Chapter one

Returning Home

She stood in the dark on the front porch for several minutes before chastising herself. "You're just being silly. There's nothing in there that should stop me. It's my house now anyway." She mumbled to herself. She waved her wand at the door to release the many locks and wards. The large door creaked as it opened to expel the smell of dust and old air. Kali stepped back as the initial waft blew by her and allowed a breeze from behind her to blow some fresher air into the house. She then ventured through the door. She cast lumos to light her wand as she looked around the front hall.

She felt as if the ghosts of her parents could burst forth at any moment. She sneezed abruptly as the dust filled her nose. Never had she known it possible for so much dust to accumulate in one place. The sconces on the walls were so full of dust and cobwebs she dared not light them for fear of engulfing the house in flames. She sighed to herself, silently wishing she had arrived while the sun still shone to provide her with some light beyond that of her wand.

She returned to the porch to retrieve her luggage and brought in up the stairs with her to her old bedroom door. It felt strange to be in the house knowing that no one else was there. She set her bags against the wall nearest her door, and stood in front of it. She opened the door with a creak, and found it as she had left it 15 years before. Laundry half hanging out of a basket in the corner, a drawer not pushed all the way in, a few pictures tucked into a mirror so covered in dust she could barely see her reflection. She cast a few spells to rid the room of the worst dust, and another to get rid of the dirty sheets. Too tired to do much else, she pulled a blanket from her bags and changed into her nightclothes to curl up on the bed. She was asleep within moments of her head hitting the pillow and she began to dream.

She was sitting in the headmaster's office with her hands folded in her lap. Two men from the ministry were there to question her, and the headmaster was encouraging her to answer them.

"What exactly went on that night Miss Kole?" The slightly balding man asked.

Kali sat quietly for a moment while the evening flashed through her mind. "I got into an argument with my parents…. I don't know what got me upset, but I yelled at them for ignoring me and told them I was leaving. I went up to my room and got my bag. …As I was about to head down the stairs, there was a knock at the door, so I went down the back stairs and out the kitchen…I had planned on walking down to the main road and calling the knight bus." She stopped, not wanting to relive the rest of that night.

"Please, Miss Kole. We need to know exactly what happened. Why did you not just apparate? You have a license." The man said.

Kali glared at him. "I didn't apparate because I only just got my license and don't particularly like to."

"Alright Miss Kole. He wasn't trying to upset you; he is just trying to do his job. If you could continue..." The other, younger man said.

"I was walking down through the woods at the back of the house," she paused for a moment and glanced at the headmaster before continuing. "I heard someone nearby. All I could tell was that they were wearing a large black cloak and a white mask. As soon as they passed by, I ran. Then I heard my mother begin to scream…she screamed and screamed and didn't stop." She paused to take a deep breath. "I ran until I got to the edge of the forest and I knew I had to get help so I tried to apparate to Hogwarts. I know you can't just apparate strait onto school grounds, but I thought I knew the gates well enough to make it. I almost splinched myself…I know it…I was too tired…. I got inside the gats, and I stumbled in the dark and fell. I hit my head…I should have been able to make it…I didn't really hate them…if I had made it…" she began to cry silently, and Dumbledore came over and patter her on the shoulder.

"Thank you Kali, I believe the men have everything they need for now." He turned towards the two men and began to usher them out the door. "Now gentlemen, I'm sure madam Pomfrey will be more than happy to verify that we found miss Kole just inside the gates and answer any other questions you may have. If you have any other questions, please let us know." And he shut the door.

"I'm sorry, Professor…I shouldn't have gotten upset." Kali said quietly

"It's quite alright my dear. It will take time for you to deal with all that has happened, and you also are not fully rested." He said. Then he sat in a chair by her and offered her a lemon drop.

"No thank you sir…but there is something I should tell you," she said looking up into his blue eyes. "I don't know how to explain it, but the man in the woods…I didn't see him just wander by. He apparated just in front of me and I ran into him. He should have brought me back to the house, I'm sure of it, but instead he told me to run, that he would make sure they didn't see me. Why do you suppose he did that? If he was a death eater, why would he help me?" she asked.

"You are indeed luckier than I first thought," Dumbledore said. "You were quite right in not telling the ministry. If a death eater did regret his choices, it would be very hard for him to escape Voldemort. If the ministry knew, they'd try to find him and put him in more danger than he already is. For now, it's best if you just forget it and try to rest. We'll need to think about what you plan to do now, but we'll not do that until later. For now you should go and get some rest." He said as he stood and offered her a hand up. He led her to the door and paused. "I want you to know that you can always come to me when you are need of help Miss Kole. No matter how trivial it may seem."

Kali woke to the suns rays trying to reach her though the grimy window. She groaned and buried deeper into the blanket. She didn't want to have to deal with anything just yet.

Arthur Weasley walked into the kitchen of the burrow and gave his wife a peck on the cheek. Molly chuckled at him and brushed him away as she began cooking dinner.

"Do we know how many it will be tonight? He asked with a grin. He never really knew how many of his 7 children would be at the dinner table, let alone other friends who would stop by.

"Well, let's see…Remus said he might be getting back in time to come over for dinner tonight, Fred and George will no doubt come over after closing up that blasted shop of theirs as they never seem to cook for themselves, Moody said something about stopping by later to finish a game of chess with Ron and Bill said he had some time off this week and would be over to see Ginny and Ron while they here. That would be 9 I think so of course I'm making for 12." She replied rolling her eyes. "You'd think the numbers would go down as the children grew older," she mumbled as she headed down into the pantry. Just as she disappeared down the stairs, a pair of pops were heard and Fred and George appeared in the kitchen with their father.

"Hey Dad!" "How did work go?" they asked, pulling out chairs at the table to sit.

