I've decided to post what happens in the seventh book as several shorter chapters, because if I don't it's going to end up being 30,000 plus words in one chapter. So here is part one of Hermione's account of the Deathly Hallows. Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 7
I was sitting on the front porch of my house waiting for my parents to arrive home from work. I had only been home on summer holiday for two days but I knew even two days was terribly dangerous at this point in time. Ron and I had had a discussion on the train two days earlier. Harry had wandered off somewhere deep in thought and Ron had turned to me.
"Hermione…I know this is hard, we're taking in so much at once." He grasped my hand encouragingly, "but we need to think about how we're going to protect your parents while we're gone. Because if we disappear they're going to start looking for us and your parents are the first place they'll look for you."
I bit my lip and told him I had been thinking about that too, I'd been thinking about it for the past three hours, ever since we said we'd go with Harry. I took a deep breathe and told him what I had planned. I was going to go home and buy my parents two tickets to Australia behind their backs, then I was going to pack up their house while they were at work, and then wipe their memories so they had no clue I existed and thought they were two completely different people, who were about to move to Australia. Ron sat there and looked at me dumbfounded, he asked softly when I was going to do it, and I said as soon as I got home. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I spoke, I knew sending my parents away when I had no clue if I'd ever seen them again was going to be one of the hardest things I'd ever done. Ron pulled me into his arms and told me it was going to be ok, he told me to come straight to the Burrow once they had left, and I promised him that I would.
So here I was sitting on my front step waiting to put my plan into action. I looked at my watch, it was four o'clock, they should be home any moment. I had packed everything into large crates which I had shipped to an address in Sydney, earlier that morning, and I had their suitcases waiting for them on the front doorstep. Just then my father's car pulled up the driveway. I took a deep breath and stood up. My father and mother got out of the car looking very curious.
"Hermione sweetheart, why on earth have you packed our luggage? We're not going somewhere are we?" said my father.
"Yes we are… I've found out that we need to go away for a little while for our safety." I said.
"Oh goodness… is everything all right?" said my mother with concern.
"It will be…" I said, "come here and I'll show you what's going on" I said as I took out my wand. My parents were used to me showing them things magically to help them understand so they didn't even hesitate.
I performed the spell and both of their eyes went strangely glassy for a second, and then my mother looked back at me with a completely blank expression.
"I'm terribly sorry dear but I've completely forgotten your name." she said as she picked her suitcase up.
"My name is Hermione Granger, Mrs. Wilkins." I said trying to keep my voice steady, "I'm your real estate agent, I'll be selling your house for you."
"Oh yes of course…" said my mother, "How silly of me Miss Granger. Hermione is it? Such a lovely name, from Shakespeare isn't it?"
"Yes… from A Winter's Tale…" I said softly, "she was the queen."
"Ah yes… you know I always thought if I ever had a daughter I might like to name her Hermione…" said my mother with a far away look in her eye, but then she looked back at me with the same blank expression, "but I guess such things just weren't in the cards for me."
My father had taken their bags to the car, and was now waiting for my mother.
"Come on Monica, let's not take up anymore of the nice young lady's time. Australia waits for no man!" he said brightly, and then he handed me his keys to the house and they got in the car, and drove away.
I watched as the car pulled to the end of the street and then turned out of sight. Monica and Wendell Wilkins had no clue that they had just said goodbye to their only child possibly for the last time. I had not hugged them; I hadn't even told them I loved them. A burning began to rise in my throat and I felt the tears on the edge of my eyes. I walked quickly back into my house, it was completely empty, and that just made the gravity of what I had done sink in even farther. The tears began to stream down my face, I knew I was supposed to go to the Burrow now, my trunk was packed and ready, but I couldn't go like this, Mrs. Weasley would want to know what was wrong, and I couldn't tell her what I'd just done. I walked into the living room and sank onto the couch, the house felt so empty without my parents, without them it wasn't my home, it was just a house. I tucked my knees up to my chest and I sobbed. I felt the sobs shaking my body and I couldn't stop them. Suddenly there were warm arms around me, I couldn't see through my tears but I recognized the soft woodsy smell. I gasped Ron's name and he sat down on the couch and scooped me into his lap and cradled me against him. He let me cry for a very long time, he simply stroked my hair and whispered, 'it's all right, I'm here…" into my ear over and over again. By the time I had finally cried out what felt like all my tears I looked up and it was nearly dark. I looked into Ron's eyes and he was looking back at me with a worried expression.
"How did you get here?" I croaked, crying for hours seemed to have stiffened my vocal chords.
"I Apparated, we came here to pick you up two summers ago remember?" said Ron, "I knew this was gonna be really hard, I didn't want you to have to do it alone."
"Thank you…" I said softly, he tucked my hair behind my ear and then kept his hand on my cheek as he spoke.
"Are you alright?" he said carefully.
"Yes… it was just really hard, to let them go." I said, feeling the burning in my throat again.
