Chapter Eleven: Loss

Harry had had to have faith that Dumbledore would proceed as necessary. It was difficult, however, to resist confronting the Baron himself. Harry knew, should he run into the ghost, it would be that much more difficult to resist addressing the situation directly with him, so he became quite adept at avoiding the halls and public areas of the school. He spent a great deal of his time in his classroom and office, and the remainder he split between his rooms and Ron's.

It was late one Friday evening, and they were playing a game of Wizard's Chess in Ron's lounge. Ginny had a study session with Luna, the two of them hoping to get a head start on their revisions for NEWTs, and Harry had decided that the last thing he needed was to sit brooding, alone, in his own lounge.

It had been three days since his talk with Dumbledore, and he rather had the feeling that, tonight, the temptation may prove to be too much, and he'd go looking for the Bloody Baron. Instead, he knocked on Ron's door shortly after they finished their evening session and challenged his friend to a game.

"So, what's up, Harry?" Ron said as he moved his rook, his eyes never leaving the chessboard.

"Up?"

"Come on, Harry. I've known you nearly eight years, and shared a dorm room with you for seven of those. What's up? Because I know something is."

"It's Dumbledore."

"Again?"

"Still," Harry corrected, reaching out to move his knight. The figure cringed, knowing where Harry was going to move it, and knowing he was about to be sacraficed to save the queen.

"What now?"

"This business with the ghost-hunter."

"He still hasn't told you?"

"He's told me who it is... but..."

"But?" Ron snorted doubtfully.

"If he breaches a confidence, Ron, and that causes us to lose the only chance we have..."

"Yes. Well, I see," Ron nodded. "You have to admit, if that's the case, he does rather have a point."

"Doesn't make it any less frustrating," Harry grumbled, watching as Ron moved his bishop, suddenly putting him into...

"Check," Ron said.

"Bloody hell," Harry muttered.

"Your mind really isn't on this," Ron commented, reclining back against the leather upholstery of the sofa he was sitting on. "You need a break, my friend."

"I..."

"Oh, Harry Potter, sir!"

Ron and Harry both turned, startled, their wands out and pointed at the small creature in the corner before they could think.

"Oh," the tiny Hogwarts house elf cringed, but didn't use his own magic against them.

"Sorry," Harry pocketed his wand. "I didn't mean to..."

"That is fine, Harry Potter, sir. Mr Wheezy, sir."

"What is it, then?" Ron asked, pocketing his wand. "Everything okay?"

"The Headmaster is looking for Harry Potter. I will tell him..." with a pop, the tiny elf was gone. Moments later, a knock sounded at the door. Ron was already halfway there.

"Ah, Harry... yes... the house elves found you... I must..." Dumbledore entered the moment Ron opened the door.

"Albus? What is it?" Harry could sense a tension around the old man as he entered, waving the door shut behind him.

"I am sorry to interrupt your recreation," he nodded at the board.

"It's fine. Ron was trouncing me, in any case. Is there a problem?"

"Harry..." Dumbledore glanced at Ron, then back. "Harry, we must speak."

"What is it, Albus?"

"Harry..."

"What?" Harry stiffened further. This was not good. "What now?"

"It's your aunt, Harry," Dumbledore said gently.

"Aunt Petunia?"

"Yes, she..."

"Professor?"

"There was an attack on her home last night."

"She's...?" Harry swallowed. "She's dead?"

"No, but Dudley..."

"Dudley's dead?" Harry felt numb. He hadn't cared for his cousin, but still, to hear of an attack on him, to know...

"No, no, but he... well, it's not good, Harry. During the attack, several... well, I can only call them Death Eaters, as we have no evidence to the contrary yet. Several Death Eaters attempted to harm your aunt. Dudley tried to defend her, and the results were... unexpected, to say the least."

Harry stared hard at the old wizard. Dumbledore shook his head, almost disbelievingly.

"I thought he was a Squib, Harry. I didn't realize..." Dumbledore sighed. "There is much I have missed. Much that is... unconscionable that I should have missed."

"Dudley did magic?" Harry didn't have time to deal with Dumbledore's apparent agitation. Dudley Dursley had... no!

"His reaction... well... it was rather... extreme. Totally uncontrolled... and, well..."

"Where are they?" Harry strode towards the door.

"Dudley is in St Mungoes... your aunt is with him."

"I have to go."

"Harry, he's not expected to live," Dumbledore's eyes showed his concern. "He's very badly injured. It was a very determined attack. You should prepare yourself."

