Okay, I have received a serious honor this week, folks, and I just have to rave a little bit. I have had some of the most amazing reviewers here, and someone just made my day...week...month! I started writing fanfiction as an amusement, it quickly became a regular hobby, and now probably borders on a rather unhealthy addiction, but through it all I have been encouraged by the people who read what I write. Your encouragement, the corrections, the con-crit, all of it has given me back something I thought I'd lost years ago.

Yesterday, I received notice from a reader that I now have a fanlisting. I thought she was joking... until I got her email telling me where to go to find it. It's here: geocities dot com slash brittsfanlistings slash creativequill.html. Forgive me for the blatant plug... but I am so unbelievably touched I had to share.

I can't thank any of you enough. Keep doing what you do. I don't think most of you understand what an honest review gives to someone who really, really wants to write, and write well. It's invaluable, so please, keep it up – it's so very important that we encourage those who would like to be writers, young and old alike, and such a tragedy what can be lost with a few uncaring words.

CQ

Chapter Three: Strengths and Weaknesses

"You weren't going to tell me, were you?" Ginny asked, her eyes full of tears.

"We hadn't gotten that far in the plan, Ginny," Harry said from where he sat on the edge of her bed. She had her back to him, staring out the window. "We don't even have a plan yet. I hadn't considered taking anyone... Ron and Hermione... well, I don't imagine I could stop them if I tried."

"Well, you can't stop me, either, Harry Potter!" She rounded on him furiously.

"Ginny, no..." Harry looked up at her. "Ginny, this is going to be really dangerous... and it's not going to be an overnight..."

"You think... you think I'd be a liability, don't you?"

"No, of course not. I just..."

"Don't you patronize me, Harry! Don't you dare!" She stood over him, looking down at him. Harry hadn't seen her this angry in a long time.

"Ginny," Harry rose from where he'd been seated and took her arms in his hands, holding her in one place, looking into her fiery eyes, trying to make her listen. "I'm not. Don't you see?"

"See what? I see that the three of you... oh, never mind!"

"Ginny, I couldn't bear for..."

"Hey, what's going on?" Ron said from the doorway. Hermione stood behind him.

"I'm just..." Harry sighed. "Fine. If I need to have witnesses to this, so be it. Ginny, it's not that I don't have faith in you... it's that if anything were to happen to you, that would be it. If he got hold of you... I couldn't bear it, Gin. Losing Sirius was bad... losing Dumbledore was worse. If I lost you... he'd win, Ginny. Don't you understand that? He'd win!"

Ginny's eyes softened. "Oh, Harry! Don't you understand? I'm safer with you than anywhere else. I'm safer with you than here, at the Burrow. When school doesn't open in the fall, where do you think he's going to start looking for you?"

"I..."

"And when he doesn't find you here, do you honestly believe that he's going to leave us alone with a 'sorry, didn't mean to destroy your house, I'll just be off?' No, Harry... anyone at the Burrow when you're not here is going to die. You'd know that if you'd stopped to think."

Harry's eyes were wide. She was right. He hadn't thought. He had to move the Weasleys... they had to go somewhere safer.

"She's right, Harry," Ron said gently. "As much as I hate to admit it, she'd be safer with us."

Harry nodded stiffly. Ginny seemed to let out a pent up breath.

"But what about your parents? And the others?"

"We'll have to do something about that," Ron agreed, surprisingly calm. "But Ginny needs to be with us."

Harry finally realized that they were right. So long as Ginny wasn't with them, he'd wonder if she was safe... that was a distraction that he couldn't afford. And... well, he was human enough to admit that he'd be better with her nearby, as well. That he wanted her nearby.

"It's not going to be easy. You all understand that, right?"

"Harry," Hermione spoke. "We didn't expect it to be."

"Fine. Come with me," Harry retreated from the room, heading towards his own. "And bring your galleon bags."

Five minutes later, after Ron had spent four searching under his bed for his little-used and mostly empty galleon bag, they congregated in Harry's room.

"Hermione... some privacy?"

Without a word, Hermione locked the door and set a silencing charm on the room. Ginny curled her feet under her at the end of Harry's bed, Hermione pulled his desk chair up beside it, and Ron perched on the window sill at the head of the bed. Harry rooted in the bottom of his wardrobe, coming out with quills and parchment, several lumpy bags, and a Weasley sweater.

