Good day my fellow Harry Potter lovers! Here is yet again another chapter on the adventures of our fictional best friends. Really, sometimes I feel like I spend more time living in the fictional world of Harry Potter then in real life. But okay, I like the fictional world better so I don't mind. My mom does. She thinks I'm becoming obsessed, and I think she's right. I don't own any of the character, they are all J. K. Rowling's
The day after was the day of Harry's appointment with Kingsley. After another bad night he went downstairs to have breakfast. His appetite seemed to be low, lately. Before they had stayed at Shell cottage, every day was another struggle to find enough food. At Shell cottage, it had been weird to have adequate amounts of food and three large meals a day. But he hadn't eaten much back then either. Now that it was all over, he still didn't eat much. It was over. Every morning, he still had to remind himself of the fact that it was over. The war was over and the killing was over. But the struggle, the fear and the pain… They weren't .
At twelve o'clock Harry left the Burrow and aparated into the narrow alley where the trio had captured two ministry workers months before. He turned into the main road and walked towards the main entrance. This was the first time he had been in public since the battle, and because he was so close the entrance of the ministry of magic, many wizards and witches spotted him and stared at him. Harry held his head low and quickly continued walking in the hope that people would leave him alone. But of course, they didn't. The first to come up to him was an elderly man.
"Excuse me, you are Harry Potter, right?"
"No", he replied without looking at the man, as he paced past all the people staring at him, towards the entrance.
"Yes you are! You're Harry Potter!" the man was now speeding up as well. Harry didn't reply to him and just wished he had brought his invisibility cloak. At the sound of his name, even more people turned around to look at him in amazement.
"It's Harry Potter, there!"
"The boy-who-lived, he's here, I can see him!"
"I want to talk to him"
"Do you think he'll be willing to go out with me some time?"
People started coming up to him and he had to push his way through the forming crowd. Why didn't they understand that he didn't want to talk to any of them? Luckily he had finally reached the entrance of the ministry and went in. However, many people just followed him inside, causing people who were already inside to turn their heads towards the suddenly appearing crowd, and notice Harry as well. Harry didn't listen to what any of them tried to say to him, and became increasingly annoyed and angry at them. He reached the reception and spoke to the man sitting behind the counter.
"Hello sir, I have an appointment with the minister. He's expecting me."
The man looked up and when he saw Harry his jaw dropped.
"Mr. Potter! Yes of course! Uh, yes. Uhm… Here you go", and he clumsily handed Harry a badge. Harry put it in his pocket without looking at it and sped towards the lifts.
"I'm a huge fan of yours, Mr. Potter! I always supported you!", the reception man called after him.
Harry got into the lift and reached Shacklebolt's floor. He got out and walked towards Shacklebolt's office. Luckily, none of the people from the crowd downstairs had followed him until here. He knocked on the door of Shacklebolt's office. The door swung open and Harry entered a wide office. Multiple portraits of former minister's of magic and other influential, important people were hanging on the walls. Harry spotted one of Dumbledore on the left wall. Kingsley was sitting behind his desk, busily writing something down.
"One moment, please… Yes… Aaaand… Done. Hello Mr. Potter, have a seat. You're a little early!", he said as he stood up and shook Harry's hand.
"Yeah, I meant to wait outside until it was time, but the crowds of 'fans' made me change my mind."
"I'm sorry about that. You'd think they would agree that you deserve your peace and quiet now."
"I guess there is little to do about it"
Harry sat down and Shacklebolt offered him some tea. They exchanged some formalities. Harry found Kingsley to be a very nice man to talk to. He had a calm aura, was very respectful and understood Harry very well. He was wise, and above all, a good man. He had shown that in his work for the order.
"So, Harry, let's start with your press-problem. Arthur told me that reporters have been camping outside of the Burrow's gates ever since the battle ended. Due to the security charms put up they can't enter, and only owls that deliver letters that have an address on them, rather than just a name, can deliver their messages. However, due to this the ministry has received piles of letters addressed to you, with the request of sending them through. People are trying anything to get in touch with you. Most of them are from people who just want to thank you for what you did, but we haven't read them, so we can't be sure what is on all of the letters. Would you accept to take them or should the ministry just throw them away?"
"I don't want them. You can do whatever you want with them, burn them or something."
