"I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!" Ginny screamed as soon as Harry had finished filling everyone in on what Percy's true motive had been. All the Weasley brothers nodded in agreement.

Harry was afraid to look at Mrs. Weasley. He knew she had been so excited with the thought that Percy had wanted to reconcile (for that had been what they had discussed at lunch earlier that day) and the news that it was all a lie was sure to devastate her.

"I am honestly going to kill that bastard!"

"Ginny, language!" Mr. Weasley scolded, but Ginny didn't seem to care as she continued pacing the kitchen and muttering insults under her breath.

Everyone was shocked and enraged by this news, but none regretted it so much as Harry and perhaps Mrs. Weasley who sat down next to Harry and said to him, "Harry, I am so sorry for this,"

"It's ok Mrs. Weasley, you couldn't have known. I'm sorry about Percy."

Harry felt incredibly guilty about driving even larger wedges between Percy and the Weasleys. He saw tears pooling in Mrs. Weasley's eyes, and he hated Percy even more than before.

Dinner that evening was a somber affair, the events of that day hung over the Weasley's kitchen like an evil storm cloud. Hardly anyone spoke except when Ron accidentally sat on Fred and George's latest invention (which they had left there before heading back to London earlier) and ended up tap dancing across the table.

Harry volunteered to wash the dishes after dinner and everyone had gone upstairs. Hermione and Ginny had both been trying to catch his eye at all evening. Knowing they would want him to talk about what had happened, he decided to avoid it for as long as possible. He didn't want to dwell on the fact that two days later he would be at a ministry press conference and it was his own stupid fault.

So when he had finished the dishes and was heading up to his room, he decided on doing something different. He summoned a coat from his room and headed out the front door.

Ginny woke up much later that night and looked at her clock, it was just past midnight. She realized she must have fallen asleep while waiting for Harry. Hermione was asleep in the bed next to hers so she presumed Ron would have already gone to sleep as well. She crept out of bed quietly, not wanting to wake Hermione, and headed to Harry's room.

She slid open his door, just a crack, she had intended only to check on him to ease her own discomfort but he wasn't in his bed.

'He's probably just in the washroom,' she thought, so she sat down on his bed and waited. Five minutes passed and Harry didn't come so she went and checked the bathroom. He wasn't there either.

She went downstairs to check. He wasn't there either, but neither, she noticed, were his shoes.

Having fallen asleep in her clothes she didn't need to change before heading out the door. Harry's broom had still been in his room, he couldn't apparate yet, and she knew he had an aversion to floo powder, so wherever he had gone, he had to have walked. She decided to check the village first.

Most of the shops were closed but among them was an open, and very raucous bar called the Roaring Lion. She went in to ask if anyone had seen Harry but was not at all prepared for what she found.

There at the front of the bar, was Harry, an empty tankard and several empty shot glasses in front of him. He waved another full shot glass in his hand as he emphatically told the crowd some tale that seemed to have them all laughing pretty hard.

"And he just tilted his head, right! And to me it looked like it meant 'if you gotta' so I certainly did!" With these words all the men around Harry let out a cheer and they all raised their glasses (including Harry) and downed their shots.

"You're all right, kid!" someone shouted at Harry and clapped his back. "I'm buying you the next round!"

"I think he's had enough," Ginny said stepping in.

"Gin!" Harry shouted, "Haha! Gin, look see!" he said holding up a bottle of gin. "It's no firewhisky but it hits the spot!"

"You've never even had firewhisky," Ginny muttered more to herself than to Harry as she pulled him off the bar stool. Unfortunately though, Harry appeared to have lost the ability to use his legs as he promptly fell over.

"C'mon Harry, learn to live with gravity," she said pulling him up. She half supported and half dragged him out of the bar and onto the street.

"C'mon Harry, you're going to need to walk for me to get you home! I can't do magic yet remember?"

"You're pretty" was all Harry said to this. In no mood to be swayed by idle romanticisms she ignored his comment and continued to drag him as far as she could. But eventually Harry just collapsed onto the ground giggling.

"You giggle?" Ginny asked incredulously, "Oh boy, starting tomorrow you are never living this down."

She grabbed his arms and started pulling and dragging, Harry seemed ignorant to her struggles and he simply lay limp on the ground before her. Wondering what to do, Ginny sat on the ground next to him and rolled her eyes while trying to think of some sort of plan to get home.

"Is that Ginny Weasley?" a voice spoke above her. She looked up at the man before her, he seemed familiar but she couldn't place his face in the dark.

"It's Amos Diggory. What's going on?" he asked kindly.

"Oh, well it's just… Harry," she said indicating her boyfriend who seemed to be having a nice nap in the dirt.

"Do you need some help?"

Relief spread through her.

"That would be wonderful!" she said.

Mr. Diggory winked at her and, with a quick look around to see no one was watching, he pulled out his wand.

He levitated Harry off the ground and walked with Ginny and the floating Harry towards the Burrow.

"Does this happen often?" Mr. Diggory asked with a weak chuckle indicating the floating Harry.

"Oh no! This is the first time. Harry's just… well, he's been through a lot."

"I can imagine." A dark look came over Mr. Diggory's face for a moment, "Ginny, is it… is it true what their saying about him? That he's some sort of… Chosen One?"

Ginny knew Harry didn't want anyone to know, but when she looked at Mr. Diggory who had lost so much before the war even started, she couldn't lie.

"Yes… he is."

Mr. Diggory wasn't surprised or shocked he simply nodded in total and complete understanding, and, Ginny noticed, gripped his wand tightly. The rest of the walk was in silence until they reached the burrow.

"Um, Mr. Diggory?"

"Amos," he told her.

"Amos, would you mind helping me take him up the stairs? Only everyone else is already asleep."

"No problem at all," he said with a kind smile.

Once Harry was safely in bed and Mr. Diggory had headed home, Ginny undressed Harry and put him in his pajamas. She even tucked him in. She stared at him lovingly for a moment before he began to stir.

"Ginny?" he asked.

"Yes, Harry, I'm here," She closed her eyes to kiss him but then her lips touched Harry's ear instead of lips. She opened her eyes to see he had turned on his side and was throwing up over the side of the bed.

Just as she was letting out a few choice curse words, she looked back at her boyfriend and found he had already passed out cold.

AN: Yay! Two chappies in two days! Hurrah! Thanks for the drinking idea, ilostar. I know I didn't use the merlot but I thought the Gin thing was kind of amusing lol. I know I'm easily amused. Lol.

Next Chapter: the ministry press conference and some real action at last!

Oh and by the way, in case you didn't know the story Harry was telling to everyone in the bar was how he and Ginny had got together. And I know that the book actually said Ron's tilt of the head seemed to indicate 'well, if you must' but Harry was drunk so you can't blame him for getting it wrong. Lol.