A/N: A few changes have been made to the end of the first scene as well as the end of the chapter. As some of these changes will affect the rest of the story, you can expect to see more edits to a few other chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own or thereby claim the rights to Harry Potter and subsequent characters, plots, etc
Chapter 2: Leaving Home
Five o'clock in the evening on July 31st was a long time coming in Harry's mind. He tried doing little things around the house to pass the time, but cleaning, gardening, even pestering Dudley soon became dull. Finally, there was not much else to do but sit beside the window in the living room and wait for Ron and Mr. Weasley to come.
Unfortunately, Aunt Petunia had other ideas. "Why are you just sitting there, boy?" she screeched in that accusing manner of hers.
"I'm waiting for the Weasley's to come get me. And then I'll be gone for good."
"Those are the people with the red hair and shoddy clothes?"
Harry grunted in response.
Aunt Petunia cast a nervous glance around the living room. "A-are they all coming?"
"No. Just Ron and his dad."
At that moment, two successive pops were followed by the appearance of Arthur and Ron Weasley. "Harry, how are you?" Mr. Weasley stepped forward to shake Harry's hand while Ron grinned at him from behind.
Harry returned the grin, answering Mr. Weasley at the same time. "Great now that you're here."
Mr. Weasley glanced over Harry's shoulder at Aunt Petunia who was now inching her way to the door. "Petunia, right? I see you've repaired the fireplace."
Apparently this was not the right thing to say at the moment, for Petunia stiffened visibly and yelled, "VERNON!"
Arthur jumped at the sound of Petunia's shrill, panicked voice, and then jumped higher at what sounded like a herd of elephants coming down the stairs.
"What is it, Petunia?" Uncle Vernon asked. He leaned forward, hands on his massive thighs and tried to catch his breath.
Ron and Harry exchanged glances and tried to stifle their laughter; clearly this man was not in the best of shape. Dudley wasn't faring much better, either. He had collapsed on the couch upon entering the room and was now breathing as though he had just completed a 33 kilometer marathon.
Aunt Petunia pointed a shaking figure at Mr. Weasley who was beginning to look more and more concerned by the woman's behavior. "H-him."
Vernon's eyes widened at the same time that his face went so purple Harry thought he resembled a very large grape. "What are you doing here," he asked menacingly.
Mr. Weasley gulped. "I came to, that is to say, my son Ron and I came to pick Harry up for his apparition test and to take him to my home, the Burrow, for Ron's brother's wedding." This was all said in a matter of a few seconds and at the end of his long-winded sentence, Mr. Weasley drew in a huge breath, clearly hoping Vernon Dursley would not punch him in the face.
"I see. Will this be the last time we will see you, boy?" Uncle Vernon turned his attention to Harry.
Harry nodded. "Yes, Uncle Vernon. I'm already packed; we just need to get my things and then I'll be out of your hair." Hopefully forever.
"Well, what are waiting for? Hop to it!"
Harry grinned at Ron. He knew Vernon would be glad to get rid of him. "Yes, Uncle Vernon."
Ten minutes later, Ron, Mr. Weasley and Harry had placed Shrinking charms on all of Harry's items and Harry was once more in front of the people he had more or less called his family for sixteen years. "Well…this is it…" he said lamely.
Vernon graced him with a grunt. Dudley looked at his shoes. Petunia…Harry had to look closer…Petunia actually had tears in her eyes. "I-I know we haven't treated you well, Harry-"
Vernon and Harry both gaped at Petunia disbelievingly, but for different reasons. Vernon couldn't believe his wife was actually teary-eyed over their freak nephew leaving, and Harry couldn't believe she had just called him 'Harry'.
"- But I want you to know there was a time that your mother and I got along as sisters should. I just have this feeling that I may never see you again and I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for what we put you through."
