Harry moved Vicky into her safehouse himself. It was not even four o'clock on Monday by the time she was settled with her son and Harry had keyed her into the wards.

"Harry, I'm not sure about this," she said from her position on the sofa, curled up with a cup of tea. She was wearing another woman's clothes.

"This is the safest place for you to be, Vicky," Harry promised. "We are going to take him in for questioning before he knows that anything has changed. The team is already on its way."

"He'll be confused and angry because I asked him to pick the baby up from the daycare and he'll get there and find out that I did." There was a tremor in her voice. "Harry, I'm- he's clever."

Harry sat down on the sofa and took her hand. She squeezed it back, meeting his eyes. "We are looking after you, Vicky. There is going to be a female auror here twenty four hours a day. Your mum is on her way, too, and your son is safe here with you. The aurors are not going to rest until Peter is behind bars." Tears escaped from Vicky's eyes.

"He's going to be angry."

"I know," Harry said in what he hoped was a soothing voice. Maggie entered the room then. Harry saw Vicky flinch at the entrance of somebody else, though her face relaxed at the sight of Maggie. "All wards set up, Mags?" Maggie nodded. "Perfect. I've just ordered us a takeaway so that Vic doesn't have to do anything tonight." Vicky smiled weakly.

"Perfect," Maggie said, settling down into the armchair.

"You don't have to stay," Vicky said quietly. Her eyes were on her son, who was playing with blocks on the ground.

Maggie shook her head. "Vicky, we're going to stay and eat with you. We're going to introduce you to the auror who will be on duty tonight and we are going to wait until your mum is here."

"She might be a long time. She can't apparate because of her heart," Vicky said. Harry squeezed his friend's hand.

"Ken is driving her over here. Do not worry about a thing. You are safe now."

Vicky looked down at her lap. Harry watched as her shoulders began to shake. "I'm sorry."

"Do not apologise," Harry said to her, swallowing his own tears. "Okay, Vic? Never apologise. None of this is your fault."

"But if I'd told you-"

Harry shook his head. "You've told us now. It's over now and, in a few days, Peter will be in prison, awaiting a trial, and you will be safe, wherever you want to be."

"I want to get rid of the house," she said, looking up at him with wet eyes, "and the car, and everything we ever bought together."

"Then the team will sort it all for you. We're your family and we're going to look after you."

A sob escaped Vicky's throat, attracting the attention of her son, who crawled over and clung to her leg. She looked down at him with something Harry recognised as akin to pity and then she leaned her head on Harry's shoulder, still crying.

XXX

Shell Cottage was a welcome sight as Ginny arrived on the beach, at the apparition point for her brother's home in Cornwall. It was one of Ginny's favourite places in the world, especially when there was a lot on her mind and she just wanted to relax. That lunch time, after a morning of chasing down leads and trying to figure out why Harry looked so upset, she had sat down for her lunch and called Fleur, begging to be allowed to come for dinner with them that night. It had not taken much begging at all.

And, so, here she was.

"Aunt Ginny! Aunt Ginny!" the children called as the two little girls flooded out of the house, approaching Ginny before she had even got halfway up the garden path. Her brother appeared at the doorway as Ginny went down on one knee to accept her niece's hugs.

"Hey, Gin," he said with a smile. "What kept you?"

Thinking of her awful, useless afternoon, Ginny gave her brother a tired smile and said, "Don't ask."

"I like your clothes, Aunt Ginny," Victoire said, twirling a piece of her platinum blond hair around her finger. Dominique, with her matching hair, tried to copy her. Ginny grinned and scooped Dominique up into her arms.

"Thank you, Vic. These are my auror robes."

"Did you catch any bad guys today?" Vic asked, her eyes wide and shining. Ginny grinned and shook her head.

"Not today, Vic." Pouting, Vic ran back into the house, past her father, who greeted Ginny with a kiss to her cheek. "Thanks for having me, Bill."

"Always, Gin. Tough day?"

Ginny sighed. "You could say that. Have you got a hoodie I could borrow? I want to get rid of these robes but I've only got a tank top and cargo pants underneath."

Bill nodded, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Go and see Fleur. I'll get you one now."

Ten minutes later, Ginny found herself on Bill's sofa, in an oversized hoodie with the flaking words "Gringotts Academy of Cursebreaking" on the front, a cup of tea cradled in her hands. "Dinner will be ten minutes, Ginny," Fleur called from the kitchen. Ginny smiled and called back her thanks, watching with contentment as Victoire showed Dominique how to put a dress on her barbie doll.

