Take It From Here

Chapter 1

Albus Dumbledore walked slowly through a long airy corridor of Hogwarts, politely greeting pictures as he walked past them. He paused in front of a large glass window and surveyed the school grounds. He looked to the left at the vast Great Hall and allowed his eyes to linger over the stunning architecture of the building that he had yet to not marvel at. Then slowly let his eyes drag along the perfectly even Quidditch pitch with its tall goalposts onto a scene of devastation that still made his heart turn. The rubble, the remains of half the castle, lying on the grass, defeated by war. Dumbledore could see a whole Gargoyle buried underneath a vast pile of small rocks, and what he was certain was a telescope hanging from its stand.

Obviously the school in its half-intact state was not stable enough for students to come back to, so only the students in their first year, OWLS year and NEWTS year were being allowed back, at the moment. Gradually as Hogwarts was being rebuilt, more and more students were returng. Various teachers - mainly old students who were willing to help however were teaching the remaining students in wizarding institutes around the country.

The end of the war had brought about an upsurge in the wizarding community's team spirits, as well as a reform in its government. Admittedly Cornelius Fudge was an extremely poor Minister of Magic and within days of the beginning of the war, the position had been offered to Dumbledore. He had graciously accepted the post only to turn it over to Remus Lupin merely weeks later. This caused uproar at the Ministry- but Dumbledore was adamant and eventually Lupin was voted in as the new Minister of Magic, the Minister who got the magical world through its war.

Dumbledore walked away from the window and into the Great Hall where the amount of noise was surprising considering there were less than half the normal students present, and even less at the moment, for all the NEWT students were either still sleeping, or furiously revising in preparation for their final transfiguration exam. He nodded courteously at his colleagues on either side of him, Professor Flitwick and the new Potions master, Professor Morven Cerini.

~*~

'Professor Dumbledore' The blond haired man swept off his wizard hat and bowed as low as seemed possible.

'Please, do sit down' responded Dumbledore motioning to a plump velvet chair on the opposite side of his desk. The man nervously took a seat as Dumbledore surveyed him more closely. His figure was very slight and he had a small pointed face with deep-set cold eyes.

'I understand Professor that you are not willing to completely trust me on this matter, but I beg you to consider my offer." There was a nervous pause in which the man was obviously finding his bearings. Professor Dumbledore did not interject, but gave the man a moment. "My name is Morven Cerini, Professor...sir. I am a previous student of Hogwarts- of Slytherin house." There was a flicker in Dumbledore's eye as he took a deep breath "My main reason for coming to see you today is to explain that I am aware of Professor Severus Snape's unfortunate murder- and I know what he brought to Hogwarts, and... the reason he was appointed in the first place." He finished his sentence in a hurry. Dumbledore looked at him and smiled politely.

"That is all very well Mr Cerini, but I am afraid I still do not fully understand your intentions." Cerini took another deep breath "I am willing to do the same things for you that Severus Snape did." He left a short yet what he hoped was a dramatic pause "I am willing to give my life for the sake of Hogwarts and the entire wizarding community by being a spy for you sir."

Dumbledore looked at Cerini with a serious and deeply considering expression and replied somewhat amusedly "I am very flattered by your offer, but you must understand that when Professor Snape came to me during the rise of Voldemort, I not only had every faith in him, but I put him through a series of tests..."

"I am willing for you to do the same to me, Professor" Cerini interrupted eagerly "I want you to be fully able to trust me before appointing me. I know of your efforts in maintaining the standards of Hogwarts for as long as possible into he war, and I want to aid you in this by becoming a potions master as well."

"I shall have to discuss the matter with others, but am I to therefore understand that you are currently a Death Eater working for Voldemort?" asked Dumbledore.

"Posing as one, yes." replied Cerini hastily.

Dumbledore paused for thought "Would you be so kind as to allow me to put you through a few tests at this point in time, possibly under the influence of Veritaserum?"

"Of course sir" replied Cerini bowing his head.

~*~

An hour or two later Professor Dumbledore and Mr Cerini emerged from Headmaster's office. "As I said before, I shall have to speak to a few others," said Dumbledore warmly, "but in the meantime you appear to have the magic world's best concerns at heart. Please, allow me to escort you to the gate."

~*~

These were his answers under the influence of Veritaserum, Minerva," said Dumbledore handing Professor McGonagall a sheet of parchment. She straightened her glasses and scanned the sheet, her face stern. When she had finished, she rolled up the parchment again and sighed.

"I must admit that these answers are just as suitable as Severus', but even so, we can't be fully certain of his authenticity can we?" She looked at his questioningly.

