She'd known the Arrows were going on a road trip, of course, but arriving home to her empty flat after her useless "interview" with Sacha/Sally only exacerbated Ginny's frustration. She'd spent the rest of the day with Copernicus at a Quidditch feeder team's camp even though it had been glaringly obvious to Ginny after less than ten minutes that their brooms hadn't been cursed by dark forces but charmed as a prank, likely by a rival team. Normally, a quick message to Fred and George would have given her the countercharm, but Ginny wasn't eager to have Copernicus and a bunch of semi-professional Quidditch players hear how the twins – likely still smarting after the poster debacle – might respond right now. The fact that none of the brooms could fly more than a foot off the ground or faster than walking speed should have been enough to clue her co-worker into the fact that there were no Dark forces at work here, but Copernicus had insisted on questioning every single individual involved with the team before finally concluding that Ginny was likely correct. As they split up the concluding paperwork to complete at home, Ginny had grudgingly conceded that it had been the correct procedure to follow, but with every instinct urging her to focus on Kane and his behavior, she'd been rather shorter with Copernicus than was warranted.

"I'm sorry, Cop," Ginny said tiredly. "I'll manage the bulk of the post-interview summaries. You handled things here."

Copernicus shrugged, nonplussed. "I don't mind. Don't you also have to write up the first interview you did? With that potions witch who works for the Aurors."

Ginny looked at him sharply. "You know it was Sascha Bellows?" She bit back the mention that the woman had been in disguise.

He nodded. "Shepherd Kane was talking to her when I got to work this morning. I stopped by his office to drop off some maps he asked me to work on and heard them talking about memory potions. She has a very distinctive voice, that Sascha." His voice took on a slightly dreamy air and Ginny bit back a grin.

"She does," she agreed. "Did you see her?" Ginny wondered if Sascha had been dressed as Sally.

Copernicus shook his head. "I didn't go into Kane's office when I heard he had a visitor," he said, coloring slightly. He frowned. "Actually, I forgot to give him these." From the pocket of his robes, he pulled out a sheaf of parchments and enlarged them until Ginny could see they depicted the towns and villages of most of England. They looked similar to the maps on Robards' office wall, but these seemed to have many more glowing areas. Ginny remembered what the head Auror had said, that but for Harry's work the previous year, there would have been quite a few more pockets of Dark activity around. She frowned.

"What are the glowing areas? Wizarding families that home school their children?" That would make sense; there were likely many more families that homeschool their children than there were families that practiced Dark magic. But Copernicus shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said. "At least, Kane didn't say anything about schooling. He said they were locations that needed to be checked for Dark activity. . . or did he say rechecked?" Copernicus shook his head again. "I don't exactly remember. I just checked the glowing areas against a list of families Kane gave me. Added a few more spots too."

"Do you have the list?" asked Ginny. She wondered how many of the places overlapped with where Harry'd visited last year, and how many he remembered. They couldn't all have harbored evil, so it was likely only some would be memorable.

"It disintegrated when I was finished," he said. "Kane only needs the map." He tapped it with his wand to shrink it. "I'd better drop it off before I go home," he said. "It was supposed to be to him this morning."

Ginny bit back the urge to tell Copernicus not to mention to anyone that she'd had so many questions; somehow she suspected that Kane wouldn't approve of this conversation. Instead, she returned Cop's nod of goodbye and didn't say anything while he turned on the spot and disappeared. After a moment, Ginny Disapparated too, arriving at her building's back entrance and stopping by her own flat just long enough to shrug off her work clothes and put on something more comfortable. Now she was sitting with Ron and Hermione in Ron and Harry's flat, trying not to be cross over the way the other two were cuddling together on the sofa. To their credit, they were both more focused on Ginny's information than each other. Still, she was feeling Harry's absence rather more than she expected. Whether it was because she wanted his insight about Sascha and Kane or because now that they didn't have to hide she was really looking forward to moments of just being together, Ginny didn't care. She just wished he was there. He'd sent a Patronus once he'd settled into the hotel, but it had been perfunctory, telling her to remind Ron to get more coffee. That meant he wasn't alone in his room and Ginny shouldn't send a response. She sighed.

