12

'Did you hear? Arthur Weasley's daughter disappeared this morning and they have the entire Ministry searching for her.'

'I heard she had been captured by Death Eaters and have forced half the Ministry and their Aurors into panic.'

'Either way, Rufus Scrimgeour is furious that they're wasting time on this girl – which they say was only recently thought to have suffered from depression over Potter's death-'

'Potter was their friend wasn't he?'

'Potter and Weasley? Yeah I remember hearing their names together in the paper at one point.'

'During the war-'

'Yes that's it. They was good friends they was.'

'Were.'

'Huh, oh yeah…'

Ginny continued to keep the hood around her face well covered, as every second conversation was of the news that she had disappeared – but some of the things she heard about herself were way out of proportion and she knew better than this for it to be true. However, she did make a mental note to be quick about getting supplies before returning to the House of Black to do her best and hide it from anyone and everyone if she could.

She passed the two Wizards standing near the entrance of Flourish and Blotts and continued down Diagon Ally, sure not to look suspicious while trying not to bump into anyone either. At first she had not been sure whether it was a good place for her to go, because her brothers did own a shop here and a day never passed with her being here meeting someone she knew. But as she had no muggle money, there was really no other choice.

So with the handful of Galleons she had in her pockets – and it was enough despite it being only a handful – she stalked as much of Diagon Ally as she could bother with and had left amazingly, within an hour. Walking back to Grimmauld Place with her shopping was a bit more difficult than it had been to walk there – less pleasant and a lot more stopping and starting to be as comfortable as she could with the multiple bags.

Grimmauld Place was never really a busy street, but Ginny knew she always had to be careful when it came to staying at number twelve. The muggles along the street - or any other street for that matter - always have had good intentions for when new neighbours move in; but Ginny wanted her stay to be meaningless, to not let anyone know she was there or to mingle at any sort of tea party that could expose her hideout and her world. And thankfully she managed to make it up the stone steps and into the black house without even the interruption from a swoop of a bird.

Once inside she made her way along the corridor, down the stairs into the kitchen and placed the shopping on the table. As if it knew what was to come, her stomach growled and she immediately responded by peeling open some muffins she bought (double chocolate chip of course) and tore into it like she had just discovered chocolate for the first time.

A moment passed where she felt it slither illustriously down her throat and all her senses went off in ecstatic fashion, before she came too and started unpacking. It was your common essentials for a Wizard or Witch in this case; fresh fruit, pumpkin juice, bottles of water (the taps had rusted and no loner worked) some muffins, some assortments of bread and herbs and a couple of bottles of Butterbeer.

It was not a lot, but it was enough.

Ginny finished up her muffin, put the stuff she had gotten away and headed upstairs to her room where she stayed and contemplated on what she may do next. She thought of nothing basically, absolutely nothing – and she absolutely loved it. It felt rewarding – probably the most rewarding thing since she had arrived; and she could tell this place would help her, help her clear her mind and her memory of everything she did not need to have. And she loved the silence this place gave her and perhaps, finally she had made the right choice and could start over again.

Eventually the darkness of night time caught up to her and as coldness of winter hit, she managed to find some extra blankets to help warm up as time was nearing ever so close to Christmas; and with that in mind, Ginny fell asleep and dreamed heavily about the first Christmas she had had with Harry at Hogwarts – and it was a pleasant dream, remembering what he got her and the feeling of joy she had – in all it meant she got some much needed rest for the days that were to come.

-

Remus managed to catch up to Arthur, as he was searching through a long abandoned hut south-west of London – apparently one of the farmers over the hill had come to collect stray cattle, and found there was a light on when he knew very well that the land was not owned nor used. He had reported it to the police last night, and they naturally assumed it to be rowdy teenagers and looked no further into it – Arthur Wesaley managed to find the paper work on it and thought, possibly, it could be where his daughter was hiding out.

'No luck.' Arthur said sadly as Remus went in to find no more than seven Ministry aurors standing around and basically scratching their heads. 'You can see here, a fire had been lit – just looks like muggle teenagers here. No matter – we keep searching.'

