Harry Is Missing, Ginny Is Leaving

Christmas vacation of Ginny Weasley's last year at Hogwarts had ended two weeks ago. Like always, her dearest friends went ahead of her and graduated the previous year and now she was alone in a sea of familiar faces.

Ginny Weasley sat on the wide windowsill in her dormitory, gazing over the snow-dusted grounds. She thought fondly of the holiday that had passed with her family and with Harry.

Harry.

She drew the deep blue blanket, which her mother had knitted, tightly about her. Staring down at the newspaper which lay near her feet on the windowsill, she reread the headline, "Harry Potter Missing!" in bold, Old English print.

She felt stifled in this icy room in which she usually rested and wished she could simply leave and never come back. So many good times had come to pass within the walls of Hogwarts, so many memories which she loved. And so: she needed to leave.

Ginny stood abruptly and looked around to Hermione's old four-poster. As Ginny stared, she thought anxiously of what would happen to her if she really did leave Hogwarts at this very moment.

The War rampaged in the Wizarding World; and needless to say, Hogwarts was in a complete chaotic upheaval. Good and Evil Sides had long-since been taken. Just one year previous, she had found solace in Hogwarts under Dumbledore's protective wing and by Harry's side.

But now...

It was just too much for Ginny to seriously contemplate. Despite her mother's pleas for her to stay at Hogwarts echoing in her memory, Ginny finally became decisive in this difficult judgment.

Ginny strode quickly to her four-poster bed and gracefully drew out her wand. Whispering, she said spells and incantations.

At the end of this bed laid a large mahogany trunk which read Ginny in a beautiful script. It unlatched and the top flew up. More whispering, scarcely audible. Robes, parchment, Harry's gift from the past holiday, undergarments... her belongings obediently floated into the mahogany trunk and packed themselves closely and ever-neatly.

The girl laid her wand on her bed and folded the blanket which had been around her shoulders. Manually, she placed the folded blanket inside her trunk. Then, she laced up her boots, drew up the hood of her robe, and dressed herself in a final layer: Harry's invisibility cloak (incase of emergency, she would need it more than he would, so he reasoned at the time). Kneeling, Ginny shut and latched her trunk, walked over to the side of her bed and picked up her wand again.

"Reducio," she said, pointing at her trunk. She shrunk it to a size small enough for her to fit it into the pocket of the Invisibility Cloak. Once Ginny placed her shrunken trunk in her pocket, she put her wand in the other pocket. She walked easily to the door and turned around. Ginny gazed around the room one last time.

"Good-bye Hogwarts," Ginny said aloud. Only silent walls answered. She felt as though an arm was clutched around her torso, luring her not to leave. She turned slowly despite this feeling, and placed her hand on the cold metal doorknob. Turning it slowly, Ginny exhaled softly. Then, she swung the door open and made her way down to the commons, weaving her way through the Saturday gatherings, and finally down to the first floor, down the hall, turned right, down another corridor, and to the Quidditch grounds where she kept her broom.

Ginny mounted her broom on the open, unkempt Quidditch field and kicked off the ground swiftly. Just as quickly, she was hundreds of feet in the air, hundreds of feet from her childhood.

Now, where to go? Previously, she had been planning to join up whole-heartedly with the Order of the Phoenix. However, her parents were against her dropping out of school at this time, so she did not feel as though she could join up just yet. No. Instead, she will spend a little time alone, away from the War, away from it all.

Cold winter wind blew back Ginny Weasley's fire-red hair and chilled her through and through. Ginny leaned closer to her broom and hastily pulled out her wand, whispered a spell to warm her, and carefully placed the wand back in her pocket.

"Maybe I could go to the Leaky Cauldron... But, people will recognize me there... I will have to change the way I look..." Ginny muttered to herself.

Once again, the witch pulled her wand out as she rode her broom over England. First, her eyes. Daring not to poke out her eyes, she changed her brown eyes to bright green. For Harry...She thought ephemerally. Then, her height- she pointed to her shins and painfully willed herself to grow an inch longer. She pointed the wand then at her chest and enlarged her breasts a size and swept away her red freckles. Pointing her wand back at her face, she smoothed out her jaw-line slightly, making her face longer. Finally, for her beautiful hair which she had actually grown to like over the years due to Harry's admiration. She made it much longer so it reached the top of her hips, made it curl in fat ringlets and chose to have black hair. She realized that she made herself look like a female version of Harry only after she was done but did not care. After all, Harry was her idea of a beautiful person.

Just as it started to drizzle (it was not quite cold enough to snow), Ginny touched down on the London street in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Glancing around, she slipped off the Invisibility Cloak and clutched it closely to her chest. Then, she slipped through the doors, entering the dreary place (it had become that way in the past few years since the War started).

Causally, she wiped away a few drops of rainwater from her face. Her eyes locked transiently with a man she did not recognize who sat alone in the corner. He had brown hair and brown eyes, a straight, normal nose and a plain complexion. It had a very plain look about him and this did not go unnoticed by Ginny. Dismissing this, she walked to the bar, requested a room.

