LIFE AFTER HOGWARTS
CHAPTER 6
THE BREAK UP
(Hi, muggleborn here, I'd just like to apologize to my readers for my slow updates. I have a lot of things happening in my personal life, but don't worry. I promise that I won't stop with this story. I just really hope you stick by me and wait for me to finish the story… thank you)
ooo000ooo
"Aren't you supposed to be taking the rest of the week off?" Draco asked Harry.
"Technically speaking, I'm still on my day off… see?" Harry said pointing on his chest, "No badge."
"Ever heard the phrase 'all work and no play make Harry a dull boy'?"
"Draco, I don't have time for your proverbs, weird smelling perfume, and silly gel products." said Harry sitting on his desk and rummaging his drawers.
"You know what; I've been meaning to ask you about your attitude for the last few months."
"What about it?"
"I just don't remember you being such a workaholic back at school. What the hell happened? Were you bitten by the buzz-kill fairy?" Draco said casually as his eyes browsed on a dirty magazine.
"That'll be a great chat, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll tell you sometime." said Harry, pulling out a clown figurine which was a Christmas gift present out of his desk drawer.
"Really? Finally letting your uptight walls breakdown, eh? When will be the day?"
"When you grow up?"
"No fair."
"Life's not fair."
"Bitter too, I liked you better before the inner child in you was killed by a tragic home invasion gone bad."
"I'm just trying to work here, do you mind?"Harry said irritably.
"Well just don't come crying to me when Grimm catches you here." said Draco turning a page on his dirty mag, "He'll breath fire on your ass… or give it a little tickle… whatever he's in to, you know."
"If I were you, I wouldn't be talking smack about the Chief. Aren't you worried he might hear you?"
"Let's get a couple of things straight here, Potter. Number one, I don't worry. Number two, Grimm's so old, he wouldn't able to hear anything at his age." said Draco counting off.
FIZZ!
"Hey!" Draco yelled when the magazine he's wearing suddenly burst into flames, revealing Malcolm Grimm across the room with his wand aimed at him.
"Not that old, Malfoy." the Auror Chief said with murder in his eyes.
Grimm turned his attention towards the Harry who felt a little tinge of nervousness as the head of the Auror department walked closer.
"I thought I told you to take the rest of the week off?" said Grimm, walking towards him, "I know I said it… we were both there when I said it." Said Grimm , his wand, still on his hand.
"I—err… am on a break, sir. I'm just spending it here rather than somewhere else."
Grimm glared at him for a couple of seconds.
"Fine." Grimm said before turning around and entering his office.
"I told you to shut it." Harry blamed Draco.
"I'm alright, its Weasley's magazine anyway." said Draco as he brushed off the ashes on his shirt, "What the hell are you up to anyway?" he added walking behind Harry.
I'm just looking for something." said Harry without looking behind him.
"Alright… now that we have a firm grasp of the obvious, looking for what?" asked Draco.
"I just found out that that the person who blew up the hotel took his time to wipe off my memory." Harry replied, still busy rummaging his desk.
"How?"
"I took a little look at my memory through a Pensieve… found out that parts of the explosion was modified." said Harry.
"Static?"
"Yep, I must have seen something or someone that the bastard didn't want me to see."
"That leaves us with a couple of questions, doesn't it?"
"Why didn't they kill me and Ron? Why did they bother erasing that part my memory of the incident? Why didn't they just erase my mind completely?"
"They want to cover their trail, be as much of a question mark as possible. The Ministry takes a death of an Auror pretty serious. If they kill you and Weasley, the whole weight of the Ministry will reign down upon them. The focus will be on your killers and nowhere else." Draco theorized.
"Exactly." said Harry, "And why do you think they're doing that?"
"—Because they're planning something big." Draco guessed.
"That's what I think too." said Harry.
"Planning what?" Draco asked.
"I thought you'd never ask." said Harry.
Finally giving up on looking through his desk manually, Harry pulls out his wand.
"Accio!"
A piece of paper quickly came zooming out of one of Harry's drawers and into his hand.
