Changes

Chapter 2: Moving on isn't the same as getting over.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Woe is me.

A/N: Another chapter for everyone to enjoy in celebration of me finishing my college course on designing advanced computer graphics. This chapter is a little a shorter than the last but I actually rewrote it three times before I was happy with it. I could really use a beta reader; if anyone's interested just send me a message. Enjoy

Harry awoke in Grimmauld place the next day just as the sun was beginning to rise. He immediately wished he hadn't woken at all. His face and chest hurt like hell, though everything seemed to be back where it was supposed to be. He reached up to touch his face but decided that was a bad idea when his sides flared in pain.

"Ah Harry it's good to see you awake so soon." Harry looked over and spotted Dumbledore sitting in the chair beside his bed. The old man was looking exceptionally worn out and Harry realized he had probably been up all night dealing with the aftermath of the Death Eater attack. "How are you feeling?" The Headmaster asked.

"Like I wish I was still asleep." Harry replied with a grimace. "How is everyone else?"

"Everyone is fine Harry, Kingsley Shacklebolt was injured quite badly but he should back on his feet in a few days. Other than minor cuts and bruises everyone else was completely unharmed. Well unless you count Arthur Weasley's concussion, but I'm told that wasn't Death Eater inflicted." Dumbledore said the last part with an amused look on his face.

Harry smiled sheepishly, "I did the first thing that came to mind, He has a family that needs him."

"Yes Arthur told me what happened. He also told the Aurors when they arrived at the Burrow last night. You will be happy to hear that last night at the same time as your party the ministry passed a bill to temporarily repeal the restriction on the underage use of magic, which means that the ministry cannot try to charge you with anything like they did last year. Actually I heard a rumor of a possible award for your actions."

Harry snorted in disgust, "If they try to award me a medal it will only be because they want to make themselves look good."

"Perhaps," Dumbledore agreed. "None the less you might get it. Now you'll have to excuse me Harry but it's been a trying night and I could do with a bit of rest. I'll talk to you again before the next Order meeting." Dumbledore stood to leave but Harry stopped him as he reached the door.

"Headmaster," Harry said quietly, "They attacked the Weasley's because I was there didn't they?"

The Headmaster sighed. "I really don't know the answer to that question Harry. The Weasley family has always been a target and will always be a target."

After Dumbledore left Harry lay in bed for several long minutes, thinking about everything that had happened. Then his ears picked out the quiet sound of movement in the far corner of the room. At first he thought he was imagining things but then he heard it again. Harry let a small grin slide onto his face, "You can come out now. I know you're there." The person in the corner dropped their invisibility charm and Harry saw that it was Ginny. "Ginny? What are you doing in here?" Harry had expected it to be Ron or Hermione hiding in the corner. He tried to push himself up into a sitting position but grimaced in pain.

Ginny rushed over and helped him sit up. "We were all worried about you last night but mom sent us all to bed. I didn't think I'd be the only one to sneak back in. I've been in that corner for a good twenty minutes hiding from Dumbledore!" She said exasperatedly.

Harry chuckled weakly, "You know Dumbledore can see through invisibility charms right? He saw me under my invisibility cloak more than once."

"How did you not get in trouble? If I got caught I'd have a month's detention and a howler from mum." Ginny huffed.

"Honestly I think he avoids punishing students as much as he can. That way all the students like him more because he's the fun authority figure. The teachers are the ones that get the bad reputation for punishing people."

"How very Slytherin of him," Ginny replied. She sat down on the edge of the bed, "How are you feeling Harry?"

"Not that bad really, as long as I don't move around too much it's just a dull ache."

"Good then this won't be too hard on you." Ginny promptly punched him in the arm.

Harry winced as he felt his arm go slightly numb. "Hey, what was that for?" He asked.

"That was for being the stupid hero and trying to take on a Death Eater one on one." Ginny then leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. She sniggered as Harry turn bright red.

"Uh, what was THAT for?"

"That was for saving my dad's life."

