I still don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 9: Dates Set and The Kidnapped Heir

Ron woke up feeling extremely satisfied with himself. He looked down on his bed and saw Hermoine laying asleep with a smile still etched on her face.

Feeling extremely smug, Ron walked out of the door and saw a scene that he would have gotten extremely mad at if it was yesterday and yelled, but not today. Ron went into a full smile and said, "Good morning Harry, Ginny." Ginny's face was drained of all color when she realized that her brother wasn't yelling. Quickly schooling her facial expression into a happy one, she replied, "Oh, good morning Ron. Have a good night last night?"

Ron frowned slightly at Ginny's words. 'Do girls talk about everything together?' he thought then smiled brighter than before and said, "Well, yes. How about you?"

Ginny beamed at Harry and then noticed Ron watching and said, "Definitely." Harry had the most puzzled expression on his face through out their conversation and now looked at Ron and Ginny as if they had sprouted several heads.

'Wow, I've known them almost my entire life and I still don't know what's going on. Unless...' "So, Ron, where's Hermoine?" Harry said politely. Ron blushed and responded, "She's asleep in..." The rest of his statement was inaudible mumbling.

On the inside, Harry was laughing but on the outside, he kept an expression of indifference. "So, shall we go downstairs for breakfast?" Ron and Ginny answered as if they were in a completely different world. They both said, "Oh, ok, yeah, sure, breakfast sounds fine."

When they went downstairs, they walked into the kitchen, Ginny and Harry walked to the kitchen and Ron sat at the dining room table. Ginny raised her wand and magically pulled out a large frying pan and a bunch of eggs and other things to make an omelet. Ginny stared at Harry fondly but she was kind of dazed. Harry looked at the kitchen floor with a thoughtful expression.

"What's wrong hon?" Ginny looked at Harry worriedly and lifted his chin to kiss him. Harry shook his head and said, "No, I've just been thinking. Now that we're engaged, when are we going to have the wedding? I already have more than enough gold, even though I'll need a job after, and it's about time I get one. I'm gonna apply at the auror office after breakfast if that's okay. I've been thinking, when is the wedding going to be?"

Ginny laughed a little bit and said, "Harry, you're the greatest. I don't know how I could've gotten so lucky. I think we should have it within two weeks or so, before the Hogwarts school year. That, and I support you fully on your choice of getting a job. As a matter of fact, I've already made an appointment to be interviewed for a defense against the dark arts teacher position at Hogwarts."

Harry laughed and said, "You have the cutest way of calling me a lazy bum I've ever heard. Congratulations by the way. I think you should tell your parents about this. They would be proud of you." Ginny giggled and said, "Yes I should, but I should probably tell them after I know I've got the job. The interview is today by the way. Today is July 30th, right?" Harry nodded his head and there was a knock on the door. Automatically, Harry jumped to his feet with Ginny by his left arm and his wand in his right hand. "Sorry, reflex."

Ginny laughed and told Harry to go get the door. She began to start attending to her omelet. Harry walked to the door and his scar gave a little twinge. 'Strange' he thought as he opened the door and it revealed Cho Chang with a birthday cake half the size as her in her left arm.

"Need help?" Harry said slightly smiling. Cho said, "No thanks." as she walked through the door carrying the cake with one hand. There was a evilish shine in her eye that Harry immediately recognized as the same thing the Weasley twins had when they were planning something. Harry then figured out that Cho had bewitched the cake to be light as a feather.

Harry walked behind her and set the cake down on the dining room table. Ron looked at the cake and said, "It's Albert's birthday? But, isn't it also the day before Harry's birthday?" Cho nodded and walked into the kitchen.

Ginny welcomed Cho and asked, "So, what's the occasion?" Cho smiled and responded, "It's Albert's birthday and Harry's is tommorrow so I came over. Do you want to see the cake I made for Albert?" Ginny said, "Sure," she shut off the stove and they both walked into the dining room and Ginny's mouth opened wide as she looked at the size of the cake on the table. She looked at the cake and noticed it's designs and decided this was a really nice cake.

"We didn't even know it was his birthday!" Ron said appalled that their new friend neglected to mention this. Cho said, "That's because he didn't want everyone to make a big deal of it." Harry raised a brow and said, "That didn't stop you did it?" Cho laughed and responded, "Actually, it did, I just came over to drop off the cake and say happy birthday to him. I've got a job at St.Mungo's as a healer and this is my lunch break."

Cho and the other spoke for a couple of moments until Albert showed up and said, "Hey guys, miss me?" Cho jumped up to her feet and ran to Albert. She hugged him and he hugged her back for about 5 minutes until Hermoine came, said, "Get a room." and sat on Ron's lap. Cho told him happy birthday and he thanked her. Albert then spotter the cake and looked at Cho. "Thank you but didn't I say I didn't want to make a big deal about it?" Cho replied playfully, "You big meanie, I wanted to make a big deal of it. I don't really have a choice now, I have to go to work now so bye." Albert frowned and said, "Okay, fine bye. Have a nice day at work for both of us." Cho smiled and said, "I will. Bye." Cho waved at everyone and walked out of the door. Harry then said, "So, what about that omelet you made Ginny?" Ginny walked into the kitchen and Harry followed her.

