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Harry sat in his bed thinking. He had never expected for this to happen. It was so weird. He just couldn't make sense of it. How could the one man who was the true leader of the Good side just die. It wasn't fair. Without Albus Dumbledore there was almost no hope.

Harry got out of bed quickly and packed all of his items in his trunk. Using his wand he shrunk the trunk and put it into his pocket. He also put Hedwig into her cage and levitated it into the air. Last he picked up the two newspapers that were lying on the ground. The heading of one of them read

A TERRIBLE LOSS

RUMOR HAS IT THAT ALBUS

DUMBLEDORE THE GREAT

AND FAMOUS HEADMASTER

OF HOGWARTS SCHOOL

OF WITCHCRAFT AND

WIZARDRY WAS MURDERED

BY ONE OF HIS OWN TEACHERS,

THE DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK

ARTS TEACHER SEVERUS SNAPE

TO BE SPECIFIC. THE RUMORS

ARE TRUE. ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

HAD GONE TO HOGSMEADE

WITH HIS PUPIL HARRY POTTER

FOR UNKNOWN REASONS AND

WHEN HE RETURNED THE DARK

MARK WAS ABOVE THE SCHOOL.

HE RUSHED UP TO THE TOWER

WHERE THE DARK MARK HAD

BEEN POSTED. WHAT HAPPENED

NEXT IS NOT KNOWN FOR SURE

BUT WE BELIEVE THAT WHEN

HE GOT INTO THE ROOM HE

WAS SURROUNDED BY

DEATHEATERS WHEN SEVERUS

SNAPE ENTERED THE ROOM

AND FINISHED HIM OFF.

HARRY POTTER WAS SAID TO

HAVE RUN OUT OF THE ROOM

CHASING SNAPE AND TRYING

TO STOP HIM. MOST OF THE DEATH

EATERS HOWEVER GOT AWAY.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE WAS A

GREAT PERSON AND HE DIED

DEFENDING HIS SCHOOL AS

HE WOULD HAVE WANTED.

The other one read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF

WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

AFTER THE DEATH EATERS ATTACK

OF HOGWARTS LAST SCHOOL YEAR

MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN UNSURE OF

WHETHER OR NOT HOGWARTS

SCHOOL SHOULD REMAIN OPEN.

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE WAS MURDERED

INSIDE THE SCHOOL ITSELF AND MANY

OTHER STUDENTS WERE INJURED OR

HARMED IN SOME WAY. HOWEVER THE

MINISTER AND THE BOARD HAVE

DECIDED TO LET THE SCHOOL STAY

OPEN, FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO ATTEND.

EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A WAR GOING ON

RIGHT NOW WE STILL FEEL THAT

THOSE WHO WISH TO GET AN EDUCATION

RIGHT NOW SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT.

THEREFORE THE NEW HEADMASTER

WILL BE MINERVA MCGONAGALL,

THE FORMER TRANSFIGURATION

TEACHER. THE POSTS OF DEFENSE

AGAINST THE DARK ARTS, POTIONS

MASTER AND TRANSFIGURATION

TEACHER WILL BE OPEN. ANYONE

INTERESTED IN ANY OF THESE JOBS

PLEASE CONTACT US AS SOON AS

POSSIBLE.

Harry picked the newspapers up and stuffed them in his pocket. He looked around the empty room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He walked down the stairs with his wand held out in front of him still holding Hedwig's cage in the air.

Uncle Vernon looked up from his newspaper in the kitchen and seeing it was just Harry he quickly buried himself in the newspaper simply pretending that Harry wasn't there. Harry walked past that and into the living room. He took one last look around and stepped outside into the warm summer air. He saw that it was still a little dark outside.

He walked down the street a little bit then he held his wand out in front of him. He then plugged his ears but it didn't do much against the loud clash of the Knight Bus. He blinked as the headlights pointed straight into his eyes.

A small boy stepped out. He gaped once he saw who it was. "Harry Potter?" he asked shocked. Harry nodded sullenly. The boy just stood there looking at Harry then up to his scar.

Harry felt sort of uncomfortable as if someone was examining him from head to toe to find out what the problem was. "Er… Can I get on?" he asked gesturing toward the large purple bus.

The boy blushed and nodded disappearing back into the bus. Harry stepped on and quickly rushed past the drivers seat so he wouldn't have to talk to Ernie. It felt weird not to have Stan on the bus. He was still in Azkaban. Harry was still bitter to the Ministry about that. He hadn't done anything wrong really.

Harry sat down on one of the chairs and looked out the window. "Where would you like to go?" asked the boy timidly.

