An: Very sorry for the extremely long break.
Chapter 13 - New Beginnings and Unfortunate Endings
3 months later
Ginny finished up the last touches on her article and submitted it to her editor before quickly gathering up her stuff to prepare for the rest of the night. She had been hired a month ago to work as a gossip reporter for the Daily Prophet. The editor had liked her proposal to improve the image and popularity of the Prophet, as the paper had lost quite a number of readers over the years. Tonight, her brother and Harry would be receiving their formal appointments as Aurors after completing the last three months of training, so not only will she be there as family, she would also be writing any gossip from the event.
Both boys had been placed in an accelerated Auror program since both had law enforcement experience in the muggle world. There had been many nights that her brother had come home too tired to eat and both she and Luna sometimes had to take him to his room. Harry seemed to be slightly better off but he still had fallen asleep on the sofa a couple of times. They had both earned their graduation and Ron seemed especially proud of himself.
Ginny also took the opportunity to spend time with her other brothers, nieces and nephews. She had to admit she adored every single one and she had already gone on several shopping trips for them. Her brothers complained that she was spoiling their children but she said it was her privilege as their only Weasley aunt.
Living at Malfoy Manor had been nothing like she had expected. She was actually enjoying it and had been prone to referring to the place as home. Officially, the wizarding world had been told that they were living in an apartment in London and only family and the Order knew where they really were. Quite a few witches at work had been trying to pry the information from her. Mainly, they were interested in Harry and if he was still single. There were, one or two that did ask about Ron.
Draco wasn't around much, though she had a few embarrassing moments where she saw him half dressed coming from the pool at the back of the Manor. She had to admit he had the perfect chest but the smirk he threw her when he caught her looking was completely annoying. It's wasn't her fault that his chest was on display for all to see. When his girlfriend came over, everyone avoided them as the Order didn't want his current fling to know what was going on in the Manor. From the little glimpses she got of his girlfriend, she concluded that she was a galleon grabbing witch and she was strangely disappointed in Draco's taste. She found her mother abhorred the girlfriend and had been itching to teach her a lesson on how a witch should treat her wizard.
Ginny also enjoyed the fact that Luna lived in the Manor with her. Having spent the last seven years with Ron and Harry, it felt nice to have a female housemate. They would sit down at nights after Luna got back from the Quibbler and do their hair or nails or just talk. Hermione would occasionally come over and they would give her a much needed make over. Seamus was out of St. Mungos and Hermione seemed to be on the job 24/7. She pitied poor Seamus and she wondered how he could possibly keep up with the witch.
Her relationship with Neville was going fantastic. She didn't think she had ever had such a successful relationship. He just made it easy. She loved surprising him at Hogwarts. There were nights that she had spent out there just talking to him. He respected her opinion on matters and often let her have her way. They had once been caught snogging in a broom closet by the current Headgirl of Hogwarts. The poor girl had fainted on the spot and Ginny had to take her to the hospital wing. Needless to say Professor Flitwick wasn't too happy with his teacher and former student's reckless behaviour.
Her next big assignment was The Minister of Magic's annual ball tomorrow at the Ministry. She couldn't wait to dress up as it had been ages since he had been able to wear formal dress robes. She had been looking forward to this event since her editor handed her two tickets and instructed her to go and come back with the biggest scoop she could find. Marietta Edgecomb had been very upset that Ginny had gotten the assignment over her. Ginny and been subtly trying to find out who her co-worker's source was but the girl had iron-clad lips which was quite contrary to what the little sneak did in Hogwarts. Maybe Hermione's jinx taught the girl a lesson about keeping secrets a secret.
Ginny took one last look at her desk to make sure everything was in order before she headed out. She would be meeting her mother and family in the Ministry Atrium twenty minutes before the graduation ceremony was to start. Unfortunately, Neville couldn't come as he had a late herbology class to teach to his NEWT students but she was sure she would have a good time anyway.
-*-
Auror - graduation
Hermione sat in the audience as Harry and Ron received their Auror certificate. She was sitting next to Seamus in the current Aurors section. Despite the fact that she didn't want them to choose this as a career, she couldn't help but beam with pride as the Minister of Magic congratulated them on their appointments.
