FicWad

Chapter Eight: Shelling Out Disaster

Ginny sat on a chair, facing out the front window of the Burrow, her worries about both Harry and Lily growing by the minute. Hailey had arrived several hours ago but there was no sign of the other two Potters. While there was no hint that the worst had happened, there was also no evidence that they had managed to get out safely with the Horcrux. Ginny eyed her two way mirror, but was leery in contacting Harry, just in case both him and his mother was in the middle of defusing a particularly dangerous protection about Voldemort’s Horcrux.

“Ginny, dear, it’s time for dinner,” called her mother from the kitchen and Ginny rose to her feet, before walking towards the kitchen in a bit of a stupor, hopefully looking over her shoulder a couple of times as she moved towards the kitchen.

A loud bang from outside of the Burrow drew Ginny’s attention away from her thoughts and this noise apparently caught the attention off those who were inside the kitchen. Ginny rushed towards the door, followed by Bill, Ron, Fred, George, Hailey, and her parents. A light knocking sound was heard from outside the Burrow.

“It’s Harry and I, Lily,” said Lily from outside the door. “Harry’s in really bad shape, we need to get in right now.”

Ginny reached forward and pulled the door open, as Lily walked in, helping her son inside. Lily had mild scratches and cuts on her face and hands, but looked to be alright other than those minor injuries. Harry’s condition was a different story entirely. His face looked chalk white and sweaty, as if he had a horrible case of the flu and he could barely stand on his own power.

“Harry, what happened?” asked Ginny.

“I’ll explain later,” whispered Harry, looking at Bill, Ron, Fred, and George, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. He didn’t want any more people to know about the Horcruxes than had already. While he did trust them all, Harry still wasn’t going to take any chances. “I’m fine, just need rest.”

Harry sank on the couch, his legs giving out from under him. Ginny sat next to him, with a concerned look on her face. Harry decided that it would be best to not tell his girlfriend about how close he had come to dying tonight.

“Anyway the thing we were after is safe and with the other one,” added Lily calmly.

“The other one?” asked Mrs. Weasley, not able to help herself. “I want to know what’s going on here. All Hailey said was that you were after something important, but she seemed to dodge around any questions that I asked, before telling me that Harry would tell me if I needed to know. Ginny said pretty much the same thing.”

“Well, I’ll tell you the same thing,” replied Lily calmly. “Already too many people know about what we are after and we don’t want to run the risk of having you captured by Death Eaters and having them torture any information out of you.”

“Mrs. Weasley, it’s important that no one knows that I’m collecting these things until I find the very last one,” declared Harry in a calm voice. “All you need to know is that what I was doing tonight is crucial to my role in fighting Lord Voldemort.”

“Harry, you’re a child!” exclaimed Mrs. Weasley in a complete horrified voice before turning to Lily. “Lily, why didn’t you let him go after something that is obviously dangerous?”

“Harry was going to go on his own,” remarked Lily calmly. “But I insisted that I come with him and I think it’s a good idea that I did.”

“The point is that Harry shouldn’t have went at all, I can’t believe you could have thought it was a good idea for a fifteen year old child to go after something that dangerous!” yelled Mrs. Weasley. “He looks like Ginny did after she wrote in that horrid diary. If he was my son…”

“Which, he’s not,” interjected Lily. “I appreciate your concern Molly, but I was under the impression that I was the one that carried Harry for nine months.”

“I just think that your impressions of what is safe for children to know are a bit misguided Lily,” declared Mrs. Weasley. “I doubt that a child should think that he should be the one to fight You-Know-Who. Harry could have gotten himself killed a dozen times over and you continue to let him do these dangerous things.”

“Better to let Harry know everything even if it might be dangerous, then to coddle him to the point where he resents me smothering him, wanting to leave the house the moment he comes of age,” replied Lily in a calm voice which caused Mrs. Weasley to suddenly look worried.

“You don’t think my children resent me,” said Mrs. Weasley in a frantic voice. “I really do mean the best, it’s just that sometimes, You-Know-Who’s out there and his Death Eaters…”

“Mum, we don’t resent you,” replied Bill. “It’s just that you like to have a say in what everyone does.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” replied Mrs. Weasley. I’m worried that’s why Percy…”

“I don’t know why Percy did what he did, Mum,” replied Ginny. “Don’t go blaming yourself for every little thing that goes wrong?”

