Harry arrived at the ministry and walked purposefully towards the Ministers office and sent his patronus to his own boss. When he reached the office he could see his own boss walking towards him. They both entered the Minister's office and took seats.
"What's going on?" Kingsley asked.
The Head Auror Gable shrugged and indicated Harry, "I've found Ginny Weasley." both men gaped at him, "It was an accident."
"How can you accidentally find someone?" Kingsley asked.
"I was shopping in muggle London and decided to stop at a café for something to eat." Harry said, "She was the waitress."
"Where is she now? What happened to her? Does her family know yet?"
"St. Mungo's." Harry said, "I took her to a healer yesterday because she had no memory. She's been living as a muggle. It was easy to fit in, they didn't expect her to know how to do anything. She asked me not to say anything until she was more comfortable with the idea of being a witch. Her wand had been kept in a bag from the hospital where she was taken when she was found. During the visit with Healer Montgomery she touched her wand for the first time since waking up. Today I was to go back and get her for another visit to the healer but she was already remembering things. She seemed to be trapped in a nightmare. I immediately took her to the healer. I saw her a few moments ago, all her memories have returned. I've not questioned her about her abduction yet. I came here to report it first. Her family does know the healer had me contact them."
"You weren't supposed to be working. This was to be recovery time." Gable said.
"I was on a shopping trip…"
"That started in the Hogwarts library." The man said, "I've been keeping tabs on you. I knew you wouldn't rest properly. So what was the spell you found?"
"A version of the point me spell. Tegal was teaching me tracking and mentioned its fabled origin so I investigated it. You can only use the original spell if you are looking for a loved one." Harry said.
"Loved one?" Kingsley asked, "Does Arthur know about this?"
"No." Harry said not realizing the man was just teasing, "I've wanted to tell them many times over the last year but I knew Ginny wanted to be the one to tell them. We've been engaged since July almost two years ago. We were going to announce it after the battle. She's supposed to be telling them today, although she may wait until I'm back."
"Are you kidding?" Gable asked.
"No, why would I kid about that?" Harry asked.
"You know you should never have been on that case." Kingsley said.
"If you hadn't I wouldn't have joined the Aurors." Harry said, "And no one would have found her, at least not this quickly."
"Point taken." Gable said, "Now what? Are you staying on or quitting?"
"I'm staying." Harry reassured them, "And I need a favor."
"What?"
"Ginny's friend for the last year, Paula, is a muggle. She's at St. Mungo's with the family and we want a family waiver for her."
"Harry that is so far out of procedure…"
"I know but Ginny and Paula are like sisters. She's been through enough in her life can't we just give her this one thing? I'm not even sure she knows Fred is gone, I just can't shock her anymore." Harry said.
"She'll have it." Kingsley said, "If she's already met Molly we won't be able to change it anyway."
"Mum's already welcomed her into the family." Harry grinned.
"I'll start the paperwork." Gable said, "I don't want her after me for stalling it. Mother lions only wished they were as protective."
"I'm heading back then, unless you need me to do something?" Harry said.
"No, that's fine. I'll be by later to conduct the interview about her disappearance." Gable said.
"Ginny, how are you?" Molly asked wearily.
"Fine." Ginny hugged her mother and then started crying. They chatted for nearly an hour. Ginny filled them in on everything she had been doing but she refrained from asking about anyone yet.
"I've missed you Mum." Ginny grabbed her mother again and hugged her tightly, "Even thought I didn't remember what it was that I was missing." She pulled away from her Mum to give her Dad and identical hug, "You too Dad."
"Well I feel loved haven't you been missing me too?" Paula asked.
Ginny laughed, "No."
"Well then what about us?" came a gruff voice from the door as her brothers all filed in.
"Definitely no." Ginny laughed as she was giving each of her bothers tight hugs as well as Hermione. "Everyone this is Paula. Paula this is everyone, introduce yourselves please."
"I'm Percy." Percy shook her hand
"Bill and my wife Fleur." Bill waved from the other side of the bed.
"George here." He lifted his hand at the foot of the bed.
"And I'm…"
"Ron and your girlfriend Hermione right?"
"Yes how did you know?"
"Because she's a busy body who doesn't know that it's a good idea to stay away when she's told." Harry said from the door.
"Hey, I wasn't going to let you just take off with my sister." Paula glared teasingly at Harry, "Who knew if you were just going to take her and ravish her or something?"
"He wants to," Ginny snickered, "but that's a different story."
"Hey." Harry complained.
"Oh wait my ring?" Ginny yelled.
"Don't worry I've got it here." Harry pulled a cord from around his neck, "I grabbed it and your stick before we left your apartment."
Ginny sighed, "Good then you can put it back on proper and all."
"What are you talking about?" Bill asked.
"Her wand. She kept calling it a stick before she knew what it was." Harry laughed as he made his way to her left side past Paula and her parents, "She actually had healer Montgomery doubled over in laughter when he asked if she was at a muggle hospital before. She replied that if it meant they didn't use a stick to do a checkup then yes."
