She wasn't going to win this battle.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Ginny was growing tired of Grimmauld Place. The summer had been an odd one, to say the least, and not just because she'd cleaned practically every day and still had more to do. It was intriguing to observe the goings on of the Order of the Phoenix, even if they were so secretive that she never learned much of anything. Most of the time, the house was depressing, although her new friend, Tonks, did her best to change that when she was around.

However, one night, partway through July, it seemed like things were going to become much more interesting around the house. Ginny had barely been paying attention to the conversation at the other end of the table at dinner, much more interested in Tonks changing her nose into a pig snout than whatever her parents, Sirius, and Remus were talking about. At least, she was until she heard Sirius say a very particular name.

She whipped her head around, apparently more obviously than she'd intended, based on the look Hermione was giving her. "What did he say?" Ginny asked in a whisper to the girl sitting next to her.

Hermione sighed, still giving her a contrite look. "They're talking about trying to convince Dumbledore to let Harry come here. Apparently he was insistent that Harry stay with his Muggle family for as long as possible, but he hates it there."

"They have to bring Harry here then," Ginny responded hopefully, as much for her sake as Harry's if she was being honest. Hermione just nodded.

That evening, Ginny was brushing her hair before going to sleep when Hermione sat on the end of her bed, looking a little more friendly and less demeaning than she had at dinner.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

"About what?" Ginny replied, thinking it unlike Hermione to be coy about her opinions.

"Harry."

The name lingered in the air between them for a couple seconds, as if they were both deciding who would take the next step. Then Ginny shook her head. "There's nothing to talk about."

"I disagree," Hermione answered immediately.

Ginny put her brush down on the vanity, probably much harder than she meant to. This wasn't the first time Hermione had made her opinions on Ginny's crush clear. Over the past year, Ginny had tried moving on. She'd talked to Michael Corner– even danced with him at the Yule Ball– but when he asked her out at the end of term, she'd turned him down. She couldn't get the thought of Harry's heroism out of her mind. He'd fought Lord Voldemort and survived. How could she not still fancy him?

"Then what is it you have to say, Hermione? That he doesn't fancy me? I know that! That he's never gonna want to be with me? I know that! Don't you think I know how pathetic it is that I feel this way about him when he'll never feel the same? So what is it you've got to say that I don't already know?"

She felt like a blockage she'd put up in her mind had just been ruptured and her innermost thoughts were uncontrollably leaking everywhere. She could almost hear Tom Riddle laughing at her, and she clenched her fists unconsciously.

Hermione was looking at her more sympathetically than Ginny had ever seen before. It was slightly disconcerting. It seemed like she was gathering her thoughts, possibly recognising the fragile state Ginny was in, even though she felt more dangerous than anything at the moment.

"I wasn't going to say any of that," Hermione finally said quietly, looking down at her hands, which were pulling absently on a woven blanket. "I just thought I could help."

They sat in silence for several minutes. Ginny took yet another deep breath, feeling herself calming from her earlier outburst. "What was it then?" she asked finally.

Hermione looked back up at her with slightly red eyes. Maybe Ginny had reacted a little too harshly before. "I just thought maybe you should try a new approach. Since what you've been doing hasn't worked."

She hated to admit it, but that did pique her curiosity. "Go on…"

Hermione smiled slightly. "We both know Harry fancies Cho–" Ginny clenched her jaw "– and that's not a bad thing. He doesn't really know her. They're not really friends. What Harry needs– especially this year, considering everything the Ministry's been saying– is friends. I don't really know Cho, but I don't really think she's the one for Harry. I actually think you're a much better match for him, but he'll never know it if you can't be yourself around him because you're always panicking about your crush."

Ginny tried to remember that Hermione saying that she was a good match for Harry didn't actually mean anything, but she was pleased regardless. "So what are you suggesting? I just move on and start being friends with him?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying. I think if you show him your real personality and you two become friends, you've got a much better chance of him developing feelings for you. Actually, it wouldn't hurt to date other people, just to make sure Harry knows you're grown up enough to have a boyfriend. I know that Michael Corner's been writing you even though you turned him down. Maybe you should give that a chance?"

She pressed her lips together, a little reluctant to voice her concern. "But… what if Cho is the one for Harry? Or I date other boys– Michael or whoever– and he doesn't notice me? I'll be stuck as just his friend."

Hermione smiled sadly at her. "I can't promise you anything, Ginny. If that happens, you're still closer to Harry than you are now. I just think this gives you the best chance. I know Harry. And I know you. I want you both to be happy, and I don't think you're happy pining away for him like this. But being his friend… I think that would make you happy. And if anything more happens, that's just more happiness."

Ginny nodded slowly. It hadn't been the most elegant way to deliver advice, and she was still more than a little embarrassed at the whole conversation, but she did know reason when she heard it. It wasn't like she'd had any inkling of potential success with her current plan. And it did seem rather nice to imagine not being shy in front of Harry all the time. Frankly, she was tired of that. So she decided to try it out. It wasn't like there was any harm in it. She wasn't giving up on Harry. She was just… being patient. Plus, if Hermione was right, and she usually was, this could be the start that Ginny needed in her relationship with Harry. That was definitely worth the risk.

