NOTE: The MA rated version of this story was erased during the 2012 FFnet purge. The story remained in this site for a few years as a translation into Polish, but it appears to also have been erased, either by the translator or the the site administrators. Since that date, an edited version without the graphic parts has been available in SIYE. Despite that, from time to time, I still get messages from people asking me how to find the story in FFnet . The version I'm publishing here is the edited and expurgated SIYE version.
Some Shall Be Pardoned, and Some Punished
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished...
Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene III
Kingsley Shacklebolt, head of the Auror Office, paced behind his large mahogany desk hardly able to contain his fury. This time Harry Potter had gone too far. While on protective duty with the Muggle Prime Minister at a reception in Buckingham Palace, not only had he stunned the prince consort, but also had disarmed and punched the prince's bodyguard when he had tried to intervene. Needless to say, using obliviators on members of the royal family had created a major diplomatic incident, and Minister Weasley, who normally was a mild-mannered man, had demanded serious disciplinary action.
Kingsley Shacklebolt liked Harry; he was, after all, the saviour of the Wizarding world. Three years ago, he had defeated Lord Voldemort in a clearing at the Forbidden Forest outside Hogwarts and when last year he had showed up at the Auror Office asking for a job, he had easily passed the entrance exams with top marks. Shacklebolt had been impressed by his modesty and quiet demeanour but even more so by his duelling abilities, which had been unmatched by anyone in the department. After only six months training, he had been admitted to the force as a full Auror. However, it soon it became apparent that there was a problem with Harry Potter. He had no respect for authority. That was probably due to the influence of his godfather, Sirius Black, who had raised him while living undercover and on the run most of his life with the help of family friend Remus Lupin.
It was considered a prestige assignment to be part of the Muggle Prime Minister's security detail for royal functions and naturally Harry Potter's name had been put forward when the reception at Buckingham Palace had been announced. Shacklebolt had been himself at many Palace functions and knew that the prince consort was an arse, but nothing could justify Harry's behaviour. The Head Auror was thinking of a suitable punishment when there was a knock on his door. He sat down behind his desk and once again considered if sacking Potter from the force was the best solution. He imagined the political backlash and shuddered. What Potter needed was to be taught a lesson.
"Come in," he called with a deep voice.
Shacklebolt noticed that Harry came into the room with his eyes lowered and regret evident in his features. He stood at attention in front of the desk.
"Auror Potter reporting as ordered Head Auror Shacklebolt."
"Would you care to explain what the bloody hell happened?"
Harry almost smiled. One thing he liked about his boss was that he always cut to the chase. "That man... he's a squib Death Eater, sir. I was doing my job when he approached me and questioned my youth and my qualifications for being there. He started rambling about 'commoners' and 'rabble' and how they allow anyone into the Palace these days. Then he made bigoted comments about the guests and pretended to use me as his personal cocktail waiter. I naturally refused, reminding him I was there for the security of the Prime Minister. He started insulting me and making comments about my ill breeding and that it must be my mother's fault I have such bad manners and don't know my place. I will not suffer an arse like that talking about my mother, sir, so I stunned him. When his bodyguard pulled a gun I broke his wrist and knocked him out," Harry paused and took a deep breath. "Permission to talk freely, sir." After a nod from Shacklebolt he continued. "I signed up as an Auror to pursue and apprehend dark wizards, sir. Not to be minder to politicians or inbred royals."
Shacklebolt glowered at Harry. "In this department you will do what you're ordered to do!" His voice was loud and sharp. "How do you pretend to be allowed sensitive, much less undercover work, when you lose your head with a silly old man? I understand you're eager for more important work, but first you must prove that you can obey orders. I cannot have Aurors running around like loose cannons all over England." After a long pause he continued in a softer voice. "I know you have enough money to live the rest of your life without worries. You're young and famous. Why are you doing this, Potter?"
"It's the only thing I know how to do." His voice was hesitant because it was painful to admit what he was saying. "It's the only thing I'm good at. All my life has been about fighting dark wizards. It's pathetic if you think about it," he finished staring at the floor.
