A/N: How'd you like the last chapter? Fun wasn't it? Just leaving you like 'OMG! Who is that? Is he a bad guy? Oh boy, Harry be careful!' Trust me… You'll be freaking out by the end of this chapter… MUAHAHAHAHA!

A Special Note to Micheala B.: This is one of the things that's in all of those notebooks that you aren't allowed to read…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

~rAndOM sQuIRrel~

When we last left our beloved characters: 'Harry felt a sense of vague familiarity, but couldn't place where he'd seen the man.'

~rAndOM sQuIRrel~

"Georgy!" Molly cried and took her son's face into her hands.

George pulled away, "Mum..." he pleaded, eyes darting in the direction of his customers and employees.

"Right, yes. My big important businessman," she said, pinching his cheek. Mr. Weasley noticed his son's distress and pulled his wife away to look at a new product in the muggle line. Hermione, Harry, Ginny, and Ron grinned at George.

"Don't say a word," George growled.

"Word," Ginny said with a smile. George glared at her, and pulled Ron away by the arm. They found a somewhat secluded corner.

"Have you told anyone?" George asked quietly.

"No," Ron said.

"Good." George turned and called, "Lee!"

Lee popped his head out from behind a shelf, fake wand in hand. George motioned for him to join them. Lee shoved the wand into a customer's hand and trotted over.

"Whatcha need?" he asked.

"Lee. Ron and I talked and agreed that you'd be best suited helping him out at the new branch. Do you mind being manager's assistant over there?"

"Not at all," Lee said. "Plus all the school girls will there," he said raising his eyebrows.

"Good," George said. "I'll need you to report to Hogsmeade on Monday then."

"Alright," said Lee, "but who's gonna assist you here, with both of us gone?"

"Angelina."

Lee grinned, "Oh yeah. She'll assist you alright. Any work gonna be done?"

"Watch it, Jordan," George growled. Ron looked on, very confused as to what was transpiring before him.

Lee put his hands up, "Hey. Just sayin'."

George studied Lee for a moment, before turning back to Ron. "I'll bring by some stuff by later, about the shop. I have a pile of applications for you to sort through. I managed to filter out a few, but there are quite a few.

"You'll need to narrow them down, then interview, and hire three employees. Remember that they have to work hard and work well together. You have to think of business like an art," he said, looking off into an imaginary distance. Ron threw George a questioning look. "Stay with me now," George said, before turning back to the 'distance'. "If the colors on a canvas don't mesh well and give amazing results, then you replace them with a new color that's better and brighter." Lee and Ron looked at each other, then back at George, nodding slightly.

"George!" Angelina called from the register.

"Be right there!" He called, trotting over. Lee went back to work a second later and Harry caught Ron's attention.

"Hey I was thinking about getting Ginny another Pigmy Puff. You know a friend for Arnold," Harry said.

"Okay a couple problems about that..." Ron said.

"Like what?"

"Well first off, Aunt Muriel made Ginny release him, when they found him in the cupboards munching on some crisps," Ron said, then with a sigh continued, "And secondly, Dean got Arnold for her."

Harry stood silent for a moment. "Oh. So that's probably a 'no'."

"Yeah. Hermione explained it to me- I think- but I lost her halfway through, when I suggested it."

"Then I have no idea of what to get her," Harry said in defeat.

"How 'bout something to do with Quidditch? She always loves those types of gifts."

An idea popped into Harry's mind as Ron gave mentioned the wizard sport. "I've got it! Thanks, Ron! She's sure to love it!," Harry said clapping Ron on the back.

"Sure, mate," Ron said, confused and curious at the same time. "Glad I could help."

"Hey let's go find them," Harry said, disappearing into the crowd, Ron following behind. As they passed the WonderWitch products, Ron eyed the girls crowded around the love potions carefully.

They found the two girls examining a few new additions to the muggle line. Ginny was holding an orange and yellow object, that Ron recognized from the meetings to be a dart gun.

"Wow," Ginny said examining the gun, "these things are cool. What do they do?" Hermione removed it from her possession before Ginny could shoot herself in the face.

Hermione cocked the gun and fired in a non- specific direction, where Ron just happened to be. Both girls and Harry burst into fits of laughter as Ron looked, cross-eyed, at his forehead, where the dart had stuck itself. He moved his hand to remove the dart, but it refused to budge and stuck soundly. Ron struggled for a moment with the dart, but dropped his arms in defeat.

"If George put a permanent sticking charm on these things, I'm gonna murder him," he growled.

"Well, if you paid attention in meetings more, you would know that it is in fact only a semi-permanent sticking charm," George said, coming up behind them, and placing his hands on his brother's shoulders, "You would also know how to remove it, but you seem to find that daydreaming about Hermione is a better use of your time." Hermione turned crimson and Ron turned to glare at his brother, who ignored him. "The red button, please, Hermione."

Hermione found the button on the barrel, just above the trigger, on the right side of the gun. Upon pressing it, the dart popped off Ron's forehead and zoomed back into the gun, loading itself. A small red circle remained where the dart had been moments earlier.

"Okay, kids!" Mrs. Weasley called, "It's time to go!" As they neared her, she gave Ron's forehead a questioning look, but said nothing, sending the others into more fits of laughter.

~rAndOM sQuIRrel~

The next few weeks passed quickly and uneventfully, with the exception of Ginny's wonderful- and long awaited- seventeenth birthday. Her favorite gifts above all, had been those from Ron, Hermione, and Harry, which included quidditch gloves, two tickets to a Harpies match, and her most favorite: her very own Phoenix Flame.

The next few weeks were filled with endless games of quidditch, sometimes nearly the whole family joined in.

"Where's Harry?" Ginny questioned her mother. "I was wondering if he wanted to go flying with me."

