"Good." Robins walked up to Harry. "I think you're ready."
"Ready, sir?" Harry questioned. He wiped away the sweat that formed on his brow.
"For the tests. We, the trainers and Robards, have been discussing testing you three. We're thinking of scheduling it for next month. I right say you're ready."
"Thank you."
Harry had finished working disguises and concealment in the unseasonably warm September sun along the main streets of Hogsmeade. He didn't think he had done a particularly well job, but according to Robins, he was advancing faster than other wizards had.
"We do think you are all ready. We've rushed your training a bit for we desperately need you full time."
The two walked down the main street and ended up in the Three Broomsticks. Harry noticed a few professors among the crowd including Professors Flitwick and Jones.
"Good afternoon," Madam Rosmerta greeted them.
It was odd being treated like an important adult from Madam Rosmerta rather than just a student at Hogwarts.
"Butterbeer, please," Harry ordered.
"Same," Robins followed. "How's your fiancée?" He asked once Rosmerta left the table trying to initiate small talk.
"Good," Harry replied.
"Set a date for the wedding, yet?"
"You sound like her mother. She's too excited to plan the wedding."
"It's her only daughter's wedding. Of course she's excited."
"How are things with you?" Harry asked deflecting the conversation onto his trainer.
"Our oldest boy started Hogwarts this year. He was placed into Hufflepuff, his mother's house. He's really shy and writes home once a week, but he says his housemates are very friendly. He's doing fine."
Rosmerta brought the two drinks and quickly bustled to a table full of professors. Harry gulped his butterbeer delighting in the refreshment the cold drink gave.
"I positively believe you could take the test now," Robins said. "But, it wouldn't be fair to not give you warning."
Harry nodded. He didn't feel prepared enough for a test, but if Robins said he was he would trust him.
--
"You'll do fine," Hermione patted Ron on the shoulder. "Besides, you have a month to study. Ooh, I'll draw up study schedules for you!"
The trio sat outside Grimmauld Place basking in the last of warm September rays as the sun began to set. Ever since they got back together, Ron and Hermione had been inseparable.
Ron rolled his eyes and patted Hermione's arm. They sat on the grass. Hermione sat in Ron's lap, their legs stretched out. Harry sat next to them. Ginny was not present. She was, yet again, at another extended Quidditch practice.
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said.
"Yeah, thanks." Ron leaned over and kissed her on the nose.
"I'll work on them tonight," Hermione replied happily. "Just let me know what you will be tested on."
"Did you hear about the Cannons?" Ron asked changing the subject.
"No, what?" Harry responded.
"They finally got rid of Dragomir Gorgovitch. Some team in America agreed to take him off our hands."
"Really?" Harry knew how much Ron detested having the Quaffle dropper on his favorite team.
"Yes! We lost a bit on the deal money-wise, but we got rid of Gorgovitch so we actually won."
Harry laughed. It was no question who Ron's least favorite player was.
"Think the Cannons will actually win a match, do you?"
Ron shrugged. "We have a better chance now."
Hermione looked up at Ron.
"If you're going to talk about Quidditch I'm going inside. Kreacher's probably done with dinner by now."
Hermione stood up and Ron immediately followed. The statement "the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach" definitely applied to Ron Weasley.
Watching the couple walk into his house, Harry decided to follow at a much slower pace. Right before entering an owl approached him carrying two letters. He carefully took the parchment off the owl and allowed him to fly away. The letters were labeled for Ron and him. He decided to wait and open them at the kitchen table.
"This came for you." Harry tossed the letter to Ron who quickly broke the seal and unfolded the letter. Hermione sitting next to him, watched quizzically.
Harry unfolded his letter and read.
Harry—We have located the werewolf Fenrir Greyback. We need all the Aurors present as we attack. Please meet in the Atrium of the Ministry NOW.
Gawain Robards
Harry looked at Ron to see if he received the same note. He was sure he did. Hermione looked worried.
"It's from the Ministry," he said. "The found Greyback and need us to help fight."
Hermione looked positively scared.
"I trust you two to come back in one piece each," she said.
Harry and Ron stood up to leave. Hermione grabbed Ron in a big kiss "for good luck."
