Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Welcome Home Harry!

The hands, or rather antlers and legs trudged on at an ever-decreasing pace. He could hardly stand the tension he felt churning within him. He had packed his trunk, taken everything edible out of his little secret floorboard, leaving of course Hagrid's toffees and rock cakes. He had Hedwig's cage ready to come down. He had done everything he could. Now all he had to do was wait.

And wait.

And wait...

Finally at four thirty he couldn't stand it any longer, and he went downstairs to sit in the lounge. Uncle Vernon was sitting in his armchair, reading the Times. Aunt Petunia was in the garden, chatting over the garden fence with the lady from number two. Dudley was out making mischief with his cronies; Uncle Vernon hadn't wanted him anywhere near the... What were they called? The Wolseys?... when they arrived.

Harry sat down on the sofa. To pass the time he activated his watch again switched straight to the Hogwart's Map. He gazed lovingly at it and was only vaguely aware of Uncle Vernon staring disapprovingly at him. After what must have been several minutes, Uncle Vernon spoke.

"When did you say those friends of your would be arriving?"

"'Bout five, Ron said."

"And will there be a repeat of last year?" he growled, eyes bleeding daggers.

"No, Uncle Vernon. Ron said that they'd be arriving in the Ministry Car."

At the ensuing silence, Harry glanced at the clock on the wall and, seeing that there were still about ten minutes left, returned to looking at his watch. Peeves, was now Terrorising Myrtle in her Bathroom, and by the looks of it, the Bloody Baron, the rather bespattered Slytherine Ghost, was on his way to chide him. Harry shook his head and sighed. The final ten or so minutes were feeling like torture to him. It felt that he would get to Hogwart's before the Weasely's arrived!

He shook himself clear of all thoughts and turned back to the watch, the clock on the mantle piece almost unbearably loud in his ears. TICK tock, TICK, tock, TICK...

"Concentrate Harry!" he muttered to himself, trying to stop himself going mad with anticipation. "Concentrate! Now look, Dumbledore's in his office, Madame Pomfrey's in the Kitchens with the House Elves (She's probably getting herself a cup of coffee, or something like that.), Professor Snape is in Hagrid's hut, Pro..." Harry almost fell out off his seat. It was all he could do not to scream "WHAT!" He looked again at the tiny square in the grounds that was Hagrid's Hut. No. No one was there. He must have imagined it. But why then did that particular image pop into his mind?

He had no time to ponder this question, for just at that moment, the clock chimed five, and there was a loud and hearty knock at the front door.

Harry leapt to his feet and was at the door before Uncle Vernon had even batted an eyelid.

Slowly, almost painfully so, Vernon Dursley heaved himself up out of his chair, and wandered over to the front door, obviously trying to prolong the time before he had to meet the gaze of the Wolsey's again. Before he could stop him, however, Harry had flung open the door.

"HARRY!" came a welcome and much loved squeal, and before he knew what had happened, he had been swept up into an enormous bear-hug by a short, plump, and smiling woman with red hair. She was followed closely by a smaller red-haired girl who also threw her arms around him. Following her, three tall and fairly thin red-haired boys came up to him and patted Harry smartly on the back.

"Hey Mrs Weasely! Hey Ginny, Ron, Fred, George!" Harry said, smiling. Finally managing to pull himself away from their warm embraces, he turned to Uncle Vernon and couldn't help smiling at the disgusted expression on his face.

Vernon Dursely was furious. How DARE these, these... He couldn't even bring himself to say "people", but how dare they show affection towards his reprobate of a nephew. He absolutely refused to acknowledge that Harry could ever possibly have friends.

"Where is everything Harry?" Fred asked him. "Usual place?"

"Yup! Hedwig's out with Bracken again, so it's just the cage."

Uncle Vernon reddened with fury at this. "Boy!" he rumbled.

"Sorry Uncle Vernon. She needs to fly." Harry said, suppressing a grin.

