Chapter One: Ivory

When Harry passed his final auror exams he didn't expect his first case to be so personal, or take this long. For a couple of months he knew that Ron had had the feeling that the trail was going cold, but Harry still felt that instinct, almost an obsession that told him he had to succeed, he had to bring Lucius Malfoy in. He didn't see Ron staring at him across the desk.

'You're doing it again.'

Harry sighed and pulled himself out of the past, refocusing his eyes on the interview notes he was pretending to read.

'Have you spoken to Ginny yet?'

Once again, Harry sighed. He had forgotten about their arranged floo talk yesterday, and he suspected she had written to Ron and asked him to talk to him.

'No, I sent her an owl when I got back about one this morning. I haven't had a reply.'

'You stayed at work till one?! I thought you had done all the paperwork for that surveillance detail last week?'

'I… missed something out.'

It was a lame excuse and he knew it. He hadn't even been at work, he was sound asleep at number 12 Grimauld place. He didn't think it would go down well if Ginny knew this, he just hadn't felt like talking, and as much as he trusted Ron, he knew he would feel duty bound to tell her. He'd sent Kreacher to get him some Dreamless Sleep Potion and for the first night in weeks, slept without seeing a mane of blonde hair disappearing from view in front of him.

He had personally fought with Lucius at the battle for Hogwarts 6 years ago, and nearly lost. The last thing he had seen before pain numbed his senses to blissful oblivion was Lucius' hair whipping round as he disapperated. He hadn't been seen since. Harry hadn't let his healer at St. Mungoes fully heal the six inch scar running across his chest. He needed a reminder of why he has doing his job, and it kept him grounded. He didn't want to be the perfect hero people tried to cast him as; this was his rebellion.

A knock at the office door snapped him and Ron out of their separate reveries, as Hermione rushed in and shut the door behind her. Harry had not been surprised when Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge had approached Hermione himself to be Minister for Muggle relations, and less surprised when she had accepted before he had even finished his sentence. He watched her carefully, her eyes bright as she twisted the ring Ron had picked out for her around her finger, in what appeared to be a nervous gesture. He knew to just sit and wait, she would say what was on her mind when she was ready, but he couldn't help worrying. A nervous Hermione had never meant good news before.

'It's happened.' She almost whispered, the ghost of a smile appearing at the edges of her mouth.

'What has?' Ron had the same almost smile on his face, and Harry wondered what they had been keeping from him. His worry dissipated as Ron jumped up and kissed her fully, wrapping his arms around her.

When they unwrapped themselves from each other they turned to face Harry, Ron with his arm around Hermione's waist. She clasped her hands around her stomach in a maternal gesture.

'I'm having a baby, we've been trying for ages and it's finally happened!'

Harry too, leapt up, congratulated them both and accepted their invitation to a party at the Burrow. A memo arrived for Hermione, reminding her of her three o'clock appointment with the muggle prime minister and after another hug and kiss on the cheek she left. Ron abandoned the case files he had been annotating and ran out to floo his mother – Harry could hear him telling Kingsley Shacklebolt as he went past. He wondered if he should floo Ginny, it was after 4 so she wouldn't be teaching. But he decided Ron or Hermione should have that privilege and he buried himself in the notes.

It seemed Ron had indeed told Ginny, because not five minutes later a purple ministry memo flew in, informing him he had an incoming call to his office hearth. He didn't have time to wonder why Ron hadn't used it to tell Molly, because Ginny's head appeared. She looked happy enough, but Harry wasn't fooled. She was waiting for an apology and he knew it. He took a deep breath, knelt down and began to speak.

'I'm sorry I missed you yesterday, this case is really import-'

'Really taking over. I know. Look its fine, I just don't really like waiting around for an hour, when I could be marking. I work too you know.'

'Too much to reply to my owl?'

'Well seeing as you sent it at a ridiculous time yes. Look I'm not going to argue with you about this now, I haven't spoken to you in three weeks because you've been so busy working, so let's just be happy for my sister in law ok? I'll see on you Saturday at the Burrow.'

And without waiting for a good bye or saying 'I love you' she was gone.