Hermione gave her a sympathetic glance. "I know how hard it is to be apart," she said. Ginny nodded.

"I know you do," she said. "And I really appreciate you both letting me be here when I know you'd rather have some time alone."

Ron shrugged. "True," he said. "And I'm sure we'll kick you out at some point, but first I think we need to talk about today while the memories are still fresh. Sascha stayed in her disguise the entire time, you said?"

Ginny nodded. "She tried to make it sound like she just wanted to use the potion to dig up gossip she could sell to the papers. And that might actually be partly true. I bet she feeds information to her sister Zoya all the time."

"Kane would have been better off telling you outright that Sally was Sascha," observed Hermione. She leaned forward. "Because why would he have knowledge about what a random server in a pub was doing? It makes him look suspicious to be keeping that secret."

"I'm just glad neither Harry nor I drank that drink," said Ginny with a shudder. "I don't know what other reasons Sascha had for making it, but I have no doubt she would have run to the papers if she'd found out that Harry and I had just been snogging in the alley moments earlier."

"Ugh," said Ron, covering his ears in mock annoyance. "Do I really need to hear that?"

"You said Dam talked about his childhood while he was under the potion, right?" asked Hermione before Ginny could make a snarky response to her brother. "Do we know what any of the other Arrows were talking about?"

Ginny thought for a moment. "I remember hearing the Vincenti twins saying something about the first time they did accidental magic." She grinned. "They set their kitchen on fire when their mum wouldn't give them another piece of cake after dinner one night. Fred and George did something similar, and I wondered if it was twin thing." She looked at Hermione. "Do you think that's important?"

"It might be," said Hermione. "It sounds like the potion was targeting to retrieve older memories. Or ones related to family and early magic."

"Robards and Kane are definitely interested in those sorts of things," agreed Ginny. "Actually, that's another thing I wanted to ask you about. Today, Copernicus showed me . . ."

She didn't get any further because a sudden, unearthly screech rent the air.

"What the?" said Ron, jumping to his feet. He ran over to the door, even though it wasn't clear that the sound was coming from the hallway. Ginny and Hermione grabbed their wands and spread out, each going to one of the sitting room's windows. The sound morphed into an eerie voice.

"Qu . . . qu . . . iiiiii . . . dd . . . ahhhhh. Qu . . . qu . . . iiiiii . . . ddd ahhhh."

"Someone's trying to use the password to get into the building," said Ginny sharply. "Someone not authorized to be here." She waved her wand to contact Bill, but before she could even finish, his jaguar dropped into the room.

"Stay put, I'm coming up," it said tersely. Less than thirty seconds later there was a knock at the door. Ron relaxed his stance only slightly as he spoke through the wood.

"What did you and Fleur leave under my bed the last time you were at the Burrow?" he asked brusquely. Ginny saw the back of Ron's neck turn red as he spoke. Across the room, Hermione blushed too. "Ron!" she said in a loud whisper.

There was a chuckle on the other side of the door. "A magic Snitch, and I said I'd get you one for your birthday when I thought you were ready," said Bill. Ron pulled the door open and Bill groaned. "You had to ask that in front of Ginny?" he said. He looked over at her. "You don't get one. Ever," he said.

Ginny rolled her eyes and ignored that. "Did someone break in?" she asked. Bill was acting a lot more calmly than she'd otherwise expect.

Bill shook his head. "The wards stopped them, and they Disapparated immediately," he said. "Which means they didn't get very far inside. Otherwise they'd have been caught." He shook his head. "We need to change the password; 'Quidditch' is too common and it's too easy to hear Harry say it multiple times."

Ginny looked up. "Harry? What does he have to do with it?"

Bill grimaced. "Someone tried to copy his voice and use it to get past the wards. I had reservations about using the word "Quidditch" as a password but Dam insisted. Now you're all going to have to do it my way."

Ginny felt an odd thrum of fear that was at odds with Bill's relaxed demeanor. "Someone tried to steal Harry's voice? Did he know it?" she asked. Her mind went back to the pub and potion; somehow they felt connected. "The Bellows sisters broke in last time, do you think it was one of them?"

Bill gave her an approving look. "That was our first thought too," he said.

