Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story; they all belong to JK Rowlings. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.

– CHAPTER FIFTEEN –

St. Mungo's

The other Death Eaters had found the Aurors, and engaged them in a fierce fight. Curses were flying in all directions but the Death Eaters outnumbered the Aurors, and the eldest was fighting two at once. Harry let out a yell and dashed into the melee, throwing curses in every direction. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the Auror quickly followed him into the fray.

Harry yelled 'Tarantallegra' at the nearest Death Eater, and his legs immediately went into a frenzied tap-dance. He had been battling an Auror and so didn't have time to block the spell. Unbalanced, he fell to the floor and was immediately disarmed and bound. Harry dodged a jet of red light aimed at his head, and bellowed 'Stupefy!' at the offending Death Eater. He blocked it easily and advanced on Harry, and yelled 'Sectumsempra!', while Harry screamed 'Protego'. His shield was so strong, he barely felt any pressure, and immediately countered with 'Incendio'. A streak of fire issued from his wand and flew towards to the Death Eater, who sidestepped it, almost tripping on a tree root.

He yelled 'Rictusempra' as he overbalanced and fell to the ground. Harry blocked it with a flick of his wand, and started after the Death Eater, who was crawling away, trying to hide behind a tree trunk. Another Death Eater, seeing this, shouted 'Reducto', pointing his wand at Harry, before continuing his duel with an Auror. Harry deflected the spell as it sped towards him, and sent it into the tree behind which the Death Eater was hiding.

The trunk splintered and the tree swayed, almost falling on Harry; but he bellowed 'Mobiliarbus', and pointed his wand towards the Death Eater, who scrambled out of the way as Harry dropped the tree where he'd just been hiding. As he tried to get up, Harry pointed his wand at him again, and yelled 'Volutum', a spell he'd found in a book from his vault.

The Death Eater was so surprised to hear a spell he'd never heard of, that he forgot to block it, and was immediately wrapped up in iron hoops. He fell back to the ground, unable to move, and Harry picked up his wand and snapped it.

In the meantime, Ron and Ginny had attacked one of the Death Eaters duelling the eldest Auror, and while Ginny hit him with a Bat Bogey Hex from behind him, Ron banished him to half way up a tree. They proceeded to tie him up and snap his wand, which he'd drop in the confusion of suddenly finding himself at the top of a tree, without any means of support.

Hermione however, was not faring as well. The last Death Eater was firing off curses as fast as he could say them, in any and every direction, and had caught Hermione on the leg with a Cutting Hex. The two Aurors left were having trouble subduing him, and Ron ran forward to protect Hermione, and in anger, banished the Death Eater into the air, so that he fell some 30 feet to the ground. Before he could get up, Harry ran over and stunned him, summoning his wand and snapping it in two.

Looking around, he summoned all the Death Eaters, as the eldest Auror limped towards him. 'Are you all right Sir?' Harry asked; his voice full of concern. The old Auror chuckled.

'I will be now Mr. Potter; I was only hit with a Tripping Hex. That was quite a performance you and your friends put on, you put us Aurors to shame.' Harry reddened at the praise, and mumbled that they'd only been practicing for about a month. The Auror was stunned, and would have continued the conversation, but Ginny ran over, looking worried.

'Harry, we have to get Hermione to St. Mungo's, she's losing a lot of blood, and I can't heal the cut.' Harry paled, and was about to rush over, when the Auror put a hand on his shoulder.

'Mr. Potter, I can take her there now if you like. I'm an old man and should probably have my ankle looked at, I am Apparate us both there now, the others,' he nodded at the three other Aurors walking over, 'can take care of these.' He prodded the nearest Death Eater in the stomach with a foot. Harry looked torn for a moment, then asked where he, Ron and Ginny should go. 'I think you should return to the Burrow, and tell Mrs. Weasley what happened. I've heard of her famous clock, she'll probably be worried sick.' Harry grinned lopsidedly, before commenting that she probably hadn't noticed; all the hands had been pointing at mortal peril for over a year. 'All the same Mr. Potter, it's probably for the best. The Healers at St. Mungo's won't let you near Miss. Granger for quite a while. Now, instead of wasting time talking, I'll take her there -'

He limped over to Hermione, who Ron was holding onto as if his life depended on it. Gently releasing Ron's grasp on Hermione, the old Auror apparated away to St. Mungo's, leaving the others to clean up the mess.

