Chapter Two

Catching Up

Harry was sitting down at the Weasly's dinner table helping him to some mashed potatoes while Ron was filling him about what had happened over the past two months. Ginny was sitting across from him and Hermione was next to Ron. Mr. Weasly had magically elongated the table to accommodate the extra guests, only the twins had yet to come.

"So McGonagall and Mad- Eye are the head of the Order now" Ron was telling him.

"Is that so?" Harry asked not really paying attention.

"It looks like it. And McGonagall still has to recover from the attack back in June. Madame Pomphrey said that age has to do a lot with the recovery time. But McGonagall is up and at it, or so that she claims."

"And Rufus Scrimounger isn't doing such a good job up at the Ministry of Magic. All the Aurors are beginning to turn against him. Some of them are even joining the Order" Hermione chimed in while cutting up a piece of chicken.

That peaked Harry's interest. "Really? Like who?"

"Oh, Tonks isn't giving out any names, but she and Kingsley have sort of started this "underground" network of Aurors, apparently the number is growing. Moody is ecstatic about this. They already have over twenty Aurors, and that's almost three fourths of the Ministry's Aurors already!"

"Wow" was all that Harry could say.

He found himself listening more then talking. For almost two months he had been cut off from the Wizarding world, and he was hungry for information about the war on the home front. Mr. Weasly had his hands full in his department; apparently more and more cursed Muggle objects were getting through and this agitated him greatly.

"I'm telling you Harry, this is utter nonsense! Muggle refrigerators with the automatic ice machine; shooting out curses instead of ice! Those poor Muggles, they want to add some ice into their drink, and they end up with a flash of bright light and a bed in St. Mungo's!" Mr. Weasly said heatedly.

"Those poor Muggles" Harry agreed. Though secretly, it would be very amusing if Uncle Vernon were suddenly struck with a jelly legs curse while getting ice for a soda. When he fell, he would probably make the whole house shake. Biting back a laugh, he concentrated on what else Mr. Weasly was saying.

"…. And so, now me and Perkins are working overtime. But thank god, Rufus is giving me some time off to see Bill's wedding. Though I had to argue with him quite a lot, but I won!" He said proudly. Mr. Weasly apparently did not approve much of Rufus Scrimounger either.

"Go Mr. Weasly, you stole his thunder" Harry replied smiling.

"Err, stole his thunder?"

"Never mind, it's a Muggle expression" Harry added hastily.

Charlie had been talking about Quidditch and when he mentioned the word, 'World Cup', Harry's eyes lit up enthusiastically.

"World Cup is this summer Harry! Bulgaria vs. Turkey" Charlie told him grinning broadly.

"Are you serious? Bulgaria again? What happened to Ireland?" Harry asked stunned that Ireland wasn't playing. They were an excellent team.

"Dead serious. Ireland lost in the semi finals. Some say that foul play and deliberate sabatoge had been involved. But Ireland didn't win their case. But Turkey is also fairly good. They play a rough game, it should be an excellent match. Bulgaria will get what they deserve!" Charlie said gleefully.

"Nice, did you get tickets?" Harry asked hoping that he did.

Charlie leaned his head forward and confided to Harry: "shhh, Mum doesn't want us to go. But Dad scored us a couple of tickets. Kinglsey and Tonk are also coming too, it's sometime during the second week of August"

"Brilliant" Harry answered back in a low tone.

Ginny watched Harry throughout the meal. He was smiling, laughing and talking. It seemed rather odd that he could move on so quickly, whereas he was the one to see Dumbledore be murdered. But; she mused thoughtfully, if he could move on, so she could. And besides she had a main goal. Not to exactly win him back (though that would be nice) but to accompany him where ever he went. If she could go to the Department of Mysteries with him, and escape not seriously injured, then she could take on anything. Or so she hoped.

"So Ginny, how's your summer been going?" Hermione asked her.

Startled, she looked up. "Oh! Sorry Hermione, wasn't quite paying attention there. Oh, summer is alright, nothing special, just this and that" she answered.