"Whilst Mr Cerini was and was not under the influence of Veritaserum, I took opportunities to see into his mind with my powers as a legilimens. He was not aware of my actions, yet his thoughts and feelings were true and sincere. I have every faith that he is offering his services to us for the best of the magical world at this point in time. I know that people are reluctant to trust others nowadays, yet there are circumstances which we must open our minds to. Circumstances like these." He looked straight at Professor McGonagall with his wizened blue eyes.

Professor McGonagall sniffed and said, "I'm not doubting your judgement Albus, I'm just worried about the future of Hogwarts. But if you believe this man, then I see no reason not to trust him."

"I bid you goodnight Professor." said Dumbledore bowing.

"Goodnight"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Somewhere else in the castle Ginny Weasley awoke in her own four-poster bed. As she collected her senses, one thought slowly crept into her head and grew and grew until it was all she could think about, "One more exam- one more exam" Ginny grinned and had a silent celebration behind the red velvet curtains hanging around her bed, involving a lot of silent whoops and air punching.

It was almost worth doing seven years of exams to feel this happy about having just one left to do in her entire schooling life. Her transfiguration NEWT was just two hours away, which made four hours between Ginny and a life of freedom. She had spent hours and hours revising and had spent the last 3 weeks doing continuous exams. She was quite pleased with how she'd done, or at least how she hoped she'd done. No that it mattered that much, anything better than Ron's results would please her mother, and getting more than 3 NEWTs wasn't exactly hard

After the exams ended, all the students had just two days before the last day of school. Ginny knew she shouldn't be looking forward to it, she should be sad and nostalgic like the rest of the seventh years, but she couldn't help it, it was too exciting. To be honest, her seventh year had been almost boring. She was finally out from under the watchful eyes of any of her brothers, but without Ron, Hermione, Harry, and even people like Neville, life seemed a bit empty and void of excitement. Hogwarts had been protected from the war for the 6 months that it had raged on outside the partially destroyed walls. Ginny wished that she had had the chance to fight along with everyone else, but it had been made clear to her by her family that she would stay at school like a good little girl.

Ginny thought back to the happy times she'd shared with Ron, Hermione and Harry, and was glad to realise that thinking of Harry gave her only the slightest most subtle pang of annoyance. It wasn't annoyance at him; it was more annoyance at herself for never doing anything about her feelings for him. Not that it mattered anymore; she thought sweeping all memories of Harry out of her mind and firmly shutting the door. She had had a boyfriend even when Harry was still at Hogwarts. And she wasn't talking about Michael Corner or Dean Thomas- they were just once offs. She'd seen how much going out with them had got on Ron's nerves, that was what had really made Ginny go for her current boyfriend.

Her brother's constant surveillance, their overprotection of her, just because she was the youngest- just because she was a girl. She was sick of it. Even when she was younger, Bill hadn't let her get her ears pierced like him, worried that even with magic it would hurt her too much. Charlie- Ginny's heart panged, she tried hard not to think of him usually, but it was true, he never used to let her ride her broomstick more than a foot above the ground for fear that she'd fall. That's why she'd had to sneak them out when they were away. However perhaps that was a good thing, thought Ginny looking through a gap in the curtains around her bed to a shiny captain's badge on her bedside table. After Harry had got back on the team in her fifth year, she'd replaced Angelina Johnson as a chaser and this year had become captain of the Gryffindor team.

Nudging her thoughts away from their recent 420-70 win against Slytherin, Ginny thought back to her brothers. Percy had his own ideas about how Ginny should grow up; buying her books as presents and having 'brotherly' chats about the benefits of becoming a prefect, though these had obviously stopped after he'd left the house. Ginny thought back to the last time she'd seen Percy. It had been in Diagon Alley the previous summer holidays, just after the end of the war. She'd been with Ron, Hermione, Harry, Fred and George, walking through the middle of the Alley at dusk, laughing and talking on the way to Fred and George's ever-prosperous shop. Ron had been first to notice him through the crowd, stopping and squinting he called out Percy's name. Percy's head snapped round and his eyes widened as he saw them. He'd merely turned his head back to the way he was previously looking, slightly paler, not acknowledging them at all, as Fred and George had chivvied them on.

Fred and George, by far her favourite brothers. They'd never discouraged her from doing anything she wanted and she was more than happy with this. Their chain of shops had now expanded worldwide. In contrast to them was Ron. There was barely a year between the siblings' ages making them the two who spent most time together. It was true most of their time together when they were younger involved arguing, but as Ginny had become better friends with Hermione and Harry, they had become better friends themselves.

It felt strange having her best friend going out with her brother. Hermione had kept quiet about her 'mystery man' for months before telling Ginny, who had been incredibly happy about it. Well... she was hardly going to disapprove, as Ron had with every single one of the boys she'd gone out with. Her relationship with Dean Thomas had ended with a fistfight between Ron and Dean when her brother had caught the two kissing in the boy's dormitory.