They sat around the table for dinner, which was nice. It reminded Ginny of the good parts of living at the Burrow and, then, with a twinge, reminded her of sitting across the table from Harry and the fact that, now, she would be eating alone again like she had at the Academy. For now, though, she would steal her brother's company and his dinner table and not think about being lonely. She had wanted to move out of her parents' house after all.

"So, you're enjoying your job, Gin?" Bill asked as she tucked into her lasagne. Swallowing, Ginny nodded.

"I am. I've got a nice team."

"Ah, oui," Fleur said, her eyes lighting up. "You are working for 'Arry, yes?"

Ginny glanced at Bill, furrowing her brow. "Yes, Harry Potter. You know him?"

Fleur shrugged. "Of course. He came to Beauxbatons."

Ginny let out a laugh at herself. "Of course. I forgot about that. Did you know him well?"

Fleur bobbed her head to either side. "A bit. He stayed with me for a summer once, while his godfather went on a mission for the Order." Ginny's eyes widened. She would call that more than a bit. "He was one of the few boys who did not stare at me like I was some sort of otherworldly creature. He was able to talk to me, so he was my friend. I have not seen him since he defeated Voldemort, however."

Ginny smiled. "You should come to the office one day and surprise him. I'm sure he'd like to see you again."

Bill cleared his throat. "You speak to him a lot then, Gin?"

Ginny felt her face flush despite herself. "A bit. The teams are very big."

"Mmhmm," Bill said, nodding knowingly. "And does he know that you mapped out your life together as a child? What age did you say you'd marry him by? 21? You're a few years late, there, Gin." Fleur's laugh was a tinkling sound.

"Don't," Ginny groaned. "I've already had Tonks threaten to tell him that I made her pretend to be him so that I could marry him."

Bill boomed out a laugh, startling the children and making them giggle. "I forgot Tonks was in the auror office too. How is she? Do you see her often? Tonks was Charlie's first girlfriend," he added to his wife.

"I always assumed that Charlie was asexual," she said, startled. Ginny snorted.

"Tonks is married to Harry's - well, I'm not sure."

"She's married to Remus Lupin," Bill said. "He was one of James Potter's best friends, along with Sirius Black." Ginny nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Anyway, Tonks isn't actually in the office at the moment. She's very pregnant. She came in to go for lunch with Harry and I saw her then."

"That's nice. Was she pleased to see you?" Bill said. "I was quite disappointed when she and Charlie broke up."

"Mm," Ginny agreed. "She seemed happy to see me, I'm not sure. I met their other children too. Harry got on with them well."

"Did he?" Bill said. His lips were twitching. Ginny narrowed her eyes.

"Something to say, Bill?"

"No, Ginny." Bill smiled. "Isn't it lovely that you get to work with your first love?"

Fleur's gasp was incredibly dramatic when Ginny hit her brother in the face with a sheet of lasagne.

XXX

Harry stared at the letter in front of him, nibbling on his lower lip. "What do you think, boss?" Maggie asked, her face grave. She had been the one to take the call from Eliza Beddon, the girl who had lost all of her family over the past years, her sister only recently, to ARP. She had found something of her sister's and had called them immediately.

Maggie had gone to see Eliza and retrieve the letter, signed by an M and using lots of her sister's personal details, which Eliza confirmed in the short interview Maggie conducted. "I think M gives us a lead," Harry said noncommittally.

"Then why aren't you excited?" Maggie pressed.

Harry sighed, leaning back. "Mags, it's one letter. We're assuming it's a woman from previous leads, okay, but how many women exist in the wizarding world with names beginning with M? You, for a start." Maggie gave him an unamused look, cocking her head to the side. Harry clucked his tongue. "And that is if it is a woman and she is from the wizarding world. Anybody can make a potion. I agree that it does narrow suspects down but we've not exactly got a list of suspects who we can discount because their name doesn't start with M. And there is always the huge possibility that M has nothing to do with them, that it's a nickname, that it's a code. This is great, yeah, okay, it's better than nothing, but it's not a breakthrough."

Maggie sighed, leaning back against her own chair in defeat. "What do you think they were offering her?" she asked quietly.

Harry's eyes went back to the paper. Clara Beddon, who the letter was addressed to, was a muggle girl. The letter said, we'll give you what your sister had.

"We'll give you what your sister had," Harry repeated. He sighed. "I don't know, Mags. Are we sure her sister killed herself? I mean, could she have died from ARP and it was a threat towards Clara?"

Maggie shook her head. "But the tone of the letter doesn't suggest that. It's almost friendly. Harry, I'm- her sister had magic." Harry furrowed his brow, looking down again. "What if that is what the letter is promising?"

