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SIYE Time:17:20 on 28th March 2024
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Misanthropic
By DragonHeartstring

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Category: Post-Hogwarts
Characters:Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, Other, Ron Weasley
Genres: Drama, General
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 12
Summary: Attacks have struck the wizarding world, and a pregnant Ginny Potter is determined to figure out who is behind it, and why she feels like she is the target. But things are not all what they seem. A 2 part mini-mystery.
Hitcount: Story Total: 6657; Chapter Total: 2082





Author's Notes:
Hi! I have returned with a short little 2 parter, which for some reason I really struggled with writing. It was inspired by an anonymous prompt I received on tumblr months ago, which stated "Head Auror harry ignores hundreds of death threats he gets each week but once the threat becomes very real for attacking Ginny, little James and his unborn son - harry doesn't stop until the person/s behind the threat is safely in Azkaban." In reality, this story is nothing like that, when I think about it. But this is what came.

I really enjoyed this idea of a "two minute mystery" that Ginny tries to solve alongside the Aurors, so maybe this will become a series of disconnected stories if I have more inspiration. I hope you enjoy!




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It all began one blustery Thursday at Caerphilly stadium.

The Catapults had just evened out the score against the Wasps when a bright flash of light appeared from the home seats, momentarily distracting the players and spectators alike before the explosion rocked the stadium.

Ginny Potter grabbed the rail in front of her and used it to pull herself up from the floor. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her, trying to clear the air, which was filled with dust and debris. Unable to see more than one foot in front of her, Ginny pulled out her wand and began siphoning the dust away, allowing her a better picture of what lie before her. Her position in the press box gave her a good view of the rest of the stadium, or rather, what remained of the stadium.

A huge crater filled what was previously the visitors' seats, and the floor of the VIP box above them had completely caved in.

Wilbur Swanning, one of the Wasp's beaters, landed in the press box looking stunned.

"Blimey, what d'yah think that was?" he asked.

Ginny sighed. "Looked like a Blasting Curse to me." A quick glance around the box indicated that her fellow reporters were in too much shock to do anything. She turned to Wilbur. "Can I have your broom?"

He nodded and handed it to her. Ginny sent a quick Patronus to Harry, telling him what happened, and then mounted the broom.

In the few moments that she had spent talking to Wilbur, panic had erupted in the stands. Screaming fans were flooding the exits, and stunned players hung suspended in midair, unsure of what to do.

Ginny kicked off hard from the press box and speed across the field. She landed at the destroyed visitors seats and began vanishing rubble just as the Aurors arrived. Amongst the sounds of apparition, Ginny heard her name being called.

"Over here," she responded, helping a sobbing young girl to her feet.

Harry ran over to her and pulled her into a hug. "Ginny, are you alright?" he gasped. He was soon joined by two other Aurors, Cheryl Freebush and Argyle Bresten. "Is the b-"

Ginny silenced him with a glance and nodded. "I'm fine, Harry," she said. She pressed one hand lightly to her stomach and smiled. "Fine."

Harry nodded slowly and put one arm around her shoulders. "So what happened?" he asked.

"Reducto came from somewhere in the home seats," she said, pointing out the approximate location.

Cheryl looked skeptical. "How do you know that?"

Ginny bristled. "I have some experience with the curse myself. Nothing else would cause destruction like this." She gestured to the crater behind her.

Argyle nodded. "Should we screen everyone, boss?" he asked Harry.

Harry sighed. "We can try, but with this panic it's hard to tell who was where when it happened. Besides, I doubt the perpetrator is still here."

"It would be easy enough for them to hide in the crowd," Cheryl contradicted.

"The wards came down with the explosion, I could feel it," Ginny said. "You all got in easily enough, and I would bet anything whoever cast the curse got out as soon as possible."

"Why don't you start by helping the rescue crews?" Harry said, dismissing the other Aurors. Ginny made to follow, but Harry pulled her back. "You don't have to stick around if you don't want to, love."

Ginny sighed. "With the adrenaline coming down I am starting to feel exhausted. I get tired so easily these days," she said, pressing her hand to her stomach once more. She used her other hand to smack Harry. "And what's wrong with you, practically shouting about the baby? We aren't announcing anything yet, remember?"

"Sorry, I was just worried," he answered, squeezing her gently and pressing a soft kiss to the side of her head. "Why don't you go on and collect James and go home? I'll get there as soon as I can. Shouldn't be too long, this isn't really my case."

