"Harry we have the list of books that we want you to read and what order we feel would be best. We have checked out the first five books for you so that you can get started right away." Hermione said at dinner that night after handing him the. Harry had not seen her or Ron all day except for Care of Magical Creatures that morning. Harry had the rest of the afternoon off while they had classes. Harry had gotten a D on both his History of Magic and Divination OWLs so he had dropped them. Ron who had somehow managed to scrape through the subjects continued to take them. Ron wanted to drop them but Mrs. Weasley had fussed that it would be good for him and when Hermione had said that she wanted company in class, Ron had relented. Harry had spent the time training with Order members throughout the year and today he and Tonks had covered a good bit of the material she had planned for the whole rest of the year. Harry figured that it would only be a few more hours with her and they would have covered it all. Ginny sat down next to him, across from Ron and kissed his cheek before starting to serve herself.

"I'm glad it's the weekend." Harry comment, spooning stew onto his plate. "We have Quidditch practice tomorrow and then I get to spend the rest of the day with Ginny."

"Sorry Harry, I have loads of work to do tomorrow. You can sit next to me if you want to." Ginny took a bite of her sprouts.

Harry sighed. "I suppose I could get started on all that reading."

"Oh! Well I just meant that you could sit next to me and gaze on by beautiful face, but if you want to read, you go ahead."

Harry and Hermione laughed while Ron made a gagging noise. "You two are disgusting, you know that don't you?"

"Oh come on Ron, you and Hermione have your moments. So Harry, how did it go with Tonks today?"

"Great, we covered most of what she wanted to for the year and spent about twenty minutes sparing. She reckons that I can start teaching the D.A. some of the karate moves now."

"Oh that's great Harry! When are we doing the next D.A. meeting? We haven't done one since break, you know, and we really need to get back into the swing of it." Hermione looked eagerly at him.

"Hmm… I guess we can meet Monday. I have my free period before dinner to set up the room. Let me set the coins right now before I forget." Harry pulled out his fake Galleon and set the time for Monday at 7pm. "Right then… now that we have that out of the way, I wanted to ask you about trying to find out which girls in the school will need the most help with learning self-defense."

Hermione spoke first after looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. Harry looked too but saw that most people had already finished so the seats around them were empty. "I've thought about that Harry and I think that whoever is doing it is probably using the Imperius Curse to get to the girls. I think it would also explain why Susan did not say anything about who her attacker was."

Ron stared dumbly at her. "How do you figure that? I mean, I can see them using an unforgivable curse but why would that make her not want to get the bloke in trouble?"

"Oh Ron! Honestly, it's easy to work that out! If they used the Imperius Curse then she would do whatever they said and would KNOW everything that she had done but would have been unable to stop it. Susan was probably embarrassed by all the things that were done to her, not to mention really hurt and angry at herself for not being able to stop it!"

"I really don't understand." Harry told her.

Hermione sighed. "Okay, let me see if I can explain this better. Rape leaves you feeling helpless because the victim is not able to fight off her attacker. If you are under the Imperius Cruse then you can see yourself doing those things and not caring and feeling wonderful and then when you come out of it and reality comes crashing down on you. You know you have been raped but you did not fight it off at all because you were under the curse. There is the guilt that you did it willingly but you didn't do it willingly. Does that make sense?"

Harry and Ron shook their heads. "No." They said it in unison.

Ginny sighed. "It's like this. It is nearly impossible to throw off the Imperius Curse so no matter how much you want to fight it, you can't. If you fight a duel and you lose it's not as bad as just sitting there and not fighting back but just letting someone curse you. You would feel worse about not trying to stop them than if you tried to fight and lost."

Understanding washed over Harry. "I think I get it but if they can't fight the Imperius Curse then it isn't their fault."

"But Harry, it is possible to fight off the curse. You can."

Harry scowled. "Yeah but no one really knows that." He saw that all three of them were staring at him as if he was a simpleton. "Are you saying that EVERYONE knows that I can throw off the Imperius Curse?"