Molly turned momentarily from her pie crust. "He left a note on the counter," she said with a smile, as she pointed to the piece of parchment on the counter next to the door.

Ginny picked up the note, noticing flour and pie dough on it, indicating that her mother had read it.

Ginny-

Had to get away to think. Visiting Mum and Dad's favorite place, from the photo Hagrid gave me. The note on the back names the place.

-Harry

Ginny raced up the stairs to the second floor where Harry's room was. Upon entering she found the picture in its frame on Harry's bedside table. As James and Lily smiled up at her, Ginny carefully removed the photo and read the note on the back.

Dearest Harry,

Your father and I went here often before you came along. This picture was taken right after he proposed to me. At Branscombe we shared fond memories, until you replaced them.

Love, Mum

Ginny replaced the photo back in its frame and trotted back down the stairs. Grabbing her jumper, she ran out the back door, shouting, "Going to Branscombe, Mum! Be back later!" Once she passed the range of the wards, a bit of movement caught her attention out of the corner of her, but she quickly dismissed it as a gnome sneaking about. Closing her eyes and picturing Branscombe in her mind's eye, she disapparated.

Reappearing with a pop, she looked around taking in her surroundings. Waves crashed and gulls screeched, not far off but not too closely either. She stood on a wooded hill that stopped suddenly ten meters away, turning into what looked like large natural stone steps. Looking up she saw a variety of birds and an oddly familiar squirrel. He stared at her and twitched his slightly bald tail, before scurrying up the tree.

The area was large and Ginny's calls for Harry were easily drowned out but the wind and waves. She found a small worn, dirt path and followed it down the hill, which sloped down into a valley between the cliff edges. Ginny followed a second path, branching off the first, which led to the rocky cliff edge. Just as she looked to the left she heard her name to her right, as though whispered on the wind.

Ginny turned to see him sitting on a large flat rock, ankles crossed and arms folded, resting on his knees as he gazed out into the blue ocean. She walked over to him and sat beside him silently. They stayed like that for a while, not speaking, only watching the gulls glide on the wind.

His hand slipped into hers and she finally broke the silence, "Where do we go from here?" she asked.

Harry took a deep breath and exhaled before answering. "I don't know. I truthfully never thought that I'd ever make it this far. Ginny, I didn't think- I mean I hoped- I just thought I would- I don't know..." he trailed off, as she squeezed his hand.

Ginny watched him for a moment, wondering what he was thinking as he looked out onto the ocean, before speaking. "I suppose I'll finish school. Hermione thinks that I'll have to work hard to make up for last year," she said staring out into the horizon.

"Ron told me that George is starting a shop in Hogsmeade. Apparently Zonko's was abandoned, so he bought it. No one, but staff is supposed to know," he paused and finally looked at her, "so you can't tell anyone." She smiled and nodded her promise not to tell.

I don't know what the future holds, but there's no doubt that I want Ginny to be there with me, he thought. A smile spread across his face as his head began to swim with images of them together, their wedding, first Christmas, and a little one running around.

"What?" she laughed as he grinned at her.

"Nothing," Harry said, turning away back to the horizon, smile still on his face. "Ron and I were thinking about becoming Aurors, but Ron will be busy with the new shop, and I'm okay with relaxing for a little. After seven straight years of running, I think I need a water break."

Ginny nodded in understanding. "McGonagal is making more frequent Hogsmeade trips to boost morale from last year. Hermione will enjoy seeing Ron almost every weekend, and I'll enjoy having you as my teacher," she said with a smile.

Harry returned the smile. "I take it she has made up her mind on going back to school?"

"Was there ever any doubt?"

"Not really, I-" Harry was cut off as a bloodcurdling scream rang out. The couple looked at each other, then quickly drew their wands and sprinted over the rocky terrain towards the source of the sound. They entered a small clearing in the thicket of trees they were in, and found a cloaked man, crouching over a muggle woman. He knelt over her, his left hand forcing her to look at his hooded-face, in his right hand was a short, thick, black wand. He looked up as they approached, his hood shadowing his face. He quickly turned and sprinted into the woods, before they could react.

Harry followed at top speed, dodging trees, and trying to get a clear shot. Harry slowed his pace and tried to locate the wizard that he was pursuing, but he was gone. Harry searched the ground for any evidence of the man's whereabouts, but found nothing. Giving up, Harry began to make his way back to the clearing. After only a few steps, he heard an all too familiar sound- Ginny's scream.

"HAR-!" Her cry for help was muffled.

Harry felt anger surge through him as he ran back to her aide. He must've circled back and caught her unaware. If he hurts her I'll tear him limb from limb, he thought. He stopped suddenly as he tore into the clearing.

At the opposite end of the clearing the man held his left hand over Ginny's mouth, and his scarred right hand held his wand to her neck. Harry slightly lowered his wand, so as not to pose a threat, but knew he could react in time if need be. Ginny struggled a bit, to free herself from his grasp, but he drove his wand further into her neck causing her to still.

"Let her go," Harry growled. The man said nothing. "I said let her go! It's me you want isn't it? Leave her be and do with me as you please."

Ginny took things into her hands, before the man could take Harry up on his offer. She bit into his hand and then threw her head back into his face. He groaned in pain as they heard a crack, releasing her to grab his nose. Ginny ran to Harry's side, who pushed her behind him, in an attempt to shield her from an attack. Harry raised his wand back up, aiming at the wizard's chest, his opponent doing the same.

"It's not over, Potter. People are still going to get hurt, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. The closest to you will feel the pain," he said, "A storm is coming." And he disapparated.

~rAndOM sQuIRrel~ (who returned once more)

A/N: Dun Dun Dun! Prepare for more excitement to come! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!