A/N- All you H/Hr shippers are going to like this chapter. And for those of you who have wanted to know what happened to Ginny will find out now too. I don't know how long it will be before the next chapter. I'm going on vacation in a couple of weeks. I won't be getting back till the end of July, so I don't know. Sorry.
Nitya, thanks for the great beta work!
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By 3:15 a.m., Luna's father's house was taken over. There were medi-wizards, Aurors, and just friends. Fred was in the hall, talking to Terry.
"How did this happen?" he demanded.
Terry rubbed his head. "We figure he somehow snuck in, crept up and shot her while she slept; a silent gun of some kind, and then snuck back out."
Fred stared hard at him. "You have got to be kidding me!"
"I wish I was, Fred." Terry started to walk towards the bedroom. Fred followed.
"You mean to tell me that this guy snuck in here, went up to the bed and just shot Luna, and Dean didn't even hear it? How could that go unnoticed?"
Terry spun around. "I don't know, ok. I don't even want to care anymore. This is getting ridiculous. What I want to know is how this guy is getting away every time he goes after someone," he snapped.
"And if I knew the answer to that, we wouldn't be in this bloody mess," Fred shot back angrily and loudly.
"Calm down, you two," Remus warned with a stern voice. "You two aren't helping."
Fred and Terry turned away from each other and took deep breaths. Fred was angry, tired, and did not want to be there. "Did Dean see anything?"
Remus shook his head. "No. He said he woke up when he smelled the smoke, and tried to get Luna out; but that's when he realized what had happened."
"He didn't even feel anything when she was shot?" Fred asked in an exasperated tone.
"He's a very heavy sleeper. I've seen him sleep through earbreaking noises at work."
Remus walked up to him and showed him the bullet that had been in his hand. Fred peered down at it and then looked back up to meet Remus's eyes, talking quietly. "Same?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
Remus nodded.
Fred groaned. "How? How did he know where they were? Dean didn't tell anybody!"
Remus shook his head. "We need to start looking at people who we know. People who know the victims…"
"In other words: Our friends."
**********
"Who knew that Luna's father lived here?"
Dean shook his anguished head. "A lot of people, after all he did write for the Quibbler. But he had moved here a couple months ago, and we didn't think many people would remember it. His address isn't even listed."
"Well, apparently someone did remember," Terry stated miserably.
Dean shook with tears. "How did I sleep through it?" The men working around the room stopped, feeling somewhat awkward at being a witness as Dean seemed to lose control. "Why didn't he just shoot me too?" he cried. He sank to the floor, not seeming to care that people saw. "This is just… cruel."
Too cruel, Fred thought. Why was someone making the Aurors suffer this way by seeing their wives dead? Why were they not killing others; Frank Longbottom, or Luna's father?
"Fred?"
Fred turned around and saw Dennis Creevey. "What?"
Dennis smiled. "Ginny's out of her coma."
Fred felt a huge wave a relief sweep over him. His sister was awake, and maybe now, some of their unanswered questions would be answered.
**********
Hermione opened her tired eyes. She yawned as she stretched on the couch and looked at her watch. 3:30. Great…
She looked over and saw Ron walking back into the room with a mug in his hand. He smiled when he saw her. "Hey sleepyhead," he whispered.
She gave a tired smile. "And you aren't sleeping because…?"
He shrugged. "I was hungry. Geez, I thought that someday hospital food would get better." He made a gagging noise in his throat.
She laughed softly, and Ron sat down next to her. "How are you holding up?"
She shrugged. "Okay I guess. I just feel so hopeless."
Ron squeezed her hand. "I know the feeling. I feel like I should be doing something; not just staying here."
"Well, you better not go anywhere or else Harry will have your head."
Ron chucked. "Yeah… How's it going with you two?"
Hermione sighed. "I don't really know. Everything is just so confusing right now."
"But… but what do you want?" he asked softly.
"What do I want?" Hermione looked across the room, catching sight of Lavender sleeping on the other couch. Then she looked over to Harry's door. "I want to start over. I want him to know that I love him… I just want to be with him again."
Ron smiled. "Good."
**********
Fred walked into Ginny's room at Salidays Memorial, and saw that Draco was holding her hand and talking softly to her. Every ten seconds he would bring her hand up to his lips and kiss it, making Ginny smile.
Fred cleared his throat. Ginny turned and her smile widened. "Fred." He smiled and walked over to her. "Glad to see you awake, sis."
"Yeah, it is a good feeling." Her voice was weak, but her eyes looked alive. "I… want to…talk," she said, having trouble getting the words out.
