Disclaimer: Unfortunately, my name isn't J. K. Rowling...which means that I own nothing. While you guys read, I'll go cry in a corner about the fact that I didn't create this marvelous world and these amazing characters.

For the hundredth time that summer, I was staring at a blank sheet of parchment. I had written multiple drafts of letters to Draco, Astoria and Blaise but I couldn't make myself send them. Some letters were rants about how mad I was at them and myself while others were scribbles as I tried to put my profound feelings into words.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea that I was trying to write to Draco, Astoria and Blaise since the events at the end of last year were far from happy. But I missed them. I knew I shouldn't after what I had helped them do but I argued with myself that I was only human.

I didn't have long to attempt these letters since everyone would be back within an hour. The Order had decided to move Harry here to the Burrow from his aunt and uncles place and it took thirteen people to accomplish Mad-Eye's plan. Hermione, Ron, George, Fred, Fleur and Mungungus would have to take Polyjuice Potion to look like Harry and then they would all fly to different safe houses with a protector. Mad-Eye was determined to take every precaution in Harry's safety just in case Death Eater's attacked them as they tried to move Harry. Kingsley was Hermione's protector, Tonks was Ron's, Lupin was George's, dad was Fred's, Bill of course was Fleur's protector and Mad-Eye was Mundungus's protector.

Now was probably my last chance to write these letters because after tonight, the house would be filled with houseguests and we would all be busy getting ready for the wedding. I was still confused as hell over how I felt and, not to mention that I was still angry over how things went down and these letters would probably be the only opportunity I would give myself to express how I felt. So I buckled down and brought my quill to the parchment.

Half an hour later, I had nothing but ink blots dotting the parchment. With a heavy sigh, I crumpled up the parchment and tossed it into my wastepaper basket. I checked the clock on my wall and realized that everyone should start arriving soon. As I clamoured down the stairs, I steeled myself for the worried frenzy mum would no doubt be in.

"Ginny, dear!" mum cried. She was standing in the kitchen, opening cupboard doors like she was looking for something but closing them again without getting anything. The front of her robes were wrinkled from her constantly twisting her fingers into the fabric. "They should start arriving any minute."

I nodded and sat at the scrubbed table. I straightened my sweater and twisted my fingers together. I was as worried as mum for everyone but I refused to let it show. "Ron and Tonks are first, right?"

Mum nodded and continued her frenzied pacing in the kitchen. We sat in utter silence until we both caught a faint blue light coming from outside. We both tore out of the house through the back door and stopped on the damp lawn. Ron and Tonks were nowhere to be seen and only a small oil can whose faint blue light had vanished was in the backyard.

Mum gasped and clasped her hands to her mouth. "They missed it…"

My mind was quickly going through all the possibilities to explain why Ron and Tonks weren't here but I couldn't stop myself from imagining the worst. What if the Death Eaters had known about the plan to move Harry and now Ron and Tonks were dead?

I gulped and rested a hand on mum's shoulder. "I'm sure they were just late getting to the Portkey."

Mum nodded mutely and turned back to shuffle into the house without another word. I decided to wait on the back steps for dad and Fred who were supposed to come after Ron and Tonks. A couple minutes later, a ragged sneaker emitting blue light dropped to the grass with no dad or Fred in sight.

Mum came running outside to see the light but she turned right back around when I shook my head slowly. I followed her inside this time and sat at the table with her. I figured Firewhiskey or even tea would calm her but she looked in too agitated a state to be able to drink anything.

"Harry and Hagrid are supposed to be here soon," I said after a moment.

We continued to stare at each other in tortured silence as we both tried to prevent ourselves from imagining what had happened to our family and friends. Once we spotted the familiar blue light, we dashed outside.

Sprawled in the grass was the massive form of Hagrid and Harry was on his hands and knees. Mum gave a little scream and rushed forward with me at her heels. Harry staggered to his feet and tossed a hairbrush—which I guessed was the Portkey—to the ground.

"Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" mum cried.

"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Harry asked. Harry looked between me and mum and comprehension dawned on his face.

"The Death Eaters were waiting for us," Harry said. "We were surrounded from the moment we took off—they knew it was tonight—I don't know what happened to anyone else, four of them chased us, it was all we could to do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us—"

"Thank goodness you're all right," mum said, reaching forward and pulling Harry into a tight hug.