After defeating Voldemort Harry's life had lost purpose. He had moved into a posh Muggle flat in London although he usually had dinner with Sirius and Remus at Grimmauld Place. He had gone out with a couple of witches and soon realized that they could never get over the fact that he was The-Boy-Who-Lived as soon as they knew his name, so he withdrew into the Muggle world. He travelled the continent and had a string of Muggle girlfriends. Some were really nice, but he hated that he had to hide his magical heritage from them. He was caught between the two worlds, Muggle and magical, but somehow he did not fit in any of them. Two years after his victory, at the ripe old age of 19, he had felt like the best years of his life were behind him. It was then when he had decided to become an Auror.
Shacklebolt gave him a sympathetic look but was aware that he had a department to run, not a work therapy program. "Look Harry, I know the prince consort is a git, but your behaviour is unacceptable. You're suspended immediately for a week without pay. Afterwards you will report to Auror Tonks for your new assignment. You're going to do personal protection and you are going to do it right this time."
"What! More baby minding?" he protested.
Shacklebolt cut him off sharply. "That's what junior Aurors do. Is part of the job. Do it or hand over your resignation!" He paused and sighed. "If you do this assignment without messing up for six months, I'll move you to other things."
"Who is the mark?" Harry asked holding back his disgust.
Shacklebolt tossed him a file and Harry caught it in the air. "Ginevra Weasley, the daughter of Minister Weasley and chaser for the Holyhead Harpies. Make no mistake Harry. This is a difficult assignment. It will test your patience and your ability to keep your head."
Harry opened the file. There was a large black and white magical photo of an attractive young woman grinning at the camera. After winking, the woman sharply turned her head for a profile view leaving her long ponytail swaying.
"Don't let the pretty face fool you. She's a veteran of the Battle of Hogwarts and was one of the leaders of the resistance at the school. After finishing her education she turned into a professional Quidditch player and became starting chaser for the Harpies in less than a year. She's very popular with male Quidditch fans and has received multiple threats from losers she has turned down for dates. She also enjoys pranking her bodyguards. Have you heard of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?"
"Yes. I've been to the store in Diagon Alley."
"Two of her brothers own the place and she sometimes tests their new products on her bodyguards. You may wish you were back with the prince consort before this is over."
"There is an "eyes only" section in the dossier. Will I get clearance?"
"That information is available only on a 'need to know' basis. You don't need to know it to do this assignment. You are dismissed."
Harry had asked only to show that he was on top of things. He knew what that section of the report probably contained. His boss didn't know it, but he had met Ginevra Weasley before. He had rescued her many years ago. She was the Horcrux diary girl.
-0-0-0-
Harry was sitting on the black leather sofa in his living room, holding the grinning and winking photo of Ginevra Weasley. It had been almost nine years since he had last seen her. The only thing he remembered about her, quite vividly, was her striking red hair. Even in the dark and gloomy Chamber it had had an almost unnatural shine.
Harry had been in a training session with Sirius at Grimmauld Place when Dumbledore flooed over asking for help. A student had been abducted and he needed someone who could speak Parseltongue. He needed Harry. Sirius refused, saying that Harry was not ready, but Dumbledore insisted. An eleven-year-old girl would die if nothing was done. Despite Padfoot's objections Harry immediately volunteered. They flooed back to Hogwarts where Dumbledore, Sirius, Gilderoy Lockhart and Harry went down a secret passage behind the wash basins of the second floor's girl's bathroom. They reached a cave that led to the Chamber when the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher completely lost his nerve and attacked them trying to get away. The fighting caused a cave-in and Harry found himself alone behind a massive pile of rocks. Despite the calls by Sirius to wait, Harry pushed forward, opened the Chamber and walked inside. He ran towards a small body at the end of the entrance hallway and begged for the little girl in the halo of red hair to be alive...
Being hailed as the saviour of the Wizarding world had never meant anything to Harry. The whole idea was frankly, ridiculous and uncomfortable. He had killed Voldemort because he had to. It was kill or be killed. It was revenge. It was justice. It had never been about saving the Wizarding world. But tonight, looking at the photo of a grown up "Ginny" Weasley (the dossier said that was her nickname), he felt an intense sense of accomplishment. For the first time he personally felt how he had touched the lives of others. The little girl in the halo of red had not only survived the trauma of being possessed by Voldemort. She had flourished. He read about how she had helped Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup and become team captain; about her sabotage activities against the Carrows while they ran Hogwarts; about how, despite being underage, she had fought Bellatrix Lestrange with her friends Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger during the Battle of Hogwarts; about how she was currently the youngest starting player of the British and Irish Quidditch League. To think that an extraordinary witch like Ginny Weasley had been almost killed and that he had prevented it, filled him with pride.
