PhoenixSong.net :: A Harry/Ginny Fanfic and Fanart Archive

Author: pottervader

Story: Harry Potter and the Prophesized Six

Part: 42: Another Wartime Christmas

Rating: Teens

Setting: AU

Status: WIP

Reviews: 17

Words: 6,440

Updated: January 20, 2009, 9:48am

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42: Another Wartime Christmas

Disclaimer: This story was made without any intention of profiting from it. Only the original characters and the plot are mine. The rest of it belongs to JKR.

A/N: Hey, everyone, I’m sorry for not being able to have this up before New Year’s Eve but stuff happened during the holidays and the first week of January that made it impossible to write. Still, I think it allowed me to write this much better than it would have been if I rushed it. Enjoy and please review.

When he saw Draco the next day, Ron was highly tempted to confront him but Hermione, managed to dissuade him from doing so with the help of Harry and Ginny. Draco, on his part, sat at the Slytherin table as far away from them as possible. The situation was relieved from their minds by the start of the end of term exams over the following days. By the time exams were over, Hermione and Ron had forgotten all about the ‘Draco incident’ as they had called it.

Soon, it was already the last Saturday of the term, which was also the third Saturday of December and only 4 days away from Christmas. It was also the last DC meeting of the term. The next day, the students who were spending Christmas at home would board the Hogwarts Express for London. .For the occasion, Kingsley suggested another mock battle with a more familiar setting: Diagon Alley. The two teams would start at opposite ends of the alley and try to take out as many of the other team as possible in a thirty minute time limit.

As per their usual practice, they divided the members into the two teams by picking colored sticks out of a covered wooden jar. The group pulling out a red stick would be called the red team and would have a red strip of cloth tied on one arm for identification. The other team which would pull out a green stick was the green team and would have a green strip of cloth tied around their arm.

Romilda Vane drew a green stick and looked very displeased since Ti had drawn a red stick earlier. She glared at Harry who was standing behind the jar, watching the drawing, and demanded she change places with someone else so she could be on the same team as Ti. This time, Harry put his foot down with her.

“Look, Vane,” Harry said, “the purpose of these exercises isn’t to give you time with your boyfriend but to make sure you can handle an attack in any situation you find yourself in. Now go join your team.” He pointed to the green team who were looking with disgust at her, Neville, Rose and Hermione among them.

Romilda turned her attention to Ti who was already among his teammates including Ginny, Ron and Maggie. Ti shrugged his shoulders in way of an apology. Romilda glared at him then threw Harry a glare one last time before stomping away from him toward her teammates. Harry looked over at Ti. The younger boy looked very uncomfortable as he watched his girlfriend go to stand beside her teammates.

Harry shook his head in frustration. “What does Ti see in her?” he wondered. It wasn’t the first time he had done so.

“I really have no idea,” Ginny said in his head, “She’s so different from Rose. I do hope he soon realizes what a pain she is, the bitch.”

“Now, now, Mrs. Potter,” Harry teased, “No need to get vulgar, just go out there and kick her arse.” Being the leader of the club, Harry had elected to sit it out and referee the battle, along with Kingsley.

Harry closed his eyes and thought to the room what he wanted. Two doors then appeared behind each team.

“All right,” he said. “The doors will take you to the side of Diagon Alley your team is to start from. I’ll give you five minutes to strategize then a gong will signal the start of the battle. As usual, no Unforgivables or spells specifically created to shred, blast or melt an opponent’s organs. Anyone who loses his wand or is rendered unconscious will be taken out of the room back to this area. Another gong will signal the end of the battle. Once the second gong sounds, I expect everyone to put their wands away.” He turned to Kingsley. “Anything to add, Professor?” he asked the DADA professor.

“No, Harry,” the dark-skinned man replied. “You’ve covered everything. So, good luck to both teams. You can go on through the doors now.”