--
"We're all here," Robards said as Harry and Ron entered the Ministry via Floo. "We've found Greyback living in Worcestershire and he's with other werewolves. We need to be careful. It's not a full moon, so they won't be transformed, but they are still dangerous. Try your best to keep the fighting from a distance. We're going to Apparate in groups. Group one, me, Savage, and Proudfoot will go inside looking for Greyback. We'll leave second. The first group to leave, Dawlish, Iva, Ketteridge, and Uric will go ahead of us to get the attention of the werewolves so we'll be able to get inside the house. The third group, leaving last, will come as backup. That's Robins, Potter, Weasley, and Longbottom. Go where you're needed."
The first group left. A full sixty seconds later, the second group left. When it was his turn, Harry grabbed Neville and Robin's hands as they Apparated to Greyback's hideout in Worcestershire.
"Get down!" someone shouted and Harry was dragged to the ground as a spell flew over his head.
Pulling his wand to the ready, Harry jumped ready to fight. The fall to the ground knocked his glasses askew, but he quickly fixed them while trying to analyze his surroundings. To his left, Dawlish took on two werewolves at once. He swiftly sent a shield charm his way as one of Dawlish's attackers aimed a spell at his back. Harry turned around just in time to dodge a stunning spell coming his way.
Hearing a scream, Harry jumped around in time to see Dawlish crumple to the ground. His heart beat faster at the thought of what could have possibly happened to one of his colleagues.
"Stupefy!" Uric exclaimed, knocking the werewolf backwards. The other werewolf battled with Neville and Ron.
Uric ran to Dawlish while Harry kept watch for any attacks.
"He has a pulse. He's not dead. I'm taking him to St. Mungo's." Uric stood up with a firm grip on the unconscious body and Disapparated.
Harry ran inside the small house to survey the action inside and find the best place he was needed. The front hallway had been blown to pieces. He stepped over pieces of the staircases and headed where he heard noise at the back of the house.
"Reducto!" Greyback shouted, aiming his wand at Robards.
Gawain Robards ducked. The spell hit the cupboard behind him, blowing it to pieces. Greyback lunged toward him. Instinct hit Harry and he called out the first spell to come to mind.
"Stupefy!"
Greyback's left hand had been on Robards's right shoulder and as the spell sent him flying backwards a chunk of flesh ripped from Robards's arm. The senior Auror fell to the hardwood floor, panting and clutching his arm.
"Thanks, Potter."
"Sir," Harry ran to him. "We need to get you to St. Mungo's."
"Th-that can wait," he grimaced trying to raise his arm. "Greyback needs to be sent to a holding cell."
"You need to get to a healer." Harry pointed his wand at Greyback and called out "Incarcerous" to bind him with ropes. "We'll get another Auror to take care of him. Stay here!"
Harry ran outside the back door where the rest of the action was. He wondered where Proudfoot and Savage were but the thought quickly left him as he spotted Ketteridge and Iva fighting.
"Potter, help us out!" Ketteridge shouted toward him, ducking to miss the fist coming his way.
"I—I—Greyback—Robards--," He panted. After taking a deep breath he started over. "Robards had Greyback in his custody, stunned and binded, but he's hurt, Robards is. Damaged shoulder."
At the mention of this, the man fighting Iva caught her off-guard, grabbed her dark ponytail, and pulled her to his chest. Iva had no time to react as he took his fingernails, which looked as if they had been freshly sharpened, and ran them from one side of her face to the other, creating deep gashes gushing blood.
Harry did not know what to do. Instinct told him to stun the attacker, but he didn't have a clear shot and could easily hit Iva. He glanced at Ketteridge who was doing his best to keep his opponent from laying a hand on him.
"Sorry, Iva," he muttered. "Stupefy!"
The spell hit his female colleague, knocking her and the attacker backwards. They fell with the werewolf pinned under her body. His head hit the ground with a sickening thud.
Harry turned to the other two. Ketteridge laid a punch to his face, giving his opponent a bloody nose. The werewolf put his hands up to feel the blood giving Harry the chance to use the body-bind curse. Ketteridge found his wand and bound him up.
"You say Robards is with Greyback and he's injured?" Ketteridge asked as he examined Iva.
Harry pulled off his undershirt to mop up the blood on her face before answering.
"He's in the house with a stunned and tied up Greyback."
"And he hurt…?"
"Ah, his shoulder was ripped to pieces by Greyback, much like Iva's face."
