Chap 4 – Breakfast

A buzzing sounded and disturbed the quiet room. Harry reached out blindly and turned off the alarm. He lay on his back for a few minutes, not wanting to get up. It wasn't until his stomach gurgled and growled that he made an effort to move. Last night's dinner had consisted of three Pumpkin Pasties. 'Not the best of diets, I supposed,' he thought as he walked down the stairs to the kitchen.

Knowing he would need to begin training, physically as well as magically, Harry set out the makings of a "world class" omelet. Eggs, sausage, cheese, and peppers pilled up on the counter. As he worked at the stove (without magic, since he enjoyed cooking as long as it wasn't for the Dursleys), he allowed his mind to wander to his plans.

He needed to get to Grimmauld Place and have it cleaned out. Mainly because the house was filthy and had fallen into decay, but also because he was curious to see what he may find. Harry also needed to go to Diagon Alley to make some purchases after his meeting at Gringott's, perhaps even a trip into Muggle London for some new furniture and clothing. Although that would have to wait until Ginny arrived. Harry smiled at the idea of surprising her with a no-limit shopping trip.

As for the magical training, he needed to know everything. Voldemort wouldn't be pulling his punches, so Harry needed to know both sides of the coin: the Dark Arts and how to defend against them. 'Maybe I should look into Animagi, and it couldn't hurt if I knew more in Charms and Transfiguration,' Harry thought as he plated his omelet and made toast (with magic this time.)

'Ginny will need to know most of this stuff, too. I wonder if she'd be good at healing,' he continued to himself as he sat down to the table. 'Plus, we'll nee to be in top form,' this part of the planning worried him a little.

Harry had always been small and slim, but over the past year he had hit a growth spurt and begun to fill out a bit. He had never really worried about physical fitness, as long as he could outrun Dudley he had been safe as a child and during Quidditch season, being lithe and nimble had been important for the Seeker. Now though, he needed to become stronger, but still stay swift and agile. 'Maybe I could ask Moody when he comes over. He'd probably know something helpful.'

After he had finished eating and cleaned up the kitchen, Harry went back up to his room. 'I wonder who's on duty right now,' he thought. There was always someone watching over Harry. Sometimes there was only one guard, other times there were as many as three present, trying to keep any Death Eaters who may have been watching guessing as to their schedules.

Harry looked out the bedroom window into the back garden. He watched for nearly ten minutes waiting for whoever was on duty to get restless and give themselves away. "Tonks," he called down quietly. Soon a short, slim witch with bubble gum colored hair popped up from the hydrangea bush.

"What can I do for you, Harry?" she asked.

"Do you know if Moody is going to be on watch anytime soon?"

"Yea, actually. He'll be here around teatime today."

"Could you tell him I need to talk with him, if he has the time?"

"Will do, Harry," she said laughingly as she blended back into her hiding spot.

With that bit taken care of, Harry decided to clean up and get all of his stuff organized because on Friday he was leaving number four Privet Drive and the Dursleys . . . forever.

"Ginny, come down to breakfast."

Ginny rolled onto her stomach and pulled the pillow tightly over her head. Mornings had never been her most favorite time of day, but after staying up all night waiting for a reply that hadn't come, she hated them even more.

"Don't make me send one of your brothers up to wake you!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from the base of the stairs.

At this threat, Ginny ran out of her room still in her pajama shorts and camisole – there was no telling what any one of her brothers would do if given free reign. As she was rounding the corner to the kitchen she ran into a solid mass. She could feel herself falling through the air until a strong pair of arms caught her from behind.

"Bill? Charlie? What are you both doing here?" Ginny asked happily as she hugged them both in turn. They both just smiled down at her without answering.

Bill, whom she had run into, took her arm and walked her into the kitchen. He pulled out her chair and took the seat to her left.

"Oh now, Fleur has got you whipped, hasn't she?" Fred sniggered from across the table.

"You'd be amazed how well women repay chivalry," Bill replied suggestively. "Sure beats that handprint across your face. Angelina finally threw you out, then?" Fred just blushed and attacked his food with excessive vigor.

"You still haven't answered my question," Ginny said sweetly as she spread jam onto her toast.

"Oh, right," Charlie said from the seat on her right. "Well, it's all this stuff about Voldemort. The Ministry's called back all internationally posted witches and wizards." He paused taking a drink of his coffee. "I'm supposed to be teaching people how to fight with magical creatures in battle."

"Wicked!" all of the Weasley boys said in unison.

