Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.

Constructive criticism is welcome. Enjoy.

Danger in the air

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, contemplating the problem of horcruxes. The diary was gone, as well as the ring. He was bothered by the fact that the locket had been a fake, but he would have to deal with that. He hoped that whoever R.A.B was, they had succeeded in destroying the locket. But they would almost certainly have to attempt to find it and check.

He sighed, feeling weary, Voldemort had been more active lately and he couldn't help but worry that he was planning something terrible. They had doubled the wards on the school just to be safe, though Severus had not heard of any planned attack on the school.

Suddenly the was a flash in his fire and the man himself emerged from the flames. "Good evening Severus, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Snape looked at him with a panicked look and Dumbledore was suddenly worried. "I have urgent news", he spoke quickly, "gather the Order immediately, I don't want to repeat myself." Dumbledore nodded, but Snape continued, "Headmaster, it would also be wise to have Potter and Granger attending, as well as the entire Weasley family. This will concern them most closely." Dumbledore nodded again and dismissed Snape, "we will meet in Grimmauld Place in one hour Severus." Snape nodded and disappeared, robes billowing, out the door.

Dumbledore wondered what could possibly be so important that the entire Weasley clan, as well as Harry and Miss Granger, would be needed in the meeting. But he did not have time to worry about that right now, there were Order members to alert.

One hour later and the Order, along with Harry, Hermione and the younger Weasleys, were seated in the biggest room in Grimmauld Place and looking expectantly at Dumbledore. He stood and looked around the room, "One hour ago Severus came to my office with urgent information. He deemed it important that everyone was present so he would not need to repeat himself and so this meeting was called. For those wondering at the presence of the younger Weasleys as well as Harry and Hermione, they were requested by Severus who deemed their presence necessary. Since I am sure we are all curious, I will pass you over to Severus."

Snape stood up and began speaking immediately. "I believe it is necessary to start at the beginning of the story, so my apologies to those who already know parts of this story. We all know of the diary of Tom Riddle, used as a horcrux to preserve his 16 year old self. This diary was entrusted to Lucius Malfoy and he made sure it found its way into the hands of Miss Weasley here while she was in her first year of Hogwarts." Everyone looked at Ginny for a moment and she paled a little at the memory of the diary, Snape continued on. "This part of Lord Voldemort's soul possessed her and eventually led to the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. Mr Potter then proceeded to destroy the diary and also the piece of Voldemort's soul. However, this is not the whole story. It turns out that while the piece of soul was destroyed and the diary no longer a horcrux, Voldemort appears to have known more magic at 16 than we realised. The diary has a sort of defence mechanism, when it was destroyed it retained the memories of all that was written between Tom Riddle and Ginny Weasley, as well as a slight imprint, a psychic picture if you will, of the young Tom Riddle."

At this Dumbledore seemed to be deep in worried thought, the possibilities it could bring were dangerous. "Mr Potter returned the diary to Lucius Malfoy who has recently returned it to Lord Voldemort. This is where the trouble begins. Voldemort discovered a potion I will not attempt to explain to you that uses the diary as an ingredient. He completed this potion a few hours ago and drank it. Because of the diary its effects were to change his appearance into that the diary remembers. Due to his advanced age though, he is now of the appearance of the 21 year old Voldemort. But the diary also contained the conversations his younger self had with Miss Weasley and he absorbed these memories."

Here Ginny gasped, scared as to what this could mean, she had thought it was all behind her. Snape gave her a look that could almost be sympathetic before continuing. "Due to these memories he knows all that she told Riddle and has in a way absorbed some of her essence. He has formed a bond with her and wishes to have her. He knows she is an intelligent, fairly powerful, pure-blood witch and sees her as, for want of a better term, a type of soul mate."

These last sentences produced an outcry from the audience. Ginny burst into tears at the thought of coming face to face with Tom Riddle again and while her parents tried to comfort her the room was buzzing with the impact this would have and what could be done to prevent it.

