Bella tumbled clumsily out of the fire onto a cold wooden floor in the darkness. "Lumos" she whispered, as she removed her wand from what was once its hiding place up her left shirt sleeve, but was now ripped from wrist to elbow.

Using the glow from the tip of her wand she found her way to the light switch in the corner of the room. After flicking it on, she extinguished her wand and stowed it back safely under the leather band wrapped around her forearm. Now illuminated, Bella was able to take in the room around her. The warm bright light was spilling from a small understated chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Bella had clearly given the designers an overly large budget to furnish the house, Bella couldn't find fault in a single item, not that she would try to. The budget hadn't mattered to Bella though, enabling the designers to be self sufficient had been key to ensuring they wouldn't contact her with any follow up questions. Earlier in the year Bella had it prepared as a safe house when she was on the run with Ron and Hermione, but things had escalated before they had a chance to use it. All that preparation was coming in handy now though, Bella had a false identity, full bank account and furnished house ready to go. It was still a safe house in a sense, it was still her hiding place, her private place away from the ministry, the press and hopefully, any stray death eaters.

Bella made her way through the house, exploring, flicking on lights and drawing curtains as she went until she reached the bedroom. Turning on only the small bedside lamp she threw herself onto the soft mattress and stretched her entire body. She really was exhausted, and at last removed from any reminders of the previous day's events, she fell into a comfortable slumber.

The time from she had awoken, to where she stood now had passed in an anxious haze. Bella was standing in front of her new fireplace ready for her first day at work. She was dressed in plain black robes, she hoped looked both respectful and professional for both the situation and her position. She stepped carefully into the flames, just praying she would land on her feet at the other end.

By some miracle Bella remained upright as she strode from the fire into the Ministry of Magic. After just a few steps, however Bella came to a sudden stop. The Ministry was not the busy bustling business place she had once visited with Arthur Weasley. There was instead a thin line of wizards and witches lining the edge of the lobby. Mixed in with the ministry employees were cameras and journalists with quills quivering expectantly, clearly waiting for Bella to speak. The silence was painful as the anxiety from Bella's morning quadrupled its efforts, Bella was in no way prepared to give a speech. She should have seen this coming, how naive had she been to hope to sneak unnoticed into her office.

It took a few deep breaths before Bellas was able to string any coherent words together, but knowing her duty she began her speech. "I would like to thank those who did their duty in protecting Hogwarts and the wider magical community from Voldemort and his death eaters. We are now in a time of mourning for those who were lost, not only on that night, but at any time in this ongoing battle. We have a lot of work to do now, we must try those who have been imprisoned, restore that which has been damaged, and rebuild ourselves to be more than we were. We do not know when he will return, it could be tomorrow, it could next week, it may not be for years. But we must be prepared for when he does. This does not mean we should live in fear, he is just a man, he is no more powerful than us. We must not allow him to inflict any more pain and suffering upon us."

Bella paused, unsure what to say next, she didn't have a powerful closing line, she didn't want applause, she just wanted to get away. She summoned a few more lines to satisfy her waiting audience."More now than ever we must remember what is right, what makes us good, what makes us love and laugh, this we must not allow him to take from us. This time has been so dark, despairing and desolate, here, today, we must put an end to this reign of tyranny and put the wizarding world back to what it should be."

The crowd, realising Bella had finished talking slowly started to dissipate, which allowed Bella to make her getaway. As Bella pushed open the heavy wooden door, her eyes took in the shining metal plate that bore her name, she cringed away from the vulgarity of it. Taking her seat gingerly behind the stately desk, Bella felt more out of place than ever. She was only alone for a few seconds before two familiar faces blustered through the door. Ron threw himself into a chair, and a lounged lazily with one leg over the arm. Hermione quietly closed the door behind them and ran around to hug Bella before taking a seat beside Ron.

"Do we have to call you Minister then, Minister?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"Don't be ridiculous Ron, she's still Bella!" Hermione chided. But Bella smiled, glad that Ron's sense of humour broke the tension that had been building inside her.

"We'd better be going, we can't have the Minister and two key witnesses late for the first trial." Hermione stood robotically, clearly apprehensive about testifying. The first trial was that of Lucius Malfoy. Bella would be the judge of these trials, with the power to enforce whatever punishment the criminal advisors saw fit. Ron and Hermione would be witnesses, testifying to the fact that Lucius was in fact a Death Eater. Leaving the office, the trio exchanged small smiles, it was some comfort to be heading into this next chapter with two familiar comrades.

The trial was banal, uneventful really. Narcissa Malfoy added many theatrics, but ultimately Lucius was sentenced to just six months. Although he was a Death Eater there was no proof of any actual wrongdoing committed by him,. Lucius had managed to keep himself remarkably clean, no murders, no torture seemed to have been actually been committed by him.

"Being a bloody coward paid off in the end then" Ron remarked as they walked back to Bella's office after sentencing had taken place. The trial had taken all day, it was dinner time and Bella's thoughts turned to home. It seemed hermione had had the same thought.

"Are you coming to dinner with us tonight Bella?"

Bella didn't know if She could face another night with the Weasleys. Staying with them the first night after the battle had been more than she could bear. Molly and Arthur's grief for George was painful to witness, and Fred was still recovering, even magical first aid hadn't been enable to heal him instantly. But worse than that was watching Ron and Hermione together, watching Arthur and Molly lean on each other for support. Lupin and Tonks, Neville and Ginny, so many couples, families just beginning while Bella witnessed it all on her own.

Hermione seemed to read the agony on Bella's face. "It's fine if you don't, but you know you're always welcome don't you?" Hermione's face was creased with concern. Hermione seemed to sense where Bella's pain was coming from, but she didn't voice this out loud for which Bella was grateful.

"I'm fine thanks. I've got some stuff to sort out..." She trailed off, Bella's eyes didn't leave the floor, carefully taking in each marble tile before her foot made contact with them.

"I hate to think of you all alone in that big house" Hermione almost sighed. Bella hadn't mentioned her recent emigration yet and for some reason she didn't feel as though she really wanted to. Perhaps moving was a deliberate act of isolation, her small house in Forks an intimate indulgence in the simplicity of the muggle world.

"It's not so bad, it's nice to have a home, finally", Bella raised her eyes from the ground, her eyes met Hermione's and they exchanged a sad smile. Ron had remained silent and nonchalant through this last bit of the conversation. Dealing with emotions was Hermione's strength, and in that respect they were opposites, but balanced each other out perfectly. Now they had reached Bella's office door, where they paused each unwilling to say goodbye, but after a quick hug Ron and Hermione turned and left Bella to enter her office alone.

It seemed strange that so soon after the chaos, the Minister could simply oversee a trial and then go home for dinner. But the truth was that any remaining Death Eaters had disappeared as completely as Voldemort had. Hogwarts was being rebuilt by the second and was now functioning again, McGonagall had seen to that. In reality, apart from for the casualties and their families, life was returning to normal far quicker than Bella would have predicted. Life carried on despite the ever present threat of death that hung over them. Bella gathered her few papers and tidied them away, filing the notes from today in the large cabinet that obscured the ornate hatstand, which her outer robes hung from, in the corner.

"Home time", Bella thought as she pulled on her robes and stepped into the flames once more.