Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: Well here's the next chapter. I chose to split the chapter up and it early so I could get this out. I highly doubt that there will be an update on 9/23 – the 30th is far more likely. Hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Next chapter will have the confrontations I promised. The title I'm working with is "Hermione's Mistake."

As an aside – there sure are a lot of people concerned about Sirius…if I kill Sirius it will not be in the same manner as in OOTP – I don't see how that could work with the current plot…too many things have changed. On the other hand, something has to force Dumbledore to tell Harry the prophecy.

Thanks for the great reviews! They keep me motivated.

Chapter 11: The Wards Fail

Glancing around the smallest bedroom of Privet Drive, Harry let out a breath he had been holding. "I really hate this place," he said to no one but himself. His eyes traveled to the bed or rather the poor excuse for a mattress that was called a bed. A flapping noise attracted his attention and he looked around at the door – Aunt Petunia had pushed through a bowl of soup…no doubt a cold bowl of soup.

The Dursleys had not taken seeing the Weasleys well or Ginny's enthusiastic goodbye. Dudley was obviously jealous at seeing Harry snog a gorgeous redhead in public and his parents seemed to take offense that Harry had managed something that their son had not: a girlfriend. As a result, they were now pretending Harry did not exist. Harry suspected that if he had not let slip that his godfather was an escaped, convicted murderer his door would be locked from the outside instead of the inside.

Looking around once more, Harry smiled: He would never sleep here. As far as he was concerned Privet Drive was no longer his home. He transformed

"Welcome home Harry Potter," squeaked a voice Harry recognized as Ding. Flying to the center of the welcoming den, Harry transformed back into himself and smiled at the young house elf. He was surprised that Ding was the one to greet him. Normally, Corfy was the first to greet him. Of all the house elves, only Ding had been convinced not to call Harry master or Ginny mistress; although, he still insisted on calling them by their entire names name as some kind of strange compromise.

"Would you like some dinner?" Ding squeaked again happily.

Thinking about the cold soup still sitting in his room Harry responded, "Absolutely. Ding, where are the others?"

Ding answered Harry's question as he led him to the dinning room, "They are letting me do most of the work tonight!" The elf was obviously quite pleased, "They say that it is time for Ding to serve by myself," Ding hung his head a little, "Ding did not get a lot of experience being here without a master for so long."

"You're doing great Ding," assured Harry. The house elf looked up and smiled, very pleased with himself.

…………………………..

Harry stretched himself out on the giant bed in the master bedroom. The bed was comfortably cool, just the right temperature to snuggle up to someone in. Unfortunately, Ginny was still not there.

Ginny?

I'll come as soon as I can – mom's driving us all crazy here and Percy is being a prick.

What's going on?

As far as I can figure, Dumbledore said for us to be ready to leave at a moment's notice so mom has had all of us packing and cleaning the Burrow. I'll see you when I go to bed.

What about Percy? Percy had always been more than a tad pompous at times, but he had to wonder what he had done to irritate Ginny.

He came home from work today and got into a fight with mum and dad. He's taking Fudge's side! He says Voldemort hasn't returned that you and Dumbledore are both crazy.

Ginny's concentration broke when her mother began screaming for her to clean the baseboards. Why her mother wanted the Burrow to be free of all dirt, grime, and any other filth before they left was beyond Ginny, but she knew better to pick a losing fight with her mom. It was close to midnight before she trudged her way up to her room and collapsed on her bed leaving Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. Once the door was closed Ginny transformed and flamed to the Manor.

Back in the Burrow's kitchen Mrs. Weasley squinted at the family clock. Ginny's hand had briefly moved from "Home" to "Traveling" to back to "Home" again. She passed it off to tired eyes and decided to retire, refusing to even think about one of her sons.

………………………..

Ginny flamed directly to the bedroom and landed softly on the foot of the bed. The beautiful phoenix hopped to the head of the bed beside Harry and transformed into Ginny. She was already dressed for bed and quickly slid under the covers. Harry smiled as she snuggled closer and laid her head down on his chest and draped her arms around him. He brought his nearest arm up around her, holding her tight.

"Miss Ginny, Miss Ginny. You need to wake up," Ginny's eyes opened to see a worried Ding.

