Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter. Updated in 2022.
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London- Present day (Meaning 2004)
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Ginny awoke the morning after her formal introduction to the U.K. Auror team in her bed at the flat-share she would be inhabiting for the next two weeks. Brigette, the brunette from the brothel, was actually her flat mate. Bridgette had needed the extra cash and the flat was really rather cozy. Plus, in a very convenient location.
She'd had so much trepidation about returning to England. Ginny hated it here. Her childhood before Hogwarts had been fantastic, but every minute thereafter had been torture. Her mask had been in place the entire duration of her life in the U.K., ever since she found out Tom had turned her family against her.
She didn't even remember the sorting in her first-year, or the majority of her first year at school altogether. Tom was in control of her then.
But when she'd finally gotten rid of him months had gone by that she'd been under his control. The dye was cast and after several failed attempts to try and explain, she felt there was no choice but to accept her fate and arm herself in order to protect herself from the other students who were treating her horribly. The number of hours she'd spent in the library were more than she'd spent anywhere else in that castle. It was safest for her. There were no friends and no mentors that could have helped her.
By her sixth year, when the Carrow siblings had taken over the school, she'd just managed to keep the boys from sniffing around her. Then that year happened and the rape threats and offers for 'protection' were at an all-time high. She'd spent the whole year sleeping on a transfigured bed in a dis-used supply closet. Food had been scarce, but she'd managed to get some supplies to sustain her thanks to the help of a drunken House Elf. The only classes she'd attended were Charms and Transfiguration. Everything else she'd learned from her textbooks.
Missing so many classes had led to a few detentions, but luckily the worst that had happened were a few Cruciatus curses. Ginny scoffed at the memory of it. When one is grateful for the Cruciatus curse, you know things were bad.
That was the year of the Battle of Hogwarts. That was an event that she'd done her best to suppress over the years. Her role in that was traumatizing enough that she'd basically refused to speak for two months after. Not that she'd talked much to the people she was surrounded by before that happened.
Her seventh year in Slytherin had been quite peaceful. The Slytherin house numbers had been greatly diminished and she'd picked up her little business she had been doing since her third year, the one she had put on pause for her sixth. She didn't make much doing it, but at least she had some money kicking around. Enough to figure out what to do after school.
By her fifth year The Burrow was no longer 'home', nowhere was. She was perpetually sad with a broken heart and resting bitch face. She had been desperate to be happy again.
New Zealand was where she'd decided to start. Beaches, moderate weather and low crime rate. It had been the best decision ever. For the first time in what felt like forever she'd let her guard down. She quickly got a job as a bar back and danced and drank away for two months before being tapped for their DMLE Auror program.
Auror Burke had been astounded that as inebriated as she was, she could take on grown men and still manage to look graceful.
She smiled at the memory of that stupid Aussie frat guy being rude to her friend, and his buddies jumping in after she took him down. She'd cleared out to the beach after that fight. Burke followed her and they pulled their wands on each other. After a brief duel he managed to get her wand and she launched herself at him. He actually laughed after he managed to subdue her, then he said "You've got just the chops I'm looking for. Any interest in being an Auror?"
She'd excelled in Auror training and made major headway on the first mission she was assigned. Jake Burke was her mentor and friend. She'd made a lot of quick friends there. They seemed to take her 'back-off' attitude as a challenge to make her lighten up.
The Chameleon nickname, or call sign, came as joke. It hadn't been because she'd been able to adjust quickly to new situations or become a whole new personality fitting of the person she'd been Polyjuiced into, it was because after six weeks of her colleagues half-assed attempts at pranking her she'd began to retaliate with excessive use of her disillusionment charm.
After two years in New Zealand, she got transferred to Australia, then to South Africa, then to Canada (where missions were a walk in the park in comparison to what went on in Johannesburg). With every new place she went and every assignment that could have potentially been bunged up she'd picked up new tricks and training. She shared that training with her colleagues and made herself quite well known it seemed.
When Scrimgeour tracked her down and started asking her to work for him she'd been in Puerto Rico. The intel she'd been gathering on her mission there she could tell was about to come to a head, and she was not a fan of that island. She wanted to go back to New Zealand, but the information she'd been gathering was leading her to believe that the UK was becoming ripe for the picking. Aurors were all letting their guard down. Only eight years after the war! It was a big piss off, so she finally agreed.