They watched the teams go through the doors one by one. Ginny was the last on the red team to leave. She turned and blew a kiss to Harry before going through the door. Both doors closed and vanished. Kingsley drew his wand and cast a spell created by Lily Potter that produced an overview of the battle site that was remarkably similar to the Marauder’s Map. It also allowed them to identify the spells each individual would use.

Harry and Kingsley gazed intently at the display in front of them. Both teams were clustered together, probably talking their strategy over. Harry grinned as he saw Ron at the center of the red dots that was his team. He wasn’t surprised to see the green team clustered around his sister and Hermione. Neither was he surprised to see the dot representing Romilda Vane on the periphery of the group, probably not paying attention. He decreased his presence through the Bond with Ginny so Ginny would not get distracted which meant that he couldn’t watch the battle through her eyes.

After five minutes, Kingsley conjured a large metal gong that he banged on with a large metal stick. The sound it made reverberated throughout the room. Immediately, the two teams separated and fanned out. As they watched the dots move, it became apparent that both teams were using the same strategy: a few people out in front to scout out the other team’s position with the rest held back to engage the enemy once they were located. After a couple of minutes, the scouts made contact with each other and the battle really began.

Harry focused most of his attention on Ginny, Rose and his other friends. Ginny, Ron and Ti were moving through one side of the Alley, just in front of the rest of their team. Suddenly, some of the green team spotted them and started casting spells. The three New Marauders managed to put up shields in time. Their return spells took out their opponents. Meanwhile, all around them, the rest of the teams had met and were exchanging spells.

Soon, unconscious or disarmed students started appearing in the area where Harry and Kingsley were. They took turns checking the arriving students to make sure they were all right. The time wound down to the thirty minute limit. Harry watched with satisfaction as Ginny disarmed Cho Chang then was surprised to see Romilda throwing hexes at Ti. The poor boy managed to dodge them but didn’t cast anything back. Finally, it was Maggie who stunned Romilda. The time limit was reached at that moment and Kingsley rang the gong again. Once the sound had stopped, the members of both teams who were still active appeared in the room.

“All right, everyone,” Harry called out. “Settle down and we’ll get the post battle debriefing over with so you can finish getting ready for the train ride tomorrow.”

Once everyone had sat down on chairs the Room of Requirement provided, Harry began the discussion. He pointed out any mistakes made and gave suggestions for improvement. The red team had won, taking out eighty percent of the green team versus having sixty percent of their team rendered incapacitated. It took him twenty minutes to go over everything he wanted to say.

“Well, that’s all for tonight,” Harry said, turning to Kingsley. “Any last words, Professor?”

“Good job tonight, everyone,” Kingsley said. “It was all a good effort. Have a good holiday and we will see each other when the new term starts on January 13^th.”

The students started filing out of the room. Harry moved to stand behind Ginny who was also with Ron, Hermione, Neville and Rose.

“Great job, guys,” he said, “I especially liked how Gin here managed to catch Cho flatfooted.” He wrapped his arms around her and leaned down to kiss her. Then, some shouting drew their attention. Turning towards the commotion, they were surprised to see Ti and Romilda arguing with each other. They quickly walked over to them.

*******

Ti felt a headache coming on as Romilda confronted him over allowing them to be on separate teams. At first, her attempts to stay on the same team with him had been endearing but, lately, it was starting to irritate him. She wanted to constantly be with him. He was starting to feel closed in and suffocated. To top it all off, in the just concluded DC mock battle, she had sought him out and tried to hex him.

“Come on, Romilda,” Ti said, “this isn’t something to hex someone over.”

“Why shouldn’t I hex you?” Romilda said in a loud voice. “You didn’t try to get Potter to let us be on the same team.”

“Stop being unreasonable, Romilda,” Ti said in an equally loud voice. “We can’t always be on the same team. It’s not fair to the others.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Romilda said. “Why can’t we always be together?”

