After Hogwarts

Chapter Ten:

Willow:

When Ginny got home from the wizarding hospital she was absolutely exhausted. She had been working non-stop for days. Today had long and hard and dealing with Draco had just made it worse. She found him insufferable. She was looking forward to a nice hot bath and some quiet time with her pet bunny, Willow. What she found instead was Fred and George in the middle of an argument.

"I told you that I was planning on asking her out for a date!" George's face was bright red as he yelled at Fred. Neither brother noticed when Ginny entered the apartment.

"You've been saying that for weeks now and you have yet to do it," Fred dismissed his brother. "Besides, who cares?"

"I care!" George yelled. "How can you even think of sending her those flowers when you know how I feel?" George pointed and shook his finger at a bouquet of wild flowers on the kitchen table.

"I can send flowers to anyone I chose to!" Fred retorted. "It's not as if she was your girlfriend."

"She would be if..."George began, but Fred cut him off.

"If you had the guts to ask her out?" Fred mocked.

"As if you had the guts either! These flowers will probably sit there until they are withered and dead," George retorted as he picked up the bouquet of flowers up and slammed them back down on the table.

"I say let the best man win," Fred declared and walked over to George.

"Fine!" George moved his face really close to Fred's face. Ginny then cleared her throat, drawing the attention away from her brothers.

"Hello guys," Ginny laughed. As much as her brothers bellowed that they each liked Miranda, she had become more of a competition between them rather than a potential girlfriend for either of them.

"Any chance of the both of you stopping this nonsense?" Ginny asked. Both of them turned their heads away from each other and looked towards, giving her an evil look. How dare she interrupt them?

"Fine!" both men exasperated simultaneously. They then both stormed off to their respective rooms, slamming their doors behind them.

"Silly, silly men," Ginny laughed as she went into the kitchen. When she begun to make a plate of veggies for Willow, she heard a rapping on the bay window in the living room. She walked to the window and saw a tiny owl pecking the window. The owl flew in as soon as she opened it. The owl carried a letter. Ginny quickly untied the letter from the owl's leg and gave it some of the veggies she had prepared for Willow. The owl made a dissatisfied face.

"Oh, and I suppose you don't like healthy food," she softly said to the owl. The owl started stamping his feet. Ginny back into the kitchen and grabbed a bit of chocolate for the owl. When she presented it to the owl, he ate it in one gulp and flew away.

"You must be a male!" Ginny yelled at the owl as he flew away. First she had to contend with Draco and his pleasantness. Second she came home to Fred and George who were so friendly. Finally she had a grumpy little owl. Ginny's patience was spent.

Her mood soon changed when she read her letter. Miranda had written to tell her that Narcissa was going to be kept in the hospital for the next few days, just for observation, so that Ginny should take the next few days off. She said she'd contact Ginny when Narcissa was released and then Ginny could go back under cover then. Miranda ended the letter by telling Ginny that she was doing a great job and well deserved a few days off after all the time she had been putting in lately. This made Ginny smile; the letter made her feel like her hard work was appreciated. Not to mention that it was going to be wonderful having a few days off!

BOOM! CRASH! SLAM! Ginny sat up in bed, startled from a very deep sleep. What day was it? What time was it? Where was she? After a few seconds she realized that she was in her room and was supposed to be sleeping, this was one of her days off. Her thoughts were interrupted by more noise outside her room that sounded like a heard of elephants were trampling through their apartment.

Ginny then looked at Clock, it was only 9:00 AM. She rubbed her eyes and gently pushed Willow out of her way so she could out of bed. Willow had taken to sleeping next to Ginny and wasn't very happy about being disturbed from her restful slumber. Ginny then put on her slippers and headed out to see what all the commotion was about.

"Get out of my way," Fred shoved George as he tried to get to the bathroom. "I need to fix my hair."

"I'm going to put on some cologne first," George spat as he blocked the door the bathroom.