Harry grinned. "Well if that's what I get for saving people I'm going to start doing it more often. IT's almost worth the punch in the arm," He teased. It was Ginny's turn to blush bright red.

"Oh shut up," She muttered. "Since you're ok I'm going to go help mum prepare breakfast, she usually starts about now. I'll bring yours up to you in a bit." Ginny made a quick exit from the room before Harry could try to tease her anymore.

It took Harry several days to recover completely, though knowing Madam Pomfrey it was probably a day longer than he really needed. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all spent as much time as possible with him while he was bedridden. However, Harry noticed that the last on that list always seemed to find herself spending considerably more time with him than the other two. He didn't know if it was on purpose or not, but he did know that both Ron and Hermione always had an excuse to find time alone with each other. It was pretty easy for Harry to guess what was going on between the two but he had no idea why they were hiding it. When he finally found a moment where he and Ron were alone together he decided to ask him about it.

"So you and Hermione are together now right?" Harry asked out of nowhere.

"What makes you think that?" Ron stammered out.

"I'm not stupid Ron; everyone can tell when you two are trying to sneak off together. I'm just wondering why you two are trying so hard to keep it a secret. You're not ashamed to be with her are you?"

"What?" Ron asked indignantly. "Of course I'm not. She's the one who wanted to keep it a secret, not me. She was worried about how you would feel."

"Well I'll talk to her about that later then. I'm happy for both of you. But Ron, she's like a sister to me, if you hurt her I'm taking it out of your hide alright?"

Ron nodded seriously, "I understand mate, it won't happen."

The following day Madam Pomfrey finally declared that Harry was well enough to leave. One extremely hurried hour later Harry, Hermione, and all the Weasley's found themselves in Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was as crowded as ever, especially with the start of term fast approaching. Parents and children ran back and forth in all directions finishing last minute shopping. Harry and company were being escorted by, both the Weasley parents, as well as Remus and Tonks.

"Harry, are sure you don't want a glamour charm? If someone sees you the whole alley will be in chaos."

Harry laughed and waved his arm at the frantic shoppers passing by their group. "Looks like this place is already in chaos, besides if I wear a glamour anyone looking for me is still going to notice the strange guy following the Weasleys around. Either way I stick out like a sore thumb." Remus acknowledged he had a point.

The group made its yearly rounds, stopping at Flourish and Blotts to purchase everyone's books, Madam Malkin's for new robes, and the Apothecary to refill potions supplies. As they were sitting at Florean Fortesque's Hermione asked Harry a question that had been eating away at her all day. "Harry just how much money have you been spending lately? You haven't bought anything since which we got here, which means you already must have bought everything you need. Combine that with all the new things you brought to Grimmauld Place with you and it must have been a small fortune."

"I have spent a small fortune, and I'll spend a large fortune before I stop. All the money I'm spending was left to me by Sirius. He requested in his will that I waste as much of it as I could manage. You know how the black family was and how they earned most of their money. Sirius wanted all that money gone."

"But Harry, you can't just go around spending that kind of money!"

"I can and I am. Besides none of the money I spend is going to waste."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked?

Harry just smiled, "You will see."

"You're being evasive," Hermione huffed.

"Am I?" Harry asked with a smile. Harry continued avoiding questions about money as the group chatted for a few minutes. Harry thought the day had gone rather well so far, unfortunately it was ruined when a shadow appeared behind him.

"Well if it isn't Potter, the mudblood, and the blood traitors," Came the unmistakable drawl of Draco Malfoy. "I thought you would all be in hiding now. Wasn't there an attack on the Weasley's pathetic excuse for a home? About time that thing was demolished."

Ron was red faced but Harry spoke first. "Draco Malfoy," Harry spoke calmly and didn't even bother to turn around so he could see the blonde Slytherin. "What a surprise, I mean, it's not like you do this every single year."

The sarcasm in Harry's voice caught Draco of guard. "What are you talking about Potter?"

"I'm talking about how sad it is that the heir of the great Malfoy family is completely unable to think for himself. Honestly is there one thing you do without daddy's permission?"

