First Place - Angst

Harry decided to see Dominic Croaker at the Ministry before the ceremony in Diagon Alley. He disguised himself before going into London though, as Charlie wouldn't be with him the entire time and he didn't want to even try dealing with crowds of The-Boy-Who-Lived fans on his own. He would prefer a full squadron of Aurors between him and them... and maybe the Weasley twins too.

"I'll just be at my dad's office until you're done," Charlie said quietly to Harry as they got on the lifts. "We can leave from there if you like."

Harry nodded a bit nervously. They were in an enclosed space with several people, though Charlie was standing between Harry and anyone else, and it was all he could do not to apparate out of there, wards or no wards. They left the lift at the same floor but walked in opposite directions. Harry headed towards the Department of Mysteries and Charlie to meet his father.

Just walking down that long corridor brought back memories that Harry didn't want to face. He had only been to the Ministry for his apparition test since that night, and had been nowhere near this section. Harry removed his disguise.

He took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping in. The room spun, and it was even stranger than the last time he had seen it. The tendrils of magic became stripes of color of varying widths, then as the room slowed they twisted into their normal paths. Harry just stared for a few minutes, noting that one room was brighter than any of the others, a gleaming cherry red. He held his hand just barely off the surface of the door and closed his eyes. The feeling flooded through him and he smiled and stepped back.

"The Department of Magic Reconstruction," Harry eventually whispered.

The magic pulsed on one of the doors and Harry opened it to step inside. As he did, he was surprised to see a rather ordinary looking office space, with very unordinary objects on the two desks and the shelves that covered the walls. Some, or rather most, of the objects were decidedly dark. All of them had been tampered with to some extent. The dark objects felt wrong, sickening.

"We were wondering if you would come in at all. You spent a good deal of time in the antechamber," Croaker spoke from behind one of the desks.

Recognition flashed through Harry's mind, "You were at the World Cup. Mr. Weasley pointed you out to us."

"Dominic Croaker, but please call me Nico, and this is my partner," a woman turned around and Harry's widened a bit, "who I believe you've met before."

"Hello Harry," she grinned at him.

"Hi Hestia," Harry shook his head to clear it. There was an enormous amount of magical energy in the room and he already had a headache from it. "It just took me a few minutes. I have been here before."

Hestia winced, "Sorry Harry. I forgot that was the last time you were anywhere near here."

Harry concentrated on blocking some of the brightness of the magic in the room and his headache faded somewhat, "I take it Albus has something to do with me being here?"

"Can you tell us how you defeated Voldemort?" Croaker asked, conjuring up a comfortable looking chair for Harry.

"I'm not really sure...," Harry began, and then remembered what these people did for a living, or more so the fact that no one really knew what they did. Chances were they could keep a secret, and Hestia at least was an Order member. "I destroyed his magic."

Both of them looked at him eagerly and leaned forward. Hestia grinned, "Can you explain how?"

"You see Harry," Croaker was grinning as well, "we deal with all the objects confiscated in raids and whatnot that are too dangerous for Arthur and Perkins or even the Aurors."

"It's not really something I could teach anyone," Harry frowned. Then he started to explain how he had started seeing magic and eventually how he discovered he could manipulate it and then how he realized he could destroy Voldemort that way.

As he headed towards the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office Harry shook his head again. He had just accepted a job... sort of. He was an Unspeakable, and he didn't even have his N.E.W.T. results yet. He had refused to work full time though as just being in the department had given him a pounding headache. He was more of a consultant who they would call in when they needed him. He was also the new liaison to the Department for Cyclops, replacing Doris Crockford.

"You look like you got hit by the Knight Bus," Tonks's voice came almost out of nowhere.

Harry remembered then that he had reapplied his disguise, "How do you...?"

"I'm a metamorphmagus and an Auror," Tonks bounced, rather like Dobby did sometimes. "I've learned to look at the little indicators. You're the same height and build, and I know exactly what you can do to that hair."

Harry grinned sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah." He paused. "How have you been?"

"It's been a little low around here," Tonks's ever-energetic happiness dimmed a bit. "We haven't lost that many people in one blow since the first war."

Harry saw the cubicle that had once been Kingsley's, where posters of Sirius had looked down from every available wall surface. It was completely cleaned out, no sign that anyone had ever worked there.

"I'm sorry," Harry felt his heart twist with guilt. "I could have..."

"Don't you dare blame yourself Harold James Potter," Tonks almost hissed the words, resembling her mother's side of the family for just an instant. Harry stepped back. "We were all doing our jobs, and if you take the blame you cheapen what we do every day here. We're the ones to blame for not protecting you time and again. It's our job to stop things like that from happening, not yours."

He thought he saw a tear in her eye. Harry knew that Tonks had been close to Kingsley and he could feel the pain she normally kept hidden, pain for Kingsley and those other Aurors that Harry never knew.

"I... I won't say that again Tonks," Harry hung his head.