“Yeah, we get enough of that with Harry,” replied Hailey in a cheeky voice which caused Harry to glare at his sister.

“Molly, I’m sure Percy will come around, it just might take some time,” said Mr. Weasley in a bit of a forced voice.

“And if he doesn’t, we might have to track him down…” started Fred.

“And have a little chat with him to make him see the error of his ways,” continued George as both of the twins gave mischievous grins.

“You will do no such thing,” declared Mrs. Weasley in a stern voice. “Percy has to come back around on his own.”

“And Molly, I doubt very much your children resent you,” declared Lily. “I’m sorry if I implied that, I was out of line.”

“Lily, I do smother them too much, but I don’t want to lose any of them,” said Mrs. Weasley. “They are in danger with You-Know-Who out there and I worry that he might get them one day.”

“I know that feeling all too well,” said Lily in a serious voice. “Still, we shouldn’t try and dwell on that too much, with tomorrow being Harry’s birthday and all.”

“Of course,” said Mrs. Weasley. “Sixteen years old!”

“And if I’m not mistaken, by American laws, Harry is eligible to get his Apparation license,” added Mr. Weasley nodding.

“Yes, that would be correct, Mr. Weasley,” replied Harry. “They are a bit more flexible about underage magic too, namely that underage wizards can practice magic in the summertime. There are still harsh penalties of using magic in the presence of or on Muggles. “

“Wicked!” exclaimed the twins in unison.

“With that kind of unlimited responsibility, imagine the kind of pranks we could have developed in America,” said Fred fondly.

“Yes, the untapped potential, sadly it was not to be,” added George in a mock, remorseful voice.

“It’s just as well, as you two flaunt the underage restriction enough as it is,” replied Mrs. Weasley.

“It doesn’t really matter anyway, as the Decree for Underage Sorcery is only strictly monitored in muggleborns homes,” interjected Lily, which caused the Weasley children to stare at her in amazement. “The Ministry count on the parent’s to enforce the actions of their children inside magical homes.”

“All those years in the Ministry, and I never heard of that,” said Mr. Weasley. “I suspect this is one of those things that only the families who have a high standing in the Ministry know about.”

“Looks like that to me,” said Lily. “Of course, they want muggleborns to be at a disadvantage because it serves their agenda that we don’t belong in magical society. The problem isn’t necessarily the Ministry, it’s the people who are in the high level positions in the Ministry that are making the decisions.”

“I thought the Ministry was getting better,” said Ron, speaking up for the first time. “After Malfoy was found out to be a Death Eater, it looked like they were trying to make things right.”

“That’s what the Ministry wants you to think,” replied Harry weakly. “There are a few people who are high up that are trying to make a difference, but there are many others who are trying to smother their influence. A few Death Eaters have been captured, but no one that Voldemort’s going to lose any sleep over.”

“Mostly new recruits,” added Lily. “And there is sufficient enough evidence that makes me think that Voldemort wanted those Death Eaters to get captured.”

“I agree,” replied Harry. “Contrary to what the Daily Prophet has been spewing, Death Eaters aren’t the only prisoners in Azkaban. There are other dangerous magical criminals inside that Voldemort might bust out in exchange for them agreeing to serve him. In essence, it would be useful for Voldemort to have people on the inside to help with a mass breakout.”

“I’m sure we can continue this particular conversation at another time,” interjected Mrs. Weasley. “Dinner was ready before Harry and Lily arrived. I think it might be a good idea to go and eat it before it gets too cold.”

Deep inside his throne room in the bowels of his headquarters at Salazar Tower, Lord Voldemort sat with his snake familiar Nagini slithering lazily around his feet. Not much progress was made for his campaign in the last couple of weeks. Voldemort preferred to keep the Magical World guessing his next move, while launching attacks sporadically. All in the name of maintaining the atmosphere of fear that Voldemort had thrived on. Voldemort had not the resources to make his next assault. He had the knowledge to implement his plans with the scrolls, but he needed the means to channel great quantities of magical energy into an all out assault on the British Wizarding World.