The brothers except Bill snickered as he said, "I didn't mean the stick, I meant the ring."
"Oh, well this is what she meant." Harry held up the ring for the others to see then he picked up her left hand and slipped it on her finger. Her right arm came up and pulled him down for a kiss.
"But…" Percy stuttered from beside Paula, "when… how…"
"It's like this Percy," Ron said, "When I guy realizes he loves and girl and wants to spend the rest of his live with her, he generally asks her to marry him. He gives her a ring and they set a date."
"But of course Harry is involved," Hermione said, "so you know it can't be that simple."
"He asked on his seventeenth birthday. I accepted." Ginny grinned, "We hid it because the Dark Idiot. We were going to announce it after his defeat but it's been delayed a bit. Our original pick for a date is July tenth."
"That's funny the oldest gets married first and the youngest gets married second." Fleur stepped up to hug her sister in law, "Congratulations, I know you'll be perfect together."
"You're pregnant!" Ginny exclaimed, "When are you due?"
"About a month." Fleur said, "Bill I need to sit again."
"I wondered why you didn't wade through the crowd to hug me before." Ginny said, "Congratulations you two."
"Thanks." Bill said, "Sorry Paula we were asking about you before that idiot intruded."
"Hey." Harry said, "I didn't intrude."
The group chuckled and Paula started her story. She told them about her Uncle and Ginny or Ginger as she knew her. She ended the story by saying, "then I insisted he take me too. I didn't want to let her out of my sight. So Harry what didn't I see on that street?"
"The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron." Ginny said. "Muggles can't see it. You'd have to close your eyes and let me guide you in."
"I'd like to do that someday." Paula looked wistfully at her friend and sister.
"So Ginny," Charlie asked, "What happened to you?"
"Sorry she can't tell you that yet." Harry said, "I'm not allowed to interview her since they found out about us."
"How did they find out?" Ginny asked.
"When I reported to Kingsley and Gable today I had to tell them the spell I found you with. I only works if you're looking for a loved one." Harry said, "It didn't take a lot to figure it out."
"It actually took me longer to believe it than it did the Minister." Gable said from the door, "Ms. Weasley do you feel like telling me what happened, your family can stay. That includes your muggle friend I have her waiver she just needs to sign it."
He handed the paper to Paula and she started to read it, "I don't know what this means."
"It's saying you'll keep the Statue of Secrecy. That means you won't tell anyone that witches and wizards or anything else in our world is real. The penalty is immediate obliviation, which means they'll take all your memories of the wizarding world."
"Ok, does that hurt?" Paula asked.
"No you'll just wake up one day and have a blank spot in your head." Harry said, "Wizards get a different penalty, we would be sent to prison."
"Do you have a pen?"
"I've got a quill here somewhere." Charlie said feeling his pockets.
"Here." Arthur said pulling a muggle pen from a pocket, "I think she'll be more comfortable with this."
Paula signed the paper and Gable tapped it and made a copy that he returned to her, "Ok, now that that's taken care of Ms. Weasley if you please?"
"Paula I'll fill you in on the back story later ok?" Paula nodded so Ginny continued, "It was right after we all found out that Harry wasn't really dead. I was near the front of the hall and as they started circling each other Ron stuffed me behind him. I know he was trying to shield me from whatever happened. I wanted to see so I made my way to the back of the hall trying to get to Hagrid I wanted to sit on his shoulders. Before I reached him someone stunned me from behind. When I woke up I was in the forest and a death eater was standing over me. He started to attack me and I tried to get away. He had tossed my wand to the other side of the fire he had made and I fought to get to it. I know I kicked him in the groin at least once maybe twice. I was able to reach my wand and roll over and hit him with a curse I think it was just a stunner. But he fell into the fire and burned to death. As soon as he was gone the spiders started to move in. I had my wand and no idea where to go so I just apparated. I landed in an alley and stumbled on impact and hit my head on something. Next thing is waking up in the muggle hospital with no idea of who or where I was."
"Excellent," Gable said, "We had found the remains of a body in the fire but all we could tell is that it wasn't female. Any idea who it was?"
"I'm not positive but it may have been a Malfoy. They had long white blond hair." Ginny said holding Harry's hand tightly, "But I'm not sure because I only got a quick glimpse."
"Both Malfoy's are accounted for." Gable said, "Could have been a glamour or something."
"Could have been Rowle." Harry said, "Dark night could have made his blond hair more white. He's one of the few that we haven't had any sightings on."
Gable nodded his head in agreement, "Sorry everyone but I need to take Harry with me for his statement. This accidental sighting thing I just don't buy."
"It was an accident." Paula said, "When he saw her he even dropped his tea cup and broke it. Ginger thought she had scared him when she interrupted his thoughts to take his order. But he couldn't even talk for about three minutes."
"Way to go Romeo." Ron snickered from across the room.
