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Socks
By Deadptarmigan

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Category: Alternate Universe, Post-DH/AB
Characters:None
Genres: Drama
Warnings: None
Rating: R
Reviews: 41
Summary: When Dumbledore dies in the middle of Harry's sixth year, it changes everything. Years later, the war is over, but it is desperately hard to go home again.
Hitcount: Story Total: 22224; Chapter Total: 1508
Awards: View Trophy Room






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08 April 2000 — 13 April 2000

It was a busy several days for Ginny. Her acceptance into the Auror Training Academy was celebrated in private, in her little room above the pub. Then she threw herself into motion: she spent a few days scouring Diagon Alley for what she needed (it was not nearly as simple a task as the form letter and handbook made it out to be), and had to venture into Knockturn Alley for a few potions ingredients. A part of her felt self-conscious, heading into one of the little shops… there were bleached skulls from all sorts of animals hanging from the ceiling ("It's like they're just deliberately trying to be creepy," Ginny muttered.). She purchased her ingredients, and swept out of the store.

Diagon Alley was brighter, and Ginny wandered it even though she'd finished her shopping. Weasley's Wizard Wheezes drew her eye, of course. The paint needed an update, but the storefront was clean and bright nevertheless. The sign in the window flashed "CLOSED" but there was a handwritten sign: "WORKING ON INVENTORY. MAIL ORDERS ONLY." Ginny had taken a few steps forward, only to be disappointed. A thought, half-formed, had occurred to her: if she couldn't go to the Burrow, she could at least meet with Percy again. The betrayal she'd experienced when he'd abandoned the family felt like a long time ago. After Auror Training Academy, Ginny thought firmly. I'll find Percy after I've gone through training and taken my POWERs.

The rest of the days passed swiftly. Ginny packed and repacked her trunk. She reviewed a few memoirs written by various Aurors that she'd found at Flourish and Blotts. She considered writing a letter to her parents. She did write a letter to her parents, and discarded it. She finally wrote a letter to the twins.

Dearest twins, she wrote.

Tonks sent me a letter welcoming me to the Auror Training program. Well, I don't know if it was Tonks, precisely, it was a form letter. But she did write a personal note at the end, wishing me luck. I don't think I need luck when I go through the Academy — how bad could it be? What I do need is luck in talking to our family.

They're so angry with me, you wouldn't believe it. I'm not going to review what happened here — it's too depressing. I hope you two are in a joyful, happy place, and I don't want to bring you down by telling you that Bill shouted at me to "GET OUT!" in a public place. I'm the one who is supposed to be angry, here! They're the ones who've … dropped me. They didn't even look for me; they just assume I'm an asshole.

Oops. I didn't mean to write that. You two are just so easy to rant at — always have been. I wish you could cajole me out of this. Or at least help me play a prank on Bill. I think charming all the hair off the top of his should do it. We could transplant it to his bum. Remember when you did that to Roger Davies? That was brilliant.

Ginny let the words pour out of her. It was amazingly easy to write to her dead brothers. She let out a giggle. She hoped they didn't read her mail at Auror Training Academy.

Once it was dark out, Ginny shrunk her trunk, put it in her pocket, and hailed a cab to King's Cross. She'd already packed up all her things, and left it in a basement storage area that the Swishwaggles had graciously allowed her to use. Her goodbyes had been said. She was ready.

In fact, she was ready far too early. She wandered the train station, remembering all the times she'd come here as a child — every year since she'd been born, she'd been here to wave off her brothers. And she'd been there to greet them when they came home. She wandered past Platform 9 ¾. Inexplicably, her thoughts turned to Harry Potter, and the first time she'd ever seen him. He'd been small, and black-haired, and had looked nervous.

Ginny wiped her sweaty palms on her Muggle outfit. She was nervous, too.

What would Grumpy think? Ginny asked herself, bracingly. Grumpy had braved St. Mungo's at the height of the war, when the consequences for getting caught were so dire. That had been so very real, and so very terrifying. Ginny was not at any risk of dying should she wash out of the Auror program. The danger wasn't real. She'd experience a bit of personal embarrassment, and she'd find another career…

Her heartbeat calmed, and Ginny walked on.