She yawned and then said, "Thank you Ding. How did you know I needed to get up?" She needed to get back to the Burrow before anyone noticed her absence. Ding beamed back at her now that he had been praised.

"Harry Potter sir said that you would need to rise early. Would you like breakfast?"

"No, no I need to get going. Thanks again Ding." Ginny quickly transformed and flamed back to the Burrow leaving the still sleeping Harry.

Harry woke up to find Ding had prepared him a large breakfast on the small breakfast table in the master suite. When he had finished he reluctantly admitted to himself that he had to make his appearance at Privet Drive.

The Dursleys studiously ignored him when he had walked down, which was fine with Harry. He continued walking right out the front door. Once he found a secluded spot he planned on flaming back to the Manor. Harry made his way slowly toward the park. Doing anything fast was not advisable in the blistering heat. He past a small puddle of what that was left from someone's sprinklers and had to stop himself from running the rest of the way to the park.

A sound caught his attention and Harry swiftly turned around. He thought he had heard someone step in the puddle. Looking down Harry noticed the rapidly fading watery mark of a boot. Concentrating on his senses, Harry thought he smelled something that should not be there. There was a faint odor of…jasmine he thought. It was very faint – probably from shampoo.

I'm being followed…

Who? Came Ginny's worried voice.

By someone who uses jasmine scented shampoo.

Not a Death Eater?

No, I don't think so. Besides if it was a Death Eater I think whoever it is would have acted already.

You think Dumbledore has someone guarding you?

Probably…Harry felt his heart clench. If Dumbledore was having him watched it would make getting to the Manor very difficult. The nights would not be hard, but the days would be especially hard after Uncle Vernon had very vocally announced when they had got back from King's Cross he was not to be in the house during the day.

For the next hour Harry was very aware of his unseen watcher. He heard twigs break and even an occasional yawn or joint cracking. By mid-day his watcher had changed and Harry figured it must be manned in some kind of shift. The new one was extremely easy to notice. Harry was certain it was a he and he drank a lot. The smell of firewhiskey was so strong it made Harry feel lightheaded.

Back at the Burrow Ginny's day was not going well. Her mother kept finding things for them to do. "But Mom, why do we need to de-gnome the garden when the little blighters will just come back after we leave?" pleaded Ron. Ginny cringed for him when her mother began screaming. A crack announced the arrival of her father; it was unusual for him to be at the Burrow before four. Another crack announced the arrival of Percy. Ginny went to investigate; it was unusual for Arthur Weasley to come home early, but completely unheard of for her brother, Percy Weasley, to come home before the work day was over.

To her surprise the two men were glaring daggers at each other. "You could at least congratulate me. I got a promotion," said Percy pompously.

"Percy, Fudge only promoted you to use you to spy on us – he thinks were close to Dumbledore," said her father wearily.

"That…that is utterly ridiculous. Just because you can't get a promotion and enjoy being poor doesn't mean I do," Ginny gasped. She could not believe Percy had just said those words. "And if you knew what was good for you and our family you would stay away from Dumbledore and the Potter boy – they are both unstable. The Minister himself has told me and you've read today's prophet after all. To top it off Skeeter has disappeared now – I guess were just lucky that she submitted the article before…" Percy threw the prophet across the table.

Mr. Weasley ignored the paper and his face was white. His next words were strained from trying to hold back his temper, "Percy, don't let your ambition blind you…"

"AT LEAST I HAVE AMBITION!" Percy screamed.

"GET OUT. DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE SOME SENSE!" Mr. Weasley screamed back and Ginny took a few steps back colliding with Ron who had walked up behind her. Both were shocked. Their father never yelled.

Percy stormed up to his room and from the sounds he was throwing things into his trunk. Mr. Weasley stormed out of the house. Ginny and Ron quietly walked fully into the kitchen. There on the kitchen table was the paper Percy had thrown. Its headline read:

Harry Potter Claims You Know Who Has Returned!

Dumbledore Believes Him!

Then underneath the main headline were two more lines:

Potter's Sanity in Questioned

Dumbledore's Age: Is he too old?

