Chapter 30

October 1st was a big day in Daphne's career. Despite her ambitions to become the greatest healer, or to cure the world's oldest ailments she knew this would be a moment she could be proud of. The day she graduated from the auror Academy. Trained personally by perhaps the most powerful wizard of her generation, and signed off on by a Minister who had participated in their final field test personally.

Most aurors were given three months of Academy training. Followed by a year of field training. Her group of five however were immediately being attached to Harry's personal team. Their job was to be an on hand Task Force that would tackle things that perhaps other aurors wouldn't be equipped to handle.

It started with Daphne, the most experienced healer in the entire auror department. Her time as an emergency room trauma specialist made her a real value to a team that would likely be seeing a variety of combat missions.

Then there was Hannah. The girl was a force of nature with a wand, and she was going to be the main interrogator. Her skills with legilimency were second to none, and when Harry approved it she would be able to extract information from captured enemies they might encounter in the field. It also helped that with her apprenticeship as a healer at Hogwarts she would be able to help Daphne with any serious injuries.

Cho, Luna, and Dean, were going to be specializing in basic espionage tactics. Harry would be deploying them across Wizarding Britain on a nightly basis instructing them to blend in. Sometimes they would be together, and other times they would be alone. They are mostly trying to track suspicious circumstances that are getting reported across the country. After the attack at the World Cup everyone and their neighbor was a possible terrorist. With the number of tips coming, there was no shortage of calls that needed to be investigated, and between the three of them they covered a variety of bases.

Luna the pureblood daughter of a rather well known business owner. After graduating Hogwarts the girl had bloomed into a lovely young woman, and despite her eccentricity she had no problem blending in random social groups, and congregating normally.

Cho was also a Pureblood, but her family had a lot of contacts in the Ministry, and the Ministries across the continent. Her grandfather had been a foreign advisor, and while her parents had normal jobs a lot of those contacts were still available to her.

Dean was a good balance to the others because he was a muggleborn. He had intricate knowledge of the best places in the Muggle World. As one of the few wizards who had one foot firmly in each world he could blend in easily, and even spend time in muggle areas near Wizarding Communities to dig up information.

When you put the new initiates with the team Harry had already formed after the first war they were packing some serious power, resources, and abilities. Daphne however was the only one who had not been in the DA during the first go around, and it was something she regretted immensely. Hindsight truly was 20/20, and as Harry stood before the gathered families giving a brief speech about their specialized auror class this thought came playing over and over in her mind.

Hannah sat next to her with her head held up with pride. She didn't have any family left from the last war. The only one in the small audience supporting her was Neville. That didn't seem to deter her though. She had told Daphne before the ceremony that she knew her family and Susan would have been immensely proud, and she knew that they had made the right choices. Daphne wished she could say her family was proud, but everytime she glanced at them they looked like they were attending a funeral instead of a graduation.

At the end Harry called up each person, and pinned the auror badge on their purple robes. The robes were mostly for ceremony in their case since they were immediately being assigned to a speciality team that would have its own dress code, but still Daphne couldn't believe she wore the badge, and the clothes that gave her a rank she would never have even dreamed of having.

The applause was polite, and each of the auror captains took turns walking through the initiates shaking hands, and even giving some hugs out. The sentiment continued when she met with her friends, her fellow academy aurors, and then her family.

Truth be told the new auror was ready to get the show on the road. Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione had been keeping everything close to the vest over the last month as they were giving the initiates time to focus on their academy, but it was game time now. They were officially a part of the team as of today, and they each wanted to know what the Gryffindor war heroes had come up with in the last month.

Draco, Astoria, and Daphne's mother, were waiting expectantly, and a little awkwardly towards the back of the assembled crowd, and when Daphne made it to them Astoria was the first to embrace her, "Dad would have been so proud. Surprised, but proud."

Daphne thanked her sister with a smile, and when she looked at her mother the woman looked tired, "Your sister is right of course. Neither of us envisioned this path for you, but as always I am certain you will excel at it like everything else you have done."

"I also want to thank you Lord Malfoy for attending. I know some of the people here are not exactly allies." Daphne said with a smirk.

Draco's lips twitched upwards in amusement at her words, "Yes listening to Saint Potter give speeches is about as painful as can be expected. I am uncertain as to what I should call you these days though is it Lady Greengrass, Healer Greengrass, or Auror Greengrass?"