“You know what?” Ti said. “I think there’s something wrong with that. You keep insisting that we always have to be together. We sit to each other for meals and in class. We walk together to our classes. We even study next to each other. The only times we aren’t in each other’s company lately are when we sleep in separate dorms and when we go to the loo. I’m sick and tired of it. I need some time with my friends, Romilda. I also want some time to be by myself.”

“No way,” Romilda shouted. “Couples always have to be together.”

“That’s not true, Romilda,” Ti said. “Look at Harry and Ginny. They’re a couple yet they spend some time apart from each other and it doesn’t affect their relationship. They spend time with other friends.”

“I don’t care,” Romilda said, crossing her arms. “We’re together, that means we have to be with each other as much as possible. Why do you need time alone when you have me? How can your friends compare with me?”

“That’s it, Romilda,” Ti said, glaring at her. He had had enough. Rose had never been as controlling or clingy as Romilda was. “I can’t do this anymore. You want me just to yourself. Well, I can’t be like that. Part of me needs to be with my friends sometimes. Not just Harry, Ginny and the rest of their group but also Paul and Jake. If you can’t let me have that, then we’re through. We’re done.” He then felt a great weight lift off his shoulders as soon as he said those words which made him feel that he had made the right decision.

He was then startled to hear clapping to their side. He and Romilda turned around to find Harry, Ginny, Neville, Rose, Ron and Hermione standing close enough to have heard their whole argument. He was surprised to see that they had not stopped clapping and also had looks of delight on their faces. Romilda glared at them in shock for a few seconds then she screamed “Ooh! Well, you can keep them.” She pushed her way between Harry and Ron as she headed for the door out.

Ti watched her exit the room then looked at his friends with a little embarrassment. He knew that they had not been very supportive of his relationship with Romilda. In truth, he had been right in telling Romilda that she had stifled his relationship with his friends.

“Err, hi, guys,” he said. “I guess you heard. Romilda and I are through. I can’t believe I let myself get involved with her.” He looked at Rose. “Um, Rose, I hope I didn’t offend you when I started snogging her so soon after we broke up.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ti,” Rose said. “I realize you were a bit hurt when we broke up. She just caught you on the rebound.”

“Yeah, I guess she did,” Ti said. “Look, I’d like to apologize to all of you for letting her keep me from our group training sessions. I knew how important they were yet I gave in to her.”

“Its okay, Ti,” Harry said. “I know it would have been hard for you to join us without telling her about the prophecy.”

“Yeah,” Ginny said. “We understand. It’s all right. Besides telling her the prophecy would have put her in danger and would need having to train her with us.”

“No way,” Neville said, shuddering. “The sessions would be torture if she had to spend it with us.”

“Yeah,” Rose said, shaking her head. “I agree with Nev on that. They wouldn’t be as enjoyable as they are. Well, it doesn’t matter now since you’ve dumped her. It’s good you’re free of that conniving bitch. I know someone who would be happy to hear that.”

Ti groaned. “Not another girl. Please, I think I’ll swear off girls for a while, maybe until I’m thirty. I had two relationships in a little over a year and both didn’t end well.”

“Yeah,” Ron said, “I guess that can wear out a guy. But you have all of the Christmas hols to work her out of your system. Maybe you’ll feel better when we get back.”

Ti just nodded, hoping Ron was right. In the meantime, he’d just be happy to have time on his own without worrying about making a girlfriend unhappy.

“Speaking of Christmas...” Hermione said. She turned to Harry. “Harry, what are our plans for the holidays as to our training?”

“Well,” Harry answered, “there’s nothing much we need to do except practice our dueling. I think Dad and Sirius may have some thing planned for us, best not to worry about it for now. We’d better get back to the Tower. It’s almost curfew.”

The seven Gryffindors left the Room of Requirement and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Ti felt happy as he walked with his friends. It was almost back to the way things were at the end of his second year. He reflected on his two failed relationships as he watched the three couples with him, especially Rose and Neville. He realized that their relationship was deeper than what he had with Rose or Romilda, almost like that between Harry and Ginny or Ron and Hermione. He sighed and hoped that one day he’d find someone to have a relationship like that.

