Chapter 13
"Ginny's Blunder"
No amount of worry about the possibility of being caught anytime while sleeping could awaken Harry and Ron the next morning. They had both agreed to be up by around seven no matter how tired they were, but Ron's alarm clock had already quit buzzing three hours ago. Harry groggily turned his head to see what time it was, and he sat up with a snap when he realized they had overslept. "Ron! Ron! Wake up!" he said, grabbing Ron's blanket and shaking him.
"Wha - What?" Ron mumbled, his head emerging from under his pillow.
"It's ten in the morning and we're supposed to send an owl to Hermione hours ago!"
"Uhum," said Ron, closing his eyes again, hoping to snatch up a few more minutes of shut-eye. "So, it's just three hours - it barely makes a difference. Five more minutes won't probably hurt..."
"We gotta get up now," Harry persisted, and pulling Ron up by his pajamas.
"Okay - okay, I'm up," Ron said grumpily. "But if Errol isn't back from wherever, I don't know where we could find another owl to use…"
"I'll go to the bathroom first," Harry said ignoring Ron and scooping up some of his clothes.
"Good idea, Harry. I'll just wait here until you're finished." When Harry went out of the room to fix himself up, Ron didn't wait another split second and threw himself back again on his bed, snoring instantly. Harry had finished with his morning ritual within five minutes and he shook his head when he saw Ron where he was.
"Ron, enough sleeping! We gotta get a move on!" Harry said impatiently, now pulling Ron off the bed by his feet.
"All right! All right!" said Ron, raising his hands, finally standing up and rubbing his eyes. "Go downstairs and I'll be there in a moment…" He ended his sentence with something undecipherable.
"Okay, I'll be down in the kitchen, and don't even think of going back to bed…" Harry ran down the stairs to the ground floor expecting Mrs.Weasley to be there, and he felt a little embarrassed of waking up very late in the morning. However, it seemed that only Ginny was at home then. "Hi, Ginny, good morning!" he said happily.
"Good, you're up," Ginny said coolly, looking at Harry without smiling. She was sitting down behind the dining table writing on a diary. "If you weren't snoring too loudly, I thought you were dead."
"Sorry," said Harry, his smile fading. He wondered why Ginny had suddenly turned cold at him unlike last night. "Uh, where's your mum?"
"She went out. Job interview. She cooked you up some eggs and bacon this morning. Eat."
Harry slowly pulled a chair from the table and sat down, examining the food that had turned cold. "Sounds like you're upset or something, Ginny," he said quietly.
"Sorry," said Ginny quietly, rolling her eyes. "I didn't mean to talk to you that way. I've never been myself lately…"
"No, that's okay," said Harry quickly. "I know how tough it is for you and everyone about what's happening."
"Very tough, all right." Ginny shut her diary gently and hesitated for a moment before starting what she had wanted to say to Harry. "Harry?"
"Yeah?" he said, dipping his toast on egg yolk.
"I just want to thank you for what you're doing for Ron - I know it was a hard decision to make to run out of Hogwarts like that…"
"Actually, it was easy. He's my best friend," Harry said, smiling.
Ginny smiled back. "Well, you see, he's my brother and I love him and such…"
"Yes, I know you do…"
Ginny hesitated again. After a few long seconds of fighting herself, she spoke up rather fast. "I've known you for a long time, Harry. Though I've never been close to you as Hermione had been - well she had been your best friend from first year, I know - but I've always wanted to be part of your circle. I've been looking closely at your adventures and misadventures, and, and I want to be part of it."
"Ginny…" Harry started.
"I want to help you," Ginny interrupted very quickly before Harry could say anything further. "I want to go with you and be like Hermione for a while because I can see she isn't with you this time...and I know a lot of spells, really…"
"Ginny," Harry said again, this time very slowly, and trying not to sound annoyed. "Please don't be mad at me for saying this - it'd be better if you'd stay away from our troubles because, mainly, I don't want to put you in any danger at all. Not that you'd be a problem with you around helping. I know you're capable for everything and such, but to tell you the truth, Hermione, Ron, and I don't really like it when everything seems to happen to the three of us. Your mother needs you, and well, you can help us a lot by taking care of your mum. You see, I also don't want anything bad to happen to her, because she's like my mother, too…"
Ginny looked away, with a heavy look of disappointment drawn on her face. "I know you don't want me…ever since."