"KO! Come on George! Let's go and get it."

"And where are your lovely wife and son Mr. Dursely?" Molly Weasely asked, amicably.

Uncle Vernon glowered, not liking the friendliness in her tone, and after the debacle of the previous year, that was mildly understandable, Harry thought. Although he didn't have to be so rude about it! "Petunia is out talking with a neighbour, and Dudley is out with friends." he replied shortly. Molly smiled at him, but Harry noticed that the smile seemed rather strained. He looked at her, head turned away from Uncle Vernon and mouthed "Sorry", blushing slightly.

A minute later Fred and George came trundling down the stairs, Harry's trunk between them, Fred carrying Hedwig's cage in his free hand. As soon as they hit the landing Uncle Vernon bustled them to the door.

"Yes, well I'd love to invite you to stay for tea, but unfortunately I am rather busy. Um... have a good year Harry." he said in a hurried monotone and slammed the door behind them, before locking it and closing all the curtains in the house.

"Well REALLY!" Molly exclaimed, her face glowing as bright as her hair, her eyes flashing wildly.

"I am really sorry!" Harry mumbled. "He's just not... used to me yet."

"You don't have to apologise for THAT!" Molly almost spat. She really didn't like to criticise him, as he was family of Harry's but that man sorely tried her patience.

Harry, reading her look, said to her "Don't worry. It's not just you and me. He is, I suppose you could say, a Muggle Malfoy! Doesn't like anyone he thinks he's better than."

"Hmm!" she huffed as she opened the door to the Ministry's car, and Fred and George threw his trunk and Hedwig's cage into the boot.

"The Burrow!" she said, tapping the steering wheel with her wand. The engine burst into life and the car made its way out of Little Whinging.

Harry eyed Molly questioningly.

"It was made magical, Harry dear. It isn't a Muggle artefact because it was made by trained wizards."

"Mr Weasely?"

"Yes!" she sighed proudly, although a flicker of concern furrowed her brow.

Harry caught this at once and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's bad, isn't it?"

"Comparatively, no. I just wish he wasn't so tired all the time. I can't explain it." she mused. "It's almost as if You-Know-Who is trying to send the Ministry on wild Goose Chases. Have you seen the reports?" Harry nodded. He had remembered all too clearly the reports he had received from the Daily Prophet.

All throughout the last month, the dark mark had been seen over people's houses. However when Ministry members had turned up, nothing was amiss. Well, not usually in any case. The only record of anything bad happening was when the Dark Mark was seen in Oxfordshire and a family of Pure-Blood wizards had been found slaughtered. But that was fairly early on in the proceedings. The rest of the time it had just been false alarms.

"Normally it's eight to ten at once and they are stretched enough as it is. Dumbledore's got enough of them convinced that You-Know-Who is back, and so even when Fudge refuses to act, they go out. Arthur is amongst the most active. I just can't convince him to take a break." She looked a little red-eyed at this. It had obviously been wearing hard on her. He turned to Ginny, Ron and the twins and raised an eyebrow questioningly, looking for confirmation. They merely nodded their heads silently.

Nobody spoke for quite some time. This wasn't the usual comfortable silence, which reigned when there was simply nothing to say between the Weaselys. This was strained and distinctly uncomfortable. The tension in the air was tangible, and it was clear that it wasn't only Molly that was worried. Even the Terrible Twosome weren't their usual bright selves. It was clear they had all been thinking along the same lines throughout the Summer. Wearing down the defences as it were. Working the Ministry to exhaustion. There would probably be a few more genuine attacks hidden amongst the red herrings. He wondered how much Professor Dumbledore knew. He had realised that, despite all the apparent attacks, his scar hadn't been hurting him at all since the events of the previous year. This concerned him. He would ask Dumbledore about it later. There could be any number of reasons why his scar hadn't been hurting. It could have been that he was pleased with what had happened over the summer and was just taking time to get used to his new body. Or it could be that he didn't actually know what was going on. Harry doubted this very much, but still, one never knows about these things.

