A/N: I'm sorry this has taken me so long to get posted and I'm sorry it's shorter than normal. I originally intended to add another 2-3 scenes to this chapter, but writing those could take me another week at least, and I wanted to keep moving forward here. I'm excited about a few things I have planned soon; fingers crossed for more writing and less needing to parent. :)

The Monday morning meeting with Robards didn't happen. Sunday night, he sent a brief Patronus informing Ginny that he had important business to attend, and that they'd have to talk later. Having never gotten a Patronus from the head Auror before, Ginny wasn't sure if the rather terse tone of Robard's voice was typical of if she was imagining that he sounded somewhat put out. It bothered her more than she liked, the not knowing. Maybe he'd planned to discipline me after all. Or talk about the newspaper article, and now he can't. Bugger that I can't listen to it again.

Ginny couldn't stop thinking about whether she was reading too much into the situation, and when it occurred to her that Harry might have some insight, she left her flat and hurried down the hallway.

She didn't have to travel far; apparently most of the Arrows were deep in the middle of an impromptu game of something that looked kind of like Quidditch down the entire length of the corridor. Somehow, they'd gotten ahold of a number of children's toy brooms, and each man was hunched over a too-small handle, feet skimming the ground as he tried to maneuver around a jumble of chairs and other obstacles spread across the floor. Just outside Ginny's door, Dam prowled back and forth in front of what appeared to be a laundry basket that had been charmed to float above him, the incongruity of his large frame and the small broom made even greater by the fact that his happened to be pink and sparkly.

He caught sight of Ginny and called out a greeting. "Sorry, Gin, are we being too noisy?"

Before Ginny could answer, a crash and the swear of an oath down the hall revealed itself to be Harry and Chaser Kipling Cross in a heap on the ground. A Muggle-style beach ball was bobbing in the air around them, occasionally dive bombing to smack one or the other in the face. Ginny could see one of the Beaters – she still didn't know them well enough to tell them apart – grinning at the sight from his own broom. Obviously, he'd been the catalyst for the crash.

"Gin . . . Ginny! Hi! I didn't realize, I mean, I saw you, but . . . oh bugger." Between the beach ball, the tiny broom, the bookshelf he'd fallen on, and Kipling's legs, Harry seemed to be having a more difficult time than he should getting himself righted. His face was red from effort and when Ginny reached down to offer him a hand up, he took it with a sheepish grin and let her haul him to his feet.

"I'm surprised they let you use a full-sized broom, if this is the best you can do on a, what is that, a Sunbeam Starter?" Ginny teased. "I think that's the broom I got for Christmas when I was four."

"It's harder than it looks," said Harry defensively. He held out the toy. "Let's see you do better."

Without a word, Ginny straddled the broom's small handle and bent her knees until she rose about a foot off the ground. Grinning at Harry, she zigged and zagged around the obstacles in the hallway, making a wide turn at the end and then scooping up a ball of socks they were apparently using as one of the Quaffles. She was almost back to where Dam was guarding the laundry basket when two violently green beach balls flew into her line of sight from opposite directions. She couldn't swerve quickly enough to avoid both and ended up tumbling over the front of her broom and falling ungracefully to the ground. One of the beach balls broke her fall, briefly, and then deflated underneath her with a rather embarrassing sound. In front of her, Dam barked a laugh. "What did you eat, Weasley?" He and Harry both reached down to help her up. Ginny ignored Harry's smirk, but took his hand and knocked her hip into his on accidentas she got to her feet, rubbing her elbow where she'd fallen.

"Sorry, Ginny," the twins said in unison.

"No you're not," she said, laughing. "Good aim, both of you."

"I told you it wasn't as easy at it looked," said Harry. "But I'm sorry we were so loud."

Ginny shook her head. "You weren't," she said. "I've never taken the wards off my flat; the Weird Sisters could be playing out here and I'd not know." She lowered her voice. "I actually need to talk to you. About work."

Harry's expression immediately closed. He grabbed her elbow and peered at it carefully. "This needs ice," he said. "You don't want it to swell. It's your wand arm." He tossed his toy broom at Dam. "Hang on to this, will you? I want a rematch after our next road trip." Without waiting for an answer, Harry steered Ginny quickly to his door. Inside, he set up the same wards Ginny kept on her own flat, and the silence from the hallway descended immediately.

Ron looked up from the table. "Hey Ginny, what's up? Did you finish the reading for tomorrow? All those town names and buildings and magical organizations to memorize." He rubbed his face.

