Disclaimer: This is so boring! It's not mine, its J.K.Rowling's. She'd sue my arse if I didn't say it.

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Thank you's: My Beta Dom, Smoothie (Look at you go!), icanreadncount, snogging withdrawal, shadowmenatemyjello, J wish, Raven Eid, Karen1,

Thank you all for reviewing!

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A.N.: Last chapter I completely forgot to mention any of the other characters, and for this I apologize, especially since I made a promise to Bella Mia all those chapters ago. This chapter you get your wish(. This chapter is focussed on all the other characters, and no mention will be made to Ginny or Draco (and believe me, he complained).

*** What Of The Others? ***

Dumbledore sat at his desk, looking around at his office. It was nearing the end of the half term holidays, and the school was emptier then he had ever remembered. All the parents were terrified that Hogwarts was about to be attacked, and they therefore wanted their children safe at home. He didn't know how to make them understand that Hogwarts was the safest place for them.

A knock startled him, and he realised sadly that he really was getting old. He should have known that someone was coming to the door. He senses were dulling.

"Come in." He called, and smiled when Minerva walked in, but it faded slightly when he saw her expression, "What has happened? Another attack?"

"No, nothing so terrible, just something worrying." She explained, and handed him a piece of parchment, "Severus just received it, and he is quite worried."

The parchment was opened, and the wax was broken, but Dumbledore recognized it as the Malfoy Seal. He disliked Lucius Malfoy greatly, but felt that young Draco had some good in him, and it could only be Draco that this letter was about.

Dear Severus, I understand that we are not on the best terms, mainly because of your.disloyalty, but as my son's head of house it is to you I must write this letter. Draco will not be returning to Hogwarts after the holidays, in fact, he will not be returning at all. I have decided that his education would be best carried out in a different environment, and am pleased to say that he has been accepted to a very prestigious school. I will ask that you do not try to contact him, as your role as his teacher is now over. Any attempt you do make will be seen as overstepping your bounds, and certain measures will be put in place to assure my sons safety. Yours sincerely

Lucius Malfoy

"What do you think Albus?" Minerva asked after he placed the letter down on his desk.

"Many things, but most importantly that Lucius Malfoy has lost control of his son, and is trying to hide it from us." Dumbledore said, he pale blue eyes darkened with anger, "And that he intends to dispose of his son when he finds him."

"We have to stop him!" The sever woman's eyes were softened, and on the verge of tears, "We should have realised that something was wrong when we got all those alerts about him using magic. It's just that he always does, and the Ministry is too scared of Lucius to do anything about it. We have to find him."

"We must, but Draco will not have made it easy for us. No doubt he has gone into hiding, and it will be quite difficult for me to track him down."

"But you can do it?" Minerva asked.

"Yes, but that is not the only task we have." His eyes levelled with hers, and it was clear that this mission was falling to her, "We have to find out what made Draco run away, and what has made Lucius want to kill his only heir."

***

Lucius threw the paperweight at Damien Zabini, who barely ducked in time.

"This isn't my fault!" Damien shouted angrily. It had been a day since Draco's kidnap of Weasley, and there was no sign of him, "If you hadn't started beating him like you had, he wouldn't have done this."

"Don't you dare tell me how to raise my son." The taller man growled, "I can't believe that you were unable to disarm a sixteen-year-old!"

"I can't believe that you can't find him! Where could he hide?" Zabini demanded.

"I don't know! I went to Gringotts and cancelled his account, so he won't have any money, but there was something strange there. They were so.polite. Yes, I know they're always polite, but it was different this time." Malfoy sighed, collapsing on his chair, "We're going to have to tell him."

"What does it matter? The experiment was a failure anyway." He shrugged, looking at all the screens that were now empty, "All that's left is to track down the children and kill them."

"You do realise that you're asking me to murder my own son."

"Yes." Zabini nodded, "Why?"

"Oh, no reason, I was just checking that we were on the same page."

***

Dean Thomas sat in his room his eyes closed gently. He could hear his brother pounding music through the walls and was trying to tune it out. His whole family were Muggles, and the only thing they could comprehend about the situation was that his girlfriend had been killed in an accident. They couldn't understand that it was murder, and that there was going to be a lot more of it.