The night passed slowly. Ginny didn't sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about that day in Grimmauld Place, of all days. Hermione had advised giving up on Harry, temporarily, in the hopes that he'd notice her. It worked. And it wasn't like Ginny had ever actually given up on him. She knew now, and she'd probably known then too, that she still wanted to be with Harry, even when she dated other boys. By that point, she'd fallen for him for who he actually was, not for who he was in the stories, and there was no turning back or giving up after that.

It was harder to not give up now. By the morning, Amelia had visited twice more with no updates on her research. Ginny was exhausted, but she was almost afraid to blink and miss something happening. Something had to happen. The alternative was too terrible to imagine.

She didn't tell anyone about what had happened overnight. Bill went downstairs when they arrived, and she figured that he would have told everyone the news.

She wanted to scream. How was it possible that after everything they'd been through, there was an increasingly likely chance that they'd lose it all? How was it possible that there was nothing she could do about it? It wasn't bloody fair. She'd thought things were going to be different now. But fate clearly had other plans that they'd never been informed of.

The day passed slowly. Ginny was in a daze for most of it, eyes glazing over but refusing to sleep. It was obvious that Hermione knew when she came upstairs with red, puffy eyes. She didn't say anything about the news from Amelia though. Instead, she reported that, like Amelia, she'd made no discoveries overnight. The more dead ends they found, the closer Ginny was to deciding that a magical cure simply didn't exist. Harry was going to have to find a way out by himself. And that broke her heart.

"Do you remember when you told me to give up on him? That summer at Grimmauld Place?" Ginny asked in a flat voice. Hermione nodded meekly, maybe worried that Ginny had developed a grudge against her for her and Harry not getting together sooner. "I didn't give up on him."

Hermione smiled and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I know. You never hid it that well from me."

"Shame he took so long to catch on."

"But he did." Hermione took her hand. "You were just too stubborn to give up on him. Keep being that stubborn now."

Ginny nodded, trying her best to strengthen her resolve. She was strong. She was capable. But it was so hard, seeing the person who gave her the most strength like that. It hurt her. It made her angry.

Several hours later, Charlie literally carried her out of Harry's room to get something to eat. She was pissed off, but she wasn't in much of a condition to put up a fight. Bill and Fleur would be okay with Harry for a bit.

Today, the sandwiches tasted like parchment. Why on earth did that make her feel like crying? It felt like everyone was walking on dragon eggshells around her, terrified that she might spontaneously combust with all the pressure, anger, and grief she was feeling. Well, everyone except for George, who snapped his fingers at her and pointed at the door.

"Let's go," he said, waving everyone else off when they gave him confused looks.

"Go where?" Ginny asked dully.

"You'll see. Now let's go or Charlie's gonna carry you again."

Ginny grumbled angrily as she stood up. "Like hell he's gonna pick me up again," she muttered as she followed George out of the room. She was almost expecting him to try talking to her in the corridor, but instead, he led her straight to the lift, and then pressed the button for the fourth floor.

"I'm allowed to go back already? Thought everyone was trying to keep me out of there."

"We're not going to see Harry. You're supposed to take two hours off," George replied like it was common knowledge. Apparently her mum had drilled the rules into everyone at home last night.

When they got off the lift, they turned left instead of right. Ginny didn't even bother asking where they were going. George wasn't going to tell her. She followed him, slipping into a daze as they walked through one identical corridor after another.

Suddenly, they were outside, and Ginny realised what had happened. "How do you know about this place?"

George shrugged. "Hogwarts wasn't the only place we learned secret entrances to."

They were standing in an alley, next to a dumpster that marked the back entrance to St. Mungo's. This was where Ginny had entered the hospital two days ago and the nightmare had really begun.

"Why are we here? I'm not leaving the hospital."

"Duh. I'm taking a page out of Harry's book."

"What do you mean?"

"He helped me a lot last summer with this, and I figure it might help you too."

George waved his wand and a pile of plates suddenly appeared, stacked on a table that he'd conjured. Ginny remembered the night Harry had done this for George.

"George…"

He shook his head. "Trust me. You'll feel better."

He looked at her expectantly and nodded at the stack when she didn't immediately pick one up. She sighed and picked up the first plate before tossing it weakly at the brick wall. It chipped against the wall before shattering on the ground.

"That was pathetic. And you think you're gonna be a professional Chaser?"

Ginny glared at him as she picked up the next plate and sent it whistling past his head and shattering against the other wall of the alley.

George grinned smugly. "That's more like it! Come on, I know you're mad! Let it out!"

She was less hesitant to pick up the next plate, breaking it with a satisfying crack against the wall. Another plate followed, and soon she had made her way through the stack.

"Fix them. I'm not done," she said shakily. George nodded and the stack reappeared on the table.

Ginny flung plate after plate, letting her anger take over. Their lives had been so unfair. They'd fought in a war and lost so many people they loved. She'd been tortured and nearly died so many times that she couldn't count. He'd been in even more danger his whole life somehow. She'd fancied Harry for as long as she could remember and had to watch him not feel the same way. She'd been forced to watch him fancy another girl. She finally, finally, got together with him, and then someone else important to them died, and he broke up with her. She waited a year for him to come back, and when he did come back, she thought he died. She got back with him, and things had been hard, but never this bad. He'd bought an engagement ring for her, and now she didn't know if he'd ever wake up. And if he did wake up, he may not have any memories.

