11

Harry woke that morning with a grown and came to realise there was something giving him a sheer hard jab right in the middle of the back, and he discovered that he had been sleeping on his wand – most likely since he had turned over at one point during the night. He climbed from his bed and did some stretches, managing to cease the pain away and beam out of the open window into the rising sun of the morning as it rose slowly above the tallish tree tops. And then he remembered what this day was, and he knew what it was to bring and the reason why he was suddenly smiling.

His trunk lay packed and ready beside his bed filled with the properly picked contents that would assist him in what may lay ahead. Mostly it was just items of clothing and basic supplies; everything else he really did not need so they were left behind. He decided – for what he hoped would be the last time – to head downstairs for breakfast before his departure.

But to his amazement, Remus could not be found in the kitchen or his study or anywhere else in the house. And just before Harry was about to leave, before he was about to return to his room and fly away; he spotted it. Sitting on Remus' desk, already open and standing out as a vibrant blue over the rest of the other dull white paper – was a letter that had such familiar handwriting that he could not, not pick it up.

And as you might have guessed; he did just that.

The familiar hand writing on the front was neat and loopy and very stylish – and in gold ink it read:

"Remus Lupin, at the desk in the study of Lupin Lodge."

It was Molly Weasley's hand writing - and Harry wondered for a moment how on earth she knew exactly where Remus would be when that owl flew through the window - before his interest turned again and he flipped the letter over and continued reading:

"Dear Remus,

I am happy to announce that at long last my youngest son, Ronald Weasley, has come to be engaged this very morning, the eighteenth of December at one forty-seven am to the sweet and intelligent Miss Hermione Jane Granger. As this news comes so close to Christmas, it is in the best interest of the Weasley family and the Granger family that this celebration it to be celebrated in all its glory.

I hereby invite you to join us on the twenty-fifth of December, to not only celebrate Christmas on Christmas day, but to rejoice at the Burrow on the end of such wonderful news as this engagement for a dinner party that will start at around about seven and go through until late.

I sincerely hope you are as thrilled with this news as we are and that you will join us on such a rare night as this – do send us an owl back with R.S.V.P to the Burrow as soon as you possibly can.

From the entirety of each family,

The Weasleys & The Grangers

Merry Christmas."

Harry wasn't quite sure what to do. He read it once over again before his hands went limp and the letter dropped to the floor. He simply stared into space – his mind was racing at one hundred miles per hour, trying to think of what to do but very much underachieving. He had to tell himself out loud, he had to say the words – just to make sure it was real, that this was really happening.

'Ron and Hermione are getting married.'

Then it hit him.

He turned and raced out of the study, through the kitchen and up the stairs into his room. Without another thought of hesitation, he picked up his trunk and his broom; he made sure everything was secure and then took his leap of faith through the window, kicked down and was suddenly soaring upwards over the trees and into the clear air of county England and towards a new beginning.

-

Ron tied the note to the owl and let it fly off; in a way feeling glad it was the last owl that he intended to send that day. Every possible contact that had already been contacted about the engagement had been sent fresh news about Ginny's disappearance, and anyone could understand how Molly Weasley felt at the moment – on top of the world yesterday with the news of her son, now well underneath it with this news of her daughter.

Ron turned back around to his mother and fiancée sitting at the table.

'I don't get it,' Molly said, sipping a bit of whiskey she had gotten herself. Ron and Hermione had at first thought of Molly drinking herself under the table could not help, but then fighting for it back would only make things much worse. 'Where did I go wrong? How did I become such a bad mother-?'

'Mum! Don't say that.' Ron said. 'You are not a bad mother, what has happened today is not a result of anything a parent could do.'

'Ron's right, Molly.' Hermione said. 'It's not abnormal teenage behaviour at all, running away. You have brought up Ginny to be a smart, intelligent girl… who-'

'Has run away?' Ron suggested, raising an eyebrow to Hermione who sighed.

'Thank you, Ronald.' Hermione snapped.

Molly sniffed.