Ginny felt sick. Ron stared at the paper and then looked up towards Percy rooms with a look of utter disgust on his face.

Mrs. Weasley walked in, her teary eyes very evident, "Oh. Ginny, Ron go up to your rooms and make sure you have everything packed. Hermione is going to be here soon then we are going to leave."

……………………………….

Harry read the article one more time. "This is…"

"Complete nonsense, I know. At least Hermione has taken care of Rita Skeeter," Ginny spat the name out. Rita Skeeter never knew how close she had come to being crushed under the youngest Weasley's shoe when Hermione revealed the animagus to Ron and Ginny at the Burrow.

"Yeah, so has Hermione really released her?"

"Yes," she responded dejectedly. Ginny would really have liked to see how Crookshanks would have played with the beetle. "She said the Rita promised not to write anything for a year or she would reveal her illegal form. At least now we know how she knew about your scar hurting in the middle of the night," she said referring to the article and the assertions that Harry was unstable.

Harry chuckled, "Hermione really is something. Are you sure you can't tell me where you've moved to?"

Ginny sighed, "It's frustrating. I keep trying, but I can't. I mean I can tell you it's in London and it's being used by Dumbledore and so forth, but…OH THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING. STUPID SPELL! I can't believe I can tell you that Dumbledore is the secret keeper, but I can't tell you…" Ginny growled.

"It's alright. I'm sure I'll be there soon enough. At least you convinced them to give you your own room. I don't imagine you'd be able to sneak away from Hermione."

"Yeah, it was a chore too at least with mum. Hermione was willing enough – I think she needs the space for all of her books," giggled Ginny. Harry rolled his eyes; sometimes he thought Hermione took her books way too seriously.

"Desert?" interrupted Ding.

…………………………………..

A week had past since Harry had left Hogwarts and he had fallen into a routine. At night he would flame to the Manor where he would have dinner and then have a restful sleep. The breakfasts were always superb and it gave him immense satisfaction to know that he was eating better than the Dursleys. Ginny had joined him almost every night, but could not get away all the time. He had originally planned to spend most of his time at the Manor, but he had not accounted for guards.

He and Ginny had figured out that the Order of the Phoenix, which they figured to be the 'old crowd' Dumbledore had alluded to earlier, was guarding him around the clock. As far as he could tell there were four shifts. During the mornings Mrs. Figg seemed to always be around or one of her cats was constantly following him around. The next shift was usually occupied by Mundungus Fletcher, who was identified by the strong smell of firewhisky and stale tobacco. The other two guards were harder to identify and would sometimes take the shifts of Figg and Fletcher.

It was not until the end of the week that Ginny had found the woman with the jasmine scented shampoo. It turned out to be Nymphadora Tonks. Their suspicions were confirmed when she had tripped in the park and fell into a sandbox…flat on her invisible face. Harry had laughed aloud and had sworn he heard someone blow a raspberry in response. The fourth guard they did not know for sure. Ginny said it was probably another auror by the name of Kingsley Shacklebolt who seemed very professional and adept at his job. Harry had to agree that his fourth guard was both of those things. He could rarely hear him and was only alerted to his presence by the occasional breaking of a twig.

While his guards did prevent him from spending too many daylight hours at the Manor, Harry had not spent one night at Privet Drive and had no intention of ever doing so again.

Harry woke to find that Ginny was still sleeping. He smiled; during the past week it was the first time that she had been there when he had awoken. Ginny's head was right below his own; leaning down he kissed the top of her head. A pleasant sound came from her throat and she shift slightly, holding Harry tighter. Harry continued to look down at her. What did I ever do to deserve her? He ran his fingers through her hair and whispered, "I love you, my Ginny."

"Your Ginny," came a faint reply. Harry was sure that she was still asleep and somehow that made his happiness grow even larger.

…………………………………

Another week past by as quickly as the first and Harry found the days dragging by as he looked forward to the nights. Ginny had not been able to come to the Manor last night. Harry had quickly discovered that he did not wake up with a headache when he slept with Ginny. He also had strange dreams. His bonding with Ginny made it very clear that he was not in his own mind. The same foreignness and darkness that had come with his first vision also accompanied these dreams. Harry knew that Voldemort was obsessed with something down a corridor with many doors. Whatever his connection was with Voldemort it was blocked by Ginny. Why he did not have this problem during the day he did not know or particularly care.

