Hiding in Plain Sight (A Hinny Fanfiction)

The Night Flyer

Chapter 5

"Well, that was a short trip," Ginny whispered to Harry as she followed him down a tight hallway, far from the view of the other travelers in the airport's terminal. They were both following Kingsley, single-file and lock-step. At the last metal door, he ushered the teenagers into a tiny white room with only a desk and three chairs. With Kingsley's size, there was hardly room for anyone to move an elbow off an armrest.

"What were you two thinking?" Kingsley asked in his agitated voice, which was like most people's voices when they were discussing the weather. Still, it made Harry and Ginny wince. They knew the difference in the now leader of the Order of the Phoenix. After Dumbledore's death, he was the best-positioned member due to his work in the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement as an Auror. Of course, he would probably be going into hiding soon now that Voldemort was his boss.

"You didn't see what it was like! Everyone screaming and dodging hexes. We did what we had to do," Ginny emphasized. "I'm lucky Harry got me out of there when he did." Harry put his hand on her armrest, purposefully missing her hand. She immediately calmed herself, just as Harry knew she would.

"It's my fault, Kingsley. I knew they would be coming for me. I grabbed the nearest person I could and Apparated. I wish I could've Apparated everyone."

"I'm not talking about that. I would've done the same thing. That's why I sent the Patronus. I'm talking about going to Grimmauld Place. It was too dangerous. Too risky. I'm talking about two instances of traceable underage magic when the Ministry was already compromised..."

"That was my fault. Don't blame Harry," Ginny cut in. Kingsley simply raised his hand.

"You're lucky those reports still come through my office. When I saw them, I called your father and anyone else from the Order I could reach. You were already gone, but we saw your handiwork. Those two Death Eaters are in an Order safe house now. Tonks is interrogating them but isn't getting anywhere, last I heard.

"You should've seen your father, Ginny. After we were done, he spent all night in my office waiting for anything else to come through about you two. He was sure the next report would be your capture - or worse. But nothing arrived and when the sun came up, I was able to convince him to at least go to his own office and get some sleep. I had to go to Downing Street for the Prime Minister."

Harry's breath caught.

"He and I have become friendly, so when he gets an alert this morning that someone was impersonating one of his children at The Ritz Hotel last night, he let me have a look. I had to tell him who you both were to keep him from sending his people after you. His police - Scotland Grass or something - would have been a lot less forgiving than me."

"That was my fault, too, Kingsley." He and Harry both look at Ginny, one with a look of frustration and the other a look of fear.

"Ginny," Harry breathed out of the side of his mouth. She knitted her lips back together. Kingsley made his fingers into a pyramid and laid them on the desk.

"I bet you don't remember when we first met, Ginny." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"You were about eight or so. Fred and George had fed something to Ron that made fire come out of his... rear."

"I remember that! Mum had to put a cooling charm anywhere he sat for a month," Ginny explained to Harry through a chuckle. "But I don't remember you being there."

"Ron had to go to St. Mungo's, who called us. No charges, just a simple report. I was the new man in the office so they sent me out to the Burrow. You were already asleep when I got there. Anyway, I finish my report and your father invites me out to the porch for a butterbeer.

"I was still young, not really thinking about having a family. But it amazed me how he was handling seven children, especially when two of them were Fred and George. So I asked him how he did it and he said the things you would expect him to say..."

"There's no such thing as not enough love. They're all special, etc.," Ginny mock-droned in an eery impersonation of her father. Even Harry chuckled.

"Right," Kingsley continued. "Then we hear the door to the shed open, some rustling around. I make to pull my wand and Arthur waves me off. We hear something that sounds like someone kicking off with a Quidditch broom." Ginny turned iridescent red.

"It was too dark to see who it was, so I asked him if it was Charlie. Everyone knew about him. He was already playing for Gryffindor, setting the records Harry would come along and break. Arthur just shook his head, pointed into the night sky, and said 'She's the one I worry about the most. When her time comes, she will have survived six brothers. She'll think she'll be able to survive anything."

"He knew about me flying at night?!? All this time? And he didn't say anything?"

"Of course he knew. You think that was the only time he had a nightcap on the front porch? And what impressed me more than that was that he never told your mother. She's an... intimidating woman." Both Harry and Ginny nodded in reverence.

"So, you're both smart. You can probably tell that I'm just stalling for time until he gets here." Harry and Ginny both grimaced, anticipating the screaming. "I'm going to recommend that he takes Ginny home until the new term at Hogwarts starts and doesn't let you leave his sight until then. Harry, you're coming with me to a secure location. Hogwarts isn't safe for you anymore."

Kingsley raised himself out of the chair gracefully for a man of his size. "In fact, I think I hear Arthur now." He squeezed over to the door, opened it, then pulled it shut again, turning to Harry. "And, Harry, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about what he has to say about the running away, the magic, or the Prime Minister. I'd worry about his thoughts regarding you taking his daughter to a hotel for the night." With that, Kingsley glided out. Harry gulped. He could see Ginny grin in the corner of his eye.

"Don't say anything," Harry warned her. "If I'm lucky, I can talk him into taking it easy on you. He might let you out of your room this month if I take the blame."

"But that's not right, Harry! I made the mistakes! When are you going to stop thinking everything bad that happens in the world is your fault?"

"When that stops being true," Harry said softly. Ginny just shook her head.

They both spent the rest of the time staring at the wall opposite them. When Arthur Weasley bounded in, they both jumped a few inches in their chairs. He fell on top of them, one arm around each neck.

"Merlin! You don't know how you both worried us! Your mother has nearly gone around the bend."

"Where is she?" Ginny asked.

"Back home. Last I heard, she was putting a few new locks on your bedroom door." Ginny groaned.

"Sir, it was all my fault..." Harry began.

"Saving my daughter's life? Yes, it was your fault. Thank you, Harry."

"But... running around Muggle London? The magic? The... hotel," Harry winced.

"Enough about that. No one got hurt, except for those two other blokes. I reckon we've got about two minutes to get you out of here and on that airboat."

"What?!?" Both Harry and Ginny could've passed out.