AN

Ha ha! Told you I would be writing fast! I spent most of my free time yesterday writing. O:f course, what with my Karate class, school, and cleaning the house, this wasn't as much as I wanted, but I still got this thing written, even if it took me until 1 in the morning to finish.

I'm a little worried about this chapter, because there are a few things in it I suppose you could call cliche that I had to use. I honestly did try to think of some other way to do it (spent much of the last month doing so actually), but just couldn't come up with anything that would fit my plotline. Hopefully, you'll all enjoy it anyway.

Thanks once again to my (unofficial) co-writer, JC-S, who also reads all the reviews with me and is indignat on my behalf if we get any negative ones. Without him, I'd be lost and alone writing this.

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Chapter 11

Confrontations

If he hadn't had an anti-animagus jinx on him, Harry would've changed into his Phoenix form before intercepting a Killing Curse with his own body. As it was, he had time only to react, and his first instinct in such a situation was to put the only thing he could between that curse and Ginny - himself.

The curse hit him square in the center of the chest at nearly a hundred miles per hour, while he was in midair. The impact sent him hurling backwards over a dozen yards, where he landed flat on his back, unmoving.

Fred and George, having crept down the side of the building during the fight, were at his side in an instant. Even Voldemort was staring at the downed teenager in shock. It had all happened so fast.

Just as he was going to start crying out in triumph, the Dark Lord saw something that he would have nightmares about for the rest of his life. Harry Potter groaned, and sat up.

"Bloody hell, that hurt," said the boy bleerily.

Voldemort didn't wait to hear any more. Dumbledore could be there any minute, and he apparently couldn't kill the boy. He disapparated with a tiny pop.

Harry, on the other hand, was getting shakily to his feet. His strength, vanished momentarily after the impact of the curse, was starting to return.

As soon as he spotted Ginny laying weakly on the street, he rushed to her side, and knelt down to scoop her tenderly into his arms. She opened her eyes tiredly. "Harry?" she asked, as she wrapped her arms around his neck to steady herself.

"Shh," he soothed. "It's alright, I've got you. You're safe now."

Ginny didn't seem to have the strength to speak anymore, so she just nodded and laid her head on his shoulder as he made his way over the various unconcious (oftentimes gruesomely so) Death Eaters on the ground.

When he reached the entrance to the street, he saw that the Order and the Ministry had almost completely eradicated the Death Eaters. Most of the enemy had fled the moment the wards came down, but a few unlucky ones had stayed and been caught by the sudden onslaught of reinforcements for the Diagon Alley defenders.

He spotted Dumbledore making his way towards him, and gave him a significant glance. One that said, 'I'm leaving now.' He then vanished with a loud crack!

The twins, who had watched the entire scene in awe, turned to each other, communicating in that strange way that only twins can. They were both thinking the same thing. First two magical animagus forms, then beating up the Dark Lord with his hands and feet, then surviving a Killing Curse, and now double apparition. What would Harry do next?

They grinned. With Harry on the job, things were looking up for their side of the War.

Harry reappeared once more in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. The one thing he did like about apparition was that he always managed to land on his feet as opposed to on his face like with portkeys and floo powder.

The house was deserted, except for Madame Pomfrey, who was obviously standing by for injuries. She happened to be in the kitchen when Harry arrived, and would've started berating him for apparating underage if she hadn't spotted Ginny resting in his arms.

She immediately went into nurse mode. "What happened?"

"Cruciatus. I don't know how many times." That was enough for Pomfrey.

"Get her upstairs, quickly."

Harry disappeared with another loud crack!

Madame Pomfrey found him a moment later in one of the larger bedrooms she'd set aside for injured Order members. He had laid the girl, who by now had completely lost conciousness, gently on the bed.

He watched as the expert nurse bustled around the bed, waving her wand over Ginny and pouring several potions down her throat. "Will she be alright?" he asked anxiously.

