And on the Eighth Day?

Chapter Five

Wednesday

Harry spent the day trying to get Hermione to talk to him. It turned out to be a very frustrating day. First she failed to appear for breakfast and lunch and then Ron was either unwilling or unable to help him.

"Sorry, mate, she's working on a special project, or so she tells me."

Harry noticed that Ron was reluctant to look him in the eye. He decided to give his friend the benefit of the doubt and not push him too hard.

"Is it connected to the end of year stuff or something else?" he asked, hoping that Ron would respond to a less aggressive line of questioning. His friend seemed to appreciate Harry's approach and softened slightly.

"Don't know, mate, but whatever it is she seems pretty worked up about it."

He gave Harry a look that said 'don't push it, please'. Harry decided to oblige.

"You'll tell her I'm looking for her?"

"I think she knows. Harry?" He paused before continuing. "What is happening with you and my sister? There are all sorts of rumours about last night flying around, including Ginny pulling her wand on Tonks."

Harry was annoyed that, having let Ron off the hook, his mate wasn't going to do the same for him.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Ron," he said flatly. If Ron could clam up, so could he.

"Ginny didn't pull her wand on her then?"

"Nope." Sorry, Ron, I'm not saying any more.

"But she did have a row with Tonks."

"We both did." Harry gave Ron the same look that his friend had given him. This time he took the hint.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Harry." The concern was genuine, but Harry thought that he was the only one who did fully appreciate what he was getting into. It wasn't the getting in, it was the getting out that worried him.

"I think I do, Ron."

"Just be careful, that's all. We're all grateful for your bringing Percy back into the fold, but I think Ginny ..." He paused as if unsure as to how to phrase his warning. "Percy wasn't as far gone as Ginny is."

Percy Weasley had got himself into a right mess by the time Harry clashed swords with him for the last time. He had backed first Fudge and then Scrimgeour against Harry. But as the former Ministers tried to find solutions to the problem of Voldemort without including Harry, Percy was shocked to find the compromises that were made. The influence of Death Eaters in the corridors of power grew and Percy had had enough sense to realise that something had to be done, and that 'something' meant Harry.

When he had discovered Harry going through the Minister's office late one night, his first instinct was to pull his wand on him as his only concern was the breach of security. But as Harry tried to convince him not to have him arrested, Percy's anger began to fade as he realised that he had been presented with a way out of his predicament. His changing of sides did not become public knowledge until Amelia Bones took over as Minister following the arrest of the Malfoys and Scrimgeour's resignation. By then Harry had a firm ally in Percy, who was anxious to repay the trust placed in him. Despite the work that he had done for Harry, the full extent of his involvement in Voldemort's downfall remained a secret.

~*~

When Harry finally caught up with Hermione, she refused to talk to him about Ginny.

"Drop it, Harry," she said firmly, more than a little annoyed at his persistence. "There's nothing to be gained by this; let sleeping dogs lie." Her tone of voice annoyed him. It was as though he was a little boy and she was a teacher telling him off. He loved Hermione, but when she was like this he could see why others didn't.

"There's plenty to be gained," he replied, angry that she should be so dismissive, "like the truth, for one thing."

Hermione, though, wouldn't budge.

"Not this time, it's not worth it. Too many people could get hurt." The look in her eye and her tone of voice told him to drop it.

"So it's okay for Ginny to get slandered all over the place then, is it? It's okay for her to be branded a Death Eater; it's all right for everyone to spread lies about her, is it? Merlin, Hermione, when did you become a friend of injustice?"

"They aren't lies," she said, her voice full of emotion.

"What do you mean, 'they're not lies'?"

"I can't tell you, Harry. I promised Dumbledore that I wouldn't. Now, please, leave me alone; I've said more than I should have, and, for Merlin's sake, stay away from Ginny. Believe me, Ron was right when he told you to be wary of her."

And with that, she gathered up her things and ran off, leaving Harry with his questions unanswered. He tried to talk to her again later in the day, but was warned off by Ron.

"Harry, will you just drop it? Please? I'm asking you as a mate. Hermione won't tell me what you talked about, but she's adamant she won't discuss it with you any more. All you've done is upset her."

So that was it. He was truly on his own in this. You better hope your hunch is right because by the time this is over you might not have any friends.