After that Ginny was determined not to care about her brothers- she'd had enough overprotection- they were even worse than her own mother. She was determined not to care what they thought anymore, she was determined to break the rules.

And that was how she had ended up with the person she was with now- the one she knew Ron would disapprove of the most. But it didn't matter anymore, she didn't care what Ron thought, it was her decision. And that's how she'd ended up going out with Zacharias Smith.

It wasn't just for revenge against Ron (or Fred and George for that matter. They weren't exactly thrilled at the outcome) she'd found Zach intriguing even at the DA meetings in her fourth year. True he was arrogant, true he was a bit of an idiot at the time, but Ginny couldn't help thinking that there was something about him. He also hated Harry- thought he was 'a big headed, moody prick' and perhaps it was initially revenge against Harry. After 5 years of waiting for him to confess his love for her, Ginny had given up. When she thought back to how she used to act around him, she felt almost embarrassed. Sending him a Valentine? A singing get well card? Ginny cringed at the memory. Harry obviously never had and never would be interested, and by her fourth year, Ginny had accepted that fact

But Zacharias was so different than how Ginny had thought. She'd kept him talking for an hour after a Herbology lesson they'd had together one day in the middle of their fifth year, and she was surprised to hear him talk to her as if she was a close friend. He was in true fact, quite a friendly person, not at all like how he'd been perceived to be by Ron. He made Ginny laugh and he liked to joke. It was true as well that a lot of these jokes victimised someone else but Ginny saw through that. His blond hair and green eyes had something about them that Ginny couldn't quite put her finger on, and within half a year they were a firm couple. That was when the war had started and Hogwarts had been destroyed. After a two-month separation, Ginny and Zach had been brought back together only to find that in their case absence had indeed made the heart grow fonder. Zach had been Ginny's rock throughout the war and after, when the death of her brother Charlie destroyed her vibrant outlook on life momentarily. Because they only had a year till their NEWTs, the 6^th years had been a few of the first to return to Hogwarts, a few months later to be followed by the OWL year and finally in the new school year, the first years.

A half built castle proved to be an ideal spot for amorous meetings over the next year and a half, and even over the last few weeks, Ginny had found her revision timetable being persistently interrupted by these meetings. Ginny thanked Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs for the Marauder's Map, ceremoniously handed down to her, for finding places for Ginny and Zach to spend time together, often for whole nights at a time. Ginny supposed that it was the Fred and George blood in her that made her do these kinds of things. She knew for a fact that Ron and Hermione hadn't got up to anything like Zach and Ginny had at school.

With a light heart Ginny remembered her initial feeling of joy, propelling her to her feet to wake up the rest of the girls in her room with a loud "Last exam everyone!" There were sleepy giggles and cheers from the next two beds and a "Shut up, I don't take Transfiguration, I'm trying to sleep." Yes, thought Ginny, this is going to be a good day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Meanwhile somewhere thousands of miles away from Hogwarts a woman with brown eyes and sleep ruffled curly brown hair awoke to the sound of classical music. She stretched her arms high above her head feeling the pull of her muscles wake her. Looking at the muscular yet freckled back of the red haired figure lying next to her Hermione smiled. Ron was now so tall his head was on the pillow but everything from his knees down was hanging off the bottom of the bed. He was snoring loudly, completely oblivious to the music floating through the room.

"Ron," Hermione whispered in his ear. Ron gave a snort and she heard the snoring stop for a second, then start again, slightly unrealistically. "Ron" she repeated giggling. She kissed the end of his nose, then his cheek, then his forehead. When she had eventually made her way around his face (which was now smiling in its 'sleep') Hermione knocked Ron on the shoulder and said "Come on Ron, I know you're awake"

"I know I am too, I was just enjoying my well deserved early morning affections." He croaked, putting his arms around Hermione, who was lying next to him. He folded his legs under him, groaning as he lifted them off the ground and onto the bed. "You really should get a bigger bed you know, this can't be good for my knees."

"You really should sleep in your own bed you know, this can't be good for my sleep patterns." retorted Hermione. "Come on," she said removing Ron's arms from around her "the coffee's brewing and we've got to get to work." She walked into the kitchen to the sound of Ron's supposedly heart rendering groans. The coffee was magically brewing in accordance to Hermione's unchanging morning schedule. She hummed to the music playing all around her small flat. It's true it was small, but Hermione loved it. She loved the walls lined with books, (in alphabetical order of course) the cosy fireplace, everything running in perfect order. It was right in the middle of a small magical community and Hermione had never felt better living anywhere. And with Ron, well, okay, not technically with Ron. His favourite spell had recently become 'Voca Mittum' the voice sending spell, which made it possible for him to both hear anyone at the Burrow calling him and reply to them normally from the comforts of Hermione's bed. Hermione blushed at the memory of when he had once forgotten to take the spell off after arriving at the flat and Mrs Weasley had heard somewhat undignified vocals coming from inside Ron's room where he was apparently 'moving his wardrobe.'