"Prepare?" Harry snorted. "And just how do you suggest I do that?"

Dumbledore nodded once, sadly, and glanced at Ron. His eyes must have communicated something because Ron, without hesitating, grabbed his cloak and followed them.

"Come," Dumbledore strode down the dimly lit stone hallway. "We will use my floo."

Hermione and Ron stood in the hall outside the room that Harry had disappeared into. Hermione had tears running down her cheeks, and Ron was trying to comfort her, rather awkwardly.

"When will this be over for him?" she asked, her brown eyes turned up to him. "Why does it always have to be him?"

"I don't know," Ron said softly, staring at the closed door as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.

"I mean, the war is over! Or it's supposed to be! Didn't he do enough? Didn't he give up enough? Do they have to continue to..." she sobbed.

Ron was silent. He merely held her as she cried for both of them. He didn't know what else to do.

"Ginny should be here," Hermione whispered some time later. The tears had stopped, but they had made her voice low and gruff. Ron held her closer.

"Ginny needs to concentrate on her revising right now..." he began, sounding frighteningly like his mother.

"Ron!" Hermione looked at him, shocked.

"I promised her, Hermione. I told her I'd take care of him. That I'd be there when she couldn't be. Right now, she can't be."

"He needs her, Ron," Hermione stared, her disbelief obvious as she pulled away from him.

"Mione..."

"Imagine if it were you in that room, watching one of the twins die. Would you want to be alone? Or would you want me beside you?"

Ron's eyes darkened. After a moment, he nodded, "Perhaps you're right."

"You know I'm bloody right, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione's eyes snapped at him. "Now, get yourself to the message desk downstairs and send a bloody message to your sister!"

"Where is he?" Hermione heard them before she could see them. Ginny's voice was clear, Ron's mumbled reply unintelligible.

As they rounded the corner at the end of the hall, Hermione stood. The two redheaded Weasleys that approached could not have looked more different. Ginny, hair flying out behind her, looked angry. Her eyes snapped, and her entire physical presence spoke of disgust and concern.

Ron, on the other hand, looked contrite.

"I cannot believe, Ron, that you didn't come and get me before leaving Hogwarts! What were you thinking?"

Ron mumbled something more, but Ginny ignored him, striding quickly down the corridor.

"Hermione? Is he in there?"

"Yes, Ginny," Hermione nodded, pulling the other girl close and hugging her before quickly letting her go.

"Thank you for sending for me," Ginny said, her eyes filling with tears as she looked at the closed door. "Is he okay?"

"He hasn't come out since I arrived," Hermione said. "I haven't seen him."

"Hold this, will you?" Ginny handed Hermione her cloak and moved towards the doors before pausing. "You're staying?"

"We'll be right here," Ron confirmed.

Without another backward glance, Ginny entered the room, the door closing almost silently behind her. Hermione and Ron, after trading a relieved glanced, sat down again to wait.

Inside, the room was dimly lit. There were two candles in wall sconces, but the light was being kept low, ostensibly for the comfort of the occupant of the lone bed.

The large body in the bed was prone, eyes closed, hands lying where they'd been placed outside the thin hospital blanket. Beside the bed, two figures sat beside each other in straight-backed chairs.

"Gin..." Harry looked up.

"Hello, love," she moved forward, and into his arms as he stood. "Ron just owled me. I got here as quickly as I could."

"You shouldn't have come..." he said against her hair.

"Harry..!"

"...but I'm glad you did."

"Silly man. Of course I came," she held him tightly for a moment before pulling back. "How is he?"

"Not..." Harry glanced at his aunt, who sat staring at her comatose son. "Not well."

Ginny squeezed his arm, then moved over to the chair he'd abandoned, next to Petunia. Silently, she sat, and placed a hand on Petunia's arm. The older woman glanced over, her eyes took a moment to comprehend that someone new was there.

"Oh... Ginny..."

"Hello," Ginny said softly. "I came as soon as I heard."

"Good," Petunia looked back to Dudley. "Harry needs you."

Ginny nodded, then turned to look at the figure in the bed. Dudley Dursley had never been one of her favorite people, because of the pain he'd caused Harry, but even Ginny felt a moment's regret at the sight of him. It was very obvious that there was little hope. Tears in her eyes, she looked up over her shoulder at Harry.

He shook his head. There was no hope.

Sighing, she took Petunia's hand and waited. It wouldn't be long.

