A/N - Okay… I decided to give you the next chapter as soon as I could… you guys are getting way too good at persuading me to ignore my studies and ostracize my family!!!
Anyway, I hope this chapter explains some things, but I'm afraid Harry's plight is left on the back burner so to speak for this chapter… Still, I'm sure you'll all hate me again once you've read it…
So read it!
And don't forget to review!
Harry thrashed about blindly he had to stop the
laughter. He had to get away.
"So Harry, an animagus… I assume this means you've
remembered who you are. Never
mind. I'm sure that won't last very
long." Snarled Voldemort.
Harry lunged towards the voice desperately.
"No, I don't think so Harry. On my signal! Stupefy!"
Several other voices joined Voldemort's and the
stunning spells hit Harry fiercely sending him flying against a wall.
But he was not knocked out.
He tried to struggle to his feet, but he fell
clumsily feeling groggy, he tried desperately to fight the drowsiness, he
strained his sore eyes to see, but nothing came into focus.
Harry knew that he'd been beaten again. And the darkness engulfed him.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Ginny frowned at Professor McGonagall, how dare they tell
such a hurtful lie! It was cruel,
sadistic. She'd never have expected it
from Hogwarts staff, especially Dumbledore.
She sat waiting in Dumbledore's office with her head of
house, eventually the headmaster appeared, he was cleaning his glasses on his
robes and looked deep in thought.
"Would you tell Professor Figg that I'll need to talk to
her in a few moments please Minerva?" He asked quietly.
Professor McGonagall looked reluctant to leave but did so
quickly.
"So Miss Weasley. Can you explain your little outburst earlier?" Dumbledore asked fixing her with his legendary piercing stare.
"You told us all that Harry was… dead. It's not true!" Said Ginny fidgeting slightly, using what was left of her anger
to hold the headmaster's gaze.
"You are correct, Harry is indeed alive." Said Dumbledore, smiling slightly.
Ginny was surprised that she didn't feel relieved, but
somehow she'd known it to be true so definitely that even hearing the truth
from Dumbledore could not reassure her further.
"What you want to know is why we lied to the school, but
what we want to know, is how you knew it was a lie." Said Dumbledore, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms
in front of himself waiting for her answer.
Ginny suddenly realised that she didn't know how she
knew. She just did!
"Um, this may sound stupid Professor, but I don't really
know how I know. As soon as you said
that Harry was dead I found myself shouting that it wasn't true, I just
knew." Ginny shook her head in wonder
at her own inability.
"That sounds dumb doesn't it." She added quietly.
"Not in the least." Reassured Dumbledore, his face lighted by a smile.
"I have a theory as to what the reason might be, but it's
something that I'm afraid I cannot share with you until I talk to someone. I'm sorry Miss Weasley, suffice to say it is
nothing bad, and there is certainly no dark magic involved."
Dumbledore replied,
"But I can tell you why the lie has been told." He added leaning forward.
Ginny glanced up from her thoughts.
"Yes?"
"Harry has indeed been captured by Voldemort, although it
seems that Tom no longer wishes to kill him. Voldemort tried to fool us into thinking that Harry was dead, he did not
succeed, but for my plan to rescue Harry to succeed, we must make it appear
that we have fallen into his deception. It is extremely important for Harry's safety."
Ginny didn't understand quite how it was so important but
she nodded anyway, if Harry was in danger, she would do whatever she could to
help.
"And now Miss Weasley I think that there are some people
who would like to talk to you about this, who you can tell that you know the
truth. They are the only ones who know
the truth aside from the staff, and now you."
Ginny nodded again as Dumbledore stood.
"Come with me."
He led her to the staff room, Ginny entered with a little
apprehension, the teachers acknowledged her briefly before a group of students
caught her eye.
"Ginny!" Exclaimed
Hermione running over.
"Hi Hermione." Said
Ginny shyly.
She was quickly surrounded by Hermione, Neville, Ron and
the twins.
"So, you know the truth then Gin?" Asked Ron pulling his little sister into a
quick hug.
"Yeah, I know that Harry's alive." She said twirling a curl of her hair around
her finger self-consciously.
"Good, we were worried you might do something drastic if
you thought lover boy was dead." Said
Fred grinning slightly but with an edge to his voice that told Ginny he had
actually been worried.
"He's not my lover boy! He barely knows me!" Said Ginny
blushing angrily.
"It's okay Ginny, just ignore them."
Said Hermione rolling her eyes at the twins who glanced at
their shoes briefly before shrugging and turning their attention to annoying
Ron by poking him.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Snape was surprised to find himself right outside the
Ministry Headquarters... they were going to attack the Minister directly! He could hardly believe it. He'd always thought that Fudge was a fool
and he'd never understood how such an idiot could have been instated as
Minister but he didn't want him dead!