Shacklebolt smiled.
"Will do. Next to that, I think it would be wise to send out a short statement to the press regarding your… doings these past months and your defeat of Voldemort. Everyone is craving an explanation. I understand very well that you want to protect your privacy and don't want to mention the horcruxes, which I think is a excellent decision, but the public needs an explanation as well, even if it is as short as confirming that you killed Voldemort and had been working on his defeat these past ten months. I can help you with writing it."
"Thank you, Mr. Shacklebolt, but I think I will write it together with Ron and Hermione. I can send it to you after that, and you can tell us what you think of it."
"That will do too, I believe. And please just call me Kingsley, Harry. Then, there are going to be a lot of funerals this week. I have gotten many invitations and even more people have invited you to the funerals. Of course I understand if you don't want to go, I don't expect you to, but I can't decline for you without asking you. So what do you think?"
"I'm not going to any funerals but from the people I knew and cared for. I think I already did enough. I'm not very eager to see more loss and more destruction of life's and families."
"Good, I'll tell them that. Furthermore, the ministry is organising a memorial for the victims in two weeks. Would you be willing to say a few words or just be there?"
Harry was quiet for a while.
"I think I have to get myself together before I can play the hero of the public everyone likes to see me as."
"Right. I already thought so. Then, there is only one thing left to discuss. Becoming an auror. Have you made up your mind yet?"
"Yes. I would like to accept the job. But how will I learn about everything discussed in auror training? Do you really think I can do it without?"
"Yes I do. Currently, the auror department, and the entire ministry actually, finds itself in a state of chaos. Many people had been functioning under the imperius curse and many of the people working at the ministry were deatheaters or sympathisers of Voldemort, such as Mrs. Umbridge. We are very busy with finding these people and locking them up. However, the people who would normally do that, our aurors, are currently unorganised. Many aurors just continued working for the ministry after You-Know-Who had taken over, and by doing that obeyed You-Know-Whose orders. They practically worked for the dark side, just because they had sworn to themselves to always remain loyal to the ministry. We do however still need them, because we led great losses during the war and our auror department is already understaffed, but right now there is much more work for our aurors to do then before. If you add to that the fact that we don't even have a head-auror yet, the chaos is complete. Now Harry, I don't want you to feel like the only reason I am asking you is because we are in crisis. The main reason I offered this job to you is because I honestly think you have a great potential and it would be a shame if we would waste that, especially if this is what you want yourself."
"I had no idea that everything was this chaotic!"
"No, but our entire community is, at the moment. We'll just have to work hard to get through this. Before the war, it was extremely hard to become an auror. No one has been accepted into auror training since 1993, and before that only very few. I was thinking… Well, I haven't discussed it with anyone yet, nor decided yet, but I think I am going to offer a place in auror training to everyone who has fought in the Battle of Hogwarts."
"That would be… Well, I think there are many Hogwarts students who would love to start a career as an auror but feel like they have no chance to do so. Loosening up the requirements might indeed be a good decision."
"Thank you for the support, Harry", Kingsley smiled. "The terms on which you would be accepted into auror training were very strict. You needed a lot of N.E.W.T.s and at least E's. I am aware of the fact that you never scored any N.E.W.T.s and didn't finish your seventh year. Therefore you might have indeed missed out on knowledge and theoretical skills other people would learn in that year. Next to that you will most likely be skipping three years of auror training. However, I still offered this to you because I know you can do it anyway. You have things more important than any N.E.W.T., you have experience and you have the personality. You have proven to be brave. You will take on any situation if you feel like it is the good thing to do and you stand up for what you believe in. You are just and principled, and I think that is exactly like the change I wish to see in the auror department. I want to see more critical thinking and justice, rather than solely knowledge and duelling skills. The auror department needs to be reformed so cases like Sirius' will not happen again. I think you have the potential to be a great auror, Harry. An auror like Nymphadora, sorry, Dora, Mad-eye and the Longbottom's."
Harry smiled. The ministry had let him down many times, they had caused too much injustice and suffering where it could have been prevented. But hearing Kingsley talk like this made Harry quickly realise that this would change. Kingsley would reform the ministry for the better, and with it the British wizarding community.
"You forgot to include yourself in that list.", Harry grinned.
