Okay, crossing my fingers that I'll actually have two chapters posted in one day…we'll see if I can get this one finished!

Hermione's POV

Hermione had been walking up and down the main level of the Ministry of Magic, looking for any sign of Ginny Potter. The first and foremost thing she looked for was fiery red hair. Hermione figured that would be a dead giveaway. But Ginny wasn't stupid. She'd have been smart enough to cover her hair to make herself less noticeable—at least Hermione hoped she'd been smart enough to do so. After she'd looked for Ginny's hair, Hermione had begun to search for women with freckles and green eyes. She figured that if she could narrow things down, it wouldn't be so hard to spot Ginny.

Still, she couldn't find her.

Hermione was ready to give up on looking for Ginny when she felt a hand on her shoulder, cold and rigid. She gasped and spun around, laying eyes on the most beautiful turquoise hair she'd ever seen. Talk about being easy to spot, she thought.

"Hermione?" The look on Teddy Lupin's face was a mixture of confusion and worry. "What're you doing here? I thought you and Uncle Harry—"

"Shh!" said Hermione. "You don't know who's listening, Teddy. Don't say anything personal in public in times like these."

"But Herm—"

"Nothing. Personal. Do you understand me?"

Teddy nodded.

"Now," said Hermione sternly, "what are you doing here?"

"But I thought you said nothing personal in public," retorted Teddy.

Hermione frowned, gesturing her hands at Teddy in a prompting manner.

"I'm…uh…I'm here to…get some papers for Uncle Harry while he's gone," Teddy winked obviously. Understanding dawned upon Hermione. Teddy had been covering for Harry at work for the months he'd been absent. After all, Kingsley Shacklebolt wouldn't just ignore the fact that his Head Auror was gone for such a long period of time.

"Oh?" said Hermione curiously. "So you're headed to his office then?"

Teddy nodded.

"Let's walk together," Hermione nearly shouted. She pinched Teddy's forearm, dragging him along beside her for the long walk back to Harry's office.

"My question for you is," Teddy began, "why are you here?"

"That really isn't of your concern, Teddy," Hermione said through clenched teeth.

"Considering you're dragging me unwillingly to the office of the Head Auror, I'd say it's my concern," Teddy whispered loudly.

The couple dodged a mob of witches muttering unhappily.

"I said," Hermione hissed, "that it is none of your concern."

Teddy wasn't one to give up so easily. He prodded on with ease. "This summer I was at Bill and Fleur's house," Teddy began. "I went to…visit Victoire—" he cleared his throat—"and we were attacked by dementors. Just before that, Vic told me that you and Uncle Harry, Ginny, and Ron were headed to the ends of the earth to find something or to do something or that you were on some sort of mission. You showed up at their house bruised, bloodied, and terrified and the four of you were off within days of your arrival. I want to know what's going on."

In the time that it had taken for Teddy to give his speech, the duo had reached Harry's office. Hermione shoved Teddy through the door, stepped through it herself, then closed it quietly behind her. "You want to know what's going on?" Hermione asked. "We're looking for something."


Harry's POV

Thankfully, Ron had given Harry the easy job. All he had to do was manage to sneak up to Shacklebolt's office, take a peak inside, and leave. It wasn't that difficult. Right? Why were Harry's nerves getting to him so badly? He'd never been so nervous about an event like this before. Why was there anything to be worried about? What could go wrong? The most that could happen is that Harry would run in to Kingsley. He'd have to explain himself and wiggle his way out of a mess with a few white lies, but it would be harmless. So why was he so worried?

Harry walked down the hall to Shacklebolt's office, staring straight at the door of the office of the Minister for Magic. He took a deep breath, remembering the time he'd come here to find Mad-eye Moody's eye embedded in the seeing hole of the door. Thank Merlin it was no longer there.

Harry lifted his hand to knock on the doorknob, flicked his wrist back, and—

"Potter!" the word was spat.

Harry spun on his heel and turned around to find none other than Draco Malfoy sneering down his nose.