"Please, no, you don't understand. That's not what I've meant to say…it's…it's just…"
"I do well understand what you're trying to tell me," said Ginny, her voice rising. "I'm not stupid, you know! Ron's little ickle sister - can't be near as good as Hermione Granger! She's the best for you and I'm second fiddle. I can't take more of this…I'm off! But first - "
Ginny stood up forcefully and pulled out a wand from her pocket. Harry jerked back, sending his chair crashing on the floor, and he backed to the wall. "Ginny…what?" Harry said nervously, hoping she didn't have to prove anything by cursing him.
"It's your wand," Ginny said calmly. "You left it in the kitchen last night. I knew it was yours and it was dirty, so I cleaned and polished it for you. Don't thank me for it because I know what I do is nothing to you." She did a spell using Harry's wand out of anger and hurt, spitting out a humongous black widow that filled the whole living room.
Ron had appeared at the foot of the stairs. He let out a high-pitched scream like his voice hadn't been broken yet. Harry's hair literally stood on end as the huge spider clicked its pincers menacingly at him. Ginny had already left, still feeling angry with Harry but pleased that she had scared him out of his wits, and threw the wand on the floor. Luckily, the wand had rolled to Harry's feet, and he picked it up just in time to reverse the spell before the spider could pounce. "Finite Incantatem!" he bellowed, and the spider disappeared with a pop. Harry was shaking from head to foot, but he knew whom Ginny had scared the most because he found Ron lying flat on the stair landing on the brink of losing consciousness. Ron was the equivalent of a bottle of milk with shoes on, and Harry could not believe Ron could get paler than he normally was right now.
"Ron! You okay?" Harry said, patting Ron's face.
"Uuuhhhh…Uhhhhh…S-Spide- S-Spider…" he sputtered.
"It's okay, Ron! It's gone," said Harry, and he looked back out the window, seeing Ginny keeping on walking away from the house with her hands still clenched, disappearing through a grove of trees behind the barn. He sighed, wondering if it was a good idea to go after her. Harry eventually decided to stay with Ron because he thought it would be better if he'd talk to Ginny some other time when she had cooled down. All what was happening had given everybody he knew lots of stress, and Ginny, who seemingly had managed for years to be patient with Harry's less than desired attention to her, had finally snapped.
It took a good five minutes for Ron's face to return to its normal shade of white. "Where's everybody?" he said with a raspy voice.
Harry told him where his mum was and what had happened between him and Ginny. "I don't understand - she was okay when we saw her last night, but now - but now she's mad at me," Harry concluded, feeling bad inside for her.
"She'll get over it," said Ron, getting on his feet slowly. "She can be erratic sometimes, but her being jealous with Hermione is news to me. I gotta have a talk with her, too, some time - Ginny. That spider trick was not funny. She knows very well you're not that afraid with spiders. Not like me…"
"Who says?" said Harry, shuddering. "I think I'd never want to see a spider that big for the rest of me life - reminds me of that close call we had in the Forbidden Forest years ago."
Ron laughed. "So what's for breakfast?" he said expectantly, taking a chair at the dining table. They both ate their breakfast a little leisurely to Ron's quiet relief. Harry seemed to have faraway thoughts the whole time; his breakfast had hardly diminished.
Ron suddenly turned sour. "If it's Hermione you're thinking," he said, looking sideways at Harry, "she's probably comfortable back in Hogwarts. Ginny, I reckon she's out at her usual lonely place by the river throwing little stones."
"Everything's been so crazy lately," Harry said, pushing his plate away. "I don't want this to go on indefinitely. And Ron, Hermione's probably worried sick about us as we speak."
"For you maybe, but not for me," Ron said, snorting.
"Ron, how can you say that?" said Harry, surprised at Ron's statement. "She's your best friend, too, right?"
"Supposedly, but she seems to have less interest in me than you…"
"I can't believe this is happening," Harry said to himself weakly. "Two Weasleys jealous of me about Hermione." He sunk his face in both of his hands. Ron didn't say another word.
"Ron, whatever it is you and Ginny are being insecure about Hermione, it's not the right time to talk about, okay?" Harry added irritably. "We need to think of something to get us out of this mess. I know for a fact Hermione is doing what she can to help us - especially you who's been affected the most." There was a long quiet moment between Harry and Ron as they looked down on the table, because both of them didn't want to say something further.
