A/N: While cleaning up my writing files, I realized that I had never uploaded the final three chapters of Emergency, so here they are. The last chapter is really an outtake. Enjoy!
Harry and Ginny had "dinner" not twice, but three times before they finally left the flat the next afternoon in favor of a trip to the Burrow for, well, dinner.
Mrs. Weasley had really outdone herself this time. Harry suspected that loved ones' near misses with death brought out her need to cook even more; at least, he hoped that was the reason for the mountain of food she had spread out in the Burrow's kitchen. He didn't want to think what she'd prepare when she learned that Harry and Ginny were officially together again.
And she was sure to learn the news soon. Already, Harry could see identical looks of devious glee in the eyes of Fred and George as they whispered into each other's ears, giving Harry and Ginny snide glances across from across the room.
"Can you think of a spell that will seal your brothers' mouths shut and yet still allow them to eat and breathe?" he whispered to Ginny. "Or maybe we can charm them to forget everything they've seen in the past 24 hours."
"Good luck with that," Ginny whispered back. "The problem with trying to get the twins is that one of them is always on the lookout, protecting the other. No one's been able to hex them properly in years."
Harry sighed and turned towards Ron, who was standing with his arm around Hermione, nodding every once in a while as she prattled on. Wedding talk, no doubt. Maybe the best defense is a good offense.
"Hey Ron," Harry spoke loudly over the din of the kitchen. "Did you get all your things moved into Hermione's flat okay?" Harry suspected that Ron might have neglected to inform his parents of his new living arrangements; feeling that was confirmed by the way Ron's ears turned red and Molly's mouth opened in surprise.
"Really, Ronald?" Molly didn't look angry at the news – having raised seven children who were now at adulthood, she had a certain understanding about how these things worked. But still, Harry knew she wasn't going to let her youngest son off scot free.
"I didn't realize your living arrangements were going to be changing so soon," she commented idly, turning back to the pan of rolls she was moving to a serving basket with her wand. "Before the wedding, I mean." She didn't say anything else and the silence in the kitchen got thick, punctuated only by occasional snorts from the direction of Fred and George.
Hermione peeked out from under Ron's arm to glare at Harry, who gave her a "better you than me" kind of shrug before clearing his throat. "Yeah, Ron. I would have been perfectly happy to have to live with me up until the wedding. " He gave his best friend a cheeky grin. "Especially since you don't spend too many nights at the flat as it is."
Ron finally found his voice. "I've been nothing but helpful to you in the past weeks," he said plaintively. "With, you know." He gestured vaguely in the direction of Ginny and Harry was impressed with his best mate's apparent desire to let Harry and Ginny do their own news-telling. Harry felt just a tad guilty – Hermione was obviously a good influence on Ron and Harry had just thrown him to the dragons.
"Help with what?" Molly asked, now putting a tray of tarts in the oven.
Not that guilty.
"With keeping the flat clean," said Harry quickly. "You know, since he's not there much." Across the room he saw Ginny biting the inside of her cheek in an effort not to laugh.
Molly finally turned around, a slight frown on her face. She gave Harry a tender look. "I hope Ron's eagerness to . . . be with Hermione hasn't left you too lonely, Harry dear. Have you been just burying yourself in work?"
Oh, sweet Merlin
The explosive snorts of laughter came from at least three different spots around the kitchen. Even Ginny, bright red in the face, was holding her side and trying not to giggle too loudly.
"I wouldn't say he's been burying himself in his work, Mum," George finally managed, wiping his eyes.
"But, " added Fred, "he has been burying himself in . . . Ginny – is something wrong?"
Harry groaned to himself. He was in for it now.
"Nothing's wrong," said Ginny firmly. "I'm just hungry."
"Harry?" asked George innocently. "Are you hungry? I'm sure you could go down with Ginny to the garden for some berries or something if you can't wait for dinner. Or do you need to go to the loo first?"
