A/N: Okay, in case none of you got it, that beginning scene in the last chapter was a flashback!  To make it more clear, we put this flashback in italics.  No, none of you actually said anything about being confused, but Ruth was sure that some of you were.  Anyways, that problem will not exist anymore, if any of you ever had it.  Okay, now to the disclaimer.

Disclaimer:  Well, Christmas is coming, so you never know, we might own Harry Potter after that.  But at the moment, we own nothing but a few items of clothing and some cds.  Sorry.

Chapter 3

The halls of Hogwarts were a place all too familiar for me.  I had walked these halls everyday for seven years.  But today, they were different.

Tall figures in black cloaks and strange masks marched up and down the corridors.  Death Eaters patrolling the school.  But the forms of students crumpled on the ground were even more frightening.  Some were probably injured, but I wasn't sure that all of them were still breathing. 

I stumbled.  At first I  was afraid that someone had grabbed onto my invisibility cloak.  I thought that one of the Death Eaters had caught me.  But then I saw that it was a body I had tripped over.  The body of Michael Corner lay sprawled over the floor.

I had never been particularly close to him, but since he was at the D.A. meetings, I got used to him being around.  I remembered when Ron found out he was dating Ginny, and when he finally got his Patronus down.  He was always making jokes, and now he was dead.

His eyes which were usually warm and sparkling with laughter were now cold and accusatory.  I could almost hear them speak to me.  "It's all your fault, Harry.  I'm dead and I blame you."

"No," I found myself thinking.  "No, it's not my fault.  Voldemort killed you."

"But you didn't kill him first," the eyes said.  "You didn't kill him and I died because of it."

Suddenly, the image of Ginny in the same position crept into my mind.  Ginny's warm brown eyes staring at me the same way.  This, more than anything motivated me to find Voldemort and kill him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ginny, dear, you're not eating," Molly said in a hushed voice, leaning across the table towards her daughter.

"It's not that, Mum.  Did it ever occur to you that I could just not be hungry?" Ginny snapped back. 

No, Molly thought, but didn't dare to say it out loud.  After what happened, I'll never think you're just not hungry again.

"I have to leave," Ginny said, interrupting Mrs. Weasley's thoughts.  The young girl dropped her napkin on her plate and practically running to the bathroom.

"Oh, dear.  What's wrong with her?" Molly said, beginning to rise herself.

"Molly, I'll go," Hermione said, standing up quicker.

"Oh, but you'd miss your dinner.  I can't let that happen," Molly said.  "And what if it's... that again."

"If it's that, then she wouldn't tell you about it.  And I'd rather miss my rehearsal dinner than my wedding," Hermione said as she got up and followed Ginny out.

"That was a bit odd," Percy commented, not actually adding anything helpful to the conversation.

"I wonder what's wrong with her," mused Ron, shoveling another mouthful of goose into his mouth.

"It could be nothing," remarked Arthur hopefully.

"What do you think, Draco?" asked Bill knowing that Draco knew the answer just as well as any of them.

"Well, it could be nothing.  It could be the stress of her new job.  It could be Molly's right, and it's that again.  She could be feeling bad about breaking up with that git, Malcolm. Or, you know, PMS.  Also, she could be secretly in love with me.  You never know."  There was a pause.  "Oh, it could also be that Harry Potter's in the lobby."

No one spoke.  No one moved.  Ron's fork actually froze midway to his mouth.

Luckily, Molly broke this silence when she pushed back her chair and began to stand.

"Sit down, Mum," Percy said, sounding appalled that his mother would even think of getting up.

"Why?" Molly asked, none-the-less taking a seat.  She could tell there was going to be a fight about this.  "Harry's out there, weren't you listening?"

"I was.  Weren't you?  Don't you remember that it's Harry Potter?" he said, stressing the last couple of words.

"He left you all, Mrs. Weasley," Draco said, his mouth full of food.  "No goodbye, or anything.  Just took off."

"He obviously wants to talk to us.  That's why he's here," Molly persisted.

"He doesn't deserve to talk to us, Mum," said Fred.

"No," George disagreed.  "He does.  Maybe he wants to apologize."

"I don't care!" Draco shouted.  "Damn it!  You all know what he did to Ginny by leaving, and you just want to welcome him back?"

"Who's back?" Luna asked, suddenly looking up from her plate.  This was one of the first things she had said during the dinner.  She had actually spent most of her time trying to make a sculpture of a thestral out of her mashed potatoes, which is more difficult than it sounds.