The Muggle brothel she found the first three dunderheads in had kept a record of its visitors on video tape. It being so close to the Leaky Cauldron her first step had been to break in and check these records. Several Aurors had visited it, it turned out. That was where she met Brigette. It was her second day back in the country and after she'd surveyed the area and tried to figure out how to make the Aurors as embarrassed as possible with themselves.
She decided she'd visited the brothel first.
Brigette had been easy to chat to while she was waiting for the owner. She mentioned having a spare room available for short term rental and by the next night the Ginny was moved in, and they were celebrating by clubbing. Brigette was over the moon about Ginny's ability, and willingness, to make meals. Ginny also had no problem with what Brigette did for a living.
Ginny had seen Dean Thomas, a good friend of Seamus Finnegan who was an Auror, earlier the day of her undercover operation when she was with Brigette and suggested she go over and re-introduce herself, then Ginny cast a charm on him to make him desire seeing her again. She was pleased it hadn't been all for naught. She'd been about to give up when the three of them stumbled in. The number of men she'd had to prostrate herself in front of had been exceptionally high for that establishment.
The owner was very pleased. She'd promised him, as a 'Professional Fluffer' she could make his business function at twice the speed in one night with her methods for an extra five hundred pounds on top of regular wages. He only had to pay her if it worked.
He paid.
Then she'd had to boil her skin in the shower after.
Brigette was thrilled with the change at the venue. So were all the other girls. The johns were getting off so fast that the girls were making almost double what they were before. It made Ginny laugh. Who would have thought that turning a guy on first would make him hornier?
Ron hadn't come and found her after the meeting yesterday, and she was grateful for that. Sitting beside him as the fake Susan Davis had been uncomfortable enough. He had been nice to her when he didn't know who she was. Then he'd called her a 'selfish evil bitch'.
Seeing the twins yesterday was trying as well. They were happy and successful, with a rotation of girlfriends. She wanted that for them, but… sorting out her feelings about her family was something she avoided. It seemed all of her family had been doing well. All but the twins were married off and having children. Her parents were really doing well now too, especially now that they were financially stable since they didn't have any kids to support.
Even Harry seemed happy in his life now, if still single so far as she could tell. He looked shocked and embarrassed after her reveal yesterday and promptly dragged Ron off after the meeting. He had never been rude to her or repeated any of the rumors to her knowledge. But her family had adopted him as fast as they'd abandoned her. It had been gut wrenching watching him walk around in a Weasley Christmas jumper growing up when she had been no longer receiving them. It wasn't his fault though. She had heard how awful his Muggle relatives had been to him. She could understand his longing to be a part of the 'loving' and large Weasley family.
She'd always kept track of Harry. She had been drawn to him since the moment she first saw him. After she'd gotten Tom out of her head and come to the realization that he had actually been the young Voldemort, she had felt a link with Harry, and it hadn't gone away. She watched him grow up but had never really talked to him. Seeing him now after all these years she realized she was still drawn to him.
She pushed her reminiscences aside. They weren't why she'd come back. Five more of the Aurors needed visits to St. Mungo's before she'd left the Ministry yesterday. These guys were little more than mall cops at this point. Really, a little bulbotuber puss went a long way when they didn't even recognize the smell before they touched it. Granted she'd applied it to the arm rest of random office chairs, but still.
Grinning over her mischievousness, she got out of the bed and headed to the shower. She planned a visit to the gym at the DMLE for a workout and more sabotage.
It was sad how easy it was to send Dark Wizard Catchers to the hospital.
()()()
No one was at the gym when Ginny had entered. She smiled internally at that and casually waved her wand at the practice dummies, then began running laps around the room. It was only seven in the morning, but she'd expected some Aurors at least to utilize the facilities at this time of day.
All of the other Ministries she'd worked at had a constant flow of Aurors exercising at all hours. Someone was always getting off a trying assignment and having a little trouble sleeping it had seemed. She more than others.
