Stripped

After her meeting with Malfoy, Ginny went to her office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Today was her day off but as an Auror, Ginny liked to go in and see what new cases were available. She was an Obliviator so she was always busy. She ended up spending five hours there. It was now half nine and she was tired.

Ginny sighed as she Apparated back into her flat.

For once, when she wanted to talk to someone, no one was there. There was a piece of parchment magically taped to her bedroom door. She picked it up and read:

Ay, Ginny

Han and I decided to finally pay Hermione back for the help she gave us when we were trying to get married without my Grandmum's permission. We took her for supper; we wanted to take you as well but we couldn't find you and Hermione didn't know where you were. Harry's with us as well. If you want to join us, we'll be at the Dirty Vicar. It's a pub in Muggle London.

-Neville

Ginny smiled; it was good to see Hermione go out every now and then. She sighed and stretched before entering her room. She would use tonight to clean up a bit and to just have maybe a piece of flake. She hummed to herself until she heard, "Heard that you met with one of Wizardry's most elusive wizards."

Ginny jumped and turned around to her fireplace. "Damn it, Ron, don't do that!" she exclaimed. "I could have hexed you for scaring me like that! Perhaps, I should."

Ron's head was poking in the flames in her fireplace. "It'll be more comfortable if I did it like this," he said as he climbed out of her fireplace. He began to brush the soot off of his clothes with a grimace.

"Pansy told you." It wasn't a question.

Ron rolled his neck before replying, "Didn't have to ask her, he stopped by and told her. I was just standing there. The ferret looked happier than usual. He had a slight smirk instead of a grimace."

Ginny rolled her eyes as she started to pick clothes off of the floor. Ron continued, "Makes me curious, but Pansy made me promise not to ask. I figure, I'll find out sooner or later; Draco will tell her what's going on. But you can just tell me now why you were meeting with the ferret..."

He stepped away as Ginny bent down to pick up a blue jumper. "It was nothing that important," she muttered.

Ron snorted in disbelief. "Pansy told me it was about something that happened at Hogwarts. Of course, I know that you weren't dating Malfoy because you were attached at the hip with Dean, but I know it has to be something interesting," he commented, bouncing his weight back and forth on his heels.

Ginny laughed. "Who'd thought that a twenty-eight year old man would be such a bloody gossip? I can't tell you."

Her fireplace flamed up and Pansy's head came out of it. She exclaimed, "I should have expected you would be here! Can't you give her a bit of peace before having to know everything?"

Ron blushed, his face turning as red as the roots of his hair. "It seemed something important," he muttered.

"Snape swore me to silence anyway," Ginny stated.

Pansy closed her eyes as if she was resisting the urge to hex Ron. She opened her eyes slowly. "She'll tell you when she wants to tell you."

Ginny nodded. "Do you know, Pansy?"

"Yes, I do," Pansy replied, her face seeming to become a bit older. "I don't envy you with that knowledge."

Ron looked at back and forth at both women, wanting to ask what was going on yet feeling it was prudent to just shut it. "I might as well say it now. I just got this bad feeling that the whole world is going to find out soon," Ginny whispered.

Ron sat down in the stuffed chair next to Ginny's bed. "What?"

"I saw Malfoy right after he got the Dark Mark, but Snape saw me and swore me to silence," Ginny continued to whisper.

Ron shot up from his chair, surprise and anger on his face. "Do you know what could have happened during the war?" he exclaimed. "That was important information!"

"But Malfoy ended up being the last Slytherin of our year who took the mark," Pansy remarked dryly. "Nott, Crabbe, Goyle; they had it but they took it willingly. Draco got forced into it and I remember after it happened; no one wanted the Mark."

Ron fumed; he wanted to yell at his sister, but as he looked to her. He could see that she was dealing with someone above him. Then he remembered; Snape was in the Order and Snape could have handled what could have happened in Hogwarts in Slytherin house better than anyone else. Forcing himself to calm down, Ron said, "You could have at least gone to Dumbledore."

"I know Snape went to Dumbledore about how to handle it," Pansy retorted. "You're a Gryffindor; you don't know how Slytherin house handles things. We took care of it, in house. But that is the past and that is it."

Ron closed his eyes, willing the words that had just jumped into his mind to go away. Malfoy had been cleared of all charges; he was a somewhat respectable member of society. It was none of his business. He took a deep breath and then turned to Ginny. "I figure, since that is all done, lets just forget that we ever had this conversation."

He gave her a lopsided smile. Ginny relaxed; she was sure that he'd probably bring it up later but the fact that he was conceding now made her happy.

"Time to go, Ronald," Pansy murmured. "Your sister looks tired. Bye, Ginny."

"Bye Prat, Pansy," Ginny said as Pansy's head disappeared and Ron followed.