Harry looked up into the sky and grinned. It was close enough to dusk to justify him returning to Privet Drive. Harry ran all the way back to Privet Drive only stopping to allow his guard time to get up after a clumsy fall…Tonks was guarding him tonight. When he got to Number 4 Harry tore up the stairs ignoring the angry shouts of Uncle Vernon.

When he arrived at the Manor he was greeted, to his surprise, by Ginny. "Glad you could finally make it! Mum is too busy fussing over Ron to worry about me – we were cleaning and he was attacked by some robes," said Ginny to his unvoiced question and then she giggled thinking about Ron.

"So what are the papers saying about me today?" asked Harry. It had become a running joke over the past two weeks for Ginny to inform him of his latest instability or delusion according to the Daily Prophet. Although they joked about it, it did bother both of them. Ginny was angry because the papers were attacking her Harry. Harry was mad at Fudge for being stupid and obstinate.

"I just can't believe people actually believe Fudge over Dumbledore!" exclaimed Harry. He was still miffed at the professor for forcing him to stay at the Dursleys, but he still felt bad at all the criticism Dumbledore had taken. Dumbledore had even been removed as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.

Ginny walked over to him and put her arms around his neck. Standing on her tiptoes she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. Harry responded; his arms wrapped around her. The kiss deepened and she felt his hands separate. One sneaked up to cradle her head while the other moved further south and gently squeezed. Ginny smiled as she kissed him informing Harry that she was enjoying herself. He responded by pulling her closer so that their bodies grinded together.

Somehow one of his hands had found its way under Ginny's blouse and met with warm, soft skin. His lips moved from her mouth to her earlobe and then down her neck. She shifted her head to give him better access, her own hands now under his shirt. She moaned has Harry kissed a sensitive spot on her neck. "Ginny, I love you…" said Harry in a half-moan.

Ginny leaned back and then cupped Harry's head in her hands. The intensity of the kiss that followed amazed both of them. Ginny reveled in the heat that seemed to course through her entire body and she brought his head, still clasped in her hands, down into flesh between her breasts; the buttons on her blouse had somehow come undone or broken off.

It took them more than an hour, and Harry one very cold shower, to cool off from their passionate evening. Neither had wanted to stop and both were extremely reluctant to leave the Manor the next morning. They both left rather later than usual.

………………………………

Dumbledore almost collapsed in to his plush armchair. It had been an extremely long day and the night was almost morning. Every time he thought he had seen the apex of Fudge's foolishness, the man surprised him by digging his heals in further. Now he was threatening to appoint his own Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. With the help of that Umbridge woman, Dumbledore chuckled remembering how Minerva McGonagall had compared her to a toad, he had managed to bring the issue before the Wizengamot. Dumbledore sighed; he had not stopped the Wizengamot from passing that particular law, but he had been able to have it amended so the Ministry could only appoint a professor if the headmaster did not find a candidate first.

This led him to another problem, finding a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. No one was willing to take up the job. Most believed the position was cursed, which Dumbledore had to admit was probably true. Others did not want to get in the middle of the brewing conflict between the only wizard Voldemort feared and the Minister of Magic.

It had been two weeks. Only two weeks since term had ended. It was truly amazing what could happen in such short time. Dumbledore hoped that Hagrid was having more luck than he. Then there was Harry. Dumbledore was worried that the boy would somehow find a way of not staying at Privet Drive. The guards he had assigned to watch over Harry were there to keep him both safe and to keep him from running away. From the reports he had received, Dumbledore was surprised. Harry had taken his exile to the Dursleys well. The only point of worry was that both Kingsley and Tonks thought that Harry knew he was being followed. This was likely considering Harry's likely animagus form and something Dumbledore had not considered. From how McGonagall and Mrs. Norris reacted to him, Dumbledore suspected that Harry's form was feline.

