"Oh no!"

"What?"

"Take a look at what that rag has written."

"Damn! Well at least they finally have their facts right. They're not usually known for that, as you well know."

"True," conceded Hermione, "but I didn't expect it from Isobel Greengrass. Her letters were always so polite."

Harry passed the paper back to her, who began to read it out to Ron and Ginny.

GOBLINS TO GAIN WAND RIGHTS

"Well, that's an ordinary headline – nothing like Skeeter material at all," scoffed Ron.

Under the Wand Ban of 1631, goblins are not allowed to wield wands, and the same applies to any other magical creatures of near-human intelligence. In contravention to this law, goblins are to be supplied with wands, crafted by Satorfatus Ollivander, 95, of the Ollivander's establishment, our oldest wandmaker's.

"Am I the only one who never thought that Ollivander never had a first name?" asked Ginny. Everybody shook their heads. They couldn't imagine Ollivander with a proper name, so it seemed fitting that it was such a strange one.

Mr. Ollivander is the latest in the Ollivander family to own the wandmaking business. He recently expressed a wish to pass the business on to his grandson, Samuel Ollivander, 47.

Smoke was seen coming from the Ollivander's establishment in Diagon Alley at approximately one o'clock this Sunday and Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald and Ginevra Weasley were seen leaving the shop shortly afterwards. This reporter has been informed that the smoke was from the new goblin wands they were testing, which are much more powerful than normal wands.

This makes goblin wands much more dangerous than ordinary wands. There could easily be a goblin revolution in which wizards and Muggles alike are enslaved, unable to combat the raw power of the goblin wands. The goblins will rise once again and make war on us, still recovering from last year's attacks. They already control our entire economy and we are now giving them weapons which we cannot defend against due to their increased power.

The Wand Ban of 1631 still applies as it has not yet been repealed, so any testing of goblin wands is illegal. The law also states that anybody aiding such contraventions is also guilty of the crime. I therefore regret to conclude that Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and Mr. and Miss Weasley, as well as Mr. Ollivander, must be sent to Azkaban immediately. We can only hope that the Aurors can stop this before it is too late.

"This is ridiculous," said Hermione before Ron and Ginny could comment. "The law states that the current Minister for Magic can grant any unlawful powers as he sees fit, as long as this is confirmed by the Wizengamot. They can't send us to Azkaban!"

"Calm down, Hermione," said Ron softly. "We know you're right, so we have nothing to worry about. All we can hope for is that this Greengrass woman gets her comeuppance for sparking off mass hysteria. The goblins aren't going to be happy about this, either. I just hope that Kingsley knows how to deal with them and how to keep the deal on the table."

"Kingsley knows what he's doing," confirmed Harry. "Greengrass will get a stern talking to."

"You do know that Greengrass had a daughter here at Hogwarts?" said Hermione. "She was in our year, in Slytherin, but she never seemed to be as cruel as the other Slytherins. She was surprisingly nice when I talked to her in the library once, and even helped me out in finding this book for Ancient Runes."

"She's got another daughter, too," piped up Ginny. "She's in the year below me. Astoria's her name, I think. Really sweet girl, kind of shy."

"Another Slytherin?" asked Ron.

"No, actually, she's in Hufflepuff."

"Shame for her to have a journalist for a mother, really," commented Harry. "What I'm more concerned about, though, is how Isobel found out that we were testing goblin wands. Either someone was watching us through the window or someone who knew about the project told her."

"We have a leak," said Hermione conspiratorially, reminding Harry of so many Muggle films. He chuckled at this, and roared with laughter when he saw the blank looks on the Weasleys' faces. The bell rang for Tuesday's first lesson and they all left the Great Hall.

As they had a free period, in which Ron and Hermione had agreed to teach the second years, Harry and Ginny went for a walk in the castle grounds. They passed around the class of fifth years, who were crowded around a large pile of rubble, attempting to Vanish parts of it under the careful eye of Professor McGonagall.

"Harry," began McGonagall, coming up to the pair of them as they passed, "I just wanted to thank you, and pass on the thanks of the citizens of Hogsmeade, for that fantastic idea of yours. The Charms class has almost completely cleared the village of rubble, and my transfiguration classes are improving a lot faster than any other class I've taught. After we've Vanished all the rubble, I think we can just recap by vanishing a cat, and then we can move onto animation spells."

McGonagall was almost bouncing with excitement, something Harry had never seen before. Harry waved his wand in a complicated fashion and thought a few choice words. There was a yapping from the other side of the fifth years, and it turned out that Harry had transfigured a large piece of rubble into a Yorkshire terrier. McGonagall was impressed, and gave Harry a wink before returning to her class.

As they walked up towards the Forbidden Forest, Harry could tell by Ginny's expression that she wanted to say something. He fell silent and waited until she was ready. They skirted around the fringe of the forest, coming to a silver birch, almost glowing in the dappled sunlight. Harry placed his palm on the trunk, and the trees parted to reveal the path into the memorial garden.