"I know. It should be very successful, and Bill. . . What are you going to be doing?" he asked as he pilled more eggs and bacon onto his plate.

"Well, since Gringotts is already so well protected, I'll be working . . ."

It was at that moment that Pig flew in through the open window and landed in Mr. Weasley's tea. Mrs. Weasley bustled over and removed Pig from the cup and untied the letters before setting the small owl in front of the fire to dry. "Here you go Ron. Arthur," she handed them both their letter and pocketed the third.

"What was that mum?" George asked, attempting to liberate the letter from his mother's apron pocket.

"Never you mind," she said swatting away his hand with one of her wooden spoons. "It's just a little note from Harry. No doubt he's hoping for some help making that house into a home," she said cheerfully as she winked at Ginny.

Ginny blew out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. If any of her brothers were to find out that Harry was writing to her. . . Merlin only knew what would happen next.

Relieved by her mother's timely save, Ginny went back to her meal, until she saw Ron. He was frozen. In one hand he held Harry's letter while in the other he had his fork, completely forgotten.

"Oi, Ron!" George was waving a hand in front of his face, trying to break him out of his trance. "What 'ave we here?" he said mischievously as he reached for the letter.

"Back off!" Ron yelled as he shoved the letter into his pant's pocket. "I was just caught a little off guard, that's it. It was nothing."

"Couldn't have been 'nothing' if it put you off your feed for even a second," Charlie laughed good-naturedly. "Look at you. Your forks just hanging there, with food still on it!" Ron turned a deep crimson and shoved the food into his mouth, gaining laughs from the rest of his brothers.

"Well, I should be off then," Mr. Weasley said. He finished the last of his tea, stood and walked towards the hallway. "Bill, I need you to take care of that little chore that we discussed. Ginny, will you see me off, please."

"Sure, Dad," Ginny sprang from her chair and almost floated to her father, trying to ignore the strain in his voice and the worry in his eyes.

When she walked into the living room, her father was standing before the fireplace, looking at a picture on the mantle. It was from their family trip to Egypt, almost four years ago.

"Everything was so much simpler then," Mr. Weasley said quietly.

"Dad," Ginny walked over and placed a hand on her father's arm. "What's all this about, honestly?"

"I'm afraid for you; for all of you, but especially you Ginny," he said turning to face her. "You're my only daughter. You shouldn't be forced onto the front lines of this war. You should be safe and protected, not fighting for your life."

A tear fell from his eye as he gazed down at his youngest child. "If I could I would protect you all. No parent wants to see their children put into a dangerous situation, but somehow it's different with you. Bill and Charlie are smart and well trained in what they do; Ron has always been lucky, able to get through anything, that one. Even Fred and George are clever and resourceful, but you. . . No matter how old you get, I still see you as a little spit-fire wanting so much to be noticed. That's just you, my little girl."

Ginny took a deep breath and looked into her father's eyes. "I know, Dad. I don't want to do this – any of this. I'd much rather be a normal teenage girl with normal problems, but since that's not an option for me, I'm going to do what's needed of me to protect the people that I love," she hugged her father as the tears began to fall. "I'll always be your little girl, Da, but I also need to be myself. That's all any one of us can do, isn't it?"

Mr. Weasley laughed a little as he straightened up and began to mess with his shirt collar. "When did you become so wise?" Ginny just shrugged as she wiped at her tears with the back of her hand.

"Well, then," he cleared his throat. "I guess I'll be going now." Mr. Weasley turned and was about to apparate when Ginny whispered, "G'bye Daddy." He turned and gave her a sad smile before quietly disappearing.

For a moment Ginny stood all alone, the only sound in the room was the ticking of the family clock. She brought her hands up to her mouth and began to take deep, calming breaths. She looked up at the mirror hanging above the fire. Not wanting to have to endure her brothers' taunts and comments should she return to breakfast with red, puffy eyes, Ginny tried to make herself presentable.

Satisfied that her oblivious siblings wouldn't notice her appearance, Ginny walked back to the kitchen, only to be shoved aside into the hall wall as Ron stormed past.

"Sorry, Gin," he muttered as he headed to his room.

As Ginny sat down at the table, she saw her mother at the sink, scrubbing pans and mumbling angrily to herself. "What did I miss?" she asked her brothers who all seemed to be glowing from the aftermath of a confrontation.

"Do you want the play by play or recap?" Fred asked.

"Well, since it's you lot telling the tale, just the recap will do."

"Ah, and I had my entire commentary ready," George said poutily. "Anyway, mum asked Ron when Hermione was going to get back from her holiday and told him that he should ask her to stay for the rest of the summer."

