Disclaimer: I own nothing, it all belongs to J.K Rowling

Chapter 25?: The Battle Part 2/ Aftermath

"Daniel look!" Ron shouted and waited for Daniel to slow to a stop. He had been speeding ahead on his Firebolt, and focusing mostly on the Castle. He turned back to look at Ron and his face paled as it was illuminated by the sickly glow of the Dark Mark.

Ron caught up to the stunned Daniel and turned to look down at grounds. He could see the shadows of Death Eaters running across the grounds towards the Castle. They were still about a minute away. "Come on Ron we need to get to the castle and warn them!" Daniel said turning and speeding off as fast as he could towards Gryffindor tower, Ron following along behind him as fast as he could.

When he arrived at the window to Gryffindor tower, he didn't even bother trying to just unlock it and instead blasted it off it's hinges. He leapt off of his broom as he entered the common room and looked around expecting people to have been drawn by the noise. The only person to enter the room though was Ron through the window.

"Where is everyone?" Ron asked scanning the room carefully.

"I don't know. You don't think we're to late?" Daniel said moving toward stairs up to the boys dorms.

"No way the Death Eaters were still outside. Everyone's probably been told to go to the Great Hall or something, you know for protection." Ron said, and motioned towards the open entryway to the Common Room.

"Yea, probably come on lets go check." Daniel said running out of the Common Room, Ron following along behind him.

***

Bellatrix spun around searching all of the longs shadows cast by the wand light, searching for any sign of movement. Instead the entire hall was filled with the ominous sound of the door to the Great Hall creaking open slowly. Bellatrix along with her remaining Death Eaters spun to face the door. When no one appeared in the doorway she pushed two Death Eaters towards it, coercing them forward with a glare that could kill.

The two Death Eaters reached the door and glanced nervously at one another before pushing the double doors open and leaping to the side. A gasp of horror, and one weak willed Death Eater vomiting echoed through the Entrance Hall. Inside the Great Hall their missing comrade hung from the ceiling, his eyes were gouged out, hands gone, and legs obviously broken as they were literally tied into a bow.

Bellatrix was the only one who managed to keep eye contact on the deceased's body. A cruel laugh from her garnered the attention of her fellow Death Eater's as she pointed her wand at the body. A muttered spell and the gruesome body vanished replaced instead by the still dead body of their comrade, this time he was only hung from the ceiling, the rest of his body still intact.

"Fools, it was an illusion!" Bellatrix screamed turning on the huddling mass of Death Eaters. "She is a simple school girl! Grow a pair all of you! Now follow me!"

Bellatrix rushed past the group of Death Eaters and began to ascend the staircase. Reaching the top she barely checked to make sure the Death Eaters were following her. Instead she rushed towards the nearest corner, only the most loyal Death Eaters following her as quickly as they could. The cautious attitude of the others most likely spared their lives momentarily.

Turning the corner Bellatrix had just enough time to curse mildly before diving to the side. The Death Eaters following her weren't as lucky and a volley of cross bow bolts ripped through the first four around the corner. Bellatrix spared her felled comrades barely a glance before returning fire at the animated suits of armor who had been waiting patiently for someone to turn the corner. A few blasting curses blew the suits of armor apart before they had time to reload.

She turned back towards the remaining sixteen Death Eaters who had finally caught up to her, and were now looking in horror at the corpses of their fellows. Bellatrix grabbed two Death Eaters and pushed them in front of her forcing them to lead the group down the hall. Her new found caution saved her as when they passed the first classroom the door whipped open and snakelike ropes struck out grabbing the front two Death Eaters and yanking them into the classroom before they could make a sound.

The door slammed shut behind them, and Bellatrix didn't waste anytime in simply blasting it off the hinges. Inside the classroom there was no trace of the other Death Eaters except a single white mask still wobbling on the ground where it had fallen. The other Death Eaters glanced around Bellatrix into the classroom looking for the missing Death Eaters. Seeing nothing one of the Death Eaters backed up into the far wall.

"Fuck this! She's no girl! She's a demon!" He screamed then turned and ran back towards the Entrance Hall probably hoping for an escape route.