Madame Pomfrey started to yell at him to get out, but when she saw the lost, scared look in those momentarily unguarded green eyes, she changed her mind. "Yes, she'll be fine," she said gently. "She'll be tired and sore for a few days, but there is no permanent damage. Now go on downstairs and let me work, but come and get me if anyone else comes in injured."

With a last look at the youngest Weasley, Harry complied, relieved for the moment.

He arrived once more in the kitchen to chaos. It looked like most of the Order had all come back to Headquarters at once, including all the Weasleys except for Charlie and Percy.

Everyone was talking at once, some wanting to know how Voldemort could have surprised them with this attack, others wanting to know how he got so many followers without them knowing. It looked like most everyone was glaring at Snape, thinking that he should have somehow given them some warning of all this. The Weasleys were all loudly demanding to know what had happened to Ginny, and Remus was demanding the same of him. Even Dumbledore couldn't seem to calm them all down.

Harry was not in the mood for this right now. He'd just fought the Dark Lord, survived a Killing Curse, and double apparated twice. He was tired, and that was making him feel more than just a little cranky, so he roared at the top of his lungs from the doorway, "SHUT UP!"

Everyone quieted to stare at him. "Thank you," he said. He glanced at the assembled Weasleys. "Ginny is fine. Madame Pomfrey took care of her, and she's resting. You can go see her in a minute."

The Weasleys all relaxed slightly, though they were still a little worried by the fact that Madame Pomfrey had had to 'take care of her.'

Dumbledore stood up. "Very well. Thank you, Harry. I suggest everyone sit down. We need to discuss what has happened today."

Molly coughed and looked significantly at both Harry and Ron.

"Ah yes," said Dumbledore. "Ronald, Harry, would you two mind waiting outside?"

Harry resisted the urge to bang his head on the wall behind him in frustration.

:He just won't ever learn, will he?:

-No, I don't think he will.-

It was a good thing he didn't bang his head. A headache now to add to his list of things making him grumpy wouldn't have been very helpful. "No, professor, I don't think I will. I'm sitting in on this meeting," he snapped.

Dumbledore frowned. "Come now, Harry, you're not-"

"Old enough?" Harry asked. "A member of the Order? I don't want to hear it, professor. With all due respect, which I don't think is a lot by the way, I am the one who told you this attack was happening in the first place. I am also the only one present who knows why Voldemort attacked today, and the sole reason that he did not succeed, nearly getting myself killed in the process yet again, so you'll forgive me if I don't just wait outside like a good little boy, while the grown-ups take care of things."

Almost everyone in the room was gaping at him in astonishment. No one had ever talked to the headmaster that way before.

Dumbledore did not look pleased, and the twinkle usually found in his eyes had vanished. However, he apparently decided to allow Harry to stay. "Very well, Harry. Sit down please, and tell us what you know. Mr. Weasley, if you would-"

"Ron stays," said Harry coldly. "This concerns his family."

His tone brooked no argument, and no one tried to dissuade him, not even Molly, though it looked like she wanted to.

When they were all seated, Dumbledore having expanded the table and many members having conjured themselves chairs, Harry began.

"I suspect that most of you know that I get pains in my scar when Voldemort is near me, or feeling exceptionally strong emotions." A collective shudder went around the table at the Dark Lord's name, and then several nods in answer to his comment. He continued. "What most of you don't know is that he can send me visions if he concentrates very hard on one thing. That's why I thought Sirius was in trouble back in June.

"Over the last several weeks, the connection between us has grown stronger, despite my best efforts. Last night, when I was feeling weak after some....exercise, he managed to break into my mind and rifle through some of my memories. He saw something that convinced him that going after Ginny would be the best way to draw me out once again. I threw him out after that, but it was too late. Ginny wrote me about the trip to Diagon Alley today, so he must've seen that in my mind, because he attacked immediately.

"Most likely that is why Professor Snape was unaware of the attack. After awakening, I immediately came here to warn you all, and then to the Alley to see if I couldn't stop him. I faced him again, and we reached a sort of stalemate. Then I brought Ginny here. If you want a firsthand account of my fight with him, you'll have to ask Fred and George. I don't want to tell it."

