Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything that goes with it belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 4

Ginny's heart was pounding as she sat at the bar at the Leaky Cauldron. She was looking around at the small number of patrons in the old pub. Since it was only seven in the morning, the riff-raff that usually plagued the establishment was absent and replacing it was a weary-looking bunch of businessmen and bureaucrats, recognizable by their work robes, probably stopping by for a bit of breakfast before trudging off to work. Thanks to Mrs. Potter, however, Ginny knew exactly who one of the tired working-men would be. Hence, the incessant pounding of her heart.

So, Ginny reminded herself, according to the client's information, the subject should arrive at the pub at around seven o'clock in the morning every week day. Then, he will floo to the ministry to start work at eight thirty. Once inside, the subject will either stay there for the whole day doing paperwork, or his superiors will send him on an assignment and he will return to the ministry at the end of the day. Either way, once work is over at six thirty, he will leave the ministry and disappear somewhere, not returning to his home in Diagon Alley until early the next morning.

Ginny had decided the previous night to refer to Potter as "the subject". It was the only way to ensure that she remained objective. She had also decided that while he was at the ministry, she would not attempt to spy on him. She knew that to leave him unobserved for several hours would set her back, but the fact that he was an auror dissuaded her from trying. She wasn't afraid of him, but she knew that an auror's work was extremely classified and very crucial to the safety of British wizards, and if she were to interfere, she could jeopardise the secrecy of her subject's work. Perhaps she was being too cautious, but she knew that Witch's Watch had to uphold a reputation for integrity, and to risk the ministry's secrets was to cross the line from being an investigation service to being a criminal spy agency.

Ginny tapped her foot against the leg of her bar stool. She bit a fingernail. She checked her watch. Seven fifteen. Where is he? Mrs. Potter had told Ginny that her husband was almost obsessed with keeping to his schedule, "unless, of course, he is supposed to meet me," Mrs. Potter had spat scornfully, Ginny recalled.

Ginny admit to herself that she couldn't imagine her subject at the Leaky Cauldron anyways. The Great Harry Potter, in a place like thi-

Shit, she thought. I wasn't supposed to think of him like that!

But she was diverted from her self-rebuking thought right then, because she suddenly spotted Harry Potter sitting at a small table a few meters away from her, sipping a coffee and concentrating on reading a piece of parchment. She almost fell off her stool from the shock.

How the hell did I not see him before?

But Ginny was almost positive that the table Potter was sitting at had been occupied by a plump man with a large blond moustache only a few seconds before.

She also noticed that despite Harry Potter's sudden appearance at the pub, nobody was paying any attention to him. In fact, it was as if they didn't even know he was there. Instantly, Ginny realized what was going on. An obfuscation charm! How clever.

He was using an obfuscation charm so that whoever was looking at him would see instead a pudgy, blond man. The reason Ginny could see him now, she guessed, was because she had thought of his name. She supposed that Potter would not want to be completely undetectable, so he had set up a feature to the charm that would allow people who urgently needed to speak with him to be able to see him. Only people who specifically needed to talk to him would think of his name deliberately.

Ginny thought that her usually unfortunate inability to think of the man objectively turned out to be quite useful today, since if she hadn't slipped up and thought of him as Harry Potter, she never would have found him.

Since Potter seemed not to be in any rush to leave the pub yet, Ginny allowed herself a few minutes to observe him. He's quite handsome, she thought. Indeed, he had a healthy looking face, bright green eyes, and dark, shaggy hair which hung across his forehead a bit, hiding his famous scar. Despite not being able to see his scar, Ginny knew it was him, since she had seen his photograph in the Daily Prophet on several occasions, and had even seen him in person. That had been four years ago, though, during the Battle of Hogwarts, and she had only seen him from afar while he took down Voldemort. She did notice that in the four years since the age of seventeen, Potter's shoulders had broadened and his jaw had squared a bit. He definitely looked like a mature man.

Ginny convinced herself that her observations were merely for professional reasons. After all, she did need to know what the man looked like if she was going to follow him for the next while.

Ginny saw now that Potter was starting to gather his possessions and was getting out of his seat. But it's only seven forty five. He doesn't need to floo to work yet. Indeed, he wasn't heading toward the fireplace as he should have, but was heading toward the small courtyard at the back of the pub which led to Diagon Alley. According to Mrs. Potter's information, this would be unusual behaviour on his part, so Ginny decided to follow. The investigation begins!

