Darkness Descending
Chapter 7: The Darkest Night.
The sun had just dipped below the horizon, casting the Burrow into shadow as the fading remnants of daylight disappeared. Bats were swooping and diving through the clearing chasing insects in an intricate dance of life and death while the Weasleys were cleaning up the dishes from dessert.
Molly Weasley could be seen clearly through the open window in the kitchen as she busied herself over the dishes in the sink. As the lights came on in the rest of the house, various members of the Weasley family could be seen going about their business completely unaware of the trouble that was brewing outside.
Voldemort surveyed the ramshackle home of the Weasleys in disgust from the orchard just beyond the wards. The odd angles, sloping roofline, and the general shabbiness were everything that a proper pure blood home shouldn't be. Even his filthy muggle father lived in a proper mansion as befitting of someone of importance. Disgusted at the blood traitors, he turned to the woman next to him and hissed softly, "Put up the wards to prevent their escape Bella. Yaxley will have the floo network disabled in a few moments and then we will strike."
Bowing low, Bellatrix Lestrange answered reverently, "At once, My Lord." Striding a few feet away, the dark haired witch began weaving a complex pattern with her wand as she set out to complete her master's wishes.
Placing her wand back into her robes, Bellatrix simpered, "It is done, Milord. The blood traitors will not escape by apparition or portkey."
"Excellent." Voldemort hissed as he gazed at the scene before him that was unfolding in the kitchen.
Arthur Weasley had been talking to his co-worker, Perkins, when his head was suddenly ejected from the fireplace. Picking himself up from the floor hastily, he shifted his gaze to the Family Clock. Every hand was pointing to Mortal Peril.
Risking a glance outside, Arthur thought that he could see shapes moving about in the darkness. "Molly; children! Come here quickly!" He shouted as ran into the kitchen dousing the lights as he went.
"What's wrong, Arthur?" Molly asked as she bustled into the kitchen with Ron and Ginny in tow.
"Death Eaters." Arthur's one word response sent shivers down everyone's back.
Everyone in the family knew what they were capable of, even Ron and Ginny. It was never a good thing when Voldemort's minions were calling at your home.
Rushing over to the fireplace, Arthur threw in some powder but the flames refused to turn green. "Damn, they've cut off the floo network and I'm sure that there are anti transport wards already up." He said solemnly. Turning to his two youngest, he said sharply, "Get up to the roof with your brooms. When the spells start flying, take off and head for the Lovegoods if you can."
Ginny's face turned ashen as she said, "My broom is in the shed outside."
"You can ride with me, Gin." Ron said supportively as he patted her shoulder before taking off towards his room with her on his heels.
Molly watched her two youngest children hurry to follow her husband's orders before she turned her gaze to the family clock. All of the hands were pointing to `Moral Peril' but no one had died. Slightly relieved, she turned to Arthur and whispered, "What now?"
Arthur's visage darkened as he steeled himself for what he knew was the end. Turning his attention to Molly, he pulled her into a hug and whispered, "We fight so Ron and Ginny can escape. Hopefully, The Order will get here in time with reinforcements."
Stepping away from his wife of twenty plus years, Arthur quickly sent his Patronus off to Minerva with a plea for help. He pointed towards a spot just behind the stairs that would provide some cover from spells.
Molly understood at once and nodded her agreement as she took up her position. They were going to let the Death Eaters enter the house if they could to take away their numerical advantage.
Once his wife was in place, Arthur levitated the dinner table into hall and transfigured it into a stone barrier. Satisfied with their preparations, he blasted the door outwards and sent a barrage of spells out to distract the Death Eaters.
Ron and Ginny were up in the attic when the front door to the Burrow blew open. Taking that as their signal to go, they mounted the broom and launched themselves out the window into the night sky.
Unused to flying with two people on a broom Ron miscalculated and as a result, they plummeted towards the ground before he regained control.
Ginny's scream of terror gave their position away and the Death Eaters that weren't tied up with their parents began firing spells in their direction.
Just as Ron wrenched the broom upwards a spell shattered the handle sending them both plummeting to the earth. With a sickening thud, Ginny and Ron landed in a tangled heap of broken bones and the shards of the broom.