Everyone sat in silence for a moment as they digested the large amount of strange information delivered to them. Then they turned to the twins.

"We were fighting a few Death Eater's outide our shop," said George.

"When Harry came running up to us saying something about Ginny being in danger," continued Fred

"We followed him for a ways, when he said that we were taking too long and to grab onto his tail feathers."

"He turned into a phoenix, and we grabbed on while he flew around looking for Ginny."

"We found her trapped by several Death Eaters in a side street, it looked like they were torturing her with the Cruciatus."

Both young men's faces grew hard when they reached this point, something that looked very out of place on their ordinarily cheerful countenances.

Fred picked it up again, "Then you-know-who came marching down the street towards her."

Molly gasped and clutched Arthur's arm tightly. "That was exactly our reaction, mum," said George. "Harry though, he just told us to take out the Death Eaters while he took you-know-who."

"He jumped off the building," supplied Fred, "and turned into a huge dragon. He landed in front of you-know-who and swatted him like a fly."

Both of them grinned at Harry, who chuckled.

"After a minute," said George, "he figured out that Harry was an animagus, and put some sort of spell on him that force him back into human form."

"Then they taunted each other, and Harry used some sort of muggle fighting to disarm him, and drop him to the ground."

"He went for you-know-who's wand, but you-know-who summoned it Wandlessly, and then threw a Killing Curse at Ginny."

Everyone gasped, and Harry smiled inwardly.

-The twins look like they're enjoying this way too much- he said

:Yeah:

Fred was speaking again. "Harry jumped right in front of the curse."

Another gasp, and Fred and George were grinning widely. "It hit him right in the chest, and he went flying. Then he just got up and said 'bloody hell, that hurt.' "

Everyone looked at Harry, who rolled his eyes. "No, I don't have any idea why that happened. After that, Voldemort left, and I brought Ginny here. I'm sure there are questions, so I'll answer them all at once. Yes, I am really an animagus, with three forms actually. Phoenix, Rattlesnake, and Dragon. I used my phoenix form to get past the anti-apparition wards on the Alley, and my mental shields are now strong enough to block Voldemort out completely. Any others?"

No one said anything. They were too busy staring at him. "No? Very well then, the next thing we need to talk about is where Ginny will be staying. She is now number 1 on Voldemort's hitlist after me, and he'll stop at nothing to capture or kill her now."

Molly burst into tears, and Arthur put his arm around her as his other hand gripped the table in front of him until his knuckles turned white.

"There's only one place safe enough for her. Even Grimmauld Place is too dangerous. Until we go back to Hogwarts she'll have to stay at Privet Drive. Next to Hogwarts, it's the one place in the world he can't get to."

He looked straight at Dumbledore as he said this, and the old man knew he was right. Before Arthur and Molly could make any objections, he said, "He's right, Arthur, Molly. There is no safer place on the planet after Hogwarts. The wards there are the most extensive I have ever put up. She has to go there."

The eldest Weasleys looked very reluctant to let their only daughter out of their sight, but advice from Dumbledore was not taken lightly. They agreed.

Ron, on the other hand, was shooting Harry suspicious looks.

Harry was still looking at Dumbledore, though he saw it out of the corner of his eye. "How are the casualty reports from the attack?" he asked.

Dumbledore sighed, and for a moment looked far older than he usually did. "Over 30 civilians dead, along with 2 Hitwizards and 11 Death Eaters. We captured a further 19 Death Eaters, but the rest escaped. St. Mungo's is currently overflowing with the injured from the attack. I'm sure Poppy will have to head over there to help as soon as she's done with Miss Weasley."

Harry's mouth drew into a thin line. It was bad, but it would've been worse if the Order hadn't been notified. "Anyone I know?" he asked.

Dumbledore thought about it for a moment. "I don't believe so. No one from your year at school was killed. A few recent graduates, some adults, and small children. Also one or two from the younger years, but no one you know."