Harry looked at Maggie incredulously. "Maggie, you know that is impossible. Magic can't be obtained like that. You have to be born with it."

"Do muggles know that?"

Harry swallowed, his aunt Petunia suddenly bursting to mind, the memories that the old potions professor had given him before he had gone to surrender to Voldemort. She had wanted magic. She had asked to be allowed to go to Hogwarts. "It's a good point, Maggie," he said slowly, "and it's a really good line of inquiry."

The other victims raced through Harry's mind. The lawyer who had been a wizard with poor magic, hiding in the muggle world. There'd been a squib, a Hogwarts dropout, a witch who had run away before she could learn any magic. What if this was it, what if they all wanted more magic? Was that what the potion was promising?

Their last victim, the not victim, the one they'd caught with the potion. What had he said? "I just wanted -" and he hadn't finished. Had he just wanted magic?

"Dear God, Maggie," Harry said. "You're a genius. Get the team together. We finally have a real lead."

XXX

They celebrated a few nights later, by going out to Manchester. Ginny was still on a high. They all were. The news that they finally had something to chase, rather than these nothing leads, that they finally had a connection was more than welcome. Ginny had yet to make an arrest, even over a month after being part of the aurors. She was sure she wasn't the only one but it was making her feel rather unproductive, although she knew that, once they solved this one, it would be far more important than any small arrest.

Vicky wasn't with them, obviously. Ginny did not have the details about Vicky but all the team knew that she was under witness protection and that another team was finding the man who put her there. Other team members had speculated but Ginny had seen the serious look on Harry's face when he had brought it up so she had not asked any more questions.

But everyone else was there at the pub and then everybody under the age of 35 was at Aparecium as they stumbled in, finally reaching the front of the queue. They paid their entrance fees and headed into where the music was booming. Robin grabbed Ginny's hand and dragged her towards the bar.

"What we getting, Ginners?" Robin asked, bouncing from her heel to her toe and drumming her fingers against the metal bar. Ginny grinned. She had not had many drinks at the pub. "I was thinking shots. We have had a successful week, after all."

"Very true," Ginny said wisely. "Tequila?"

Robin grinned. "Tequila."

They found the rest of the aurors about ten minutes later and they were greeted with lots of grins and laughs, especially when Robin passed about the tray of shots. Ginny watched Harry take his and smiled at him, meeting his eyes. His own smile faltered and he looked away. Ginny swallowed her disappointment. It had been nearly a week now since she and Harry had stopped living together and she missed him.

Ginny shook herself, stealing the final shot from Robin's tray. She did not need to think about how much she missed Harry while she was drunk. That would only lead to sadness, possible crying and definite talking. And she wasn't allowed to talk about it, to anybody.

Fifteen minutes or so later, Harry and Alex headed to the bar to get more drinks, leaving the rest of them dancing to Wannabe by the Spice Girls, a song that Ruby openly claimed as her favourite. "Ginny, that guy is checking you out!" Robin whisper-shouted into her ear while Ginny was admiring Ruby's knowledge of the dance routine.

She blinked and turned to Robin and then to the guy she was nodding at. He was, in fact, checking her out. It was not such a rare thing, Ginny admitted, on a night out to have a man check her out. She rarely did anything about it, because she was with her friends and she wasn't about to ditch them for some random man…

But there were lots of her friends together and she didn't need to stay with them. And - Ginny swallowed - it wasn't like she had anybody that would make her not want to kiss that man, much as her heart was telling her. Her head knew she wasn't with Harry, had no commitment to him, was literally forbidden from being with him, but her heart was none-the-wiser.

Shrugging, Ginny grinned, meeting the man's eyes. He was fairly good looking and where had following her heart ever got her anyway?

XXX

Harry arrived back with a tray of drinks, winding his way through the crowds, Alex at his back with the two drinks which would not fit on the tray. "There you go, Rubester," Harry said, handing her the dark drink that she had requested. He passed around the rest until he only had two more drinks - one for him, one for Ginny - and abandoned the tray. "Where's Gin?" he asked brightly.

Robin giggled, sipping at her drink and pointing slightly away from their group, to where Ginny was happily making out with some random guy. Harry's chest constricted. He brought his drink to his mouth and drank it in one go and then started on Ginny's.

"Woah, boss," Stacey laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Ginny wanted that, you know."

Harry laughed, turning Stacey's half hug into a sort of swirl in time to the music. "She seems busy," he said, hoping the music drowned out the bitter tone in his voice.