Ginny awoke to the sound of her brother groaning. She immediately twisted out of her cot and scrambled over to his side.
"Ron?" She called, anxiously unwrapping the blankets so she could hold onto his arm. Hermione heard Ginny getting up and she quickly went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water.
"Help me sit him up," Hermione said, sitting down the glass of water. Together, the two grasped Ron under his arms and gently hoisted him upright. His head lolled to the side slightly and face screwed up in maybe pain or confusion.
"Mione?" He croaked as he fought to open his eyes.
"Yes, Ron, it's me," Hermione said picking up the water again. "Here, drink this."
She held the glass up to his lips and tilted it. Ron drank some before coughing, causing Hermione to take it away.
"What happened?" Ron asked holding his head.
"The Burrow was under attack…" Hermione began, her throat tightening. "I disapparated with you two but I didn't land where I wanted. You hit your head. How do you feel? Are you dizzy?"
"No, not really, just a headache." Ron muttered, taking the water from Hermione and drinking the rest of it.
"Let me go get some healing potions. You should really go to St Mungo's but it will have to do for now." Hermione said, standing and walking across the room.
"Ginny," Ron said, stiffly turning his head so he was looking at his little sister. "Have you heard from mum and dad?"
"No…" Ginny said, her voice almost too soft to hear. Ron looked away again.
"Here you go Ron," Hermione said, handing him a glass with the same potion she'd given him earlier. "Try to drink all of it, I don't want to waste any."
Ron downed the entire thing and almost immediately his eyes began to droop.
"Did you put a sleeping potion in this?" Ron mumbled with difficulty as he fought to stay awake.
"No, it's a side effect of the potion, healing is best done in your sleep." Hermione said, and ,with Ginny's help, she lowered him back down so he could sleep more comfortably. "Don't worry, if we hear anything from the Order, we'll wake you up right away."
It only took a few more seconds before Ron was sound asleep once more. The two girls walked into the kitchen and began making breakfast.
"Do you think we should have given Ron something to eat before we gave him the potion?" Ginny asked anxiously as she helped Hermione bring the food items to the table and took a seat across from her.
"No, it'll be alright. He should only be asleep for a few hours, and we can give him something then." Hermione said, trying her best to speak warmly and smile. "It'll be alright Ginny, we can go to St. Mungo's later today, if anything that will be the best place to find your parents because well…"
Hermione took a shuddering breath.
"Kingsley." Ginny stated blankly. Hermione nodded.
"They'll probably also think we're there." Hermione said.
"But Hermione… Is St. Mungo's safe?" Ginny asked, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Hermione put her hand over Ginny's.
"You know Ron and I will do everything to keep you safe." Hermione said in a level tone. She squeezed Ginny's hand and their eyes met.
"And so will your parents." Hermione went on. "We're all here for each other and our greatest concern is everyone else's safety. And when we find them again, we can continue looking for Harry. In fact, out of everyone, he cares the most about everyone else's safety. He's probably already out there somewhere looking to help us."
Ginny gave a watery smile before brushing away her tears.
"I miss him so much." Ginny said, her voice wavering a bit. "It's been so long since we last saw him. I wish I had something more than just a photograph to remember him by."
Ginny shakily reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded worn photograph, which she opened up and propped up against the small milk jug. The two girls stared at the photo, each longing to return to the time the picture was taken. Harry, Ron, and Ginny were all in their Quidditch robes, and Hermione was standing next to them wearing all red and gold. They all had their arms across each other's shoulders and were laughing and cheering. It had been taken right after the first game of the season and Gryffindor had just won.
"We used to be so carefree…" Ginny said, but then paused. "Well, relatively. I don't think any of us have been carefree since we met Harry. We were all so naive to what was going on around us. And Harry… Harry wasn't even carefree before he learned about our world…"
"After this is over, we can all be at peace. But none of us can when Voldemort is still around. We have to think selflessly." Hermione said, but she too looked longingly at the photograph. "There are thousands of lives in danger by Voldemort being around. And we're one of the many who are able to help protect those who can't."
Ginny nodded.
"Harry's always the one to save the day, but without him here, I guess we'll just have to step in for awhile." Ginny said, a wave of bravery flooding her body. She picked up her glass of pumpkin juice and held it up.
"We'll do everything we can to stop Voldemort." Ginny said, her voice stronger than it had been in weeks. "For Harry."
"For Harry," Hermione agreed, raising her glass as well.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
"To Harry!" Sirius cheered, sloshing Firewhiskey everywhere as the entire Gryffindor common room roared with praise. Gryffindor had just finished it's best Fall season of Quidditch yet, and many had agreed that it was all thanks to their astounding new Seeker.