But the pride only lasted a moment. How many extraordinary witches and wizards like Ginny Weasley had died during the war, never to realize their potential? If only they could have found the Horcruxes faster; if only he had trained harder so many more could have been saved. The feeling of pride was quickly replaced with a more familiar sensation. Guilt.
-0-0-0-
...Harry sat in the Headmaster's office next to Sirius. His robes smelled of dry blood and mud. He still held the sword firmly in his grasp. It felt comfortable in his hand. He asked Dumbledore how the girl was doing, and he answered that she was in the hospital wing with her family. Dumbledore also told him that he had performed a mild memory charm so the girl would forget him. Harry froze at his words. The thought of being erased from a person's mind felt like erasing part of his very existence.
"Why?" he asked.
"It was a difficult decision, Harry and one I didn't take lightly. Memory charms are a horrible violation, so I did the mildest possible charm. The memory of her rescuer will be fuzzy and confusing, but she'll remember everything else no matter how traumatic. This episode will either destroy her or make her stronger. I'm hoping for the latter. She was, after all, chosen for this."
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.
"Ms Weasley was not targeted randomly, Sirius. Whoever handed her the diary," he said pointing to the soggy book on the table, "gave it to Ms Weasley because she is a very powerful witch. She is the first female child in seven generations and a seventh child. A most unusual combination of events. The diary is a very dark and vile object. It contained a piece of Voldemort's soul, and it needed the strongest life force and the most powerful magical potential to successfully bring him back..."
"How is that possible," Sirius interrupted.
Dumbledore went into a lengthy explanation of what a Horcrux was and how it was made. Then he looked puzzled at Harry. "Why did you stab the diary with the basilisk fang, Harry?"
Harry shrugged. "I could feel it... the evil... how it was killing her... the fang was just handy at the time."
"Your instincts served you right, Harry. Learn to trust them. I know that erasing Ms Weasley's memory of you is not only a violation of her, but also of you. The good memory of ourselves we leave in others is part of what makes us immortal. However, until you are ready to fulfil your destiny, you have to remain in the shadows. You have to be a ghost. The less people know about you, the safer you and they will be." Dumbledore paused for a moment and Harry nodded his understanding. "May I see that sword?" Dumbledore continued.
After Harry handed over the sword, Dumbledore inspected it for a minute and looked up at Harry. "Only a true Gryffindor could have summoned this sword."
"How come?" Harry asked.
"This sword belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of the school. Ms Weasley and you would be in the same House if you could attend Hogwarts"
"What's her first name?"
"Her name is Ginevra. Ginevra Weasley."
-0-0-0-
Ginny came out of the dressing room of the Harpies training facilities in Holyhead and noticed Tonks talking to her minder, a young Auror named, Brad Collins. She hated having minders and had pleaded with her dad, the Minister of Magic, to stop the Auror Office from sending new ones. He had answered by saying that someone with an even higher office than him insisted that she always have a bodyguard accompany her in public... or else, her mother, Molly Weasley. It was then that Ginny knew that as long as her dad was in office she would never be rid of the minders. She had resorted to having fun by pranking them or by finding ways of escaping away from them. Tonks had actually thanked her for the realistic training she provided.
The older Aurors that had somehow run afoul of Shacklebolt, hated doing "Ginny Duty", as they called it. She was, however, usually stuck with the younger and more inexperienced Aurors. Those would sometimes end up like Brad, completely besotted with her, which created plenty of awkward situations. Thankfully a couple of her older teammates, including her roommate, Gabriela Gasparini, an Italian international, saw it as their duty to shag every mildly attractive Auror she turned down. After she had told Brad she had no interest in him, the poor boy looked like he would cry. Later Gabriela had shagged his brains out, making Brad completely forget his undying love for Ginny. That's men for you.