"Are Carlton and Baltimore here?" Harry asked.
"Oh, they're right over here," said Draco, "Oi! Baltimore! Carlton! Potter's looking for you!" Draco called to the far cubicle to the right.
Zarah Baltimore and Michael Carlton got up and walked over to them.
"What's up?" asked the Auror Carlton.
"What happened to the Storage facility case you were working on?" Harry asked.
"It's looking like a bust. We don't have any good leads. Although it looks like there was more than one person who came in the facility and took several stocks of items." Baltimore answered.
"Anything else?" Harry asked.
Zarah looked at Michael.
"Tell him" she urged.
"Tell me what?" said Harry.
"Well… I did find it funny that they took specific items that aren't that valuable at all." said Michael.
"What? You mean like Dragon tusks?" asked Draco.
"Dragon tusks, Unicorn horns, Phoenix ashes, even Minotaur horns." said Michael.
"What exactly did they take?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I got the list right here." said Michael summoning a file from his desk with his wand and giving it to Harry.
Harry scanned Michael's list and the one from his desk back and forth.
"We tried to see which kind of potion the missing items could add up to but it doesn't match any potion known to the Wizarding world." said Zarah.
"Well I think I know what it is.' said Harry.
"What?" The three asked in Unison.
"I asked Neville to leave me a copy of the list of items needed to make a bomb similar to the one from Ciel Blu Hotel." said Harry, showing them the paper from his desk, "look, it matches the items stolen from your facility."
The three's mouths hung as they realized the horror of their discovery.
"Shhhhhhhiiiiit." said Draco.
"My God, the people who robbed the Storage facility are the same ones who blew up the hotel." said Zarah.
"So the reason why we can't find a matching potion is because it's Alchemy." said Michael.
"Our cases just got connected." said Baltimore.
"The importance of that fact just got thrown out of the window, Baltimore. Why do you think someone would make a bomb?" Draco asked.
"Why?" asked Michael.
"To blow stuff up." Draco said.
"And by the looks of how much they stole, it looks like they're looking forward to blow up a lot more targets." said Zarah.
"Yeah, or to hit just a really tough one." said Harry.
"What's the plan?" Draco asked.
"Zarah, you and Michael continue investigating the Storage facility. Maybe you'll find something you've missed." said Harry.
"We were just talking about going to the security firm hired to protect It." said Michael.
"Good." said Harry.
"What about us?" asked Draco.
"We need to brief Grimm on this. Then I want to go to the Alchemic Guild to ask some more questions." said Harry.
"Beats desk duty any day." said Draco.
Harry and Draco went to the Auror Chief's office and caught Grimm up with what they learned. It took a couple of minutes but they finished telling the boss.
"Good work, I'm glad that you're not actually worthless like I tell everyone." said Grimm.
"Thanks?" said Harry.
"Always a pleasure to see you care, Chief." said Draco sarcastically.
"I have to tell this to the Minister. In the meantime, follow up on your leads. I want these people locked up immediately." said Grimm.
"Won't be easy though." said Draco, "By the looks of it, these guys are professionals. They're not just going to leave any loose ends behind."
"We don't have the time to wait around for their next move. More people will die if we don't stop them quickly." said Grimm.
"I'm just saying." said Draco.
They stopped talking at the sudden sound of expensive high heel shoes coming from outside. Harry and Draco didn't know who it was until Grimm's office door opened with a forceful swing revealing a very long brown-haired woman which fell to the length of her waist. Her eyes were sharp like knives while her lipstick-covered lips were pursed making her more attractive than she already was. She looked like a model, but by the way she glared at people, she looked like a model with a grudge.
"Knock, knock." She said sarcastically, her eyes looking right at Grimm.
It was Constance Capulet, the head of the Magic police department or more known to men as "The Ball buster from Brighton."
"I need to talk to you." she told Grimm.
"And I need to spray my door knob with more Holy water… get out." Grimm waved her off like she was a fly.
She raised a brow.
"I'm going to need all the files you have on the Ciel Blue Hotel bombing." she said.
