Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Queen Rowling. Everything else is mine. This is also my first fic so please be nice if you review. Thanks!

Chapter 4

The only way to describe the mood in the Burrow over the next few weeks was tense. Maybe there was some fear as well. Ok, a lot of fear. Ginny's 16th birthday was a forced affair. There could be no denying that there were some key faces missing at the table. But on the other hand – PRESENTS! Some earrings from her parents, a book on 'tips and charms to make your style work for you' from Bill and Fleur (i.e. Fleur), some new Chaser gloves from Charlie, a box of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes merchandise from The Twins, an "IOU" note from Ron, (a quick pang when she realized there was nothing from Percy), a pocket Sneakoscope from Hermione with a note saying "use it well ", and a final small box that fit in the palm of her hand.

"They gave those to me before they left. I think they wanted to make sure you got them, should they have to leave before your birthday." Mr. Weasley told her. Ginny nodded sadly, thanked everyone, gathered up her gifts and took them upstairs. She wanted to open Harry's gift in private.

"Oh Arthur, do you think she liked her gifts?" Molly asked worriedly

"I think everyone did very well Molly. Ginny loved the gifts, she is lucky to have people who know her so well."

"Then why is she so upset?" Molly cried

"Mollee, I theeenk Geeeny eeez so upset because 'er friends ar' meesing 'an she can do notheen." Fleur reasoned.

Fred and George looked and each other. "Fleur, you are a genius!" they exclaimed and raced out the door. No one seemed surprised by this behaviour, even Fleur seemed to be getting used to it as she didn't even glance up from clearing the breakfast table.

"You ar' welcome." She called after them, rolling her eyes.

Ginny sat on her bed, palming Harry's gift. On closer inspection, she realized there was an inscription the underside of the box:

Gin,

Happy Birthday! I hope you're having a great day, and I'm sorry we can't be there – I seem to be saying that a lot this year. As such, I thought you might like something to carry around with you to remind you of me and of how amazing you are. It's charmed and I've got the pair so we will always be connected. I really shouldn't be doing this; it's not fair to you…but I saw it and thought of you. I hope you like it.

Harry

Ginny carefully pulled the ribbons apart and lifted the lid. Fighting her way through the tissue paper, she found a small gold pendant attached to a slim gold chain. The pendant was in the shape of a stag and every so often it shook its head or pawed the invisible ground. Ginny was breathless for a few seconds, she had never received such a beautiful gift. She really wanted to speak to Hermione, well if she were being honest, she really wanted to be with Harry, but Hermione was the next best thing. Urgh, failing that, she needed Fleur – Ginny loved her mum but this was a situation for a friend.

"FLEUR! Can you come up here a sec!" Ginny yelled down the stairs. She jumped back onto her bed and curled into a ball, without waiting to hear Fleur's answer.

Fleur entered Ginny's room, sat on the bed opposite her and reached for her hand, "Oh ma Cherie, qu'elle triste. What eez wrong?" Ginny said nothing, just handed Fleur the necklace and box, then turned to look out the window. Fleur was silent as she read the message and looked at the gift. "What does eet mean? 'E 'as the pair?"

Ginny laughed, weakly, swiping at her cheeks. "That's the first thing you want to ask? His Patronus is a stag so I assume that his pendant is a Horse that moves in a similar way." Ginny took the necklace from Fleur and fastened it around her neck. Fleur moved to sit next to her on the bed, squeezing her hand, whilst with the other Ginny reached up to stroke her pendant. Saying nothing, Ginny turned her face away to look out the window at the mocking sunshine.

Standing on platform 93/4 , Ginny was shocked to see so few students returning. She wanted to call out to all the first years that this is not what Hogwarts should be! Ginny realized that, although a large proportion of her friends would not be attending this year, she would at least have Neville and Luna to keep her company. Talking of which, she saw a tall figure approach, holding some sort of plant. She waved at her friend then turned to say goodbye to her parents.

One bone-crushing hug from her mother and a kiss on the head and a hug from her father later, she turned to go. They did not need to say anything to each other. They all knew how dangerous Hogwarts would be this year and so 'be careful' seemed a bit inadequate.

Once ensconced on the train, Ginny, Neville and Luna hurried to find a carriage. To her surprise, Seamus joined them. Ginny had never really spoken to Seamus much before, but it occurred to her that with Harry and Ron gone and Dean being Muggle Born, Seamus would have no one else to hang out with.

"So," Neville said, "where are they? Harry, Ron and Hermione."

