A/N: Before you start, beware that I'm not an English native speaker, so you will find mistakes, you will find errors that will probably offend you very much, but I ask you to be patient with me, okay? It's not going to be THAT bad, and I recently found some betas, so it's slowly coming together.

So I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this and give me a review with your thoughts about it in the end, okay? :)

THE WATCH

Ginny took a look behind her, at the people walking in and out of the stores in the Diagon Alley a last time before she entered the archway to Knockturn Alley. They were laughing and talking loudly with each other's, happy and unaware of her presence, busy with their shopping, maybe even working on ignoring that such place even existed.

That was good, she was supposed to be discreet.

She looked up at the blue sky on the other side of the dirty archway and rusty gates, it was the only thing that she liked about the winter, the intensity that blue shade possessed, that simply didn't exist in the other seasons, always helped her feel calm.

November began without snow that year, but the cold she felt on that sunny morning made her feel like she was walking in the snow anyway. The seven years she spent in Scotland, with the cutting winds of the Nordic sea that seemed to never reach her home in the South, gave her the impression that she had some authority over the subject.

'I wish it was warmer' she thought and let her eyes fall to the dirty and degraded sidewalk she was walking on with a sigh.

Despite the cold weather, Ginny was quite happy, happy and angry. This was her most important mission since entering the Order of the Phoenix during school and she had yet to decide on how exactly it made her feel. It was true that she had played an important part in most of the major battles against Lord Voldemort in the last decade, but this was her first mission alone in the field, as the Order continued to have what she liked to call, the "Ron Weasley" complex. Ginny was an adult but she should not be exposed to the dangers of going out alone on a mission, and if she had to, those should always be small field trips related to nothing actually important.

It could also be the "Harry Potter" complex after all Ginny was his girlfriend and no one wanted to let the Chosen One down.

To say that Ginny hated the position in which she was placed after Voldemort's defeat, was something that did not actually show her true full feelings about the subject, but it was where she was and was around it that she had to work. Therefore, when she finally managed to convince them to let her go on this mission, she could hardly wait for the day to come.

However, Ginny felt horribly observed, she felt that they expected her to prove she could do this while not disappointing anyone; and that was the other side of it.

Ginny could hardly wait for the damn day to be over to change the peculiar belief that she was some useless thing, and everything that made her special was her association with Harry Potter.

She had survived Voldemort when she was only 11 years old, she survived one of the most horrible wizards ever for almost every year she was at school in one way or another, and she managed to do all of that without being perpetually traumatised by what was going on... Ginny sighed again interrupting the thoughts that were beginning to infuriate her. Perhaps the wizards responsible for the Aurors course were not so critical and saw her application as an advantage to strengthening their forces rather than to burden them.

The prospect excited her since ever since the Battle of Hogwarts she had been made to feel more like a liability than an asset.

After she had finished school, she had joined the Holyhead Harpies as a professional Quidditch player, a job she still kept and enjoyed, but she did not saw herself playing the sport forever, she wanted to do more, she wanted to help the community.

Joining the Aurors was the logical step, since the Order had turned out to be nothing more than a huge disappointment for her, being Harry Potter's girlfriend had done a great job at keeping her at bay.

Harry Potter…

Well, for some reason, things with him did not were as good as before, and neither of them could exactly say what happened. The relationship was very tense during the last months, maybe it was related to the fact that he had asked her in marriage some days before her birthday in the summer and she had said no. However, when Ginny thought about it, she could trace the fights and the weeklong silences all the way to the beginning of the year.

They had decided to breakup for some time, to have time to think about everything, and what they wanted to do without any pressure. Now, she had not seen him in over a month, and it was slowly breaking something inside her that hurt from time to time.

Despite the few exciting missions she had, and the time she had to invest in her training with the Harpies, Ginny tried to be a very active member of the Order, whenever they actually asked, or whenever she annoyed everyone into giving her something to do.

The impact of the war on the families was thorough and there was still much to do until they could resume an acceptable level of normality. There were still many people traumatised by memories of seeing their friends and family tortured to madness; people were thrown into poverty after their vaults had been emptied by Death Eaters; involved in heavy lawsuits, guilty of things that they did not remember having done.

