"You're what?" Mrs. Weasley gasped, staring at Luna in shock and building fury.
Harry's jaw had dropped at Luna's confession. He scrambled to remember what he knew about Unbreakable Vows, but all he could recall was that Snape had made one with Malfoy's mother.
The conversation continued to swirl around him. "When did this happen?" Mr. Weasley demanded, taking Luna by the shoulders.
"After we got home for the summer hols. Ginny owled me to ask if I would come over." Luna studied his arm as she talked. "I got there and she said that she needed a favor and I had to promise not to tell anyone, at least until it was all over."
"You kept it a secret?" Mr. Weasley was osculating between anger and shock. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"
Luna's eyes widened in surprise. "I promised Ginny that I wouldn't. I was not going to break my promise, and it wasn't like you could do anything. Ginny didn't tell me exactly where she would be, just the basic facts."
Mr. Weasley still seemed in shock, but Mrs. Weasley's face turned ominously red. "Why didn't you tell us, though? We could have kept her from leaving and getting hurt!"
Luna, completely unruffled, said, "Tonks knew where Ginny was and what she was doing. If an Auror knew, then why did you need me to say anything?"
"But –" Mrs. Weasley stopped after her first word. She went over to one of the chairs and sank into it, cradling her head.
Before this went any further, Harry had a question. "What is a Bonder?"
"A Bonder," Hermione answered predictably, "ties together the two people who make the Vow. They perform the magic that is required to seal the Unbreakable Vow."
Harry looked around the group and saw a wide range of emotions. Most of Ginny's brothers looked like they were in shock, all except Ron, who seemed to be caught between amusement and anger. Remus, however, looked the worst off.
"Tonks wouldn't have… she just wouldn't…" he muttered.
"Yeah," Harry bit out sarcastically. "It sucks when someone you trusted lies, doesn't it?"
Remus' face clouded over in anger. "I did what was necessary, Harry. I'm not going to apologize for that. Ever."
"How is Stunning me –"
"I kept you safe!" Remus interrupted. "The few times that you've jumped into the fray, someone's been hurt. The only exception was when you saved Neville… but at least the Death Eaters were gone by the time you got there."
Anger, like hot lava, filled Harry's gut. "You didn't –"
"I did!" Remus strode over to Harry and got into his face, belying his normally placid demeanor. "We may not have known what Ginny was up to, but we can reasonably assume that you're the one who's going to finish off Voldemort once and for all."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "You don't know anything."
"I don't?" Remus ground out sarcastically. "Your parents went into hiding because of you! Why else would they hide, your dad giving up his dream career as an Auror, your mother's job as a Curse-Breaker, when they'd sworn to stay with the rest of us and fight? Why would Voldemort go after you if you weren't a threat to him?"
Harry's mouth dropped open. It did make sense if one thought about it… "It doesn't mean that I couldn't have helped save Ginny."
"We didn't need you, Harry. You don't have to be involved in everything that goes on with the Order." Remus strode away from him, letting out a frustrated sigh. "You've got your own role in this and we have ours."
"But –" Harry began, but this time he was interrupted by Mr. Weasley.
"No Harry, he's right," Mr. Weasley said solemnly. "If you'd have been killed then that would have been the end of it."
"If Ginny had been killed then it wouldn't have mattered," Harry growled, refusing to look around the room. It didn't matter if what he said was the truth. All of the anger that had been boiling in him seemed to rise a notch.
After a long, awkward silence, Ron cleared his throat and asked, "Luna… what exactly did Ginny tell you about where she was going?"
"She told me that she was going to a Death Eater's house to get information," Luna explained, smiling vaguely. "After we'd performed the Vow, I went home and had lunch with my dad and afterwards we went for a walk."
"But…" Bill looked stunned. Harry couldn't blame him. Luna talked about the whole thing as if it were of no more consequence than peeling a banana. "Does this mean that Tonks won't be able to tell us anything?"
Luna shrugged. "I'm not sure what she can tell you. I don't really know that much myself."
