((A/N: Sorry for the delay. I would have posted a few days sooner, but some family issues jumped into my life rather suddenly just as I was about to post this. Here's another long chapter, but I just could not cut this into 2 chapters. You’ll see why. :-))

The evening after visiting Sirius and telling him her secret, Ginny was already getting ready for her next task while she talked with others at The Burrow. When the rest of her family was busy, she had sent Harry to get his Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder’s Map and put them in her room. With a few sips of Pepperup potion to give her a little extra energy, she donned Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and Apparated to Hogsmeade. Once in the area, so she could do a short distance Apparation with precision, she thought very carefully about a tunnel below the local candy story and Apparated there. Having gone through the tunnel a few times in the old timeline was the only thing that allowed her to come here the easy way. If she had not been in the tunnel before, she would have had to break into the the candy shop to get to the trapdoor over the underground tunnel, and she did not want to risk getting caught that way.

Ginny lit her wand and hurried through the tunnel. When she came to the backside of the opening into Hogwarts, she stopped and did a number of revealing spells. She was unable to detect any alarm charms or defensive wards. Dumbledore was so lax with security, she thought as she pulled out the Marauder’s Map. Activating the map, she looked over it. Dumbledore was in his quarters next to his office, Filch was in his quarters, and Hagrid was in his hut. Not another soul seemed to be on the map other than her.

Leaving the Invisibility Cloak on for safety from ghosts and portraits, Ginny gave the password and entered the school. After two steps, she noticed that even her quiet footsteps seemed very loud, so she put a Silencing charm on her feet. She hurried to Myrtle’s bathroom. A quick check of the Map showed all the adults to be in the same place as last time. She hoped that Mrs Norris was napping and being a good kitty.

Inside the bathroom, she found the tunnel locked open. That was expected since the Chamber of Secrets was now considered to be part of the school. If it had not been open, she would have had to return and get Harry to help. She hurried down the many steps.

Down in the chamber, she went to the store area for the unsold basilisk parts. Ginny felt a little bad about doing this, as if she was stealing, but she promised herself she would return the slightly used fang as soon as she could. There were many boxes, crates, and barrels. A simple Summoning charm made the box with the fang easy to find. She opened it to make sure the fang had venom in it, and she saw a drop hanging onto the end of the tooth. The only reason the venom was not eating through the container was because the container had been spelled by Snape to resist the venom’s effects.

After shrinking the container and putting it into a pocket in her robes, she retraced her steps, checking the Map to make sure there were no surprise walks in the night by any of the three residents. Forty minutes later, she was in bed with a deadly weapon hidden in her closet. The thought of what her mother would say if she knew that almost made her giggle.

---

In the privacy of her bedroom before she went down for breakfast on Monday morning, Ginny dictated a letter. This was the weakest part of the plan because a number of things were outside of her control and she was having to rely heavily on “what normally happens” and on other people in an organization not normally known for its signs of intelligence.

With the letter in her pocket for later, she went to Harry’s room while he was in the shower to have a “talk” with Hedwig. Although the conversation was very one-sided, the owl seemed happy to help her after she explained her desire to help Harry. After a last caress on soft feathers before the owl flew out the window, Ginny left Harry’s room just as he was coming back from the bathroom with only a towel around his waist.

Ginny’s mouth went dry as she could not help but look him over. He was only about to turn thirteen, but she could tell he had been regularly doing his exercises. That and his eating regularly for the last year made a nice difference. The twelve year-old part of her liked what she saw and knew it would only get better. With an impish grin, she said, “My, Harry, if I knew I’d get a show like this, I’d come up to visit Hedwig every morning.”

He had already started to blush at seeing her, but her comment turned him a deep red that went all the way down to his shoulders. He seemed to have lost the power of speech as well.

She winked and started to walk out of the room. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

Harry scurried into his room. As he passed her, he whispered, “That’s so not fair,” just before he hurriedly closed his door.

Ginny just chuckled as she went downstairs. Merlin, he was fun to tease.

Her mother looked at her as she came down. “Good morning, Ginny. What’s so funny?”

Ginny realized her grin was still all over her face. “Harry. He tried to dash from the bathroom to his bedroom in just his towel and got caught.” Her mother got a smile on her face too. “He’s so fun to tease.” Ginny watched a more calculating look slowly come over her mother as her mother looked at her, a look that filled her with dread, if the look meant what she thought it did.

“Ginny, dear, I think you and I need to have a little talk after breakfast, so don’t go running away afterward.”

She was horrified as she had already done this once and it was bad enough the first time. “Mum!”

“You’re almost twelve and are around a lot of thirteen-year-old boys. A lot of social changes start happening in a girl’s third year,” her mother calmly told her as she finished making toast, handing her daughter the plate of toasted bread.

“Mum, I already know about all of that stuff,” she said in an almost pleading voice. All fun thoughts of Harry were gone.

Her mother waved her towards the table and grabbed some more dishes of food. “I think I’m a much better source of good information than gossip in a dorm. I remember what that was like. We can also talk about how young ladies should act in various social gatherings. I believe Sirius will be hosting a few parties over the next year or two and you need to know those things too.”

Ginny helped set the table, although she really wanted to hit her head on it. This was going to be worse than the last time around.

---

Ginny had enjoyed seeing Harry in his new clothes at breakfast. It was a nice indication of what he would grow into over the next few years. Then her mother had come into the room and spotted her staring at Harry and given her a knowing smirk. In the end, that had made their “little talk about boy and girls” just that much more embarrassing for her. The positive was that her father had not told her mother about being caught in Harry’s room as she was sure something would have been said about the incident; she was thankful for her father’s discretion. Their mother/daughter talk had taken all morning and she was so relieved when her mother had to end it so she could start making sandwiches for lunch.

Harry found her when she was setting the table for lunch. “Where have you been?”

“Talking with my mother,” she said in controlled tone.

“Oh, what about? You were gone the whole morning.” He sat down and grabbed the pitcher to pour himself a drink.

Ginny could hear her brothers coming, so she said, “I’ll tell you later.” As Harry looked at her, Ron and the twins came rushing into the room for the mid-day meal. Harry just shrugged and grabbed a sandwich before they all disappeared.