Snape began speaking again but his voice was drowned out and he had to shout to be heard. "I know that Voldemort won't ask me to attempt to take her, it would be too dangerous for my position as a spy, but I think he's planning on using the slytherins to take her." This was not good news, they all knew the slytherins would do pretty much anything to garner favour with Voldemort.

Dumbledore could think of no other alternative, "Molly, Arthur, I'm afraid we're going to need to pull Ron and Ginny out of school." He turned to Hermione and Harry, "you two as well. We can't leave Miss Weasley in school since the danger is too great, but if we only pull her out then Voldemort will see that we were forewarned and will know he has a spy in his midst. If we pull all four out then it will seem that they just sense the danger and Voldemort's power and that the Order are protecting them." Mrs Weasley looked worried, "but what about their education Albus?" Dumbledore looked grave, "we must think of their safety first Molly. But Sirius and Remus are often here and can help them keep up and I'm sure myself, Minerva and Severus can pop in from time to time."

Molly and Arthur nodded and Sirius gave a grim smile to Dumbledore, "well, as Harry's godfather I'm all for your idea. I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but you can't be too careful." The mood was sombre and sometime during Snape's report Tonks' hair had changed from vivid pink to jet black, a sure sign that something was wrong with the mood. Dumbledore stood up once more, "well, I believe that concludes our meeting. Molly, Arthur, it would probably be best to stay here are Grimmauld Place for a while. The same goes for Hermione and Harry." He turned to Ginny, "I'll come by tomorrow to discuss security arrangements with you Ginevra." Ginny nodded and then turned and ran out of the room before anyone could stop her. Dumbledore's eyes appeared to have lost all their sparkle, "Leave her be for a while. This is very difficult for her, the memories and the danger she's in now. I'll be back tomorrow around noon." With that he too swept out of the room, followed closely by Kingsley, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape.

A few minutes later and the only ones left were Sirius, Remus and Tonks. Mr and Mrs Weasley and Charlie had gone up to bed, Bill had gone up with Fleur, the golden trio were in the boys room to give Ginny space, Fred and George had gone back to the shop and Ginny was in her room. Tonks' hair had managed to lighten up a bit to a chocolaty brown colour, but she still lacked her trademark pink look. Remus' face looked more lined than normal and even Sirius, the eternal teenager, seemed a little older. "This changes everything," said Remus is a tired voice, "now we have to deal with attempting to destroy Voldemort while protecting Ginny from a psychopathic maniac who thinks she's some kind of soul mate." Sirius gave one of his trademark grins, though it didn't seem as genuine as normal, "well at least we don't have to worry about the them all being at Hogwarts, we can protect them better from here. It'll be fun Moony, they're letting us loose on impressionable minds, how little they must know." Both Remus and Tonks had to smile at this, a typically Sirius comment. Tonks sighed, "I'm worried about poor Ginny though, this is going to take its toll on her, she's always been so happy. I never saw what she was like after the first year, but being possessed by a young Voldemort cannot be a good experience." The two men nodded in agreement, "but Ginny's strong," said Remus, "and we will protect her until we can end this." On that determined note Sirius set off for his quarters and Remus and Tonks to their bedroom.

Ginny was lying in her room, eyes red rimmed. Hermione had come in to grab some pyjamas and then gone to room with Harry and Ron for the night, correctly guessing that Ginny needed some alone time. She cursed herself constantly, how could she have been so stupid with that diary, as he father had said, it was clearly full of dark magic. But she's never realised it could come back to haunt her in this way. Dumbledore had been so sure it was over and done with and she'd always seen him as infallible.

While she was perfectly content to admit to her parents, family and friends that she was scared, she was reluctant to let them see how deep that fear ran. Though she had explained the story to her parents, brothers, Dumbledore, as well as Harry and Hermione, none of them really knew exactly what it had been like. Tom had known her every secret, dreams, hopes and desires. She'd bared her soul only to find out it was all a lie. That was the last time she'd ever confided completely in someone. He'd destroyed her life, made her lose almost all her faith in people and now he was, for all intents and purposes, back and intent on completely ruining her life. Again. Just fucking fantastic. With that not so cheery thought, she lay down and led the darkness overwhelm her.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one should be up in the next week.