"Okay, I'll Apparate Iva to St. Mungo's and tell them we have other injured wizards here. You stay with Robards. As soon as a healer comes I want you to take Greyback to a holding cell at the Ministry. You remember what to do?"
"I reckon so, er, Apparate him to the Ministry, take away his wand, register him for a trial, and place him in a cell?"
"Yes, good." And with that he grabbed Iva's arm and Disapparated with a loud crack.
Harry ran all the way to the kitchen finding Robards lying on the floor, clutching his arm, eyes closed.
"Sir?" Harry asked quietly, not sure if he was awake.
"Potter?" Robards opened his eyes.
"Sir," Harry knelt down to his level. "Ketteridge has taken Iva to St. Mungo's. She's badly injured. He's sending healers here for us. Is there anything I can get you in the mean time?"
"No, I'll be all right."
Harry sat there, watching his boss, making sure he stayed awake. Unfortunately, he didn't know much healing spells, but even if he did, he didn't know how much it would help. Robards's injury went much deeper than the time Ron splinched his arm.
"Hello?" A female voice called out. "Healer from St. Mungo's!"
"In here!" Harry shouted.
He heard the clip-clop of shoe leather on wooden floor as the healer entered the room.
"Oh my!" She gasped.
She must have spotted Fenrir Greyback.
"Don't worry about him. He's been stunned."
Harry pointed to the man she should be worrying about and she began to work, letting Harry know a few of her colleagues accompanied her to the site.
Harry Apparated with the stunned werewolf to the Ministry.
"Remus," Harry said, appearing in the empty Atrium. "We did it. We captured him." He sighed.
Harry levitated Greyback to the temporary holding cells
--
"This has been a stressful day," Ron commented as the two stepped out of the floo in the basement of Grimmauld Place.
The boys came from St. Mungo's where they had visited with the injured Aurors as well as being checked over themselves.
Quietly, Harry walked into the sitting room expecting to see Hermione waiting. He saw Hermione sitting on the couch with her feet propped up on an ottoman she must have retrieved from another room. Lying on the couch, half asleep, with her feet on Hermione was Ginny. Sitting on the footstool, gesturing widely, was Kreacher.
"Kreacher is in trouble. Master is catching Kreacher talking to Mu-Muggle-born. Kreacher is ironing his hands now."
Hermione grabbed the house-elf before he could leave the room.
"Kreacher, we discussed this earlier. You have free will."
He looked terrified and confused, his wide eyes staring intently at Harry for an answer.
"Bloody free will," muttered Ron.
"Kreacher, if you want to talk to Hermione, you can."
Kreacher nodded and quickly headed to his bedroom.
Harry sat on the edge of the couch next to Ginny. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. Hermione quickly grabbed Ron in a hug.
"How was it?" Ginny yawned.
"We caught Fenrir Greyback, but a few of us were injured," Harry explained. "Dawlish was stunned. He'll be fine. Robards tore up his shoulder and will spend the night in hospital, but he'll be fine. A werewolf attacked Iva. He wasn't transformed at the time, but her face is scratched up like Bill's."
"Poor thing," muttered Hermione.
"Iva will be in St. Mungo's for at least a week, she will," Ron added.
"You didn't get hurt?" Hermione asked sitting back down on the couch.
"A few scrapes, but nothing that couldn't be healed right away," Ron replied.
They had done pretty well in this battle. Of course, they were the last group to arrive and the stereotypical werewolf was uneducated in magic, but they were in the thick of things.
"I'm pretty tired. What time is it anyway?" Harry stretched his arms.
"Around two in the morning," Hermione replied.
"Too late for you to be Apparating to your flat. Stay the night here?"
"I've plenty of rooms," Harry added.
Ron's cheeks turned pink indicating that was not what he had in mind.
Harry shrugged his shoulders and turned to Ginny, who had fallen asleep. Did he want to sleep with her? They were engaged for marriage. There was no doubt in his mind he loved her. Would Ron kill him for it? He was very protective of his baby sister. They were obviously tired, so there would be nothing more than sleeping. They would be crossing a boundary no matter what. Would they start sleeping together on a regular basis? She would spend the night at his place and the next night he'd spend it at hers.
"Harry?" Ron waved his hand in front of his mate's face. "We're going to bed."
What if they did have sex? What if Ron found out? What if he got Ginny pregnant?
