Harry stared at the spot where his best friend had buried, long after the other Weasleys and others had left the funeral.
"Ron, mate. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there to help. Perhaps... if I had been there, if I had known... we wouldn't be in this situation today, now would we?" he knelt down, closer to the mound of freshly dug dirt and touched it.
"...but I can't live my life surrounded on so many ifs, now can I? What would have happened if the Dursleys were nice to me? What would have happened if my parents had lived? What if we'd never gone off to rescue Hermione back as first years? I could go on and on..." Harry's laugh was mirthless.
"Rest in peace, mate. I'm going to make sure that everyone that fought against Voldemort and all he stood for will be avenged. From you to my parents and everyone else... He won't be allowed to continue like this. I promise you that."
Harry closed his eyes, took a deep breath, reached into his pocket, scattering a pouch of what looked like fairy dust across his best friend's grave.
Within seconds, various brightly coloured flowers began to grow across the mound, covering it.
He opened his eyes, lightly touched one of the flowers and stood up.
"Goodbye, Ron. I'll be back to visit as soon as I can. I promise."
Taking another deep breath, he turned away from Ron's grave and teleported away.
"What's going to happen now that he's won? Where are you going to go? What are you going to do?" Harry asked the Weasleys as they sat together in their kitchen.
"Stay here of course! We're not going to run!" Ginny exclaimed.
"She's right. Someone's got to stand up to the Dark Wanker, don't they?" Fred said.
"My most handsome brother is right. You might be the bloke to deliver the final blow to Big V, but it can't hurt if we help along the process, right?" George grinned a grin that looked almost feral, promising a world of trouble for whoever was occupying his thoughts at the time.
Naturally, Harry didn't feel the slightest bit of sympathy towards said targets.
"He's..." Percy looked hesitant to speak as everyone turned to look at him. "...they're right. If someone doesn't take a stand, then who will? The Ministry has fallen and it's only a matter of time until the Death Eaters go through it and access all sorts of highly classified spells and research, as well as trackers and controlling things like Floo access and Apparition zones. If we let them do that... then we might as well Avada Kedavra ourselves!"
They all shuddered at the very thought.
"Other Wizarding governments won't stand for it either, especially the ones that we have the closest ties with. Voldemort knows that. So he'll move as quickly as he can to subjugate us all and wipe out anyone who opposes him or just who he plain doesn't like. Once that happens, he might very well be able to fight off any peacemaking attempts by other countries and turn the tables on them." Bill pointed out.
"Will you be safe though? I don't want... for anything to happen to you lot as well..." Harry said.
"We'll stick together and make it through somehow." Arthur reassured him.
"I don't think Voldemort is just going to let you resist him though. Especially with your known connections to me. Can't you put up some protective charms all over your various homes and such? It might not do much good if they're really determined to get through to you, but if you could at least... slow them down..." Harry pointed out.
"Already started on that Harry. You forget my area of professional expertise." Bill allowed himself a small smile.
"As well as ours," Fred and George spoke in unison. "Did you think that we were just a pair of handsome faces?"
"I didn't think that you were handsome at all..." Harry ventured a joke and was rewarded with laughter from the twins. "But what can prank items do against dark wizards?"
"Plenty, if you have the right mind set." George said.
"But you forget, oh dear, great investor, that we create not only joke products, but things that were actually designed to be used as attack or defence mechanisms in an actual fight." Fred added. "Besides, the Death Eaters can't exactly harm anyone if they're stuck as birds or rabbits or some other form of cute animal, now can they? Or if they're stuck constantly puking up if we make a gas form of the Puking Pastilles..."
Harry blinked.
"And here I am, wondering why exactly they only got three OWLs apiece..." Molly murmured.
Harry and Ginny shared a look, then burst out snickering.
"Glad to see that even with everything happening around us we can still find laughter in something..." Arthur smiled slightly.
"I think any decent person would find laughter in the Death Eaters getting what's coming to them." Harry pointed out.
"Hear, hear!" the Weasleys cheered.
"In any case, however... in case you need somewhere safe to go, it's not the most pleasant of places, but... I still own Grimmauld Place. I've made occasional visits, so I know the place isn't as horrible as it used to be, but still..." Harry said. "Added to the fact that since Kreacher died, Dobby took over cleaning the place and did a wonderful job..."
The Weasleys all looked at one another incredulously.
"Kreacher died?" Ginny asked.
"Grimmauld Place has actually been properly cleaned?" George asked at the same time as his twin.
Harry nodded. "I'll try to go see Dumbledore about it. I know it could also be brought back as a base for the Order at a time like this and I'm certainly not going to be living there for the foreseeable future..."
"In fact..." Harry stood up. "Perhaps I should go see him now, before the situation gets even more out of hand..."
"I'll come with you!" Ginny exclaimed, standing up as well.
"Ginny, you're still underage!" Molly exclaimed.