When her mother found out she was going to be signed by the Harpies, she had done everything in her power to get her to go to another team. She was worried people would think she was a "scarlet woman" (whatever the hell that was) if she signed with the team. Ginny had explained to her that the reputation of the Harpies was totally undeserved and that it was due to male chauvinism, but her mother had countered that reputation was all it took. Reputation was reality. The truth was that out of the 12 girls in the team only two were slags, including Gabriela, and two were borderline slags, meaning they slept around but were very selective. But that fact didn't matter. Whenever she was out with her teammates or by herself and recognized as one of the Harpies, some men seemed to think she would be an easy shag and came on strongly to her. After she had landed a few of those men in the emergency room of St. Mungo's, some with serious damage to their bits, her mother had forced her dad to put a permanent bodyguard on her whenever she was out in public.
"Wotcher, Ginny!" Tonks was sporting electric blue hair this time. She smiled and waved brightly at Ginny when she saw her come out.
"Hi, Tonks how have you been?"
"Same as always. I'm here to give Brad his new assignment. Tomorrow will be his last day with you," she said as they walked to the apparition point. She turned to Brad, who was walking behind them looking guiltily at Ginny. "You can go, Brad, I'll stay with Ginny until she gets home. I need to fill her in on her new minder."
"Bye Brad, I'll see you tomorrow," Ginny said giving the young Auror a small wave. She then turned to Tonks. "Would you come with me to have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron so you can tell me all about it?"
"I would love to."
They apparated behind the Leaky Cauldron and went in. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Hannah Abbott, the current manager of the inn, and signing a couple of autographs for fans, they sat in a corner booth in the back of the inn that Hannah always kept open for friends and special customers. They ordered their meals and settled into conversation.
Tonks spoke first. "So, did Brad come on to you?"
Ginny gave her a reproachful look. "Yes, he did."
"Excellent. I knew that boy had it in him. He just made me five Galleons."
"Hey! You people are still betting on my life?" Ginny asked feigning indignation but failing.
"We're not betting on you, Ginny. We're betting on them. Either they will be scared of you, or they will fall for you. The ones that manage the courage to ask you out, have a better operational record than the ones that don't, so this is actually very important information."
"Could I place a bet on the next one?"
"Of course not. That wouldn't be proper. It could skew the results and there is going to be big money riding on this one. I've heard even Shacklebolt is placing bets."
Ginny stared at Tonks with her mouth slightly open. "So, it's proper for you to rake in the Galleons, but not for me?"
"Exactly," she responded as if it was self-evident.
"So who is the new Boy Wonder?" Ginny asked shaking her head.
"It's funny you should say that Ginny, because this time it really is the Boy Wonder." She paused for effect and smiled slyly at her. "It's Harry bleeding Potter."
"Are you joking? You're saying that Harry 'look I've got Voldemort's head in my hand' Potter, is going to be my minder?"
"Yes."
"WHY?"
"As punishment, of course."
"So Harry Potter messed up and as punishment he is being assigned to mind me?" Tonks just nodded and Ginny continued. "The twins are going to be so proud of me," she said with a big self-satisfied grin. "I'll need something special from them. I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone in the Auror Office."
They started eating and Ginny fell deep into thought. Very few people had known about Harry Potter until he killed Voldemort. Her family had been prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization that had protected him for years, so she knew more than most. Thanks to the liberal use of extendable ears during Order meetings and conversations between her dad and older brothers, she had learned a lot about the incredible things Potter had done.
"What did he do?" Ginny asked.
"He stunned a member of the royal family and injured one of the Muggle minders. Even the queen had to be obliviated. As you can imagine that caused a major diplomatic row with the muggle government." Tonks looked at Ginny, who was covering her mouth with her hand in disbelief. "Ginny, I don't know how much you know about Potter, but I would recommend that you be careful about pranking him. People have been trying to kill him since he was a year old and his first instinct when he thinks he is in danger is to strike back hard. Don't make it something sudden and loud like one of your brother's firecrackers."
"I'll keep that in mind, Tonks. Thanks for the warning."
