A/N: This is more of a bridge chapter than I planned; I was going to end it somewhere else further along, but the action of the next three or four scenes to get there would have taken another 5,000 words, so I think they need their own chapter. It's going to be a big one! And a big thank you to Deadwoodpecker for helping me make the chapter just a little less boring and also for providing the assistance in Russian conversation. A translation will be forthcoming.

Ginny had to admit there was something comforting about walking with Harry to the Ministry Monday morning. Even if she wasn't going to be meeting with Robards after all, the events of the weekend combined with the abruptness of his message made her jittery. She said so, and Harry gave a small grimace.

"I wish I knew more. There are still a few people I could ask, people I worked with," he said slowly.

Ginny shook her head immediately. "Thank you Harry, but we both know that's not a good idea." Harry started to open his mouth and Ginny held up her hand. "I know you would, in a second, if I really needed it. But right now I don't need any other information that badly and I'd rather save whatever help you could give for something more important. "

Harry relaxed and nodded. "You're right," he said. He ran his hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I know you can manage yourself."

"And I know it's difficult for you to sit back and not get involved," Ginny said.

Harry grinned sheepishly. "I'm used to knowing more about what's going on," he admitted. He shrugged. "It will be good to get back on the road; we have a tough away schedule coming up."

Harry's tone was casual, but his sudden change of subject was not; Ginny played along though. "Tutshill, then Holyhead, and then . . . Wimbourne?" she asked, purposely getting it wrong.

"Puddlemere," Harry corrected. "It'll be great to see Oliver again. He and Alicia just got engaged, had you heard?"

Ginny nodded. "Angelina told me."

"Oh, right. I forgot you see her every day in training. And Lee." A strange look passed across Harry's face, so quickly, Ginny wasn't sure if she'd imagined it. A second later he was relaxed again. "I'm sure we'll all meet up after the match to celebrate since it's at the end of our road trip. There's a pub near Puddlemere's stadium that Dam likes."

"Are there any pubs Dam doesn't like?" asked Ginny lightly. Harry grinned. "Good point," he said. "I've yet to find one."

They were approaching the Ministry. Ginny turned to her left but Harry didn't follow. "Coming?"

The strange look was back on Harry's face. He pointed down the block to the red telephone booth. "I have to take the visitor's entrance."

"Ahh. Right." Ginny hesitated for a second, and Harry shook his head.

"You don't have to come with me; I know the employee entrance is quicker. Besides," he said in a rush, "I don't know if it's a good idea for us to be seen entering together anyway."

Ginny flushed; she should have known better. "Right. You're right." She gave him a small smile. "I'll wait for you inside though." Harry nodded and walked down the street.

Ginny took her time going to the employee entrance. Not for the first time, she was relieved that the Ministry had removed the toilets that had been the only way into the building during Voldemort's reign. Now the open stalls held simple fireplaces that were so quick, there was no time to get dizzy or sooty before arriving in the main lobby.

She took her time walking to the lifts, stopping to say hello to people she knew, her eye on the visitor's entrance, but still Harry did not appear. Finally, she stopped and picked up a copy of the morning edition of the Daily Prophet to try to kill another few minutes. She hadn't seen the late paper the night before, and wanted to know if the Prophet was still going on about the events at Ginny's flat. She was just turning to the Quidditch news where an article would be, one eye half on the place where she expected to see Harry, when a heavy hand on her shoulder made her jump.

"Catching up on the early news, are you, Miss Weasley? I assume you got my Patronus that our meeting wasn't necessary." Any hesitance or oddness from Robards' message the night before was gone, and his voice boomed across the Atrium.

Ginny forced her breathing to slow. "Sorry sir, you surprised me," she managed. She nodded stiffly. "I got your message that something had come up and you needed to cancel, yes. Coming in early is a habit for me anyway." For the first time, Ginny noticed that Robards was standing with Shephard Kane; and she couldn't help but notice the quick look that passed between them. Then Robards nodded.