Every time she finished an assignment she'd worked out until the point of collapse, then slept for a day, then celebrated the entire following evening with her colleagues. They say that the Irish can really drink, but they have nothing on the Australians. Ginny grinned at the memories of waking on the morning's after and trying to figure out where she was. Sometimes it was on a partner's bed, sometimes it was on the beach.
She may have been in England to preach constant vigilance, but that didn't mean she always practiced it.
She'd finished her laps and moved on to the punching bag by the time someone joined her in the gym. She recognized the Auror but couldn't bring to mind his name. He was about five years older than her, tan and tall with sandy brown hair. She nodded at him and continued punching and kicking the bag.
"Need a spotter?" he asked as he came over.
"Sure," she shrugged.
He came around and held on to the other side of the bag as she attacked it. "Dustin Hall," he introduced himself.
"Ginny Weasley." She threw another kick.
"I know. Bloody impressive you are. Can make a guy a little nervous," he chuckled. She ignored the comment and continued cycling through her routine. "So," he continued, "how does it feel to be back in the home country?"
She stopped her movements and stared at him with unfeeling eyes. "Like I only have to be here for two more weeks, and I'm glad of it."
"Come now, we aren't all that bad," he smiled at her, in what she assumed was meant to be a charming manner. "The country is at peace now. You should really give it another try. How about I take you out tonight and show you what I mean."
"Not interested." She moved on to the weights. He followed her. She grabbed the seven-pound weights, he the twenty. She rolled her eyes internally at his obvious show of manliness. She started doing lunge curls, he sat on the bench to do arm curls.
"You, urgh, just need to give it, urgh, a chance."
"I have given it a chance, and I have no desire to see more of the magical side of the U.K. than I already have." She found his presence grating. He was really just convincing her to single him out with her next sabotage attempt at sending Aurors to the hospital.
"If this is, urgh, about your family… urgh, I can make sure to take you somewhere, urgh, you wouldn't have to see them." He was breaking a sweat at the strain from lifting two twenty-pound weights.
She heard more people coming into the gym and she looked over to see who it was.
Of course, it was Harry and Ron. Why wouldn't it be? They stopped in their tracks when they saw her. She took a deep breath.
"Must be a bit awkward for you, eh?" Auror Hall said quietly and conspiratorially. "Seeing your brother after all these years. Never been a fan of him."
She looked over at him. "You know what you should really focus on?" she said in a low sultry voice. His eyes sparkled in anticipation. "Not winding up in St. Mungo's, rather than making passes at me because I am not interested." She put her weights back on the stand and headed to the elliptical machines.
Auror Hall looked over to Harry and Ron. They were scowling at him, and he at them. The two started jogging around the track and Hall went over to the practice dummy and shot a hex at it. The hex instantly shot back at him and Hall was incapacitated and groaning on the floor.
Ginny couldn't help but smile and laugh. She guessed she didn't have to single him out after all.
()()()
Harry was assigned to the second round of training with Ginny, as was Ron. He had kind of been hoping to go without Ron, but they were partners, so he'd assumed it was inevitable.
After the misery they'd both experienced from their enlightenment of Ginny's history they both went out for drinks. Several drinks. Then wound up at Ron and Hermione's flat for even more drinks. The truly great thing about Ron being married to Hermione, besides the fact that his best friends were very happy with each other, was that when Ron and he got smashed, Hermione force fed them a hangover potion before they passed out.
So, this morning when they woke up at the crack of dawn, they didn't suffer any ill effects from the previous night. Ron couldn't tell Hermione why he was desperate to get drunk, but after six years of them being fully trained Aurors, she knew better than to ask. She just got up before them, put on the kettle and made bacon.
Harry decided in his drunken stupor that if he remembered, and it still felt like a good idea in the morning, then he was going to apologize to Ginny. He certainly hadn't helped her in school, nor had he looked into her disappearance. He was desperate to know if there was more to her story too. And if Malfoy or Zabini had ever done anything to make her life harder, because they were kind of his mate's now, and if they had, then he wanted to make them apologize too.
Seeing her in the gym that morning shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. Seeing her in her skin-tight exercise clothes shouldn't have excited him as much as it did either. He still wanted her, and he had no right.