George must've continued replacing the plates because she never ran out. She just kept throwing plates, ignoring the ache in her arms and drowning in the sound of breaking china. The worst part was that she didn't honestly know which would be worse. She'd go mad if he never woke up, desperately waiting for a day that would never come. But she was certain that her life would be ruined if he woke up and had no idea who she was.

She screamed finally, letting out a gut wrenching wail of anguish over the two most likely paths that lay before her, and the entire stack of plates shattered without her touching it. She felt a shift and looked down, seeing a crack in the concrete below her feet.

George was staring at her. He was crying. The front of her shirt was damp. She'd been crying too. Then he hugged her tightly, squeezing the breath out of her, and Ginny felt the last of her anger bleeding away. Somehow, it felt like she could breathe again. The situation wasn't better, but she felt more positive than she had all day, thanks to George's impromptu therapy.

The sun was setting when she returned to Harry's room with George, who hadn't seen Harry yet. They'd removed the tubing while she'd been gone, so things looked a little better. Because she'd spent so much of the last couple days staring at him, she could tell that his bruising had lessened slightly, but he still looked horrific.

Yet somehow, George was able to say, "He's looked worse."

Ginny rolled her eyes and watched Harry's hands for a while. She wanted to hold them so badly. Wanted him to squeeze her hands and tell her he was okay. She would've given everything just to see him twitch because he was so still. That didn't happen though.

Her dad brought them back down to the family's room about an hour later. Everyone seemed to be getting ready to leave except her parents.

"Who's staying with me tonight?" Ginny asked.

Her parents exchanged a look before her dad answered, "Ginny, your mother and I think it's best if you go home with everyone else–"

"What? No!"

"Just to get some rest. Sweetheart, you need to sleep."

"I need to be here with Harry."

"Ginny," her mum said, "we are going to be with him all night. If anything changes at all, we'll send you a Patronus right away. Anything at all."

Ginny clenched her fists and sighed. She wasn't going to win this battle. "You better mean that. If he twitches, I want to know about it."

Her mum smiled sadly and nodded. "Of course, dear."

"You'll be back here first thing in the morning," her dad added reassuringly.

"Damn right I will," Ginny responded before hugging her parents.

The others led her out of the room, through the reception area, and outside. They found another alley to disapparate from, reappearing outside of the Burrow. Everyone was clearly worn out because there was no mingling in the living room like there would've normally been with all of them together. Instead, everyone went to their bedrooms.

Hermione stopped on the first floor landing with Ginny. "I can stay with you tonight if you want," she offered.

Ginny shook her head and tried to smile. "I'll be okay. You should be with Ron. Thank you though," she added, hugging Hermione quickly before ducking into her bedroom.

It almost took her breath away. The last time she'd been here, she'd been sharing the bed with Harry. Things had seemed so happy then. He'd been so, so affectionate with her, and she'd adored every second of it. Now, her room seemed so dark and empty.

Her breath caught when she saw the magical portrait Harry had given her for their anniversary, almost a year ago. It showed their first kiss from the perspective of Colin Creevey, who'd taken the picture, as well as both of their own memories of the kiss. It was one of the best gifts Ginny had ever received. It was usually at Hogwarts in their dormitory there, but Harry always remembered to bring it back home to cover the burn on her wall.

She could feel the tears welling up once again as she watched it cycle through the three different perspectives of the kiss. She was very partial to her own perspective, seeing her memory and Harry looking as handsome as ever before she kissed him, but her favourite had to be the camera's perspective. It was so clear to her how in love they were, even then, seeing the way they both wanted to kiss each other so badly. They'd both waited so long for it, and that was obvious in the intensity and passion of their kiss.

She shook her head quickly and squeezed her eyes shut to stave off the tears. It was a bloody good thing she wasn't planning on sleeping here.

She removed Harry's mokeskin pouch from her own mokeskin bag and withdrew the Invisibility Cloak. Harry's letter fell out once again, but she quickly put it back in the bag, unable to even think about the contents of that letter right now.

Ginny pulled the cloak over herself and very slowly opened her door. Once there was a wide enough gap to slip through, she stepped onto the landing and closed the door with equal care and silence. Then she took her first step and the board creaked. Ginny winced, frozen as she waited to make sure nobody had heard. She was about to continue down the stairs when the door across from hers opened.

Bill stared at the spot where the floor had creaked for several seconds before understanding crept across his face. He pressed his lips together and nodded slightly, and Ginny imagined that was him approving her decision to sneak out, if he'd figured it out.

The second he closed the door, she hurried to get down the stairs and out the door before making any more noise. She walked further from the house than usual to disapparate, not wanting to risk the crack waking anyone. Once she was satisfied that she was far enough away, she spun on her heel and felt the world compress and expand in a single second. Then she was standing in the same alley that she'd broken plates in a couple hours ago.

Ginny kept the cloak on as she walked through the corridors of St. Mungo's. She retraced hers and George's steps back to the lift and then continued walking on the path she'd memorised to Harry's room. She slowed once she came into sight of the Aurors. She wasn't going to be able to just walk in. Her parents expected her to be home. And the Aurors would probably panic if someone invisible opened the door right next to them. So Ginny waited for the only opportunity she could think of.