Dumbledore smiled as he considered this. Harry's ability to become an animagus so young indicated the boy had great power. The only part of it that bothered him was that Harry had become so powerful so young. There were times when power positively radiated off the boy. Dumbledore had not expected this to happen so young and then there was Ginny. She was the wild card in every equation. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Ginny herself was quite powerful. Harry was fairly easy to predict. He did not always follow the rules, but was given the right prods and nudges took the right action…not so with Ginny. She did not simply ignore rules, but broke them entirely and where Harry distrusted authority, Ginny had a tendency to despise it. Dumbledore suspected it had a lot to do with being the both the youngest child and the only girl of seven.

Consequently, he had been surprised when both Harry and Ginny had yielded so easily about Harry returning to his Aunt's. Privet Drive was the safest place for Harry and he was glad that he had finally gotten that across to everyone, but still Dumbledore would keep his promise; Harry would stay only as long as it was necessary to recharge the wards. He took out his pocket watch and examined the circulating planets. He frowned. According to his watch the wards were not getting stronger at all, but rather…Dumbledore wasted no time contemplating the myriad of reasons why the wards were failing around Privet Drive. He stood and threw floo powder into the fire. "REMUS LUPIN" Dumbledore fairly yelled sticking his head into the fire. "Take whoever is there and go get Harry now."

Lupin sat still in shock. He looked around the room. It was empty. Hardly anyone was at Grimmauld Place at this time of the night. Arthur was on guard duty tonight and Tonks was on Harry duty. That left only Molly and Sirius. At that moment Sirius walked in the room, "Mo…Moony? Was that Dumbledore?" he asked not bothering to fight his yawn.

"Yes, he just told me to get Harry – now. Something is wrong. Go get the note," said Lupin. All sleep evaporated from Sirius' face and he turned and ran up the stairs. He quickly emerged slipping a piece of parchment into his pocket. Nodding to each other; they apparated to the edge of the wards surrounding Privet Drive.

Remus and Sirius crouched down immediately surveying the area for Death Eaters. All was quiet. Remus turned to Sirius and looked at him questioningly. Sirius peered into the darkness and shrugged, "Are the wards still in place?"

Performing a complicated motion with his wand, the results made Remus gasp. "Merlin! They're almost gone. The wards…they're failing." They did not have to exchange words. The two former marauders stood and prepared to dash into Number Four.

A voice stopped them, "Move and you'll regret it."

If the situation had been different Remus would have laughed. Sirius only looked like he had swallowed something sour. "Hello Nymphadora," said Remus.

"Don't call me that," Tonks hissed back.

"Of course not Tonks," answered Remus congenially. They had established each other's identities.

"How'd you sneak up on us," asked Sirius still sour that his clumsy cousin had caught him unawares, but relieved that Harry was not in any immediate danger.

"I can be quiet," replied Tonks with a mischievous smile. "Now why are you…" Tonks tripped over the hem of her own invisibility cloak when she took a step forward."

Remus helped Tonks stand and she blushingly looked away.

"At least we know it's you," snickered Sirius, Tonks shot him a glare, "Come on – let's get Harry out of here." Seeing Tonks' confusion, he briefly explained, "The wards are failing."

The trio marched their way across the street and up the path to Number Four, Privet Drive. Sirius gave a hideous smile and began knocking loudly. He was sure the Dursleys would appreciate visitors in the wee hours of the morning.

Sirius looked back at Tonks and Remus and waggled his eyebrows. Remus sighed and Tonks grinned wickedly. Sirius proceeded to raise his fist and knock on the door loudly. He did not stop when several yells came from inside the house.

"Who the…" Vernon Dursley's words trailed off when he opened the door to see what would have been an attractive woman if not for the hot pink hair. Behind her was a man in shabby robes with graying hair, but what really shocked Vernon was the presence of a man he barely recognized: Sirius Black, wanted murderer who broke out of jail the summer before. "You're…you're…"

Sirius' evil smile never wavered, "Sirius Black, Harry's godfather." The little remaining blood in Vernon's face left, making his skin turn gray. A few seconds later he had fallen hard to the floor. "Doesn't take shocks that well?" asked Sirius to no one in particular. He looked up and could see Petunia Dursley's face peering out from behind her door. "Petunia!"

