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The Road Ahead | ||||||
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Category: Post-OotP Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Fluff, General, Tragedy Warnings: None Rating: PG Reviews: 7 Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated since 2005 *** Lord Voldemort may be gone, but his reign is most certainly not over. The self-proclaimed "Lords of Darkness" attack Muggles and wizards alike, and they'd still like to get revenge on Harry Potter for his murder of the Dark Lord. But they've realized that there are better ways to torture people than Crucio, and the people at the end of their wrath will be entangled in a problem worse than they've ever experienced...H/G, R/Hr after Hogwarts. Hitcount: Story Total: 13174; Chapter Total: 2281 |
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Chapter One "Looking in your eyes, Seeing all I need, Everything you are, Is everything to me, These are the moments, I know heaven must exist, These are the moments, I know all I need is this, I have all I've waited for, And I could not ask for more." ~ I Could Not Ask For More, by Edwin McCain Ginny shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, pulling her slender mahogany wand from her pocket at the same time. She sensed a disturbance in the yard, and prepared to defend the two of them. Despite the pending danger, Ginny's mouth turned in a quick grin. The two of them. The sound, or rather thought, of those words always made her smile--she still wasn't quite used to the thought. The grin vanished from her face as she heard a soft 'Creek!' from the front porch, which pulled her from her thoughts. She stiffened herself, wand outstretched, as the doorknob turned and the door swung open. "Oh, Ginny. It's just me." Swiftly sticking her wand back in her pocket, Ginny let out a sigh, and, despite herself, smiled at her husband. "I know, Harry...it's just, I can never be two careful. You know Death Eaters will jump at the chance to kill us, especially..." "That's exactly why Mrs. Weasley-" "Oh, for goodness sake, just call her mom!" "A'right, Gin. That's exactly why Mom's our Secret Keeper." "But we haven't seen her for nearly a year, what if the Death Eater's tortured her, or put her under Imperio?" Ginny said, a worried expression covering her face, shoulder-length red hair framing it. "Ginny, I'm sure Dumbledore, or someone in the Order, would know. You don't have to worry. Besides, you don't have time for worrying! Look at you!" Harry tilted his head and kissed Ginny delicately on her forehead. He wrapped his arms around her, just above the waist. "Two more months, and I can barely put my arms all around your stomach!" Ginny giggled and hit Harry playfully on the shoulder. "Oh, shut up!" "But you know it's true, Gin," He placed his hand on her stomach and grinned immediately. "Oh, it kicked! I sound almost cruel calling our son or daughter 'it'. Remind me again why you wouldn't let the healer tell us if it was a boy or girl?" "Because, Harry, my mother never did. Would she really have pushed if she knew she was getting another boy, nonetheless, twin boys?" Harry laughed and took his wife's hand, leading her to sit down on the couch. "I suppose you have a point there!" He sighed happily and sat down next to her. "Why do you think Moody didn't assign me to go with you today? It was a small meeting with some French Aurors, right?" Ginny said, her expression suddenly confused and somewhat angry. "You know, maybe he just had enough with me, Jack, Roger, Dean, and Ollie. And the French Aurors we met where six men. Maybe he thought we'd be able to discuss better." "Hmm..." contemplated Ginny. "Oh, Ginny, I'm sure Moody didn't mean anything by it! I know he doesn't think you're not as good as me, so forget about it!" Harry insisted. It was true, he too had wondered a bit why Ginny hadn't come on this short 'mission', but he supposed it did have to do with the fact that all twelve of the Aurors were of male gender. Then again, he knew very well that the other extremely likely possibility was that Moody didn't think Ginny should come along because she was pregnant. He somewhat understood that reasoning, but he knew Ginny and her fiery temper would take it much harder. "Please, Gin, it doesn't matter. I'm sure you'll go on the next mission. You have nothing to worry about." He put his arm around her shoulders and slowly massaged her just above her shoulder blade. He knew what he had said wasn't true. He knew that there was still an awful lot to worry about. His lucky and final encounter with Voldemort at the