The snort this time came from the direction of Ron. Apparently he'd decided that if Harry was going to hang him out to dry, Ron no longer owed him anything. But he was also bright red as he whispered in Hermione's ear, no doubt giving her the highlights of Harry and Ginny's fight the night before.
Hermione first raised her eyebrows in Harry's direction, and then, as Ron continued to whisper, actually flushed as she looked at Ginny and then Harry.
In front of a Harpies trainer? She mouthed silently at them. Harry suspected she was torn between the desire to lecture them for their indiscretion and drag her fiancée up to his room to try to recreate the scene.
"She left first," Harry whispered back indignantly.
"But just barely," muttered Ginny, who had moved closer . So close that he couldn't help but reach out and pull her to him, wrapping one arm firmly around her waist. She gave him a quizzical look in return and he shrugged. The cat was surely among the pixies now, might as well get it all over with at once.
It didn't take long. Mrs. Weasley turned towards the room holding a bowl of strawberries and saw them. Ginny shuffled even closer so that she could lean her head on Harry's shoulder and snake one arm across his body.
Molly froze for a millisecond and then the tiniest of smiles flitted across her face before she bustled over to the table and put down the bowl of berries.
About bloody time. Harry could have sworn he heard her mutter under her breath as she waved her wand to arrange the dishes on the table to make more room.
Harry relaxed. That was it, then, and easier than he'd suspected. He gave Ginny a grin and kissed her on the forehead, feeling lighter than he had in weeks. Months, even.
He gave a cocky grin at the twins, who seemed only mildly put out by the fact that their mother had not shown a bigger reaction to the news about Harry and Ginny. Indeed, had Harry been paying more attention, he probably would have been rather nervous about the looks on both their faces. But then Mr. Weasley came in with Bill and Fleur and Percy and things got even louder as everyone jockeyed for position around the groaning table.
Harry held on to Ginny until he was certain they could find seats next to each other. Briefly he was reminded of the last time he'd eaten at the Burrow. Had he really banished Ginny's knickers in front of her entire family? Had she really flashed her breasts?
Their convoluted rules had certainly led them to take risks he doubted they would have otherwise. Suddenly it was perfectly clear. "We were trying to find some emotion without actually showing, emotion," he whispered in Ginny's ear.
Again, she understood his half-spoken thought perfectly. "It made us rather daring, didn't it?" she replied. She knocked her hip into his before she sat down. "I promise to keep my shirt on this time."
"And I promise to keep your knickers on," Harry replied. "On you, I mean. Not me. I don't want to wear your knickers," he babbled while Ginny giggled.
"Just sit down, Harry," she laughed.
Smiling sheepishly, Harry took his seat. Arthur looked over at him. "So, Harry," he began. The entire table got quiet and Harry braced himself for a barrage of questions about him and Ginny.
Beside him, Ginny squeezed his thigh reassuringly.
"Yes, sir?" Harry looked the man directly in the eye. He'd always had a good relationship with Arthur, and had never more appreciated the man's thoughtful and restrained personality than when he and Ginny had broken up. While Molly and most of Ginny's brothers (not to mention Hermione and Fluer) had expressed varying degrees of loud dismay and shock at the news (Harry had stopped counting the number of times Ron had asked him if he was mental after a dozen), Mr. Weasley had kept quiet. He had not altered his previous warmth and friendliness towards Harry, who was reassured that Ginny's father had not held him solely responsible for the break up or for breaking his daughter's heart, or any other such fatherly emotions. As far as Harry knew, Arthur had remained neutral on the entire issue, other than to express his recent gratitude that he'd been able to offer Ginny protection. But that seemed about to change.
At least now I can give him the good news about us
"I understand you had a discussion with Kingsley yesterday, Harry. He said that you could tell us what the Aurors have learned about who's been behind the attacks."
Harry relaxed and his appreciation for Arthur grew that much more. Of course. He wants to talk about work. Then the man's eyes twinkled.
"It's good to know how strong the wards are at your flat, Harry. Kingsley mentioned that he had a hell of a time even getting his Patronus through. Seemed to think you might have been busy with other things yesterday."