"Meeting wasn't necessary, yes," he said again.

She glanced quickly towards the visitors' entrance, mentally willing Harry to stay away for just another few minutes. Inconveniently, none of the lifts were there. "Uh, right," she said. She saw Robards follow her gaze and she quickly turned back and forced herself to look him in the eye. "Yes," she said more clearly. "I remember you saying the meeting wasn't necessary." Robards stared at her for a moment and it took everything in Ginny's power to empty her mind and not flinch. A moment later he gave a tiny nod and then spoke slowly.

"As you know, your training class will be going on its first field mission today." He glanced again at the visitor's entrance and Ginny thought his gaze swept the space between the visitor's check-in desk and the entrance to the health matron's office just across. She bit her lip, frustrated with herself and her failed Occlumency. As she watched, a man wearing the blue uniform of Magical Maintenance pushed open the door with hip while clutching his forearm, from which it appeared the branches of a tree were sprouting. For a moment, he seemed to wobble on his feet before the door swung open wider and he entered. Robards' eyes narrowed and he turned as if about to follow after the maintenance worker. Then his face cleared, and he smiled a rather grim smile at Ginny.

"I'd like you to speak to your training class about your experience in the Chamber of Secrets before we leave for our field work," he said. He raised his eyebrows. "Unless that's a problem?"

Ginny shook her head. "It's not a problem, no. I'd be . . . happy to tell everyone about what happened." The lie rolled easily off her tongue; she'd been thinking for a long time how not to show emotion about this issue. Her feeling about letting Robards pluck the thought of Harry out of her head was a different matter, as was the unease she felt about the Head Auror's apparent lack of hesitance to use Legilimancy on his subordinates. She pushed those feelings aside and squared her shoulders, relieved that Harry had found a way inside without being seen.

Of course he'd have brought his Invisibility Cloak. Ginny had never seen it, but Ron had come home after his first year gushing about the cloak and how useful it was. Ginny knew that "useful" really meant that it let them get up to all sorts of mischief, but she knew it had also been a vital part of their safety during the year of the Horcrux hunt. I wonder how often he uses it now? It would be a lot of help with those fan-witches.

Ginny made a mental note to mention it to Harry that evening. Maybe he wouldn't need it on the road as much as for home games, but still, it wasn't a bad idea to keep it with him at all times. He probably knows that already though; he's used the Cloak to get out of scrapes for years. Just because . . .

"Ginny? Are you coming up?" Shephard Kane was looking at her, holding the door of the lift open. Belatedly, Ginny realized he must have asked the question more than once. She flushed and nodded.

"Yeah, thanks," she muttered, quickly following the two men inside. She cast about for something to say that would make it look like she hadn't been daydreaming – or thinking about Harry – in front of her bosses. "So, um, when I talk about the Chamber, do you want me to make a speech, or should it just be question and answer?" If she could have come up with absolutely any other topic, Ginny would have said something else, but her question had the desired effect. Robards gave her an approving smile and ushered her off the lift first when it reached the WHAT floor.

"Why don't you come to my office and practice what you want to tell the class? I'm sure Shephard would like to hear about your experience too, so he can prepare a lesson on it for later."

Ginny gave her fake smile again. "That's a good idea," she said. She followed them down the hall, silently reminding herself that Robards actually wasn't as bad as she was letting herself imagine. Just because Harry had an . . . uncomfortable relationship with the man doesn't mean he's not very good at his job. And even Harry says he's a top-notch investigator. Maybe he's just not very good knowing how to deal with inexperienced students. Keeping that thought firmly in the front of her brain, she settled herself in a hard chair in the Head Auror's office.

Almost immediately, Ginny realized there was a problem. It had only been a couple of days since she herself had learned the truth about what had happened in the Chamber, and she had no idea what Robards knew. Did he still think Ron had been the one to kill the Basilisk? If so, how exactly was she supposed to explain why that story wasn't the real one without giving away too much personal information about Harry? For one thing Ginny was sure was that Harry would not want his former boss, or anyone else for that matter, analyzing a decision he'd made when he was twelve years old and not corrected until he was twenty. She tried to think quickly, berating herself for not asking Harry more questions about what to say. She'd known for weeks the Aurors were interested in what had happened in the Chamber, even if she didn't quite understand why Robards and Kane especially cared so much about something that had happened so long ago.

