[Author's Note: Thank you for reading! just wanted to let everyone know that I have tried to stick to canon as much as I can, especially when it concerns couples. This chapter is longer than the last, too many ideas and I think my dates may be muddled slightly, oops. Also this is set around Cursed Child but I have decided not to stick the plot of the play in any way. Hope you enjoy this next chapter]

Chapter 2

'Harry aren't you hungry?' asked Mrs Weasley one evening in The Burrow. Everyone around the table turned to look at him.

The year was 1998, late August, and this was the first time everyone had settled around the table for dinner at The Burrow since the battle of Hogwarts. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione had returned to The Burrow in the middle of June, having spent their time helping repair the damage to the school. Harry had been glad of the distraction during his time at Hogwarts, even though the memories had been fresh and unrelenting, he still felt a certain comfort from sleeping in his old home.

Hermione and Ron, much to Harry's delight, had returned from their trip to Australia having located Hermione's parents and brought them back to Britain where their memories had been fully restored by healers at St Mungo's. This was also the first time Mr Weasley, Bill and Percy had joined all together, having been so busy at their respective jobs. Mrs Weasley remarked her delight at a full table and also made a toast to the many people who should be sat amongst them.

They all enjoyed the lovely meal, everyone seemingly in happy spirits, even Mrs Weasley, who had been told by Fleur that the chicken had been boiled for too long. Mrs Weasley had stopped herself from retorting and smiled through a deep breath. George also seemed in better spirits, now back at the joke-shop he found increasing distractions to aid his grief against the loss of Fred. Hermione and Ron were still in their honey-moon period, enjoying each other's company above anyone else's. It was only Harry who damped the spirits. He had been feeling terrible all day. His ribs ached from a fresh injury he had suffered the previous day; he winced every time he sat down or stood up. Furthermore, he felt dizzy and weak. But he hadn't told anyone about the pain he was experiencing so as to not worry any of them.

'Not really, but it was lovely Mrs Weasley,' he replied. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, the meal itself had been tasty, but he felt like anymore food would make him feel worse.

'You are looking quite pale' interjected Hermione with a sympathetic look. Mrs Weasley waved her wand and the plates disappeared into the sink. Another wave, and plates of apple tart came soaring onto the table.

'I'm fine' Harry had mumbled during the setting down of the many plates. He didn't want to look at Ginny, whom he knew was watching him.

'You wouldn't say no to some of my tart, now would you?' said Mrs Weasley.

'Never,' Harry replied with a forced smile.

He looked down at the apple tart, longing to have the ability to eat it. His eyes began to glaze over, I must be tired Harry thought, after all, with all of these people in one room, the room itself was stifling. He shook his head violently, willing his sight to clear but this made his head feel heavy. He felt Ron's eyes on him from his left side. He stared at the tart, picked up his fork and tried with all his might to focus on the conversation happening around him. The only words he caught in the animated conversation were, 'Andromeda is bringing Teddy,' and his head felt heavy again, but this had nothing to do with his ribs, this time it was due to guilt. Every time he looked at Teddy, he saw himself, when he was that age. Harry reminded himself that Teddy would not have the upbringing he had, that he was surrounded by people who loved and cared for him. But Harry couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

Harry had managed to finish half of his apple tart and caught Mrs Weasley gazing at him. 'I think I'm gonna get some air,' he told the room.

'Do you want some company,' Hermione offered.

'No, it's fine, I'm just warm.'

Harry stood up but felt the dizziness return, he steadied himself by placing his palms on the table hoping that no one had noticed the slight stumble. But Ron's arm had seized his in an attempt to help keep him up.

'You okay?' he asked worriedly.

'Yeah, stood up to quick,' he mumbled. He was thankful that other people had carried on their conversations.

He moved from his chair; his eyes set on the backdoor. Everything seemed to slow down, the walk towards the door felt like it took a lifetime, the door itself appeared to move further away with every step he took. He felt his head slump down on his shoulder, his eyes shot open in pain, he had bumped into the worktop. The problem was, he had bumped into the corner with his ribs and now the pain, which had previously subsided, returned tenfold. He felt like he was about to be sick, he heard voices, a rush of footsteps and the scrapping of chairs on the stone floor, but he couldn't make out a word they were saying. He let go of the worktop and fell heavily to the floor.

When Harry had awoken, three hours had past, he was lying on the sofa in The Burrow in front of the fireplace. A healer had been and gone, informing Mrs Weasley that he was to take a restricted potion that would mend his broken ribs, this was to be taken hourly. Mrs Weasley, after giving Harry his potion, had summoned a pillow and a blanket with her wand and placed them on the sofa next to Harry. Mrs Weasley had told him that he wasn't to be climbing up the stairs to Ron's attic room in case he felt dizzy again.