"Dean." His mother poked her head round the door, "Do you want something to eat?"

"No." He answered bluntly, much to his mother's disappointment.

"Oh, come on, just a bite?" She wheedled, but he just turned his back to her, and a moment later she left.

He got up and walked to his draw, taking out a few of his drawing pads. Most were from before Ginny had died, and many were pictures of her. He had always prided himself on his drawing skills, and his pictures of her reflected most of his skills. It looked sometimes like the pictures were alive, almost as if they were moving. He could almost see the twinkle in her brown eyes.

But the pictures from after Ginny's death were different. There was no twinkle in her eyes, and they all looked slightly wrong, out of proportion somehow. It was as if all his pictures had captured a bit of her essence, and now that she was dead, that essence wasn't there anymore. All the pictures he drew of her now were dead. She was gone, and her beauty could no longer be trapped on paper. As he looked at his previous drawings, he could see them loose their light too, as every thing that made Ginny who she was slipped out of them.

He couldn't know it, people never could, but it wasn't Ginny's death that had caused this loss, it was death inside of him.

***

Harry stood by the grave of his Godfather, looking at the sun set. Ron and Hermione had offered to come with him, but he had wanted to come alone. It had been months since the man's death, but the pain Sirius's memory caused was still fresh.

"Hi." He whispered, sitting down in front of it, "Sorry I havn't visited in a while, there's been school and stuff."

He pulled the dead flowers off the grave and replaced them, smiling weakly. It was a cold day, and it was getting dark, but Harry had no intention of going back to the Weasley's yet.

"I know I havn't visited since the summer, and I'm sorry, but so much has been happening, there wasn't time." He looked down sadly, "Ginny and Neville are dead, but I guess you probably know that, wherever you are. It was the Death Eater's; they blew up Flourish and Blotts. Ron got inside afterwards, it was pretty bad. He didn't see Ginny, thank god, but he did see Neville. He's doing well, I suppose, better then I did after you died. He's not being stupid and pushing us away, he's pulling us close, like he's scared that if he doesn't he'll loose us too. And I can't tell him that he won't because he might. Ginny and Neville and the other's, they're just the first. People are going to keep on dying, and people are going to expect me to do something about it. When you were around I felt that if I failed it was ok, coz you'd like me all the same, but what about now? There's The Weasley's, I guess, and Hermione, but it's not the same."

He stood up, wiping his eyes of the tears that had appeared, "Sorry bout that, I try not to cry." He smiled crookedly at the gravestone, "Me and Remus will come by soon. We're both staying with the Weasley's at the moment, but I've got a room in his apartment, and I stayed there a lot over the summer. We're talking about moving into your old house, coz I'd be safe there, but I dunno. I'll see you soon."

With that he walked back to the old church house, and flooed home.

***

It had been like this for weeks, they'd act normal while there were people with them, play fight, joke around, but as soon as they were alone they'd fall into each other's arms.

Harry had left soon after dinner, and they had quickly excused themselves, and returned to Ron's room. They had sat on the bed for a moment, not doing anything, and then Ron had lifted his hand to her head, and taken a lock of her golden brown hair between his fingers.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" He whispered. She closed her eyes, and shook her head. She never knew what to say when he complimented her, "You really are. I don't know how I never noticed it before."

"Oh Ron." She sighed, laughter in her voice, "I'm not."

"Yes you are Hermione, you're beautiful." He kissed her eyelids, stroking her face, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'd do fine, silly." But deep in her heart she knew he wouldn't. The first time they had kissed he had cried, silently. He thought she hadn't noticed, but she had noticed the tear drops on her collar.

"Hermione.do you love me?" He asked quietly. The question startled her for a moment, and the hesitation caused Ron to stop.

"Oh Ron. Yes, I love you." It wasn't exactly true, but it was only a half lie. She'd be in love with him soon enough. And besides, when he muttered into her ear over and over that he loved her, she knew that it was only a half-truth too.

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Sorry for a pitifully short chapter, but it was just to make up for the lack of any other characters in the last one. Hope you're happy Bella Mia!