A/N: Special thanks to Malina; again, you've caught many mistakes. You people better thank her; she's done a lot.

A/N to Crystalshard: The Level Seven State Meet is a statewide gymnastics competition for girls on a level seven gymnastics team (there happen to be ten levels, level eleven is the Olympic level). To qualify for this, you must have had an overall score of 36.000 of above at a city meet. I scored a 36.783, so I'm going to the meet on November 6 (not 26th, I made a mistake). I know it's confusing and hard to follow, but bare with me here :).

Chapter Eight

Letters and Feelings

"It's after midnight, the guard said it would happen at midnight on the twenty-seventh, what's holding it up?"

"Calm down, Ron. They're Death Eaters; without Voldemort to tell them what to do and when to do it, there's no way they'll ever be on time!" said Harry.

Ron made a face but nodded and turned back toward Azkaban. The waves from the sea made little rippling noises, almost sounding peaceful. Peace. Something no one thought the world could ever have again.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. Harry stumbled but got back up immediately, his wand raised.

"Stay still. Be prepared," he called to the Order of the Phoenix, or what was left of them anyway. "They'll be here soon, I know it!"

The walls around the prison began to crumble until they collapsed entirely. From the wreckage emerged several dark figures. Death Eaters. Leading the group was Draco Malfoy.

Harry shot a look at Ginny and she darted away before anyone could see her. She ran as fast as she could to the other side of the island. She still didn't understand why Harry insisted she should be the one to do all the background work. Why couldn't Hermione do it?

Then, as quickly as the earthquake had come, there came a death-defying explosion. Ginny was tossed backwards but took no time getting up. The explosion had come from some fifty feet away; right where Harry, her brother, and nearly everyone else she cared about were.

Bodies were everywhere and few people were still standing. It was almost as bad as the night Voldemort had died. Harry stood with his wand raised, Malfoy ten feet in front of him. A jet of red light shot out of Harry's wand and hit Malfoy squarely in the chest. Malfoy toppled over. Harry swayed on the spot and then slowly collapsed onto the ground as well.

Ginny Potter awoke with a start. She hadn't dreamt about that fateful night for nearly five years. She rolled over onto her side, expecting to see Harry sleeping peacefully next to her, but he wasn't there. He must have gone to work early, Ginny thought.

She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and was on her way to the bathroom when Molly began crying from the room across the hall. Ginny changed direction and headed toward the girls' room.

Molly was just now beginning to pass out of babyhood and was missing her older sister very much. She had taken to waking Ginny up fairly early in the morning to be fed or changed or rocked back to sleep.

Ginny lifted her youngest daughter gently out of the crib.

"Shh, it's alright, Mummy's here," she cooed. But Molly didn't want to go back to sleep, she was hungry. So Ginny walked downstairs into the kitchen, set Molly in her baby seat and poured a bit of dry cereal into a plastic bowl for her and some coffee for herself.

Ginny looked up at the clock. 5:15, it was much too early. Bill probably wouldn't be up until at least nine. Ginny buried her face in her hands as Molly threw some of the cereal onto the floor.

"Ukk!" she declared, clapping her hands and giggling.

Ginny smiled weakly and got up to get the cereal when she noticed an owl flying toward the house. She opened the window and the owl swooped inside. It was a Hogwarts owl and the letter was sealed with the Hogwarts crest.

Looking nervous, Ginny untied the letter from the owl's leg and opened it. It was a letter she hoped would never come.

Lily sat on her four-poster bed, hugging her knees tightly against her chest. Sunlight was slowly creeping in through the curtains covering the windows. She hadn't been able to sleep. Snape had taken all four them to McGonagal and awarded Warren Malfoy fifty points. Gyffindor lost two hundred points and they had all received two weeks' worth of detention. Plus, their parents had been written to. Luckily, Oliver had been able to hide the invisibility cloak but now it was torn to pieces and seemed beyond repair, like her father's Nimbus Two Thousand in that story he used to tell.

Lily dropped onto her pillow and allowed her legs to fling up into the air and drop back down onto the bed. She had been so stupid to go after James and Oliver. It was all her fault. Now everyone in the whole house was going to be mad at her. Especially Sarah, Lily didn't think she could bare that.

"I'm not mad at you at all."

Lily sat bolt upright in her bed. Sarah was sitting on the end of it, her big brown eyes staring straight into Lily's.

"Why would I be mad, when it's as much my fault as it is yours? We should blame, each other, we should blame the boys," she said.

Lily looked dumbstruck. "H-how'd you know what I was thinking?" she asked.

"I don't know," Sarah said, shrugging her shoulders as if it was no big deal, "I just sort of felt it, it was kinda strange."

"Okay," Lily said awkwardly, "Look, I can't sleep, let's just go down to breakfast."

But breakfast wasn't the best idea. The girls walked over to the Gryffindor table to find both James and Oliver staring sadly into their oatmeal.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, taking a seat at the table.

"This," James replied, trusting a letter into her hands, "I got one too."

Lily looked down at the letter. Mum's handwriting, she thought, staring at the envelope. She had know this would be coming, she just didn't know it would be here so quickly.

"Just open it," replied Sarah, "The sooner the better."

Lily nodded and opened the letter.

LILLIAN MARIE POTTER!

I cannot believe this; I honestly cannot believe this! Sneaking out of the tower to go find your brother and cousin! I thought you had more common sense than that! I know that you care for them but you need to leave looking for them to the teachers. Not only did you get in a huge amount of trouble, but you also put yourself and your friend Sarah in danger. I'm not happy with you at all and not finished with you either; I'm still trying to think of a proper punishment. You know I don't like to punish you, Lily, but sometimes I feel like I have to. I love you so much. Please stay safe.

Love,

Mum

"It's not nearly as bad as mine," said James.

"You read my mail!" exclaimed Lily, "That's a prodigious invasion of my privacy!"

"Do you have to use words like prodigious?" James asked, "I don't even know what that means!"

"It means extremely large," said Oliver.

"When did you become Lord of the Smarts," James retorted, "And Lily, I don't like to think of it as invading your privacy. I like to think of it as performing my rightful duty as your older brother."

"James, I'm older. Might I remind you that I was born on February 26 at 9:55 p.m. and you were born at 10:01," Lily replied.

"Oh shut up," said James, returning to his oatmeal.

"You're not being very nice," Sarah said, "You're hurting Lily's feelings."

"No he's not, I'm fine Sarah, really." Lily said quickly.

"No, don't deny it Lily, I can feel it, I know," and with that, Sarah swung her schoolbag over her shoulder and left the Great Hall.

"What's up with her?" asked Oliver.

"I dunno, she's been feeling things lately," Lily said, sounding preoccupied, "Anyway, James, we need to write a letter to Mum and Dad and tell them how sorry we are. We really messed-up big time. How come you're parents didn't write to you, Oliver?"

"They did," Oliver replied, "You missed the Howler."