Ginny nodded and kissed him quickly, before handing him the broom she still had clutched in her left hand. "Make sure to get this back to Wilbur Swanning."

~~~


The explosion was all that the newspapers covered for the next week, considering the fact that there were dozens of casualties and even more injuries.

'Death Toll Rises in Caerphilly Catastrophe,' read the headline of the Daily Prophet that lay on the Burrow's kitchen table. Ginny bounced James on her lap as she listened to her mother talk about lax security.

"And you would think after everything we all went through with the war, things would be better now. But there is always something." Molly topped off two cups of tea and put them on the table.

"Yes, you would think that, wouldn't you?" Ginny agreed, taking a sip of tea.

"You must have been terrified," Molly continued. "Sitting there watching the match when it all happened."

"Startled, and angry, but not terrified, Mum," Ginny answered. "It wasn't aimed anywhere near me."

Molly sighed and put a plate of biscuits on the table. "Still, you could have gotten hurt. And Harry has no idea who it was?"

"No," Ginny said. "You know he wasn't even supposed to be on the case, he was busy with the smuggling one. But with the scope of this, Robards has put everyone on it. Harry said they have a few leads, but how do they find a suspect in a crowd of 30,000 people?"

Ginny dunked a biscuit in her tea and handed the soggy treat to James, who immediately started sucking on it. "I just can't figure it out, most people like this want to make their presence known, don't they? The Death Eaters always left the Dark Mark behind, to let everyone know they had been there."

"Well, I'm sure Harry and his team will be able to figure it out," Molly said.

Ginny hummed in vague agreement.

A sudden noise from the sitting room distracted them.

"Mum?" Ron came into the kitchen, still in his work robes. "Oh, good, food," he said, swiping a biscuit and shoving it into his mouth.

"Won," James gurgled.

"Hey there little mate, how's it going?" Ron reached over and tickled the little boy, making him giggle.

"Ron, what are you doing here?" Molly asked him, standing quickly to make another cup of tea.

Ron took a seat. "Didn't George tell you? Just an hour ago all the windows in the shop shattered. Some customers were injured, so we had to call in Harry and he closed us down for the rest of the day to investigate."

Ginny and Molly stared at him in shock.

"You were targeted?" Ginny asked.

Ron shook his head and gratefully took the cup of tea Molly offered. "I don't think so. The same thing happened at Quality Quidditch Supplies a few minutes before it happened at our place. It's probably just kids messing around."

Both women looked at him skeptically. "What does Harry think?" Ginny asked.

Ron shrugged. "He still had to go over to QQS, so he didn't say."

Ginny didn't answer, but readjusted James on her lap.

"I'm just glad that you decided not to go to the Harpies meet and greet at Quidditch Quality Supplies today, Ginny," Molly said, taking James from her and bouncing him in her arms.

"I didn't go because I wasn't feeling well this morning," Ginny clarified. "Besides, that was this morning, I'm sure they were all out by the time anything happened." Despite her words, Ginny couldn't help but think about the circumstances.

~~~


Late that night, Ginny lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Harry had come home late, and he and the Aurors had been unable to find anything at either shop in Diagon Alley. All of the injuries were minor, and the windows were easily repairable. As far as the department was concerned, it was fairly harmless vandalism.

Ginny wasn't so sure.

"Harry," she whispered, trying to see if he was still awake. Exhausted from working three investigations that were producing no leads, he had collapsed on the bed next to her ten minutes ago and hadn't moved since.

"Harry," she said a little louder. He turned his head to face her and opened one eye.

"Don't tell me," he said. "You want ice cream."

Ginny laughed. "No. No cravings." She reached over and ran a hand through his hair. "I've been thinking about these attacks." Harry turned more completely to look at her.

"What about them?"

"I don't know," Ginny said, hesitant. "You don't think they could have to do with me, do you?"

This time, Harry straightened up. "Why do you think that?"

Ginny sighed. "Mum was talking about how I was supposed to be at Quality Quidditch Supplies today, and the Caerphilly game was the only one I've been to in ages..." She trailed off.

"We don't have any evidence that the two are connected," Harry said. "What happened at Wheezes was nothing compared to the match."

"I know," Ginny conceded. "I just have a gut feeling." She laid her hands on her still flat stomach, wanting to feel movement that it was much to early to feel. Harry slid one of his hands over to her stomach as well and laced their fingers together.

“If it will make you feel better, I will look into it. But I really don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Harry said. He squeezed her hand once before letting go, and sliding his hand down from her stomach and pulling her closer.

Ginny smirked at him. "I thought you were tired?"