Thankfully, she was only waiting for about twenty minutes before Amelia came walking past, followed, annoyingly, by Cho. Ginny followed them as closely as she could without raising suspicion. The Aurors nodded as they walked past, and Amelia opened the door.

Ginny was relieved when Amelia gave the door an extra push to keep it open for Cho. Ginny slipped through right behind her, just before the door would've hit her and given her away. Carefully, she tiptoed to the corner near the chairs that her parents were sitting in and listened.

"Nothing has changed with his condition to this point. We're continuing to monitor him and look for other options, but… after a few days, the odds of him waking from a coma become slimmer," Amelia informed them.

Her mum was crying already. "There has to be something, Amelia."

"I promise, if there is, we'll find it, Molly."

"Thank you," her dad said, wrapping an arm around her mum and holding her close while Amelia finished her routine check on Harry before leaving the room with Cho.

Ginny slowly sat down against the wall. Harry was running out of time.

"Arthur… what are we going to do? If he doesn't wake up…"

"He will, Molly. You have to believe in him."

"I'm scared, Arthur. I can't lose another son. The boys can't lose another brother. And Ginny…"

Her dad had tears streaming out of his eyes now too. "I know. I know. But they're strong. And Harry's the strongest out of all of them. You heard everything he said to us about Ginny. If there's any chance of him coming back, he will. He loves her too much to let her live without him."

Ginny wished the cloak could muffle sound because she felt like crying again. She couldn't cry silently like Harry, so instead, she bit the inside of her cheek and dug her fingernails into her palms, forcing herself not to break down. Harry was going to come back for her. He had to.

Harry's jaw dropped as he shook his head. "Unbelievable. You– Ginny Weasley– don't know when the Quidditch League was established?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "It's not like that's common knowledge."

"Tell that to Professor Binns. This is like one of the only questions that isn't about goblins."

Ginny waited expectantly, but Harry didn't say anything further. "Well? What's the answer?"

He shrugged. "You've gotta get it right."

"It could be any year! How am I supposed to guess it? Let me see that card!" Ginny exclaimed as she lunged for it, but Harry yanked it out of the way, and she fell into his lap.

"Hi," Harry said happily, still holding the card out of reach.

"Let me see the card!"

Harry drew his eyebrows together. "Tempting… but I think if you really want this card back–" he grinned wickedly "– you're gonna have to catch me!"

Then he rolled out from underneath her and began tearing away from their tree on the Hogwarts grounds. Ginny groaned and scrambled to her feet to chase after him, but she wasn't going to catch him like this. He played dirty, so she could play dirty too.

"Harry!" Ginny yelped as she tumbled to the ground. To her great pleasure, Harry's head whipped around, and his expression went from one of joy to concern as he began running back to her.

"Are you okay?"

"I knew you'd come back."

He shrugged as he knelt beside her. "Of course I came back. Is it your leg?"

"Ankle," Ginny replied. Harry set the card on the ground as he moved to examine her ankle, and she immediately snatched it off the grass. "The Quidditch League was established in sixteen seventy-four!"

Harry stared at her, shocked by how quickly she'd gone from faking an injury to celebrating a stolen answer. "You– you faked it?"

"I sure did. And that's a correct answer, so I believe you owe me a kiss," Ginny replied happily.

Harry crossed his arms. "I don't know if you deserve one for that. Seems a bit like cheating to me."

She raised her eyebrows. "It's called getting what I want. Like this."

A second later, she was on top of him, sprawled out on the grass. Her hair fell like a curtain around them, and he chuckled. "You're something else, Ginny."

"And don't you forget it," she responded proudly as she lowered her head to claim her reward.

Ginny was woken by a thud in the corridor. She rubbed her eyes, but before she could even wonder what could've made that noise, there was another thud. She was wide awake immediately, even if her parents hadn't stirred at all.

Her heart was hammering in her chest when the door creaked open slowly. Ginny couldn't see much in the darkened room, but the light from the corridor briefly illuminated a silhouette that Ginny was all too familiar with.

She could make out a figure raising their hand, and Ginny reacted at lightning speed, pointing her wand at the figure. Without saying a word, she connected with a Body Bind Curse, and the intruder tipped backwards to the ground.

Ginny turned the lights on and moved over to the person on the floor. Even though she already knew who it was, she couldn't help but feel a lurch in her stomach as she pulled off the cloak and stared down at the frozen body of Alecto Carrow.

Alecto's eyes were wide, giving Ginny incredible satisfaction. How many times had she been at Alecto's mercy like this before? And when had Alecto ever shown her any mercy? She was very pleased to see a stump where Alecto's right hand should've been and several long scars running along her face. Harry had made his mark. And now it was Ginny's turn.

Something hot was burning in the back of her throat as she stared down at the one who'd been responsible for her torture last year and who'd put Harry in this state. And she snapped. "Bet you didn't think it'd end up like this, did you? So what should I do to you first? Killing you would be too kind, I think. Oh, I know! Maybe I could give you a taste of your own medicine! Wanna know how much fun the Cruciatus is when you can't even scream? I know! I know how much fun it is! Or maybe I'll do this first–" Ginny grunted, stamping on Alecto's face, hard.

Blood gushed out of Alecto's nose, but Ginny wasn't done. She was ready to get some real revenge. "Yeah, that didn't feel too good, did it? Maybe you should've thought about that before you tortured us for fun! But I promise, that was nothing compared to–"

A shaky voice interrupted her. "Ginny?"