'Arthur, now be reasonable.' Remus said as he followed them out the hut. 'Have you not stopped to think that Ginny might not want to be found?'

'She is my daughter, Remus-'

'Exactly.' Remus nodded and pointed a finger at Arthur. 'She is your daughter. I taught her in her second year and saw great things from her Arthur – she may not be of age but you must surely understand; she is quite capable of surviving on her own.'

'But she is not of age.' Arthur persisted.

'With Ginny, most say she could be.' Remus grabbed Arthur's arm and pulled him around to face him. 'Now as I am not a father myself I can not tell you what to do – but I do believe, as a family friend, I can give you advice. And my advice, Arthur – would be to let her sort this out on her own.'

Arthur glared at him. 'Why?'

'Because I have confidence in her.' Remus said simply. 'She is doing this for a reason – you for one should know she would not run away without any sort of purpose; it is something she needs to sort out on her own.'

Arthur grunted and looked away towards the empty hut he had just searched through, and thought about the other dozen locations he had found empty so far and had to admit everything was beginning to seem pointless. He knew of course his daughter is highly intelligent, more so than himself and he supposed there was obvious purposes, and that Harry Potter's death may be a leading factor – as he knew she had loved him.

'You might be right.' Arthur said finally.

Remus nodded and scratched his chin. 'Good. So then you'll stop looking for her, and let her return upon her own will?'

Arthur pondered this thought for several minutes. He kept fidgeting and muttering, and the aurors were beginning to become restless. Even Remus - renown for his patience and gratitude – clicked his tongue in the search for a response.

'OK.' Arthur spat.

Remus beamed.

'You'll stop looking?' Remus asked hopefully.

Arthur smiled. 'No.'

Remus' grin vanished.

'What?'

'Remus I must keep looking.' Arthur said. 'Molly would not let me live it down if I did not.'

Arthur moved past Remus and started barking orders and the small group of Aurors began disapperating away.

'Arthur.' Remus persisted as the remaining Auror left with a pop. 'Surely you would think, if Ginny wanted to be found she might have-'

'Remus.' Arthur interrupted, moving his hand on his wand holster. 'You seem to be determined for me to not find my daughter – is there something you are hiding?'

'Of course not,' Remus said fiercely, seemingly upset with such an accusation. 'I want to find Ginny too Arthur, I want her to be safe – but I was merely being resourceful and suggesting things might not be as bad as any of us think it is.'

Arthur sighed and lowered his hand to his side. 'I'm sorry, you are probably right – but it's not like I can just top looking.'

'Very well.' Remus said, admitting defeat. 'It is not my place to tell you what to do.'

Arthur nodded gratefully. 'So then now what Remus, what do you plan to do? Come along, come help us?'

Remus cleared his throat. 'Forgive me but, I have a personal issue of my own and-' he stopped to look around making sure the area was clear before continuing, 'full moon tomorrow night.

'Ah.' Arthur understood.

'I sincerely hope you find Ginny, Arthur – I really do.' Remus said. 'And I dearly hope she is safe and that god has forbidden her to be harmed. Until next time, Arthur - all the best and good luck.'

Remus turned with a swish of his cloak and was gone.

-

Ginny woke up early the morning after her arrival and promptly got out of bed almost immediately. She had cereal down in the kitchen, hid it away again in the top most cupboard and promptly left Grimmauld Place and took to walking the outskirts of London. She was well disguised, as she had always owned muggle clothing so she was not looked at twice – and she had a hat on to cover her vibrant red hair and some stylish sunglasses that blended her in so perfectly, her own father would not be able to pick her out.

She found a small park just outside London where she sat down to eat her lunch she had prepared earlier and watch the peculiar muggles walk along with their pets on their daily walk. It was peaceful, right up until she noticed a newspaper sitting underneath the bench in which had seemingly been forgotten. It was a muggle newspaper, but what caught her attention was the picture on the front cover was of none other than herself, smiling back at her with a tentative grin.

She promptly dropped her lunch and her jaw, pulling the paper closer and confirming it was indeed a picture of herself – a little out dated but there was no denying it.