"No shit," the twins both muttered in tandem. Fred looked seriously at Harry.
"What did you do, Harry? Wrap the entire flat in chains to keep him out? Or is that more of a technique to let someone . . . in?"
George and Ron started snickering into their hands; even Hermione let out a rather unladylike snort or two. Next to him, Ginny groaned quietly. Harry ignored all of them.
"Important things sir," said Harry firmly. He was not going to get embarrassed. "Seems that the group behind the problems with the Quidditch actually included the owner of the Eagles – he was killed in the explosion along with Gavin Sykes and two others."
Ginny took her head out of her hands and leaned forward. "Can you believe they would actually set up an entire sham Quidditch team as a front?"
"Did they figure out what activities they were involved in?" Now Ron looked interested and Harry grinned to himself. Take that, Fred and George.
He nodded. "Illegal potions to enhance performance, for one," he said. "Alicia Spinnet-Wood had been given one without her knowing it when she joined the team. That's why she played so well against the Harpies."
"And why she wouldn't speak to me either," added Ginny. "The potion messes with your personality too. Kingsley said Oliver almost went spare when he found out – he'd been fighting against Alicia's trade from the start, but the Eagles had offered her former team so much money that Oliver and Alicia's wishes were overruled."
"Is she going to be okay?" Now even Fred and George looked worried. Alicia had been a favorite teammate of theirs.
Harry nodded. "Luckily, yes. The potion Alicia took was one of the less potent ones, believe it or not. Some of those exploding boxes the trainers were receiving held things that were far worse."
"You mean," said Fred, a look of glee suddenly returning to his face, "like some of those massage oils to help loosen tight muscles and things?"
"Yes, just like that," said Harry slowly.
"That must have been nerve-wracking for the trainers, not knowing if the balms and things they were using on players' sore muscles might actually be dangerous poisons," put in George. "As an Auror, Harry, what did you do to make sure that none of the lotions were tainted?" George's face was a mask of innocence but his lower lip was twitching.
"Uhh, we had a meeting where the correct potions were all poured out for our review of their appearance and smell and feel," Harry said.
"Is that all?" interjected Fred.
"Well, there were field investigations too," Harry mumbled under his breath. He'd just remembered that George's wife Angelina was best friends with Amanda, the Harpies trainer that had witnessed a bit too much of Harry's field investigation of Ginny on the massage table.
"What was that?" asked George? "Field investigations? What types of field investigations? I mean, wouldn't there be a concern that the lotions might feel different when actually applied to a player's skin than they do out of the bottle? How did you account for that?"
Harry could see that Ginny was fingering her wand under the table and he was more than willing to let her hex her brothers, but before she could move, Mr. Weasley broke in, an interested look on his face.
"That's a good question, Harry. How did you learn to tell the safe potions from the tainted ones? I don't like the idea that Ginny might have had anything dangerous rubbed on her body."
This time, Harry seriously considered shooting a Reducto at the floor and crawling into the resulting hole to hide – preferably until sometime the following week. Instead he just laid his head on the table and tried to ignore the hysterical laughter that rose around him amid Arthur's confused question about what was so funny. Ginny patted his head in a reassuring manner, but the arm that was brushed up against his side was shaking and when Harry looked up, he could see his girlfriend had tears running down her cheeks, she was laughing so hard.
"I'm sorry, Harry," George finally gasped, wiping his eyes. "We really hope our joking didn't rub you the wrong way."
The room exploded again. Harry thought he could even hear Mrs. Weasley's voice among the chuckles and he mentally ran through the steps needed to perform a mild Confundus charm on Ginny's parents. Anything to keep them from remembering this conversation correctly.
When it was finally quiet, Mr. Weasley took up the original thread of his questioning.
"So the entire Eagles operation was set up for the sole purpose of importing dangerous potions?"
"Well," said Harry, lifting his head cautiously off the table now that the conversation had returned to a – hopefully – safe topic, "there is a lot of money to be had, trafficking in potions that enhance sports performance. But that's apparently not all the group had planned."
