Chapter 30: Early Morning Visitors

Lina was gone by the time everyone else woke the next morning. She left a note for Harry stating she thought it best that she follow her grandfather's wishes and that she continue on to their original destination. Having no idea where that could possibly be, they could not attempt to go after her and convince her to change her mind.

The series of storms had passed and the weather turned sunny and much warmer than it had been over the past several days. The group broke camp and arrived back at the village before nightfall.

Nadia and Ivan were saddened upon hearing of Mohamier's death but what he had told Harry fascinated them. Again, Harry did not relate the full extent of the information he had learned so only he and Ginny knew about the implications of Harry's blood tie with Voldemort.

They also told the older couple about what happened with Wormtail.

When the story was complete, Harry said, "So Voldemort must know I have been staying here. I'll leave if you think I am putting you in too much danger."

Neither Nadia nor Ivan seemed greatly disturbed by his revelation.

Ivan replied, "We are quite safe within the walls of this library. You and your friends are as well."

Nadia added, "This building is protected by ancient wards that even the Dark One cannot breach easily, if at all."

Harry was relieved to hear this; as long as Ginny, Ron and Hermione were safe, it would save him the argument of trying to get them to go back to Grimmauld Place immediately without him.

Harry said to Ivan, "In that case, I was hoping you would be willing to continue training me up. I want to do whatever I can to be as prepared as possible."

Ivan replied, "I am certainly willing to help you, Harry."

Hermione piped in with a warning look at Harry, "But that will have to wait until Harry's shoulder has healed properly."

While waiting for his shoulder to mend, Harry savored the time he spent with Ginny. He found that his feelings for her seemed to deepen each day. He repeatedly marveled at the beautiful, young woman she was; she could make him smile or laugh by her wit and antics just as easily as she could comfort him with only a look or the gentlest of touches.

Most nights Harry lay awake holding Ginny in his arms long after she fell asleep; he fought to remain awake just so he could continue to feel her next to him and listen to the sound of her soft breathing. It was only then, in the peaceful quiet of the night with her comforting warmth nestled snugly against him, that Harry dared allow thoughts of the future to wander unhindered through his mind. They were thoughts of hope for a future he could share with her for many years to come, when the terror and fear of Voldemort no longer threatened their world.

The library's inhabitants celebrated Ginny's 17th birthday quietly. Harry knew Ginny missed her family and they had considered going back to Grimmauld Place temporarily so they could spend the occasion with her parents and brothers; however, Mr. Weasley had owled a reply to this suggestion and insisted they continue to remain in Romania for as long as they could. Of course, in their correspondence to the Weasley's, they had refrained from mentioning their encounter with Wormtail to avoid worrying them unduly.

Once his training began, Harry left early every morning with Ivan to head to a clearing deep within the forest that Ivan had prepared specifically for Harry's training. Harry suspected he had employed magic similar to that used to create the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts because every day the clearing looked different and whatever they happened to need for the day's lessons was always on hand.

During Harry's first visit to Romania, Ivan had begun to train him in the use of several defensive spells and curses. Harry discovered that even though Ivan was advanced in years, his agility and magical powers were still exceptionally strong. He had also found Ivan to be an extremely tough instructor who expected nothing less than his pupil's complete attention, focus and effort at all times; this was something that Harry's friends soon discovered as well.

On one of the days that Ginny and Hermione accompanied them to the clearing, Ivan had decided to work with Harry on dueling curses and shielding charms. The girls had always thought of Ivan as kind and gentle and therefore, they were shocked when they watched him fire consecutive curses at Harry – both only typically used by Death Eaters. They watched with baited breath as the light of each curse sailed toward Harry, but he easily blocked the older wizard's shots. Unfortunately, Harry then made the mistake of relaxing and looking toward Ginny.

Ivan took that opportunity to shoot another curse at him that Harry barely had time to deflect. Before Harry could return fire, Ivan shot another curse at him and wandlessly levitated a heavy log and sent it sailing straight toward Harry. Harry was able to block the curse in time but the log smashed hard into his back and knocked him to the ground.

Ginny and Hermione ran to Harry to help him to sit up.

Ivan came over to them and Ginny said angrily, "Are you trying to hurt him?"

Wincing from the pain in his back, Harry said, "It was my fault. I lost my concentration."

"But that was not fair!" Hermione said huffily. "Ivan hit you when you weren't looking!"

"Exactly," Ivan replied as he reached a hand down to help Harry to his feet.

