Disclaimer: I own nothing, it all belongs to J.K.Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters to play with for a while. This is for pleasure only, no profit is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Twenty-five

Attack

Harry sat in his seat next to Ginny at the extended Weasley dinner table staring in numb disbelief at the sight before him. He shook his head to clear it, surely this was a joke? Maybe after everything that had happened he'd finally lost his mind. After blinking several times with nothing changing, he realized he was seeing things correctly: the Dursleys were standing in the kitchen of the Burrow. If he'd been a gambler, this was something he would have bet would never happen.

They looked remarkably out of place in the warm, rag tag Weasley kitchen, so different from the sparkling, gleaming white of the kitchen on Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon's face was purple with rage and he was panting heavily, obviously he'd been yelling. Aunt Petunia was pale and her forehead crinkled with displeasure. She was looking around the kitchen in distaste and Harry desperately hoped she wouldn't be insulting to the Weasleys. Dudley was cowering behind both parents, his hands trying unsuccessfully to shield his overly large backside All of the assembled guests in the Weasley kitchen stared warily at each other for several moments in silence.

Finally, Harry rose to his feet slowly, dread washing over him in waves. As he trudged up to meet his relatives, he strongly wished to be anywhere else. He felt as if he were walking up to his own execution. Whatever had happened, the Dursleys were obviously not going to be happy and he would have given anything for the people in this room not to witness the coming encounter.

"Aunt Petunia," he began hesitantly but was interrupted by a shriek from his aunt as the fireplace sparked with green flames. An instant later Professor Dumbledore's face appeared there. Dudley let out a shriek of his own as Vernon tried to shield both his wife and son behind him. Mr. Weasley walked toward them, trying to calm them but it only seemed to panic them further and they backed away towards the door.

Aunt Petunia was starting into the fireplace. "You," she hissed, pointing a shaky finger towards Dumbledore. Harry stared at the two curiously.

"Hello Petunia," Dumbledore calmly responded. "I am happy to see you have arrived safely."

"What's going on, sir?" Harry asked, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

Dumbledore sighed heavily, "Voldemort has launched a number of attacks today, I am afraid. Including one at Privet Drive. There are Ministry people there now administering memory charms. They never managed to get inside, obviously their confidence in their curse breaker was overrated. The damage to the house was rather extensive however, and is being repaired as we speak. I am also arranging for some additional protective wards to be put in place. For the moment, we thought it prudent to remove your relatives from the site." The aged Headmaster turned towards Bill who was still seated at the table. "Bill, I am going to ask that you head over to Privet Drive now and see that the wards we discussed are being activated."

"Of course," Bill replied, kissing his mother on the cheek and Disapparating with a "pop." All three of the Dursleys shrieked as he vanished.

"Why don't we just set some extra plates for dinner then?" Mrs. Weasley smiled, trying to bring calmness and order to the situation, although Harry could tell she was nervous. He knew she wasn't fond of the Dursleys, but he was incredibly grateful to her for making an effort for his sake.

"We won't be eating anything here," Vernon replied rudely. "I demand you use thatthat thing and send us back home immediately!" He was gesturing furiously at the cup in Remus' hand that had been used as a Portkey.

"We shall return you as soon as we are certain of your safety. Surely you do not want any harm to come to your family," Dumbledore continued firmly, yet gently. "I shall call again as soon as it is safe for you to return." With that, he was gone and the fireplace was empty again.

Harry could see that Uncle Vernon was close to exploding and he was beginning to panic. He had to separate them from the others before the situation got out of hand. He really didn't want any of his friends to witness this. Uncle Vernon frequently lost his temper, but this was going to be a bad one and he'd prefer it to be in private.

"Let me take you out into the sitting room while everyone finishes their dinner," Harry said, pointing his finger in the direction he wanted them to go.

Uncle Vernon whirled on him, "You! You God damned little freak! This is entirely your fault! Do you have any idea what they did to my house?"