Ron nodded in an understanding way and hugged me close to him again. I accepted his hug and then pulled back and took a deep breathe. Suddenly I was uncomfortably aware that I had been sitting in his lap for the past few hours. I got up and stretched, my muscles felt tired from all the energy I had been expending. Ron asked if I thought I'd be up for going back to the Burrow, and I said yes, but I wanted to run to the kitchen and wash my face first, I was sure I looked awful. Ron smiled and said he thought I looked rather cute, I rolled my eyes at him and went to the kitchen and he went upstairs to grab my trunk. He came back down and came over to where I was standing. He put an arm around me and then put his forehead against mine. We stood there for a moment looking deeply into each other's eyes. My heart was beating very fast I knew exactly what would happen if either of us made a move but after a second longer Ron pulled away and took out his wand. I couldn't tell if I was disappointed or relieved. To be feeling all of these things with Ron was exciting but also a little scary, because it was Ron, he knew me so well. We turned on the spot and a second later we were standing in front of the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley opened the back door looking worried. Ron levitated my trunk beside us and then took my hand as we entered the house.
"Where have you two been I expected you hours ago!" said Mrs. Weasley slightly sharply.
"Sorry Mum, Hermione's folks asked me to stay for dinner. They wanted to get to know me a bit better seeing as… you know…" Ron lied and he made a motion towards out entwined hands.
Mrs. Weasley's expression instantly changed and she smiled at us both. She told me I could go up and get settled in Ginny's room. Ron took my trunk up and put it by my bed then he quietly asked me if I was going to be ok. I told him I would be fine and he kissed me on the head before leaving the room.
"So you guys are like official now right?" said Ginny from her bed.
I looked at her and she had a very funny expression on her face. She looked hurt and in pain, but also hard and determined. I wasn't sure what in the world was wrong but I could tell it was very serious.
"Yeah we are… but never mind that…Ginny what's wrong?" I said quickly taking a spot next to her on the bed.
"Harry and I broke up at the funeral." She said.
I gasped and put my hands to my mouth, I quickly asked her why. This was the last thing I expected to happen. Harry had seemed happier with Ginny than I had seen him in years, and the way he looked at her was almost exactly the way Ron looked at me. I had thought Harry was falling in love with her. As if reading my thoughts Ginny spoke again.
"He did it because he's in love with me…" she said almost bitterly, and a tear leaked down her cheek.
"I don't understand…" I said softly.
"He told me that being with me felt too perfect, like a part of someone else's life, but that was the problem. He said you all have a mission, and if he stays with me that Voldemort could use me to get to him. That he would hurt me to hurt Harry, and Harry couldn't let that happen. He said everyone he loves ends up getting hurt or dying, and he could take that chance with me." She said, and then she looked down at her hands, I saw the tears begin to fall and I wrapped my arms tightly around her.
"Oh Ginny… I know how hard this must be, but I will tell you one thing." I said.
"What's that?" said Ginny softly.
"I know Harry, and if I had any doubts before, what you just said cleared them. You're right he's in love with you Ginny, I'd wager he's probably thinking if he makes it through this he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. And I know this is killing him just as much as it's killing you." I said, as I rubbed her shoulder.
"Well that's something…" she said softly.
Ginny and I went to bed early that night. Both of us were emotionally exhausted, I heard Ginny crying as I drifted off to sleep, and I wondered in my heart how much more pain was on the way in these next dark months.
My first month at the Burrow was not what I would call pleasant. Ron and I had finally decided to inform his mother of our plans to go with Harry three days after I had arrived. To say she was furious would be an understatement, but I think the thing that made her the most angry was that we couldn't' tell her where we were going or what we were doing. We had been sworn to absolute secrecy by Harry. Ron and I should have been in the honeymoon stage of our relationship, but with all the horrible things that were happening we were simply clinging to our relationship as a bit of good in the whole crummy mess. We had been extra careful to make sure we were not acting particularly romantic in front of Ginny, because we did not want to rub it in her face, she still very broken up about the situation with Harry. Ron and I would try to catch wonderful moments together alone in his room, but they were few and far between. Even when we were alone together we didn't do much. We mostly held hands and cuddled. I just loved being able to be so close to him, he was the security that kept me going. Mrs. Weasley seemed perfectly fine with our relationship until one day when she came upstairs to tell us dinner was ready and found us asleep on Ron's bed together. We hadn't been doing anything inappropriate we'd simply been talking and fallen asleep but from that point on a seed was planted in Mrs. Weasley's brain about what we could be doing up there in Ron's room, and she was very particular about where and when she let us spend time alone together.