Harry didn't know whether or not to feel relieved. After all, someone knew the people that were killed, even if he didn't. He settled for a nod. "I have a request, professor."

"Yes, Harry?" said the aging headmaster apprehensively.

Harry took a deep breath. "I wish to join the Order."

Everyone present started yelling at once. Most of the shouts seemed to be along the lines of objecting to having one so young join, though Mad-Eye and Remus were doing a good job of demanding he be let in.

Dumbledore said nothing, but waited for the arguments to die down. They didn't, so he shot a look at Harry, who once again shouted, "SHUT UP!"

Silence fell over the room.

Dumbledore's gaze remained on his raven-haired student. "Harry, come now, you're-"

"Too young?" Harry interrupted. "Too inexperienced? Still in school? Which is it, or is it a combination of all three?"

Most of the Order members looked as though all three fit the description. Dumbledore, however, looked worried. Harry was showing a lot of anger and bitterness towards him at the moment.

"Well, yes Harry," said Molly, no longer able to keep quiet. "You are. Leave the fight to the adults."

"This is my fight, Mrs. Weasley. You can't keep me out of it any longer."

"Harry," said Tonks. "What are you talking about? I know you have a lot of hate for you-know-who, but it's not your job to beat him. You're just a kid."

Harry glared at Dumbledore. "Tell them," he growled. All heads turned to the headmaster.

"Tell us what, Albus?" asked Arthur. "What's he talking about?"

Dumbledore shot Harry a look that quite plainly said he didn't think that was necessary. Harry returned it with his fiercest glare. Dumbledore finally sighed.

"He is speaking of the prophecy we spent so much of last year protecting. The record of it was, of course, destroyed, but it was originally told to someone. Me, actually. In essence, it states that Harry is the only person on the earth capable of defeating Lord Voldemort.

"However," the old man continued, with a glance in Harry's direction. "I don't believe you are ready yet, Harry. You should at least finish school before you join the Order. Leave the Death Eaters to us."

:Told you he wouldn't go for it.:

Harry sighed and put his head in his hands. "I was afraid you'd say that, professor, but I had to try anyway."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "What exactly do you mean by that?" he asked.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Nothing."

Dumbledore was, naturally, unconvinced, but there was nothing more he could do, short of attempting to force the boy to tell him.

Nothing further of consequence was discussed, and ten minutes later, the meeting dispersed. Dumbledore went off to speak to several of the members privately, informing Harry that he wanted to talk to him privately as well before he left.

Harry, having been thinking along the same lines, just nodded and pulled Arthur and Molly into the empty, unused dining room.

They stood together just inside the door, watching him. He paced for a minute or two before finally stopping to look at them seriously.

"I need to know, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, do you trust me?"

The both blinked in surprise, not having expected that. "Of course we do, Harry," said Molly. "Why do you ask?"

Harry still looked troubled, and perhaps even a little worried. "The truth is, I don't trust my relatives. I have no doubt that they won't like this arrangement at all, and it's going to take a lot of convincing and maybe even threats to even get them to go along with it."

"Come now, Harry, they can't be that bad," said Molly.

Harry looked her straight in the eye. "Three weeks ago, my uncle attempted to punch me." Both of the adults gasped. "I dodged it, and knocked him to the ground, but that's beside the point. I refuse to allow the Dursleys to endanger Ginny in any way, whether it be by refusing to allow her to stay, or otherwise. Therefore, she is going to need to stay in my room so that I can ensure her safety. That's why I want to know, do you trust me? More specifically, do you trust me with your daughter?"

Molly and Arthur looked at each other, communicating silently, as couples who have been married a long time often do.

"I think we do, Harry," said Arthur. "But we need to know, what are your intentions towards our daughter?"

Harry blushed slightly. "Honestly? I don't know. I've just begun to see Ginny as her own person for the first time. Hermione says she's over me, so I can't say for sure that she'd see me that way. I don't know what's going to happen, but it may be that someday, I'll want to ask her out. If I did, would that be alright with you, sir?"