“My Lord, we have her,” declared a harsh voice from outside Voldemort’s throne room.

“Bring her in,” hissed Voldemort raising his wand before getting to his feet.

The doors creaked open and two Death Eaters dragged in Sibyll Trelawney, who looked a bit shaken.

“Really, is this necessary?” asked Trelawney in an agitated voice. “I was just having a drink, minding my own business, when you two grabbed me.”

“Greetings, Sibyll,” hissed Voldemort and Trelawney looked up at him with a slightly intrigued, yet horrified look on her face.

“The Dark Lord,” breathed Trelawney.

“Yes, pleased to see that you’ve heard of me,” replied Voldemort calmly.

“Then, you should be warned of some of the things I have seen regarding you,” declared Trelawney in a dramatic voice. “I see death in your future, looming upon you like an overwhelming specter. The only way to save yourself from your fate is repent from your evil ways, before it’s too late.”

“I do see death, Sibyll,” hissed Voldemort. “It isn’t my death however, rather it will be yours if you do not give me the information I want promptly.”

“What information could you want from me?” asked Trelawney.

“The prophecy,” hissed Voldemort shortly.

“I beg your pardon,” replied Trelawney.

“The prophecy that led to my downfall at the hands of young Harry Potter,” hissed Voldemort.

“I’m afraid you must be mistaken, I don’t recall ever making such a prophecy,” declared Trelawney.

Voldemort grabbed Trelawney’s face and forced it upward, looking into eyes. It appeared that someone extremely powerful had put artificial Occulmency barriers to block him from extracting the information from her mind. The Dark Lord doubted that she even remembered the prophecy, as the information must have been completely blocked off from her recollection.

“Very well, there are ways of improving your ability to recall the Prophecy,” hissed Voldemort before pointing to Trelawney. “CRUCIO!”

Trelawney screamed in pain as Voldemort tortured her for a mere ten seconds. Voldemort had hoped that his torture would cause a shock that in turn caused the prophecy to spill out of Trelawney’s mouth.

“Well,” hissed Voldemort. “Would you like to tell me the prophecy now, Sibyll?”

“I still don’t know what you are talking about,” sobbed Trelawney. “Honestly.”

“Very well,” hissed Voldemort before turning to the two Death Eaters. “Take her to the dungeons and perhaps time will wear down her resistance.”

The two Death Eaters roughly dragged Trelawney off, before Voldemort waved his wand, sending a black jet of light that resembled a basilisk out of his wand. The basilisk figure shot out the door and Voldemort waited patiently for several moments before Severus Snape made his way into his throne room.

“You wanted to see me, my Lord?” asked Snape.

“Yes, Severus,” hissed Voldemort. “I need your entire stock of Polyjuice Potion.”

“At once my Lord,” declared Snape, wondering in the back of his mind why Voldemort wanted a large quantity of Polyjuice Potion. Dumbledore would surely be interested for something that peculiar.

It was very late in the evening at the Burrow. Harry had tried to get to sleep many times that evening, but he was always woken up moments later by his scar stinging. The last time Harry woke up he seemed to see a hazy vision of something very peculiar. Harry tried to remember what had happened but he only could manage to remember vague details. He could have sworn that he had saw Voldemort demanding that Trelawney tell him the contents of the prophecy but other then that Harry couldn’t remember anything. Snape had definitely been there as well but other than that Harry was at a complete loss to understand why he had seen what he had seen. The truly horrifying thing was that Harry had never experienced anything like he saw before.

Harry absent mindedly moved towards the bathroom, for lack of anything else better to do but he stopped in his tracks at the sound of Ginny’s voice.

“No, you can’t make me do it Tom, you can’t make me kill Harry,” said Ginny and Harry quickly moved towards the room that both Ginny and Hailey were sitting out. “No, Harry, get out, save yourself, no, Tom, Harry!”

Harry threw open the door. Hailey, amazingly enough, was still sleeping but Ginny was tossing and turning in her bed.

“Ginny, Ginny, wake up,” hissed Harry, reaching over and grabbing his girlfriend gently by the shoulders and Ginny’s eyes sprang open, with a slight fearful look on her face but when she saw Harry, she felt relief.