With a subtle flick of her wand, Ginny's hair turned from bright red to dark brown and her freckles disappeared. She didn't need anyone recognizing her while she was following a subject. She watched as he opened the brick wall to go into the alley and as soon the wall closed behind him, she ran into the courtyard, tapped the bricks, and opened the wall for herself. Once she was greeted by the bustling crowd of Diagon Alley, hey eyes scanned the area for him. Suddenly she saw him, several meters ahead of her, walking leisurely down the street. She followed behind him from a safe distance, always keeping one eye on him, but also trying to blend in with the crowd by occasionally checking the price for a jar of flobberworms or pretending to admire the display outside of Vivian's Voodoo Shop. Ginny felt really proud of her stealth skills, because she was able to slowly follow him more closely and he did not notice one thing.

Ginny's senses went on alert when Potter swiftly turned right and started heading into an alleyway between a magical relics shop and a grocer's. Ginny became excited. This could be the location of a secret meeting, she imagined. She plastered her back against the wall right outside the alleyway and slowly started peeking in. She saw nothing. Where did he go? He can't have gone f-

Ginny held in a scream as she was forcefully pulled into the alleyway by an invisible pair of hands and pushed up against the wall. All of a sudden, she felt a wand pressing into the side of her throat and saw a pair of bright green eyes glaring menacingly into her own. It was an irate Harry Potter, and it seemed that he had known that he was being followed. Ginny could hardly breathe.

"Who are you?" he growled, "Who sent you, and what do you want?" His face had drastically changed from when he was in the pub. Then, it had looked pleasant albeit somewhat bland. Now, his nostrils were flared, his eyes were wide, and Ginny could swear he was showing his canines. Her pulse was racing. She honestly feared for her life, but couldn't for the life of her think of what to tell him. So, she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Can I have your autograph?"

"What?" Potter's face went slightly slack, and he released some of the pressure of his wand from her neck. He seemed quite confused, so Ginny decided to continue along the same line.

"Merlin, I can't believe I finally met The Harry Potter! I've dreamt of it for ages, so when I saw you this morning, I just couldn't help myself." Ginny put on the silliest smile she could think of and tried to imitate the mannerisms of Ron's ex-girlfriend Lavender. "Oh god and your strong hands are actually touching me, oh, I'm the luckiest girl in all of England!" And then, for good measure, Ginny let out a very girly squeal.

That seemed to do the trick. By the time Ginny finished her fan girl rant, Potter had let go of her and his face had returned to normal. In fact, Ginny was sure that he was blushing.

"Well, er, I..." he stammered, "I guess it was a misunderstanding, er.."

"So can I have your autograph?" Ginny asked again, putting on her best impression of one of those ridiculous girls and a wide smile, enjoying seeing Potter look so embarrassed. It was extremely cute.

"I, er, have to go..." he said, evading her question, and then he swiftly turned around and left, his face still red.

As soon as she was sure he was gone, Ginny's face reverted to its usual form, and she let out a big sigh of relief. Her blood was still pumping with adrenaline, and her chest was still heaving. She had faced an angry Harry Potter and she had survived. As she left the alleyway, she decided that she'd take a break from the investigation until the next day, since she didn't yet have a lead on where he went after work. She realized that she never did find out where he was going, but decided that since it was now eight twenty five, there was not much Potter could do in the five minutes he had before work. She had experienced enough excitement for one day anyways, since she had gotten caught by the man, and had gotten away.

To be perfectly honest, Ginny couldn't believe that Potter had actually fallen for her crazy fan girl act. But he had. Ginny mused that maybe all of her practice as a child lying to her brothers and acting innocent with her parents after having misbehaved had finally paid off. Or, she thought, maybe Potter believed my act because he has truly met women who act like that with him. That last thought was enough to make her gag. Ginny had no respect for women like that.

As she returned to the lively horde that was Diagon Alley, Ginny had another interesting thought. The Harry Potter that she met in the alleyway was a different man than his wife had made him out to be. Sure, Ginny had somewhat expected his fierceness and strength, since he was a trained auror. But what had Hannah Potter said? "My guess is that he's seeing more than one woman. He has too many loving fans pouncing on him every day to resist the temptation." From what Ginny could tell, Potter was not the type to enjoy the attention of his fans. For Merlin's sake, Ginny had made one comment about how strong his hands were and he was blushing and stammering like a school girl. However, Ginny was not one to discount Mrs. Potter's theory altogether. Just because it was unlikely that he was shagging his fans, it didn't mean that he wasn't having an affair at all. Perhaps he had fallen in love with someone else, or was being seduced. There were many possibilities.

One thing that Ginny did know, though, was that she would have to construct a better plan for trailing him the next day, because she knew that if the same fan accosted him two days in a row, he would definitely grow suspicious. And with that nagging consideration on her mind, Ginny headed home.