After visits from everyone before they left or turned in for the night, Ginny had found herself alone with Harry, questions that longed for answers burned in her brain.

'What really happened at the Ministry, Harry?' she asked him. He shuffled awkwardly where he sat.

Yesterday, Harry, along with Ron, had visited the Ministry of Magic inquiring for an Auror application. They had both applied, training was due to begin in early October. On their way back from the Auror office they had passed three Aurors holding a struggling Dolohov who was being dragged to his trial. Upon seeing Harry, Dolohov had broken free from his detainers and snatched a wand from one of their hands. Instinctively, Harry had drawn his own, but he had been too late. He hadn't had time to deflect a nasty curse aimed right at his chest. This had broken his ribs which were still delicate ever since the battle of Hogwarts. He had fell into a desk and rolled backwards. The Aurors had quickly achieved control over Dolohov before he could send anymore curses his way.

Harry relayed this story to Ginny who didn't speak for a while.

'This is exactly why I want to be an Auror, it's my job to make sure every Death Eater is sent to Azkaban,' he said fiercely.

'It's not your duty Harry,' she reminded him.

'Yes, it is' he replied quietly. She knew she couldn't change his mind on this subject, too many people had already tried, so she decided to forget it for now.

'So, are you excited for Auror training,' she asked, awkwardly trying to find a new subject.

'Yeah, definitely, and there's plenty of time for Ron and I to find somewhere to live,' he admitted. He noticed a sadness in her eyes.

'You're not going back to Hogwarts then?' she asked sheepishly.

'Ginny …' he started. But she interrupted him, 'I know, I just hoped you'd changed your mind, that's all.'

'It's not gonna be like last year,' he said. She smiled softly. 'We can write to each other.'

Ginny decided to take this opportunity to tease him, 'and why would you want to write to me,' she said with a flash in her eyes. Harry shifted a little, wincing against the pain as he did.

'Because, you know, we're friends,' he said gruffly. Ginny's shoulders slumped slightly, what did he mean by that? She furrowed her eyebrows. There was sudden stiff silence.

The problem was, Harry was unsure whether he could say the words, 'I want to pick up where we left off.' That one sentence had flickered in his brain all too often. The anxiety of her answer was what stopped him saying it. There had been a moment two weeks ago, when he found her in her room, the door open slightly, silently weeping. He thought he should have said it then, but he left her to be alone. This had frequently happened with other members of her family. Harry couldn't deal with it all. He had spoken to Mrs Weasley once, in the evening, when she had been alone in the kitchen, silently sobbing. He had comforted her, but he had been brought to tears himself.

'Friends?' Ginny asked. She was silent for a moment, then she shook her head slightly and gave him a sarcastic smile. 'Well, I think I'll go to bed,' she said suddenly. Harry looked slightly shocked. 'Goodnight … friend' she said, with emphasis on the last word, as she turned away.

Harry cursed himself under his breath and tried to get off the sofa as quickly as he could. 'Wait,' he said. Ginny had nearly reached the top of the stairs, she turned on her heel. 'Have I done something wrong?' he asked, looking up at her.

'No,' Ginny said after a moment of silence.

'I thought you knew I wasn't going back to Hogwarts,' he said with his hands outstretched.

'I did, and it's your decision.' She moved down a couple of steps, looking at him. 'It's just you seem to be making all of these plans for your future, and I feel like you should take a moment to, you know, live in the present.'

'But the present isn't a nice place to be in right now,' he said quietly, the pain in his ribs coming back to him. 'I'm sick of suffering' he admitted, avoiding her eyeline.

'But you're not the only one, Harry,' she said louder than she expected. She moved closer to him, stepping off the stairs completely.

'I know,' Harry said sincerely.

'We're all trying to move on, hoping that things might get back to normal.' He looked at her now, that familiar blazing look on her face didn't help the way he was feeling. 'Hoping we can all be friends again,' she added firmly, holding back a chuckle.

Ginny turned to walk away, Harry's hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him. Without a second thought, he kissed her. They pulled away, Ginny looked at him, she could see hurt, pain and sadness. Together they could heal. She knew that. And now Harry knew that too, he pulled her closer again and they kissed, the same way she had kissed him on his seventeenth birthday. Now they could pick up where they left off.

But in the present, Ginny Potter was sat at her kitchen table on a rainy August morning. She was awaiting a visitor, who was bringing her news regarding the whereabouts of her husband. Ginny was taken out of her stupor as she heard two people fly into the living room via the floo network. Dusting of their coats, Ron and Hermione entered the kitchen.

'Oh, good were not late,' observed Hermione. She seated herself next to Ginny and asked her how she was. Ron busied himself by making tea but there was a nervous air the kitchen, fogging the room like Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder.