Ginny grinned. "I finished this morning," she said. "Didn't Hermione make you a study schedule?"

Ron grimaced. "Yeah, she did. But then I got . . . distracted." He flushed and Ginny rolled her eyes.

"I really don't want to know, but I'll just say it's your own fault then," she said. "But I'll help test you later on, if you want. I just have a . . . question for Harry first."

Ron nodded and stretched. "Want me to leave?" he asked easily. "I can study in my room."

Ginny shrugged. "You can stay, it's not a secret. At least, not from you." Her relationship with her brother had been improving ever since they started training together, but the talk Ron, Ginny and Harry had had about the Chamber had been particularly transformative. Ron and Harry had fallen over each other trying to take more of the blame and apologize, and Ginny had reciprocated by confessing how sorry she was for having been such a brat to both of them for so long. More than one of them had gotten teary, there had been some wry laughter, and then finally they made a brief Floo call of explanation to the Burrow. Ginny was pretty certain her parents hadn't yet exhausted their thoughts on the topic, but she had to admit they'd handled the revelation well, holding back most of their questions and promising to share the news with the rest of the family. After it was done, Ron had seemed the most relieved, and Ginny realized just how much the subterfuge had been weighing on him. Harry had been characteristically quiet, and went Ron went off to Hermione's for the night, Ginny had said a quick goodbye and left as well.

And now Ginny was more than okay with Ron hearing her concerns about Robards' message. Although, sitting here with him and Harry made her earlier suspicions seem a little silly. Hesitantly, she explained.

"His Patronus sounded, I don't know, annoyed maybe? I've never heard him send one before, so I'm not sure if that's normal for him, or if he was just busy or something. He didn't say anything about rescheduling the meeting, so maybe they just decided it wasn't that important?"

"I think it's important," said Ron. He jumped up and went to the kitchen. "Butterbeer, anyone?" Over the clank of bottles and opening of cupboards, he kept talking. "I was actually at the Ministry this morning," he said. "Forgot my notes in my locker," he added sheepishly. "Hermione told me that I'd be lucky to remember . . . well, that's not important."

"Not to us, at least," said Harry seriously. Ginny could see him fighting a smile. "But I'd not say that to your girlfriend."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Ron. He passed out bottles and plunked a plate of cookies on the table. Ginny narrowed her eyes. "This looks like an awful lot of Mum's gingerbread and lemon thumb prints for only two people," she said. "And somehow, I didn't get a delivery myself." She reached out and deliberately snatched two of the largest cookies.

Ron shrugged, mouth already full. "You're eating them now, stop complaining," he said. He turned back to his earlier topic. "About Robards. Like I said, I was at the Ministry this morning and I happened to see hear him in his office. Hadn't closed the door. Probably thought no one else would come in on a Sunday."

"Probably," agreed Harry. "What was he saying?"

"He was talking to someone, sounded like maybe they were through a Floo," said Ron. "Asking them to 'hold off please, for now,' and that there wasn't anything to know. Sounded like a woman he was talking to." He scrunched his eyes. "I wish I'd had extendable ears; usually I carry them with me, you know? But I was in a rush to get there and back before Hermione . . . well, she needed to shower, and I wanted her to . . ." never mind.

Ginny sighed. "Something else I was okay not knowing, ever, Ron. Did you hear anything else?"

Ron nodded. "The woman said something. At least, I'm pretty sure it was a woman, I think he called her Joy, actually. She said something about a favor. Maybe she was doing Robards a favor? And he snorted and said it was only because she'd been found out, and not to underestimate the Aurors." Ron picked up his butterbeer as if to take a drink, and then put it down again. He looked seriously at Ginny. He also told that Joy person not to underestimate you. And I heard Harry's name too." He shook his head. "And then I got out of there; I really didn't want to get caught." He took a big drink. "I'm sorry I didn't hear more. But I definitely got the impression that he still thought Ginny was important. Maybe he needed to call in someone else to talk to you too?"

Ginny frowned. "That still doesn't explain why he sounded mad in his message to me."

"Robards doesn't usually sound mad when he actually is mad," said Harry. "It's something that took me a while to figure out." He touched Ginny's hand. "We could look at the memory in my Pensieve, if you want."

Using a Pensieve was an upcoming training lesson, but Ginny had never used one for her own thoughts before. "Is it hard to do?" she asked.

Harry shook his head as he got up. "Just concentrate on that specific memory while you hold your wand to your temple. It should stick to your wand pretty easily."