Ginny glanced up, still pointing the wand at Alecto, to see her parents staring at her in shock. And beside them, she saw Harry, as unconscious as ever. Fuck. She couldn't do this in front of them.

"Send a Patronus to Kingsley. I've got the last one," she replied in a low voice. She thought she heard her dad casting the charm.

Alecto seemed to be sneering at her with nothing but the movement of her eyes. "Shut the fuck up," Ginny muttered. "Stupefy."

A jet of red light knocked Alecto unconscious, and Ginny stepped back, realising her hands were shaking.

"How did you…" her dad began hesitantly, looking at Alecto to make sure she was really incapacitated.

"I snuck in with Harry's cloak. Sorry, I know I was supposed to be at home, but I couldn't not be here. And it's a really good thing I was," Ginny said with a sigh of relief, realising now just how lucky they'd been that she'd come back.

"This– this was the other one that attacked him?"

"Alecto Carrow," Ginny spat.

"And she was at–"

The door burst open, and Ginny instinctively pointed her wand at the visitor. She didn't lower it when she saw that it was Cho, especially when she saw the manic look in her eyes.

"Bind me!"

"What?"

"Before it's too late! Please! I can't hold her off for long!"

"Hold her off… Alecto?"

"The Imperius Curse! Yes! Bind me!" Cho shouted impatiently.

Ginny didn't really need any more encouragement to bind Cho. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Cho toppled to the ground on top of Alecto, and Ginny didn't bother moving her. "What the hell," she whispered to herself, trying to figure out what had just happened. Her parents looked even more confused than she felt.

Before she could even say anything to them, to try and figure out what had happened, there was a stampede of footsteps in the corridor. Ginny pointed her wand at the door, and, considering everything else that had happened, she kept it fixed on Kingsley even after he entered.

He looked down at the two women on the ground, then back at her and her parents. Kingsley glanced down at her unmoving wand and held a hand up to the Auror that was screaming at her to drop her wand.

"It's alright, Bruce! I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt. You're Ginny Weasley. Your Patronus is a doe, you gave Harry an owl for his eighteenth birthday, and I told you that you were a warrior two days ago."

Ginny's hand dropped and she let out a relieved breath.

"So… I see you've been busy," Kingsley added.

"A little."

"Let's go downstairs and talk. We'll take Alecto. And… who's this?" Kingsley asked, pointing at Cho.

"Cho Chang. She's an Apprentice Healer here. After I knocked Alecto out, she came running in, asking me to bind her before Alecto woke up. She's been under the Imperius Curse."

Kingsley nodded grimly. "I see. We do have a lot to talk about."

Kingsley instructed an Auror to take Cho to get the curse lifted. Two Aurors followed Ginny, her parents, and Kingsley while the remaining two stayed behind to revive the Aurors Alecto had stunned before entering Harry's room.

Once they reached the all-too-familiar family room, Kingsley asked her to explain what had happened.

"I snuck into the room using Harry's cloak. I was supposed to be at home, but I couldn't stay away for that long. I fell asleep, but I woke up when I heard a thud outside. Then I heard another one, and then the door opened. I saw Alecto and petrified her just before– well, I assume she was there to kill Harry. Then, like I said, Cho came in a minute later."

Kingsley rubbed his chin. "And Alecto's broken nose?"

"Self defence," Ginny responded in a manner that didn't invite questioning. "And she should be grateful it wasn't much worse."

Kingsley nodded, and Ginny knew he understood. He'd heard a lot about what Alecto and her brother had done at Hogwarts.

"I was going to fill you in on what we've learned tomorrow, but since we're already here and very much awake, I'll go ahead and tell you all now. Travers hasn't broken. He's still angrily blaming someone, probably Harry, for everything that went wrong, and he hasn't stopped raving long enough for us to properly interrogate him. But we did get Amycus to talk. I'm not really sure if he realised he was confessing so much as thought he was taunting us, but either way, we know that Rookwood had two people under the Imperius Curse besides Florean Fortescue. Amycus told us this morning that Rookwood had cursed both a Hogwarts student and professor."

Ginny's eyes widened as her mum gasped. She couldn't believe it, and she was mentally racing through everyone she knew, trying to figure out who it could've been.

"We were going to ask Minerva if she had any suspicions, but, as luck would have it, the Auror Office received two separate visits today from a Hogwarts student and a former Hogwarts professor, both claiming, without prompting, that they'd been under the Imperius Curse."

Ginny stared. "Former Hogwarts professor? But how would a former professor have been at… no way," she muttered in disbelief.

Kingsley nodded. "I couldn't believe it either. But you're correct. Adrian Grimhall confessed that he'd been assaulted at his farm and placed under the Imperius Curse last July. Rookwood forced him to accept the offer to teach at Hogwarts and instructed him to do what he could to learn about Harry's weaknesses and make him as miserable as possible. He said, and I quote: 'I don't like kids, and I think his press is ridiculous, but I wouldn't ever have duelled him or any other student if I'd been in control.'"

"Good to know he's actually a real nice bloke," Ginny commented sarcastically.

Kingsley smiled slightly. "Adrian's always been difficult, which is why nobody thought what happened between him and Harry was too out of character for him."

Ginny nodded before pausing. "Wait– who was the student?"