Harry just stared at her for a moment, not quite sure how to respond. Ron and Mr. Weasley had kindly stepped outside, knowing that this might be more awkward for Harry if they were standing behind him tapping their toes. "Aunt Petunia," he decided to address her as Vernon seemed to have no interest in whatever Harry had to say, "I won't lie and tell you that these last years have been wonderful beyond compare. I've had to endure a lot of hardship, and much of that was because of you. But, you are my mother's sister, and I don't think she would have wanted me to hold grudges against you. I don't know if I can forgive you now, but maybe in time I will."
Aunt Petunia nodded her acceptance. She knew that asking her nephew for forgiveness was going to be a lot to ask of him, but if he was anything like Lily, he would try. And it seemed that he was more like Lily than she had ever bargained for. "Good luck," she whispered. "And be careful."
"I will. Goodbye, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon….Dudley." With that, Harry Potter turned the doorknob and went out to join his other family.
"Ready, Harry?" Arthur asked, a gentle smile on his face.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Hold on lightly to my arm then; we'll Apparate to the Ministry and then you can Apparate on your own to the Burrow. Provided you pass the test of course."
Harry did as he was instructed and POP, the three wizards disappeared from Number 4, Privet Drive.
Merely seconds later, three more POPs could be heard. Petunia and Dudley looked at each other, then Vernon in confusion. Vernon opened the door, ready to yell at his nephew when his eyes widened due to there being three masked men standing on his doorstep, each pointing a wand in their faces. "Wha-"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!
Petunia screamed in horror as Vernon collapsed to the floor, a look of fright frozen on his robust face. She scrambled backwards, trying to get away from these terrifying masked men, yelling at Dudley to run and tripped on the step that was directly behind her, falling to the floor helplessly.
"What do you want?" She gasped in terror as she attempted to crawl backwards up the stairs. "Please, oh please, don't hurt us!
They said nothing for a moment. Then one lifted one of those things, a wand, and pointed it at Dudley. "Crucio!"
Petunia had never moved so quickly. In one moment she was in the middle of staircase and in the next, she was running to push her beloved son out of the way, who stumbled at fell against the wall. "Leave my son ALONE!" She screamed as never before as the pain hit and she dropped to the floor in agony.
"Mum!" Dudley yelled out, looking frantically around, trying to find a way to escape. "Leave her alone!"
The man who had pointed the wand at Dudley lifted the curse and turned to look disdainfully at the fat boy who was cowering against the wall. "You think that if you get closer to the wall you'll get skinnier, boy? I still see you, and you're still going to die.
Dudley whimpered. "Wh-why?"
The wizard shrugged and pointed his wand back at Dudley, "Because it's what we do. Avada Kedavra."
Petunia screamed once more as her son slumped against the wall, his mouth open in fearful protest. "You murderer! What do you think you're doing, coming into my home and killing my family? You will pay for this!" Yet as she screamed the words at this monster who had just destroyed her livelihood, she knew without a doubt that they would not pay and that she was going to die. Just like Lily.
Until this point, the other two men had been watching the ordeal silently, flanking the other one who seemed to be in charge. Now, they stepped forward and the three men aimed their wands at Petunia's shaking form. "Avada Kedavra!"
The Burrow
On the day of the wedding, the Burrow was, if possible, even more hectic than it normally was. Mrs. Weasley was running around, trying to feed everyone while making adjustments to Fleur's wedding gown, Charlie, Ron and Harry were outside de-gnoming the yard, Hermione and Ginny were upstairs getting dressed and helping Fleur's little sister get into her own gown, and Fred and George were setting up the chairs (which was quite the feat since they kept charming them to duel each other before they settled onto the ground) Bill had disappeared as he was both very nervous and wanted to follow wedding tradition to the T. He would not set his eyes on his bride until she walked down the aisle. Fleur, of course, was in Mrs. Weasley's company, making some last minute changes on her dress. At last, everything was ready.
The music began and all the guests turned in their seats expectantly. First, Bill's little cousins Violet and Bobby walked together down the aisle as Flower Girl and Ring Bearer. Small sighs and coos were heard through the female members of the audience. Ginny was the next one down the aisle, followed by Gabrielle. Harry caught sight of Ginny and felt his breath catch in his throat. She looked as beautiful as he had ever seen her. She wore a simple bronze strapless gown which brought out her gorgeous brown eyes and made her skin glow like the sun. Harry couldn't keep his eyes off of her.