'Do you think Harry's been in contact,' Ron asked over the roaring of the kettle.

'I don't know, Mr Robards didn't say much about why he was coming,' Ginny answered. 'But he's never made a house call before,' she added.

'I'm sure everything will be fine' Hermione reassured her.

Harry had now been gone for nearly seven weeks; it was clear that people were starting to worry. Hermione decided to change the subject.

'What time is Teddy arriving?' she asked her sister-in-law.

'Four o'clock,' Ginny answered. 'I don't know what to make for tea though, Harry always does the cooking,' she smiled in spite of herself. 'All I can make is tea and toast,' she chuckled.

It was true that Ginny lacked skills in the kitchen, Harry was always the one to make the best meals and the whole family knew it. Once Harry and Ginny had moved in together, Ginny asked him where he had learnt to cook. His reply was that his Aunt Petunia frequently ordered him help and once or twice forced him to make food. Ginny had been shaken by what he had said next, Harry was hardly ever allowed to eat the meals.

The sound of feet hitting the wood floor of the living room startled them all. Ron just managed to hold onto his mug but spilt some tea on the floor, he quickly pulled out his wand and cleared the mess. Auror Robards was shown into the kitchen by Ginny and seated himself at the head of the table. Ron sat down on his right. He greeted them all individually, knowing them all for a long time, they were well acquainted.

'Mr Weasley how are you finding your new job?' he asked politely.

'Yeah, it's great thanks, a lot less stressful than being an Auror,' he admitted. Hermione and Ginny both chuckled.

'So,' began Robards, 'I've come here to give you an update on Mr. Potter's progress.' Everyone seemed to shift in their seats a little. 'Okay' he paused, opening his briefcase, and pulling out some papers.

'Do you always make house calls on big cases, Mr Robards?' Hermione asked him.

He smiled and replied, 'not all the time no, only in special circumstances.'

'Are these special circumstances?' Ginny asked him. He turned back to his papers.

'Well, yes,' he admitted, 'Mr Potter was supposed to contact the office after a month of being in Albania, unfortunately we never received any correspondence.' He paused whilst the others took in the information. 'We then move to the waiting period, which means a two-week gap between the time in which he was supposed to make contact and the time in which we can act.'

He paused again; Ron nodded his head as he was well aware of this waiting period. Hermione chanced a glance a Ginny who looked as if she may perform her bat-bogey hex on Robards if he didn't get his point any time soon.

'So, naturally, we tried to make contact. We did not however receive word back from Mr. Potter himself. One of the junior Aurors who makes up their total of seven managed to send a letter in return.'

'That's a good thing then, we know Harry is safe,' Hermione smiled.

'I'm afraid there is more to it Mrs Granger-Weasley.' Hermione leaned forward slightly. Ginny furrowed her eyebrows.

'This is the copy of the letter that was sent to us,' he said pulling a piece of yellowed parchment from his briefcase and placing it in the middle of the table. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione leaned in to get a better look at the letter.

'I don't see anything wrong with it,' Ron said.

'Well, after a couple of days of receiving this letter, one of my higher-ranking officers, Smith, noticed that there was something wrong with the letter,' Robards replied.

Hermione picked up the letter to examine it better, determined to find the problem.

'If you look at the first paragraph and compare it with the handwriting of the last, you will see that they have been written by two completely different people.' Hermione's eyebrows raised, intrigued. Ginny and Ron couldn't see the problem.

'Maybe two of the Aurors wrote it together,' Ginny shrugged.

'That's exactly what we thought,' Robards admitted, 'but Smith was determined to make sure that it was written by our Aurors. He found another letter that had been written by the junior Auror who supposedly wrote that letter,' he pointed to the one in Hermione's hand. 'The two letters are in no way written by the same hand.' Robards paused as if waiting for a dramatic gasp from one of the others. It did not come.

He then pulled a piece of white parchment from his briefcase. The other letter. Hermione took it from him immediately, searching for similarities between the two. Ron and Ginny, on their turns, could also not find any similarities between the two letters.

'So, what does this mean?' Ginny asked slowly.

'Well, without reasonable reassurance of the Auror's whereabouts, I'm afraid their mission has been raised to critical, which means that several of the Auror's we have back at the ministry will be sent to find and locate Mr. Potter and the six other Auror's. They will be sent to Albania tomorrow.'

This seemed to relax the others, but Ginny had a pressing question she needed to ask. She leant forwards on her chair, 'do you have any reason to believe that Harry and the others have been captured or are missing?' she asked tentatively.

'I think until we send the Auror's, we will not now the state in which the mission is in.'