"Flint come back here!" Bellatrix screamed turning towards the retreating back of the young Death Eater. He was already around the corner when she began moving after him. Only before she'd taken two steps Flint's scream filled the hall and caused the rest of the Death Eaters to take off sprinting towards the corner.

Bellatrix was the first one there and glanced around it cautiously. She grimaced when she found nothing but the decapitated body of Marcus Flint, his head lay a feet from his body. She stepped around the corner to inspect the body and while she was out of sight of her troops Ginny struck. A burst of flame in the center of the formation was the Death Eaters only warning. Two of their number were dead before the flames had even begun to disappear as Ginny drove both her swords into the abdomens of the two closest Death Eaters.

Moving like lightening she severed the wand hand of another before spinning and leaving deep lacerations in the body of another. A well placed high kick left another grasping her throat and wheezing for breathe. Ginny ducked as a Killing curse flew over her head killing a Death Eater behind her, and turning cut the legs off at the knee of the Death Eater who'd sent the curse. Using the follow through she swept up cutting into the chest of the Death Eater who's throat she'd already kicked. Then as quickly as she'd come she was gone, disappearing in a pillar of flame.

Bellatrix had turned back around the corner in time to see Ginny finish off the last two Death Eaters and disappear. In her wake she left five dead Death Eaters, and another two who were injured to the point of uselessness. Bellatrix screamed in rage and wanting to take her fury out on something fired a blasting hex at the head of the Death Eater who'd just lost his legs. She looked around at her remaining forces. Of twenty-five Death Eaters only seven remained alive, and one had lost his wand hand leaving him useless to the group.

"I'm going to kill that bitch!" Bellatrix screamed into the silence of Hogwarts.

***

Ron and Daniel had just reached the third floor when they heard Bellatrix scream. "Ron I think she's found a prisoner! We have to go help them!" Daniel guessed, incorrectly.

Ron pushed forward running as fast as he could Daniel following shortly behind him. They hurried down the staircase to the second floor and rushed towards what they thought was the source of the noise. Rounding the final corner they came across Bellatrix pushing a one armed man in front of her followed by half a dozen terrified looking Death Eaters. The crowd blocked their view of the bodies in the hallway behind them.

"Let him go Bellatrix!" Daniel yelled, thinking the one armed man was a prisoner.

Bellatrix started cackling hysterically as she looked upon the forms of Daniel Potter and one of his friends standing bravely before her. "Oh look, itty bitty Potty and his wittle fwiend. You're not that bitch Weasley, but you'll do." Bellatrix whipped her wand out and Daniel and Ron found themselves wrapped tightly in chains. "I think I'll make you watch your little friend here die, Potter." Bellatrix laughed crazily as she leveled her wand at Ron.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix yelled the sickly green light leaving her wand. Time seemed to slow down as the spell sped towards Ron. At the same time a pillar of flame appeared midway between Ron and the spell.

Ginny's sword flashed out of the flames attempting to intercept the spell. Her timing was a millisecond off though and the spell passed unobstructed just below her blade. "NOOOOO!" Ginny screamed, terror filled eyes turning to follow the path of the spell.

As the deadly curse passed her, time once again seemed to accelerate. The green curse hit Ron in the center of his chest picking him up and throwing his lifeless corpse backwards down the Hall. Screaming in rage Ginny turned back towards Bellatrix, eyes burning in fury and a magically induced wind whipping her hair. A golden aura appeared around the girl, and for only the second time since joining Voldemort Bellatrix felt fear crawl up her spine.

***

"This shall be most amusing, don't you think Harry?" Voldemort said pointing his wand at the tied up Order members. The ropes and chains binding them fell away and they gently landed on their feet. "Order member versus Order member, and I believe father versus son."

As he finished speaking the captured members opened their eyes, which were dull and seemed lifeless. Snarling their wands flew up and a volley of spells rocketed towards Harry and the others. A glowing shield appeared in front of them as Harry and Dumbledore both worked to protect the group. As Voldemort's inner circle began to join the fight James was forced to join in to keep the shield up.