"I still need his official Auror statement that is only for the ears of the department." Gable said trying not to laugh at Harry's red face.
Harry kissed Ginny and then followed his boss out the door promising to return as soon as he could. Once they were gone Ginny said, "Happy late birthday George, how are you handling things?"
"Better now that you're back Gin Gin." George smiled, "Lee and Angelina are helping at the shop. Business is booming. All in all I'm surviving."
"Who wants to tell me about the end of the battle?"
"The first thing Harry asked when it was over was where's Ginny?" Ron smiled, "It was kind of anticlimactic. One spell each. Harry countered his killing curse with Expelliarmus. It reflected back at Voldemort, it killed and disarmed him…"
***flash back ***
"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked.
Ron looked around, "Well she was here a little while ago. I'll go look around. Madam Pomfrey wants to see you, I'll be back before you know it."
Harry nodded as the Medi-witch started examining him. Ron checked the Great Hall thoroughly without finding Ginny. He approached his brothers who were standing near Fred's body. Ron whispered to Bill, "Have you seen Ginny?"
"No."
"Will you help me look, I haven't seen her since Harry showed up. "
"Have you checked with Harry?"
"Yes, he asked me where she was. I've looked through the Hall but I need help to go farther."
"Ok, I'll get Charlie and Percy to help."
Rod nodded and said, "I'm headed to Gryffindor tower."
Ron checked each empty room and yelled into each girl's bathroom that he passed. He asked people, ghosts and even Peeves if anyone had seen her. He found Parvati in the common room and she checked the girl's dorms while he checked the boys. Several more people joined in the hunt and no one had found her.
Finally Ron returned to the Great Hall and found Harry asleep on one of the beds. Hermione asked, "Did you find her? Harry's really concerned. Madam Pomfrey had to trick him into drinking dreamless sleep potion."
"No I haven't and I have a lot of people trying to help. I'm going to tell Kingsley now."
Ron spotted the man talking to Aurors across the room. He jogged across and said, "We can't find Ginny. Last she was seen was in here just as Harry and Voldemort started."
"I saw her," Draco said, "It looked like she fainted and someone pulled her out of the crowd at the back. I couldn't see who it was but I can give you the memory if you want it."
Kingsley started giving orders, "Nate, check with Poppy and see if she's with the injured. Robert gather some of the others and start questioning people who were at the back of the room. Ron have you told your parents?"
"I didn't, I told Bill and went back to looking."
Charlie walked up, "Anything?"
"No, did Bill tell Mum or Dad?"
"No, we didn't want to worry them if she was asleep in her dorm or something."
"Not there I had one of the girls go check. She looked in all the rooms and bathrooms and didn't see anyone." Ron said, "She went to check the astronomy tower and Neville when to check in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."
"We're going to have to ask them, what if they know where she is." Charlie pointed out.
Kingsley followed Ron over to his parents, "Dad, can I talk to you a moment?"
"Sure Ron," Arthur said stepping away from his distraught wife.
"Dad have you seen Ginny?"
"Not since your mother started fighting Belletrix, why?"
"We can't find her anywhere." Ron choked out.
"I have Aurors looking around and asking questions." Kingsley said, "Draco Malfoy said he saw her faint near the back of the hall just as Harry was fighting Voldemort."
"Has anyone checked the quidditch pitch?"
"I don't know." Ron said, "But I'll go check."
***End flash back***
"The search continued all night and they eventually found the remains of a fire in the forest with a few strands of red hair on a tree nearby." Ron said.
"When Harry woke up he was a little mad at Madam Pomfrey for tricking him." Hermione said, "But when he found out you were missing he was furious. After the funerals I remember him nearly attacking Kingsley…"
***Flash Back***
"What are you doing to find her?" Harry asked trying to be calm.
"Harry." Kingsley said, "We have an Auror task force working on it. They have scoured the area we think she disappeared from and we are trying to figure out what happened next and where she could have gone. We have already searched seventeen death eater's houses."
"How many Aurors?"
"Four. It's all I can spare. The rest are hunting other death eaters." Kingsley said, "I'm really low on Aurors right now. Between those who died in the battle and those working for Voldemort being removed we're down to only twenty Aurors."
"Then sign me up I'll help." Harry said, "I wanted to be an Auror anyway. Let's start now."
"Harry it's not that simple." Kingsley tried to dissuade him from joining. He thought Harry needed to rest and return to school not jump into fighting so soon, "We have an entrance exam you have to pass just to get training. Training can last up to two years. Then you have to pass the final exam. We'll have found her long before that. Just go back to school next year and let us handle this."
"Ok set me up for the exams. What score would I need to get to skip the training?" Harry asked.
"You would have to get a perfect score on the entrance exam and the final. Otherwise you have to go into the training program." Kingsley said, "How well you do during training depends on how long it lasts."
"When can I take the tests?"
"Come by tomorrow."
***end Flash Back***