"He's like family," Molly said, her voice hardening.  "We can't just leave him out there.  Can we, Ron?"  She looked at her youngest son's place, but found no one there.  Ron wasn't at the table.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ron threw open the doubled doors has he burst into the lobby.  The sudden noise made several people out there jump.  His eyes scanned the room for Harry and finally found him facing the door as if he was about to leave.

Let him leave, Ron thought briefly, but couldn't just leave it at that.  He felt he had to go see him.  Just for a few minutes, he told himself.

For a short moment, he was worried that Draco might follow him out and attack Harry.  Or possibly Percy.  Or maybe his mum would come out and hug him and kiss him and tell him how much she missed him.  Of course, during all of this, Ron would get pushed to the side.  So he pulled out his wand and muttered a locking charm without a second thought.

He walked up behind Harry, who still stood facing the door.  Harry took a slow step toward it and reached out his hand to leave when Ron finally spoke.  "Running away, again?"

Harry spun around to face his old friend.  "Ron," was all he said.

"Hello, Harry.  I thought you might be gone."

"I was thinking about it."

"Of course you were," Ron said, putting all of the resentment he had held inside him since he left into those few words.  "That's what you seem to do best, isn't it?"

"Look, I told you.  It wasn't safe for you-"

"Like hell it wasn't!" Ron interrupted.  "You and I both know that we could take care of ourselves!"

Harry was silent.  Say something, damn it! Ron silently pleaded.  Yell at me!  Scream!  Tell me I'm wrong. 

Finally,  he did say something, but it wasn't what Ron expected.  "I missed you," Harry said dully.

"Of course you did," Ron said.  But he couldn't find it in himself to say that he missed him too.

"I heard you got married," Harry started after a couple moments of silence.

"Yeah.  For the past three years now," Ron agreed. 

"So I heard.  It's not to Hermione, I guess, is it?" Harry asked.

"Bloody hell!" Ron said laughing.  "Why would I marry Hermione?  Don't be ridiculous, Harry!"

"Well, you two were dating when..."  Harry floundered , not wanting to say the words, "when I left."

"Yeah.  But we had nothing in common, Harry.  Didn't you realize that.  We were just too different.  Now she's marrying someone much more on her level, and-"

"You mean Malfoy?" Harry interrupted loudly.  "I still can't believe that you're just going to let that  happen."

"Yes, well... he's not that bad once you get to know him," Ron said weakly.  "I mean he's... Ginny's friend.  He was kind of there for her after you... well, you know."  Ron found he couldn't say, "when you left," either.

"So, which lovely lady did you find to marry?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"I knew you were going to ask that!" Ron moaned.  "Okay, don't laugh."

"What?  I'm not going to laugh."

"Yes, you will.  Just remember, she's not as crazy as she looks."

"You didn't?" Harry exclaimed, thinking to himself who Ron just must have tied the knot with.

"Yeah.  It's Luna Weasley now," Ron said, shifting his eyes away from Harry's.

And Harry laughed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As soon as Ginny entered the bathroom she crumbled against the wall, and fell to a sitting position. Tears began to cascade down her face despite how hard she tried to stop them.  She heard the door open but didn't bother to see who it was.  It didn't matter.

Hermione wordlessly sat down next to Ginny and pulled her weeping friend in to her arms.  "It's alright, Ginny.  It's alright."  A few moments passed until Ginny was sure that if she cried any longer she would explode.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" Hermione asked softly.

Ginny began to speak so softly Hermione had to strain her ears to here what the other girl was muttering.  "He's not supposed to be here.  I don't know why he's here.  Draco wouldn't have invited him.  I thought he was dead.  Or perhaps I just hoped he was.  Well, maybe not dead, but that there was a reason he couldn't be here, a reason why he couldn't come back."

"Ginny, your not making any sense.  What is it?"

"It's him," Ginny said firmly, tears streaming down her face.  "But he's not supposed to be here."

"Who's here, Gin?"

"Harry.  Harry Potter."

A/N:  Don't you all love it?  What was that?  I can't here you, you probably don't live anywhere near us.  So you can either drive to where we live, which would be difficult because we're not telling you were we are, or you can leave us a review.  See, a review is a helpful little message that will show up on our computer.  It would be very helpful because then we will know that you love our story.

Okay, next chapter will involve another flashback.  Yay!  And some more of the fight at the table, which is always interesting.  We will also make up an original character with no lines. 

Now, I have succeeded in making this chapter six pages.  Go me.  I will leave you all alone now to go read other stories, hopefully by us.