“Just a dream” muttered Ginny as she sat up in bed.

“Ginny, would you like to talk to me about what you were screaming about in your sleep?” asked Harry calmly.

“Harry, it’s awful, I’m in my first year and in the Chamber of Secrets again,” replied Ginny. “Only this time, instead of using the Basilisk, Tom made me attack you. I tried to fight it, but he was too powerful. You tried to save me but he had me under his control and you couldn’t hurt him without hurting me. You were killed in seconds.”

“Relax Ginny, I’m still here, it didn’t happen,” replied Harry, pulling his girlfriend into an embrace but Ginny seemed doubtful.

“These dreams, I’m almost sure that they’re trying to tell me something,” whispered Ginny in a fearful voice before adding her fears. “Voldemort’s going to kill you next time.”

“Ginny, don’t worry, Voldemort…” started Harry but he couldn’t find the right reassuring words.

“Harry, you might not have told me, but you did come close to dying tonight,” replied Ginny. “I put it together when Mum mentioned that you looked like I did when the effects of Tom’s diary were wearing off but I sort of suspected…”

Ginny trailed off.

“I suppose it might be because of the bond, I felt pain and anguish a couple of times, that I couldn’t explain,” replied Ginny. “For a second, my mind blanked out.”

“I touched the ring,” muttered Harry.

“YOU DID WHAT!” yelled Ginny in shock and Harry felt even more than ashamed about being foolish enough to touch the ring then ever before.

“You’ll wake Hailey up,” hissed Harry, looking at his sister, who shockingly remained asleep.

“I put a silencing charm around my bed, because of the nightmares,” replied Ginny quickly.

“Then how did I…” started Harry but before realizing. “That means I heard you inside my head.”

“Perhaps but I’m still trying to figure out why you thought it was a good idea to touch one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes,” said Ginny.

“I managed to throw off the compulsions that the diary was given off, so I thought I could have thrown off the ring,” replied Harry. “Unfortunately, Voldemort seemed to have made the compulsions on ring slightly more powerful, and it tried to plant some awful thoughts in my head.”

Harry paused, before breathing calmly.

“If Mum didn’t insist on coming with me, I would have died,” said Harry. “The ring carried a curse that would have spread to my body, shutting down my internal organs slowly and painfully. I was seconds away from putting on the ring before she stunned me to bring me back to my own seconds. I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

Ginny shuddered at the thought, before pulling Harry closer, their lips meeting in a passionate kiss.

After about a minute, they broke, Harry feeling slightly better for the moment.

“The important thing is you’re alive,” answered Ginny before surveying Harry’s face. “Harry, is there any particular reason why you were up at this time of night?”

“Voldemort,” said Harry. “I had a vision tonight, that the only thing I can gain from it is Voldemort had captured Trelawney and is after that fake prophecy that Dumbledore had her concoct.”

“Did she give it to him?” asked Ginny.

“From what I can tell, she didn’t,” replied Harry. “Voldemort didn’t kill her, he really wants the prophecy but the other alternative is breaking into the Hall of Prophecy and stealing it from there.”

“He still hasn’t figured out it’s a fake,” said Ginny.

“If he’s after Trelawney, I doubt it very much,” declared Harry. “His actions made it an unintentional true prophecy in a way but if there was an older prophecy made first, it would invalid what it says.”

Harry just sighed.

“You believe in neither prophecy,” muttered Ginny in an understanding voice.

“Fate is a funny thing,” said Harry. “It’s only made true by the actions of people and not by any rhetoric whether be spoken or written. Unfortunately, it’s alarming how much of the true prophecy has come true since it was made and whether or not the rest of it is true remains to be seen..”

Ginny couldn’t help but notice Harry looked more worn down than ever before and he barely stifled a yawn.

“As for your dream, you did tell me you had dreams before about the Chamber after it happened,” said Harry quietly.

“They stopped about midway through my second year, shortly before I got out of St. Mungos from when Dumbledore attempted to put the Imperius Curse on me,” recalled Ginny. “Those dreams weren’t quite as vivid or frequent. I can’t recall what exactly happened in them. Now they happen every night and I could recite every detail.”

