Chapter 2: Helga's Horcrux

"Thank you," Harry said as Mrs. Weasley handed him a cup of tea. He drank it slowly, taking in the Burrow. They were leaving tonight. He had already decided. They'd spent too much time here. Voldemort might already know. Ron and Hermione were upstairs, and Ginny was in the living room playing with Arnold.

Mrs. Weasley had spent a good amount of time complaining about their hair, and how little they, especially Harry, were eating. Harry finished his tea and went up stairs to talk to Ron and Hermione and tell them they were leaving. They would be upset. The Burrow was everyone's favorite place, at least, everyone that had been there. He opened the door to Ron's room and found Ron and Hermione standing on opposite sides, both looking extremely guilty.

Harry smiled. "Still finding time to snogg?" They sat down on Ron's bed and looked at Harry. "We're leaving tonight after dinner. I'm sorry, but we've stayed here too long. Voldemort probably knows we're here, and if he does, that means he's going to come here. We can't put your family-"

"You mean Ginny," Ron said.

"We can't put your family in more danger than they already are. Ginny is part of your family. If we're lucky, we'll get out of here without anyone getting hurt, especially us. We'll go without saying anything to anyone, even Ginny. Not even goodbye," he told them. Ron stood up and reluctantly began to shove things into a bag. He stopped when he came to a picture of the three of them. They stood as if in a trance, looking at the photograph. It was from their 3rd year. Things had been different back then. Voldemort hadn't been terrorizing everyone, and the only thing they had to worry about was their potions final.

Harry snapped back to reality when a door slammed. "That's it! You're just leaving! I hate this! I hate you! How could you do this to me, Harry?" Ron and Hermione left the room and closed the door. "Answer me, Harry! How could you do this to me! I thought you loved me! Why do you keep putting yourself in danger? You're part of this family too, Harry! You've always been part of this family! Part of my family! Part of me! I'm always going to be in danger, whether I'm with your or not! Harry, why can't you see that I love you? Why isn't love enough? Do you even love me? How do I know you love me? Where is this love? I can't see it. I can't touch it. I can't feel it. I can hear it. I can hear some words, but I can't do anything with your easy words."

She was cut off by a bone chilling scream from the kitchen. Both of their eyes widened. They ran downstairs. Mrs. Weasley sat crumpled at the foot of a chair. Ginny rushed to help her up and Harry ran outside. He couldn't find the dark mark anywhere. It must have been something else. Something worse.

"Mrs. Weasley…" She pointed to a letter on the table.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley,

It is with deep regret and sympathy that I am informing you this evening of the most unfortunate occurrence. Your son, Percival Weasley, Assistant to Rufus Scrimgeour, Minister of Magic, has perished in the line of duty at the Ministry of Magic in London, England. It is clear that the Dark Lord He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his Death Eaters were behind the attack. The Ministry of Magic is deeply sorry for your loss and accepts all responsibility.

Rufus Scrimgeour

Minister of Magic

Harry hugged Ginny. He knew how it felt to loose a family member, but he still couldn't imagine the pain that Mrs. Weasley was going through. Percy had been her favorite son while he was at Hogwarts, and when he'd refused to talk to them, she'd still hoped he would come back.

He let go of Ginny and went to the cupboard, taking out cups for tea. Ginny was right. This was his family. He knew the Burrow like the back of his hand. He set the kettle on the stove and filled it with water. When the tea was ready, he filled everyone's cups. Fred and George didn't seem as distressed as Mrs. Weasley over Percy's death. The last time Harry had seen Percy, he'd been covered in potato. He'd begun shaking when he got to Ginny's and then his cup. He hadn't liked Percy either. Why was he shaking?

Ginny took a sip from her cup. It looked familiar, but not because it had been used by Harry many times before. She set her cup down and Harry gasped. He raised his wand and, silently saying a spell, broke the cup.
"Harry!" Everyone looked at him as the hot tea dripped off the table onto his lap. Hermione and Ginny both looked horrified. He picked a tiny piece of gold out of his hand, where it had penetrated the skin and he'd begun to bleed. Hermione reached for her wand to repair the cup.