******************

The trip back to London on the Hogwarts Express was a bit tense as the students were worried about an attack on the train but it turned out uneventful. All the New Marauders managed to share one compartment though it was a bit crowded.

The station at King’s Cross was full of anxious parents and nervous Aurors. Fortunately again, nothing untoward happened. Harry and the others met up with their parents/guardians and exchanged greetings and hugs. Hermione’s parents and brother were still living at Potter Manor so the Grangers were going home with the Potters.

Sirius met with Draco since he was bringing the Slytherin boy to the safe house where his mother had been placed by Professor Dumbledore. So far, Narcissa had not been found by her husband. Once Sirius left with Draco who didn’t pay the other students any attention, the others went to their respective homes.

That night, after a lovely dinner and an enjoyable play time with Daniel, Andrew and Daisy, Rose was reading while lying in her bed when she found herself standing in an unfamiliar room. It was rectangular with a large greenish marble table in the center of the room and ten high-backed chairs made of a dark brown highly decorated wood and green cloth on the seats and back arranged around the table. There was no other furniture in the room.

There were two doors made of the same type of wood on the longer sides of the room, facing each other. One of the doors opened and three well dressed goblins entered the room. The oldest goblin sat in the centermost chair on that side of the table and the other two, who looked much younger, sat on opposite sides of him.

After a few minutes, the oldest goblin turned to the one on his right side, “You are sure they will be here on time, Turdok?”

“Yes, Ragnok,” the one called Turdok replied, “I know they are the type of wizard who would look down on us but I believe they will be here. After all, He requested this meeting.”

Rose wondered about the emphasis Turdok gave the pronoun. It probably referred to someone important.

“Do you really think we should entertain this wizard, O great Ragnok?” the goblin on Ragnok’s left asked. “I doubt he’d honor any bargain we agree to.”

“We must look at all our options, Steelgrip,” Ragnok admonished the second goblin, “This war they are having will be worse than the last one. It will probably affect us, especially if he wins. It remains to be seen if the effect will be for good or ill. He may prove to be reasonable in spite of his reputation.”

Before Steelgrip could say anything else, the other door opened. Another goblin of much younger age than the three already in the room entered. “Your guests are here, Honorable Ragnok.”

“Very well, Griphook,” Ragnok said. “Show them in.”

Griphook bowed and backed out of the room. Rose could faintly hear him talking to someone but she couldn’t understand the words. She focused her attention on the open door.

First to enter the room was Lucius Malfoy, followed by another man she was not familiar with but he looked like a cruel man. Bringing up the rear and entering like he was a conquering hero was Voldemort himself. The three Dark wizards sat down with Voldemort in the middle, opposite Ragnok.

“Greetings, Honorable Goblins,” Voldemort said. “Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to explain to you the benefits you will earn once I have established my regime, benefits you will gain only if you side with me.”

Rose gasped, realizing the implications of this. If Gringotts and the goblins sided with Voldemort, the Wizarding economy would be at the mercy of Voldemort. Many people would be willing to accept Voldemort if it meant having their galleons. Just as she thought about it, the vision faded.

“NO!” Rose shouted. “I have to know what they’re talking about.” But it was no use. She had lost the vision. She thought about using her Astral walking ability to spy on the meeting but nothing in the room had given her any idea of when it was taking place. She wasn’t sure how long it would take her to locate the meeting. Since she had promised not to do it, it might get her in trouble.

As she was thinking about it, she heard a knock on her door followed by a familiar voice asking, “Rose, are you all right?”

She quickly ran to the door and opened it to find her father standing in the corridor wrapped in his night robe and holding his lighted wand. “I’m fine, Dad, but I just had a vision you need to know about.” She pulled him into the room then told him what the vision had shown her.

James frowned and shook his head. “That’s not good news. If Voldemort is trying to negotiate an alliance with the goblins, it will be to the detriment of Wizarding Britain.”