“Ginny, just try and get some sleep,” said Harry calmly. “I’ll stay here for a little bit longer, to make sure you can fall asleep without that horrid dream recurring.”

“Thanks Harry,” said Ginny quietly, as her head crashed down onto her pillow, as she held Harry’s hand. “Good night Harry.”

“Sweet dreams, Ginny,” said Harry soothingly, as he looked down at Ginny, her vivid red hair framing her beautiful face as she drifted off to sleep.

Harry yawned, feeling a bit tired himself. He didn’t feel the strength to return to his own bed right now. Maybe if he laid down for a few minutes right beside Ginny and just rested for a bit, he would find the strength to will himself back to his room. Harry’s eyes began to droop. It had been a very long day with the Horcrux and all. Perhaps he could rest his eyes for a few minutes.

“GINERVA MOLLY WEASLEY!” yelled a shocked voice. “What do you think you’re doing, young lady?”

Harry’s eyes flickered open and to his surprise it was morning already. It took his mind a few seconds to register that Mrs. Weasley was standing in the doorway, with her hands on her hips. Several seconds later, Harry realized he had fallen asleep in Ginny’s bed, as his girlfriend’s head rested on his chest with her arms wrapped around him.

“Professor McGonagall, the hippogriff ate my homework,” muttered Ginny sleepily before realizing where she was and who she was with. “Oh good morning Harry, I wondered why I was so comfortable.”

“Well,” prompted Mrs. Weasley, who looked remarkably like a dragon at this moment. Harry wouldn’t be surprised if she started to breathe fire.

“It looks like I was sleeping until you wake me up and Harry might have…fallen asleep in my bed,” said Ginny before trailing off. “Harry, could you help me out?”

“She’s your mother,” replied Harry waving his hands, while searching his pocket for his mirror. Harry found it and quickly tapped it three times with his wand. “You’re on your own, babe.”

Ginny opened her mouth but Mrs. Weasley decided to start in.

“GINNY THAT POOR BOY WAS WEAK AND VUNERABLE AND YOU ARE CORRUPTING HIM BY LETTING HIM SLEEP IN YOUR BED!” yelled Mrs. Weasley. “HONESTLY, I THOUGHT I RAISED YOU BEETTER THAN THAT. WHAT WOULD YOUR FRIENDS THINK…”

“Jeez woman, take about ten years off my hearing, why don’t you,” grumbled Hailey as she finally woke up. “And I’m her friend and it’s quite obvious I don’t think.”

“HONESTLY LIKE SOME SCARLET WOMAN…” started Mrs. Weasley but Harry decided that he had heard quite enough.

“Mrs. Weasley, shut up!” yelled Harry, losing his patience. At that moment Harry saw his mother appear in the doorway. Mrs. Weasley stopped, backing up a step “Ginny may be your daughter, but I’m not going to stand by and let you insult her, especially when you don’t have all the facts.”

“What’s exactly going on here?” asked Lily who looked at Harry who was obviously very upset and then seeing Ginny who looked equally flustered, before realizing what happened. “I see.”

“Mum, nothing happened, I just fell asleep, I swear on my honor that’s all that happened,” replied Harry.

“I believe you Harry,” said Lily. “Exactly why were you in here anyway?”

Before Harry could answer, Ginny cut in.

“Harry had a nightmare,” said Ginny quickly, with a pleading look in her eyes. “He couldn’t get back to sleep. I overheard him pacing the halls and he looked very unnerved. I invited him inside to talk about it and he fell asleep after a while. I couldn’t bear to wake him. You see Harry never sleeps all that much when he’s at Hogwarts. I fell asleep and soundly slept until Mum came screaming like a banshee.”

“Oh this is interesting,” said Lily with a searching look. Ginny and Harry looked at each other, they suspected she knew they weren’t telling the whole truth but didn’t really want to press the issue too much. “It seems the bond between Harry and Ginny has decided to take their relationship to another level.”

“What bond between Harry and Ginny?” asked Mrs. Weasley who seemed to be taken aback by this revelation.

“Ginny, you didn’t tell your parents about the bond,” muttered Harry.

“Ooops,” said Ginny sheepishly. “Guess it slipped my mind.”

“Ginny!” exclaimed Harry. “You would think that would be the sort of thing you would remember.”