"No, Hermione don't!" Harry exclaimed. He turned over the pieces of the cup until they were all facing up, then he placed the pieces like a puzzle until they formed "A badger. This was Helga Hufflepuff's cup! This was the horcrux! It's been at the Burrow all this time. This is what I've been looking for. Well, one of the things. I wasn't going to tell you, but we're leaving tonight to go look for the other horcruxes. I'd really like to stay but I can't. We have to leave so what happened to Percy doesn't happen to you or anyone else."

"Harry, shut up! We didn't want you to leave before! Now, my brother is dead and you're still leaving!" He stood up and tried to stop her from going on, but she picked up a frying pan from the sink and swung it. It barely missed Harry's head, he started to take the frying pan, but he'd forgotten the Ginny was a Quidditch player. She came around from the other side, colliding with his head.

Stars began to float around the kitchen. Then, everything went dark.

Harry moaned. His head hurt and someone was running their fingers through his hair. He tried to sit up, but the throbbing pain force him back down. "Where am I?" Someone above shushed him. He opened his eyes and saw Ginny. "Ginny. What happened?"

"I hit you with the frying pan. And I'm not sorry, so don't ask me to apologize."

"You look like an angel."

"Thank you." She reached over him and pulled a wet towel out of a bowl and began dabbing his head. Harry put his hand on his head and took it away. His hand was wet and shiny with blood. She'd hit him really hard, but he wasn't mad at her. He'd deserved it. Maybe they could stay for a few more days. After Percy's death, Ron needed to be with his family. Who was he kidding? Ron hated Percy. He just couldn't leave Ginny and now he realized it.

He sat up, with much help from Ginny. "Ginny, I'm sorry. I didn't want to say good-bye, because I didn't want it to feel like I was saying good-bye forever. I don't want to leave, but I have to so you'll be safe. I know you love me. I love you too. How could you not know that? Love is enough. That's the power I have that Voldemort doesn't, and can never understand."

Ginny stood up. "You can cut the sob story, Harry. I know you don't want me with you, so why don't you just leave and spare me the heart ache?"

"But I do want you with me," Harry said shocked. He gripped a chair and used it to help himself to his knees. "Didn't you understand? I don't want to leave you, and if you say yes, I won't ever have to. Ginny Weasley, will you marry me?"

Time stopped and all was silent for what seemed like a millennium. Neither of them moved. Ginny blinked and Harry stood up. He walked towards her. Suddenly, her hand made contact with the side of his head. She'd smacked him, but without a frying pan, so it didn't hurt as much. All his thoughts rushed together. Was this supposed to happen? He'd never proposed to anyone before, so he wouldn't know. But he didn't think that there was supposed to be slapping involved. "So I guess that means you won't marry me?"

"You're proposing to me!" she exclaimed. "You're proposing to me because you know we're both probably going to die so you won't ever have to actually marry me!"

"I'm proposing to you because I love you, and so when we don't die, I'll have someone there with me to be just mine," Harry told her, taking her in his arms. "So I'm going to ask again. Ginny, will you marry me?" She seemed to be thinking over everything he'd told her.

Finally, she smiled. "Yes. But you have to promise me that you won't die."

"I promise."

"Mom, Dad…Harry and I have something to tell you," Ginny said. Everyone was gathered in the kitchen again. Mrs. Weasley was still crying over Percy, but the rest of them looked intently at Harry and Ginny, hoping for good news. "Harry asked me to marry him!" The kitchen was silent. "And…I said yes!"

"What?" was the most popular response. In fact, everyone said it in unison. The two people who looked the most shocked were Ron and Hermione. Harry looked at Ginny and smiled. They didn't take it terribly, so he supposed that was good. Fred was the first one to say anything with more than one syllable. "Are you catering or having Mum cook?" Everyone, except Mrs. Weasley, laughed. It felt good to laugh. Harry had forgotten what it felt like.

Mrs. Weasley stood up, walked over to them, and hugged them both, breaking into huge sobs again. When she finally stopped crying, she was smiling.

Everyone else took that as their cue to get up and congratulate Harry and Ginny. Under his breath, Ron mumbled, "I should have thought of that." Only Harry heard him.