Ginny rolled her eyes again. "You sound surprised."

Bill looked sheepish. "You've given me a lot of surprises in the past week," he said. "I'm still getting used to everything I didn't know about my baby sister." He looked around the room. "At least the twins got rid of the poster I kept hearing about." He ran his hand through his hair. "We need to re-register all your voices saying the new password; Miriam is deciding what to use now and then we'll go flat to flat."

"What's to stop someone from finding out the new one and trying to get in the building again?" asked Ron.

Bill grimaced again. "It's because the password – Quidditch – was one that Harry said a lot," he said. The spell the person used to try to impersonate his voice needed dozens of examples of him speaking, and it layered them all together." He shook his head. "We're picking something a lot tougher this time."

"So we can expect to have to save Dam from the wards at least once a week?" Ginny said dryly.

"Better that than worrying about someone breaking in," said Bill. He walked over the window and looked out. "Is this all just crazy fans wanting to get near the Arrows or something else?"

"We're not sure," said Ginny, just as Ron said "Maybe something else." The both shared a look.

"It's probably be a little of both," Ginny amended. "Those Bellows sisters, one of them writes for the Prophet and I know she wants a story. I'm just not sure what she wants from Harry yet."

"Or what that other one wants from you," added Ron.

Ginny stifled a groan when Bill looked sharply at her again. "What about you?"

Ginny shrugged. "It's nothing, I think. Just that one of the other Bellows sisters is doing some potions work for the Aurors. Shepherd Kane is working with her on some truth telling potions. He and Gawain Robards are investigating wizarding families that home school their children, to make sure they're being taught correctly and don't learn things that could get themselves into any trouble."

Bill visibly relaxed. "We keep track of homeschooling families too," he said. "With a mild ward around each property that can detect and contain any spells that go awry. I'm not surprised the Aurors have their own methods."

That all made sense to Ginny, but she couldn't help thinking she was missing something. "Do you have maps of all the warded homes?" she asked.

Bill nodded. "Yep, and any time a family decides to send their children to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons or wherever, we note that too." He looked at his watch. "I need to meet Miriam downstairs; I'll call for you all when we're ready to record your voices again. It shouldn't take too long since none of the Arrows are here right now." He wandered into the kitchen. "I'll just take some of these," he said, picking up a plate of cookies Molly had sent over. "Fleur can't get enough of them right now."

Ginny flopped on the sofa after Bill left. She wanted to talk to Harry more than ever, couldn't help but feel like he'd be able to help her untangle the threads between Sascha Bellows and the potion, the break-ins at the building, and whatever it was Shepherd Kane wanted to know about Ginny and Harry's experiences in the Chamber. She should probably throw Robards in there too, she supposed. It was possible they weren't all connected, but given that Harry and Ginny both seemed to be involved somehow in every suspicious event, she couldn't just ignore what was going on. One thing was clear though; she had to keep the Aurors from finding out that she and Harry were together, at least until she had more of an idea what all her suspicions meant. For the first time, Ginny was a little relieved the Arrows were on a road trip; maybe she could do some investigating at work without any distractions.

"I should ask Angelina not to say anything about me and Harry," she said. "At work, I mean."

"She knows," said Ron. "Mentioned it to me this morning. She's known Harry a long time." He grinned. "And she and Katie will keep Fred and George in line, not that they want to be thinking about the two of you any time soon anyway."

Ginny nodded. "That's one thing sorted then," she said.

HPHPHPHP

She didn't get to talk to Harry that night but there was a note waiting for her at the window in the morning. She wondered when he'd had time to write it – it described, in rather explicit detail, what he was doing to himself while imagining she was the one pleasuring him instead. Ginny had never considered that the written word could be so arousing; the sex books that circulated through Hogwarts had ranged from clinical to ridiculous. But Harry's scrawl across the parchment, his I'm stroking myself, wishing I could feel your hand there instead, had her considering for a long moment whether she had time for another shower. Ginny hadn't seen Harry so open about his physical needs other than while they were actually together addressing them, and thinking about him writing the letter to her was more arousing than she'd have thought. She idly touched a place where the ink had pooled into a blot, thinking how hard his hand must have been gripping the quill (while gripping himself with the other?), and then almost dropped the parchment in surprise as the lines of text began to unfurl. After a few seconds, they'd rearranged themselves from words describing what Harry wished Ginny was doing to him to a small, 3-D image of two inky figures touching each other over and over, like in a photograph. The detail was rough but there was no doubt what the Ginny figure was doing as she knelt in front of the Harry image, pressing her face to the space between his legs before pulling back to stand up and start over again.