It was a long list of consequences for actions led by only one wizard, but she supposed, he would not have anything less. Even dead, he still haunted the world, and sometimes she felt he would never really disappear.

Ginny tried to act in the field where the many Death Eaters, who were still supporting Lord Voldemort's ideologies, worked. They were divided into small groups but managed to terrorise the population on behalf of their former master, however when once captured, they required more of an extended stay in the psychiatric ward of St. Mungo's rather than a cell in Azkaban.

The final battle had been very, very difficult, and if Ginny could go back in time, the first thing she would do was find the bastard and kill him as soon as she saw him. She had lost more friends from Hogwarts then she wished, and her brothers and parents had lost old friends as well, friends who had accompanied them since the beginning of the Order and even before.

Them, the Weasley family had not lost only one child but two for a while. George was the one that had suffered more above everyone else she knew; he had taken more time to recover from his grief and was not the same since Fred had died. He had gradually lost the desire to keep the business that he had started with Fred, and had sold the store before he moved to the USA looking for something. That something turned out to be a woman and a red-haired girl, and George eventually returned to England, willing to become an Auror and help his old friends to protect those in need.

Ginny, in turn, wanted everyone to be safe, to have the life she always wanted.

She wanted to go back to those lazy days at home before things got complicated and the war began. However, that was a silly dream that would never happen, so it was better if she focused on her mission.

Most of the stores on the Knockturn Alley had irregular showcases to also irregular products of weird properties. That alley was the best place in Britain to find products off the market, no one doubt that, and probably the jar of wrinkled heads where she was looking at, would also agree if they could.

She frowned and walked away from the showcase and continued down the street in a slow but steady pace, the heels of her boots chanting in the deserted alley. Ginny knew that this was the normal pace of the street, especially after Voldemort's death, and she was somewhat surprised they were still open for business and with products displayed. The wizards that frequented that street knew exactly what they wanted and where they should go to get it, preferring to use the Floo powder as transportation since it was the best way of keeping their privacy. So, what was the point in all of this display?

Legends said it had not always been that way, but the alley was very old, older than the Diagon Alley, and the fame it had now made it impossible to think that there had been anything good in those buildings at any point of History.

The chimes of a clock in a church nearby announced eleven in the morning and Ginny began to feel impatient, she felt observed by each passing window and was feeling particularly self-conscious, hardly anyone used to walk on that damned alley and because of that, she was sure she was calling a lot of attention. She felt uncomfortable, and the jar of eyes in the window that she pretended to look closely at now, wasn't helping, but Ginny didn't have to wait much longer for the man from her mission to appear.

Down the street, in the opposite direction, the man walked with long strides and was dressed in black, but the style of the clothing was absolutely Muggle, from the point of his shoes to the sunglasses in his nose.

Ginny had to look him up and down several times to make sure that this man was her target, but his appearance explained the Order's difficult time knowing his whereabouts and what he was doing.

Igor Kevedo was living among Muggles and doing Merlin only knew what, and it did not fit as good news at all.

Behind her, the doorbell of the Borgin & Burkes ringed when Kevedo entered and it left Ginny crossing her fingers that he would not find her presence odd.

Ginny stood by the most famous Knockturn Alley's store and leant forward to look at some books displayed in the window, which appeared to not have been cleaned for at least fifty years, and put a pair of extendable ears that the twins had invented at Hogwarts, into good use. She leant against the wall next to the glass, occulting the ear with her cloak, and pulled the hood up before starting to read a crumpled paper to make her look more casual like she was revising a list before entering.

Kevedo entered the store with a straight face, years of practice to conceal what was on his mind allowed him to maintain control over the satisfaction he felt for what was going to happen next. It had been months of hard work, failures that in other times would not be forgiven, and a lot of anxiety linked to life in London and hiding from the still troubled legal system of the Ministry of Magic. Nevertheless, everything was back in track and the plans that were entrusted to him in what seemed decades ago and he had worked hard to achieve this moment; he only needed a small little thing to be ready to put everything in work.

Ginny peered into the store and followed Kevedo to the counter where he leant on, his arms resting on the surface, while the wizard behind the counter greeted him.

"Good morning Mr Kevedo, I see that my son could actually contact you on through that odd machine, I hope it was not too early and you were sleeping" Greeted an old man, which Ginny recognised him as Mr Borgin, the storeowner after he bought it from Burke.