"Just need your name, witch," the bartender said.

"Uh my name? Hermmma... Herma Lovegood." Ginny scolded herself in her mind for not having come up with a name before this. "Could I have a drink?"

After a few minutes of sitting at the bar, Ginny was issued a key to room 245. As she sipped her Witches' Tonic, she felt eyes on her back. Slowly, she glanced over her should. That same man was still staring at her. Perhaps she did not change herself enough, or perhaps she made herself strikingly beautiful- after all, she did not afford herself the chance yet to look in the mirror. She downed her drink and snatched up her key. She left some money on the bar for the drink as well as a tip and walked up to her room.

Ginny dug her trunk and her wand out of the Invisibility Cloak pockets and placed them on the nightstand. She walked calmly to her small bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She was quite beautiful- perhaps too beautiful and perhaps memorable. Nevertheless, she was pleased with herself for successfully transforming her features. She then began walking back to the nightstand enlarge her trunk when she realized there was no need to. She would sleep in her robes perhaps.

The rain stopped and the sun was setting now, so Ginny observed through the window. Finally, she allowed herself to actually think about Harry and her future.

She shivered at the thought that he was missing. He could be...

He could be dead. She bowed her head with this thought, as though it were too heavy for her neck to support. She placed her hand on her forehead in an attempt to shield her face from people who were not there. Ginny shook with silent sobs. She was scared. How could she have been so stupid as to actually pack up and leave? She had no plan. Ron and Hermione, her mother, her brothers, her father, Harry- they all passed through her mind. She wept because she knew that perhaps tomorrow every one of them could be dead due to the "greater cause". She knelt down and embraced herself in a poor attempt to console herself. Her fright and sadness poured out of her. It had been pent up for too long as she had pretended to be strong for her loved ones.

But now she was alone and when she was alone she could allow herself to be weak.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, only barely touching her neck as well. Startled, she twisted around quickly. She was facing the strange man from downstairs.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked, attempting to steady her voice. She glanced over at the nightstand where her wand laid.

"Forget about your wand Herma, you won't need it," the strange man said gently. His voice was very familiar.

"Who are you?" Ginny asked slowly.

"I'll give you a hint: I work for the Order of the Phoenix," the man said as he knelt down to eye-level with Ginny.

"Oh, Harry," Ginny threw her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you that I was going under cover," Harry whispered into her ear, "I had no choice, but I can tell you now that I will have a secret-keeper. I'm leaving to stay at Godric's Hollow..."

"But Harry..."

"It's okay..." Harry said hurriedly and then he whispered, "My secret-keeper is going to be Ron. He will never betray me."

"But," Ginny began.

"It's okay... I'm going to be Hermione's secret keeper and she will be Ron's secret keeper. Oh you have no idea how happy I am that you left school. I was going to have to Owl you and that is so dangerous just by itself anymore..." Harry shook his head and allowed his words to trail off.

"Let's go then," Ginny said after about three seconds.

"We can't just yet. We have to spend the night here. It would look strange if you and I just got up and left after you had just rented a room."

"Ah, yeah, I suppose so," Ginny conceded. "No one would notice if you spent the night here with me though, right?"

"I don't know if anyone is watching me or my room..." Ginny cut off Harry's words with a kiss.

"I didn't like that at all..." Harry leaned back from Ginny.

"Yes, me either," Ginny agreed. Harry pulled his out of his robe pocket and transformed Ginny back to her normal face and body. Then, he pointed the wand at himself and did the same. Then, he kissed Ginny slowly and softly.

"Ah, that's better," Ginny said, laughing.

The next morning they arose early and transformed back to their disguised looks. Ginny slipped her trunk into one pocket and her wand into the other. Then she handed Harry the Invisibility Cloak.

"This way no one will see you leave my room or enter yours," Ginny said and kissed Harry's cheek.

"Right. I'll be downstairs in about ten minutes. I'll meet you in the street." Harry said, swinging the Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and then drawing up the hood.

"Okay, I'll just go downstairs and have a cup of tea and pay for my room," Ginny said, seemingly to the wall. Then, she turned and walked to the door and opened it. Walked out of her room and bent to pretend to tie her bootlace (while Harry walked out) and then shut the door.

It was only five minutes after this that she was sipping a cup of tea at the bar when she heard the softest whisper in her ear.

"Someone was in my room. They know I'm here. Let's go."

Ginny gently set down her cup, thanked the waiter who had just brought the tea. Then, she pretended to look at the time, got up abruptly, and lied saying, "I'm late!" She laid money on the table and grabbed her broom as she walked out the door.

She was leaving with Harry to hide at Godric's Hollow- the same place where Harry's parents had hid and were killed. Despite this, she forgot her fear and instead was only a little nervous. She felt as though every moment of her life had led up to this.

Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter were finally starting their lives together.

Harry swung the cloak about her and mounted her broom with her in front. He wrapped his arm around her and held onto the broom with his other hand. Finally, they kicked off of the sleepy London street and flew away to Godric's Hollow.