Chapter 16 – Camping

The camping trip had been great so far. Harry and Ginny have been enjoying themselves immensely. They busied themselves during the day with easy hikes over the Scottish countryside, with frequent breaks for Harry, picnic style lunches, and long conversations. Harry and Ginny reconnected has they laughed and carried on like a couple of lovesick teenagers who hadn't seen each other in months. They snogged in broad daylight on their picnic blanket and made love to each other under the stars. They chased each other through the meadows and play fought around the campfire. This holiday was long overdue and was exactly what they both needed. Harry loved hearing his wife laugh and giggle and got to hear it extremely often. Ginny loved making Harry feel wanted and needed despite the problem with his leg. They both were having the time of their lives. Once the sun had set, Harry would build a fire using the muggle method, which Ginny found quite interesting. She asked him why he used the muggle method when using magic would be easier and faster. Harry told her after resting at home not doing much of anything for the past couple of weeks, it gave him a sense of satisfaction to be able to build a good fire just using his two hands. Ginny just left him to it. Dinner was always an adventure and Ginny came up with some great on the spot recipes that Harry truly enjoyed. She made sure to make note of a couple of them to make at home for him.

"OH SHIT! HIT THE DECK! FUCK!" Intel got it wrong again. "YOU GOOD TO GO SIR?!"

"I'M OK TOM. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!"

"AMBUSH SIR. STAY BEHIND ME. WE'VE GOT THIS."

"DAM! THIS PLACE IS GOING TO COME DOWN!"

"HERE THEY COME!"

"STUPEFY!" Son of a bitch missed! "I THOUGHT THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONLY ONE! STUPEFY!" Ha-ha! Got one! "GOT ONE TOM!"

"WHOO HOO! GOT NOTHING ON YOU SIR! INTEL MUST HAVE BEEN WRONG. BIG SURPISE THERE! SHIT! ON YOUR SIX! ARGH! FUCK!"

"STUPEFY!" Where did these guys come from? Got number two! "GOT ANOTHER! TOM! YOU OK?"

"ARGH! WILL BE IN A SEC! HERE COMES THE CAVALRY" Motherfucker! Dam blasting curse.

Shit! "TOM! LOOK OUT! NO! ARG…"

"FUCK! Brown got that son of a bitch for you sir! HA-HA!" Shit! This was not how this day was supposed to go! "I NEED A MEDVAC ASAP! Let's counter that curse first sir. There we go. SHIT! We'll get that leg squared away. No worries. Shit! That arm looks broken. SOMEBODY GET ME A MEDVAC! Let's start getting you patched up for travel." Somebody's getting an alpha Charlie when I get back to HQ.

"SMITH! WHERE'S THAT MEDVAC?! This turned out to be a real charlie foxtrot huh sir? You just hang in there."

"Ginny…tell Ginny…" Dam my leg hurts.

"Stay with me sir. You keep thinking about that fireball of a wife you got there. Did I tell you? Me and my niece, Bunty, got tickets to the championship match. She's a huge Harpies fan. Loves your wife, too. SMITH!? ROBERTS!? MEDVAC NOW!"

Dam those bandages hurt "Ginny…tell Ginny…I love her."

"You'll get to tell her that yourself sir. Hey, Bunty almost died when I told her I worked with you." Shit! I'm losing him! "Stay with me sir! MEDVAC!"

Gotta stay awake. "We'll…we'll…have to…have you…two…over…some night…"

"Sounds like a plan sir. We'll set something up after your trip to St. Mungo's. Jenkins, thank fucking god. About dam time with that medvac. Some fucking SNAFU huh? Let's go sir. Grab hold, we're Oscar mike."

"Harry."

Harry was abruptly pulled out of his memory. He looked across the campfire and saw a frustrated looking Ginny. She asked, "Have you been listening?" Harry shook his head no while looking at his feet. Ginny said, "I said we have the annual Harpies Gala when we get back."

