Six months to the day of Voldemort's downfall, Harry was setting on his bed. He was looking around the room: it was kept tidy and clean while he was away, and it was quiet and lonely without Hedwig there with him. He glanced up at the silence, then his head returned to today's issue of the Daily Prophet, with a picture of Kingsley smiling and waving back and forth.

KINGSLEY APPOINTED

MINISTER OF MAGIC

After the fall of Voldemort and his followers, and the death of Thicknesse, Kingsley Shacklebolt was temporarily named the Minister of Magic. But yesterday, on July 29, he was appointed as the official Minister of Magic. Why had it taken so long to appoint a Minister of Magic? No one knows. We got an official interview from Kingsley, and asked him the same question. "No one knows," said Kingsley, "not even I. But if I had to guess, I would assume that they wanted to test me, to see if I could handle it. I had to recuperate the mess that Voldemort left, and apparently the other ministry members thought I did quite well. Rest assured I won't fail the wizards and witches." Kingsley would have spoken longer, but he had to retreat to an important meeting..

"Way to go, Kingsley," said Harry in a loud voice.

But Harry couldn't set and cheer for his friend, for he himself had an appointment with the Ministry of Magic. He packed his usual things, his wand, the Invisibility Cloak, and the other essentials he needed just in case a problem occurred. He walked down to the front door, his hand approaching the knob, when Vernon Dursley caught his eyes staring back at him.

"And where do you think you're going, boy?" said Vernon in an angrily voice, as Harry was used to by now.

"I'm just going out for a stroll."

"You better be back before dinner, boy."

"I will, don't worry Uncle Vernon."

He turned, trying to keep from getting angry, opened the door, and then walked out.

The sun was shining brightly this morning, it gave Harry a warm feeling that today was going to be a good day. He heard a noise coming from the left side, and immediately drew his wand. Out of the sky, roaring like a dragon, came Hagrid on his old bike. The sound nearly cracked the windows on Privet Drive as it landed just six feet from Harry on the road.

"Why, 'ello there 'arry!" said Hagrid.

"Hey there, Hagrid," Harry said smiling.

"All set for today's trip to the Ministry of Magic?"

"I guess so. We should get going. The meeting isn't too long from now."

"Alright, Harry hop on."

The bike was a lot larger than the one he had before, when Harry had to ride in a sidecar. It could now hold both Hagrid and Harry, and there still seemed to be some room with one more passenger. The bike made a loud crack as Hagrid cranked it up, and it started gliding up into the air like a free bird.

They traveled for what seemed to be hours, passing through clouds faster than a flying curse. Harry let out a big bellow, as if he were bored out of his mind. This, as it would seem, is quite true at this point. Harry had been dull and bored ever since Voldemort's defeat. He felt like he had no purpose anymore, and he had not seen Hermione nor Ron, which resulted in another, though this time it was quite louder, large bellow. So, to pass the time, he thought back of his eleventh birthday, where his whole life changed. The arrival of Hagrid, which at the time had seemed quite odd. But Harry had come a long way. He had beaten Voldemort, a task that only he could have done. And then his thoughts returned to the real world, with Hagrid's voice screaming at him over the loud, pushy noise of the air blowing past them.

"What's on yer mind, 'arry," asked Hagrid.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking. I'm just bored of flying. Are we almost there?"

"Well, 'arry, I reckon we be close," said Hagrid in a screaming voice, " we 'ave to use the Floo Network to ge' in."

"Yea, I know."

"Ah, 'ere we are!"

The bike started descending towards the street, going faster than it had been going while flying straightforward. Harry closed his eyes to keep the air from blowing into his eyes, and he held his glasses on with his hand so they would not fly off. The bike came to an abrupt halt, and Harry let go of his glasses, and opened his eyes. They had landed at Hogwarts. This made sense to Harry, he was allowed to freely use the fireplace in the headmaster's office to get from there to the Atrium, and ultimately into the Ministry of Magic.

Harry walked into the headmaster's office and noticed Minerva McGonagall setting at the desk.

"Why, my word, it's Potter!" she exclaimed.

"Hi, Professor McGonagall," Harry said as Hagrid walked into the room.

"Why, hello there Hagrid."

"'Ello, Professor, bit unexpected to see Potter isn't it."

"Why, yes it is. I must ask you two why you are in my office though," she said questionably, while staring at Harry.

"I need to use the fireplace to get to the Atrium. I have a meeting with the Ministry in less than an hour," said Harry.

"Why, of course Harry. Go right ahead! But, please do come back and talk, won't you?"

