Realization

Disclaimer: I don\'t own Harry Potter or any rights to it, and I\'m not making any money from this story. It\'s all J. K.\'s

A/N: sorry, i know that it starts slow but it\'ll get better i promise. please review. side-note-i\'ll beta anything that\'s original or hp. let me know via the reviews if you have something.

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ONE
Harry Potter ran as fast as his feet would carry him up the hill toward the looming structure. He ignored the pain splitting his chest in two. The moment he saw it, he couldn’t be restrained. Remus Lupin had fought to hold on to Harry until the frustrated, distraught young man had punched him in the stomach, bringing Lupin to his knees, forcing him to release Harry.
Now the frantic young man was mounting the hill. Knowing the danger he was facing, he forced himself to slow down, stop his angry, desperate muttering, and began approaching the Burrow stealthily. Not knowing what lay ahead, Harry circled his second favorite building in the world twice, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, with the exception of the looming Dark Mark. Approaching the rear if the house, he carefully avoided the mish-mash of Wellington boots laying haphazardly on the back stoop, just as he remembered them.
Dropping to a crouching position as he neared the window and pulling himself along, Harry reached up and paced two fingers on the windowsill to peek in. He raised his head so only his eyes and forehead were exposed, should a Death Eater be ready to spring on approaching Order members. The sight that met his eyes made his breath catch in his throat; a body was slumped over the kitchen table, wand underneath the hand.
It looked as though the Death Eaters had caught the only woman Harry had ever come to regard as a mother by surprise. Though he fought it tooth and nail, Harry’s eyes began to tear as he looked at Molly Weasley. Then Molly gave a sudden start, startling Harry, making him fall backwards.
“Ginny!” she shrieked. She sounded desperate. Harry’s heart turned over. How could he have been so stupid? He felt someone approaching behind him and turned, raising a shaking wand to see Lupin cautiously coming forward.
“Molly,” he called, in barely more than a whisper. “Molly!” His voice was gaining volume.
All the while, Harry was fighting back the flood of tears, as he realized all too late that he should have seen this coming.
“Remus?” called Molly; she peered out the window cautiously at the back of Harry’s head and Remus’s aging face. Realizing it was safe from the signal, however subtle, he made with his hands, and Molly reached through the open window and pulled Harry backwards into a hug that threatened to crush Harry’s lungs. As she did this, Harry’s resolve broke and tears fell thick and fast from his eyes. He could feel her begin to sob into the back of his robes.
Remus came foreword and pried Harry from her vice-grip and led him inside. Just before he stepped through the door he muttered two incantations. A patronus sped into the sunrise and a purple phoenix shot into the sky, towering over the Dark Mark. Yes, it was safe to approach. Lupin knew Snape too well. While Snape would never miss the chance to kill a Weasley, he would follow Voldemort’s orders. Lupin had known for one hour that Ginerva Weasley was in danger. He had not acted fast enough. He thought he knew Voldemort’s plan, Voldemort’s sinister plan. He knew that Voldemort would use Ginny to lure Harry without notice at a time and place to his advantage. Now Voldemort had the most powerful leverage, assuming the youngest Malfoy had told him of their previous attachment during Harry’s sixth year.
Harry had begun to control himself as all this reeled through Lupin’s head. Molly was still sobbing uncontrollably as Harry held her, wiping tears from her face.
“Molly,” he said gently. She pulled back and looked into those powerful green eyes and that determined face still a little red from crying. “Molly, I need to know what happened.”
Lupin marveled in the control Harry was showing over the situation, thinking that Harry was becoming a remarkable leader.
Slowly, Molly began to control her tears and steady her breathing. Harry waited patiently, grasping her hands and holding them in his. Finally, Molly nodded, they stepped through the kitchen door to join her and she began, “Now, don’t interrupt me or I’ll never get this out.” It was an attempt at her normal commanding and courageous tones, and somehow, Harry found himself eased for a small moment. It reassured him that Ginny was not dead.
“I was waiting up for Arthur, as I usually do, and I thought I heard him coming. But when I looked at my clock his hand hadn’t spun to traveling. And then suddenly, Ginny’s hand began to spin uncontrollably. Well, that’s never happened before. I guess since we’re all at Mortal Danger, the clock was trying to tell me that something was seriously wrong. But I realized a second too late what it meant and I heard her scream and begin firing off hexes. Then, I heard, ‘Stupefy’ and something hit the floor. Then there were muffled voices, men’s voices. Then I heard the door behind me open, but before I could turn around I saw a flash of red light, but I didn’t hear any incantation. It was an odd sensation, not like being stunned but like being put to sleep, like I was floating away. Just before my head hit the table I remember seeing Ginny thrown over his shoulder.” Molly suppressed more tears as her story came to an end.
Harry had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was like someone had pulled it by a fishhook toward his feet. He thought he knew whose shoulders Ginny was carried away on.
“Who was the man who took her?” Lupin asked.