Platform 11 and 7/8 was at the very end of the gigantic train station. Only half the lights were on, and very few people milled about. Still, Ginny was watchful as she leaned against the platform wall. To her relief, she sank into it immediately, and emerged in a small outdoor waiting area. It was open to the weather, and Ginny was relieved she'd worn a thick Muggle jacket. The train was already there — a sleek looking thing that was as unlike the Hogwarts Express as it was possible to be.

"Oi, hullo!" a uniformed witch waved to her out an open window. "Here for the Auror Program, are you? You're early! You can come on in, if you like, and choose your compartment… you'll have a sleeper room all to yourself. It's a long trip… you might as well get comfortable."

Ginny nodded gratefully, and got on the train. She looked around approvingly. It was bigger on the inside than on the outside, and filled with comfortable-looking furniture. She wandered down the aisle and into the first sleeper car. Little rooms led off to each side. Ginny peeked into one: it was small and cozy. The bed had what looked to be a handmade quilt. A candelabra stood on a little bedside table. She shut the door again, and moved on. She didn't want to take the first room in the first car; she'd head on toward the back, where fewer people were likely to journey. The third room in the seventh car would provide her plenty of privacy, Ginny decided, and headed in.

Being in the sanitarium had given Ginny a healthy sense of caution whilst sleeping. Once, toward the end of her recovery, she'd woken to find another patient sitting at her bed, staring at her. Remembering that moment, she set a few wards. Feeling slightly less anxious, she got into her pajamas, and got into bed. She had a big few months ahead of her… she might as well sleep when she could…

Ginny was asleep on the train before the rest of the trainees even arrived at King's Cross.

She slept deeply for a long time, before some instinct woke her. The instant she opened her eyes, her wand started buzzing. She closed her fingers around it and whispered, "Lumos". The compartment was dark as midnight, but that didn't mean much, as they were heading into the far north… night lasted so much longer than it did in London. Ginny felt well-rested, as though she'd slept for hours. The train rocked and swayed lightly on the tracks, and she nearly fell over trying to get out of bed. She opened her trunk, pulled out a trainee robe, and tugged it over her head.

Her Supersensory Charm started a low hum. She could hear strange, echoe-y footsteps, and a quiet voice. "There's one more," it said. "All the rest of them huddled together at the front, this one was smarter."

"If you hadn't left the trainee list on the island, we'd know who it was," someone else pointed out.

"You could have brought it, too," the first person accused. "Some instructor you're going to be."

"Shhh, we don't want them to hear us argue."

Ginny's stance relaxed slightly. These were either instructors, hoping to teach their first lesson on vigilance, or they were the bumbling types of dark wizards. She tapped her wand on her leg, and mouthed the Disillusionment Charm. Gooseflesh erupted on her arms and neck as the charm wrapped around her body. Uncomfortable, that. She whispered "Nox" and the light from her wand went out.

"Where is the trainee?"

"Do homenum revelio."

"Oh, that's a good idea. The first one–"

"Don't say it."

"Sorry. You're right. We need to start this off on the right foot…"

Ginny's shoulders tightened. She knew those voices, had heard them bantering with each other for what felt like half her life. Ron… and Harry. She took a couple of deep breaths. Well, this… complicated things.

"Homenum revelio!"

It did not take long for Harry's magic to find her. It curled around her body, and went back the way it came.

"Ah! There they are."

The door to the compartment slid open silently. It was still so dark that it looked like two lit wands, divorced from any witch or wizard, bobbed their way into the room on their own accord. Ginny held her breath.

"Where is she?" asked Ron. Ginny slipped behind him.

With a deft flick of her wand, she cast a Jelly-Legs Jinx, and dropped the Disillusionment Charm. "I'm right here," she said. Her brother swore loudly, and quickly muttered the counter spell.

"Damn it, Ginny!" he swore.

"That's a nice greeting," she said in a hard voice. "Are we going to have a repeat of St. Mungo's? Are you going to tell me to get the fuck out?"

Harry must have muttered a spell, for the lights in the compartment came on. "No one's going to tell you to get the fuck out, Ginny," he said. He elbowed Ron. "Right, Ron?"