"I know," he replies softly. Fred looked over to Draco who seemed to be holding her hand even more tightly. She winced. "Draco…"
Draco's eyes widened as he realized what he was doing, and he loosened his hold on her. Ginny gave him a soft smile, knowing why he was reacting this way. She looked back at Fred.
"Do you remember anything?" he asked.
Ginny closed her eyes. "He came in through the back door… At first… At first I thought it was Draco…then realized it wasn't…" She took a few breaths. "…ran for the back door…and then…" She sighed. "I never saw his face…not even when I took… a short peek behind me…"
"How could you not see his face?"
She swallowed. "He was wearing… a big hood… a long robe…and his shirt…somehow I saw his shirt… dark blue…" She opened her eyes and looked right at Fred. "And he cried."
Fred blinked. "What?"
"He cried. He said… 'I'm sorry Pen. I'm so sorry… please forgive me…' " She closed her eyes again. "Oh but his voice…"
Fred grabbed her hand. "What about his voice?"
"I've heard it before…I think… something…though high-pitched…"
Fred was sure his face was going white. No doubt now, it was an Auror. Draco caught onto that as well. "Is it an Auror?" he whispered urgently. "Someone I work with?"
Fred still didn't feel comfortable telling what he knew. "I'm not sure. But I'm going to find out."
**********
"How's she doing?" Terry asked when he got to the hospital.
"Well. She's sleeping now," Fred replied.
"Unca Frid!"
Fred and Terry turned to see Shannon Malfoy wobbling over their way. She had a determined look in her face as she walked over to her uncle. "Unca go?"
He smiled and picked her up. "Unca isn't going anywhere."
Shannon pointed to Ginny's door. "Mumma, Dadda." Then she pointed to herself and gave Fred a small hug. Fred almost laughed at what Shannon was trying to communicate. "Yes I know they're in there. So now you're stuck with me." He looked over at Terry who was finding the situation amusing.
"Are one year olds supposed to know this stuff?" he asked.
Fred shrugged. He sat down, still holding Shannon. Terry started pacing around in front of him, obviously something on his mind. "What is it?" Fred asked, trying to keep Shannon from squirming too much.
Terry stopped and looked ahead. "What would you say if I thought the killer was Dean?"
"I'd say you're mental and need some serious help," Fred replied without hesitance, knowing what Terry was thinking. "Come on, don't think it."
Terry started pacing again. "I just can't understand it. He should have felt something when she was shot. A jerk in the bed, or something."
"You know Dean's not a killer." Shannon was now trying to climb his shoulders, and her hands kept poking his eyes. "Shannon…"
"That's the problem. I can't think of anyone who could be the killer. I'm not really sure where to start looking."
Fred bit his lip, knowing that it was time to tell Terry. Terry's eyes were wide with shock when Fred was done. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
Fred sighed. "I was just being careful." He reached his arms up on his head to retrieve Shannon who had somehow made it up there.
"So it's an Auror," Terry said aloud, though more to himself. "So, why do you still not think it's Dean?"
"He's always somewhere else during the other murders. He was at the Ministry at the time of Parvati's murder, and I saw him at the funeral when Ginny got shot."
Terry nodded, but he didn't look too convinced. Terry always jumped to conclusions fast, something Fred had gotten used to. But now he felt he was going just a bit far.
"He'll probably want to come back for Ginny," Terry said suddenly.
Fred jerked his head. "What?"
"The killer. He'll probably get scared that she'll identify him."
Fred hadn't thought about that. Ginny still might not be safe. Without realizing it, he took a strong hold of Shannon and held her close.
**********
"Mum, Dad, listen. I know you care for me and want what's best for me, but I'm staying."
This is what had been happening with Hermione and her parents for the past fifteen minutes. No matter how much Hermione would say she wanted to stay, her parents would still come back again.
The day had started out better. Harry had been moved into a private room where Hermione could also stay for there was a cot. And then her parents asked her to come back with them…
"You have to stop. We realize that you feel a need to stay with Harry after this disaster, but he's okay now. He doesn't need-"
"I'm not staying just because he's wounded, Dad. I want to stay. As his wife-"
"That's what we don't understand," her mother put in. "When he gets better and gets out of here, he'll go back to his house and to that other woman and you'll go your own way."
Hermione clenched her teeth. "Don't… Things are going to be different. It's just about time you two accept it." She turned to her wizard radio and turned it on, hoping not to continue the conversation with her parents.