Astoria blinked several times at his words before lightly elbowing him in the ribs, "Now now Draco don't be teasing my sister too hard. This is a day of celebration. Will you be joining us for dinner? Or perhaps a drink?"

The head of the family merely shook her head, "Not today. I think we can all celebrate properly when the badge is being put down. Until then it just doesn't feel right."

Aurora Greengrass frowned, "You have earned a day of celebration Daphne. You have worked very hard this last month."

"The timing just isn't right yet mother. I promise there will be revelaries at a later date." She said with finality, "Thank you all for coming. It does mean a lot. I know you all don't agree with my decision, but after what happened to Susan…well something had to be done."

With that she offered her sister a final hug, and departed towards a circle of eight aurors and the Minister himself. When Daphne made it to the group she addressed the country's leader first, "Minister Shacklebolt, thank you for coming to speak at our graduation today."

The towering man offered the blonde witch an easy smile, "I remember the day I graduated. It was one of the proudest days of my life. Unfortunately for this group there is a lot to catch up on so the celebrations won't be nearly as grandiose as mine were."

Harry shook his head, "Proudfoot told me about your after party Shack. I can promise that there will be a time and place for that. Hopefully not too far in the future. I know this lot is anxious though, so let's get started in my office."

With that the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement gestured everyone to follow him, and did so with obedience. The Ministry was practically empty this Saturday afternoon, and the silence in the area held a nervous tension to it.

When they reached the office Harry began flicking his wand around, and Daphne suddenly felt powerful wards activate. So powerful the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up. When Harry sat down he waved his hands and multiple lounge chairs appeared, "Everyone get comfortable we have a lot to go over."

When everyone took their seats Kingsley came and took a position behind Harry remaining standing. Daphne remembered Harry telling her that Minister Shacklebolt had once been an advisor/bodyguard to the Prime Minister, and with the hulking man casting a shadow over Harry she believed it. He looked every bit the powerful leader the country needed, and to the uninformed he could even have been mistaken as Harry's bodyguard in the moment.

Taking a deep breath Harry seemed to steel himself before speaking, "Hermione, Ron, Neville, and I have not been idle in the last month. I assure you we all have been working tirelessly to gather intelligence, and I offer an apology for keeping you all in the dark while we did so. Daphne's information that cleared Lord Malfoy's name from the mix gave us a huge head start in the head hunt for who caused the attack on the World Cup." With a gentle lift of his wrist packets began floating off his desk, and began self duplicating as they fell in the lap of each waiting auror, "Before you is a fruit of our investigations. 28 founding houses of Wizarding Britain, and we combed through every single one trying to find discrepancies, oddities, or anything that may be down right suspicious. We learned a lot, but honestly little of it was useful."

Daphne began combing through the names categorically knowing that this was something she could certainly help with. She had spent most of her life around these families, and knew most of them very well regardless of what faction they may have hailed from.

Some were easy, but there were easily a dozen families that could be behind these attacks, or at the very least supporting them. Her eyes started at the top, but she quickly realized that houses like Avery, Bulstrode, Flint, Parkinson, and Rosier, were likely involved. It became evident that all that remained of those great houses were widows, and childless. It was a disturbing realization as Daphne had known a lot of her Slytherin housemates carried those names, and all were lost along the way.

Then there were other families like the Selwyns that didn't lose a lot in the last two wars, but were extremely wealthy from the days of the founders. They often funded rising Dark Lords, but kept their noses clean. The Selwyn's had often consorted with a wide variety of groups though, and their tolerance of muggleborns infamously increased with the consumption of alcohol. Hence how despicable human beings like Delores Umbridge were born into existence. Wizarding Britain was full of half blood witches and wizards who could claim Selwyn blood, but somehow their wealth had never dried up. To Daphne they seemed to be a viable suspect.

The Burke's functioned differently than most of the Sacred 28. They were not a wealthy house, and each of their members were forced to work hard to earn their money. They owned a large portion of Knockturn Alley, and of course the infamous Borgin and Burke storefront. They had always been heavy sympathizers with Pureblood tradition, but had not famously persecuted muggleborns like their counterparts. Their involvement was unlikely.

