"Have we even checked the credibility of the story?"

"We can't, it was an anonymous source. And I think it's pretty credible; two kids were sent to St. Mungo's for it."

"Yeah, but that all could have been a hoax," Perks replies. No, Perks, it can't be. Those kids were pretty beaten up by whatever dark magic they found in that house.

It's been about a two months since we found her, and our investigation has been in the same place since last March. Well, beside the fact that Ginny is now safe in St. Mungo's.

"Maybe we should analyze the surveillance charms at the Harpies Pitch one more time?" Ron suggests.

"We've already watched them six times; you never see the kidnapper's face; just a small shadow." Barre says in a bored tone.

"That could be a bird; how do we know if Weasley is even telling the truth? She could have run off for some dramatic, girl reason and fake a story to get back to her life without running into trouble." Perks says, annoyed with us all.

I guess he's forgotten that Ginny's brother and boyfriend are in the room. I just keep my mouth shut. You'd think that my relationship with her would make me want to work on the case. Make me want to seek revenge on the kidnapper. But, in all honesty, I just want to go spend time with her. She was gone for almost a year. Every day of that time I spent thinking about her; missing her; praying she'd come home. And now that she is, what am I doing? I'm spending over ten hours of each day at work, sitting in on meetings that get nothing done with people who don't really care. Well, except for Ron.

Yes, I want revenge. Yes, I want justice. But, I want to make sure Ginny is doing okay. Whenever I come by, she's quiet. I find that the most unnerving part of it all. Ginny Weasley, wild, courageous, free, is now sitting in a hospital room, losing her mind.

I can tell she's going insane. Not in the ways that are worrying, but in the ways where I know she's itching to go home, itching to go fly, itching to go talk to people for more than an hour at a time.

"Six o'clock, boys. We're not going to get anything done today. Meeting dismissed. See you all Monday." Robards says, closing up Ginny's case file.

Finally. I crack my neck and sigh. One thing came out of this meeting. Ginny is going to be taken into questioning tomorrow. Is she ready for it? I'm not sure. If she can't talk in front of me, how are they expecting her to talk in front of a complete stranger under a blinding, white light?

Ron taps my shoulder. I must have zoned out again.

"Are you visiting Gin tonight?" He asks.

"Yeah, I've got nothing else to do on a Friday night." He nods. But I can tell he has something he wants to ask.

"What do you think is going to happen when she meets her new nieces?"

"I'm not focusing on that at the moment. Something is bothering her, though. I just wish I could put my finger on it."

"She'll talk when she's ready."

"No, it's not that. I used to be able to read her. I can't anymore."

Ron sighs and sends me a sympathetic look. I take it as he doesn't know what to say, so I just nod and rise from my chair.

We lock the conference room and leave to go to our girlfriends. But there's a difference. He's going to his girlfriend who is waiting for him at home, I'm going to my girlfriend who's dressed in a white hospital gown and is sitting in a fetal position in her cot.

I approach the desk where Madame Richard is lazily flipping through a magazine.

"Just go in, Mr. Potter." She says, casually, not even looking up.

I walk through the halls until I reach Gin's room. I take a deep breath before opening the door. She jumps and then relaxes when she realizes it's just me.

"Hey." I say as I take a seat near the desk. She gives me a half smile that doesn't meet her eyes. "So, have you had many visitors today?"

She nods and starts to pick her nails.

"I heard some aurors came in today to tell you what will happen tomorrow." She nods again but her eyes drift from her fingers to the space in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Her eyes focus on mine for a second but then she just shakes her head. No words. She never talks to me. Why do I take it personally? Well, according to the healers, she's spoken with Luna, and her parents. She'll talk to the other patients. But not me. Why? I don't know.


"Harry! Stop!" Ginny laughs, as I take another photo. It had been a lazy day in Grimmauld Place, and we had found an old camera in one of the dusty rooms. We had just been messing around with it, laughing, taking pictures of each other.

"That's not fair; you took like six hundred pictures of me!" I reply holding the camera out of her reach.

"Yeah, but you looked fine." She giggles. But, I don't think I looked as good as she does right now. She's wearing a pair of light pink shorts and a white tank top. She's wearing her hair in a sloppy ponytail with a floppy, light pink hair bow tied around it.

We're just sitting in bed, laughing. I love these types of days the most. When she forces me to call in sick and then spend the day with her. She reaches around me to get the camera out of my hands.

"You can try to get it but you won't!" I say, smiling as her tongue peeks out from her lips, as if she's putting all of her focus on getting this old camera out of my hands.

All of a sudden, she stops try to reach the camera, and smiles. Her eyes glance down at my lips and I know what her plan is. She leans in and softly touches her lips to mine. Now I'd be lying if I say I don't kiss her back, but I'm not going to let her win; especially when I feel her start to slowly reach for the camera again.

I take this opportunity to place the camera on the floor by my nightstand, and roll to pin her between me and the sheets. She giggles and breaks the kiss.