end of his seventh year had not caused all of his problems to simply disappear. Sure, things were better than before, but Voldemort's former Death Eaters were furious at their dictator's fall, and they wanted revenge. Therefore, the aims of most of their plots were centered on Harry and the Order of the Phoenix. Seeing as the Order of the Phoenix was now in charge of the Auror section of the Ministry, many sections of the Ministry seemed to be suffering the wrath of the now self-called "Lords of Darkness", seemingly after their deceased leader. But everyone in the wizarding world still called them Death Eaters, not quite able to bring themselves to say their "true" name. Quite like You-Know-Who's true name. They were forming a power almost as feared as Lord Voldemort himself, and they had representatives in almost all corners of the world, but mostly in Europe. The Order of the Phoenix had in turn made sure Aurors were placed where the Lords were, especially and mostly where they were behaving suspiciously. Yes, there was still plenty to worry about. And the separation from almost all of their childhood friends was hard too. Harry and Ginny hadn't seen most of their friends for four years, due to their and their friends' work. Harry sighed loudly at the thought of his friends. "What is it?" Ginny replied sleepily. "Nothing, I was just thinking about Ron and Hermione," Harry replied quietly. "I know their fine, Dumbledore would've told us if it was otherwise. But we haven't seen them for over a year. And of course we can't owl them for fear of their location being discovered. Gin, they don't even know about our child! Voldemort dead or not, it hasn't done us a whole lot of good." "Harry, don't start again! Things would be a whole lot worse if he weren't dead. I don't care how bad things are now; we can't give up--especially you, Harry. A lot of people still look up to you, or down, in the case of Hagrid." Harry smiled grimly. "Yeah, and we're certainly talked about in the papers, thanks to Minister Febius Dunclan and his faithful reporters. Trying to get people to trust the Ministry's truthfulness by making us out to be superheroes almost seems to be working. The public just loves to hear about us, don't they?" He chuckled dryly. "Oh, Harry, enough about the reporters and enough about Ron and Hermione. I know someday soon things will settle down and we'll be able to see them. Now I'm the one telling you that there's nothing to worry about," Ginny said confidently, even though in her heart she wasn't sure about what she said. Right. Harry told himself. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Soon you'll see Hermione and Ron...and they'll be perfectly fine... *** "Come on, Ron, are you ready?" Hermione said as she stood next to the fireplace, a bowl in her hand. "Yeah, I'm coming!" Hermione's husband, Ron Weasley, shouted from the hallway. He walked into the living room, stuffing his wand in his back pocket. "Didn't you listen to Alastor at all during training? Don't put your wand in your back pocket!" Hermione scolded, although the light in her eyes danced playfully. "'Mione, I hardly remember anything from Auror training except all the spells and hexes. After all, it lasted, what, four months? Special permission from Dumbledore, since we probably had already done more than a lot of Aurors, huh?" Ron questioned. "Yes, I remember just fine why our training was so short. Which was why you should have remembered things easier, since it wasn't years of learning!" "You know what, I've always kind of doubted Mad-Eye's theories, so I'll keep my wand in my back pocket, thank you very much." Although as he said it, he quickly moved his wand from his back pocket to the front. Hermione laughed and pushed Ron in the back towards the fireplace. "Now really, come on, I'm not going to be late to see our daughter!" "All right, all right," Ron said, grabbing a handful of Floo powder from the bowl in his wife's hands. "I really wish we didn't have to travel by Floo powder, Apparating is much cleaner." "Sure, and would you like to be captured by Death Eaters on your way there? Need I remind you that they've figured out ways to get us anywhere and anytime, even Apparating?" Hermione said, smirking slightly. "No, you needn't remind me, I know what your usual speech is: 'The confined Floo powder network the Order created is extremely safe, much more so than Apparating, where the Death Eaters have created a plane between here and there where they can curse and kill us.' You're still a walking dictionary, Hermione, and you've practically made me one!" Ron complained playfully. "Right, Ron. I