Molly heard Ginny's scream and was out the front door before Arthur could stop her. For a brief moment, he could see every detail of his wife of over twenty years in sharp relief as she was bathed in an ethereal greenish glow. Emotions flashed in her eyes as her soul was ripped from her body, the biggest of them regret and sorrow.
"No!" rasped Arthur as he watched Molly crumple lifelessly to the ground just outside the back door. Time seemed to stop for a moment as he knelt there, rooted to the spot as spells whipped past him. He could see Molly's lifeless eyes gazing back at him before something inside of him snapped.
Reaching into his robes, Arthur withdrew a device that he knew Molly would have never approved of, nor let him have it anywhere near the children. Yanking the pin, he fired two reducto's out the front door into the ground causing debris to fly into the air. As the dust settled, he tossed the small sphere out the door and dove for cover behind the table.
Voldemort stood his ground when the shower of debris erupted by the back door to the Burrow. A simple shield charm deflected anything that came too close for comfort. He was just about to order his followers to storm the house when he saw a small object come flying out the door and land amongst a few of them.
"Look, the worthless blood-traitor is throwing rocks!" Crabbe guffawed as Goyle and MacNair laughed at the small rock that had landed in their midst. Their laughter at having a rock thrown at them was short lived when the exploding grenade shredded their bodies. Shrapnel flew in every direction, peppering the Death Eaters within the blast radius with hot metal. Fortunately, the three laughing fools took the brunt of the blast and were the only fatalities. Only Voldemort remained unscathed due to his shield spell.
Bellatrix hissed in pain as she removed the hot piece of metal from her shoulder with a quick spell. Once the fragment was in her hand, she dropped it and bellowed, "You filthy blood-traitor!" as she began marching towards the back door where Arthur Weasley was taking shelter.
Voldemort bent down and picked up the piece of discarded metal from Bella's wound and examined it carefully. It was still hot to the touch and he felt no traces of magic on the item in his hands. Turning the fragment over as he inspected it, he realized what the small rock like item had really been, a muggle hand grenade. Furious that such a mundane thing could do so much damage to wizards, he tossed away the piece of metal with disgust. He fired a spell at the Burrow that shattered all of the glass windows and blew the debris inwards with a resounding crash.
The resulting explosion stopped Bellatrix in her tracks. She knew the spell came from her master because none of the other Death Eaters were capable of such a powerful wave of magic. Instinctively, she realized that her Lord was going to deal with Arthur Weasley himself to exact revenge for her fallen comrades. Silently, she stepped aside and stood sentinel as she awaited her orders.
Voldemort swept towards the house in a towering rage, he could hear moans coming from within the ramshackle house and somewhere off to the side of the building. Without pausing, he hissed menacingly to his most fanatical servant, "Find the children and bring them here alive."
He whipped his wand in a violent arc and the entire wall and door were ripped from the back of the house and went sailing into the garden with a crash. The back of the house sagged dangerously with such a large portion of the supports ripped away but it didn't fall due to the magic holding the house together. As he stepped into the remains of the kitchen, he found Arthur Weasley pinned beneath the table and a part of the stairs that had collapsed with the devastation from his spell.
Gracefully, Voldemort knelt down next to the moaning Arthur and snatched the wand from his loose fingers. He looked down at the well worn wand then into the face of one of the biggest blood-traitors in the magical world. "You disgust me, Arthur." Voldemort hissed softly into Mr. Weasley's face while he held his chin in his hands forcing the man to look into his red eyes.
As the cobwebs cleared, Arthur realized that he was in tremendous pain and someone was talking to him in a low hissing tone. Suddenly, there was an iron like grip on his chin and his head was wrenched upward to look at the speaker. His scream of terror upon realizing that He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named was holding his face died in his throat as a sharp, stabbing, pain tore through his brain so all that came out of his mouth was a whimper.
Voldemort's mental attack was brutal. He tore through Arthur's mediocre Occlumency Shields as if they weren't even there and began to rip all the information about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from the man's mind. When he was finished ripping the information from Mr. Weasley's mind, he shoved his head into the floor with a resounding crack and a look of disgust on his face. "You're a pathetic excuse for a wizard." He growled out in disgust as he leaned over his defeated foe. His soft voice was full of malice as he said, "You're children are going to die slowly before you join them."
