A/N: The first real chapter and we get some Harry/Ginny moments! Some of you may not get the whole graduation tangent. I'll explain: There was a really long comment debate over whether it was a plot hole in "TMIB" that Hogwarts held a graduation ceremony even though it was in Britain.
Here's how I see it: Although British schools generally don't hold commencements, they aren't unprecedented and are quite common at the university level. Given that there's never been an established magic school level in the British Wizarding World higher than Hogwarts, plus the fact that the school is run by Gryffindors, who were established in the books to be naturally celebratory, I see no reason not to believe Dumbledore and McGonagall would try to squeeze one more massive celebration out of the year. In the Harry part of this story, the ceremony is established as having been abandoned at some point during/between the wars and McGonagall only brought it back once Voldemort was clearly defeated.
Chapter 3: Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic
Harry Potter woke up one morning in early June, one day after what had been a long, fruitless Auror expedition. It still felt unusual for him to wake up after a night of uneventful sleep. For years, he had gone to bed with a fearing of uneasiness, fear that he might go back into the mind of Lord Voldemort or have a vision of his friends in danger.
Even in the summer immediately following the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry wasn't entirely comfortable sleeping. The ordeal of being connected to the Dark Lord may have been over, but Harry still had to deal with a tremendous amount of survivor's guilt. Remus, Tonks, Fred, Dobby, Sirius, Dumbledore, and even Snape. The list of people in his life who had done so much for him but had nonetheless died was definitely a daunting problem.
It was nothing that every other person who lived through the battle probably didn't feel as well, but for Harry, there were other dimensions at play in his mind. In the months following, he felt additional guilt about having access to the Resurrection Stone. He had gotten to see some of the people who meant a lot to him, even if they were only spirits held to the living world by the stone's magic. He received a degree of closure with Sirius, Remus, and most importantly, his parents that no one else could have.
There were times where he wished that he could do the same for the Weasleys, for Ginny. And although he left the stone in the forest on his way to meet Voldemort, part of him thought it was possible to find it again for them. Try as he might, the path a person walks on the way to their own death is hard to forget, and Harry wouldn't be surprised if he could completely retrace his steps and come across the stone again.
But that was a psychological trip he really didn't want to head down, and it wouldn't do all that much for his friends anyway. Maybe that was the bigger source of his guilt. Those who died in battle couldn't come back no matter what. Even if Harry hadn't known it at the time, he had a choice after he died. He had a choice to return or to "board a train," as Dumbledore put it, and go on to the afterlife. He could have been at peace.
Part of him felt bad that he had such an opportunity when so many deserved that chance. But an even bigger part had to wonder whether he had made the right choice. Harry spent about a month debating this, over which he had many nights of inconsistent sleep, if any at all.
It had been Ginny who kept him going during that summer and got him back to his old self. She spent many of those nights sitting downstairs at the Burrow awake with him. No doubt she was feeling grief about the losses too, Fred especially. But Ginny was so strong in those months, focused on Harry and it… strengthened his resolve. Just like in fifth year, when she'd been able to reach him so often when even Ron and Hermione couldn't, she was the person who could keep him sane.
One statement stuck out more than any over that time. After he had told Ginny about the fact that he had died, and his doubts about coming back, she only said one thing before heading to bed: "Well, no matter how much you may doubt yourself and how much pain you 'think' you caused, remember that no one in this world is happier than I am that you took a second chance at life."
He held on to that thought, and it gave him the strength to take on the Auror position when Kingsley Shacklebolt offered it. It gave him the strength to move into his temporary home at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. And it gave him the strength to be himself again. With that peace of mind, he got dressed and apparated to the Burrow to see Ginny for the first time since her time at Hogwarts ended.
"Harry! Good to see you, my boy!" Arthur Weasley said, taking a break from trying to repair – or dissect, as it was hard to tell given its state – a motorized Muggle lawnmower he acquired.
"Hello, sir," Harry said, shaking Arthur's oil-covered hand.
"Harry it's been long enough. You can feel comfortable using Molly and my first names. Molly herself said that you could call her 'mum' if you like."
"I know, Mr. W-, er, Arthur. It's just a habit that's hard to get around."
"Well I heard Ginny and Molly up and about earlier, so I suspect they're waiting for you. Best not keep you any longer. Though, if you get a minute later, maybe you could help me figure out this new lawn device thing."
"Well I will have to go into work in a little while, but I'll try to find some time." Harry said, although he honestly was as much in the dark as Arthur when it came to the inner-workings of gas-powered engines. He walked in and was immediately greeted by one of Mrs. Weasley's bone-crunching hugs.
"Hello Harry! It's been far too long! You really must make a point of visiting more, now that you're not traipsing through Wales. Lord knows I'll have to deal with enough of that once Ginny goes off to work out in Holyhead next month with the Harpies."
"Oh so you decided on the Harpies, then?" Harry asked Ginny as they embraced and greeted each other with a kiss.
"Yes, I notified Gwenog Jones last week," she said when they finally came up for air seconds later.
"Well, it'll be nice to finally have a favorite Quidditch team to root for during the season."
"And I'm thrilled that it won't be my brother's Chudley Cannons."
Both had to laugh at the expense of Ron's once-great, now-incompetent favorite Quidditch club.
"Now, now. There will be plenty of time to talk while you're at the table, but it's time for breakfast," Molly said, guiding them to the table.
"Thanks, er, Mum," Harry said with Arthur's words in mind. Mrs. Weasley beamed as she filled two very large plates for the couple.
After they had nearly finished their first plate (and Mrs. Weasley refilled it), Ginny asked, "So did you end up finding anyone in Wales?"