"What!?" Harry said in shock, not realizing that he was on his feet.
"That's an Auror case. Correct me if I'm wrong but last time I checked, you're not an Auror. You're a bitch… but you're not an Auror." said Grimm.
"It's my case now." she said pulling out a piece of parchment out of the air with her wand.
She offered the parchment to Grimm who snatched it away. The Auror head read it through before burning it with his wand in anger.
"I knew you'd do that, don't worry. I've got copies." said Constance.
"Nobody's giving anything to anybody until I talk to the Minister." said Grimm.
"Oh, no need to go far then." said Constance, she walked over to the door and opened it revealing the Minister of Magic himself, Herbert Horne.
"Minister." said a surprised Harry.
"Malcolm!" the minister greeted Grimm.
"Was he standing behind the door the whole time?" Draco whispered to Harry.
He was a small old man. As small as his predecessor Cornelius Fudge but several layers thinner. He was short, less than five inches tall. His wrinkled face tells anyone who looks that he is around his early eighties (in Muggle years). What's left of the hair on his head was grey while his a large nose reminiscent of a toucan's beak
The old man did, however, like spending his money on expensive clothes and jewelry as he is never seen without his gold jewelry on his neck, wrists, and even (for the purpose of being fabulous)his ears.
He walked towards Grimm passing by Harry and Draco like they were ugly furniture or something. It was a far cry from the days when Harry defeated Voldemort in his sixth year. He was the toast of the town and he was rarely out of the papers. Horne, who was just been elected as Minister of Magic, had always invited Harry to different social events and gatherings just so he can show him off. Harry hated being used like that so he did everything to avoid going.
But now, along with the Minister, the whole Wizarding world seemed to have forgotten about him and the Dark Lord like they were yesterday's news.
"Minister, could you please explain to me why-"
Horne held his hand up to stop Grimm.
"Malcolm, you and I both know that there aren't any evil left out in our world… and even if there are, the Ministry doesn't need the Aurors to handle it." said Horne.
"Sounds like a good point to me." Constance egged on.
"Oh really, because it sounds to me that the Minister just wants cheaper labor." Grimm said to her emphasizing at the word cheap on her.
"We have the Magic police and they're all that we need now." said Horne.
"You were perfectly happy having us clean up your mess before. What's changed?" asked Grimm.
"This is not personal."
"Does it matter if it is?"
"You're not seeing the point here."
"You need to make one first."
"The whole Wizarding world is at peace now."
"Yes, and it's not because of any help from magical rainbows and wishful thinking, Minister. It's because of Aurors like me and the people in this office."
"Yes, we all know the contribution of the Aurors to the—"
"Do you? When the Dark Lord fell, all dark wizards went on frenzy and tried to take the Ministry because they didn't have anyone to be afraid of anymore. It was chaos everywhere if it weren't for us. We were the ones who made the streets you walk on safe again."
"And the Ministry appreciates that."
"So why are you tossing us aside just to make room for people whose greatest achievement in life is…" he looked at Constance once more, "I'm sorry, what do you do again?"
"Right now, it looks like I'm owning you and this department." she said.
"Alright, hang on. I'm starting not to like what I'm hearing." said Draco.
"What are you saying, Horne?" Grimm asked him, "Why don't you be a man and spit it out."
"Alright, you want me to say it? I'll say it. The Aurors are obsolete. You know that the cuts being made from this department. Now the Ministry has decided to cut the whole department all together." said the Minister, finally letting go of his friendly demeanor.
"What?" said Draco.
"You're not serious." said Harry.
"As of this moment, the Auror department is no more."
ooo000ooo
Hermione was on her desk busy as usual. The pen in her hand moved frantically across the parchment when a female coworker called her name.
"What is it?" she said looking up at her.
"I've got some files here for you." Her co worker said, showing her a couple of folders, "I was just going to ship these to the archives when I read that it's involved with Law Enforcement, your department. So I thought I'd run it by you just to make sure."
"Oh, thanks." said Hermione taking the folders, "Henry must have forgotten to turn it in himself. I'll handle it, don't worry."