"Don't get Hermione pregnant," he blurted.
"Not planning on it," Ron called out already exiting the room.
"Gi-Ginny." Harry rubbed her shoulders.
Her eyes fluttered open.
"It's late. Why don't you—why don't you spendthenighthere."
"Something wrong?" Ginny sat up alarmed.
"No, no. You're too tired to Apparate safely. You can spend the night here." Harry smiled to offset the nervousness in his voice.
"Thanks."
She seems to eager, Harry thought. Was she nervous like him? He led her up the stairs to his bedroom. He handed her an old t-shirt to wear to bed. Modestly, he turned around as to not watch her and changed into a pair of his own pajamas.
"Used to belong to Dudley," Harry explained when he saw the shirt reach to Ginny's knees. "You look good."
Ginny smiled and walked slowly to one side of the bed.
She's your fiancée, no reason to be afraid," Harry reminded himself. The thoughts made it easier for him to climb into bed. He patted the bed for Ginny to get in.
"I love you," he said when she placed her head on the pillow and faced him.
"I love you, too," she replied. She closed her eyes, but immediately opened them when Harry continued to speak.
"I think we should choose a date."
"I—I—" she hesitated. A look of pain, which he tried to hide, crossed Harry's face. "Let me think on it."
Harry sighed. That wasn't the answer he hoped for, but it wasn't a no. Ginny kissed him on the lips, closed her eyes, and wrapped her feet around Harry's legs, pulling the covers close.
"Ahh!" Harry exclaimed. "You've cold feet!"
"Sorry!" Ginny made to move them.
"No, I rather like them there." And with that, Harry fell asleep intertwined with his fiancée.
--
A week passed without the subject of picking a wedding date resurrecting. Ginny and Harry had not slept together since that night, though Harry couldn't say he hadn't thought about it. He enjoyed waking up to Ginny's flaming red hair in his face.
The past week had Harry consumed in Greyback's trial. Guilty as he was with Kingsley as Ministry things had changed and now everyone would be given a trial by the Wizengamot. All the evidence for his guilt had been presented. Bill Weasley showed up one morning to give his testimony. They contacted Lavender, but she was in Egypt with Seamus and didn't want to have anything to do with the trial. Hermione, having been an eyewitness, testified on her behalf.
"You're doing fine," Robins assured Harry at the end of the workday on Friday. The two had been practicing dueling.
"I wish this trial would end. He's obviously guilty."
Harry sank into his office chair.
"The fact you've presented three cases of his victims integrating so well into society is not helping your cause."
"Remus Lupin did not integrate so well! He had to quit teaching because he was a threat to the students. He couldn't get another job due to the prejudice against werewolves. Not only that, it affected his self-esteem, his mind. He thought himself a threat and didn't want to marry or have a child."
"But he did marry and create a child."
"Are you saying Greyback should run free because Remus was lucky?"
"No, not at all. This is—Harry, this is how the Wizengamot will see things."
--
"Are you all right?" Ginny asked Harry later that evening as they cuddled together on the couch in her flat. "What are you thinking?"
"You don't think Greyback will be found innocent?"
"Greyback has committed horrible crimes, Harry. I don't see how anyone could not see his guilt."
"I hope so. Things with the Wizengamot never seem to go as planned."
"That was the old Wizengamot under Fudge. With Kingsley as Minister things are different." Ginny her fingers over Harry's scarred hands. "Oh, I've the tickets for the match against the Cannons at the end of the month."
"Oh?"
"I've eleven tickets for you, Hermione, Ron, George, Angelina—George wants to bring her, Bill, Fleur, Mum, Dad, Teddy, and Percy. Andromeda sad she'd watch Victoire."
"Ron'll be happy," Harry yawned.
Ginny sat up and stretched.
"Let's go to bed," she said casually.
"All right."
Harry followed her to her bedroom. He was not nervous—this time. They were a couple and were just going to lie in the same bed with their eyes closed.
Staying the night at Ginny's caused Harry to rush in the morning. The flat did not have a fireplace so he could not floo to work. With protective charms in place he could not Disapparate inside. He had to go the secret location in the alley.
"I have to leave," Harry kissed Ginny quickly. "If I'm late they won't let me in the trial."
--
"Phew," Harry muttered sliding into a seat in Courtroom 10 with a second to spare.
