So...I accidentally left out a chapter...there was supposed to be a few scenes between when Ginny freaks out and when Draco goes to her room at night, but somehow I forgot to upload it...i just realized this, lol. It works well without that chapter, but if you guys want to I can upload it and fix this craziness. If not, doesn't matter...it seems to work well the way it is now.
oh, and i love snowball fights...bear with me.
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Chapter Ten, Truce
Christmas day was the best any of them had ever experienced. Although no one had ever ventured into the back yard of Grimmauld Place, it had started to snow - the first snow of the season - and on Christmas Day! Ginny and Hermoine led the pack, dragging their friends outside for a snowball fight. As they ran around, away from the boys (who were not happy that they'd unexpectedly gotten hit in the backs with snowballs simultaneously), Ginny saw something small and white fly at her. She shrieked in delight and ducked, then instructed Hermoine to do the same. They hid behind a dead bush, packing mroe snowballs to send flying at their friends, then revealed themselves to do just that. They all ran around, yelling and laughing, having an incredible time. Ginny had just made the throw of her life. It was better than any goal she'd ever scored as a chaser, better than any snowball she'd ever thrown. It was another snowball, and it hit Draco smack in the back of the head. Almost knocked him over, too. Ginny shrieked and ran away, but he was too quick (his Seeker reflexes had FINALLY kicked in). He ran after her and tackled her. They rolled around on the ground for awhile, fighting and throwing snow, until finally they realized Hermoine, Ron and Harry were nowhere to be found. They were still lying on the ground when Ginny reached over and hugged Draco as hard as she could. They laid there, in the snow, content with how wonderful the day had been so far.
"Thank you for that diary..." she began.
"Thanks for the book."
"I started writing in it last night,"
"You did? That's great."
"Yeah...it was kind of comforting, and yet surprising, when it didn't respond." She giggled, and they decided to just leave it at that, and join their friends inside. As they walked into the kitchen they saw them sitting at the table, warm mugs of cocoa in their hands - two more sitting on the table, just waiting to be picked up.
"What happened to you guys! You just left me out there to be mauled by this crazy git!" Ginny exclaimed,
"Hey!" Draco interjected, but everyone sort of just ignored him.
"They decided to call a truce when they saw that snowball hit him in the head - I think they're afraid of you," Hermoine laughed, clutching her mug.
"Yeah, that was quite a hit, I must admit it...wish you were on MY quidditch team with aim like that. MY bloody chasers can't hit a wall with an egg..." Draco muttered amusedly. Ginny grinned at all the compliments, even though her brother had been objecting to Hermoine's statement, saying he's not afraid of her. They all drank their cocoa, and talked about anything and everything under the sun.
The feast that night was unmatched, except maybe for a Hogwarts feast. Everyone that had been there the night before rejoined them, plus an extra few Aurors and friends. It was an incredible amount of people, but satisfying nonetheless. Everyone had a brilliant time, talking, laughing, singing - everything. It was the best Christmas Ginny had ever experienced, and Draco felt the same way. He'd never had such a happy day, filled with laughter, love, light...it sounded cheesy in his head, but he really liked having so many people around. It made it all more fun.
The next few days passed uneventfully. Mostly what everyone did was clean up from the craziness that was Christmas. There was wrapping paper strewn everywhere, presents piled up in all the rooms, and wet carpets on the floor from the snow outside. Finally, New Year's Eve rolled around. Ginny, Draco, Harry, Hermoine, the twins and Tonks were going to stay up late and do a count down into the next year, so that afternoon was spent getting ready for the big event. Harry and Ron were in charge of getting stuff for them to do (they brought out their wizard's chess board. Hermoine and Ginny argued that it wasn't enough, so Ginny assigned Draco to help them), while Ginny and Hermoine were in charge of making sure they had enough food to eat through the night. Tonks, unfortunately, had to work most of the day, but had promised to be there by 8 o'clock.
8 o'clock rolled around...and went just as slowly as it had come, but there was not sign of Tonks. They weren't worried, but it wasn't like Tonks to be late. They all settled into the living room with food, wizard's chess, the radio, and a few other games, courtesy of Draco. Around half past eight, Mrs. Weasley came bustling into the living room.
"Where's Tonks?" She said lightly,
"She's not here yet, Mum. We don't know where she is." Ginny replied
"What?" Something about that made Molly look incredibly uncomfortable. "But Tonks is never late...to anything!"
"I know, Mum. She probably just got caught up at work or something." As soon as the words left Ginny's mouth, the door burst open, and in came a small, blonde haired, blue eyed mousy-looking woman. Everyone jumped, and realizing they didn't know the intruder pulled their wands.
"Molly! Oh thank God! We need to talk in the kitchen - NOW! Get the Order in there. Now, Molly!" The woman shouted. She was really acting like she knew Mrs. Weasley, but no one could recognize her. She looked a little like Narcissa, but Narcissa was upstairs in her room, resting. The stranger was getting frustrated, "What! Why are you all looking at me like that! We need to move fast!" She yelled. Finally, Mrs. Weasley got up the courage to confront the intruder.
"Who are you! How did you get in here!" She yelled back. That caught the stranger off-guard. She looked utterly lost.
"What are you talking about? I was here yesterday for crying out loud!"
"No you weren't!"