His thoughts quickly returned to Harry, he was
forgetting. How come? It was incomprehensible. Harry Potter, not know who he was… It was an Earth shattering thought.
Severus was jolted into action when the Death Eaters
started to move forward.
He clutched his wand tightly, sending as few spells at the
Aurors as possible but keeping an eye out for Dawn Inigma or anyone else he
could use to get his message to Dumbledore.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Arabella watched as Draco shifted in his chair.
"Now are you going to tell me anything else?"
Draco glared at her, she realised just how hard he'd found
it to tell her the little that he'd disclosed.
"I don't know where Potter is. That's all you really want to know isn't it? Well I can't help you. Not even my father knows where it is he
apparates to when he's called. So
you're just wasting my time." Said
Draco, failing to keep the anger out of his voice.
"Of course not Draco. We are worried about you as well… we can help you. But only if you let us."
Said Arabella, reaching for Draco's hand,
He drew it away from hers quickly scowling.
"I don't need your help, I don't need help from your
precious muggle-loving headmaster either. So you can go and tell Professor Dumbledore that he can just leave me alone!" Said Draco in an icy voice his eyes
narrowing.
"Draco, you can stop us from helping you, but you can never
stop us from caring." Said Arabella
shaking her head sadly.
"You don't care about me! All you're worried about is your precious Harry Potter. Well, I wouldn't help you rescue him even if
I could!" Yelled Draco.
He was trying to look angry, and no doubt he was angry, but
Arabella could see the same tortured sadness that she'd known in Severus
Snape's eyes all that time ago. And she
realised suddenly that Dumbledore had recognised it as well, that perhaps,
Draco could be turned after all.
She nodded firmly.
"Alright then Mr. Malfoy. I won't ask any more questions for now. But you're wrong, as much as we are worried about Harry, we are concerned
for your safety too, just remember that."
Minerva McGonagall knocked quietly on the door, entered,
and told Arabella that Dumbledore wanted to see her. Arabella agreed and left the room with one last glance at Draco
who sat sulkily in his chair refusing to even look at the professors.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Fudge had been in a bad mood all day, he'd just received an
owl from Dumbledore saying that there had been a tragedy at Hogwarts that
needed the Minister's immediate attention. But worse, he'd found out that Arthur Weasley was making a nuisance of
himself. He'd called Arthur and Percy
Weasley to his office that morning to interrogate them. Both had denied the charges, the younger man
seemed especially adamant. He was
growing increasingly annoyed at the lack of faith the Ministry's members were
starting to reveal.
Then, just as he'd sent the Weasley's from the room the
alarm had come… Death Eaters were
surrounding the building!
He heard Percy Weasley's voice calling after his father
from behind the door.
"Dad! Where are you
going?"
"Percy! Get the
minister out of here! You-Know-Who
surely means to kill him. And get
yourself safe as well son!" Arthur
Weasley replied.
Fudge glanced through his window and shivered at the sight of
so many dark cloaks, surely this couldn't be happening! Percy Weasley came through the door looking
pale and frightened.
"Minister Fudge! We
must leave. Now!"
Fudge nodded dumbly and felt himself being pulled from the
room, down the hall towards an office with a fireplace.
"We'll go to my home. It's probably safest." Said
Percy panting.
Fudge was thrust into the fire at the same time as Percy
who yelled "The Burrow!" And they
disappeared from the room. When he fell
from the fireplace and stood up, Cornelius Fudge found himself in the warm
homely kitchen of the Weasley's home.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Snape noticed the red hair of Arthur Weasley bobbing within
the throng of Ministry officials and Aurors. He silently hoped that the poor man would be one of the lucky ones and
escape. As much as he despised the
Weasley children, for their detestable cheek and Gryffindor history, he knew
that their family would be hit hard if they lost Arthur.
He heard Lucius Malfoy ordering the Death Eaters to go
forward. The men around him charged
forward, Snape put his head down and moved with them, he watched disgusted as
the first few Aurors fell to the Avada Kedavra, other spells flew from either
side and there were yells of pain and some confusion. Severus ran, low to the ground towards Arthur Weasley, he stunned
a few of the less able looking ministry officials as he passed before grabbing
Arthur and dragging the protesting man away from the battle.
"Arthur, it's me, Severus Snape." Hissed Snape above the noise, Arthur looked suspiciously at him.
"What do you want?" He asked angrily.
"You must give this to Dumbledore. It's imperative. And you should get out of here, your family needs you." Added Snape leaning over to catch his
breath.
