Chapter 1

Together they stand, divided they fall

Harry awoke in a terrible state. He had fallen asleep and awoken, but this time to an empty bed. Grimmauld Place had become a terrible combination of the agony of the past and the hopeless future. Harry, who still had barely recollection of the recent future, had discovered that it was no longer summer break, but rather, Christmas break. Mrs. Weasley was able to tell him that he had been suffering from short-term memory loss, possibly triggered by shock. Good news doesn't always follow bad.

Harry was shocked to find out Voldemort's ruthlessness firsthand. Sure, this was the guy who killed Harry's parents, but never was he capable of comprehending what truly happened. So he found out (probably again) that Neville and his grandmother had been ruthlessly murdered. Such a loss stuck to the bottom of his stomach as he was preparing himself for school once again.

"What happened to you?"

Harry swiveled his head quickly to catch the familiar voice. There stood at the doorway a pretty, skinny girl who looked terrible. Cho? Here? "I don't know" he replied, returning his gaze back to his bags. "Why are you here?"

Harry couldn't see her face, but he guessed it was ready to break into tears. He was wrong.

"Oh. My parents were members of the Order of the Phoenix, but… you know…"

"I thought they were aligned with the Ministry when it hated me."

"No, they just didn't want me to piss the Ministry off. So you gonna tell me what happened or what?"

"Truth is, I really don't know."

"Figures"

And she turned around coolly, nearly bumping into Fred and George.

"Whoa, mate. What happened there?"

Harry smiled as he saw their new trollex watches.

"Nothing really. How's the business treating you?"

"Same old same old. Harry, you look like you got problems." Fred had noticed that he was trying to put Hedwig into his bag.

"Bad problems," George said, apprehensively.

"I don't know what's wrong. All I know is there's something bad going to happen. Especially since all of us now live in the same building"

"Cheer up, mate. We're off to Hogwarts soon enough"

"Whatever," Harry replied, finally able to get his clothes and not Hedwig into his bag.

"Since when do you speak girl?" questioned George. The twins chorused in laughter and Harry threw his shoe at them, who apparated before the could get hit.

Going down to breakfast brought on more painful memories. Harry tried his best to continue but found it hard as the twins chucked bottles of butterbeer back and forth the tables. Hermoine, noticing the lost look on Harry's face, grabbed him and placed him in a chair.

"What's in the news, mum?" Ron asked, snatching one of the flying butterbeers to the cry of "spoilsport" from the twins. The look of everyone's faces changed from joy to horror at the terrified look of the matriarch of the Weasley family.

Fred ran to her aid but when he saw the headlines, all he could mutter was "Oh bloody hell…" Everyone else gathered around to look.

On top of the page was large bold faced letters, that wrote: "TWO MORE DEAD: WEASLEY BROTHERS"