Chapter 3
Ginny rushed into the meeting with the representative of the Department of Magical Transportation. It had not been a good morning for her, and she was nearly 20 minutes late.
"Sorry, sorry" she gasped out "had an issue with my alarm and didn't realize the main employee entrance was closed this early." The issue she had with her alarm clock was that she had smashed it in frustration nearly a week before. The two-week suspension may have gotten to her a bit more she had let on.
"Oh no worries deary, I'm Agnes Agincourt, I'll be walking you through the procedure for getting to and from your assignment." Responded Agnes kindly.
What followed from the kindly old transportation agent could only be described as pure English vindictiveness. 5 minutes into the instructions, Ginny began to wonder if this was the standard procedure or if Agnes had it out for Ginny specifically. After 15 minutes Ginny began to feel her eyelids drop. After 30 minutes, she alternated between digging her nails into her hand to stay awake and struggling not to yell at kindly old Agnes. On the dot at 45 minutes Agnes stopped and looked at Ginny expectantly.
Ginny, who had been busy contemplating the magic it would take to send herself back in time, stun Agnes and assume her identity for this discussion, apologized in confusion. "Sorry Mrs. Agincourt, could you repeat that?"
Agnes smiled her kindly old smile, though Ginny could definitely see a hint of triumph hiding behind the expression. "I was just asking, deary, if you had any questions?" Ginny may have been imagining it, but the question seemed a bit mocking. Agnes only smiled under the responding glare.
'Must be losing my touch' thought Ginny, before wracking her brain for something intelligent to say.
"Weeellll, if I'm understanding correctly, I'll get two portkeys in the morning, one for me and one for the return of the auror from the other shift. Hmm interesting, I think I just summarized your entire presentation. That took, what? 10 seconds? 11 tops?" Ginny smiled as Agnes sniffed haughtily at her. "You missed some key point-"
"What, like don't give the portkey to death eaters?" Asked Ginny sarcastically.
Agnes only glared icily. "Then you are ready to go?" she finally asked.
Ginny nodded then stopped. "Wait, where is the safe house? And what happens if my replacement doesn't show up?"
"Those are good questions. Here, catch!" Agnes responded, while tossing a small gold ball. Ginny instinctively caught it, and immediately felt as if it were glued to her hand. The ball began to glow blue before Ginny realized what had happened.
"Oh, you old biiitt-" And then she was gone.
The jarring stop that accompanied the portkey dumped Ginny on the ground. By the time the world had stopped spinning, she realized that she was on the ground, looking at two pairs of feet, one familiar, one not.
Ginny slowly raised her eyes, hoping that it wasn't what she feared. Standing there was Ernie, looking exhausted and embarrassed. And there he was. Harry Potter. She stared at him from the ground, and her eyes flicked up to see the scar that stood out on his forehead.
To Ginny's mind Harry looked distinctly unimpressed. Maybe she was wrong though.
Harry looked away from Ginny over to Ernie. "So, this is who they're sending over to me now? My confidence in the ministry only continues to grow." Potter was definitely not impressed.
And with that he turned and started back towards the house about 30 meters away. The house that Ginny hadn't even noticed in the confusion of arriving. It was a small cottage type house that seemed to have been expanded to include several external rooms and a second story with some kind of viewing room. It almost reminded Ginny of a nicer version of the Burrow, if she tilted her head and squinted.
Ernie walked up to Ginny and offered his hand, which Ginny took. "Just had to come in like that, didn't you Weasley. I've been talking you up all night to give you chance. But, now…" Ernie shook his head. Ginny's groan was not entirely intentional. "So not a great first impression, then?" Asked Ginny sarcastically.
"No, not especially. Merlin Ginny, what happened to you?" Ernie asked seriously.
Ginny could only groan again. "I couldn't sleep, then over slept, then didn't have time to get ready, then got stuck with the transportation agent from hell."
"Ah" said Ernie "So you met Agnes?"
"YES" Exploded Ginny "What is wrong with that woman?" Ernie only laughed. "Oh, Agnes is okay, as long as you aren't late and don't antagonize her. You didn't do that did you? Oh no, you did, didn't you!" Accused Ernie as Ginny could only mumble and look away. "You are out of luck then, Ginny old girl. Now, I believe you've got something for me?"
Ginny dug into her coat, dropping the return portkey into Ernie's waiting hand. Ernie looked from the portkey to Ginny and began to ask "Any idea when it will-" before disappearing in a blue flash.
Ginny smiled briefly then turned towards the house and took a breath, and immediately slipped on something in the grass and tumbled down again. Ginny thought she heard laughter drifting over head. She reached under her, feeling for what had caused her fall, and found the portkey, realizing it was an old golden snitch. Ginny rose and pocketed the snitch, before setting off towards the house.
At the door, she paused, unsure if she should knock or just walk in. Deciding to error on the side of politeness, Ginny knocked softly. "You" came a voice from right behind her, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin, "don't have to knock. If you're to be following me around, all the knocking will get tiresome. Except maybe in the bathroom. Maybe knock then." Potter said without smiling. He stood there, leaning against one of the trees that lined the entranceway. "Do you need anything?" Potter asked after a beat of silence.
Ginny cleared her throat "Um no I think I'm good?"