"The most important lesson I learned is that you should never trust something that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain," she said. That was safe to say, at least. "I grew up hearing my parents say that, but I'll admit, it's harder to remember when you are actually faced with an enchanted object."

"And when you're only eleven," said Robards, peering at her. "And, dare I say, eager to find someone willing to listen to your complaints about your brother and his best mate? I'm sure you can see the usefulness in teaching the other trainees how to recognize when a dark object is trying to influence your mind? "

Damn, thought Ginny to herself. Exactly how much did he know and how had he discovered it? The irony was not lost on her. "The Basilisk . . ." she began, thinking to change the topic.

"Yes, yes, the Basilisk is interesting," Robards interrupted. "You'll cover that in your class on magical creatures." He waved his hand dismissively. "But I daresay you aren't likely to run into too many of those serpents in your work. It's the human interaction with the enchanted Horcrux that's really important." He peered again at Ginny. "What happened between you and Harry and Voldemort's soul is the real story here."

There were a lot of threads in Robards' speech, and Ginny wasn't sure which one to pull first and what might give too much away. She immediately dropped her eyes to her hands – it was the least she could do to protect herself – while she thought.

"Can you please stop trying to take my thoughts out of my head?" said Ginny irritably. "I know I have to work more on my Occlumency, but you don't need to keep reminding me." She knew it was a bad idea to talk like that to her boss, but Robards merely chuckled. "Habit, with my trainees, Miss Weasley," he said calmly. "I would expect you to know to break eye contact as you did. You will learn better ways to defend against it soon."

Ginny bit back her retort about whether trying to read the trainees' minds was the best way to gain their trust. Legilimency wasn't illegal; indeed, Witch Weekly regularly ran stories encouraging witches to use it on their boyfriends to DISCOVER HIS REAL THOUGHTS ABOUT YOU. It was a tricky skill and most people weren't very good at it anyway; she remembered overhearing Harry talk to Ron about how difficult it was. He'd blamed his failure at Occlumency for Sirius' death, she knew. Maybe that's why there was tension between Harry and Robards; his casual use of Legilimency couldn't have sat well with Harry. Ginny put it on her list of things she wanted to ask him about later.

"It's quite impressive that you were able to survive the encounter with the Horcrux when you were only eleven. And you and Harry actually saw Voldemort's soul?" The curiosity was obvious in Shepard Kane's voice.

Ginny shrugged, still not looking at either man in the eye. They both obviously already knew that it was Harry and not Ron who'd done most of her rescuing. For a moment, she felt a flash of annoyance, wondering how they knew. She pushed down the feeling – telling herself Harry wouldn't have purposely told Robards the truth – and nodded stiffly.

"Riddle came out of the diary he enchanted," she said. "I don't remember too much; I didn't really wake up until later." She left out as many details as possible, that she had spoken to Tom Riddle a number of times by writing in the diary, and that she did remember seeing him step out of it in the Chamber to speak to her, and that everything had gone dark until after Harry had killed the Basilisk and stabbed the diary. Instead, she grabbed at something else Robards had said.

"What do you mean, that's the real story? It was a long time ago. I'll talk about my own experience if it helps the trainees understand the magic involved, but there's no reason to go further." She hoped her meaning was clear; she wasn't going to say much about Harry.

"Ahh well, there's been some renewed interest in what happened," said Robards. "With the recent attempted break-in in your building, and Harry's role in thwarting the attempted intruder. And yours of course too," he added, inclining his head. "It's an interesting parallel, both of you are still working together to stop Dark forces in unconventional ways."

"You were all so young," added Kane. "Voldemort was in his sixteen-year-old form, what he not?"