“I’m sorry, Harry, can you forgive me?” asked Ginny, looking up at Harry with wide brown puppy dog eyes.

“You know the effect that has on me,” muttered Harry shaking his head, but there was a smile on his face nevertheless. “You know I can’t stay mad at you when you do that.”

“Why do you think I did it?” asked Ginny with a mischievous smile.

“Excuse me, but what bond is this?” asked Mrs. Weasley.

“Let’s have Breakfast first,” suggested Lily quickly. “Then I’m sure Ginny and Harry will help me explain the particulars of the bond.”

Mrs. Weasley nodded, looking partially relieved that she would gain some answers in time, but a bit put off that she was being dismissed for the moment in her own home.

After an excellent Breakfast, Harry, Ginny, and Lily sat together, as Mrs. Weasley sent the others to degrome the garden. It seems that the time passed had calmed her down slightly.

“I believe I said we were going to give you some explanations about the bond between my son and your daughter,” prompted Lily.

“Yes, I’m quite interested in this, because the only instance I’ve heard of magical bonds occurring were between grown witches and wizards that were married for several years and even then it doesn’t happen too often,” said Mrs. Weasley.

“This isn’t your ordinary magical bond, in fact the bond that Harry and Ginny has is extremely rare,” replied Lily calmly. “I’ve looked into it and its only been happened two other times in documented history.”

“Its call a Compatibility Bond, Mum,” supplied Ginny. “According to what Harry and I found out, we are bonded in mind, body, and soul.”

“It’s kind of complicated exactly how it works, Mrs. Weasley,” added Harry. “Our magic is stronger then ever before because of the bond. We went through all three stages of the bond, the third stage completing the night of the Yule Ball.”

“When you officially started dating,” muttered Mrs. Weasley.

“Essentially yes,” replied Harry.

“Okay, you told me what it was, but what precisely did you mean when the bond was going to take the relationship to the next level?” asked Mrs. Weasley.

“Molly, you have seven children, I think you can figure that out on your own,” said Lily. “They said they were just sleeping and as long as they were just sleeping, there’s no reason to get upset. I think Harry and Ginny are responsible enough not to go too far”

“Yes, but…” said Mrs. Weasley.

“Mum, you trust me, right,” interjected Ginny with an innocent smile.

“Of course, I do, Ginny,” said Mrs. Weasley with a sigh. “But…”

“So if you trust me that must mean that you don’t trust Harry, right?” asked Ginny.

“Of course, I trust Harry, it’s just that…well…” sputtered Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to have been backed into a corner by her own daughter. “I suppose you want this arrangement to continue.”

“I prefer that Harry gets a good night’s sleep, without staying up all night,” said Ginny with a smile. “I wouldn’t want him to collapse into nervous exhaustion, so if sleeping in the same bed with him gets him to the night, I doubt I’d be doing him much of a service to complain.”

Harry felt a rush of affection for his girlfriend. She was good at laying on a guilt trip and the reasons why she was sorted in Slytherin

“Ask your father,” said Mrs. Weasley quickly. “I need to see how the others are coming along on the degnoming of the garden.”

A loud bang sounded outside of the front door of the Burrow.

“Who could be here this early in the morning?” muttered Mrs. Weasley. Harry watched her leave the room before pointing his wand, creating a mild privacy barrier around the doorway.

“Okay, Mum, Voldemort has Trelawney and he’s after the faux prophecy,” said Harry without warning.

“There had been leads that Voldemort was after the fake Prophecy all year,” said Lily. “There is a copy in the Department of Mysteries but security around the Department is rather tight these days from what my contacts have said.”

Lily ran her fingers through her hair, deep in thought.

“Dumbledore wouldn’t just leave Trelawney in a position to spill the prophecy,” said Lily thoughtfully. “It’s just not his style; he wants to keep Voldemort guessing as much as Voldemort wants to keep the rest of us guessing.”

“Who knows anymore what Dumbledore would or wouldn’t do?” asked Harry before cancelling the privacy barriers as Mrs. Weasley approached.

“Harry, there’s a large crate outside for you,” remarked Mrs. Weasley in a bewildered voice.

“The security system is here,” said Harry in a mystic voice.