"Morning, Potter," Robins greeted from behind. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it. I want to let you know we've set a date for your test, the end of this month—the 28th."
Harry made to say something, but that moment the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot walked in pulling a chain connected to Fenrir Greyback. He placed him in the chair in the middle of the room and locked him in.
"Hello, witches and wizards of the Wizengamot. We meet here today to finish the trial of the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback."
Kingsley Shacklebolt stood up from his seat in the front row and the Chief Warlock took his seat.
"Would either the prosecution or the defense like to make any last word?"
No one made any motion to speak so Kingsley continued.
"Let's get the voting going then, shall we? All those who think Fenrir Greyback is innocent raise your hand."
Two wizards slowly raised their hands. Harry felt calmer as he watched this.
"All those who think Fenrir Greyback is guilty raise your hands."
Fifteen hands shot in the air. Harry smiled.
"All those undecided raise your hands."
Nine hands went up. Harry frowned.
"Its decided, majority rules. Fenrir Greyback is sentenced to a verdict of guilty for purposely attacking children and other innocent victims while transformed as a werewolf."
Harry had never felt happier as he did at this moment. Well, okay, perhaps when he proposed to Ginny, but other than that… He wanted to owl everyone right away and tell them the good news.
Remus, Harry thought, I know it doesn't make up for what he did, but you can rest easy that Greyback is going to Azkaban and won't cause harm to any more children. Your little boy is safe.
Harry caught up with Ron and Hermione as they exited the courtroom.
"Ginny's reserved the tickets for the match against the Cannons at the end of the month."
"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed.
"The end of the month?" Hermione questioned. "28th of October?"
Harry shrugged. "I reckon so."
"Ketteridge said they scheduled your Auror test that day, did he?"
Tiberius Ketteridge had taken over Ron's Auror training while Iva was in St. Mungo's recovering.
"Bloody hell!"
Harry shook his head. Ron would see it as the greatest tragedy to miss a Cannons match he actually had tickets to.
"We can reschedule, right?" Ron asked pleadingly.
"I dunno. I don't reckon they'd be too happy about that."
"But we can ask." Ron looked a bit happier than he had a second ago.
He was right, they could ask. It did not mean the answer would change. Robards said the date was perfect. They needed the three to become full time Aurors as soon as possible with the chosen date giving them enough time to study.
--
Harry closed his book and stretched. He had been sitting in his study pouring over his notes for two hours. The first part of the test would be written, going over laws, rules, and the like. The practical portion would place them in a situation they had to work out. He rubbed his eyes thinking if he stared at another page he'd go blind.
The test he studied for was tomorrow. If he weren't prepared by now he never would be. He scooted his chair back and thought about the events of the past two weeks. Greyback had been given a lifetime sentence in Azkaban. Iva returned to work last week, just in time to finish training Ron. She had a few scars on her face, nothing as bad as Bill.
He wanted to spend time with Ginny, but he knew it was too late to pop in for a visit. He would see her tomorrow, not before his examination, as he felt ideal, but afterward. He and Ron had been given their tickets to the match and if they finished testing in time they could watch the end.
Harry went to bed that night dreaming of Ginny and hexes, redheads and disguises, love and power.
--
"You ready, mate?" Ron asked as they stepped off the lift onto the second level.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"You reckon we'll be fine knowing we missed our last year at Hogwarts?" Ron opened the door to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"Brilliant, you lot are all here!" Uric exclaimed causing Ron's question to go unanswered. "We'll begin the written portion of the test."
Sitting at his desk, Harry glanced at the pictures lining his cubicle. He watched an image of Ginny fly around on her broomstick.
"Here you are," Uric placed the parchment on his desk. "Take all the time you need. When you're finished hand your answers in to one of us." He motioned to the other trainers standing next to him.
Harry scanned the parchment in front of him.
Describe the International Statute of Secrecy, it's importance, and the consequences for breaking it.
He flipped the parchment over, scanning the backside.
Describe the following hexes, curses, and jinxes.
Imperius Curse:
He dipped his quill in ink and began to write.
Incantation: Imperio. The victim is put under the command of the caster. One of the three Unforgivable Curses. Use of the curse will sentence caster to Azkaban.
Roughly forty-five minutes later Harry handed in his test. Passing by Neville's cubicle he noticed he was chewing on his tongue deeply engrossed in the test.