She put the clothes into the recently vacated stuffed chair and flopped back on the bed. Closing her eyes, Ginny sighed. She didn't know how to deal with her meeting with Malfoy. It had gone well but something about him had thrown her off. He had always been intense, even when he was just a spoiled prat at Hogwarts. She could feel the intensity rolling off of him as they talked. He has a deep sadness about him, as if he's been disappointed deeply and hasn't come to grips with it, she thought. He probably hasn't come to terms yet with being a Death Eater, no matter how brief it had been.

After the war and leaving Hogwarts, Ginny enrolled in the Auror program. One of the first things she learned was that war affected everyone differently. Even those who had been Death Eaters had all been affected differently. One of the things that Amelia Bones had decided to do once becoming Minister of Magic was before each Death Eater undertook their punishment, they were dosed with veritaserum and they told their story of becoming a Death Eater for history.

The reasons for taking the Mark had been various; some for power, for financial gain for others. But for many of them, they took it in fear of what could happen to them if they didn't take it. Then, there were her classmates; Nott, Goyle, and Crabbe. They took it because it was all that they had been taught. They didn't know anything else. It had saddened Ginny; everyone had known of what had happened in the previous rising. This time around, there were fewer Death Eaters and fewer supporters.

She was there when Bellatrix Lestrange had been interviewed. Ginny shivered; she was probably the scariest witch out there other than Voldemort. She was pure evil; she took it to rid the world of Muggles, Mudbloods, and blood traitors. Ginny remembered her eyes, the darkness pooled in them. She shook her head, trying to clear the image. She would have liked to interview Lucius Malfoy, but she heard the story of his death.

But Malfoy... she heard that he witnessed his own father's death at the hands of Voldemort. Harry knew more about that than Ginny ever would because Harry had been there. There were rumours that Malfoy helped the Ministry with finding some of the more elusive older Death Eaters, ones that may have had a hand in Lucius Malfoy's death. Ginny wouldn't be surprised if that was true; from what she knew of Malfoy, he had a mean streak and to be turned into the Ministry was probably worse for a Death Eater than getting killed at Malfoy's hand. Malfoys were famous for their brutality when crossed, but in a case like this, Ginny was sure that a Death Eater would rather die from a nasty hex than get their soul sucked out by the Dementor's Kiss.

Ginny stared at the ceiling as she heard the Apparition pop. She was barely a Seer, but she could tell when things changed and something just changed big time in her life.

******

Hermione stretched as she woke up. The person next to her burrowed their face into the pillow, muttering, "It's not time to wake up yet."

It was then she heard a shrill scream and instantly became awake. Harry removed his face from the pillow and blinked. "I hope its just burnt food again this time," Hermione muttered, as she pulled on a dressing gown and left the room.

Ginny screamed again, holding a paper.

Hermione sighed. "What has you screaming at eight o'clock in the morning, Ginny?"

Ginny slapped a hand over her eyes as she handed the paper to Hermione. Hermione took it with a sigh as Harry walked into the room, just wearing his pants. Scanning the front page, Hermione gasped as she read the headline.

"How the bloody hell did that slag find out?" Ginny wailed. "Gah, why me? Why bloody me?"

Harry scratched his head and walked in back of Hermione. "I expected the wailing to be about me being with you last night," he muttered, and then he saw the headline. He swore. "Bloody hell."

Startled, Ginny stammered, "Well, good morning to you, Harry." She turned to Hermione. "What am I to do? Even though it's been years, this is going to get everyone riled up again about the Death Eaters!"

Hermione grit her teeth, wishing that she had told the Ministry about Rita's unregistered Animagus status already. "We make contingency plans and hope for the best," she muttered.

******

The house-elf bowed as it brought the paper to its master. "Here is your Daily Prophet, master."

Draco waved it off as he took a bite of his kippers. He scanned the front page before a headline caught his eye. He closed his eyes. "I knew that this could happen the minute I saw that cow."

There was a pop and Blaise appeared. Snapping his fingers, Draco watched as another house-elf appeared as Blaise sat down. Blaise smiled as the house-elf prepared a plate for him. "Ah, I love Frieda's breakfasts ... I knew I should stop by as soon as I heard Luna planning on what hex she wanted to send the Skeeter cow. 'The Weasley daughter knew that Draco Malfoy had been a Death Eater at Hogwarts?' Someone should have killed that cow by now."

Draco snorted before replying, "She was useful when we wanted her to run anti-Potter stories for us."

Blaise leaned back while taking a sip of butterbeer. "Then she ran a bunch of stories about the insanity of the Black family and poor Narcissa Black Malfoy. She probably helped to run your mother into her grave."

Shrugging, Draco reached for a scone and the cream. "She's hard to eliminate," he growled. "Everyone hates her, but you can't get rid of her easily."

His fireplace flared up and Ginny's head popped out of it. "I've had fifteen howlers so far and thirty letters from people who want to kill me," she snarled.

Potter's head then popped up. "Or in other words, Ginny wants your help in dealing with this fiasco," he drawled.