"Yes I --" Just then a golden lock fell into her face, and it took the stranger by surprise. "Oh." Just then, a few pop's occured, and standing before them was the same bubble-gum-haired Tonks they all knew and loved. "Forgot." Remembering Tonks was a Metamorphagus, everyone calmed down.
"Way to give me a heart attack, Tonks." Ginny laughed, but Mrs. Weasley wasn't relieved. She was relieved she knew the intruder, but Tonks' words when she'd burst in still echoed in Mrs. Weasley's head. Tonks smiled, then looked back at her friend.
"Tonks, what happened?"
"Molly, please, just call everyone. Kingsley's on his way, but I don't know..." She looked towards the door in anticipation, but no one came through.
"Alright. Draco, go get your Mother, she should probably know what's going on. Ron, go get the twins, bring them down here - I want everyone who isn't in the meeting to stay here in the living room and wait for us. Tonks - " Mrs. Weasley turned back to the young woman, "Who else needs to be summoned?" Tonks thought for a minute,
"Well...so far, the only people who know are me, Kingsley (obviously), Shaklebolt, and Arthur. Molly, we're gonna need everyone we can get."
"What's going on, Tonks?" Harry finally asked the question that was burning through everyone's skulls, but Tonks wouldn't answer.
"I'll explain once everyone's here."
"Alright then." Mrs. Weasley continued, "Draco, Ron, go and come back as quickly as possible. Harry, do you remember how to conjure a Patronus?"
"Yes..."
"Ok, good. I need you to do that, and in your mind, tell it to go to Professor McGonagall - she'll be at Hogwarts preparing to bring the students back. Tell it to tell her it's urgent, and she needs to come at once."
"Mum, we can conjure them, too, we can help," Ginny interjected.
"You can?"
"Yes, Harry taught us in our - well, my - fifth year," Hermoine stated.
"That's wonderful! Oh, that's just wonderful! Alright, Hermoine, send one to Remus, and Ginny, you send one to Hagrid. We might as well tell everyone." Once Draco and Ron rejoined the group, they sent out their own Patronuses to summon more Order members, and within five minutes, twenty people had flooed into Grimmauld Place.
The kids (as they so hated to be called, but they weren't yet full-fledged members, so they couldn't sit in on meetings) sat anxiously in the living room, waiting for the meeting to adjourn, when a cry came from the kitchen.
"NO! NO THEY CAN'T! NOOO!" They all jumped at the sudden outburst - usually Mrs. Weasley put charms on the door so they couldn't hear inside - apparently, in her haste, she'd forgotten. With this information, they all scrambled to get to the door as quickly and as quietly as possible, to hear what was going on, but Draco seemed more upset than the others - his face was paler than usual, and his gray eyes seemed scared.
"I wonder who that was..." Harry muttered,
"That was my Mum - what could they be talking about?" Draco replied,
"I dunno - that's why you've gotta shut up!" Ginny whispered fervently. From the other side of the door they heard an arguement raging.
"They'll find us! They won't stop! They know!"
"We don't know that yet, Narcissa, we don't know!"
"YOU JUST SAID!"
"What I said was that they're after him, not that they know he killed Greyback."
"Why else would they be after him!"
"For turning! For saving you! For not killing Dumbledore last year! For dating a Weasley!"
"For killing one of theirs!"
"Narcissa, please, you have to calm down, they can't find us here."
"He can't go back - they'll just attack there again, this time he might not be so lucky!"
"This time he'll fight with us!" Draco was so sick of hearing the fight that was obviously about him, that - against the better judgement of everyone around him - he strode into the room.
"HE is tired of being talked about behind his back! If this is about me, tell me!" The other 'kids' had fallen into the room, too, as they'd been leaning on the door Draco opened. The adults, shocked at their forgetfulness, tried to compose themselves and convince Draco that they knew what to do. Narcissa still seemed quiet and scared, but Mrs. Weasley took charge once again.
"Draco," she began timidly, "There's been...a few incidents..."
"What incidents? What happened?"
"Well...Tonks here was impersonating a Malfoy - to check up on your house and belongings and things, pick up a few things your mother asked for - but as she was packing things up, they stormed your house. Apparently they'd been watching it to see if you or your mother would return..."
"Well then it's good we came here...what's so bad about that? Tonks is here, and she looks ok to me." He said matter-of-factly, but then the room quieted. Tonks decided to finish what Molly had started.
"Draco...they're after you and your mum. They destroyed your house - there's...there's nothing left of it. I only barely got away because I sent an S.O.S. to Kingsley as soon as I heard them come in, and since your house was so big, I was able to hide until back-up came..."
"What do you mean, 'nothing's left'?" he asked, dumbstruck. Tonks hung her head,
"I mean nothing's left." Everyone sat for a minute to let the young wizard take in the tragic information he'd just received. Arthur was the next bold one to speak up, but his voice was full of pain and sorrow.
"Someone must have told them about you and Ginny because they attacked the Burrow at the same time...I quickly apparated to the Ministry, and got there about the same time as Tonks' Patronus...We went to fight, but Tonks was cornered, and we tried to help her. She apparated out, to where we were...but they'd already set the place on fire...we couldn't stop it...Draco," Arthur looked at the poor boy sincerely, "I'm so sorry..."