Suddenly, Voldemort stabbed Mr. Weasley in the abdomen with his own wand and snapped it beneath the skin. His aim was true and the deep red, almost black, blood that poured out of the wound ensured that Arthur Weasley was going to die a very painful death.
Ignoring the gurgling sounds from the filth on the floor in front of him, Voldemort stood gracefully and walked back into the back yard to see if Bella had found the wretched Weasley children that tried to escape on a broom.
Bellatrix knew the approximate direction that the children had been flying when her spell shattered the broomstick in midair causing them to crash. She found them twenty feet from the back of the house lying in a tangled heap next to the garden wall. As she cautiously approached the two bodies, she heard a low moan come from the girl.
The boy was obviously dead, his head was bent at an unnatural angle and she could smell the stench of human waste coming from him when his bowels released. Disappointed that she didn't get to torture him, she turned her attention to the girl. She was bent double at the waist with her face lying on the backs of her sibling's legs. It took Bella a moment to realize why the youngest blood-traitor was still in a semi-sitting position; she had been run through by the fragment of the broom's shaft when they crashed.
Standing back up, Bellatrix turned around just as her Lord was making his way out of the remains of the house. When he looked in her direction, she shivered in anticipation and beckoned him to the pile of bodies lying at her feet.
Ginny had been trying to move when she heard someone approach. The last thing she remembered was a flash of light and then, nothing. She was surprised that she didn't feel any pain at all, just an odd sense of loss. She tried to call out but it only came out as a moan because she was having trouble drawing enough oxygen into her lungs. Not knowing why she couldn't move, she began to panic.
Voldemort calmly strode up to the two bodies lying on the ground and surveyed the scene. Judging by their position, he could tell that Bellatrix had not touched them.
Reverently, Bellatrix whispered, "The girl is not long for this world, My Lord. What do you want me to do?"
Ignoring her question, Voldemort knelt down next to the girl and violently yanked her head back so she was looking into his face.
Suddenly, Ginny's field of vision was violently altered. Oddly enough, she didn't feel any pain at the harsh treatment, just fear from looking upon Lord Voldemort in person. His red eyes were inches from hers and they seemed to bore into her very soul.
When he saw the spark of fear in her eyes, he said angrily, "Such a waste of a pure-blood. Your family is a stain on the Wizarding World that will have to be cleansed." When Ginny started to whimper, he continued menacingly, "Give Harry Potter a message from me if you survive long enough. Tell him I'll destroy everything he loves before I finally end his miserable existence."
Voldemort let go of the girl's head and watched as she slumped back down, the shaft of the broom she was impaled upon was the only thing holding her semi upright. He took a moment to survey the area before turning to Bellatrix and ordering, "Gather up our people and get back to headquarters. I'll finish up here and join you shortly."
With a nod of acceptance, Bella swept off to complete her Lord's wishes as quick as possible.
~AQ~
Minerva McGonagall was pouring over the notes from the previous Order meeting when Arthur Weasley's Patronus faded into view and spoke with his voice, "Death Eaters at the Burrow. We will try to hold them off while the children escape. Send help."
Her hands were shaking slightly as she took stock of the situation. The Order was in disarray since the death of Albus Dumbledore and the Death Eaters were quietly taking advantage of the situation to slowly pick off the known members one by one. Sighing, she took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace. Once the flames turned emerald green, she stepped in and said clearly in her Scottish brogue, "Wolf's Den."
Remus Lupin was sitting in the kitchen with Tonks sipping a cup of tea as they pored over the surveillance reports from Mad-Eye when the fireplace discharged a thin lipped Minerva McGonagall. Seeing the look on her face, Remus' heart began to race. It was a few seconds before he felt calm enough to speak. Nervously, he asked, "Who's in trouble? It's not Harry is it?"
"No, it's not Harry. The Burrow is under attack." Minerva said solemnly.
"Damn!" Muttered Lupin as he began to pace around the room while the other two occupants watched him pensively. Coming to a decision, he stopped moving and said seriously, "I don't think there is anything that we can do for them now. It will take too long to assemble enough of the Order to have a large enough force to fend off the Death Eaters."
McGonagall stood ramrod straight as she digested what Remus had just laid out before her, the tension easily visible in her posture. After a few moments of taut silence, she whispered, "Gather whomever you can and then apparate to the Lovegoods. From there you can make your way towards the Burrow carefully."