It wasn't that Mrs Weasley, or any of the other Weasleys for that matter didn't know about Ron and Hermione. Molly was just still fiercely overprotective of her beloved youngest son. So whenever her call came from outside a locked door at the Burrow, Ron would answer and immediately disapparate back to his room.

Just by chance at that very moment there came a loud yet distant sounding voice "Ron? Ronald Weasley! If you don't leave for work in ten minutes you're going to be late again. I'm leaving your robes on the handle."

"Y...Yeah mum, I'll be down in a sec, just give me two minutes." Ron said as he hopped through the doorway of Hermione's room, one leg in his trousers one leg out, suddenly full of energy. "See you at work" he mouthed as he retrieved his wand from his pocked and disapparated. Hermione however sat down, giggling at her small dining room table. It was amazing to see the fear that one woman could induce in a grown man. She picked up the Daily Prophet lying on the table as her magically brewed coffee floated towards her. She felt very naughty indeed, breaking all these rules, but that was the effect that Ron had on her.

She and Ron had spent five years arguing with each other, only because they were both so stubborn. Neither of then chose to acknowledge their feelings because they'd both convinced themselves that they didn't exist. Hermione believed with all her might that Ron was her persistently annoying best friend, even though deep down she knew her feelings for him. After some of the fights they'd had over the years, if someone had told Hermione that she would one day be in love with Ron, she would have just laughed. It was true he wasn't exactly mature, even now, but he was doing an extremely good job pretending. At work he would breeze in, wearing his fine robes, chatting genially to everyone, causing the younger office girls to swoon. If any of then knew that he still lived in his parent's house and slept in his little Chudley Cannons bed sheets, she was sure that the fainting would be seriously minimised.

But she loved him; there was no doubt about it. After a passionate fight during the first week of their sixth year, the summer after she had gone to visit Viktor Krum in Bulgaria, Ron had gone into a fit of rage when he'd heard. The fight however somehow ended in the two of them confessing- well shouting- their suppressed feelings for each other. Hermione smiled, trust the two of them to share their first kiss half way through an argument.

She realised she'd been holding the Daily Prophet for all this time but not reading it. She took a look at the front page, groaned inwardly, and rushed off to get ready for work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry arrived in front of the black door of his flat and began unlocking the series of locks on his door. As he placed the first key in the lock, Sirius apparated next to him and took out his set of keys to aid Harry in the laborious process. They didn't speak until they finally threw open the door.

"Those bloody things are the last thing you need after a hard nights work," commented Sirius as he kicked off his boots. Harry and Sirius had both been out all night after there had been reports of an attack on an old witch. They'd been on duty and had therefore spent daybreak in the cold morning air examining the scene and body and taking evidence. Sirius walked into the living room as Harry went into the kitchen. It was a typical 'man's flat' and it caused any woman- from Mrs Weasley to Hermione to turn white when they entered it. Personally Sirius didn't find it too bad, the sofa was covered in clothes and food packets, and the room reeked of owl treats, but what could you expect from two Aurors? Well, one part-time, but Sirius considered it the same thing.

Harry had moved in as soon as Sirius had had his name cleared, half way through the war. It had been remarkably easy for Sirius to walk free not only because Lupin had become Minister, but also because of the lack of Death Eaters on the Wizengamot. Of course there had been a few against it, including Delores Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge, but they had been severely outvoted, and Sirius was finally allowed to live as freely as he wished. However his past never failed to catch up with him. He often found that upon addressing new people they would turn white with shock and put their hands on their wands, or back away slightly. Sirius found this behaviour irritating, but it was a small price to pay for freedom.

Sirius had been incredibly reluctant to let Harry fight in the war, but in the end, everyone knew it was only Harry who could end it, for all those around him. It had been this flat that Harry had apparated in front of, after killing Voldemort with a final "Avada Kedavra" with Ron's wand (a story heard by many at Weasley family gatherings.)

Just then Harry walked into the room and collapsed onto the dingy sofa with a cup of tea. "Cheers Harry," said Sirius, whipping out his wand with the expertise of an Auror and 'wingardium leviosaing' it to himself. Surprisingly Harry didn't try and pull it back from Sirius as he normally did, which inevitably ended in a spilt cup of tea on the carpet, but with a quick flick of his wand brought another cup slowly floating our from the kitchen to him.

"Yours was just coming," he said calmly picking up the Daily Prophet and looking at the front cover.