He was jolted back into awareness by the car hitting a pothole in the earthen path leading up to the Burrow. Everyone was looking at him silently. They knew he would have been thinking a lot lately, and they didn't like to disturb him in his brooding. It was if, like Ron and Hermione, they had all come to an unspoken agreement to respect his privacy. If he felt that he needed to share something, he would come to them when he was ready, and, in the meantime, they would simply hope that his thoughts weren't too self-destructive.

"Welcome home Harry!" Fred and George chorused.

"Yeah! Welcome home!" Ginny echoed quietly, blushing.

*******

Looking around the Burrow, Harry couldn't help smiling. The ghoul was still clattering about in the attic, there were still a hundred and one different household tasks being performed, by residual magic, even though Molly wasn't there.

Someone was there however. Rather tall and gangly, and what remained of his red hair was somewhat dishevelled, he looked exhausted. Looking up from the stove however, there was no mistaking the joy in his eyes, twinkling through his glasses at his family come to join him.

"Arthur!" Molly squealed in delight, running over to her husband and throwing her arms around him, he swinging her around and planting a kiss tenderly on her lips. "What on earth are you doing home?"

"There was nothing more to do at the office today. I've brought a little paperwork home with me but apart from that, The Misuse Of Muggle Artefacts Department has quietened down a bit. Hullo Harry! Glad to see the Muggles haven't been starving you this time!"

"Hello Mr Weasely!" Harry beamed. "That is partly thanks to Mrs Weasely! I never would have coped without all the cakes and mixed salads!"

"Yes, well Molly certainly knows how to cook up a storm!" Arthur said smiling, kissing Molly on the forehead.

"By the looks of it, you're not too bad yourself, sir!" The twins grinned at this. Molly shot them stern looks at once.

"Why thank you Harry. Molly has been worrying a lot recently, so I have decided to give her a little rest, and so today I will be cooking, and you boys will be doing dishes."

"Arthur!"

"I won't hear another word about it Molly. You're exhausted. It's about time you relaxed. Oh, incidentally Ron, you've got another owl from Hermione. Arrived about half an hour ago."

"Thanks dad." Harry wondered if anyone else noticed the slight pink tinge that took to the tips of his ears when he heard this. "Come on Harry, let's get all your stuff upstairs."

"KO!" Harry replied, smiling knowingly.

Harry let out an audible sigh of relief as they arrived on the third floor landing and Ron dramatically thrust open his bedroom door as an almost blinding light of violent orange and black assaulted his eyes. Covered from floor to ceiling in posters, memorabilia and anything he could find in those colours, Ron's room was an everlasting tribute to his favourite Quidditch team, the Chuddley Cannons. They actually finished second in the league last season. Ron was delighted. It is all he talked about for the first three weeks of the holidays in his owls. Harry was actually grateful for this. He was worried that they would try and skirt around the topic of the Tri-Wizard tournament for a while and then plunge into it, but, from the way they were written, it seemed that the Tri-Wizard tournament was the last thing on their minds, for which he was eternally grateful. He shook his head, noticing that Ron hadn't got a current poster about the Cannons finishing in Second. "Oh well," he thought. "That's Ron sorted out for Christmas then!"

"So!" Harry said, turning to Ron, when they'd put his trunk and Hedwig's cage down on Harry's bed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ron looked up startled. "What in Merlin's name are you talking about?"

"I'll give you three!"

"Oh! Give me a break!"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll give YOU three!"

"Fred and George?"

"Yep!"

"Why don't you do something about it then?"

"You don't think I want to?"

"You must do! You've been avoiding it for quite a while now."

"But it just wouldn't be proper."

Harry tried not to laugh at Ron talking about propriety. "Why ever not. You like her don't you?"

"Of course it's just that she's..."