“I already figured that out, Dad,” Rose said. “Who’s Ragnok? The other goblins were quite deferential to him.”

“Of course they would be, dear,” James said, sitting down on Rose’s bed. “He’s the chairman of the board of Gringotts and head of the Goblin nation. Naturally, he’s the right goblin for Voldemort to negotiate with. Do you have any idea when this meeting took place or will take place?”

Rose shook her head. “No, Dad. There were no calendars or clocks in the room.”

James sighed then got up. “All right, thanks for telling me about it.”

“What are you going to do?” Rose asked.

“Well,” James said, “I think it’s best to negotiate with the goblins ourselves. I was already contemplating that, especially in order to seize or freeze the accounts of known and suspected Death Eaters to decrease their funding. It’s just that with all the other problems, I haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll have to get Dumbledore’s help. Looks like I’m not getting any more sleep tonight.” He looked down at his daughter, “You, on the other hand, should go back to bed. Don’t try any Astral walking to find out more from the meeting. The fact that Voldemort is willing to negotiate with the goblins is important information. I don’t want you to risk your magic just for more information. Do you hear me, young lady?”

Rose huffed but nodded. “Yes, Dad. No more Astral walking. Can I tell Harry and the others about the vision?”

James thought about it. “All right, you can tell them but no one else. We have to keep the fact we know about Voldemort’s plan to meet with the goblins a secret.” He kissed her on the top of her head, “Good night, Rose.”

“Good night, Dad,” Rose said. She watched her father leave her room before climbing back into bed. She snuggled into the covers, relishing their warmth on a cold December night. She looked toward the window and saw that it was starting to snow. Good. She enjoyed a good snowball fight. It would be a perfect way for her to work out the frustration she was feeling from the vision.

*******

The next day, Rose told the others about her vision. Their reactions were understandably grave.

“That doesn’t bode well,” Neville said.

“That’s an understatement if I ever heard one,” Hermione said. “It would be a disaster if Voldemort gained control of Gringotts. Most people would probably accept him as leader of the Wizarding world to keep their Galleons safe.”

“They wouldn’t, would they?” Ron asked.

“Unfortunately, Hermione’s right, Ron,” Harry said. “If Voldemort had Gringotts in his grasp, he could have the accounts of anyone opposing him frozen or confiscated. Then, how would they buy clothes, take care of a house, pay for their kids’ education or even buy food without their money?”

Ron looked at Harry in horror. “No food?”

The others rolled their eyes at Ron’s obvious priorities.

“Anyway,” Ti said, “so what can we do?”

“Nothing for now,” Harry said. “Dad and Dumbledore will come up with something. Dad has extensive knowledge of goblin customs and culture. I doubt Voldemort will pay much attention to those. Most likely, he’ll offer them power or threaten them to get them on his side.”

“Power,” Ginny asked. “Gringotts is the basis of our economy. How much more power could the goblins want?”

Harry smiled at her. “Exactly, Gin. From what I’ve read and what Dad’s told me about them, the goblins are quite content with having control of Gringotts. Plus, they don’t like being threatened which means they won’t be pleased with old Tom if he does that.”

“But, Harry,” Hermione said, “from what Rose related about her vision, Voldemort seemed to be very reasonable when he started talking to the goblins.”

“True, Hermione,” Harry said, “but I doubt they’ll be interested in whatever he has to offer them. Once they reject his offer, he’ll get angry and threaten them. That’s his nature. Hopefully, he doesn’t get angry enough to attack the goblins in the room with him. Of course, if he did, then there’s no way they’d ever side with him.”

“I hope he doesn’t kill any of the goblins if he attacks them,” Maggie said.

“Only if he surprises them,” Harry said, “but I doubt they’d be caught off guard. Their magic is different from ours since, like the house elves, they have no need of wands to focus their magic. Plus I doubt someone as high in their bank and nation as Ragnok would meet with Voldemort without any security measures to protect himself.”