"Harry, I'm sorry if I brought that up," Ron conceded with much hesitation just to break the ice. "I know I was being so insensitive and that I seem to be apathetic to our plight sometimes…"
"No, let's forget it. Sorry for snapping up like that, too, Ron."
"I don't blame you," Ron said, fighting hard to smile. "I guess you're right, everything's been too hard for us lately, and I'd just be adding up to the problem if kept on blabbing about Hermione. I'll have a talk with her soon, though. But with Ginny, I think it would be better if you talked to her before we move on out."
Harry nodded, but he brushed that point aside for the moment to take care of more pressing matters. "Let's start writing a letter to Hermione - we've wasted so much time…" Harry said, standing up to look for a piece of parchment. When he had gone to the living room, through the window he caught a glimpse of something appearing out of thin air outside, about a couple of hundred meters away from the house. He went nearer to the window to get a better look, and that had caught Ron's attention.
"Harry, what is it?"
"Ron! Come here and take a look at this - just beside the barn! I think somebody had just apparrated…"
"Huh?" Ron strode to Harry's side quickly, and peered out. Two more had apparrated at both sides of the first one. Another one appeared, and after grouping themselves, they had started walking towards the house.
"You know them?" asked Harry.
"I think I do, Harry," said Ron, beginning to sound scared again. "It looks like Graham the Death Eater to me again. Please tell me I'm hallucinating!"
Harry didn't want to believe that, but one of the approaching people indeed looked like Graham. If it really was him, he could have gotten away from Willard.
"How'd they know where to find us?" Ron asked.
"I bet the Improper Use of Magic Office detected Ginny's spell using my wand," said Harry thoughtfully, "and Graham used that to get to us, I expect…I think that's he's trade secret…"
"Can we take them on?" said Ron. "I don't have a wand with me."
"I don't think that's a good idea," said Harry, pulling Ron away from the window. "It's too risky - we got to get out of here,Ron! We must warn Ginny…"
"Harry, I think as long as we won't drag Ginny along with us she's perfectly safe in her secret place," Ron said earnestly, and Harry nodded.
"Okay." They both ran to the kitchen where the backdoor was located. They screeched to a halt when they sighted a couple more wizards approaching the house who had just apparated in the middle of the vast Weasley backyard.
"Harry, if we don't get out of the house, we're doomed!"
Harry exhaled in exasperation; both of them were always evading capture for many days. They'd probably use the same old escape tactics that hadn't failed them yet, but he admitted things were getting too repetitive. "Care to run away again this time? I hope we won't be doing this for the rest of our lives…"
Ron nodded. "I got to admit it hurts my pride, but I think we don't have much choice! Let's go!" They sprang to sprint out to the rear porch. As they cleared the door outside, Harry went to the left, while Ron thought they'd go the opposite way. When Ron had noticed they were separating, Harry had made a good deal of distance from him as fast as he could to a forest.
WHAM! A violent spell hit one of the wooden posts of the rear porch, causing its roof to collapse and blocking Ron's view of Harry's retreating back. Ron hesitated a bit, but he had no choice but to continue on running the other way or else the Death Eaters could cut him off and catch him. Cursing to himself, he ran ahead to an open field where he could see some more clumps of trees at a far distance; hiding right in one of them was his best chance of getting away in one piece. The two Death Eaters seemed to have considered him, as they were pursuing him already.
Harry had reached the edge of the forest when he had taken a look back, expecting Ron to be just behind him, but to his dismay and surprise, he was alone. Graham and his cronies were already getting closer; Harry could see Ron being chased by two more at a distance, disappearing down on an opposite slope. "Go, Ron!" Harry said to no one in particular.
Harry could only hope for Ron's safe escape as he negotiated the first layer of trees of the forest. The space between the thick trees were just a few feet apart, and if Harry didn't run between them very carefully, he'd surely bump on one of them by the nose. He could hear Graham and the Death Eaters' faint footsteps just a few meters behind him. Slowing down to catch his breath was not a very good idea at this point.
He wasn't too familiar about this part of the Burrow's vicinity, because he'd never been away from the Weasley's house for more than a hundred meters. Harry had begun to wish he and Ron hadn't separated because Ron would probably know what lied ahead. He could only hope for luck, and whichever way he took won't lead to a dead end.