I sigh, smile down at her and whisper, "I love you, Gin."

"I love you too, four eyes." She says, smiling.

"Hey! Technically, you're supposed to be four eyes, too."

"Yeah, but it has to take an army to get me to wear glasses."

I laugh and kiss her again.

"Besides, glasses look better on you." She says.


In my mind, I see that smile on her face, but in reality, it doesn't seem to exist.

"Do you want any food?" I ask.

"No."

"Have you had dinner?"

"Yeah."

"Gin, what do y—"

"Are you still seeing her?" She says, out of the blue.

"Who?"

"I don't know her name." She says, her eyebrows furrowed with discomfort, "Don't end your relationship with her because I'm back. You deserve happiness."

"Gin, I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm not angry, Harry. I just don't want you to waste your time waiting for me to come around."

"Wait, can you just backtrack for me? Where is this 'relationship' coming from?"

"I saw a magazine in the common area. The cover had a picture of you linking arms with another woman. It's okay, you know, I was presumed dead; if she makes you happy then stay with her." The realization struck me. She saw a picture of Caroline. Probably taken by a slimy reporter.

"Oh, Ginny, that is honestly no one. Ron and Hermione set me up on a blind date, so I'd have someone to confide in, but it was disastrous; I wasn't ready to see anyone but you. I was just walking her home after they'd ditched us." I say, watching her carefully.

"You didn't date her?" She asks me with concern.

"No; I haven't spoken to her since." She gives me a skeptical look before diverting her eyes back to her fingernails, "I'm being honest, Ginny. I haven't seen anyone since you disappeared. I never really accepted the fact you were supposedly gone."

She looks at me again. But this time, she seems relieved.


Ginny

"Alright, Ms. Weasley, time to go." The husky man tells me as he grabs my arm and leads me out of my cellar—well, room. I keep quiet and follow his demands. I'm not sure if I'm ready for this. For the men to bark at me and treat me like I'm the bad guy.

We walk to St. Mungo's apparition point and I'm immediately sucked into a tube that lets out in the Ministry of Magic. He guides me through the wide, black marble halls, and I'm met with a stone statue in the middle of the Atrium. It's not the same statue that I remember standing there when I was fourteen. 'Magic is Might' had been replaced with the scripture, 'Magic is equal' and the stone muggles that were being crushed under the ministry's symbol had been changed to a group of stone wizards levitating the rock above. For me, this is the sign of peace. That the ministry was finally under the right hands.

But, that might just be a bias thought of mine, being that the Minister is a close family friend and the Deputy Minister is my father.

The brunette auror pulls me away from the statue and into one of the elevators nearby. It's crowded with witches and wizards that are flipping through files and departmental memos floating above. The auror presses the button to go to level thirty-six. I give him a confused look. I clearly remember Dumbledore instructing Harry that his interrogation would be in the Department of Mysteries.

"Interrogation rooms for witnesses and victims aren't on the same level as the ones for felons. The interrogation room we're going to doesn't have a place for a jury; just a table and two chairs."

I nod and am taken off my balance when the elevator jerks back before rising. Fast.

"Excuse me," a pudgy man on my right says, "are you Ginny Weasley?"

I open my mouth to answer but the burley auror tightens his grip on my arm and answers for me, "We are not here to answer questions to anyone but aurors." The pudgy man looks away, obviously embarrassed.

I place my hand on his shoulder and give him a quick smile, sure that may piss off whatever-his-name-is, but I don't care. There is never a reason to make someone feel lower than you.

"Level thirty-six; Auror Department." A cool woman's voice says from the speakers above my head. The auror pushes me forward and leads me down the dingy halls of level thirty-six.

I can't understand how Harry and Ron can come to work here everyday of their lives. I haven't seen a single person, but I can feel the stress and the tension in the air, and I can hear the crumbling of paper and the annoyed grunts from the closed doors lining the corridor.

"In here." The man says as he takes out his wand and silently unlocks the door with some special spell only a select few know. I am told to sit down on the chair facing a mirror, and then I'm left alone, locked in a room, just like I am at St. Mungo's. But, there's a difference here; I know that that 'mirror' has a group of aurors behind it, and I know that whoever they are, they're watching me. Trying to tell if I'm lying, or am guilty of anything.

A man walks in and closes the door behind him. I've never seen him before in my life. He sits down on the opposing seat from me and opens up a manila folder.

"Hello, Ms. Weasley." He says in a syrupy way, "I'm just going to ask you a few questions about the events that have occurred over the past year."


Harry

I stand on this side of the window and watch as Barre starts to interrogate Ginny. I can't tell if she's nervous or annoyed; her expression is unreadable. Like usual. Ron is standing beside me, leaning on the wall that frames the 'mirror'. Now, he, I can tell is nervous. We're about to hear the story of this past year unfold.

