I know it has been a bit since I have updated this story. This chapter was a lot harder to write than I thought, and has been rewritten at least three times. My beta tells me the chapter is fine, though to be honest I am not entirely happy with it myself, but I am not sure another rewrite would help so here it is. I will let you be the judge, let me know by just leaving a review.

And Justice for All

Conner felt a chill run down his spine. He tried his best to fight his nervousness. He had been sitting in what was called an interview room by the Auror's. He had reported to the Auror Department as requested, and then was directed to this room. Now it seemed like he had been waiting for hours for someone to come and talk to him.

Conner told himself that this was just routine. After all, the Ministry needed to find out how someone was able to plant muggle explosives in the Ministry. He knew that many of his co-workers had not been interviewed by Aurors, but then again they did not have a job requiring them to check the wands of everyone that came into the Ministry like he did.

Conner felt his heart drop as he finished the last thought. Anyone going into the Ministry would have to see him to check his or her wand. Whoever had planted those bombs had to have gone through him…Conner found himself suddenly looking back at his last few days at work before the explosions…

Morgaine Lefay watched Conner O'Briant through the observation window. He did not seem too concerned at first, but as time went on, she could see that he was starting to get nervous. That was a good thing. She wanted him to be nervous and off-balance when she went in to interview him. She once again looked down at his file.

O'Briant had started with the Ministry shortly after Kingsley had become the permanent Minister of Magic.

O'Briant was one of the many muggleborns that had been hired by the Ministry. Morgaine could not believe how low the new standards were for Ministry employees. Who would have thought muggleborns would ever be allowed to work for her Ministry. ? Many of the muggleborns that had come to the Ministry were nothing but trouble.

O'Briant was one of them. It did not take much to figure out how the bombs had been planted at the Ministry. In the worst case, O'Briant had helped some of his fellow muggleborns, or at best, he had turned a blind eye as they smuggled the muggle devices into the Ministry. Morgaine was convinced that no one would have been able to plant those bombs without the help of someone within the Ministry. She did not care what Inspector Weasley believed. Morgaine sighed in frustration.

Early into the investigation, she had felt that who ever had planted the explosives had help from someone in the Ministry. Inspector Weasley had been less than open to that idea. He did not come out and say anything outright, but he just said they needed to be careful how they handled things and cautioned against starting what he called a "witch hunt." He did at least assign her and several others to look into the background of Ministry employees.

It was while she was reviewing those files that O'Briant had come to her attention. O'Briant was part of the Ministry security detail assigned to check the wands of those entering the Ministry. That was when it hit her. Anyone entering the Ministry would have to go through O'Briant. She then reviewed O'Briant's reports for the days prior to the attack on the Ministry, and he had not reported anything unusual or suspicious.

She then found herself asking, how is it that O'Briant could have missed someone bringing in seven containers? Even if it had been over the course of several days, wouldn't that have raised some kind of suspicion? She came to the conclusion that O'Briant had not missed the person entering the Ministry with the containers entering the ministry, but instead had allowed him to bring the devices into the Ministry. He was a part of the attack.

When she presented her theory to Inspector Weasley, he was less than agreeable…

"Besides the fact that your suspect worked the security desk, what other evidence do you have that he's involved?" Inspector Weasley looked a bit annoyed as he finished his question.

"Inspector Weasley," Morgaine tried to hide her irritation as she continued, "Anyone coming into the Ministry would have to check in with O'Briant. The fact that…"

"Have you ever worked at the security desk?" Morgaine bit back the first response that came to her mind. The least Weasley could do is let her finish what she had to say before he interrupted her.

"No, sir," she answered

Weasley regarded her for a few minutes, and then he continued.

"Imagine you have at least 30 or 40 people queued up. You are the only person checking those people's wands. You are concentrating on checking wands, so do you notice as several people in line get tired of waiting and just walk by?"

Morgaine knew where Inspector Weasley was going. She knew he had been complaining for the last couple of years about the Ministry's lack of security. She also knew this was his main argument for changing the Ministry's security procedures, so she did not answer the inspector. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke again

"Auror Lefay," Weasley sounded tired, "If this is the only evidence you have, then all you have is a theory. We do not arrest people on just a theory."

Morgaine started to speak, but Weasley interrupted her, "Bring me some evidence that O'Briant was involved in the bombings or move on…"

It had been several days and Morgaine had been unable to uncover any evidence of O'Briant's involvement in the attack. She had asked Weasley for permission to bring O'Briant in for questioning, but her request was denied. She needed O'Briant to confess to his involvement in the attack.

When she saw O'Briant was scheduled to come in for a follow-up interview, she saw her chance. She arranged to take over the interview. She was going to get her confession.

"The recent bombing at the Ministry of Magic highlights the need to give the Ministry additional tools to combat this kind of terrorist attack."