Their first assignment would be security detail at the Minister's annual ball the next day. The new recruits were badly needed and there were a lot of requests by senior Aurors to have Harry Potter as their partner. Naturally, as new recruits Harry and Ron couldn't be paired with each other and probably would have to wait a few years before they could. She already had Seamus and she would not drop him in favour of her raven-haired or red-haired friend. She didn't envy Kingsley with having to make this decision. Whatever he did, he risked upsetting quite a bit of people with the appointment of Harry's partner.
The Minister naturally made a show of posing with Harry for pictures and even tried to get a picture with her, Harry and Ron. She was surprised with how easy her friends accepted the Minister's request and later found out that they had learned a long time ago that no matter where they went, politicians would always be politicians.
She made her way around the room greeting everyone. Luna was there representing the Quibbler and Draco was there with Natalie Spellfire, also known as Draco's girlfriend or as Draco sometimes puts it The Witch from Hell. Her tall lean figure, long flowing blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes were what had originally attracted Draco to her. It was her connections to the wizarding black market and possible link to Primus that kept their relationship going. She made sure she stayed as far away from them as possible. She had had a little spat with Spellfire a few years before and she didn't feel like repeating that.
Seamus pinched her side and she turned to face him.
"What do you think of that witch over there?" Seamus said pointing to a brunette witch in violet robes.
"She's married to the Minister's cousin." Hermione responded blandly.
"Really, why are all the good witches taken?" he whined.
"Luna's available," Hermione chirped.
"For the last time Hermione, it would never work." The wizard replied.
"You could always try my muggle friend?" she suggested.
Seamus glared at her.
"Oh grow up Seamus!" Hermione said as she walked away from the wizard.
She spotted Mrs. Weasley gathering her children and grandchildren for a picture and she realised it was time to leave. Maybe she would visit Cole and see if he came up with any leads on the warehouse incident. She ducked behind a tall wizard and safely executed her exit plan.
Back inside, Harry was stuck between Fred and George while he waited for Luna to find Hermione to take a family picture. After five minutes Luna came back empty handed.
"Smart witch!" Fred commented.
"She always gets away from this torture." George commented. "We should learn from her."
"Torture?" Harry questioned.
"It's now beginning young grasshopper." Fred said.
"Enjoy!" George mocked.
45 minutes later Harry was fed up of being squashed, sat upon and stepped upon. He had held so many different positions and been moved around so much he was ready to scream at Molly Weasley. The picture was never perfect. Someone was not looking at the camera, someone, namely Fred or George, was making obscene gestures, one of the children wasn't in the right spot, the heights were all wrong, they should line up according to age then they shouldn't. She could not make up her mind and for a picture that moved Harry didn't see the problem because eventually everyone would have looked at the camera at one point. There was hope that the torture was ending soon though because the roast that Mrs. Weasley left cooking for the celebratory dinner would be finished in five minutes and Mrs. Weasley never burnt her food.
By the time they disbursed most of the Aurors and guest had left. Kinglsey however was still there with two envelopes in his hand. He called Harry and Ron over and handed each an envelope.
"These are your Auror partners. Report for duty 8am tomorrow to discuss the security detail for the Minister tomorrow. Now get a good night's rest."
In a flash, Kingsley was gone and they were both looking at the plain white envelopes with their names neatly written on the front of the envelope.
"Think one of us got Hermione?" Ron asked hopefully.
"I would think by now, you would know Hermione well enough to know she would not leaving Seamus hanging." The raven-haired wizard told his best friend.
"Yes but this was not her decision and Kingsley is capable of anything." Ron pointed out.
"There's only one way to know mate." Harry said holding up the white envelope.
"On three," Ron asked.
"Yeah,"
" One,"
" Two,"
" Three,"
"What this can't be bloody right!" Ron exclaimed shaking his piece of paper in horror.
Harry on the other hand was laughing. Ron grabbed Harry's paper from him and quickly read on the writing on it.
"What! That's not bloody fair! Why do you get Tonks?" Ron sulked.
Harry shrugged. "Kinglsey thought is best?"
"Who did you get? It can't be that bad." Harry said.
"It is that bad." Ron replied and handed Harry his paper.
Harry read the name and did a double take. "She's allowed to be an Auror."