"So?" Ginny retorted. "I've got less than two months to go before that! Besides... I really do love and respect you, Mum, but Voldemort's attacked me both directly and indirectly at least four times by now and with the way things are going, that number is going to go up until either I'm dead or he is. I have to help in any way I can!"
"I'll go with her, Mum, in case it makes you feel better." George stood up as well.
"Me too. It will be nice to see Hogwarts again..." Fred added getting up too.
Arthur, Molly and Percy all looked at them suspiciously.
"With good reason," Harry thought.
"I can't say it does, but if the three of you are with her and you go straight to Hogwarts and back, with no shenanigans whatsoever in between..." Molly narrowed her eyes at them.
"I'll keep them in line, Mrs Weasley. I give you my word." Harry promised.
"Well, Fred and George are adults now..." Mrs Weasley relented.
"Though by all reports, they still don't act like it..." Percy muttered.
"Glad to see you got here safely, Harry, even with all the chaos surrounding us now..." Dumbledore said as Harry entered his office. "And the three Weasleys you brought with you as well... Where are they now, might I ask?"
"Glad to be here, Dumbledore." Harry answered as he shut the door behind him. "As for the Weasley trio, they're off somewhere exploring the castle, I suppose. The twins said something about 'seeing Hogwarts again', but knowing them..."
"Indeed..." Albus chuckled. "By the way, you are your own man now Harry, and are no longer a student of mine. Feel free to call me Albus." Dumbledore motioned for the younger man to have a seat.
"I think I'll keep calling you Dumbledore for now. Calling you by your given name still feels too weird for me..."
Dumbledore shrugged. "As you wish. That is of no importance right now, however."
"Right... It looks like Voldemort's returning to his glory days. We need to cut it short while at the same time keeping our people safe. I know I'm still young, but I still want to help."
Albus nodded. "And your insight is appreciated, given that you're his prime target and considering your exposure to other types of magic over the past two years..."
"First things first. Safehouses. Just in case people need a place to hide..."
"Why are we headed up to the Room of Requirement again?" Ginny queried as she matched pace with Fred and George, on their way up to the seventh floor.
"Because, dear baby sister," Fred started, ignoring the glare he was getting from Ginny at the 'baby sister' comment. "in our rush to get away from a certain pink toad, we left behind a few things that we stashed away in the Room for... safekeeping..."
Ginny raised an eyebrow.
"...we can do without them but it really would be nice to get the back, you know?" George finished.
"No, I don't know. In fact," Ginny paused as they reached the area of the Room. "I don't think I really want to know either..."
"Suit yourself, Ginny." Fred and George activated the Room's door and stepped inside.
Rolling her eyes and sighing, Ginny stepped behind her brothers.
"It just looks like a giant junkyard in here!" she called out, already having lost her brothers to the rubble.
"That's what makes it the ideal hiding place!" Fred called out.
"Besides, who knows what other treasures could be lurking in this place, eh?" George added.
Ginny ignored them and began exploring the place.
There were many old books, an old cupboard and various vials and bottles of different coloured potions lying around and she even almost stepped on old copies of The Monster Book of Monsters at least three times, swearing loudly as they almost sunk their teeth into various parts of her legs each time.
She heard Fred and George's laughter ringing in her ears as she blasted away each book.
"Quit laughing!" she shrieked. "It's not bloody funny at all!"
They only continued to laugh even more.
Ginny face-palmed.
Once she'd calmed herself down by taking several deep breaths, she continued to walk on, until she came to a shelf that contained several shiny things.
Earrings, rings, bracelets, necklaces...
"Why would somebody want to hide away jewellery?" Ginny cautiously reached out for a particularly pretty looking necklace.
As soon as she touched it, it elongated itself like a rope and lashed out at her neck, narrowly missing, thanks to her ducking.
Ginny started swearing under her breath.
"Okay, that is it! I'm going to go wait in the Great Hall for Harry, because this bloody room is determined to bloody kill me!" she declared.
But before she did, her eyes lit on a tiara that was seated on top off an old bust, a few feet away, perched on another shelf.
"What's that one?" she walked over to it.
It was a beautiful thing. Really, really pretty.
And it felt almost as if it was... calling out to her, begging her to wear it...
Ginny shook her head to clear it.
"No, no... That must be cursed too." she spoke aloud. "It... now that I think about it, it doesn't feel right. It feels... dark, yet familiar somehow..."
She continued to stare at it.
"Maybe..." she took out her wand and approached it cautiously.
The closer she got, the more she could feel the darkness radiating off it.
"Why... does it feel different to all of the other creepy things in here though?"
As she got closer, she remembered exactly what it felt like.
Her first year, Harry's second...
The diary.
The diary that she'd poured out her heart and soul to.
Almost literally.
The diary that turned out to be harbouring Tom Riddle aka Voldemort.
As soon as it clicked, she screamed, her wand falling to the floor with a clatter and rolling away in her shock.