"My father is a great man!" Malfoy spat. Harry didn't have to turn around to know he had hit a nerve.

"Your father is an arrogant, cruel, and ignorant man. He follows a maniac and released a dark artifact in a school full of children." Harry noticed Ginny shudder slightly at the mention of the diary. "What will you do, Draco, when you father is finally held accountable for his actions? If you think this is going to end with your precious Dark Lord's victory you are sadly mistaken."

"No one can defeat the Dark Lord! You'll end up dead just like you're parents Potter."

Harry sighed, "You're just not getting it are you Draco? Oh well I'm tired of this conversation. Run along back to father." Draco stood there for a moment but left after it became clear that the group was no longer paying any attention to him.

"That was very well handled Harry," Said Remus as he and Tonks returned with ice cream for the group.

Harry shrugged, "I'm sure Draco will be telling daddy dearest all about it as soon as possible." The group shared a laugh at Draco's expense.

Everyone spent the next few minutes chatting while they ate. Most of them had finished by the time Harry remembered something. "Hey guys do you mind waiting here for a couple minutes? I just remembered something I need to go pick up."

"Harry you shouldn't be wandering around by yourself," Hermione chastised. "Let one of us come with you."

"Sorry Hermione but I can't. This pickup is supposed be a secret." Harry wandered off into the crowds, leaving his friends by themselves.

"What do you think he's getting?" Ron asked after Harry had left.

"Maybe it's a gift for someone." Ginny replied.

"We should follow him anyway. What if Malfoy finds him and tries something?"

Hermione interrupted him, "Ron even Malfoy isn't stupid enough to start a fight in the middle of Diagon Alley."

"Of course he would. Malfoy would do anything for his father or You-Know-Who. He's probably a death eater already. "

"Really Ron why on earth would You-Know-Who even want him as a death eater? I doubt he's that interested in recruiting school boys."

Ginny interrupted the couple's bickering, "Why not? If Voldemort wanted something done in Hogwarts then who would be better? No one expects a kid to be a death eater." They all fell silent after that. None of them wanting to imagine what Voldemort had planned for Hogwarts and its students.

Harry returned several minutes without a package and noticed the strange looks from his friends. "What did you think I was going to walk around with Ginny's birthday present right in front of her? It's being delivered to the Burrow." The group collected all their purchases and walked back to the Leaky Cauldron. Everyone laughed as Ginny kept trying to get Harry to tell her what her present was. "You'll just have to wait and see." Was all Harry would say.

The next week passed in a blur of cleaning for everyone at Grimmauld Place. Molly Weasley was still determined to see the place spotless. However the biggest problem at #12 Grimmauld place was not the filthy rooms but a certain portrait of a previous inhabitant who was determined to make everyone miserable. After a week of, "FILTHY MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS" Harry finally had enough.

Molly and Arthur Weasley were sitting at the kitchen table when Harry walked in and grabbed a pitcher full of water. "Harry where are you going with that?" Molly asked?

"I'm getting rid of that stupid portrait."

"Oh Harry please don't disturb it," Arthur implored. "We only just got her to stop screaming. We've been trying to remove her portrait for months and nothings worked. I don't think a pitcher of water is going to do anything."

"Oh the water's not for removing her. It's to stop anything else from being too badly damaged." Harry walked out of the room without another world. Curiosity got the better of them and Molly and Arthur followed Harry out into the hallway where the portrait hung behind its curtain. The screaming started as soon as Harry drew back the curtain. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU FILTHY….."

"BE SILENT."

The portrait paused in its rant to look at Harry in surprise. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME YOU LITTLE.."

"I SAID BE SILENT." By now the shouting had attracted the attention of the houses other inhabitants and they could be heard rushing down the stairs. Harry however paid them no mind, instead he reached into his pocket and removed a small item which he held up in front of the portrait. The woman's portrait looked ready to begin shouting again but it was halted by the click of the muggle lighter in Harry's hand.