Drained from her decision, Minerva sunk into a chair and pinched the bridge of her nose as a sigh escaped her lips. Softly, she said, "Be careful, Remus. We can't afford to lose any more members. Gather whatever you can salvage from the house and bring it here."
Remus nodded once in acceptance and stepped from the room with Tonks hot on his heels. As he left the room, he heard McGonagall whisper, "Damn fools, they should have gone into hiding like the rest of us."
~AQ~
The gurgling in Harry's stomach woke him from his peaceful slumber. Looking down at the woman in his arms, he saw that Hermione was still asleep under a blanket that he was pretty sure wasn't there earlier. Not wanting to wake her, but desperately hungry, he quietly, whispered, "Kreacher."
As if sensing his master's need for quiet, Kreacher appeared in the hallway and then walked into the room. "Master Harry called?" he croaked softly.
"I did." Harry acknowledged before continuing, "Would you please bring a light dinner for two? And what time is it?
"It is half past eight in the evening, Master Harry." Kreacher replied instantly before snapping his fingers causing the dinner he had prepared earlier for them to appear on the table in the corner.
"Thanks, Kreacher." Harry said warmly as his mouth flooded with saliva due to the wonderful odors coming from the table.
Hermione reached up and caressed Harry's cheek and said warmly, "I love you." While looking into his eyes before explaining, "You're a kind man, Harry. Your treatment of Kreacher is just a testament to that."
Blushing from her praise, Harry smiled down at her and kissed her hand before gently helping her into a sitting position. "Thank you. Now, let's eat, I'm starving." He said happily.
With a mischievous smile, Hermione said, "You're channeling Ron."
"Am not!" Harry blurted as he tickled her sides. "I'm just starving, that's all!"
Hermione giggled as she said, "My point exactly."
Mumbling under his breath, Harry said, "Feisty little witch." And without warning, he hoisted Hermione over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and headed off towards the small table, ignoring her shouts of protest the entire way.
"Harry! Put me down!" Hermione yelled while smacking his bum again as he carried upside down.
Gently, Harry lowered her into a chair and pushed the bowl of steaming soup towards her. Before she could protest, he grabbed her napkin and tucked it into the collar of her shirt like a bib.
Hermione was glowering at him but the smile tugging at the corner of her lips was ruining the effect. Giving it up as a bad job, she calmly picked up her spoon and began eating as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Seeing Hermione's antics, Harry smiled as he tucked into his soup trying desperately to not imitate Ron's eating habits.
About halfway through dinner, Hermione asked, "Harry, when do you want to go to the Burrow?"
Harry paused with his soup spoon about halfway to his mouth as he pondered his answer. Putting the spoon back into the bowl, he wiped the corners of his mouth and said, "I was thinking about tonight if you wouldn't mind."
Hermione's look of understanding sent a flood of relief through Harry. He didn't want to prolong the situation with Ginny if he could help it. Having Hermione along for moral support would make things much easier for him.
Smiling, she said warmly, "Of course we can go tonight. Why don't we pop over as soon as we're done?"
Appetite gone at the prospect of facing Ginny and her family, Harry suddenly felt very full. Slowly, he pushed his bowl away and folded up his napkin before setting it on the table. Putting on his best Gryffindor face, he forced a smile and said, "I'm ready whenever you are."
Hermione saw the determined set of his jaw and pushed away her bowl as well and said supportively, "We can go right now if you want, Harry."
As he got to his feet, Harry said softly, "Thanks." He pulled the invisibility cloak around them just before they exited the house. Grasping her hand, he turned on the spot and reappeared in the orchard behind the Burrow.
Or at least that is where he would have appeared if the anti-transport wards that the Death Eaters had put up hadn't shunted him aside at the last moment. As a result, they landed in a tangled heap just outside the orchard.
"Oomph." Harry cried as he cushioned Hermione's fall with his body. Her elbow had driven the air out of his lungs. After a few moments to recoup from their abrupt landing, Harry said quietly, "Something's not right. We're keyed into the wards at the Burrow so we should have been able to apparate onto the property."
However, Hermione's attention wasn't on what Harry was saying, it was fixated on the smoke billowing up into the sky from the remains of the Burrow.