"Harry, you must get the wounded out of here! We'll do our best to hold them off." Dumbledore shouted over the fray, motioning Harry towards the downed Remus and Kingsley.

Nodding Harry disappeared in a burst of flame, reappeared crouching next Remus and Kingsley, grabbed a shoulder on each and disappeared again. Dumbledore nodded to the remaining Order members and dropped his shield, moving to intercept three Death Eaters. Tonks and Arthur moved to try and disable to imperioused Order members. James, Sirius, Elizabeth, and Molly were forced into combat against another group of encroaching Death Eaters.

All of them realized quickly it was futile. Seven on twenty-six, were impossible odds. Even remaining strictly on the defensive they wouldn't be able to last long against the Death Eaters. A few minutes tops, with Dumbledore most likely lasting the longest. Harry reappeared amongst the chaos ensuing from the battle and took in the entire situation with a glance.

Heavily outnumbered and looking too have no means of easy escape. Ignoring the regular Death Eaters Harry moved forward quickly and began helping Tonks and Arthur to disarm the imperioused Order members. The major downfall of using someone under the imperious to fight for you is that, unless your control is absolute their attacks and defensive actions are slowed as they try to fight back against the curse. This allowed Harry, Tonks, and Arthur to disarm and stun the Order members with relative ease.

However, in that small window of time the rest of the Order suffered. Dumbledore as powerful as he was, had been backed into a corner. Molly lay unconscious on the ground with Elizabeth seated next to her looking around in confusion and blood poured from a gash on her forehead. In front of them James and Sirius fought like men possessed keeping ten Death Eaters at bay. Tonks and Arthur moved to help James while Harry quickly piled all of the unconscious Order members on top of one another and summoned Mrs. Weasley to him. In a flash Harry was gone once again.

This time it seemed like Harry had barely disappeared before he was back once again throwing up a shield just in time to block a cutting curse aimed at Sirius' neck. Two quick grabs, and an outstretched foot allowed him to grab Tonks, Arthur, and Elizabeth and disappear once again. Then just as quickly reappear alone, miss the head of a nearby Death Eater with a bludgeoning curse, grab James and Sirius and disappear once again.

When Harry reappeared, again he was behind Dumbledore and breathing heavily. "Just let me catch my breathe a second, and we'll get out of here Dumbledore." He panted.

"I don't think you'll be going anywhere Potter." Voldemort's voice rang out as he joined the mass of Death Eaters gathered around the cornered Dumbledore. "You think you can grab the old man and disappear before our volley of curses hits you? I don't think you're fast enough."

"I don't need to race my flames against you're spells. You'll be too busy trying not to be crushed." Harry said smirking playfully at the confused frown on Voldemort's face.

"Crushed?" He asked carefully, and as if in answer to his question a low rumbling filled the room. Then with a loud crack one of the support pillars came crashing down behind the Death Eaters. While they were momentarily distracted Harry arm went up, his wand appearing in his hand.

"REDUCTO MAXIMUS!" The Death Eaters and Voldemort followed the path of the curse as it flew above their heads and blasted into the ceiling. Huge chunks of ceiling began to rain down on the panicking Death Eaters and two more pillars collapsed under the strain.

The last thing Harry saw as he grabbed Dumbledore's cloak and flamed away was Voldemort disappearing by portkey as a Death Eater next to him was crushed by a falling chunk of ceiling.

***

Harry reappeared in Potter manor surrounded by concerned Order members. Once he'd reappeared he collapsed to one knee the exertion of using his flame powers so much in such a short span of time finally catching up with him. Lily who had regained consciousness was by his side in an instant helping to support him and lead him towards a nearby couch.

Harry was allowed to lay down peacefully on the couch and a house-elf brought him a glass of water. Around him the Order worked frantically to heal the injured, while Dumbledore, James, and Arthur had disappeared, most likely to give an explanation to the rest of the ministry. As he lay there Harry tuned out everyone else and instead concentrated on what Ginny was doing.

During his fight at the ministry he had unconsciously shut out his bond with Ginny, but now that he'd reopened it the waves of pain and heartache at the loss of her brother came crashing down on him. On top of that was a wave of anger aimed at one thing. The death of Bellatrix Lestrange. Once he realized what had happened Harry stood and prepared to flame straight to Hogwarts, but a wave of exhaustion forced him back onto the couch.

