Harry Potter and the Mysteries Within

Chapter Three – Welcome Home

Harry couldn't understand it. Here he was, pointing his wand at the space where the Burrow should have been, while the others were already walking along the track. How could they not have noticed that the house wasn't there?

"Why have you got your wand out, Harry? What is it?" Tonks said. The group had stopped walking and were peering at Harry as if his head had turned into that of a Grindylow's. Only Moody had the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

"Did you forget to do something, Tonks...something that Potter might have needed for him to come here?

"Umm...nope, don't think so…," Tonks replied, with a comically bemused expression on her face.

"Where has the Burrow gone? I can't see it, why?" Harry spoke.

"Oh..." Tonks said simply, a look of dawning comprehension written in her facial features. She walked up to Harry and pulled out a small piece of parchment from her cloak. She handed this to Harry, who put his wand away and read.

'The Weasley family home – "The Burrow" – is located on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon'

And a split second after Harry had read the message written in green ink, the Burrow appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. It was as if the whole house and garden had apparated onto the field at the end of the dirt track.

"That better, Potter?" Moody asked.

"Yeah," Harry said, relief and understanding washing over him. "So this means that Tonks is the Weasley's secret keeper... and that the house is invisible to everyone unless Tonks tells them otherwise?" It all made sense to him now.

"Pretty much," beamed Tonks.

"Dumbledore's idea of course. He's done the same with Hermione, Neville and Luna's houses. Used up a great deal of the Orders resources. Since what happened the other month, Voldemort has become aware of the relationships you share with these people, and we think that it would be best if they are protected, just to be safe." Kingsley said. Harry wondered who the secret keepers would be for the other three houses. He supposed more members from the Order were the most likely bet.

By now Harry, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley and the Weasley twins had entered the garden of the Burrow. The kitchen door flew open, and, quite predictably, Mrs Weasley came rushing out, apron on and arms open. She hurried over to Harry and wrapped him up in the motherly embrace that only she could provide.

"You know, I always thought we were her son's, not Harry," George said to Fred, although they were both smiling.

After living with the Dursley's for 10 years before attending Hogwarts, Harry had never hugged or been hugged. But Molly was the closest person he had to a mother by far, and although he was sometimes embarrassed by the attention, deep down Harry was eternally grateful for Mrs. Weasley's insistence that he was a part of the family.

Mrs. Weasley broke away from Harry and held him at arms length by the shoulders.

"Welcome home, Harry" she said

Harry smiled back and said, quietly so that no one else could hear, "Thanks, Mrs. Weasley, really. You don't know how much that means to me."

"Oh don't be silly" she said, hugging him again. "Ron and Ginny are in the den, why don't you go and see them? No no, don't worry about your trunk and Hedwig" she said as Harry made for Fred and George to reclaim his possessions, "These two can manage them!"

So Harry made his way into the house, through the kitchen and to the den, where he found Ron and Ginny sitting in deep concentration under the window, playing Wizard Chess. By the looks of things, the two youngest red- heads were fairly evenly matched at the game.

Harry closed the door behind him, which made Ginny jump, and Ron looked up at Harry.

"Alright mate? Get here in one piece, then?" he asked jokingly.

"Yeah. It's great to be back here" Harry said as Ginny stood up.

"And it's great to have you back where you belong" Ginny said. She walked up to the new arrival, kissed him in a friendly manor on the cheek and wrapped him in a tight hug. Harry bowed down a little so that his mouth was next to Ginny's ear, and whispered "I need to talk to you later, alone."

She released Harry, and the two shared a second of meaningful eye contact. Ron, who was world-renowned for his observation skills, particularly when it came to relationships, failed to notice this encounter, and challenged Harry to play the winner of the Ron/Ginny Wizard Chess match – "Harry, when I whip Ginny at chess do you fancy a game?" On the board, Ginny's Queen hissed at Ron and Ginny glared at him so intently that Ron had no option but to apologise sincerely, unless he wanted to live in fear of a certain bat bogey hex for the next month or so.

And Ginny went on to win the game...

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing chess in the den. Ginny continued her run by beating Harry, and then Ron again. In the end she was only beaten when Ron and Harry joined forces. With Fred. And George...

After dinner that night, Harry excused himself from the table and went out to sit on the porch. He had found out during previous summers at the Burrow that the porch was about the only place in the house where there was a chance that it could be quiet for a while.

"If you're going to be living with us Harry, you really need to get better at chess. I need some competition!" Ginny was stood at the open door, and began walking towards Harry. Harry looked up at her and smiled. He couldn't help but notice how her auburn red hair shone in the light coming from the kitchen door behind her as she sat down next to him.

"Want some company?" she asked.

"Sure" came his reply. They sat in silence for a few minutes, Harry lost deep in thought. So deep in fact that he failed to notice when Ginny rested her head on his shoulder. Or so Ginny thought.