Kingsley frowned again. "I should say that he was very distraught when he reported this. I was there for part of his story, and it was clear how much it upset him."

"Who was it?"

"Owen MacGregor."

Ginny almost fell out of her chair. That was impossible. They would've known if Owen had been taking orders from someone else. All year, he'd been as nice as ever to them. He'd been one of their best friends. He was dating Astoria, for Merlin's sake! How on earth was he Rookwood's spy?

Kingsley waited patiently as Ginny grappled with that before continuing. "He told us that he was supposed to find a way to get Harry out of Hogwarts alone, but Harry never went anywhere without you. So Rookwood tried to make him break the two of you up by slipping Harry Veritaserum, in hopes that he'd confess that his feelings weren't as strong as he claimed. When that didn't work, he paid a boy to take Polyjuice Potion to turn into Harry and kiss another girl. You didn't break up with Harry after that either, so Rookwood decided that they'd have to do something else.

"Owen said that he tried to use his knowledge of your boggart to make you feel like Hogwarts wasn't safe, and Rookwood punished him for his efforts not being good enough. He also leaked stories to the Daily Prophet about things going on at Hogwarts that he thought might've made you both feel uncomfortable with being at the school. Nothing he tried worked, apparently. He told us that Rookwood was making him prepare to kill you and abduct Harry when the new term started, but when Harry told him that he was going to Diagon Alley alone, he notified Rookwood."

Ginny's mind was spinning. It still didn't seem possible, even though she was starting to understand some of the clues that had been there all along. Owen had been sitting right next to Harry the night he was given Veritaserum. And the day the black book had been left in her locker before the match against Hufflepuff, they'd run into Owen, who was late to breakfast. Even Owen's odd words to her, just before she'd left Astoria's, about hoping she'd be okay, suddenly made a lot more sense.

"I just… don't know what to say," she said finally.

Kingsley nodded sympathetically. "Owen told us that he thought Rookwood manipulated his intentions without changing who he was. Most of the time, he was just himself, but he had a nagging responsibility in the back of his head, telling him to do whatever Rookwood was wanting. He seemed too ashamed to tell you in person though."

"I– I guess I can't blame him. But it– it's a lot to take in. Everything makes a lot more sense now though," she admitted, even if she was still reeling.

"It does to us as well. And with Alecto being captured, this should be the final loose end. Nobody else under the Imperius Curse. No more Death Eaters in the country."

Ginny nodded absently, toying with her leather bracelet as she thought back through all the interactions she'd had with Owen over the past year. It seemed impossible that it was all a lie, but it apparently was.

"Oh, and before I leave, I didn't want to forget to give you these again," Kingsley said, reaching into a pocket in his robes and withdrawing a pair of round, black glasses.

Ginny took them from his hand gratefully, staring at them for several seconds before looking back up, blinking back tears.

"You did fantastically well tonight, Ginny. Without you, there's a very good chance that Alecto would've killed Harry and avoided capture."

Ginny bit her lip and nodded, glancing back down at the glasses in her hand. A few moments later, Kingsley gave her and her parents a hug before leaving with his two Aurors.

"Well… that was a lot for tonight," her mum said, rather underselling it.

"No kidding."

"I, for one, am glad you ignored your mother and I," her dad said with a small smile.

Her mum shot a slightly disapproving look over at him, but he didn't back down. She sighed. "I am too. Very glad. But you really do need to get some sleep, Ginny."

She nodded. "I know. And I will. But I'm way too awake to go to sleep now. Besides, it's almost morning anyways."

Her mum sighed again, exasperatedly, but she didn't say anything else. The three of them all took the lift up to the fourth floor, where Amelia met them.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Amelia exclaimed, rushing over to hug them.

"Sorry I took your assistant from you," Ginny responded wryly.

"I'm sorry you all were in danger tonight. The Aurors explained it all to me. I'm just relieved that nobody was hurt or worse."

"It was close," her mum admitted, looking more shaken up by it now than she had earlier, and Amelia hugged her again.

"I'll let the three of you stay in there until the rest of your family comes, but then we're going to have to go back to only two again."

Ginny nodded gratefully, and they all returned to Harry's room. The Aurors had cleaned up, so nobody would be able to tell that anything had happened here earlier in the evening. Ginny brushed Harry's hand accidentally on purpose as she sat down, and she was surprised by the shock she felt. Harry didn't respond to it, even though he surely felt it too.

"She was the one who tortured you at school last year," her mum said bluntly. Ginny just nodded. "You– you made the right choice to not torture her."

She looked at her parents. She hadn't realised that they'd heard that. "I broke her nose," she stated.

"She deserved that," her dad replied, looking rather angry. "She deserved more too, just… not from you. You're too good for that."

Ginny looked back at Harry, remembering him telling her about casting the Cruciatus Curse on Amycus Carrow. It had clearly pained both him and her, and she was glad, now, that she didn't torture Alecto. She wasn't worth going to Azkaban for.

Hermione knocked on the door about an hour later, not looking surprised to see Ginny already there. Her parents left, kissing her on the head before they did, and Hermione sat next to her, giving her a stern look.

"Was it worth sneaking out?"

Ginny cracked a subdued, ironic smile. "You have no idea."

Hermione was stunned by the story, and by the end, she agreed that it was definitely for the best that Ginny had snuck out last night.