They faintly heard Ron saying loudly, "Happy birthday mate, how come you didn't tell us?" The rest the conversation went unheard as Harry grabbed Ginny by the arm and when she turned around, Harry kissed her tenderly on the lips but Ginny grabbed his face and began to kiss him more emotionally, hugrily as if there was no where else she would rather be in the world.

After a few minutes they released and they were gasping for breath. Ginny whispered, "Harry..." while they looked into each other's eyes deeply. Ginny then let go and walked over to the stove. Ginny walked over to the stove and picked up the pan with the omelet. She cast a spell on it and it was instantly reheated.

Harry and Ginny ate in the kitchen while the others were still talking. When they were done eating, they walked into the dining room and told everyone about their plans to get jobs, and their marrital plans. Everyone congratulated them and they excused themselves to go to their interviews.

When Harry arrived at the ministry, he was greeted like a hero. Everyone knew his name and were greeting him as he made his way to the auror office. Harry walked inside to see a bunch of wizards walking around listening for disturbing news then leaving and some arriving from calls. He walked into the door to the office for the head auror and his interview began.

He was asked a bunch of questions about past experiences and theory of defense. Then, as he was getting ready for the physical examination, a duel to see if he was tough enough, they recieved a call that Hogsmead was under attack by two fire breathing men. It was an urgent call so all aurors left were going to the scene. They decided to take Harry with them.

When Harry arrived at Hogsmead, he saw two wizards killing people and destroying the village. Harry ran forward and began attacking the two wizards with stunners. None of them worked. The first of the two recognized Harry and said to the other, "Hey look, it's Harry Potter, the boy who lived against that chump Voldemort!" "Well I guess we should make him the boy who didn't live!" said the other.

Harry laughed and said, "You two aren't very clever are you?" Then, the two men started to transform into dragons. The first one shot fire at him from the right and Harry braced himself for the worst when he heard a voice yell out, "Declino!" Harry looked up and saw a man with pheonix wings, glowing and a transparent shield deflected away the fire. "Albert..." Harry said in awe. Then the other dragon made to grab Albert but as soon as it's hands were around him, Harry yelled out, "Diffindo!" and it's grasp was relinquished. Immediately after, the two dragons turned back into wizards.

They both pulled out wands and wordlessly started to shoot out flames. Harry dodged it and Albert deflected it and the three broomsticks got hit. Harry yelled out, "Aguamenti!" but Albert said, "No, Harry it won't work. Those are cursed flames. Declino! They will only go away if you use finio flamma. Gladius!" The wizard Albert was dueling had a huge wound on his shoulder as Albert made a slashing movement with his wand and said the word gladius. The one Harry was dueling was having an even match with him but Harry was quicker and used sectumsempra before he could launch his next attack.

Harry and Albert tied them up and took their wands before leaving to put out the fires. The auror named Proudfoot saw Harry putting out the flames and asked him how to do it. Harry told him the incantation and began putting out more fire.

When they finished taking out all of the fire, the head auror, who at the time was Aberforth, said, "Good job Harry, I guess I'll be taking that as proof that you've got what it takes to be an auror." Harry said, "Look whose talking, I beat Voldemort. You, on the other hand, are out of shape." Aberforth started to laugh and their conversation continued. Meanwhile...

Albert looked around for the bodies he tied up of the people who's wands were in his pockets at the time. He finally approached the spot where he left them in magic proof ropes that knock out the person in them. Out of nowhere, Albert was ambushed from behind and when he tried to yell out a spell, powerful, scaly hands wrapped around his mouth and within seconds, he was out cold...

"Well, I guess welcome to the team now Potter." shouted Aberforth. Harry replied, "It's an honor to work along side the ministry now that it's got a decent minister." Aberforth roared with laughter and said, "You start tommorrow Potter, you barely got the job and you already deserve a break. I expect great auroring from you Harry." Harry nodded and decided to look for Albert.

When he looked around and didn't find him, he decided to check back home. He arrived at home and saw Ginny, most likely waiting for him, asleep on the living room couch. Harry walked up to where she was sleeping and tapped her arm. She awoke quickly and wrapped her arms around Harry feebly and said, "I got the job!" in a small, excited voice. Harry smiled and said, "So did I. As a matter of fact, have you seen Albert?" Ginny frowned and said, "I haven't seen him since he left saying something made him feel uneasy. Ron and Hermoine left to the burrow so I decided to wait for you here. Why?"

A look of horror spread across Harry's face as he realized what had happened. He couldn't believe, another Dumbledore who protected him was now gone. Then he started to think, 'He does have valuable magic, being the heir of merlin, they probably didn't just kill him. Then again, the prophecy may have been read by those dragon guys and they probably decided to kidnap Albert.'

No matter which one was correct, the outcome was not going to come out good...