Harry couldn't stay in the office. Fuming and suddenly struck by claustrophobia, He left his office and set off for the owlery, the only place in the ministry above ground level. Harry liked the owlery, it reminded him of the one at Hogwarts, and the hours he had spent there hiding from Draco and anyone else who wanted to damage him before quidditch matches. Harry frowned as his thoughts turned to Draco Malfoy. He knew that Draco had been cleared by the wizengamot, but old habits die hard. He didn't trust him, and the fact that he had just been given a job at the ministry made him uneasy.

He stepped into the lift and reached over to push the button marked 'owlery.' The doors began to close, but at the last minute a pale hand blocked them. The last person he wanted to see slid through the narrow gap. Trapped and scowling, Harry suddenly found the floor very interesting, staring at it in anti-social silence.

'Potter.'

Draco's familiar drawl set his blood on fire. He didn't need this, not now. He was still fuming after his conversation with Ginny, he didn't want to talk to anyone, let alone the one person whose changeable attitude had caused him so much confusion and anger throughout school.

'Malfoy.'

Malfoy chuckled at Harry's unwelcoming tone.

'Aurors' paranoia got your tongue? You must want to know how I got such a position here. It's a big responsibility being the minister for international trade you know.'

'I really don't care Malfoy, I have better things to be doing than listening to you gloat about how you got off from any sort of punishment after the war. Although I don't really think you should be gloating at me, seeing as I head up the investigation into finding your father.'

Draco stiffened at the sound of his father. Regardless of the fact that they were going in the opposite direction to his office he got out of the lift and stalked away. Harry smiled.

He found Hedwig in the owlery, she clicked her beak at him every time he got too lost in his thoughts and stopped stroking her. He was worried about seeing Molly and Arthur on Saturday, now that Hermione was expecting the question of when he would propose to Ginny would undoubtedly come up. He wasn't ready for that kind of commitment with her, Ginny mostly lived at Hogwarts, only coming home for a week at Christmas and 2 months in the summer. The fire that he had felt for her the first time they kissed during his fifth year was missing as well. When they had sex, Harry did enjoy it, but the last couple of times his mind had wondered, though Ginny didn't notice. She didn't notice much about Harry anymore; He suspected that she did this on purpose, afraid of seeing how disinterested he had become, how dependent on their jobs they were to find something safe to talk about. She would not talk about the war, especially the battle at Hogwarts. The minute anyone mentioned the room of requirements she would leave the room under some pretence. It was because of this heavy taboo around Ginny that Harry felt alienated from her. It had nothing to do with what had happened in the place where everything is hidden that night. At least this is what Harry told himself.

Molly Weasley had opened the door before Harry could even raise his clenched fist to knock. She enveloped him in a warm hug before, as ever, deciding he needed feeding up. Ron and Hermione were already sat in the kitchen when Harry walked in, talking quietly and laughing. The obvious mutual adoration made Harry smile, it was nice to see them so close and easy with each other after years of awkward bickering. Their wedding had been a simple affair – Hermione looked stunning in a simple white dress, while Ron stood uncomfortably in a grey suit. Harry could've sworn he had heard Ron mutter 'Monkey suit' as he fiddled with his collar at the altar. Hermione had wanted to get married in the small church in her village, making the ceremony fairly plain. Then, just as with Bill and Fleur's, and George and Angelina's weddings, they returned to the burrow for the reception. It had been a happy evening, marred only by an argument with Ginny about Harry's reaction to a drunken comment from George about it being their turn next.

As evening moved towards night and the festivities quietened down Harry found himself carefully avoiding Ginny's gaze. He wasn't sure why, but he thought it had something to do with the sly looks he had been getting from various members of the Weasley family. He put his half-finished bowl of treacle tart down and slipped out into the paddock at the back of the house. Vivid orange snap dragons swayed towards him, searching for something to hold onto. He brushed past them and sat on a tree stump, listening to the ever present gnomes rustle about looking for caterpillars to play with. The moon shone brightly, making the white petals of Molly's hydrangeas shine like beacons of calm in the cool dark. Blossom floated down over Harry's head from Fred's remembrance tree in the far corner of the paddock. In the summer its long branches formed a quiet shelter from the glaring sun, a favourite place to doze and talk away from prying eyes. A soft movement caught Harry's eye. Ginny's hair had been lifted by the gentle breeze, it flowed around her face, almost glowing, appearing to light up the space around her. He should have found her beautiful, he knew that. She looked sad, as she searched his face for something. Harry could never have expected the ultimatum this delicate, gentle girl was about to deliver.