'Then why does it feel like my fault?' Molly asked. 'Ever since Harry's death, she's been stuck up in that room for the majority of everything – why didn't I see this coming?'

'I seriously thought she'd lost it,' said Ron, 'I'm sorry but being as seclusive and as quiet as she was – just completely mental I'm telling- OUCH!'

Hermione had stepped down hard on Ron's foot.

'Not. Helping.'

Indeed it wasn't. Molly took another swig of her whiskey and began to wail a bit more; Hermione put an arm around her to comfort her but eventually the whiskey would win out and Molly lost consciousness muttering to herself.

'That wasn't very nice.' Hermione said to Ron.

'Oh come on look at her,' Ron said, pointing to his mother. 'Doesn't that make you want to cuss at Ginny and not only give her an earful when she gets back, but curse her to the grave?'

Hermione sighed. 'I intend too.'

'See.' Ron said, nodding.

Hermione looked back around at Molly and sighed.

'Oh I feel so useless,' she said, grabbing the whiskey bottle from Molly's prying hands and putting some distance between the two of them. 'I hope your father is having better luck.'

Suddenly an echoing pop could be heard from the living room and Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

'This could be him now.' Ron said, moving in front of Hermione as a precautionary measure and edging towards the living room door. 'Dad?'

There was no answer; Ron looked around at Hermione and nodded, both reached for their wands and pointed it at the opened door.

'Hello?' Ron called.

And then Remus Lupin appeared, looking pale and slightly dazed – but he looked at the two of them firmly nonetheless.

'Remus?' Hermione whispered.

'Bloody hell.' Ron said, putting his wand away. 'I could have hexed you.'

'I just had to come, and see.' Remus said, looking around the kitchen. 'I heard the news.'

Ron and Hermione nodded.

'Congratulations the both of you!' He beamed.

'Oh,' said Ron.

Remus moved forward and shook Ron's hand, before passing by him and hugging Hermione.

'May I just say… it's about bloody well time!' Remus said shockingly. 'None of us are getting any younger you know and- what? What's the matter?'

He had stopped at the absurd look both of them gave him.

'You obviously left before getting our second letter.' Hermione said, looking up at the elder werewolf.

'A second letter?' Remus asked.

Hermione nodded with the deepest sigh. 'Ginny's gone.'

Remus raised an eyebrow and looked around at Ron. 'Gone?'

'Gone.' Ron repeated. 'Ran away. Disappeared. Vanished.'

'How? When?' Remus looked confused.

'We're not sure.' Hermione said. 'We kind of, well we had a lot of Ron's family over last night to celebrate our – well you know. Molly woke up this morning and found Ginny's room empty.'

'Molly.' Remus breathed.

He looked around for a moment and spotted her slouched over the kitchen table with the bottle of rum just out of arms reach.

'Oh my.' Remus said, moving over to her.

'We thought we may as well let her.' Ron explained, moving to Remus' side. 'Rather than for her to get aggravated, upset or even more annoyed.'

'No you, you're probably right on that one.' Remus nodded. 'OK so Arthur is-?'

'At the Ministry leading a search party.' Hermione answered.

'OK and you two have-'

'Been sending out owls for the majority of the morning to family, friends – people we know,' Ron said, 'to be on the lookout for Ginny in case she shows up.'

'Right well that's unlikely.' Remus cleared his throat. 'I suppose no one has thought to search my lodge?'

Ron looked around at him. 'No. Why?'

'Well it isn't like I'm hiding her there.' Remus said. 'Because I am not – but well, umm…-'

'Remus?' Hermione came around to look at him. 'If you knew something you would tell us, right?'

Remus made an odd noise escape the side of his mouth. 'Course.'

Ron eyed him.

'It's just well… there's a chance Ginny might be there that's all.' Remus coughed.

'Didn't you just come from there?' Ron asked.

'Well umm… no. Actually, no.' Remus looked at them. 'I've been… to Nymphadora's.'

Hermione gasped, but Ron just continued to look dumbfounded.

'Who?' he asked.