Ron looked at the faces of the Wizengamot members that were in attendance. Ron did not like what he was seeing. Many seemed to be nodding their heads in agreement with what Dykema had just stated. It was not that Ron disagreed with the idea of capturing those responsible and even preventing attacks such as the one on the Ministry; of course, he wanted that. He just did not agree with Dykema's proposals. Many of the things Dykema was proposing would reverse many of the reforms that Minister Shacklebolt had brought about.

After the bombing, Ron had feared that something like this would happen, just like it did in the States after September 11th. The Patriot Act, in Ron's opinion, did very little in the way of preventing terrorism in the States, but did succeed in eroding away the rights of some Americans. Ron smiled as Hermione stood back to give her rebuttal.

"Director, esteemed members of the Wizengamot," Hermione paused for just a second before continuing. "As I sit here listening to these proposals, I am reminded of an old muggle saying, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'"

She paused for a minute, allowing her statement to sink in, and then continued.

"Laws similar to these were passed in the States shortly after the September 11th attacks. These laws did nothing to help prevent terrorist attacks. However, they did make it easier for the government to target those they felt were a threat. The government could easily rounded up any persons deemed as "enemy combatants" and imprison them for an indefinite period of time without a trial. Is that what we want to do here?"

She waited another brief second before continuing, "Under the laws that Director Dykema is proposing, during the time leading up to the war with Voldemort, Harry Potter could have been declared a threat to the Ministry and imprisoned just for warning the Wizarding world that Lord Voldemort had returned."

Ron watched as his wife continued to make her statements. Ron thought she presented a very strong argument. Using both the war and more recent events in the Wizarding world, she argued that there needed to be checks on what the government could do, otherwise it would be easy for someone to abuse their power. Ron could not help but feel a sense of pride as Hermione finished her presentation. After the case Hermione presented, Ron thought that the decision was a no-brainer and the bill that Dykema proposed would be killed right away.

The Chief Warlock stood up and spoke, "Director Dykema, Mrs. Weasley, we will take this matter under advisement."

Ron could not believe what he was hearing. They were actually considering Dykema's bill…

Conner looked up when the door to the room opened and a young woman came into the room. She was holding a file. She sat down, and began to review the file, not saying anything. After several minutes of watching her review his file, he finally spoke.

"Is this going to take much longer? My shift starts in another hour."

The woman looked at him coolly for a second and then returned to the file, ignoring his question. Conner fought back his irritation. He did not want to seem uncooperative with the Aurors.

Finally, the woman closed the file, and looked at him.

"You should know before we start that , this is just a formality."

O'Briant looked at the woman. What was she on about, he thought to himself, but he did not say anything to her. After a minute or so of silence, she continued.

"So tell me who else you were working with."

O'Briant looked at the woman, dumbfounded.

"Who was I working with?" She should already know this. "You mean who else was working security on the day of the attack?" He asked hoping to clear up what she was trying to find out.

The woman slammed her hand down on the table, startling O'Briant.

"You know, Conner, if you cooperate, things will go much easier for you."

Conner felt his heart start to pound in his chest. What the hell is she talking about, he thought.

"I am trying to," he answered, sounding calmer than he felt. He was missing something.

The woman just laughed, and then stated, "So then give me the names of the others in your cell."

"Cell? What cell?" He asked.

The woman just laughed.

"I have to admit, you're good." She then stood up. "I'm going to give you some time to think things over. We'll talk soon."

Shortly after the woman left, two men entered.

"Get up." One of them commanded.

He stood up. One of the men waived his wand, and O'Briant's hands were suddenly bound. They led him out of the room and after a few minutes, they came to a heavy oak door that must have had wards placed on it. One of the two waved his wand at the door and it opened. They led him into another corridor with several doors. O'Briant also felt the temperature drop as he entered the corridor. He quickly recognized what was going on and turned to the two men.

"You can't do this."

The two men did not answer him as they unlocked one of the doors, and pushed him into the cell. As the men started to leave, O'Briant felt the effects of the Dementor's starting to take hold.

"Things are going better than I thought." Edison set down The Daily Prophet as he finished addressing the four other men sitting with him. "It seems the Ministry is looking for someone to blame, and they don't care how they go about it."

Alex Forrest shook his head as he read the article, and then looked up.

"Nothing had been passed. According to this, these laws are being debated, and are strongly opposed by two of the Wizarding communities' greatest heroes."

Edison smiled as the man finished.

"That's right, two of the three. Even the Golden Trio is divided by these measures."

"That's a bit of a stretch." Auric Gould sounded skeptical, "This article does not say how Harry Potter feels about this, one way or another."

"That is true," Edison answered. "Mr. Potter's silence on the issue speaks louder than any words he might say on the matter."

Edison smiled as he looked at his four companions. "The question is what do we do next?"

"The whole lot of them is barking, How can they even think of taking something like this 'under advisement?'" Ginny just sat silently. Ron had been on a world-class rant, since he had arrived for the Weasley's Sunday dinner. Ron just looked around the table, clearly agitated.