"Apparently, they let just anybody in these days." Ron replied sourly.
"Ron, Harry, you coming?" Ginny called out from the exit.
"Yeah" Harry called out and he patted Ron on the back sympathetically and headed towards the exit.
"Why is it always me!" Ron commented towards the heavens before he followed Harry to the exit.
-*-
The dinner had gone very well and Ron ate enough to make up for any meals he may have missed while he was training. The morning however, was not going so well. He had overslept and Draco was pleased to wake him up with a bucket of ice cold water that he had conjured over Ron's bed. Ron sent a stunner at Draco but was surprised when he countered him easily and walked out of the room taunting him that Weasleys could never be better than Malfoys.
By the time that Ron made it to breakfast Tonks and Harry had finished eating and Tonks was filling Harry in on everything he needed to know about the Minister's security detail.
"Morning Ron," Tonks greeted the redhead happily to which he replied with a scowl.
"Ron be nice." Luna scolded.
"How come you're still here?" Harry asked as he looked at the kitchen clock that read 8:30am.
"I ober blept." He replied with his mouth full of sausage and eggs that he was trying to finish quickly before departing for the office.
"You better hurry along," Tonks said. "Your partner is very anal about Aurors being late."
He shoved the last of his breakfast in his mouth and headed to the fireplace.
"Be sure to swallow first Ron. You wouldn't want to end up in any unwanted places." Luna said serenely.
He gave her a dirty look and exited the kitchen through the maze of corridors towards the fireplace. Once inside he collected some floo powder and left to start his new career at the Ministry.
Ron landed miserably on his ass and was then trampled over by two other wizards who were also late for work.
"I hate Floo." Ron said as he got up and dusted himself off.
He briefly oriented himself and headed towards the Auror office, cursing Harry's luck all the way.
Inside the office, he was met with the sour face of his partner and Hermione who seemed to be trying to get his partner to keep her cool.
"You see Millicent, I told you he would be here soon." She said.
"He's forty five minutes late. How can I rely on him in the field if he can't be on time to a little briefing? He's completely incompetent. I deserve a better partner that this." She said crossing her arms in front of her torso.
Hermione rolled her eyes at her and wished Ron good luck before she stepped away. Ron stood there awarkedly as his partner fumed.
"For the record, I am not happy with this partnership!" Milicent stated coldly.
"That is one thing we agree on." Ron replied.
"Bullstrode, Weasley, stop chatting and get your butts in here for the briefing now!" Kinglsey barked from a door down the corridor.
Millicent gave Ron a fierce glare as she walked off ahead leaving Ron with a sinking feeling that today might be the worst day of his life.
-*-
Minister's Ball
The grand ballroom of the Ministry was beautifully decorated with floating white candles and white and black streamers soaring through the air that occasionally intertwined with each other. A huge crystal chandelier the size of a small cottage hung from the centre of the high ceiling filtering the light into beautiful little rainbows throughout the room. The room was essentially a giant rectangle with a small square dance floor located in the middle under the chandelier. There were dozens of small round tables around the dance floor that was being used to rest glasses and plates full of appetizers. Against one of the long walls was a buffet and against the opposite one was a display of all the good work the Minister had accomplished over the last year. The end of the room that was opposite the entrance, displayed an elaborate fountain made of many basins at different elevations that had water jumping from one basin to another. The water would change colour and shape periodically.
Any person that wanted to consider themselves as important found a way to attend this event. Of course invitations were not easy to come by so very innovative methods were used to gain invitations. The actual invitations themselves were made by the Ministries strongest wizards and witches and had various levels of spell and copy protection on them. It was also rumoured that the unspeakables also used new magic on the invites to ensure there were no crashers. St. Mungos hated this time of year because the wards were filled with wannabe wizards that had serious injuries from trying to duplicate the spells to create their own invitation.
There was a list of standard names that were invited every year such as the heads of various departments in the Ministry, headmaster of Hogwarts, members of the Wizengamot, important magical families such as the Malfoy's and one reporter from each of the media houses. The Minister was also allowed a personal list of invitees. This list usually consisted of outstanding wizard and witches from the previous year. The year England won the Quidditch World Cup, the Minister invited the entire team to the event.
