Chapter 1

The Beginning

Harry Potter lay awake one night, daydreaming. His godfather gone and Voldemort dead. Death was all too common for Harry. His mother and his father, his godfather, his headmaster and Voldemort and Snape. Harry had in the last few months become interested in the Weird Sisters. He threw on a record of there's and began preparing his own breakfast. Bacon and eggs were easily made when you could summon them and cook them with a flick of his wand.

Ginny was already at work. She had become a healer at St. Mungo's and she worked the early shift. Harry had become an apprentice auror to Tonks. He had learned loads in his year as an apprentice. Tonks was her usual self now that she and Lupin were together. She once said, "Harry, there is one thing that you need to remember in your career as an auror. But, you'll have to learn that yourself." Harry replied, "Right, so you're not going to actually tell me."

"Harry all you have to worry about is to strive to learn what you need to learn in order to keep yourself going."

"What did you learn?"

"I didn't learn anything. All I got was Remus." She said turning red.

"Oh, I see."

Harry now strove to find what would keep him going. When he was younger, he lived to see the day his godfather would be free to walk the earth. But now he had nothing. He simply went to sleep at night to get up again, and Ginny. He walked to the balcony and sang,

"Feeling alone,

Time after time,

Got my life,

But there's nothing there.

Fell when I was young,

Never got back up,

Never unsung,

Prophecy alters your luck.

Lost the people that cared,

Found the people that dared,

Fought them back,

But I dunno what to do.

I'm so alone with you

One can't equal two,

Two can't equal one,

Three is so odd,

And four isn't fun.

Can someone find me a life,

I so love my wife,

But I have no godfather,

Why should I bother?

I cannot believe,

I cannot think,

I cannot sing,

Without looking at my ring.

Dunno what to say,

I lost my way,

On the ground I lay,

Maybe it'll be today.

Fell when I was young,

Never got back up,

Never unsung,

Prophecy alters your luck.

I'm so alone with you,

One can't equal two,

Two can't equal one,

Three is so odd,

Four isn't fun."

Harry walked back inside and grabbed his eggs and bacon. He gulped them down and then apparated to the Ministry. He went to his office.

"Wotcher, Harry."

"Hey, Tonks," he said grinning. "What's going on this morning?"

"Nothing much, pretty slow. They caught Abercrombie."

"What?" said Harry looking around. He and Tonks had been searching for Aero Abercrombie for 6 months. And then all at once someone finds them in an instant. "Who got him?"

"Jim Bones over there."

"Bones…Bones, where do I know that from?"

"Amelia Bones?"

"Right, right. Actually, I went to school with Susan Bones"

"You know she got married?"

"To who?"

"Neville Longbottom."

"Neville got married?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, it was just family."

"Just family." The words rung in Harry's head. "Just family." They were a family in a way. Neville and Harry had so many things in common.

"Hey Harry." Ron's voice interrupted Harry's chain of thought.

"Oh, hey Ron."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine I was just thinking about something. Say, er, did you know that Neville got married?"

"Oh did he? I wasn't invited."

"Tonks says it was only family."

"Oh…well anyway, did you hear that Bones over there-"

"Caught Abercrombie? Yeah." said Harry moodily. He had really wanted to catch Abercrombie so as to "make his bones" in the auror business in a way. "Anyway, how's Hermione."

"She's good. Been a bit moody lately really, so I don't actually know."

"Oh…"

"Listen, I was actually gonna ask you, do you think you could talk to her for me? I tried and she would hear nothing of it."

"Er…"

"C'mon Harry, please?"

"Alright, I'll have a chat with her at lunch. Say did Ginny tell you? We're pregnant!"

"What? Harry that's great! I'm gonna be an uncle! And you, a father!"

"Yeah, I'm excited." It was almost news to Harry. He had only heard a fortnight ago. He hadn't told Ron yet because Ron was in a different department.

After they graduated, the ministry was having trouble catching the remaining Death Eaters. They were using Floo Powder extensively and overpowering the Floo Monitors. Loads of Harry's classmates had gone into the Floo Monitoring department when Scrimgeour announced greatly raised pay for the job. Ron gladly took the job. It was now easier to catch Death Eaters, but regardless of the increase of Monitors on the watch, Death Eaters still slipped pass an unnecessarily large percent of the time.