We went to pick up Harry at the end of July. There had been a lot of speculation on how we would get him, because it became apparent about half way through July that the Magical transportation office had been infiltrated by Death Eaters, now if we tried to move Harry magically before he was seventeen they would know, and if we waited until he was seventeen then the protective spell on him would be broken and they could get to him. In the end it was decided that we would fly to get Harry, because then they couldn't track us, and then once we had gotten him, six of us would take a Polyjuice Potion and turn into him so that if we were followed they wouldn't know who to go for. I pointed out that Harry wouldn't like this plan, because he wouldn't want people risking their lives for him, but Moody told me that they weren't giving him the choice. We arrived at his house a few days before his birthday in the dead of night. Moody explained the plan and Harry of course hated it, but after they convinced him that he didn't have a choice he begrudgingly gave us his hair. Ron, Fleur, Fred, George, Mundungus, and I all took the potion. I felt my hair retracting into my skull and I shot up much taller. Since I had never taken Polyjuice potion successfully I found the sensation interesting. Mad-Eye told us who we would all be riding with, I was to go with Kingsley by thestral. I still couldn't see the creatures which was disconcerting, but with Kingsley holding me on it I knew it wouldn't be as frightening. Harry ran to grab his trunk and Hedwig, and we all went to wait for him in the garden. Kingsley offered to help me onto the thestral, but before he did Ron grabbed me into a fierce hug. It was odd because at Harry's height I was at a completely different angle to him. He looked into my eyes and told me to be careful. I said I would but I couldn't contain a snort of laughter. He raised his eyebrow, and I gave him an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry Ron... I'm not trying to be insensitive… it's just… this is weird… you're Harry." I said.
"Well how do you think I feel??" said Ron with a smirk, "I'm mean Harry's a great guy… but I don't swing that way." Said Ron and we both laughed and he hugged me again.
"Alright we've seen enough of Harry being mushy with himself over there!" called Fred, who also looked like Harry.
Kingsley helped me onto the thestral and then climbed up behind me. Ron mounted a broom with Tonks, and shot a slightly guilty look at Lupin as he put his arms around her waist. Tonks and Lupin had bee married earlier that summer. We rose into the air and almost immediately we were surrounded by Death Eaters they began throwing Killing Curses left and right, and Hagrid immediately sped off with Harry. Four Death Eaters chased after them but I couldn't tell what was happening. Kingsley kicked the sides of the animal we were on and it took of flying at an unbelievable speed. Five of them followed us. I managed to stun one of them, and Kingsley another. He hit one with a spell that sent him flying off his broom but we were flying too fast to see if his counterparts had caught him. Suddenly I let out a terrible scream, there was a man flying without the aide of a broom and he was coming straight for us. His skin was bone white and his eyes were blood red slits. I knew there was only one person this could be, in that moment I truly thought I was going to die. Suddenly Voldemort stopped, and then he vanished and quickly after that his followers stopped pursuing us. Kingsley waited a moment and then turned his broom in a different direction. I asked him why they had left us and he said the only reason they would do that is if they figured out who the real Harry was. I screamed that we had to help him but Kingsley said no, we would get to our Portkey and then see what had happened. We ended up in an alley, and there was a bent hanger lying on the ground suddenly it glowed blue and we grabbed it. We spun around and landed in the Weasley's yard. Harry came running out and I felt instantly relieved, I ran and threw my arms around him. Kingsley asked what had happened and apparently the Death eaters had figured out who Harry was because he had used a disarming spell, which was known to be sort of his signature move. I asked who else had gotten back and he said only him, Hagrid, Lupin, and George were back, and George had lost an ear. My heart constricted, Ron was supposed to be back before me, where was he? I nervously pulled on my hair, which was long and bushy again, and waited in the yard. Mr. Weasley and Fred showed up and I was beginning to panic, I couldn't let myself think that he would not be back I pushed the thought from my mind and my heart. Tears filled my eyes as I looked into the empty garden. Suddenly there was a flash and he was standing there. I screamed to everyone inside that they were back and I ran to him. He mumbled something about me being okay and then I wrapped my arms around him. I gasped incoherently at him and he patted my back and said he was fine. Tonks told us he had stunned a Death eater straight in the head. I asked him questioningly if that was true and he grumpily told me I didn't need to act so surprised before he broke away. A few moments later Bill and Fleur arrived. We were all very relieved, but then Bill gave us the horrible news, Mad Eye Moody had been killed. Apparently Mundungus Fletcher had panicked when he saw Voldemort coming towards them and Apparated away. Then one of the Death Eaters caught Moody with a Killing Curse. There was a fair amount of crying including me as Hagrid passed around small shots of Firewhisky and we toasted Moody. The whisky burned my throat but I relished the pain, I couldn't believe he was gone. Was this how it was going to be from now on, people being hurt and killed left and right? The conversation turned to how the Death Eaters knew we were there. Lupin seemed to think someone in our ranks turned on us, Harry insisted it was probably and accident or something we hadn't thought of. When Lupin reacted in exasperation Harry angrily asked if Lupin was implying that he was a fool. Lupin said no, just that he always wanted to see the best. Then they said they were going to go collect Moody's body. Harry wanted to go along, and then to leave. They quickly told him that he wasn't going anywhere because the Burrow had been set up to protect him. He tried to argue that he didn't want to put anyone else in danger but in the end they refused to let him leave and he was very annoyed. Mrs. Weasley tried to change the subject by asking Harry where Hedwig was so we could put her in Ron's room. He didn't answer her and I felt a familiar bad feeling rising in my stomach. He changed the subject and said something about how his wand had acted of it's own accord when Voldemort came at him. It had spun in his hand and done a spell without his help we all tried to point out that wasn't possible, but it just seemed to make him angry, so we dropped it. He seemed to be as bad as he was fifth year… if not worse. Harry muttered something about going outside for fresh air and he left. Ron and I sat there with his family for awhile longer. I let the tears slid down my cheeks and Ron absentmindedly rubbed my shoulders and ran his hands through my hair. Finally when it seemed like Harry had been gone for a a long time Ron and I got up and went to check on him. We found him on his knees at the edge of the garden shaking from head to toe. We were worried that maybe he was going to try and leave again, but then he told us that he had just seen a vision of Voldemort torturing Olivander. I couldn't believe it, I told him quickly he had to get rid of those visions once and for all, Voldemort was taking over everything, if he got Harry's mind too I was terrified there would be no hope for us at all.