Ginny started to protest, "But—"

Ivan replied patiently, "Do you expect the Dark One or his followers to fight fair when Harry meets them again?"

Neither Ginny nor Hermione were able to hold Ivan's gaze and they both replied sheepishly in unison, "No..."

Ivan said, "I do not enjoy causing Harry harm; however, I believe it is preferable that he learn to perfect his concentration along with his dueling and shielding skills against me rather than against someone who is gifted in the Dark Arts and truly wants him dead. Do you not agree?"

Both girls had to reluctantly agree that Ivan's methods had merit but they decided from that point forward not to attend any more of Harry's training sessions; treating the new bruises and minor wounds that he came back to the library with each night was bad enough.

Nearly a month and a half had passed and the weather started to turn colder. The Governors had finally made the decision to close Hogwarts indefinitely, which pleased both Harry and Ginny very much; it gave them that much more precious time to be together when he was not training.

Harry continued to spend nearly six to eight hours a day with Ivan, but it was not lost on his friends that he now came back with hardly any injuries at all. In fact, Ivan was the one who more often looked the worse for wear.

As they got ready for bed one night, Ginny noticed that Harry seemed much more tired than he usually was.

When he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, Ginny asked, "Are you alright?"

He saw the concern in her eyes and he answered reassuringly, "Yeah. I'm just a little tired, I guess."

Ginny said, "Maybe you should tell Ivan you need a few days off. You've been pushing yourself too hard for weeks."

Harry answered, "I can't. I need all the training time I can get. I'm just more tired than usual because Ivan has started me on new wandless magic spells. Things are a lot harder to do without a wand."

Ginny asked, "If it is so hard, why not just stick to using a wand then?"

Harry replied with a smile, "Ivan suggested it was time we move my training on to something harder. I think he was getting tired of me finally being able to blast him with some of those curses and hexes you saw him using on me."

Ginny said testily, "Well, I think he had it coming to him after what I saw him do to you. Training or not, I hope you hexed him good."

Harry laughed and replied, "I did; but wandless magic is not something many wizards can use or control effectively. If I can learn to throw a few strong wandless curses, it could give me an advantage over the Death Eaters. They won't expect it."

xxxx

A week later, Nadia knocked on their bedroom door to awakened Harry and Ginny several hours before sunrise.

Nadia said through the portal, "Harry, Ginny, you have two guests in the parlor who wish to speak with you."

Harry asked, "Who is it?" but Nadia did not respond because she had gone to rap on Ron and Hermione's door.

Curious as to who was stopping by so early in the morning to see them, Harry and Ginny quickly got up and walked hand-in-hand down the stairs to the parlor.

They came to a surprised stop when they saw two men with flaming red hair waiting within the room. The tallest wore his hair in a ponytail and was staring out at the darkness of a nearby window; the other, who wore dragon-hide boots, was leaning against the edge of the table.

Both men looked quickly toward the parlor door when Harry and Ginny walked in.

Harry felt his heart begin to pound when he saw the expressions on the faces of Bill and Charlie Weasley. The good humor that usually danced in both men's eyes was very obviously missing.

Ginny did not seem to notice this as she ran to Bill with a glad cry and wrapped him in a tight hug.

In the back of his mind, Harry had always been concerned about what Ginny's brothers might do if they discovered that he had become more serious with their sister than they deemed appropriate. Based on Bill and Charlie's demeanor and not thinking of any other reason they could have for traveling all this way, Harry found himself wondering how they had found out about his relationship with Ginny; the question of how many more seconds he had left to live quickly forced itself to the forefront of his mind.

Ginny said, "Bill! Charlie! It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Kid." Bill said and hugged his sister back.

As Ginny bestowed Charlie with a similar hug, Bill's eyes met Harry's with a hauntingly sad look. Harry realized immediately that something besides the new status of his relationship with their sister had brought them here and it was not good; but Ron and Hermione came into the parlor before Harry could question them.

Ron said, "Hey! What are you two doing here?" Ron also noticed his brother's expressions and he continued worriedly, "Is something wrong?"

Charlie and Bill exchanged glances and Ginny asked nervously, "Did something happen?" She went back to Harry and grabbed hold of his hand.

Charlie's eyes followed her, taking note of their clasped hands and he began hesitantly, "We…er, have some news…"

"What news?" Ron demanded as Hermione nervously hugged his arm to her.

It looked as though tears were starting in Charlie's eyes and that the words he wanted to say would not come out.

Bill then continued solemnly, "It's Dad… he was killed yesterday in a Death Eater attack. Percy, too."