Ginny did as Harry said, but it was still with some trepidation that she watched the silvery strands of her thoughts swirl in the bowl. There seemed to be a lot of them, but then, she'd never pulled out any of her own memories before. Before she could ask any other questions, Harry put his hand on her back and gently leaned her towards the bowl as he bent forward himself. Next to her, Ron mimicked her actions.

And suddenly, the three of them were standing in her flat. Ginny winced to herself to see her own image standing in the living room, looking at the pile of unfolded laundry on her sofa; she'd theoretically been about to start folding it when Robards' Patronus had arrived. Next to her, Ron snorted. "Good thing mum's not here, eh?" He jumped out of the way as Ginny tried to swat him while next to them, Harry said "hush," as the silver alligator slunk into view.

"That's his . . ." Ron began, until Ginny elbowed him. A second later, it began to speak.

Ginny, it's Gawain Robards. I apologize that I need to cancel . . . or reschedule . . . our meeting for tomorrow. It's not . . . something has come up and I cannot attend. I will be in contact.

The message ended abruptly and the alligator faded away. The memory Ginny frowned at it and opened her mouth as if about to speak, then shook her head. A moment later she nodded and headed towards the door.

"I'm going to ask you about it," Ginny said, unnecessarily. Inexplicably, the memory didn't end; Ginny watched herself open the door to her flat and stare down the hall at Harry, flying low circles around the Arrows' Chasers on his toy broom. After a minute, Dam called out his apology from beyond her line of sight and memory Ginny turned to look at him for a brief second before Harry's crash with Kipling pulled her focus back that way.

"Looks worse from this perspective," Harry muttered next to her. "Did I really flip off sideways?"

Ginny shrugged. "I guess so; I didn't remember seeing it until now." She gave him a sheepish grin. "And you were flying pretty well until then. I hadn't realized."

Harry grinned back and looked about to speak when the memory ended and suddenly, the three of them were standing back in Ron and Harry's flat. Ron was laughing. "Next time, get me in on the game," he said. "I'll play Keeper at the other end."

Harry groaned. "I hope there isn't a next time, I'm still sore." He looked at Ginny. "Robards wasn't mad. He's hiding something," he said bluntly. "Or doesn't want you to know the truth. All the pauses gave it away; he isn't very good at thinking quickly on his feet when it comes to the small details like that."

"Really?" asked Ginny. "Seems like that would be a liability for an Auror, not to be able to lie or hide the truth sometimes."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, he can lie with the best of them," said Harry. "Big things, at least. He just rarely has to bother with the small stuff."

"Well then, I'm glad Ginny's considered 'small stuff'" said Ron. His tone was light, but Ginny could hear the seriousness underlying his words. She shuddered lightly.

"Me too," she agreed, hoping Ron couldn't hear the lie. She didn't for a second believe Robards thought her unimportant. Next to her, Harry made a small sound and she didn't have to look at him to know he was thinking the same thing.

"Well, I guess that means we can walk to work together then," she said lightly to her brother. He looked horrified, and Ginny had to laugh.

"Or you can sleep in like usual and Floo there at the last second, as long as you remember to bring me coffee, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Ron said, looking sheepish.

"I'll go with you. I have to stop by the Ministry tomorrow anyway."

Ginny turned to Harry in surprise. "Whatever for?"

Harry grimaced. "Six-month physical, I'm off schedule from the rest of the team. I joined at an odd time last Spring because of Dearborn's pregnancy, and since it's just me, I have to go to the Department of Magical Sports and Games and meet with one of the trainers there; for everyone else they send a team to our practice facilities."

Ginny didn't think Harry had been to the Ministry since he'd left the Aurors. Being seen there with her had to be the last thing he'd want to do. It would be just like Harry to make such an offer anyway, just so she'd have company. Still, Ginny didn't detect any hesitance in his offer, but maybe he'd spoken without thinking. She tried to give him a way out.

"Why not at St. Mungo's? Wouldn't that be a better place for a physical?"

Harry shrugged again. "One would think so, but I was called to the Ministry," he said. "Keep all the paperwork in one place, I guess."

Ginny nodded. "They're all about their paperwork, that's for sure." She smiled. "Well then, yes, I'd love to walk with you tomorrow morning."

Harry grinned back. "Excellent. If you're lucky, maybe I'll coax Ron out of bed early enough to make the coffee before we leave."

"I won't hold my breath," said Ginny.