It didn't escape Ginny's attention that Robards shot Kane a sharp look. Filing away that information for later, she focused on an easier question. "How can there be 'renewed interest?'" she asked cautiously. "Dumbledore did a good job of suffocating news of the Chamber back then. It never made it into the papers, other than to say that the danger from the Heir of Slytherin had been addressed." Again, Ginny wished she could talk to Harry. The conversation wasn't making any sense; she was missing something – did it have to do with what Ron had overheard and Robards' reason for cancelling their meeting? She had no idea.

"I'm sure the Prophet would think it an interesting angle," said Kane bluntly, and suddenly, Ginny understood.

"You want to deflect from criticism that I didn't follow proper procedure when that Bellows woman tried to break in."

Robards let out a breath. "Well yes, we do," he said. He glanced at Kane again before continuing. "If you and Harry . . ."

"No." Ginny forced herself to keep her voice calm. "I'm sorry, but I thought I'd already made that clear. I won't . . ."

"Of course. Of course not," said Robards hurriedly. "I didn't mean to imply you would."

Ginny wasn't sure she and Robards were agreeing to the same thing. In the corridor outside his office, she heard the murmur of other voices, so instead of trying to pin him down, she just nodded and gestured to the door. "I should probably . . ."

"Get to class, yes," agreed Robards. He looked at his watch. "And actually, I think we'll have to postpone your talk for another day. I want to make sure you all have enough time for your field assignments."

Ginny suspected Robards had just then changed his mind about having her talk about the Chamber, and she wondered why. It was yet another issue to consider. At the rate I'm going, I'm going to need to talk to Harry for a week. Again, Ginny looked down, sure that if Robards caught her eye he'd know immediately that she was thinking about talking to Harry about him. And that's not completely fair, she reminded herself. Harry hasn't told you about why he left the Aurors specifically because he didn't want to influence your opinions. So keep an open mind and stop looking for suspicious behavior in your boss. She nodded. "That's a good idea, sir," she said, fixing her gaze just beyond Kane's left shoulder. "I know we're all eager to get outside."

HPHPHPHPHP

An hour later, she and Ron walked together through the Atrium to the fireplaces at the far end, discussing whether it would be better to floo directly to their target shop or approach it from the street. They were very carefully not talking about the fact that Robards had specifically matched them together for this assignment, but she knew it was on both of their minds. Ginny couldn't help but flick her eyes towards the entrance to the Ministry Health Center as they walked by. The door was just swinging closed as if someone had entered. Still, she was proud of the fact that she didn't startle even a little bit when Harry spoke close to her ear.

"Don't say anything about me," he said in a low voice. "I'll see you later tonight at the flat?"

"Oh, Ron, I forgot to mention," Ginny said in a voice rather more loud than normal. "Mum sent over dinner for us. Make sure you tell Hermione to come to the flat at 6."

Ron nodded, nonplussed. "Will do," he said.

Ginny sensed that Harry had stopped following them; he was likely back at the visitor's entrance. She resisted the urge to turn around, and instead agreed with Ron when he suggested they floo to the Leaky and walk from there.

They kept their conversation light as they walked down the street. The apothecary that was their target was about halfway down, its entrance half-hidden in the eave of the staircase that dropped sharply away towards Knockturn Alley. Killdares Complexities read the dingy sign over the door. Ginny had never been inside; her family had always shopped at the brighter Leadbeating & Sons next door to WWW; the owner had actually helped her brothers get the premises, and now was enjoying almost double the business as before.

"Homeschooling, remember?" Ginny muttered to Ron as she pushed open the door.

"I know," said Ron. "I was in class too, you know."

"Barely," retorted Ginny. "I saw you slide in the room just as . . ." she stopped talking.

The shop was as dark and crowded on the inside as Ginny would have expected from its exterior, but the three witches huddled around the counter would have stood out anyway. Matching platinum blonde hair (all likely the product of the same coloring spell) sat above tight, slightly tacky-looking robes, and even with their backs to the door, the women's body language suggested the type of air-headed flirtatiousness worthy of the Arrows' fanwitches.

