"Weasley!" an annoyed voice rings out through the room full of young Auror trainees.
Ronald Weasley, aged eighteen, fresh from the war and green to the Auror academy. instantly snaps to attention from where he had been glancing around "Sir!" he quickly replies.
"Maybe you can tell me, Weasley, just where the hell is Potter?!"
Ron gulped softly. That was in fact who he had been looking for before being called out, the other Auror trainees now also glancing around for the Man-Who-Won, hero of the Wizarding World, defeater of Voldemort. Everyone knew he was going to be an Auror after all so… why wasn't he here at training, especially with his best friend?
"Erm, I'm not sure, sir!" he replies quickly "I didn't see him coming in!"
"So, our little celebrity thinks he's too good for basic training huh? He thinks just because he kills one Dark Lord he doesn't need to go through boot camp?!" the Auror instructor belted out
Recognizing the rhetorical question, Ron gives a weak shrug rather than responding verbally.
The rest of training was rough on Ron and Harry Potter never showed up, causing whispers to spread out through the rest of the trainees as the day went on. As they travelled home, word began to spread. While not quite as fast as the Hogwarts rumor mill itself, word still spread rather quickly through Wizarding Britain at large.
By the next morning, there was an article in the Daily Prophet, once more declaring Harry Potter an egotistical brat. Because of course there was nothing better to report on than one person not showing up somewhere.
Speaking of, at Hogwarts, now convening for the first time an 'eighth year' made up of those seventh years from the previous year who wanted to experience their final year sans Death Eaters as teachers was the site for many murmurs about their greatest hero. Particularly at the Gryffindor table Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, both in their eighth year, and Ginny Weasley in her actual seventh year, were quietly discussing why Harry had no-showed.
"Do either of you have any clue why he would've missed it?" Neville asked curiously, glancing between the boy's best female friend and his girlfriend. Both girls shrugged in response, Hermione biting at her bottom lip slightly as Ginny lets out a huff.
"It's not like Harry to just bail on something like this" Ginny murmured "I mean, he really wanted to be an Auror like his father before him… right?"
"Well, of course" Hermione confidently replies "Still, it wouldn't hurt to check in on him or at least Ron via owl. He might just be under the weather"
The other two nod, and the school owl they send to both young men are not the only two to fill the skies over Hogwarts as a multitude of students curiously try to find out more information about where Harry Potter might be.
Nothing. A week had gone by and Harry still hadn't shown up at the Auror Academy. Rumors had grown wilder, the Prophet was still running articles on it with various theories as a general feeling of nervousness seemed to settle over Wizarding Britain.
It was only a few months after the Second Wizarding War had ended and tensions were still high between those that still walked along the streets bearing the defunct Dark Lord's mark on their arms. Talk of kidnapping, injuring, even murder started to become more common and more distrustful looks than ever were being cast about.
Ron had headed to Harry's small apartment but had gotten no response even after heading in with an unlocking charm, seeing nothing amiss other than the distinct lack of messy-haired Boy-Who-Lived-Twices.
Owls sent to Harry, be they from friend, foe, or complete stranger, returned unopened and seemingly undelivered. Even Headmistress McGonagall and Minister Shacklebolt were starting to grow concerned over where Harry might be.
Nothing. A month, a full month, and still no one knew where Harry was. A nationwide hunt was on, the Prophet was offering galleon prizes for any information, Aurors had started an official manhunt.
Ron was struggling to continue attending the Auror academy rather than drop it to find his friend, Hermione's letter about the only thing giving him a chance of sticking it out. She and the others were sticking it out at Hogwarts and encouraging him to keep things as normal as he could for Harry's sake, wherever he may be.
With suspicion growing more and more, some of the few marked Death Eaters to have escaped imprisonment or death during the war were snagged up by the Aurors. Those that weren't Purebloods had Veritaserum forced down their gullets but none knew of any plans to kidnap the slayer of Slytherin's Heir. Despite this, they were able to discover some small hides of illicit activity where werewolves and Snatchers were planning out smaller attacks in the name of their dark martyr.