"Sure thing, professor."

Harry and Hagrid stepped over to the fireplace. The flames rose, and, in an instant, they were gone.

"Dear, I wonder Kingsley could want," said Professor McGonagall.

Harry and Hagrid both sprang up out of the fireplace into the Atrium, and continued toward the golden gates towards the Ministry. Harry lost his thoughts again, back to the last time he was brought here. I hope that all that underage spell-casting hasn't caught up with me. I would hate to be expelled from school again! Harry smiled as his thoughts began laughing at what he just said. The fact was, he was out of school, and no longer needed to worry about 'being expelled for underage magic.' Harry was still deep in his thoughts as someone yelled his name. He looked over to see who it was, and as soon as he did, he was greeted by a rib-crushing hug.

"Harry, how've you been?" said Percy.

"Oh, hello Percy. I've been good. But I can't talk, I've got a meeting with the --"

"The Ministry, I know. You forget that I am part of it, Harry."

"Yea, I guess I did. Well, I better get going," said Harry, looking at Percy's watch, "and apparently so should you."

"Oh, no Harry, Kingsley has requested that it just be you and himself in that room."

"Oh, what for," said Harry questionably.

"From what he told me," smiled Percy, as if happy about being trusted by the minister, "something very secret, about Voldemort, apparently."

"Really? But, Voldemort's dead, you saw me kill him." Harry paused, "Well, kill himself."

"I know, it's strange. It must be something about a proper reward or along those lines," laughed Percy.

"It might be, but I have to go now, goodbye."

Harry turned around, and saw Hagrid panting. Apparently Hagrid had kept on walking, not noticing that Harry had been stopped by Percy until a time later, perhaps when he got in the lift to go to the Ministry. "'Arry, you ought not to be runnin' aroun' 'ere, you might get lost," said Hagrid, still panting. Harry apologized, and stated that he knew his way quite well around the area. "Well, alrigh' then," we should go, your appointment is very close.

They started back down the large area, Harry watching all the witches and wizards coming out of other fireplaces. Then, his thoughts drifted towards the upcoming meeting with Kingsley. A meeting alone, about Voldemort. What could it possibly be. Surely Voldemort was truly dead, that he had protected himself from his own spell. No. That couldn't be right. Harry stopped at the golden gates into the lift. "'Arry?" asked Hagrid, and Harry came to his senses and got into the lift. What if I hadn't finished off Voldemort? Harry thought to himself as the lift climbed, appearing perplexed, with Hagrid staring at him. But Hagrid didn't even bother to ask, he knew Harry wouldn't tell. Voldemort, could be alive? I - I could have failed? He jolted back to reality, the gates opened at Level 10 and he walked out. He couldn't think anymore on those thoughts, until he was sure of what Kingsley wanted to tell him. He walked towards the Ministry chamber, and halted Hagrid back, because he knew Hagrid wasn't allowed in. And Hagrid didn't detest, he knew all about the meeting, he just didn't want to tell Harry. Harry opened the door, stepped inside, and slammed it shut.

The room was barely lit, but a chair in the middle of the floor and the seat where Kingsley was sitting had an ominous glow to it. Harry looked up at the ceiling, and saw no light. He heard a voice from as the door to the Ministry chamber had opened.

"Harry, that's a spell, not a light," said Kingsley.

"Yes, I know that now. The Lumos spell," said Harry in dismay.

"Good, Potter, it seems you still recognize your basics," laughed Kingsley. And with a giant thump, he sat down at the center of the seating arrangement, and continued speaking.

"Harry, I'm sure you're aware that the other member's aren't going to be here."

"Yes, sir, I met Percy on the way here, he told me that this was between --"

"Between us," Kingsley said, amusingly, "And, did Percy tell you what this meeting was about?"

"Well, he said it was about Vol--"

"We still call him You-Know-Who, Mr. Potter. After the incident with the Order."

"He said it was about You-Know-Who, and I got thoughts in my head that he…"

His thoughts trailed, but Kingsley cut back in.

"That he had not died, my boy," said Kingsley with one raised eyebrow. Harry only nodded. "My boy," continued Kingsley, "you really are an adventurous one, even in your thoughts." He laughed abruptly before coughing and getting back to the task.

"Hardly, You-Know-Who is dead, but he still has followers out there. Now, that may not seem like a problem, but I haven't explained the reason why both the Ministry and the Order are in fear."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" snarled Harry.

"My boy, You-Know-Who has a brother." Harry looked in shock, his mouth agape and his glasses half on his nose. It was as if he knew what he was going to say next. He pushed his glasses up against the top of his nose, and said, "What!?"