am not a walking dictionary!" He stared back skeptically at her. "Oh, sure, I don't care! But just go. I'll see you in a minute," Hermione said, pushing Ron closer to the fireplace. Ron walked forward toward the fireplace and threw in the powder, stepping in right after it. "Granger House!" In a flash of fire he was gone. Hermione followed suit and found herself spotted with soot and face to face with her daughter, Lavender, who was in her husband's arms. "Hi Lavy!" She took the two-year-old girl out of her father's arms and ran her fingers through her daughter's silky hair. "Oh, I missed you so much! Have you been having fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house?" The little girl nodded and snuggled against her mother's chin. "Mama..." Hermione held her closer and smiled. "Look at your hair! It's getting so thick and red like your Dad's!" She handed Lavy back to Ron who put her on his shoulders. The little girl giggled happily. "Well, we don't have to stand by the fireplace all day, here, why don't you sit down!" Mrs. Granger said, smiling as she set down a tray with lemonade on it. "Have a drink. I imagine you're very busy with work these days." "Oh, yes, Mom. But...we're fine for now." Hermione replied hesitantly. She glanced at Ron, who returned her pained expression. In fact, the Lords' behavior had been more suspicious then ever, and this visit would have to be only about two hours before they would have to go back and continue with their investigations. She turned her attention to her daughter and smiled at her. "Did I ever tell you that you have a very special name, Lavy?" "No," the little girl replied shortly, gazing up at her mother. "You were named after a friend your mummy and daddy had when they were in school. But she died before we left school. That's why your very special because you help us remember her, even though you're very different then her." "Oooohhh. I'm special 'cause I'm your friend!" Hermione laughed and smiled at Ron. She had a feeling Lavy wouldn't totally understand, but she had never told her parents either. They smiled sadly at Hermione and Ron and laughed at Lavy's answer. A slight tension now filled the room but was easily broken by constant laughter at Lavy's little antics. After an hour of talking carefully with Mr. and Mrs. Granger, as to not reveal the current state in Rome, Italy with the Lords of Darkness, Ron stood up. "I'm going to Floo back to Rome quickly just to make sure everything okay, but I'll be back in ten minutes." He stated, heading over to the fireplace. Hermione looked disapprovingly at him for a moment, but realized he might as well make sure there were no problems. The Auror division there was likely to fall apart after a little while if anything major happened and Hermione and Ron weren't there. She supposed it was for the best. Ron disappeared through the fireplace and Hermione continued to talk with her parents. "I know it may be the millionth time, but I really can't thank you enough for caring for Lavy all the time. I don't know what I would do with her otherwise, since I don't exactly think they have wizard day care in Rome." Hermione said to her parents. "Oh, Hermione, really, there is absolutely no need to thank us, why wouldn't we watch our granddaughter!" Mr. Granger responded to her. "Yes, what kind of grandparents would we be if we didn't?" Mrs. Granger added teasingly. "I know, Mom and Dad, it's just so hard not being able to see her more than once a month. I just hope it doesn't change how she grows up or anything," Hermione said worriedly. "Oh, darling, Lavender loves you and Ron so much, and she knows you can't be with her all the time. She's fine here, and she'll be just fine when she moves in with you and Ron, whenever that may be," Mrs. Granger reassured Hermione. Hermione smiled and took a sip of lemonade and then reached down to tickle Lavender's sides. Lavy fell down in a fit of giggles and Hermione cheered herself up at the same time. After a giggle and tickle fest that lasted for quite a long time, Hermione glanced down at her watch. "It's been twenty minutes, where is he?" As an answer to her question Ron snapped into the fireplace and hurried out. He jogged the short distance over to Hermione and gasped for breath. "What happened to you?" Hermione asked. "The Death Eaters. They've made alliance with a group of Dark Italian wizards. And they're burning down a Muggle apartment building. So far forty Muggles are killed." "How many of our Aurors?" Ron gulped and thought of the group of fifteen they led. "Ten." |
| Reviews 7 |
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