Ginny just watches the man intently; she's studying him to see if she's viewed as the criminal or the victim. I've noticed she does this a lot over the past five weeks. Or maybe over the past nine years. I can't remember.

She was sending me the exact same looks last night. When she asked me about Caroline. I understand that she may feel as though she's not apart of my life anymore; she made that clear with her quiet composure. But, in all honesty, she's more apart of my life than she was a year ago.

"Mate?" Ron interrupts my thoughts, "You alright?"

"Yeah, just want this interrogation to start already."


Ginny

"So, where were you when you were attacked?" Auror Barre asks. I take a deep breath and watch him carefully.

"The Harpies Pitch." I reply.

"Do you know the approximate time?"

"Nine, ten o'clock at night, I don't know." I say, fidgeting my hands.

"Who would you say saw you last?"

"Gwenog Jones…she asked me if I wanted her to stay with me."

"Why did you say no?" He asks me, quizzically.

"I don't know. I didn't want to keep her there; she had a husband to go home to."

"But, polishing the broomsticks is hard work; time consuming, wouldn't you want help to finish the job early? Wouldn't you want to get home to your boyfriend?" I shrug.

"It just didn't cross my mind."

"Didn't cross your mind?" Barre repeats. "Tell me, Ginny, since you were admitted into St. Mungo's you've been reported as withdrawn, quiet, and unwilling to recover. I guess my question is that there are so many great doctors, professionals who would be glad to listen to you, why haven't you confided in them?"

"Why? I don't know; I'm just a private person." I say sharply.

"Why the sudden edge in your answer?" I roll my eyes and shake my head. I take one deep breath and pause for a moment.

"There's no edge." I reply as calmly as possible.

"Okay, well let's take a break from that subject, eh?" He asks, "We have retrieved the surveillance charm from the Pitch that evening, but on it, we can't see the attackers face. Actually, let me amend my statement, we can't see the attacker at all. So, I was hoping that you could, I don't know, give us a description of his appearance."

I shrug, and look over to the wall. The gray, cement blocks on the wall are suddenly interesting to me. I don't want to think back to his face. And to be honest, I rarely saw him.

"Ms. Weasley, this all is to ensure your safety and justice, now if you don't want to cooperate, then I'll end this session and have the case dropped. But, if you do cooperate then I can promise that your attacker will be arrested and locked away for a long time."

I look up at the man for a long thirty seconds, shift in my seat, and look away once more.

"Alright, Ms. Weasley, that'll be all for now." He says closing the manila folder and walking through the door that leads to the concealed room.


Harry

Watching Ginny's interrogation was difficult and it angered me a little that she wasn't cooperating. Barre walks into the watch room and shakes his head.

"If she's not going to answer the questions, there's no point in asking them." He says throwing the manila folder on the table.

"Does she have anything to hide? Maybe she feels as though she's being accused." Ron suggests.

"Well, she will be if she doesn't talk. The more she stays quiet, the worse it's going to look for her. Maybe she will answer questions to someone she knows she can trust." He says looking my direction.

"I don't know. Robards specifically said that he wanted you to question her." I reply glancing through the two-way mirror at Ginny.

"Fine, I'll go and get his permission to send you in." Barre said leaving the watch room. A few moments of silence overtake the room. Ron glances at me nervously then back at Ginny.

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Think she has something to hide?" Ron asks. My eyes reach his and I start to think.

"She may. I know that Ginny's stubborn but she shouldn't be this stubborn."

"Do you think she ran away; not been kidnapped?" Ron asks quietly.

"I don't see any reason for her to; she was happy. Why would she run away if everything was going perfectly for her?"

"Well, maybe something was going on that you didn't know about. Did she mention anything to you that seemed to bother her?"

"I don't remember; that was a year ago."

Silence overcomes the room once more and in only a few minutes Barre returns with Robards at his side. Robards looks at me and nods. That means I'm now ordered to go and question Ginny. Maybe she'll talk to me. I pick up the discarded manila folder and walk into the interrogation room.

Ginny looks up at me and I can see that she's relieved to see me. I take the seat across from her and open up the file.

"Alright, Ginny, they're going to put this case on hold if you don't give us a statement. Your lack of cooperation is giving the department alternate ideas of what happened, and not all of them are in your favor." I pause, and notice her expression hasn't faltered. I change my posture and voice into the normal auror essence, "Can you please give a description of your offender?"

She looks at me for a few seconds and then looks away. I can see something starting to build up in her. Her lip starts to tremble, not noticeably but I can see it start. She gulps and looks back at me, the lower lids of her eyes forming a glassy coat.

"Brownish-blonde, long hair, larger man with something wrong with him…" She whispers.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's not like us; I think he has a disability." I take a deep breath and scribble out what she said.

"Had you ever seen him before that day?" I ask.

"I don't think so, but I could have; at a meet-n-greet, or a match."

"Did he ever mention why he went after you."

She looked at me and nodded. One deep breath and she started,

"Yeah, he did…