".. . .odyezhdu? Ya nadeyus ty prav . . ." one of them was saying. Ginny frowned at the unfamiliar language. Russian?

"What are they saying?" whispered Ron? Behind him, the slow door finally shut with a heavy thunk and the women stopped talking and turned around. Ginny felt a moment of shock, but quickly masked it. Next to her, Ron gave a sharp intake of breath.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Katerina Bellows' voice had none of the fake sickly-sweetness she used around the Quidditch players. She crossed her arms and glared.

Next to her Nadia took a step forward, arms also crossed. "Haven't you already caused enough trouble? The Aurors questioned me for hours and now I'm subject to a charm that prevents me from getting within 100 yards of any Arrows' player."

"You were the one who tried to break into the building," Ginny pointed out. "I can hardly help it if the Aurors punished you for that."

"Ahh, but if you had followed proper procedure and simply called for the real Aurors, they would have treated my sister as causing a simple nuisance." The third woman – another sister? – shuffled closer to Nadia. "Instead, you had to use all those higher level spells, which triggered a much greater Auror response and an unnecessarily severe penalty for Nadia." The woman spoke authoritatively, with a level of confidence that made Ginny pause. Next to her, Ron made a soft sound, as if he'd just understood something.

"We're here on official Auror business," said Ginny. "Where is the proprietor?"

"Auror trainee business," the third woman corrected. She rolled her eyes. "Apparently, you are regularly in the habit of pretending you're more advanced than you really are."

"It's still official business for the Aurors, regardless of whether we're trainees or not," said Ron defensively. "And anyway, what do you know about it?" Ginny felt a tiny, subtle touch on her hand, warning her to be quiet. Ron knew something.

The third woman tossed her hair. "I know more that you'd believe," she said. And it's only my deep, deep respect for Gawain Robards that has kept the rest of the world from knowing it too. At least not yet." She spoke in a self-satisfied voice that made Ginny itch to hex her. But her comment about Robards was too convenient, and next to her, Ron was vibrating with suppressed energy. Instead, Ginny shuffled to the right, nodding in satisfaction when Katerina and Nadia mimicked her. Whatever they'd been looking at on the counter was something they wanted to keep secret. She was trying to figure out how to see what it was – had they learned any spells that would help? – when a rather faded looking young woman shuffled out from behind a curtain off to the side.

"I found the Baobob sap. It looks a little cloudy but stir it well before you add it and it should clear up nicely." The woman sounded only slightly more vibrant than her appearance. She walked forward and put a paper-wrapped box on the counter, seemingly oblivious to Ginny and Ron.

"That's fine, thanks, we'll just pay for all this and go now," said Katerina hurriedly. She turned away and Ginny heard the plunk of heavy coins.

"And here's the lilac powder." The woman kept talking as if Katerina hadn't spoken. "It will mask the smell of the crocus savitus better than the rosehips essence there." She held up a small bag and only then seemed to notice that her customers were in a rush. She frowned. "Should I get you a bag to carry everything? You may not want . . ." She looked up, finally making eye contact with Ginny. "It's so heavy," she said, even though the packages the women were holding obviously were not.

Katerina and Nadia were already halfway to the door. "Get it, Zoya," Katerina said over her shoulder. She looked quickly at Ron and Ginny. "Making a headache tonic," she muttered. "I get them when it storms."

Ginny nodded. "Of course. Good idea." She stood aside.

At the door, Katerina turned around. "Thanks for the tonic ingredients, Lucretia. I'm sure it will help my head a lot."

The woman named Lucretia nodded distractedly, her eyes now focused on Ginny and Ron's Auror robes.

"They're only trainees, Lu. No need to tell them anything important," said Katerina lightly. "I'll be back tomorrow to let you know how my head is feeling, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she bustled her sisters out the door and hurried behind them.

Ron exhaled. "Zoya, not Joy," he said. "That's who . . ."