Harry replied, "No. It's really getting odd. In the last year, so many of the old Death Eaters who got away in the rush after the battle have just up and vanished. Some of the aurors are starting to relax and feel certain they all went to mainland Europe. But it's been too gradual, I think. They'd have a better chance leaving in a group. Something tells me they're recruiting and organizing for something, and Kingsley agrees with me."
"So do I, but whatever it is doesn't seem to be happening quickly. Professor Moody would be yelling about 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE' if he heard about your auror force," Ginny grinned at the memory of Mad-Eye. "It's a shame you couldn't have put off the expedition when you got that tip. You missed Hogwarts holding its first graduation ceremony in quite a few years."
"I was actually surprised to hear that that was happening. The muggle schools around where I lived didn't have ceremonies like that."
"You also lived in one of the dullest muggle neighborhoods in the world. Besides, you remember Gryffindor house at Hogwarts. If wizards, especially those led by Gryffindors, see a reason to celebrate, they'll take the opportunity," Ginny said.
"True. And believe me, I'd have loved to see you and Hermione and Luna graduate over staking out those Welsh cottages for a month."
Ginny nodded, and then whispered when she knew her mom was out of earshot, "Are the Malfoys still safe?"
"I had Kingsley check personally. They're fine, but they pretty much prove why I'm concerned. They wouldn't have asked to go into hiding if they weren't sure that something was being organized."
"They're probably also worried about whether this new Death Eater organization will want revenge for the family's decisions toward the end of the war."
"What Draco did was out of guilt and what his mother did was out of love," Harry said, "two qualities the Death Eaters did not hold in very high regard."
"I imagine they can't like being in such a secluded location with only muggle villages around them," Ginny chuckled a little.
"No, they don't. But it's one of the easiest areas to secure and charm," Harry then saw his arrow on the Weasley's clock said, 'Running late.'
"Oh wow, I didn't realize how far along the day was. I have to file a report with the aurors and see if there are any new leads."
"Already? Well, all right. I was going to go see how Ron and George were doing with the joke shop. I think Hermione will be there as well, so it should be an interesting day."
"I actually think I'm starting to miss Ron and Hermione's arguing. I'll have to come say hello tomorrow. See you after work?"
"Of course!" Ginny then kissed him again as he got up and headed out. Ginny finished eating, and after checking how she looked once more, she apparated to Diagon Alley to see her brothers.
Lily Snape walked into the Ministry of Magic to begin her Friday of work. She went into the elevator, got off on her floor and went about the morning of work unaware of what had happened in the Department of Mysteries just a few short hours before.
It was clear something was amiss, however, when the she and the rest of the Unspeakables were asked to meet just before lunch with a few of the Aurors. Lily wasn't exactly sure what the meeting could be about, but at the same time, her mind was elsewhere and she only wanted the meeting to get done quickly. She had been running late today, and had to skip breakfast in order to get her son, Evan, over to her parents. It was hard to believe that Evan would be having his first birthday party during the weekend. That planning alone had been an extra bit of stress.
Regardless, her focus now was on her hunger, and she wanted nothing more than to leave for a little while to meet Severus for lunch. As she entered the meeting, she immediately recognized two of the aurors from her time with the Order of the Phoenix: Edgar Bones and Frank Longbottom. Longbottom was the one who started the meeting.
"Hello everyone. I'll get right to the point since I'm sure you're curious. Our questioning of former Death Eaters has finally provided us enough evidence to confirm our fears that Augustus Rockwood had been spying for Lord Voldemort while working as an Unspeakable."
There was an audible gasp from virtually everyone in the room. Lily herself was surprised by this knowledge. Though she had only been in contact with him a few times, he seemed like a completely cordial person, certainly not a spy for a group that hated muggleborns like herself.
"We have had our suspicions for a few weeks now, but it's taken a while to find a Death Eater who knew him and could provide testimony to confirm our suspicions. Unfortunately, that's not the only problem we have.
"Last night, your department appears to have been broken in to. We suspect Rockwood himself committed the deed. The guards who would be guarding the areas en route to his office and to the Department of Mysteries all show signs of being confounded or Obliviated. Additionally, we were able to charm his keys a week ago when he was being suspected of being a spy, and there's a trace on one lock in the DOM: the Death Chamber."
"Does anyone know what he might have been doing in the chamber in the middle of the night?" Bones asked. "Could he have left something in there of note?"
"I don't think there would be anything, as someone checks out each chamber once a day at least," Lily said after no one responded immediately, "and outside of that, the only thing of note is the Veil of Death, which would serve no purpose to him because none of us have any evidence suggesting someone can survive after going through it."
"Well if that's the case, then it may be the case that he tried to escape the mounting pressure," Bones replied. "The door was still unlocked this morning, according to your department's leadership, and even though the Aurors have staked out all his most frequented locations, he hasn't been found."
"We can't stop looking yet, but it is looking like he may have gone through the Veil by his own will," Longbottom said somberly. "In any case, Lily has pretty much answered what we expected was the case. Otherwise, this meeting was to simply inform you of these developments. Good day to you all."
Everyone began to leave, but now these new developments were on Lily's mind. To have had a spy in such close quarters for so long was unsettling, but then again, she knew someone who knows all about that kind of situation.
Though Unspeakables were not supposed to divulge even the most basic information to anyone but high ranking Ministry officials (and serious details to only the Minister himself), in this situation it seemed clear to Lily that she would need to talk to someone about Augustus Rockwood and his Death Eater motivations. She'd have to talk to someone who had lived as a double agent for years and might understand his motivations.
She needed to speak to her husband.