"Yeah," said Harry, "listen I've got a lot of paperwork to do since Bones caught Abercrombie."

"Right, don't forget to talk to Hermione." Ron said desperately.

"Alright. I'll roll her over good."

"Alright, thanks a load."

"Yep."

Harry remained true to his word. At lunchtime he went over to Hermione's department. She had become the manager of the Chudly Cannons. Everyone was surprised that she would have a career in Quidditch, but no one was at all surprised to find that she took a managing job.

"Hey Hermione."

"Hey Harry," she mumbled.

"So how's things been going?"

"Harry, this really isn't a good time."

"Ron said something was going on."

"Did he? Typical Ron."

"Listen, Her-"

"No you listen, Harry!" she snapped, "I'm really not in the mood! I have to assign practices for the next year basically before the end of the day! So please leave me alone!"

"What's going on? Sit down."

"Harry, I said no!"

"No, Hermione, sit down!"

She glared at him and took a seat.

"Now tell me. What has been going on?"

"I-, oh there's no use. Harry this is going to sound stupid, but I, I miss the old days."

"The old days? As in, when Voldemort was still in power?" said Harry aggressively. What did she think that he had avenged everyone's deaths in vain?

"No, no. When we were at school. It's like this song I heard, it goes:

Goodbye, ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you…"

"Hermione, Oh, Hermione, Oh, Hermione, when will those dark clouds disappear

Hermione, Hermione, where will it lead us from here

With no loving in our souls and no money in our coats

You can't say we're satisfied

But Hermione, Hermione, you can't say we never tried

Hermione, you're beautiful, Hermione, I still love you,

remember all those nights we cried."

"Goodbye, ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you…"

"All the dreams we held so close seemed to all go up in smoke

Let me whisper in your ear

Hermione, Hermione, where will it lead us from here

Oh, Hermione, don't you weep,

I hate that sadness in your eyes

But Hermione, Hermione, ain't it time we said goodbye."

"Goodbye, ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When we change with everyday

Still I'm gonna miss you…"

"With no loving in our souls and no money in our coats

You can't say we're satisfied

But Hermione, I still love you Hermione, everywhere I look I see your eyes

There ain't a sis that comes close to you, come on, dry your eyes

But Hermione, Hermione ain't it good to be alive."

"Oh Harry, you're right. I'm taking my sadness out on Ron. I just didn't know what to do. I should be embracing Ron instead of pushing him away."

"Hermione, you don't know the half of it. You should value everyone you know over anything else in your life. I, I just wish I was like that with Sirius."

"Oh, Harry…"

"Don't worry about it, Hermione. I gotta get back to work." And with that he slumped off.

When he returned to his office, Tonks was in his face immediately.

"Harry! Did you hear? Abercrombie escaped!"

"What?" Harry's heart raced with excitement. He had another chance to go after Abercrombie and "make his bones" as an auror.

Since the corruption of the dementors, Azkaban was rendered a useless and condemned island. The new prison was in the Ministry itself. It was in the deepest darkest part of the Ministry. Below the Department of Mysteries and beyond the old trial dungeons. They used the smelliest trolls to guard the cells and serve the food. Naturally they were less effective than dementors, but seemingly well working.

Now, to Harry's happiness, he didn't have to do all the paperwork that he had had to do before. He decided to get caught up on the places where Abercrombie had been spotted before so that he could get a nice clean start the next day.

It took Harry five hours to get all caught up and was happy to find that he could now go home. It wasn't that Harry didn't like his job. It was more that he wanted to get home to see Ginny.

He apparated home and greeted Ginny.

"Hey Babe," he said, "how was today?"

"Well, let's put it this way: same shift, different day."

Harry laughed. "Well, they caught Abercrombie."

"Oh, Harry…"

"It's Ok, he got away again, so…yeah. I got another shot."

"Good. I'm happy for you."

"How's the baby doin'?"

"It's Ok. I felt It kicking a couple times today but other than that…"

"Hmmm, well that's good."

"Well…I had a long day. I better hit the sack."

"Yeah me too."

And with that they got in bed, kissed and fell asleep only to wake up and live another day.