A/N: I've been uploading a bit more often than I planned, but that's just because I want to get the tedious early elements out of the way as quickly as possible. Chapters 5 and 6 will be out tomorrow and the rest will come out more slowly. Also Albus Potter and the Approaching Darkness Chapter 1 will be coming out at some point over the weekend. It'll go alongside Chapters 1-6 of this story.
Harry and Ron walked down the row of shops in Diagon Alley, looking in the windows as they passed. "I think we have everything. I'm sure Hermoine has multiple copies of all the school books anyway if we forgot one," Harry said, looking at the lists in his hands.
Ron chuckled, "I think she probably has signed copies of all of them by now," He said. "We've got some time to kill now, what do you say to grabbing lunch at the Leaky Cauldron?"
"I've got a better idea," Harry said, gesturing toward Quality Quidditch Supplies, "Mason won't want to miss a chance to try and sell you that new Cleansweep you're always eyeing." They walked across to the shop entrance and before they had even touched the door it opened and the smiling face of the shop owner, Mason Lockhart, opened the door. Mason was a squib cousin of Gilderoy Lockhart, a terrible teacher that had landed himself in St. Mungo's during Harry's second year at Hogwarts.
"Mr. Potter!" He exclaimed, before saying jovially, "I've got exactly what you're looking for today!" He turned to face Ron, "And Mr. Weasley, are you here too look at the latest Cleansweep again? I tell you, if you wait too much longer there'll be a new one and you'll have missed the window."
He didn't wait long enough for either of them to respond before rushing through a door to the back of the shop. "What's with him?" Harry asked, Mason almost never left them alone for more than a moment when they came to his shop. He was always trying to make a sale. Ron shrugged and walked over to a display of the Firebolt Supreme II, Harry followed him, even though the Firebolt he had was plenty fast, there was something about the newest model that just made him want to throw away his wages for a year and fly it out of the shop. They walked from display to display, talking about the brooms and talking each other out of impulse buying one. They were at a display for the Nimbus 3001 when Mason walked back into the shop carrying two packages. "It came in already?" Harry asked, he hadn't expected James' broom to arrive for at least another couple weeks.
"Well, you did order the rush shipping." Mason replied, "They came in yesterday."
"They?" Harry asked, he was only expecting one package.
"Yes, both are for you. Well, that may not be entirely true, this one is addressed to your wife. It's unmarked other than the address though, so I'm very curious. Is there any chance I could talk you into opening it here so I can see?" Mason said, eyeing the package eagerly.
"Can't do, Mason. My wife probably wouldn't take me opening her mail very well. Especially without her." Harry said, smirking at the shopkeeper. "I'll come back by and let you know what it was."
"Please do, I don't often get unmarked packages here. Usually, there's branding all over the boxes." Mason said before turning to Ron, "are you going to purchase it this time, Mr. Weasley?"
Ron had picked up the box for the Cleansweep Sixteen, and looked like he was fighting an internal battle over whether he wanted to buy it. "Oh, go ahead and buy it Ron," Harry said, "Looking at it all the time is going to drive you mental." Ron placed it on the counter and gave Mason his Gringotts account information.
"Let's not take it out until tomorrow, Mason. So I can tell Hermoine before she sees that." Mason nodded and thanked Harry and Ron for stopping by. They left the store and walked back to the apparition point. "Your place, or mine?" Ron asked.
"Neither, Ginny's at the Burrow. I want to go try out James' new broom, and I have to know what's in this," Harry replied, holding up the unmarked package. "Any guesses?"
Ron shrugged, "No clue, mate. It was addressed to Ginny so it's probably something for her work." They reached the apparition point and turned on the spot. Inside the Burrow, Molly and Ginny heard two faint pops signaling their arrival.
Harry and Ron walked into the house, carrying their packages into the kitchen, where they placed them on the table. "We come baring gifts," Harry said, walking over to where Ginny was cutting onions and kissing her on the cheek. He tasted salt on her cheek, which signified the tears that always occurred when she cut them. "Mason gave me an odd package for you, it doesn't say where it's from though. He wanted me to open it in the shop. I refused."
"Smart move, Potter." Ginny said, moving to the table and pulling at the side of the package. She continued, "I know you said you would be okay with James having a faster broom than you, but I don't think I could take all of his bragging, so I took matters into my own hands." She opened the package and pulled out two long black boxes, each with a silver numeral III on the top. She pushed one across to Harry.
"What's this?" He asked, eyeing the box in his hands. Ginny smirked at him.
"Open it, and find out," she said, her eyes seemed like they were already laughing. He opened the package, and gasped.
"Ginny, how did you," Words failed him as he reached into the package and pulled out a Firebolt Supreme III.
Harry heard Ron make the same gasping sound he had just heard escape his own lips, "Bloody hell Ginny, the Supreme II just came out, how did you get these?"
Harry found that out before she answered, when he rolled the broomstick over in his hand admiring it and found an inscription.
If you can't handle it, just return it Harry. -Victor Krum
"Krum? Why would he send us these?" Harry asked, confused.