Kingsley laughed. "I suggest that you start as an auror, but each working day will be two hours shorter so you can use those two hours to study and practice the material from auror training. You can start as soon as you wish to."
"Could I start next week?"
Kingsley looked a bit taken aback by this. "So soon? Have you had enough rest by then? I mean, it's your choice, but…"
"Yes. I don't want to sit around, doing nothing. I want to help finish it." And I don't want to be left alone with my thoughts the whole day, he added in his mind.
When Harry left Kingsley's office, he felt better than he had felt in a very long time. However, soon the depressed and numb feeling that had been haunting him those past days fell over him again. He worked his way through the crowds again, and apparently someone had messaged the press because there were a few reporters as well. Harry tried to ignore them and kept on walking, but reporters seemed to have learned not to let go of a story, and kept following him and getting in his way.
"Mr. Potter! Mr. Potter! Could you tell us about your defeat of The Darkest and possibly Most Powerful Wizard of our time?"
"Potter, sources have told us that you have defeated You-Know-Who with a wand more powerful than any other. What can you tell us about this?"
"Potter!"
"Harry Potter"
"I work for the daily prophet!"
Harry sped out and apparated back to the Burrow as soon as he could. His good mood was completely gone.
Ginny was sitting at the stream in the garden again, and Harry headed over to her. She was sitting with her back towards him and looked completely lost in thoughts, so she didn't notice him coming. He bend down and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She let out a small screech and quickly turned around in his arms.
"You, prat!"
"Sorry!", he grinned at her. He couldn't help it, he was just too happy with her.
"You look happy! How was it?"
His smile dropped and he sighed. "Horrible." He sat down next to her.
"What? How come? What did you and Kingsley discuss?" Ginny looked worried.
"No, it wasn't Kingsley. The appointment was excellent. It's just… It was the first time back in public. First time since… Since Bill's wedding I guess. And I wasn't even myself back then… The crowds, they just… No consideration, they don't care about me at all! They pretend to love me, and harass me! But it's not me they love, it's the Boy-Who-Lived, they adore. It is The Chosen One they are a fan of. They don't know me, they don't know Harry Potter, but they think they do and I hate it! I hate the press and their ridiculous questions!" Harry was yelling by now.
Ginny kept quiet for a while before she replied.
"I know you. I know Harry Potter and I see him, right next to me. He is in pain, but he is not alone, even though he often thinks so. I am here for him and I will guide him through the crowds whenever he needs it. I'll hex every annoying reporter for him with my excellent Bat-Bogey hex." Her voice was soft and gentle, but yet so powerful and Harry could feel how much she mean it.
"Harry Potter thanks you. He would very much enjoy a demonstration of your excellent hex on one, or perhaps ten reporters. And on the many girls that asked me on a date today. Because I swear, there were really about 6 girls that asked me on a date today! It's ridiculous!" Even though it was incredibly annoying, he had to admit that it was quite funny as well.
Ginny laughed as well. They sat back on the grass, in the sun next to the stream and in each other's arms.
"But tell me about the appointment. How did it go?"
"It was good. I'm starting as an auror next week."
"What?!" Ginny shoot up. "Already?"
"Yeah. He told me I could start as soon as I wanted, and I don't have much else to do so…"
He looked at Ginny, and saw that she was angry.
"Bloody hell, Harry, you have just gotten back. You were gone for ten months under extremely stressful circumstances, you get back, rest for barely two weeks and then just leave again?!"
"I'm not leaving! I'll still see you after work, every day, I promise! I just can't sit around all day knowing that those bastards are still running around somewhere, unpunished."
Ginny looked at him with a calculating look on her face.
"That's not the only reason, is it?"
Harry looked down at the grass.
"I… No, it's not. I want to have something to do. Every second that I'm not busy doing something or talking to someone I have flashbacks and thoughts that I don't want to be confronted with. Really, it's not at all neat. I want something to distract myself with."
Ginny sighed, laid back on the grass and rubbed her hands over her face.
"Oh Harry…"
"I won't leave you again." He said, as he laid next to her. She moved closer to him and put her head on his shoulder.
"I'm not the only one you should care for. You have to take good care of yourself".
