Ginny, still clinging to his waist behind him. "We are going to stay here for the night."
"Just for the night? Harry, are you going to tell me what is going on or do I have to cast a truth charm on you?" Ginny said, genuinely perturbed at the lack of information Harry was giving out.
"Yes, yes, I will tell you soon enough. But first we have to get you inside." He tugged her arm towards the door. Ginny followed, stomping her feet in rebellion.
Once inside, Harry sat Ginny down on the couch of the living room. "Would you like some tea?" he asked, taking off his jacket.
Ginny just gave him a look of loathing, arms crossed over her chest.
"Alright! I will tell you what is going on." Harry said exasperated. "But you have to promise me that you will listen to what I have to say and not try to argue with me until I'm finished."
"What!"
"Ginny . . . "
"Okay, I promise!" Ginny said her brow furrowing deeper.
Harry tried not to laugh at her semi-feigned anger. He always thought that she looked the cutest when she was angry or irritated.
"Well, I'm sure that you know about Percy's recent promotion to Junior Minister, right?"
"Of course I do." Ginny said, trying to sustain a giggle. "Ron was so excited when he left the Dept. of Games and Sports. He told me that Perce was always insisting on reading the articles he wrote before they went to press at the Prophet. I guess Perce wanted to make sure that he was writing fairly about the teams or something like that."
"Yeah," Harry chuckled, but quickly shook it off. "Anyways, he has heard rumors around the Ministry. Rumors having to do with you."
"What kind of rumors?" she said inquisitively.
Harry had caught her attention now. He looked away; he still didn't know how to tell her, so of course he just blurted it out.
"Ginny," he said, taking her hand in his, "The Ministry believes that the surviving Death Eaters are looking for you."

Harry waited for some sort of outburst, but Ginny's jaw dropped only slightly. He cringed slightly before he went on.
"Unfortunately, I also think that Malfoy is behind it."
"What do you mean Malfoy is looking for me? What does that slimy little git Draco want with me anyways?" Ginny was sounding off. Harry could tell by the tone of her voice though that the name Malfoy gave her some alarm.
It was in fact Ginny who had aided Harry during his final battle with Voldemort. She had stopped Lucius Malfoy herself from killing Hermione. Lucius was captured, but on the way to the wizards' prison of Azkaban, there was a rather fiery accident. And although his son Draco claimed that his father had died, Lucius' body was never found.
"Well nobody really knows for sure that it's Malfoy looking for you." Harry said, noticing that Ginny was beginning to bite her lip again, a definite sign of nervousness. This made what he had next to say even more difficult.
"But, er . . . " Harry sputtered out.
"What is it? TELL ME!" she said as calmly as she could, her teeth gritted together.
Harry looked down at his feet, shuffling them under the rug as he spoke. "Well, someone came to the Burrow, and tore up the house."

"OH NO! MUM! Is she alright?"
"Yes, of course. She was at Hermione's at the time. But as soon as she came home, she notified Professor Lupin immediately. That's why you all had to stay at school for another week. Ginny, they went through your room."
Ginny didn't care about that. "But mum, she is with Fred and George now?"
"Yes, they are all just fine." Harry said patting her hand assuredly.
"Well I still don't understand why they would be looking for me."
Harry went on, "Percy told us that the Death Eaters in Azkaban have been talking. He said they have been raving on about the 'Weasley girl'. They have quieted down for the last few months, but now since the incident at the Burrow, everyone is really concerned. And even though I turned down a position as an Auror, they agreed that it would be in everyones best interest for you to be placed in protective custody with me."
Ginny looked at Harry sternly, a trait that she had picked up from her mother. "Oh come on Harry! We can't go into hiding! There is no real evidence that they are really after me. Not to mention that they have no motive whatsoever!" she said loudly, her face becoming pink.
"What? The Death Eaters think that you are responsible for killing one of their own, and that isn't reason enough for you!" Harry shouted back.

"They're in Azkaban! They're all MAD!" Ginny shouted back at him, her face now screwed up in anger.
"Harry, we are supposed to be starting our lives together. Why do we still have to be afraid?" Tears were starting to well up in Ginny's eyes.
Harry sighed deeply. She had made an excellent point, but she still didn't see the whole picture.
"Ginny, I know you're upset. I really don't like the idea of hiding either, but I would rather do this than risk not having you at all. Please Ginny, this is so we can have a future together. Don't you see?"
"Fine," Ginny quickly nodded her head, wiping tears away. "But just for the record, I hate this idea."
"Understood. Now you might want to get to bed soon. We have to get up fairly early tomorrow. You can take my room for the night."
"Yippie." Ginny said sarcastically, getting up from the couch.
"Goodnight Harry." She growled at him, leaving him without even a goodnight kiss.
Harry sat there alone in his living room. He knew it was going to be rough, but he wondered to himself what the next few months would be lying in store for him.