Vicious attack on witch in Hertfordshire

At 3:40 am in a small town in Hertfordshire a witch was found, dead outside her home. The witch- June Bloom- a seventy-five year old widow had undergone the Avada Kedavra curse. The attack was apparently uninitiated, the old woman's hobbies being collecting Hump-toed Snorfelwaks, but Aurors are currently investigating the case and the attackers motives. A representative from the Order of the Phoenix tells us "There is no significant evidence to suggest why Mrs Bloom was attacked. The only clue we have is a mark left upon the victim's arm, two swords crossed. Apparently this mark was not there before but we urge the public not to worry" The investigation continues. Turn to page 7 for further news.

Harry smiled to himself reading the words 'Order of the Phoenix' written out so plainly in a newspaper. After all those years of secrecy, at the beginning of the war the Order had too much valuable information to be kept secret, and had to come out about their plans. The magical community had been shocked but grateful that they had a ray of hope in a war that seemed dark and bleak. The Ministry however had been outraged, but it wasn't long afterwards that Lupin had been appointed Minister of Magic. Since then the Order had flourished, becoming part of the ministry and involving all areas of the ministry in aiding the magical world to be a safe and protected environment.

Harry was working as an Auror, immediate approved by Alastor Moody once the war had ended. After a condensed form of usual Auror training, Harry was already part of the team. Sirius was doing half and half, working in the Order's office dealing with legal cases, but occasionally stretching his legs to help out in a raid or arrest.

As Harry was reading an advert for Fred and George's grand opening of their new shop in Hogsmeade, Sirius looked at the paper "What do you think about that attack?" he asked.

"Yeah, Tonks filled me in on it when we got there." The same people were working in the Order still, with a remarkably low number of losses of Aurors themselves. "What's this about some swords?"

"I think whoever did it left a mark on her. Looked like they'd burned it onto her skin"

"Her arm, isn't that what the sort of thing the Death Eaters used to do? Well they had the marks on their arms, but they left the dark mark in the sky."

"Yeah the same sort of thing, but don't get worked up about it Harry, probably just some idiot thinking he's got himself famous by doing it- little psycho." Sirius said dismissively. "I'm going to owl Ron to tell the press that it was just a once off thing and we're doing what we can to catch the nutter. He should be getting into work about now."

This was another perk of Harry's job, working in such close proximities to his best friends. After spending her last few weeks at Hogwarts sending out thousands of job applications, Hermione had ended up with two jobs, one working at the Order in the department of research, and the other teaching Arithmancy at one of the wizarding institutes that were serving as makeshift Hogwarts for the students.

After spending his last few weeks at Hogwarts playing exploding snap and trying to divert Hermione's attention away from her applications and revision, Ron had panicked at the last moment leaving Hogwarts with no promise of a job in the middle of a war. For a while he had tided it over, fighting in the war, but at the end he had stayed at his parent's house for a month 'recovering.' He had eventually been offered an ultimatum, either he got a job, or he lost Hermione, obviously not wanting to choose the latter for fear of death, he got a job through his father, now one of the most looked up to men in the Order.

"Right," said Harry prising himself off the sofa. "I'm off to bed till I get another floo from Moody telling me to get my arse down to the Order." Sirius gave a distracted grunt, writing his letter to Ron. Harry walked into his room pulling off his clothes as he walked over to his bed, took his wand out of his pocket and hit himself with a sleeping spell, which sent him immediately into a deep intoxicating sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Ron apparated in front of his office at the Ministry, he pushed through the swinging doors only to be attacked by Hedwig causing him to momentarily lose his well-maintained debonair air. He took the note off her foot and read it.

Ron,

I know you're busy with things at the moment, but there's going to be press for this attack, so just try and tide it over somehow. Just say it was a once off and we'll be catching him soon. Cheers.

Sirius

Attack? Ron hadn't heard of any attack. "S'cuse me, Sally?" He walked over to a young blond haired woman. She went bright red and had to hold onto the table for support before flashing Ron a gleaming smile.

"Yes Mr Weasley?" She asked, moving closer to him in what she hoped was a seductive manner.

"Has there been any sort of large scale attack during the night? Involving the Order?" he asked paying no attention to her new excruciatingly tall heels, chosen especially for him.

"Yes sir, it's horrible sir," she replied eagerly, picking up a Daily Prophet and showing it to him with wide blue eyes.

"Thank-you" he said distractedly reading the article. Sally sighed, true she was just a tea maker, but didn't she deserve just a little bit of attention?

Ron squinted at the picture of the bleak morning. An old woman was lying on her back surrounded by Aurors, and there were others walking around. He saw Sirius sweep through the picture, his hair tied back from his face. This must be the attack, he thought to himself. Just then Hermione rushed through the doors of the office.

"Oh good, you've read it," she said, slightly out of breath. "I got in as soon as I heard."

"Seems pretty serious, Sirius just owled me to take care of it," replied Ron, handing Hermione the note from Sirius. She read it through quickly.

"Well there wasn't any point in me hurrying in then, was there." She sighed, "I'll start doing some research. This sword emblem could give us a few clues. I'll be..."