Over the next few weeks things were very hard at the Burrow. Mad Eye's death seemed to hang over us like a dark cloud. Not to mention the fact that once Mrs. Weasley had ascertained from Harry that we really were leaving school to go on a secret mission. She decided her new plan was to keep us so busy with separate tasks in preparation for the wedding, that we never saw each other for more than five seconds. Not to mention now that we had both Harry and Ginny in the same house Ron and I were being extra careful to keep our relationship subdued, because it was painfully obvious how miserable the two of them were without each other. Finally we got a bit of a break when one day Mrs. Weasley attempted to break us all up by telling Ron to clean his room, Harry to help Mr. Weasley muck the chickens and Ginny and I to change the sheets in the guest bedroom because Fleur's parents would be arriving shortly. Ron trumped up to his room grumbling but Ginny and I pointed out to Mrs. Weasley that she had already had us change the sheets the day before. She got very frustrated as she realized she didn't have any other particular tasks for us to do at that moment. I said I was going upstairs and she shot me a warning look but Ginny intervened.
"Mum…" she said, "first of all, Ron is cleaning his room remember? Second of all it's nine o'clock in the bloody morning, what kind of mischief are they going to get up to?" she said giving her mother a stern look.
Mrs. Weasley shrugged her shoulders begrudgingly and went back to tidying the kitchen. I smiled at Ginny who gave me a smirk back and shook her head at her mother. She seemed to be acting more like her old self, but I was not fooled for a second. I knew Ginny too well, and for that matter I knew Harry even better, they both had a kind of hollowness that came through in their voices, and their eyes especially when they looked at each other. I wanted desperately to tell them to just stop being stupid, but I knew Harry had a valid reason for what he was doing. I went up the stairs and opened the door to Ron's room. He jumped up from where he was lying on the bed and began to furiously act like he was cleaning, but then he saw me and dropped the pile of things he had collected back onto the messy floor and sat back down on his bed. I went over and sat down next to him and he immediately slipped his hand into mine a squeezed it.
"How are you doing 'Mione?" He said.
I loved his new nick name for me. He only used it when we were in private and there was something about it that was sweet. The way he pronounced it made it almost sound like he was saying, 'mine' and I had a sneaking suspicion that wasn't a coincidence. I never had been one for pet names I thought they were rather indulgent, but this wasn't like the revolting way Lavender had insisted on calling him Won Won, when they were dating. It was simple and uncomplicated, he had just started saying it one day, and it felt…natural. Just like us.
"I'm ok…." I said softly, "It's just all going down hill so fast… I can't believe Moody is gone"
"I know…" said Ron, "But maybe he's not, Bill could have been confused about what he saw. Listen, you have to try and stay optimistic, we're going to be together, and we'll have Harry, and I know you've been working really hard to make sure we have everything we need to be prepared."
This was true; I HAD been working round the clock since I came to the Burrow reading books and sorting through our things to make sure that we were completely prepared for the task ahead of us. I smiled and nodded at Ron as I stood up and moved to the corner. I began once again sorting through all the books we owned trying to decide which ones to take with us. By, all the books we owned, I meant all the books Harry and I owned, Ron didn't have many books that didn't deal with Quidditch. As I began making two stacks I saw Ron lay back down on his bed. I looked up at him and he was sprawled out on his back with his hands behind his head and he was unabashedly staring at me.
"What?" I said as I pretended to glare at him.
"I'm just enjoying the view from up here…" said Ron with a smirk.