"Harry? What's all that?"

"In a minute, Ron," Harry said, laying the stuff on the bed and sitting down. He handed Hermione three quills and a stack of parchment. "We all have strengths, right?"

"Right," Ginny said. Hermione nodded, and Ron looked suspicious.

"And we all have weaknesses," Harry said. "We need to help each other there. Hermione, your strength is your knowledge, your ability to research things. You're smarter than all of us put together."

Hermione glowed under this praise.

"But," Harry swallowed uneasily. "You tend to believe that authority figures are always right. And they're not, Hermione. Not always."

She looked away for a moment, then turned back, tears in her eyes. She nodded once, jerkily.

"The way I see it, you need an authority figure to follow," Harry said gently.

"I..."

"Hermione, you do," Harry insisted. "I don't want to argue with you. Please."

"Fine," she nodded.

"So that's me," he said. "You've told me often enough that I have to lead. Well, to do that, I have to have someone to follow me. You have to understand that what I have to do makes me the authority on this. Do you understand?"

"Harry..."

"You were fine with it in the DA club, Hermione," Ron pointed out. "You accepted Harry's direction then."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, you're right. I have another fault, Harry... I don't like finding fault with myself. I try to be the best I can be, but... well, you're right. My strength is my ability to research, and my ability to find things out... and I am smart, but..."

"We have to admit our faults, too, Hermione, or this isn't going to work. We have to admit that others are better than us at some things, so that we can work as a group."

"I know," she said. "And you're right. It's just... it's hard to not believe that the Ministry is..."

"A complete balls up?" Ron snorted. "Come on, Hermione... they think Percy is the best thing that ever happened to them!"

"Percy is good at..."

"Percy has an iron rod up his backside," Ginny spoke clearly and firmly. "Leaders cannot be intolerant, Hermione. Percy is. That is his greatest fault. And the reason the people at the Ministry like him so much is because they are, too. Do you really want to believe in people who are intolerant of others?"

"No," Hermione's brow wrinkled. "No, Ginny, you're right. No, I don't. Harry, I accept what you say... you're right. I need someone to follow, to believe in. I do believe in you."

"Good," he smiled. "That'll help. Ron."

"Great," Ron muttered, turning red.

"Ron... you're the best strategist I know. I know that that probably isn't saying much... or maybe it is, I guess... as I know Voldemort, and he's pretty good. But you're better. We need that. We need to strategize better than he does... and we need to have information to do that. We're going to need to size up situations and act quickly... make decisions quickly. Kind of like being Keeper. That's your greatest strength, and something we're going to need... desperately."

Ron glowed faintly, then swallowed. "But...?"

"But your temper gets the better of you. Often. Too often. You fly off the handle at the slightest provocation, and you need to stop that. Not every comment someone makes is a personal attack. And you're way too sensitive about being poor. Your family doesn't have much money, but you've got a lot of love... something a lot of us with more money than we know what to do with would gladly trade everything for. You need to get over that, Ron. I can't have someone beside me who is going to lose it if the Death Eater we're facing, which could very well be Malfoy..."

Ron growled.

"... insults your robes. Or your sister."

Ron nodded once, jerkily.

"Can I count on you?" Harry asked quietly.

Ron's eyes met Harry's. They stared at each other for a long minute, almost seeming to communicate.

Maybe they are, thought Ginny

"Yes."

"Good." Harry sighed. That had been hard. "Ginny..."

Ginny looked at him expectantly, almost as though she was ready for the worst. Her spine was straight, and she met his eyes with her own, proudly. Harry stared at her.

"I can't."

"What?"

"I can't. You're..." Harry took a breath. "Hermione?"

Hermione seemed to understand.

"You're tenacious, Ginny. You never give up. And you believe in the people you care about," Hermione took over. "You're loyal to a fault, and you don't allow other people to give up, either. But..."

Ginny was still watching Harry.

"But..." Ron continued. "You put yourself in danger for no reason... you jump into things without thinking. You have as bad a temper as I do, and you lip off without considering the consequences."