"I just… I still can't believe it about Owen though," Ginny said, shaking her head even now at it.

"You'll need to talk to him at some point. If what Kingsley said is accurate, he's still your friend. He just didn't have a choice in some of the things he did."

Ginny bobbed her head uncertainly. "I guess. But… it's just so hard, you know? I mean, so much of our relationship was grounded in the past year, and now it turns out that the whole time, he was trying to get Harry k– why are you looking at me like that?"

Hermione's mouth was formed into an 'o' and her eyes were wide. "Oh. My. God. I have an idea."

Without any further explanation, she bolted out of her chair and out of the room. Ginny heard her pounding footsteps fade quickly.

"I hate when she does that," Ginny sighed. "Hopefully it's a good idea though, Harry."

She missed hearing his voice. He'd probably make a joke about Hermione right now that would've made her laugh. Instead, all she heard was his consistent, somewhat ragged breathing.

Ron opened the door a few minutes later with an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry about that. You know how she gets."

Ginny shrugged. "I won't mind if the idea works. Don't wanna get my hopes up too much though."

"Same," Ron agreed. "But you never know. With Hermione, it may not be out of the question."

"I hope so."

"Mum and Dad told us what happened. Pretty awesome that you got to take out Cho," Ron commented with a joking grin.

Ginny couldn't help but smile a little at that. "I didn't hate it. It was almost as satisfying as stunning Alecto."

"Surprised you didn't do more to be honest. I mean, I'm glad you didn't because with our luck, Harry would wake up right after you got shipped to Azkaban… but still."

She nodded. "I thought about it. I really thought about it. I honestly might've if Mum and Dad hadn't been watching. I dunno."

"Good thing then. It's gonna be way better for all of us if you're here when Harry wakes up."

Ginny smiled again. Ron hadn't ever stopped talking about Harry waking up like a guaranteed thing. It made her feel a little better.

She was contemplating going downstairs for some breakfast– she was famished– when Amelia threw the door open with Hermione on her heels.

"What's going on?" Ginny asked.

"We might have an idea," Amelia said, more hopefully than Ginny had heard from her since Harry had gotten here several days ago.

"Seriously?" Ron asked, and Hermione nodded, holding up some book.

"There was no magical solution, but that's because it's science. Harry's body is overcharged with electricity. It's stifling his nerve signals and slowing the activity in his brain. Ginny made me think of it when she was talking about Owen. She reminded me of a science experiment I did in primary school where–"

"Get to the point, Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed impatiently.

"Sorry. Anyways, when something is charged with too much electricity, you get rid of the electricity by grounding it. But Harry's too charged to have been grounded by the cobblestone street of Diagon Alley. In the experiment, we used something called a discharge wand to dissipate excess electricity."

As she spoke, Amelia held up a long, metal rod with a ball on the end. Ginny frowned, puzzled by it. "So what are you going to do with that then?"

"If Hermione's theory is correct, we're going to rub this all over Harry's body. It absorbs the electricity and dissipates it through the grounding wire coming out of the end of it. We've extended it so that it's actually connected to the ground outside already. And maybe, with a little bit of luck, Harry might finally be able to wake up."

Ginny nodded, feeling hopeful even through her confusion. "Okay. I don't understand anything either of you said, but if it could wake him up, do it."

Hermione came to Ginny's side, and she squeezed both hers and Ron's hands as she watched Amelia slowly rub the ball all over Harry's body before levitating him to do his back. Ginny winced, hearing the crackle of electricity, shocked at how much seemed to be coming off of him. She knew next to nothing about electricity, but it seemed to be a lot to her.

Once she was done, she set Harry down, and Ginny nearly smiled, seeing Harry's hair standing on end. Her grip on Ron and Hermione's hands didn't falter though. They all watched Harry with bated breath.

Amelia gave them a cautionary look. "If it worked, it may take a–"

She was interrupted by a loud, shuddering gasp and several magical alarms ringing in the room. Ginny almost fell to her knees when she looked at the source of the sound and saw two bright green eyes looking right at her. Harry was awake.

Without thinking, she released Ron and Hermione and bent over him. "Harry," she choked out, feeling tears of relief about to fall. "Harry," she repeated joyfully.

Harry was staring at her like she was the sun, and she smiled impossibly widely. She was about to kiss him, forgetting whatever rules Amelia had put in place, when three words flipped her world on its head yet again.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed adorably. And then he asked, with the voice she'd been longing to hear, "Who are you?"

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A/N: Happy New Year! I know this is exactly how everyone was hoping to start the year out, and I'm very happy I could deliver for you all! You're welcome!

That's also the last thing I'll say about the hippogriff in the room for now. Moving on!

For the longest time, I had absolutely no clue what the "thing" was that was going to happen to Harry. I knew there'd be a fight in Diagon Alley, and I knew he'd be severely injured, but beyond that, I hadn't worked out many details. Sometimes I'm great at planning ahead, but this wasn't one of them. I basically decided on the way the story is unfolding now as I was writing the fight scene. And then things sort of started falling into place, between the lightning and Harry's history with the Killing Curse and all that. Even going back to Chapter 5 of ToG, after Harry wakes up from his overnight panic attack… actually, I promised I wouldn't talk about the hippogriff in the room, but if you're curious, go back and check out Harry's first thoughts after waking up from it. Just saying, the precedent has been set… surprise! (And as always, my disclaimer that I am not a doctor, scientist, or Healer still stands, so Harry's way of waking up almost certainly wouldn't work in real life, in case anyone was thinking of trying it.)