“All right,” Ron said. “Now that we’ve worked it out that we shouldn’t worry about V-Voldemort meeting with the goblins of Gringotts, can we do something else? There’s all that newly fallen snow out there. Let’s have some fun!”

“Ron!” Hermione said. “You shouldn’t brush it off like that.”

“Ron’s right, Hermione,” Harry said. “We can’t worry much about it now. At least, we’ve been warned about Voldemort’s attempt to negotiate with the goblins. Let’s leave it for another time. As Ron said, let’s get outside and do something about all that snow.”

“Just what I was thinking last night, dear brother,” Rose said. “Let’s get Andrew, Daisy and Dan. I bet they’d love to play in the snow with us. What do you think, Hermione?”

“That’s all right,” Hermione said. “Let’s just make sure they’re well bundled up so they don’t catch cold.”

While Harry, Ginny, Rose and Hermione went off to find the three toddlers, the others put their coats, gloves and caps on and moved to the porch. Once they were back with their siblings, they joined the others and they all had a great time playing in the snow for the rest of the morning.

Later that afternoon, they all went to Diagon Alley for some late Christmas shopping. For security reasons, they were disguised with both Muggle actor’s makeup and glamour charms. Accompanying them were Lily, Molly, Remus and Tonks.

Diagon Alley was even gloomier and full of tension than the previous summer. People were huddled together, moving in groups with their cloaks tight around their bodies. Few people lingered long in one place. All around, there were many Aurors in groups of four.

Harry’s group moved quickly from store to store, finishing their shopping quickly. They always kept a hand on their wands, wary of the Aurors because of what had happened to the ones assigned in Hogsmeade the previous month.

By evening, they were back at Potter Manor, safe and sound. They spent the next day practicing their dueling and animagus forms. Each family spent Christmas Eve separately except for the Grangers who spent it in Potter Manor.

On Christmas morning, the Potters, Weasleys, Blacks, Longbottoms, Tonks, Remus and Grangers gathered at Potter Manor to celebrate the day. Gifts were exchanged and opened. Carols were sung. A full feast was prepared by Lily, Molly and the Potters’ house elves for lunch which was held out in the garden.

In the afternoon, there was a Quidditch game between the adults and the teens. As usual, Charlie and Harry squared off as the Seekers. Once again, Harry beat Charlie to the Snitch, though it was closer than usual. With Harry’s capture of the Snitch, the teens pulled off a great win over the adults, 400 to 120, thanks to the superb Chaser skills of Ginny and Ron’s improving Keeper skills. It was evening by the time the families went their separate ways.

Rose felt very tired and hoped a nice long hot bath would ease her body’s aches. Quidditch was fun but hard on the body. She stepped into the bathtub in her bathroom (each bedroom on the second floor had its own bathroom, something Ron always envied) and lowered herself into the steaming water. She sighed contentedly as the warm water started to work its magic. Suddenly, she found herself standing in a garden fully clothed.

Oh, crap, another vision!

She looked around and gasped as she recognized where she was. Just as she realized that, the vision took full hold off her. By the time it was over, she was shaking and feeling terrified. She found herself back in her bathtub, the water now cooling down.

Rose quickly stepped out of the water and hastily dried herself off. She struggled to put on her clothes as she ran out of the bathroom, out of her bedroom and down the second floor hallway to Harry’s room. She cursed as she found the door locked. She started banging on the door. She had forgotten her wand in her room.

“Harry!” she screamed, “Open up, now!”

It took several minutes for her to hear muffled sounds from the inside of the room. By then, the rest of the house was awake. James appeared in the hallway, holding his lit wand in front of him.

“What’s the matter, Rose?” he asked, “Why are you banging on Harry’s door?”

Before Rose could answer her father, Harry’s door opened, revealing the aforementioned boy, looking every bit like someone rudely awakened from a deep sleep.

“W-what’s going on?” Harry asked sleepily. “What the bloody hell are you going on about, Rose?” He stifled a yawn.