Everyone conversed about Quidditch, even after Percy came down to join them. Percy offered only a few comments about the sport and left as soon as he was done eating. Ron and the twins more than made up for Percy's limited conversation.

When Ginny took her plate to the kitchen and placed it into the sink, her mother told her, “Be sure to change into something a little nicer before you go. You want to look presentable.”

It was all she could do not to roll her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, Mum, we’re just going to be talking and maybe walking around in Diagon Alley.”

Her mother stood a little straighter and her left hand went to her hip. “Ginny, you never know when it will matter. Remember what we talked about this morning?”

She was going to hex Sirius into next week for putting ideas into her mother’s head. “Yes, Mum,” she finally said. While it was not disrespectfully said, there was no doubt she agreed only to prevent an argument. Turning quickly on her heel, she left before more could be said. She would change, but she would also take a small bag of other clothes.

Twenty minutes later, she had her small bag of more normal clothes, along with Harry's very special cloak and a few other small things. Harry joined her and they took the Floo to meet up with Sirius.

Sirius was sitting at a table near the fireplace drinking a Butterbeer. Empty plates were on the table in front of him. He grinned as they walked over to him. “My, don’t you two look nice together?”

That comment just started her ire going again and made Harry blush a little. She leaned towards him and spoke only loudly enough for him and Harry to hear. “Sirius, I will thank you to keep those comments to yourself and not put any more ideas into my mother’s head. It is hard enough being her only daughter and no matter how much fun it may be for you, it’s not making Harry’s life any easier either. And if you don’t stop, I may hex you into next week.”

The grin slowly slid from his face as he looked carefully at her. Without a word he got up and motioned them to follow him. He took them upstairs to his room, locking the door and putting privacy spells over it. He waved them to the chairs in his room as he said, “Explain.”

“You really don’t understand?”

“It’s just a little fun, a little teasing; it’s not even a prank.”

She sighed and slowly counted to three. “I can take a little teasing.” Her voice now started to rise a little. “The problem is that you come back acting all high and uppity like a Pureblood scion trying to play matchmaker, which plays into one of my mother’s fantasies for her only daughter.” She was now sounding firm and a little angry. “That causes a lot of attention to be paid to both of us, attention we need to avoid to get our mission done.” She had just barely stopped herself from adding “you idiot” onto the end of her rant. Sirius acted so contrary. At times he was very formal; and others, he was like a big brother.

“Ginny…” Sirius started, but was interrupted.

“A month, can’t you hold your tongue for a month? We might be done by then and we’ll be off to school. Then you can fill my mother’s head with whatever ideas you want. Just lay off for a month!” Memories of the talk this morning continued to fuel her anger.

Sirius looked at Harry, who just sat there not saying a word and looking at his hands in his lap. She knew she was more upset than she really should be, but it felt good to let all of that out. They were so close, why could he not see that?

A blank mask finally slid over the man’s face. “Miss Weasley, I offer you my deepest apologies. I let my desire for fun have a little too much free reign, and I was not totally aware of the situation with your mother. Please accept my apology and my promise of no more teasing on this matter with your mother for the next month,” he said formally.

Ginny sat there for a moment and stared at him. The about-face was, well, she was not sure what to call it, but shocking was the best she could come up with. A quick glance at Harry showed him to be surprised too. She wondered if this was normal for him or a change from his stay in prison.

Deciding that she should match him, she gave him a firm nod. “I accept your apology and your promise, Mr Black. Thank you for your understanding.”

He returned the nod before a grin broke back out. “Since your mother isn’t here,’ he said playfully, “I will say that you two do look cute together.”

Ginny shook her head and looked at Harry. He had a look that seemed to be of the “grit his teeth and bear it” variety, hoping it all went away on its own. Trying to change the topic to something, anything, else that was not so annoying, she said, “I need to go to the Diagon Alley Post Office at three and then I’ll be gone taking care of a problem until about seven. When I return, we can have a quick dinner before Harry and I have to go home. Has Hedwig shown up yet?”

“Hedwig? Why would she be here?” Harry asked in slight alarm.

“Don’t know, I’ll check.” Sirius got up and went over to the window. Each room had a special box and ledge outside its window.

“I hope you don’t mind, Harry, but I need to borrow her to help me. I talked to her about it this morning and she seemed agreeable,” Ginny replied.

Sirius shut the window and returned to his seat. “She’s there. What are you going to do?” He looked at her intently.

She glanced at Harry, who was very interested too. “I’m going to send a letter to the Ministry, and then I need Hedwig to deliver a few letters for me. Beyond that, I’m not sure I want to say until I know if my plan works or not.”

“Is there a chance you’ll get hurt in doing this?” Sirius asked carefully.

“No, and Hedwig won’t either.” Harry looked relieved. “I just need an owl who’s really intelligent to deliver some things.”

Ginny was surprised when Sirius said, “This is about the Lestranges, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “I have an idea that’s easy to do and I might get lucky. I’ll tell you how it works out afterward.”

Sirius was silent and Harry looked like he wanted to argue, but he held his questions too.

Ginny glanced at her watch. “We have about an hour. What do you want to do in the meantime?” The other two seemed to change mental gears, based on their expressions. They were not going to argue with her, and she felt relieved.

“I, uh, I was wondering if we could get my glasses looked at,” Harry said with some hesitation. “It’s been a long time, and well, I don’t think they work as well as they used to.”

Sirius look hurt. “Harry! Why didn’t you say something sooner? I can’t believe I didn’t think of having your eyes checked. Come on, let go do that now.”

As they left the room, Ginny asked, “Harry, have you ever thought about contacts?”

---

When they left the eye Healer’s shop, Ginny thought every girl in Hogwarts owed her, not that she would allow them to enjoy the benefits as much as she planned to. Harry had gotten contacts and his eyes were more gorgeous than ever before since they were not hidden behind glasses. Better still, they would change with his needs and keep dust and other things out of his eyes. Magical contacts did not have to be removed and cleaned like Muggle ones did either. Magic was very handy at times. She even wondered if they would help him to become an even better Seeker than he already was.