With the greatest of effort, Ginny touched her wand to the parchment and watched as the figures dissolved back into flat words. Her entire body was tingling as she carefully rolled up Harry's note and sealed it before placing it on her bedside table to examine more closely that night. She was going to have to learn that charm before she responded to the letter.

HPHPHPHP

News of the near break-in was the main topic of conversation among the trainees that day. At first, that put Ginny on edge, listening to everyone discus and debate what spell someone might have used to get past Bill Weasley's excellent wards. But most of the talk steered away from Harry, apart from the fact that he was one of the Arrows players that was the likely target of a rabid fan's charm gone wrong. She encouraged any theories that moved in that direction, agreeing wholeheartedly with Parvati that yes, some of those fan-witches would really stop at nothing for an autograph and sidestepping Ernie's musings about whether Harry might have been able to catch the intruder, had he been home. Most importantly, Angelina had obviously kept her mouth shut about the revelation at the Burrow – not that Ginny had expected anything else. But given the way her morning had started, Ginny didn't think she would have been able to handle any sort of discussion about Harry without giving something away.

Ginny's mood was further buoyed by the fact that Shepard Kane was apparently out on assignment and Robards was busy with administrative matters. Ginny managed to steal time during their lunch break to speak to Camilla alone, again on the pretext of getting her nephew tickets to an upcoming Quidditch match. The ruse required Ginny to speak about Harry again, but her greater interest in telling the senior Auror about Sascha and the pub kept a lid on her libido – mostly.

"Kane has always been fascinated by what you and Harry experienced in the Chamber of Secrets," Camilla said when Ginny finished describing her Floo call with Sascha/Sally. "As I know you already know."

Ginny frowned. "He's never made a secret of it," she agreed, "but I still don't know exactly why." She shook her head to herself. "Or how that relates to the truth potion Sascha wanted us to drink."

"It wasn't exactly a truth potion," said Camilla thoughtfully. "At least, not in the manner of Veritaserum." She frowned slightly, thinking. "You said that anyone who took it was more open and forthcoming about personal things, right? Especially about their youth?"

"Well, Dam talked about his childhood," said Ginny. "His mum and dad especially. And my brother made several comments about his girlfriend that I'd just as soon never remember again. I don't know exactly what the others said."

"There is something Harry knows, or understands, that Kane wants," said Camilla bluntly. "And since he won't give it up willingly, Kane thinks he can get it through you, since you were there too. If we'd been able to interview Sascha, we could have gotten more," said Camilla, half to herself. "Dammit."

"I'm not so sure," said Ginny. "It was pretty obvious that "Sally" had been carefully coached about what to say. Even if Kane hadn't been there, I think she would have stuck to her story." She took a deep breath, wondering if she should admit to Camilla that she might be able to find out on her own more about what Harry's relationship with Kane had been. The urge to tell the Auror was strong , but the urge to keep Harry's privacy intact was stronger. She swallowed her confession, vowing to ask Harry if she could share their news with Camilla the next time she spoke to him.

Camilla gave her a small smile. "Shepherd Kane is not the only one adept at getting past people's most immediate memories and thoughts," she said. "My methods are more subtle, and more fair, but no less effective." She nodded to the door to her office. "I'll have to teach you sometime," she said under her breath before raising her voice. "Oh, Brogan will just love that if you can arrange it, Ginny. Thank you!"

"You're welcome, any time!" responded Ginny in the same hearty voice. "I'll have Ron talk to Harry about the details," she added, just wanting an excuse to say his name. She ran her hand through her hair. This week of the Arrows road trip was going to be torture.