“You have to warn Ginny, Harry,” Rose said, her voice on the edge of panic.

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked. “What do I need to warn her about?”

“I just had a vision,” Rose said. “Death Eaters are going to attack the Burrow tonight, any minute now. Voldemort’s leading them.”

Harry’s eyes widened as Rose’s words penetrated the sleep-induced fog around his brain.

*******

As soon as he realized the meaning of Rose’s words, Harry reached out with his mind for Ginny. He found her sound asleep.

“Ginny! Wake up!” It took several tries for Harry to get a response out of his love.

“H-Harry? What is it? It’s only midnight, Harry. I’m exhausted.”

“You have to wake up your family and get out of the Burrow right now!” he told her. “Voldemort’s going to attack any minute now.”

“What!” she exclaimed. “Oh Merlin!”

Harry could feel her getting up and running for the door. Just then, there was a loud boom and he felt the house shudder violently.

“What was that?” he heard Ginny ask.

“I think they’re there; probably trying to break through the wards,” Harry said, “Get your parents and brothers up. We’re on our way to help.”

“All right, Harry,” Ginny answered, “just hurry up.”

Harry dressed quickly. By the time he was descending the stairs to the living room, his parents and Rose were standing next to the fireplace which had a fire going, ready to Floo over to the Burrow. James was talking into his mirror, probably talking to Sirius.

After a few seconds, James deactivated his mirror. “I’ve told Sirius,” he said. “He’ll contact Dumbledore who will call the others. We’d better get to the Burrow and see if we can get everyone out.” He threw Floo powder into the flames and stepped inside when they turned green. “The Burrow!” he cried. Nothing happened.

“Damn!” James cried, “They’ve somehow cut off access through the Floo. We’ll have to Apparate there. Unfortunately, we’ll end up just outside their property.”

“That doesn’t matter now, Dad,” Harry said. “We have to get there now.” As he said that to his father, he reached out to Ginny, “Gin, we have a problem. The Floo’s not working so we’re going to take a while to get to you. Sit tight but be ready for anything.”

James nodded to acknowledge what Harry had said and replied, “All right. I knew I should have started teaching you and your friends how to Apparate. The regular class for the Ministry’s Apparation test starts only this coming term. We’ll have to Side-Apparate. I’ll take you, Harry. Rose, you stay here with your mother. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“But Dad...” Rose began to say.

“Don’t argue with me, young lady,” James said sternly. “We’re going over to get them. We aren’t going to try and fight them for now. C’mon, Harry, let’s go. Hang on tight to me. For Merlin’s sake, be careful when we get there. We just have to get the Weasleys out.”

Harry nodded. He just wanted to get Ginny away from there. He hung on to his father as he felt the very uncomfortable feeling one got during Apparation. They appeared in the woods on the outskirts of the Weasley property. Harry could hear the stream behind him.

“C’mon, Dad,” he said to James as he started running for the house through the woods. His progress was slower than he wanted due to the dense snow covering the ground. Finally, he reached the end of the trees and could see the Burrow. His eyes burned with rage as he saw several cloaked figures on the far side of the house, gathered behind the pale balding man he knew was Voldemort. Harry could feel his scar starting to burn.

“Ginny, we’re here!” Harry cried out mentally as he struggled through the snow to get to his soulmate. He fervently wished he could get to her quickly. All of a sudden, he found himself running through the Burrow’s living room and crashing into the back of someone.

“Ouch! Who… Harry! How’d you get in?” It was Ginny who he’d run into. She threw her arms around him.

“I-I don’t know,” Harry said as he returned her embrace, “One second I was at the edge of the woods, running for your house then the next second, I’m here in the room with you.”

By now, the rest of the Weasleys were gathered around them, equally puzzled by his sudden appearance.

“Harry!” Arthur looked at him. “How did you get in here?”