This was rather unfortunate as Harry missed the entire ceremony from the point that Ginny had walked down the aisle. He just stared at her the whole time and knew she was having a hard time not looking at him. Harry just perked up as he heard the minister say, "You may now kiss the bride." He wished he and Ginny were up there, but he knew it couldn't happen as long as Voldemort was at large.
The reception after the ceremony reminded Harry quite a bit of the parties they used to have in the Gryffindor Common Room. The music was loud and the guests were having a good time. It was as though the threat hanging over them had never existed. Harry smiled a bit at this thought. It was nice to get away from it all every once in a while.
"What are you thinking about?" Ginny asked, coming to sit next to her ex-boyfriend. Well, her ex who wasn't really her ex, but he was because Voldemort was after him.
"Just that this is really nice. I wish we could have more days like this."
She took his hand and looked him the eye. "So do I. And we will, Harry. After you defeat him, we'll have plenty of days like this."
"You have more confidence in me than I do. All I keep thinking is, how soon will it be until he kills me?"
"Never. He won't. You'll find a way."
Harry shook his head. "Will I? I'm not exactly the best wizard in my year and I haven't even finished school yet. I'm not nearly the wizard that Dumbledore was and he got killed."
"You don't give yourself enough credit, Harry. I know you say it was all luck that got you through those encounters with Voldemort, but you know there had to be some skill behind it too. I don't care if you never did very well in school, Harry. When it comes right down to it, you always come through. I believe in you."
Harry leaned forward, catching her chin in his hand and tilted it up so she was looking him in the eyes. "Thank you." He leaned in a bit further and kissed her gently.
Ginny drew him in closer, going in for a longer, deeper kiss. Soon they were surrounded by catcalls and comments such as, "If this is how you treat girls you're not even dating, I'd love to see you with a girlfriend!" Harry and Ginny broke apart quickly, both trying and failing to hide a grin.
Harry stood up and offered his sort-of girlfriend a hand. "Care to dance? I can't guarantee I won't step on your toes."
"I would love to," Ginny replied, placing her hand in Harry's.
"Oh, and you're not coming with us," Harry whispered in her ear as they took to the dance floor.
"What?!"
"That kiss back there does not mean that things are any different. I am not putting you in danger."
Ginny stepped back and stared at him in disbelief. "What if I want to put myself in danger? I want to help Harry, you know that."
"I know, Gin, and maybe next year, if we haven't found all the horcruxes yet you can join us. By that time you'll be seventeen and you can make that decision." He held up a hand, knowing she was going to argue with him again. "I know you feel like you can make that decision now, and honestly I think you're mature enough. If Hogwarts were closing this year, I'd even consider it then because you couldn't stand being stuck at home. But I know your mother and so do you and we both know that she won't let you go. I won't have you turn your back on your family to do what you want. They can't go through that again. Please don't do something that you may regret."
Ginny looked down, tears her eyes. "I don't want to leave you, Harry. I love you."
"I know. I love you too. And that's why you can't go. If something happened to you, I wouldn't be able to finish my task. I'm just not strong enough. Please let me be strong, Ginny."
She nodded slowly, the tears now streaming down her cheeks. "Will you wait for me?"
"Forever. No matter how long it takes. There will be no one else for me but you, but now isn't the time for us. If I make it through this, then maybe," he held up a hand to stem her flow of words as she had opened her mouth in protest. "Ginny, live your life, for me. Don't put it on hold. See other guys, be the carefree girl I fell in love with. Promise me." Harry looked intently into her eyes, holding her chin in one hand and gently wiping her tears with the other.
She laid her cheek on his shoulder, the tears leaving tracks down the sleeve of his robes and enjoyed what would be some of her final moments with him before he left. "I promise."