"I don't know what you've heard Nev, but Ron is seriously ill in bed with Spattergroit, Hermione has gone abroad with her family and Harry…I have absolutely no idea where he is. I haven't seen him since last term." She gave the others a look. They nodded in understanding.

"Yes well, I can see why Hermione would want to get away, it's not nice here at the moment. Maybe she will come back with a tan. Oh I hope she went to Scandinavia. The Crumple Horned Snorkack is breeding this time of year and Daddy says it's quite the sight to see." Luna added, flicking through the latest edition of The Quibbler. Seamus, not being used to Luna's quirkiness, looked puzzled as if he couldn't figure out whether she was serious or just playing along. Knowing Luna, it was more than likely that she was playing along but genuinely hoped that they had gone to Scandinavia because it was breeding season for the Crumple Horned Snorkacks. Despite her…unusual beliefs, Luna was smart, brave and more astute than most people, who tended to overlook her. This is perhaps one of the main reasons that Ginny was so drawn to her. Sure, Ginny had lots of friends, but over the past year or so, as things with Voldemort, the Order and The Ministry became more serious, Ginny found she had little patience for some of her dorm mates. They were lovely, but slightly shallow.

Ginny had experienced more before she was 12yrs old than most people experience in their entire life. She still had nightmares occasionally. Not of the actual act, she couldn't remember anything at all about that. It was the guilt that gave her the nightmares. Yeah, no one was permanently hurt but they could have been – the fact that they weren't was pure luck. That would always haunt her. Because of this, sometimes she found it hard to relate to girls who only cared about makeup and boys. It felt like an act a lot of the time. Of course it was nice to chat about dress robes, but Ginny was not the type of girl to try out 50 different lipstick charms to see which shade matched best. She wanted to play Quidditch, have mud fights, climb trees and then play dress up.

"So what do ye think it's goin' to be like this year?" Seamus asked

"Nothing like the Hogwarts we know." Neville replied. The others remained silent because really, what was there to say to that. Ginny reached up and absentmindedly rubbed a still-healing scar on her chest, Her fingers grazing the Stag pendant round her neck. As she did, She felt a warmth spread through her fingers and chest. Taking out her wand, she cast a silencing charm and the muffliato spell before turning to the others.

"I had an idea over the summer" Ginny suggested, "The DA."

"I was thinking about this too. True, we will have lost a load of members, but we will also gain a load – No one thinks Harry is a lying, attention-seeking lunatic anymore." Neville replied.

"Always looking on the bright side Nev. Once we get to school, we'll have a shufti to see what the latest policies, protocols and security are like then we can start organizing and recruiting. Fred and George said they would be willing to keep us in constant supply of WWW merchandise."

"Bangin'." Agreed Seamus, nodding, "Do yous have anymore o' them coins? Do ye reckon they'll still work like?"

"I don't see why not. It shouldn't be too hard to duplicate one of ours. We'll figure it out. So how was your summer?" asked Neville.

"Me cousin had a wee bairn. It's really adorable like." Seamus replied, "Well, I held her fer about a minute an' then she started to cry, so I handed her back real sharpish."

"Of course she did, what did you expect Seamus? She probably took one look at your ugly mug and thought, 'nope, I'll stick with me mam thanks,'" Neville laughed. Ginny snorted.

"Ah feck off, the both of yeh!" Seamus cursed, good-naturedly. "Later that week, we all went down the local muggle pub to celebrate, crack open the Whiskey, like. Me cousin and I got completely shit-faced, I fell arse over tit down the steps outsidea the pub and broke me wrist." Ginny and Neville were in tears with laughter at this point, "The bar staff called the Muggle doctors, so then there's me, in my wankered state, 'aving to confund the muggle Doctor into tellin' everyone that I only sprained it so I wouldn't have to have any muggle treatment and then I 'ad to fix it meself. I didn't do it too well though. It's still a wee bit bent. It works fine though." Seamus extended his arm out to show the others. Ginny and Neville eyed it, still chortling. Luna looked at Seamus' arm with mild interest.

"You should sprinkle it with Cornish Pixie dust, wrap it in Plimpy leaves and then swim in the ocean at the full moon. That will straighten your arm out." She advised.

"Yeah, or I could see Madame Pomfrey, take some Skelegrow, rebreak it and fix it again; literally anything else." Seamus countered. Luna merely shrugged and returned her attention to her Quibbler.

