Chapter Two: Complications

"Alright, people." Remus said. He was standing up at a round wooden table with about five other people. Two Aurors, one woman named Elsbeth and a man named Rhett had trainees with them that they were supposed to be evaluating for their training final. One man was heavily scared and had a round blue eye that twisted around and flipped over and over, so aptly giving his name Mad-Eye Moody, one of the most paranoid, but also most adept at catching Dark Wizards. Harry and Ginny were sitting next to each other at the table with Ginny next to Remus.

"We've got our victim." Remus said, sending Frances Bone's picture around the table for everyone to look. Moody gave the picture a little sniff with his nose that had a piece missing from it and handed it to Elsbeth who passed it on. Moody took a swig of his flask. "There's something wrong with this scene. There are no traces of spells. Nothing."

"But that's impossible." One of the trainees piped up. Harry almost hid a smile. He knew that tone. It was the tone Hermione took up when she was trying to convince someone that they were insane for thinking such a thing. "All spells leave a trace. Even Sourgify, which is supposed to clean up everything. All spells leave a trace." She repeated as if that would make it true.

"You see our dilemma, Trainee Juliet." Remus said, and she blushed and looked down. He turned his attention to the rest of the Aurors in the group. "Even the most trained and skilled witches and wizards have not been able to erase magic like we saw today. Someone that has found a way to do thisÉ" Remus sighed and ran a hand through his gray streaked hair. "It's not safe. It would totally cripple Auror Headquarters as we know it. With no magic to trace, we have no way of tracking killers like this one."

He turned to Moody. "Alastor. We need you to check around in the history books. You have the most knowledge about Dark Wizards by yourself. We need to know if this has happened before."

"Yes, Remus." Alastor almost growled.

Remus turned to Elsbeth and said, "Elsbeth. Take the trainees back to the crime seen. I want their opinions on it by the end of the day. Maybe a fresh look on it will break something. Rhett." Remus startled the light haired young man out of his trance. "Get a list of all of Bone's grudges together. She couldn't have been all good. She had some enemies. Find them and bring them here for questioning. Harry. Ginny. You're in charge of this investigation from now on." He looked at the both of them. Both heads of their fields, Harry in combat and Ginny in investigation and they both looked back at him with the same fierce determination. "Bones was a respected member of the magical community. Expect high press. Especially with missing magic. Are you prepared to handle that?"

Harry nodded. He was no stranger to the press. They had near followed him everywhere his first year of Auror training, and nearly took some reporter's heads off in the process of trying to catch Death Eaters. "There was enough press to cover the Watchside Killer to fill five dumpsters." Ginny said frankly. "You just need to know how to deal with them."

Remus nodded gravely. "I leave this in your capable hands. I need to go talk to the Minister." He left the room with a sweep of his cloak.

Harry looked over at Ginny. She wasn't paying attention to him, she was looking over the notes in the file that Remus had left in her hands. "I need to go back to the scene, Harry." Ginny said, standing up and grabbing the file folder. "I need to look this over one more time."

"Got any ideas?" Harry asked, following her out of the conference room.

"No." Ginny said reluctantly. She hated to admit it, but at the moment she was stuck. With the Watchside Killer, he had cleverly not used as much magic as the next wizard to kill his victims, but instead chose a Muggle way of killing his victims with rope around the neck to look like a Gutter Propinqus Curse. But no magic at all? That baffled her mind beyond reason.

Harry looked sympathetically on Ginny. Her hair has been pulled out of her face while she was at the crime scene, he assumed, and was currently in high, messy ponytail. Strands were escaping the tight band she had used, and dangling down the back of her neck and hanging down her face. Ginny looked back at Harry intently, but her mind was elsewhere, he could tell.

Ginny looked at Harry and felt her heart clench. He had grown painfully handsome, and she had forgotten how he had. She shook her head. You are not a giddy schoolgirl. She pulled out her wand. "Do you need me go with you?" Harry asked as Ginny took a breath before she disappeared.

"No thank you, Harry. Go with Alastor and see if you can find any reports of vanishing magics." She gave him a small smile and with a snapping noise, she was gone.

Harry walked into the enormous library that held the Ministries achieves. When Hermione had found this place during her internship after the Final Battle, she had nearly collapsed out of excitement at the sight of the tall, imposing bookshelves filled to the brim with old and ancient as well as shiny and new texts that covered all the history, theories, spells and charms of magic. Hermione described the smell alone of what she wanted her house to smell like. Ron had rolled his eyes at her at the time, but since they had moved in together, all the books Hermione had been collecting, the flat was beginning to smell like this library.