"What's so important about this letter Severus?" Asked Arthur eyeing Snape carefully.
"It's about Harry. Oh, and you should warn him. I
think that Voldemort's curse is severely affecting Harry. There probably isn't much time." Said Snape before he glanced around checking
that they weren't being watched.
"Get going… Now!" Snape shouted waving away the look of protest.
"Alright. Good luck
Severus." Said Arthur giving Snape a
pat on the back before apparating home.
Snape turned and headed back to the battle. The Aurors seemed to be getting the upper
hand and Snape saw that Lucius Malfoy seemed to be reluctantly rounding up the
Death Eaters to retreat.
~~~*~~~*~~~
When Arthur Weasley arrived home he looked around the
kitchen, it was empty. He frowned, he'd
been sure that Percy would have brought Cornelius here. He sat down and quickly scribbled an extra
note on the envelope that held Severus' message,
Harry in trouble
not much time
needs help quick.
Then
he stood up and called out for Molly.
There was no reply. The sinister silence made Arthur Weasley's blood run cold. He glanced reluctantly at the grandfather
clock, his heart racing.
The hands for Molly and Percy Weasley were at 'mortal
peril'. Arthur Weasley groaned and
slumped heavily into a chair. He couldn't
believe it. He'd failed in protecting
his family.
He was brought swiftly back to reality when a person
emerged from the shadows, a Death Eater, someone he'd never imagined to be a
traitor.
The dark figure raised it's wand and whispered "Stupefy',
the red light of the curse hit Arthur Weasley in the middle of his chest, he
was knocked out immediately. The Death
Eater grabbed Mr Weasley's arm and they apparated.
The note lay untouched on the table in the deserted house.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Dumbledore watched Arabella's reaction closely. He still doubted his own theory, but the
doubt vanished when he saw Arabella smile.
"It would certainly explain a few things. But I don't think either of them know
anything about it." Said Arabella
thoughtfully.
"So, it's possible. Even with Harry being so young?" Asked Dumbledore.
"It's possible. And
likely given the circumstances." Arabella replied.
Dumbledore sat back fingering his beard in contemplation.
"Harry has already shown signs that would confirm my
thoughts. In only his second year he
saved her life."
"He's already saved her life? No wonder the link is strong! I've always thought that it was felt more strongly by the guardians
themselves, but maybe I was wrong. I
wouldn't know. My guardian died early on
in my life."
"So we are agreed, Harry is probably Ginny Weasley's
guardian."
"Most likely, yes."
"But I don't think it's really our place to tell Ginny,
especially not without Harry's consent."
"Agreed."
At that moment Professor Flitwick burst into the room
looking very pale.
"Professor! We just
received a message from… him… Molly, Arthur and Percy Weasley have been
captured!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
okay…
Please don't hurt me!!! I love the
Weasleys! And don't worry, I promise
you will find out the identity of the mystery traitor in the next chapter…
Hope
you liked it.
Anyway,
as everyone is getting so good at reviewing I feel it's only fair that I oblige
with a decent thanks section!
So
here it is!
Kelzery
– Steadfast as ever! Most loyal
reviewer! Thanks Again! Oh, and to answer your question I live in
England! I hope you can get your next
chapter up soon, coz your fics are the best!!!!
Herm
– I'll write as fast as I can… Promise!
Breezie
– Yup, it probably would give him indigestion… Hee hee hee.
Lily
Potter – Hope u liked this chapter as well!
Lena
– I completely agree!!!
jennylovesnick
– I did my best!
Shadow
– Any review is worth it! Thanks.
Katy
– Thanks!
Allison
– Thanks!!! Don't worry! Lot's more Harry in the next chapter! (c ya @ franny's board)
mimi
– I'm glad you feel that way!
Josh
- *grins* I'm glad u like it!
Ady
– Hmmm. I'm not big on writing romance… And I doubt it will come into this
much, but you never know!
Tinabedina
– As ever, I try!
Jinskid3
– Of course I'll finish it! I'll go mad
if I don't!!!
Darth
Yoda – I'll do my upmost to fight for the computer! I promise!
Elsebeth
Fishnips - *blushes* Thanks! I love
reviews!!!!
DJ
– I understand! I try my best!
starkitty
– as fast as pos! *g*
am
– Thanks so much!!!! Nice of you to
wish me luck! I appreciate it.
Annabel
Taylor – Thanks! Life is evil
sometimes, but I will prevail!!!!!
Wow! That was long! Thank you soooo much for reviewing!!! I know it's always said… But you are all the best!!!!
Be
excellent to each other! (that one's
for u Ady!)
Love
Jona
xxx