HPHPHPHP

Kane was gone the following day as well and the trainees spent a thoroughly boring day in a mandatory ethics class, learning about all the ways they might be tempted to overlook illegal activity in exchange for something of value. Of the three most common offers – sex, money, and information – only information was sometimes allowed to be accepted in lieu of an arrest.

"And only if you've first gotten approval from your superior," droned a Ministry judicial officer in a dry voice. Moreover, information in exchange for sex is also strictly forbidden."

"Damn," said Lee in a loud whisper. Everyone laughed while their lecturer gave Lee a dour look.

"You might think this is funny now," he said. "But new Aurors don't make a lot of money when you're out in the field facing a wealthy dark wizard offering to give you enough gold to pay your rent for a year, you'll need to remember these rules."

Everyone quieted down at the thought of a pile of gold enough to pay a year's rent. Ginny was reminded suddenly that it was only thanks to Harry letting Ron live with him for free that she was able to afford her own flat at all. Now the thought made her warm, not irritated as it once had. If not for Harry's generosity, she'd probably still be living at the Burrow and she'd probably still think of Harry as an annoyance, if she thought of him at all.

Ginny was thinking about Harry quite a bit as she walked home. This road trip had been busier than usual, with press junkets and intense training sessions. Add to that Harry's rooming with Adam Ramsey, and Ginny had barely spoken to him. She hadn't even dared send him a return letter to match his, lest it get intercepted, and wanking by herself in bed was getting rather tiresome.

"Three more days," she muttered to herself as she let herself into her flat, and squeaked at the sight of Harry's Patronus, standing patiently by the window as if he'd been there all afternoon waiting for her.

As soon as she closed her door, the stag began to speak.

"I snuck out, don't tell your brother or Hermione," it said. "Dam thinks I'm in bed sick but I'm really in Muggle London, in Picadilly. Restaurant called the Wolseley. Meet me there at half-six, please. If you can't, well . . . you must. Just please be here soon. Please." The stag faded away but Ginny didn't see it because she was too busy pulling off her clothing and trying to find something appropriately Muggle to wear. Thankful that she'd showered that morning and that their boring workday meant she wasn't at all sweaty or tired, Ginny managed to get out of her flat and to the Apprarition point in less than ten minutes. After thinking to herself about Picadilly and the closest place to the area that she could arrive, she shut her eyes and thought mostly of Harry.

The alley Ginny arrived in was only a half block from the restaurant. The Wolseley was in the style of a rather grand café, and from the front, Ginny wondered at Harry's plan. But inside was full of tables and counters and bustling waiters and a general din that assured their anonymity. Plus, it smelled delicious.

Ginny located Harry almost immediately. He was sitting at a small table in a corner next to a potted plant studying the menu intently through his glasses. Ginny's heart gave a little leap at the sight of him; the feeling was followed almost immediately with a shot of heat lower down. She shivered. Suddenly, eating seemed to be rather a waste of time.

As if sensing her gaze, Harry looked up and smiled at her. His look was friendly and open at first but slowly devolved into something private. He swallowed hard before standing up and giving her a hug. Ginny couldn't help but melt against him, sighing. Harry chuckled and tightened his arms around her. "I missed you too," he said.

Ginny leaned back and looked at him. "Is there a reason we're at a Muggle restaurant? I'm not complaining, mind you, but I wondered."

"Much less chance we'll be spotted," said Harry. "Although as soon as you passed that plant, you entered a disguising ward; to anyone else in the restaurant we're both blonde and stocky." He gave her a cheeky grin. "Also, this Muggle restaurant happens to be attached to a Muggle hotel, which, I have on good authority, is very romantic and private."

"Won't Adam notice if you don't make it back to the room tonight?" asked Ginny. She sat down and picked up the menu. "Mmm, Schnitzel," she said happily.

"I may have bribed Kipling to trade for his single tonight," said Harry with a grin. "He really loves your mum's pie and I might have neglected to mention that all he needed to do was ask and she'd send him one." He took her hand. "I really needed a night alone with you," he said.

The sincerity in Harry's voice made Ginny warm. She squeezed his hand, wondering just how hungry she really was anyway.

"Yes, we're going to eat first," said Harry with a laugh. He waved over the server.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" she said.

Harry shrugged. "Because I considered skipping dinner too," he said. "But I'd rather have all your attention later, and that means getting you fed now."