Tonks reached out as though to touch him but drew her hand back just before Harry stepped back, "Don't Harry. I lashed out. I was there when Kingsley died and...," she sighed and shook her head. "He was my partner my first year as an Auror."

Harry nodded. He could understand to some extent. "Is everyone still celebrating?" he asked a little bitterly.

"They haven't stopped," Tonks snorted. A light flashed over a fireplace and Tonks swore under her breath, "Gotta go Harry, looks like another party has gotten out of hand."

Harry shook his head and walked down the hall to Mr. Weasley's office, stepping to the side briefly as an Auror rushed past him. Charlie's laughter echoed out of the tiny office and heartened Harry. He stepped inside and was immediately wrapped in a much needed hug.

"How was it?" Charlie questioned, detecting the lingering sadness from being in the Department of Mysteries and talking to Tonks.

"I have a part time job," was his only answer.

Mr. Weasley raised his eyebrows behind Charlie as Charlie laughed again.

If Fudge doesn't take his hand off my arm soon I'll blast it off, Harry was forcing himself to smile as Fudge rambled on about how much the wizarding world owed Harry.

There were flashes of light as camera after camera captured Harry Potter and the Minister of Magic on film. He wondered if he would be scowling in the papers the next day. Someone would tell him, as he hadn't even looked at the Prophet or any other paper since before the battle. Harry had actually been a few minutes late to the ceremony, his dinner with Charlie and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in muggle London running a little longer than expected.

"...and in appreciation for ridding the world of the greatest threat it's know since Grindelwald, the Ministry of Magic presents Mr. Potter with the Order of Merlin, First Class!" Fudge brought out the box with a flourish.

Harry was dumbstruck. No one had warned him this time, and judging by the emotions he was reading off of Dumbledore, who was seated behind them, Fudge had kept it a secret from everyone. The Minister must have dreaded a repeat of the Halloween Ball incident.

A quick examination of the box and roll of parchment showed nothing harmful. Harry accepted them and cleared his throat, "Thank you. I, um, haven't prepared anything to say. I'm still not fully recovered, and I spent most of the past few weeks studying for exams. I think maybe I passed." There was a little laughter from the crowd. "I just want to thank everyone else who fought that day. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have failed without the support of so many. In particular I want to acknowledge the fallen, and the students who fought. They faced the burdens of adults while still children and proved themselves worthy."

Harry stepped back and almost apparated away in a panic when the crowd burst into applause and cheers. He felt that any second they would rush up the stairs and envelope him. They didn't though, and Harry felt the steadying calm of Dumbledore behind him.

"Make sure you read the fine print Harry," Dumbledore winked at him. "Lemon drop?"

Harry grinned and took a candy. He popped it in his mouth and as it dissolved against his tongue he paid close attention to his own emotions, "Serenity Serum."

Dumbledore just twinkled, his only indication that Harry had guessed correctly again. Reporters began shouting out questions and Harry shook his head. Despite the potion he was beginning like the world had suddenly become very tight and restricting. He needed to get away.

"Trials start tomorrow Harry," Dumbledore said before Harry apparated away for Potter Manor.

Charlie appeared almost immediately after Harry and held him gently until Harry's heart rate slowed to normal and his breathing steadied. He laced his own arms around Charlie's waist and sighed. It was going to be months, or possibly years, before Harry would be able to stand a crowd of wizards and witches. It was possible he would never be comfortable in Diagon Alley again.

"What did Albus say?"

"He told me to read the fine print," Harry responded quietly, his eyes still shut.

He felt the parchment roll pulled out of his pocket and a few moments passed, "Bloody hell!"

"You've been spending too much time with Ron," Harry teased with a laugh.

Charlie snorted, "His mouth is worse than the twins. Look at this thing!"

Harry coughed when he looked at the parchment. It had unrolled to be several feet long, with writing smaller than Hermione's, "That's a lot of fine print."

After they found a spell that enlarged print as you read the task of reading all the fine print became much easier. Harry sat back in a dazed silence when he was done.

"I have a seat on the Wizengamot," Harry said blankly.

"And at meetings of the International Confederation of Wizards," Charlie had an eyebrow lifted.

Harry owled Dumbledore immediately to ask about the details involved in claiming his spot on the Wizengamot. The answer came back with Fawkes and Harry was prepared the next morning when he apparated to Hogwarts. He ate breakfast with the staff, making sure to sit between his father and the now former headmaster to avoid contact with the few professors that were there for the summer. Harry was happy to hear that Snape was leaving later that day for Highlands Cottage, getting his own vacation.

"Here is your new robe," Dumbledore twinkled at Harry in his office and handed him a very formal looking robe with a purple embroidered W. Harry solemnly slipped it on over the simple trousers and shirt he wore. "That is all you need."

"That's all?" Harry knew he sounded skeptical.

Dumbledore smiled at him, "The other members do know that you have the right to be there."

Harry just nodded, a bit of nervousness creeping up on him, "Where do we need to be?"

"Courtroom ten," Dumbledore's twinkle and smile both dimmed slightly.