The eyes of the portrait grew large at the site of the flame so close to the canvas. Harry kept the flame close to the portrait as he spoke again, "Your portrait is protected against magic, and against magical fire. But what's the chance a muggle hating woman like you believed your portrait would need protection from non magicals?" Harry moved the lighter down and closer to the edge of the canvas.

"KREACHER!" The portrait of Mrs. Black screamed as the edge of the canvas began to blacken.

The house elf in question arrived with a pop. "What are you doing to mistress' portrait?!"

Kreacher was about to snap his fingers but Harry beat him to it. "Kreacher STOP!" The elf stopped moving but began to shake as he tried to resist the order. "I am your master Kreacher, not this portrait, and you will obey me. You will not harm anyone in this house. You will not have contact with anyone who is outside of this house. You will clean this house as is your job, and lastly, unless I call you, you are to remain out of sight at all times. Do I make myself clear?" The elf continued to tremble for a moment before he slumped in defeat and nodded his head slightly. "Good, now get out of my sight." The elf disappeared with another pop.

"NO KREACHER! COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" The portrait screamed in panic. Harry had kept the lighter against the canvas and a small area had begun to burn away.

"Mrs. Black," As Harry spoke his voice remained calm, but cold. "I will give you one chance. From now on you will not speak unless spoken to. If you shout again I will burn this portrait to ashes, do you understand?" The portrait nodded fearfully. "Good." Harry lifted the pitcher of water and poured it over the painting, smothering the fire. Then he pulled the curtain shut over the painting and handed the pitcher to Mrs. Weasley.

"Bloody Hell Harry," Ron was the only one to say anything. Harry gave a small shrug and pushed through the crowd of people before disappearing up the stairs.

It was an hour before anyone found him again, hiding in Sirius' old room.

Harry looked up when the door creaked open slightly and saw someone slip into the room. The room itself was dark but he still recognized the profile of the small redhead witch. "Hey," it was all he could think to say.

"Hey," Ginny replied. This wasn't the same Harry she had seen his arrival at the Burrow. His shoulders slumped and his head was bowed, Harry Potter looked utterly defeated.

"Where are the others?" He asked as Ginny sat next to him on the bed.

"Outside, they thought you needed time alone."

"And you didn't?" He asked.

"I don't think you should leave someone to grieve on their own," Ginny replied.

Harry grabbed his wand a threw a silencing spell at the door, "I don't really want to talk to them right now.

"Then talk to me." Harry looked at her but his expression was unreadable in the dim light.

They sat in silence for a moment before Harry let out a small laugh, "You know I promised myself I wasn't going to do this anymore. I promised myself I would live my life like Sirius wanted."

"It's ok to grieve Harry."

"Yeah what do you know about it?" His voice was harsh but then she saw his expression soften. "I'm sorry Ginny I didn't mean that."

"It's ok Harry, you're right. I didn't know him very well. I only really got to know him over last Christmas, but I miss him. He was always kind to me, even when I expected the worse from the notorious murderer Sirius Black."

Harry smiled a little, "I didn't know you had talked to him much."

"Only a few times. Mostly late nights after dad's attack, when I couldn't sleep. Mum never wanted us spending too much time with him, I think she was afraid he would corrupt us."

Harry laughed a little at that. "As if Fred and George haven't corrupted you enough," He teased.

"I have no idea what you're talking." Ginny's innocent look failed miserably and they both ended up laughing together.

"Thank you Ginny. I needed that."

Ginny smiled, "Anytime Harry." She got up to give him some time alone but he grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Please stay." Ginny sat down again but a blush crept onto her face when Harry held her hand far longer than needed. "I've been meaning to talk you anyway."

"About what?" Ginny asked.

"Well, a lot of things." Harry paused for a moment, "I don't know you as well as I'd like to. But right now I need to ask you about something, and I hope you don't mind talking about it with me. You're the only other person who dealt with it."

Ginny's heart filled with dread, she knew what he wanted to talk about. "It's about the diary isn't it?" That was the last thing she ever wanted to talk about.