While Harry was getting his eyes examined, Sirius had left saying he had to run a quick errand in Knockturn Alley. When he returned, he whispered to her that he had ordered the phoenix tears and offered a thousand Galleon bonus if the man could get them in the next three weeks.

After a stop by the Post Office to mail her letter, they all went back to Sirius’s room and Ginny went behind a changing screen and donned the older clothes she had brought with her. She also dug into her bag and pulled out some small scraps of cloth, a pair of Omnioculars, and a shrunken broom, putting them all into pockets. Lastly, she pulled out a cloak to make her look non-descript and Harry’s Invisibility cloak.

“I can’t wait to hear about this,” Sirius commented as he watched her prepare.

“Me too,” Harry added.

Ginny opened the window and pulled Hedwig in. “The truly sad part is that I need to do this today just to be sure I don’t miss an opportunity, but the reality is, I probably won’t have to do anything until tomorrow.” She opened her black cloak and pulled Hedwig in, holding the owl close to her body, then she closed the cloak. She was obviously hiding something because of the bulge in her cloak, but she doubted anyone would say anything.

“Hey, Harry.” Sirius nudged his godson with his elbow. “I bet you’d like to be where your owl is right now, wouldn’t you?”

Almost anyone, she amended mentally before she quickly drew her wand and soundlessly shot a Stinging hex at the man, hitting him in the chest.

“Ow! Why’d you do that?” he complained. “Your mother isn’t here.”

Ginny smiled sweetly. “No, she isn’t and I’m not upset either. I’m just returning your tease.” She swore she would prank him good one day. “And Sirius, while I’m gone, this might be a good opportunity to talk to Harry about girls, since his git of an Uncle never would have had that sort of talk with him.” It was mean of her to do, but Harry really did need to know and she far preferred Sirius doing it than her father. The idea of her father having that conversation with Harry gave her the shivers.

Sirius looked at her in confusion for second before he suddenly brightened. “Oh, right, right.” He looked down at Harry with an impish grin, which caused Harry to look scared. “Brilliant idea, Ginny. You said you wouldn’t be back until seven?”

“Correct.”

“That will give us plenty of time. Yes,” he drawled, “plenty of time. On with you then, and do be careful,” he encouraged her.

“Yeah, be careful Ginny.” Harry looked like he wanted to hug her.

She was not sure if he did not do so because of his own owl under her cloak or because of his godfather standing there, but she assumed the latter. “Don’t worry, I will.”

Ginny left them and went downstairs to the Apparation point through the wards of the place. “Harry is going to kill me for what he has to endure for the next few hours, but I hope he understands that it’s for a good reason,” she thought. The mental image of an old wizard saying that made her mentally cringe. Ginny hoped Harry did not see her like their Headmaster.

---

Four hours later, a bored and slightly tired Ginny Apparated back to the Leaky Cauldron and went upstairs and knocked on a door. Sirius opened it and waved her in. Inside, she found a very embarrassed looking Harry who also looked a little glassy-eyed as he sat in his chair.

She opened her cloak and let Hedwig out she before rounded on Sirius. “What have you done to him?” she angrily hissed. Ginny did not remember pulling her wand out, but it was in her hand and in front of Sirius’s face.

“Whoa there, Ginny. Nothing’s really wrong.” He took a step back.

“Nothing’s wrong?” She took a step forward. “Then explain to me why he can’t see straight right now.” If she did not know better, she would say he had been drinking, but there were no glasses or a bottle out.

Sirius took another step back and hit the door.

Ginny took another step forward and inwardly smirked at having him trapped and scared of a twelve year-old girl, or at least, she looked twelve. Right now, she was feeling every bit of her twenty-one years and he was messing with her Harry. “Start talking, now!” she commanded. It was with great satisfaction that she noticed sweat was starting to appear on Sirius’s forehead.

“I, uh, I know how it looks, Ginny,” he started hesitantly, “but nothing really happened other than we had a talk about wizards and witches, and little wizards and witches.” He looked a little shifty as he said that.

She let her wand waver slightly.

“All right,” he quickly said as his resolve buckled. “Look, it was a difficult talk and I thought one little shot of Firewhiskey would help…”

“A shot of Firewhiskey!” she screeched. Her wand moved to right between his eyes.

“All right, it was two; but I swear to Merlin that was all!” He looked to be pleading for his life.

“He’s only thirteen, for Merlin’s sake!” She was beside herself in anger. How could he do that?

“I know, and I made sure they were small, but they really did help. Trust me, Ginny, it really was the best way,” he said almost pleadingly.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Harry watching them carefully, almost as if he was forcing himself to do so. Unable to stop her temper, a pale green spell came out of her wand and hit Sirius in the face. He fell to his knees while she turned and went over to Harry. Reaching back to old memories, she cast a Sobering charm on him. It would not take away all of the effects of being drunk, but it would take away the worst parts and allow him to function.

Harry groaned and put his face into his hands. A muffled, “Oh, my head,” came out.

“I’ll get something for that Harry. Just hold on for a few minutes,” she told him as softly as she could.

Turning, she saw Sirius was still fighting with the little green bats circling him. She cast a Silencing spell at him so as not to disturb Harry and then left the room. Downstairs, Tom was happy to sell her a Headache potion. Back in the room, she gave the potion to Harry who quaffed it gratefully, although he would not look at her in the face. She noted that Sirius had dispelled the bat bogies.

She sighed. “Come on, Harry. Let’s go home. I’m sure Mum will have something left over, or else she’ll be happy to make dinner for you. We’ll leave the prat to drink adult beverages on his own.” She gave Sirius a glare, who did look ashamed.

Ginny let Hedwig out the window and told her to fly back to The Burrow. “Pay attention to Wednesday’s paper.” She skipped telling Sirius good-night or any other pleasantries. Grabbing her bag, she guided Harry out.

“’Night, Sirius,” Harry called out as they left.

“Are you OK, Harry?” she asked as they walked down to the main room to Floo home.