I jolted as Hagrid climbed to his feet with a loud sigh. "Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" asked Hagrid, sounding very shaky. "Fer medicinal purposes?"

Mum could have summoned the brandy by magic but instead, she turned and went back into the houses to fetch it. I turned back to look at Harry with a small smile and I could read from his facial expression how much he needed information about the others.

"Ron and Tonks should have been first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," I said, pointing to the oil can in the grass. "And that one," I said, pointing to the ancient sneaker. "That one should have been dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third and if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back any minute."

Mum reappeared with the bottle of brandy and handed it to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it all in one gulp.

To my left was a small, shimmering blue light that made my heart start pounding in a mixture of anticipation and fear. "Mum!" I shouted, pointing to the spot.

The light grew larger and brighter until Lupin and George appeared, spinning and then falling. I knew something was deeply wrong right away from the way Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood. Harry ran forward suddenly and grabbed George's legs. Together Harry and Lupin carried George into the house.

I followed mum as she hurriedly trailed Harry and Lupin. They carried George through the kitchen to the living room and laid him on the sofa. The lamplight fell on George's head and I gasped; one of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in shockingly scarlet blood and my stomach lurched.

Mum was busy trying to mop up the blood with her robe sleeve so I took that time to run up to the cabinet in the bathroom and grab some essentials. I came back down to the living room with a small bowl of warm water, two clean wash cloths and a bottle of Essence of Dittany.

"Thank you," mum murmured, taking the Essence of Dittany from me and uncorking it. I looked away as mum sprinkled some on George's wound and only looked up when I heard her corking the bottle again.

"Here," I said, passing her one of the cloths while I dipped the other in the warm water. Mum and I both gently cleansed the blood from George's face and wound as he continued to lay unconscious on the couch.

"How is he?" asked Harry. I hadn't even heard him approach but I turned to see him looking sadly down at George.

Mum looked around as I turned back to cleaning George up. "I can't make it grow back, not when it's been removed by Dark Magic…but it could've been so much worse. He's alive and that's what matters."

"Yeah," said Harry. "Thank god."

"Did I hear someone else in the yard?" I asked.

"Hermione and Kingsley," said Harry.

"Thank goodness," I whispered.

Suddenly, there was a great crash from the kitchen that made all three of us jump and then someone started yelling.

"I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"

I had never heard dad yell like that before and it scared me a little but I was mostly relieved that he and Fred were obviously back safe and sound. A second later, dad and Fred burst into the living room, both pale but uninjured.

"Arthur!" sobbed mum. "Oh thank goodness!"

Dad dropped to his knees between mum and I and surveyed George. "How is he?"

Mum answered dad but I wasn't paying attention. I dropped my stained cloth into the bloody water and moved back slightly to give them space. I watched Fred as he peered over the back of the sofa at his twin and my heart tore as I noticed the lost expression on Fred's face.

Maybe it was the sounds of Fred and dad's arrival or maybe on some subconscious level George sensed that his twin was near—when I was growing up, Fred and George would always tell me that because they were twins, they were psychic—but whatever it was, George stirred feebly.

Mum gasped and leaned closer to George. "How do you feel, Georgie?"

George raised his hand and groped for the side of his head. "Saint-like," he murmured.

"What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred, looking absolutely terrified. "Is his mind affected?"

"Saint-like," repeated George, slowly peeling his eyes open and looking up at Fred. "You see…I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"

Mum started sobbing harder than ever but I smiled slowly as I watched colour flood Fred's pale face.

"Pathetic," he said to George. "Pathetic! With all the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?

"Ah well," George said, turning to grin at mum. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, mum."

George turned to look at everyone clustered around the sofa. "Hi, Harry—you are Harry, right?"

"Yeah, I am," said Harry, moving to stand closer to the sofa.

"Well, at least we got you back okay," said George. "Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled around my sick bed?"

"They're not back yet, George," said mum. George's grin slowly slid from his face and he turned back to look at Fred. From the corner of my eye, I saw Harry motioning towards me. I retreated from the living room and followed him back outside.