"In the library." Ron completed her sentence. He pulled her into a one armed embrace and kissed her on the top of the head. Hermione started to smile but then stopped. She held Ron by the arm and swivelled the pair of them round.

"Ron," she hissed urgently through her teeth "That woman over there looks like she's going to attack me." Ron looked over his shoulder at Sally who looked as if she were about to scream.

"Let's go," laughed Ron shaking his head "I'll send an owl to the Daily Prophet and research with you."

Ron and Hermione walked through the swinging doors of their office and up two flights of stairs to the Order's library. The library was much like the one at Hogwarts. It had vast windows that didn't seem to let any light in and large tables and chairs. There was the same musty smell that all magic books seemed to radiate and that Hermione seemed to be magnetically attracted to. Once inside the library, Hermione retrieved her wand from her robes and walked over to a drawer in the front corner of the vast room. It contained the latest organisation system for most wizarding libraries, expanding on a system that Muggles had invented years ago. Inside were thousands of pieces of paper. Hermione waved her wand over the top of the drawer. "Swords" she said. About 100 pieces of paper suddenly sprung from the box. Hermione sighed, a bit too wide of a search, she wasn't about to look through all of these. "Avada Kedavra." She tried. The rest of the cards fell away until there were about 20 left. She quickly scanned over the titles and picked out a few. "Finite Incantem" the rest of the cards dropped back into place and Hermione closed the drawer.

"Right, I'm going to get these books. You can write your letter," she said pointing to a table and walking off towards the hundreds of shelves. Ron watched Hermione disappear between two of them and took out his own wand. Opening the drawer, he decided to try things out for himself. "Swords" the same pieces of paper re-appeared. He tried to think of a way to narrow down the search as Hermione had done, but his mind drew a blank. Trust Hermione to think of the best thing first. "Finite Incantem." Ron stared at the multitude of cards and decided to have a bit of fun. "Ronald Weasley" Ron was amazed to see about 15 cards pop up. He gave an impressed smile. He looked at the first card to see what it said.

"Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend at Hogwarts was with him the day that Voldemort was defeated. It was Ronald's wand that was used to perform Avada Kedavra on Voldemort, because Harry Potter and Voldemort's wands contained two feathers from the same phoenix and partnered wands such as these can cause unwanted effects when used against each other. Ronald currently works at the Order of the Phoenix in the Department of Law. (Harry Potter- the boy who conquered 181-33107)

Ron also noticed a Daily Prophet clipping with a picture of himself at the top "Harry Potter uses friends wand to defeat Voldemort. By Rita Skeeter." She couldn't have written anything too bad, thought Ron, Hermione was still keeping close tabs on her. He continued reading

"Handsome 18 year old, Ronald Weasley, is best known for being Harry Potter's best friend. The tall athletic Quidditch player and Head Boy is rumoured to be seeing Hermione Granger who according to sources at Hogwarts is "top of her year" and "by far the cleverest witch of her time" It has also been rumoured that "she has no regard for rules, but then harshly enforces them on others." And "she has no respect for those more talented or beautiful than herself" It has also been said that she has seriously harmed defenceless animals in her past, despite currently fighting for Elf Rights."

Ron laughed out loud at this, only to be shushed by the toad faced librarian Mrs Ball. Suddenly an idea lit up in his head. Of course! He was sure that one day an attack like this would happen, and he knew exactly who to blame it on.

"Finite Incantem," he said quickly "Swords, Draco Malfoy" he watched as only two pieces of paper were left.

"Ron," came Hermione's soft yet stern voice beside him. She was standing with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised in a questioning look "Draco Malfoy?" she attempted to sound angry whilst keeping in accordance with the library's sound level rules. "Come on Ron, we've been through this so many times. Every time anything comes up you immediately think it's Malfoy! You can't hold a school-boy grudge against him and then try and blame things on him."

"But Hermione" he whispered back "This is so like Malfoy! Attacking old ladies! There must be something to do with him and swords" He turned back to the drawer and took out the pieces of paper. Hermione read silently over his shoulder.

On the 30^th of June, Harry Potter killed Voldemort's basilisk with Godric Gryffindor's sword. Voldemort's past form as Tom Riddle was preserved in his diary given to a young girl, Virginia Weasley, by Lucius Malfoy, father of Harry's classmate Draco Malfoy.

"Classmate my arse" whispered Ron angrily. He turned to the second piece of paper.

The very well known Malfoy Manor, home to Lucius, Narcissa and their son Draco Malfoy contains the greatest collection of swords dating from 300 BD (777-41381)

"This is it Hermione!" said Ron excitedly.

"Ron, this proves nothing! So what if they collected swords, anyone could, you can't produce this as evidence in a court!"