One of the Aurors offered to Apparate back to the Burrow with them, but Harry told him that he needn't bother, they knew it well enough. He turned back to his colleagues, who were securing the Death Eaters together, and stunning the four conscious ones. After waving good bye to the Aurors, and receiving more praise and thanks for all their help, Ron, Ginny and Harry apparated back to the Burrow, Ginny holding Harry's arm firmly. Ron was still in a bit of shock, and had to be carried back into the house, though Harry muttered 'Tergeo', pointing his wand at Ron, before they walked in. There was no point in panicking Mrs. Weasley with a blood covered Ron being carried back into the house.

As the three of them walked in, they found Mrs. Weasley knitting the Weasley jumpers next to the fire. She looked up, and frowned.

'Where's Hermione, and what happened to Ron?' She asked getting up. Harry gulped, and was about to answer when Ginny cut in.

'We got attacked by a bunch of Death Eaters,' Mrs. Weasley paled, and was about to open her mouth when Ginny pushed on, 'don't worry though. We're all pretty much fine, except Hermione got hit by a Cutting Hex on her leg. It's didn't look very serious, but we didn't know the Healing Charms and didn't have any Blood Replenishing Potion, so one of the Aurors took her to St. Mungo's. We managed to capture five Death Eaters who had been baiting Muggles and waiting to ambush Harry; those spells we've been learning really paid -' She was interrupted when a screech owl swooped in through the open window and dropped a large parchment envelope at her feet, turned gracefully, and zoomed out again.

She picked it up, and looking worriedly at Harry and Ron, who'd come out of his daze to study the envelope with interest, ripped it open. A heavy parchment letter fell out, but she caught it before it landed on the floor. Harry and Ron leaned forward to read it over her shoulder.

Dear Miss Weasley,

We have received intelligence that you performed the Bat Bogey Hex at nine minutes past eleven this morning in a Muggle-inhabited area. This would be a severe breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery had the Hex been performed in front of a Muggle. However, as this is not the case, you are only receiving an official warning that if you perform magic outside of school again before your seventeenth birthday, you will be expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and your wand will be destroyed.

Hoping you are well,

Yours sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk

Improper Use of Magic Office

Ministry of Magic

Harry grinned, and whispered in her ear, 'Well done Gin, the twins will be so proud of you! You're following in their footsteps.' Ginny laughed and handed it the letter to Mrs. Weasley, who scanned through it, her face reddening as she read it.

Ron laughed at her expression, and said, 'Don't get angry Mum, it was brilliant. You should have seen the size of those bogeys that attacked him!' If anything, Mrs. Weasley's face turned redder at these words, but before she could explode, Ginny cut in.

'Look mum; I know you wouldn't have wanted me to fight, but there were four Death Eaters attacking three of the Aurors that were guarding us. We had to help them -' but it was too late.

'You should have let the other Auror help them! Not get into a fight yourself, you could have been killed. As it is, you have a warning; A WARNING! If you so much as say Lumos outside Hogwarts now, you could lose your wand and be sent to Azkaban. Do you want that? I mean honestly.' She finished with a huff, but Ginny looked furious.

'Mum, I am not a child anymore; I have dealt with a lot more than you in my life. I know how to look after myself, and I don't care what the Ministry says about being underage, I helped capture a Death Eater today, and if that means that there is one less Death Eater to fight off when Harry faces Voldemort, I'd gladly do it again.' Mrs. Weasley's face blanched, and she whispered.

'What do you mean, when Harry faces He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?' Ginny gasped and clapped her hand to her mouth, realising what she had let slip. Harry sighed, knowing that it would come out sooner or later, and squeezing the bridge of his nose, he answered.

'Before I was born, a prophecy was made predicting that a boy would be born you would have the power to destroy Voldemort, and that neither could live while the other survived. It meant me.' Mrs. Weasley collapsed onto the sofa, the blood draining from her face. She shook her head in denial.

'No, no that can't be possible, it just can't.' She whispered to herself.