“Yeah, I’m fine. How did things go for you?” he asked timidly, still not looking at her.

“Boring. I didn’t think anything would happen and I was right. I’ll just have to get up early in the morning to take care of it.”

He still would not look at her. This was going to have to be taken care of before the returned home, she thought. So she pulled him over to the side of the room away from everyone else.

“Harry, you’re going to have to let it go and act normal or everyone at home will know that something is up.”

He nodded, but still did not look at her.

“Harry look at me.”

He slowly lifted his head, but he was beet red.

“Look, if it will make you feel any better, I know exactly how you feel…”

“I really don’t think so,” he whispered, letting his eyes go down as his head stayed up.

“Actually, I do, because my mother gave me the ‘little wizards and witches’ talk this morning.” His eyes came up and locked onto hers. “Yes, that’s where I was all morning. Talking about that and about how I’m supposed to behave at social gatherings like a prim and proper young witch who wants to be courted.”

Harry slowly grinned and silently chuckled. “At least I didn’t have to hear about social gatherings.”

“Lucky you,” she said with a smile. “So we’ve both been embarrassed today, but we have to keep the stiff upper lip and all that crap.” He grinned more at her joke. “That’s better. Now let’s go home. We can tell Mum that Sirius keep us out all afternoon walking around Diagon Alley and being a man forgot about dinner. Mum will be all sympathetic and probably not ask much about our day, and we’ll get a good meal out of it. How about it?”

“OK,” Harry said, much more at ease than a few minutes ago.

When they got home, Ginny went upstairs and dropped all of her stuff off. Back downstairs, she found her mother giving Harry a hug while making much about his eyes and lack of glasses. Her mother was also promising him she would feed him. Since everyone else had already eaten, the two had a great meal with no one else there and shared a number of knowing looks between brown eyes and green eyes with nothing between them. It was a lovely time, Ginny thought.

---

Earlier that afternoon, Minister Bones was looking over a document describing Britain’s response to a request from Germany. Just as she was about to finish, her assistant came in and handed her a letter, the type of which she had not seen for over a year. With concern about what she might be warned of, she read it.

Dear Minister Bones,

I want you to know that I appreciate all of the work you and your colleagues have done over the past couple of years to clean up the criminal element. I know a little of that work was started with my letters, but you’ve done the hard part and I thank you for that.

I’m writing because there is a loose end that I’ve been recently made aware of and one that only you can take care of. It would be to your and our society’s benefit to bring the three Lestranges from Azkaban to the Ministry for questioning. You’ll want to give them Veritaserum and ask about some very special Dark artifacts they were given, artifacts which may allow Voldemort to return to life one day.

Again, I’m sorry, I can’t tell you how I know this, only that it is important and that I’m just…

A concerned citizen who wants to see justice

Bones wondered about this letter. The timing of it was very interesting, as both Lestrange brothers had just recently failed a medical exam in Azkaban. While Bellatrix was still considered sane -- barely, the two men were only borderline sane and would not be so for long. Was there a connection? Could she know without bringing them here? Would the men even have any useful information or was it all lost forever now? After a few minutes of tossing questions around in her mind with no answers appearing, she sent for Shacklebolt.

“You asked to see me, Minister?” the Director of the DMLE asked as he walked into her office.

“Close the door, please.” She reached over to her left and picked up a letter and a form from the desk. When he sat, she handed both of them to him. “This is a transfer order for the Lestranges. Bring them to the Ministry and question them thoroughly.”

“About?”

“Read the letter.” She watched him put the transfer form on the bottom so he could read the letter. He looked up a moment later. “I have received two other letters from this individual and both of them have been spot on. While I believe Voldemort to be dead, it would be unwise not to check this information anyway. I’m aware of at least two different Dark rituals he could have used to prolong his death to return at a later date. If there is any possibility at all, I want to know as soon as possible.”

Shacklebolt took a deep breath as he considered that. “Back into another war? That’s not a pleasant thought.”

“No, it’s not,” she said gravely.

“It’s late enough in the day, I think it would be best to transfer them early in the morning, according to normal routine,” he suggested.

“Fine. Make it so. I want a report on what you find as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Minister.”

As Bones started to return to her previous work, she again wondered why she had thought the decision to take this position was a good one. The memory of the letter reminded her that she would take it seriously; Fudge would not have. She would find out what was going on tomorrow.

The next morning, Ginny woke at sunrise. Lest she forget something, she very carefully got ready, checking three times before she left. The last thing she did before she Apparated out of her room was to gently pick up Hedwig and hold her gently to her body.

Arriving on the north coast of Scotland, Hedwig gave a soft indignant hoot.

“I know you don’t care for that, Hedwig, but I didn’t want to leave you here last night. Harry would never forgive me if I let something happen to you, not that I would forgive myself either. You’re just too special.”

The owl sort of cooed, apparently mollified.

Ginny conjured a perch on the side of a tree with a platform on it and set the owl on it and began to wait again. Suddenly realizing she had forgotten something, she hastily pulled out Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and put it on. She also cast an illusion of some branches and leaves in front of Hedwig’s perch. Since they were in a copse of trees, an owl would out not out of place, but she would be. She also pulled out the Omnioculars and started scanning the watery horizon of the North Sea in front of her.

Every few minutes, she would look to the water again, and checking the small dock that only magical people could see, but she saw nothing. That there was no boat at the dock was a good sign, she thought. The boat had been there the entire time she had hidden here yesterday.

Hedwig suddenly gave a soft hoot, so Ginny looked out again. There, slightly to her left on the horizon was a small boat heading this way. Digging into her pocket, she pulled out three scraps of cloth. She had wanted something that was light but heavier than parchment. “Just a few minutes more, girl,” Ginny softly said, watching the boat get closer.

Finally, the boat got close enough that she was able to make out faces in the Omnioculars. With a smile she said, “We’re in luck, Hedwig. They’ve made it easy on you.” She put the viewing device back into a pocket and drew her wand.

Ginny put one scrap of cloth on the platform in front of her. It had “Rabastan” written on it. She tapped her wand to it and cast, “Portus”. “You can take that on in your left claw; it won’t go off until it hits a wizard. Fly in slow and drop it on the head of the first prisoner. His name is Rabastan Lestrange.”