Ron and he heard what she'd said to Hall, and he dragged Ron to start their jog before Ron could try to go over and make an ass of himself.
In his drunken state last night Ron had slurred something about having never been there for her, and now he was going to change that. Harry was pretty sure that Ginny would neither require his help, nor appreciate it.
When Hall got hit by the rebounded hex, they'd both been a little stunned. Harry looked to Ginny and saw her smile. It was close mouthed, but a smile none the less. He didn't know that he'd ever seen her do that before. It looked good on her, so did the twinkle in her eye, and her brief laugh.
They left Hall on the floor for a bit as they completed their laps, then Harry conceded and removed the hex. Hall glared at them and took off for the showers without so much as a thank you.
Later, Harry and Ron watched from their desks as the Aurors from the first training session left the room. They were all slightly shaken. The first session ended just after ten in the morning, but the Aurors from that session weren't telling the afternoon team what it was they had to do. Now it was their turn and they looked at each other with trepidation before they entered the room. Initially there was to be twenty Aurors in the class, but now there were only twelve. Eight had gone to St. Mungo's between yesterday and this morning which excluded them from this session. The charm that she had placed on the dummy that morning had wiped out another four people, not including Hall who was fine after the hex was lifted.
The two of them sat down beside one another.
Once everyone was seated Ginny returned to the classroom with a box of Chinese noodles and chopsticks. "Good no one is late. Don't mind me, I'm starving." She pulled a chair to the front of the room and sucked back a mouthful of noodles. "Who can throw off the Imperius Curse?" She looked relaxed, like she may as well have been sitting down on couch about to chit chat with a friend.
Harry raised his hand slightly.
"Seriously? Just Potter?" she looked astounded. "Who has experience casting it?"
"It's illegal!" Ron said loudly.
She rolled her eyes. "So is what the people we're after are doing. Imagine if they cast it on you and you were now under their control," she bit back. "Can anyone cast it?" she repeated.
All of them nodded.
"Good," she said. Ginny pointed at one of them. "You, cast it on Potter and make him do something out of character."
Harry's eyes widened and he looked over at Auror Jones. Jones looked between him and Ginny. "Im-Imperio."
Harry felt a dream-like state take over him. 'You want to climb on the table'. Harry looked at the table and stood up. But that seemed like a silly idea. This was not his idea. "NO," he shouted, and threw off the curse.
The Aurors clapped and Harry looked to Ginny rather proudly, he'd thrown it off very quickly. She looked ready to laugh at him, at least, there was an amused twinkle in her eye. "You realized you just shouted 'No' right?"
"Well, what would you have him do?" Lupin asked her angrily.
She looked from Auror Lupin to Auror Jones. "Try it on me."
"Imperio," Jones said with as much confidence as he could muster. As though doing so could make it stronger than the curse he'd used on Harry.
They watched as Ginny stood up and lazily walked over to the table Jones was sitting at, he looked very proud of himself as she climbed on top of it and promptly stuck Jones in the throat with her wand. She then looked over at Lupin. "At what point to you think I threw off the curse?"
Lupin didn't respond. Ginny pocketed her wand again and walked back to the front of the room. "If you get put under the curse it can be very fortuitous to make the caster believe that you are still under their control. Especially if they have more back-up than you do." She sat back down and picked up her lunch again. "The rest of your time here today you are going to try to throw off the curse. Pair up and show me what you've got."
No one made to move. She looked up from her lunch after a moment and waved her wand, the tables hovered above their heads and moved to the side of the room stacking themselves. "Get up before I banish your chairs."
They all stood and partnered up.
By the time there was only five minutes left in the hour a few more of them could throw off the curse, but they were vocalizing when they'd done it. It was still an improvement.
Ginny had sat watching, then called for a cease-fire. They all sat back down again. "There was a noticeable improvement. This is something every one of you should be able to do. If another war breaks out there shouldn't be a single Auror out there that can blame their idiotic choices on the Imperious curse." She looked at Harry and Ron briefly before continuing. "I want all of you to practice with your partners. Keep in mind that the first request made by the caster is not always something out of character, it could be as simple as making you grab a cup of coffee. Take note of the immediate feeling of lightness you experience when it is set upon you. That should be your indication, not being told to jump on a table."
