Harry was working in his office when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he called. The door opened, revealing Hermione, who was sobbing heavily and leaning on the doorframe. Harry went towards her and hugged her closely, letting her cry on his shoulder until she gained a bit of composure.

"I take it your talk with Ron went badly?" asked Harry.

"Let me phrase it this way. I seriously doubt that I will ever speak to him again."

"What happened?"

"I asked him to go for a walk, but he thought snogging was more important and whatever I wanted to talk about wasn't as important as kissing. After some time, I finally got him out of the Burrow, and I started to speak. I asked him what he was planning to do - if he was going back to Hogwarts, about his career, that kind of thing."

"What did he tell you?"

"That he doesn't know. He's not going back to Hogwarts since you won't be there. He doesn't know where he wants to work or when he will start."

"Well, there are a lot of people who are uncertain about what they want to do," Harry tried to defend Ron a bit.

"The problem is he hasn't even started to think. But let's move forward. I then told him about my plans and what I was expecting from him. His reply killed any hope I had. He asked me why I need a mastery if I'm going to stay at home after we get married. I felt like someone had slapped me. I told him about my dreams, and he disregarded me, thinking he could make that decision for me."

"What happened then?"

"I tried to reason with him and explain that the life of a stay-at-home mom is not what I want. He became defensive and started to get angry, insisting that I would have a good life as a SAHM. I explained to him that I would never be happy living that way. I told him that if he couldn't understand my point of view, we would have to go our separate ways. That's when he started shouting at me, saying that I was trying to lead him and make him look stupid. It was not the worst of it, though. When I tried to talk to him and get him to understand, he started accusing me. He declared that I am staying here with you because we are together and that we are making fun of him behind his back. He reasoned that if I had been a good and faithful girlfriend, I would have stayed in Burrow. Then he started to throw more insults at me, so I ran away and came here...".She started sobbing uncontrollably.

Harry was trying to comfort Hermione, but he was silently fuming at the insult she had received. He never allowed anyone to insult his best friend. After a moment, he suggested that Hermione talk to her mom, who might have some good ideas on how to move on. Hermione agreed, and the two Granger women sat in a garden deep in conversation.

Feeling better that his best friend was taken care of, Harry decided to visit Ronald and have a few words with him. He used the Floo network and found himself in the Weasley's kitchen at the Burrow. The whole Weasley clan was focused on their meal.

"Harry dear, welcome! Are you going to join us?" asked Molly.

"Hello, Molly. I'm sorry, but I'm only here for a moment."

"Harry, what's going on?" Bill asked, seeing the anger on Harry's face. But he never got to finish his sentence, as Harry exploded at Ron.

"I will give you only one warning, Ronald. If you insult Hermione again, you will regret it. You can talk badly about me all day and I won't care, but if you say one more negative word about her, I will make you suffer. She was the perfect girlfriend: pretty, smart, hard-working, and loyal. I could go on all day about her amazing qualities. And when she approaches you to discuss your future together, you ignore her words, accuse her without any proof, and then call her derogatory names. I don't know what's sitting in this empty head of yours, but you better start thinking about it and come up with ways to earn her forgiveness if you want her to be your friend again. I doubt very much that she will ever want to come back to you. This is your first and last warning, so don't waste it," Harry ended his rant. He looked at Ron and saw the same expression he saw during his fourth year. He was so blinded with anger that he was not thinking rationally. After saying goodbye to the stunned Weasley family, he left the Burrow and came back to Potter Manor, where everyone was waiting for him with dinner ready.

"Where have you been, Harry?" asked Hermione, sounding calmer than before.

"I went to the Burrow to exchange a few words with Ronald."

"Did you achieve something?" asked Emma, who was unhappy with their redheaded friend.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I gave him a piece of my mind and left before he could respond. But I am almost sure that he will come to us in a few days, trying to apologize," Harry replied.

"He better, otherwise I will introduce him to my drills," Hermione's mother replied.