Dudley Dursley died shortly after two in the morning. Harry, Petunia and Ginny were there. At Petunia's cry of pain, Ron and Hermione had rushed into the room, to find Harry with his arms about the thin woman, and Ginny watching sadly as the Mediwitch pulled the sheet up and over the face of Harry's cousin. Hermione felt tears well in her eyes and instinctively turned into Ron's arms. Ron simply held her.

"Ron?"

Ron looked up at Harry's whisper.

"What do you need?" He asked. Harry looked... almost normal. There was a hardness in his bright green eyes, but otherwise, he looked as he always did. With a start, Ron realized that that, in itself, was disturbing. Why did anyone have to live a life where things like losing family became almost... commonplace? Ron knew that if it had been one of his family lying in that bed, he'd be in tears at the very least.

But then, if it were one of the Weasley family lying in that bed, Harry would very likely be in tears, as well.

"I'm taking my aunt back to the Manor. Can you meet us there?" Harry asked in that same calm voice.

"Of course," he agreed.

"You'll have to floo... I don't know what Dobby's done about the wards, but I asked him to make things a little more secure. You won't be able to get through the wards, otherwise."

"I'll bring the girls and be right behind you, Harry," Ron said softly.

"Bring Hermione," Harry responded, reaching out a hand, which Ginny took without hesitation. Abruptly, the three of them, Petunia support by Harry's left arm and Ginny holding his right hand, disappeared.

"Bloody hell, how does he do that?" Ron muttered.

Exiting the room, they nearly ran into Dumbledore.

"Ron?" the older wizard looked closely at him before glancing at the closed door behind them. He looked as though he'd just arrived. Remus Lupin was with him, looking rather rumpled, as though he'd been recently summoned from his bed.

"He's gone," Ron said, feeling Hermione shudder against his side. He pulled her tighter against him with his left arm, while fiddling with his wand in his right.

"Gone?" the old wizard paled.

"Dudley. He's gone."

"Harry?" Remus asked, concern darkening his normally pale eyes.

"He's taken his aunt and Ginny back to the Manor... we're on our way there now."

"He..."

"He apparated with the two of them, Albus," Ron said, looking meaningfully at the headmaster when his eyes brightened with surprise at hearing that Harry had apparated himself and two other adults through the wards at Potter Manor. "He asked that we follow by floo, and that is what Hermione and I are going to do. Right now."

"Of course," Dumbledore nodded, stepping aside for them to pass. "Of course. Go. I will... tend to things here."

"He's going to want..." Ron's eyes glanced back at the door. "I think he's probably going to want Dudley taken back to the Manor... to be... you know..."

"I will make the necessary arrangements here," Dumbledore agreed. "Tell Harry..."

"Professor?" Ron looked at him expectantly when the old wizard paused, staring off blankly.

"Tell Harry I will be there as soon as I can be," Dumbledore said quietly after a moment. "There are things that I must do."

Ron stiffened and took a breath. Harry needed his friends now. But Dumbledore had... Dumbledore was still the head of the Order, and things would have to be done... the Ministry...

"I'll tell him," Ron agreed.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione spoke, her eyes glinting.

"Miss Granger?"

"Don't be long."

Dumbledore's eyes met the young witch's and, after a moment, he nodded. "I will be there as quickly as possible, Miss Granger."

Upon arrival in the main hall at the Manor, Harry looked down at the woman in his arms, then up again into the sad, brown eyes of Ginny Weasley.

"Ginny, can you...?"

"Can you carry her, Harry?"

"Yes."

"Bring her up. I'll go on ahead and turn down the bed in the blue room."

With this, she dashed off, leaving Harry to lift his aunt into his arms and follow. As he entered through the door of the room his aunt had used during her stay at Potter Manor, he saw Ginny efficiently dealing with the bed, and turning down the light with a flick of her wand.

"Bring her here, Harry."

"I think she's passed out," he said worriedly.

"I think she's fallen asleep," Ginny whispered. "She's emotionally exhausted. Shock can sometimes do that."

"But..."

"Get Mum. I'll transfigure something for her to wear for tonight and get her changed. Go."

Harry left, pulling the door closed behind him, and turned towards the room the elder Weasleys occupied. He was halfway down the hallway when a door opened to his right. Before he realized what was happening, he had his wand out and pointed at the head of Bill Weasley.

"Whoa, Harry," Bill held up his hand. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my house, Bill," Harry said dryly as he holstered his wand.

"I know, but..."

"There's been another attack."

"What?" Bill was immediately fully awake and attentive.

"My aunt's home."

"Is everyone okay?"

"No," Harry took a breath. "I was just going to get your Mum. I've brought my aunt back here."

