Disclaimer: Harry Potter never has and never will be mine. Life just sucks that way.

A/N: I'm back, and within a couple weeks this time, instead of nearly a year and a half! I want to thank everyone for all their supporting feedback and receiving me back with open arms: crazyme03, 10thWeasley, Cowabunga, Valid User Name, WithaVengance, TwilightsCalling, BELLE, and Leenniepeennie.

It Ends Now

Part 28: "Protection"

Another sound; this time like a rubber band being snapped back. The ground was rocked by a resonating tremor, and raw magic shimmered in the very air. The quartet felt their hair stick on end as the unknown power stung their skin like an electrical shock. Everyone collapsed when the ground continued shaking and swaying as if an earthquake was causing Ottery St. Catchpole to convulse. Harry recovered first, used to these situations and the "death or flight" intuition. Using skills he'd honed as a seeker, the sixteen year old staggered up and ran full speed up to the Burrow. He just knew the third crack had originated from the front yard again, and this time, he intended to discover what it was. That had been no friendly aura he'd sensed...

Harry reached the house's siding, and inched his way along stealthily. A glance backward informed him that his friends were all fine; just slightly shocked. Hermione was in the process of pulling up Ginny while Ron watched Harry in askance. The one with the scarred forehead just shook his head at the ginger. Act first; questions later. Something in the pit of Harry's stomach told him that danger was very near, and he didn't relish in poking around debating the next course of action.

Harry took a deep breath, then peered just far enough around the side of the Burrow that he could see but still be mostly secreted.

The bad feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified, to the point where his intenstines must surely be in knots.

Danger, indeed.

A band of twenty or so Death Eaters was marching down the Weasley driveway, waving wands gleefully and beginning to cheer wildly as they caught sight of the house. Their handsome faces, all hidden behind partial masks, were eclipsed by feral grins.

To the well-practiced Order member, the odds would have been favorable; the attack, laughable. No Dark master accompanied them, and the number was not even a quarter of Voldemort's forces. They might even wonder why the Death Eaters were even trying.

But Harry was not doing anything of the sort, and he was not an Order member. He was one of four children, and his outlook was considerably grim.

The seeker propelled himself away from the siding with a mighty push, flying toward his shaken comrades. Ron was still sitting almost stupidly on the ground, but his brow cocked in query when Harry came hurtling back.

"Har-"

"Get up, get up!" Harry hissed, grabbing the red-head's arm and yanking the teen up. "Death Eaters, coming down your driveway!"

Hermione gasped, Ginny turned white, and Harry snarled in frustration.

"MOVE! Now!" he breathed harshly, dragging the other three- currently wallowing in a magnified state of shock- over to the forest. "They're on their way and they're going to see us if we don't hurry and hide..."

His words struck a chord in Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. With renewed haste and a laudable bounce back, the quartet rushed past the treeline. The afternoon was suddenly chillier than before- whether from their own fear or a temperature drop, no one was quite sure.

"A few feet in," Harry was saying as they dashed madly, ignoring the tentacle-like branches scraping at his skin during flight, "so we can see but be concealed at the same time..."

"There!" Hermione choked, pointing at an old oak sporting a large trunk. The four practically fell behind its brown body, but Harry cursed when noticing it didn't fully obscure Ron. He raked a hand through his shaggy raven locks, panting in a searing fashion, but Hermione calmed his apprehension with:

"Engorgio!"

The trunk expanded, becoming wide enough to secrete everyone. Only then could Harry breathe easily again.

"How do you think they got in?" Ginny whimpered, listening as the acclamations escalated. The Death Eaters must surely be at the house now, or close to it... The youngest Weasley slid down the tree, flagging legs seemingly unable to support her weight anymore. She buried her face in her knees. Harry, moved with pity and similar sentiment, knelt down next to her. "Wasn't there... protection against an invasion like this? Dumbledore had been reassuring us all along that nothing would happen; that we were safe and there'd be no way Voldemort could get in..."

No one said anything, because no one knew the answer. Harry felt a stab of irrational anger at his Headmaster. He knew the imminent ambush was not the senescent one's fault, but somehow the boy had always thought that when Dumbledore said things would go according to plan, they... well, would. This Death Eater breech was almost like a form of betrayal; a lapse in Dumbledore's warding abilities. If Voldemort could get past protection Albus Dumbledore himself had begot, he could break through any magical resistance!

Hermione and Ron followed suit with Harry, crouching down. Hermione slipped an arm around Ginny's trembling shoulders, while Ron lent quiet support with an,

"It'll be okay."

"No it won't," Ginny countered harshly, a hint of tears to her tone.

"But we're hidden," Ron said reasonably, peeking out. He let out a strangled "Eep!" when Death Eaters began circling the house. Luckily, they paid no mind to the dark and threatening forest subsisting behind the Burrow. Most probably thought children like themselves would never dare set forth into such a menacing woodland. Harry too squinted out, then returned his attention back to Ginny.

"Are you scared?" he asked softly.

Ginny shrugged and muttered, "Not for myself."

"Us?" Harry suggested in an equally gentle voice. His two best friends watched with awe as Harry was able to lure Ginny's head up. The girl sniffled. Her eyes were puffy, red, and brimming with unshed moisture. The sixteen year old seeker felt compassion and admiration burgeon in his chest for this brave little Gryffindor when she answered.