Auror Jones shifted a bit in his seat. Harry noticed Ginny's eyes soften a bit when she took in his discomfort. "That wasn't a jab at your first order," she placated him. Then, with her commanding tone back again, she dismissed them. "We are not doing the same thing tomorrow. I may come back around and test your ability to throw off the curse again, I may not. I am glad that a few of you were able to throw it off at all since you claimed you couldn't an hour ago. It isn't easy. You're dismissed."
Harry was going to stay behind and talk to her. He was still determined to apologize, but Ron turned to him as everyone stood up. "I'll meet you out there, yeah?" Ron nodded towards Ginny.
Harry felt his nerves ease a bit. Ron needed to talk to her more than he did, and he was slightly relieved that he had to put it off for a while longer.
()()()
Ginny saw Ron turn to Harry and nod in her direction. Everyone else filed out of the room leaving the two of them alone.
"You need something?" she asked. She could tell he'd been ashamed of himself yesterday. She kept reminding herself that while he had made her life difficult, it was because of something Tom had made her do.
"I… Well, that is…" Ron trailed off. "Back in school." He took a few breaths.
"Yes?" she stretched out the word.
"I shouldn't have made your life harder," he finally got out.
Ginny didn't react. If that was all he had to say, then fine. It wasn't an apology, nor did it excuse him. "What was it you did to make my life harder?" she pried. If he didn't have an answer for that then she wasn't going to entertain this anymore.
Ron looked down at his shoes and a blush came to his face. "I spread rumors, told lies, scowled at you whenever I saw you. I was basically a ponce. Even yesterday I called you a selfish, evil bitch. I took a hard look at everything I did since you started school, and I am ashamed." He rang his fingers together then looked up at her. "Why didn't you yell at me?" he asked.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yell at you?"
"Yeah. When we were little you always fought back. But when I started in on you once you were sorted into Slytherin, you never yelled at me. You didn't fight. Not me or the twins! Then you just became this person," he gestured to her. "Well… not this person. You seem less closed off now than you did."
She closed her eyes a moment to steady herself. She wasn't going to tell him about her first few months in Slytherin. She had that story saved for a specific person for the first telling. Instead, Ginny walked over to the white board and grabbed a marker.
"You see this marker?" He nodded. "It's blue yeah?"
"Yes…" He trailed of, not knowing where this was going.
She pulled off the cap and drew a line on the board. "What colour is the line, Ron?"
"Blue."
She pointed at the line. "That is green." She capped the marker and threw it back down. "I didn't fight, because you didn't see me anymore. You didn't even bother to look. No one did. You would tell a story about me, and no one would question it, they just spread it along. Someone would tell you a story about me and you would go ahead and do the same thing. The lies and rumors just got compounded until I was seen as nothing but a 'selfish evil bitch'. I was dying in Slytherin, and you weren't helping. You didn't want to help. Instead, you and the twins kept the family turned against me." She kept a steady tone. "But, it wasn't all you. I know it all started from something I did in my first few months at school."
Ron stared at the line on the board. It was green. The cap on the marker was green too. He hadn't even bothered to check that.
"I have to meet with Head Auror Scrimgeour. I'll trust you can see your way out." Ginny turned and walked out of the room and headed for the loo.
She stood in front of the mirror and clutched the sides of the sink. She was shaken. Tremors were running through her arms and legs, and she needed to calm herself before going to make her reports on their progress. She hadn't wanted an altercation with Ron but had known it was inevitable.
Taking a few deep breaths, she steadied her nerves and washed her hands, letting the hot water calm her. She wanted a deep soak, there was only a shower stall at her flat though. Barring that, she wanted to get laid. That would calm her down. Her mind instantly pulled up an image of what Harry would look like on her bed. She'd always maintained a certain level of attraction when it came to him and seeing him look at her proud of himself for throwing off the curse the first time Auror Jones cast it on him made her remember how easily likable he was.
Ginny splashed her face with the water and dried it off before checking her reflection in the mirror. Her face showed no signs of her nerves. She couldn't wait to get home today and be in her safe space. Choosing to live in Muggle London for the duration of this experience had been an excellent idea.