Summer sucks. I do the same damn thing everyday. I miss Harry. I'm always tired. Phlegm is a pain in the ass. Fred and George never pay attention to my anymore. I think I'm going crazy. Was what was running through Ginny's mind even as she spoke to Hermione.

"This and that huh? You look rather tired" Hermione said taking another careful look at her.

"Yeah well, I haven't been sleeping very well these past few weeks. Wedding preparations and all" Ginny lied while crossing her fingers. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Ah yes. The wedding, are you and Gabrielle the brides maids?" Hermione asked interested.

"Yes, unfortunately" Ginny replied making a face.

Hermione giggled while stealing a look at Gabrielle. Gabrielle was staring at Harry adoringly while he was talking to Ron. "She seems quite smitten with Harry"

"Oh, don't I know it. That's all the Phlegm, I mean Fleur can talk about! "Oh Gabrielle is so excited to see 'arry! Oh, Gabrielle is always talking about 'arry! Oh, some please shoot me!" Ginny imitated Fleur's French accent while rolling her eyes.

Hermione laughed amusedly. The twinkle was returning to Ginny's eyes again. When Mrs. Weasly had confirmed her fears about Ginny becoming depressed, Hermione had grimly second that opinioned. She cared about Ginny in a sisterly and friendly way. After all, she was Ron's younger sister. "so what is Fleur making you wear?"

"Well, Fleur wanted me and Gabrielle to both wear gold. Gold! Urgh, imagine that. It was like a champagne color. I put my foot right down on that one. I told her, its either my color for my own dress or she'll have to find another brides maid. You can only imagine how indignant she became. And Mum! My god, Mum was positively hopping mad!"

"What did she do?"

"She said to me. 'Young lady, I don't approve of your attitude. Yes, Fleur might be flighty and whimsical, but this is her wedding! When you get married, then you can become the Bridezilla, but not now!'. I wanted to laugh, but I stubbornly told mum and Fleur that I refuse to be a look alike of a champagne flute! So in the end, I'm coming in a sky blue kind of a color and Gabrielle's coming in the champagne color. It will clash horribly, but it looks kind of cool. We're doing the last dress fittings tomorrow actually."

"Have fun" Hermione said sympathetically.

"Oh, don't worry Hermione, I will" Ginny replied sarcastically while stabbing at her piece of chicken.

After a helping of Mrs. Weasly's sumptuous homemade strawberry and kiwi ice cream, the adults went into the parlor and Fleur and Gabrielle disappeared into their room that they were sharing. Harry and the other three trooped up to Ron's room where they plunked themselves on the bed or floor and a moment of silence passed between them. Then Ron cleared his throat. Hermione bit back grin but failed and Harry chuckled himself. Ginny merely took to staring out of the window across from her.

"When is the wedding exactly?" Harry asked randomly.

"A week from tomorrow" Ginny answered quietly.

"Yup, Charlie is the best man" Ron chimed in.

"Whose the maid of honor?"

"Oh, we still need to find one" Ginny said with a ghost of a smile on her face.

"What?" Hermione asked startled.

"That's right. Apparently Fleur ran out of relatives or something like that, so they still need one" Ginny explained to her.

"Oh my. I'm sorry, that's rather funny. 'running out of relatives" Hermione snorted.

"I know, that's what my thoughts were on it" Ginny replied back smiling.

"So, have they any idea about who the maid of honor is going to be?" Harry asked bored.

"Fleur's second cousin or something like that is coming in tomorrow, which means another person in this already crowded house. This is ridiculous. And, George and Fred are also swinging by tomorrow." Ginny said wrinkling her nose at the thought of more people in her house.

"Damn. That's a lot of people" He remarked.

"Don't I know it" she replied rolling her eyes.

The four of them talked about the wedding for another moment or so when Ginny got down to business. She had this plan forming in her mind for quite some time. She just needed the information, and motivation to get it through. There was no way that Harry and the other two are going romping about England and who knows, the world searching for the Horcruxes. Not without her. No sireee, she was determined to follow along. Wherever Harry went, she would follow; and not as a shadow, but as a partner, an equal.

"so where are you going after the wedding Harry?" she asked in a clear and cultivated voice.