"This is unbelievable," George muttered darkly. "My sister was a ruddy spy."
Charlie snorted and clapped him on the back. "You're just mad that you didn't think of it first."
"I thought you two knew something," Hermione piped in unexpectedly. "When we talked at Christmas, you seemed like you knew what Ginny was doing."
"No," Fred replied casually. "We had a few theories, particularly that she might be under the Imperius Curse, but after we learned that you three knew what Ginny was up to we revised our hypothesis."
Hermione stared at him. "All right, who are you and what have you done with Fred?"
"What?" Fred asked, pretending to look hurt. "Just because I don't use them often, doesn't mean that I don't know a few big words."
"All right!" Fleur interrupted Hermione before she could retort. She was beginning to look very stressed. "What I don't understand is why we are fighting over this when what really matters is that Ginny is hurt!"
After a moments shock at Fleur's frank assessment of the situation, Harry felt shame wash over him. All of his anger seemed to melt away through his feet until he was left dizzy and oddly weak. He shuffled over to where Mrs. Weasley sat and took the seat beside her. He was letting his anger at Remus overshadow his fear for Ginny's life… or maybe it was a combination of both. If he focused on Remus then he wouldn't have to think about losing Ginny.
"You're right," Remus said as his shoulders sagged.
"What I want to know…" Charlie said, sounding as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "Is why Ginny wanted to be a spy in the first place? I mean, what set her off?"
"It was the traitor," Luna piped in.
Once again, everyone slowly turned to face her. "She told you about that?" Ron asked.
"Yes, well, I did ask her why she was going," Luna told them reasonably. "It was a daring plan. She told me that she'd heard Bill and Mr. Weasley talking about it, and she was going to protect Harry."
This only made Harry feel worse. Why did she have to go off and do something so stupid? He wasn't worth it!
"She heard us?" Bill asked, completely stricken. "We're the reason that she ran off?"
"No!" Harry growled. "Luna told you. I'm the bloody reason that she went."
"Harry…" Remus began but Harry didn't let him say anything else. He was starting to understand now what was going on.
Harry stood up again and this time he met everyone's eyes as he looked around the room. "Everyone seems to think that they need to protect me. Get it through your thick heads that I have to learn to take care of myself or none of this is going to matter!" He finally turned to face Remus, his biggest roadblock. "I'm not a baby anymore and you're only hurting my chances by treating me like one."
Remus' mouth twitched, but that was all he gave away. Their silence was broken by the door being opened and a familiar face peeking into the room.
For a split second no one said anything to Tonks. Then Charlie grabbed her wrist and pulled her in, while slamming the door behind her. Tonks instantly shook him off with a hard stare. "What?"
"I told them," Luna answered for the group.
Tonks eyebrow raised and she crossed her arms while clamping her mouth shut.
Remus, who appeared to be shaking, slowly marched over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Tell me it isn't true."
"Do you want me to lie?" Tonks replied in a hoarse whisper.
"Nymphadora!" Remus growled, sounding almost like his wolfish counterpart. Tonks reeled back angrily at the use of her full name. "Tell me you didn't let Ginny go off to live with Death Eaters!"
"I didn't let her," Tonks replied, sounding both livid and frustrated. "I didn't exactly have a choice!"
Fred cleared his throat. "I'd just like to remind everyone that interrogating her might end her life."
"No," Tonks shook her head and smiled sadly at. "Once Ginny gave me the signal that she was in danger, I was freed from my vow of silence."
Bill wrapped his arm around his wife. "How did you know she was in danger?"
Tonks raised her arms to fiddle with something behind her neck. She pulled off her necklace and held it up for them to see. It was a picture of a small kitten. "Protean Charm."
Everyone gasped. Hermione's hands flew up to her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. "Oh!"
"Ginny had an identical one," Tonks explained. "She said she got two for her birthday from the twins one year." Both Fred and George nodded in confirmation. "It would grow warm when she wanted me to come for information."
Harry felt the information slowly sink in when Ron swore softly. "That's bloody brilliant! Well," he looked over at Hermione, "it would be, since she was taking a leaf from your book." Somehow Hermione didn't look comforted by this.