Her parents did look like they were going to continue, but were cut off by the next words on the radio. "…The latest victim of the Auror wives shooting is Luna Thomas, who was married to Auror Dean Thomas. The two went to Hogwarts together and married three years ago. They have adopted twin girls. Thomas is the fifth victim of this shooting, and the third one to have died. Victim number 4, Harry Potter, is still in the hospital after his shooting to the head, and victim number 3, Ginny Malfoy is in critical condition. It is said that the killer crept into Thomas Lovegood's, Luna's father, house last night and shot her while she and her husband slept. Mr. Thomas woke when he smelled the fire; he then found his wife dead."
"Oh God, no!" Hermione cried, sinking onto the couch. "What's happening? Luna too? Why?"
Her father bent down. "That's it; you're coming home with us today."
Hermione shook her head firmly. "No, I won't. He found Luna at her father's; he'll find me in Liverpool. I won't go."
"You won't do Harry any good if you're dead, Hermione," Sarah snapped.
"I'm going to be fine here!" She shook her head. "You two just don't understand. Harry took a bullet for me. That bullet belonged in me and he took it. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him and you two, and some bloody killer are not going to take me from him. So just get it through your heads or you can go!"
Sarah looked as though she might protest, but David stopped. "We'll be out walking, okay?"
Hermione nodded, though still steaming with anger. Her parents walked out, and she sank onto the cot and cried.
**********
Hermione stepped into the hall and went for the vending machine. She noticed her hands shaking as she put in the money. She didn't know if she could handle this; the killings, Harry, and now her parents.
She pressed the button hard for a Coke, but after a few seconds nothing came. She slammed her fist against the machine, and her forehead came to rest on the glass. The drink finally came to the bottom, but Hermione made no move to get it right then.
She felt as though her life was falling apart. She looked back into the lounge. Did she really want to go back? Go back to the harsh reality? No, she didn't want to go back to the harsh, cruel world. But that world had Harry in it. And it had taken a bullet to his head to make her remember that she would endure anything to be with him again.
She had almost lost Harry before; she wouldn't do it again.
She bent down and retrieved her drink, then made her way back into the room. She saw that Harry was being wheeled back into their room. She smiled softly. The good things were already on their way…
**********
She slowly opened the door to their room, not wanting to wake up Harry if he was asleep. Walking in, she saw that he wasn't, and he was looking at her. "Hey," he said softly.
"Hey," she echoed and closed the door. They stared at each other for a few moments. She looked around. "I know this place isn't much, but it will work."
"It's better than the other place," he said, looking around. When his eyes met hers, he held out his hand. "Come here," he said softly.
She went willingly, slowly climbing into the bed. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, and she laid her head on his chest. How wonderful it felt, with his arms around her again. She could almost forget the past weeks had ever happened.
"I'm sorry you married me," he whispered.
That brought her back. She looked up at his face. "What?"
He looked down at her. "If you hadn't married me, you wouldn't be in this mess. You could be off on a cruise, and have a couple of kids. Not stuck here."
"And where would you be?"
"Probably right here, considering this guy wants to kill my wife no matter who she is. But I'd probably not take a bullet for anyone else but you."
She shook her head. "No, you would. You're that type of person, Harry. You always have been."
He kept his eyes trained on her, them filling with desire. "But for now," he whispered huskily, "It's just you."
Hermione felt her heart soar at those words, knowing that he meant it. Harry's eyes lowered down to her mouth, and his head soon followed. He went slowly, giving her the chance to back away. But she didn't, and their lips met. All the wonderful feelings she had ever had for him came back at that instant; into that one kiss. There was also a promise in it; a promise for a future, and a new beginning.
"I've missed you," Harry whispered when they pulled away.
"I've missed you too," she said quite shakily, eyes still closed.
She kept her eyes closed, and Harry leaned in for another heart stealing kiss from the woman he loved.
**********
"Come on Harry, just eat it."
"No. I'm sick of hospital food." He made a sour look on his face. "Besides it looks like puke. This food will probably end up killing me."
Hermione laughed. "You can be such a baby sometimes. It's just mashed potatoes."
"Yeah, mashed potatoes that looks like puke." He crossed his arms across his chest. "I will not eat it."
"Harry, you are going to get better, and so you are going to eat. Don't make me force it into your mouth."
He gave her a smug look. "You wouldn't even dare."
"I wouldn't?" She smiled. "Honestly Potter, I thought you were my best friend. You're supposed to know me."
"I know you wouldn't try and kill a man into eating puke."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Will you get that puke idea out of your head?! Here look, I'll even eat it first."