()()()
"Judging from the look on your face, that didn't go so well," Harry commented as Ron returned to his desk.
Ron lay his head down on the desk and groaned. "I really am an evil bastard, aren't I?"
"Kind of," he agreed.
Ron looked up at him perplexed.
Harry met his eye dead on. "It's not like I stopped you at all, so I'm no better."
"Oh, you had other things on your mind than stopping me putting my foot in it." Ron's eyes turned worried, "I really destroyed her life, didn't I?"
"Well, you and the twins," Harry shrugged.
Ron scoffed. "Yeah, and it isn't like I can talk to them and tell them how they helped pile it on, can I? Compulsion Charm and all." He pondered a moment, "think I should invite her for dinner? Try to clear the air more?"
"You mean try to convince her that you are still her family?" Harry asked. It seemed a bit late for that.
Ron bit the skin around his thumb while he thought it over. The habit disgusted Harry, but all attempts to stop him doing it had been fruitless. "'Mione had been bugging me to track her down. Maybe I can convince Ginny to act like I had, and then 'Mione could help win her over?" Ron suggested.
Harry thought that over. Hermione was good with people; she'd even won favor with Malfoy and Zabini at staff functions and gala's that they had to attend over the years. Without her, Harry probably wouldn't have become friends with the two of them.
"Sure, Hermione would be a huge help, however, how are you going to convince Ginny to go to dinner with the two of you?"
"Three, you've got to come too."
"What?! Why?"
"You're family too! You should be there," he argued.
Harry cringed slightly. Yes, he was seen as family to the Weasley's, but Ginny wasn't any longer. "Maybe don't mention that bit when you ask her," he pointed out. Ron cringed too at that but nodded. "And it should probably be at your place, less witnesses."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll ask her round my place. Who knows, maybe by the time her two weeks is up we will be on good terms!" he said brightly.
Harry seriously doubted that but didn't say anything. He just gave Ron a tight, forced smile and went back to filling out his paperwork.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ginny walking down the row of desks towards the Head Aurors office. If Ron could talk to her and try to make up for all his wrong doings in the past, then so could Harry.
It was only just after two at that point, surely he could manage to talk to her before they all cleared out at five.
()()()
Harry hadn't been able to talk to her. He had heard Scrimgeour yelling at her though. The door had been shut, but the blinds had not been drawn. Everyone could see her sitting in the chair across the desk from the Head Auror, calmly replying to the man. She didn't seem perturbed in the least. Harry had gathered she hadn't had clearance to use the Unforgivable Curse.
Around four Ron and Harry had finished their paperwork and went to the empty conference room to try out the Imperious Curse on each other to improve.
Harry had actually managed to throw it off without any outward signs, Ron had done the chicken dance. It was taking him longer to submit to Harry's requests to make a fool of himself however, and that was progress.
Ron had bid him good day as soon as the clock struck five, and no more Aurors had wound up at St. Mungo's since that morning. Harry waited back to watch for Ginny. He looked over into the Head Aurors office to see if she was about ready to leave, but she wasn't there.
He quickly scanned around the room; she wasn't anywhere.
He grabbed his jacket quickly and set a quick pace for the exit. She could have Floo'ed or Apparated anywhere. He hoped it was Floo, and he hoped he could still catch her in the Atrium.
He still didn't see her in the Atrium and sighed. He turned at the Apparation point and found himself in Diagon Alley. He had a flat in Muggle London that was a few kilometers from the Leaky Cauldron. It was on the Muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron that he caught a glimpse of Weasley hair. It was Ginny!
His nerves crept up on him again. He went over his options. Stop her on the street or just try to talk to her again tomorrow?
Neither of those ideas won him over, so why he decided to disillusion himself and follow her he had no idea. The Chameleon was one of the best trained Aurors in the world, surely she would be able to tell if she was being followed.
That chance that he was willing to take.
()()()
AN- I know that UK Auror training was supposed to be three years long, so Ron and Harry should have only been fully trained Aurors for five years but given their role in the war I marked them down as 'fast tracked'.
Trying to keep the story as close to the canon as possible with my change to Ginny's life.