Instead he watched helplessly as Ginny battled fiercely against Bellatrix.

***

A wave of pure energy surged down the hallway, Bellatrix managed to barely dive through an open doorway. The Death Eaters behind her weren't as lucky, the energy wave picked them up and hurled them backwards until they hit the wall at the end of hall. Although one or two of them remained conscious the rest remained motionless, whether dead or unconscious was unknown. Another wave of her hand and the pile of Death Eaters disappeared around the corner moving at speeds no human body should ever move at.

Ginny turned warily towards the room Bellatrix had dove into and cautiously approached the doorway. Just as she reached the edge of the doorway a stream of spells flew through the door, most cast silently as Bellatrix threw her best at Ginny. Ginny ducked back around the edge of the doorway and instead waited for Bellatrix to tire. A few moments later and the spells slowed to a halt Ginny used the pause to dive through the door and send a few blasting spells towards Bellatrix.

Bellatrix put up a shield blocking the spells before surprising Ginny by diving towards her. The move caught Ginny by surprise and she was tackled by Bellatrix her wand bouncing out of her hand as she hit the ground. Ginny hissed in pain as Bellatrix dragged her nails across the younger girls cheeks drawing blood. Ginny brought her leg up hard and using the momentum managed to flip Bellatrix off of her. Rolling to a crouch Ginny was surprised to find that Bellatrix had recovered just as quickly.

The two crouched across from one another and stared at the other warily waiting to see who would make the first move. Ginny dove forward first and her fist collided with Bellatrix' jaw hard. Bellatrix punched Ginny in the ribs, and the two rolled backwards into one of the desks scattered around the classroom. Bellatrix unfortunately recovered first and her fist connected successfully with Ginny's throat.

The younger girl jerked backwards coughing violently as she grabbed at her injured throat. As Ginny sat on her knee's coughing violently Bellatrix recovered her wand and moved in for the kill.

"One down… Avada-"

***

At Potter manor Harry had been following the entire fight as best he could. He was even trying to absorb as much of Ginny's pain through the bond as he could. However, once she was hit in the throat he realized the entire situation was going bad. Pulling all the strength he could together Harry managed to flame one last time.

***

Bellatrix was interrupted mid curse by the familiar light of someone flaming in behind her. Moving quickly she dodged Harry's sword as it stabbed through the spot where her stomach had just been. At point blank like this Harry could do nothing to block the banishing curse that hit him square in the chest and he was launched backwards across the classroom.

"I was wondering where you had wandered off to Potter." Bellatrix said arrogantly. "Tsk Tsk you really should learn to wait your turn. First I'm going to kill your little girlfriend then I'll finish you." Bellatrix taunted as she turned back towards Ginny, wand raised.

A burning sensation filled Bellatrix' reality as she turned back towards Ginny. Looking down in confusion she watched helplessly as her wand hand fell to the floor still clutching her wand, and a silver blade highlighted in red slid smoothly into almost the exact center of her abdomen. As realization dawned on her Bellatrix was filled with an inhuman rage and using her remaining hand grabbed the hilt of Ginny's blade pulling it deeper and Ginny closer.

Once Bellatrix had pulled Ginny as close as she was able her good hand found the girls throat. The little bitch had the indecency to look at Bellatrix with pity. How dare she kill her and then only show her pity! Bellatrix had imagined dying one day in a glorious battle where her opponent was so enraged that death would come slowly. She would choke that look off the bitch's face before she died.

Ginny felt the hand weakly clutching at her throat and could only feel pity as the crazed woman before her screamed and yelled incoherently. With one swift movement Ginny pulled her sword away from Bellatrix and spinning gracefully decapitated the most feared woman in wizarding Britain. As her body went limp Ginny looked past it to where Harry was slowly pulling himself up into a sitting position.

"Harry!" Ginny rasped, her throat still injured. She sprinted to her side and almost collapsed as the adrenaline from the battle began to wear off. Even with the ability to share each others magical cores the two battles had left both of them severely drained.