“Arthur mentioned something about a threat that you had warned him about but you said you would take care of it,” said Mrs. Weasley as Harry moved forward. “I can’t see why you can’t put more wards up to correct any flaws.”

“Yes, but the first thing about wards is, if you put more of them around a dwelling, the one’s that you do have become less potent,” lectured Harry. “Especially we’ll need a Muggle repelling ward of great magnitude to repel the threat I suspect is lurking in the village. That would weaken the anti-Dark Mark wards, which would cause a huge problem.”

“Wait a minute, the threat is from Muggles,” said Mrs. Weasley in a frantic voice.

“Not just any Muggles, Foot Ninjas,” muttered Harry, shaking his head. “I saw a trio of them lurking just outside of the wards in the village and they saw me. Thankfully, Mum put a Confundus Charm on them but when it wears off, they have a pretty good idea of the general area.”

Mrs. Weasley looked utterly confused.

“Mrs. Weasley, I have a life outside of Voldemort and believe me, you don’t want to know what I’ve found myself up against,” said Harry.

“No, I supposed you’re right, Harry,” said Mrs. Weasley in a defeated tone of voice. “But, still, a Muggle security system…”

Harry looked down at the box and there were uncomfortable grunts coming from within, as Lily and Ginny entered the room to get a better look. More muffled noises echoed from inside the crate.

“Harry, there’s not something alive in there, is there?” asked Ginny in undertone.

“Harry, we know you’re out there, let us out,” declared a muffled, irritated voice from inside the crate.

Harry just leaned towards the crate.

“What’s the magic word?” asked Harry calmly, with a bit of a smile appearing on his face.

“Please,” suggested a slightly force voice.

Harry waved his wand and the top of the crate sprang open. Raph, Don, Mikey, Leo, and Master Splinter quickly scrambled out of the crate. Mrs. Weasley just stood there, for one of the few times in her life, speechless.

“Next time, I insist we travel first class,” said Mikey, shaking his head.

“Sorry, but that’s the only way I could get you in without the Foot knowing that you’re here,” explained Harry.

“So this is the security matter that you talked to us about,” suggested Leo and Harry nodded slowly.

“Now I’m not sure exactly how many Foot Ninjas there are, I just saw a trio of them lurking around the village,” explained Harry. “As you can tell, I don’t want the Shredder storming in here with dozens upon dozens of Foot Ninjas and having a nasty little repeat of the beating I received by the Foot during the summer after my second year. Of course, that’s just a small concern of all the people I might indirectly put in danger.”

The Turtles and Master Splinter nodded in understanding.

“Just show me where they are and I’ll knock them around,” said Raph, who looked ready for a rumble.

“You will not will be picking a fight Raphael,” lectured Master Splinter in a stern voice. “Harry has only brought us here as a security measure.”

“So, you must be Harry’s family,” said Mrs. Weasley, finally finding her voice. “I must say, I heard quite a bit about you from Ginny, but I can see there is nothing that could have prepared me to meeting you in person.”

“Yes, I do apologize for the short notice of our arrival,” said Master Splinter in an apologetic voice.

“At least you took our arrival reasonably well,” chimed in Don. “Most faint straight away when they see us.”

“Well, we are a little overcrowded but there is one place you can stay,” said Mrs. Weasley. “The attic, there’s nothing up there but the ghoul. Don’t mind it through, its harmless, all it does is make noise by banging on the pipes up there.”

“It can’t be any worse than Raph’s snoring,” muttered Mikey, causing Raph to glare at him.

“I just hope that the Foot doesn’t find out that I’m here but better to be prepared for something that isn’t going to happen then not be prepared and pay the price,” replied Harry, repeating what he had told Scrimgeour and Madam Bones during their last meeting a couple of weeks ago as regards to Voldemort. Unfortunately, the Ministry was still infested with Voldemort supporters on every level, many unknown to Harry. So it was being rather difficult to institute change, even through there were some who did want to do what they could to oppose Voldemort.

“Let’s worry more about that later,” suggested Ginny suddenly brightening up. “Happy Birthday, Harry.”

Harry nodded in agreement, fully intending to enjoy his sixteenth birthday no matter what the cost.