"Speaking of your boyfriend, where is he? I haven't seen him around these past couple of days." said the co-worker.
"I know, he's been really busy. On top of his mountain of work, he's working the Ciel Blu hotel bombing." said Hermione.
"Oh, yeah. The foreign Quidditch party." said the co-worker.
"Percy Weasley's been working him to death." said Hermione.
"I know him. He's that Prime Ministry kiss up." said the co-worker.
"Yeah, I know him personally. He's my friend's brother."
"Oh, that's right. Ron, wasn't it? The one who's always with Harry Potter."
"Uhuh."
"Speaking of Harry Potter, do you know if he's seeing anyone?" her co-worker asked blushing.
"Err… I don't think so."
"That's great. I really think he's good looking."
"Err… okay."
"He's your friend isn't he? Maybe you could introduce us?" her co-worker said excitedly.
Hermione laughed nervously, "As tempting as that sounds, I don't think I'd feel comfortable setting him up. He's my ex so…"
"Ohh, alright, alright. Anyway, I better be going. The boss wants to look over my report… for the third time." She said smiling before leaving Hermione Granger on her desk.
She fell quiet all of the sudden. The momentum possessing her before seemed to have completely vanished. Why the idea of Harry going out with another girl had never entered her before is beyond her. It's been two years since they broke up, six months since she's finally been able to move on. She knew she's over him… or does she?
From what she knows, Harry never went out on a date with a girl since their break up. Thinking about it now, did she ever wonder why? Did she even bother asking? Or maybe there was some part of her that made her feel satisfied with that situation. Whatever the reason, she's still not ready to face it.
Hermione took a deep breath and turned her attention to her work. She was just about to sign her report when her eyes caught the folders her co worker brought. She decided to open one of the six folders and saw a case file of a dead wizard who died in an accident. Hermione read through the report and found out that the details were vague. Hermione looked at the case worker and saw the signature of a Magic police.
She picked up the file on top and read…
Name: Howard Thropp
Age: 35 – 45 years old
Country of origin: Unknown
Job: Unknown
Address: Apartment 33, Little Lane, Sussex
Family: Unknown
Description:
Height: 6'3
Weight: 205 pounds
Eyes: Brown around the body conclusive to curse injuries, dotted tattoos on right wrist.
Hair: Dirty blonde
Distinguishable features: Mole above left brow, birth mark under neck, numerous old scars all
…Thropp was discovered dead in his home after his landlady checked up on him. He was crushed under his cabinet resulting to his death. His death is ruled out to be an accident.
Hermione was irked at the lack of detail work on this report. It was one of the many reasons why she preferred the leaving the detective work to the Auror Department. God, even Ron turns in a way more decent reports than this crap.
Couldn't the investigator write more details like a thorough observation of the room? Whether the cabinet which crushed him was in good shape or not, how long has he been dead, did he have enemies of some sort? Would there be anyone who would benefit from his death?
And why didn't anyone find it suspicious that Thropp was basically a mystery. No one knew what he did for a living, or why there was no trace of friend or family. It was a kind of dim-witted report the Magical Police was famous for.
She browsed through the other files next and read strange similarities of details with all the files. Incidents resulting to deaths of wizards with unclear particulars such as being in an accident all alone in their home, wands nowhere near the bodies, and all in the same age group.
It was strange, these many coincidences and no one in the Magic police has even bothered looking into it. The Magic police was never really famous for being thorough. Despite the man power, they're still nowhere near as good as the Auror department.
Hermione went over the files once more for good measure and found out that all victims shared one more thing that is irrefutably distinct. She saw dots tattooed on all the victims' wrist; Dots which formed some sort of pattern, which trailed along their skin. It was a good thing that they bothered taking a picture of the said tattoos.
She thought they would all be similar but she was wrong. Although the kind of ink used was similar and all of them were located on the wrist, the patterns don't match.
