A/N: Thanks you all so much for the reviews, they make me inexpressibly happy! Here's another chapter, hoping to get the next one up soon.

Lourdes- The shadow looking in was supposed to be Rita Skeeter...she can't be a beetle anymore, but the reference to 'scarlet nails' was supposed to be the hint. Ginny's temper is a little scary- I wouldn't be on the receiving end! Blame it on the red hair. Thanks for the review, keep reading!

Luckyloo 16- Thanks! I hope you keep reading, and enjoy this chapter!

Silvercrystal77- I agree. At first I was going to make them live together, but they really have been apart too long to just rush into a relationship. They need some time apart...absence makes the heart grow fonder! Thanks for the review!

Darkflower2113- Well, I am thinking that I will make this about twenty to twenty five chapters at most- unless I run out of ideas! I think that's what he'll call his children as well- I don't see why he'd call them anything else. Do you like the twin idea? Thanks for the review, keep up the R&R!

Comet Moon- That's exactly what I thought! I have this tendency to make characters I love perfect and amazing, and I knew that Ginny woujld eventually want to strike out on her own. She has to be a person apart from Harry. Thanks for the review, keep it up!

Jlatmi1- Don't worry, the title explains it all. It may be sad now, but it'll end up in a Happily Ever After. Thanks for the review!

Skittish- Awww thanks! I'm trying to post these chapters quickly- I have them written but I have to get time to send them.

Josephine Sawyer- I did notice the weird ending- it was kind of rushed. Not a cliffhanger but not a solid ending...one of my lapses, I guess. I didn't notice that plot hole thanks for telling me about it. Thanks for the reviews, your reviews are always helpful lol.

Lurid-eyes- Paris was beautiful! I love France...a little more than England, to tell the truth. Its so gorgeous over there, especially now. Here's the next chapter, thanks for the review!

Eric2- Thanks for the review! Keep em' coming.

Tupz- Thanks for the review!

Princess Bryanna- Here it is! More coming soon, thanks for the review.

Severus' Wife- I'm glad you like it! Keep reading and reviewing.

Eat Paper- Here's more! And more on the way. Thanks so much for the review!

Chapter 8-

"Er..." Harry said, a little confused, "A Healer? Don't they have to have finished school? And then they have to do Healer training, cause I have a friend whose sister had to work for a couple of years to become one."

Ginny sat down on the sofa. "Yes, but remember my fifth year when I got hit by the Bludger in the head I was knackered in the Hospital Wing for a week?"

"Yes," Harry said, shuddering. Madam Pomfrey hadn't let him see her. That week had been one of the worst in his life, thinking she might die.

"Well, the truth is that I healed myself. She called it natural magic. I'm some sort of born Healer. I noticed it in New York, too, when the twins got hurt I could somehow just Heal them. So I got a quick interview with the chief Healer and she said they would take me on a trial basis."

Harry nodded, impressed.

"But why didn't you tell us about this?" he asked, "In your fifth year?"

"Because I didn't believe her," Ginny answered simply, "I thought it was just something like doing accidental magic when you are especially angry or something. But I thought, why not give it a shot?"

The two of them lapsed into silence, deep in thought. Something occurred to Harry.

"Ginny, how did you get this apartment? I mean, I don't know real estate, but this place is definitely under a lot of demand, and you were only out for six hours."

Ginny has a self-satisfied smile on her face.

"Well, I was coming out of St. Mungo's and I bumped into Colin Creevey. His brother is in there, remember? So we went out to lunch and I mentioned how I was flat-hunting. He was friends with the previous owner, and he knew he was going on some African Skrewt Chase or something. So he called him up and voile!"

Harry tried to suppress the surge of jealousy he had felt at the thought of Ginny eating lunch with Colin, who was now a photographer for the Daily Prophet. He shook those thoughts out of his head and settled on smiled tightly at Ginny.

Just then Hermione, Ron, and the twins Flooed into the fireplace. Harry had left the two of them with their aunt and uncle while he went to find Ginny. Ron looked out of breath and Hermione laughing.

"'Allo, Harry, Ginny," Ron wheezed, gasping and laughing at the same time, "Just had a bit of a game of tag going."

Harry laughed and Ginny smiled indulgently as she greeted her kids and took them around the flat, showing them their new home.

Harry noticed Ron look longingly after the twins. He didn't think that Ron noticed Hermione's equally adoring look.

Harry cleared his throat. "Hermione, isn't your lunch break over?"

