Ginny Weasley had expected her summer to be full of plans to bring down the dark, but the first month was pretty quiet. Thankfully her mother was slowly recovering from Ron's death, and she wasn't spending all day in bed, but she was still a shadow of her former self. Her father and Percy spent most of their time at work, while Fred and George remained adamant that they were staying well out of any skirmishes with the dark.
Ginny had pinned her hopes of action on her eldest brothers, Bill and Charlie, but neither of them were around much for the first few weeks of the holidays. Ginny suspected they were both up to something, but they didn't confide in her. She just hoped that whatever they were doing they would need her help sooner rather than later, otherwise she would just have to devise her own plans for taking down Harry and Hermione.
Happily for Ginny, things took an upturn a few weeks into the holidays when Bill and Charlie were late back home for dinner. When they did turn up, Molly berated them for not bothering to let her know they would be late.
"Your dinners are in the oven, you can warm them up yourselves," Molly snapped at her two eldest children. "I'm going to bed."
"Sorry," Charlie called as Molly swept out of the room.
"Next time think about your mother," Arthur scolded his two sons. "After Ron, she gets worried easy. Next time you're going to be late, have the decency to let us know."
"We will," Bill vowed. "Sorry Dad."
Arthur nodded at his son as he turned and headed off to check on his wife. Grabbing their dinners from the oven, Bill and Charlie warmed them up and sat down at the kitchen table to eat.
"Why were you late?" Percy demanded. Even though both Bill and Charlie were older than him, Percy saw himself as the most responsible member of the family.
"We got caught up," Charlie answered. "As you know we've been looking for Remus. For the last week, we've been working on a lead. It seems that the dark didn't capture him at Grimmauld Place, he escaped and he's been living under the radar."
"So you found him?" Fred inquired.
"No, he's moved on," Bill replied with a sigh. "We lost his trail."
"But we did hear something rather disturbing," Charlie added. "We're not the only people looking for him. Fenrir Greyback is rumoured to be around."
"Who is this Greyback?" Ginny asked as all five of her brothers wore identical worried expressions.
"Someone you don't want to meet," Percy muttered darkly.
"Greyback is a werewolf," Bill supplied. "A nasty, vicious werewolf."
"In fact he's the one who bit Remus and infected him," Charlie added. "Remus's father made the mistake of insulting Greyback, so Greyback responded by attacking Remus and turning him into a werewolf."
"And now he's looking for him?" Ginny asked. "Why?"
"Maybe the dark have realised he's not with us and they want to take him out," Bill suggested with a shrug. "Or maybe he's just looking for Remus because he's back."
"What, like a reunion?" George snorted.
"I don't know, I have heard that Greyback likes to keep track of the people he infects," Charlie remarked. "But I don't suppose the reason matters, the point is, he's around so we have to be careful."
"Why do we have to be careful?" Ginny asked. "He's not looking for us."
"Maybe not, but he does have an allegiance with You-Know-Who and the dark," Bill answered. "In the first war, he was very much used as a weapon for the dark."
"A dangerous weapon," Charlie added ominously. "If it's going to be the same again, we all need to watch our backs. One run in with him could change our lives forever."
"So are we just going to leave Remus and hope Greyback doesn't find him?" Ginny questioned.
"No, we're going to keep looking," Bill answered.
"And what about the other thing we discussed?" Ginny asked.
"What other thing?" Percy questioned with a frown, looking between his two brothers and his only sister.
"We can't just let things lie," Charlie answered. "We have to fight."
"And that's my cue to leave," Percy said as he got to his feet. "I've told you before, I want nothing to do with this vendetta against the dark. I won't let my life be ruined due to your rash actions."
"And what about Ron?" Ginny demanded. "Doesn't he deserve vengeance?"
"Ron killed himself," Percy yelled. "He snapped and he threw himself into the lake. We all know it, I'm just the only one brave enough to admit it."
"He did not kill himself," Ginny seethed, glaring angrily at her brother. "He wouldn't do that."
"It wasn't like he had much to live for," Percy shot back. "He was on the verge of being expelled, and he was days away with being charged by the Ministry. Charges, which would have ended up with him in Azkaban. And even if by some miracle he escaped a prison sentence, he'd angered the darkest family in the wizarding world. Just what did he have to live for? In his position, I would have done exactly the same."
"But you're a pathetic worm," Ginny said angrily. "Ron had more backbone than you. He wouldn't have just given up like that. He was killed in cold blood. Harry practically admitted it to me on my first day back at school."
"Think what you want, I'm out of here," Percy said, and not waiting for his sister to say more he turned and stalked out of the kitchen and up to his room.
"We're also going to go home," Fred said as he and George got to their feet.
"Not you two as well," Ginny groaned. "I didn't think either of you were cowards."
"We're not, but we do have a business to think about," George said to his sister. "Like it or not, Ginny, we have our futures to think about. Instigating a war against the dark will be our downfall."
"Is that all you care about, your stupid shop?" Ginny hissed.
"It's not all we care about, but we've worked too hard to let everything fall to pieces," Fred said.
"And we understand that," Charlie interjected before his sister could start again. "All we need is know is which side you'll be on if it all kicks off."
"We're on your side, we always have been," George vowed.
Despite her annoyance, Ginny was silent as her twin brothers left The Burrow and returned to the flat that had come with the shop in Hogsmeade. Once they'd gone, she turned back to Bill and Charlie and demanded to know what their plans were.
"You have to have some idea what you're going to do," She said to her brothers when they seemed reluctant to talk.
"We have a basic plan," Bill admitted. "As you know, we can't kill You-Know-Who."