'This is nice' Harry thought. He had noticed Ginny place her head on his shoulder, but he didn't mind and he didn't do anything to stop her. It just felt right to Harry. He couldn't understand what he was feeling at the moment. He was happy, obviously, because he was back at the Burrow. But there was something else. At that precise moment, Harry felt content to be alone with Ginny. She wasn't like Ron and Hermione. They were his best friends, but he knew that they would question him on how he was feeling and how he was holding up after yet another loss in his life. And Harry knew he wasn't ready to talk about it. Being with Ginny just made things simpler. He could talk about normal things and be a normal teenager with her, but with everyone else he was always 'the boy-who-lived'.

The silence that they shared wasn't uncomfortable, but rather a mutual unspoken agreement. Ginny knew that Harry needed his space. After all the things he had been through recently, Ginny didn't want Harry to go back into his shell and seal off all of his emotions, like he had done in the past. She had only just got to a place where they were good friends, and she didn't want to ruin that by probing into things that he evidently didn't want to talk about. So she allowed Harry to sit in peace. She would be there for him if he wanted to speak about anything, and if not, then so be it. She was just glad that he didn't seem to mind her company, even if they remained in silence. To Ginny, any time with Harry was time well spent. She had said last year that she was over her crush on him, but deep down Ginny knew that wasn't true. She had told herself constantly since second year that she had to deal with it and move on, but she couldn't do it. So she had put her feelings to the side and had concentrated on her school work and being happy without Harry. After last year though, they had grown to be good friends and that was all Ginny could ever hope for. Well, maybe not all...

"Ginny?" Harry said, after a good ten minutes of silence.

"Hmm?" she replied, taking her head from his shoulder and looking into his brilliant green eyes.

"I need to thank you."

"What do you need to thank me for, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Well...you see... after, you know, what happened, you have been the only person who I've been able to talk to without being asked how I'm coping with it all, or without being spoken to like I might break at any time. So thanks...you know. With you I can have a normal conversation and...and...be normal."

"Oh come on Harry, you don't need to thank me. I'm just doing what friends do, you know that."

"Yeah I suppose so. But thank you any way, I just need you to know that I really appreciate you being around."

Ginny reached over and hugged Harry, which lasted for quite a few minutes, both sitting in quiet content, neither one feeling uncomfortable. When they broke apart, Harry continued. "It's hard, you know, knowing that what I did could have hurt any one of you – all of you, and for what? He died, Ginny, he died because of me, and I'm going to have to live with that forever."

"Harry, what happens, happens. This is a war, and people are going to get caught up in it. You can't go blaming yourself for that. Sirius came to save you, and he died trying to protect the most important person in his life. You can't blame yourself for that Harry, because you would have done exactly the same thing. It's what you were doing in the first place, if you remember, trying to save Sirius. It's what any of us would have done, and it was the right thing to do. I hope one day you'll realise that. It wasn't your fault, Harry," Ginny said, almost whispered. It was about time this got through to Harry, she thought.

"It was, though. If I hadn't been so stupid…" He paused, gathering his thoughts.

"I actually wanted to dream about the Department of Mysteries to see what was behind that black door, did you know that? I was too selfish and nosey to see the bigger picture! If I had learnt occlumency and not let some petty dispute with Snape get in the way, then I could have stopped it, and Voldemort wouldn't have got into my head, and Sirius would still be here!"

"No Harry" Ginny said. She couldn't believe how much guilt he actually carried with him. She had known that he was blaming himself, but never knew just how deep this guilt went. "If anyone is to blame, then it's Tom Riddle. It was his plan. Or Bellatrix. How evil can she be, after what she did to Neville's parents, and then her own cousin?" Ginny paused and studied Harry. It looked like he had closed his emotional drawbridge yet again, and Ginny knew it was almost pointless in continuing, at least tonight any way. Ginny never was one for giving in easily, though.

"Harry, just remember that Sirius cared for you so much that he went to save you, he risked being found by the Ministry and everything. He wouldn't want you to blame yourself for what happened, and somewhere inside you, you know that."

And he did know that. What Ginny was telling him made sense. He wouldn't be able to stop the guilt that he felt every time he heard his godfather's name, but what Ginny had said made everything clear to Harry. It wasn't his fault, it was Voldemort's, and it was Bellatrix's. Harry made a promise to himself right then. They would both pay for what they had done, not just to Harry, but to his friends also. Harry would make them pay.

"See, that's what I was talking about" Harry said after a couple of minutes. "All I need to do is talk to you, and the world doesn't seem so bad." He went red in the face after saying that. It had come out a bit too forward for his liking.

"Anytime Harry" Ginny said, and for the third time that day she gave him a hug, all be it a briefer one than before, before saying good night and rising to leave.

"Ginny…"

"Harry?"

Harry paused, not quite knowing why he had called her.

"Erm…nothing… Night," he said, subconsciously turning away from Ginny.

Ginny paused at the door and watched Harry for a moment, before retreating back into the house, lost deep in thought.

Outside, Harry sighed into the still night air, musing over what Ginny had said. She was right, Harry knew that. But what he didn't know was at what point he had started to like her as more than a friend...

End of Chapter 3

A/N - Sorry if this chapter is a little slow, just setting the scene...it gets better...honest...