Hermione almost laughed at the situation. Here was Harry, with a defiant look on his face, and here she was, trying out food as though he was a three year old afraid of his medicine.
She took a spoonful of the potatoes and brought it up to her mouth. Hmmm, Harry was right. It does look like puke. Shaking her head, she stuck the spoon into her mouth.
Hermione wasn't sure what her face looked like, but she hoped it was convincing Harry. She had to admit, it wasn't the best tasting mashed potatoes she's ever had. In fact if Harry weren't right there watching her, she would have spit the whole thing out.
She swallowed and forced a smile. "It was good, Harry. Really."
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, and Voldemort is my best mate."
She opened her mouth to protest but was interrupted. "Knock, knock."
Hermione inwardly groaned when she heard her mother's voice. She turned to see her mother and father coming in. "I hope we're not interrupting anything," her father said, looking back between his daughter and son-in-law.
"No. Harry was just gonna have his dinner," Hermione informed, almost laughing again.
But Hermione could almost feel a chill reflecting off her parents, especially her mother. Sarah looked at Harry. "How are you?" she managed out as is she was talking to a child with a cold, causing Hermione to flinch.
"I'm doing fine, Sarah." He shot a glance at Hermione. "Hermione didn't tell me you guys were here."
"No we just got in yesterday," she said in a cool tone. Hermione decided it was time to change the subject. "Can I get you two anything to drink? Eat?" she said, looking down at the potatoes, catching Harry's eyes and grinning.
"No, thanks."
"Well we could always listen to the wizard radio, see if they've found anything new," Harry said. "Hermione, do you-"
"No!" Hermione said quickly. "Let's not listen to the radio. Besides it might be broken." She didn't want Harry to hear about Luna yet. "Why don't we just sit and talk. We can have dinner. Mum, Dad I can get some food from the cafeteria. We can-"
"Hermione," Harry cut in, half amused, half confused. "You're babbling. What's going on?"
"Nothing Harry, I'm just sick of the news. Why don't we-"
Harry cut her off again. "What's going on?" he demanded. "Did something happen? Another killing?" he looked around at all their faces. "Someone, answer me!"
Hermione sighed. Might as well get it over with now. "It's Luna, Harry. She was killed early this morning."
Harry closed his eyes. "No…"
That's when Sarah decided to jump in. "Harry, we want Hermione to come back with us to Liverpool. She'll be safer there."
"Mother!" Hermione slammed her fork onto the plate. "How many times do we have to go through this?"
Her mother continued to look at Harry, her eyes and voice almost pleading. "We're worried. Try and make her see reason."
Hermione didn't know if she could take her mother turning on her like this.
Harry looked over to Hermione. "It might be a good idea…"
She shook her head firmly, walking over and taking his hand. "I'm staying with you Harry. Don't even think about trying to change my mind."
He looked at her a bit longer, sighed and looked back at her parents. "You know Herm. When she makes her mind up, it stays that way. Besides with all the protection she has here, I doubt he'll come back while we're here."
"Don't be selfish," David hissed. "You haven't cared these past few months, and now that you need taking care of, you need her with you. She's my daughter!"
"And she's my wife, and believe me if I thought she'd be safer in Liverpool, I'd make her go."
"What can you do to protect her now?" Sarah cried. "Why should we believe you?"
"I'll make sure she's protected, Sarah. I may not be in the best condition right now, but it's my job to this… And I want to," he added softly, tightening his grip on her hand.
Hermione turned to her red-eyed parents. "I've made my choice. The least I can do is stay here and take of him, after all he's done for me." She didn't notice the way Harry's expression turned to guilt, regret, and even sadness.
Her mother lost it. "But you're our only daughter, our only child. I won't let this be the last time we see you, Hermione," she cried, burying her face into her husband's chest.
Hermione closed her eyes in guilt. She had never thought as to how her parents may feel. They were scared. She walked over. "Mum," she said softly. "Mum, I'm going to be okay. Please, just let me do this. I'll call you every day."
"Promise?" Sarah asked through her tears.
"I promise." She hugged her mother and father goodbye.
David followed Sarah out the door. He stopped and turned around. "You know, Hermione. Those mashed potatoes look like puke."
He closed the door, Hermione laughing and shaking her head. "It does, that it does…" she muttered.
She looked back at Harry. "What's wrong?" she asked when she noticed his face.
"You don't owe me anything," he said quietly, his voice filled with regret. "You don't have to stay and take care of me."
"I want to."
"Why?" It was a simple question, and there was a simple answer. But she was just too tired to dwell much on it…
"For the same reason you want to take care of me."
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