Impatiently awaiting the onset of fireworks, Ginny Weasley cursed herself silently. Her foolhardiness had led her into being cursed and incapacitated by Lady Black, watching helplessly as Rose and Leo lost possession of the Dark Lord's personal diary, and leading her mother into the arms of Death Eaters. Even after all these years, her mother still choked up on the rare occasions that she spoke of the fate suffered by Ginny's twin uncles, Fabian and Gideon, at the hands of the Dark Lord.
Molly had never forgiven Ginny's grandfather, Minister Prewitt, for his inflexible unwillingness to negotiate in any way for the lives of his sons. In truth, for that grievous sin against family, everyone in the Weasley clan, excepting perhaps Ginny's eldest brother Percy, avoided speaking too often with the man they all called "The Minister."
Now Ginny shuddered to realize that she herself might end up causing Molly's death-not on the basis of principle but as a result of base stupidity. Appealing truly to divinity for the first time in her young life. Ginny begged of the velvet nighttime sky, Not my mother, please! Please, take me, she pleaded, spare my mother, take me, please! Finally, as the explosions triggered by Rose and Leo ripped and rippled throughout the grounds of Malfoy Manor, Ginny held her breath, maintaining her vigil even while glancing expectantly at the cot holding the invisible form of Harry Ashworth.
Come back, she now pleaded of Harry, the explosions having been his cue to retreat. Please come back and tell me the plan worked! Suddenly, Ginny saw Death Eaters appear in the Manor's many windows, some casting shield charms, others wildly shooting stunners at the bushes around the grounds. Tell me this worked, she pleaded to no one and everyone, guide all of us home! Keep the Weasleys and the Potters and the Blacks safe and whole! Finally, expelling a breath she'd forgotten she was holding, Ginny turned to see Harry Ashworth's image reunite with his body.
"Did everything go all right in there?" Ginny asked breathlessly, her voice made raspy by a mouth dry from fear. Noting Lord Black's arrival, Neville also turned expectantly to hear Harry's answer.
"Yes," Harry smiled triumphantly, "it went nearly perfectly." Ginny swallowed despite her dry throat and placed her hands over her heart in relief. Harry added, "I suspect your mother is already in safe hands."
Ginny then noted that Harry appeared somewhat sweaty and pale, but nevertheless seemed enthused and energetic. His eyes, in particular, appeared bright and very wide. Throwing off the blankets that had covered him in the cot, Harry stood with a slight struggle and a helping hand from Neville.
"Nearly perfect?" Neville marveled. "What could have gone better?"
Harry frowned faintly. "We were aiming for a happy medium, and I'm not sure we achieved it. I don't want the dark lord to accept the idea that I'm alive, well, and back to bother him, but I don't want him to dismiss the idea either. I am not entirely sure that I persuaded him enough. In a few days, he'll convince himself that this was all was a clever ploy pulled off by the Order."
"Oh," said Ginny, now slowly drifting towards exhaustion as her adrenalized fear faded, entirely unconcerned with the subtle touches Harry and Bellatrix sought to integrate into the rescue mission.
"So, are we headed to the rendezvous point, now?" Neville asked leadingly.
"Not yet," Harry demurred to the disbelief of his teenage minders, as all three glanced at the Death Eaters now milling around the windows of the Manor. "I think I need to do just a little more to sell this."
"Your wife gave very strict instructions," Ginny reminded Harry, now apprehensive about Bellatrix's response.
"Tell her I disobeyed," Harry smirked, walking slowly and deliberately to the edge of the forest.
Ginny and Neville shot concerned glances at each other before sprinting to catch up with Harry, who had stopped on the forest's innermost margin. Instead of looking into the grounds as Neville and Ginny thought Harry had intended, Harry was studying the boundary between the forest and the manor walls.
"This will work perfectly!" Harry declared, his voice slightly brittle from his flagging energies.
Suddenly, Harry aimed his wand to the right and shot a wave of fiendfyre deep into the forest as Ginny and Neville looked on, jaws slack with astonishment. Harry then turned to his left and released yet another wave of fiendfyre into the depths of the forest. He smiled weakly, noting that the fiendfyre had caused a stronger reaction from the Death Eaters inside the manor than even the explosions had.
His satisfaction was not to be enjoyed for long, however. Ginny watched as his face began to lose color. Shoulders now slouching, Harry mumbled, "I don't feel well."
Quickly, Ginny and Neville refocused on Harry, alarmed as he slowly slumped down to the ground. More alarmingly, the teens glanced around themselves to find fiendfyre racing ravenously throughout the forest, in all directions, including their own.
"Let's get out of here," Neville stated decisively.
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