"Good morning Mr Borgin, don't worry about it, after all, I was the one who asked to be notified as soon as my order arrived. How is your wife?" Kevedo smiled as he spoke, clearly in a good mood and cheerful, far away from the idea that was generally conveyed about him, that he was a brainless brute like his appearance had transmitted to the wizards who had crossed his path.

"You're right as always, she's on the back, confirming the rest of the merchandises that arrived this morning with him; we've had some unusual affluence of clients for some days," Borgin said as he lowered himself behind the counter and opened what sounded like a safe, then he placed a box on the counter before he raised and pushed it towards Kevedo.

The box was small and wrapped in brown paper and string, the light colour contrasted gently with the dark wood of the counter. Kevedo slowly undid the wrapping and pushed the paper aside, putting the small box lined with dark green velvet, with no lines that identified an opening, again on the counter and looked at Burkes. "Will you do me the honours?" He asked tapping his finger on the box and looking at the wizard.

Burkes smiled and tapped lightly on the box with his wand, which then opened slowly revealing a silver pocket watch that marked thirteen hours on the display instead of the usual twelve. Kevedo smiled as he raised the watch by the chain to be able to see it at his eye level, letting it turn on itself displaying the intricate decoration of the back.

Ginny held her breathe outside the store, clutching the crumpled paper that she was pretending to read more tightly. She was finally able to see the real object of her mission, and now she only had a few minutes to decide how to steal it from Kevedo. It was amazing how such a small thing like that caused such a disorder between the Aurors and the Order during the weeks that preceded this moment. A small crowd of wizards had spent hours in interrogations and walking dogs outside buildings to find out what Kevedo was looking for and what he wanted to buy at the Borgin & Burkes without managing to find it.

"Mr Kevedo! I thought I heard your voice, how are you? Good as always I hope." Burke's wife laughed, approaching her husband, and putting her hand on his shoulder. "I see you finally got what you wanted, that gave me horrors of work to find! I've never worked with so threatening wizards!

Kevedo laughed. "Now Mrs Borgin, whatever you say, I believe that they had no chance against your charms." He said, making the old witch laugh with pleasure.

"Oh! But what's this?" She asked more to herself then the men, crouching behind the counter and emerging with a frame on her hand. "I didn't know we had a photograph here... Dear, look what I found! It has been years since I've seen this photo!" She said, giving the framed photo to her husband.

Mr Borgin adjusted his reading glasses over his nose and took a good look at the photo. They had been a good few years since he had last seen it as well, Burke still worked with him when he had seen it for the last time.

The photo that Borgin held under his gaze was not dangerous or particularly important, to have to be stored inside the safe, it was just peculiar and curious, a window into the private life of the last great dark wizard of the century, that had worked in the store back in the 1940's. It could probably be worth enough galleons to start a new business if they let the worthless Rita Seeker know of its existence since she had dedicated a monthly column exploring his private life a little after his death.

"Meet the T behind the V" or something stupid like that.

Kevedo decided to use Borgin's silence to take a small blue notebook from the inside pocket of his coat to take some notes, getting startled when the wizard held out the frame to him. Kevedo accepted it putting the notebook on the counter and regretted it immediately.

Two young wizards were smiling back at him, she looking very uncomfortable, but him, Kevedo recognised him immediately, he had a photograph of him and he even had a few strands of his hair.

Kevedo frowned as he looked at the picture, almost not believing what he was seeing.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle." Announced Borgin saving Kevedo from having to say anything. "In the last year, he worked for the store. I always say that the moment he crossed our door to the street for the last time, was the day he died, after that Lor- You-Know-Who was born." Finished Burkes, choking to correct the name that much of the wizardry world was still afraid to pronounce.

"And who is she?" Asked Kevedo putting his finger in the woman's torso with which Lord Voldemort divided the picture, holding his arm.

"She worked here for about two months before disappearing." He paused to think. "I no longer remember her name." Borgin took off his glasses and closed the stems, placing them on the counter. "When You-Know-Who resigned, we thought he had gone away because of her since the disappearance of the girl and his resignation were two very close events, and at that time he seemed like a different… person. Hard working, educated, not lean to make conflicts, he seemed to have a bright future ahead as well as a good family, but we all know what really happened in the end. They kind of had something going on, she lived with him for some time as well, but who knows what happened?"