"What're you doing?" Malfoy frowned. Harry didn't answer. He didn't want to argue. He tried to move around Malfoy, but the git wouldn't get out of his way. "I asked you a question, Potter," he said. "You've been gone for months—months—with no word at all to any of the aurors. What do you expect us all to do with no instruction from anyone? Half of your crew have been wandering around like lost puppies! And you decide to show up here in the middle of the day with no warning and…and…and go knocking on the Minister's door? Who do you think you are, Potter?"

It took all of the restraint that Harry could muster not to shove his wand in Malfoy's chest. "I believe," Harry said calmly, "that I am Head Auror. I apologize—" he coughed the word like a sickness—"that you find my way of running things inadequate and insufficient, but if you're going to work for me, I need your utmost cooperation."

Malfoy's nostrils expanded until Harry was sure a wand would fit straight up them. He knew that Draco hated when he played the "I'm your boss" card, but it was only fitting seeing that Draco did, in fact, work for Harry.

"Listen, Potter," Malfoy spat the word once more, "I don't know what you've been doing for the past few months, but I intend to find out. And when I do, your position as Head Auror may not be as secure as you seem to think it is now."

Harry breathed.

"And trust me when I say, Potter, that I am not the only one with these opinions."


Ron's POV

"Ginny?" Ron whispered. "Ginny, are you in here?"

Ron had been brave enough to venture into the ladies lavatory. He whimpered, hoping that no other women would catch him in here. After pushing open each and every stall, Ron decided to leave. None of the stalls were occupied, and Ginny wasn't there.

Ron pushed open the door to the lavatory, hitting something hard behind it. He heard a muffled groan.

Ron glanced behind the door to find Kingsley Shacklebolt sitting on the ground, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh!" Ron said. "Minister, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Kingsley stood and held out a hand to Ron, who shook it. "Mr. Weasley," he said. "What brings you to the Ministry? And to the, ah, ladies lavatory?"

Ron's cheeks darkened. "I must've seen the wrong sign, sir. My apologies."

"And your business at the Ministry today?"

Ron had hoped he wouldn't repeat that question. "Well, sir, I'm…"

"Carry on," Kingsley said as Ron trailed off.

"I'm here to pick up a few papers for Harry Potter, sir." Ron decided to improvise.

Kingsley nodded. "Ah, yes, our missing Mr. Potter. He's been gone for a long while now, hasn't he? You've heard from him, I suppose?"

Ron gulped. "Well, no. Not exactly."

"But you're picking up some papers for him?"

"Yes, I—"

"So then you must've heard from him."

"I…yes. I've heard from him. He's out there. Criminal fighting. And whatever else." Ron's voice automatically got higher when he was nervous.

Kingsley nodded. "If you don't mind, Ronald, I'd like to take you to my office."

Ron gulped. Kingsley had found him out—he knew it. "Okay," he said.

Once in Kingsley's office, Ron sat in a chair in the corner of the room while Kingsley rummaged through papers in a filing cabinet. For a wizard, Kingsley was fairly organized. "I'd like to give you some papers, Mr. Weasley," Kingsley said.

Ron let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Papers, sir?"

"About a criminal I believe would be useful to Mr. Potter," commented Kingsley. "Ah! Here we are," he said, pulling out a folder full of parchment from the filing cabinet and flitting across the room to hand the information to Ron. "I think this may come in handy with your search." Kingsley winked.

"Thank you, sir," Ron backed out of the room, bowing before he closed the door. After the door was shut behind him, he realized he might've overdone it a bit with the bowing.

Ron shrugged, fled down the hallway, and ran face-first into someone, spilling all of his papers as he did so. He looked down at the woman he had knocked over, extending a hand to help her up.

"Ron!" Ginny smiled. "What're you doing here? And why did you rush into me like that?"

Ron was beaming. Not only had he found his sister, but he'd managed to get information that might help with finding the horcrux as well.

"We all came to find you, Ginny," he said. "We decided it was time to take action. Even Harry agreed."

The duo bent over to pick up the papers that Ron had dropped.

"Ron," Ginny said slowly, "this information…it's all about Death Eaters."

Wow...so I actually DID manage to write two chapters in a day. I know this one is still a bit rough, but I hope it's at least better than the last one! Thanks to all for reading.