Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything that goes with it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 3
The Burrow that evening was overflowed with concerned faces and quick, hushed voices. George was whispering heated words with Arthur at the kitchen table, near the fireplace, Bill had his arms crossed tightly across his chest as he spoke with a few of his curse-breaking colleagues, Fleur was at the couch with Molly, whose face was pale, rubbing the woman's back, Percy and Charlie were arguing in the corner, and a frowning Ginny was sitting by the window with Neville Longbottom, both of them watching the goings-on.
"At least you know that George has all the support he needs, right? They'll catch the bastard that trashed the shop," Neville said confidently, trying to be somewhat optimistic for his good friend. Ginny attempted to smile, but failed.
"Yeah, I guess," she replied after a pause, fidgeting with her hands, "But after everything that has happened to the man, and after all the progress he's made, why did this shit have to happen?" She started to look somewhat angry. "He was finally moving on, and now I'm almost sure that he'll use this incident as a sign that he should never have opened the shop without Fred, or something."
Ginny had now expressed her true fear. She was indeed worried about the fact that whatever remained of the Death Eaters had decided to target her brother, but she knew that with Kingsley as the head of the Auror Department, that those criminals would get caught, as Neville had so eloquently noted. She was far more worried, however, with the psychological damage this would inflict on George and on his ability to heal.
Ginny and Neville jumped, as suddenly a sturdy man with a gold earring burst out of the floo with three men and two women in royal blue robes in tow. Kingsley and the delegation of aurors had arrived. Now everyone at the Burrow grew silent as Arthur and George stood to greet Kingsley.
"So, what's the verdict?" Arthur asked.
Kingsley sighed. "I've had my men in there the whole day, and I can tell you that the perpetrators left no trace of themselves – no fingerprints, no trace of their magical signature in their spells, and what's most disturbing of all, no dark magic."
"How is 'no dark magic' a bad thing?" Neville called out, confused at Kingsley's statement. Ginny was inclined to agree with Neville. She had always considered a lack of dark magic quite a good sign, in fact. Bill, however, decided to educate them.
"Neville, the lack of dark magic at the scene is disturbing because that is the trademark of a Death Eater. If I'm not mistaken," he explained, looking at Kingsley for confirmation, "during the war, when Death Eaters would attack establishments of muggleborns or their enemies, they would leave behind nasty traps and curses to punish them even further. I know that I was brought to crime scenes several times during the war to break curses left by Goyle or Mulciber." He seemed to shudder slightly at the memory.
"Exactly," Kingsley affirmed, nodding grimly at Bill, and then looking around at the Weasley family. "That is why I have a feeling that this case is going to be harder to solve than usual. It is likely that the perpetrator or perpetrators are pure-blooded and bigoted, but they might not merely be vengeful Death Eaters as we had initially expected. This is bad news because we have experience catching Death Eaters, but not much experience catching Death Eater copy-cats."
George finally piped up. "So what should I do about the note, Kingsley?"
"I strongly urge you not to give in to the threat. Hopefully by the end of November, my team will have solved the case and you won't have to worry. In the meantime though, Auror Gelson here," Kingsley indicated the petite woman in royal blue to his right, "she will work undercover in your shop to investigate suspicious behaviours and act as a bodyguard for you." She gave George a polite smile reached her arm out to shake his hand. George shook her hand, looking blank.
"Nice to meet you, I guess, Auror Gelson - under the circumstances," said George, his eyes taking in her stiff posture and his mouth quirked slightly to the side.
She smiled politely again, and replied, "Likewise. Call me Angela. If you don't mind, now would be the best time for me to brief you on safety procedures."
"Not at all. Follow me," George said, and led her to the sitting room to discuss their security plans.
A few minutes after that, the Burrow started to clear, since the details of the investigation had been settled, the Aurors had left, and everyone needed to return to their respective homes and get some sleep. Ginny and George, however, remained sitting in the kitchen of the Burrow, sipping tea in silence, since they were both too agitated to return to their flats, or to talk. Ginny gripped her mug tightly as she reflected upon everything that had occurred that day.