"And then he went bezerk!" Bill said merrily.

"You should have seen it. He went to a whole new level of mad!" Charlie added. "He went on about how sick he is of everybody dropping hints and advice about him and Hermione. Saying how it was nobody's business but his own."

"Then he ran out of here with steam seeping from his ears!" Fred ended with a laugh and was soon joined by the others.

"Oh, and then mum began mumbling something like 'wouldn't know love if it bit 'im in the arse!' or something like that. It was hard to hear through all the pots and pans," Bill commented.

Having worked off some of her mad, Mrs. Weasley turned to her remaining children, "Don't all of you need to get off to work or something?" When no one had seemed to have acknowledged her, her glare became steely and her voice took on a hard edge.

"MOVE!"

Chairs scraped against the floor as Fred, George, Bill, and Charlie ran towards the living room to avoid their mother's wrath.

"Finally," Mrs. Weasley collapsed into her chair without ceremony. "Here's your letter, dear," she said quietly and passed it to Ginny.

"Thanks, Mum," Ginny jumped up from the table, but stopped near the door. "Do you think that Ron and Hermione will ever admit that they're crazy for each other?"

"One can only hope. Merlin knows what life will be like if we have to watch them tiptoe around each other for much longer," Molly sighed before conjuring herself a cup of tea. "Off with you now. You've packing to do this afternoon. Oh, and your father wants to have another talk with you tonight, but don't worry about that now."

"Alright," Ginny said warily then began to climb the stairs.

The door to her room was still ajar due to her mad flight down to breakfast. Ginny leaned against the jamb, hoping to hear into Ron's room, just above her own, but everything was silent.

"Moody prat," Ginny spat as she walked into the room and shut the door. She flopped down and lay across the bed with her legs dangling over the edge.

As the letter was unfolded, Ginny noticed the exactness of Harry's writing. 'Nice to see he puts some thought into what he says,' she thought and then began to read.

Dear Ginny –

It was nice to get your letter back – actually, I had been waiting for it all day, but that's another story. Have you received your Waiver yet? Mine just arrived! It's so cool to be able to do magic outside of school and not hear about it minutes later from the Ministry.

I'm going to see if I can talk with Mad Eye sometime this week about training and what not. I have it arranged for me to arrive at Grimmauld this Friday. This way I'll be able to get some things cleaned up and organized. The place is so dark and depressing, but I thought that once you got there we could go out and get whatever we may need to make it home.

I don't mind that you told your parents about all this (I'm sure they would've found out at the next Order meeting, anyway.) I did get a little worried when your dad owled me. I thought he was going to tell me off and forbid me to ever see you again – although the idea of rescuing you from banishment in the attic sounds very heroic. He just wanted the best for you; you're really lucky to have such great parents.

Your brothers don't know about this do they? Well, not your "brothers," but Ron. I know he was okay with us being together during school, but I think he'd see things differently now. I would hate to see what would happen if he found out he was being kept in the dark about all of this.

But, back to my "Master Plan." I've been working on an outline, just need to work out some kinks and details. All I can say until I see you. I have a plan for Ron and Hermione, too. I don't think I can take another year of them at each others throats, but I'm going to need your help. I've already given both of them a nudge, but you can never be certain with those two.

I need to get going, lots to do before Friday

Love you, Harry

Ginny rolled onto her back and clutched the letter to her chest. She stayed that way for countless minutes, just basking in the moment.

"How did he already get his Waiver?" Ginny wondered aloud as she rose and padded over to the window. 'I guess I'll just have to ask Dad about that tonight.'

She sat down on the window edge and looked in on her room. This room had been hers for nearly sixteen years and was filled with memories. On her desk sat her Hogwart's books and a half finished essay for Muggle Studies (why they had been given homework after taking the O.W.L.s she could never fathom). Her trunk was open and was filled with robes, school supplies, and some other odds and ends. Every part of the room had been touched by her and could never be replaced in her mind.

A thread of cold fear began to wrap itself around her insides. The importance of what was going to be expected of her in the coming months hit her, full force. For a moment Ginny was paralyzed in fear.

BOOM!

"Bloody Hell!" Ron swore from upstairs. Ginny shook her head trying to clear it.

"How I feel doesn't matter now. I need to do this. Riddle must be stopped!" And with that Ginny swallowed her fears and walked to her closet to change. It was time to pack away her old life because in four days she would be leaving, with no guarantee that she'd ever see it again.