Surprised, Harry's head snapped up. He had almost been falling asleep, but Ginny's question had put him on the alert again. Running a hand through his mop of hair, he sighed debating whether or not about telling her. But if he really cared about her, he would tell her right?

"The plan is same. Back to Godric's Hollow" he answered carefully.

Ron and Hermione watched Ginny and Harry closely. Both of them had agreed that Harry dumping Ginny had been a rather foolish thing to do.

"I see. How long do you think?" Ginny asked surveying him.

"I dunno. Depends, I remember Dumbledore telling Hagrid a time ago that nothing was left, totally destroyed. So I'm speculating that there's nothing left of the house. Of course, I shouldn't be expecting anything, I mean, it's almost been seventeen years since Voldemort had come. The most I'm expecting is maybe a little marker to signify the deaths or something along those lines. Otherwise, that's it"

"That's it?"

"That's it."

Ginny fell silent for a moment. Chewing on her lip, she mused about what he had just said. What he had said made sense. Of course there wasn't going to be house, it had been almost seventeen years since that night. Seventeen years; she marveled. Harry had a sensible hope, but a rather bad plan. Or so she thought. What her family did not know that during the time she was shut up in her room, she had been doing a little…..research. With Fred and George's Extendable Ears and not to mention quick fingers, she had found out all about the Horcruxes. Ron was constantly writing back and forth to Harry about it and Ginny had intercepted the letters and read them before sending them off or resealing them. Something of Ravenclaw, the teacup of Hufflepuff, the locket of Slytherin and maybe it was something of Gryffindor. Something like that. What Harry needed was not only wit, he needed patience and…..a cartographer.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked alarmed that Ginny seemed to have a glazed look to her face. She waved her hand in front of it and Ginny snapped back into life.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking" she replied back shaking her head as if to clear it.

"About what?" Harry asked curiously.

Ginny furrowed her eyebrow. She did not want to bring up her opinions on this subject in front of Ron and Hermione. Partly because it deals mainly with Harry and secondly, she was the youngest out of all of them, and she wanted to speak to Harry alone. She took in a breath but just at that moment, Mrs. Weasly's voice came shouting up at them, "GET TO BED, IT IS ALMOST TWO IN THE MORNING AND GINNY, YOU HAVE DRESS FITTINGS TOMORROW!"

Ron and Harry leapt to their feet and Hermione helped up Ginny. Ron yanked Harry out of the room and shut the door with a loud slam. Biting back a mad desire to laugh, Ginny began to sputter and burst out laughing. Hermione was thoroughly bewildered but then seeing Ginny bent over with laughter, she began laughing too. Pretty soon, both girls were rolling around on the floor howling with laughter for some odd reason. Tears were streaming down Hermione's face when Mrs. Weasly opened the door with her wand in her right hand and an angry expression on her face.

"You two! Howling like hyenas! Fleur and Gabrielle are fairly upset and claim that they cannot fall asleep! Brush your teeth, and then get to bed."

"But---" Ginny protested.

"No buts! Not from you young lady. You stay up till two, three in the morning and get up at eleven nowadays! Tomorrow you're getting up at SEVEN!"

"What!" Ginny shrieked.

"That's right! No if's and or but's. brush your teeth, change and then bed, light's out, and no talking!" Mrs. Weasly instructed.

Ginny muttered a half hearted oath under her breath but yanked open her dresser drawer. Hermione followed in suit and retrieved her things from her trunk. Mrs. Weasly nodded approvingly and left the room in a huff. Silently, the girls brushed their teeth and then slipped into bed. Hermione was bunked up on an old cot that smelled strongly of mothballs and Ginny was lying on her bed with her hands underneath her head. They both said good night to each other. Hermione had a thousand questions that were she was dying to ask Ginny about. Something was clearly wrong with her, and it scared Hermione. But she was too tired; she fell asleep at one.

Ginny had also drifted off to sleep, but then something woke her up and she widened her eyes. Sitting up she adjusted her eyes to the dark and the little light filtering in through the window from the moon. Her mind told her one thing.

There's something in the dark.