"Hmm…"
It was the day after Harry's appointment with Kingsley and they were having dinner. Molly appeared to use the same tactic as Harry: as long as she kept busy, the loss of her son would not suffocate her. Therefore she had cooked excessively again. George had barely shown his face ever since they were back at the Burrow. Everyone was worried about him. Arthur had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes looked dull. Ron and Hermione were mostly working on tracking down Hermione's parents, but they couldn't do much until they were actually there, in Australia. After dinner, Harry stacked plates to take to the kitchen, but Molly stopped him.
"Please, dear, I'll do it. You guys go ahead to the living room or something. I'll bring you tea in a minute."
Harry let her, because he knew how it would help her to have something to do. They sat down in the living room indeed. They talked about the ministry and how much it would change under Kingsley.
"Kingsley is a very good man, the ministry is currently in chaos but you can see he is working very hard to get things back to normal, better than it was before", Arthur stated.
"They couldn't have chosen anyone better to become minister of magic!", Hermione added.
"They should reward him with the Order of Merlin First Class"
"I don't think he'll do that, even if he thinks he deserves it. He wants to be better than his predecessors and he doesn't want to become a hypocrite like Fudge and reward it to himself. I think he thinks that might give off the wrong signal, it's just not right to do so. And I think he's right", that was Bill.
"Fudge actually gave himself the Order of Merlin? First Class?" Ron was shocked.
"He did, I know, it's horrible. He did nothing to deserve such a thing."
"Do you think they can still take it away from him?"
"Well, they were considering taking away Dumbledore's, that year the ministry still denied You-Know-Whose return, so I'm sure they can and I hope they will."
That night, Harry couldn't sleep again. Or actually, he could, he was too tired to stay awake, but he tried his best not to fall asleep. Suddenly, he heard a soft knock on the door. Ron moaned softly. Harry stood up and opened the door. Hermione was standing there.
"Ginny, she's had a nightmare again, and she's really, very much upset. She asked me if I could send you downstairs, Harry. I think she wants to make sure you're OK. Must've had a nightmare about you again."
"Uh, Okay… But…"
"I'll stay here, I'll take your bed or something. You can sleep in my bed for tonight."
Harry smiled. "Alright, good night."
Carefully, so he wouldn't wake anyone up, he sneaked down the stairs until he stood in front of Ginny's room. He knocked softly.
"Come in"
"Hi Gins… Hermione sent me. Are you alright?"
Ginny smiled softly when he came in. Harry closed the door behind him. He could see that she had cried.
"Now that I see you I'm better again."
Harry sat down on the edge of her bed and gently stroked her hair.
"Nightmares again?"
"Yeah. They never really left me ever since my first year and that chamber… They did get less though, until the Carrow's showed up. And now I'm having nightmares about the chamber, the battle at the ministry, Hogwarts last year and just the war… And the battle of course…"
"I understand. I have them too. A lot. Sometimes I try to stay awake at night, just so I won't have to see those pictures again in my dreams. Or worse, dream Voldemort's dreams again. I know it won't happen again, but… It just feels that way. I always sleep with my wand under my pillow."
"I do that too. I have a lot of nightmares about you. You getting killed or captured, you getting tortured, you not waking up after the forbidden forest…"
"But I'm here now, I'm safe. And so are you", he kissed her cheek. "Hermione is staying with Ron, so I'll be staying here, if that's okay with you."
Ginny smiled. "Of course."
Harry stepped into Hermione's bed and quickly fell asleep. But soon came the nightmares again. He was running down the halls of Hogwarts with Ginny. Suddenly they found themselves in the middle of a group of deatheaters. On the other side of the hallway he saw Remus, Dora and Sirius. He begged them for help but they turned away and accused him of their deaths. Accused him of orphaning Teddy. The deatheaters lauged and turned to Ginny, ready to strike.
Suddenly Harry found himself next to his bed, wand in his outstretched hand and breathing heavily.
"Harry?"
He looked around the room and realised where he was. He was in Ginny's room. It had just been another nightmare. All was fine. He looked at Ginny and saw that she was unharmed. She looked at him worriedly.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just another one."
Ginny lifted the corner of the blankets and looked at him.
"Will you come lie with me?"
Harry smiled at her and stepped into her bed. For the rest of the night he held her tightly while they slept without having any more nightmares.
That was it for now. Chapter 5 is coming up, so please subscribe and even more importantly, review so each chapter can become better then the previous one. Thank you for reading!