Ginny started to protest and then thought better of it. "You aren't wrong," she admitted.

The small table was arranged with the two place settings across from each other. After Ginny sat down, Harry moved his chair to the side adjacent to her and took her hand again. "This is worth getting an extra workout if Dam catches me," he said.

One of the images from Harry's last letter flashed through her head. "Much better than watching 'little ink Harry' try to go down on 'little ink Ginny' while they're riding a broom. Not that I minded at the time, of course." Indeed, once Ginny had stopped giggling to herself at the vision of Harry's hastily penned head trying to balance itself between Ginny's legs while circling the real Ginny's bed, she'd found that the image fueled an intense orgasm, not to mention consideration of whether they could attempt the same move for real one day.

Harry squeezed her hand. "Wait until you see the next one I have planned. I just need to figure out how to draw the kitchen at the Burrow first." He looked so earnest, Ginny could immediately picture him, lying on the bed at some far-off hotel and imagining more and more outrageous sexual fantasies to share with her. She shivered.

"I can't wait until the Arrows have a home-stretch," she said. "It's not fair to you that I can't send letters back."

"It's okay," Harry said. "You'll just have to work twice as hard tonight to make up for it."

Ginny swatted him with her napkin. "Prat," she said.

Harry looked about to say something else, but the server came and took their order, and when she left, he turned to Ginny with a completely different look on his face.

"Before I forget," he said. "And believe me, the second I get you alone in that hotel room, I'm definitely going to forget everything besides getting you out of your clothes as quickly as possible."

Ginny nodded her head in agreement. "I won't stop you," she said solemnly.

Harry grinned. "Good. But first I want to hear about the attempted break-in. Bill said you both suspect the Bellows are behind it?"

"Nice of Bill to give me credit too," said Ginny. "He's still not quite ready to admit that I'm actually a grown-up." She Ieaned back in her seat, gathering her thoughts.

"They didn't get very far into the building, which is why they didn't get caught," she said. Certain thoughts had been swirling in her head all week, and Ginny didn't think she was imagining some of the connections that might not have been as clear to the others. "But I don't think they necessarily wanted to get in. If it really was one of the Bellows, and I think it was, then they're likely to be wary. We've already caught them twice before." She took a sip of her water. "I think that whoever it was wanted to see how far they could get before the wards triggered. And they want to try to figure out a way to get farther next time."

Harry looked sharply at her. "Did you tell Bill that? He was pretty confident that the intruder just had really good reflexes and managed to pull away at the last second. Another tiny step and they'd have been caught."

"That might have been true," said Ginny. "But I don't think it was luck. I think someone – probably Shepherd Kane – helped whatever Bellows sister it was. My bet is on Sascha." She knew she wasn't making total sense; she and Harry hadn't even had the chance to talk about Ginny's interview with Sascha and how Kane had interfered, or what Ginny and Camilla had discussed about the potion. Still, she wasn't prepared for Harry's forehead to wrinkle in confusion as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Don't you mean Robards?" he asked. "He's the one directing the search for Dark activity. Kane was in charge of . . . umm . . . other things." Harry rubbed his forehead. "School or something."

Ginny felt a swoop of dread in her stomach. She wished Hermione was there. Carefully, she nodded her head. "Robards keeps track of families that homeschool their children," she said. "The Aurors work with the cursebreakers on it, actually. Bill said they ward those homes so they can detect if anything dangerous happens – intentional or not."

Harry face cleared. "Right, it's a requirement of being allowed to homeschool," he said. "It was one of the things Robards had me working on."

Ginny studied Harry before speaking, noting the calm on his face. She nodded. "You did other things for . . . Robards too, didn't you? He showed me a map of suspected Dark activity and said it would have been a lot more lit up if not for your help." This was the most direct Ginny had been, asking Harry about his work for the Aurors. They hadn't talked about it much since the two of them had become a couple – they always seemed to have more pressing things to discuss and do, she thought wryly to herself. When the topic had come up before that, the barriers between them had made their conversations stilted and Harry particularly guarded. She knew he'd tell her anything she wanted to know now, but her growing dread at exactly what Harry knew – and more importantly, didn't know – demanded a lot of caution. She didn't know enough about memory charms yet, and Kane was very good at them.