Harry felt the bottom drop out of his stomach as a stunned silence filled the air for several moments. He barely noticed that Ginny's grip on his hand had become much tighter before her agonized scream broke the silence.

"NOOOO! Not Dad! Oh, God, no! And Percy, too?" Great sobs began to wrack Ginny's body. She turned to bury her face in Harry's chest as she grabbed the fabric of his shirt into both of her tightening fists.

Harry held her against him as she continued to moan, "No, no. Oh, Daddy, no!" and he took a deep breath in an attempt to stop the sting that had started behind his eyes.

He was in shock himself but he tenderly rubbed Ginny's back and whispered to her, "I'm so sorry, Gin."

Ron slumped onto a near-by chair and buried his face in his hands. Hermione sat down next to him silently crying as she attempted to deal with the news she had just heard.

Ron finally looked up and Harry saw the anguish and sorrow within his best friend's eyes from which tears now flowed unchecked down his face. Harry quickly looked away and blinked rapidly when he felt the moisture in his own eyes begin to build.

Ron took a ragged breath and asked, "How did it happen?"

Harry saw the reflection of the start of tears in Bill's eyes who answered, "The Aurors are still trying to piece together information from witnesses so we don't know everything yet. But Remus said they received a tip that Death Eaters were going to attack a function that the Minister of Magic was to attend. Since Percy works for the Minister, Dad knew he would be there, too; Dad and Remus went along with the Aurors to see if they could keep Percy out of trouble."

Ginny was still crying but she turned to look at her brothers as they continued their explanation.

Charlie said, "Dad tried to warn Percy that there might be an attack." Charlie shook his head, "They hadn't spoken since that time Percy came to the Burrow with the Minister… Remus said our git brother refused to listen to Dad and while they were arguing, the Death Eaters appeared. Not only did they go after the Minister but everyone in their path."

"With Bellatrix Lestrange gone," Bill said angrily, "Voldemort has apparently found someone just as ruthless to replace her in leading the Death Eaters. We still do not know who he is, but he made sure they took out as many people as they could. The Aurors got the Minister to safety but we are now assuming he was not their only target; it seems they also wanted to cause as much destruction and terror as possible."

Charlie said, "Remus was hit by a curse and luckily he was only knocked out. When he came to, the fighting was over but he found Dad and Percy lying near him. They fought together in the end and we've been told they both saved several other people before…"

Both Charlie and Bill were finding it difficult to relate the tragic events but Bill finished, "Twelve other people were killed but the number probably would have been much higher if we had not been forewarned."

There was silence in the room again. Ginny pulled out of Harry's embrace and went over to Bill to wrap her arms around him.

She suddenly looked up at him and said, "What about Mum? Oh, Bill! I need to get back to be with her!"

"She's heartbroken and she's been pretty much inconsolable," Bill replied sadly. "A Healer gave her a dreamless sleeping potion but she is going to need all of us to help her through this."

Charlie said, "We've come to escort you and Ron safely back to Grimmauld Place. We want to leave as soon as possible."

Ginny sniffed and rubbed the tears out of her swollen eyes, "I'll go up and pack right now."

She looked sadly at Harry who gave her hand a squeeze as she walked by. She turned without another word but Harry saw her shoulders begin shake as silent sobs came over her again as she walked slowly up the stairs.

Harry went to follow her but Bill halted him.

He looked from Harry to Hermione and said, "We'd like the two of you to come back, too. I think we are going to need as much family around us as we can get right now."

Hermione agreed tearfully and Harry said, "Thank you. I'd like to go with you," and he looked back at Ron.

Their eyes met and in that moment, they did not need words between them. Harry understood firsthand the raw pain in his best friend's face; but Ron recognized a pain similar to what he was feeling in Harry's eyes as well.

Harry said quietly, "I'll go help Ginny with the packing. Why don't you come up with me, Hermione?"

Hermione placed her hand tenderly on Ron's arm. "You stay here with Charlie and Bill. I'll pull everything together upstairs, okay?"

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and Ron said, "Sure, thanks."

Harry and Hermione walked slowly to the stairs, which gave the brothers some moments of privacy; but before they reached the stairs, Hermione stopped and looked at Harry with grief-filled eyes.

"Oh, Harry! It's so horrible! I can't believe Mr. Weasley is…is…"

She began to cry harder and Harry wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

"I can't either," Harry replied sadly as visions of Mr. Weasley's smiling face passed through his mind.

As he stood holding Hermione at the bottom of the stairs, a feeling of anger took hold of him. How many more people were going to die? How many more people that he cared about would be murdered before he finally found a way to put an end to it as the prophecy said he could?