"I got a second wind."

~~~


Thankfully, James was not crying when Ginny woke up the next morning, feeling thoroughly refreshed.

Harry had already left for the office, and Ginny was able to shower, dress, and make breakfast for herself and for James before he woke up. They spent an enjoyable morning at home before Ginny dropped him off at the Burrow and went to the Daily Prophet offices for her weekly meeting.

A state of chaos greeted her when she arrived.

A mess of parchment covered the entire floor, some desks were overturned, and employees ran to and fro trying to set things right. Rita Skeeter, looking decidedly rumpled, gave Ginny a sour look as she passed by.

Ginny approached her boss and inquired as to what had happened.

"Don't know," he answered, waving his wand over the parchment on the floor before him causing it to stack in neat piles. "It was like this when we got in this morning. It's taken the DMLE team all morning to tell us that we can start cleaning up. The meeting is canceled for this week, rescheduled for Monday."

Ginny looked around, observing the mess until she located a wizard in the pale violet robes of the DMLE team. She approached him carefully, trying to avoid stepping on anything important.

"Excuse me," she called, as she reached him. "Have the Aurors been notified about this?"

The man looked up, and did a double take as he recognized her. "No, Mrs. Potter, they haven't. You see, we checked and found no dark magic, so the Aurors won't be interested in this.”

Ginny hummed, but did not comment.

“It wasn’t even a robbery,” he continued. “As far as anyone can tell, nothing was taken. It was just vandalism.”

Ginny thanked him and left quickly, hurrying to the apparition point to go to the Ministry. She arrived in the atrium and walked quickly to the lifts, keeping her head down so she would not be recognized and stopped.

She found Harry in his cubicle, squinting down at some parchment on his desk. Ginny shifted some of the parchment aside and hopped up onto the desk, crossing her legs and snapping her fingers in front of Harry's face to get his attention.

Harry turned his head slowly to look at Ginny, smiling warmly. “And here I was thinking I would be stuck staring at reports all day,” he said, pushing his glasses up his forehead and rubbing his eyes. “It seems something more intriguing has just been delivered to my desk."

“Intriguing, but I’m just here to bring you more problems.”

Harry looked confused. “I just came from the Daily Prophet office - its been ransacked,” Ginny clarified. Harry was suddenly alert.

“Why didn’t we hear about this?”

“The DMLE is there, and said there was no dark magic so you wouldn’t have been interested,” Ginny said, watching as Harry rifled through the stack of parchment on his desk for a clear piece. “Harry, you don’t think this has anything to do with what I said last night, do you?”

Harry had started scribbling down notes, but stopped and looked up at her instead. “What? That all of these events are connected, or that they are targeting you?” he asked.

“Both,” Ginny clarified. “You don’t think that it is all a bit too coincidental that I have a connection to all of the locations that were attacked?”

“I agree with you,” Harry said, grabbing hold of one of her hands and squeezing it. “I don’t like it, but I agree with you. But you know Robards, if there is no evidence of a connection, he won’t let us look into it. He won’t even like me looking into the Daily Prophet if there is no dark magic.”

“Oh."

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to do it. We just have to be sneaky about it."

Ginny smiled. "Well, you have plenty of experience with that."

Ginny and Harry spent the next hour making sure that all of his notes on the four incidents were thorough and correct. They were struggling to find any connection between the events besides Ginny herself.

Suddenly, Ginny grabbed Harry's arm and twisted it so she could see his watch. "I'm going to be late for my healer's appointment," she said, rising from her seat.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Harry asked. Ginny shook her head.

"We are trying to be discrete, remember?" she chastised lightly. She bent down and kissed him. "And be home in time for dinner tonight, Ron and Hermione are coming over."

~~~


“Everything looks good, Ginny,” Healer Thorndike said, opening the door of the tiny examination room for Ginny. “I’ll see you again for your next check-up, and by then you will probably be showing. You might want to think about making an announcement.”

Ginny nodded. “Harry and I were just talking about that,” she confirmed. “We will probably announce it next week.”

Healer Thorndike smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

After setting up a time for her next visit, Ginny left the room and headed down the hall to the stairs to the lobby. St. Mungo’s was relatively quiet at that hour, and the corridors were empty. Despite this, Ginny suddenly felt like she was being watched. Drawing her wand, she spun around, scanning the doorways for the source of the feeling.

From behind one door, a small woman in orderly's robes emerged, pulling a cart of supplies. Ginny sighed, replacing her wand in her pocket and berating herself for getting paranoid. Nothing was going to happen to her in the hospital.

Still, Ginny walked quicker than usual to the fireplace and rapidly flooed back to the Burrow to pick up James. She declined her mother's offer of tea and went home, and was busy preparing dinner when Ron and Hermione arrived through the floo.

“Hi, sis,” Ron said, coming up behind her and snatching a vegetable before Ginny had a change to throw it into the pot. “What’s for dinner?”

“Stew,” Ginny answered, swatting his hands away from her cutting board. “Watch it,” she ordered as she set the knives to chopping and turned to greet Hermione, who had immediately scooped James up out of his high chair and was resting him on her massive belly.

“So,” Hermione started after cooing at James, “How’s Harry’s investigation going?”

Ginny sighed. “Not well,” she responded, explaining to them what happened at the Daily Prophet offices earlier that day. “I’m starting to think this is all to target me.”

Ron and Hermione looked shocked. “Does Harry agree?” Ron asked.

“Reluctantly,” Ginny conceded, waving her wand toward the cabinets and watching the plates and silverware travel midair towards the table. “He doesn’t like it but knows that I have a point. There are too many coincidences."

Just then, the floo flared to life and Harry stepped out, grinning.

“It’s done!”

All four heads turned to look at him. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione looked puzzled, but James squealed and held out his arms. Harry lifted him out of Hermione’s slack grip and gave him a hug.

“What’s done?” Ron asked.

“The case - all the attacks - we know who did it and we have them in custody!”

Ginny rushed over to kiss him. “That’s wonderful, Harry. Who is it?”

“Wilbur Swanning.”
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