Harry seemed oblivious to Ginny's distress. He nodded again, looking up to thank their server as she brought them their food. She gave them a slightly odd look before departing and Harry chuckled.

"Until she gets right inside the wards, we both look blonde," he said. "We'll have to remember to cast an Obscuring charm on ourselves when we leave."

"Remember," muttered Ginny. She took a deep breath before plunging on. "Do you remember doing anything for Kane? Separate from what you did for Robards?" She asked. She took a sip of wine, trying to maintain her casual demeanor. She wanted to ask him if he'd ever encountered any of the Bellows too, but she remembered Hermione telling her that when memory modification was suspected, it was best to move slowly, asking simple questions and focusing on one issue at a time.

HPHPHPHP

Harry frowned as he felt his brain go fuzzy again. This wasn't the first time Ginny had asked him about Shepherd Kane and the Aurors but it had never seemed that important before. Now he could see on Ginny's face that something was bothering her, but Harry wasn't sure what. He shook his head.

"He was working with Robards on the homeschooling, I think," he said slowly, watching as Ginny's lips tightened. "But I wasn't really involved with him. He wasn't around much, as I recall it."

"But he was at Auror headquarters, right? Did you see him there?" Ginny had leaned forward in her seat and was looking intently at him.

Harry tried to think; he sensed his answer was important. "Maybe," he said finally. "But . . . I wasn't at Auror headquarters myself much. I was in the field. I was . . . interviewing people. Mostly on my own. They uhh, they thought people might be more open about . . . things. Talking to Harry Potter." Now Harry frowned to himself. He knew why he'd left the Aurors so abruptly, and his reason was a good one. Joining the Arrows had been the right decision, and he'd kept quiet about his former position to protect his own privacy and to keep anyone from worrying about . . . something. He wanted to tell Ginny not to worry, he wanted to explain to her his reasoning, and tell her that it was a very good thing that she had taken his place because she was clearly so good at it. He hadn't told her why he'd left the Aurors earlier because they'd been not them. All that time Ginny had been generally irritated with him and Harry had been uncomfortable, confiding in her had been out of the question. He hadn't even really shared much with Ron and Hermione, and had never really considered the reason why. He frowned again before taking Ginny's hand in his.

"What do you know?" he asked quietly.

Ginny shook her head. "It's what I don't know," she said. She looked up at him, and her eyes were brighter than normal. "And it's what I think you don't remember." She looked down for a second and took a deep breath. "Kane told me . . . when I first joined the Aurors, I mean." She stopped and seem to re-gather her thoughts. "You know that he's asked me to try to get you to come back, right?" Her voice held a hint of nervous hope and Harry was glad to be able to reassure her.

"Yes, you said he's mentioned it several times," he said. "That there was something he could use both of us for, right? But you always told him no."

Ginny's face relaxed a fraction and she nodded. "I didn't want to push you," she said. "Especially before we were . . . when, you know."

"When you didn't really want to spend any more time with me than you absolutely had to," he said with a wry grin.

"Right," said Ginny. "And I didn't think it was right to push you, which is why I probably didn't notice as soon as I should have."

"Notice what?"

Ginny had pulled her hand out of his and was twisting her napkin. It was a nervous gesture Harry had never seen in her before. Usually he'd been the one destroying her quilts and curtains while he'd struggled over what to say. He placed his hand on top of hers and she stilled.

"He mentioned that you'd done work for him. Not just for Robards," said Ginny flatly. "Important work." She was looking at him with an almost expectant look and Harry felt a swoop of dread in his belly. He could hear what she was saying but his brain felt suddenly too muddled to understand the meaning in her words. He shook his head.

"Ginny, I'm sorry," he said finally. "But I don't . . ."

"I know," she said, and her voice took on a gentle sadness. "You don't remember. Kane did something to you and now you don't remember."

A/N: Deadwoodpecker really wanted another sexy scene and I'm sorry I couldn't deliver. It's going to get harder from here but I promise to get Harry and Ginny back in bed as soon as possible, but honestly, the story needed a little bit more plot, I think.