Happy New Year everybody!

I'm trying to work on this and others. One of my goals for the year is to finish all of my stories within a good time frame and not to start a new one until I do. This one will probably take the longest to finish, as my source material for easier access has quit on me.

So this is the chapter before we get back to Harry. Sorry that it is a bit short. I am eager to get Deathly Hallows rolling, especially getting to the wedding.

Let's get to it!

Chapter 189: Making Plans

Over the next few days, the Order resided heavily at our house. Mum was running out of ideas to keep us out of the kitchen where meetings were being held. However, Hermione, Ginny, and I could sense that something big was about to happen.

"I got them," said Ginny excitedly. She had come into her room where the three of us were sitting and discussing how to eavesdrop.

"What did you get?" I asked.

Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of Extendable Ears. Mum had confiscated them all after her catching us the first time with them.

"George slipped them to me." she continued. "He also put a spell on them that will make them virtually undetectable, as well as get through any silencing charms that are in place. Their latest model!"

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Hermione. "As much as I hate sneaking around your mother, we have a right to know what's going on with Harry."

"We have a right to know everything, as we are of age now," I huffed. "I don't know why Mum prefers to keep us in the dark. He is our best matter after all."

"Let's just go see what's what, yeah?" said Ginny crossly.

I put cushioning charms on our feet so our steps wouldn't be heard. I also put one on the steps, as even with the charms on our feet, the steps still creaked. We managed to get as close to the last few steps as possible, slipping one ear into the flower pot near the landing. Hermione, despite hating the spells that were from the "Prince's" book, put up Muffliato, so only we could hear the feedback coming through the ears.

"It's too risky, Alastor," we heard what sounded like Tonks say. "It's bad enough that we have to move him on the 31st."

"Too risky? Too risky?" boomed Moody's familiar gruff voice. "How is it too risky? The Death Eaters will expect the 31st. If we move him now, they wont know what hit them."

"But what about the trace? He can still be tracked by that."

"Not under our wards, Tonks," I heard Dad say. "We have improved them greatly as of late. The Burrow is as good as safe as Hogwarts once was."

"And a sixteen year old got around that, didn't he now?" said Mum, sounding as if she was on Tonks side.

"Now Molly-"

"Don't, Arthur. Dont try to make this seem like everything is going to go swimmingly." interrupted Mum. "As much as I hate this barmy plan, I do. It took a lot for me to agree to it. And to include the boys as well!"

"We still don't have enough people, Mum." I heard Bill say. "I really think you should consider-"

"I've already said a million times, no!"

"But Mum, our numbers, their friend."

"I don't care! They are too young!"

I looked at Hermione and could see we were thinking the same thing. Bill was talking about us.

"Molly, be reasonable." came Lupin's voice. "They would want to help Harry. They would want to know-"

"Want to know what?" I asked loudly as I walked down the steps. I was sick of the secrets, done with the lies.

Ronald Weasley, were you listening in?" snapped Mum.

"I was, now what's going on? Hermione and I have a right to know if it involves Harry." I demanded. Hermione and Ginny crept slowly down the rest of the stairs, both of them glaring at me.

Mum threw her hands up. "Oh Merlin, I knew the meetings should not have been held here! How much did you kids hear?!"

"Enough to want in on whatever concerns Harry," I said.

"Absolutely not! You're too young!"

"With all due respect, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione in a shaky voice. "we are of age, Ron and I. And Harry is our best friend."

Moody gestured to Hermione and then back to Mum, as if to say he told her so.

"You can't stop us from helping, Mum." I firmly stated. "I'm sorry, but we re going to do whatever it is we need to go help him."

Mum looked as if smoke was threatening to come out of her ears. She looked over at Dad, who simply shrugged his shoulders. Then back over at Bill and Moody. She glanced over at Tonks, looking for some kind of support, but Tonks suddenly became preoccupied with an invisible spot on the table.

"Fine." growled Mum, shoving her hands in the pockets of her dress. "Seems like I have no authority in this conversation. I'm going to finish this laundry. Ginny, come with me."

Ginny's mouth dropped. "But...but Mum!"

"Ginevra! I may not be able to have a say with your brother and Hermione, but you are still not of age, and therefore still not joining Order meetings. You come with me now, young lady!"

Ginny looked over at Hermione, who winced. I shrugged, having no argument to present to have Ginny stay. She made an irritated noise and followed Mum out the room, taking care to stomp loudly, as the charm on her feet had worn out.

Hermione and I sat down next to each other at the table. Bill gave me a smirk, while Dad gave me a look that stated I would pay for this later.

"Well, that does up the numbers," said Moody in what seemed to be a cheery voice. "Now then, back to the plan."

"What plan is that?" asked Hermione.

"Guess your eavesdropping skills needs work."smirkes Tonks. "We have been talking about retrieving Harry earlier than the 31st. Seems to some of us the right idea."

"Sounds about right to me," I said. "I would think that You Know Who would think to get to Harry once he became of age, wouldn't he? That's when the protection lifts, doesn't it?"

I must have said the right thing, because Moody, Bill, and Lupin gave me appreciative looks. Tonks on the other hand, looked disappointed.

"You'll do well in the Order, young Weasley." praised Moody. "Our sources say that Voldemort is planning on attacking Harry on his birthday, so to avoid all of that, we are going to retrieve him."

At that, Tonks started to look very uncomfortable. "I still say this is a bad idea."

"What's a bad idea?" asked Hermione.

"Well, Alastor feels like some of us should act as decoys just in case the Death Eaters get wise to our plan."

"Decoys?"