"Ya know mate," Sirius said, throwing his arm clumsily over Harry's shoulders. "When I first met you, you were just a little boy, lost in this big world, but now, I've made you a star, mate. A STAR." Harry couldn't help but laugh as Sirius swayed about, throwing his bottle of Firewhiskey up into the air each time he said 'star'.
"I hope Sirius isn't getting too much for you," Remus said, smiling slightly. "Perhaps he's had enough Firewhiskey for one night."
"He's not bothering me, no, but I would probably agree about him having had enough." Harry chuckled as Sirius walked into another table. Remus rushed up to him and began a somewhat heated conversation about Sirius giving him the bottle.
"You've had enough —"
"YOU CAN'T TAKE IT FROM ME," Sirius howled as if Remus was trying to kidnap his only child.
"Sirius, calm down—"
"But MOOONY," Sirius sang, stumbling away from Remus. "Moooony with eye's as big as the MOOOON-Y."
James couldn't himself as he fell to the floor and rolled about laughing at his friend. Harry also laughed hysterically, clutching his sides as Sirius continued to stagger about the room serenading Moony while taking swigs of his Firewhiskey.
An hour or so later, the rest of the Gryffindors who had been celebrating had gone to bed and the only ones left were the Marauders and Harry. Harry helped Remus drag Sirius up the stairs, followed close behind by James who was still cracking up over Sirius's stray comments.
"You have lovely hands, Remy, simply divine." Sirius slurred as he inspected Remus's fingernails.
"Thanks," Remus said, as James and Harry burst out laughing.
"No, really, Remus, you don't understand," Sirius said, trying to push Remus's hands closer to his face. "Look closer-ly!"
"Yes, they're wonderful, thank you," Remus responded, shaking Sirius's hands off of his own. James pushed to the front of the group and opened the door to their dormitory.
"Hey guys," Peter squeaked excitedly from his desk.
"Hey Peter," James responded, holding the door open for Sirius to be dragged in. Remus and Harry hauled Sirius across the room and dropped him onto his bed. Sirius was still wearing his Quidditch gear, so Harry took off his boots and Remus untied his arms pads.
"You're going to have a killer hangover tonight, mate." James said, leaning against one of Sirius's bed posts.
"Nooo," Sirius howled. "Moony'll make it stop. He smarter than the rest of you lot."
"Hey!" James said, swatting Sirius with a near by book.
"We were all smart enough not to drink enough Firewhiskey for four people," Harry commented, making everyone laugh.
"Why weren't you downstairs celebrating?" Remus asked Peter who had remained quiet since Harry had entered the room.
"Oh, well, y-you know, h-homework." Peter stuttered, clumsily grabbing at some parchment and waving it at the group.
"Oh, that's too bad," James said frowning. "Did you even come to the match? I didn't see you."
"Oh, yes, I was there, you were great!" Peter squeaked. "Well, it's time we all got to bed."
Everyone nodded, and began changing into their pajamas. Peter was about to get into bed when he noticed Harry was also changing into his pajamas instead of packing his bag up like he usually did.
"W-why aren't you leaving?" Peter blurted out.
"Uhm, I mean, I live here." Harry said lamely, trying his best to keep his temper.
"Yeah, Peter, that's a bit of a ridiculous question." James said raising an eyebrow. There was silence in the room as everyone stared at Peter and as Peter twitched nervously.
"I don't feel well!" Peter suddenly proclaimed and then bounded out of the room.
"There is something seriously wrong with him," James said in confusion as the door slammed shut behind Peter.
"Yeah," Harry said gruffly.
"Did you know Peter before you came here?" Remus asked Harry. "I mean, you probably don't remember, but we all couldn't help realizing how you react to his presence."
"I didn't know him, no." Harry said looking away. "I get a bad feeling from him though."
"We've known him since first year," James said walking over and putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "He might be a little strange but he's always been loyal to us. And he's also going through things with his family right now that we don't know much about so you can't be too harsh on him."
Harry shrugged, unable to look his father in the eye.
"Don't worry, mate, once things get better for him you'll get to see how he normally is and then you'll know what we're talking about." Harry looked up at James's earnest smile. He felt like his heart was being torn out and ice was being washed over his whole body.
"Yeah, we'll see." Harry mumbled, before tearing himself away from James and getting into bed. He would have done anything in that moment to have flung his arms around his father and told him every single reason why he was so wrong about Peter but he couldn't. He knew that too much could be changed. He couldn't tell them he was from the future, he couldn't tell the Marauders that he was their son or their godson or their student. Or their enemy.
It hurt him like a thousand bricks being flung at his chest, but he knew he could not reveal himself. At least, not yet.