Come Back

Chapter Thirteen

After Dark

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

What is taking her so long? Harry thought while pacing around the Burrow's living room holding his invisibility cloak. She said she would be down in a second.

Harry and Ginny had planned on meeting in the living room after the entire household fell asleep. They were just about to leave when Ginny ran back upstairs and Harry was now waiting for her to return. There was a sudden crack on the stairs and Ginny appeared once more, this time with her hair up in a tight bun.

"Okay, I'm ready now." She whispered when she reached Harry.

"What did you do?" Harry whispered back.

"I just wanted to put my hair up; I didn't need it in my face." Ginny said.

Harry just rolled his eyes at her. Of all the times to suddenly act like a girl… Harry thought.

"Okay, let's go." Harry said as he slowly opened the door and waited for Ginny to walk through it. "Let's get under the cloak and then we can go." Harry shut the door and grabbed a hold of Ginny's arm; they were doing Side-Along Apparition again. Ginny spun around and once again Harry felt that sensation that he disliked so much. Almost instantly they found themselves at the end of the street in Hogsmead, it was pitch black and not a single person could be seen stirring on the road.

Harry wrapped his arm around Ginny underneath the cloak. "Okay Ginny, you know where it is don't you?"

"Yeah, it's down this side street a little ways, it sits on top of a hill." Ginny said while moving the cloak so it would properly cover their feet as they walked.

They had walked for nearly twenty minuets in silence before another word was spoken. Ginny was leading the way down a small stone covered road and was now heading up a very grassy hill that was slick because of the evening dew. On the top of the hill sat a small but old graveyard. A slight fog was winding its way through the old leaning, moss covered headstones. The sight was eerie enough without the slight cold breeze that was washing over hill making the trees bustle and branches hit together. Ginny even jumped and tried to stun a bush when Harry stepped on a twig and it snapped.

"Relax Ginny, there's no one here, it's just us." Harry said trying to reassure her and himself at the same time.

Harry continued to follow Ginny through the headstones until they reached what they were looking for. A small but elegant white headstone sitting on the highest point of the hill and overlooking all the other headstones with the name Harry James Potter etched onto the surface. There was a time span of only nineteen years and the words, The One Who Saved Us All was written just below the dates. The headstone was very clean and well cared for and there seemed to be a spell placed around the stone that would cause flowers to continually grow because as they were standingon the spota flower would die, crinkle up then a new one would grow in it's place.

"It over looks Hogwarts, see." Ginny said and she pointed over Harry's shoulder. And sure enough when Harry turned around you could see the perfect outline of Hogwarts and its now glowing windows. "We didn't know where you wanted to be placed so we thought this was a good spot."

"It's very nice Ginny." Harry managed to say, he was slightly disturbed at seeing his own headstone but he was trying to act as if it wasn't bothering him. "I would have picked the same spot."

Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Well, lets get to it shall we? I think we can take this off now." He removed the cloak they had on and got out his wand.

"Ginny, you give me some light and I'll do the rest." Harry said.

"Lumos!" Ginny mumbled as Harry pushed up his sleeves on the jacket he was wearing.

Harry took a deep breath and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" while pointing his wand towards the ground in front of his headstone. Slowly the earth around him began to shake and rise, at first it just looked like a new hill was forming until all the dirt fell away to reveal a large wooden casket. Harry levitated it over a few feet from the hole it just left and sat it on the ground. He lowered his wand and began pushing dirt and grass off the top of the casket. Ginny stepped closer, keeping her wand pointed out, Harry could see in her wand light that it looked very elaborate and expensive. It was a dark color wood with solid gold trimming all around it.

Harry put his hands on the lid of the casket, and shaking slightly pushed up on the lid. However it wasn't opening, he kept pushing harder and harder but nothing was happening. Harry was starting to get frustrated as he tried pushing on different areas of the lid, front, back, both sides and still, nothing. Finally he stopped, gave the casket a small kick and backed away from it.

"Ok, so now what?" Harry said to Ginny.

Ginny however was smirking at Harry; one hand was still holding a lit wand while the other was planted firmly on her hip. "Oh honestly Harry, you will never change. They seal those before they put them in the ground"

"Oh, right." Harry said looking slightly embarrass. "So how do we open it?"

"I'll do it." Ginny said. "You light your wand and I'll open it."

Harry did as he was told and lit his wand. Ginny said, "Nox." To extinguish her own, stepped up to the casket and took a deep breath. "Colloportlag!" She said as she pointed her wand at the casket. The lid gave out a loud cracking sound and the lid swung open. Ginny instantly closed her eyes and stepped away, not wanting to look in.

Harry took a few steps forward and pointed the tip of his lit wand down into the casket to get a good look. Ginny was coiling behind him with her hand over her eyes.

"So who is it Harry, who's in there?" Ginny called out.

Harry started to laugh as he moved his wand away from the casket. "Ginny you can open your eyes…there's nothing to see."

Ginny uncovered her eyes and looked at Harry, her gaze still avoiding the casket. "What do you mean there is nothing to see?"

"I mean nothing, there's no one in it. It's empty. Well, it's empty except for one thing." Harry said as he walked back over to the casket and reached inside. Ginny gasped as he put his hand down into the red satin interior of the elaborate casket. Harry picked up a bottle of something and walked back over to Ginny. He handed her a small glass bottle with a rubber stopper. There was a small note hanging from a string that was tied to the side of the bottle. Ginny read the note out loud.

Welcome Home Harry

By now I'm sure you figured out who I am.

But you will never catch him…or the rest of the Death Eaters.

But don't worry, we will catch you and make you pay for

killing the Dark Lord.

Ginny took the stopper out of the bottle and sniffed it cautiously. "Harry…what is this?"

Harry, who was busy placing the casket back into the ground, stopped, turned around and said, "That Ginny, is Polyjuice potion and the person who left it is Lucius Malfoy."