"Yes she is. She is also an exceedingly beautiful and attractive young witch, who is very fond of you too. You're not the only one eyeing her up, I can guarantee you that, but I can also say with some confidence that you are also one of the only people I can possibly see her reciprocating. I've also known her since she started Hogwart's, and I'd like to think that we had become fairly good friends over those years, and I KNOW that you'd be a fool not to at least give it a try."

"But you...?"

"You've got your troubles, I've got mine. We both love her Ron. We've got to do what's right by her. And at the moment what's right by her is..."

"Okay!" Ron winced. "It's not as if..."

Why was he wincing, Harry thought. It's not as if he has any real problems to deal with at the moment. He's just trying to sort his mind out about a girl. Admittedly not just ANY girl, but that was not the point. Harry had much more pressing matters to deal with. Ron didn't have a maniacal Wizard after his blood, who had probably several hundred, if not, several thousand wizards also after his blood, and who would stop at nothing to achieve his own evil ends. But then again, Harry reasoned, it wasn't just him that was at risk at the moment. Everyone had something to fear. Whilst Voldemort was after him, no one around him would be safe. He raised his hand involuntarily to his forehead, and once again smoothed at his scar. He kneaded at his forehead with his knuckles and stared at a particularly satisfied Wizard going through the repeated motions of scoring for the Cannons. "Goal!" he thought, ironically. That was it. Harry was Voldemort's goal and he wouldn't rest until the Quaffle was safely through the hoop. Harry sighed. If only there was a way of him performing a Snitch-nip so as to end the game now. No more suffering. No more tears. All would be right with the world.

Ron paused, looking somewhat disconcerted by the sudden far-away look on Harry's face. He had grown used to it over the period after the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament, but it still troubled him a little when he would become lost in his own world, mid-conversation. Occasionally, he would notice, Harry would get what looked like, an almost dreamy expression on his face as he pictured something, evidently beyond his grasp at the moment. It seemed that the slightest thing would trigger this vacancy. He hated seeing Harry like this. He looked at him as he gazed into the distance. Was he getting enough sleep? His eyes looked as if they had the beginnings of dark circles underneath them, and now he looked closely at his eyes, were there tears there? He remembered seeing the raw emotion in Harry's eyes in the hospital wing as his mother held him, as surely his own mother would, had she still been alive. He remembered feeling that emotion as though it were his own. He thought about all the memories he had with his family. He remembered teasing Ginny mercilessly about going to the Yule Ball with Neville Longbottom last year. He remembered all the pranks the twins had pulled over the years, their wonderful holiday in Egypt, the smaller trips they would take when they could afford it around the British countryside, and the simple joy of running around in the back garden, flying and playing Quidditch. He looked again at Harry, the dreamy look had now completely fled and was replaced by a deep, haunted look he had only ever seen on Hagrid after his brief stint in Azkaban, on Sirius, and when Professor Lupin was teaching at Hogwarts. He remembered once again, the look in Harry's eyes as a woman, who wasn't his own mother, had held and comforted him as a mother should, and now saw there something he'd only ever once before seen in Harry's eyes with such clarity; Pure and unadulterated hunger. The hunger which had at one point, threatened to engulf him in a period during the first year, when they had both seen into the mirror of Erised.

At this point, Ginny walked into the room. She looked nervously at Harry, and then raised an eyebrow questioningly at Ron. She hadn't seen him much around school last year, and so had no idea what a change had overcome him since the Tri-Wizard tournament. Although Ginny knew some of what had happened, the full extent wasn't widely known outside of the Professors, who had heard Barty Crouch Junior's Veritas Serum-induced confession, and Ron and Hermione, and Ron hadn't yet brought them all up to speed. He carefully told the short version, explaining a little of what Harry had seen, including Voldemort, or rather "You-Know-Who" killing Cedric Diggery, and what had happened when their wands connected, and saying that since then, Harry had been very upset and a little withdrawn and asking her to try to curb her usual irrational behaviour that his presence tended to induce. Ron immediately regretted that last comment and pulled his hands sharply over his mouth and began to apologise profusely for what he had said. However rather than bristling and being upset, she smiled and nodded, and kissed her brother on the cheek.