What was I thinking, she thought, when I accepted the job from Mrs. Potter? All the talk about investigations had reminded her about her own little investigation that she was supposed to begin the next day. Here I am, utterly clueless about how to help George and about the dealings of criminals, and I think I can go up against the great Harry Potter! And my case seems so trivial now when compared to George's issues. Plus, the stress of this whole ordeal will probably make me botch up the job. Maybe I should just tell Mrs. Potter to find someone else.
But then Ginny shook her head. I'm being irrational. George has a whole team of Aurors working on his case. He'll be fine. All Mrs. Potter has is me, and I promised her that I would follow Potter around and bring in proof of his affair. I have a professional reputation to uphold. Plus, I'm getting paid.
Ginny realized that her trepidation stemmed from the fact that Harry Potter had been her role model and the inspiration for her career. The fact that now she had to spy on him was a little ironic and more than a little frightening. However, Ginny resolved that she would have to find a way to get over her nerves if she wanted to act competent the next day. She must be composed.
Just as Ginny made that decision, Ron and his fiancée Hermione burst through the front door with a loud slam and Ginny spilt her hot tea all over her lap. She yelped.
"Let me get that," Hermione said, and swiftly waved her wand, vanishing the spilt tea.
As Ron and Hermione sat down across from Ginny and George at the table, George was looking at the couple expectantly. Ginny had forgotten about Ron and Hermione with all the commotion. What had they been up to all day? However, by the way Hermione seemed to be bursting to tell George some news, Ginny figured that she would find out quite soon.
"So," Ron began, "we went over to Filmore & Filmore's to inform them, and-"
"-and they were not happy at all," Hermione continued. Ron rolled his eyes, but he seemed used to this behaviour from Hermione, since he gave a little smile. "After all that they invested in your shop, they were upset to hear that you might be forced to close it so soon without turning a profit."
"Wait. Who are these Filmore people?" Ginny interjected.
"Filmore & Filmore's Financing. It's a loaning agency. That's where George got the money to reopen the shop," Hermione answered. "The two Filmore brothers are the richest muggleborns remaining after the war. They were able to avoid Death Eater attacks by moving their practice to the muggle world, and that's where they got even richer, since muggles have always done better in business than wizards." Hermione said the last part with a small smirk.
"Yeah, yeah," said Ron, lightly elbowing Hermione. "Anyways, we spoke mainly with Dan and he was conflicted, since he's concerned for your safety, but also wants the shop to stay open so that you could pay him back. Although, Hermione and I personally think he was a bit more concerned for himself since he very regretfully informed us that he'd have to raise the interest rate on your payments to ensure his financial safety in case you do close." Hermione huffed indignantly at the thought.
"But anyways, whether or not they raise the rate," Ron continued, "if you close, they're screwed."
George frowned, and seemed to slowly deliberate his next words. Ginny suddenly and sadly realized how much George had changed in the last few years. When Fred was alive, he would have made some wicked joke about Ron's last words, but now he just spoke solemnly.
"You don't suppose…" George trailed off.
"Suppose what?" Ginny asked, curious at the weird expression on George's face.
"You don't suppose that the Filmores set this all up to make money off of me?"
Ginny was shocked at the idea. Apparently, so were Ron and Hermione, since they gave George the most incredulous look.
"Listen, George," Hermione said, "yes, they are raising your interest rate, but honestly, there is no way that they could profit from your store closing. As Ron said, if that were to happen, they would be 'screwed' alongside you."
"You're right," George agreed, rubbing his eyes wearily, "I don't know what's gotten into me. I think I've gone batty from all the attention I've been getting tonight. In fact, I think I'm going to head home and get some sleep."
After all the goodnights and goodbyes, Ginny returned to her flat as well, disturbed by George's thoughts, but also determined to get a good night's sleep in preparation for her day of subterfuge the next day.