"Look. I don't want you to be scared of him either. He's really a nice bloke, which is amazing considering some of the stuff he has gone thru."
They ate in silence for a couple of minutes and suddenly Ginny raised her head and gave Tonks a sharp look. "What are you betting, Tonks?"
Tonks looked at her appraisingly. "There's an accumulated jackpot of 400 hundred Galleons on you going out on a date with an Auror. I'm betting you will go out with him."
"You better change your bet, Tonks. I'm never going to go out with one of my minders. For me they are the enemy."
Tonks laughed. "Whatever you may think, we are not the enemy, Ginny. No matter how horribly you have treated them, most of the Aurors that have worked with you really like you. Harry is a looker, Ginny. I'm not changing my bet."
-0-0-0-
That night Ginny lay in her bed thinking about the day's events. She had earlier seen Brad come in with Gabriela and now her thoughts were interrupted by the moaning and swear words coming out of Gabriela's room. Gabriela was definitely a screamer but made a point of never setting silencing or privacy charms. She was a slag and proud of it. She was also an honourable slag. She never made a move on any of the few men Ginny had dated. Those she rejected though, she pursued with enthusiasm. In the beginning Ginny thought maybe she was lonely from being so far from home, then she realized the truth. Gabriela was a slag, plain and simple. Ginny raised her wand, set a privacy charm on her room, and her thoughts drifted to the final battle.
She was on the grounds in front of the castle fighting side by side with Luna. They made a formidable unit, and they were furiously casting curses. A Death Eater fell bleeding from multiple cuts at their feet. She summoned his wand, broke it and both girls moved on. Luna was scanning the grounds for threats and targets almost distractedly, but Ginny felt safe with her. She had the uncanny ability to raise a shield just at the right moment. Luna was her best friend. The year after the Chamber she had been an outcast. People avoided her as if she had some sort of disease and many still believed she had willingly released the basilisk. Her brothers, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger gave her their support, but all of them were older and they didn't share classes with her. The only one that had stood up for her and defended her in her year had been Luna Lovegood. She was strange and an outcast as well, but also a sweet girl who shared classes with her. She usually surprised Ginny by asking the most unexpected questions. Once she had asked her about the boy in the Chamber, something that she barely recalled. That was a detail that no one knew about, and for a long time Ginny thought that Luna was a seer. Later she realized that she was not a seer. She was just very perceptive.
The first rays of sunlight started falling on the battlefield and the sky was blood red. The fighting had been going on for hours and Ginny was dead tired. Suddenly, little by little, the fighting gradually stopped until only the cries and moans of the wounded and dying could be heard. Everybody's attention was focused on the lonely figure of a lean boy advancing with a limp out of the Forbidden Forest. He held a sword in his right hand and an odd shaped object in his left hand. His figure radiated power and maybe it was just the morning light, but Ginny could swear he was shining. His voice boomed loudly across the entire battlefield. "DEATH EATERS. BEHOLD YOUR DARK LORD!" He raised his left hand and only then Ginny realized he was holding Voldemort's head. "SURRENDER OR JOIN HIM!" he screamed tossing it to the side.
Up to that point, the Death Eaters had had the upper hand in the battle. What followed next was a rout. It was medieval. It was a massacre. A loud cry rose from the side of the Hogwarts defenders, and they surged forward. The Death Eaters started a disorderly retreat towards the Hogwarts gate in the hope of apparating away, but their escape route was cut off when professor Slughorn with a handful of Slytherins and dozens of Hogsmeade volunteers crashed through the gate. Ginny paused for a moment and saw the boy moving into the battle swinging the sword with his right hand and casting curses with the wand in his left hand. The flash of a curse being stopped by the shield Luna had raised seemingly out of nowhere, brought her attention back to reality. Luna and she pushed forward with the rest. They ran into Draco Malfoy, whose eyes were wide with terror. He recognized Ginny and fell to his knees. "Weasley, I surrender, please don't kill me!" Ginny immediately stunned him, and Luna bound him so tightly, Ginny thought he would probably suffocate. She couldn't find it in herself to care. With barely a look they moved on. They ran into Bellatrix Lestrange next.