Harry had felt the first curses whoosh past him, hitting some trees in front. Whatever would transpire in dangerous this cat-and-mouse game, he now expected will most likely end in a duel. Graham seemed to be aggressive this time around, more determined than ever to get Harry - their last encounter may have humiliated him a great deal.
Harry pulled out his wand from his pocket, going through his mind a few spells he had learned in his five years of Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. Doing this proved to be difficult, because he was losing breath, running constantly and hurdling a few fallen tree trunks. His leg muscles were beginning to cramp, and a stitch was growing more painful at his side, but he was determined to fight it, or he'd be caught. The prospect of facing Voldemort again was scaring him. Harry had already thought of a few good curses and jinxes that could help him, mostly out of the things he learned with Hermione's "special classes".
The ground was rising, and that meant to Harry that he had reached some kind of a hill; how high, he didn't have a clue and he could see up ahead it was getting steeper. Moving around it was risky at best, because if Graham and the others saw him, they'd just simply cut him off.
Harry had climbed about a couple dozen feet. He was literally out of breath, and his leg muscles could not take the abuse of climbing much further. He settled his back on one of the thick trees that had grown at the slope to rest up a little. Sweating furiously, he peered around the trunk and saw one of Graham's men about twenty or so feet away from his position - Harry had the high ground, and he was a little glad he could use that to his advantage. The Death Eaters would have to fight an uphill battle to get him.
Harry pointed his wand down the slope and aimed at the nearest Death Eater very carefully. When he had gotten near enough, Harry bellowed, "Locomotor Mortis!" The Death Eater's legs locked together and he had lost his balance, sending him down the hill rolling and bouncing like a log, blowing the wind out of the other by hitting him at the stomach. Graham had dodged, and kept on running up the slope.
"Impedimenta!" Harry said, but Graham had barely avoided Harry's next curse that would have slowed him down a great deal by hiding behind another tree. He retaliated by using a spell that made the tree Harry was using as cover fall down like timber. This, however, gave Harry an opportunity to escape up the hill further as the thick leaves and branches had shielded him from Graham's sight.
Soon enough he had reached the crest, and he felt better now that he didn't have to fight gravity anymore because he was now descending the opposite slope, dodging more trees. More curses were whipping past ahead of him; he occasionally stopped running to return curses of his own, but he wasn't sure he had hit anyone. Still, he felt some sort of satisfaction by returning the favor even though it hadn't done anything good.
Harry had resumed running down the slope. He felt his speed was gradually getting faster, and before he realized it, he wasn't running anymore. He was leaping. The slope didn't seem to settle off and he was yelling his lungs out in terror. His right foot had landed hard on the ground, and Harry felt his ankle crack. He fell forward, sending himself rolling down dangerously fast down the steep slope for a long time, bouncing occasionally, and fighting hard to slow down before breaking any more bones. He feared that there would be some kind of a cliff up ahead, and surely enough he didn't feel the coarse earth for a couple of seconds before feeling his body absorb an abrupt stop. He had fallen about twenty feet from atop an almost vertical incline.
The spinning had stopped, and Harry was lying on his back, breathing painfully as though his ribs had punctured his lungs. He tried to stand up, but he was hurting all over and couldn't move a muscle. He then realized he had lost the fight, possibly paralyzed for the rest of his life. It was just a matter of time when Graham and the Death Eaters could find him, he thought. Still he fought severe pain to move and get as far away from them as possible, but each time he did so, he failed.
Being brought to Voldemort would mean defeat for Dumbledore who had done all he can to prevent that from happening; Harry felt that he had already failed him and rendered all his years of effort useless. His heart sank further when thoughts of Ron and Hermione drifted across his mind. All he could do now was close his eyes and wait for the inevitable.
After what he felt like ages, he finally heard feet stepping on the dry leaves coming closer to him. He was already certain Graham and the Death Eaters were making them. This was it, the end of everything as he knew it; Harry didn't want to open his eyes anymore to the world. All he wanted to remember last was seeing the towering trees above him reach up to the sky…how peaceful and serene it looked…
"He's hurt. Let's bring him back slowly now," said one voice. Probably one of the Death Eaters, Harry thought. He then felt suddenly sleepy and it felt real good - too good that he could not remember anything else he thought about before he had finally drifted off to darkness.