Malfoy of course had been exonerated, but two of their closest allies Travers, and Yaxley certainly were not. Both family's fell in the middle of the income bracket in the wizarding world, and they each had strong ties to the Ministry. Both heads of the family had gone to Azkaban after the war, but their heirs were still in Hogwarts. Daphne had met both boys as young men, and if the incarceration of their fathers had been thrown in their faces, or they had been mistreated at Hogwarts it was certainly possible they could be involved. Daphne listened as Harry discussed the two boys, and their respective performances at Hogwarts. It seemed both students kept their heads down, and despite a few minor instances of schoolyard violence they seemed clean. Their families were small and their wealth not massive, so it seemed unlikely they could be involved.

When Harry carried on to the Rowle family Daphne fidgeted in discomfort. The former head of the family, Thorfin, was an absolute animal. She had met his children Rowena, and Regina, and they were both reasonable women despite their pig of a father. He had tried to get Daphne to sleep with him at the Malfoy Christmas party in her fifth year. Her father had nearly killed the man that night, and she took a slight sick satisfaction when Harry admitted that the family would have particular reason to oppose him since he killed the former head of the family in the Battle of Hogwarts.

Then there was the prime suspect. The Notts. They were obviously knee deep in this, and unlike the other families mentioned thus far the Notts were still quite a large family. Tiberius Nott claimed to have been the first of many, and every single one of them were a viable threat. Her stomach dropped slightly when she realized this family was the largest file. There were dozens of members of the family on the continent, and even a few that had crossed into Wizarding Britain in the last year. There were multiple photos of these members of the Nott family, while the others on the continent were basically ghosts. Hitwizards, potioneers, and traders, but none with huge social profiles. The investigation was ongoing according to Harry, but it was clear to all that this was who Harry was betting on as the prime instigator.

Nott, Bulstrode, Parkinson, Avery, Flint, Rosier, and Selywn. The prime suspects. Daphne knew tailing six of these families would be difficult, but that was why Harry had formed a larger response team. He needed people he could trust watching this group of like minded individuals to see if he could link them to what had happened at the World Cup.

When Harry finished his analysis of the information that had been compiled he asked for questions, and Hannah formed one after a few moments of silence, "Harry with so many members of the Nott family here in Britain wouldn't it be wise to have them submit for questioning?"

The man in charge shook his head, "Oh believe me I sent owls requesting an interview, but all my letters have come back unopened. I want to say since you are innocent until proven guilty, and that the wards are rejecting my letters, but I doubt it."

"What about appearing at their places of work?" Dean asked cautiously.

"Popping in on Ancient and Noble houses is very disrespectful." Kingsley said calculatingly, "The media would crucify us, and there is a chance they would just reject our summons. Then we would have to go through the Wizengamot and it would just become a political uphill battle. We would likely win, but if they see us go through that amount of effort then they will know we are onto them."

The room held the silence, and Ron chuckled, "Believe me the politics of all this was half the reason I went into the joke shop business."

"We need to figure out why people think Harry killed Nott Jr. in the battle. Whoever started that rumor gave us our biggest enemy. If we can somehow show that Harry is innocent in that-"

Cho started, but Harry interrupted her, "But we can't. Everyone here knows that a lot of our enemies that night were hiding behind masks. The odds that Nott was one of the faceless is fairly high. For all we know his best friend was standing next to him with a mask when I killed him, and he alone started spreading it around.

Hermione frowned, "Well who was his best friend? Maybe we can track the information from the source."

Daphne shook her head immediately when all eyes went to her, "Theo didn't have a ton of close friends. Mostly political allies within the house. Blaise was probably his closest ally during our years at Hogwarts, but obviously… he was gone before the battle, so it couldn't have started there."

"Hannah, perhaps we can take a look around in my mind together to see if you can catch something I didn't. A pensieve is only so good." Harry said not looking thrilled by his own idea at all.

"We could." Hannah admitted, "But the whole night was chaos. The whole thing could have been unintentional. I think that line of investigation is a dead end for now. Until we know more at least."

Hermione nodded her head in agreement after a moment of thought, "Very well. We have a list of assignments and leads that can be followed up on, as well as charmed coins that can communicate with each other in case anyone needs help."

The brunette witch flicked her wand and eight coins began floating out towards the group, and Luna smiled when she reached out and grabbed hers, "It's like the DA coin. Good charms Hermione."

The Gryffindor witch beamed at the compliment, and explained further, "These have been laced with caterwauling charm as well. That way if you don't have time to enter a message we can still get an all assist out to everyone."

