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Author: Faelaern Story: In Memoriam Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 2 Words: 50,063
It's all about soul The journey from the forest clearing to the Burrow was very short when one traveled by Thestral. Harry, Fleur, and the Weasleys were standing in the Weasleys' front garden in no time at all. Kingsley, Mad-Eye, and Karl Zorn were waiting there along with Mrs. Weasley, who had a nervous expression on her face. Karl stepped forward and tapped each member of the traveling party on the head with his wand, banishing the Disillusionment Charm. Seeing motion out of the corner of his eye, Harry looked up to see Ginny and Ron waving to him through the window. He smiled and was about to wave back when Ginny pointed to Mrs. Weasley and shook her head. Harry got the message, and turned away before Mrs. Weasley saw his actions. "Harry!" she said, moving quickly forward and wrapping him an embrace. "I'm sorry we couldn't get you out sooner, dear, but there were some complications that Dumbledore had to deal with first."" "Like what?" Harry asked. Mrs. Weasley gave him a concerned look and opened her mouth to refuse, but Kingsley spoke up. "Among other things, there was a Dementor attack on the Patils." Harry turned to him, shocked. "Are they alright? I didn't see that in the Prophet!" Kingsley smiled grimly. "That would be because it didn't make it into the Prophet. Fudge didn't want to cause a panic, and since no one was hurt, Dumbledore decided to pick his battles and let it be 'hushed up' for the time being." Harry let out a sigh of relief. "How did they escape?" "Your schoolmates Parvati and Padma chased the Dementors off with corporeal Patronuses," said Kingsley with a grin. Harry returned the smile; the Patils had learned how to create a Patronus from him as a part of Dumbledore's Army, the underground Defense Against the Dark Arts group he had taught during fifth year. Harry turned back to Mrs. Weasley. "Thanks for getting me out of there, Mrs. Weasley. It means a lot to me." Mrs. Weasley had been eyeing Kingsley darkly for filling Harry in, but now she smiled. "Of course, dear. We really felt you need a good summer, especially after…" her voice trailed off. Forcing down the lump that started to form in his throat, Harry nodded. "Where are the others? Dumbledore said they'd be here," he said. "Tonks and Mundungus have set up a temporary base of operations at a hotel in town," said Kingsley. "They're in disguise, but you can find them at this address." He passed a scrap of paper with an address and room number written on them to Harry and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "Keep this hidden and on your person at all times," he instructed. They nodded silently. "What about Lupin? And the others?" Harry asked. "They're patrolling the area in small groups at the moment, making sure there are no prying eyes nearby," said Karl. "Remus and Karl will be staying with us for a few days as well," said Mr. Weasley. Mad-Eye Moody, who had been scanning the area with his magic eye, now turned to them. "You'd best get inside," he said. "Trouble?" asked Kingsley, reaching for his wand. "Three people headed this way. Looks like Lupin and the Ames', but you never know," growled Moody. Kingsley nodded grimly, not at all the response Harry was used to people giving Moody's notorious paranoia. Bill picked up Hedwig's cage as Fred re-enchanted Harry's trunk to move into the house. Fleur hurried him into the house as, behind them, Mad-Eye, Karl, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley drew their wands and took up cover positions. Kingsley stood in plain view, wand at the ready. The others drew their own wands, and Harry crouched low next to Bill by the kitchen table. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ginny and Ron crouched on the stairwell, with their wands also at the ready. Harry heard Kingsley's deep voice announce "There is an ill wind blowing in from the bog." "I knew not that the wind blew ill, had I known I would have fleeced my leather," came the reply, a voice Harry immediately recognized as Lupin's. "All clear," said Kingsley and a collective breath was let out as everyone put their wands away and stood up. "What's with the strange password?" Harry asked as Ron and Ginny came into the room. Bill chuckled. "Karl makes them up. Says two word passwords are too easy to break." "But the real deal is, his wife's a Muggle, and she's got him addicted to fellytission," said Ron with a smile. "How are you, mate?" "I'm all right, I guess. How have things been here?" "Hectic," Ginny put in. "'Nother group coming in," called Moody from outside. "Oh for Merlin's sake," said Ginny. "Harry, would you like to take your stuff upstairs and get settled?" Harry nodded; he was starting to get annoyed at the level of security Dumbledore seemed to think was necessary. He and Ron each picked up one end of his trunk as Ginny grabbed Hedwig's cage and released the grateful owl so she could flutter about the room. "It's a bit ridiculous, really, having all this security," Ron commented as they reached his room. "How long have they been here?" asked Harry. "Since this afternoon," said Ginny, putting Hedwig's empty cage down next to Pigwidgeon's. "I see. And when did everyone start thinking like Mad-Eye Moody?" asked Harry. Ron shook his head. "Kingsley doesn't consider the Burrow to be secure enough. I reckon they'll drop the guard once things settle down a bit." "Er…no offense, but if he doesn't consider the Burrow secure now, why is he going to think it's more secure if there are less people here?" said Harry. "Karl will be putting up some extra defensive wards," said Ginny. "It's his specialty." A sudden horrifying thought struck Harry and he was hit with a wave of heavy emotion, guilt piled upon anger and simple raw pain. "Defensive wards? That's it? Wards? Do you know what Voldemort could do to those wards?" Ron started to back up; he had learned to avoid Harry when he was in a mood like this, but Ginny stood her ground. "Harry, listen to me. We'll only be here for four days, and You-Know-Who doesn't know you're here." "IT DOESN'T MATTER! I'M PUTTING YOU IN DANGER WITH MY VERY BEING HERE! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" Ron was looking even more nervous but there was fire in Ginny's eyes. "Don't you dare take that tone with me, Harry Potter! We're in danger enough because of our family's work with the Order. The Dark Lord could show up at any moment, and we're prepared for that possibility." "I'm not," Harry said, more quietly, but just as intently. "I don't want any of you putting your lives on the line needlessly. If Voldemort were to show up, I'll be one more person for you to worry about. I will not be responsible for another death, I won't!" There was a look in Ginny's eyes that Harry wasn't quite able to place. "Harry, no one holds you responsible for Sirius' death," she said. Ron backed out of the room quickly as soon as he heard Harry's godfather's name spoken, but Harry didn't blow up at Ginny. "I do, Ginny. I blame myself. People have said I shouldn't, but I do." "It's natural to blame yourself, even if it's not logical. But brooding by yourself won't help things. That's why we want to be here for you. When you feel you're ready, we're here to talk to," said Ginny. For some reason Harry found that he wanted to talk now. Why he could talk to Ginny and not Ron, or even Mrs. Weasley, was beyond him. Perhaps it was just that he was ready to talk now, and Ginny was just the person present at the right time. Ron seemed to have gone away, which normally would have angered Harry, but now inexplicably calmed him a little. "Ginny, can I talk to you now?" he asked. Immediately, he mentally kicked himself, as talking to Ginny was exactly what he'd been doing. But Ginny took him seriously. "Of course," she said, clearing a stack of The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle issues from a chair and taking a seat as Harry half-sat, half-collapsed onto Ron's bed. "You say I shouldn't blame myself, but put yourself in my shoes, and read this," Harry said, popping open his trunk and handing her his notes for his apology speech to Sirius. Ginny sat in silence for a while, reading it over. Twice she looked as though she was about to cry, but she didn't. She sighed heavily and looked up at him. "This isn't easy for me to say, and you're not going to want to hear it, but I don't think Sirius would want an apology from you." Harry's eyes flashed with anger, but he gathered his willpower and forced down his temper. "Ginny, what makes you think you know what Sirius would want? I knew him longer then you did." "I think that, in many ways, you are very much like Sirius," Ginny began slowly. "Reverse your roles, would you want an apology?" she finished quietly. Harry was taken aback. "I…ye…no…I don't know." "I maybe shouldn't have asked that. Let's try something perhaps a bit easier for you think about. The Chamber of Secrets," said Ginny. Harry frowned. "What does the Camber of Secrets have to do with anything?" Ginny glared at him for a moment but took control of herself and said, "Let's say that you managed to kill the basilisk, but Fawkes was killed by Riddle, so is now a baby phoenix on the floor. Meanwhile, you've been poisoned. You manage to destroy the journal and Riddle with it, and I wake up. The venom takes its effects, and you fall dead in front of me." "Um…so I'm dead, now what?" Harry asked. Ginny threw her hands up in exasperation. "How would you want me to feel, Harry? I was tricked by Voldemort, and caused six Petrifications and one death. You are dead, and looking down on me from Heaven. Do you want an apology?" Harry was completely and utterly speechless. This hadn't occurred to him before. Ginny's situation was a near duplicate of his own, with the only difference being that, instead of dying, he'd only nearly died. He looked up. Ginny was looking at him expectantly. "No, Ginny, I wouldn't want an apology and I wouldn't want you to feel guilty. None of it was your fault. And…" he sighed heavily. "If you were to write something like this, I would feel awful watching you read it. I reckon Sirius would feel the same." He smiled. It felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The guilt was still there of course, but it was only a fraction of what it had been. Harry stared at Ginny as if in a new light. His eyes were watering but he ignored them. "Gin…thank you." On impulse they both stood up and embraced. They broke apart quickly at the sound of applause in the doorway. Ron, Fred, and George were standing there, clapping and grinning at them. "Hey!" said Harry angrily. "Were you three listening in?" "Unfortunately not," said Fred. "We caught the end though," said George. Ron was giving Harry an odd look and smiling widely. Harry wasn't sure what the big deal was. It was a quick hug, not like we were snogging or anything. "Are you going to stand there smiling like a bunch of pillocks all day or are we going to find something to do?" he asked them. Fred laughed. "That's the spirit, Harry. Unfortunately, Quidditch is out of the question for the moment." Not thinking, Harry asked "Why?" "Because Mad-Eye Moody would have an aneurysm," said Ginny from behind him. Harry laughed with the rest of them, but, unfortunately, that left them looking for something to do inside. "How about a few rounds of Exploding Snap?" Harry proposed. "I was thinking of playing indoor Quidditch, but okay," said George with a look that disturbingly bordered on nostalgia. Harry got up and started to follow Fred, George and Ron down the stairs but stopped when he saw Ginny heading into her room. "Where are you going? Come on, Ginny!" he said, turning around. "Yeah, Ginny, come on," said Fred, now smiling that same annoying smile that Ron had taken to wearing recently. "All right then," said Ginny, smiling as she followed them down the stairs.
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