Chapter 18 – Reaffirmation of vows

He strode in the ministry like a hurricane, adrenaline still ringing in his body. It was mid-afternoon and full of people going back and forth.
All taken by his purpose didn't even notice the gaping faces that followed him. No having any patience to wait for the lift, he took the stairs and taking the steps two at the time, in less than a minute reached his floor.
He felt in hurry despite there wasn't any. Usually after a capture, the wizard in question was left for several hours in the basement of the ministry under close custody until he or one of his colleagues would bring him to Azkaban waiting for judgement. Forms hat to be filled, papers prepared a report redacted. It took sometimes never having enough staff at his disposal for this petty bureaucracy but now he felt he couldn't lose not even a second. He wanted the guy in prison as soon as it may be. That capture had costed too much, the wizard too sly, he didn't want to take any useless chance.
Elisabeth, sitting at her desk, was typing a paper with her wand diligently. She looked up when he got there like a thunder and winced visibly.
'Harry!' she exclaimed.
'No time to lose. I need to fill the form 36-b, the 231 a report and an order of incarceration' he tailed off darting to his office.
She strode behind him 'Harry, what…'
'We need to inform the Minister I guess, perhaps you may do that for me' he gabbled on, sitting and taking a paper from a drawer but then darted up again toward his archive starting to fumble in it not sure of what he was looking for but unable to stay still.
'Informing of wh…?'
'I want everything done as soon as possible' he ranted again darting this time to a cupboard where he got many forms to fill but not even one of the two needed.
'Harry…' Elisabeth tried again to stop him slightly alarmed by his erratic behaviour.
'Elisabeth, this is urgent!' he bellowed unnerved knocking off the ink on his desk that poured on all the files piled to it.
'Shit!' he barked annoyed taking all the ruined files and sweeping them brusquely from the desk on the floor.
Elisabeth ambled over but instead of bustling over the files or starting filling forms without a clear notion of what happened as he was expecting, looked straight in Harry's eyes and apostrophised him firmly 'Harry, calm down and sit down this instant!'
The injunction was given in such a Ginny's bossish way that Harry, out of instinct, headed instantly for the closest sitting waiting for the next order.
'Is that your or somebody's else?' she asked pointing to his chest.
Harry didn't understand straight away but regaining his wits and looking at his clothes, realised they were covered of dirt and blood, no wonder everybody was gaping at his passage.
'I don't think it's mine'
'Whose then?'
'I don't know'
'None of ours?'
'I believe not'
She heaved a breath of relief.
'Do I gather he had been caught?'
Harry nodded still in his obeying demeanour.
She paused looking at him attentively up down a few times and then, arching an eyebrow, asked
'When was the last time you got some sleep?'
Harry thought about it but couldn't remember. Surely not the previous night, maybe the one before? He remembered a cat nap on the sofa at some point but when?
'When was the last time you ate something?'
Again, he was unable to give an answer, he remembered having eaten something Ginny had left for him, but he wasn't sure when that happened nor what it was. Perhaps a soup? Perhaps the day before he got a sandwich… He couldn't quite remember...
She mumbled something under her breath on the men's nature when left alone without wife and crossed her arms on her breast.
'You'll get a shower now, you leave your clothes outside the door, I'll sort them out. When you'll be done, you'll tell me everything that happened, I'll fill the forms while you eat something, alright?' she ordered stern.
'But I'm in a rush, the guy is downstair and…'
'And there he will stay for how long is needed; he won't go anywhere' she tailed him off.
Harry understanding there wasn't any point arguing against his adopted mother, rose from the chair and headed obediently to the bathroom.
The hot water on his skin helped to clear his mind and relax his limbs. He hadn't even realised how contracted all his muscles were until they loosened up, how tired he felt until the adrenaline was gone. He left the water slides on his body, taking away all the traces of the afternoon's struggle, it formed puddles of pink and grey as blood and dirt were coming off.
