**THIS CHAPTER RE-EDITED AND EXPANDED 10/08** The morning sun was streaming through the window, adding warmth to the otherwise stale and empty office. Empty except for one desk, where a young man was asleep on a pile of papers, his glasses pressing into his cheek and his black hair as messy as always...

**THIS CHAPTER RE-EDITED 7/13/09** Ginny awoke slowly, her eyes blinking open and then falling shut again as she rolled onto her side. Breathing deeply she burrowed farther under the covers for a second before her eyes snapped back open...

**THIS CHAPTER RE-EDITED 7/13/07** Harry took Ginny to his flat while the Aurors went back to her place to go over it again. Arriving with a pop outside of his door, Harry kept his arm securely around her while he began lowering the wards...

**Edited as of 1-05-08** Harry and Ginny made their way down Diagon Alley with a few Aurors following them at a distance. Scanning the crowd as they walked, Harry reached out and took Ginny’s hand. Linking his fingers through hers, he pulled her closer as they weaved in and out of people...

The evening of the banquet, Harry stood in the kitchen waiting for Ginny to finish getting ready. He pulled on the collar of his dress robes. He’d only had them on for about ten minutes and he was already uncomfortable...

"Harry sat silently on the sofa, watching the golden flames dance in the grate. Ginny sat in her usual position next to him with her back against the armrest and her feet propped against his thigh..."

“Gin,” Su called down the hall at St. Mungo’s. “Patient in number four!” The elderly nurse was leaning precariously over her desk, waving a chart in the air as she tried to catch Ginny’s attention...

Harry and Ron sat on the picnic table, their feet resting on the bench below. With their elbows propped on their knees, they stared out at the pond in silence...

Any passing Muggle probably wouldn’t notice the small castle perched precariously on a hill in a forsaken corner of Scotland. It appeared to be nothing more than a crumbling ruin, forgotten and half hidden by large trees and thick ivy...

…tap, tap, tap…. Hermione rolled over, burrowing further under the covers. Beside her, Ron continued to sleep soundly, his snores mixing with the persistent tapping on the window.

Molly Weasley sat in her den in silence, her lips pursed together in worry as she waited for news of the meeting. Staring unseeingly into the crackling fire in front of her, she nervously tapped her finger on the worn armrest of her wingback chair...

Harry sat in a cushioned chair by the window, waiting for Ginny to finish her shower. Unwilling to sleep, he’d watched over her until the sun began to creep across the horizon. When he hadn’t been comforting her or soothing her back to sleep he’d been trying to make sense of everything that had happened...

Morning dawned slowly, the sun creeping lazily over the windowsill until its warm light spilled onto the floor. Inching across the hardwood, it eventually meandered up the side of the bed and across the two forms asleep under the covers...

The Hogwarts main hall was silent, the midday sun shining through the tall windows that lined the room. Fred sat on the top of the Gryffindor table, eating an apple he’d nicked from the kitchens...

Sitting on the sofa in the Burrow, Hermione bounced her knee up and down anxiously as she stared at the books piled on the table in front of her. She’d already read them. She knew there was nothing in them that would help, but she couldn’t fathom just sitting by and doing nothing...

Lunging for her, Harry landed hard on his stomach, his arm outstretched to where Ginny had been just seconds before...

Malfoy’s bedroom was dark, the only light coming from the many candles positioned on his bedside tables. The flames flickered as vanilla scented wax rolled slowly down the sides to pool across the wood...

The ritual room was chaotic as Aurors and Order members worked and talked, but Bill didn’t notice as he sat on the edge of the bed. Next to him, Ginny was silent and still, her body stunned by Remus several minutes before...

When Hermione awoke, the hospital room was dark. The steady beeps coming from the three heart-monitoring orbs were the only audible sounds as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes...

There was a moment of stunned silence as the white light from Harry’s silvery stag gradually faded away. Even after the creature was gone, Harry’s short, curt message seemed to linger in the cool air of the dungeon corridor...