"Hurry up would you?" Fred was aggravated, which made George smirk.

"Isn't that a shame?" George factiously retorted. Ginny walked towards her brothers with her hands on her hips. She was not happy with either of them.

"What in Heaven's name is all this about?" she demanded. "You woke me from a solid sleep!"

"Yeah but..." Fred started, but Ginny wasn't having any of it.

"Yeah but? I work very hard and I finally got a few days of rest and you two wake me?" Ginny's face got very red as she spoke.

"But Ginny..."George tried to explain.

"But Ginny nothing!" Ginny voice rose. "How can you two act so selfishly? Is it too much to expect you both to act your age? Besides, you both should already be at your shop, working!"

"We were leaving but..." Fred said. Ginny gave them a look that clearly told them that she wasn't interested in their answers. Both Fred and George stared at their little sister as if seeing her for the first time. It was uncanny how as of lately she reminded them of a younger version of their mother.

Neither brother got to answer because a knocking at their front door interrupted them.

"It's her, it's her!" Fred ran his fingers threw his hair to straighten it as he spoke.

"I know, I know," George straightened out his robe.

"It's who?" Ginny asked still standing with her hands on her hips. "Are we expecting somebody?"

"That's what we were trying to tell you," Fred said.

"It's Miranda!" George added. "We saw her through the bay window walking towards our apartment." Ginny threw her hands into the air and shook her head as she walked towards the front door.

"She's probably here to see me," George said.

"No, she's here to see me," Fred disagreed. Ginny looked sternly at her brothers.

"You two will behave," she commanded them. "She's probably here to see me! So behave!" Both men got quiet and stood very still looking as angelic as possible. Ginny opened the front door and it was indeeed Miranda

"Good Morning Miranda," Ginny greeted her friend. "Want to come in?"

"Actually no, I'm in a bit of a hurry," she answered. Both George and Fred let out a sad sigh of disappointment that only Ginny heard.

"What's up?" Ginny asked.

"Percy wants us to meet him at the Ministry in about an hour. Can you be there?" Miranda asked.

"Sure, that's fine. I'll se you in an hour," Ginny answered.

"Great. The pass code for today is butterbeer. I'll see you then," Miranda started to leave, but then stopped and turned back around. "Oh, one more thing," Miranda added.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Percy wants you to bring Willow," Miranda added.

"My rabbit?" Ginny found the request odd.

"Yes, he has an idea," Miranda told her.

"Okay then, Willow and I will be there in an hour," Ginny agreed, finding his request a bit odd.

"Great! See you then," Miranda left. Ginny shut the door and headed to her room to get dressed. As she was getting ready she wondered when Miranda spoke with Percy. She concluded that Percy must have sent Miranda an owl post earlier.

Ginny and Willow arrived at Percy's office at 10:00 AM. She heard voices as she walked to his office door. When she entered the office, she found Miranda and Percy sitting on a small sofa chatting and laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ginny asked as she entered the room. Percy looked like he had been caught off guard.

"Oh, Percy was telling me a funny story about when he was a prefect at Hogwarts," Miranda explained still laughing. Percy awkwardly got up from and shut his office door. Once he moved to this chair behind his desk he looked more stuffy and serious...more like himself.

"Ladies," Percy directed the conversation back to business. "I asked you both here for several reasons. Please have a seat," he gestured for them to sit at two chairs on the opposite side of his desk. Both women sat down. Ginny held Willow on her lap.

"So what do you have for us?" Miranda said in her best reporter's voice. Willow started getting restless and was nibbling at Ginny's robe.

"Percy, do you mind if I let Willow down to hop around?" Ginny asked.

"I suppose that'd be fine," he said. Ginny then put Willow down and she immediately starting sniffing and exploring Percy's office.

"Well, I have a lead on the muggle artifacts or at least their history," he revealed. Percy now had both Miranda and Ginny's full attention.