"Well, we'll wait and see, but any more clues, and he's my first suspect."

"We're not going to find anything else, it's not Malfoy." said Hermione under her breath.

"Yes we are, I've got a feeling about this, Hermione!" retorted Ron.

Not wanting to start an argument, Hermione decided to leave it "Alright, you think what you want, and I'll do the same. Now let's have a look at these books." The pair sat down at a nearby table. "Right, this one looks promising." The title of the large book was "Emblems and crests" and had a picture of the Hogwarts crest on the front of it. Hermione opened it and dived into the depths of the book.

One hour and eight books later, she re-emerged. Ron had now finished writing his letter to the press and was examining a picture of himself and Harry in the book "Harry Potter the Boy who Conquered."

"Anything?" he queried, looking at her sparsely covered note-pad.

"Well unless the attacker was a Chinese Viking, no, there's nothing in here to do with any of it," she replied resting her head on her hand.

"Don't worry about it," Ron soothed, stroking her arm. "you've done what you can. We haven't got enough information to work with at the moment. Let's wait and see how it goes."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ginny sat at the back of the hall checking over her answers for the fifth time. With a last name beginning with a W, she was invariably at the back, forced to stare at Jonathan Wader's boil, every year, and put up with his incessant head scratching. She looked up at him as dead skin fell onto her exam paper. She gingerly picked up her parchment with two fingers and shook it off, shuddering,

Already side-tracked from checking her answer (What prove to be the greatest difficulties when transfiguring reptiles into small mammals?) she looked to the exact spot where she knew from practice, that she would see the head of blond hair. Zacharias was sitting hunched over his exam paper, 3 rows in front and 4 across, apparently still writing. Ginny sighed and closed the exam booklet. As she looked at the school crest on the front, tracing over the lion with her quill she felt as though a chapter of her life were ending. Suddenly Ginny felt incredibly sad.

Looking at the front of an exam paper, enough to make Ginny Weasley cry? She forced herself to swallow despite the painful lump in her throat. This was just one of the series of very un-Ginny-like mood swings that she'd been experiencing in the last few weeks. Just because school's ending, she thought, there's no reason to get so emotional.

Professor McGonagall's stern voice cut through Ginny's thoughts. "You have 5 minutes remaining" Ginny looked at the hourglass. She could almost feel the suppressed excitement radiating from her fellow classmates. She began tapping her heel, bouncing her knee up and down, the way that annoyed everyone in her family. She looked over at Zacharias who had stopped writing and was now lying with his head in his arms on the desk.

Only two days left before she went back to the Burrow. Ginny thought back to the previous year when Voldemort had attacked the castle, on the last day of Ron, Harry and Hermione's NEWTs. Ginny realised with a start, exactly a year ago, she hadn't thought of that. The three of them had been looking forward tot heir last two days, but Voldemort had arrived, and in the state of emergency the whole school had been evacuated by Port-key. They hadn't even had the ride on the Hogwarts Express for the last time together. Ginny thought back to the summer when she'd been confined in the house while the rest had been out fighting. The anxiety she'd felt waiting for them to return home each evening. Occasionally someone would stay back with her, but not often because there was a job for everyone. Everyone except her, just because she was the youngest.

She'd spent hours sitting in front of the clock, watching as one hand (often Harry's, which had been added) flicked towards mortal peril and back again. She would hold her breath each time, knowing that in a second it would flick back, but each second felt like a century. She remembered sitting in front of the clock polishing her broomstick handle, when she heard the clock click, she looked up to see Charlie's hand flick to 'mortal peril.' She held her breath knowing it would flick back in a second. She held her breath for as long as she could, but eventually had to exhale. She calmed herself; he was probably just involved in some scuffle with a few other people. It sometimes happened. Then suddenly there was a puff of smoke as the hand exploded into thin air with a loud bang. Ginny screamed.

"Quills down" the whole hall burst into identical grins, Ginny took a second to recover from her thoughts but couldn't help smiling as well. "Accio Parchment" came the (quite literally) magic words. The parchment flew from their desks. There was an uproar as everyone cheered, throwing their quills, hats, and in someone's case their chair, into the air.

"10 points from Ravenclaw Stevens," came Professor McGonagall's voice again. "Would you please dismiss...quietly," she added as the uproar began even before she could finish her sentence.

Ginny looked around her at everyone's happy expressions feeling light and free. As she exited the hall she felt a pair of hands on her waist. She span round to find Zacharias wearing exactly the same expression as her and everyone else. "How you feeling?" he asked smiling at her. She just laughed. The two were standing still in the middle of the stampede of students walking out of the Great Hall. Ginny's face moved towards Zacharias'. After kissing for about a minute, they heard someone clear their throat. "Ahem" they detached themselves quickly under the disproving eye of Professor McGonagall, who was watching them with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised. "Let's get out of here," Zacharias muttered, as the two of them staggered towards the door leading outside, bodies heaving with laughter.

