The three of them apparated to the Ministry, despite the fact that Harry felt very uncomfortable there.
"It'll be fine, Harry. Ron needs to check in with work, and besides, what better place to find out information than the Ministry?" Hermione had told him before they apparated.
The first thing he thought when he arrived was that it hadn't changed. At all. It was like the place was in some sort of time warp. The same portraits were on the walls, walls that were the same colour as they had been when he was seventeen. The same faces gawped at him as he walked past, whispering to their neighbours.
"Is that Harry Potter? I thought he'd left the magical world?"
Ron glared at his co-workers, forgetting for a second that Harry wasn't his best friend anymore.
"Come on," he said gruffly, "My office is just over there."
Ron's office left much to be desired. There was a desk with a huge stack of papers on it, a filing cabinet and a particularly uncomfortable looking chair. The room itself was little smaller than Arthur Weasley's old office, and if it was possible, even worse maintained. Ron looked at the topmost paper in the stack.
"Great..." he muttered.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"The Minister," he started, a look of disdain on his face, "Wants to see me tomorrow. Apparently I didn't have permission to raid the Death Eater headquarters."
"Death Eaters?" Harry repeated, a definite note of panic in his voice.
"Er, yeah. That's - that's where I saw Ginny." Hermione said nervously.
"What?" Harry said in disbelief.
"She was there. I think they may have - brainwashed her or something."
Harry blinked, "How? Why?"
"We don't know anything yet. That's why we need you."
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the office door opened.
"What the hell are you still doing here?" Ron hissed, before the person had even entered the room. Harry looked around and saw Malfoy standing in the doorway.
"Why wouldn't I be here?" Malfoy asked smugly.
Ron moved over to Malfoy, so that they were facing each other. "I found you at that Death Eater hideout. How can you possibly still be employed here?"
"In case you don't remember, you let me go, without charges, so I don't know what you expected. Also, it's rumoured that you weren't even allowed to raid the place, so maybe you should be thinking more about your employment, instead of mine."
Ron gritted his teeth, "Don't push me Malfoy."
"And what are you going to do? If you do try something, you'll be out faster than you can blink. It's hardly a secret that the Minister hates you. I bet you're wishing Scrimgeour hadn't been thrown out now, don't you?"
Malfoy looked over at Harry and Hermione. "So, the trio's back together, is it?"
"Something like that." Harry said sullenly.
"Well, I'm so happy for you." Malfoy said dryly. "I suppose you're here because of Ginny."
Harry looked at him sharply, "How would you know about that?"
"Oh, didn't they tell you, I was there."
Harry's hands tightened into fists, "What?"
Hermione smoothly stepped between the two of them. "I think that's enough."
Malfoy smirked, "The boy-who-lived needs a girl to fight his battles now?"
Hermione pointed her wand at Draco, "Be quiet, unless you want another punch."
Malfoy's face darkened, but he didn't try to speak again.
"Now, I think we need to go somewhere a little more private."
"Where?" Ron asked.
"How about... Your place?"
The Burrow had changed little in the ten years Ginny had been gone. The house was still being held together with spellotape, magic and a prayer. The kitchen, though less the heart of the home as it had been, was the same, the grandfather clock still stood in there, with two of the Weasley children's names blacked out. The garden was even more overgrown than it had been, it was almost impossible to open the backdoor now.
The house itself was falling to pieces, Arthur and Molly simply could not afford to fix all the little problems, and they soon became bigger problems. Fred and George gave their parents a sizeable amount of their money from the joke shop, but they had their own lives to lead, and George had a baby on the way. Percy, of course, ignored the very existence of his family, even though he, Ron and their worked closely together at the Ministry. Bill and Fleur had got married, and were living in France with their two children, after Bill suffered a nervous breakdown because of the war. Meanwhile, Arthur's wage had been cut in half, making it even more difficult for them to keep on top of the bills.
Hermione stepped out of the fire first and into the empty living room. She strode off, calling out to Molly and Arthur. Ron came through next, and finally, Harry.
"I don't know about this." Harry said quietly.
"Youdon't know about it? What about me? You shouldn't be here, not after everything." Ron looked sideways at him, "But when was Hermione ever not the boss of us?" he smiled faintly, and looked away.
"Hermione!" they heard Molly exclaim from the next room, "What are you doing here?"
The two women came back into the living room. Molly didn't notice straight away the young, black-haired man standing by the fireplace.
"Ron, what is going on... Harry?" her eyes widened.
"Harry didn't know where to look. This was the mother of his girlfriend who was supposed to have died because of him, what could he say? He couldn't take back all the pain he had put her, and her whole family, through.
She approached him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. She put her hand to her mouth.
"Oh Harry, I've missed you so much."
She pulled him in for a hug, and he felt overwhelmed by emotions that weren't hate, or guilt, or angry, but just pure relief.