"Wait just one minute—," Mr. Weasley interrupted angrily but Uncle Vernon wasn't listening to anyone at this point.

He spun to face Petunia who flinched back from his wrath herself, "I told you all those years ago that we should never have brought it in the house, didn't I? Didn't I?"

He rounded back on Harry and began stalking towards him, "You've brought nothing but trouble since the day they left you on our doorstep and I've had enough!"

Harry knew what was coming as Uncle Vernon drew his hand back and swung with all his might towards Harry's head. He quickly ducked and moved to the side, drawing his wand on his Uncle. His hand shook as he held it there and he was intensely aware of all the eyes in the room staring at him in shock. Could this have gotten any worse? Very quietly he said to his Uncle, "This isn't summer break and I'm perfectly capable of using this. Keep your hands to yourself and let's go in here so we can talk about it."

Harry was beyond embarrassed that they had all witnessed that and he refused to meet anyone's gaze. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Mr. Weasley holding Mrs. Weasley in her chair. The look of fury on her face was intense enough to melt an iceberg. He followed the Dursleys into the sitting room, aware of their fearful eyes on his wand. Remus followed them in and he turned to face him. Still keeping his eyes on the floor, he said, "Let me just talk to them a minute. It would be better if we keep them separated while they're here."

Remus put his fingers on Harry's chin and forced him to raise his head until they were staring at one another. Harry kept trying to avert his eyes but Remus remained quiet until he looked at him. There was an odd, very sad look on his face that Harry couldn't read. He knew how to handle the Dursleys, he'd been doing it for years, but he didn't want Moony to watch and wished he'd just leave the room.

"I'm not going anywhere," he stated firmly, seeming to read Harry's mind.

He could see that arguing would do him no good and he wanted this over with as quickly as possible. Turning around to face the Dursleys he said, "I'm very sorry about the damage to the house, but it'll be taken care of. I promise you, when you go home, you won't even notice any difference."

"Freaks in robes with silly Halloween masks all over the lawn" Uncle Vernon was mumbling under his breath. Dudley looked ready to faint while Aunt Petunia was scowling at Harry with a look of utter loathing on her face.

"I promise you won't have to stay here any longer than necessary. They'll get you home as soon as Professor Dumbledore gives the all clear. This isn't the Weasleys fault—"

"No, it's your fault!" Uncle Vernon raged.

"This isn't the Weasleys fault," Harry continued as if he was never interrupted, "so please don't take it out on them. You don't have to eat with them, but please just be civil. It's Christmas."

"And look what you've done to it!" Aunt Petunia snapped.

"This isn't Harry's fault either," Remus said mildly, looking right at Petunia. "We'll all try to make the best of the situation and keep our hands to ourselves." He said this last part while glaring at Uncle Vernon so fiercely Harry saw his uncle raise his eyes in alarm.

"You were a friend of hers, weren't you?" Aunt Petunia suddenly asked Remus.

"Do you mean your sister?"

"My sister was dead to me long before she got herself blown up!" Aunt Petunia screeched and the silence that descended in the other room made Harry cringe. He wished he could crawl in a hole and hide. Why oh why did they have to witness this?

Remus' face had paled considerably and his jaw set in anger, "I see."

"You see nothing! It was all long ago and no longer important. What's important is the way you people keep interfering in our lives. I want you all to just stay away!"

Harry put a restraining hand on Remus' arm. "Yes Aunt Petunia," he said quietly. "Just have a seat and we'll see how it's going." He wanted to separate his aunt and Remus before anything else was said. He was horrified to see Mrs. Granger entering the room. She walked with Hermione's purposeful stride and took a seat with the Dursleys.

"Hello, I'm Jane Granger. My daughter goes to school with your nephew. My husband and I are dentists, we have a practice in Cardiff, and were just as shocked as you must have been to discover this whole world of magic."