This year was not any different to the previous years. There were a few new faces that had made headlines during the year but other than that it was the same. Just below the Minister's grand display of his work, Ginny was blushing furiously as her mother talked with Neville about marriage and more grandchildren. Ginny had bought Neville as her guest and her mother had come with Mr. Lovegood, as his guest since the Quibbler was now a recognised newspaper. Ginny had just about had enough of her mother's rant though.
"Mother! Nev and I just started dating. Please don't marry us off yet! Besides, I think you have enough grandchildren to last you a little while." the youngest Weasley protested to her mother.
"Don't be preposterous Ginny! When you're a grandmother you will understand. You can never have enough grandchildren."Molly Weasley retorted.
Ginny spied Xenophilius heading towards them and she gave him a pleading look.
"Molly, Ruby Bullstrode thinks her grandchildren are going to be excellent wizards and that Rufus will fly away leaving Danny and Edward in his wake." He said with a wink directed at Ginny. As predicted Molly immediately sought out Ruby in the ballroom to let her know that her grandchildren were going to be very skilled wizards as well.
"Thank you so much." Ginny said grateful for the reprieve she had gotten.
"It's fine. Just have fun tonight." He told them as he left in the direction Molly had gone.
Ginny turned to Neville to apologise about her mother but Neville insisted that it was fine and that his grandmother behaved in a similar way. It only proved how much Molly liked him and he was happy that he was being accepted into the family. He had been most hesitant about Ron's reaction and even Harry's considering Ginny's history with him but they seemed to have accepted him and Neville was hoping to take his relationship with Ginny to the next level. He slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her into his arms.
"Let's dance." He whispered in her ear causing a shiver to go down her back.
Not trusting her voice Ginny nodded and let him carry her off to wherever it was he wanted to go.
Not all persons were there to enjoy themselves though. Hermione walked slowly around the ball looking for anything out of place. Most of the Aurors were there with a few on duty in the office in case something happened elsewhere. She was not surprised to find Ron and Millicent protecting the buffet; apparently they had been able to find some sort of common ground. She knew Tonks was around somewhere and Harry was surrounded by witches requesting his personal protection and Hermione decided that it was time to move Harry to a position outside, where it would, more than likely, be safer for him and he could also do his job without being harassed. As she moved through the crowd, she overheard a snippet of conversation that caused her to stop.
"Your plan worked! And here you were worried you would not become the next Mrs. Malfoy" a red head witch said
"How did you get passed the contraceptive potion?" a brunette asked curiously.
"Oh it was difficult. I had to slowly sneak small samples of the potion out every night and I had to pay quite a bit to get it analyzed properly to find a counter potion. I even had some herbs added that would boost fertility to ensure my success." Natalie Spellfire boasted to her friends.
"How far along are you?"
"A month and a half"
"You haven't told him yet?"
"Tonight, I'll tell him and by tomorrow my new contact address will be Malfoy Manor."
Hermione had drawn her wand ready to hex the witch into the next century for the pain she was about to cause Draco but the room broke out in screams as the expensive chandelier came crashing into the middle of the dance floor. Hermione was barely able to put a blocking shield around her to prevent the flying crystals and pieces of the chandelier from hitting her.
Hooded figures were emerging from the charmed fountains and the guests that had been nearest that side of the room were already unconscious on the floor. Different colour spells were flying between the intruders and the Aurors and Hermione found it difficult to ignore the cries for help from the wizards caught under the chandelier as she made her way towards the Minister's bodyguards. The priority would be to evacuate the Minister, then secure the site, then helped the injured.
Due to a rather large piece of the chandelier blocking the exit, Hermione didn't know how it got there but she could figure that out later, everyone was stuck in the room. The Minister's bodyguards, Ron and Millicent were currently holding off five hooded figures, who were using guests as shields, to advance safely towards the buffet. The buffet tables had been charmed to absorb spells and protect anyone that hid behind it. It was one of the safety measures that the Aurors put in place in case something like this happened. The bodyguards had obviously implemented the plan immediately but Hermione couldn't help but think the Minister was exactly where the intruders wanted him.