Hedwig hooted and picked it up with her left claw.

She put another cloth with a name on it down on the perch. “This one can go in your right claw and is for Rodolphus Lestrange. Drop it on the head of the second prisoner. Portus.” Hedwig took that cloth.

“And this one,” Ginny laid the last one on the platform, “is for the last prisoner, Bellatrix Lestrange. You’ll have to carry it in your beak. After you drop it on her head, you can fly home.”

Hedwig hooted and picked up the last cloth in her beak.

“Oh, one last thing, I need to make you hard to see.” Ginny cast a Disillusionment charm on the owl.

Hedwig did not seem to like that and made angry sounds, even with the cloth in her beak.

“I’m sorry, Hedwig, but if I did not do that, they might hurt you, and I wouldn’t ever forgive myself if that happened.”

The owl quieted down.

“Go on and deliver the letters so we can make Harry safe. The invisibility charm will wear off on your flight back. I’ll even find you some extra juicy mice when you get home.” Ginny felt the feathers of a wing rub against her cheek. Apparently she was forgiven. “Go on now, and safe flight.” She heard the owl fly away.

Ginny Vanished the perch and platform Hedwig had been on before she pulled her Omnioculars back out. The boat was getting close to the shore and the prisoners in their striped garb were easy to see. A few minutes later, she watched the three prisoners disappear in quick succession out of the boat. The four guards looked like they were panicking based on the way they were looking around in every direction, which she understood. They were about two hundred yards out and started the boat moving towards the shore as fast as possible.

Suddenly, screaming filled the air. The guards all looked towards the shore. There was a sickening thump at the edge of the water on the rocks and the screaming abruptly ended. Ginny took one look at the body and knew it was a corpse. While she regretted taking life, she felt no remorse for this one. Or the next one that landed about five seconds later about twenty yards to the left. Or the last one that landed another five seconds after that about fifty yards to the right of the first.

Just because one normally made the height coordinate of a Portkey zero to land on the ground, did not mean that was the only value you could use, she thought with a smirk. Three different height values guaranteed the order of landing.

She watched the Aurors check out the grisly scene on the shore. As long as they reported the order of death correctly, then all was good. Her job here done; she Apparated back to her room. While she put her stuff away, she mentally congratulated herself on a job well done, as well as mentally thanking Shacklebolt for telling her how Aurors did their work, including Azkaban transfers, in the other timeline.

Her task completed, she happily went downstairs to breakfast and then to spend the day with Harry and her brothers. There was no need to tell Harry anything, the joyous look on her face said it all and he understood, giving her a nod. She would give him the the details later and he could tell Sirius on his next visit. They were one small step closer to permanently getting rid of a Dark Wizard.

Somehow, she did not feel so joyous as the day wore on. Harry kept to himself most of the day, not even spending time with Ron. When she went flying for a few minutes in the afternoon, she saw him sitting on top of the house and he seemed to be watching her very intently. Ginny hoped that meant that he was thinking about her and maybe thinking about asking her out. However, that thought was quickly dispelled that evening as Harry continued to be very quiet and even went to bed early. She recognized it as one of his brooding moods and that he was thinking about something important, but she had no idea what.

Wednesday morning, Ginny was up early and arrived downstairs before her father left for work. It was not hard to read the front page of the newspaper in his hands. While he held it up reading the inside, she looked at the headlines that proclaimed the death of three former Death Eaters. Once Sirius saw that, he would go to Gringotts and claim Bella’s vault to get the cup. They were so close she could almost feel the victory. She had to purposefully think of something else to calm herself.

Deciding that flying would take her mind off of waiting, she went outside before any of her brothers were up and took to the air on her broom. There was something about wind blowing over her face and whipping through her hair that was relaxing. Or maybe it was the peace and quiet and feeling of freedom that did it: nothing and no one crowding you or rushing you.

Slowly turning as she reached the end of the paddock, she looked down and back towards the house. She spotted Harry outside doing his exercises. She had to give him credit for his decision to stick with them. He did them four mornings a week while she did hers only two. He would probably never bulk up, like some boys did, but he would have a solid strength.

Not long into the summer, Ron had risen early one morning and saw Harry doing them. He had laughed at Harry saying they were a waste of time. With a grin, Harry had challenged her brother to an arm-wrestling contest. When Harry quickly won three straight bouts, Ron was not as cocky, but he still thought it a waste of time as he thought Quidditch would keep him in shape. While Ginny had grinned at that, Harry outright laughed and pointed out that Quidditch was played sitting down. If Ron was lucky, he would build up shoulder muscles eventually, but he would never have any real stamina or overall strength. Her brother had not argued, but he had walked away with a sour look on his face. Ginny had immediately made plans to get Harry a weight set for Christmas. Visions of him working out when he was sixteen had danced in her head.

About forty minutes later, Harry and Ron came out and joined her in the air. Ron had their old Quaffle, which they tossed around just for fun. Harry had lost the sudden moodiness he had had yesterday and it was a pleasant way to spend a summer morning.

During lunch, a voice called out from the fireplace. “Harry? Harry!”

Harry jumped up and ran to the fireplace. Ginny and Ron got up and stood in the doorway to see who it was, although Ginny knew the voice instantly.

“Sirius!”

“Hey kiddo, I’d like you to come visit me this afternoon so I can show you my family house. It’s not totally ready yet, but enough of it is done that I can move in soon. I thought you’d like to see where you’re going to live after this summer.”

“Really?” Harry asked excitedly. “I can live with you?”

“Really, really. And ask your…” he paused and then asked, “Is Molly in the room?”

Harry looked around and only saw Ginny and Ron in the doorway.

“No,” he answered.

“Great, then ask your girlfriend to come too.”

“Sirius! Quit it.” Harry was blushing.

“I’ve got something she’ll want to see,” the man went on as if Harry had not interrupted him.

“I am so going to kill him,” Ginny muttered when she noticed that Ron was looking between the fireplace and her. She looked to her brother. “And don’t you start teasing me too.”