Potter nodded. "Then let's go." He said before turning and picking up a bag behind him that Ginny hadn't seen and setting off down on the pathway. Ginny quickly followed and scrambled to catch up, before falling in behind him. Potter didn't speak. Ginny wasn't sure how to break the silence and so simply followed him. She took the time to examine Potter more closely. He was taller than she had expected. And the combination of the jet-black hair and the bright green eyes was…compelling. He walked along the path quickly and surely, moving easily despite the large bag across his back.
After nearly an hour Ginny was beginning to wonder if the walk would ever end. She had long ago removed her coat and auror cloak and shoved them into the small bag where she carried her lunch and a few other necessities. Potter stopped so suddenly that Ginny almost crashed into him. Ginny peered around him and saw that they had come to a meadow, while Potter shrugged out of his bag.
Looking at the uniform shape of the meadow and the stacks of wood that lined one edge, Ginny realized that this was in fact their destination. Her realization was confirmed when she saw Potter remove an axe from the bag that he had carried. Without a word to her, or even acknowledging her presence, he turned and began swinging at a tree on the near side of the meadow.
At this point Ginny was more than a bit frustrated. Potter had insulted her, failed to greet her or introduce himself, and not even warned her that they would be departing on an hour hike first thing upon arrival. That he had no idea who she was and so had no way of letting her know of their plans and that it was her job to follow him were things that she knew. They were also things that she chose to ignore. And besides those were no excuses for rudeness!
Walking over to where Potter was working, Ginny sat grumpily on a stump that had recently been a full tree. The stump was not comfortable, and Ginny quickly grew bored. And sore. Glancing at Potter, who seemed full engaged in whacking at the tree in front of him, she set about practicing her dueling forms. She had almost finished when she felt eyes on her. Ginny slowed from her mock duel and, breathing heavily, turned to find Potter watching her.
"It doesn't work, you know." He said simply. "What doesn't?" Ginny snapped back. After this morning, any pretense of civility had obviously gone out the window. "Those forms, that formal dueling stuff. In a real fight against someone who knows that they're doing, formal dueling makes you a sitting duck." Potter said slowly, as if explaining to a child. Ginny felt her hand creeping up and resisted the urge to hex the arrogant berk. "I'll have you know that I fought 3 major battles and the final battle. I think I know what I'm doing." Ginny responded stiffly.
Potter let out a bark of a laugh. "You fought? Or were you part of the reinforcements that would come in to give the real fighters a break?"
Ginny blushed to her roots. It was true that she had fought, but Potter was right in that most of her action had been in a relief capacity and not as a front-line fighter. "At least I remember I'm a witch! You've become so bloody reclusive you might as well be a ghost. For Merlin's sake you could clear this whole forest if you wanted to! Do you even remember how to do magic?" Ginny nearly shouted, furious and embarrassed. After pausing to taking a breath Ginny continue while Potter looked on stunned. "And whose genius idea was it do this so bloody far from the house? You realize there are plenty of trees within spitting distance. Your decision again right? Looks like we've got a regular Dumbledore here! I get it Potter, you're the savior of the wizarding world. You beat Voldemort. Congratulations. Doesn't mean you get to be such a bloody arsehole!"
Potter, quickly shifting from stunned to angry, turned to walk back to his tree. "I've got a question for you, auror, does all that yelling make you better at your job. Cause seems like I could've been killed at any point during that tirade, and it would have been all your fault." He called back, finishing in a sing song voice.
It was a miracle of willpower that Ginny didn't respond, either verbally or magically.
'he's bloody lucky he's the bloody savior of the world. Stupid git.' Ginny thought angrily. Plus, she figured there would be a pretty severe punishment for the person that killed Harry Potter, no matter how justified. Besides, his back was turned. Would have been unsporting.
They didn't speak for the rest of the day. When the sun went down, Potter removed a small metallic device from his shirt pocket and clicked it a few times. Small balls of light surrounded him, and he continued to work, with only the rhythmic thunk, thunk, thunk sound of the ax on wood to measure his progress.
Ginny had cooled down enough over the past several hours to be curious about how he had created the light but would not be the one to break the silence. She didn't have to though, as a few minutes later Potter paused between swings and turned to look at her. "Has the shift length changed?" he grunted out.
"Was it 8:00 pm before?" She asked back. Potter nodded. "Then no, Potter, it hasn't changed." Ginny knew she was being a brat but couldn't help it. "Then we should get going, shouldn't we, since your replacement should be here in about 35 minutes." Potter said with a smirk.
Ginny closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and clenching her jaw to keep from yelling again. "Yes, I'd say we should get going." She ground out. Ginny knew it was her fault. She hadn't brought a watch, hadn't thought she would need one. And now her mark was telling her how to do her job. And in a very self-satisfied way too.
Potter set a quicker pace on the return trip, and though she arrived sweating, covered in pine needles and out of breathe, they made it back before Ernie showed up to replace her. By about 30 seconds.
" 'Lo…Ernie…" huffed Ginny, still glaring at Potter. Ernie, picking up on the obvious tension between the two, simply stepped forward and offered the return portkey to Ginny. This time it was a shrunken version of the Hogwarts quidditch cup. Ginny examined it, grateful to have something to look at besides Potter's smug face, and eager to be home. Ernie and Potter had begun to walk away, and the portkey had begun to glow blow when she heard one final comment from Potter. "What is the other aurors name again? I never got it from her."
Ginny was fairly certain that she hated Harry Potter.