I mention things falling into place a lot in my writing. Even though I'm very aware that I'm coming up with this story and shaping it on my own, I really do feel like I'm discovering the actual story of what happened after the battle and just writing it down, and things falling into place only convince me even more of that. The whole conspiracy with Rookwood and his spies didn't start out nearly as elaborate as it ended up being. In my original plans, Grimhall was completely unrelated, and the student spy was going to be a Slytherin. With Grimhall, I got about halfway through ToG when I decided that his storyline made no sense if it was removed from the bigger picture, and it was easy to make it work after that. McGonagall mentions at one point that Grimhall originally declined the offer and then changed his mind, and Kingsley says that he never would've thought that Grimhall would go that far out of pride. And of course, Grimhall acted rather exaggeratedly from time to time. I know that frustrated and confused a lot of you, and I hope it makes more sense now. It was both a subtle hint at him being Imperiused as well as his best effort to provoke Harry into a fight, and it did work, if not all the way.

Similarly, Cho's behavior was even more outlandish and arguably out of character than Grimhall's was. As crazy as Grimhall seemed, he still seemed like a real person, but, to me, Cho never seemed like that when she showed up in SoR and flirted with Harry. Alecto just wasn't as good at the Imperius Curse as Rookwood, and she also had a much different approach than he did to getting Harry alone.

And that brings us to the other huge reveal in this chapter. I have a list of about twenty hints in ToG that point to Owen as being the one behind everything going on at Hogwarts. I know some of you keyed in on Owen as being suspicious at the beginning of Chapter 25. That was the last time we saw him before it was revealed, and it needed to be established that he knew exactly where Harry would be, so I felt like it was smart to give you all one last chance to suspect him before the reveal! I'll share various hints about Owen over the next few chapters, but feel free to guess or comment anything you noticed too! For now, I'll say that two of my favorite hints involve the Polyjuice. First, Jasper, the guy who was impersonating Harry, said that instructions on how to get into the Gryffindor common room were left on his bed in the Slytherin dorms. Astoria tells Ginny, like seven chapters later, that the Head Boy and Head Girl know how to get into every common room, so Owen would've been one of the only people capable of pulling that off. When they're interrogating Jasper, he tells them that the Polyjuice was at the base of a dragon statue downstairs. Owen knows exactly where this statue is a few chapters later, when he and Harry have to find it for the Hogwarts Scavenger Hunt.

I know there was a ton going on this chapter, but the last thing I want to highlight is Ginny's heroism. She's been through hell, and it doesn't really look much better right now. However, we've ridden through it with her, and she's shown tremendous strength. For that reason, I had to let her be the one to defeat Alecto. As much as Harry is her hero, she's also her own hero, and she deserved that opportunity with Alecto, as well as the opportunity to be better than her, despite the temptation to torture her. She did better than I would've!

So yeah… Harry's awake! But of course, their journey is far from over, and they've still got things to overcome. Starting with this…

Coming Friday: Memorising Memories- In a word, he was damaged.

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Etschi89: I have to admit, there was a small part of me that was wondering if you'd stand by your statement as things continued to develop. I really appreciate your compliments about my writing, and it means a lot that it's having such a roller coaster effect on you too! It definitely was a roller coaster for me to write! Now that more has been revealed about Cho, I hope her presence makes sense! In my defence, she was established as a Healer apprentice back in SoR Chapter 29 for this exact purpose, but I get that it seemed especially cruel to Ginny, particularly when it was combined with Amelia's news.

We'll start finding out quickly how you feel about my take on memory loss, but I appreciate the vote of confidence! Sorry to disappoint you though when you thought I was just trying to misdirect you all, but Harry really is going to have to start memorising his memories again in the next chapter.

And I think you might be the first person to ask about Rookwood and Co. wanting to take Harry alive rather than just kill him. There's a reason for that, of course, that we will find out eventually, even if it won't be much of a priority for anyone now that all four Death Eaters are either dead or captured. There's far more pressing things going on for everyone right now!

Dust1423: Thank you so much! Writing emotions can be really challenging, but it's at the heart of this entire story, so it means so much that you think I'm doing good with that! And to both you and Scrappy8... really sorry that you were both hoping for his memory not to be affected... oops!

Guest: I don't blame you at all for not checking, it's been like six months since I did a Tuesday release, so there was no reason to expect one this week. I wasn't even expecting it until I woke up on Tuesday haha! I have to say, I both love and am scared by your teaser suggestion. I'm not quite that mean! I realise it doesn't really seem like that considering the direction this story is taking, but still. And also, I just never thought of it... otherwise I probably would've used it haha! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and it didn't make you too teary, although I'm afraid to say more of it is probably coming. I'm also hoping for the best for you in real life. "This too shall pass" is something I try to always have in mind in my own life, as frustrating and annoying as it often feels to have that as consolation, but it's also very true. Thank you for sharing part of your time, even in difficult days, with me and this story, and I hope I make it feel like a safe place, even though things aren't the happiest right now. For Harry and Ginny too, the saying applies... this too shall pass.