Daphne had to admit she was impressed with the woman's combination of charms. The protean charm was notoriously difficult to perform, and lacing it with other charms was an amazing feat of magic. Harry broke her train of thought when he addressed the group again, "We are going to launch a series of interviews as well with the suspected families. If they deny a summons then we will start trailing them. My opinion is why would you avoid the interview if you had nothing to hide. We are going to start that first thing tomorrow though, so you all get a good night's sleep tonight, and prepare yourselves for what comes next. Congratulations to our new aurors, and thank you. I know you all could've done other things, but it means the world to me, and would've meant a lot to Susan as well that you are all here trying to put an end to this. We will win. Whatever it takes."

Neville clapped his hand on the table in the back twice, "Here here."

The group all went to their feet, and conversation started across the office in pairs. Daphne merely turned to Hannah who kissed Neville on the cheek as she exited the office without saying much to anyone. Neville frowned after the woman when she exited, and Daphne approached the man cautiously, "Alright there Neville?"

The young man seemed startled by her addressal. The Neville before her was a far cry from the one she had known as a child. He used to be a chubby kid with serious confidence issues, whose family thought he was a squib. Daphne could regretfully say she had been among those in school who had teased the boy, but there was certainly nothing to tease him for now. Now he was a little under two meters tall, and looked completely solid all the way around. He looked stronger now than she had ever seen him. It was clear that his training with the other aurors in the last month had cracked him into shape, and he looked good other than his blue tired eyes that were looking into her own, "Yeah I'm okay Daphne. Everything okay with you?"

Daphne looked at the boy with scrutiny before saying, "I'm okay as well. I was just surprised to see Hannah darting out of here so fast. I thought we could grab dinner or something to celebrate."

Neville hid an emotion from Daphne well, and it was one that she couldn't quite place her finger on, "Hannah will be going back to her flat to work on some stuff. She is uhh…"

It was clear the man was trying to come up with an excuse, but words seemed to fail him as Daphne frowned, "Is she okay?"

The man's shoulders sagged instantly at her question, "I don't know. She hasn't been the same since we lost Susan. She is incredibly driven that is for certain, but with how powerful her Occlumency is I really have no idea what she is feeling. I can't even sense her emotion through magic, and neither can Harry."

Daphne frowned at that statement. She wasn't aware Harry possessed such an ability, but decided not to question the statement, "Do you want me to try and talk to her?"

Neville looked grateful for the suggestion but shook his head placing a hand on her shoulder, "Hannah will come around. She is just grieving in her own way. Her Occlumency helps her combat depression, and once she works through the loneliness the absence of her best friend is causing her she will be okay. Just…keep an eye on her, yeah?"

Daphne nodded her head, but Neville didn't even look to see her acknowledgment as he too began to exit the office. By the time he closed the door she turned to see Harry now alone picking up a few things off his desk. His eyes met hers, and he gave her a soft smile, "Ready to go home?"

Her stomach fluttered at the question. Harry's flat was becoming like a second home to her. She certainly had been spending enough time there in the last two months for it to start feeling that way, and she gave him a nod and accepted the kiss he gave her as he began making his way towards the exit of his office.

Daphne followed the man back through the Ministry, and asked as they were walking through the atrium towards the apparition point, "What is everyone doing tonight?"

Offering his arm to the girl she linked her hand through his elbow as he answered her question, "Well it seems everyone is taking some personal time to be with family. Ron and Hermione are going to have a quiet dinner at home. Luna is going to see her father, and celebrate in a way I am sure only they could appreciate. Cho is going to celebrate with her muggle boyfriend who apparently has no idea what is going on. Dean is going to get pissed, and Mr and Mrs soon to be Longbottom are…"

The man trailed off, and Daphne knew the man was aware that something ailed their blonde friend. She waited for him to finish, but he never did. Before she knew it they were apparating back to the flat in London, and when they separated Harry kissed her knuckles, "Want me to make us dinner?"

Harry's cooking was something that Daphne had come to immensely enjoy so she nodded as she walked towards a bar stool that overlooked the kitchen and took a seat. Harry snapped his fingers as he made his way towards the kitchen, and a bottle of wine that they had drank on the first date came floating down with two glasses in tow. Harry wasn't even looking as the two glasses were being filled, and he rummaged around for dishes to begin his process of cooking.

Daphne watched the man move effortlessly through his kitchen as she sipped at her wine. The gesture he effortlessly made to remember the wine they drank on their first date, and serve it to her without even comment on it warmed her heart. She knew this man had stolen her heart along the way somewhere, and could only hope nothing would change between them as they moved forward through what happened next. They were both aurors now, and things could change at a moment's notice. Everything could change. Just like it had when they lost Susan.