“Malfoy. Draco Malfoy,” Molly muttered.
That meant only one thing to Harry. Snape and Malfoy had stolen Ginny from him and all the dementors in the world were not enough to enact his anger on them, death would be the easy release, but he would not grant it to them. His revenge would be a slow torture for the shear horror he felt at the fact that Ginny was at their non-existent mercy. He began to shake with a rage that made the room tremble in terror. Molly looked shocked.
“An earthquake,” she squeaked, sounding utterly terrified.
“Harry,” said Lupin, moving closer and reaching for his shoulder. “You need to calm down or this house will fall in on us.”
Molly’s eyes widened in absolute terror at his words, realizing that Harry was displaying powerful wandless magic.
“You’re scaring Molly. Harry, they won’t kill her.” Lupin’s voice shook a little as Harry turned to face him, the rage still in his eyes. “This won’t save her.” Lupin quailed under Harry’s rage, but stood his ground.
“How do you know?” Harry hissed looking venomous.
“Because I know Voldemort.”
Molly squeaked at the name, and Harry turned his attention to her.
“You,” he shot at Lupin, “take care of her. Get her to Grimmauld Place.
“And what are you going to do?” asked Lupin, looking wary.
“Like I would tell you,” snapped Harry, the room shaking in anger again for the briefest of moments.
“And why wouldn’t you?” Lupin shot back. “Dumbledore-“
“Is dead,” said Harry. “And you are not my father. I am an adult and have no obligation to tell you anything concerning my business.”
“But this is Order business.”
“My-“ Harry stopped short. “My personal life is not Order business. So stay out. This is not a situation we can use to our advantage. It could be devastating to the war effort and your precious Order. So let me handle this.”
A lingering uncertainty crept into Lupin as Harry shot out the door and apparated away. He was more like James than he would ever realize and so much that Lupin should have realized. Memories of James flooded him as he remembered the times James had lost his head and almost lost his life too often. But Harry was stronger than James. James had never displayed such wandless magic at times like these but forgot the magic he knew and attacked with animal instinct.
Molly had been watching Lupin after Harry’s exit. She decided to drag him from his thoughts.
“I can’t help but wonder if we’re missing something,” she said.
“Huh?” said Lupin, surprised that she was watching him.
“Well, Harry almost called her something. I know he didn’t mean to say my personal life. He meant to say something else. I just know the boy too well. And whatever else he meant to say aside, I know he loves her very deeply. But Ginny isn’t his personal life. She’s vital to the war effort and he’s not the only one who cares for her.”
“What are you saying?” asked Lupin.
“She disappeared with him about two months ago for two days. When she came back she wasn’t the same Ginny anymore. And he wasn’t the same Harry after that.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Mother’s instinct. I know that they have been with each other, in an entirely inappropriate manner for a sixteen-year-old girl.”
“She’s not a girl, Molly. She’s a young woman.”
“How can you say that? She’s not even of age!”
“You can tell. Plus, she’s wise beyond her years.”
“I suppose so. I had just hoped that she would stay a little girl for a while longer.”
“Not with Voldemort on the loose.” Molly flinched at the sound of the name.
“Yes, you’re quite right as usual, Remus.”
A sudden thought struck Lupin. “Molly, where’s Arthur?”
“What?! Oh my goodness!! Where’s my husband?! All this time and worry over Ginny and I completely forgot to worry about my husband! Oh Remus…”
She fell into his arms sobbing again.
“Molly, steady yourself. You know better than to fall to pieces like this all the time. I’m sure he was just working late.”
“Oh no! What if he saw the Dark Mark and thought I was dead?!”
“Molly!” he said firmly. She froze, never having heard Lupin sound so authoritative. “Before you fall to pieces again, please, let’s find out if you have a valid reason for all this emotion. Shh! I understand you are upset about Ginny,” he said before she could speak. “But you have to have faith in Harry and whatever crazy scheme he has come up with to get us out of this one. I know him, and so do you. There is more love between him and Ginny than I ever thought him capable of feeling with a past like his. Have faith in him.”
“I know. I just worry so much. Bill and Fleur are expecting Fred and George are in hiding, Charlie is missing, and Percy…oh Percy! I just can’t believe him. And Ron is running amok the countryside with Harry and Hermione. And now, Ginny is kidnapped and Arthur didn’t come home last night. It’s just too much for me!”
“I see. So you would have preferred the easy way out? If you had made alliances, perhaps, with Voldemort?”
Molly winced at the sound of his name and at his harshness. He knew he was being unnecessarily mean, but this was a time of war and there was no time for tears. Mourning could come after the fate of the world was decided.
“So, Remus, um, what do you suggest we do?”
“First, we get out of here. If the Death Eaters come back, we’ll be in real trouble, especially if they see the phoenix.”
“The phoenix?! What are you trying to do? Get us killed by keeping us under that?”
“No, I expected you to be able to handle what was going on. Let’s get to Headquarters. I expect Harry collected the other two and left without any explanation.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Molly had collected herself enough by now to square her shoulders and set her face into a determinately strong front. “Best be off, dear.”
Without another word, they disapperated.