"As you both know, I've been researching the muggle artifacts for weeks," both women nodded as Percy spoke. "And I haven't come up with much. I've been through history books, cursed item logs, and every resource I could find."

"So what have you found?" Ginny asked.

"Well up to this point, I was just researching the artifacts. We weren't sure how the muggles were getting them. Yesterday after we got Narcissa Malfoy to the hospital, I had an idea," Percy said. "We now know Narcissa, if not more wizards, are giving these artifacts to the muggles."

"Tell us something we don't already know," Ginny pleaded.

"Last night when I got home, I got ready for bed as usual. See, one of the things I do before I go to bed is read..."

"Me too," Miranda smiled at Percy, causing his face to soften. "I love to read muggle mysteries like the Sherlock Holmes novels."

"I haven't read a lot of them, are they good?" Percy smiled back at Miranda, causing Ginny to shake her head. What were those two talking about? Muggle novels? Wasn't this meeting supposed to be about the muggle artifacts?

"Excuse me folks," Ginny interrupted them and they both looked at her, suddenly aware again that she was also in the room. "I believe we are digressing."

"Oh yeah...um, yes, where was I..." Percy cleared his throat. "Oh yes, I was telling you both that I always read before I go to bed. I happen to be currently reading a book on wizarding folklore and legends. Last night it hit me that maybe I was looking in the wrong places for information about the muggle artifacts."

"And?" Ginny asked, on the edge of her seat with excitement.

"I decided to come in very early this morning so I could go straight to the library, specifically to the folklore section. I wanted to do a search on serpents."

"What did you find?" Miranda asked. Percy then pulled out a large book called Wizarding Legends of the Past and placed it on his desk.

"I found references to serpent jewelry similar to what we've found so far," Percy started, but Ginny cut him off, eager to know more.

"What kind of references?" Ginny was very excited.

"If you let me continue," Percy narrowed his eyes as he lightly reprimanded his sister. Ginny sat back in her chair and made an innocent face.

"Sorry," she subtlety smiled, sitting back in her chair, making an innocent face.

"Okay then," Percy ignored his sister and went on to explain that it was rumored that over one hundred-fifty years ago, there were several wizards that came into contact with pieces of jewelry, a lot alike what they had already retrieved from the muggles. These items were said to contain great power, dark power."

"What kind of power?" Miranda asked.

"Where do the artifacts come from?" Ginny asked.

"One question at a time please," Percy said sitting very tall, feeling very knowledgeable. "To answer Miranda's question first, it seems that they harness dark talents and increase the wizard's ability in using that power. There were several stories I found of horrific acts performed by wizards who used these artifacts."

"I wonder why they are being given to muggles then?" Miranda spoke her thoughts aloud.

"It seems like these artifacts give the muggles the ability to see our world," Percy stated.

"I wonder why they want to do that?" Miranda asked.

"That's what we have to find out," Percy said. Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but Percy cut her off. "Don't Ginny, I haven't forgotten your question."

"Thanks," Ginny smiled.

"There was another legend I read about. It was called The Power of the Cursed Serpent," Percy began scrolling through the book. He finally stopped on a page and turned it around so that the women could see. "Supposedly many, many, many years ago there was a platinum statue of a serpent with ruby eyes. It was rumored that statue could be used as an energy source to amplify the strength of the magic performed, dark magic that is."

"What kinds of spells were cast?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," he honestly answered. "But when the magic was cast successfully, the mouth of the serpent was supposed to open and present the each of the wizards performing the spell with magical artifacts."

"The muggle artifacts we've been finding!" Ginny and Miranda both exclaimed.

"Exactly!" Percy confirmed. "But don't get to excited yet ladies." Both women looked at him seriously.

"Why?" Ginny said.

"This is the best lead we've got yet!" Miranda's enthusiasm was evident. Percy closed the book and put it away.