"Right," Harry's stomach twisted in memory all the same. "Shall we go straight there?"

That brought the twinkle back to full force. The Wizengamot members would be there early, before the court was opened for spectators. Chances were they weren't actually expecting Harry to join them. He never would have read all of that if Dumbledore hadn't hinted.

They arrived without a sound and several witches and wizards in similar robes leapt back in surprise and pulled out their wands. Upon seeing who was there, the wands went back to wherever each person preferred to keep theirs and a few faces looked embarrassed at the reaction.

"Mr. Potter!" Fudge's smile was noticeably fake, even to the blind.

Harry counted to ten in his head, calming himself, "Minister Fudge. I trust that everyone who was taken into custody is appearing before the court."

"Of course, of course," Fudge tried to placate Harry.

Harry noted the amusement from several of the court members and it bolstered him somewhat.

"Please take your seats everyone," Dumbledore, Chief Warlock, announced clearly. "The doors will open shortly."

Harry took a seat at the back in the middle of a row of chairs where his face would be shadowed. The witch and wizard who sat to either side of him were both completely unfamiliar and very old.

"Mercedes Carlson," the aging witch nodded at Harry.

"Jefferson Sandrus," the wizard croaked.

Harry nodded at them both, "Harry Potter."

The witch smiled, "Don't fear to speak up lad. Give them a piece of your mind, now that they have to listen to you."

Harry smiled grimly and nodded. The next several hours he saw Death Eater after Death Eater admit to their crimes under truth serum and helped to pass sentence on them. There was satisfaction at seeing justice done, but sadness at the waste of so many lives. As the wizarding world no longer trusted the dementors, Azkaban was staffed with ordinary wizard and witch guards and layered with more restrictive wards than other spot in the world. Over thirty wizards were given life sentences that day.

It took almost more control than Harry had to keep himself focused and protected during the trials. Emotions were running high, but Harry was able to use that to some degree. Those on trial all felt either incredibly guilty, or righteous and terribly slighted. It was easy to detect who had truly committed crimes. He was nearly shaking with the efforts to control his sensing abilities by the time it ended.

Charlie was waiting for him when he got home and Harry gave the official robes to an elf to take care of, immediately seeking the comfort offered in the redhead's arms. They spent the night snuggled in front of the fire, just talking and sometimes enjoying the silent companionship.

Over the course of the next month or so Potter Manor became host to several friends in transition. Hermione and Ron couldn't afford a place of their own with a baby on the way, Hermione in school, and Ron unemployed, so Harry offered them a room for as long as they needed it. Ron was in and out as he tried out for several quidditch teams, but Hermione mostly stayed at home in the Manor and began reading the books for her first year at University.

With Fred's approaching marriage, George moved into Potter Manor as well. Though neither twin admitted it both of them had a great deal of difficulty living apart for the first time in their lives. Fred had Angelina to help him through, and George had his empathic brother and almost brother, who were there to sense his shifting moods and keep him from falling into depression.

Both Remus and Snape were in and out of the house for the occasional meal or just to visit. Molly and Arthur Weasley had moved back into the Burrow along with Ginny, and Bill transferred to a French branch of Gringotts near the Delacour Estate.

Harry was almost at the final stages of his plan, one that had been in his letter to his father that was never needed, when he brought it up to Charlie late one night. He was still having frequent nightmares which resulted in the two wizards waking throughout the night and talking until Harry could sleep again.

"Do you want children?" Harry asked quietly, afraid of the answer he would receive and knowing that Charlie could feel his fear.

A kiss on his back, right at the base of his neck, and a wave of love and comfort lessened the tightness in Harry's chest, "I'm a Weasley Harry."

Harry had no choice but to smile. He had heard from Ron several times that all Weasleys had large families, and remembered Malfoy commenting on it several times as well.

He turned over and kissed Charlie, running a hand down the other wizard's side to rest on his hip, "So you won't have a problem when I adopt Carver and Erica?"

The momentary shock Charlie felt coursed through Harry, followed by understanding. The names of the two orphans who were in the same orphanage Riddle had grown up in were well known in the Manor. Harry had visited them several times and talked with Hermione and Angelina about them frequently.

Charlie mimicked Harry's caress and drew him closer, "I couldn't think of a better home for them."

Harry grinned, "Good, cause I'm just about ready. I just have to smooth things over with the Ministry. I have an appointment with Fudge tomorrow."

"Do I want to know?" Charlie asked, his eyebrows raised. Even in the pitch black of the night Harry knew his facial expressions. He suspected it was the link they shared.

Harry nuzzled his boyfriend?... lover?... partner, "You can come if you want. It should be interesting."

"I think I'll leave blackmailing Ministry officials to you and the twins," Charlie responded and moved his hand down Harry's leg as far as he could reach.

Harry laughed and turned his mind towards other things. So long as they only went so far Harry was comfortable. They had found the invisible line which couldn't be crossed yet and Charlie was careful not to approach it. After all... there were still many other things they could do to each other.

Finding the Key - Chapter 51

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