The Harpies Gala was a black-tie event the team held every year after the season ended. There was a sit-down dinner, dancing, and the annual awards ceremony. Ginny enjoyed it immensely. Not only did she always manage to get a bunch of awards, but she actually looked forward to getting all dressed up in a new cocktail dress or formal gown and getting her hair done. Ginny always looked beautiful for the event. Harry looked forward to the event too. He didn't mind getting dressed up in a muggle tuxedo. He preferred the tuxedo rather than the traditional formal robes other husbands and boyfriends wore to the event. Ginny always said he looked dashing and handsome, like the muggle movie character James Bond. It was one of the rare occasions when Harry didn't have to be Harry Potter, the man who took down Voldemort, but instead he got to be Mr. Ginny Potter, husband of the star Harpies Chaser. It was Ginny's time to shine, and Harry always made sure she did. He faded into the background or as Ginny put it, became her 'trophy husband'. The dancing though, that was going to be a bit tough. Even though Harry's leg had gotten better, and he could move around a bit without his cane, Madam Pomfrey said he still needed to take it easy. It was a miracle that she released Harry to go camping. Ginny reassured Harry that they would only dance during the slow songs.

Still looking at his feet and fiddling with the hem of his shirt, "Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I was remembering the accident."

Ginny's look softened. She stood up from her camp chair and walked around the fire. She magically expanded Harry's chair to comfortably sit two. Ginny sat down next to Harry and settled into him, "Tom gave me a quick account of what happened that first night at St. Mungo's and you told me about what happened. Is there something else you want to talk about?"

Harry put his arm around Ginny as she laid her head on his shoulder, "I'm just really angry about it. The mission shouldn't have happened like it did. The information was wrong. They were wrong about how many wizards were at the house. We were told one wizard and it turned out to be eight. We didn't question it because everything we had from the investigation pointed to only one wizard. If we would have known that there was eight, I would have gotten another team involved with us. We would have gone in differently. I would've had four aurors go in the front while me, Tom, and two others in the back and the other four on the outside. Things would have been different. Sure, we arrested seven wizards, but we ended up killing one and I wouldn't have gotten injured. Now, I've got this cane for who knows how long, maybe for the rest of my life. By all accounts, it was a success but at what cost? I'm sorry."

Harry always led his team from the front. He always said that he would never send an auror to complete a task that he wouldn't do. His hands-on leadership style inspired his team and earned him their respect, which he valued greatly. His team had the best arrest record in the department as a result. That was something Harry was extremely proud of. They knew Harry had their backs and Harry knew they had his. They weren't just a team. They were brothers in arms. They fought for each other just as much as they fought for, as cliche as it sounds, right and wrong and to uphold the wizarding law. Harry took great pride in making sure everybody got home safely at the end of the day, even if that meant he got injured. Other aurors in the department would kill to be on Harry's team.

Ginny sat up and looked at Harry. She saw all the guilt that he harbored from the botched mission. Being a team leader, Harry always took full responsibility for his team when things went wrong. It didn't matter if it was his fault or not. There were prices you had to pay if you were a leader, and this was one of them. Harry took the responsibility very seriously. When things went right, he never took credit. Instead, he praised his team for their hard work and made sure Robards knew that.

Ginny took Harry's hand, "Harry, it's not your fault. You thought the information was correct and acted accordingly. You can't do any more than that. I'm sure nobody blames you."

Harry nodded and kissed Ginny's hand, "This isn't the first time this had happened though, and it's been happening more often. Operations and Information Chief Jones is slipping. Somebody's going to end up getting killed." Harry looked into Ginny's eyes and saw a bit of fear creep into them. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but he didn't think it was very convincing.

Ginny reached out and swept Harry's bangs out of his eyes, "Did you at least talked to Robards and tell him this?"

Harry nodded, "I did. I talked to him when I went to the office to file my injury compensation packet last week."

Ginny nodded, "What did he say?"

Harry leaned forward and added another log to the dying fire, "Robards agreed with me. He relived Jones of his duties and reassigned him." Ginny knew that Jones was an old wizard, he should have retired years ago, but he was as stubborn as they came. Jones had been the Operations and Information Chief for so long that he felt nobody could do the job but him. He's held the position through three Head Aurors and four Minister of Magics. It was a conversation she did not want to overhear. Harry continued, "Jones wasn't too happy about it. He saw me in the hall talking with Jenkins and Tom when he came out of Robards office. He said 'The golden boy Potter gets hurt and I lose my job! A job I've had since probably before he was born!'"