Harry moved along the shelves, familiarizing himself with it again. It had been a while since he had been in the Ministry Library. He was a Combat Auror, not an Investigative one so most of his time was spent dueling or patrolling. He spotted Alastor and Remus talking at a table in low hushed voices. Alastor had already gathered some books around him, one propped open while he took a furtive look around and then took a swig from his hip flask.

Harry walked up to the pair of them. "Remus." He said quietly. Remus turned his face up to look at Harry in the face.

"Ah, yes, Harry." Remus said. "Was there something you needed?"

"Just a question before you see the Minister." Harry contemplated his question carefully, rubbing his hands together behind his back. Something he did whenever he was nervous. "Why did you assign me to this case?"

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Harry cleared his throat. "I mean," he paused. "I'm not usually assigned to murder investigations. At least not until the end, when they're going in for a capture. All I'm wondering is why."

Remus sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair, honey-colored eyes all of a sudden tired. "Even before we knew about this disappearing magic trick, this case didn't have a good feeling about it. Frances Bones has too many connections, too many ties to powerful witches and wizards. It reeks of Dark Magic and those who still follow the ideals of You-Know-Who." Remus had never actually said Voldermort's name and Harry was never going to press him on that. "We need Ginny on this case. She's exceeded every expectation anyone has thrown at her. But with the expected media coverage, she will be a target for whoever killed Bones." Remus locked eyes with Harry. "This is where you come in. I need you to protect her. Make sure her job runs smoothly and I need you to help her in whatever way possible. You went through Investigative Auror training, didn't you?"

"Yes." Harry felt his face flush a bit. "I didn't get the highest marks in it though."

Remus waved a hand at him. "Ginny will take up your slack no doubt." Harry felt his temper rise slightly at being accused of being anything but extraordinary. But within a millisecond he scolded himself for being cocky. Remus continued on. "JustÉkeep her safe, Harry." Remus looked at him, tilting his head slightly. "She's precious."

Harry felt the moment weigh his brain down for a movement as he thought back to his Hogwarts years. He spent so much time being protected and cared for by the Order and even, his heart gave a pang of sadness even now, years after, Dumbledore, that he took his role as protector very seriously. Ginny wouldn't approve of Remus telling Harry to watch her back, as her fiery personality wouldn't adhere to being told that an Auror was going to watch her every move, even if that Auror was her ex-boyfriend.

Harry nodded in agreement. "I will, Remus. I know how precious she is."

Remus watched Harry walked away from the table, and sadly rubbed his temple with two fingers. Alastor looked up at him, electric blue eye rolling to the back of his head to check and see if anyone was there. "Playin' matchmaker, Lupin?' Alastor said gruffly. "We don't have time for games on this one."

"It's not a game." Remus said quickly. "I'm just worried. About both of them."

Alastor looked understanding. "It's the old's duty to worry about the young."

"And the young's duty to scoff at the worries of the old." Remus finished.

Ginny walked carefully into the apartment again, familiarizing herself with the layout, where the doors and windows were and the furniture. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed the dresser in Frances' room had been moved slightly. There was a dent in the carpet where the legs had previously had been and a good half a foot between the dents and where the dresser now stood.

Pausing, she moved to stand next to the door. She looked down at her feet and noticed that if the dresser hadn't been moved, she wouldn't have been able to fit there. How long had the killer been in her room? How did he get in the room to begin with?

Ginny went and sat down on the bed and held her head in her hands. Too many questions. She always hated the beginning of cases just for this reason. An inquisitive child had led her to this line of work, always wanting to know what was going on and always being able to find out had thrilled her. This caseÉGinny shook her head. There was nothing different about this case, just another woman murdered and she needed to find out whom this killer was if he intended to strike again.

The next week passed without much incident. Ginny spent most of her days at the Magical Investigative Services Department inside the Auror division, examining evidence collected at Frances Bone's apartment, while Harry conducted interviews with the rest of her family and the boyfriend, Rupert, not to mention the list Rhett had managed to pull together of hostile letter writers to the Daily Prophet about her.

Ginny let out a blast of frustrated air as she performed another spell on the note left at the scene. They had been testing it for days now and it had failed to reveal anything. No special ink traces, no suspicious materials in the parchment. Everything was so generic that it was starting to give her a headache.