"Now, we move on to the practical portion to take place in Diagon Alley," Uric announced after the last test had been handed in.
"Let's get through this as quickly as we can," Ron muttered to Harry after they appeared in Diagon Alley.
Harry shook his head. Of course he wanted to see the Quidditch match, but passing the test and becoming a full-fledged Auror was priority.
"We want you to be on guard for everything," Uric said.
"You won't know when the test has started, so be alert," Iva chimed in.
"When you solve the case you'll be able to find us," Robins finished.
"What do we do?" Neville asked.
The Aurors disappeared. Where they went to they did not know and would not know until they finished the test.
"I reckon we need to listen and look for some kind of clue, something out of the ordinary, perhaps," Harry said.
The three started walking down Diagon Alley glancing curiously at the shops they passed.
"That's out of the ordinary." Ron said pointing out a woman wearing purple and green striped robes.
Harry didn't think someone dressed funny had anything to do with their test.
"Take this!" some one shoved a gold coin into Harry's hand and disappeared into the crowd.
The coin was not a Galleon or anything wizard like he'd ever seen. It also did not resemble any British coin he'd ever seen.
"Did you get a look at that bloke?"
"Brown hair," Neville replied. "Load of good that'll do. You reckon that's part of the test?"
Harry nodded while running the round coin through his fingers. What was he supposed to do with it?
"We could try to exchange it for wizard gold at Gringotts, see how much it's worth," Ron suggested.
"Good idea," Harry patted his mate on the back and headed for the wizarding bank.
As the three entered the bank, the security goblins watched them very carefully.
"If it isn't Harry Potter," a goblin behind the counter grumbled.
Harry ignored the tone and stepped up, placing the coin down. The goblin eyed the coin, then Harry, his two accomplices, then Harry again.
"Tell me all you now about this coin including how much it's worth in Galleons."
"Are you playing a prank? I've never seen a coin like this before—" he was interrupted by shouts from another goblin coming from the vaults.
"Stop—thieves!"
A tall man with dark brown robes ran through the front of the bank and out the door.
Harry didn't think acting like a Muggle policeman was part of the job description, but this must have been part of the test. No one, save three teenagers, ever robbed the bank successfully.
He dashed out the door only to find the man disappeared among the crowds.
"Did you get a good description of him?"
"Brown robes, brown hair," Ron replied.
"I retrieved the coin, Harry," Neville added.
"Neville, I want you to question the goblin—get all the information you can about that man."
"What about us?" Ron asked after Neville re-entered the bank.
"We're going to find out about his coin." Harry held up his hands and remembered Neville had the coin. "After I get it back from Neville."
He returned a minute later with the strange coin in his hand and they departed for the nearest store.
"Do you know anything about this coin?" Harry asked the man behind the counter of Magical Menagerie.
"I saw one of those yesterday. It fell out of one of the customer's pockets. He quickly picked it up looking suspicious. I asked him about it, but he wouldn't say anything."
"Did he buy anything?" Ron asked.
"No, but he was carrying a few books that looked as if he just purchased them from Flourish & Blotts."
"Can you describe him?" Harry questioned.
"He was tall with brown hair. He had on dark robes, black, I think. Might've been green. No, no, definitely black. He didn't stay in the shop long."
"Thank you."
UUpon exiting the shop they met back up with Neville.
"What did the goblins say?" Harry asked.
"He described the man with brown hair, brown eyes, and a long pointy nose. He was very shifty regarding the vault he wanted to visit."
"That's all?" Harry asked opening the door to the bookshop.
"Hello, Harry," the shopkeeper welcomed him.
"Do you know anything about this coin?"
The shopkeeper examined one side of the supposed gold coin.
"Radix Totus Malum, that's Latin for Root of all Evil. Some bloke yesterday tried paying with a coin like that. When I told him it was useless he quickly packed it mumbling something about the joke shop."
"Thanks."
"Your welcome. Are you interested in any books? We're having a sale on Hogwarts: A History."
Harry shook his head while Ron mumbled something about two copies of the book.
"This coin has to do with the joke shop," Harry said when they were outside.
"Do you reckon it's a joke coin and means absolutely nothing?" Ron asked. "IT would be like George to create something like that with an inscription meaning Root of All Evil."
"As much of a prankster as he is, he wouldn't harm our Auror practical."