Hermione gasped and looked down at her watch. "Oh, dear!" She exclaimed, Apparating hastily. Ron stared after her, then turned to Harry.

"Barking mad, that one," He said, shaking his head, "She didn't even have lunch."

Harry was about to remark when a handsome, tawny owl flew through the window, dropping a letter on Ron's head. He then flew over to Harry and dropped an identical envelope onto his head.

Harry tore the envelope open curiously. The writing was of an untidy, hurried hand, as if someone had scrawled it in a rush.

Harry-

There's an emergency at the Ministry. We need you and Ron over here at once. Please get here as quickly as possible, there isn't much time.

Cho

Harry looked at Ron, alarmed.

"What could it be?" Ron asked, puzzlement clear in his face.

"I dunno but we better get there quickly." Harry quickly wrote a note to Ginny.

Gin-

There's been an emergency at the Ministry, Ron and I had to leave. Tell Hermione as soon as you can.

Harry


Harry and Ron Apparated to the Ministry Auror Headquarters immediately. They were surrounded by running Aurors, everything in chaos. There were heads in every fire, people were talking and shouting loudly.

The two shoved their way over to Cho's office, where she was frantically talking to some Aurors. She looked up in relief as she saw them. "Harry, Ron," She said breathlessly, "The dementors have escaped from the Island. We don't know how they've done it but they have, and there's no stopping them. We sent out forty of our best Aurors and they only managed to capture fifty or so. We need you Harry," She said desperately, "And you Ron," She tacked on.

Harry's face had paled. After defeating Voldemort he had had the Dementors shut on Azkaban Island, surrounded by hundred feet, Unbreakable stonewalls. There were five hundred strong in those walls.

Ron read his mind. Nodding at Cho as she told them to be careful, they Apparated to the shore. Harry turned into a merlin and Ron into his Animagus form so the dementors wouldn't sense them, and walked closer to assess the situation.

There they were, straight ahead, partially cloaked by the gray mist and the foamy white spray of the ocean. They were in lines, gliding forward. Harry noticed some Aurors desperately shooting Patroni at them, but only a few Dementors were captured.

Harry turned back into himself, Ron following his lead, and ran towards the Aurors. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore drowned out his voice. He waved the Aurors away, mouthing, "Get back to the Ministry". They stared, shocked, but obeyed.

Harry motioned Ron to stay put but to keep sending Patroni at the Dementors so they wouldn't get suspicious. He turned back into a Merlin and flew ahead of the hordes. He was a hundred feet away when he turned back. They were advancing quickly, but hadn't noticed him yet. When the front of the pack was fifty yards away, Harry shouted, thinking hard of Jem and Rilla sitting next to Ginny on the couch, EXPECTO PATRONUM DESCRUCIA TOTALUS!

A wave of stag Patroni shot towards the Dementors, but instead of simply chasing them away these Patroni ran straight through the front line.

Harry had never heard such horrifyingly unearthly shrieks erupting from the Dementors as he saw their shadowy figures crumple to the ground. Yet he had managed to destroy only the first line- only twenty. As wave after wave of Dementors advanced on him, he shouted the spell.

The whole time, his mind was focused on the picture of Ginny with the twins, happily playing in the Burrow, eyes lighted, faced animated. He held his shaking hand steady and calmly repeated the spell over and over and over again.

He didn't know how long he stood there, how long he said spell after spell, how many Dementors lay in the ragged heap of robes fifty yards away from him. And they just kept coming.

Hundreds of Dementors swarmed towards Harry, yet he managed to hold them off. Twenty at a time fell to the ground, until there were only a hundred, then eighty, then sixty, to forty and then twenty. But just then, Harry lost control. The cold, dismal, penetrating thoughts hit him hard as his tired mind faltered. He thought of Sirius falling through the veil...of Ginny's abrupt abandonment...of the day he had learned that Dumbledore had died...

Harry swayed on his feet, the shrieks fading away. All he could hear was the thrashing o f the curled waves onto the shore, white mist spraying his fevered hands and face. There was an odd lull in the air, a lull that always is there after a long period of sound.

Harry fell to his knees , his wand dropping from his hand. Then suddenly, there was a tall, gray figure in front of him, bending down, bending farther, until Harry could feel cold breath on his cheeks. He tried feebly to get his wand, but his weak body wouldn't move.

Harry sat, eyes limp, his heart churning as the Dementor's face loomed closer, closer, inches away from his own...

A/N: Well, its not much of a cliffhanger...but its one anyway! More coming soon!