Ginny smirked when she saw the red flush climb from his neck to his cheeks. "Maybe you should've remembered to not only bring the class list, but open it and read it. Then maybe you wouldn't have the shit scared out of you by your little sister."

"To be fair, we–"

Ron cut Harry off. "So you want to be an Auror now?" He sounded angry and confused and maybe a little embarrassed.

"No, I'm on the train for fun, I hear the Orkney Islands are beautiful when they're covered with twenty feet of snow," said Ginny. She was being too sarcastic… too mean… but ahhhh, it felt so good. "Yes, Ron, I applied for the Auror program, and was accepted. And now I'm here. I take it you two are instructors?"

"Not instructors," Harry put in. "More like overseers. You'll see, it's a little different." He made an exaggerated gesture toward the door. "We're about to have everyone head to the dining car so we can go over what you can expect the next few months," he added. It sounded like a practiced speech.

Ron was still staring at her. She glared back at him.

"We need to get to the dining car," Harry repeated. "It's good to see you, Ginny. I'm glad you're part of the program."

"Then you can have her," Ron said suddenly. "She can be in your half of the group." He turned on Ginny. "You won't get any special treatment from me, Ginny, just because I'm your brother."

Part of her wanted to point out that if she were given special treatment from one of her brothers, it would not be a positive thing. The ugly scene at St. Mungo's had proven that. She didn't need special treatment, just a chance. "Fine," Ginny said coolly. "That's just fine."

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"So we'll work you hard the next four months, I hope you're prepared," Harry finished his little speech. The trainees had their eyes fixed on him, and it made him slightly uncomfortable. Especially when one of those trainees was Ginny. He was still stunned that she'd joined the Auror program. He didn't think she'd ever expressed interest in being an Auror… joining the Order of the Phoenix, yes, but he hadn't expected her to want to help rebuild.

She sat in the middle of the crowd. The morning light caught on her hair. It was several hours since he and Ron had found her. They'd let the trainees go back to sleep for a few hours, woke them to eat, then divided them in half and split up.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah… just one," said a dark-haired man with a cleft in his chin. "How'd you defeat Voldemort," he asked eagerly.

Harry cleared his throat. "Any questions about the Auror program?" he clarified.

There was a long, disappointed silence.

"What's the daily routine like?" Ginny asked.

"You're up at six, and we'll meet in the courtyard at 6:30. We'll do some wandwork, and maybe a little strength training — you'd be surprised how often you need to chase down your nutters. Then we have breakfast and go over the day. Then you have classes until lunch. After lunch we do practical lessons — ideally, we'll want to go over what you learned that day… you're done by four," Harry told them. "Saturdays are strictly practical lessons, and individual meetings. Sundays you have off."

The trainees were nodding thoughtfully.

"Can we leave the island at all, or…?" a young-looking, white-haired witch asked.

"You can, but we'd prefer you not to," said Harry. "You're all adults… well, I hope you are, otherwise someone wasn't doing her job. But six comes early, and it's better if you stick around. You'll see."

A few more questions, and Harry was ready to wrap it up. "I think we're done," he said. "I'd like you to review your handbook. We should be on the island in another five hours."

Harry nodded, and walked out of the room. He nearly walked right into Ron, who was leaning on the wall, looking unusually serious. "How'd it go?"

Harry shrugged. "It went fine."

Ron sighed. "I told Hermione what was going on, she's not as surprised as I am."

Harry felt an inexplicable pang. "She wasn't?" he asked.

"Says Ginny'd talked about being an Auror sometimes…"

Harry could guess what Ron was thinking. It had been three years since they'd spent much time at all with Ginny — it felt bizarre to be surprised by her career choices. The war and the passage of time had turned her into a stranger. Ginny, a stranger. He'd been falling for her in his sixth year, and now she was a stranger. To him, and to her own family.

Ron shoved himself off the wall. "Oh well… why don't we go find a coffee? And maybe go over what we want to do for tomorrow's lesson."

"Did Hermione suggest that?" Harry teased.

Ron pretended offense. "You think I couldn't come up with it on my own?"

They bantered down the narrow aisle.

To Harry's own surprise, he realized that he may enjoy being an instructor after all.
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