Hermione swore to herself that the patterns were familiar to her, she just couldn't remember what. She was just about to go over the files again when she was suddenly surprised by an owl swooping down to her desk. The owl held out its leg so she can untie the letter it bore. She untied it and noticed immediately that it was a Howler.
"COME RIGHT THIS MOMENT! NOW!" bellowed the Howler after unrolling itself and coming to life.
Hermione looked around and saw all her co-workers looking curiously at her direction. She didn't need to hear the message twice to know that it was the voice of a distressed Ginny. She cleared her desk with her wand, leaving the archive-bound files stacked neatly on the center of her table before getting up and leaving.
It took about three minutes before Hermione arrived at Ginny's apartment. Arriving at the fifth floor of the building, she headed straight towards apartment 14C.
KNOCK KNOCK
When the door opened, Hermione saw a weeping red-head with a tissue in hand and tears on her face. Ginny quickly leapt at her best friend. Hermione thought Ginny would say something but she just cried on her shoulder. On the back of her mind, she wondered why Ginny was wearing a slutty-looking nurse costume.
"My God, what happened?" she asked Ginny.
Ginny blubbered.
"Give me a verb." said Hermione.
Hermione helped Ginny to the couch and offered her a glass of water which was already on the living room table. Ginny was able to take a couple of sips down. When she was a little more coherent, Hermione decided to ask her what was wrong once more.
"Okay, there you go. Now tell me what happened. What's wrong? Tell me." she said trying to remain calm herself.
"(Sniff) Neville broke up with me." said Ginny.
"WHAT?!"
Ginny nodded.
"When-How-Why?... In that order." said Hermione
Ginny pointed at the table where Hermione only realized that there was a Pensieve ready for her. Ginny must have had it ready for her arrival.
Hermione pulled out her wand and gave a flick to make the Pensieve come to her. She slowly dunked her face in it and began her journey towards Ginny's memory.
ooo000ooo
Ginny Weasley heard the subtle sound of the door open and close. A feeling of excitement rushed through her spine as it could only mean one thing. She headed towards the mirror and looked at herself one final time before she met him in the living room.
With one more small adjustment (undoing another button on her trampy nurse costume), she then headed for the living room where she kissed her longtime boyfriend on the lips before proceeding to unbutton his shirt
"Gin, Gin." Neville said as he tried to fend off Ginny.
"You're playing hard to get… I like it." she said more turned on as ever. She then resumed her erotic assault.
"Gin, hang on." said Neville finally able to push her off him.
"I'm sorry." she seemed to apologize sincerely.
"I-it's okay. I just wanted to-"
"I need to be punished." she said seductively, reverting back into her sexual alter ego.
"Huh?" was all Neville could utter.
Ginny walked towards the sofa in a cat-like fashion before bending over. She saw Neville's eyes almost pop out of their sockets as gave her cheeks a little slap. Ginny's bum sure looked nice with her almost non-existent skirt.
But Neville was a champ; he shook his head and was able to snap out his trance. He needed to talk to her; he needed to talk to her right now. This can't wait another day. He was afraid that if he couldn't tell her now, he may not be able to muster the strength to tell her again.
"Ginny!" he raised his voice.
She narrowed her eyes at him wondering why on earth he wasn't taking his clothes off.
"What's the matter with you?" she asked, starting to get annoyed.
"We need to talk." said Neville, sitting on the couch opposite her.
Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. What could be so important to Neville that he'd refuse to be her daring woodsman? She sat properly on where she sat and buttoned up her popping cleavage.
"What's this all about?" she asked.
"You know I love you, right?" Neville told her.
She nodded gradually with a smile.
"And I'd do anything to make you happy."
"Nev, tell me what's wrong."
"Look, what I'm trying to say is… I want more."
Ginny's quizzical look reappeared.
"More…. What?"
"More of this," he said, "More of us, more than just sex. I want you. There's a next step for our relationship and it's calling our name. I want to take that next step, Gin. And I want to take that step with you."
"Nev… I…"
"I love you truly and simply. I want you to meet my whole family and I want you to hate them. I love you in the purest way, the way people love each other like in those trashy romance novels you read. I want you to move in with me… or I can move in with you. The fact of the matter is I want to wake every morning and see your face, not just when you call me and make me make love." He told her.