"I know your only trying to look out for him Ron. I will try, I promise." She then went over to Harry and sat next to him on his bed, pulling his head down onto her shoulder.

Ron was startled at this. "Ginny," he whispered furiously. "What...?"

"Shhhh." she replied softly. "Watch!" As Ron watched on, he was startled to see a slow smile spread across Harry's lips, and then a few tears trickled down his face. "It has begun." she said simply.

"Ginny?" Ron was confused. "How did you know to do that?"

"Woman's intuition. There will be a lot more of that to come, and you and Hermione need to be there when it does. He has just begun to mourn, and he has so much inside him he needs to make peace with." Harry was still staring vacantly, oblivious to his surroundings.

"Ginny, you're right. You're not a little girl any more. You ARE a woman, or at least you will be soon." Ginny raised an eyebrow archly at this. "What I mean to say is, I think Hermione would be furious with me if I didn't ask, and I KNOW I'd never forgive myself if I didn't ask..."

"What's wrong Ron?"

"Nothing as such, it's just... Would you be willing to help us? With Harry I mean? Try and keep his spirits?" Ginny blushed furiously at this, but kept her gaze level and her voice calm when she responded simply.

"Yes."

"Thanks, I mean it."

"That's alright. Anyway, we have to wake up Sleeping Beauty here. Mum said it's time for dinner. Harry?" she added gently. "Harry?" He still appeared distant. She hit his arm. "HARRY!"

He gave a start and looked up at Ginny, his head still on her shoulder. "Ginny? How long have you been here?"

"Oh, about half an hour. Are you hungry? Dinner's waiting"

"You should have woken me up! They're not waiting for ME are they?"

"Do you really think we'd start without the guest of honour?" Ron put in smugly. "Come on Harry, I'm starving! Let's get some of dad's delicious grub down ourselves."

Harry laughed at this. "Right. You go on ahead. I'll be down in a minute. Got any tissues?"

"Sorry."

"I have." Ginny said. "In my room, I'll go and get them."

"Thanks." They both left the room, and Harry began to look out of the window into the back garden. This is what life is supposed to be like. No cares. No worries. Just a loving family all at home together, husband and wife together after a long day working, a nice meal being prepared, kids playing around the house. Peace, tranquillity and bliss. He watched all the garden gnomes running wild around the place. "That will be fun to do after dinner!" he thought.

"Harry?"

"Hey Gin."

"Here's the tissues."

"Thanks." Ginny turned away, but Harry put a hand on her arm. "Hang on a moment Gin, can I just say something please?"

"Er..." she felt herself blushing slightly, but Harry affected not to notice. "Sure."

"I just wanted to thank you for earlier. And I want to apologise now and for the future that I appear distant. I'm still very upset over what has happened and, well..."

"I know."

"You do?"

"I'm not much better at times, myself."

"Tom Riddle?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ginny. I wish I knew what was going on sooner so I could have prevented it."

"Yeah, but you prevented it from happening again! And you rescued me! For that I will always be grateful."

"And you were here for me when I needed to cry, no questions asked. For that I will always be grateful." he said smiling, hugging her gently and planting a kiss tenderly on her forehead. She looked up at him, momentarily transfixed before coming to her senses, and blushing the deepest shade of red he had ever seen on her. He thought it made her look rather pretty. "Anyway, come on down Gin. I expect you've all got together too many of Hagrid's inedible rock cakes for me downstairs!" She giggled lightly and joined him.

Downstairs was a wonderful festive free-for-all. There were cakes and sweets of all descriptions, there were pasta dishes, rice dishes, chicken dishes, beef dishes, pork dishes, lamb dishes, salads, sandwiches, there was fruit, and there was more to drink than you could have found in the three Broomsticks. If Harry didn't know better, he would have thought that Mr Weasely had returned home the moment Mrs Weasely had left and began cooking then. But he had noticed the Magical Meals in Minutes books scattered around the kitchen and decided not to ask.