"It's true, I'm afraid. But, that's not the worst of it. Before You-Know-Who died, several years before that, I'm sure, he taught his brother the ways of the Dark Arts. He taught his brother, in a sense, everything he knew."

"And how did the Ministry find out about this," asked Harry.

"Well, his brother was registered under the Mudblood Commission as a pureblood, and the Ministry just recently recovered the file with the last name, Riddle."

Harry's mouth was agape again, as if though the world were coming to an end again, years from now. As if though Harry had predicted it just then. Kingsley held the file out to him, and Harry went forward to grab it. He opened the folder, and read.

Geoffrey Riddle

BLOOD STATUS:Pureblood.

FAMILY:Only known family is Lord Voldemort, our master.

SECURITY STATUS:Safe. But at the disappearance of Lord Voldemort, track him.

Harry was stunned at what he just read. He was amazed to see that Lord Voldemort actually had a brother, and that he actually went through the Mudblood Commission. Why had Voldemort not had his name erased from the files if he knew?

"But, Kingsley," said Harry, "why didn't You-Know-Who have his brother's name erased from the files?"

"Perhaps he didn't know," Kingsley said in a low voice, "but Voldemort must have known he went through the commission, otherwise, how could they acquire the inform --"

He sat, bewildered and perplexed. Then all of a sudden, it hit him. Like a spark of electricity sprang a wireless to life.

"It had to have been Snape," said Kingsley.

"Snape," said Harry, "are you sure? I don't think so."

"It would make sense. You said yourself that he had pretended to be on You-Know-Who's side, and I'm sure he had seen his brother a time or two, and he probably knew exactly where he was."

"Well, that is possible Kingsley," said Harry. He had grown up a lot in the past six months. He seemed more political, more proper with his words, than usual.

"But, you have to understand, that it was very risky," mentioned Harry, "because if Voldemort had found out about that, he probably would have been severely punished."

"Very true, my boy," said Kingsley. "My, you have grown up a lot!"

"All this does seem very informing, Kingsley, but exactly what did you need to tell me this for?"

"Well," sighed Kingsley, "both the Order and the Ministry have agreed that you should kill him, and make sure he doesn't fall into his brothers footsteps."

"ME?! WHY ME!?" bolstered Harry.

"Because, it was you that defeated Voldemort. If he taught Geoffrey everything he knew about the Dark Arts, then he too is surely as powerful as the Dark Lord once was. And that means…"

"That means that only I have the power to kill him? Is that what you're getting at?" Harry was now angry, Kingsley could see the anger in his words.

"Harry, I ask you as a friend, you must do this."

"No. I won't. Last time…last time I almost died trying to save everyone…"

"Harry, my boy, you know that you cannot deny it. It is not in you to do so."

"Is that why you called me here?" Harry said, very angry now. "So I could go and kill someone who wasn't even going to hurt me?"

"Harry, we fear for everyone. Even the Muggles…we, we spied on him. At his last hiding place. We went back, but he was gone. We believe he had You-Know-Who's wand. He was…" Kingsley staggered as he spoke, "he was killing people in his home, using the curse that all the Dark Wizards had come to cherish…"

"He was killing innocent people?" Kingsley nodded, frowning at Harry.

"We in the Order will help you, but we don't know where he's went."

Harry sat in the chair and thought. Had Kingsley really just asked him to kill again? Could it be that what Kingsley said was the truth? Harry didn't want to believe this. He refused to believe it. But, he was, quite matter-of-factly, Harry Potter. He couldn't turn down an important task like that. He thought of Dumbledore, and his final wishes, of what had to be done, for the betterment of mankind. He saw the body of Albus Dumbledore laying at the bottom of the tower. And he saw Voldemort's face, glaring back at his, in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, with students and Death Eaters all around, watching and waiting to see what would happen. He heard Kingsley speak.

"Potter?"

"Y-Yes, sir. I-I will do this. If it is what the Ministry wants, what the Order wants."

"My boy, it is what the world wants."

Harry sat there, paradoxical in his thoughts. He just accepted to kill another Riddle. I have to kill another Riddle…ANOTHER ONE. Those thoughts raced through his mind all day. Harry arrived back home that night, but couldn't go to sleep. How would he find Geoffrey Riddle? His actions did not react to the scar as Voldemort's did. It would be extremely difficult. But, he didn't ponder on it anymore. And, as he let go of the feelings, his eyelids closed, and he drifted to sleep.