As they walked out into the blinding summer sunlight, hand in hand, still giggling occasionally, everyone around them was shouting, laughing and cheering.

"Hiya Ginny," Ginny turned around to see Colin Creevey behind her.

"Hey Colin" She replied, letting go of Zacharias' hand as he went to give a fellow Hufflepuff a high-five. "How did that exam go for you?"

"Oh, really well thanks," he said sitting down in an open space by the lake, "How are you feeling about these being the last few days at school?"

"I don't know," Ginny replied removing her socks and shoes and putting her feet into the water. "Sometimes I think how happy I am to finally be free from the exams and homework, but then sometimes I think of how much I'll miss my friends and all the good times I've had here. It's strange. I haven't even got a job yet, I was thinking of just getting a job at the Order, but I don't know if that's the sort of thing I'd like to do. Have you got anything planned?"

"I've got a job as a photographer for Witch Weekly," he replied modestly "My friends mum works there." He added.

"Really? That's fantastic for you! Congratulations!" she said smiling at him. "Working on a magazine would be great. I've got so many stories to tell, I could probably write a novel." She joked.

"Well, why not?" he looked at her questioningly

"Why not, what?" she asked

"Why not write for a magazine? They always need stories, I could ask my boss for you."

"Oh thank you so much Colin, that's so sweet of you!" Ginny enthused, taking his hand.

"I'll let you know as soon as I can, I'll owl you." said Colin. At that moment one of their fellow Gryffindors came over to them.

"Hi Anna." said Ginny smiling at her. Anna Smith was a friendly and pretty dark haired girl with freckles. She was a Muggle born, and both her parents had been killed during the course of the war, which was rare, the Death Eaters usually attacked families together, not just the Muggle parents. Ginny had felt terrible when Anna's parents had died, and had offered her every sympathy, which had been returned when Charlie had died.

"I've just been sent round by Professor McGonagall to let you know that we're having a feast tonight, an hour after normal dinner time." She said shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Ok, thanks Anna," said Ginny removing her feet from the water. Anna smiled at them and flounced away to another group of students near by. Ginny looked at Colin to see him watching Anna with a look of contempt on his face.

"Ooh, she annoys me" he said darkly, shaking his head with disgust.

"Really?" Said Ginny surprised "I always thought you liked her." With both of them being Muggle-born, Ginny would have thought that Colin would have warmed to her.

"There's something about her that really gets on my nerves sometimes," he said wrinkling his nose. He looked up and started to get to his feet. "Oh Zach's coming Ginny"

"Oh, okay," said Ginny looking over her shoulder "Thanks again," she called to him as he scurried past Zach.

Zacharias watched him run past with a confused expression on his face. "What was that about?" he asked, sitting down next to Ginny.

"Oh, he was just telling me about a job he's got as a photographer." Ginny said resting her weight upon Zacharias, who snorted with laughter.

"Photographer? I thought he gave it up after Potter left? Had no-one else worth photographing once the love of his life was gone." He gave a harsh laugh "At least I don't worry about you being friendly with him."

"Leave him alone. Colin's really good at what he does." Said Ginny squinting her eyes against the bright sunlight. There was a pause in conversations "Zach, do you think we'll stay together after school ends?"

"Of course we will Gin, I love you, we have a great time together, why?" he asked looking round at her face "Don't you want to?"

"No of course I do," she replied hurriedly, not knowing exactly what she did want. To reassure herself, she turned to kiss Zacharias. "Only two days of this left," she murmured softly.

"Yeah, it's weird isn't it?" he said pressing his cheek into her hair. Ginny sighed and watched everyone walking past and sitting under trees. A few times she saw people thinking of approaching the pair but turning away. She saw Michael Corner, who she was still quite good friends with pass by, and she called him over. Michael approached hesitantly, throwing nervous looks at Zach. Ginny felt Zach tighten his grip on her.

"What do you want?" Zach said in a low, threatening tone. Michael started to stammer.

"Leave it Zach," said Ginny sternly as if talking to a dog. As Michael and Ginny chatted, Ginny could practically feel Zach scowling behind her. Michael quickly made his excuses to leave, and Ginny confronted Zach.

"What's wrong with you Zach?" she asked turning to him. As he saw Ginny's face he seemed to soften. "Aaw, come on Gin, it's just that I don't like all those blokes who fancy you coming over and trying to chat you up." He held his arms out to her "you know I'm overprotective." Ginny settled back against him. He pushed her long hair behind her ear with one hand and put his lips close to it. "Do you wanna go somewhere quiet?" He whispered, his breath tickling her skin. "We've only got 2 more days to search out the best spots at Hogwarts." Ginny grinned as they both stood to go.