"Yes." All three of them replied.

"Great, just great." Harry sighed. "So if you think that they are being controlled by the Imperius Curse then karate won't help anyone, so how do we help them?" Harry directed that question at Hermione.

"I have given that a lot of thought and I think that we are going to have to set up a buddy system. Identify who we think is at risk the most and have two or three people with them at all times. We need to make sure that we invite those girls to the next D.A. meeting so that we can set it up. It would be best to have D.A. members as their guard."

"That sounds good. I feel bad that Susan has to have a baby at seventeen years old. Actually I'm surprised she didn't have an abortion." Harry mused.

Ron and Ginny looked confused but Hermione looked sharply at him. "Harry witches do not have abortions."

"Really? Is that a law or something?" Harry was quite surprised. As far as he knew, they were fairly common in the muggle world.

"Yes. Actually there is more, if Susan knew who the father of the baby was, and if she wanted it, of course, she could petition the Wizengamot for him to marry her and he would be forced to or face several years in Azkaban. I doubt that her attacker let her see his face though. In any case, as a single mother, she is a virtual outcast."

"What is an apportion?" Ron asked Hermione. Ginny looked eagerly at Hermione, waiting for an answer.

"An ABORTION is when a woman ends a pregnancy before the baby is large enough to live outside the womb."

"WHAT!" Ron and Ginny yelled. Ron continued. "You mean muggles actually kill their babies?" Harry looked over at Ginny who looked horrified and he put a comforting arm around her.

"Why would anyone want to kill a baby?" Ginny asked softly.

"Ginny… some muggles don't see a fetus as a baby until it is born. It's just different in the muggle world."

Ginny sniffed. "That's terrible! They are still babies! I could never kill a baby."

"There are other differences between our world and the muggle world. People have sex before they are married all the time." Hermione explained. "It means that more babies are conceived when a woman does not have the means of supporting a baby."

Harry was surprised at this one. "I didn't know that. I mean, well it's never really come up, but do you mean most witches and wizards only have sex when they are married?"

Hermione nodded her head, trying to swallow quickly. "Yes, very few people would consider having sex outside of marriage, it just is not done. That's what makes these rapes even worse. While no one blames them for it happening, it also means that no one is likely to marry then because they are not virgins. Well, I suppose that would matter less to the muggle born wizards but…"

"I wouldn't care; I mean it isn't the girls fault." Ron interjected before shoveling another spoonful of food into his mouth.

"That is ridiculous! Are you telling me that Susan will probably never get married even though she didn't choose this for herself?" Harry was peeved. The more he heard about this, the madder he got. Was life always going to get more complicated?

"Well, like I said, maybe muggle born wizards would not care as much but otherwise a Pure-Blood wizard would probably not marry someone who had already had sex or had a child out of wedlock."

"This is beyond insanity. Wouldn't Susan child be looked down upon for not having a father around, even if they are a Pure-Blood?"

"Yes and that has been bothering me because I thought about the same thing. Of course, a father can petition the Wizengamot for a woman's hand if she is pregnant with his baby as well and she can also go to jail but the Death Eaters are creating children that will be looked down upon and not children that will be revered. But then again, Susan could accuse the petitioner of rape and they would go to Azkaban for fifteen years but she would still be an outcast of sorts."

"See, that is something I do like about the muggle world. No one is shunned for having a baby when they aren't married." Harry thought for a moment. "Well couldn't she just marry the father for a little while and then divorce him after the baby is born?" Harry knew that this was also a common occurrence in the muggle world.

"What's a divorce?" Ginny asked him.

Harry was flabbergasted. "You mean there aren't divorces either?" He looked to Hermione for the answer.

"No, I'm afraid not." Hermione turned to Ginny. "A divorce is where a marriage is ended."

"You mean when one of them dies?"

"No, I mean that they are not married anymore and they are allowed to marry someone else."