He resumed his search for Ginny, but no one had seen her all day. His frustration was mounting so, after tea, he went to see if there was any word on when McGonagall would be returning. He hoped that she might be able to help where others couldn't and that he'd finally get to the bottom of everything. To his surprise, he discovered that she had only been gone for half a day and was surprised to find that he'd been told otherwise. She was even more surprised that he was still asking about Ginny.

"Why are you so concerned about Miss Weasley, Harry? Everyone else seems content to let her be what she is: a very bright, but a very troubled, young lady. True, she's very attractive, but as they say, beauty is only skin deep."

"Because I think I'm being lied to."

She stiffened slightly but otherwise took his statement in her stride.

"And what makes you think that? Do you think that I have lied to you over this matter?"

"Possibly."

This time she did respond more visibly and her tone became a little colder.

"I am disappointed that you think that little of me, Harry. Perhaps your concern for Miss Weasley has clouded your judgement somewhat, but I can assure you that in this matter I have told you the truth."

"Have you withheld the truth from me?"

Now she was visibly angry, but to her credit, her tone remained civil, as did her language.

"There is a lot of information I've withheld from you, Harry. As head of the Order, I made sure that no one else knew everything that was going on. That way, if Voldemort captured and tortured anyone, he couldn't find out everything."

"But you've told me the truth about Ginny?"

"As far as I understand it, yes, I've told you the truth."

It was a relief to Harry that someone at least wasn't trying to mislead him.

"Was she a Death Eater?"

She softened slightly as if she now understood the reasons behind his line of questioning.

"As far as I am aware, no she wasn't. She's never carried the Dark Mark and she's never been spotted in the presence of known associates of Voldemort. Her name has also never come up in any confession that I know of. There are those who think differently, Severus for example, but no one has ever come up with any proof. Albus might have known but he, alas, is not around to tell us."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the staircase leading to the office. After a cursory knock on the door, Sirius Black entered the room.

"Oh, Potter, I didn't know you were here. Still, it's as well you are; you need to hear this as well. Minerva, Ginny Weasley has gone, packed up and left. It appears that our little problem has solved itself." There was a note of triumph in Black's voice which only confirmed Harry's dislike of the man. McGonagall, too, seemed pleased at the news, but she was better at concealing it than Black.

"Well, Harry, it seems that Miss Weasley has answered your question for you."

So that was it; because Ginny wasn't around to defend herself then she was guilty of everything she had been accused of doing or being. It all seemed rather convenient to Harry, and there were a lot of people who were willing to have her be the scapegoat for an awful lot of things.

Turning back to Black, McGonagall asked him: "Has she gone back to The Burrow? I'm sure that Molly and Arthur will be concerned."

"No one knows where she's gone. There's no trace of her."

"There's no suspicion that she might have...?"

"No, Minerva, there's not."

"Does Mr Malfoy know where she is?"

"No, not that she'd tell him what she's up to. She may not have been my favourite student, but she knew enough to see Malfoy for the fool he was."

McGonagall turned back to Harry, a look of genuine concern of her face.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but it appears that our conversation no longer has any relevance. I know that, for whatever reason, you've developed feelings for the girl, but I'd advise you against chasing off after her. Return to your common room and get a good night's sleep. We'll talk again in the morning; there're some of the details about Friday that you need to be aware of."

Harry refrained from responding to her remark about Friday, but its implication didn't go unnoticed; now that Ginny was out of the picture, he was free to attend. Harry left the two professors discussing where Ginny might be and headed back to Gryffindor Tower. There he found a worried-looking Ron and an apologetic Hermione waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, Harry," she said, "I didn't think it would come to this."

He wanted to rage against her and tell her that if everyone had been a bit more forthcoming, then things wouldn't have come to this. But he knew that it would gain him nothing, and any recriminations could wait until it was all over. And besides, he might need their help to find her.

"That's all right, Hermione, what's done is done. How's your mum, Ron?"

He knew that, despite it all, Molly Weasley had never given up on her daughter. If she had, she would have stopped getting so upset at her antics years ago.

"Going spare, as you'd expect. Even the clock is no use, all it says is 'travelling'."

Whatever Ron thought, Harry was pleased by the news. At least he knew that she was alive and wherever she'd gone, she'd gone there of her own free will. The problem was, how did he find her? He didn't know any of her hiding places or anyone she knew outside of Hogwarts. He was convinced that he'd only found her the other day because she's wanted him to.

"Fancy a game of chess, Harry?" Ron asked, glancing at Hermione, "You know, take your mind off things?"