The three were silent and Ginny was getting anxious outside the store.

She had managed to decide what to do when Kevedo exited the store and was not very inclined to know all these details about the love life of the wizard that killed her brother.

'Ugh… Come on! Get out there so that we can move on with this!' she thought gritting her teeth, beginning to tear the corners of the paper in her hand as she looked over her shoulder into the store.

Kevedo gave the photo back to Borgin who passed it on to his wife who disappeared again behind the counter when she suddenly gasped. "What?" asked Burkes looking at his wife, who already was working on closing the safe. "You didn't break anything, right?" He asked a little worried.

"Don't be silly dear; I've completely forgotten what made this photo so funny."

Borgin could not hide a grin and Kevedo chose to start taking the amount of money they had agreed to exchange for the watch and another tip for the amazing service they had rendered him. He believed that good work should always be rewarded; he had learned that from the best.

Meanwhile, Ginny felt really sorry for the girl in that picture.

"I must go now Mr Borgin, and I'm truly sorry that I cannot stay and talk..." Kevedo said lifting the watch by the chain and looking at it with a smile, before putting it back in the box and then inside the interior pocket of his coat, turning to leave, saying his last farewells.

Ginny took back the extendible ear that she had put in the window, and prepared herself for Kevedo's exit. She had a knot on her stomach and her breathing started to come fast, the last time she felt like this was the night that Harry had proposed to her, and it was awful.

She looked at both sides of the street to make sure it was empty, and again to see if no one was lurking in the windows of the nearest stores, maybe the old witch in the store across the Borgin & Burkes was still there, but she really did not care right now.

'This will be easy!' Ginny thought, putting herself in the centre of the showcase, preparing for Kevedo to come out the door.

The door opened with the bell above it singing it's warning and Kevedo didn't even have time to take more than two steps on the sidewalk before Ginny causally went against him as if walking down the street. Kevedo, startled, grabbed Ginny by the shoulders and pushed her against the store's door that was still closing with more force then she had expected.

Kevedo was so distressed that he let out a small cry of horror at the sight of his precious watch, fluctuating like it was in slow motion, between him and the girl and didn't even notice when the box hit him in the neck.

With a quick reflex, Ginny grabbed the watch as it fell, an act that she would come soon to regret when her head hit the hard wood floor of the store and the air was sucked out of her lungs with the strength of the impact. The world seemed to stop for a moment and Ginny stared at the ceiling, blinking slowly, trying not to lose consciousness. Kevedo, fully forgotten, for the time being, was the least of her priorities, all her world was the pain on the back of her head.

Stunned, Ginny set on the floor, putting her legs to her side and faced the front door; she pulled her hood up, trying to both hide her face that was growing red with shame from the clumsy fall and to hide her hair so she would not be identified as a Wesley.

She looked up, ready to face Kevedo, but what she saw paralysed her, a thick layer of untouched snow was spreading everywhere outside and formed a straight angle where it had fallen against the door. She blinked, trying to make sure she was not seeing things and let her eyes fall to the wooden floor, a few centimetres out of her reach were the two sides of the wooden box and the watch, with glass and metal parts scattered around, even the chain had detached itself from the body.

Ginny reached out and picked up the bottom of the box where she was planning to put the confusion of pieces that had become the watch, but stopped when she began to process what the presence of snow on the street meant. Her vision began again to black out on the sides, threatening to leave her unconscious when the blood began to pump faster, and her heart started to beat as fast as if she had just run a marathon.

Kevedo should be by the door and about to attack her but he was not there, instead, it seemed like there was someone behind her, she could hear wood crackling near her. Ginny looked back and her expression became one of pure horror. A few meters from her, on top of a ladder leaning against a bookshelf and frowning at her, was Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was taller and older than he was in the diary that Ginny had poured her life into in her first year at Hogwarts, with more defined features but the same cold blue eyes, he should be in his early twenties and not much older than herself.

Ginny let out a groan and put her hand on the back of her head when a sharp pain forced her to divert her attention from the wizard, she hit the floor again, this time, unconscious.

A/N: Kudos to my beta ShirleyIAmSirius.