The birthday party was quickly forgotten and instead people became flustered and busy. Members of the DA began to arrive at frequent intervals, and, since there was nowhere else to put them, they converged in Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny’s bedroom. The room gradually filled with Hogwarts students, mostly older ones, and Harry’s stomach fluttered with the mounting pressure of the expectant crowd. When it seemed like no one else was going to come, he stood on his bed and addressed his peers.
“We’ve finally got a proper job,” he told them. A murmur of talk rippled around the room, but quickly died out when Ginny shushed them loudly. “Voldemort is trying to use Inferi,” he continued, and several people exchanged worried looks. “Death Eaters are “ are digging up graves… to get bodies… It’s our job to stop them. Lupin and Tonks have just returned from Godric’s “ “ his voice cracked again “ “ Godric’s Hollow, where they did not succeed in preventing the Death Eaters from carrying out their morbid task. I guess we start there.”
“We’re just going to march up to the Death Eaters and pick a fight with them?” called Seamus.
“Look,” said Hermione, “we’ve been training so that we’d be ready for a time like this. If you don’t want to come, fine, but this may be the only opportunity we’ll get to actually use what we’ve learnt to help the Order.”
“Exactly,” said Harry, “and we’re not taking anyone who isn’t sure.”
“How come you and your friends get to tell all of us whether or not we can come?” called someone at the back.
“Because he’s in charge!” yelled Ginny. “For God’s sake, surely you know that after over a year of coming to meetings!”
Harry started to laugh, but stopped himself when he saw some people scowl.
“You can’t guilt-trip us into risking our lives!” cried a fourth-year.
“Don’t be stupid,” said Harry, “we’re not forcing anyone to do anything. In fact, I’d much rather you didn’t come if you’re having any doubts about it. We’re not going to think any the lesser of you if you leave right now.” At this, a few people near the door mumbled something about not wanting to worry their parents, and left quietly. “Please go now if you don’t want to come,” said Harry. “There’s no point staying.”
He was heartened to see that only another dozen or so people left, leaving the majority of the more experienced DA.
“But is this enough?” he thought.
“Of course it is,” said Ginny’s voice. “This is what we did it for.”
“But can we do it?”
“Not without trying.”
“Are we all going together?” asked Justin Finch-Fletchley, stopping Harry’s train of thought.
“Yes, or in groups?” asked Ernie Macmillan.
“Can I go with my friends?” said another.
“I’m not going if I’m not with her.”
“How do you kill dead people?”
“SHUT UP!” Harry shut his eyes and took a deep breath. How was he supposed to answer all these questions? “Thank you,” he said to the silence, and he suddenly found that the answers were there, in his mind “ that they had been brewing there waiting to be used for months, years, even. “We’ll all go together. We don’t know how many Inferi there will be, but we certainly won’t be able to kill them.”
“What do we do to them, then?”
Harry faltered. What did they do to them? He glanced around, his eyes landing on Hermione. He gave her a hint of an inquisitive look and she picked up on it instantly.
“Remind them of their past,” she said, quietly.
“What?” said several people, turning their heads to stare at her.
Hermione took a deep breath.
“An Inferi is made when the soul is separated from the body. They can only be defeated when the body and soul are reunited again. To do this, you have to remind the body of the soul that once inhabited it, and the soul will return.”
She said this all very quietly and a breathless silence followed.
“How do you know that?” asked Lavender Brown, loudly.
“She knows everything,” said Seamus Finnigan.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” said Hermione, shortly. “Of course I don’t know everything.”
“But that’s Dark magic, that is,” said Seamus.
“Yeah, do you read into the Dark Arts, too?”
“Stop it!”
Ron was glaring at them all with a threatening look in his eyes. He had stepped forwards and grabbed Hermione’s hand in her defence. “Shut up, all of you,” he said, angrily. “You know bloody well she’d never get mixed up in any of that. None of us would.”
A couple of people mumbled words of apology, and, gradually, they turned back to Harry.
“We don’t know exactly who we’re dealing with, though, so we’ll have to stun them temporarily until we find out who they are,” said Harry, the image of his parents flashing once again in his mind, blank-eyed… unknowing…
The bedroom door opened and Tonks hurried forwards to Harry.
“You’re going to have to wait for the all-clear,” she told him. “Best go after the Death Eaters have left, you see? Easier to tackle the Inferi, that way.”
She rushed out again before Harry could say a word. His head reeled. What if it was his parents… he couldn’t fight his own parents…
The remaining members of the DA were settling down, sitting on beds or on chairs that Hermione had conjured for them. All except Ron, Hermione and Ginny, who were gathered together in conversation.
“Talking about me, are you?” asked Harry, approaching them.
“Yes, actually,” said Ginny. Hermione gave her a piercing look. “Well I wasn’t going to lie!”
Hermione rolled her eyes, but Harry chuckled as Ginny grinned at him.
“We were just hoping that going to Godric’s Hollow wasn’t going to be… you know… too hard,” said Hermione.
“I’ve got to go back some time,” said Harry, who had always felt a strong desire to return to where he had once lived with his parents.
“That’s what I said!” said Ron. “I told you not to bring it up, Hermione.”
Harry rolled his eyes at Ginny as Ron and Hermione started to bicker.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” asked Ginny.
“As sure as I’ll ever be,” he replied. “I’m just glad you’re all coming with me.”
“Hey, we wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise,” she said, smiling up at him, then reaching up on tiptoe and kissing him.
Harry suddenly felt an intense longing for the moment not to end. For some reason, he felt more connected to Ginny in that minute than he had ever felt before, and he could sense the desire passing between them like an electric current as they enveloped themselves in each other’s arms. They both knew that they had horrors up ahead of them and that they could only face them together; it wasn’t enough just to know what to do, but to know that your friends were beside you and would never leave “
There was a flash of bright light, and they broke apart. Hermione grinned sheepishly at them.
