A/N: I said it would be about 3 weeks until the next update and it ended up being exactly that, so that worked /

Thank you for all the great comments last chapter, it was nice to see you enjoyed the battle!

This chapter happens immediately after the previous one so it is still the day of the battle.

Thank you megonagall410 for the beta reading.

When they finally got into bed, in the Harpian castle, there wasn't any energy left in either of them. They crawled into bed, glad for the warmth of the castle. While Harry was eager to get to bed, Ginny didn't seem ready to sleep.

Harry lifted his head up as Ginny sat up in the bed, curled into herself. She looked quite petite like that, her eyes barely visible over her knees. But the way her muscles shifted as she moved, showed all the strength she harboured that was hidden at first sight. Suddenly her whole body seemed to tense, and Harry watched; she looked ready to pounce.

"Something doesn't feel right," she whispered without her gaze ever shifting from the other side of the room. Her dagger, still attached to her leg, came off and she grabbed it tightly. She stepped off the bed soundlessly and walked across the floor as if she was afraid any noise would alarm someone.

Harry sat up too as she stood in the middle of the room. He wasn't sure if she was looking at something or if she was listening for any unusual noise. She walked a few more steps to the other side and watched it as if an assassin was about to sprout straight from the wallpaper.

Suddenly her arm moved and she pulled at a seam he hadn't even noticed was there. The wall swung open and Ginny disappeared into it without hesitation. Harry's stomach seemed to drop through the floor as he heard a silent scuffle. He realised with shock that there was indeed someone within the walls, presumably about to attack. He got off the bed immediately and grabbed his sword, a new worry in the pit of his stomach. She was not wearing armour, in fact she was hardly wearing anything at all.

Harry leapt forward as he heard a terrible gurgling sound coming from the hidden corridor but he immediately relaxed. That was not Ginny.

A moment later, Ginny walked back out, dragging a dead man behind her. She closed the door. She bent down and went through his pockets. She took out a little trumpet and then found a piece of paper. Her eyes flew over it.

"Shit," she muttered. "They're planning to attack at midnight, us and all of my brothers." She held up the trumpet. "They blow this, and they all jump out. We need to alarm them now. They strike at midnight if no sound comes earlier."

It would be midnight soon.

The good news was that many guards were working right now, to honour Nigel. Ginny hated to disrupt their silent vigil, but there were more lives on the line.

Ginny took up her armour and he helped her step into it. He pulled on as many clothes as he deemed decent.

Before she popped her helmet on she appeared in front of him. "Love you."

He kissed her softly. "You got this."

She smiled and pulled her helmet on. "Let's go."

As Ginny went to wake her brothers, Harry informed the guards of what was happening. He spoke quietly. He wasn't sure what the assassins could hear, but he was suddenly glad the Ignotian castle did not have hidden corridors like this castle. If it had, he would not have been alive today.

Her brothers walked out silently, some still dressed and wide awake, others blinking sleepily.

Ron rubbed his eyes. "At least if I'm dead I'll finally get some sleep," he muttered, his sword hanging lazily in his hand.

"Fred, George, I am going to need you for this one," she said.

A group of ten guards gathered around her. She turned to them and explained how to open the hidden corridors.

"And after that, we'll have to completely comb through the corridors again." She shook her head, frowning. "I don't get it, we secured the whole castle, how could they possibly have gotten in?"

"That's a worry for later," Harry urged her to carry on, they better move fast if they wanted to catch these assassins.

The guards all stood at a door and waited for Ginny's sign. As soon as her hand moved, they went in without hesitation. Harry waited anxiously. There were some screams and yelps but within a minute or two, all guards exited the rooms and dragged out an assassin, either dead or badly wounded.

One of the guards, Oswald, shook his head. "They're not even properly trained. Did they pluck them off the streets?"

"That's very possible," Percy muttered, bending down to inspect one of the dead assassins.

"Who is behind this?" Charlie asked. "Bellatrix's last hoorah?"

Bill's eyes danced over the assassins. "She didn't expect to lose. There is someone else."

They all gathered in the ballroom again, Ginny paced nervously. Some staff came back out to see what was going on and spoke to the guards for information.

She stalled. "Someone inside the castle must have let them inside through the corridor that opens at the outer wall... There is no way they could have gotten in otherwise, we've been careful." And then she ran, not caring if someone followed her to cover her. She ducked into the first secret corridor she could find and then ran along the longest corridor that ran to the outer wall as it wound down and back up. There she slowed down, expecting to find someone at the end.

She froze when she saw a small child at the exit, snacking on some food. She verified no one else was in the corridor and walked up to him.

"What are you doing down here at night, little one?" she asked.

He blinked innocently. "He said if I let the men through when they knocked, they would bring me a treat." He gestured to the food he had gathered in his basket.

Ginny's stomach churned. Someone had bribed an innocent child to let the assassins in. Someone they would never suspect or throw out of the castle. She looked in the basket. None of it was anything special... carrots, roots, an odd fruit. She wondered what he had eaten before then. She wondered if the castle staff had been starving too.