"Ron and Tonks should be back by now. They didn't have a long journey; Auntie Muriel's not that far from here," I said. Harry didn't say anything as we stopped to watch Kingsley pacing back and forth in the yard.

Hagrid, Hermione and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing upwards in silence. None of them looked around when Harry and I joined their silent vigil. The minutes stretched into what might have been years. The slightest breath of wind made us all jump and turn towards the whispering bush or tree in the hope that one of the missing Order members might leap unscathed from its leaves.

And then, suddenly, a broomstick materialized directly above us and streaked towards the ground.

"It's them!" screamed Hermione.

Tonks landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere.

"Remus!" Tonks cried as she staggered off the broom and into Lupin's arms. His face was white and he seemed unable to speak as he clung to Tonks. Ron tripped dazedly from the broom towards me, Harry and Hermione.

"You're okay," he mumbled before Hermione launched herself at him and hugged him tightly.

"I thought—I thought—," Hermione bumbled.

"I'm all right," Ron said, patting Hermione on the back. "I'm fine."

"Ron was great," said Tonks, peeling herself away from Lupin. "Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom—"

"You did?" Hermione asked, looking up at Ron with her arms still around his neck.

"Always the tone of surprise," he said a little grumpily. "Are we the last back?"

"No," I said. "We're still waiting for Bill and Fleur and Mad-Eye and Mundungus. I'm going to tell mum and dad you're okay, Ron—"

I turned on my heel and left Ron with Hermione and Harry while I went to fetch my parents. They were still kneeling in front of George as George and Fred conversed in whispers.

"What is it, Ginny?" asked dad, looking up. "Is anyone else back?"

I nodded enthusiastically. "Ron and Tonks just got back."

Mum and dad climbed to their feet and rushed out of the living room, trusting that Fred would look after George. I turned and followed behind my parents as they raced outside and both pulled Ron into a tight hug.

Once mum was sure that Ron was okay, dad and mum turned to Tonks and Lupin who were standing with their arms around each other.

"Thank you," said mum. "For our sons."

"Don't be silly, Molly," said Tonks at once.

"How's George?" asked Lupin.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Ron, his face instantly paling.

"He's lost—," started mum but the rest of her sentence was drowned out as everyone cried out in surprise. A threstal had just soared into sight and landed a few feet from our group. Bill and Fleur slid down from its back, windswept but unhurt.

"Bill!" mum cried, running forward and pulling Bill into a hug. "Thank god, thank god—"

Once mum finally let go of Bill, Bill turned to dad with a drawn face. "Mad-Eye's dead."

A silence fell over the group of us. No one spoke and no one moved. Another Order member was dead…first Sirius, then Dumbledore, and now Mad-Eye.

"We saw it," said Bill. Fleur nodded, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks in the moonlight. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle; Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort—he can fly—went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he disapparated. Voldemort's curse hit Mad-Eye full in the face, he fell backwards off his broom and—there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail—"

"Of course you couldn't have done anything," said Lupin.

We lapsed into silence again until it seemed to dawn on everyone that there was no point of waiting in the yard anymore; there was no one else coming back. Mum and dad moved to go back into the house and we all silently followed them back into the living room. I smiled to myself as I saw Fred and George laughing together.

"What's wrong?" asked Fred, scanning all our faces as we piled into the living room. I took a seat beside Tonks and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly as she cried into a handkerchief. I knew Tonks had been close to Mad-Eye since he had trained her as an Auror; she had kind of been his protégé.

"Mad-Eye," said dad. "He's dead."

That sobered the twins up and their grins turned into grimaces of shock. Everyone sat in silence and the only sounds were the tears Tonks was trying to quieten. No one seemed to know what to do. When Bill stood up, everyone's eyes followed him as he walked to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey and some glasses.

"Here," he said pouring firewhiskey into the glasses and waving his wand so the glasses flew into everyone's hands. I cradled the small glass cup with the amber liquid in my lap as Bill held up his cup.

"Mad-Eye," he said.

"Mad-Eye," I repeated, my voice lost among everyone else's. I brought the glass to my lips, tipped the cup and drained the liquid. It burned going down my throat and my eyes watered but once the first effects faded, I felt the warmth from the drink in my chest and cheeks.

"Mad-Eye," echoed Hagrid, a little late.