'You two are, together?' Hermione asked in anticipation.

Remus sighed, and then slowly nodded.

Hermione absolutely shrieked.

'Wait, who?' Ron looked blank.

'I can't believe it!' Hermione hugged Remus. 'You two are cute together!'

Remus blushed; Ron rubbed his head and started ticking off fingers trying to figure it out.

'Change of subject.' Remus snapped, Hermione pulled away. 'I shall go check my Lodge and upon not finding Ginny, I will proceed to help with the search and I'm sure Har-'

He stopped and looked around; both Ron and Hermione looked at him funny.

'I'd best get going.' Remus shook his head thoroughly and walked out the kitchen door, disapperating.

Hermione watched him go.

'That was strange,' she said. 'Was he about to say "Harry" do you reckon?'

'Who?' Ron snapped finally, turning an odd shape of violet. 'Who in the hell is Nymphadora?'

-

Harry placed his trunk on the curve and shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun as it raised high above London. He looked around the street, and was thankful it was practically deserted – which meant he was safe enough at least to go ahead and do what he was intending to do. He reached into his pockets, shuffled around a bit until he managed to grab a hold of what he wanted and yanked it out. It was a small piece of paper that was folded up; Harry looked around again before opening it up and smoothing it out – squinting to read what was printed in small writing across it.

"The Burning Phoenix has fallen, so that the rest of us may live; in peace."

Harry looked around again at the street, then up at the two houses he stood near. Number eleven was to his left and to his right was number thirteen – odd thought to some it might have been, it wasn't to Harry. He only had to think about what he had just read and instantly a house appeared between the other two like it had been there the entire time. Well in actual fact, it had been.

Harry burnt the piece of paper he had read so no one else could read it and picked up his trunk, moving forwards across the pavement and then up the stone steps to the front door. He checked again up and down the street - just simple behaviour for him – before wrenching open the door, stepping over the threshold and slamming it closed.

Engulfed in absolute and complete darkness, Harry began searching his pockets again – this time for a completely different artefact. After a minute of searching he found the wand he owned, in which he withdrew and cast the "lumos" spell so as his was ignited and lit up the hallway in which he stood in. And it looked, pretty much the same as it had the last time he saw it – only time had affected it, and the walls were dirtier and the floorboards were a bit looser than they had been.

He placed his trunk at the foot of the stairs leading up, and took the stairs at the end of the hallway leading down – where it lead him to the small cellular kitchen that had once hosted many Order meetings and it was also a place where Harry had spent a lot with his now deceased Godfather. Now it basically lay empty – the large wooden table looked old and worn and the cupboards were half off their hinges and some no longer had their original knobs.

After going through some of the cupboards and finding nothing but cobwebs, dust and spiders – Harry proceeded back out of the kitchen and into the hallway where he collected his trunk and headed upwards. Up basically was where he went, the entire way until the stairs stopped and the door leading to the Master Bedroom was left in his way. And after trying but failing to open the door, Harry placed his trunk beside him and withdrew his wand again.

First he tried some basic spells, amateur stuff – "aloha mora" and all that they teach you at a first grade level. Then he tried more complex spells, those of which he remembered from the training he had gotten through the order. Eventually one of the more complex spells had an affect, and the door clicked ajar and Harry slipped in and quickly made himself at home.

He found, some rather unusual items around the place – most of which he slightly recognised as things he himself had been helping rid of in the big clean up of this place back in fifth year. There was no doubting how they got up here; unless they were replicas, Kreacher was most likely the one who had brought them here in the attempt to rescue as much of Black family honour as he could. Harry merely shrugged and chucked them away into the small waste paper basket that sat in the corner of the room and knew to himself that – Sirius wouldn't have cared one bit.

So as the sun lowered and lowered and the afternoon turned into evening, Harry sat on his bed in silence; he felt his mind was clear with no Remus, no annoying voice and no burden that a life awaited him upon his return to the Wizarding world - and he had absolutely no idea that little Ginny Weasley was just thinking the exact same thing as him, only three floors down.