"Oh I completely forgot to tell you…Lupin got married!" Ginny squealed, "And his wife, Tonks, is expecting a baby in April."

"Aww a baby! How is Tonks doing? Gurdyroot tea is supposed to be good for morning sickness and she should avoid eating Plimpies at the quarter moon." Luna advised.

"Thanks Luna, I'll be sure to pass that along." Ginny smirked.

"So how is that supposed to work? I mean, will baby Lupin inherit his father's…traits?" Neville asked curiously

"Hmm, well Lupin thinks so - he totally freaked out when he found out, left Tonks and everything. Apparently Harry yelled at him…and I mean really yelled. Nothing like a guilt trip to make you see sense, Lupin came crawling back, tail between his legs (pun intended!)" Ginny summarized, as she dealt out Exploding Snap cards. "Your dorm is going to be seriously quiet this year. Do you know what Dean is up to?" She asked Seamus.

Seamus frowned and shook his head, " I 'aven't got the foggiest. Stupid arse, runnin off with no plan…"

"Remember that time when I walked in on you and Dean properly yelling at each other?" Neville reminisced.

"What were you arguing about?" Ginny asked.

"Muggle sports," replied Neville, laughing, as though the idea was ridiculous. "Dean was trying to convince Seamus of the wonders of West Ham football team, whilst Seamus was advocating the awesomeness of Leincester Rugby."

Ginny looked confused, "But you're not Muggle born, how come you're into muggle sports?"

"Me Dad's a muggle, Mam's a witch," Seamus explained, "Me Dad is a rugby nut – well we're Irish, it's expected like. We went t'games all the time when I was a kid", he paused, "I promised to take Dean with me to a game one Christmas (Summer is not Rugby Season). I still haven't."

Seamus looked sad. Ginny and Neville looked at each other, not knowing what to say. The only people who did not know Seamus and Dean were a couple, were Seamus and Dean – like Ron and Hermione.

They whiled away the remaining hours talking about the holidays, Hogwarts, playing Exploding Snap and doing the crossword in The Quibbler.

Ginny, Neville and Seamus said "Goodbye" to Luna at the entrance to the Great Hall as they made their way to their respective House tables.

"Check out the staff table." Seamus whispered. "They don't look too chuffed with the new additions d'they?" Ginny followed his gaze and noticed that some of the regular staff members looked more tense than usual. She recognized the Carrow Twins from the wedding. And in between them, sitting in DUMBLEDORE's Chair was Professor Snape, smiling smugly, lording over everything, listening with detachment to the Sorting Hat's song and watching with disinterest as Professor McGonagall led the meager line of First Years to be sorted.

After the First years had taken their seats, Snape stood to give a speech. "To our new students…Welcome" He sneered, not looking remotely welcoming. "To our old students…Welcome back. Congratulations on meeting Ministry standards. However, Hogwarts standards are different this year. Please welcome our new staff: Professor Alecto Carrow" He gestured to his left, "will be teaching taking over Muggle studies, since Professor Burbage…retired" He lingered on the word. "This class is now compulsory for all students." His eyes glittered dangerously. "Her brother, Amycus, has taken over my old post. I daresay you will experience it's ramifications soon enough. Eat." There was a clatter of knives and forks and a babble of chatter and students and staff started to eat. Neville, Seamus and Ginny looked at each other, simultaneously coming to an understanding.

"Tomorrow." Neville said. The others nodded their assent.

"Tomorrow," they replied.

"So I think the first thing to do will be to go around old members and tell them 'watch your coins, we're going to set up a DA meeting this week'. Once we've had an initial meeting, we can discuss the new people we want to bring in? Although, can we all agree not to mention it to Smith?" Ginny suggested, buttering her toast.

"Zacharias Smith? Fuck that asshole, I can't be dealing with his crap for the next year. We can also discuss aims of the group. It's not just about learning defense this time." Neville replied, chewing his pancake thoughtfully. The others nodded.

"Also, maybe we should wait 'til next week fer the first meetin?" Seamus swallowed his spoonful of cereal, "That way, we will have more of an idea abou' how school is gonna be this year?" Seamus added, Neville and Ginny agreed.

"I'll let Luna know the plan, we have charms together next." Seamus and Neville watched as Ginny left the table to go meet her friend.

"Come on, let's go to Herbology." Seamus pulled Neville up and walked outside.

Sorry, I accidentally ending up making Seamus Scottish…Other than that, I hope you are liking it so far. The story will get more interesting now, I promise.