"Who were they, anyway?" Molly interrupted. "Dark wizards?"
"Not Dark in the manner of Voldemort," replied Harry. He was pleased to see that no one at the table even shivered at the name. "Although some of them may have been on the fringe of the Death Eaters at one time. These men were much more interested in money than in power – they weren't all British either. Kingsley found out that they were part of a bigger group that originated in Italy that was involved in fixing Quidditch matches – and then gambling on the results."
"Results which were made more certain through the use of the tainted potions," added Ginny. Harry had not even tried to keep his conversation with Kingsley the previous day private from her; they'd actually sat together in front of the floo, snuggled in a blanket while Harry spoke to his boss. Kingsley had raised his eyebrows, smirked, and then not said a word about it.
"And what's his name – you know, the Auror who got killed, he was in on it too?" asked Hermione.
Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. The fact that Gavin Sykes had not been at all what he seemed to be – and also that he was pretty much directly responsible for Leandra's death – still pained him.
"I can't believe we didn't see it," he mumbled. He looked up at the collective faces. "Gavin was a plant in the Auror corps from the start. He was lucky to apply when the Aurors were desperate to increase their numbers, and a lot of the usual background preliminaries were eased; he never would have passed the Veritaserum tests they use now."
He grew quiet; he really didn't want to tell them the rest. Ginny put her hand in his and whispered in his ear: "they'll understand. It won't make them think any differently about you – about us."
Harry nodded automatically. It still made him sick to think about how close Ginny had come to getting killed, and after learning what he had the previous day, he wasn't sure that all the smiling faces staring at him were going to be quite so happy that he and Ginny were back together.
"Gavin's purpose . . . I mean, the reason he was in the Aurors – it was because of me," Harry finally said heavily. "He was supposed to be keeping me distracted . . . by keeping Ginny in constant danger."
He stared down at the table as he spoke, but he could feel the silence and weight of nine pairs of horrified eyes boring into his head.
It had been bothering him since yesterday, ever since Kingsley had told him what one of the surviving suspects had revealed.
"What do you mean?" Bill's voice was quiet, and no one else spoke, waiting.
HPHPHPHPHPHP
Ginny watched as Harry expression grew more tortured. Even though she'd spent an hour yesterday reassuring him, she knew he hadn't completely heard her. That he cared almost as much about what her family thought of him as Ginny did was one of Harry's many endearing qualities, but it sometimes meant that he worried needlessly about upsetting them. Like right now, for instance. She was sure he was half expecting one of them to jump up and pull her and Harry apart, yelling that they couldn't see each other anymore.
Harry was still looking down at the table. Ginny rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand and kept quiet. He had to tell them himself – and hear their response – without her commentary.
Bill spoke again, gently. "Harry?" Ginny flashed her oldest brother a smile. He understood.
Harry nodded to himself. "Right. Yes," he said. He finally looked up, and Ginny saw him catch the eye of each of her brothers in turn, then her parents. He took a deep breath.
"The 'mob' as Kingsley began to call them was in the process of planting their own trainers on all the teams who could control the use and distribution of the tainted potions – apparently they had some that decreased performance as well."
"Did Ginny get any . . ." Percy began sharply, and Ginny wanted to smack him. He could see she was fine – couldn't he just keep his mouth shut and let Harry talk?
But Harry was just shaking his head. "No one did, fortunately. They were still trying to get raw ingredients into the country without killing everyone who handled the packages. The plan was to hurt, but not kill some of the trainers and replace the injured men and women with their own."
"And what about the exploding pubs?" broke in Hermione.
"Well, they couldn't get enough product into the country just by sending it to the teams; it was much easier to use pubs as drop points – and threaten or bribe the owners into accepting shipments. When the owner of the Cloak and Dagger decided he wanted more money for his troubles, the mob took care of the pub – in its own way."
"And Ginny?" asked Ron.
Harry glanced at Ginny, who was relieved to see he looked more at ease. He'd gone nearly mental the night before when Kingsley had told him the full extent of Gavin's "duties". For a few moments, Ginny had suspected that if the man was not already dead, Harry might have gone after him himself.
