A bright ray of sunlight shone through the window of the bedroom on the second floor of the Burrow, waking Harry Potter from the peaceful sleep he had been enjoying just moments beforehand.
He lay where he was, eyes closed again, smiling contentedly to himself, as he let the memories from the previous day wash over him. All in all, he surmised, it had been a pretty fantastic day; by all accounts. It had started off poorly though, with an imminently awkward entrance into the Great Hall at Hogwarts, that was; at that time, full of 'the-boy-who-lived' fever. That had not been easy for him. However, things soon drastically improved and he was not only offered a career as an Auror, the only thing he had really every considered doing after he left Hogwarts, but he also managed to rekindle his relationship with the girl of his dreams. A warm sensation flooded through him at the thought of Ginny Weasley, and he suddenly had to stop himself from Apparating into her bedroom on the floor below, just so he could be with her.
They had spent a lot of time together when they arrived back to the Burrow the previous day. It had been great, for all involved, having a family dinner at the Weasley's - particularly for Harry though, who had seen first hand that the Weasley's certainly did not blame him for Fred's death, infact, they all seemed more concerned about how Harry was coping - something he quickly assured them not be worried about, especially now that he had Ginny, along with Ron and Hermione to help him through.
After their meal, and a few quick games of exploding snap, everyone had went up to bed very early, but Harry and Ginny had stayed in the sitting room, lying together on the couch and chatting until well after midnight. It had been so refreshing for Harry to have someone to talk to who would not only listen to everything he had to say, but have such a special way of making him feel like everything really was going to be work out just fine. For the first time in a long time, perhaps even ever, he actually believed that things could be heading firmly in the right direction.
His thoughts were interrupted at that point though; Ron burst into the room unannounced, promptly leapt onto Harry's bed and started to slap Harry round the face ... obviously under the impression Harry was still asleep.
'Ron ... what on earth are you doing? ... I'm awake, all right!?' Harry said loudly, desperately trying to fight off his over excited friend.
'Ah, superb, well in that case, you might want to get dressed. Breakfast is ready.' He wriggled his way back off the bed again ... 'Oh, and Kingsley is downstairs too; he wants a word with us both.' He was positively bouncing with excitement at the prospect of this by this point and Harry knew he had deliberately mentioned it last - obviously trying to play down how much he was looking forward to starting their new job.
'I'll be five minutes' said Harry, grinning at his friends reaction, then throwing his pillow at Ron as a signal for him to leave.
Five minutes later, Harry was entering the ever so slightly crowded kitchen. Kingsley sat at the top of the table, with Percy by his side; they stood to greet Harry, who shook hands with both of them. The rest of the Weasley family was crammed round the rest of the table, with the exception of Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Hermione who were currently in the process of dishing up breakfast.
Kingsley spoke first, 'Harry, Ron ... I'm sorry to drop in on you both like this, I know I said I would be in touch after the memorial service, but my schedule has really become quite outrageously full for the rest of the week.' He looked pained at the thought of this, but continued nonetheless, 'I wanted to be the one to agree on a start date with you all, and as we're on Monday today, how do you both feel about starting in seven days time? ... At least then you'll be there for Monday morning briefings, see how everything is set up for the week, and get to meet the rest of the team before they disappear on cases for the rest of the week...'
Harry's mind was already made up, but he looked at Ron to see how he felt about this. He needn't have bothered, as Ron merely had the same look of excitement on his face that had been there since Kingsley first arrived at the Burrow.
'That sounds perfect Kingsley ... We won't let you down.' Harry stated, his face set in serious determination.
'Excellent,' Kingsley boomed, 'Well, in that case - I'll see you both Monday morning, Eight o'clock sharp!'
'Are you sure you won't both stay for breakfast?' Mrs Weasley called over from the stove, where she was transferring bacon from the pan to everyone's plates - 'There really is plenty for everyone.'
Percy spoke this time, after a glance at his watch, 'I'm sorry, Mother, but we really must be going.' He said briskly, 'We still have to meet with Mr. Longbottom and if we don't get a move on, the Minister will be late for his Ten Thirty meeting!'
'Only you could make being late for a meeting sound like a life and death situation Perce,' joked George, grinning at his brother from across the table, 'Try and liven up a bit, we have just got rid of the most evil wizard of all time, surely, even you could conjure a smile about that every once in a while?'
This had everyone, with the exception of Percy and Mrs Weasley in fits of laughter. Even Kingsley was wiping away tears of laughter when they eventually said their goodbyes and headed for the door, Percy still looking rather sour at being the butt of the joke. As soon as they heard the familiar crack of them Apparating, they sat down to breakfast and Mrs Weasley revealed, much to everyone's amusement, that she had in fact found George's comment hilarious, but hadn't wanted to laugh at Percy in front of his boss.
The rest of the day at the Burrow was, in Harry's opinion, perfect. He, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had helped Mrs Weasley clean up after breakfast, with Harry learning a few really handy domestic spells from Mrs Weasley in the process, which to his surprise, he picked up extremely easily. It wasn't long before (even with Ron taunting him about being the perfect little housewife), he could make the dishes wash and dry themselves, whilst at the same time make the broom and mop sweep and clean the floors.
Ater their clean up, and some time spent lazing around the house, Harry and Ginny had organised a little game of Quidditch, mostly to see how rusty Harry had gotten over the last year, having barley used his Firebolt, never mind actually play Quidditch.