Harry crouched down next to her, and held her hand gently. 'It's alright Mrs. Weasley, it's alright. The prophecy doesn't matter, I make my own destiny.' She looked up at him; her eyes were filled with tears.

'But the prophecy -' She started, but Harry interrupted her.

'The prophecy doesn't matter, believe me, I had difficulty believing it last year too. The only things the prophecy did were help Voldemort find and choose me; and it gave me the weapons I need to defeat him. He only went after me when I was a baby because he heard part of the prophecy, and wanted to destroy me immediately. If he hadn't heard it, he wouldn't have tried to murder me, and my parents would still be alive, and so would Sirius probably. But it was by murdering them that he gave me a way to kill him – love!' He stood up suddenly and started pacing. Everyone watched him in awe; this was the first time he had talked about it. 'I can sense his emotions, not so much now, but I can, and I can speak to snakes. I should have been tempted by the Dark Arts long ago, but I wasn't, because he's the reason my parents are dead. In other words, my love for them, Sirius and Dumbledore saves me, every day, because it prevents me from joining him. The only reason that the prophecy still matters, is because Voldemort sets store in it. We could go our separate ways now and the prophecy wouldn't be fulfilled, but not all prophecies are anyway. It is because Voldemort thinks that he has to kill me to win this war that it still matters, that and the fact that I want to avenge them, even before I knew about the prophecy.'

He turned to face them, a determined look on his face, 'He killed almost everyone who's dear to me, and for that he's going to pay.' He growled in a low voice that sent shivers down everyone's back.

It was enough though. It was as if a light had switched on in their minds, and they understood that Harry would keep fighting Voldemort until his last breath, not because of a prophecy, but for the people he loved that had been taken from him. Ginny rushed over to him and threw her arms around him, 'I will always be there for you Harry, remember that. I will fight for you, regardless of the risks.' Ron walked over and clasped Harry's shoulder.

'As will I mate, as will I.' Mrs. Weasley looked torn, not wanting to risk the lives of her children, but knowing that they had made the right choice. Standing up, she addressed Harry.

'Harry, I might not approve of what you're all about to do, but remember that although I love you like a son, if either of them' she pointed at Ginny and Ron 'lose so much as a hair, you won't need to worry about He-Who-Must-Not Be-Named anymore. I will be hunting you down.

Ron and Ginny smiled, and Harry nodded, knowing this was as close as he was going to get to permission from Mrs. Weasley for Ron and Ginny to help him. Then something suddenly occurred to him.

'Mrs. Weasley, why haven't we received out Hogwarts letters yet? I've just realised that we're going in two days, and he haven't got books or new robes.' Ron and Ginny looked panicked, evidently they had forgotten too.

'Don't worry,' Mrs. Weasley smiled gently, 'they came this morning while you were gone. I was going to suggest that we go get everything this afternoon, but I now think we should do it tomorrow. We should visit Hermione first.' Harry and the others nodded. 'First though, you are all having lunch, you must be ravenous!' They smiled and Ron's eyes lit up.

They all trampled into the kitchen, and after eating a light lunch, apparated to St. Mungo's. The reception area was very busy, and Healers were running around frantically trying to deal with the mass of injured witches and wizards. Mrs. Weasley explained sadly that there had been another set of attacks that morning on Muggleborns and Half-Bloods, and the Healers were finding it hard to cope.

They hurried over to the desk marked Enquiries, but there was a large queue, and they waited impatiently for their turn. Eventually, Ron lost patience. 'This is stupid, why are we waiting here when we know she'll be on the Fourth Floor? We can ask around when we get up there.' They hurried down the corridor, and finding the rickety staircase, climbed to the Fourth Floor. They were chased the entire way by the portraits of medieval wizards and witches, which proclaimed that they had never seen such serious cases of spattergroit all in the same family.

Ron eventually warned them to leave him alone unless they wanted to be blasted into oblivion, and the portraits quickly ran back to their paintings. Ron turned back to the others, but Harry couldn't hide his smirk fast enough, and Ron almost hexed him in frustration. When they reached the Fourth Floor, he ran up to the nearest Healer,

'Excuse me,' Ron asked hurriedly, 'do you know where Hermione Granger is? She was hit by a Cutting Hex this morning and should have come in with an Auror.'