"There he is!" Neville shouted pointing to a dark haired man in brown robes leaning against a building. He pulled out his wand and exclaimed, "Stupefy!"
The spell missed the man and hit the wall knocking a brick out of place.
"We don't want to harm him. We want him to tell us all he knows about this coin," Harry chided.
"He's a thief. He stole a bag of gold from Gringotts," Neville mentioned.
"We'll capture him, but no knocking him out."
"Expelliarmus!" Ron shouted causing the man's exposed want to jump out of his hand. Neville, being closer, retrieved it.
"What can you tell us about this coin?" Harry asked holding the coin up so the man could see it.
"N-nothing." He remained tight-lipped with his back against the wall.
"Is that your gold?" Ron asked eyeing the bag in the man's right hand.
"Y-yes," the man spoke, eyes shifting among the three Aurors.
"I've a goblin in Gringott's who disagrees," Neville said.
"You're going to believe a goblin over a wizard?"
"I shall believe who I think is telling the truth."
The man sighed. "That is, the coin in your hand is special. It allows entrance into a special club." The man spoke as if Neville had literally beaten him down.
"Will you take us there?" Harry asked.
The man shook his head.
"I have your wand," Neville reminded him.
"You take us to the secret hideout we give you your wand," Ron offered.
He led them down Diagon Alley to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Verity and Lee were running the shop while George and Angelina were at the Quidditch match. He walked up to the counter, took the coin from Harry, and placed it next to the register. Verity walked up to the counter and without saying a word motioned them to follow her. She led them to a back room and opened the door. The man went in first with Harry, Neville, and Ron following.
"Congratulations!" Uric exclaimed. "You did it."
Harry saw Uric, Iva, Robins, and Dawlish sitting at a table.
"Thank you, Ketteridge," Uric said to the man in brown robes.
"How did we do?" Ron asked.
"We have to discuss this amongst ourselves. You'll have your results—"
A silver weasel interrupted the Auror.
"Ginny has been in an accident and is in St. Mungo's. Please come as soon as you can," Mr. Weasley's voice spoke.
Harry's heart skipped a beat. Was she okay? He had to get there as soon as possible.
"Do you mind—" he started to ask.
"Go, go. We're done here. You'll get your results on Monday," Uric said.
Harry ran out of the shop not paying attention if his friends followed. As soon as he was outside he Disapparated to St. Mungo's. He didn't pay attention to what he was doing, but he eventually found himself on the ground floor.
"'Arry!" Fleur was the first one to spot him.
"How is she?" Harry asked.
Fleur looked behind him to the other two boys that had followed Harry inside.
"Ron!" She greeted her brother-in-law. "'Ello, Neville."
"I'm fine, Harry," Ginny said, lying on a bed with her arm wrapped up.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed, taking hold of Ginny's free hand.
"I was paying too much attention trying to score and I didn't notice one of the Cannon's Beaters in front of me. I crashed into him and fell off my broom. I broke my arm and my nose. The healer was able to fix my nose right up, but the arm is going to take a few hours. I'm fine, Harry." She patted his hand. "This stuff is going to happen as long as I play Quidditch and don't you dare say I should stop playing."
"I won't, I'm just glad you're okay."
"Who won?" Ron asked.
"I didn't stay long enough to find out. When I left the score was tied 130-130."
Ron gasped. There was a chance the Cannons could actually win this match.
"I'm going to find a wireless."
Ron disappeared with George, Angelina, Neville, Bill, Fleur and Hermione.
Harry looked at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
"Where's Teddy?" He asked.
"Percy took him home. We didn't think he'd want to spend a few hours in a hospital," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Molly, why don't we go see what the tearoom has to offer? I'm feeling rather peckish."
"Arthur, you had…"
"Molly…" Arthur motioned his head toward the lift.
"Oh, yes, yes, we should go see what the tearoom is offering. We'll be back in a bit."
"I reckon they wanted to give us some time alone," Harry chuckled.
"Yeah. How did your test go? I interrupted it, did I?"
"No, you had good timing. We just finished."
"Harry," Ginny paused, "after I fell off the broom I thought a lot about us. More than anything I wanted you to be here to comfort me. That's why I made Dad send you the Patronus making things sound worse than they are. I do want to marry you. I did accept your proposal after all. I want to marry you soon. Harry, let's pick out our wedding date."