In an attempt to garner public support, Minister Shacklebolt almost eagerly came down on such meetings, Aurors locking up more and more dark creatures and wizards. Still, no one knew anything about Harry Potter and the public was getting roudier still.
Three months. Ginny and Ron were practically ready to tear the countryside up themselves with Hermione, Neville, and even Luna barely managing to calm the nervous redheads. Even still, the calmers themselves were getting more and more worried.
In a surprise meeting of the Wizengamot, a massive change was pushed through in an effort to track down Harry Potter. The centuries-old law against forcing Purebloods to take Veritaserum was overturned. No longer could one's blood purity block the Auror force from discovering the truth from those who might have hidden it before.
Heads and heirs of old pureblood lines were forced to spill their dirty laundry and Azkaban became more and more crowded as the disgusting acts were unturned. With still no result to their main search, a large contingent of Aurors descended on Hogwarts itself, dragging several students, including Draco Malfoy, to be questioned about possible whereabouts or plots to do something to Harry Potter.
Around halfway through the fourth month since the first day of the Auror Academy, Minister Shacklebolt found himself on a painfully familiar floor of the Ministry. He was sitting in an office, across from a figure dressed simply in a gray robe with a hood over their head that obscured their face.
"I have done all I can, imprisoned bigot after dark wizard after werewolf and still have found no sign of Harry Potter. Did you… did you, oh I don't know, send him back in time to try and kill Voldemort with less death? O-or deal with Grindelwald even, stop the first war from ever happening, stopping the Muggle's Second World War as well. Or maybe he… he went all the way back to stop the schism between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slyhterin themselves!"
The Unspeakable watched… unspeakingly… as Minister Shacklebolt ranted, trying to come up with something before finally holding up a hand "Minister, if we had access to such things, do you not feel that no such catastrophes would have occured in our past in the first place?"
The ex-Auror let out an exasperated cry, ordering the Unspeakables to do what they could to try and track down Harry before storming back up to his own offices, unable to see, even if he had been facing the Unspeakable still, the smirk that grew on their lips.
Wizarding Britain as it had been known a mere five months ago was completely changed to how it appeared now. The darkness surrounding Knockturn Alley had been cleared up with almost all human-hunting packs of werewolves and child-eating hags rounded up during the quest to find one man.
Some of the more respected members of society from before either Wizarding War and even after were not sitting out life sentences within Azkaban and more progressive bills were being pushed through the Wizengamot with most all violently bigoted persons having been removed from the body. Completely unknowingly, one man had probably done more for a brighter future for the Wizarding World in five months of being gone than he had in seven years of being there.
Harry Potter let out a peaceful sigh as he set down his shrunken trunk and stretched, waving his wand to turn on the lights of his apartment, normally pale skin a fair bit tanner than it had ever been before. "Man Sirius had the right idea heading to the Black Islands. I've never felt more relaxed" He murmured to himself as he started to unpack, checking the date and frowning slightly.
"Merlin I was not supposed to be gone that long… Ginny's gonna kill me for not writing her. To be fair Ron and Hermione probably will too." He sighed slightly and shrugged "Well, this way I didn't have to tell Ron I didn't much want to be an Auror anyway."
His sharp ears caught a small sound that seemed almost like an Apparition crack but… well it was certainly a lot more than might be normal. Hesitantly drawing his wand, Harry made his way to the front door and paused for a moment before pulling it open ready to cast only to find himself face to face with a whole Auror squad.
"Mr. Potter!" one called out in surprise "You're safe! You've not been killed!" More exclamations started to fill the area as Harry looked on bemused 'Killed?' he thought to himself 'Surely they didn't think…'
"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" His eyes ripped away and he found himself staring into a set of amber eyes smoldering with fury, terror, relief… as Ginny Weasley appeared as well with Hermione, Ron and Neville behind her, all with fairly similar expressions.
"Erm… oops?"