He watched it absentmindedly and for a moment it seemed to him all the strength was gone from his body carried away by the water, leaving him completely bereft of energy, even the simple gesture of rubbing his body clean seemed beyond him.
He stood there for a while watching the water, that by degree was getting limpid and then forced himself to get sponge and soap.
His clothes were waiting clean, warm, and neatly folded just outside the door and once dressed, Elisabeth was waiting for him with a sandwich.
'Thank you' he muttered taking a bite, his stomach growling with hunger now that his body had relaxed.
'Don't mention it' she said sweetly 'Now' she continued with a smile 'Tell me what happened so I can fill the forms'
Harry recounted everything flatly and concisely with all the details he knew she needed to carry out her job. He didn't take long and when the sandwich was disappeared, he was also done recounting.
Elisabeth retired to prepare all the papers.
There was a bowl with some fruit left on his desk (surely from Elisabeth), he took an orange, still feeling hungry and sat on the sofa. Peeling the zest his mind was free to wander on everything and nothing. He was so tired that only fragments of images were bouncing confusedly uncapable to focus on a single object not giving him the chance to form any real thought.
Suddenly it all stopped as soon as Ginny appeared between those images. Like hunger had wakened with muscles relaxation, the longing for Ginny had reawakened likewise and it was as intense as ever. He couldn't wait to hold her again.
'Here you go' Elisabeth said handling him various papers some minutes later 'You just need to sign them' she added giving him a quill.
He perused them quickly without making much sense of it, his mind still dazed by tiredness. He signed them anyway sure that Elisabeth had done a good job as usual.
'Can I go now?' he asked teasingly.
'Not quite yet' she answered chuckling 'Your hair is soaking wet; you are going to catch cold. Let me fix them for you' and saying this, she drew out her wand from which a warm stream of air started to sprout.
'So, planning anything nice for your holiday?' she asked conversationally while working on his hair.
'Actually, I am' he answered smug. He had told her about his intention to get two weeks holiday if the wizard was captured but he hadn't had the occasion to explain in detail about his plans 'I want to propose to Ginny again'
'But that is lovely!' she exclaimed excited her wand almost dropping from her hand.
'Yeah… I made a mess the first time and I want to do it right this time' he explained slightly sheepishly 'We are celebrating twenty years of marriage this year and I want to do a reaffirmation of vows'
'I'm sure she is going to be very pleased!'
'I hope so, a friend of ours is marrying…'
'Luna Lovegood, right?' she interrupted.
'How do you know?' he asked surprised.
'A magazine' she shrugged 'There was an article about Ginny being there speculating about if you would be of the party or not.'
Of course…
'Well...' he continued trying not to get annoyed 'She was very excited about the preparation connected to it and you know, we were so young when we married, her mum did everything for us. I'm sure she missed that. I want her to have fun organizing our wedding'
They were barely of age when they married and he was so in a hurry to have it done that had been a very simple affair, more like a small family party than anything else. He hadn't even worn a too smart outfit. It had been perfect under his point of view, and he had loved it just as it had been, simple and easy. They were only kids eager to start their new life together and they didn't need anything more to be happy, but he realised now how unconventional all the procedure had been and Ginny had missed all what Luna was experiencing now. He was sure she would have loved to do it again with an adult mind and him couldn't ask anything better than to see her happy.
This time it was going to be a proper wedding between two adults, exactly as she wanted it, for what it concerned him he would have married her every single day of his life.
Elisabeth smiled sweetly 'I'm sure she'll be thrilled. When I married…' she started saying wanting to explain her experience and it is not the tale was boring or uninteresting, and normally he would have been pleased to listen to her, but the warm air drying his hair was so pleasant, her voice so reassuring that very soon it began to sound more muffled by the minute. He tried to concentrate on it, but the meaning of her words was escaping him. His eyelids felt suddenly extremely heavy. He thought to close them to rest his eyes only for a minute, and that was a certain step to fall quickly asleep.