Ginny looked like she was trying to wrap her mind around this concept and Ron as just staring at Hermione with his mouth open. "But… but," Ron spluttered. "You can't just STOP being married. It doesn't work like that. I mean, you can stop spending time with your spouse but you don't stop being married unless you die. You just… well you just can't!"

Ginny looked slightly green. "I don't think I like the muggle world much."

Harry nodded. "I agree. I don't much fancy ever being divorced. But I feel bad for Susan. She can't just marry a Death Eater because she is likely to end up dead."

Hermione nodded. "I wanted to ask Justin Finch-Fletchley about her, because as far as I know they were dating but he was pretty upset the last time I saw him so I didn't get a chance. I'm going to ask him Monday if I get a chance. He's muggle born, you know, so maybe he'll stick by her. He may not even know what happened. I doubt Susan wants to talk about it."

"So you think we should tell the whole D.A. about what is going on? I mean, they will have read it in the Daily Prophet."

"Well… maybe but I think we need to have them fully understand and maybe more of the muggle born wizards won't fully understand the ramifications of situation. Now we need to make a list of all the sixth and seventh year Pureblood witches and invite those that don't normally come. We probably not have to worry about the Slytherins but we'll leave that to a case-by-case basis. Ron, do you think you and Ginny could make a list for me?"

"Sure, we pretty much know who all of them are… not that there are many. Probably only sixty girls total if you include those in Slytherin so it shouldn't be too hard to set up something for those who are in danger. There aren't very many purebloods that don't go into Slytherin and those girls are less likely to be blood traitors. I just wish that this hadn't come up."

"I wish I knew what the Death Eaters are really up to. I'm sure the Order knows but of course they won't share. At least Dumbledore is encouraging us to help them. I would hate not doing anything to help." Hermione lamented.

"I thought the days were over when I would feel like an idiot for not knowing all about how witches and wizards live. I just don't want more surprises on what is expected of me." Harry grumbled.

Hermione smiled at him. "Did you know that wizards could live twice as long as muggles?"

"Yes, I did know that."

Hermione thought for a moment. "Well wizards also tend to marry and have children younger than muggles, usually around twenty five or so. Your parents were quite young when they married and had you but not so young. I think Mrs. Weasley would be fine with Ron and I getting married if it weren't for Voldemort breathing down our necks. I think she is afraid of one of us dying and the other being devastated." Hermione turned and gazed at Ron, the love showing through her eyes. "But we'd rather be married than not. It forms a special bond when wizards marry and I want to experience that, especially since our lives are so uncertain." Ron grinned at her and leaned in to kiss her.

Harry looked over at Ginny to see that she was staring at her brother and soon to be sister-in-law. He saw the longing in her eyes when she turned to look at him. She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "So do you have any other questions Harry?"

Harry thought about it. He was surprised to find out many of those things but also envious of what Ron and Hermione had but knew that while he wanted to marry someday, and he was hopeful it would work out with Ginny; he did not really want Ginny to be in more danger than she already was. Would it be fair to ask that of her? Would it be fair to marry her and then die so young? The thought made Harry feel slightly ill. He gazed over at Ron and Hermione who were talking quietly together. The love that they had for each other was tangible and almost seemed to make the air about them crackle. Harry looked back at Ginny and saw that she looked downcast. "I want to know why you are sad."

Ginny looked surprised. "Do you want the truth?"

"Course I do."

Ginny paused before she replied. "I… I agree with Hermione. I would rather have shared that bond with my husband than not. If our lives were more certain than I would want to wait until I was well established in a career but I think love is more important and there is a very good chance that I'm not going to make it through the war." Harry started to protest. "No Harry, you know it's true. I'm actually surprised that we have made it this far. If it weren't for you, then we probably wouldn't have."

Harry looked very surprised at this. Most of the time he felt like the people in his life were in more danger than out of it. "What?"