Harry thought Uncle Vernon was going to leap out of his seat upon hearing the M-word but Mrs. Granger seemed to calm them. She was dressed sophisticatedly and had an heir of affluence about her that the Dursleys were sure to be drawn to. He could already see Aunt Petunia sitting up more primly and adjusting her skirt as Uncle Vernon puffed out his chest. When Mr. Granger entered, he actually stood and shook hands. Harry let out a deep sigh of relief, silently thanking Hermione for being Muggle born. "I'd like you to meet my husband, Herman," Mrs. Granger said graciously.

Remus leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Why don't we leave the Muggles to talk and go and have our dinner?"

The reality of the situation rose up and bit Harry on the arse. He really didn't want to face the Weasleys right now but he couldn't think of a good excuse to get around it. Once again Remus forced him to raise his head, "Harry, you have nothing to feel ashamed over. Your uncle's behavior is not your fault."

Harry swallowed but didn't answer as Remus guided him back into the kitchen. He pulled back but was stopped by Remus' chest as all eyes turned to them upon entering. Remus ran his hand up and down Harry's arm in reassurance and moved him forward. He flinched as his scar burned painfully but managed to avoid crying out as he made his way back towards his empty chair. The others were having pudding now but his dinner remained where he'd left it. Ginny smiled at him as he sat and he saw the concern in her eyes. He braced himself, waiting for the questions to start but she just leaned over and said, "We put a warming charm on your plate so it wouldn't get cold."

Harry didn't think he'd ever been more grateful to her for anything in his life than he was right then for holding her silence. "Thanks," he muttered, allowing his teeth to unclench. He really wasn't hungry anymore but instead picked up his fork and pushed the food around on his plate.

"This looks delicious, Molly!" Remus said, seating himself in front of his own warmed plate. "I had to leave Tonk's family in a hurry when I got the call and never got to eat my dinner!"

Harry kept his gaze on his plate, he knew if he caught Hermione's eyes she'd be just bursting with questions. He hoped Dumbledore would appear back in the fireplace before the Dursleys had to stay here too long. There was no way either the Dursleys or the Weasleys could keep this up for long.

As if on queue, Uncle Vernon bellowed from the other room, "Boy!"

Harry got up quickly and made his way there before he could yell anything else. Dudley was standing next to his father with a panicked look on his face. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked.

"Show Dudley where the restroom is. I assume you people use restrooms?" he barked and turned his back on both boys as he returned to Mr. Granger. Uncle Vernon never even registered the appalled look on the other man's face.

Harry resisted the urge to snap back, he wanted things quick and quiet, he kept repeating to himself in his head. "Follow me," he said to Dudley, clenching his fists.

Dudley waddled behind him trying to keep his rear out of view from any of the other houseguests. There was a bathroom directly off from the kitchen so Harry sent him in there and returned to his seat to wearily play with his food.

"Are you all right, Harry dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked kindly. Her face was red and he knew from experience that she was close to losing her temper. He saw Remus send her a warning glare but ignored both of them.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley, I'm just not very hungry."

Ginny reached beneath the table and grasped Harry's hand in her own, gently squeezing his fingers.

The bathroom door opened and Dudley stepped out, freezing in place as all eyes turned his way. Harry braced himself for what was coming but Dudley didn't say anything, he just stood there staring at all the sweets scattered across the table. Harry had to hide his grin, he could easily make out Dudley's internal struggle over whether his desire of the pudding was stronger than his fear of the Wizards at the table.

Mrs. Weasley noticed his roving eye and asked coolly, "Would you like some pudding, Dudley?"

Dudley nodded and cautiously made his way over to the table. He sat down on the other side of Harry where Mr. Granger had been. Harry watched him look at the others in the room cautiously, his gaze lingering on Ginny and her hand clasped within Harry's.

Mrs. Weasley brought over a plate filled with a variety of samplings and placed it in front of Dudley. "There you are Dudley. I'm not sure what your favorites are."

Dudley picked up a fork, than stopped mid way to the plate, his eyes fixed in horror on the twins, both of whom were smirking back at him. Fred gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible mock salute.

Harry's mind flashed back to the Ton Tongue Toffy incident with pleasure and he had to cover a laugh. "It's fine, Dudley. They had nothing to do with making dinner," Harry assured his cousin. Maybe if Dudley could just relax a minute, he'd see they were really no different and could be a lot of fun. And maybe Voldemort would send him a Christmas present!

"And they won't be doing anything to any of the food on this table today," Mrs. Weasley said, glaring at her sons.

Dudley began slowly, but soon warmed to the taste and began shoveling a bit of everything he could find into his mouth. In between bites, he looked over at Harry and asked, "So what did you do now?"

Harry looked over at Dudley, the question was fair enough, he supposed they did deserve some answers. Harry was about to reply when Ron stood up, "Hey! He didn't do anything, this isn't his fault!"

Dudley looked over at Ron calculatingly, "It's always his fault. This is the second house he's lived in he's got blown up. Fortunately none of us died this time. Why were they at the house when you weren't even there?"

"I suppose they thought I went back for Christmas," Harry said quietly, before Ron exploded again. He could see the frozen expressions on the others, stunned by the words coming from Dudley's mouth.

"You're never there at Christmas! Dad thinks you're going to get us all killed too, he's not going to let you come back."

Harry flinched before taking a deep breath, he only wished it were that simple. They would be much safer without him, but he didn't think Dumbledore would see it that way. Ron had stood up again and was rounding on Dudley menacingly, "I told you it isn't his fault! He's the one they're after, in case you hadn't noticed!"

"Oh I noticed all right," Dudley yelled back. "I noticed when those Dementoid things came after me just because he was with me!"

Harry guessed Dudley's bout of courage came from seeing Ron as another kid, not a Wizard. That and the pudding. "Ron, it's a fight you can't win. Let it go," Harry said quietly. He didn't count on Ginny, Hermione, Fred and George all picking up where Ron left off.

He heard each of twins loudly voicing their opinion, which exactly matched Ron's; Hermione was lecturing on the fact it was a Ministry official who was technically at fault; but it was Ginny's strong, angry voice he heard loudest of all. "If you noticed the Dementors than maybe you should have also paid attention properly to what happened after they arrived. If it weren't for Harry you wouldn't even be here right now! He saved your sorry arse and from what I've seen I couldn't blame him if he'd left you to them!"

Harry watched her in amusement. Her face was red with anger and she had her hands on her hips as she stood in front of Dudley. She was petite but seemed to grow ten feet in her fury and she had never reminded Harry more of Mrs. Weasley than she did at that moment. Dudley seemed to lose a lot of his swagger by being outnumbered and he shrunk back as Uncle Vernon came storming into the kitchen to see what was the matter. Aunt Petunia and the Grangers followed closely on his heels.

Dudley jumped up and ran behind his father, "Dad, Harry made them attack me!"

This had been one of Dudley's more common methods of getting Harry in trouble when they were children and he rolled his eyes in exasperation. Despite the fact he wanted nothing more than to get the Dursleys out of here and away from the Weasleys, he'd had enough. This day just couldn't get any worse.

"No one is attacking you Dudders, just a disagreement is all," he said calmly.

Vernon had been looking for an excuse all along. "I will not take any more of this! Petunia, we're leaving, let's go!" He stalked towards the door and opened it forcibly. Petunia and Dudley followed him meekly as Harry sighed in resignation. Mr. Weasley jumped up and was about to follow when Harry grabbed his arm, "Let me do it Mr. Weasley, they won't listen to you."

He seemed about to protest when Harry turned to face them all, looking into their eyes for the first time since the Dursleys arrival. "Look, I know you're all trying to help, and I can't even begin to express how grateful I am; but I really do know the best way to handle them. Just let me, okay?"

He turned and walked out the door, seeing the three figures of the Dursleys marching towards the road. He had to grin; they'd never be able to handle the walk into town! In all the time he'd been living with them, he'd never seen them walk further than out to the car in the drive. He should just let them go and bring them back after they'd sat down in the road waiting to be rescued.