'Hermione Granger?' asked the Healer, running his finger down a list he was carrying. 'Yes, she's in Ward forty-five, the second door on your right through those double doors.' He pointed down the corridor to a set of double doors.

'Thanks a lot.' Ron said, before bolting down the corridor. The others chased after him, and soon found him lying on top of Hermione, hugging her to his chest.

'Ron, I can't breathe.' She wheezed. Ron apologised and jumped off the bed. Everyone smiled indulgently, so he started stroking her hair, asking how she was. 'I'm fine thanks, the Healers fixed the cut in a second, but I lost quite a bit of blood. They've given me Blood Replenishing Potion, but they said I can't leave until tomorrow afternoon.'

Harry's smile dropped at this. 'That's a shame, we were going to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get our things; our letters arrived this morning.' Hermione's face paled, and she turned to Ron.

'Why didn't you tell me Ron? Who are Head Boy and Girl, how were Ginny's OWLs?' Everyone else was stunned; they had all completely forgotten about it.

'I – I don't know Hermione. We didn't open them. We were in such a hurry to get here, and with all the things going on – we, just – forgot.' He whispered, looking down. Seeing how uncomfortable Ron was, and how Hermione's face darkened in anger, Harry intervened.

'No harm done Ron, I'll just go and get them now.' And with that he disapparated with a quiet pop. He reappeared a few seconds later holding four parchment envelopes in his hand. Shaking slightly, he handed them out, and quickly slit his open. In it were three letter, two were the usual reminder that term started on the first of September and the list of books he needed for the coming year. He absentmindedly noticed that there were more books than subjects he did, but ignored it, instead turning to the last piece of parchment. It was a letter from Professor McGonagall asking him to start running the DA again, but as an official school club. Her signature and those of the Board of Governors confirmed their desire to see a duelling club organised at the school.

He looked at Ginny inquisitively, wondering how she'd done in her OWLs, but she had her back turned to them. 'Ginny?' he asked tentatively. 'How did you do?'

'I – pretty well,' she replied in a quiet voice.

'Let's see then,' Mrs. Weasley said, striding over to her and pulling her results out of her hands. 'Ginny, this isn't pretty well, this is amazing! She's got five "Oustandings" and four "Exceeds Expectations". Well done!' Harry rushed over and hugged her tightly.

'Well done, Gin! I knew you'd do well. Congratulations!' Ginny hugged him back, laughing happily, and pressed herself to him gently. Harry stopped laughing, and pulled away from her. 'Gin, you know we -' But Ginny cut him up, holding her finger in front of the mouth, eyeing Mrs. Weasley warily.

'We'll talk about this later.' She mouthed. Harry nodded, and turned to Ron and Hermione to check that they hadn't seen what had gone on. Ron was looking at Hermione, speechless, and Hermione's hand was balled up in a fist, shock evident on her face.

'Uh, Hermione? Ron? Are you ok?' He approached them nervously, followed by Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, who were both as puzzled as him. As he neared the bed, he realised that Hermione was not balling up her fist, rather clenching something very tightly. 'Hermione, what's that in your hand?' He asked. She opened her fist, to reveal a small silver badge. Realisation swept over him, and he picked it up gently, 'Hermione, this is – this is the Head Girl Badge, that's excellent! Congratulations!' He hugged her, as Ginny and Mrs. Weasley let out shrieks.

'Oh Hermione, that's fabulous! Well done, you deserved it!' They both said together. Ron had finally come out of his stupor and gave Hermione a quick peck on the cheek, whispering something in her ear. Whatever he said must have been nice, because she positively glowed at the words. After a few more minutes of chatting happily and congratulating Ginny and Hermione, a Healer came in and asked them to leave, telling them she's be ready to leave the following afternoon. They all quickly hugged Hermione again, and left, promising to send her parents an owl to tell them, and come and fetch her around five the next day.

As they walked back down the staircase, they decided to go to Diagon Alley and buy their books and robes that afternoon. They could take Hermione to get new robes tomorrow if she needed them. Reaching the reception area, they apparated to the Leaky Cauldron.