“Sorry,” she said, lowering Harry’s camera from her eye, “but photographs are best taken when your subjects don’t know you’re there.” She handed the photo to Harry, whose breath seemed to vacate his body.
“Aw, that’s nice,” said Ginny happily, peering over his shoulder.
“I need to show you something,” muttered Harry, and he took her by the hand and led her over to his trunk, where he pulled out her gift to him. “Look at this.”
He handed her the photo of Lily and James, then held the newly printed picture of him and Ginny next to it. She gasped; apart from the switched eye colours, the likeness was almost identical: four happy faces, two lots of long, red hair and, most noticeable of all, two couples so in love that their joined spirits would never die “
Ginny’s arm had snaked around Harry’s back under his t-shirt and they stared, transfixed, at the two photographs…
Another two hours passed in a slow blur, bringing with them a headache of questions which throbbed persistently in Harry’s brain, and still no word… He had been sitting on his bed with Ginny curled beside him and her head in his lap for what seemed like forever. Ron and Hermione sat opposite them on Ron’s bed, similarly quiet and subdued, whilst the remainder of the DA spoke in low voices to one another.
Finally, Hermione broke the silence: “They must have gone by now.”
“They’ll tell us if anything happens,” said Harry. “Let’s not worry about it.”
Hermione nodded and rested her head on Ron’s shoulder. Ron turned his head and looked down at her, then, apparently deciding that there was no point in being foolish right now, let his hand fall on her knee. Harry sighed “ at least they were together.
The bedroom door opened with a loud creak and everyone in the room looked up, hopefully. Dumbledore stood in the doorway, as old as ever. Ginny sat up, allowing Harry to cross the room to speak to Dumbledore.
“Have they left?” he asked, urgently.
“Yes, Harry, they have, but that is not to say that they will not return.”
The room was so quiet that Harry could feel everyone listening to their conversation.
“Well?” asked Harry. “Can we go?”
“Certainly,” said Dumbledore, “as soon as you are ready. I wish you the best of luck “ all of you. There is a fireplace in an old house in Godric’s Hollow that will suffice for travelling. Just be sure that you stick together,” and he turned and left the room.
Harry looked around at his comrades.
“You heard the man,” he said. Let’s go.” A few people began to get up rather unenthusiastically. “Move!” Some gave him dirty looks, but everyone else was looking around excitedly, unbelievingly “ apprehensive but in the good way that gets your blood pumping. “We can’t waste any more time,” said Harry. “Come on.”
He led them across the landing, down the stairs with all the busy strangers, through the whispering hall and down the cold, stone steps to the similarly alive and yet melancholic kitchen.
“Oh, good,” said Tonks, who had been talking frantically at Mrs. Weasley in the corner of the room. “Time to get going, Harry.”
Mrs. Weasley cast him a worried glance, looked around at the DA, then hurried out of the room.
“Right,” said Harry, finding his voice higher than normal. “I guess “ er “ I’ll go first, and you can all follow behind. Sixth and seventh years first, then everyone else.”
The older students pushed their way to the front of the crowd and Harry took hold of Ginny’s small hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She squeezed back, then gestured for him to go. Harry took a pinch of glittering Floo Powder from the ceramic pot on the hearth and threw it into the flames; they burst immediately into an emerald spectacle of dancing light, filling Harry with a powerful, indestructible glow and making his whole body burn with anticipation and the thrill of adventure. Breathing heavily with this feeling “ and reluctantly dropping Ginny’s hand “ he stepped forwards into the emerald flames and yelled: “Godric’s Hollow!”
The ashes whirled around him as the fire roared in his ears; he held his breath and shut his eyes and waited for it to stop. When it did, Harry steadied himself from the ride before looking at where he was. All that greeted his spinning vision was darkness “ thick and seemingly impenetrable; then, things started to appear: a long, wooden table, a rusty agar, an old piano with dark spaces where keys were missing… Harry felt a shiver run down his spine.
He stepped out of the fireplace onto the dusty floor just in time, as bright green flames had just reignited in the grate, bringing with them a spinning Ginny. She, too, balanced herself, then joined Harry beside the shadowy table.
“Creepy, isn’t it?” she whispered.
They felt for each other’s hands in the darkness, finding and holding tightly. Another roar of flames and there was Ron, then Hermione, with similarly dubious reactions to their surroundings. One by one, the other members of the DA arrived, huddling together in the murky room and shuddering as if it were winter.
“Let’s get outside,” whispered Harry, and he began to edge around the dusty, wooden table towards what looked like the looming silhouette of a door.
He found the cold, metal doorknob with his outstretched hand and turned it apprehensively. A thin shaft of moonlight splintered the darkness, gradually widening as the door creaked open slowly and the DA crept out into a shadowy garden. A lawn reached out towards a downward slope so that everything beyond it was hidden from view “ everything, except a faint, orange glow which emanated from what Harry assumed was the village below. They walked through the warm, breezy night to where the land dropped away from them steeply, and anxiously peered over the edge.
The light was coming from the village, but it wasn’t just streetlights. Fires burned red and amber as far as the eye could see, flickering directly beneath them and pulsing serenely in the distance. The crimson light was penetrated here and there by the green glow of a hundred Dark Marks, all hovering proudly above the apparent lack of life for miles around.
“Oh my God,” whispered Harry.
A/N: Two more chapters left now. Man - it's weird now I've finished writing it. I'll try to type them up asap to put out after the Christmas break. Please review! xxx