***
Surrounded by innumerable Death Eaters in a tight circle, Harry found himself beside Voldemort whose horrible laugh was reverberating around a dark and dank cavern. Far off, he could see two human figures off at a distance, illuminated by a hundred torches. They were hanging on to something. They strangely looked too familiar, like he had known them for so long, yet he could not seem to remember.
Voldemort wasn't talking, and kept on laughing. Harry somehow knew what he was up to, and like he expected all along, a bright green light from Voldemort's wand illuminated the two figures. The light lingered on as though it was killing them ever so slowly. "Your friends have had their worth," Voldemort said in a maniacal laugh, and Harry realized who the two were. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. He ran towards them, but for each stride he made, Ron and Ginny seemed to get farther…and farther…
"Harry?"
He opened his eyes very slowly. It took a few more seconds for Harry to catch on that it was just one of those damn dreams. Everything he saw was a blur at first, but his vision returned to normal fairly quickly. The next sight he saw made his heart leap. Hermione was staring down at him, seated beside him on a bed in a room that he wasn't familiar with.
"Harry! Thank God you're awake!" said Hermione softly, hugging him around the neck.
"Th-They got you too?" said Harry weakly.
"What are you talking about?" she said. "Oh, you mean the Death Eaters."
"Where had they brought us?"
"Nowhere. We're safe in Percy's bedroom, Harry. Almost everybody is downstairs waiting for you to wake up. The aurors got to you just in time before the Death Eater named Graham had reached you."
"Aurors? How?"
"I'll explain later, I promise," Hermione said soothingly. "But for now you look like you need some healing, and it's good to see you again." She brushed Harry's hair with her hand very gently.
"Same here," Harry responded, enjoying Hermione's soft touch. "How are things back at Hogwarts?"
Hermione sighed. "Still not good…I had to run away the day after you did because Jack Chadron found out I knew too much about him."
"What?"
"Yeah, it's a long story, but you're going to know about that when - when everything has, let's say, calmed down a bit?"
"Okay," Harry sighed. He knew what Hermione had meant. It wasn't over yet. "How's Dumbledore?"
"Dumbledore and McGonagall haven't recovered yet," Hermione said grimly. "Nobody really knows how to revive them, even Madam Pomfrey. They're working hard on it, though. Wait here, I'll tell them you've come to." Hermione stood and walked out of the room. A minute later she came back with Mister and Mrs. Weasley behind her, and they looked very relieved to see him.
"Oh, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said affectionately, hurrying over to his bed and fixing his blanket. "I'm so happy you're back. You took such a bad fall."
"I'm not paralyzed, am I?" said Harry nervously, trying to move his hands out from under his blanket.
"No, but you do have a broken ankle, and I consider that lucky for you," said Mr. Weasley. "In most cases, it would have been your spine." Hermione let out a dry sob upon hearing that, and Mrs. Weasley place a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Where's Ron, Mrs. Weasley, is he downstairs?" Harry said. Mister and Mrs. Weasley looked at each other, and that made him and Hermione nervous. "What is it? Has something happened to Ron?"
"They're still looking for him," said Hermione sadly. "I do hope he's not…Oh, I can't say it…" She sat down at the foot of Harry's bed and tears began to stream out of her eyes. Mister Weasley kept himself calm.
Though he dreaded the possibly of something bad had happened to Ron, Harry thought that he was probably just straggling out there, waiting for the right time to re-emerge from the shadows of the forest. At least, he hoped so.
"I reckon he's just hasn't come out yet of the forest yet," Mr. Weasley said, echoing Harry's thoughts. "Maybe the search party is scaring him…but he'll be back." The sky was darkening outside - it would just be a matter of time and Ron would be back. Everybody was left in his or her own thoughts about Ron, hoping Mr. Weasley was right about what he said.
"I'll cook some hot porridge for you, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, racking up her courage to talk and breaking the silence. Harry could see signs of deep worry on her eyes before she turned around and walked out of the room. No sooner than she had gotten out, someone appeared at the doorway. It was Olga Gargarin, the Bulgarian Auror they knew in the Ministry of Magic in London. Earlier in the term she had been sent to Hogwarts when a monster called an Oarling threatened to possess Hermione. After the monster had died from the combined efforts of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the trio had become friends with the Auror. Olga was almost the same the age as McGonagall's, pale, and skinny. She looked remarkably similar to Snape if not for that large mole on top of her nose.