"No. For my parents. I'm terrified something will happen to them and I won't have been able to do anything. I... want to fight. But... I'm almost useless. Even last year in the Department of Mysteries I was nothing but a burden who wound up in the Hospital Wing."

"Of course not!" Harry retaliated in gainsay. "You were such a crucial asset! Without your smarts and hefty Reducto Curse, I would have never survived."

"Maybe," Ginny concurred reluctantly. "But my parents are still in the house, and we have no way to inform them-"

"They can fend for themselves," Hermione reassured this time. "I'm sure by now they've noticed what's going on and contacted the Order. We'll just have to wait out their arrival."

No one wanted to voice doubt, but Ginny supplied forebodingly,

"And if the Death Eaters storm the Burrow?"

"I'll bet you your parents are hiding just as we are. That, or they'll fight back. They really are good duelers, you know. I've seen them in action," Harry told the ginger. Still, he couldn't help the suffocating anxiety rising up within him as well. If the two Weasley parents were forced to battle twenty Death Eaters alone...

There was no doubt in Harry's mind that if that frightening picture came into fruition, Molly and Arthur would not be alone. However much they'd abhor it, all four friends would join in the fray just to even the odds a little bit. No one wanted Ron and Ginny to not become orphans more than Harry. He knew all too well the loneliness; the jealousy and the pain that accompanied growing up without parental support. Harry looked over at Ron, staring at his sister with mirror emotions marring his features. His visage was detached, yet constricted at the same time. Harry formed a rock-hard desire right there, wishing with wroth fanaticism for a peaceful conclusion.

No matter what, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had to survive.

Hermione opened her mouth to say something else, but Harry shushed her. He had just seen the light of a wand flare into his vision. A Death Eater had separated himself from the pack and was now tracing the treeline, shining a spotlight into the forest.

"All clear, Macnair?" a ragged, burly baritone questioned the solitary minion. Macnair looked up, shouting back,

"Nothing in here, so far as I can tell! Potter and his cronies wouldn't dare stake out in a haunted Wizard Forest... that'd be a death flirt! No, they must be in the house, Rudolph."

"Good. All the more fun it'll be to tease them out," Rudolph Lestrange replied, a mad joy to parry his wife's underlining his intone. Ginny, from behind her hands, whimpered. Harry laid a hand securely against her arm, but brandished his wand. If the Death Eaters wanted a challenge, he would give them it. No harm could come to the Weasleys!

"Oh, God..." Hermione moaned, barely above a whisper. "Where is the Order?"

Harry had to agree, and toyed with the idea of sending a message to them himself. Only problem was, he knew the general idea of correspondence... and that was about it. Should he attempt to send Dumbledore a patronus, based on the possibility that Molly and Arthur were still unaware of the impending fight? Maybe it wouldn't even work, but a chance outweighed nothing, right?

"Hermione, what's a spell to distract the Death Eaters from seeing a light in the forest?"

"Harry, what-?"

"No time! Just please, pull their attention elsewhere, or guard my patronus from being seen!" Harry demanded, Expecto Patronum already on his lips. Hermione growled in frustration, and she too whipped out her wand.

"Lumos Obstructos Orbis Caligo!" the pedantic hissed, and a pall of darkness enshrouded the quartet. Harry shivered; he couldn't even see his own wand hand. If it weren't for the breathing of those around him, Harry would have questioned his own existence.

"Expecto Patronum!" the teen followed almost immediately after. Suddenly, a dim light morphed into a stag in the center of the homemade abyss. It served to illuminate Hermione, Ron, and Ginny's bodies, but gave the strange effect of them all cooped up under some black blanket. Harry froze when realizing Hermione's face was drenched in sweat.

"What did you do?" Harry asked, stag blinking in and out of life. He shoved some more concentration and power into making it corporeal.

"Just an extracurricular spell I learned from Charms, but Flitwick warned me about its advanced and long-term use. Zaps energy from you to support the spell," Hermione panted. Harry grew horrified as her visage paled. "Takes air molecules and-"

" 'Mione, we don't need to know the details!" Ron cried softly, apparently as terrified as Harry. "Save your breath, and Harry, whatever you're doing... hurry!"

"Right," Harry said. He turned to the transparent stag watching him interestedly. "Um, so, I need you to send a message to Professor Dumbledore, for the Order of the Phoenix. Can you... actually do that? Will you be able to find him?"

The patronus, to Harry's intense surprise, cocked its graceful head and then nodded once.

"How do I relay my information? Can you record it?"

Another nod.

"Alright... here it goes," Harry said, feeling just a little lame. "Professor Dumbledore, Death Eaters are attacking the Burrow and we need assistance immediately! Ron, Hermione, Ginny and I are hiding out in the forest but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are still inside the house. Please send help right away!"

The stag stood there for a moment, eyes almost glowing. Harry wondered what it was waiting for, then added,

"That's it! Now please, hurry!"

The pearly creature bounded off out of the darkness, taking the route opposite where the Death Eaters were stationed. At the same time, Hermione's obstruction spell gave out and she collapsed against the tree.

A/N: Sorry, I am soooo bad! The signature cliffhangers are back! We went a while without them, didn't we? -Evil grin- I can't help it! I love leaving everyone in suspense; it makes you want more and more and more... so my story's like a drug, ha ha! The more who review, the faster I'll attempt to update! More action to come...

AngelMoon Girl