During the meal, he called Ron and Ginny over and whispered to them. "I've had an idea! Watch this!" and with that he took something out of his pocket, crumbling it in his hands and sprinkled it over the two slices of chocolate cake. He put those slices onto a plate in his hand and wandered over to the twins.

"Fred, George. I just wanted to thank you for my birthday present. It was wonderful. I didn't get a chance to try it out on Dudley because he went out pretty early with some friends, but don't worry. I am definitely going to try it out on my friends!"

"Glad to hear it!" Fred said, eyeing the pieces of cake greedily. "Um, are you going to eat those?"

"No, I've had enough chocolate cake for the moment. Do you want them?"

"Sure! Hey George, fancy some Chocolate cake?"

"Definitely!" he said, and they both took a slice and devoured them immediately. Harry went back to Ron and Ginny and started talking with them again.

"Where are Bill Charlie and Percy?"

"Oh they should be along in an hour or so. They said to start without them. Percy and Bill are out on dates, and Charlie said he had a bit of shopping to do."

"Who are Bill and Percy dating?"

"Oh, well do you remember that Ravenclaw prefect who..."

"You mean Penelope Clearwater." Harry interrupted, not wishing to mention the Chamber of Secrets around Ginny.

"Yeah, her. But Bill was a little vague. Just said that she was a little younger but very attractive and competent. I think he calls her his little Flower!" Ginny giggled at this.

"Anyway Harry, what have you done to the twins?"

"Oh you should see in about five minutes."

Just then, Percy and Bill fell out of the Fireplace, shortly followed by Charlie.

"Bill, Percy, Charlie!" Mrs Weasely cried. "I didn't think you were going to be back for another hour?"

"The girls went home early and I got my shopping done." Charlie said simply proffering his cheek to his mother, who kissed it lovingly. "Which reminds me, Harry, Happy Birthday!"

"It's from all of us." Percy added.

"Hope you like it." Bill put in earnestly. Harry stared at it, emotion welling inside of him.

"Go on," Charlie encouraged. "Open it." The parcel felt quite heavy and lumpy. Harry doubted that Errol and Pigwidgeon could have managed it between them.

Just as he was about to remove the Spellotape from a corner of the package, there were two very loud and bright pops, and where Fred and George were, moments before, now stood two very large and ginger-topped startled canaries, each with a chicken leg trembling in their wings. Everyone stared at them, completely gob-smacked. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry spotted Mrs Weasely looking horrified, angered and still trying to fight off the urge to laugh uncontrollably. Moments later the twins moulted leaving a pile of feathers on the floor and were returned to normal, staring flabbergasted at each other.

"Who on EARTH did that?" Fred asked, looking around accusingly, his gaze resting the longest on his erstwhile partner in crime.

"Don't look at me!" George said, a little disgruntled. Harry was biting his lip, which was now quivering almost uncontrollably. "Was that you Ron?"

"Wasn't me!"

"Actually," Harry grinned, a little sheepishly. "It was me. I figured, why did it just have to be MY birthday? I imagine most have you have been wanting this to happen for a while, right?" He batted his eyelashes, staring innocently at the twins, but he couldn't bring himself to look at Mrs Weasely. He knew that she disapproved of their ventures, and so he doubted that giving them a taste of their own medicine would be that much appreciated.

"Harry?" Molly was looking right at him now, somewhat sternly.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Weasely. I thought it would just be a harmless prank. I didn't mean to upset you."

He truly did look apologetic, and Molly couldn't help but smile at him. "You're sorry?" she said smiling gently. Then she surprised everyone by letting out a roar of laughter. "You're sorry? What on earth for? We've been trying to get the twins back for years! They've always been too far ahead of the game! That was one of the single most beautiful things I've seen in ages."