Certainly it was her alright, she could tell because her hair may have been slightly shorter than what it is now – but she had been persistent not to get a haircut when her Aunt May came to visit; but when Aunt May does come visit, it's either your hair is already short – or it will be by the time she left because despite her now working as a cleaner, her early days were that of hairdressing.

Ginny's brain fade subsided and she looked up and around in case someone had recognised her from the paper. But the few people that were around were fairly occupied with their own business. So Ginny opened the paper and quietly read the small article:

Have you seen this girl?

Police have released this photo in the hope that a young girl that disappeared near the town of Ottery St. Catchpole on Thursday the eighteenth may be spotted somewhere on the streets of London. No name has been released of this girl as of yet, but Detective Sargent Hawkins of the Missing Pesons Department in London warn people not to confront her as she may be slightly delusional, depressed and psychotic.

'I want it to be known that she is more a potential threat to her own health than others,' he said in a conference late last night, 'but if you do in fact happen to spot this individual, it is recommended that you alert authorities to her whereabouts rather than take initiative into your own hands.'

Search parties have been set up to search the more vast locations of England, but Hawkins says it is unlikely she would be found. A pending reward is awaiting those who correctly identify the individual and alert police – more unfolding news will be posted in the afternoon's edition of this paper…

Ginny scowled.

'Delusional?' she spat. 'Psychotic? Depressed?'

She chucked the paper in the bin in disgust and stormed off, heading out of the park and back along the side skirts of London.

'Imagine that.' Ginny said to herself five minutes down the road. 'I have a bounty on my head – and I can't believe I beat Fred and George to it.'

Unfortunately, she did not think they would be impressed with her current situation so she stopped thinking about it and returned to Grimmauld Place rather late in the afternoon, despite the fact she had dropped her lunch not even quarter of the way through it, and had no jumper to put on now as the sun had lowered and coldness began to creep upon her.

She immediately beam lined for the room she was staying in to grab a jumper before making her way back to the kitchen downstairs and decided to make herself something to eat. Rice was really all she had, so she boiled some water and put in a couple of cups of rice and searched the empty cupboards for any sort of plates.

Surprisingly she found several left in a very back corner, so she grabbed the cleanest and went to pull it out of the cupboard but it slipped and came crashing down onto the floor and shattered into hundreds of pieces.

'Shit.' Ginny exclaimed in fury.

She grabbed a hand broom and began cleaning it up, muttering to herself and occasionally checking the rice. She had just about swept up the last bit of shattered ceramic when something made her stop and listen carefully. And there is was again; a slight creak that came from the other side of the door.

Ginny turned to stare at the kitchen door as it moved slightly ajar, and the single light from within the kitchen cast a misty glow strong enough to silhouette a figure that moved strategically from behind it and began to ascend the stairs. In a heat of the moment decision, Ginny threw the hand brush aside, withdrew her wand and bolted through the door and up the stairs and into the hallway where the silhouetted figured had reached the door.

'Stop!' Ginny bellowed.

They came to a halt with their hand on the door knob.

'Up.' Ginny hissed. 'Put your hands where I can see them. NOW! Don't make me hurt you.'

A pair of male hands slowly rose into the air but the owner of them did not turn around to look at her. Ginny stepped forward with her wand pointed at him unsure what to do next in case this person was a muggle. But then again, how on earth could a muggle have found a magical place such as this without being shown. So she decided to question them.

'Who are you?' Ginny asked.

There was no answer. The figure moved a little but kept his arms up, that was it.

'I'll ask again.' Ginny said. 'Who are you?'

Nothing.

Ginny suddenly became annoyed and cleared her throat before taking another step forward.

'Identify yourself. NOW!' Ginny demanded. 'Or I WILL hurt you.'

As Ginny got closer, and the light began to hit different parts of him and she managed to get a better look. Longish dark black hair that was all over the place, thin torso yet rather well built and she noticed the ends of glasses hooking over one ear.

'Who ARE you?' Ginny said in a more curious tone.

A long sigh escaped his lips as he turned around slowly to look back at her firmly with stunning emerald green eyes and a rather crooked smile twisted upon the face of Harry James Potter.

'Hello Ginny.'