"Pick up your basket, we'll go find your parents," she told him. "It's very late."

"My dad's dead," he told her matter-of-factly. "Bellatrix killed him when he couldn't work. He had the flu."

She felt so terribly angry. She took a deep breath, knowing she should not take it out on the boy. He stood up, basket in hand.

"Can I keep my snacks?" he asked her.

She picked him up and put him on her hip. "Of course. If you promise me that you will never let anyone in again, I will get you all the treats you want. How does that sound?" She began walking back down the corridor.

The boy nodded. "Okay." He looked at her for a moment. "Pinkie promise?"

She held up her pinkie and hooked it with the boy's. "Pinkie promise. Tell me, have you ever had an Ignotian apple?"

Harry was glad when he saw Ginny appear again, but to his surprise, she was carrying a toddler.

"He let the men in, he was bribed with food," she informed him. She put him down on the ground.

One of the staff members gasped and ran up to them, quickly wrapping the boy in her arms. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know!" Tears streamed down her face as she clutched her son in her arms. "Otis doesn't know any better. Please don't kill him! Kill me instead!" She swayed back and forth with Otis in her arms.

Ginny shared an appalled look with Harry. No one had considered harming or punishing the boy in any way. He was innocent.

Bill put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "It wasn't his fault. No one has to die over this. What's your name?"

Ginny stepped to Bill and whispered something in his ear, causing his eyes to widen.

The woman looked up. "Thank you, thank you." She took in a deep breath. "My name is Carla, your Royal Highness."

"Your husband used to work here too?" he asked softly.

Carla nodded. "After we ran out of food to feed our stock, we could no longer keep our farm. We could come work here, or die." She bowed her head. "We still didn't make any money and could hardly eat but we could not leave until our debt was paid."

How Bellatrix could even let people within the castle go hungry, was something Harry could not comprehend.

"You owe us no debt," Bill said. "You are free to go if you wish."

She shook her head. "We have nowhere to go."

Ginny bent down. "Can I ask him a few questions?"

Carla nodded.

Harry watched as Ginny turned to the boy, her expression soft and friendly. "Otis, who told you to go there?" she asked carefully. "I'll get you as many Ignotian apples as you like."

"I want three!" he said boldly as if it was a lot to ask. "Lord Lulu said so."

Carla's eyes widened and she looked down in shame. "Lord Lucius," she clarified.

Lord Lucius was from Secretera but through his marriage with Princess Narcissa, he had spent plenty of time with his sister-in-law. Moreover, he was the supposed father of Prince Draco, whom they had killed. He must have multiple motivations to want them dead.

"He was one of the last to leave," Percy let out, looking incredibly disappointed with himself. "I should have known!"

Ron hugged him. "You couldn't have known. None of us did."

"Thank you, Otis," Ginny said, ruffling the boy's hair. "I'll come find you tomorrow with all your treats, okay? Be a good boy and listen to your mum."

Otis walked back to his mum and was swiftly picked up and carried off.

"We need to secure the castle again," Ginny said, not wasting a moment. "The guards, Fred, George and I will get to it." She rubbed her forehead. She looked so very tired after this long day. "And then we can sleep. You all just stay here until we're done."

When the castle was finally secure again, they made it back up to their room. While Harry felt incredibly tired, Ginny looked beyond exhausted.

He walked to her and helped her undo her armour. She did not object.

"How did you know?" he asked when she was left in her undershirt only.

Her brow furrowed for a moment. Her gaze dropped down. "I felt the same way the night my parents died."

Harry knew all too well how he had felt when his parents died, but she had been younger. Her sturdy facade crumbled. He walked up to her carefully.

"I'm fine," she told him. She let her hair down again and ran her fingers through it in rough motions.

"I know you are," he reassured her softly. "Still, let me hold you."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up, ignoring the objections from his back. Her legs came around his waist. She held onto him and her head dropped onto his shoulder, her nose pressed against his neck. She breathed in deeply.

"You saved your whole family once again. It was very impressive," he told her quietly, walking towards the bed.

Ginny offered him a small grunt against his skin.

He kissed her cheek. "You really are a remarkable Knight."

"But I'm not very Queen-like," she mumbled.

"You're more Queen-like than you think, you're doing wonderfully," he reassured her.

She hummed a reply. Harry could feel her relax against him. He lowered her onto the mattress softly. Then he walked back to the table with the last of his energy and grabbed her dagger. He placed it in her hand. She smiled and hid it under her pillow.

He got into the bed beside her and pulled the covers over both of them. Ginny immediately scooted closer to him and draped her leg over his body. Her hand rested on his chest. He knew the other rested by her dagger.

She closed her eyes, and he took a moment to himself to admire her. The delicate pink lips, the freckles like little constellations across her body... her strong legs with the lean muscles and her nimble fingers. The soft, warm glow of her hair. If someone told him she had been gifted by the gods themselves, he would have believed it.

He rested his head too, his hand coming to rest on the knee of the leg that was draped across him. She shifted closer to him, getting more comfortable. He closed his eyes, allowing the exhaustion of the eventful day to pull him into a deep sleep.