After dinner, he went to his bedroom, as he had an important task to do. He had to find a name for his new owl. Just like with Hedwig, he gave the owl many propositions until she had found one of them satisfying. After a long time, she agreed to be named Athena, after the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, and justice. The rest of the evening flew by as he lost himself in the Tolkien universe again.

The next morning, Harry decided to visit Greengrass' office. He wanted to find out more about debtors who wanted to settle their debts. After breakfast with his guests, he left for Diagon Alley, and soon he was in Cyrus' office.

"Can you remember this text?" Asked Cyrus. "What brings you here, Harry?"

"I wanted to find out more about who is trying to repay me money," replied Harry.

"Of course. The first person is Eustachy Slughorn, nephew of your old potions professor. He owns an apothecary in Diagon Alley. The other person is your yearmate Theodore Nott. His family owns most of the shares in the Nimbus company."

"Nott was not a Death Eater?" asked Harry, surprised.

"He was not," replied Daphne. "His whole family are marked followers, but he never bought the whole blood purity thing. He is a very quiet person who loves his books and his close group of friends," she explained.

"Well then, I will contact them to set up a meeting," said Harry, but his words were cut short. They all began to hear screams in the distance, and before they could react, they could hear someone talking with Cyrus's secretary.

"You have one last chance; where is Greengrass?" they heard a loud, raspy voice. Harry instantly knew that there was an attack on Diagon Alley.

"Cyrus, if they come here, buy me a few seconds and let them all inside. I will hide and surprise them since they don't know about me," Harry said. Then he took out his cloak and gave it to Daphne. "Take it and hide. If you have an opportunity, take it and run," he told her. Daphne was too scared to fight him on that, so she took the cloak and disappeared. Harry had hidden in a large cabinet so he could gather some information. Cyrus prepared his wand and sat behind his desk, waiting for the attackers. Only a few seconds later, three masked people ran into the office.

"Here you are, Greengrass," their leader said.

"It's no surprise since this is my office," Cyrus replied frostily.

"I wouldn't be such a smartass in a situation like this, you blood traitor. Not only did you refuse to join the Dark Lord, but now you are working with Potter."

"And what if I am?" asked Cyrus.

"Then we have to teach you a lesson so that you realize it is not wise to work against us," the leader said, taking his wand and shouting, "CRUCIO!"

Harry knew it was time for him to do something. He didn't want his older friend to suffer unnecessarily. So when the Death Eater started casting the curse, Harry opened the cabinet he was hiding in and started his attack.

"CONFRINGO!" His spell landed, causing a small explosion that threw the attackers to the ground. Harry instantly started casting again. "STUPEFY! INCARCEROUS!" He repeated the combination on all three of the attackers.

"Are you alright?" he asked Cyrus.

"Yes, I am. You took care of them before their cruciatus had hit me."

"Good. Take Daphne, check on your staff, and get away from here," Harry said.

"What about you?" Daphne asked.

"I am going to the Alley to help with the others," Harry replied and left without waiting for their reply. He carefully felt the building, checking the situation outside. He spotted four more attackers walking around the alley and casting curses at passersby. He realized that they were not coordinated in any way and decided to use their mistakes. When one of them went into a little corner, he stunned him from behind without alerting his companions. The second Death Eater ended the same way, reducing his enemies in half. Unfortunately for him, the remaining two realized that something was wrong and tried to find him. Harry waited until the last moment and then showed himself, attacking one on his right.

"BOMBARDA!" He cast at the ground under him, causing an explosion that threw him into the wall. The last attacker started to fire curses at Harry, but it was clear that he was not an experienced fighter, as Harry easily dodged his spells. Harry won that duel by using a stunner.

"Drop your wand!" he heard a shout and turned around to see Proudfoot with other Aurors. Harry pocketed his wand and approached them.

"What happened here?" Connie Hammer asked.

"Some kind of attack, but I have no idea why they did it. Four of them are lying stunned in the main alley and three of them are in Cyrus Greengrass' office. I don't know about any others," Harry explained briefly. Proudfoot gave orders, and soon the Aurors took the stunned attackers into custody. After a check-up, aurors found one more attacker, who was also taken care of, and soon they declared the attack was over.