The door clicked shut and the sound of a lock being turned could be heard. Sirius looked at the prone Vernon and at the locked bedroom door, "We'll deal with them later."

The three adults walked up the stairs and turned towards Harry's room. Tonks tripped on the last step, but was caught by Remus who had been following close behind. He chuckled at the auror's clumsiness and she glared at him and mumbled, "Shut up."

"Aahhh still the ladies man. Moony always did know…"

"Padfoot, shut up."

Sirius shrugged and put his hand on the doorknob. The door opened without a creak or groan as if the hinges had been oiled recently. Harry probably did…nice to know he's a marauder at heart.

The room was dark; the only light was from the window where a street light could barely be seen. However, even in the low light one thing was painfully obvious: Harry was not there. Sirius was the first to react, "Where?"

"It couldn't have been Death Eaters – the wards are weak, but they're still in place," added a stunned Remus.

"I saw him go into the house and no one has left – I've been on duty all night," put in Tonks.

Reality was starting to settle in for Sirius and he felt the blood start to drain from his face. He knew that he should be panicking, but nothing about the scene seemed to scream danger. Indeed, Harry's trunk was sitting at the foot of the bed, unlatched, and the room seemed like it had been lived in. Although, as Sirius looked at the bed with a sharper eye he noticed that besides its probable inability to provide any comfort it did not look like it had been slept in recently.

"Tonks," he said forgetting to tease by using her full name, "are you sure Harry came in tonight?"

Tonks probably would have sent him another glare if she had not been concerned about her charge, "Yes, it's almost like clockwork. He leaves the house around eight or nine and goes to the park. After the park, he comes back here usually around six sometimes earlier and then does not leave until the morning…makes the night shifts rather boring."

Remus sat down on the bed. He had noticed the rather 'pristine' quality of the bed as well. With his heightened werewolf senses he could smell Harry's sent on the bed along with an older more feminine scent. But Harry's scent was not all that strong – not as strong as it should be for someone who slept in it every night. He looked to Sirius and said, "I think Harry's been keeping something from us." Sirius frowned and sat on the other end of the bed. Tonks soon found the patch of bed left between the two men.

……………………………………..

Harry was still smiling when he exited shower…this one had been cold too. He loved the way Ginny…well he just loved Ginny period, he realized.

You're not half-bad yourself, Ginny sent. She had just flamed back to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and was getting ready to go take a shower of her own.

Looking around the master bedroom one more time, Harry sighed, it was time to return to Privet Drive. The morning's interaction with Ginny had made him later than usual, but he was not worried – the Dursleys did not care what he did. He transformed and flamed to the smallest bedroom in Number Four, Privet Drive.

Harry's legs nearly collapsed when he saw the three wizards sitting in front of him. He flapped his wings a few times sending himself back towards the opposite side of the room. He blinked. Oh bugger. He blinked again and cocked his head to allow him a better view. I'm in big trouble.

Harry briefly considered flaming again and then walking in, but he had a feeling the three people in front of him would not believe that ruse. He looked at each of them in turn. Remus was looking at him with narrowed eyes with a suspicious glint in them. Harry guessed that his werewolf senses were telling him many things that Harry would have to reveal soon. Sirius was also looking suspicious, but strangely seemed to be struggling between fury and pride. Tonks only looked confused.

They were all examining Harry with interest and Harry fidgeted, standing on one leg and then the other. Suddenly, Sirius burst out laughing. "Look at those feathers…" his laughter stopped whatever else he was going to say, but he did manage to point at Harry's ruffled feathers. Harry's response was the bird equivalent of a glare: he ruffled more of his feathers, which only caused Sirius to laugh harder.

Ginny!

Don't ask me. I don't have any suggestions, but I think your feathers have given you away, Ruffles, Ginny's own amusement was evident at Sirius' reaction.

Remus stood up and took a step closer to better look at the phoenix. First, his gaze lingered on the ruffled feathers Sirius was still in stitches about. Then the eyes of the phoenix caught his attention. They were emerald green. Remus felt his mouth grow dry at the sudden revelation and impossibility, "Harry?" Tonks gave him a strange look and then returned to watching the phoenix, which seemed to sigh.

Not seeing another option, Harry transformed.