Harry realized that she was staring at something behind him and when he turned around, the shock at seeing the smoke rising from the ruins of the Burrow almost drove the wind from his lungs again. "No!" Came the strangled whisper from Harry's lips as his brain finally processed what he was seeing. When he tried to get up, he found Hermione restraining him with all her might.
"Let me go!" Harry pleaded as he struggled to free himself.
"Harry." Hermione said calmly. When he didn't respond, she stroked his cheek while looking into his eyes and said, "Harry, we have to be careful. We need to make sure that there are no Death Eaters waiting for you."
She felt him relax in her grip so she withdrew her wand and silently cast, `Homenum Revelio.' There was a faint indication coming from the garden area but that was it. Deciding that it must be an injured Weasley, Hermione said quietly, "There is someone over by the garden wall. Whoever it is, is probably injured severely because they barely registered on the scan."
A knot formed in Harry's throat as he listened to Hermione. After a few moments, he stood up and pulled the invisibility cloak around them before setting off for the garden as quietly as possible. When they reached the garden wall they could see the vague silhouette of two bodies, one slumped over the other.
Quickly, Harry pulled off the cloak and made his way over to the injured Weasley's with a sense of dread in his heart. The stench of human waste hit him like a punch to the gut as he knelt down next to the bodies lying in a heap at the base of the garden wall.
A moan of despair escaped his lips when he saw Ron's vacant stare and the unnatural angle of his neck. Very carefully, he touched Ginny's neck to check for a pulse. It was there but extremely weak.
The invisibility cloak had slipped partially off Hermione. In her horror, she didn't even notice. She was standing there with tears in her eyes and her hand over her mouth and nose, staring at Ron's corpse.
Harry knelt closer to Ginny's face and brushed the hair away from her eyes and said softly, "Gin? Can you hear me?"
Ginny opened her eyes at the sound of Harry's voice but she was having trouble drawing in enough air to speak properly. Harry realized her plight and knelt even closer so she could speak into his ear. Her voice was barely a whisper as she rasped out, "I love you."
When Harry looked back into her eyes, she was gone. Tears streaming down his face at the loss of two of his closest friends, he reached up and closed Ginny's lifeless eyes before gently lowering her onto the ground. Just as he was about to do the same for Ron, he noticed that Hermione had already taken care of their other friend.
Hermione vanished the waste and levitated Ron's body off to the side and lay him flat on his back. Harry was about to do the same for Ginny when she stopped him, "Wait, Harry. You're still underage and the ministry is looking for an excuse to get you in their clutches." Silently, she vanished the shaft of the broom before levitating Ginny next to Ron.
They stood there in silence holding onto each other in their despair as they gazed upon the lifeless bodies of their friends. The only sounds were the crackling of the wood from the burning of the Burrow and Harry and Hermione's sniffles as they paid their respects to Ron and Ginny. After a few minutes, Harry croaked out, "Can you conjure a blanket or something? We should cover them up."
Hermione nodded in agreement and without letting go of Harry, she gave a flick of her wand causing two blankets to appear. With another swish, she levitated the blankets to cover Ron and Ginny's bodies. Her task complete, she turned into Harry's embrace and squeezed him tightly around the chest as the flood gates opened and she began crying in earnest.
Stroking her back lovingly while he embraced her, Harry whispered, "She told me that she loved me right before she died. I didn't get to tell her the truth but maybe that's not a bad thing. I'm going to really miss them."
"Me too." Hermione said in a small voice that was muffled by the fact that her face was still buried in Harry's shoulder.
Harry craned his neck towards the smoking ruin that was the Burrow and saw a smoking figure on the ground where the back porch used to be. Pushing away from Hermione gently, he whispered, "There's another body over by the house right where the door to the kitchen used to be."
Not used to dealing with death on such a large and violet scale, Hermione began to shake slightly in Harry's grip as the first stages of shock set in, her breathing began coming in shallow gasps as she began to hyperventilate.
Sensing Hermione's distress, Harry scooped her up into his arms and moved towards the far end of garden wall where the broom shed was still standing untouched. He set her down gently and whispered to her, "I'll be right back; I'm going to check the body by the back door."
Harry got about half way there when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Ducking down behind the wall, he quickly made his way back to Hermione. She looked up at his approach and he placed a finger to his mouth for silence before she could speak. He snatched up the invisibility cloak and they disappeared beneath the shimmering fabric with their wands at the ready.