Arthur gave him a hard look, causing Harry to fidget nervously, then he grinned widely. "Of course it would, my boy. There's no one I'd rather was with Ginny. We trust you. You're like another son to us." He pretended to glance apprehensively at his wife and added in a stage whisper, "You had better be careful though, Molly's already planning your wedding."

Harry grinned widely, and Molly smacked her husband upside the head.

"Thanks, sir, it means a lot to me. I want you to know, I really appreciate all you've done for me over the last few years. You, all of you, are like the family the Dursleys never were," said Harry softly.

Molly sniffled, and pulled him into a big, motherly hug. For once, Harry hugged her back, holding tightly to the woman who was like the mother he had never had.

"Now," said Harry as he pulled back. "I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is waiting for me. This conversation is not going to be very pleasant either, I don't think. Go see Ginny. I'm sure she's getting restless with Madame Pomfrey forcing her to stay up in that room. I'll be up later."

They both gave him worried looks, but left without another word, and Harry squared his shoulders and headed for the drawing room.

He found Dumbledore was waiting for him on the old, moth-eaten sofa. The headmaster was looking older than Harry had ever seen him. His eyes were twinkling once more, but only just slightly.

When he spotted Harry, he sat up straighter, and motioned to the armchair across from him. Without a word, Harry crossed to it and sat down.

"Now, Harry," started the aging professor. "We have some things to discuss, I think."

"Yes," replied Harry coldly. "I think we do. Maybe we can start with a few things you should've told me a long time ago, and have not."

Dumbledore frowned. "Such as?"

"Let's start with my ability for Wandless Magic."

Dumbledore's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair. "What?!" he exclaimed.

Harry rolled his eyes, and silently summoned a cushion from the sofa. "That."

"Harry, I-"

"You what?" Harry asked, his voice icy. "You didn't think I was ready? I wasn't old enough, or emotionally stable enough? When will you learn that keeping things from me does more harm than good? If you had just told me about that bloody prophecy last year, or even looked me in the eye, maybe Sirius would still be alive.

"But why stop there? What about my family's vault? When was I going to be told about that? And my sister? You knew I had a sister, yet you didn't feel I could handle the information. Well, guess what, she's alive. I found a letter from my parents in the vault, and she was sent into hiding with a muggle friend of theirs less than a week before they died. Premature birth, apparently."

Harry then was able to see something very few people in the world could claim to have seen. Albus Dumbledore, gaping like a goldfish.

"That's right," Harry said. "Alive. And if you'd told me about the vault years ago, I would've found her by now. But no, I couldn't be trusted to handle it, could I?

"I am not a child, professor, and I have not been since the end of my fourth year. I would give anything to have my childhood back, but it's not going to happen. I have had to grow up, fast.

"You will not control my life any longer. I am my own person, not your chess pawn. And if you're wondering about my apparition, animagus capabilities, and Wandless Magic......well let's just say I decided that no one controls my destiny but me, and I have started my own training program."

Dumbledore was very worried. Harry was obviously very angry. With someone as powerful as the young man before him, this was a dangerous thing. And now he had started training independantly. Most likely, he was getting help from someone. That was bad. Who could be helping him? He hoped that Hogwarts wasn't about to produce another Tom Riddle, albeit a much more powerful one this time.

"I'm sorry, Harry," he said.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, professor. I want your word that you won't keep things from me ever again. I'm going to face Tom, and I'm going to defeat him, but I'm not going to be a good little boy and wait for the Order to get me to him. I need to be involved in the whole process. I need to know what is going on."

"Very well," said Dumbledore tiredly. "Since I'm supposed to tell you everything, you should know that Sirius-"

"Left me the house and all his money," finished Harry. "Yes, I know. The Order has permission to use this house by the way, as I'm sure you were going to ask in a moment. If that is all, I have to go collect a few books from the library here, and then Ginny and I will have to be on our way."