Ginny elbowed him. "Not now," she said under her breath. She looked at the shopkeeper. "Lucretia, is it?"

The woman nodded cautiously. There was a movement at her side and Ginny saw a small girl, no older than seven or eight, hanging on woman's hip. Perfect. Ginny smiled at them both. "I'm Ginny Weasley and this is my brother, Ron," she said in as friendly a voice as possible. "As Miss Bellows told you, we are both Auror trainees, just working on a training exercise, nothing more. May we ask you a couple of questions?"

The woman nodded cautiously. Ron took out a magical clipboard. They didn't really need it - the questions they were to ask were pretty basic – but apparently, clipboards added an air of authority.

"Right then," said Ginny. "Really all we need to know right now is if it's accurate that you registered your children to be home-schooled past age eleven, is that correct?" It was frustrating that they hadn't been told exactly why it was important to track children who were being taught at home. From what Ginny had always understood, it wasn't an unusual practice; there were any number of reasons some wizard children might not go to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons or whatever. It had never been a big deal before. But now Robards and the others wanted to create a registry of witches and wizards who were not formally taught at a school. It was supposedly to keep track of inadvertent magical mistakes caused by untrained wizards, but Ginny didn't quite believe that. The Ministry had any number of means to track magical mistakes and accidents, not to mention deliberate acts. A person's schooling shouldn't really be relevant. Ginny had said as much to Ron and he'd just shrugged. "For all we know, it's busywork anyway," he'd said. "To get us in practice for when we have to really interview witnesses and things."

Ginny didn't believe that either. Still, she asked the designated question and duly recorded Lucretia's affirmance that yes, she was planning to home-school all three of her children, starting with her son Lucas, who'd be turning eleven in just a few weeks. The woman didn't ask why the Aurors wanted to know, so they weren't able to give them the standard answer that it was Auror procedure, and Ginny had to bite the inside of her lip to keep from asking if it was common for three people to come shopping together for something as simple as a headache tonic. Later, she told herself.

Lucretia's nerves didn't seem to calm the entire time Ginny and Ron were in the shop, and the relief on her face was obvious when Ginny announced they had the information they needed.

Once outside, Ron nearly exploded with his news. "That sister, the third one, she's who I heard Robards' talking to on Sunday."

Ginny gave him a sharp look. "Are you sure?"

Ron nodded. "Positive. Didn't her sister call her Zoya? I thought her name was Joy."

"And she told us she's close to Robards," Ginny said slowly. "I wonder what she meant."

"Well, it didn't sound like he particularly liked her," said Ron. "He sounded annoyed, actually."

"Hmm," said Ginny. "I wonder what Harry thinks. Maybe he has an idea of what it means when Robards sounds annoyed." They were walking up Diagon Alley now, dodging shoppers and café tables full of people.

"You can ask him tonight," laughed Ron. "Aren't you bringing some of mum's cooking over at 6?"

"If you're lucky," said Ginny. "But now I think I'm going to get changed for a run. As soon as we send our data back, I mean." The trainees had been given a rare afternoon off once they'd finished their fieldwork. Ginny and Ron had visited three homes to inquire about homeschooling and it was barely 2 pm.

Ron frowned. "Should we tell Gawain and Shepard about the Bellows sisters? You didn't believe what they said about a headache potion, did you?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not for a second, no," she said. She frowned. "I think we shouldn't say anything yet," she said. "Gawain would want to know how we recognized Zoya's voice or else it would just get him interested in talking to me about Nadia's attempted break-in again. I don't feel like dealing with all that right now." She hadn't even had time to tell Ron about what Robards and Kane had told her this morning, and now Ginny just felt too tired of all of it to think any more. She felt a brief jolt of understanding for Harry, running off to the Arrows last Spring. She loved being in the Auror corps, but right now, nothing felt straightforward, and she wasn't sure how much of her discomfort was legitimate and how much was manufactured suspicion. She needed to take a run, alone, and some time to clear her head.