Remus Lupin was leading the half dozen Order of the Phoenix members that he was able to gather on such short notice towards the smoking wreckage of the Burrow. He knew that they were too late to save any of them; he just prayed that they had managed to get away somehow instead. His voice low, he barked, "Stay in groups of two. We don't know if there are still any Death Eaters around. See if you can find any survivors."
The remaining flames from the wreckage were casting flickering shadows around the area bathing everything in a haze of orange and black. Hestia and Diggle were just coming around the garden wall when they spotted the unmistakable forms of two bodies covered in shrouds. Forgetting that there may still be Death Eaters in the area, Diggle bellowed in his Cockney accent, "Remus, we found two bodies over here!"
Hestia crouched down by the wall while grumbling, "Bloody idiot. What part of be careful do you not understand?"
Before she could say anything else, she felt a wand tip pressed into her neck as a strong hand wrenched her arm behind her back with such force that she yelped and dropped her wand. To her amazement, it simply vanished right before her eyes.
Suddenly, there was a malevolent whisper in her ear, "Make any sudden moves and I'll snap your arm before I sever your head with my first spell." Harry had stepped out from the cover of the cloak, leaving Hermione hidden to cover his back.
There was a flash of red light and Diggle crumpled to the ground when Hermione's silent stunner hit him in the face. She stepped over to the unconscious man and relieved him of his wand as well before moving to a different location to give Harry some additional cover.
They didn't have to wait long for the others to show up from Diggle crying out. When the rest of the Order arrived, they were surprised to find Hestia being held at wand point with an unconscious Diggle lying a few feet away.
Remus had his wand trained on the man holding Hestia while he surveyed the scene. There were two bodies lying under blankets that he assumed were two dead Weasleys. His voice was calm when he finally spoke, "Let her go and you may walk out of here unharmed." With a silent lumos, he lit the tip of his wand to see the face of the man holding Hestia. He was so shocked by what he saw that he ended the spell and blurted, "Harry?"
The sudden spell lighting the tip of Lupin's wand caused a couple of reactions. Harry wrenched upward with all of his might while pulling backwards to get out of the line of fire. There was a sickening snap followed by Hestia's cries of pain. Seconds later, there were two bright flashes of red that dropped another two members of the Order of the Phoenix to the ground unconscious.
Ignoring Hestia's cries, Harry tightened his grip on her and growled, "If you're really Remus Lupin, what did I talk to you about in the fire at headquarters last winter with Sirius?"
A pained expression crossed Lupin's face momentarily before he answered softly, "You asked about your dad." He purposefully left out the rest of the reason knowing that Harry would understand the reference.
"And who are the rest of these idiots?" Harry snarled.
Suddenly, there was another brilliant flash of red light followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground. Hermione had stunned Kingsley Shacklebolt as he tried to sneak up on Harry from behind. Silently, she ghosted over to the unconscious Auror and removed his wand before moving to another position in case anyone else was trying to sneak up on them.
"Is there anyone else out there trying to sneak up on me?" Harry growled threateningly.
Palms up in a non threatening manner, Remus said as calmly as possible, "We're here to check on the Weasley's. Arthur sent a Patronus with a message that he was under attack."
Completely losing his temper, Harry roared, "They're bloody well dead you bunch of idiots! What took you so long to get here?" His magic was swirling around him in his anger, begging to be released upon someone or something. The loss of the Weasleys was too raw for him to control it much longer. With a howl of anguish, he shoved Hestia towards Lupin and fell to his knees as a wave of magic shot out from his body flattening everyone to the ground in a fifteen foot radius.
Hermione was staring open mouthed at what had just happened. Harry's magic had just lashed out and flattened everyone but her. Before anyone else had recovered, she vaulted the garden wall and swept Harry beneath the cloak and guided him up and away from the area. Not knowing what else to do, she grabbed him tighter and turned into the compressing feeling of apparition and they vanished from the grounds of the Burrow with a pop of displaced air.
"What the hell was that?" Tonks blurted as she crawled over to Hestia and began to treat her injuries.
"I don't know, Dora. I don't know." Remus said sadly as he stared at the dead bodies of Ron and Ginny Weasley from his seat on the ground.
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