"So Mundungus disappeared?" asked Lupin after he had drained his glass.

The morose atmosphere instantly turned tense as everyone watched Lupin.

"I know what you're thinking," said Bill. "I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skulduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."

"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to," sniffed Tonks. "Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away, he switched to Kingsley…"

"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur. "But still eet does not explain 'ow zey knew we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody most 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."

She glared around at us all, tear tracks still on her face. In that moment, I wanted to march across the room and slap her pretty little head off. I shot her a dirty look but she wasn't looking at me. She was too busy shooting everyone little glares.

"No," said Harry. "I mean…if somebody made a mistake and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault. We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you and I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."

"Well said, Harry," said Fred unexpectedly.

"You think I'm a fool?" said Harry. I looked up to see why he was calling Fred a fool when I noticed that Harry wasn't even looking at Fred. He was looking at Lupin who had an odd expression on his face.

"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin. "He would have regarded it as the height of dishonour to mistrust his friends."

Harry looked like he wanted to say something to Lupin but before he could, Lupin turned to Bill. "There's work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether—"

"No," said Bill at once. "I'll do it, I'll come."

"Where are you going?" asked Tonks and Fleur together.

"Mad-Eyes body," said Lupin. "We need to recover it."

"Can't it—?" said mum, looking to Bill with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Wait?" said Bill. "Not unless you'd rather the Death Eaters took it?"

When nobody spoke, Lupin and Bill said goodbye and left.

"I've got to go too," said Harry, suddenly. We all turned our startled eyes on him.

"Don't be silly, Harry," said mum. "What are you talking about?"

"I can't stay here."

I internally rolled my eyes. Here we go again with Harry's hero complex.

"You're all in danger while I'm here. I don't want—"

"But don't be silly," said mum. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness it worked. And Fleur's agreed to get married here rather than in France, we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you—"

"If Voldemort finds out I'm here—"

"But why should he?" asked mum. "There are dozens of places you might be now, Harry. He's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."

"It's not me I'm worried for!" said Harry.

"We know that," said mum quietly. "But it would make our efforts tonight seem rather pointless if you left."

"Yer not goin' anywhere," growled Hagrid from the corner. "Blimey, Harry, after all we wen' through ter get you here?"

"Yeah, what about my bleeding ear?" said George, hoisting himself up on his elbows.

"I know that—"

"Mad-Eye wouldn't want—," I said, deciding that Harry needed more prodding.

"I KNOW!" Harry bellowed.

I jerked backwards in surprise. I had never bared witness to one of his outbursts and I didn't fancy witnessing another.

"Where's Hedwig, Harry?" asked mum, breaking the awkward silence. "We can put her up with Pigwidgeon and give her something to eat."

Harry didn't answer. Instead, he finished off his firewhiskey in a gulp and stared at the bottom of his glass.

"Wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Harry," said Hagrid. "Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!"

"It wasn't me," said Harry flatly. "It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."

"But that's impossible, Harry," said Hermione gently. "You mean you did magic without meaning to; you reacted instinctively."

"No," said Harry. "The bike was falling, I couldn't have told you where Voldemort was, but my wand spun in my hand and found him and shot a spell at him, and it wasn't even a spell I recognized. I've never made gold flames appear before."

"Often," said dad. "When you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained—"

"It wasn't like that," said Harry through gritted teeth.

When no one said anything, Harry set his glass down and muttered something about needing fresh air. Ron and Hermione quickly followed.

"Are you staying here tonight?" mum asked Tonks.

Tonks shook her head. "I should go home. I'm sure my mum and dad are worried."

Tonks got to her feet and wiped her tear stained face. I gave her a warm hug and then she strolled to the front yard after mum thanked her again for returning Ron safely. I heard a faint pop and knew that she had disapparated home.

"You're staying tonight, right?" mum asked, turning to Fleur. "Because you can stay in…Percy's room."

I knew it was hard for mum to say Percy's name and I was scared that she would have an emotional outburst after her emotions had been every which way tonight. I quickly escaped the living room with the excuse that I would go make up Percy's room for Fleur. After that, I would see if I would be able to sleep tonight when the death of another Order member was weighing on me.

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So here is the chapter of Deathly Hallows from Ginny's point of view. Hope you like it :)