Ginny and Luna were formidable together, but Bellatrix Lestrange was formidable by herself. They battled for several minutes without either side gaining an advantage. Bellatrix was growing frustrated and the sneer in her face had disappeared. When Hermione joined them, they started to push Bellatrix back. Fear covered her face when she realized she was cut off from any escape or help. Curses and shields shone brightly in an impressive display of power. A killing curse missed Ginny by an inch making her scramble to the ground. Luna and Hermione were furious and fired powerful cutting and bludgeoning curses, forcing Bellatrix to raise her most powerful shield to stop them. Ginny knew she could not keep that shield up for long. She got up and timed her curse perfectly, "REDUCTO!" she bellowed just as Bellatrix's shield was failing. The bright blue curse hit Bellatrix in the middle of the chest, and she seemed to collapse into herself. She fell in a boneless heap, her lifeless black eyes remained open.
The battle raged for several more minutes and then suddenly there was silence again. The cries of the injured rose all around them. Ginny looked for the boy she knew was called Harry Potter and saw him some twenty meters away from her. He was covered with blood and mud and Ginny felt a strong sense of déjà vu. He raised his blood-soaked right arm and the sword glistened in the early morning sunlight as blood dripped from his elbow. It was over. Cries of joy erupted all over and the survivors started hugging. Ginny turned to Luna, who was smiling dreamily and hugged her fiercely. Then she started looking for her family. She found Fred and George doing a silly victory dance and hugged them both. Then she ran into Ron who was snogging Hermione senseless. She enveloped them with her arms, but they barely noticed her. She kept scanning for red hair, and one by one found them all; Percy, Charlie, Bill and his wife Fleur, her dad and finally her mother. She was afraid of her reaction because she had been ordered to stay inside, but her mother just opened her arms and Ginny ran into a breath stopping embrace.
She took another look to where Harry Potter was. He was down on one knee with the point of the sword buried into the ground, using it for support. Once again, an overwhelming feeling of déjà vu filled her. He was surrounded by two men she recognized as Sirius Black and Remus Lupin from clandestine meetings that had been held at the Burrow. His shoulders were shaking violently. He was crying. Ginny felt an irresistible urge to comfort him and took two steps towards him, but Potter got up an apparated away.
"He can't do that," Hermione said indignantly behind her. "You can't Apparate while inside the Hogwarts grounds."
Ron and Hermione started rowing about Potter's apparating so she moved to look for friends. The toll had been heavy. Professors Aurora Sinistra and Rolanda Hooch were dead. She found Dennis Creevey holding the dead body of his brother Colin. Ginny kneeled and kissed Colin's cold cheeks. Seamus Finnegan and Lavender Brown had fallen together. Michael Corner, a former boyfriend, ran to her and hugged her as Cho Chang, his current girlfriend looked on. Ginny walked toward Cho and embraced her. The older girl returned the hug and Ginny kept walking the grounds. She found Neville Longbottom gravely injured being attended by Madame Pomfrey. Hannah Abbott was kneeling next to him holding his hand. After being assured that he would make it, Ginny moved on. Terry Boot, dead. Zacharias Smith, dead. Padma Patil, injured. Anthony Goldstein, in critical condition. Justin Finch-Fletchey, dead. The weight of what had just happened hit her. The best of the youth of a generation had been decimated. She knew it was wrong, but she turned her back as angry parents summarily executed some of the captured Death Eaters. She pretended not to see.
It had been her dad, the always correct Arthur Weasley and Hermione Granger, the Muggle born those same Death Eaters were sworn to kill, who put a stop to it. A group of students was ready to beat Draco Malfoy to death. He was crying and whimpering on his knees, his pale skin covered in black and blue bruises from the extremely tight binding Luna had placed on him. Hermione stood in front of Draco with her wand drawn facing the angry mob. Ginny felt intensely ashamed of herself for turning her back earlier. She drew her wand and walked towards Hermione. She stood next to her and bellowed, "NOBODY BLOODY MOVE!" A wave of heat pushed forth from her and the mob took a step back. Out of nowhere, Luna, who looked as if she was just passing by, joined them. Draco Malfoy, the incredible lucky ferret, was saved.
As Ginny fell asleep, a familiar feeling enveloped her. Guilt.