"He helps me with stories about the Bulgarian team sometimes, in exchange for me keeping his name out of the papers as much as possible." Ginny said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He offered to let us test these before they're released, if we send them a list of any issues we have with them."
"Well that sounds dangerous, let's go try them out. Race you to the paddock." Harry said.
"One moment, Ron, what's that?" Ginny asked, looking at the new Cleansweep. "You didn't."
"What, I can't buy a new broom every once in a while?" Ron asked sarcastically, "I've nearly destroyed my poor Cleansweep eleven."
Ginny sighed, "No, I mean you didn't, because there's one of these waiting for you at home. I'm sure Hermoine picked it up as it arrived at the shop."
"Oh no," Ron said, but he sounded more excited than worried, "I'll have some explaining to do tomorrow then." He smiled at Harry, "Give me a head start, will you mate?" and he sprinted outside, pulling his new broom from the package and kicking off. Harry and Ginny followed him, giving him a few seconds' head start before following him into the sky and to the small paddock where the Weasley family played quidditch on occasion.
They flew for nearly four hours, taking turns on each of the new brooms. The new Firebolts were easily the fastest in the lot, but they weren't nearly as comfortable as Harry was used to. As they landed at the path to the Burrow, Harry noticed six figures dressed in the black robes of the Unspeakables walking toward them. Harry had dealt extensively with the Unspeakables in his time as the head of the Auror department, and even more often as the head of the DMLE, but in all that time he had never seen so many of them in one place. It was unnerving.
"Hello, Mr. Potter." The tall one in the front said, stopping nearly ten feet from where Harry, Ginny, and Ron were standing. "I hope we are not interrupting anything, but our department has need of you." He couldn't tell by the voice whether the figure in front of him was male or female, which unnerved him further.
Harry couldn't think of any reason for so many Unspeakables being sent to collect him, but it couldn't be good. "I'm flattered, but I don't think I could possibly be of much help to you, Mr… I don't believe I caught your name."
The strange voice replied, "No, you did not. You may call me Sir, if you must call me anything. Now, if you will, we should get back to the ministry." He said, moving closer. Ron, Ginny, and Harry took a step back.
"Well, sir." Harry spat. "Can you at least tell me what this is about before I leave?"
One of the other Unspeakables spoke next, in the same voice as the first, "You were on the scene of an attack in a muggle restaurant on the night of September 1. Your report claims that three of the attackers were stunned and a muggle member of the staff was killed by debris. You can imagine our surprise when we found that only two attackers were recovered from the scene, and none of the targets were still there to be interviewed. Our question for you, Mr. Potter, is, where are they?" the last question was asked in a tone that made Harry uneasy.
"I haven't the faintest idea where they are, Sir. But, if you'd like to open an investigation into the subject, I suggest you talk to the new head of the DMLE. Or better yet, the Minister herself, maybe you've heard of her, Hermoine Granger. Oh look! Here she comes now." Harry said, with a venom in his voice that he usually reserved for the interrogation room at the ministry.
Hermoine was practically running down the path toward them. "What is the meaning of this? I believe I ordered your department to look into tracking the magic used to control the Golems from the attack, not question half of the Weasley family about the incident." Harry looked at his friend and thought, not for the first time, that she could be truly frightening when she wanted to be. After she finished berating the group of Unspeakables, a strange sight to watch, she sent them back to the Ministry offices to await further instructions. They reluctantly agreed and left, but Harry suspected this wasn't the last he would hear from them.
"I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't think they'd bother you, much less with half of the Department of Mysteries." Hermoine said, clearly still upset.
"How did you know they were here?" Harry asked, she had arrived too quickly to have not been warned.
"I'm the Minister of Magic, Harry. I have my sources." Hermoine said, before adding with a chuckle, "It doesn't hurt that Ginny and I still carry the DA coins, she used it to call me over. Nevermind any of that though, we have a bigger problem."
"What's that?" Ginny asked.
"Someone put a few of the Ministry workers under the Imperius." Hermoine said, "Thankfully we caught it early before they could get into any of the important files, but they did destroy two." Hermoine said, glancing nervously at Harry.
"Which two?" Harry asked.
What Hermoine said next made Harry's skin crawl. "Yours, and Tom Riddle's."
"What could they possibly want with Tom's file?" Harry asked. The file on Tom Riddle was fairly thin, since the Ministry had separated it into two, pre and post Voldemort.
"I don't think it's something they wanted, they didn't take it out of the building. They destroyed it." Hermoine said, "There's something they didn't want us to know in it."
"Let me guess, you have a copy." Ron said, he knew his wife would never let there be only one copy of something so important.
Hermoine shook her head, "No, I don't. But I know someone who does." She exchanged a knowing look with Harry. He had hoped to avoid that meeting if he could.
"Severus Snape." His portrait in the Headmaster's office held more information on Ton Riddle than any file ever could. Between his portrait and Dumbledore's, it was like a Voldemort encyclopedia in there. "I guess i know my first stop at my new job then."