Dumbledore said nothing, which Harry took as a yes, so he got up to leave. Just before leaving, he remembered something and turned around. "I assume I'll be let off on any charges of magic and apparition since I was defending my own life and that of Ginny?"

"Yes, anyone underage who did any magic today won't be charged, according to the Minister."

"Good."

Harry spent the next several hours looking through all the books in the rather large library the house contained. Almost everything there was on the Dark Arts, but that didn't stop Harry from selecting well over one hundred titles to read later.

"Know thy enemy," he muttered to himself as he worked.

:Indeed.:

Remus came in for a moment, but had to leave almost immediately. He promised to drop by the next day to talk. Before he left, he took the backpack Harry had conjured and placed the ever-expansion and weightless charms on it so Harry could put all the books in there.

When he was packed up, Harry decided to go up and see if Ginny was allowed to leave yet.

He found the entire Weasley clan that was at Grimmauld Place, in the room visiting with her. Arthur, who was the first to spot Harry, silently motioned for everyone to follow him out.

Each of the Weasleys nodded to Harry as they filed out. Ron, the last, clasped his hand and whispered, "Take care of her, Harry."

"I will," he whispered back. "I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to catch up. I'll talk to you soon, I promise."

Ron appeared satisfied with that, and walked away.

Harry walked into the room slowly. Ginny was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching him.

"Well, Mr. Potter," she said. "I guess I owe you my life yet again. Thank you."

Harry waved it off. "No problem. It's my fault he went after you anyway. The least I could do was help."

She opened her mouth to ask about that, but Harry held up his hand to stop her. "Later," he said. His gaze flicked to an obviously full suitcase sitting next to the bed. Molly must've gone back to the Burrow to fetch some of Ginny's clothes. "I take it they've told you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Good. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, grab my tail feathers."

The anti-animagus jinx having worn off, they disappeared in a burst of flame, reappearing in Harry's room at Privet Drive.

That night, the two of them settled down to sleep, completely exhausted by the events of the day. The Dursleys, as predicted, had objected very strongly to having another "freak" in the house. Only the threat of magic (with a small transfiguration demonstration for emphasis) kept them from throwing both Harry and Ginny out on the street.

Vernon was very angry, Harry could tell. It wouldn't be long before they had another row. He only hoped he didn't have to hurt his uncle this time around.

Harry glanced over at the redheaded girl in the bed next to him. Using a special replication spell, Harry had made a copy of his own bed for her to sleep on. It was a tight squeeze in his small room, but he planned to have Remus do a few modifications on the room when he arrived the next day, so that wouldn't be a problem.

Ginny was asleep as he watched her. She had fallen asleep almost immediately, while he lay awake for the last hour or so. Most of that time he had spent watching her.

Her brow suddenly furrowed, and she twisted around a little in her sleep. She grew more and more restless by the second, until she started moaning.

"No, please," he heard her whisper. "Not Harry, Tom. NOOOOO!"

When he heard her scream, he was out of his bed and at her side in an instant, shaking her shoulders. After her experiences in her first year, having Voldemort so near her must have awakened some painful memories.

"Wake up, Ginny," he said. "It's alright."

Her eyes snapped open, and she immediately flung her arms around Harry, burying her head in his shoulder and sobbing uncontrollably.

Harry just held her tightly, waiting for her to calm down.

It took several long minutes, but her sobs finally did die down to sniffles. Harry rubbed small circles on her back. "Shh, it's alright," he whispered. His t-shirt and her nightgown were both soaked with her tears.

She pulled back slightly and looked at him with bright, scared brown eyes. "Please don't leave me," she begged. "I don't want to be alone."

Harry's heart broke as he stared into her eyes. He instantly hated the scared look he found there, and found himself wanting to make sure he never had to see it again. It didn't look right on her face. This wasn't the Ginny Weasley he had come to know over the last year. The Ginny Weasley he knew was strong and brave, capable of facing down any of her brothers or any Death Eater. Anger towards the man who had done this to her welled up inside him, but he pushed it back down. He'd take care of Voldemort later.