He smiled sheepishly around the table. "It seems I have a reputation as something of a workaholic," he began. He held up his hands in surrender as everyone at the table chuckled at the obvious truth of the statement.
"Whatever gave them that idea, mate?" asked George.
"Surely not the fact that you were known to sleep at your office during important cases," said Fred.
"Or forget to eat unless someone brought you food directly," added Molly.
"Or took over shifts for other Aurors so that they could be with their families," finished Arthur. He looked at Harry. "I heard things about how hard you work, young man."
Harry shrugged. "Keeping busy was the best way to . . .never mind. Let's just all agree that I had my priorities somewhat backwards, okay?" He squeezed Ginny's hand and took a deep breath.
"Anyway," he continued, "the mob figured that I was the Auror most likely to catch on to what they were doing. They wanted to operate under cover for as long as possible – until their network was well established, so they created a diversion – something to keep my mind focused elsewhere."
"A diversion, hmmm," said Fred thoughtfully. "So that's what they're calling it these days."
"Shut up, Fred," said Ginny genially. He saluted her and closed his mouth.
"Yes, well, that was their plan," said Harry. "They figured that if Ginny and the Harpies were in some sort of constant danger, I'd be distracted enough to focus on her and not what was going on." He ran his fingers through his hair and Ginny knew he was getting to the part he hated the most.
"The plan . . ." he began heavily. "The plan was that it was okay for Ginny to be hurt, as long as she wasn't seriously injured or killed – nothing to make me drop everything to find out who was responsible. Gavin's job was to keep tabs on Ginny – to make sure that she wasn't around whenever something really dangerous was planned to occur." He sighed and lifted the hand that was still entwined with Ginny's to his lips so that he could kiss her fingers. He looked at her in the eyes as he told the next part.
"But Gavin's orders only applied to Ginny. Anyone else was just considered collateral damage to them." He said this last bitterly, and from the quiet around the table, Ginny knew they were all thinking about Leandra.
Ginny looked at Harry. His face had grown serious again as he waited for some reaction from her family.
Ron broke the silence. "So let me get this straight," he said. "You and Ginny broke up almost a year ago, right?"
Harry looked confused. "Right," he agreed hesitantly.
"And you've both been telling everyone that it was the right thing to do and that you're just good friends, right?"
"Right," responded Harry.
"And yet," continued Ron, "this mob or whatever it is decided that the best way to keep you distracted was to constantly put your ex-girlfriend in danger – and they were right, weren't they? You worked as hard as ever, but you wanted to be with the Harpies, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah," began Harry, "but I didn't slack . . ."
"Oh, no one's accusing you of slacking off," interrupted Ron, a look of glee now on his face. "I'm just trying to understand how a bunch of greedy, dangerous, mob-type wizards were able to figure out so easily what you and Ginny have been denying for a year – you two are in love with each other, mate." He sat back, looking quite pleased with himself while Fred and George gave him high fives.
Harry's mouth opened and then closed. "Well, yes, I am in love with Ginny," he finally said. "I told her that last night. But . . . I didn't . . . I mean, I would have done that for any of you."
"But it's different." Fleur was the one who spoke now, looking earnestly at Harry. "When you love someone, you can't 'elp but act differently, non?"
"And I'm not saying you would have ignored the rest of us, you prat," said Ron, who leaned across the table and cuffed him. "It's just, I dunno. Different. When it's the person you love. " Ron gave Hermione a grin and then leaned over and kissed her.
Harry grinned. "I never thought I'd be taking relationship advice from Ron Weasley," he said. "What has this world come to?"
"Well," said Molly briskly, "If it's come to a place where Harry and Ginny are back together, then I'm glad to be here."
Everyone laughed again and Harry gave Ginny a truly happy and relaxed smile. Then he leaned over and whispered low in her ear. "Do you think maybe after dinner your mum might need us to go pick some berries? You know, for a special dessert?"