Chapter 05: Raid on Diagon Alley

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Harry and Ginny did not return to the house until well after 1 am. They had been sitting down by the creek, discussing recent events, as well as exploring their new relationship. To Harry it now seemd like ages ago that he had first met Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. Looking over at Ginny as they walked back to the house, he felt a warm feeling go through his body. For the first time in his life he was content.

Of course, there was some concern on Harry's part as to how Fred, George, Ron and the rest of Ginny's brothers were going to react to the change in their relationsip. The Weasley brothes were notorious for their feelings of overprotectiveness towards their sister.

"They'll just have to accept it." Ginny had said. "Otherwise I'll have to hex them into next Christmas." They agreed to inform the rest of the Weasleys about their new relationship in the morning, before the trip to Diagon Alley for school supplies.

As Harry lay in his bed, he couldn't help but laugh at the sudden twists his life had taken up to this point. If anyone had told him such things would happen a year before, he would have told them they were crazy.

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Harry awoke around 8am the next morning, feeling surprisingly refreshed despite the lack of sleep he had received the night before. Ron awoke a few minutes later.

"Good morning." Harry said, cheerily.

"Ugh. How can you be so happy this early in the morning." Ron complained. Harry smiled.

"Listen, Ron, I want to tell you about something."

"What's up?"

"Well," Harry began, his gaze shifting to his feet. "Last night I was having trouble sleeping, so I went downstairs." Harry continued explaining how Ginny was also up and how the two of them decided to take a walk. "Ron, Ginny and I.well, last night she told me she loved me." Ron looked at him, a look of total neutrality on his face.

"And?" Ron asked.

"Well, you already know that I'd come to view her as a friend, almost as good of one as you and Hermonie. Last night I realized I love her too." Harry answered nervously. He was very afraid that Ron would react badly, after all Ginny was his little sister. To his surprise Ron broke into a wide grin.

"Hermione told me she thought the too of you were getting cozy. And to be honest I saw something myself when we were talking about her yesterday." Ron said. "It's okay Harry. I'm happy for both of you. Just remember, if you ever hurt her, you'll have all six of her brothers to deal with."

"Don't worry Ron, I have no intention of hurting her."

"Good. Then lets go spread the good news." With that they got up and went down to breakfast.

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"So you were out pretty late last night." Hermione commented as she and Ginny got up. Ginny blushed.

"I couldn't sleep. Neither could Harry. So we took a walk." She said, trying to sound nonchalant. Hermonie perked up at this.

"Oh? Anything interesting happen?" Hermonie said, smirking. Ginny blushed even more. "It did! What happened?"

Ginny explained how she and Harry had taken a walk down by the creek, how she had blurted out her feelings for him and how he had revealed his own. Then she told her about the kiss.

"It was the most wonderful feeling in the world." Ginny said.

"I'm happy for you."

"I just hope the rest of the family, especially Ron, is okay with it."

"Don't worry, they'll all be thrilled." Hermonie assured her. "Ron already suspected something. He noticed that Harry was acting rather odd after he saw you yesterday."

"My brother picked up on something?" Ginny asked incredulously. "Looks your finally rubbing off on him." The two girls broke into laughter.

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Two hours later Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were walking down the street in Diagon Alley. They had all reacted enthusiastically to the news that Harry and Ginny were now an item. As he walked hand in hand with Ginny, Harry couldn't believe his luck. He had never really experienced love in any form until he met the Weasleys, and now he was exploring the best kind of love with Ginny.

The new Marauders were at the moment sitting in Flourish and Botts Ice Cream Parlor. They had just finished buying their school supplies and were in a hurry to sit down somewhere and plan their first prank.

"Maybe we could hex the food at the Slytherin table to turn them all pink!" George said as the waitress brought their order to the table.

"That idea has promise." Harry said, "But I think we need to improve upon it. This is going to be the first Marauder prank in twenty years. It has to be perfect." A few minutes later they were sitting at a table, discussing ways to expand George's idea. Harry glanced over at the front door in time to notice a young man enter and his eyes widened in shock. Standing there was his fellow fifth year Gryfinndor, Neville Longbottom. But it was how Neville looked that had Harry surprised. Normally somewhat on the pudgy side, Neville had apparently also gone through a growth spurt this summer. He looked to be at least three inches taller than Harry had remembered and was no longer pudgy.

"Hey Neville! How was your summer." He yelled. The boy at the door looked around and upon seeing Harry started over to their table.

"Harry. Its good to see you." Neville said as the rest of the table got a look at the new and improved Neville.

"Pull up a chair Neville." Ron said, signaling the waitress. Neville sat down and ordered a sundae.