"Aunt Petunia, wait!" he called. He easily caught up with them despite the fact they'd kept walking, but froze in horror as multiple popping sounds suddenly filled the air. Aunt Petunia shrieked as the black robed and masked Death Eaters turned towards them. Harry counted seven as he drew his wand. The first Death Eater blasted a slicing curse at them, "Abscindo!" while the others ran towards the house.

It happened in the blink of an eye as Harry was still struggling to process what was going on. The curse hit Aunt Petunia across her chest and neck, slicing deep and splaying droplets of blood across Harry's face and shirt. She crumpled to the ground whimpering as Harry fired a "Stupefy," at the offending Death Eater. Uncle Vernon was staring in horror at Aunt Petunia while Dudley made a mad dash to get away. Harry barely had time to think but he could hear the Death Eaters laughing about "Muggle sport" as the other members of the house came running out brandishing their wands.

"Harry, duck!" he heard Ginny's voice yell and he quickly obeyed as she fired a curse over his head towards the Death Eater who was coming up behind him. He quickly raised one of the defensive shields Tonks had taught him around himself. Ginny reached him, staring in horror at his blood-covered chest and face. "Are you okay?" she questioned tentatively, her eyes moving over him rapidly, unable to find the wound.

"It's not mine," he replied curtly. "You cover my back, I'll cover yours. We've got to get back inside so you can floo out of here."

"So we can floo out of here Harry! It's you they'll be after once the idiots catch on to the fact you're here!"

She was right, Harry hadn't really registered it but none of the Death Eaters had called him by name or took any more notice of him than anyone else! He decided now was as good a time as any to try those Legilimency skills to see if he could learn anything. He and Ginny stood back to back, wands at the ready. He tried to close his mind off to the sounds echoing around him and just concentrate on what was in his head.

His senses seemed to kick into overdrive as bits of thoughts, and more acutely, feelings, assaulted him from all sides. Fear. Anger. Hate. Fun, someone was enjoying this! The thoughts and feelings were intense and too jumbled for him to make any sense of where they were coming from. Harry felt light headed and nauseous and he stumbled against Ginny, using her back to support some of his weight.

"Are you okay?" she demanded, firing off another curse as she guarded his back. Harry replied affirmatively and decided this wasn't the place to test the Legilimency. Even if he learned something, he'd never be able to tell where it came from and he couldn't afford to pass out now.

"Ginny, your mum needs some help!" Harry cried, seeing Mrs. Weasley trying to defend the Grangers who were obviously terrified and unsure what to do. Harry covered Ginny as she made her way back over to her mother's side. He silently prayed Mrs. Weasley would force her into the floo and back to Grimmauld Place. He had no doubt in his mind Ginny could handle herself and was good in a fight, but he also couldn't help the desire to see her safely away. Not sure if he could do it, he tried to extend his own shield to cover her until she reached her mother. He could detect a faint blue glow around her and hoped he'd succeeded.

Mr. Weasley had made it over to Uncle Vernon and Dudley and was trying to cover them as best he could. Both were panicking and trying to get away. Harry grabbed Aunt Petunia under the arms and dragged her over towards the shed, trying to find some cover. He suddenly felt very guilty for wanting her gone from here so badly just a few minutes before. He looked up as he heard a cry and saw Hermione leaning over her collapsed father. She was crying and Ron was doing his best to shield both of them. It was chaos.

Remus had sprinted across the yard, dodging curses as he ran to get to Harry. Before he could speak, an explosion burst from the kitchen and green flames immediately erupted from the windows of the Burrow. There went their floo escape! One of the Death Eaters had shouted, "Morsmordre," and the Dark Mark was now rising above the Burrow. Harry suspected the intent was to cause damage and whoever fired it got lucky by blocking their escape in the process. He felt sick at seeing the nauseating image of the skull rising above a place he'd always thought of as a real home. Someone was going to pay for this!