"Professor Gargarin!" said Harry, pleasantly surprised to see her. "I'm so glad you're here. I was thinking about contacting you since yesterday!"
"Hello, Harry," she said, smiling. "Good to see you in one piece." She walked slowly deeper into the room, pulled up a chair, and sat down beside Harry's bed. "Are you feeling okay now?" she asked.
"I feel sore all around, but I'll be all right soon I guess, thanks," replied Harry, pushing himself up to lean his back on the bed's headboard. Hermione sprang off the bed and helped him up. "Are you in this case, too?" Harry said, grunting.
"Unofficially, yes," Olga shrugged then grinned at Mister Weasley, who smiled weakly back. "Ever since I heard you had run away from Hogwarts. When you did that, I thought there was something wrong about Ron's involvement with the murder attempt. Then word came that Hermione followed out, I knew something was really wrong - I know you wouldn't do that out of a whim." Olga was in her usual serious and formal self, like Harry and Hermione had known her. Even though she was almost always this way, she was still a very likable and gentle person.
"If it's okay, Professor," Harry started humbly, "Can you tell me all you know about this case?"
"Yeah, because I wish you came to Hogwarts instead of that Maximus wizard, Professor," said Hermione. "At least we would have had an ally then while we looked for the truth."
"Well, as I can see you're really eager to hear what brought us all here, so okay…" Olga said slowly.
"Unfortunately, Hermione, Maximus Blake was assigned instead of me," she continued gently with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "I wish they picked me, though, because I couldn't believe Ron could do that to Professor Dumbledore and I would've put you under my protection. But when Daedelus Lowrie took over, Maximus came to me and we talked about his concerns about the safety of Harry and Ron when the suspected Death Eater I was watching closely, Graham Denton, was hired to hunt them down."
Mister Weasley, along with Harry and Hermione, were listening intently to Olga. He had been away too long from the Ministry that he seemed to be hearing this story for the first time.
"Dodgy bloke, that Graham," said Mister Weasley huffily. "If we'll ever catch him again, he'll have to pay. The Ministry is in shambles right now, Olga. It's been infiltrated too much by Death Eaters, and Cornelius Fudge isn't sure whom to trust." Olga nodded.
"Graham got away?" said Harry, not believing what he had just heard.
"Most of them, at least - Death Eaters," answered Mr. Weasley back. "Thanks to Hermione here, her own quest to bring crucial evidence to the Ministry had triggered a full inquiry of all Ministry of Magic wizards, in addition to clearing Ron with the crime…"
He trailed off and looked away for a few seconds after saying this, and Harry thought this was odd. As Ron's father he was supposed to be happy about this, he thought. Mr. Weasley finally forced a smile and said, "More good news comes with this, Harry. Cornelius Fudge has prepared a full pardon for you, Ron, and Hermione for flouting the Decree for Underage Wizardry."
"That means we can go back to Hogwarts as if we haven't thought of doing magic, Harry," said Hermione happily.
"Hermione, you did it!" said Harry, proud of Hermione who was visibly flattered. The letter was enough all along?" She shook her head, and her cheeks were getting redder each second. Hermione told Harry excitedly all about how she found out about the Advanced Sneakscope, what it contained, how she got out of Hogwarts, how she tried to bring the object to anyone in the Ministry, and how she kept it from falling into the wrong hands. Harry was very impressed with her.
"When I heard that Hermione had come to Ministry of Magic in London, I rushed in to meet her there," added Olga. "But I got nervous when she wasn't in the interview room anymore, and someone said he saw her go out with Jedd Wright, the senior investigator. That was highly suspicious, and I thought she was in possible danger, so Maximus went out to look for her. He eventually found Hermione with Jedd Wright, and stunned him while he was mishandling her in an alley. Hermione got stunned, too, however."
"So where's Jack Chadron now?" asked Harry, expecting good news. "I hope he's in Azkaban now."
"Someone tipped him off at Hogwarts, Harry," said Hermione, frowning. "He slipped away before an Auror came to arrest him." Harry cursed loudly, but Hermione didn't mind like she usually did when he said such things. The feeling was mutual.