"Yeah!" Percy agreed enthusiastically. He had been the butt of more of the twins' pranks than all the other members of the Weasely household put together. There was a gentle uproar of laughter during which there were lots of cheers and Harry got patted on the back a lot by everybody.

"That was from the latest batch wasn't it Harry?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, sorry. I couldn't resist!"

"What are you sorry for?" George laughed. "It was pure genius. Didn't know the canary creams worked just as well like sprinkles! We'll make a killing!" The twins clapped him smartly on the back.

"I guess that makes you part of the family now!" Arthur said brightly

"Speaking of which Harry," Bill said, quietly. "You still need to open your present."

Harry looked up shyly, to see all of the Weasely's eyes trained expectantly on him. He swallowed hard and slowly removed the paper wrapping. There in his hand, sat an absolutely beautiful dagger. The blade was of a material he'd never seen before. It looked to be quite pearly, and as the light of the setting sun come in through the kitchen window, the blade glistened strangely. The handle looked as if it were made of diamond. It was an ornately carved dragon, what looked to be a Hungarian Horntail, with an H imprinted on the chest. Out of the mouth however, flickered what looked like a grass snake for the tongue. The grass snake also had its tiny tongue flickering. It has often been said that snakes were used in the worst forms of Dark Magic, but Harry found the grass snake to be rather cute. Where the blade met the diamond, the dragon's tail overlapped the blade to form a hilt. The whole fit so perfectly in his hand, he thought it might have been moulded to it.

He looked up at everyone, seeing them all gazing at him, smiling. The love, honour and respect he saw and felt emanating form each of them threatened to overcome him. "But what...?" he managed to choke out. "Why... How...?"

"Charlie..." Mrs Weasely coaxed.

"The blade is made of dragon's tooth. In fact, it IS a dragon's tooth. In fact it's the tooth of the mother you got past in the fast task last year. As with all Horntails the mother loses her canines when the eggs hatch so as she can groom them for the first few weeks until the hatchlings' hides are stronger. The dragon's tooth is a powerful material, which will cut through any substance, even diamond. In fact, it was this tooth that was used to cut the diamond, which makes up the handle of the dagger. The dagger has been charmed so that you are the only one who can wield it. In cases of emergency just open your hand and raise your wand in the air and cry "Save our Souls!" and the dagger will appear, just like that. Would you like us to show you?"

"Yes please!" Harry replied eagerly.

"Right then everyone, on three. One..."

"Y-, you all have one?" Harry choked again.

"Yes dear." Mrs Weasely said, kindly. "Arthur wasn't joking when he said you were part of the family. You have proven yourself time and again to be loyal to the Weasely family, you're practically another brother to Ron."

"Yeah! Difference is we get on, Harry!" Ron laughed, as did the others.

"You've helped us all. You... you saved Ginny." Harry and Ginny both blushed profusely.

"Anyway." Charlie cut into the ensuing silence, perhaps a little hurriedly. "On three. One... Two... Three!"

"Save Our Souls!" they all cried, wands in hand, their other hands laid out in front of them, open to the shape of their individual daggers. Almost instantaneously, their hands were filled with the glistening daggers, each individually tailored to suit the holder, each one a magnificent dragon with their owner's initial embossed on the Dragon's chest. Ginny's, Harry noticed, was an Antipodean Opaleye, Molly had a Chinese Fireball (quite apt, Harry thought), and Ron's was a Norwegian Ridgeback.

"You never told me you had a Norwegian Ridgeback too, Ron!" Harry said, looking somewhat amused, remembering Hagrid's pet Dragon Norbert, who had given Harry Ron and Hermione plenty of trouble in their first year at Hogwarts, and who had given Ron a nasty bite, which went septic.

"It never really came up in the conversation, besides, we had enough trouble dealing with the real thing, didn't we!"

"Fair enough." he chuckled.