"We need you to come to the Ministry so you can give an official statement," Hammer told him.

"Lead the way then," Harry replied, and they left Diagon Alley. Harry spent two hours in the Ministry, going through events in great detail and explaining his every choice. When Harry was done, he wanted to leave, but a loud pleading for help caught his attention.

"You can't do this to me! I was defending myself!" he heard a woman's voice. When he followed the sound, he found out it was Penelope Clearwater, being handcuffed and escorted by aurors. The situation had caused quite a scene, and many Ministry workers had gathered there, including Kingsley.

"Harry, please help me!" Penelope begged.

"Penny? What happened?" Harry was shocked to see her in the custody of Aurors. They had become good friends during his third year, and she wanted to thank him for taking care of the monster who attacked her.

"They want to send me to Azkaban! During the attack on Alley, I was defending myself and my friend, so I cast a Bombarda at the attacker, but he had a bad landing and broke his neck. And now they want to lock me up for murder, even though I was defending my life!"

"You've got to be joking," Harry said, turning to the aurors.

"I'm sorry, Lord Potter, but this is the law. Because of her, a pureblood lost his life, so she needs to be punished," one of the Aurors replied.

"What about the fact that she was defending herself?" Harry asked incredulously.

"The law does not care about that. Even though I agree with you, I can't do anything," replied Hammer.

But Harry knew who could do something. He turned to Kingsley, as he knew that he had the power to stop that investigation or pardon her for her crimes. Harry looked at him, expecting a reaction, but he stood there silently. As no one was doing anything, Aurors took Penny and ordered her to move.

"Penny, I swear to you, I will do anything I can to help you. Be strong and don't give up," Harry told his friend and then turned again to the Aurors.

"I am warning you. If I find out that she is mistreated in even the slightest way while under your custody, I will use the entire power of the Houses of Potter and Black to get justice," Harry growled. After he gave Kingsley one last dirty look, he left the Ministry. His first stop was Greengrass Manor.

"Harry? Is something wrong?" Cyrus asked when he saw him at his front door.

"Yes, I need your help, right now," Harry replied. Cyrus heard his voice and invited him inside.

"What's going on?" the older man asked. Harry then explained the situation to Penny and that he needed his legal help.

"I will take care of that. I will send her my best criminal attorney, so they will be wary of mistreating her."

"Thank you very much. If it is possible, send him there now, as the next two days are most crucial."

"Why? What are you planning?"

"I am going to the Daily Prophet and will send the paper after the Ministry. I give them 48 hours before Kingsley caves in under public opinion and pardons her."

"Go speak with the Prophet. I will take care of the rest."

Harry nodded his head and went to Diagon Alley. He was sure that the Daily Prophet office would be full, as they would work on a special edition. And he was not wrong. He came inside and found dozens of people running around in a frenzy. He went to the front desk to state his business.

"Good afternoon, I want to meet with Barnabas Cuffe."

The secretary wanted to send him away, but when she saw who he was, she stood up and ran to the editor's office. After a very short moment, Harry was invited to his office.

"Lord Potter, it is an honour to meet you," Cuffe said.

"Good morning, Mr. Cuffe. How can I help you today?" Harry asked.

Harry then told him the story of Penny and what he wanted them to do.

"Well, Lord Potter, while technically we can do this, it is a big risk for us to go against the Ministry," Cuffe said, looking at him.

Harry knew that he wanted something from him, so he gave him an offer.

"Mr. Cuffe, if that information is released in today's special edition, I think we will be able to meet up again for a long interview. One where I will be able to answer your questions."

"If we are allowed to use your name as today's informer, I believe we will be able to strike a deal."

"Feel free to mention my name there," Harry replied.

"Then, Lord Potter, you can await today's special edition," Cuffe said, mentally dancing at the thought of sales skyrocketing.

"Very well. Thank you," Harry said and left the Daily Prophet office.