Moody pulled out a small cauldron from a sack he had. He uncovered it, and Hermione and I recognized the potion immediately.

"Polyjuice?" questioned Hermione. "You mean for us to...you want us to turn into Harry?"

I cringed. The thought of turning into Harry or anyone else again made my skin crawl. The experience of turning into Crabbe still gave me fucked up dreams.

"Brilliant, Granger," said Moody. "That's exactly what some of you will do. Six of you be exact. The twins, Fleur, Dung, and I guess now, you and young Weasley here, if you decide to."

"Well there's no question of that," said Hermione, "but Harry will never go along with this. He would think it too risky and protest."

"And he would be right!" exclaimed Tonks. "he could die! Hell any of us could die!"

" Nymphadora, I've exhausted every other solution," said Moody, ignoring Tonks murderous glare of him using her first name. "Thicknesse has made it so Harry cannot get out of his house by Floo, by portkey, not even by apparition. We have to do this. And if one of us dies as a result, that man, or woman, dies a hero!"

Tonks looked down at the ground, defeated. Upon hearing that, she looked as if she didn't have an argument anymore.

"So, when will this take place?" I asked.

"Two nights from now," said Lupin, giving Tonks a sympathetic look. "Gives us time to work on hexes and spells to protect one another. It will also give us time to contact Harry and the Dursleys, and let them in on the happenings."

Hermione and I nodded, and listened to the rest of the plan. An hour later, Mum came and insisted that Hermione and I go to bed, and for the rest of the Order that was not members of her family to leave. For fear of enraging Mum further, everyone complied.

I took Hermione's hand and pulled her up the stairs with me. I didn't feel like sleeping, and I didn't want Hermione to leave me just yet. She pulled back saying she wanted to change into her pajamas, and that she would sneak up afterwards.

I went to my room and changed into my striped blue pajamas that were once Bill's. I remembered a time where I had to cuff the legs so they wouldn't drag. That time had long since passed, as since 6th year, my ankles had began to show with no cuffing required.

After about thirty minutes, Hermione crept into my room. locking the door after her. She sat down at the foot of my bed, patting her thigh, giving me permission to lay my head on it.

I laid down, facing the ceiling, allowing Hermione's soothing fingers to work their magic in my hair.

"Sorry it took so long. Ginny was eager to know at least something." whispered Hermione.

"What did she say on the matter?"

"What you'd expect for her to say. She wished she could help, she was tired of being treated like a baby...she didn't know if she was ready to face Harry so soon..."

"Why? What could oh yeah...right." I said. quickly remembering.

Ginny had told Hermione, who had told me, that Harry had broke it off with her. Something to do with wanting to protect her. Both Hermione and I agreed that is was a barmy thing to do, as Ginny could very well protect herself, and also, the fact that they both made each other happy was now gone. Hermione had put up the argument that Harry would worry over Ginny during the time that we had to look for the horcruxes, but I reminded her that he would do that anyways, relationship or not.

"I still can't believe he ditched her like that." I grumbled.

"It wasn't ditching." defended Hermione. "He just did what he felt was right. Just like...just like we are doing. Aren't we?"

I shrugged. "Would it be selfish of me to say that if we had gotten together in school, I would not want to break up with you because some fucked up witches and wizards wanted me dead?" I asked, raising up from Hermione's lap.

Hermione blushed. "Language, Ronald. And no, I don't think it would have been. I wouldn't have wanted to do that either. Which is probably a good idea that we didn't start anything. We can fully concentrate on what we need to do."

"I guess I am a huge distraction." I joked, curling my arms to show my muscles.

Hermione laughed softly into her hand as she placed the back of her right hand on her forehead. "Oh yes, I'm positively swooning. You're such an Adonis."

"Adonis?"

"Adonis was a character in Greek Mythology, said to be extremely handsome and favored by the goddess Aphrodite and Hades' wife Persephone. They both quarreled over him because of his beauty."

"Sounds like my kind of guy." I joked.

"I won't be fighting witches over you, Ronald Weasley," said Hermione, as she launched a pillow at my face.

"Don't worry. You would never need to." I assured her as I pulled her into my body. I wrapped my arms around her as she turned to lay her back against my chest, pulling her knees up to her chest. It was then that I realized that she was wearing pajamas bottoms that were shorts. The moon was casting a dull light on her thigh, making her brown complexion twinkle like it had gold flakes on it. I found myself racing out with my finger and gently making invisible patterns onto her smooth skin. She didn't smack my hand away. In fact, she drew with me, her fingers going in opposite directions on mine, once even forming a heart with me.

"Do you think we will have nights like this when Harry comes?" I asked, bracing myself for the no that I felt was coming.

I felt Hermione's body slightly shiver. "Would you still want to? You don't think it would be awkward?"

"It might, but to be perfectly honest, I really don't care." I answered truthfully. "I understand that we can't really...be...but I'm too selfish not to want to be around you like this every moment I can. Harry will have to accept that."

Hermione didn't say anything. She intertwined her fingers with mine as she leaned the back of her head onto my shoulder. We sat there in silence listening to the crickets chirping.

As good as the moment felt, I knew it was simply an illusion. Soon, everything was about to change. would we get peaceful nights like these? Will we be able to find the horcruxes and destroy them quickly, and then get back to a life where we didnt have to worry about death knocking at our doors at any given moment?

I didn't have any answers to the questions that were piling up in my head, so I brought my focus to the witch that had fallen asleep soundly on my shoulder. Carefully I moved to where she was laying down on my bed. I curled up beside her, pulling her body into mine as I sat up and thought about retrieving my best friend.