“I’m not sure, Arthur,” Harry said, “but that’s not important now. We’ve got to get out of here. There are at least a dozen Death Eaters out there and Voldemort’s leading them.”

“You-Know-Who’s here?” Molly asked fearfully.

“Yes, ma’am,” Harry answered, “Dad should be here soon; we Apparated into the woods on the other side of the house.”

The house started to shake again. A bright glow could be seen outside the kitchen.

“He’s breaking through the wards,” Bill said, the alarm evident in his voice. “They must have been out there for quite a while for them to be this close to breaking in.”

At that moment, there was a knock at the front door. Everyone tensed and pointed their wands at the door. Arthur went up to it, his wand ready.

“Who is it?” the Weasley patriarch asked.

“It’s me, James Potter,” a familiar voice answered.

“How do I know you’re James and not a Death Eater impersonating him?” Arthur asked, “If you’re really James, what did you tell me this afternoon after the Quidditch game?”

“Are you serious?” the voice asked. “The subjects of that conversation are probably right beside you.”

“Sorry,” Arthur said. “As embarrassing as it will be for them, I doubt anyone else would have said that to me.”

“Oh, all right,” the voice said. “Have it your way. I told you this afternoon that I hope Harry and Ginny are taking precautions so we don’t become grandparents yet since it’s obvious to me that they’ve had sex already. There, are you satisfied?”

Harry didn’t hear Arthur’s reply because there was a roaring in his ears that cut off all sound after hearing his father’s answer. He could feel his skin starting to heat up from the embarrassment he was feeling. From what he could feel from Ginny through the Soul Bond, he knew she was feeling the same way. He steeled himself to take a look at Ginny’s family and their reactions.

Ron was glaring at him as was Charlie. Bill and the twins looked amused which was reassuring. Molly just gave him a smile which helped settle the nervous rolling of his stomach. He then looked at Arthur who seemed quite calm as he let James in the front door.

“Arrogant buggers,” James said. “They only had one guy watching the front door. I Stunned him before he knew I was there.” James turned to Harry and grinned. “Sorry, sport. I don’t regret the comment but wish Arthur hadn’t brought it up. Don’t worry. The two of us will protect you from any of Ginny’s brothers who feel like thrashing the life out of you for that.”

Harry scowled. “Thanks a lot, Dad.”

“As much as it’s amusing to embarrass my daughter and your son,” Arthur said, “we still have a problem. How do we get out of here, James?”

“I have a Portkey with me,” James said. “It’s keyed to Potter Manor.” He brought out a long piece of nylon rope. He whispered to it and it gave a bluish glow for a few seconds. “There, it will activate in thirty seconds.”

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, then there was a bigger one accompanied by shaking of the house. Ron, who was closest to the door to the kitchen, peered through it.

“Blimey,” Ron said, “there’s a big hole through the kitchen. The Death Eaters are all on the ground, along with Voldemort.”

Bill smirked. “That’s courtesy of the backlash they got from bringing the wards down without the proper passwords.”

“Uh, oh,” Ron said, “Voldemort’s getting back up and casting spells.” He quickly closed the door just before they heard more explosions. Then the door to the kitchen exploded.

“Everyone, take cover behind the sofa,” James shouted as he pushed that piece of furniture over on its side. All of them did as he ordered, ducking behind the sofa. The rest of the wall started to crumble as spells began hitting it.

James held out the Portkey rope. “Everyone, take hold of the Portkey, now.” Eleven hands took a hold of the rope. “Ten more seconds… nine… eight… seven… six…”

Suddenly, a red light struck the ground under Ginny who was near the end of the sofa, flinging her away from the group behind Arthur’s favorite armchair.

“Ginny!” Harry cried, letting go of the Portkey and diving toward his soulmate.

“Harry, no!” James cried, just before the Portkey activated and whisked him and the rest of the Weasleys away from the Burrow, leaving Harry and Ginny behind.

B/N: I take no blame whatsoever for this and will be auctioning off the author’s home address for readers to voice their opinions personally.

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