"So we need to incapacitate him," Ginny interrupted. "I know this, we've talked about it before."
"Yes, well now we've got an idea how we're going to do it," Charlie said. "We're going to find a small house somewhere in the middle of nowhere and hold him captive."
"But won't he just escape?" Ginny asked with a frown. "I'm not doubting either of your magical abilities, but he's so much older and he knows so much dark magic."
"And that is why it's going to be hard to do," Bill said. "But I've got a few contacts from my days as a curse breaker. I can get my hands on a few old spells that even he won't be able to break. If we do things right, we can turn a small property into somewhere even the darkest wizard in the world can't escape from."
"Sounds good," Ginny said with an impressed nod. "But how will we get him there?"
"All we can think of is using someone as bait," Charlie answered. "It's dangerous, but it's all we can think of."
"And what happens to whoever the bait is?" Ginny asked.
"Accidents happen," Bill answered with a bone-chilling smirk.
"Indeed they do," Ginny replied with a smirk of her own, secretly hoping that they would use either Harry or Hermione as bait and they wouldn't survive the experience.
"This won't be happening any time soon Ginny," Charlie warned his sister, seeing her hopes getting raised. "We can't do a thing unless we've got everything in place. If we rush in, everything could go wrong and we could all end up dead."
"I can be patient," Ginny promised her brothers. "But you have to keep me in the loop. You never know, I might be able to help you grab some bait."
"Don't worry Gin, we'll keep you informed," Bill said with a chuckle. "The three of us are in this together."
C.O.T.D.
The night before Severus and Rosmerta's wedding, Severus and Harry came to stay with the family so that Rosmerta had the house to herself before the wedding. Plans were already in place for Hermione, Beth, Narcissa and Daphne to help Rosmerta get ready for the wedding the following day, but for the evening before, Severus and Harry were spending the night with their family.
When the two wizards arrived, the family had dinner together, but Harry was rather surprised when after dinner, Hermione didn't rush off to see Draco. He knew for a fact his aunt had spent the day at home, so he'd expected her to go and visit her boyfriend. Hoping the pair hadn't had a falling out, Harry waited until Hermione headed off to her room to approach her and check that he hadn't missed anything while he'd been helping his father with the wedding.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he settled down on the chair sitting beside Hermione's desk.
"I'm fine," Hermione replied, collapsing onto her bed.
"Is everything okay with Draco?" Harry asked.
"As far as I know," Hermione answered.
"And the pair of you are okay as a couple?" Harry pressed. "You haven't had a fight?"
Propping herself up on her elbow, Hermione gave her nephew a puzzled look. "What's with the third degree?"
"I'm just worried," Harry confessed, moving over to the bed to join his aunt. "I know you've been here all day, so I expected you to go and visit Draco tonight."
"And are we not allowed some time apart?" Hermione questioned.
"Of course," Harry replied, although he was aware that Hermione still hadn't answered his questions about Draco.
"Everything's fine," Hermione reassured her nephew, noticing the way he was still looking curiously at her.
"Really?" Harry retorted sceptically, raising an eyebrow as his aunt flopped back on the bed with a sigh. "Hermione," He prompted with a nudge.
"Okay, it's not fine." Swinging her legs off the bed, Hermione jumped up and stalked over to the window.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked gently.
"He's pushing me away, Harry," Hermione admitted in a small voice. "Even though I've made it clear I'm not going to leave him, I can feel him pulling away from me."
"I thought he was accepting things after his talk with Greyback," Harry said.
"I think he is, but even so it's hard for him," Hermione replied, turning around from the window and leaning back against her windowsill. "His whole life has changed, and try as I might, I can't properly understand what he's going through. How can I be there for him, if I don't know what he's going through?"
"You just need to give him time," Harry said. "Maybe it'll be easier after his next full moon."
"I hope so," Hermione said, her face a picture of misery. "It kills me that I can't help him."
"Maybe you don't need to help him with his wolf thing," Harry suggested. "He's got Greyback for that. Maybe what you need to do is show him that he's still the wizard you love. Forget about the whole werewolf thing, and concentrate on your relationship."
Ever so slowly, Hermione's face broke into a smile. Rushing over to Harry, she gave him a hug and a kiss before yanking open one of her drawers and pulling some silky black and green material from it, she rushed off into the bathroom. Harry watched with confusion, but when he peered in Heroine's drawer, which she hadn't quite closed properly, he realised what she was doing. The drawer in question held an array of sexy underwear, so Harry was suspecting his aunt was slipping into something racy before she went to pay Draco a visit.
"I think I'm going to head off to my room," Harry called through the closed door that led to Hermione's bedroom. "Have fun."
Before Harry had the chance to leave the room, Hermione yanked open the door and barrelled out of her bathroom. On the surface, she looked no different aside from the fact she'd taken down her hair and it was falling in loose waves down her back.
"Thank you so much for the advice, Harry," Hermione gushed as she quickly slapped on a thin coat of black cherry lip gloss.
"I'm sure Draco will appreciate it," Harry smirked.
"Let's hope so," Hermione said, flashing an excited smile at Harry. "Tonight, Draco's not going to think about being a wolf. He's going to be all man tonight."
"Too much information, Hermione," Harry chuckled as his aunt sprayed herself with her favourite perfume and flitted out the room to go and surprise her boyfriend.
Hoping that things went well with Hermione and Draco, Harry headed to his old bedroom. Settling down on his bed, he grabbed a book and read for a couple of hours before he decided to have an early night. It was a big day for all the family tomorrow, and Harry needed his sleep.