"You happen to have Dumbledore personally ensuring your safety and that makes you extremely well protected. We are with you all the time, so by proxy we are well protected." Ginny looked down at her lap. "We would never have sided with Voldemort… everyone knows that we don't care about bloodlines. I mean, even Percy dated a muggle born and he was the biggest…" Ginny stopped suddenly as she realizing she was about to insult Percy. They may not have seen eye to eye on the topic of Harry, but he knew that Ginny still loved him and grieved for him in her own way. "Anyway I have dreamed about marry you." She stopped again as her hands flew to her mouth. "Never mind… it's not important."

Harry ginned broadly. "I was thinking about someday marrying you too… so please just continue."

Ginny looked to see if Ron or Hermione were paying attention to them only to find that they had left the table. She looked questioningly at Harry who shrugged his shoulder. They disappeared like that sometimes, often too wrapped up in each other to notice anyone else.

Ginny took a deep breath. "I know you… I know you won't marry me, even if you want to because you are afraid that you are going to lose to Voldemort and that I would be hurt because of that and you are afraid that I will be in more danger."

Harry gaped at her. Was she a mind reader?

"No Harry, I am not a mind reader, I just know you really well. Don't be surprised… you are one of my best friends."

"But… but… you did just read my mind! That is EXACTLY what I was thinking!"

Ginny smiled softly. "Harry what you don't understand is that if you died but we were never married it would hurt just as much and maybe even more so because I never got to share all of myself with you. And as far as being in danger, yes I would be but I would be in more danger by not being with you. You are well protected AND you are finally coming into your powers which makes you a very powerful wizard."

"Ginny!" Harry started to blush.

"Harry! You have to stop being so modest. I don't want you to be bigheaded mind, but you are who you are and you are going to have to accept that if you are going to fully utilize all your powers. You can't hold back for fear of showing off because all you end up doing is holding back."

All she said made a lot of sense… both about marriage and about his powers. He had hated mentioning all the new things that he was learning to do to anyone except Tonks and Dumbledore… he had not even told Ginny everything.

"I know you have been hiding things from me Harry and I understand why so don't worry about it but please don't feel that you need to. I won't think you are bragging unless you are telling me about yourself to make me feel inadequate WHICH I know you would never do. Also, please don't feel like I am pushing you into marriage. We have only been together for a few weeks and I'm only sixteen and you are only seventeen. Ron and Hermione are already eighteen years old… well Hermione is and Ron will be in a month. They are in a different place than we are. They have been together quite awhile and they are almost out of school." Ginny grinned at him. "So you are safe for awhile. I won't start hinting about engagement rings till at least…" She seemed to consider this for a moment. "Hmm… well at least Valentines Day."

Harry looked aghast. "That's in two week!"

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, how about Valentines Day of next year."

Harry shook his head slightly. "You're just having me on, aren't you?"

"Absolutely and you fall for it so easily. You are so clueless about girls sometimes."

"I thought you were supposed to be helping me understand girls?"

Ginny pondered this for a moment. "Well, if you'd like I can just tell you exactly what it is that I expect from you and what I want. It would take the guess work out of everything."

Harry sighed with relief. "That would make my life so much easier."

Ginny smiled at him but the look in her eyes was sly. "All right Harry, I do so live to make your life easy." She leaned over and kissed him softly before whispering. "I expect you to marry me when we are ready EVEN IF Voldemort is still at large."

Harry looked at her. "Ginny! It would be dangerous for you."

Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'd rather have one day as your wife then live till I'm two hundred having never been married to you. Don't worry Harry… someday you'll understand that. Now come on, we need go to the common room."

A/N: YAH! (Does Happy Dance) I've had my first review and despite a headache, my wonderful cohort got this chapter back to me quickly so that I could post it. Now, onto more important things… I am going to try and make my chapters about this length if I can but I honestly doubt that will happen. My job is super demanding (I don't even get regular breaks) and I'm on call 24/7 so expect that my lengths shall be erratic. OH if you do review I will try to respond to specific questions. But anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing!