Ginny awoke on Thursday morning and stretched her hand over to wrap around Harry only to find that he wasn't there. Ever since the incident with the Minister, Harry had been fairly quiet, brooding or possibly figuring out what the bloody hell to say at the ministry press conference. He was spending a lot of his time with Ron and Hermione now though he snuck into Ginny's room every night so that they could be together.

Ginny rolled over and saw she was the room's only occupant but there was a note on the pillow next to her.

Gin,

Got up early to go for a walk. See you at breakfast.

Love, Harry

'Not overly romantic', she thought to herself 'but at least he remembered to write a note'.

With a sigh she dragged herself out of bed and put on the casual dress robes she had picked out for herself yesterday for the press conference. She descended the stairs and was met with the smell of frying bacon.

"Morning, mum," Ginny greeted her mother as she sat down at the table.

"Morning, dear. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes," Mrs. Weasley said, trying to sound perky but with obvious strain in her voice. The cause of the strain was evident a few minutes later when the Golden Trio, Ron Hermione and Harry entered the kitchen a moment later. Harry looked considerably downtrodden and sleepless but a smile warmed his face as he came and sat with Ginny, taking her hand in his.

Ron, Hermione and Harry all exchanged looks as Mrs. Weasley set the food on the table. Ginny knew better than to ask what it was about. As much as she and Harry shared with each other there was still a part of him that was Ron and Hermione's. Sometimes it made Ginny jealous but she accepted that things would always be that way because those three had been through so much together, and she was more of a tag-along in their adventures.

Breakfast was eaten in a subdued silence and Ginny noticed that Harry barely touched his bacon sandwiches, which Mrs. Weasley kept pouring onto his plate.

When breakfast was eaten and Mrs.Weasley had magicked their plates clean, it was time to go.

Ginny gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek to reassure him before he stepped into the fire and shouted "Ministry of Magic, London" though whether this was to calm him about the conference or the floo powder, neither of them really knew.

When it was Ginny's turn to go she felt the familiar whoosh of movement and lick of the cool green flames before opening her eyes and finding herself in the main foyer of the ministry of magic.

The last time she had been here had been at the end of her fourth year when Harry had learned the prophecy about himself and Voldemort, and Sirius had died. It felt strange to see everyone moving around going about their day, not caring that only a little over a year ago a good man had died here. Ginny felt a tugging in her heart as she remembered how she had fought death eaters here, side-by-side with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and though the thought made her feel proud, she also felt slightly nervous being there, like it wasn't entirely safe.

She saw Harry standing in the middle of the room, oblivious to the bustle around him of witches and wizards going about their day. He was staring at a fading grey circle on the floor and she ran over to him to make sure he was ok. Surely if the place was affecting her so much, Harry would be even worse.

His face was blank and expressionless when she looked up at him and tentatively she spoke his name,

"Harry…"

"There used to be a fountain here," He stated with no emotion in his voice whatsoever.

"It was right here. I guess they decided getting rid of it was easier then tending to all the repairs after that night…" Now he finally looked away from the floor and met her eyes.

"You ok?" he asked gently squeezing her hand.

"Me?" she asked incredulously, "I should be asking you that!"

Harry gave her a half smile and said, "I'm fine Ginny," then on her look, "Really. I am." She met his smile and grasped his hand as they turned around to see Mrs. Weasley, Ron and Hermione patiently waiting for them by the lifts.

As they descended Ginny could feel Harry breathing heavily beside her and stepped closer to him so he would know she was there for him. He looked down at her with eyes that reminded her of puppy dogs and smiled his thanks. He let out a deep breath and they reached the 12th floor.

Mr. Weasley was waiting for them when they got out.

"Good to see you all got here on time. You all right Harry?"

"Yes sir," Harry said in a voice that was a little bit higher pitched than usual. This caused Ginny to giggle a little despite herself.

Jokingly, Harry asked, "What are you giggling at?" to which Ginny couldn't help but reply, "Well you would certainly know a giggle when you heard one wouldn't you."

Confusion crossed Harry's features followed by a sudden understanding and he shot her a warning look that seemed to say 'Don't you dare say a word!'

"Well, everyone," Mr. Weasley interrupted, "Why don't you all go through those doors on the right into the auditorium and get good seats. I'll join you in a minute after I show Harry where he needs to go."