I went back to stacking books but I felt my cheeks get slightly warm, and I knew he was still staring at me. Just then the door of the room burst open again. Ron jumped up and began loudly saying that he was working, but we saw it was just Harry and Ron flopped on his bed again. He began to tell Harry his theory about Moody maybe still being alive but Harry pointed out the Bill said he saw him get cursed, and I pointed out that even if he hadn't gotten hit with the Killing Curse we knew he fell off his broom, and we were almost two thousand feet in the air, so there was no way he could have survived. Ron griped that we just wanted him to be dead and I asked how he could say that… he gave me an apologetic look and then turned to Harry. He pointed out that the death Eaters had probably taken care of the body before the Order member's had gotten back to it. Harry said something about Barty Crouch's body being transformed into a bone, and I couldn't take it anymore, I couldn't bear to imagine Moody like that. I gasped for him to stop and then broke into tears. I saw Harry move to comfort me and he began apologizing profusely, but Ron got to me first. He put his arm around me and handed me his hanky. I dried my eyes and said thank you to him. I was just realizing that this was the most affectionate we had been in front of Harry since we began dating, when I accidentally dropped the Monster book of Monster's on Ron's foot, and the strange book bit him making him yelp in pain and jump back onto the bed. Harry asked me what I was doing and I explained. As both Ron and I suspected the first thing he did was try to convince us that we shouldn't come along. I snapped at him and told him that we were coming, and he couldn't stop that. He asked me if we were sure that we'd thought it through and that did it. I snapped at him sarcastically that no we hadn't thought it through at all. That's why I had spent the whole summer working on potions, and sorting books and going over every spell I thought we might need, not to mention researching Horcruxes. That's why I had modified my parent's memories so that they had no clue who I was and sent them off to Australia without even saying goodbye. As I said this last part tears welled up in my eyes, I hadn't spoken about my parents since the day Ron came to get me. The minute I started crying Ron was off the bed and next to me again with his arm around me. Harry whispered that he didn't realize, but I cut him off. I told him we knew exactly what we were doing. Then I turned to Ron and told him to show Harry what he had done, he was reluctant, but he got up and headed for the door of the room and Harry followed him. They came back a few minutes later and Ron was explaining to Harry that he had transformed the ghoul that lived in the attic so that it looked like him with spattergoit, which was a highly contagious and deadly disease. This would be a good excuse for why Ron wasn't at school, and it even had tangible proof. I saw in Harry's face that he finally realized we were sticking with him no matter what, and I felt a little bit of resolve come back into my heart as I realized that he was finally going to accept that we were coming with him. The conversation turned to Horcruxes, we were trying to decide how to go about looking for them. Harry asked if we had any idea how to destroy them and I told him I'd been researching it. Ron curiously asked me how, since there had been no books on them in the library. I sheepishly told him that after Dumbledore's funeral, I had decided to try using the Summoning Spell on any Horcrux books that might be in Hogwarts and it had brought me a collection from Dumbledore's office. I felt a bit guilty about taking them, but I also thought he'd probably want us to have them. I went on to explain to the boys that the only way to destroy a Horcrux was to attack it with something so destructive it couldn't repair itself. That's what Harry had done with Riddle's diary, which we now knew to be one of his Horcruxes, he had destroyed it with a Basilisk fang, which has one of the most deadly poisons known to man. We continued to talk about Horcruxes for few minutes, and then Mrs. Weasley came barreling into the room fuming and told us we'd better get downstairs and help sort wedding presents. We ran quickly downstairs; I didn't like Mrs. Weasley this way, she and I had always gotten along very well.
By the time Harry's birthday rolled around a few days later, we were all counting the minutes until the wedding was over. Fleur's parents had arrived the day before, and while Mrs. Weasley was being a perfectly polite hostess to them, she was becoming even more out of control and wild with us. I went down to the kitchen on Harry's birthday and added my present to the pile he had gotten. He opened them all happily but I noticed that Ginny had not come down yet. I had left her sitting on her bed looking lost in thought. Suddenly Mrs. Delcour and both Fleur and Gabrielle came into the kitchen. Ron, Harry, and I retreated to the stairs, because it was becoming far too crowded. I told Harry I would pack his presents. We were leaving after the wedding the next day and I had giving myself the job of packing because I'd seen Ron and Harry's packing skills and I wanted to make sure we used every spare inch of space. Without thinking I commented that I had all our things packed and most of our clothes, but I was just waiting for the rest of Ron's underwear to come out of the laundry. He stopped and gave me a half shocked half horrified look. He tried to speak but it came out as incoherent sputter. Harry rolled his eyes and I contained a smirk. We had just reached the first landing; Ginny opened the door to her room and asked Harry if he would come in for a second. I saw the look on both their faces and grabbed Ron by the elbow to pull him up the stairs. He had also seen the look and was glaring at the two of them with his best big brother look. I gently pulled on his arm and he reluctantly followed me. He seemed to not want to dwell on what was going on below so he changed the topic back to what we had been talking about previously.