"I'll get her," Bill stepped out into the hall and turned right, heading towards his parents room. "Blue room?"

"Yes," Harry nodded, then turned back towards the room where Ginny was caring for his aunt.

Knocking lightly, he waited for Ginny's call before entering. He found her sitting on the side of the bed, holding his aunt's hand. Petunia slept.

"She's worn out, Harry," Ginny whispered. "Did you get Mum?"

"I ran into Bill. He's getting her," Harry nodded, standing next to the bed, uncomfortably trying to find somewhere to put his hands. Eventually, he simply stuck them in his pockets.

He wished Dumbledore was here. He needed to talk to him about the attack. He needed to yell at someone.

"Are you okay?" Ginny's soft voice reached him. He took a breath and looked down at her.

"I'll be fine."

"You're always fine, Harry. But are you okay?"

"I will be," he smiled. "Thanks."

Her eyes filled with tears, but she didn't have time to say anything more as the door opened and Molly bustled in.

"Oh, Harry... Ginny, dear! What's happened?"

"My aunt's home was attacked, Mrs Weasley," Harry said softly. "We've been at St Mungoes..."

"And they didn't keep her?"

"We weren't there for her, Mum," Ginny cast a meaningful look at Molly.

"Oh..." Molly looked up, then at Harry. "Oh, dear... oh, Harry... your cousin...?"

"He's dead," Harry said before turning away. "I'm sorry, I... can you see to her? I'm expecting Dumbledore, and Ron and Hermione should be here by now. I..."

"I'll see to her, Harry," Molly said softly. "But you..."

Harry silently left the room.

"Ginny?" Molly turned worried eyes to her only daughter.

"He'll be fine, Mum," Ginny said. "He just needs time to... to assimilate it all. He didn't like his cousin much, but..."

"But it's difficult, I know. Perhaps he could use a cup of tea, love?"

Ginny looked up at her mother, who looked at the door encouragingly.

"You'll be alright here?"

"I'll see to her," Molly agreed.

"Harry thought she'd passed out, but I think it's just... shock. I think she's just fallen asleep."

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll see to her, Ginny. You go. He needs you."

"Thanks, Mum," Ginny said as she stood and left, quickly heading to the kitchen to make tea. She was certain where she'd find him, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't be alone.

I do so enjoy reading your comments! You didn't expect me to just... explain? Did you? Really? LOL! Keep reading!

CQ

RyougaZell: Not being an expert on genetics or lycanthropy, I can only repeat what my muse is telling me – that it's not hereditary... but I could be wrong. For the purposes of my story, I'm saying no. Remus is simply afraid of hurting a child, as he was hurt, and perhaps a bit leary of being hurt himself. He comes across as a man who cannot understand what a woman might see in him, doesn't he?

LadyIlana: I would imagine it would depend on Tonks' own feelings on the matter, but I'm rather thinking that direction is direction, and perhaps even Tonks wasn't fully aware of the nature of her vows.

JapaneseJew: The reason this sort of vow hasn't been outlawed by the Ministry (simply frowned upon), is that it is by personal choice. The vows that Tonks took certainly wouldn't affect her children's ability to choose. Oh, and ghosts can ABSOLUTELY interact!

Kazziedal: Oh, no! Temperatures are never fun, especially when they're little. My son had a temp of 104 once and scared about five years off my life. Hope the girls are better!

WolfsScream: Hmm... yes... I do have my rather pitiful attempts at dry wit...

CharminglyHolly: Miss Pickles? LOL! Yes, very strong bonds can give someone the ability to choose. But what would they choose?

LarnaMandrea: Horses? Cable boxes? Sounds... painful. For the horse. Do tell. And you're not allowed to hate Harry, at least not here. I've killed him off once for you, already, you bloodthirsty woman you!

LittleTom45: That is so nice of you to say! You should write something. Good readers make good writers. Let me know when you write something, I promise to review!

Trixie7: You're going to have to wait for the answers to your questions, sorry!

Bouncerok: Thanks! I may consider some one shots based on this story... but only after HBP!

Weselan: I'll maybe do a one shot about the background on the Bloody Baron after... or maybe I won't have to once the story is told!

Thank you, also, to: BrittSchrick, StEmo, Shotgunn, JainaSanri, Gerie, SugarBear, NightGames, Manatheron, HeartofGryffindor89, harryginnyluv4ever, Imgonnadie, AlliBaby, FroBoy, Kordolin, SabineStrohemMoss, SilverWarrior, YelloWitchGrl, OldCrow, Starnat