He bid his farewell, packed the letters back in his briefcase and shut the lid. On his way back to the fireplace, he turned back to the others and with a sympathetic smile added, 'I will keep you updated, should we hear anything,' and he left.

The kitchen felt tense all of a sudden, each occupant stringing their thoughts together. After a moment of silence, Ginny decided to break the awkward tension.

'Would you and the kids like to stay for dinner?' she asked.

Hermione replied that they would love to and at three o'clock she left to pick up Rose and Hugo from her parents' house. Teddy arrived shortly after she left, helping himself to a coffee, he asked hurriedly, 'so, what did Robards say?'

Ginny relayed everything he had said, Teddy however, had already guessed what she was going to say next.

'There sending Aurors to Albania, aren't they?' he said. Ginny raised her eyebrows.

'Yes, how did you guess?'

'Because I volunteered' he replied. Ginny's face dropped; she had not expected this.

'Absolutely not' she said hurriedly. Teddy's eyes widened.

'Don't worry, they said no,' he replied, suddenly feeling as though a lecture was about to start.

'Good, we have no idea what's going on, and I'm certainly not having you going missing as well,' she declared. Teddy gave her a big smile. 'What?' she asked.

'I can look after myself' he reminded her.

'I know that' she rolled her eyes.

'I wanted to bring him home, that's all,' he said with a rather sad expression. Ginny tilted her head.

'But there's no point risking your life to do that,' she retorted. He nodded in reply.

'Do you really think he is missing?' he asked quietly.

'It's the only reasonable explanation as to why he hasn't written to the Auror office,' she shrugged.

They were suddenly interrupted by Hermione's arrival with Hugo and Rose who came bustling into the kitchen, excitedly telling Ginny, Ron and Teddy about what they had seen at London zoo.

Ginny was happy that all conversation about Harry had subsided over dinner. She had decided herself that she wasn't going to worry herself or get herself worked up about it all. Harry would return, she knew that. She had lived through this experience once before, whilst he had been hunting horcruxes with Ron and Hermione. But he had been safe then, with his friends, he had been travelling with people who would look after him. But now, she wasn't so sure, was it not likely that one of the Auror's had been Imperiused? Maybe the Death Eaters knew they were coming for them.

Teddy had taken the kids into the living room; they had insisted that he play gobstones with them. Ginny turned towards Hermione and asked, 'how are you celebrating your anniversary tomorrow?'

'We are going out for tea and Mrs Weasley is looking after the kids' she said excitedly, she turned and smiled at Ron who returned the grin. He made a vague excuse and left the two women alone.

'I can't believe it's been fifteen years since your wedding.'

'Neither can I,' Hermione replied.

'That was a brilliant day,' Ginny said. 'I remember going to Harry and Ron's to see how he was, he was a mess you know' she added.

'I think he was most scared about leaving Harry in that flat on his own'

'Well, all I can say is that it was a lot tidier after Ron left,' Ginny remembered, they both laughed.

'That's true, was he really scared?' Hermione asked, intrigued by a story she had never heard.

'Only the normal amount, but it is Ron we're talking about,' Ginny chuckled. 'Harry said he talked to him and then he was fine.'

'What was it that Harry said?' asked Hermione with furrowed brows.

'Well, Ron thought you were both a bit young, I think that's where all his worries started, but Harry asked him why he was marrying you and he said all these lovely things about you. Harry was a bit awkward about that I believe. But after that he was fine.' Hermione smiled widely.

'Well, it all worked out in the end' Hermione said, though her cheeks had flushed slightly, 'and not just for us, didn't you move in with Harry a couple of days after the wedding,' Hermione gave her a knowing look.

'Not officially, I just spent more time there, that's all,' Ginny laughed. 'Although I did stay there for a week after the wedding, and I have you to thank for that.'

'What do you mean?' asked Hermione.

'Well, those bridesmaid dresses you chose, were too low cut for Harry to handle, shall we say,' she laughed again.

'I didn't need to know that' said Hermione soberly.

'He has a thing about my legs,' Ginny nodded with her eyebrows raised.

Ron had walked back into the kitchen to find both women laughing hysterically.

'What did I miss?' he asked.

Through her laughter, Hermione replied, 'just talking about our wedding.'

'Look!' Ron replied angrily, 'It was fifteen years ago, why can't everyone just forget that I fell over!' he added.

Both women stopped immediately, both remembering the incident in which Ron, walking back down the aisle, Hermione by his side having just been declared married, had tripped over his own foot, and fell flat on his back. Both women started laughing hysterically again.

'I forgot about that!' cried Ginny. Ron's face had turned red, the realisation hit him that this was not the reason that they were laughing when he had walked into the kitchen. 'George does a great impression,' she added, wiping tears from her eyes.