Hermione ducked behind the main body of the chandelier as a stunner came flying past her. It was difficult to reach to the minister and with the guests being used as shields, it was difficult to neutralise the threat. She soon felt a presence to her right and caught sight of a mop of messy raven hair and a pair of concerned emerald eyes giving her a quick look over for injuries. She couldn't explain it but her body felt completely safe knowing he was next to her and despite the chaos all around them, she knew she would be alright. This was a feeling she hadn't experienced since Hogwarts.
The wall behind the Minister started to rumble and Hermione immediately realised what was going to happen.
"Ron, grab the Minister and move! We'll cover you." She shouted.
Without thinking twice Ron grabbed one of the Minister's hand and started heading for the door. On the other side of the Minister he noticed Millicent trying to run with them and protect them at the same time as well as the Minister's bodyguards. The other Aurors realised what was happening and immediately provided cover for their colleagues. Hermione levitated one of the tables and hovered it behind them to provide protection as they ran. When they reached the segment of the chandelier that was blocking the entrance. Ron recklessly blasted the object out of the way sending more debris through the room and leaving a cloud of dust in his wake as he also destroyed part of the wall around the entrance.
Once Ron was out the door and what she hoped was safely away she focused on securing the room. The hooded figures that were in the room seemed to have realised that their chance to kill the Minister was gone and they retreated to the same fountains that they had emerged from. The wall behind the buffet tables collapsed but whoever was there was gone.
When the silvery form of Ron's patronus arrived to indicate that both he and Minister were safe, a sudden wave of relief ran through the room. Kinglsey immediately took control of the situation and started delivering orders. One team was assigned to secure the fountains and take them for examination. Another team was ordered to investigate the destroyed wall. Tonks was assigned to get assistance from St. Mungos, Harry was told to get rid of the chandelier and Hermione, with her extensive knowledge of healing spells had to deal with the injured immediately.
Harry glanced at Hermione with a questioning look, which she immediately understood, `how do I get rid of this thing?'.
"Harry, levitate it, shrink it and put it with the fountains to be examined." Hermione said as she rushed off towards the unconscious guests by the fountains while Harry shrunk the chandelier.
Once the chandelier was dealt with Harry started helping the wizards trapped underneath it. He recognised Draco's platinum blonde hair first. His foot had been caught under the chandelier and his ankle appeared to be broken. Their eyes locked and images of Hermione, Molly and Ginny flooded his mind. Harry had been totally unprepared for the legilimens spell and hadn't realised that Draco even knew how to cast it. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Draco knew the spell but casting it wordlessly and subtly was definitely a shock.
Harry did not make any attempt to use Occlumency to block him because he understood what he was asking. Harry immediately pulled up the memory of Hermione telling him what to do with the chandelier but he realised he had no clue where Ginny and Molly were and he tried to think of a big question mark in his head. Draco seemed to have understood and started searching the room. A slender witch pushed Harry aside and headed straight to Draco.
"Draco, sweety are you ok!"
"I'm fine Natalie. Let's leave these bumbling idiots to clean things up." He said as he tried to stand and pretend to be uninterested in the whole situation but his calculating eyes never stopped searching the room. Draco leaned on her and started hopping out but stopped in front of Harry.
"You tell that idiot boss of yours that he'll have to pay to fix my foot." He held his nose up in the air and continued on his way but was stopped by another Auror trying to question him about the incident. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Draco tell off the poor Auror. No one could ever guess that he worked for the order.
Harry continued helping the injured as there had been quite a few persons dancing and the amount injured was piling up. Many medics had arrived and Hermione summarised all that had happened. Wizards were being levitated to apparition points outside so the room was slowly being cleared of the injured. In the centre of the room only a few unconscious persons remained as Medics franticly worked to heal everyone.
Harry recognised two of the unconscious figures on the floor as Neville and Ginny. Neville was turned face down covering most of Ginny, as it appeared he tried to shelter her with his body. He called out to Hermione who was trying to calm a frantic Mrs. Weasley. Molly shouted for her baby and came storming over. Hermione was barely able to stop Molly from pulling Ginny to her, in case she injured Ginny further and shouted for some of the medics to help. She gently reached her hand under Neville's neck to check for a pulse before she would attempt to move him to get to Ginny. Her face went white and she looked up at Harry with sad eyes.
"He's dead."
I hope you liked it. I rushed the end to be able to post today.
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