"So what's new?" Neville asked. Harry had just opened his mouth to speak when suddenly there was a large explosion, followed by several screams. The door to Flourish and Blotts opened and three dark hooded figures entered, wands pointed around the room. Harry recognized them immediately.

"Deatheaters." He mumbled. In a flash Harry stood up, his wand pointed at the trio. The rest of the Marauders, along with Neville, were also soon on their feet, wands out. The Deatheaters noticed the commotion and turned toward them.

"Avada" one of them began before all three slumped to the ground after being hit by a half dozen hexes.

"Ron, Hermonie, cover them." Harry ordered. Turning to the rest of the patrons he said, "Everyone stay down. There may be more of them out there." Then he walked over to the door that exited into Diagon Alley and opened it. He gave a loud gasp as he surveyed the scene outside.

Flames and smoke were billowing out of several shops. People were scrambling in several directions, obviously panic stricken. Then he saw them. A group of about thirty dark robed Deatheaters were slowly advancing towards Flourish and Blotts. As they made their way they shot dark curses at anyone who crossed their line of site. Harry felt rage well up inside him as he saw one Deatheater put the Cruciatus curse on a small child and laugh about it. Without thinking he opened the door wide and strode out into the street.

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"Hey, where's Harry going?" Fred asked. Harry had just flung open the door leading to Diagon Alley and walked out. The rest of the Marauders exchanged uneasy looks. Hermonie ran to the window and peered out.

"He's going to try taking on the Deatheaters himself!" she exclaimed. Then, acting with the same thought, all five of the Marauders rushed towards the door. They did not notice Neville follow behind them.

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Harry fought to control his breathing and the rage that had built up inside of him as he stood in the street, watching the approaching Deatheaters. Surprised at the audacity of this lone wizard standing in the street, the group came to a halt.

"Potter. We meet again." The leader sneered and Harry immediately recognized it as Lucious Malfoy.

"Malfoy." Harry spit.

"So kind of you to save us the trouble of going into the Flourish and Blotts to find you. The Dark Lord will be pleased when we kill you."

"Don't make me laugh, Malfoy." Harry replied. "You're going down for what you've done today."

"Brave words for a mere boy, alone, facing thirty of the Dark Lord's finest."

"He's not alone." Ron's voice sounded from behind Harry. He walked up and stood beside him, his wand pointing at the Deatheaters. Harry glanced around and saw Hermonie, Ginny, Fred and George approach, all with their wands drawn.

"Ah, so Potter has friends. What a surprise. Though hardly a concern. Its still 30 against 6." Malfoy taunted.

"Make that seven you bastard." Neville replied as he took up position alongside George.

"Such foolish bravery." Malfoy sneered. "Attack!" The Deatheaters unleashed a storm of hexes and curses towards the seven. There was no hope of dodging them. Then at the last second, a soft golden glow appeared around the group, deflecting the curses. Harry and his companions recovered from the shock faster than the Deatheaters and immediately sprung into action. Hex after hex was thrown at the Deatheaters as the seven separated and began moving.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried, sending the Deatheater closest to him flying backwards. All around him the sounds of battle raged as curse after curse flew through the air. The Marauders seemed to be holding their own. Already nine of the Deatheaters were sprawled on the ground, unconcious. Several more appeared to be wounded. The battle raged for several more minutes, with more of the Deatheaters falling to the Marauders.

"Harry! Look out!" Ginny shouted. Harry barely managed to dodge the curse that flew at him. Picking himself up off the ground, he turned and faced Lucious Malfoy.

"Expelliarmus!" Malfoy shouted, catching Harry as he turned. Harry's wand flew out of his hands and he was again knocked to the ground. Dazed, Harry tried to clear the cobwebs from his head.

"Now it ends." Malfoy sneered, standing practically on top of Harry. Before Malfoy could utter another curse however, Harry had put into practice the Muggle fighting tactics he had studied over the summer. His leg lashed out, hitting Malfoy in the groin. Harry scrambled to his feet as Malfoy doubled over in pain. Harry landed a vicious uppercut on Malfoy, sending him reeling backwards onto the ground, his wand hitting the ground. Suddenly another curse flew by Harry, narrowly missing. Harry turned and spotted McNair, another of the Deatheaters. McNair grinned as he raised his wand. He obviously thought Harry was helpless without his wand. He was wrong.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted as he shot his hand out towards McNair. The look of surprise barely had time to register on the Deatheater's face before he was launched backwards, his wand flying into Harry's hands. He then turned back to Malfoy, who was struggling to his feet.

"You may have one this round, Potter." Malfoy wheezed. "But the war is far from over." With that he and the half-dozen still standing Deatheaters disapparated and disappeared.