He said nothing, but climbed into the bed next to her. She clung tightly to him for a while, still shaking slightly from her nightmare. He stroked her hair soothingly, whispering softly into her ear that it would be alright. That he wasn't going anywhere.

Eventually, she relaxed, and the steady rise and fall of her chest let him know she had drifted off. Satisfied that she would be alright, he finally allowed himself to do the same. The last thought that went through his mind before sleep took him was, 'Someday, you're going to regret having done this to her, Tom, I swear it.'

AN

Whew! That was long wasn't it? I didn't intend for it to be that way, but it just seemed to keep right on going as I wrote. I'm sure no one will be complaining though.

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter please, particularly the fact that Ginny is staying with Harry at Privet Drive. I'm fairly certain it has been used several times before, though I cannot recall any specific instances off the top of my head. I really wanted to do something a little more creative, but there just didn't seem to be anything that worked. Voldemort being after Ginny is a huge part of the plotline, so I had to add that in, and Privet Drive really is the only safe place for Voldemort's enemies (after Hogwarts of course), so that's where she had to go. I also need them to spend a little time together of course....

I hope you all liked the confrontation with Dumbledore. I'm not sure I'm happy with it, but this is only really the first time that he's going to confront the headmaster, so there will be more clashes in the future.

Thanks once more to all my reviewers! I'd thank you individually, but then when would I write the next chapter? If you're not mentioned in the following review responses, it's because I have nothing specific to say to you. I want you to know that you have my deepest, heartfelt gratitude for reviewing my story though.

john: Yep, Voldemort knows he has a sister. He found out about her and Ginny at the same time

Darak: An explanation for why he didn't enter Voldemort's mind is in a future chapter. He didn't turn into a Dragon again because Voldemort put an anti-animagus jinx on him. He went for the wand because, remember, he doesn't know how to kill the Dark Lord yet, so he thought if he snapped the wand in half, it would at least render Tom partially helpless for a while.

RealityIntrovert: applause I agree totally and wholeheartedly. While my story has been cliche in some aspects, I am going to try my hardest to keep it original and as realistic as possible when it comes to the HG stuff. Unfortunately, I have never fallen in love, so I can't write it from firsthand experience. That won't stop me from trying my hardest though!

Angered Thoughts: An interesting idea, but I don't think it's really possible. They can speak indirectly through Harry, of course, but direct speaking won't work since Sirius is in Harry's head, not Remus'

DragonBard: Interesting point. While I still think it's a matter of power to use magic without a magical focus such as a wand, I can see your where you're coming from on this. I sincerely wish I could make my story fit every single reader's wish, but since I can't, I must be happy with doing the best I can to write it the way I think is correct.

WOW: I'm curious. What would you consider to be adult emotions? Further, are you now, or have you ever been, a 16-year-old guy? If not, please refrain from telling me how a 16-year-old guy thinks, as I am one. As far as I know, all humans, regardless of age, can feel the same emotions (minusing perhaps lust and that sort of thing, but I won't go into that). It is how we express those emotions, and what triggers them in the first place, that sets us apart.

sorry: Thank you for being honest with me. I respect your opinion and toa small extent, I do agree that much of my story involves things that have been used before. Remember, this is my first attempt at fan fiction, and I'm coming in "late in the game," so to speak, so there aren't a lot of ideas for a semi-normal post-OotP fic left. I do have at least two ideas for very original fics that I plan on writing after I finish this story though. This one is more of a trial run of my writing style so I get some feedback on things like my plot and way of writing. I'vebeen pleasantly surprised by so many positive reviews so far.

Silver Warrior: It is isn't it? gasp what if Voldemort knew Harry would dodge it if he threw it at him, so he threw it at Ginny so that Harry would jump in the way? Or perhaps he just wanted to hurt Harry by hurting Ginny. Will we ever know the inner workings of the mind of that murderous raving lunatic? Probably not.