"What I don't understand," George said, "is how you got information from her when she was being watched?"
Ron answered for her, and Harry could see that he'd quickly worked out the strategy once he'd been given all the pieces. "Crookshanks… that's why she took him. He could sneak around the property, ignoring the wards, and," Ron paused and looked at Tonks, "you could show up as a different person each time to pet him, making it look less suspicious."
Tonks grinned wearily. "Right in one. Because Crookshanks was half Kneazle he always knew it was me."
George whistled in appreciation. "That is bloody brilliant. So how did you know she was in trouble?"
Tonks flipped over the necklace and they saw the number '12'. "When she had information it said '21'. If she was fine and didn't need anything it said '11' and when it turned to '12' I knew that she was in trouble."
"I'll be damned," Charlie said as he gently held up the necklace to study the numbers.
"Was it the collar?" Hermione asked, speaking for the first time in a while. "Is that where the notes were hidden?"
Harry couldn't remember Crookshanks ever wearing a collar and then it hit him. Ginny had found a green collar and put it on the cat just a few days before they'd left.
"Yeah, she hid the notes in a slit in the collar. Crookshanks would wait for me in the bushes outside of the Nott estate and then go back to the house." Tonks suddenly looked much older than her years.
"That is so brilliant it's scary," George told the room in awe. "We've got to hire her."
"Agreed," Fred said, clapping his twin on the shoulder. "Imagine what we could –"
"You will do no such thing!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed, interrupting them. "Ginny's… she's…" her lip trembled and a lone tear slid down her pale face. "With brains like that, she's going to be an Auror."
While this shocked Harry, especially since he couldn't imagine Mrs. Weasley wanting her daughter in danger, Tonks shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid not; Ginny's being charged with treason. As soon as she's well enough to be moved, she's going to be taken to Azkaban."
The room exploded into outrage. "Can't you do something?" Harry demanded of her. "You were part of this!"
Tonks shook her head sadly. "I was only permitted to tell you lot and the Order what Ginny was really doing. It's part of the vow that I can't officially testify for her. She didn't want me to lose my job for helping her spy."
"This is unbelievable," Charlie said, beginning to pace. "Did she plan out everything?"
"Yes," Tonks answered glumly. "She knew exactly what she was doing." She glanced quickly at Harry before turning back to Charlie. "I wouldn't ever underestimate her."
"That's become readily apparent," Hermione said as she put her head in her hands. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Actually," Tonks walked over and sat next to Harry, "the Interim Minister is willing to make a deal with Harry."
Harry's eyes widened. "What exactly does he want?"
"He wants you to do an interview with the Daily Prophet saying that the Ministry is fine and doing a great job. If you do then Ginny will be allowed to remain here in St. Mungo's until her trial." Tonks patted his arm. "It isn't much of an offer, but at least you would get to see Ginny. He also said that the family would be permitted to visit her."
It didn't take a lot of thought. "I'll do it."
"Harry…" Mr. Weasley protested faintly, "you don't need to do this."
"No," Harry said firmly. "I do need to do this. Scrimgeour was assassinated, and everything is in chaos. We need to get Ginny out of their hands."
"He's not going to let her go home," Tonks said sadly. "He's got to keep order."
"Who is the new minister?" Hermione asked.
"Tiberius Ogden," Mr. Weasley told them. "He's a fair man but he's got a hard job and getting the Ministry back into some working order is not going to be easy… especially with the destruction of the London office."
"It's amazing that they haven't destroyed St. Mungo's yet," Charlie said.
Harry snorted. "That's going to happen if Ginny stays here. The Death Eaters aren't going to stop trying to get her. We need to get her back to the Burrow."
"Yes, but Ogden isn't going to let her go," Mr. Weasley said bitterly.
"He will," Harry said confidently, more confidently than he felt. "He wants something from me and I can pretty much promise that I'll go against the Ministry if I don't get what I want. I think we can come to an arrangement."