"Ms. Weasley, you shouldn't be hitting yourself over the head about this." A voice sounded out from behind her. Ginny turned around in the swivel chair where she had been for the last couple hours. It was Rebecca, the dark red haired lab assistant who had been helping her all day. Glasses were perched on the end of her nose as she carried a couple vials in her left hand to Ginny's table. "I think you're looking too hard at this. Maybe you should take a break and get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry right now." Ginny said tersely, glaring angrily at the piece of parchment.

"Alright then." Rebecca said mildly as if she hadn't heard the edge to Ginny's voice. "The deli down the street had some Shepard's Pie the last time I went in, probably about an hour ago. Didn't know if I should grab some for you while I was there." She turned her blue eyes to stare over her glasses in Ginny's direction. "They probably would still have some if you asked nicely."

Ginny looked up to give Rebecca a knowing glance. How did she find out that Shepard's Pie was her favorite dish? Mrs. Weasley used to make it all the time when all the Weasleys were small. "Fine, then, you win, you evil woman." Ginny said, standing up and stretching her back. "I'll be back in about fifteen minutes."

Ginny walked to the Apperation Point on her floor, as it was impossible to Apperate out of the Ministry itself, there were designated spots where if you at the proper clearance, you were able to Apperate within the Ministry and to the entrance. Ginny walked, her head still running in circles, thinking of spells, dismissing others to just come back to the same conclusion. She was stumped. And she didn't like it one bit.

"Whoa, Ginny!"

Ginny gasped and promptly knocked into Harry, tripping and somehow ending up on the floor. "Ginny, are you hurt?" Harry asked, rubbing his stomach with his left hand and holding out his right for Ginny to grab.

"Just my elbow and my ego." Ginny muttered underneath her breath and she took Harry's hand and he lifted her easily off the cold marble floor. She dusted off her skirt just as a way not to look Harry immediately in the eyes. It had been so long since she had been in his presence and she was still a klutzy silly girl.

Finally she did look up into his eyes. "I'm sorry about that, is your stomach okay?"

"I think it'll manage." Harry said, giving her a nervous smile. "Lucky nothing was in it. I was just heading topside to see if I could find something."

Ginny's eyebrow rose. She was going to have a talk with Rebecca when she got back. "Same here."

Harry's grin turned lopsided and retained that boyish charm even after all these years. "Well then, Ms. Weasley, would you mind if I accompanied you?" He held out his arm cordially and Ginny gave a small laugh.

"Don't mind if I do, Mr. Potter."

Harry and Ginny Apperated to the entrance and walked out into the sunshine that was filling the alleyway that served as the secret entrance to the Ministry of Magic. Sidestepping a pile of garbage in her way, Ginny followed Harry out into the afternoon sun of London. "So have you found a flat yet?" Harry asked as they continued to avoid pedestrians and tourists whose cameras were continually attached to their hands.

"Yes, I have." Ginny said, neatly avoiding two small children who were running in the opposite direction, giggling while weaving in and out of people. "Nothing special. I'd forgotten how expensive London was."

Harry nodded, and they turned into the deli and they separated for a moment while Ginny filled her craving for Shepard's Pie and Harry went around and found a bag of chips and a pre-made sandwich. After paying, they walked into the dining area and sat down at a vacated table. Ginny opened her bottle of water and looked Harry over. She couldn't believe it had been almost a year since she had seen him last. Hermione must have forced him to get a haircut recently, Ginny smiled, he wouldn't have done so otherwise.

"So, what have you been up to?" Ginny asked, fiddling with her food. "I haven't seen you since, wellÉ"

"Interviews mostly." Harry said. "Alastor started in on my interrogation tactics and I think was mumbling about youngsters not knowing their place as he was walking away today. I don't think he's very happy with me."

Ginny almost choked on her food as the urge to laugh and compulsion to swallow came into conflict. "What did you say to him?" Ginny asked when she regained the ability to speak.

Harry shrugged, but looked sheepish. "I might have mentioned that his eye was looking a little sluggish and might be due for an inspection."

"Oh HarryÉ" Ginny started laughing. "You're going to have to be checking your food for poisons for the next month."

"Why do you think I got this?" Harry asked, holding up his sandwich and the chips. "I don't think Alastor would venture this far from the Ministry anyways. I think he got even more paranoid since when he worked at Hogwarts."

"Being locked in your own trunk will do that to an Auror." Ginny said, taking a careful bite.

"If nothing else." Harry unwrapped his sandwich and took a large bite. He chewed a little bit and took a swig of his soda. "What about you? Anything from the lab?"