Pushing this thought aside with a great effort, Harry took Hermione by the shoulders and gently pushed her back from him so he could see her face; he placed a finger under her chin to get her to look up at him.

Harry said, "We have to try to be strong and to be there for them now. No matter how hard this is for us, it is going to be even harder for them."

Hermione stared into Harry's sad eyes but the strength he exuded was infectious. She stood up straighter and sniffed, "You're right. We have to do whatever we can to help them through this."

She wiped the tears from her eyes and together they mounted the stairs to the rooms above.

xxxxxx

Grimmauld Place had again taken on an oppressive and gloomy air that Harry felt no amount of fresh paint or redecorating by Tonks could eliminate.

Having dealt with the death of Sirius, Harry tried to remain sensitive to how Ginny and Ron were handling their father's and Percy's deaths. He wanted to be supportive but from his own experience, he knew the worst thing for him to do would be to provide unsolicited views or advice on the subject.

Ron remained quiet for the most part and Harry assumed he would rely more on Hermione for support now, anyway. Outwardly, Ginny was dealing as well as one could expect, but her concern for her mother occupied much of her time. She spent most of her days with Mrs. Weasley, which seemed to be helping both of them to deal with the loss of a father and a husband.

It was their third night back and it was very late but neither Harry nor Ron was able to sleep. Ron was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling while Harry was reading his old favorite, Quidditch Through the Ages.

Ron said suddenly, "This feeling never goes away, does it?"

Harry put the book down and said, "Not completely, no."

"There were so many things I never said to Dad that I should have. You always figure there is no rush and you'll get around to it someday… I'll never get the chance to do it now, you know?"

Harry replied quietly, "Yeah, I do."

Ron looked at Harry and asked, "How were you able to get over what happened to Sirius or… or to your parents?"

Harry normally did not like talking about his parents' or his godfather's deaths but tonight he found he actually did not mind; especially if it might help Ron in some way.

"I never had the chance to know my Mum and Dad," Harry answered slowly, "and I don't remember the night that they were killed; well, except for what I heard when the Dementors came after me during our third year. As far as Sirius goes, I haven't gotten over it. It's always there somewhere in the back of my mind but so are my memories of him. I guess after a while I began to think more about the little bit of time we did have together and less about how he died; so it's become a little easier to deal with over time."

A knock on the door interrupted them. At their bid to enter, the door opened and they saw Hermione with her arm around a tearful Ginny.

Ginny immediately ran over to Harry and jumped on top of him in his bed; she threw her arms around him so tightly that she nearly choked him.

Harry felt Ginny's body trembling and he pulled her closer. He looked through a veil of silky red hair in surprise at Hermione to silently ask her what had happened.

Hermione sat down next to Ron and explained, "She had a nightmare and refused to go back to sleep until she saw you."

Ginny sobbed, "I d-dreamed V-Voldemort captured you. He was hurting you so badly! I couldn't d-do anything to help you. All I could do is watch while you s-screamed in pain and he laughed. He s-said he'd take you away from m-me… he said he'd take you l-like he took my father and brother."

Harry stroked her hair and said quietly, "Shh, Gin. It was only a dream."

When Ginny looked at him he could see the fear in her eyes, "He kept demanding that you help him but you refused… so he kept doing terrible things to you and making it worse and worse. It seemed so real!"

Harry said again soothingly, "It was just a dream; everything is okay."

He took her face into both of his hands and pulled her gently to him and kissed her tear streaked face. He then took one of her hands and held it flat against his chest, "See? I'm right here with you."

Feeling the steady beat of his heart under her hand had a calming effect on Ginny and she finally relaxed into him, "I don't know what I'd do if he hurt you again or if he took you away from me, too."

Harry whispered in her ear, "Well, I'm not going anywhere for a while and he can't hurt me or any of us while we're in this house. Would you feel better if you stayed with me for a bit?"

Ginny nodded gratefully; she completely ignored the fact that her brother and Hermione were in the room with them and she swiftly crawled into bed next to Harry.

Hermione and Ron watched quietly as Ginny melted into Harry's embrace and he effortlessly eased her fears.

Hermione looked into Ron's eyes and asked, "Would you mind if I stayed, too?"

Ron replied, "I'd really like it if you did."

Ron blew out the lone lamp that had been illuminating the room and he got into bed next to his girlfriend. Before they knew it, both couples had fallen into an exhausted sleep in the comfort of each other's arms.