"According to the legend, only a coven of wizards could use the Cursed Serpent to perform dark magics. A coven can be a group of wizards ranging from five to thirteen."

"So?" both women asked. They weren't following Percy's train of thought.

"If the Cursed Serpent is being used today and it would require a coven of wizards to activate its power, that means each wizard that was a part of the coven would receive the serpent artifacts like those that we are finding on the muggles," Percy explained. Both Ginny and Miranda's face turned white as they realized what Percy was implicating.

"That means that there could be lots more muggle artifacts out there," Ginny concluded.

"And we still don't know where the Cursed Serpent is," Percy added, before he suggested that the best course of action was to have Ginny follow Narcissa Malfoy since they were certain that she is involved. Hopefully she would lead them to more wizards that were involved. Percy had found out earlier that Narcissa was to be released from the wizarding hospital tomorrow. Miranda was to continue covering Ginny's and her own deadlines at the paper and to research the article archives at the paper. Percy told them that he would be meeting with Ministers Black and Snape and as well as their father to come up with a strategy to find whatever muggle artifacts were actually among the muggles.

As they were concluding their conversation, Willow rubbed her head against Ginny's feet.

"Percy, I have another question," Ginny asked as she scooped up her bunny. "Why did you ask me to bring Willow?"

"Actually," he began. "I have a theory. I need you and Willow to leave the office for a moment."

"What?" Ginny asked.

"Just trust me," he said. "Stand on the other side of my office door. It'll just take a minute." Ginny shrugged and did as she was asked.

She stood outside his office door for a few moments petting her bunny. She had no idea what he was up to. Finally she heard him call for her and re-entered his office. She noticed that there were seven boxes on the floor around his office.

"Please put Willow down on the ground," he commanded her. "And just leave her alone." Ginny put the rabbit down.

Willow's nose began to wiggle very quickly and her hair begun to stand up. She crawled around the office investigating each of the boxes. When she examined the fifth box, she started thumping her hind feet very loudly. She then began to grunt and began attacking the box. Miranda, Percy and Ginny watched for a few minutes. Willow managed to destroy the box and revealed the box's contents. Inside was the serpent pendant that Ginny got from the muggle woman.

Willow continued to circle and grunt at the pendant. Ginny finally picked up her rabbit and carried her away. Willow struggled desperately to get free of Ginny.

"Percy, take that thing away!" Ginny's tone was harsh. She didn't understand the point of this. Percy quickly took the artifact and put in his safe. Willow immediately began to calm down.

"Sorry Ginny," he apologized. "But I had to be sure."

"Be sure of what?" Ginny asked. Miranda and Percy glanced at each other before he answered.

"Miranda told me about Willow's reaction to the walking cane," he began. "I found that very interesting. I wanted to see if her reaction was a fluke or if she sensed something that we couldn't."

"I think she definitely sensed the artifact," Miranda said.

"Yes, I believe she did," Percy confirmed and walked over to Ginny and Willow so he could pet Willow's head. "Now I have to see if this talent is innate to all rabbits or it just Willow who has this ability."

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"I'm thinking that rabbits who possess this talent will be able to aid us in gathering all the muggle artifacts," Percy answered.

They spoke a few moments more and Percy promised that he would keep them posted on any new developments. Ginny was still holding Willow and turned to Miranda.

"Do you want to grab some lunch before going back to work?" Ginny asked Miranda. "It's been ages since we've eaten together. I know a place that does great tuna and sweet corn," Ginny added. Miranda looked hesitant.

"Well, okay sure, but I have a few things to do first," Miranda replied. "Can I meet you there?"

"Sure," Ginny waited for her friend.

"Go ahead," Miranda said. "I'll be there in a bit." Ginny thought Miranda seemed a little off, but that wasn't so unreasonable after all they had learned that morning. Ginny took Willow and left. Ginny was determined to enjoy her last day off because was fairly certain that after today, she had many days of hard work to look forward to.