"She wants to speak with me?"

Harry sat at the main dining table at the Burrows, a cup of pumpkin juice in his hands.

"Indeed. Ms. Enid Pettigrew requests to speak with you, Harry." Kingsley Shacklebolt replied.

Harry looked down at his pumpkin juice. It had been just a month since the Battle of Hogwarts. As the school was rebuilding, Harry willingly volunteered to help assist it in any possible way. Damage to the school was such that the task of rebuilding with magic was a studious process, as they had to carefully not damage the infrastructure of the school any further. Thankfully, it was a transition that was going smoothly. Yet even as Harry gazed at the school from across the lake, he knew that it would not take away the damage done to the school or its staff.

Harry was just one of the few assisting in the rebuilding of Hogwarts. Even so, he found he could not return. With the six prior or so years, his younger self would have seen the school as a safe haven to learn and eagerly anticipate entering to begin their semester.

The battle had all but shed away that viewpoint, and Harry could not return. He did not want to return to a place of education that had turned to little more than a field and ground of battle, where he had to see friends, allies, comrades die. Their lifeless blank stares pierced his being. Little Colin Creevey's staring up at his idol, the idol he would never request a photo of again. Lavender Brown with her throat mauled. That had hit Ron particularly hard as he never got to apologize for being a foul git to her. The guilty pained look on the redhead's face at her funeral had been prevalent, and he could barely muster an apology for his treatment of her down at the casket before he was dragged away by a hugging Hermione. Remus's hand to hand with Tonks. Teddy would never grow up with his parents, as he had. It had burned into his being.

He could not return to continue his education, and the Weasleys hardly blamed him. They understood most of all. The Burrows had all become quiet with Fred's departure, and George Weasley had all but retreated to a shell of himself that would possibly never return to his former state, evidenced by the locked room of his and his deceased twin, refusing to leave even despite the insistence of the rest of his family. Silence replaced the rambunctious energy of the Burrows. Arthur Weasley simply announced that he was returning to work, hugging and kissing before Flooing to the Ministry, with trunk in hand. Harry swore that he saw empty and half empty bottles of Firewhiskey in the fridge, which was more full than ever, as the fridge was usually stocked with Butterbeers, pumpkin and orange juice, with the occasional Firewhiskey. But there was more now, and Harry had seen the Weasley patriarch had come home smelling of Firewhiskey, with red rimmed eyes, and he had a feeling that the trunk contained more than just his job at the Ministry. If the family noticed, which he was sure they did, they did not say anything.

Molly attempted to return life back into the household, but it was clear that energy was gone, and Harry could only see the pain in her eyes as well, what she had lost as with the rest of the family. Her eyes were red as well, dark circles under them, and whenever he, Ron, Ginny, or anyone else within the family came up to her as she was tending to the household's chores, providing their assistance, she gave a smile, one of clearly forced effort.

Harry had no comfort to provide, and any he might have given were just empty words to a family that lost a piece that made them whole.

"How is she?"

Kingsley sighed, and the look on his face made it clear that he was somewhat adverse to revealing that knowledge. But he informed him that she requested to speak to him. "Unfortunately, she's continuing to face ridicule in the Ministry."

Of course. The Daily Prophet had a field day printing out many copies, with entire sections reserved to the name of various Death Eaters. He recalled taking a walk outside Hogsmeade just two days before where a crowd was chatting away as they wildly shook the copies of their issues back and forth, a tumultuous noise forming.

Peter was a traitor through and through, and a man who he never would possibly forgive. Dumbledore would have preached forgiveness, but Harry, as far as he could forgive Draco Malfoy for his verbal taunts directed to him or his friends for over the six years at Hogwarts, could not extend that to that man. Peter not only betrayed his parents, but also Sirius and the entire Order. His crimes extended further. Bringing back Voldemort in a physical body, killing Cedric, indirectly being responsible for Sirius, Bertha Jorkins, and so many others.

Enid Pettigrew lived her lonely life with that knowledge that her flesh and blood was one of the Darkest and vilest wizards' followers.

She didn't join the ranks as all families within the Death Eaters had, coerced such as the Malfoys or Greengrass with promises of protection. Harry felt she had possibly just as bad as a fate. He knew. She did not deserve the treatment given because of what her son had done.

Yet she did. The wizarding world was lashing out, looking for someone to blame, looking for someone to hold accountable in the wake of sorrow that consumed them after the battle. Young students of Hogwarts had lost their lives, never to see it fully develop ahead of them. They had been relatives. Distant or not, it didn't matter. With all the Death Eaters currently in temporary cells and in Azkaban, the grieving wizarding world had all but pointed their fingers to Enid Pettigrew.

It was another particular reason why Kingsley Shacklebolt stood in front of him now for the third time in over a week. It was the reaction following the Battle that families of pureblood, halfblood, or muggleborn status had lost their family that they wanted someone to blame. He had only heard that the crowd outside the Ministry was violent, and Kingsley organized the few Aurors available he had to hold back the crowd. They screamed, shouted, demanded Enid Pettigrew. It resulted in a far more horrific scenario, as they were tipped the location to her home, they attempted to burn it down with multiple Incendios. Kingsley and Aurors Apperated to the scene and arrested multiple individuals but still a significant portion had Apperated away, but the damage had been done, and the home of the Pettigrews was nothing but ashes.

Grief made one irrational and prone to reckless behavior. Harry knew that when Sirius fell into the void of the Veil. But this? It was going too far. He knew that almost every family that had a student attend Hogwarts were one of the few far many casualties. They had lost a son, a daughter, a friend, a relative. And what way, in a grief of sorrow, was to deal out the same pain back or vent until they were empty?

Harry could say nothing, for the people of the wizarding world would continue as such.

He toyed with the empty glass before returning his gaze up as he realized something after. "Sir, if I may ask, why am I the only one she is asking for? Wouldn't she also ask the Weasleys? Peter lived with them throughout the entire time since he was an Animagus. Ron had him for three years. Why did she not ask for Ron?"

It was a question that he was more curious to know. From the interview with Shacklebolt before, Enid was fully unaware that her son was an unregistered Animagus along with his father, Remus and Sirius, and lived a life following Voldemort's demise at the Burrows where Percy Weasley had found him in their garden. Not until his existence living as an unregistered Animagus and Death Eater with the Weasleys and demise had been revealed to Britain at large did all know.

"I have told her about the Weasley's living with Peter since he was found by Percy Weasley, but she still specifically requested you. Since you are James's son."

Harry continued to question. "She's at the Ministry right now?"

Shacklebolt nodded. "Indeed. We can Floo over there if you are ready to speak. Unless you have other matters…"

Harry thought it over. "No… I suppose not." He nodded. He stood up, setting aside his glass and ready to leave with the Head Auror, letting Molly and Arthur Weasley know he would see her later. Together, they Floo'ed to the Ministry in crackling green flames