"You know I could have packed my own underwear…" he said grumpily the color rising in his face.
"Oh don't be such a baby Ron… I packed Harry's underwear too you know. I'm just trying to make sure we use our space most efficiently." I said.
We had just reached the top landing and we went into Ron's room. I began to put Harry's presents into a small handbag that I had enlarged magically to hold everything that we might need.
"Incidentally…" I said as I put the last present in the bag, "I find the fact that you own Chudley Cannon's boxers rather amusing. Who do you plan on seeing that particular bit of team support?"
"Just because no one sees them, doesn't mean I'm supporting my team any less." Said Ron with a smirk, and he came over and took both my hands in his.
Ron put his forehead against mine. He softly rubbed his nose on mine and I smiled. He dropped one of my hands and moved his hand up to my neck, he brushed my hair back and softly ran his hand down the side of my neck. He leaned down and gently kissed my temple and then my cheek. I felt myself tense. Ron and I had yet to have a proper kiss. I knew he was waiting for me, because he didn't want to do anything until I was ready. He had been giving me many hints and opportunities but I had been shying away. I wasn't sure what it was, maybe it was because I spent the better part of last year watching him and Lavender slobbering all over each other, but I knew that I wanted our first kiss to be something special. No it was more than that; I wanted all our kisses to be special. I didn't want to kiss my boyfriend just because he was there, I wanted him to remember those moments.
"We should probably go down and see if your Mum needs any help…" I said.
We walked down the stairs but when we got to Ginny's door Ron stopped and looked at it in horror.
"Are they still in there??" he said angrily and before I could stop him he walked over and slammed open the door.
Sure enough Ginny and Harry were in the middle of a very passionate kiss, and I couldn't believe Ron had done that! They jumped apart quickly and an uncomfortable tension filled the room. Ginny said Happy Birthday to Harry in the same hollow voice that she had been using for so long. Harry turned and quickly left the room. Ron was right behind him and by the time I caught up with them in the yard they were having a row. Ron told Harry that Ginny was heartbroken when Harry left and that he wouldn't stand for Harry messing around with her every chance he got. I tried to intervene but they both told me to stay out of it, so I stood back. Harry promised that it wouldn't let it happen again, and then he stalked off. Ron still seemed very angry as I walked over to him. I pulled him into the shade of one of the trees in the garden and we sat down. I tried to explain to him what had happened. I explained to him that Harry was in love with Ginny, but he was trying to keep her safe. That he didn't want to break up with her but he felt like he had to. Ron told me that he was thankful that Harry was trying to protect Ginny, and he respected him for it, but as long as they were broken up, he wouldn't stand for Harry snogging her and then changing his mind. I nodded and let the subject drop. That night we had a party for Harry, I noticed he and Ginny were purposefully avoiding each other and I felt horrible for them. Suddenly half way through Harry's party something very interesting happened. The Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, showed up. He told Harry, Ron and I that we needed to talk. Apparently Dumbledore had left us each something in his will. He had left Ron his Diluminator, which had the ability to capture all the light in a specific place. He had left me a book called the Tales of Beedle and Bard. Harry had been left the Snitch from his first Quidditch. I was furious that they had waited this long to give us our things, I knew the Ministry had confiscated them to see if there was some hidden meaning behind them. I was sure this was true but obviously they had not figured it out. After a few more minutes of inane questioning about why Dumbledore would leave us these things Scrimgeour got up to leave. He told us one last thing, that Dumbledore had left Harry the sword of Godric Gryffindor. We were instantly filled with hope, we had earlier that week deduced that the sword was one of the few things that could destroy Horcruxes. Our excitement quickly turned to rage as the Minister informed us that Harry would not be receiving the sword, because it had been decided it was the property of Hogwarts and therefore not Dumbledore's to give. We argued with him but it was no use, he left and we went back to the party. After it was over I quickly pulled Harry and Ron upstairs. We immediately began discussing what the things we had been left meant. Ron's seemed obvious, we could us it in case we needed darkness, but I sort of thought that was too simple, but I let it go. Harry informed us that he thought he knew what his was for and we were all very excited. Snitch's had skin memories, it was a way of determining who caught them, they only responded to the touch of the last person who had caught them. I had realized this the second Harry received the Snitch and was nervous when he held it in front of Scrimgeour, I thought maybe it would reveal it's secret right then. It hadn't and I was instantly relieved and disappointed. Yet now Harry asked us if we remembered how he had caught his first Snitch. Suddenly understanding dawned on Ron's face and he gasped that Harry had nearly swallowed his first Snitch. We both looked at him with apprehension as he slowly put the Snitch to his lips. At first we thought nothing had happened, but then writing appeared, it said; I open at the close. Then it vanished. I had no clue what that meant but we decided we'd have to figure it out later. Ron went on to explained what Dumbledore had given me, apparently it was a book of old Wizarding Fairy Tales. I hadn't even known that Wizards had Fairy Tales, and I certainly didn't know why Dumbledore would want me to have them, but I assumed that was another mystery for another time. I told them we should get some sleep so we would oversleep the next day for the wedding. I snuck back down to Ginny's room and slipped in quietly. She was lying with her back to me and she looked asleep but as I lay down in my bed I could hear her crying softly and my heart ached for her.