Mrs. Weasley nodded and gave Harry one of her famous lung-crushing motherly hugs, Ron patted Harry's back in a manly fashion and said 'good luck, mate' causing Hermione to roll her eyes. Hermione leapt at Harry and gave him a tight hug she certainly had developed from Mrs. Weasleys example. Then it was Ginny's turn.

"Harry, you'll do great!" She exclaimed with as much encouragement as she could muster.

"I just wish I didn't have to do this," he sighed. Ginny gave him a hug and a long hard kiss.

"I know you can do this Harry," she said seriously, then slightly less seriously but with a big grin, "get out there and make your girlfriend proud!"

"Which one?" Harry asked innocently, feigning confusion. This earned him a slight knock on the chest by an angry Ginny who glared at him.

Harry laughed out loud and kissed her passionately (causing a few of the ministry witches heading for the auditorium to sigh romantically).

"I'll see you afterwards," Harry said looking into her eyes.

With a quick kiss on the cheek Ginny hurried after the others into the auditorium while Harry followed after Mr. Weasley.

Ginny took her seat in between her mother and Hermione, with Ron on Hermione's other side. Ron and Hermione were whispering with each other about something that was apparently very entertaining as they seemed wrapped up in their conversation. Under normal circumstances Ginny would demand to be including but for now se was two worried about Harry and spent the next 20 minutes playing with her hands and waiting anxiously as the seats around her filled up.

There were dozens of reporters, (among them was Rita Skeeter, her beady eyes squinting around the room for her next interview victim) but there was also a large number of witches and wizards, not all from the ministry. Among them she recognized several order members and Aurors strewn throughout the audience, probably stationed there in case there was trouble. The idea that the conference needed undercover Aurors in addition to the dozens of security agents at all the doors did not reassure her growing feeling of unease.

Finally the chatter quieted down and Rufus Scrimgeour stepped up to the podium with Percy standing to the side and behind him. She felt her jaw clench in anger as the minister began speaking.

He addressed some concerns about economic issues that Ginny didn't pay much attention to before he moved on.

He talked about how action needed to be taken, and urged everyone who had any information regarding Voldemort or the Death Eaters to come forward immediately. He continued on about this for a very long time before calling forth his minister of Defence to speak.

The minister of Defence, a portly man who looked somewhat past his prime talked for a full half hour about small measures that could be taken for the safety of people's families.

He eventually stepped aside and Scrimgeour resumed talking.

"As we're all aware," he spoke to the crowd, his voice magically modified, "A good wizard, a gift to the magical world, was taken from us only a little over a month ago. He was murdered by servants of He-Who-Must not be named. And for this reason, the magical community grieves. Let us take a moment's silence for Albus Dumbledore." With this Scrimgeour bowed his head and the room was silent for a full minute before Scrimgeour spoke again.

"On that note, I would like to present a friend of mine who would like to say a few words on this matter."

From behind the curtains on Scrimgeour's left side emerged a rather disgruntled and awkward looking Harry, fidgeting with note cards in his hands.

Whispers swept through the crowd as everyone expressed their surprise at seeing the boy-who-lived on the stage.

Ginny perked up in her seat paying rapt attention to Harry.

Harry stood at the podium and searched for her eyes in the crowd, when their eyes met Harry smiled and let out a deep breathe.

Harry began to speak, very awkwardly, clearly reading from the cards. He hadn't memorized them, he hadn't even written them himself because the words sounded nothing like Harry.

"This spring a… a good friend of mine was murdered. Ever since Vo…You-Know-Who killed my parents I have looked to Albus Dumbledore as a fa…father,"

'Not entirely true', Ginny thought, Harry didn't even know Dumbledore existed until he was eleven. Whoever wrote this speech hadn't checked their facts. Harry was stuttering on his words as he struggled to read and look at the audience at the same time.

"We need to…" Harry paused and Ginny saw his eyes squinting at something in the back of the room.

"We need to listen to the ministry in order to stop more people, like Dumbledore and my parents from being sacrificed…" Harry's eyes were searching the room rapidly and he no longer seemed to be aware of what he was saying as he read it.

"The ministry is asking all of you to…" Ginny saw Harry's eyes widen in horror and she, along with everyone around her, spun around in their chairs to see what he was looking at. Ginny caught a quick glimpse of a familiar greasy head of hair, and that's when she felt the first explosion.

(AN: FINALLY! An update! I am SOOO sorry it took me so long! I've been busy with school and stuff and I kind of forgot about this. But the update is here now and there should be another one in the next few days. I'm already half done the next chapter.