Ron quickly shook his head. “Why is he doing it?”

“Because he has a death wish,” she said quietly and intensely.

“But I thought you liked Harry,” he said quietly.

She watched Harry talking to Sirius for a moment. “Liking someone and getting mercilessly teased about it are two different things,” she replied.

Ron nodded. “Your teases aren’t too bad compared to being teased by Fred and George.”

Ginny smiled and put an arm over his shoulders to give him a side hug. “Thanks, Ron.”

He shrugged before a strange look came to his face. “Mum told me about Sirius and what he’s doing.”

Ginny froze, wondering where this was going.

“She said that while she and Dad would never force you into anything, there were steps short of an arrangement that could be done.” He looked at her almost with sadness. “I’ve never really thought about the custom before, but it’s not very fair for you, is it?”

She was so relived to know what he was talking about now, as well as surprised to see a thoughtful Ron at thirteen. “No, but I wouldn’t mind if it was with Harry. He really is a nice person.” She wondered about the future. “Would you be upset if Harry and I got together?”

He looked at her and then back to Harry, who was still talking to his godfather. “No, I don’t think so. Harry’s a pretty good bloke and I think of him like a brother sometimes. It all seems kinda sudden though.” When she acknowledged that with a nod, he returned to the table and his lunch.

Sirius’s face soon disappeared from the fireplace and Harry went to go talk to her mother. He came back in a minute all smiles. When Ginny looked at him, he said, “Your mum says we can go after lunch as long as we’re home by dinner.” He looked at Ron and then back at her before touching a finger to a tooth.

She looked at Ron and saw that he was looking down at his plate, scraping the last few bites off. Ginny looked back up and nodded. She was so excited she practically inhaled the last of her lunch and then ran up to her room.

A few minutes later, she was back downstairs with a special box hidden in her light summer cloak. When Harry joined her, she took the Floo to go meet Sirius. Harry came out right behind her.

“Hey, you two,” Sirius greeted them, not letting them walk away from the fireplace. “I’ve already added you to the wards on the Floo. Just turn around and go to ‘The Black Family House’. Say it just like that.”

Ginny grabbed some Floo Powder off the mantle while Sirius put three Knuts in the donation pot and traveled to Sirius’s house. She could hardly wait to see what had been done to it.

As expected, she came out of the fireplace in the basement kitchen. She had barely stepped out of the way when she realized how nice it all looked. It was clean and bright. It was also a lot roomier than in the old timeline. She heard the other two join her, but she was still amazed by what she saw.

“Looks nice,” Harry said.

“Thank you, Harry. You should have seen it before. It was very dirty and depressing,” Sirius explained. “The company I hired to fix it all up had a number of elves to do the work. Not only are they discreet, but they can do a lot of magic quickly. They’ve also expanded the room; it was so narrow and hard to get around in before. Anyway, come this way. There’s a store room we can use for our task.” He led them through a doorway that Ginny did not remember being there in the other timeline. She wondered if the elves had created it with some new excavation, or if it had been hidden.

Sirius waved his wand and lights came on all around the room, making it easy to see. He pulled a box out of his robes and set it on the table, which had four chairs; the only furniture in the room. He then walked over to a built-in cabinet and used his wand to unlock it. He brought a slightly smaller box over and set it on the table too. With two taps of his wand, the tops of the boxes popped off. Inside one was the Slytherin gold locket, and in the other one was Hufflepuff’s teacup with an image of a badger on the side.

“Well done,” she told him as she gazed at the teacup.

“It was on a shelf on the back wall. Of course, it took about eight forms and two hours to go over all the paperwork to get into the vault -- the idiot goblins and their forms,” he said with disgust in his voice. “Do you have your part?”

She looked at Harry, who seemed to be a alternating between being excited and very nervous. Reaching into her robes, she pulled out a slender box. “Of course, it won’t be of any use without the tears.” With her wand, Ginny canceled the shrinking charm.

Sirius grinned and pulled a small phial of a pearly liquid out of his robes and laid it on the table. “For six thousand Galleons, I have five tears. I checked this morning on the way to Gringotts and found out they had come in late yesterday.”

Ginny grinned as she picked up the phial and examined it. “Got a clean toothpick or cotton swab? We need to test it to make sure they are the real thing.”

“I did that before I paid, but it doesn’t hurt to do it again.” He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a cotton swab on a long stick and handed it to her. He also set a small knife down on the table as if he knew she would want to test it herself, and he was right.

Ginny open the phial and touch the swab to the cap, barely getting it wet, before she closed the phial. Setting it down, she picked up the knife and gave herself a small cut. Finally, she touched the swab to the cut spreading the moisture on the swab around. It took a few seconds, but the cut closed up and left no scar. She beamed at Sirius and Harry.

“This is it, isn’t it?” Harry asked. “The last of the Horcruxes and the means to destroy them.”

The end of her mission, her destiny, Ginny thought soberly. The end of her hard work for the last two years. The reason for her to defy fate and time. “This is it, Harry,” she quietly agreed. “Are you ready or do you need a little time to get ready?”

Harry looked like he was eager to do it, but he did not answer immediately.

“You can wait if you want, Harry,” Sirius said kindly. “An extra day or two shouldn’t matter.”

“No, no, I want to do it now.” Harry looked at him and then at her. “I want this over with. Which one do we destroy first?”

“The one in you first, Harry,” she said and he nodded. “Harry, this will hurt and it’s possible this may make you weak enough that we don’t finish until tomorrow. There nothing wrong with that if it happens.” He nodded again.

She opened the box with the fang and unwrapped it, being very careful not to touch it. “Oh bloody hell… I forgot my dragon hide gloves.”

“You mean like the ones used in Potions?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah, I thought they would make it safer to handle.”

“Hold on, there’s probably some in the house.” He left to go look.

She watched Harry stare at the fang. “Are you really all right?” she softly asked.

He nodded, as if not wanting to say anything, and in a way she understood. After a long moment, he said, “I just can’t believe I have a piece of Him in me and no one ever said anything.” He looked at her as if thinking very hard. “If the Killing Curse doesn’t leave a mark, why do I have a curse scar? And since I do, why didn’t anyone ever suspect something was wrong with it?”