"I can't believe he couldn't pay for what he did…" Harry said with extreme disappointment.
"Well, at least Ron's out of trouble now, I guess," said Hermione slowly. Olga and Harry nodded, while Mr. Weasely shifted uncomfortably on his chair.
After a long silence, Harry turned his attention back to Hermione. He could not help but admire the sacrifice she had made for him and Ron. She had risked her life to get the truth out. "Hermione, I don't know what to say, but thanks for everything," he said, looking as if he could kiss her.
"Uh, you're welcome," said Hermione, smiling and glancing at the ceiling. "Actually, I just I don't want them destroying our friendship."
"Same here," Harry said, grinning. "I was kind of worried about you being left alone in Hogwarts without us. But if I found out what you did, I think Ron and I would've freaked out. But I bet you were charging the Death Eaters like a runaway train all along - well, me and Ron were running around all the time."
"I don't remember being out of my mind to do that," Hermione said, chuckling. "I count two or three encounters with Death Eaters and I just didn't think anything else but to run out of there each time."
"Ron and I did, too. Three times and that, I think, makes us all even," said Harry, which made him and Hermione laugh heartily. Olga, who did not see the humor out of it, made a face at Mr. Weasley, who shrugged back. However, both of them admired Harry and Hermione's bravery; others would have suffered some shock, but both of them just treated what had happened to them as another notch among all their adventures.
"I'll be down at the living room, Harry," said Olga. "I need to meet the Aurors present downstairs and talk about what to do next. The Ministry needs all the clean hands they could get. I'm glad to see you safe again."
Harry and Hermione thanked Olga and she walked slowly out of the room followed by Mr. Weasley. Harry and Hermione were again left to themselves. She filled him in with all the other loose details.
"I wrote to tell you I was going to the Ministry of Magic. Did you get it?" Hermione asked.
"You did? Uh, no…"
"Stupid owl - I knew I made him mad by not opening the window…" Hermione said, gritting her teeth. Harry laughed, imagining an owl hitting a closed window.
"Ginny had unwittingly given off your location to the Death Eaters with the spell she made out of your wand," Hermione went on, "but she showed presence of mind and called her dad for some help. That had helped the Aurors find you."
Harry saw something red jut out of the doorway, and sure enough, it was Ginny who'd been hesitating to get in the room for ages. "Hullo, Ginny," said Harry. "How long you've been there?" Hermione looked and smiled at her direction.
"Not too long, I think," Ginny whispered, and she seemed to be very embarrassed about the whole thing. "I don't blame you if you'd be mad at me for as long as you live…" Hermione stood up and went over to her, and pulled her gently closer to Harry. Ginny just glanced at the floor all the time sheepishly, snatching a look at Harry occasionally.
"Don't worry, Ginny, I'm not mad at you at all," said Harry sincerely.
"Oh, Harry!" Ginny wailed. "I'm so sorry for everything! I shouldn't have lost it like that back there…If I'd known it would put you in more danger than I thought, I wouldn't have done it!" She almost touched Harry's hand, but drew back slightly and hid her hands behind her back.
"We had a girl talk with her little problem about us, Harry," said Hermione, giggling.
"Ginny, I want to thank you, really, for calling for help," Harry said. "If you didn't, I'd be in we-don't-know-where with You-Know-Who." However, this didn't seem to make Ginny feel any better. In fact, her face fell much lower. "Really, Ginny, you did a heroic thing."
"Oh, it's all my fault, Harry!" said Ginny, now positively howling. "It's all my fault! I don't know if I can forgive myself - "
"Ginny, everything's fine, really. We're all fine. I only have a broken ankle - "
"If I haven't done that spell with your wand, you wouldn't have been hurt - and Ron wouldn't have been held hostage by You-Know-Who!!!"
Harry and Hermione both said "WHAT?" Hermione held out a hand on the bed to support herself, and Harry slid a few inches down his sitting position.
"They've got Ron?" Harry said, looking blankly at Ginny. "W-What for?"
Ginny sunk down on the chair Olga occupied earlier, and she was overwhelmed with extreme anxiety. "Please don't tell Mum and Dad I told you, but, I overheard them talking about Ron. A Death Eater came to deliver a message." She looked at Harry very slowly and said "The message said if you won't come to You-Know-Who personally within four hours, he'll kill Ron."