"Exhausting as usual. There never seems to be an end to the paperwork, and we've just got word of some flying carpets being smuggled in. How about you, boys?"

But before they could answer Ginny came running in. "Dad! Ron's trying to steal my letter from Harry just because he didn't get one this morning from Hedwig!" she said in a rush.

Molly came back up the stairs with a bag of potatoes and a bag of flour in the other. "Ginny, did I just hear you say that Ron's looking for Harry's letter? I think Errol just brought one in and I haven't had time to find him yet. If you would dearie, that should solve the whole mess."

Just as she headed for the stairs, the front door opened and Remus and Bill came in.

"Bill!' Ginny cried and flew across the room to see him. He picked her up and swung her around, causing Remus to jump for cover or suffer being hit in the head by Ginny's shoes.

"Hello Gin, where's my tonic." He laughed as his mother glared at him from the kitchen.

"Hello Weasley's", Remus said. "Have enough for a hungry overworked man?" he chuckled. It always raised his spirits to see this family together.

"Come in! Come in!" Mrs. Weasley called. "Have a cup of tea as I cook. I'm sure you can find something to talk with Arthur about. You too Bill. Come have a seat."

"I'll be there in a minute Mum." He called towards the kitchen before looking down at his baby sister. "Where's that annoying brother of yours?" he asked.

"Which one?" she asked rolling her eyes. They were all annoying at some point or another. "Fred and George are in the kitchen and Ron's probably still sulking cause I won't let him read my letter."

"Since when has Ron had an interest in your quill comrade?" he said, knowing she had friend she wrote to all the time.

"Since I started getting letters from his best friend" she said.

"Ah, that makes more sense. Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. He's probably either a) jealous cause he feels your taking away his friend, or b) trying to look out for you, which he'll get over in time to some degree. Now let's go see if we can find him."

The both went up the stairs to Ron's door and Bill knocked quickly before sticking his head in the small room. "You gonna hide away in here all day, or come give you're big brother a welcome home for his vacation?" Bill said.

"Bill! I didn't know you were coming over. Maybe you can make Ginny let me see Harry's letter." He said waving for him to come in. Bill came over and ruffled his little brother hair and laughed when Ginny followed him in and glared at Ron.

"Remind me to thank Mum for charming my door so you couldn't get into my room when I wasn't there." She said.

"You know I'll help you with just about anything Ron, but I've learned not to get involved with arguments with women involves, and Ginny is too close for me to chance it," Ron's face fell in defeat as Bill said this, and Ginny blushed scarlet. "But if you both promise not to let Mum catch you with them, I made a stop at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and wasn't allowed out of the door until I got something. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and enlarged it with a swish of his wand. He then opened it and pulled out two hats. He handed one each to Rona and Ginny. He also pulled out a few canary creams and gave them to them. "I also have some of their fireworks, but I thought they could wait until a bit later tonight. Mum can't complain too much if I suggest setting them off. Just don't let her catch you wandering around without your head. K?" he said

"Thanks Bill, Hermione said these hats were pretty cool." Ginny said giving her brother a hug.

"I always knew you were the coolest, Fred and George barely even let me in the store unless someone else is there with me." Ron grinned, knowing full well, that he was a klutz when left to himself, especially now after he had grown again.

"They kept pushing me towards the skiving snack boxes but I figured I'd really get in trouble if you got caught with that. So stash those somewhere that Mum won't find them and come on downstairs."

"Oh, Ron, I almost forgot, Mum said there was a letter for you that just came a bit ago." Ginny said and quickly left to go hide her gifts in her room.

Bill went back down to the kitchen and gave his mother a kiss and hug before he sat at the table to join the conversation. It seems Lupin had just gotten back from Little Whinging where he had visited with Harry and Mrs. Figg.

"Oh Bill," His father said when the conversation lagged. "I heard something today you might be interested in. I was talking to Madam Edgecombe today and she said something about the floo being reconnected at the old Kole house. Isn't that the name of the girl you knew at school?' he asked.

Bill paused a moment, "Kali Kole, yeah. Did she say whether it was her? She may have sold the house finally. I don't think she's been back to it since she left school." He asked remembering her saying she never wanted to go back.

"Well, I never heard anything about it being on the market, and she would have to go back to release the wards anyway. When's the last time you heard from her?" Arthur asked his son

"I got a letter about a year ago saying she felt she was getting close to some big breakthrough in her research…I wonder if she has finally decided to come home." He mumbled, and then turned to his mother. "How much time before dinner Mum? Think I have time to go invite a few extra guests?" he asked.

"Well, if you don't lollygag, I guess you might have time. I'll hold off for an hour, but if you aren't back by then, we'll dig in and you can join when you get back." She said, knowing full well how hard it was to keep a bunch of boys from food.

"I'll not take too much time." He said as he rose from his seat. He waved at the others ands said, "I'll be back in a bit then," and apparated away.

Kali had just pulled her hair back after getting out of a much-needed shower when she heard a knock at the door. Wondering who could have found out she was there so quickly, she went to go answer it. She looked through the cloudy glass to see two people standing on her porch.

"Professor Dumbledore!" She exclaimed as she opened the door, immediately recognizing her old headmaster. "I wasn't expecting you…" she said as she turned her eyes to look at the other man in front of her. Something in the way he grinned at her sparked a memory, and seeing his long red hair and the mischievous glint in his eyes she suddenly couldn't believe it.

"Weasley…Bill Weasley?" She asked, as her eyes grew round in disbelief. The last time she had seen him was at her graduation when he was 16. She could barely see the gangly teen in the tall man in front of her.

"Hello, Kali. Welcome back! I heard you were here thought you'd like to see a few familiar faces and have a hearty dinner." He said with a wide grin.