Ginny wanted to laugh, but for his sake she contained her mirth to a wry smile. “Because those are logical questions and the Wizarding World doesn’t have much logic, Harry.” He scowled and she chuckled. “I know, not a very comforting answer, but I don’t have any other. When you feel like up to it, ask Dumbledore and see what he says.”

“I might do that one day…”

“You may get your chance sooner than you think,” she said with a grin.

“Why?”

Sirius came striding in with a pair of gloves. “Found them in my old school trunk. They still seem good though.” He handed them to Harry who put them on and checked them for holes.

When Harry was satisfied, he looked at Ginny. “Why might I ask Dumbledore sooner?”

“Because, in the other timeline, when we took the soul fragment out of you and the wound was healed, your scar became almost non-existent. If that happens this time too, then Dumbledore will surely notice it sometime this year and ask about it. You can ignore it and tell him it’s none of his business, or you can use it to ask him your questions.” She shrugged. “It’s your choice.”

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before he smiled. “I could lose my scar, huh? Awesome!”

Ginny and Sirius both laughed.

“Ready?” his godfather asked him.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Harry reached down and picked up the fang.

“Here, let me help,” Ginny told him. She brushed his hair away from his forehead. “Now turn it around so it points towards you. Sirius, get the tears and have them ready.” Once the fang was pointed towards him, Ginny held his wrists and moved the fang until it was positioned right over his scar. It was slightly amusing to watch him go cross-eyed trying to watch the tip of the fang. “It’s about a half inch over your scar, Harry. Just jab it towards you.”

“Er, can I kill myself this way? I mean, what happens if I jab too hard and it goes into my brain?” he asked nervously.

“You have something called a skull, Harry,” Sirius told him teasingly, to help dispel the fear.

“Oh, right,” he said sheepishly. He looked at Ginny. “Is it still in the right place?”

She moved it slightly. “Whenever you’re ready, Harry. And Harry?” He looked her right in the eyes. “It will work and I’ll be right here to take care of you.”

Harry gave her a small grin before a look of determination came over him. Suddenly, Harry’s hands moved and the fang bit into the flesh on his forehead causing blood to spurt out. Harry screamed and started collapsing, causing him to pull the fang away from him and to fall to the floor.

Ginny grabbed his shirt to slow his fall. Damn! I should have had him lie down, she thought as she helped him down.

“Harry!” Sirius rushed over, kneeling down as Ginny let his body rest on the floor. “Move your hand, Ginny, I have to pour this in!” The uncapped phial was moving towards Harry’s head.

“No, wait, it’s not time.” She had to shout over Harry’s screaming.

“What do you mean?! Look at him! Listen to him! He’s in agony!”

“I know!” Tears were welling in her eyes to see him like this. “It’s not gone yet!”

Sirius was looking tortured as well as he watched Harry’s screams turn into very loud moans and groans. “How do you know? I can’t wait, I have to give him this!”

“No!” She grabbed his wrist to stop him despite the tears now streaming down her face. It hurt her to see him hurt, but he had to go through this.

Suddenly Harry’s groan became a scream again and a green mist leaked out of Harry’s scar.

When the mist completely dissipated a few seconds later, Ginny shouted, “Now!”

Sirius did not hesitate and he did not care about anything but Harry as he dumped the entire phial onto Harry bleeding wound. Smoke instantly came out of the wound for the next five or so seconds and Harry’s screams stopped -- the silence was frightening after all the noise. As the smoke dissipated, they could see the scar healing and closing as they watched. Half a minute later, the wound was completely closed and Harry was slowly breathing. That had been one of the longest minutes of Ginny’s life.

“He lived,” Sirius hoarsely choked out, concern in his face and posture as he watched his godson. He gently shook Harry’s shoulder. “Harry? Harry?”

Harry’s eyes fluttered and he moaned. “Did you see the Bludger that hit me?” he weakly asked.

Sirius’s barking laughter filled the room. “Oh Merlin, Harry. Is Quidditch really all you can think about?”

“No, it’s just what I feel like at the moment.” He looked to his other side at her. “You said it would hurt, but bloody hell, hurt doesn’t even begin to describe what that felt like.”

Ginny weakly smiled at him. “Sorry, Harry,” she gently said. “I knew it would hurt, but not how bad. I guess the way we did it in the other timeline didn’t hurt as much.”

“At least you didn’t soil yourself, Harry,” Sirius comment with a grin. “That would have been embarrassing.”

“There’s no way I’d do that,” he replied with a grin too. Then he became more serious and looked at her. “Ginny? Did it work?”

“I believe so. We saw a green mist come out of your scar and your scar is different, much thinner. In fact, it’s almost invisible.” She stroked his forehead, as if moving hair away, just so she could touch him to show she cared. “How do you feel now?”

“Tired, but fine.” He looked at the ceiling. “You know, I feel a little lighter too, like I’ve lost a weight I’ve been carrying around. It’s a strange feeling, but nice.”

Ginny grinned. “Perfect, that’s what your other self said too. I think you’ll find yourself a little more powerful too, because your magic had a small but constant drain trying to contain the soul fragment.”

“That could be useful,” he said a little mischievously. “So, now what?”

“How about we get you up and let you rest for a few minutes?” Ginny suggested. “Then if you still feel up to it, you can destroy the last two Horcruxes.”

Sirius took one arm and Ginny took the other. Harry mostly stood on his own, but they had to steady him. He gratefully sat down in a chair.

“Let me have your glove, Harry,” Ginny requested.

He took his right one off and handed it over. She picked up the fang and set it back on its protective wrapper. There was a small divot in the floor where some of the venom had leaked out. She handed the glove back and he put it back on.

Ginny moved the box with the locket in front of him.

“What do I do?” he asked.

“Just stab it,” she told him. “Stab it and hold it in place. The venom will do the rest.”

Harry picked up the fang again, and with no hesitation, stabbed the locket. It made an eerie squeal before green mist came out of it too. “That was easy,” he said enthusiastically as he looked at the partially melted locket.