The next day was the wedding. Thankfully now that the day had arrived Mrs. Weasley seemed to calm down considerably. I spent the morning helping Ginny get ready, she seemed rather subdued but at least a little happier than she had the night before. I had a feeling she was simply accepting the situation, Ginny was always remarkably strong like that. The dress she was wearing was a lovely golden color that went perfectly with her hair. I chose a dress that was lilac, because purple was one of my favorite colors. Ginny help me use a straightening serum on my hair so that it was sleek and shiny. I headed down the stairs and was about to make my way out to the Marquee when a very unpleasant looking old woman came walking into the kitchen muttering at Mrs. Weasley. She turned and commented that I must be the Muggleborn. She then went on to say I had bad posture and skinny ankles, then she promptly walked away. I stood there in stunned silence but then Ginny came and informed that I had just met Aunt Muriel, and if those were the only things she could find wrong with me then she must like me. I headed down the hill towards the large marquee tent, Ron and Harry were standing by the edge taking people to their seats. Harry was disguised as a random red head from the village, with Polyjuice Potion. They were passing him off as a little known cousin. As I walked up to them I blushed slightly at the way Ron was staring at me, he didn't seem to notice his mouth was hanging open slightly. He breathed that I looked amazing and I teasingly told him he needn't act so surprised, throwing his words from a few weeks earlier back at him. He gave me a slight grumpy look but he smiled. Just then I got a shock as someone came up behind me and said hello. I shrieked as I realized it was Viktor! I hadn't seen him in over two years. He looked older and he had grown a beard. Ron got very grumpy at his presence, and I was thankful when Harry took Viktor to his seat.
"You seem awfully happy that Vicky is here…" said Ron grumpily.
"Don't you even start… he's still my friend." I said and I slipped my hand through Ron's, "Let go find our seats."
The wedding was beautiful. I cried a few tears. The whole wedding party looked absolutely gorgeous. I heard Aunt Muriel comment that Ginny's dress was far too low cut and I saw Ginny shoot a mischievous wink at Harry who was of course staring at her. He started to grin but then stopped half way and purposefully looked somewhere else. I rolled my eyes inwardly, they were so impossible. After the ceremony was over the chairs were cleared out and a dance floor appeared along with many round tables. We made our way over and sat down at a table with Luna. Soon music started playing and people began dancing. We watched with amusement as Luna got up and began twirling around completely on her own in the middle of the dance floor. Suddenly Viktor showed up at our table. He asked us who Luna's father was and we told him. He looked rather put out and I was about to ask what was the matter when Ron suddenly asked me if I wanted to dance with him. I was so taken aback that I forgot all about Viktor as I quickly said yes. Ron pulled me out onto the dance floor and put his arms around my waist. I put mine around his neck and we began to turn slowly on the spot. It was not near as graceful as dancing with Viktor at the Yule Ball had been, but it was better. Fred and George cat called at us from the edge of the dance floor and when Ron looked over at them they gave him a double thumbs up and wiggled their eyebrows. To my surprise Ron did not glare at them he simply grinned and looked rather proud of himself. I giggled. Ron and I danced until my feet felt like they were going to fall off. After almost an hour on the dance floor I told Ron I needed to sit down and he laughed. He said he'd go get us some butterbeers and I headed towards Harry. I slumped down next to him and took off my shoes to rub my feet. Harry looked even more subdued than usual, I had noticed Ginny dancing a lot with Lee Jordan and I wondered if that had something to do with it. I asked him if he was alright, and he looked at me with a sad expression. He was about to speak when something happened. A lynx Patronus danced into the middle of the party. We heard Kingsley's voice and it said; "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour dead. They are coming." Suddenly there was chaos everyone was screaming and pushing each other but there was only one thing on my mind. I screamed Ron's name. I stood on my tip toes trying to see him over the crowd which was jostling us. I couldn't find him, I screamed his name again and again the panic rising inside me. Harry grabbed my hand so that we would not lose each other in the mob. Suddenly Ron was there. He grabbed my other arm and we all spun on the spot. I realized I was the one Apparating them so I took us to the first place I thought of, Tottenham Court Road. When we got there the panic began to set in, Harry cursed not having the Invisibility Cloak or any clothes to change into. I quickly explained my little bag with the extension charm on it. I gave them clothes to change into so they weren't in robes, and then told Harry to put on his Invisibility Cloak so he wouldn't be seen. We walked down the road and Harry quickly asked about everyone else at the wedding. I told him we couldn't worry about them at that moment, and he was about to argue when Ron told him I was right, and that most of the people there were part of the Order, so they would keep the guests safe. Harry accepted this but still looked terrified, I had a feeling there was only one