Come Back

Chapter Six

An Odd Morning

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It was a bright, sunny morning and all around the Burrow sounds of laughter could be heard. The smell of fried eggs and sausage was wafting through the house and under doorways. Harry could hear several owls hooting from close by as a creak from the other side of his room told him that someone had just opened his bedroom door.

Harry just wanted to stay put, to lie in bed for hours. He just had one of the best nights in his life. He couldn't remember a time when he has slept that well. And because of that he continued to remain still, with his eyes shut, pretending to still be sleeping. He could feel the presence of someone in his room, and almost gave himself up when that person leaned down onto the floor directly in front of his face.

He was trying, with all of his mite, to not smile at whoever it was. He could tell that they were about to do something to him, and he thought it best to let them have there fun. He could feel their breath, they were getting extremely close to him. Harry hesitated for a moment, then quickly opened his eyes and let out a huge ROAR!

Ginny jumped so far backwards, that she hit the wall, landing spread eagle on the floor, her eyes as big as quaffles. Harry laughed, quickly grabbed his glasses, jumped out of bed and ran for it. He could hear Ginny laughing and running close behind him as he made his way down the stairs, into the living room, and out the front door. He was starting to run around the side of the house when he purposely slowed down to let Ginny catch up with him. He quickly hid around a corner and waited for her to run past. The moment she did he grabbed her by the waist and tackled her to the ground. They were both laughing so hard tears were streaming out their eyes.

Out of a nearby window they could hear Mrs. Weasly laughing, "Come on you two, breakfast is done.

Harry helped Ginny stand up; both were still having difficulty breathing as they headed towards the back door and into the Weasly's kitchen. They sat down opposite of each other and continued to laugh. Ginny, who had finally caught her breath said, "O yeah, good morning Harry."

"Good morning to you too, Ginny." Harry said, laughing harder than ever.

Mrs. Weasly called everyone in the house down to breakfast. Everyone emerged into the kitchen looking equally as happy. Harry was just about to ask why everyone was so giddy when Ron spoke up first.

"You know Harry; I think your return has done something funny to this house. I haven't seen everyone so cheerful this early in the morning in a long time."

"Well I'm glad I could help." Harry said brightly while sticking his fork into a sausage and putting it on his plate.

The fact was that the only person in the room that didn't seem extremely cheerful was Mr. Weasly. He was sitting down at the end of the table looking grim while drinking coffee and reading the Daily Prophet. When Harry noticed this he nudged Hermione in the arm, who was sitting beside him, and pointed in Mr. Weaslys direction. Hermione must have read Harry's mind because she spoke up first.

"Dad, is everything alright?"

Mr. Weasly jumped slightly at the sound of his name which caused him to drop his paper onto his eggs.

"What? Oh, I'm fine Hermione." Mr. Weasly replied.

Everyone's eyes were now on Mr. Weasly, watching him curiously. They knew he was lying because he trying, but failing to look them all in the eye. The joyful mood of the morning had been quickly abated at the sadden look on Mr. Weasly's face.

"Arthur dear, what's wrong." Mrs. Weasly said while putting her hand on his, which was still tightly holding his coffee cup.

"No, it's alright Molly; I don't want to bust everyone's high spirits." Mr. Weasly said while attempting a fake smile.

"I think it's too late for that Dad, you have our attention now." Fred called, who was sitting on the other side of Harry.

Mr. Weasly sighed deeply then looked directly at Harry, "Harry I'm sorry to spoil the mood, but I'm a little concerned about what is going to happen today."

"Why Mr. Weasly, what's going to happen?" Harry asked slightly nervous now.

"Well, you do realize that we are going to have to inform certain people that you have returned. You can't stay in hiding forever. Were going to have to go and see the remaining members of the Order." Mr. Weasly said.

"Oh." Harry said. "Yeah, I guess I knew that I would have to. But why is that a problem? Won't they be happy to see me too?"

"I'm sure that they will be thrilled to see you Harry but once certain people find out your still alive there is going to be trouble." Mr. Weasly said heavily.

"You mean there are still Death Eaters at large? They haven't all been sent to Azkaban?"

"Yes Harry, there are still Death Eaters that we have not caught, and their all angry that we killed there master. They have been trying to attack Order members since you left."

Harry suddenly had a sickening feeling in his stomach. If the Death Eaters found out that he was alive they would surely want to hunt him down, to kill him. But he refused to hide, to run away. He had been doing that for way to long. He wasn't about to start again. But one creeping thought occurred to him, the Weasly's, he would be endangering them all if he was living here. Mr. Weasly must have seen the look on his eyes and knew he understood.

"You see the problem Harry, once they find out your back, their going to come after you."

"Well, then I guess I have no choice do I. I'll have to leave again. I can't risk any of you being hurt because of me. I'll have to leave today, so they never find out." Harry said as he pushed his chair back, getting ready to stand up. But Ginny had beaten him to it; she was already standing when she spoke.

"No, you will not leave! We are all members of the Order now Harry and we are able to take care of ourselves." Ginny looked very determined as she spoke.

"Ginny dear, sit down, do you really think we would let him leave." Mrs. Weasly said in a calm voice.

"You're all members of the Order?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry and you can be to if you like, I took over for Dumbledore as the leader. And Ginny is right; we can take care of ourselves. Besides I think you may have misunderstood what I was trying to say. We can use you now, Harry. If we make sure that the Death Eaters know you're alive, we can lure them out of hiding, and hopefully catch them all." Mr. Weasly said with slight excitement in his voice.

"So now you're going to use him as bate!" Ginny said still with an angry fire in her eyes.

Harry couldn't help but smile at Ginny, over her passion to protect him. "Ginny, it's okay; actually I think that would be a clever idea. And yes Mr. Weasly, I want to be in the Order." Harry said, now averting Ginny's eyes.

"What?" Ginny yelled. "But Harry, what if you get hurt, or worse you could…you could…" Ginny had tears welling in her eyes as she shot him a pleading look. She pushed back her chair, stood up, and ran from the room.