Ginny covered her mouth with her hand in surprise, "Oh my!" She knew that just about everybody liked Harry and respected him. Ginny couldn't think of anybody that would say a bad thing about him. If there was anybody that was jealous of Harry or thought badly of him, they didn't make it known.

Harry nodded, "Tom was livid. His face turned as red as your hair."

After meeting Tom at St. Mungo's, she could imagine what he would be like when he got angry. That's something she definitely didn't want to see. With concern, Ginny asked, "What did he do?"

Harry cracked a small smile, "He told Jones off. He said something about the information being wrong and that it was his fault that I got injured. He talked about how the dark wizards came in 'just laying waste' and the mission went 'pear shaped' because of the bad information. Tom also mentioned that it was about time Jones retired. Jones left in a big huff."

The couple sat quietly for a few minutes just watching the fire. Harry kissed Ginny's head as she settled back into him. She could feel some tension still in Harry. There was something he wasn't saying.

Ginny finally broke the silence, "There's something else isn't there?"

Harry smiled, "I can't get anything by you, can I?"

Ginny smiled as she sat up, "Nope. I know you all too well," and kissed him.

Harry returned the kiss. He looked to the fire, "There is something else. After Robards had talked to Jones and Tom told him off, Robards called me back into his office."

Ginny took Harry's hand, "And?"

Harry looked into Ginny's beautiful brown eyes and got lost for a moment in them. He loved those eyes. He loved how they lit up when Ginny got excited over something, just like now. Harry then said, "Robards offered me the Operations and Information Chief position." Harry quickly added, "I'm sorry I didn't bring it up sooner. I wanted to wait until we were on holiday to talk about it."

Ginny's eyes went wide, "Really? What about your leg and doing fieldwork? As much as I worry, I know you like the fieldwork. What did you say?"

Harry smiled and nodded, "I told him I would have to talk to you first. Since the position doesn't call for field work, Jones hadn't been in the field since before I joined the department, it would be my choice. As far as my leg goes, I can go back to work as soon as Madam Pomfrey says I can. Robards said I can still work behind a desk and do interrogations with a bad leg. I do like being in the field, and I'm going to miss it, but let's face it, my luck is going to run out. I've been hit with the killing curse twice and lived to be your husband and this past time, if it wasn't for Tom, I wouldn't have made it back to you."

Ginny's eyes welled up with all the love Harry was showing her. Then the thought of losing him and his love creeped into her mind. Suddenly her mind went into overdrive with what ifs and how she would cope with that loss. Harry knew anytime he talked about the dangers of fieldwork, Ginny got emotional, so he rarely brought it up. Ginny wiped her eyes dry with her shirt sleeve, "Well, that didn't happen so let's not think about it. What about your team? What will happen to them if you take the position?"

Harry said, "The team will still be together. The team leader will have their pick to fill the empty spot, just like I did, and I get to pick the next team leader."

Ginny looked into those beautiful emerald green eyes and knew that Harry wanted to take the position, but she wanted to hear him say it. She took his hands in hers and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Harry replied, "Seeing as I'm getting bored sitting at home taking it easy, I'm going to take it. I'll talk to Madam Pomfrey on my next exam when we get back home, and I'll start shortly after she releases me."

Ginny squeezed Harry's hands and smiled, "You know I would have been fine with either choice."

Harry leaned in and kissed Ginny's nose, "I know, but I think this is for the best. As much as I love being out on an investigation, I think it's time to stop tempting fate."

Ginny giggled at the kiss, "So who are you going to promote to team leader?"

Harry grinned, "That's easy. My choice is Tom. He'll get the job done and keep them all alive in the process." Harry wrapped Ginny up in a huge hug. Harry continued, "Speaking of Tom. He told me his niece is a big Harpies fan, they had tickets to the championship match, and she really likes you in particular. I told him we'd have them over one night for dinner."

Even though Ginny had only met Tom once, she liked him. "I'd think that's a great idea." She then kissed Harry. The kiss was full of passion and love. Harry felt everything that Ginny put into the kiss and became putty in her arms.

Much to Harry's dismay, Ginny broke the embrace. She smiled and said, "I think it's time to get some sticks and the marshmallows. You get the graham crackers and chocolate."