person back at the Burrow he was thinking about. I pulled them into a small café to discuss what we were going to do. We were just talking about where we should go when two large men in workers uniforms came in. They sat down in a booth next ours and then as we kept talking suddenly they made sharp movements. Harry instinctive drew his wand and suddenly I knew what was happening. Just then Ron dove across the table and shoved me down on the bench, as a spell came flying at both of us. Harry stunned the one Death eater but the other hit Ron with a spell that bound him up with ropes. Harry tried to stun the second one but he missed and the Death eater threw a table at us. I quickly put the Death Eater in a full body bind, and then I tried to sever the ropes on Ron. I accidentally cut him the first time because my hands were shaking so badly, but once he was free, we decided to wipe their memories and fix the shop so they would have no knowledge of seeing us there. We did so, and also wiped the waitresses memory, then we began to try to think of somewhere to hide. Obviously they were tracking us somehow. Harry said we should go to Grimauld Place, we pointed out that it was no longer safe, because Snape could get in. But he retorted that Snape was one Death Eater, and that there had been spells set up against him. We were better taking our chances of running into one Death Eater than staying here were loads could come after us. I realized he was right. We Apparated to the Square where Grimauld Place was, we quickly stole to the door and opened it slowly. When we walked in we jumped, because we heard Moody's voice. Suddenly I felt my tongue roll up in my mouth, and then almost immediately loosen again. It was apparently a Tongue tie Jinx, put in place by Moody against Snape. We took a cautious step forward. Suddenly a horrible figure rose out of the carpet, it was the corpse of Dumbledore! I screamed and fell to the floor and my scream woke the painting of Mrs. Black who began adding her screams mine. Harry yelled at the ghostly figure that we had not killed him, and it vanished. Harry pulled the curtains back over Mrs. Blacks painting and Ron helped me to my feet. I used a spell to check and see if there were any other humans in the house, and there weren't. We quickly made our way upstairs, because I didn't want to be anywhere near the place where that corpse had appear for any longer than I had to. We went up to the drawing room and I checked out the window. It didn't look like we had been followed. Suddenly Harry cried out in pain and clutched his head. Ron and I jumped up to help him, he said he'd suddenly felt Voldemort's anger. I was very scared, I began berating him, telling him he had to close his mind or we'd all be in danger. He snapped at me that he knew that, but we were interrupted by a weasel Patronus that came flying through the wall. Mr. Weasley's voice informed us that the family as safe, but we should not reply because they were being watched. I wilted in relief and Ron came and put his arms around me with a laugh. Ron and I sat on the couch and suddenly we felt slightly awkward that we were excluding Harry, but he kindly said that he was relieved too. I asked them if we could just put the sleeping bags on the floor in the drawing room, because I didn't want to sleep alone. Ron softly said that was fine. Harry said he had to go to the bathroom and he walked out. I looked into Ron's eyes and felt all the tension that had built up over the past few hours relaxing. He gave me a very soft look and then pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly. I hugged him back and we sat there for a few moments, clinging to each other as if we were the only good each other had left. Finally I pulled away and told Ron that I was going to bring Harry his toothbrush. When I came back it seemed that Ron had a fit of chivalry and he had constructed a sort of bed out of the couch cushions and put my sleeping bag on it. I climbed into it and lay down facing him. A moment later Harry came in and we both turned to look at him. He muttered a hasty goodnight, and climbed in his sleeping bag. He turned his back to us and said nothing else. Ron and I laid there looking at each other in silence. I reached my hand out and ran my fingertips along the side of his face. He squeezed his eyes closed in an expression that almost looked like he was in pain, and he gently pressed his face against my hand. He took my hand in his and he brought it to his lips where he kissed it slowly and firmly. He kept hold of my hand as he laid his head back down on his pillow. He gently traced up and down my palm with his finger tips as he looked deeply into my eyes. He mouthed the words, "it's going to be ok…" and I smiled and mouthed back, "I know." I lay there getting lost in his blue eyes, and then suddenly it was morning. I opened my eyes and saw Ron asleep next to me. I watched his face as he slept, I smiled at the way his pale reddish blond eye lashes fluttered slightly when he snored. Suddenly I looked beyond Ron and my revelry was broken. Harry was gone. I gasped and shook Ron awake. He sat up suddenly and looked around confused. I told him Harry was missing and he jumped up, we ran up the stairs to try and find him. Ron stopped to check the third floor and I kept running. I yelled his name and I heard him call back to me from the top floor. I ran to him breathlessly, I was instantly relieved and also very annoyed at him. I yelled to Ron that I found him and he was fine, and Ron yelled back for me to tell him that he was a git. I smirked but then turned my attention back to Harry.