"He's been on about this since Friday," Harry whispered to her and Ginny just nodded. Harry's whispering must have gotten Ron's attention, because he addressed Harry with his next statement.

"Considering what we went through during the war, I would have thought you would have taken the time to come and say something on this."

Ginny did not like the accusatory tone in Ron's statement. Harry squeezed her shoulder gently, and then answered Ron.

"Ron, you know I don't do politics."

"So you think that Dykema is right?" Ron asked hotly.

"I did not say that." Harry answered back, trying to hold back his temper. Harry tried to continue, but Ron didn't let him.

"What do you think it says when the Great Harry Potter says nothing about a law that would take away many of the rights for wizards that Hermione has worked so hard for?"

Harry did not answer Ron, so he continued.

"Harry, at some point you are going to have to take a stand, or before you know it someone is going to use your silence as evidence that you support something you don't,."

"Weren't Hermione's arguments enough to stop this madness?" Ginny asked Ron.

Ron did not answer; instead, he just continued eating his dinner.

Ginny glared at him for a few minutes, and then returned to her own dinner.

Over the course of the evening's dinner, Ginny had tried several times to engage both Ron and Hermione in some type of conversation. The results were always the same; Ginny was ignored. Ginny fought back the urge just to start yelling at them. They had been like this to her, since they reconciled just before the attack on the Ministry.

The evening was finally winding down. As a matter of fact, as far as she knew, she and Harry were the only family still at the Burrow. She was sitting in the living room, waiting for Harry to finish talking, when she heard someone enter the room.

She looked up as Bill sat down across from her. He just sat silently for a minute, watching her, before he finally spoke.

"Dinner was just a bit awkward."

"You think?" She answered sarcastically. "You would think those two would know better." She tried not to sound bitter, but she knew she failed.

Bill just raised his eyebrows at her, and just looked at her shaking his head.

"So you think the problem is Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny had to laugh; it was that or start bitching about her brother and his wife. As far as she was concerned, if they wanted to act like a couple of pratts that was fine with her; she had better things to worry about.

"So you didn't do anything that might have made them angry with you?"

"Of course not." She answered immediately.

"So you think that breaking Hermione's nose…"

"She deserved that." Ginny answered back angrily, "I honestly have no idea why Ron would even take her back after she left him like that."

Bill sighed.

"Did you even think to ask either her or Ron what was going on?"

She just looked at Bill, and shook her head.

"Let me say this…those two have been going through hell for the last couple of years. Just look what they had to go through."

She knew Bill was referring to the separation they had been forced to go through, as well as Hermione losting the baby she had been carrying. But that was a couple of years ago. They made it through that.

She looked at Bill, and she realized that there was more going on with Ron and Hermione than she had been told. All Harry had told her was that Hermione had left, but he never told her why. Actually, he never got the chance to tell her, since she left to find Hermione and…Oh Merlin, she turned to look at Bill.

"What's going on, Bill?" She asked.

"It's not my place to tell you, Gin."

"What have I done?" she asked. "They will never…"

"Ginny," Bill said gently, "Hermione is Ron's world. She has been from the day they became friends. Anyone that hurts her…"

She already knew the rest. People could say or do anything they wanted to Ron, but if you say something or do anything to hurt Hermione...

"Ron's never going to forgive me; is he?"

"Gin, you have to find a way to make peace with them. I would suggest you start by talking to Hermione. If she can forgive you, Ron will fall in line."

Ginny knew Bill was right. Now she just had to get Hermione to talk to her.

O'Briant was in hell. In his cold cell, he was forced to relive some of the worst moments in his life over and over again. Even though he had no direct contact with the Dementors, he was still affected by them. O'Briant was willing to do anything to make the suffering stop, and he would do just that.

He felt some relief as he was seated once again across from the woman he met what seemed like a life time ago. He just looked at her desperately and asked, "What do you want from me?"

She just smiled…

Morgaine smiled as O'Briant finished speaking.

She did not care how strong someone was; with the right motivation, they would always break. She was surprised that it took the whole weekend for O'Briant to break, but that did not matter. In the end, he broke.

"Conner ," she said gently, "All I need you to do is tell me who helped you plant the bombs."

Conner sat silently for a minute. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts. Then he spoke.

"Just tell me who you want me to name." He answered weakly.

Morgaine did not say anything at first. She just stared at the man; her mind was reeling as she realized she had been wrong. O'Briant did not have anything to do with the attacks like he said all along. She also knew that she could not release him. If word got out about how she had put him in the same holding cell as the Dementors, at best she would just lose her job. More than likely, she would end up in Azkaban.

There was no way she could release him, but she also knew there was no way she would be able to convict him. In the past, she would have just shipped him off to Azkaban, but with the recent reforms passed by the mudblood Weasley, that was not an option. She would have to talk to Dykema about banishing the man…