The Epilogue : Part I - The Shadow Army

CHAPTER TEN

The Ministerial Election

It was one these quiet morning Grimmauld Place had known since James, Albus and Lily had left for Hogwarts. That night, in the Potter's bedroom, suddenly Ginny woke up in a jolt.

"James!" she screamed, feverish.

"What is it..." Harry asked after emerging from his own sleep. "Nightmare?"

"Yes..." she replied, panting.

"... and it was about James again?"

"Yes."

Harry, who was still lying down, woke up to sit and switched the bedside light on.

"Ginny... I know you're worried about James, about his O.W.L.'s and everything, but everything is going to be fine for him. I know it, believe m—"

"It's not that Harry! James is injured... I know it, I felt it!"

"... It was just a dream Ginny, you need to sleep..."

"Maybe, I don't know," she replied, confused.

Few hours later, in the kitchen, Ginny was still thinking about that dream as she was having breakfast. At the table, Harry was throwing a sombre look down at the daily newspapers he was holding.

Since the first row of the election, he noticed his campaign had dramatically faltered, and all pools were now against him. For that reason, Harry wasn't surprised to read that Corban Yaxley was, according to most newspapers, the new Minister of Magic already.

When he thought about it, as it often occurred to him, he strongly believed his tremendous drop of popularity was mainly due to his electoral comity which gave him many advices on how to be elected. But none of these advices seemed to be really working. To be totally honest, Harry began to think the whole candidature itself was a grave mistake, and almost couldn't wait to lose the election to go back to his former (and really useful) job as a Head of the Auror Office.

Stuck in his thoughts, Harry couldn't hear the noise of the morning owl, knocking at the window to deliver the mails, so Ginny went to open it. There were many letters that day, the usual advertising and bills for the most of them, but a letter from Hogwarts caught Ginny's special attention. She hastily opened it and, as she read through the hastily written note, her face lost all composure.

"It's James... he's at the Hospital Wing... in a critical state," Ginny said at low voice, panicked and shocked. "I knew it..."

Harry threw away his newspaper, took out the letter from her wife's shaking hand and began to read. When he finished, he vacantly folded it back and looked at Ginny.

"I'm going." she said at last, before rushing out of the kitchen.

She came back dressed up about few minutes later, out of breath, with a hairbrush in one hand and her shoes in the other.

"I want to come too!" Harry said, perfectly knowing what his wife would answer to that.

"You know you can't Harry, you must be working... and you have two public speeches today.

"Oh, please don't remind me of that..."

"I'll tell you everything as soon as I'll have some news, I promise."

Ginny putted her shoes on and got out of the house, leaving Harry alone with his guilt.

His day started with the usual confrontation with the press in the Atrium as Harry arrived at the Ministry of Magic. Surrounded by the journalists asking him insistent questions regarding the pools, Harry managed to go through the crowd to reach the Auror Office were another fake reunion was about to take place.