The canonical characters from the "Harry Potter" books and movies belong to Joanne K. Rowling, as does the Wizarding World and all associated concepts. Ms. Rowling is utterly unaware that I or my stories exist, and is probably happier for it. This story is written to serve as nothing more than an outlet for one of my hobbies. I'm doing it because I felt like it and am not planning to realize any sort of monetary award for it.

The plot for "Harry Potter & The Search For Peace" is mine.

Harry Potter had seen too much chaos in the eighteen years of his life. But nothing could have prepared him for the morning he returned to work. Like he had already told Ron, Robards announced the changes the Aurors would be adopting. And that was when the chaos began. In truth, it was only a shouting match between the Head Auror and John Dawlish. The latter tried to remind everyone that what they were trying to change was a system Mad-Eye Moody used. Robards told him that Mad-Eye used this system when people could still trust each other. The shouting match ended with Dawlish banging the door of his cabin. After he was gone, Robards instructing the trainees to have their own meeting.

"That was intense," Ernie said as the trainees entered one of the conference rooms. Everyone hummed in response. A shouting match between Robards and Dawlish was becoming a routine of the place. And while it was good to see Robards tear down the senior auror, everyone's ears had started to hurt.

"So, what's the plan, Potter? How does this work?" McLaggen asked as they all settled down. Everyone looked at Harry and Ron. The two friends shared a look. They began to tell their friends about McGonagall's fear of an attack in Hogsmeade. "The Hogsmeade weekend is approaching. It might be a perfect opportunity for the Death Eaters." As the statement sank in, Harry could see the tension in the room. No one wanted the students to be a victim of the torture. Most of them had first-hand experience on how bad it was.

"There is another angle to this," Ron began. "While we focus on Hogsmeade, they can attack in Diagon Alley and any other place."
"But we are short staffed," Parvati Patil muttered.
"And we don't even know what that other place can be," Cho Chang added.

"And that is the problem," Harry smiled. "We have thought about two things. You can suggest anything that comes to your mind." He could see the minds running. That was good news. That is what he and Ron wanted to achieve. "One involves research and I don't need to tell you all that Ron and I are bad at it." Everyone chuckled. They all knew who did the research for them.

"Us Ravenclaws can do that," Terry said, pointing at his former housemates.
"Great," Harry nodded at them. "You will need to get information about the remaining death eaters. Things like their family trees and properties owned by them. See what you can find."
The Ravenclaws nodded.

"The second thing we can do is find people who can be our ears," Ron began. "Befriend people who can give information. Like Dumbledore used Mundungus Fletcher."
"Hannah Abbot. She is working at Leaky Cauldron," Susan Bones informed them.
"Stan Shunpike?" Dean asked. Harry nodded at both of them.

"I have an idea, two actually," McLaggen spoke. Harry gestured him to continue. "Wilson and I can go to the Knockturn Alley, find someone uselful. We'll take the necessary precautions and I know someone who might help." Harry nodded. "Second idea is pretty simple. We can ask the shopkeepers at Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade to be on their guard. Weasley's brothers, Aberforth," McLaggen shrugged but Harry could see what the plan was. He would need Robards' permission to allow this but this could work.

Harry and the other trainees were busy discussing the situation in front of them, when Robards and Proudfoot barged into the room. "Everyone can begin with the tasks assigned to you. Potter, Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas, the four of you are needed for a murder investigation." The four trainees looked at each other. They followed Robards to his cabin, where a Portkey was waiting for them. "It is a muggle area, a small one with six houses. A squib noticed the corpse and notified us. He had earlier seen the victim with a wand. All four of you are to go there, dressed as muggles police officers, and collect every information you can. Here are your identifications." Proudfoot handed them a muggle card which identified them as policemen. The four of them transfigured their clothes and took the portkey to the crime scene.

The four trainee aurors appeared on top of a small hill. On one side of it, they could see a well-developed town and on the other side was their crime scene. They began walking slowly down the hill. They could six houses, four of them were supposed to be muggle ones. The fifth one belonged to a squib and the last was the place of murder. As they walked towards the house, Harry noticed a few heads looking out of the windows but no one came forward to talk to them. Harry wondered why they were living here hiding from the world.

"You must be Harry Potter. I am Jane Lewis from the Ministry's forensic team," they were greeted by bespectacled middle-aged women. He shook hands with her and introduced his team. She greeted them and immediately went back to examining the corpse. "It was the killing curse, there is no doubt about that. She had no chance of protecting herself." Harry crouched near the corpse and was shocked by what he saw.

Pansy Parkinson.

He looked at his friends. He could see the shock he felt on their faces too. They had expected one of the uncaught death eaters were targeting the muggleborns but Pansy was a pureblood. Why would someone want to kill her? Harry stood up and walked to Seamus. "Did she do something at Hogwarts last year?" he whispered. Seamus shook his head in negative. Then why kill her? She was a Pureblood. It made no sense that the death eaters would want to kill her. It might have been someone who was taking revenge for the actions against the students last year. But she had not taken a part in that.

"Maybe she was at the wrong place at the wrong time?" Ron asked. Harry shrugged though it seemed a little far-fetched. He asked Ron to stay back and talk to Lewis and left with the others to interrogate the neighbours.

Harry sent Dean and Seamus to interrogate the muggle neighbours, while he went to talk to the squib one. Knocking on the door, he looked around the surrounding. The place had Muggle written all over it. Why was Parkinson living in a place like this? And why would anyone want to kill her? What could someone possibly gain by murdering a barely adult witch, who did nothing in the war? Maybe revenge on her parents? Maybe she did something, they were not aware of? Harry made a mental note to talk to McGonagall.

The door of the house opened and a middle-aged man ushered Harry in. "You must be from the Auror Department. My name is Leopold. I reported the body." Harry took his time observing the house. It was messy. The newspapers and magazines were scattered on the table. Few clothes were lying around. There was a wizarding photo on the wall. A man and a woman smiled at Harry. "My parents," the man, Leopold told Harry.

"What did you see?" Harry asked the prime suspect.
"Nothing. That's what troubled me. The walls between houses are thin. And yet I couldn't hear a thing for three days. So, I went to check."
Harry nodded in response, "Your full name? Family?"
"Shaw. My parents, Philip and Daisy Shaw were killed in the First Wizarding War. They were muggleborns."
"What do you do for living?"
"Salesman in nearby grocery story."
"Did you see or hear anything that might help us?"
The man shook his head. There was something about him that Harry did not like. Something seemed off. The man was eyeing his scar a little too much. But it was not in wonder. "Shaw," Harry thought to himself, "Will find out about him."