Authors Note: Thank you so much to all my reviewers! I really appreciate it!

So this chapter brings us to present day, and is giving some background on what is going on in the wizarding world. Harry's in this chapter as well, in case any of you missed him! Please enjoy, and let me know how you feel about it!

Chapter 3: Darkness Rising

Present Day

Ron was late for work. 'Actually' Ron thought, 'perhaps it would be more accurate to say I'm late for work AGAIN'. He sighed to himself, glancing at his wristwatch as he darted through the crowd at the ministry atrium and headed towards the lift. No matter how hard he tried, he just has never been and will never be a morning person.

During Auror training, the trainees were expected to be ready for cardio training at 0600 hours every morning. Waking up that early was Ron's own private hell. It was enough to make him quit before he even began. It didn't make much sense to him either. Ron didn't see any added benefit to doing his workouts at 0600 that he wouldn't get if he did the exact same thing at 0900. He'd much rather start a bit later and make up for it by working a bit later.

Ron would have been late to training on a pretty daily basis, if he could be. He figured that if being on the run for a year hunting horcruxes, being instrumental in the fall of Voldemort, and being the right hand man to the Chosen One didn't allow you a little leeway for being on time for cardio training, what on earth was it good for?

During training he had managed to make it on time almost every day. No thanks to him, of course, instead it was Harry, noble and humble Harry, who didn't want them to get "special treatment." The two friends had been living together at the time and Harry would pretty much drag his arse out of bed and force him to get to training at least close to the 0600 whistle.

It wasn't as though Ron was lazy. He was actually one of the hardest working and most talented in the Aurors in the department. Even during training he had almost all the fastest times. He was just very efficient.

"I'd rather run the five kilometer fast and have it over and done with than spend the extra time jogging back with you." He joked to Harry. "Shorter timed run equals shorter time in pain."

"It's those bloody gangly legs of yours. I have to work twice as hard just to keep up with you." Harry said, bitterness clearly obvious in his voice, as he would be doubled over to catch his breath.

His efficiency translated from his training times and into the workplace. His quality of work was excellent, so his boss could overlook the fact that he was rarely on time in the morning.

Today, Ron was only about 15 minutes late. Not terrible, considering he had been working late into the evening the night before. Nevertheless, his masterplan was to sneak into his office undetected and set up as if he had been there for the last half hour.

Unfortunately for Ron, it's difficult to sneak in when you are 6'2 and a red head.

"YOU ARE LATE, WEASLEY." His boss, Auror James Winslow, barked at him, crossing the room towards Ron's office. Winslow was a bulldog of a man. He was a full six inches shorter than Ron, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in solid build. He was much older than Ron, having been a prefect at Hogwarts when Bill had been starting his first year. Winslow didn't speak about his involvements in the second war very often. Ron, from his own digging, knew that Winslow had been instrumental in protecting dozens of muggleborn witches and wizards that he had taken into hiding. For this, Ron liked him.

"Or early, depends on what time you were expecting me." Ron replied quietly with a smug grin. He knew that Auror Winslow was more or less yelling at him for show. He wasn't in trouble, but it didn't look good if he could show up late without any reprimand.

Ron entered his office, with Winslow close behind him.

Harry, of course, was already sitting at his desk. The two shared a large office with two desks on opposite sides of the room. A few interoffice memos were already hovering around Ron's desk, right over the picture of Hermione on their wedding day. She beamed up at him from the frame, and Ron let his eyes linger on her face for a few seconds before rounding on Harry and glaring at him. Harry just blinked back at him with his 'what? I wasn't doing anything. I'm just the humble chosen one' face on.

"Ah, knew Potter would be here on time." Winslow said, causing Ron to glare at him again. Harry just shrugged and smiled before Winslow shut the door before rounding on them.

"Brief me." Winslow said, dropping the annoyance at Ron now that they were in the privacy of their office.

"We met with informant beta last night." Ron started, emphasizing the fact that he was working, far after hours. "From what he can gather, it sounds like a meeting is taking place at the end of the month. No information about where, although he said they were discussing getting new parkas for cheap, so we are thinking someplace cold." Ron started. Harry and Ron had been on a recon mission the night before. Informant beta, was Mundungus Fletcher, still useful because he always had his ears to the ground. They made it a habit of never referring to their informant's by their real names, even when it was in private.