"Thanks, Ron," Ginny said. "Like you're..."

"That's it, Gin," Harry said softly. "You can't leave it alone. Someone says something, you've got to have the last word. There will be times when we'll have to smile and walk away, as though what has been said or done doesn't bother us, and I'm not at all sure you'll be able to do that. I don't want to have to drag you out of situations for your own good. I don't want to get into situations that we might have avoided if you..."

"Harry..."

"I need to know that if we need to make a quiet retreat from a situation, I'm not going to have to go back in and drag you out of a room full of pissed off Death Eaters, Ginny. We can't have that kind of distraction. And sometimes, we'll be looking for information... quietly... and I can't be wondering if you're going to hear something and snap and start throwing bat bogey hexes. A lot of what we do will depend on our being almost invisible. I need to know that you can do that."

Ginny nodded, her eyes not leaving Harry's face. "I can do that, Harry. I might need a reminder now and then, but I can do that."

"Good. Now..."

"Oh, no," Ron snorted. "We got to sit here and listen to what you thought about us, Harry. Payback time."

"I..." Harry looked around at the others. "Fine."

"You've got a saving people thing," Hermione smiled. "I mean, you're incredibly loyal, and brave... and you seem to instinctively seek out the people who most benefit from being around you, and draw them in. You see other people's problems as your own, and you want to help everyone."

"A true Gryffindor," Ginny smiled, her smile fading as she continued. "But you push people away. You think you protect them this way, because you percieve yourself as somehow a danger to those you love... when really, their biggest strength comes from being loved by you. You love completely, Harry, but you don't accept the same back."

"You'd fight to the death for what you believe in, but you walk away from the simpler things," Ron pointed out. "And you don't fight for yourself. You somehow believe that everyone else is more worthy than you. You've got a thing about growing up without parents..."

"And you somehow believe that your world would be perfect if only they had lived," Hermione continued. "You do others... the people you loved and have lost... an injustice, Harry. You don't allow them to be human, with human faults and frailties. Your parents were probably good people... but they were people. Your mum probably lost her temper sometimes, just like Ginny does... and your dad probably did stupid things occasionally..."

"He did," Harry said, thinking of the memory of Snape's by the lake.

"You need to stop believing that it won't really matter much if you die doing this," Ron said quietly. Harry looked up at him. How did Ron...?

"Because it will matter," Ginny said, her voice catching. Harry turned to her, and saw the tears in her eyes. "It will matter, Harry. It will."

They were all silent for a moment. Harry couldn't talk... he could only stare at Ginny, who stared back, her tears falling without shame.

"So, can we all accept what has been said here... as truth about about ourselves, even if it's someone elses perception of that truth?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Ron said immediately. "Yes. We need to plan this... we need to really think out..."

"We need to teach Ginny to Apparate," Harry said quietly. "And Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"You need to learn how to properly ride a broom."

"I can...!"

"Without screaming in terror, Hermione," Harry said dryly.

"I don't..."

"You do, Hermione. Last time you were on a broom, you bit your lip so hard it bled," Ron pointed out.

"It's... I don't like heights," Hermione's cheeks were pink.

"No, but you're going to have to work on that. We're going to have to be able to ride our brooms. At times, we might even have to ride them long distance...and you managed the thestrals, Hermione, all the way to London."

"I had to," she pointed out.

"Well, now you have to learn to ride a broom. Properly."

"Right," she straightened her back with determination. "When?"

"We'll start this afternoon," Harry said. "Now, we're going to have to plan this out. Hermione needs to learn to ride a broom, Ginny needs to learn to Apparate... Hermione, are you taking this down?"

Hermione laughed, and began to write.

"We need to find somewhere safer than the Burrow to move your family."

"How are we going to manage that?" Ron asked, worriedly.

"In the end, Ron, we'll manage it," Harry said confidently. "In the end, everything will work out. It has to."

"We have to plan what we need to take," Ginny said softly. "We can't be carrying our trunks around, so we can't take everything. We're going to need to have just a rucksack... what we can carry on a broom comfortably."

"Good point, Ginny. You do that," Harry instructed.

"What?" She turned surprised eyes on him.

"Plan out what we need. And we might be camping out quite a lot," Harry said.