A clinking noise reached their ears and a second later Daniel still wrapped tightly in chains hobbled into the doorway of the classroom. Using the last of his energy Harry waved his hand banishing the chains. Almost immediately he slumped backwards against the wall, Ginny gasped slightly then fainted her head slumping onto Harry's shoulder.

"Harry! Ginny!" Daniel yelled rushing into the room.

***

Harry slowly regained consciousness to the sound of familiar voices, in the haze between sleep and full consciousness he couldn't quite place them though.

"Molly and Arthur are finally asleep." That one was definitely a man.

"Good I was worried we'd have to sedate them. I can't even begin to imagine how they must be feeling right now." The second voice was clearly a woman and it sounded as if she was sitting right next to him.

"Where's Daniel?" The man asked.

"He over there on the bed in the corner. I think he's fallen asleep." The woman sighed sadly. "I don't know what to do to help him. First Hermione and now Ron. They were best friends, and now…" She trailed off letting the sentence hang.

Harry continued to lay there, his body refusing to answer any order to move, it felt like someone had tied all of his limbs to lead weights and he could not muster enough strength to crack an eyelid open. Yet as he lay there listening to the two people talk he felt another presence slowly emerge in the back of his mind.

'Harry?' An extremely weak voice spoke in his head.

'I'm here G…' He couldn't complete the thought as a wave of exhaustion swept over him almost knocking him unconscious once again. Ginny seemed to understand his exhaustion because no further messages came, but he could still feel her mental presence in the back of his mind.

"Did Poppy say how long they might be unconscious?" The male voice suddenly spoke up.

"She said it could be anywhere from a day to a week, maybe even two. According to Elizabeth and her their magical cores were almost completely depleted, not to mention the other injuries they'd received."

"I'm surprised Harry managed to make it here, his spell destroyed almost the entire Department of Mysteries, they're still digging out some of the Death Eaters who didn't make it out." Harry had by now regained enough of his senses to place the voices as his mother and father.

"About that," Lily started hesitantly. "Is there anyway that destruction could be traced to Harry, I'm sure Fudge would love to place the blame on someone."

"Actually Fudge is no longer Minister." James said happily. "The Wizengamot approved a vote of no confidence in him earlier. He tried to blame Dumbledore for the entire thing, and insisted Voldemort could not be back. Most of the Ministry has had more than enough of that nonsense and is ready to see reason finally." James finished happily.

"So who's going to be the next Minister?" Lily asked, voicing the question both Harry and Ginny were curious to hear the answer to.

"Well right now Amelia Bones has been made acting Minister. There's going to be an official vote tomorrow amongst the Wizengamot members. I personally think Amelia's going to win, but Rufus Scrimgeour is highly favored by the more… militaristic members."

Harry felt himself slowly drifting back to sleep as his father spoke and fought to try and remain conscious. It was clearly a losing battle and he realized he would need to sleep to help his core replenish. He felt Ginny's presence diminish and voluntarily allowed himself to fall back to sleep.

***

"I doubt Voldemort will be able to move against the Ministry or Hogwarts again anytime soon."

Ginny tried desperately to shut out the voices, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep. However it was futile as the voices continued to grow louder. She tried to open her eyes, planning on yelling at whoever was disturbing her sleep. Opening her eyes proved to be a terrible idea and the light instantly blinded her. Instead she opted to try and ignore the voices and hope they go away.

"Almost thirty Death Eaters were killed or maimed at the Ministry and another fifteen killed and ten captured at Hogwarts. Bones and Scrimgeour's new reforms have already caught an additional twenty." This triggered a hazy memory, and Ginny vaguely wondered which was the new Minister and what their reforms were.

"Dumbledore thinks he will begin to rely heavily on the werewolves and Dementors to attack smaller targets until he can replenish his forces." A male voice said annoyingly loud.

"I thought the werewolves had decided to remain neutral?" A woman's voice asked quietly.

"Most of them have, but Fenrir still had enough pull to get about twenty to side with Voldemort." Ginny now recognized the male voice as Sirius.