Ron, over the years, had learned exactly what Mundungus was useful for. You don't put him on guard duty or leave him with anything valuable, that had been Dumbledore's mistake. That didn't make him useless. The man ran in some unsavory circles, and when your associates are the type of people that Mundungus's were, you pick up on a thing or two having a firewiskey and keeping your ear's open.

"What concerns me" Harry added, "is not that they are having a meeting. It's that they keep talking about this 'governor.'"

Ron and Harry had picked up intelligence not long ago about an upcoming meeting of they type who were nostalgic for the way things had been under Voldemort.

This was not terribly alarming and meetings were not illegal, per se. However, the Auror's liked to keep a watch on them. Mostly the meetings were grumbling and venting, reminiscing about their positions of the past. Harry was right, though, this governor talk was alarming.

It had to be an individual, and from the sounds of it, he ("or she!" he could practically hear Hermione yell) was getting some respect and some reverence among a very easily influenced and bitter crowed.

Bitter former snatchers were one thing. Snatchers rallying around a leader, was something else entirely.

"Are we thinking raid?" Winslow asked. Raids were risky and often dangerous. They could result in arrests, but only if there was proof that something was being plotted.

Harry looked thoughtful.

"Ron and I discussed this a bit last night. A raid could set us back if we want to get more information about the governor. We don't know if he…"

"or she" Ron interrupted, still hearing Hermione's voice in his head. It was Harry's turn to glare at him.

"or she." Harry repeated. "We don't know if he or she is calling this meeting. I'm concerned about rallying behind a leader. We need to find out who this individual is, what they are up to, and take them out if necessary."

Winslow nodded.

"Prepare a report and a proposed plan of action, 9 a.m. tomorrow morning you'll present it to the team leaders." Winslow said, and with a nod, was out the door.

The Auror's were broken up into six groups, each with distinct missions and zones of responsibility. They weren't broken up by skill or by seniority, but instead by compatibility. New Aurors would often shuffle around until they found a group that fit. Each group had a team leader, Winslow was Ron and Harry's, and the department head (a wizard called Marcus Williamson) oversaw the entire organization. When there was a serious threat, all six team leaders would be briefed first, then the department head. A plan would be implemented and then briefed to the entire department.

Apparently Winslow was considering the talk of the governor serious. Or, at least serious enough to warrant a presentation.

Ron sat in his chair, plopped his feet up, and turned to Harry.

"Guess we didn't need to tell him we did the report complete with a plan of action already last night."

Harry laughed. "Guess not."

The plan that Harry and Ron had detailed was simple enough in theory although more difficult to execute. They needed more information about the governor for a threat assessment to be made. They knew that there was a meeting being planned, but they didn't know much about it.

After the meeting with Mundungus the night before, the two had returned to Harry's home where they sat at his kitchen table until the wee hours of the morning working out a plan. Ron had said almost immediately that there was only one clear option in his eyes. They had to have an undercover agent at the meeting.

Easy concept, not so easy when they didn't know where the meeting was being held and had only a ballpark of when it was. Then there was the small problem of putting an agent into a meeting where they had no idea who would be there, how many were told of this meeting, or if there was any need to know information such as a password or a sign.

Ron and Harry had been up late into the night working out a very detailed course of action, which Ron was quite proud off.

"Does this mean I can catch up on sleep at the office today?" Ron said, while stretching out his limbs, extending them in all different directions.

"Dunno if I'd go that far mate," Harry laughed. "But look on the bright side, since we are prepared for tomorrow already, might as well make some headway and then get home at a reasonable hour. I'm sure Hermione is pissed at me for keeping you out so late last night."

"Nah, she'd rather we work at your house then ours. Did you know she caught Rosie trying to listen in on us last time? She's inherited Hermione's brains and my inability to stay away from the thick of things. We could have our hands full with that combination." Ron laughed.

"Besides," he said. "Hermione is just happy we are somewhere physically safe."

Harry smiled, before returning to the mountain of paperwork in front of him. Step one of their plan involved going through all past tips and complaints that had been submitted the department over the last year to determine if there was any information that synced up to their present concerns.

Ron looked at the mountain of paperwork and sighed. Today was the worst kind of day in his opinion, just a long day, sitting at his desk, going through tons of paperwork.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out chapter three. I know it's a bit short, but I needed to put the background in before the action started and this seemed like a logical place to end this chapter. (Next chapter will be longer, promise). I think it's quite obvious where things are heading, and next chapter you will see some action. Please let me know what you think! I appreciate reviews so so so much (constructive criticism very welcome). Love my readers!