Harry could hear the dread in her voice and took her hand again, it was all he could think to do. "Please Ginny I need your help with this. I've bought a hundred books on enchanting and I haven't found any enchantments that can make an object act like the diary did. The only other enchanted object I know of with that level of intelligence is the sorting hat."

"Why don't you just ask Dumbledore? He must know what the diary was."

Harry laughed dryly, "Dumbledore is still telling me as little as possible. If I press him for answers he's going to stop telling me anything at all."

"I don't think I can do this Harry," Ginny's voice faltered. "You talked to the diary, Riddle showed you memories, but you don't know what it was like to be possessed by that thing. No one knows what that's like."

"Yes I do Ginny. Voldemort tried to possess me in the ministry."

Ginny looked at him in shock. "What? Why haven't you told anyone?"

"Dumbledore knows, he was there when it happened. He might have told the order but I don't know." He looked away from Ginny. "I couldn't tell anyone about it. They wouldn't have understood what it was like."

Harry was surprised when Ginny hugged him, it caught him off guard, and he enjoyed it more than he wanted to admit to himself. They were the only two people that a chance of understanding what the other had been through. "What was it like?" She asked without releasing him from the hug.

"Hell," Harry replied. "The worst pain you can imagine. I had no control over my own body, and the harder I fought it the more it hurt."

"The diary wasn't like that until the end. It was subtle at first, I didn't even know it was taking control until it already had. But it hurt when I began to fight it. The more I fought the more it hurt."

Harry pulled her a little tighter into the hug. "I'm sorry Ginny."

She laughed at that. "Don't be, you saved me after all."

"Yeah but I didn't even check on you after we got out of the chamber. And I've felt bad about that ever since."

Ginny just shushed him. "Harry we were both worn out and you had more on your mind then just me, who you hardly knew at the time."

"Well I still hardly know you don't I? But we're going to fix that." Both smiled at each other, but that smile turned into a blush when they realized they were still holding each other. They broke apart with red faces and Harry stood nervously. "Well, uh, I'm going to go do some more research on the, uh, diary. Care to join me?" Ginny nodded and both of them headed back to his room to go over enchanting books. Ron and Hermione weren't waiting for them when they left Sirius' old room but Ron found them both in Harry's room a few minutes later.

"There you are Ginny. I've been looking for you everywhere." Harry noticed Ron seemed a little off.

"What's up Ron?" Ginny asked.

"Not sure. Mum sent me to find you, said she needed your help with something."

"Ok I'll go see what she wanted." As soon as Ginny was out of the room Ron shut the door and turned to Harry with a tense look on his face.

"What are you doing with my sister Harry?"

"We were just looking through a few books on enchanting."

"Don't play dumb with me Harry. You two were alone in Sirius' room for a long time."

"We were talking about what happened at the ministry Ron. What did you think? I had a breakdown that ended with me snogging your sister?" Harry actually laughed at the idea.

Ron thought about it for a second before he seemed to deflate. "Sorry Harry, it's just, she's my little sister, and I'm pretty sure she still has that crush on you."

Harry decided it definitely wasn't a good idea to mention the hug earlier. "Come on Ron what kind of guy do you think I am? Besides, you know I don't have a clue about women. Just look at that disaster with Cho last year."

Ron laughed, "Yeah I guess you're right. Sorry Harry."

"Now Ron you should probably go hide before Ginny finds out what you were up to"

"RONALD WEASLEY" Harry's grin turn evil when Ginny's shout. Ron paled considerably, and was out the door faster than Harry thought possible. Harry peaked out into the hallway just in time to see an angry Ginny Weasley marching up the stairs, wand in hand.

"Hermione tell you what he was up to?" Harry guessed.

"Yes she did now where did he go?"

"No idea. Try the attic" Harry laughed as Ginny marched off in search of her brother. Shutting his door Harry walked back to his bed and picked up his book again. He smiled to himself as the sound of bickering siblings rang throughout Grimmauld Place.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I decided to try building into the pairing a bit more. The next chapter will be focused back on the action and include far too much Snape.