"Harry," Ginny began as they sat on one of the benches in the garden, "there's something I wanted to talk to you about. I've been looking for the right time to ask you about it for a while now. You see, it's about fifth year, when you..." She trailed off.

"Broke up with you?" Harry asked.

"Yes. How do I know you're not going to just do that again when the next threat comes up? You're going to be fighting all sorts of dark wizards as an Auror, and I just don't think I can go through that again."

"Nor do I. I never wanted to do that, and a part of me always regretted it. Every day I thought about you, and every night I took out the Marauder's Map, just to look at you, to make sure you were safe. Once I'd heard you had gone to stay at your Aunt Muriel's, I knew you would be safe there. But I still looked at the Map, just in case. It made me feel closer to you, even though we were miles apart. I never want to be that far from you again."

"Then let's never be apart." Harry looked up at Ginny to see she was smiling at him. He wrapped his arms around her and they just held each other silently for a few minutes. When they pulled apart, Harry saw that there was a tear running down Ginny's otherwise perfect cheek. He wiped it away gently.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I was just thinking about Fred. I'm going to miss him, even though I never got to tell him that. He was always teasing me, and I was always getting outraged at him, although somehow I think it was all a game, to both of us. I just wish there was a way to tell him how much I really cared about him."

"Don't worry," Harry reassured her. "I brought back shades of my parents and Sirius last year with the resurrection stone. I know that once they are at peace, they see what goes on in the world. They can hear you from wherever they are, but they are happy. They want to be left at peace, for there is no feeling on Earth like it. Fred is truly in a better place now, and he knows how much you miss him." Ginny sniffed and nodded, and they sat there in silence for a little while longer, looking at the memorial at the end of the garden.

"Where in the name of Merlin's saggy left buttock have you been?" asked Ron in a hushed voice when Harry had finally walked into his sixth year lesson. A girl at the front of the class, who was working on the assignment Hermione had set them, stifled a snigger.

"Oh behave, Ron," said Hermione, coming over to see what all the fuss is about. "I'm sure Harry will tell us at lunchtime. Talking of which..." She raised her voice to call out to the class. "...you've got ten minutes left of the lesson. The homework will be to carry on with this, eight inches each. It's due in Wednesday afternoon for the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Gryffindors and Slytherins will have the Lunch and Afternoon breaks to gather any research they need, as they will be continuing with the assignment later today, handing it in at the end. Any questions?" A girl in the middle, close to the window, put up her hand and smiled at Ron.

"Yes?" he asked.

"May I go to the library to get out a book?" she asked sweetly.

"Of course," agreed Ron almost immediately, earning himself a concealed whack from Hermione. As soon as the girl left the room, Hermione addressed the class again.

"Seeing as Astoria has been let off early, you can all leave for lunch if you wish. Those who want to stay to work on their assignments may also do so." There was an almighty scraping of chairs as the entire class rose as one and squeezed past the professors and out of the door. "Hmph!" pouted Hermione.

"So where were you?" asked Ron at the Gryffindor table.

"We went to the memorial garden to say goodbye to Fred." Harry watched as the smug look dropped off Ron's face. Ron turned back to his food and began to stuff his face ferociously, obviously not wanting to think about Fred.

The scene was similar the next day when the owl post brought in yet more letters at breakfast. Two owls landed at Harry's seat at the high table, each depositing a letter. The first was from Bill.

Dear Harry,

I saw the article in the paper, and immediately buried my head in my hands. This is seriously going to harm the diplomatic situation between the wizards and the goblins. The relationship has always been tenuous, and likely to break down at even the slightest of incidents. No offence, Harry, but your break-in took three months of solid diplomacy to sort out in order that the goblins didn't close the bank.

I also received a letter from Ollivander asking for help. After seeing the article, his goblin assistant left his employ and returned to Gringotts. Ollivander asked me to sort out the situation and to recruit another goblin assistant from Gringotts. I'm glad to say that I was successful, and Ollivander's new assistant is called Griphook. I think he was one of the goblins present when we went to the bank to see your accounts.

Nevertheless, I would like to advise caution with the goblins. They are a very proud race, but they can hold grudges for generations. Good luck in your future dealings with them. I will always be there to help you if you need it, so you only have to ask.

Bill.

P.S. Fleur is pregnant. Don't tell anyone yet. I want to surprise Mum at Christmas.

The second letter was from Kingsley.

Dear Harry,

Although I do not yet know how the information about the goblin wands reached the media, I would like to apologise, as the leak almost certainly came from the Ministry. I would also like to invite you to speak at a press conference, as the Muggles call it, in the Ministry Atrium tonight, at 4 o'clock. Hopefully, we can get everything sorted out then.

Thank you for your efforts so far,

Kingsley.