Ginny laughed. “Only because you have the fang. One more and we’re done, Harry.” It was with a light heart and much anticipation that she moved the box with the cup over in front of him. “Same process, Harry.”

With a big grin, he stabbed the cup. For a few seconds, nothing happened. “What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

Before Ginny could answer, the cup started a slow eerie squeal too. “There’s not much venom left,” she shouted over the squeal. “It’s taking longer. Just keep holding it there.” It took over a minute, but green mist finally came out of the cup and it cracked.

“And?” Sirius asked.

“And we’re done, probably,” Ginny said with a lot of confidence despite the qualifier.

“Probably?” Sirius asked.

Ginny smiled as she helped Harry put the fang back in the wrapper so she could put it in the box. “Remember, I said that if Voldemort was in spirit form now, he should go away now. If he’s possessing some animal, he’ll disappear when the animal dies or he tries to transfer to another animal.” She closed the box and Harry took the gloves off.

“How do we know when he’s really gone?” Sirius would not let up.

“By talking to your friend and our Potions teacher,” Ginny said teasingly. “We ask him if his Dark Mark is gone and if it is, then we’re done.”

Sirius laughed. “He’d hex us before he’d answer that.”

“You perhaps,” Ginny said as she stood, “but not us. While not quite friends, Harry and I have a respectful relationship with him. He’ll answer the question from us. Now we only have one more thing to do,” she said happily as she looked at Harry.

“What?” he asked, looking confused. “I thought we were done.”

She hauled him to his feet. “We have to celebrate!” Ginny wrapped him in a hug. She was thrilled when he hugged her back. When she heard Sirius laughing, she whispered, “Thank you, Harry. You don’t know how much it means to me to have this done.”

“I don’t have a prophecy hanging over me now,” he whispered back, “so I can guess what it means.”

“I can show you better,” she impishly whispered. When he did not say anything, she leaned back and looked into his gorgeous green eyes. As he looked at her questioningly, she leaned forward and gently kissed him on the lips. It was chaste and only for a few seconds, but she enjoyed it. His eyes went wide and Sirius’s laugh became louder. Ginny just pulled him back into a hug. “There’s more where that came from when you’re ready, Harry.” She pulled back and saw a stunned Harry, which she found amusing. His stunned looked slowly changed into something a little more serious, but she was not sure what it meant.

Ginny turned to Sirius who was only chuckling now and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks for all of your help.” He gave her a quick hug back. “So, do you have any Butterbeer here?”

“No, but I can be back in a few minutes with some.” Sirius turned and left after he playfully slapped Harry on the shoulder.

Harry was looking at her thoughtfully, so Ginny left him alone and cleaned up, shrinking and putting the box with the fang back into her pocket and the rest of the stuff back in Sirius’s cabinet. When Sirius returned, they spent the rest of the afternoon talking and joking, most of it in the little storeroom.

Sirius also took them upstairs to show them the first floor, which was mostly done now. Ginny was amazed at the difference in the house. It was so much more “light and airy” feeling. The portrait of his mother was gone now, as were all the ugly elf heads.

The library was the highlight of the tour. Inside, Ginny saw that it was greatly expanded and there were many more bookshelves than before. There was also a familiar elf stocking arranging all the books. He stopped working and looked at them as they entered.

Sirius stood up very straight and formal. “Ginny, Harry, I’d like you to meet my personal elf and the elf of the Black Family: Dobby. Dobby, this is my godson, Harry Potter, who will be living with us and who can also give you orders.”

Dobby, dressed in a clean but simple uniform, bowed very low. “Dobby is pleased to meet and serve the great Harry Potter and the great and kind Ginny Weasley.”

“You!” Harry exclaimed and Dobby cringed. Sirius looked confused.

Ginny laid a hand on his arm. “Harry, he was trying to help you, but remember that he was having to go against his family at the time to do the right thing. He has a good and noble heart.”

Harry hung his head. “You’re right; I was just very surprised.”

Sirius was still confused looking. “What am I missing?”

Ginny smiled. “Last summer, Dobby knew that Lucius Malfoy was trying to hurt the Wizarding World, and Harry specifically, so he tried to keep Harry away from the school. However, I knew about the danger too and destroyed it.” She gave Sirius a pointed look, which he figured out a moment later and nodded. “In the process, I too met Dobby last year, which is why I made my suggestion to you.”

“Ah, that makes more sense now,” Sirius said before he turned and went to a desk. “I didn’t have any trouble getting Dobby or the books. Narcissa was short on cash and the fact that she could get some without anyone outside of family knowing was a big incentive.” He grabbed a book off of the desk and handed it to her. “I believe you wanted this?”

She read the title and smiled. Flipping it open and going about three-quarters of the way through it, she found her time traveling spell. “Thank you, Sirius. I know exactly what to do with this.”

“Are you going to destroy it?” he asked. It did not look like he cared if she did, but more like he was simply curious.

“No. I think I’ll seal it with some special magic and then put it in my vault. Perhaps one of my descendants will need it to fight another Dark Wizard.” She looked at Harry and he had an agreeable look on his face. When she looked at Sirius, she saw an amused look. Was she really that obvious with her feelings, she wondered?

Returning home, Ginny and Harry had big smiles on their faces. Her mother looked at her with some concern and suspicion, which Ginny knew she had to immediately lay to rest.

“Mum, Sirius showed us part of his family house and where Harry will be living after this summer. It’s so cool!”

Her mother brightened. “Harry, I’m so happy for you.” She rushed over and gave Harry a hug.

While her mother was occupied with Harry, she looked at her father. He was giving her a strange smile. It did not take long for her to work out that he was thinking that while he might not have to worry about her in Harry’s room at night, he did have to worry about her at Harry’s house. She just smiled happily at him and then turned back to watch Harry. Watching Harry was always enjoyable.

((A/N: Whew! We’ve reach one of the high points of the story. Don’t worry, the story is not over. There are still a few things left for Ginny (and others) to do. I wanted to title the chapter “Mission Accomplished”, but that would have given too much away. :-))