I'm sorry this has taken so long to put up (has it? I lose track of time easily) but my computer was being a bastard and wouldn't open interent explorer. But OMG, hooray for all my reviewers times ten plus one!! You rock. It was like Christmas came early: I go to my review page and what do I find? Worship and praise! Well, maybe not worship and praise, but lots of encouragement, all the same. Anyway, I'm officially on holidays now!!! Which is tres fantastic.

minniemouse4589 : HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I am so evil!!!! And I'm a cat person (I have a beautiful tabby called Clive.) so puppy dog faces aren't going to work. Sorry.

thehaunted: Right… Nice name - very 70's horror movie. How does that make you Canadian? I'm tres lost. But thanks all the same - I think.

sakura1221: You know, personally, I love cliff hangers so I'm sorry but I have to say ha-ha. You'll find out who it is soon enough. Patience is a virtue.

Chapter 14: The Explanation

"You're kidding me…"

Rose fell into one of the dining chairs. She covered her mouth, completely flabbergasted… but… but…"But he died, everybody said that. Everybody! Everybody except…"

"Harry?" Hermione asked. "The ministry refused to accept it. That last battle? All those Death Eaters dead and captured? All, except one."

"I knew he was busy at work - all of you have been - I just didn't know why."

"Well, remember that night you came round for tea and Harry was late? He was meeting with Dumbledore?" Hermione began. Rose nodded her head warily. "That was the night the Ministry accepted that he wasn't dead. It took a while, mind you, but after that death at Christmas, they couldn't deny it - the evidence was all there." She finished triumphantly.

"That death at Christmas? But how did they know it was him?"

"Oh, that was easy; if you accepted the he was back. Ron and I had the case. It was completely obvious that it was unplanned - spur of the moment, you know. It was an accident - I doubt he meant to kill the muggle at all. Looks like he just got in the way."

"But that could be anyone. How did you narrow it down?"

"Again, easy. The markings on the floor… footprints… it wasn't brain surgery to guess who or what we were dealing with."

"But… but… How come I didn't know anything about this? Why wasn't it in the papers?" asked Rose, she was beginning to resent being left in the dark like this.

Hermione offered an apologetic look. "They didn't want it in the Daily Prophet until they could prove it. Now we'll have a fully fledged confession. I expect once they've interrogated him, Harry'll have to announce it publicly to the press. To think, the truth will finally come out!"

"Yeah, twenty years too late. I can't believe that thing has been in my house!" Ron muttered, staring darkly at the wall. (A/N: That was so obvious! Have you got it yet?)

"And they found him this morning? How?"

"After the Bristol murder, convincing the Ministry became easier, but it was still a trial. As soon as we had permission, we had a team track him down. And this morning we got him!"

"And he's involved with the muggle attacks? But surely…" Rose drifted off, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Yeah, I know. But being so close to You Know Who's got him into somebody's good book." Ron said irritably, before letting out a harsh cough that sounded remarkably like 'Malfoy'.

Rose smiled. "Well that's good isn't it? With that and this -" she rubbed her belly affectionately. "- We must have the upper hand." A moment passed before Rose's expression changed. "But, I still don't get it. Why didn't he tell me?" Rose asked drearily.

"Hey, don't take it personally. He probably didn't want to worry you. You've had a hard enough time, yourself."

Rose smiled - but she couldn't avoid the sinking guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Why hadn't she noticed that Harry was up to something that major at work?

"Well, we better be off. We'll be needed at work." Hermione said cheerfully, rising from her chair.

"Yeah, paperwork..." Ron groaned, following suit.

"Alright, see you later, then." Rose said brightly, mentally pushing away the guilt and clearing her mind of all that negativity. She wasn't a negative person and Harry needed her. She would visit him at the Ministry. Yes, it was dangerous, and yes, Harry had told her to stay inside, but it was the Ministry of Magic - it had to be safe.

With Ron and Hermione departed, Rose raced upstairs to get dressed. This was huge. This was a chapter of her husbands life ending. The man that had betrayed his parents and led to the downfall of so many of Harry's loved ones was finally caught. Peter Pettigrew was going down.

HOORAY. HOORAY. HOORAY. Tacky, i know, so write me a poem if it causes you that much trauma. Did you love it? Or was it crap? Either way, it's going to get exciting now. Well, it's going to have a plot line, anyway. This is really frustrating though cos all I want to do is write the sequel - BUT I'M NOT GOING TO. That was really for my benefit, not yours.

You probably don't care, but I'm having Stephismas today. Like in the OC how they had Chrismukkah? Well this is pretend Christmas cos my stepsister, Steph, is going to Italy for Christmas and we have to give presents and shit. Personally, I'm super pumped. (And I'm not being sarcastic!)

Well, ho ho ho and a bottle of rum,

Lucy