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Moving In | 2

"Potter!"

Athena's voice brought him back to the real world. For the past ten minutes Harry had been zoning out while staring intensely at the name, the name that haunted his dreams, not really sure if this was real or a sick, cruel joke. He looked over the case file for the first time in a while, glancing over at Athena who had pulled her chair again near his cubicle.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she inquired, bringing her chair inside Harry's cubicle. They were pretty tighted up but she didn't seem to care.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he repeated, still somewhat dumbstruck.

"You've been like that since Robards assigned us this undercover mission," Athena pointed out. She slammed the door of the cubicle shut, making it pretty clear to not interrupt them. "What's the problem?" she asked once again, dropping her voice into a whisper.

Harry hesitated. He and Athena weren't exactly best friends even though they had been working together for the past two years and a half. He wasn't sure if he could entrust her with his past's events for they never talked about any of that. They didn't have this type of relationship. Theirs was mostly professional. But in order to be able to work this case properly, she needed to know the truth. He ran a hand through his hair.

"The victim? Ginny Weasley?" he spoke, barely managing to choke out her name.

"Yeah, the professional quidditch player." Athena nodded. "What about her?"

"She's my ex. We kind of fell apart pretty badly. It went down awfully. She sort of... Er... Hates me. And I'm still not in terms with my feelings towards her."

Athena's expression didn't betray any of her feelings. "And why are you telling me this now, Potter?"

"Because I thought you ought to know since it's probably going to affect our mission," he admitted. In all honesty, he was scared of her reaction but surprisingly she just nodded.

"You did the right thing, Potter," she said eventually. "If your personal relationship with Ms Weasley affects our job, I should know about it."

He was relieved that she understood the situation but that was before she decided to slap him across his face. His hand flew inwardly on his left cheek while looking at her with the armost surprised expression.

"What the hell was that for?" he hissed.

"I thought you needed it. You need to pull your shit together, Potter." She pointed her finger at his chest. "You're not a school boy to allow your personal affairs interfere with your job."

As she spoke, he rubbed his cheek. It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over his head. "I will. And thanks uh... For the slap."

Athena smiled softly. It was one of the rare time Harry had seen her smile. "You're welcome," she said and the smile quickly vanished. "Now if you excuse me I'm going to pack some stuff. And advise you do the same."

"Once I'm done filling in this report, I will as well," Harry assured her. Athena rolled her eyes at him while she opened the door and returned back to her cubicle. Harry gazed at the spot she stood only moments ago. Despite her stoic demeanor and her antics, he was glad to have Athena as his partner. Maybe they weren't even close to being friends but at least they knew how to keep each other in line. With those thoughts hovering in his head, he returned his attention back to his report.

~•~•~•~•~

Later that night, Harry found himself in the Leaky Cauldron having dinner with Ron and Hermione and catching up. Both of them were surprised to hear about Harry's mission that involved Ginny, which triggered Harry's curiosity. He had avoided her on purpose all those years and so had she, but he couldn't comprehend how her own brother had no clue about the threats. Harry dropped a bomb that evening at Ron and he seemed as surprised as he was when he first found out. Hermione wasn't any less surprised.