He noticed Charlie Disapparate away and assumed he was going for help. Remus was tending to Aunt Petunia as the Death Eater whom Harry had stunned regained consciousness and moved in from behind. Calling on all his Martial Arts training, Harry delivered a roundhouse kick to the man's midsection, doubling him over. He proceeded to vent some of his rage and frustration, delivering blow after blow until the man dropped to the ground. "Stupefy," Harry snarled, knocking him out again.

Suddenly, a voice Harry recognized although he hadn't heard it in nearly two years sounded, "Potter's here! You have your orders, forget the Muggles!"

A black rage rose in Harry's heart. It wasn't right that he should still be alive, that he should be here at all. "Wormtail," he spat.

The balding little man seemed to lack his former meekness and he smiled cruelly at Harry, "We meet again. The Dark Lord wishes to speak with you."

"Hello Peter," Remus said standing. His voice was calm but Harry noticed the way his jaw was clenched and his wand was held at the ready. Despite the chaos of battle around them, to Harry it seemed eerily quiet as these two former friends faced off. Neither said a word, but quietly circled each other as they looked each other up and down.

A loud rumbling filled the air and the ground shook beneath them. Some of the walls on the Burrow were coming down and great flames soared up towards the sky. Harry had to turn his face from the intense heat. It was at this moment of uncertainty that Peter sprang towards Remus, wrapping his hand around his old friend's throat. Remus grabbed Wormtail's arm with both hands and tried to pry it off when his body suddenly went rigid and he appeared to be choking. Wormtail let go as Remus staggered several paces before falling to the ground, his body curling up in intense pain. Wormtail leaned over him and wrapped his hand around Remus' throat once again.

Harry stared in confusion, uncertain what was happening until an image of the graveyard in Little Hangleton flashed before his eyes. Voldemort had replaced the hand Wormtail had cut off with a silver one. The way to kill a werewolf was with silver

"Nooooo," Harry screamed, launching himself at Wormtail and dragging him off Remus' body. A rage like he had never known exploded in Harry. This man was responsible for Harry losing every important parental figure in his life; he wouldn't take Remus too! For the first time in his life, Harry thought he felt enough hatred to kill.

Wormtail grabbed onto Harry's wrist and went to reach for something from inside his robes. Harry knew he couldn't allow himself to be taken and once again used his Martial Arts skills to raise his body off the ground and kick out at Wormtail, who was forced to release his wrist before the Portkey carried him away.

Other members of the Order were Apparating in and seeing they were outnumbered, the remaining Death Eaters Disapparated away. A final, brilliant explosion of sickly green rocked the ground as the Burrow collapsed in on itself, sending soot and debris flying into the air all around them. Harry felt a sharp thump of pain on the back of his head, and then he knew no more.

A/N: Ducks any flames that might be coming my way! Sorry for the evil cliffy, butending it worked here!

I got a few questions asking if I was going to have Harry and Ginny go any further than snogging. The answer is no. There is one more heavy snogging session that I can think of that gets carried away, but as I remember sixteen, sometimes the hormones are more in control than the brain! Harry is sixteen, Ginny still fifteen; I'm not comfortable with them going any further than a good snog. I'm not comfortable with it in the Muggle world, and I think the Wizarding world is much more old fashioned. Remember that Harry and Ginny's relationship is still fairly new, they are in the "honeymoon phase" where they can't keep their hands off each other. They'll settle down eventually.

As for James being a Seeker or a Chaser, the editors at the Lexicon say that although James played with a Snitch in Book 5, it's easier to impress the girls with a Snitch than with a Quaffle! Until JKR comes out and states definitively, they're staying with her word that James was a Chaser.

Finally, my apologies to all my Fanfiction.net readers. I've always responded individually by email to reviews. The new set up here doesn't make that possible so a HUGE thank you to all of you for your wonderful support! If you'd still like an individual email, just include your addy in your review!