"Uh," said Harry realizing he didn't even know himself where he was going. "I would like to go to Ottery St. Catchpole."

The boy nodded. "That will be 13 sickles and 15 if you want a drink."

Harry reached into his pocket and picked out 13 sickles and handed them over to the new conductor boy. By the time they arrived there Harry was feeling quite sick from all the bumping around he had endured.

He thanked the little boy and waved at Ernie and looked up the driveway to the Burrow. He saw that there were still a few chickens in the yard. He looked up at the tall crooked house.

He walked up to the door feeling a bit unsure because he had forgotten to write to tell the Weasleys that he would be coming. Harry hoped that they would let him stay for a little while. He knocked loudly on the door.

He heard feet thumping against the floor as they rushed to see who was at the door. "Who is it?" asked the voice of Mrs. Weasley.

"It's me, Harry," he said happy to hear Mrs. Weasley's voice.

She opened the door a crack and peered out. She sighed in relief when she saw that it was indeed Harry.

"Come in dear," she said beckoning him inside. "We were just sitting down to lunch. Come on in and have some soup." She quickly slammed the door shut behind them and beckoned him into the kitchen. Harry saw all the Weasleys except for Percy sitting at the table eating their soup.

"Harry!" said Ron. "What're you doing here?"

"I just couldn't stay with the Dursleys any longer. I was just going to see if I could stay here for a night, then I could get a room at the Leaky Cauldron or something."

"I wouldn't hear of it Harry," said Mrs. Weasley somewhat sternly. "You will stay with us of course."

Harry nodded and pulled up the chair Mrs. Weasley had conjured for him. He sat by Ron and on the other side Fred. No one talked much except for Mr. Weasley talking to Charlie about his job.

"Are you okay?" asked Ron somewhat concerned. Harry nodded.

"Did you see in the Daily Prophet Hogwarts still going?" asked Harry quietly so only Ron would hear.

Ron nodded darkly. "I thought they'd close it down for sure what with all that has happened there.

Harry nodded. "Are you going?" he asked Ron.

Ron thought about it for a minute. "I reckon not. I don't think it will be much use for us anymore. It's probably more dangerous there now without Dumbledore," he said sadly.

Harry nodded. "How do they think they are going to keep the death eaters out of there?" he wondered.

Ron shrugged. "Scrimgeour has probably lost it with all this pressure. People are starting to blame him now. They think he's no better than Fudge."

"Well," said Mrs. Weasley after they had finished eating. "You all can go outside and play quidditch for a while if you'd like while I clean up.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and Charlie all grabbed their broomsticks and headed outside. Bill stayed inside to help Mrs. Weasley clean up.

Harry and Ginny had been purposely ignoring each other so far. They all had fun. They played with the apples and the trees were the goals. Ron did good as a keeper because he could just relax and he wasn't under any pressure.

After that Harry and Ron went up to Ron's room where Harry would stay too. They were both looking at some of Ron's quidditch magazines when something tapped on the window. They jumped.

"Oh, it's just Pig," said Ron standing up and letting his owl in. The owl teetered back and forth with the heavy letter it was carrying.

"Who's it from?" asked Harry curious about who had sent Ron such a long letter.

Ron blushed. "Hermione," he muttered.

Harry grinned. "You two are getting along then?" he teased Ron.

"Shut up mate," said Ron turning scarlet and punching Harry on the arm.

He opened it to read.

"She says she'll be coming over in a few days to stay if it's okay with Mum," said Ron scanning the letter.

"Did she say anything about Hogwarts?" asked Harry trying to look at the letter over Ron's shoulder.

"No nothing," said Ron moving so Harry couldn't see the letter.

"What did she talk about for that long?" asked Harry laughing.

"Just stuff," said Ron blushing again.

Later that night around midnight Harry and Ron finally decided to go to sleep. Ron fell asleep almost instantly and began snoring lightly. Harry tossed and turned and finally decided that he wasn't going to be able to get to sleep.

He quietly walked down the stairs and stepped into the backyard. He saw another figure standing a few feet away. He squinted his eyes.

"Ginny?" he asked surprised. She turned around startled.

"Harry?" she said sounding a bit frightened.

He walked over to her. "Uh… Hi," he said sounding pretty stupid.

Ginny looked down. "Listen Harry. I miss you okay? I can't stand not talking to you like this. Can't we just be together for the rest of the summer then stop?" Ginny asked sounding sad.

Harry looked at her sadly. "It will just make it so much harder though," he said.

"We can deal with it though," she said.

Harry thought for a moment then stepped forward and answered her question as his lips met hers. After that they stayed outside holding hands with Ginny's head resting on Harry's chest.