Harry wasn't sure if Ron was genuinely trying to help him cope or trying to keep him from going after Ginny. The way his friends were exchanging glances, he thought that the latter was more likely. That presented him with a problem: how did he search for her with them watching his every move?

"No thanks, Ron, I'll think I'll go for a walk, try and clear my head a bit. It's been a trying few days and I feel a bit of a headache coming on."

"Well, perhaps you ought to see Madam Pomfrey then," said Hermione, still glancing anxiously at Ron. "We'll go with you, it'll be good to stretch our legs, won't it, Ron?"

The thought of Hermione doing anything to 'stretch her legs' would have raised anyone's suspicions, but it was the dogged look on her face that sealed it for him.

He was trying to work out how he'd get away from them without causing a row or pulling out his wand, when his saviour arrived in the form of Euan Abercrombie, with a message from the Headmistress.

"She said that the prefects need to go to her office for a meeting about the end-of-year thingy. Apparently there have been some last minute changes."

Harry could have kissed the younger Gryffindor, but succeeded in hiding his excitement from all three of them. He didn't want to be dragged along to the meeting with McGonagall.

"I'll come with you part of the way," he said, managing to keep his voice under control, "and pick up something from Madam Pomfrey and then have a bit of a lie down."

Hermione looked at him suspiciously, but as they made their way out of the common room and towards McGonagall's office, he noticed his friends beginning to relax. When they met Susan and Justin heading towards the same meeting, Ron tensed as if expecting trouble, but Harry made sure that he gave them all a sufficiently hangdog expression to reassure his friends.

As they parted company, he wished them well and headed off to the infirmary. The tension created by Ginny's disappearance had given him a headache and if anyone were going to check on him, finding he'd gone there would help to allay their suspicions.

After two hours of fruitless searching, he found himself in the entrance hall staring at the steps leading down into the Slytherin common room as if he were waiting for her. Whatever the truth of her role in the war, she had managed to get under his skin and he felt a sadness and a longing that told him it would be a long time before he got over her. As he sat on the stairs wondering what he was going to do next, he felt his spine tingle. He whirled around, half expecting to see Ginny, but instead found Myrtle hovering behind him.

"That's not a pretty face to pull. You want to be careful; if the wind changes, it'll get stuck like that."

Despite the sullen look on her face, she seemed pleased to see him.

"Oh, hi, Myrtle, how are things in the dungeon?"

"Much quieter now. I still have to put up with the rats but that horrible man no longer comes down there. Thank you, Harry, that's the first time anyone living has ever done anything like that for me."

He looked at her guiltily; he had forgotten completely about his promise to her. He wondered what had changed to make Pettigrew stay away from her.

"Waiting for your girlfriend?" she asked nonchalantly. She floated close to him and began preening herself.

"No," he said sadly, "I don't have a girlfriend any more." It was true, Susan was now with Justin and Ginny was ...gone.

"What about the girl you rescued from the dungeon? I saw the way you looked at her; isn't she your girlfriend?" He didn't know if a ghost experienced jealousy, but if they could then he was sure that was the emotion that she was experiencing now.

As the she spoke, Harry suddenly had a flash on inspiration. He pulled out his wand and cast the tracking charm he'd used to find Ginny before. If the wand still held her magical signature then there was the chance that he could find her. Sure enough, the signature was still there; it was faint, but it was all he needed.

"Thank you!" he yelled, grinning at Myrtle.

Leaving the confused ghost hovering in the hall, he ran back towards the common room, taking the steps two at a time. Thankful that Ron and Hermione weren't back from their meeting, he grabbed his broom from under his bed, made his way back downstairs, and was soon flying away from the castle into the gathering gloom.

He had no idea where she had gone to, so he decided to fly in wider and wider circles until he picked up her trail. After two hours of flying, he was cold and stiff and thinking of giving up when his wand pulsed, showing him which direction she had gone.

As his search continued, it became clear that she too had travelled by broom. She had also gone to great lengths to avoid detection, because the trail disappeared in places and numerous false trails had been laid. But the charm he was using had been designed to track the most devious of Voldemort's followers, and he was still able to follow her.

The first fingers of sunlight were beginning to show on the horizon when he spied a ramshackle-looking farmhouse nestled by a small stream. The wand glowed more strongly the closer he got to it, so he decided to land. As he approached, a red-headed young woman emerged from the building and stared up at him. He had found her.