Ginny was frozen to where she sat; she thought her heart had completely stopped by his sudden declaration. Her widened eyes staring at Neville as her mouth hung agape. She was expecting nothing short of a good loving today. Instead, she gets a surprise spotlight on her relationship with Neville Longbottom.
"What's gotten into you? Where are all these things coming from?" she burst out, standing up quickly with her elbows crossed on her chest.
"Look," said Neville standing up and placing his hands on Ginny's shoulders, "I'm not here to tell you that I didn't enjoy our five years together. It's amazing as a matter of fact—"
"If it's amazing, then why do you want to screw it all up?!" she raised her voice, slapping Neville's hands away.
"I don't want to screw anything up!" Neville quickly explained, getting to his feet. "I just… I just love you so much that I'm not content with this… with just this."
Ginny paced furiously towards the bedroom which made Neville follow her steps.
"We have a perfectly good thing going here. I don't know what you're yammering about. What the hell is your problem?" she ranted.
"Ginny, Ginny wait!"
"I think you need to go back to your flat and sleep on this because clearly, you're not making any sense."
"Ginny, just… just tell me one thing."
"What?"
"Do you even see a future for the two of us?""
There were so many words on top of head that she wanted to say… reasons to tell Neville just to stop him from his trail of thought. She's always prided herself for speaking her mind. All she needed to do was open her mouth and speak.
But for some reason… there was nothing.
She stood there in front of him speechless with his question in the air. Her mouth repeatedly opened for a reply. She tried wracking her brain for something to tell him.
She looked at Neville who stood there looking right back. As pain slowly envelop his face, he looks away as his lips purses unconsciously and his fist clenches. The silence of the room was deafening. He aimlessly walked towards the apartment door where he looked up the wooden ceiling and heaved a sigh.
"Well that says everything doesn't it?" Neville found himself say.
"Nev, please."
She tried to walk towards him but Neville stopped her.
"I love you, Gin. But I can't go on like this… goodbye." He said before opening the door and leaving.
ooo000ooo
Hermione lifted her head up from the Pensieve and returned to present reality. It took her a second to readjust her consciousness. When she finally did, she looked at Ginny who was still sobbing beside her. The red head waited for Hermione's reaction.
"Oh, Ginny." Hermione consoled her, beckoning Ginny in her arms.
As Ginny started crying once more, Hermione rubbed her back consolingly, trying her best to cheer her friend up in her time of trouble.
"There, there." She whispered.
"Why did it have to ruin it all? Why did he want to mess up it all up? Everything was perfect and we were both happy. Why?" the red head cried.
"I don't know why, honey. But it's his loss for letting you go. He's going to kick himself over and over again because of that, Gin. Believe me."
"I'll never find anyone else like him!"
"No, he'll never find anyone like you. Look at you, you're a catch. I'm serious when I say that there's men out there who'll be happy to chop off their testicles for you."
Ginny was able to laugh through her crying.
"You read that thing on the Prophet too, huh? That guy obsessed with Fleur Delacour."
"Drunk (sniff) prick."
"There you go. Let me see that million galleon smile."
She managed to make the red head chortle.
"I tell you what, tomorrow, we're going to go shopping… and then eat… and then shop again… and then eat." said Hermione.
"Thanks Hermione. You're such an amazing friend."
Hermione smiled and kissed her on the head.
"Gin… do you… do you want me to get his stuff?" said Hermione offering help.
"Oh, you don't have to. She's already taking care of it."
Hermione reeled back.
"She? Who're you talking about?"
Suddenly a familiar platinum blonde hair girl emerged from the bedroom, her trademark bottle cap necklace swayed in front of her beautiful silk white dress. Her beautiful wide blue eyes looked at Ginny before finding Hermione Granger.
"Luna?"
ooo000ooo
Anotherboarduser: Thank you, I really hope you read my other stories as well.
hhrforever: We've only gone through five or six chapters, don't worry.
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