Ginny sighed. "Nothing. That's what's so troubling." She shook her head and her mind returned to the chaos that she had left behind. "I hate that the lab is in the middle of the Ministry though. At least in France, we had a separate lab in the middle of the country that was strictly Auror run. The stray magic that escapes from the Department of Mysteries messes with the equipment occasionally and trying to talk to those UnspeakablesÉ" Ginny gave a frustrated noise. "I don't see why we can't do the same thing here." "Money. It's cheaper to keep everything clumped together as is. " Harry explained. "If there was a separate location, we'd need the same spells and protection to make sure Muggles don't find it. Time and effort by the country's best spell casters equals lots of money spent by the Ministry that they don't want to part with."

Ginny scowled. "So we're sacrificing the ability to find killers like this one for a couple pennies. Sensible, I see."

Harry held up his hands up in the air in a gesture of surrender. "I didn't say I agreed with it."

"Oh, I know you didn'tÉ" Ginny said. "I'm just frustrated, I'm sorry. This case is giving me a headache." She rubbed her temples with her elbows on the table.

Harry glanced at her hardly touched plate of food. "Ginny have you been sleeping well lately?"

"What?" Ginny looked up sharply.

Harry cleared his throat. "I know you didn't sleep well when you were stressed out about something, back at Hogwarts." To the trained eye, the very tips of Harry's ears turned a tinge pink while he remembered exactly how he knew that. "I'm just making sure you're not stretching yourself out about this case."

"I'm fine." Ginny said, bristling slightly. "Sleeping like a baby."

Harry opened his mouth to respond her to her short reply but a man came up to their table, short and balding with a comb over as to pretend that he wasn't. Harry felt his stomach sink slightly when the man pulled out a quill. "Mr. Potter." He said in a voice that sounded sure and calm. "I'm with the Daily Prophet and I was wondering if you and Ms. Weasley would answer some questions about the murder of Frances BonesÉ"

"Bugger." Harry heard Ginny mutter but he gave a scathing glance to the reporter, which made him almost visibly flinch.

"No comment." Harry said evenly and stood up and grabbed Ginny's arm and tried to be as gentle as he could as he yanked her up. "We're leaving, Ginny."

"Mr. Potter, the public has a right to know!" The reporter followed them as they exited the deli while pairs of eyes followed them curiously. "You can'tÉ"

"I can do whatever I bloody well feel like it." Harry said calmly as he continued to lead Ginny and himself away from the man. "Do not try my temper." He spun around to glare malevolently at the small man who paled at Harry's eyes, which had suddenly turned stormy. Ginny had to stumble a couple steps to keep from falling from Harry's sharp stop. "I don't think many of you will forget what happened the last time a reporter got too friendly with their questions." He grinned a loose arrogant, and strangely feral, smile.

The man visibly gulped, but stuttered, "You should not tÉthreaten me, Mr. Potter, the publicÉ"

Harry snorted. "Hah, you must be new at this. You really think the public will lead a revolt against me as soon as they hear that I've threatened yet another reporter?" He turned around and grabbed Ginny's arm again and continued walking, now looking completely pissed off.

"HarryÉ" Ginny said, as they neared the alleyway to the entrance to the Ministry.

"I hate those leeches." Harry spat venomously. "Stupid, bloody carnivorous leeches that need to feed on anyone's painÉ"

"Harry." Ginny said sternly.

Harry turned to glare this time at Ginny but unlike the reporter, she stared just as hard back. Harry's gaze softened and she felt the grip on her arm loosen and pulled herself loose and they walked in silence back to the entrance. Within seconds of entering the Minsitry again, a voice cried out that made both of them turn, alarmed.

"Harry, Ginny!" It was Rhett, the other Auror assigned to the Bones case. His usually pale complexion was flushed and his sandy colored hair was mussed.

"Rhett!" Ginny cried out, concerned as Rhett skidded to a stop and was panting in front of them. "What's wrong?"

"Where were you guys?" Rhett asked, still gasping. "I checked the lab, but no one wasÉ"

"I stepped out for a bite to eat." Ginny responded. "What is it?" Her hazel eyes narrowed as Rhett caught his breath and stood up straight.

"There's been another murder." Rhett said shortly, eyes hooded and he looked over at Harry now, looking slightly panicked. "They're officially labeling him a serial killer."

Ginny said something explicit and inappropriate that Harry jerked his head in her direction. She looked furious. She turned her head to look Harry in the eyes. "We need to talk to Remus."