"We were actually going to give you your dagger on your seventeenth birthday, Harry dear." Mrs Weasely said, delicately. "But under the circumstances..."

"Better safe than sorry. I understand fully Mrs Weasely. And thank you very much for the dagger. Thank you all. I, I just don't know what to say." Harry began to sound choked again.

"And there is something else you should understand, Harry." Mr Weasely added, seriously. "Do you see that little ring on the hilt of your dagger? Where the tail curls in on itself?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"Well that is like a special battle holster for your wand. The way you hold your dagger means that the wand would be firmly lodged against the lower bone in your thumb anyway, even though it can only be removed after saying "Release." Quite simple, but as it has been charmed so that only you can wield the dagger, it has also only been charmed to respond to your voice, as an added safety precaution. The dagger on its own is a powerful weapon in hand-to-hand combat, but in conjunction with a wand, it magnifies the power and magical energy of the wand a hundred times, and the wand magnifies the magical energy of the dagger a hundred times. That means the effective magical capacity of the two combined is actually ten thousand times that of the wand by itself. Except that with the gestalt effect of the dagger and the wand on each other means that it is in fact many times more than that. Now then, as an example of that power, do you remember back at the third task?" Harry grimaced but nodded quietly. "Molly told me that you produced quite a remarkable Patronus against a Dementor."

"It wasn't a real Dementor," Harry said, a little more brightly. "It was a Bogart. Professor Lupin said that it meant that fear was my worst fear."

"And very wise that is too. Well, anyway, say you were attacked by an army of Dementors. That one Patronus wouldn't prove very effective for very long, would it? Well, with the Gestalt effect of the wand working with the dagger, it would be highly effective against a dozen armies of Dementors, taking an army as around, oh, I don't know, say, five thousand. In with the two combined, the one spell could easily ward off sixty thousand Dementors without breaking into a sweat!"

"That is very powerful!" Harry said, with a gasp. "But surely that means that... that other spells would have their power magnified as well."

"What are you getting at Harry?"

"I was actually thinking along the lines of the Unforgivables. Specifically the Cruciatus Curse?"

"Ah yes." Mr Weasely said gravely. "That would have rather... unfortunate effects. The effects that would occur from repeated exposure could theoretically occur immediately, even after a few seconds."

"So then, how many of these daggers exist?"

"Only twelve. It's like a safety precaution. Charlie's not just been working with dragons in Romania. He's been researching them as well - Their magic, what can be done with various things like tooth, blood and bone - and he has been doing this research with Dumbledore, of course none of you heard this from me! He came up with these. Actually finished the project just before you went to Hogwarts, Ron. Then again, as you were running after the Philosopher's stone with Harry here, you probably forgot to tell Harry about it! Either way, Dumbledore agrees that you and Hermione should have yours now. Hermione had hers when she came over at the start of the Holiday. We asked her not to tell you so it would be a surprise.

"Hermione's got one too!" Harry choked. "She IS going to be powerful!"

"That's what Dumbledore said. The beauty about these daggers is they can actually tell when you are under the Imperius Curse and wont work then. You have to be in full possession of your faculties."

There was a long pause during which no one said anything. Harry began to start thinking again. Could it really be that this small dagger could help him against Voldemort? He had to do something. The situation was getting dire. The fact that no one was actually dying was beside the point. The threat of Voldemort was very near. If only there was a way he could...

"Harry?" He looked up. He had somehow found his way to sitting down on one of the chairs. Harry reckoned that Molly had probably steered him there. Ginny was now looking on him, eyes brimming with concern. There was no one else in the kitchen. There were some cakes still left on the table, some pasta, and a little salad. Those would probably go later, he thought. "Harry? Do you want to come outside and help us with the de-gnoming, or do you want to get an early night? You do look a little tired."

"Actually I would love to help with the de-gnoming. I haven't done any in ages. Of course the Muggles don't have any, so I don't get any practice there. Lead on, Gin!" he added, and smiled again.

"Okay!" she said brightly.