It was quiet for a little while and Ginny thought she might finally be able to fall back to sleep. Unfortunately that wasn't to be as Sirius once again spoke up.

"Do you know when Molly and Arthur are having the funeral?"

What funeral? Ginny thought suddenly interested. Why would mum and dad be planning a-Ron! Suddenly the memories of that night came flooding back. I was too late! I couldn't save him… All that training and I couldn't save him!

Her brother may have been an asshole the last few years, but he was still her brother. Being unable to save him, even after all that training was almost unbearable. Ginny felt tears begin to gather and run down her face, even though her eyes remained closed. It was just as the pain of losing her brother was about to become too much that a sudden comforting sensation began to fill her. Harry had felt her grief and was pushing all the comforting emotions he could through their bond.

It was several minutes later that Ginny drifted back to sleep, tears still running down her cheeks, while Harry did his best to comfort her through the bond.

***

Harry drifted back to consciousness once again, and this time realized something was different. Slowly he opened his eyes, only to be met with darkness. Hoping it was simply nighttime and that he wasn't blind Harry risked opening his eyes even more. He could make out a few blurry objects and some moonlight shining through the windows illuminated enough to assure him he wasn't blind. Looking around he saw his glasses sitting on the stand next to his bed.

His arms were stiff as he reached over to grab his glasses, it also took a lot more effort than it should have. This caused him to briefly wonder how long he had been unconscious. Elizabeth had taught them about muscle atrophy in their healing classes and from what he could tell, his muscles were most likely suffering from that. Once his glasses were on his face he looked around the Hospital Wing.

His mother was seated in a chair next to him asleep. He briefly wondered if she had left that spot at all since they were placed in the hospital wing. Ginny was in the bed next to his, and he could sense through the bond that she was still asleep. He could see some light coming from under a door on the other end of the Wing, but besides that most of the beds seemed empty. Several beds down there was a sleeping form, but Harry couldn't see who it was in the dark.

Gingerly Harry sat up pulling off the blanket. Moving slowly he swung his legs off the bed, and slowly tried standing up, figuring if his arms were weak his legs were probably in a similar state. He was correct, but his legs were still strong enough to keep him upright. The strain was noticeable though, but he didn't want to go that far. Treading carefully he managed to walk the three steps to Ginny's bed without falling over.

As if sensing him, she rolled over to face away from him, and Harry climbed in behind her spooning up against her. The stress of walking caught up with him and he barely had time to remove his glasses before falling asleep.

***

Lily woke up the next morning to loud snickering and a very stiff neck. Opening her eyes she realized two things very quickly. Harry was no longer in his hospital bed and someone was snapping pictures with a camera. Standing up she found Fred and George standing at the foot of Ginny's bed holding a camera and taking many pictures.

"What are you tw- Harry!" Lily realized the two were in fact taking pictures of Harry and Ginny spooned against one another in her hospital bed.

Lily glared at the twins who had put away the camera, and adopted innocent expressions. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Why we just,"

"Came to visit our favorite,"

"Sister, Mrs. Potter."

"And what should we find,"

"But her and ickle Harrikins,"

"Curled up together,"

"As if this were the,"

"Astronomy tower!" One of them, Lily couldn't be sure which finished.

"Shut up you twits, we're trying to sleep!" Ginny's voice was muffled by her pillow but she still managed to wave her hand threateningly at the twins.

"Ginny! You're awake!" Lily said rushing to her bed.

"Unfortunately. I'm going to hex those twits later though."

"Yes well, you should probably regain your strength first, you two have been asleep for over a week." Lily said conjuring a chair next to Ginny's bed.

"A week?" Harry said lifting his head from where it had been nestled in the crook of Ginny's neck and looking at his mother.

"Well eights days actually. You two completely drained your magical cores, not to mention the injuries you sustained while fighting." Lily said, handing Harry his glasses.

The two didn't say anything for a moment, but she could tell they were having one of their mental conversations. Finally Ginny buried her face in the pillow and Harry looked up worriedly at his mother. "Mum, did we… did we miss Ron's funeral?"