They made their way up to the small paddock behind the Burrow. It was going to be Harry, Ron and George, up against Bill, Ginny and Charlie, playing a simple Chasers vs. Chasers game, while Mrs Weasley, Hermione and Fluer came with them purely to spectate.
The rush Harry felt when he kicked off the ground and shot into the air was beyond fantastic. He'd almost forgotten how great it felt to fly, and at that moment, made a promise to himself not to go this long without playing Quidditch ever again. The game itself was a pretty tight affair, and as they made their way back to the ground after a couple of hours of playing, there had been so many goals scored by each team that nobody was quite sure of the exact score. Nonetheless, the experience was fantastic, as were Harry's flying skills incidentally, and they all promised to have another game the next time they were all together at the Burrow.
'Well then, Harry,' Ginny teased as they made their way back down to the Burrow to prepare for dinner, 'At what point when searching for Horcruxes last year did you have time to practise Quidditch?'
Harry laughed and wrapped an arm around her, 'Well, you see,' he said, keeping a straight face, 'It wasn't actually me who done any of that stuff last year, I was training with a professional Quidditch side overseas and arrived back at the last minute to finish off Voldemort after everyone else had done all the hard work for me ... Didn't you know?'
Ginny giggled and leaned closer into his arm, 'Don't say that too loud Harry, you never know when Rita Skeeter is about and we all know she'd love to have that quote on her front page!'
They were still laughing when they entered the kitchen, and Mrs Weasley greeted them with a warm smile. 'I'm really glad you're both so happy,' she said, looking at her little girl, all grown up, 'If you both want to get showered now though, I'll have dinner ready just shortly.
At that, they both went their seperate ways to get ready and were back downstairs in about half an hour, finding the kitchen full of the welcoming smell of Mrs Weasley's delicious homemade casserole.
They were joined half way through the meal by Mr Weasley, who quickly plated himself up a portion and took his seat at the table. Harry was fascinated to hear how the Ministry was doing at the moment from someone who worked there, and was still immersed in Mr Weasley's stories long after they had finished eating. He was currently telling Harry a particularly hilarious story about several of the suspected Death Eater sympathisers who still worked at the Ministry, mysteriously vanishing, only to turn up a few days later claiming to have been kidnapped by a group of Aurors whom were supposed to have unceremoniously dropped them off on a deserted island in the North Sea and set up anti-Apparation shields, so they had no choice but to wait and flag down the Muggle Coastguard, whilst trying to protect themselves from the freezing wind and rain, when he was stopped in his tracks ... overhearing Mrs Weasley mentioning the memorial services to the rest of the family.
'I almost didn't want to believe that the memorials were actually tomorrow,' he said grimly to Harry, 'It's going to be a really tough day for all of us - especially Molly, who no doubt will make it her mission to make sure everyone else is ok first, before worrying about how she feels herself..'
Harry didn't have much he could offer on this, so instead, he patted Mr Weasley's arm to try and comfort him, which seemed to go down quite well as Mr Weasley suddenly clasped him on the shoulder, then stood to follow Mrs Weasley as she'd just went through to the Living Room with all the others. 'We're all so glad to have you in the family Harry, you should know that.'
As Mr Weasley left the kitchen, Harry was left at the table alone, feeling quite embarrassed, yet genuinely touched at what Mr Weasley had said to him.
Ginny slipped through the kitchen door a moment later though, and Harry's feeling of embarrassment quickly left him as he pulled her onto his knee and kissed her ... a long, lingering kiss that left them both breathless by the end of it.
'And what was that for, Harry Potter?' She asked quitely, her eyebrows raised in feigned shock.
'For being outstanding,' he whispered in her ear, then adding 'Also, it's for having the best family in the world - I just can't go around thanking them like that though, can I? Can you imagine the look on Ron's face if I tried to snog him?'
'He'd probably just react exactly the same as he does if Hermione tries to kiss him in public - run a mile ... he really is such a child sometimes, I honestly don't know how you put up with him!'
'Seven years of hard practice,' Harry said with a grin, 'Anyway, it's getting late ... we have to be up pretty early tomorrow ... Shall we try and get some sleep?
Ginny nodded in agreement, and after saying goodnight to everyone in the Living Room, they headed up the stairs together, spent five minutes or so outside Ginny's room, saying a pretty private (and silent) goodnight to each other, then went to their own beds to try and get some sleep so they were ready for the tough day that was to come.
As Harry got into bed, his thoughts were still on Ginny. He was quite happy to let his mind wander to her, it was certainly better than lying thinking about the memorial services. So, as he closed his eyes, he pictured her captivating, bright brown eyes, looking deeply into his as they had been when they shared that special goodnight kiss only moments ago...
Then he was moving. Moving quickly down the familiar, dimly lit corridor. It was imperative he got past the crowd that had gathered, he had to make it to the one he required. He could see him now, clearer than ever before, that same look of triumph etched upon his face. But then the crowd was on him. Many hands grabbing at him ... holding him back ... then pushing him down ... smothering him ...
Harry woke with a start, sitting bolt upright in his bed, drenched in sweat and panting heavily, completely out of breath. It felt like he'd just run a hundred miles.
He sat for a moment, thinking over what he'd just experienced, letting the face he'd seen so clearly set into his mind.
He knew exactly who those handsome features belonged to, he had indeed seem them before, but it couldn't be ... it was impossible ...
Harry decided that this would have to wait to be dealt with until after the memorial services, but lay back down with a feeling of real unease in his stomach - there was absoloutely no way this could be who he though it was ...