"I..." Ginny considered this. "Okay. We might need to buy a few..."

"Yes," Harry said, pulling out the sacks he'd placed under the Weasley sweater. "Got your galleon bags? Good."

"Holy Merlin, Harry!" Ron shouted as Harry opened and dumped the first bag of galleons onto the bed. He didn't pause as he opened the second and did the same. There was a rather large pile of gold there. "Hermione, divvy it up."

"How much?" she asked.

"There should be about a thousand galleons there. Put a weightless charm on everyones bags, too, if you can?"

"Of course, Harry."

Harry left her to it as he unwrapped the stack of bills in the sweater. Ron, apparently was speechless.

"Is that...?" Ginny swallowed.

"Seventy thousand pounds... muggle money," Harry said, beginning to divide the bills into piles.

"Harry..." Hermione stared.

"How much is that?" Ron asked numbly. "In real money?"

"About ten thousand galleons," Ginny said, then blushed. "I think."

"You took muggle studies," Harry smiled. "You ought to know."

"Harry, do we really need this much...?" Hermione looked at him, her eyes doubtful.

"Yes. I don't want to think of any of us stuck anywhere with no money."

"That's more than a little cash, Harry," she glanced down at the pile, then back to him, her concern obvious.

"I know, but I don't know if I'll be able to access my vault when the Ministry finds out what we've done. They might..."

Hermione nodded. "Do you think that that will be enough?"

"Enough? Enough?" Ron looked at her. "Are you mental? Eleven thousand galleons, Hermione?"

"Ron," Harry said softly. "This might take years."

Ron looked at him, stunned speechless yet again. "Years?"

"Ron... we can't be sure. We have no idea where the horcruxes are. None."

"The what?" Ginny asked.

"The horcruxes," Harry said softly. "That's what we're after. We have to destroy four of them before we face Voldemort, or we won't be able to kill him."

The other three were silent, but took the money, and put it in their pouches.

Teaching Hermione to ride a broom was relatively easy. They simply took the brooms out into the orchard and practiced. Within a week, Hermione had it down, at least to the point where she could get from A to B without crying out, or clinging to her broom, or flying only a foot and a half off the ground. She certainly didn't zip around like the others, but she could manage to get around reasonably fast, and without throwing up.

"Good," Harry said. "This is good."

"But what are we going to do about Ginny?" Hermione asked. "What if she splinches... what if...?"

"Hermione, we need to teach her just like we were taught," Ron replied. "We start slowly, and then just do it."

"Do you remember what the professors did when Susan Bones splinched?" Harry asked her.

"I... yes... yes... I think so."

"Do you think that you could figure it out for sure? Talk to Mrs Weasley... or maybe Bill would be better?"

But in the end, Bill clued in to what they were doing. Apparently, Hermione had another weakness. She was unable to bluff...at all.

"So, what are you four up to, then?" Bill approached them in the orchard as they were talking to Ginny about the theory one afternoon. They all froze. "Relax. I know full well what you're doing."

"We..."

"Harry and Ron want me to know how to Apparate, Bill... in case we're ever under attack," Ginny lied smoothly. Harry was still amazed by her ability to take a grain of truth and turn it around, making it sound convincing.

"Like you'd run, Smidgen," Bill snorted. "Right. I agree."

"What?" Ron looked shocked.

"I think that having to wait until you're seventeen to learn to Apparate is ludicrous," Bill said. "It's downright dangerous. Everyone should be taught how. It would save lives. If the Ministry ever got their heads out of their backsides long enough to... well. Let's see then... where have you gotten to?"

"Bill, you're aware that what we're doing is... not quite legal. Right?" Harry asked quietly. "The consquences for us would be bad. But for you..."

Bill laughed. "I've been a curse breaker for eight years, this is the least of what I'm guilty of, Harry. And if it saves my sister's life, the Ministry can do to me what they'd like."

Which is how Bill took over the tutoring of Ginny in how to Apparate. Within days, she was better than any of them at it, and even managed to apparate in and out of rooms without the distinctive popping sound that most people made. Ginny could do it absolutely silently, which might have come from the need to keep it from Molly. And she never splinched herself, not even once.