Lily was shocked, Poppy said memories of that night would probably be fuzzy for them at first. "No, Molly and Arthur postponed it until you two were able to make it. They knew you'd want to be there Ginny." Lily wanted to comfort the girl that would one day be her daughter-in-law, but realized that whatever she said or did would be nothing compared to the comfort Harry was already providing her.

Harry sat up, pulling Ginny into his lap as he did so. She cried into his shoulder for several minutes as he rubbed her back comfortingly and pushed comforting emotions through the bond. Lily silently signaled the twins, who had been sitting on Harry's bed watching the entire time, to follow her out of the room.

It was about twenty minutes later that Lily returned with a tray of food and potions. She'd also alerted Molly, Arthur, and Elizabeth to Harry and Ginny's return to consciousness. The four walked in to the Hospital Wing to find Harry and Ginny both out of their hospital gowns and back into their regular clothing. All three of the women instantly raised skeptical eyebrows at the two teenagers.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Molly asked, hands on her hips as she prepared to enter lecture mode.

"We were going to go down to the Great Hall, lunch should be starting soon." Harry said plainly as he and Ginny began slowly walking towards the group.

"No your not." Elizabeth said bluntly stepping in front of the two. "The Great Hall isn't serving food right now, and you two are to remain in the Hospital Wing resting until either Poppy or I tell you, you can leave." She said cutting off any argument from the two. "Now get back in bed and take these potions." She said handing each of them a goblet of purple liquid.

Realizing they wouldn't be getting past all four of the adults, Harry and Ginny moved back towards their beds. They sat down on Ginny's bed sitting against the head board and drinking their potions slowly. Once they had finished Lily placed the tray of food down between them as Molly conjured four chairs for the remaining adults. Harry and Ginny didn't feel like beginning the conversation, so instead waited for one of the others to ask the first question.

It seemed as if no one was quite certain where to start, so finally Arthur leaned forward in his chair. "Where did you two learn to fight like that?"

Harry and Ginny glanced quickly at one another, Lily guessed they were having a quick mental conversation. "We've been practicing spells for while on our own." Harry began.

"We like to read ahead and learn the more advanced magic." Ginny continued. "Plus most of our fighting is just using phoenix flame to surprise our opponents."

"And the swords?" Elizabeth asked casually.

"We found one of the school's old armories and a portrait in there offered to teach us how to use swords. Apparently that was one of the classes taught here a long time ago." Harry lied slightly.

"Who's the new Minister?" Ginny asked trying to turn the conversation away from them.

All four adults looked surprised at the question. "Amelia Bones is, how did you know there was a new Minister?" Lily asked looking suspiciously at the two.

"We woke up a few times before this, but couldn't muster enough strength to even open our eyes, but we heard you talking a few times." Harry answered. "What was in the potion? I'm feeling a little tired."

"It was a replenishing potion, it should help prevent muscle atrophy. It pretty much gives your muscles the same feeling as if they'd been active all day, so it sometimes makes the taker drowsy." Elizabeth answered.

"Oh alright, do you mind if Harry and I go back to sleep for a little while?" Ginny asked already sliding down til her head hit the pillow.

"We'll continue this conversation when you wake up again." Lily said as Harry slid down and pulled Ginny against him. Lily casually transfigured their clothes into pajamas, and shook her head as Molly made to object to their sleeping arrangements.

Sighing, Molly nodded as the four adults stood and filed out of the Hospital Wing. Lily was the last one out the door and placed a charm to alert her should either of the two wake up.

A/N

I'm not gonna mention my huge absence, there's just two minor points i'd like to touch on.

First: I tried really hard in this chapter to show that although Harry and Ginny are powerful, they can still be beaten and wounded. I see most Death Eaters as being average fighters, while Harry/Ginny have been receiving extra training for almost three years. Members of the inner circle (like Bellatrix) will not be beaten so easily, nor will Voldemort be a walk in the park.

Second: To the groups who mentioned that some of my characters have been off character, I did that on purpose, this is an AU story. Hermione and Ron had to be removed, it's part of my character development for both Ginny and Daniel as you'll see later.

Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me I don't know when the next update will be, but i hope it will be less than a year this time.