Dinner didn't take the man long to prepare. She hardly noticed at some point he turned on the Wireless that had begun to play music softly in the background. They ate in peace, hardly exchanging any words during dinner, and when they finished his eyes locked on hers and mischief glinted in them as he stood to his feet offering a hand.

There was a slow beat coming from the wireless and he bowed to her in waiting for her to take his hand. Without much hesitation she rose to her feet, and took his hand. He spun her around making her laugh as his dancing was exaggerated, and not very graceful. She laughed even harder when he spun himself through her arms, "I don't think this is very formal dancing Lord Potter."

The cheeky smile he gave her made her feel lighter when he said, "Of all the many skills I picked up in life, formal dancing was never one of them."

Daphne could only shake her head at the man as they continued through the song. A soft melody followed the song and they swayed back and forth slower than before. She rested her head on his shoulder, and felt his head touch hers as the song continued.

Emotions that she couldn't even comprehend were swirling through her. Pride that she had completed the auror academy. Heartbreak at the loss of Susan, which drove them all to become aurors. Anger at the thought of those out there that sought to harm more of her friends. Then fear. Fear of losing what was right in front of her. Fear of losing her other friends. She wasn't sure when it started but tears began pooling in her eyes. Harry seemed to sense the change in dynamic and they separated, making Daphne raise her hands to her eyes immediately to dab at them. He said her name in a soft voice, and she said, "I'm scared Harry."

Harry put an arm around her shoulder and guided her to the couch, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you Daph. We are all going to protect each other out there."

"I'm not afraid for myself Harry. I am afraid we are going to lose someone else. Like we lost Susan." She said feeling the iron tight grip of fear clenching her throat.

Shaking his head the emerald eyed man responded with, "I can't say we aren't going to lose anyone else. It's not a promise any auror can ever make at any given time, but what I can promise is that we are all going to protect each other with everything we have. No one is going to pull any punches. We are going to win this whatever it takes."

"Not whatever it takes Harry. We have to win this in a way that everyone gets to go home. That everyone gets to live the lives they were supposed to." Daphne pleaded.

The smile he offered her wasn't very consoling as he placed a hand on top of hers, "That isn't the way this kind of thing usually works Daph."

She frowned at his words, "So you are prepared to lose everything to stop these monsters?"

"Prepared to? God no." Harry said, returning her frown, "But I also know that we all lost Susan because we were facing insurmountable odds with only the two of us. There is going to be a lot more than two wands in the next encounter. I will also be wielding a different set of weapons the next time. Game changing weapons. You know the stories, and I can tell you with certainty in my hands they are true. We are going to weed these monsters out by the stem, and make them pay for what they did."

"I'm worried about Hannah Harry." Daphne confessed.

"We all are." Harry admitted, "Neville most of all. Though Hannah is an exceptional witch. She is also extremely determined. We will all be looking out for her, and keep her safe."

"Couldn't you take her out of combat missions? Cite her mental health being compromised?" She pressed carefully.

"I wouldn't even if I could. She has as much of a right to fight as the rest of us. Not to mention she would hate me if I even tried. I promise we are watching her Daph, and don't underestimate her ability with the mind arts. I think she is throwing herself all into training to do everything possible to become as powerful as Susan. You have seen how it affected her, and you know she holds herself partly responsible for not being there. We all just need to zero in on this case so we can end this as soon as possible. I don't even want to imagine what a second organized strike could be like." Harry said with a shudder.

Daphne could only ponder his words. She knew he was right, and that she was likely being hyper sensitive to the thought of losing another one of her friends. She swore to herself to keep a closer eye on her blonde friend, and spend all her free time investigating the suspects of this case. She could only pray that no one would be lost along the way. A final glance at the two auror badges on the nearby counter made her realize just how much her life had changed in the past six months. Imagining where her life in six more months might be was dizzying, but as Harry kissed her cheek, and started towards the couch for a relaxing evening she knew as long as he was there she would find a way to keep moving.

(A/N) Another chapter in the books! I am sorry to say this is one story I can't give advanced content for. I have Chapter 31 written out, but I have been stuck on Chapter 32 for almost 2 months. I am hoping to work out the puzzle this week in my brain and bring you advanced content soon, but we are approaching the Endgame. If you have any interest in my other stories though you can find the advanced content on my server. Just delete the spaces below, and I will see you all on February 9th! Cheers.

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