Princess Sunburst

May faded away much more peacefully that it entered. It was something the whole Wizarding World was thankful for. When May began, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were planning to rob Gringotts and obtain the cup horcrux from the Lestrange vault. Now, the war was over and clean-up had been going on since May 2nd when Voldemort’s reign of tyranny was spent. But, there was still much work to be done; those who had escaped the clutches of the Ministry, those who were not caught after the Battle of Hogwarts ended, still needed chasing after. It was to be a difficult task, but only Harry was really up for the job.

In the last month, only a few Death Eaters had been captured, however, only the Malfoys were given trials so far. Arrangements had already been made regarding Dolores Umbridge, Walden MacNair, the senior Crabbe and Goyle, and a few other nameless Death Eaters to stand trial for crimes against the Wizarding World—another way of saying Death Eater activities or terroristic plots—within the coming days. Sadly, they were only the more minor Death Eaters and there was still a terror in the world, one that would not be quelled until all of Voldemort’s followers were tried for their crimes. Harry wanted them to face justice.

Sadly, three of the Death Eaters that had not been caught yet were Augustus Rookwood, Fenrir Greyback, Antonin Dolohov; Rookwood was the one to cause the explosion that killed Fred; Greyback was the monster who destroyed Remus’s life and caused him to become a werewolf; and Dolohov was the one to kill Remus. All other deaths were avenged, but not Fred and Remus; not yet at least. They were the monsters that Harry was intent on catching; he wanted them to pay for all the suffering they caused for the people close to him. The Carrows were already in Azkaban awaiting trial for all that they did to Hogwarts and its throughout the year; Bellatrix was dead by Molly’s hand; the Malfoys already stood trial, with only Lucius—the most dangerous in the family—going to Azkaban; all that was left was for Rookwood, Dolohov, and Greyback to be captured.

Ron was most poised about going after Rookwood, seeing as his brother was killed because him. His best friend would have gone charging after him if not for Harry holding him back. Even Neville was composed enough to keep Ron in check; though, thanks to Molly, he already had his revenge. Harry was cautious about letting Ron go after Rookwood; in fact, he would have sooner permit Apollonia be used as bait to capture the Death Eaters than allow Ron to chase after the monster that killed his older brother. It was much too dangerous for Ron—and even Rookwood—to go chasing after this particular Death Eater.

Actually, Harry was rather surprised that Rookwood would be allowed to escape following the final battle; he was stunned by Aberforth shortly after Fred’s death. Something happened after the battle however, and it seemed to have caused Rookwood’s escape while no one was looking. Now, because of a simple mistake – not that Harry was blaming anyone for the mistake; it just sort of happened – Ron was intent on making Rookwood pay for what happened to Fred. And it would only bring suffering, lots of suffering, if Ron did as he intended. Percy and George were already affected by what happened to Fred at the beginning of the month; Harry was not about to allow yet another Weasley to feel as if they had to shoulder the burden of Fred’s death. Already had this family suffered so much, for simply being associated with Harry; Ginny was possessed by Voldemort; Arthur was nearly killed; Ron was poisoned; Bill was mauled by Greyback; George lost an ear; and now Fred was gone. He couldn’t let anything more happen to them.

Harry debated his sister’s suggestion. The possibility of using his sister as bait flitted around in the hero’s head, at least in the case of Rookwood. Apollonia was the only one Harry trusted in dealing with Augustus Rookwood; she stayed out of the war, for the most part, on her father’s orders. So, if needed, Harry could turn to Apollonia for help in going after Rookwood rather than risking the Weasleys trying to seek vengeance for their fallen family member.

The next time that Kingsley called the boys in, Harry asked for a private meeting with the Minister. While Neville and Ron sat waiting out in the hall, the young hero sat down with Kingsley Shacklebolt about the plan he had in mind. “I have a strange request, Kingsley,” Harry explained.

“What might that be?” the Minister asked.

“Sir, there are certain Death Eaters that even I cannot trust Neville and Ron to go after. I can think of only one person that might be able to help me chase after those particular Death Eaters. The problem is that I don’t know if I can bring myself to follow through with the plan,” Harry explained, careful to avoid mentioning his sister by name; he didn’t even mention the Death Eaters that he did not want Ron or Neville to help him go after. To be perfectly honest, he wasn’t even quite sure as to how the Minister would react to hearing that Harry was considering placing his own sister in perceived danger—since very few people knew of the ability the pendant hanging from her neck afforded her—simply in order to catch the Death Eater responsible for his friend’s death; therefore, her identity was kept secret for the moment, so that Harry could garner an unbiased opinion from Kingsley regarding whether where or not Apollonia should be involved in this.

“You wish to involve someone else?” Kingsley asked.

“That’s correct, Minister,” Harry replied. “I’d trust her with this more so than any of the others. Only, there’s a snag; as I said before, I don’t know if I can trust myself to let this person help me.”

“Your sister?” Kingsley asked.

Harry nodded, wondering how Kingsley could have known that he was speaking of Apollonia. “She suggested using herself as bait for the Death Eaters that are still on the loose. Now that her identity has been released to the world, it’s only natural that the remaining Death Eaters will try something; such as capturing the person I care about most in the world – my sister – as revenge for my killing their master. She expects it to happen and I’m starting to think she might be right; that it’s the only possible way for the Ministry to capture some of them.”

“Why would she offer her services?” Kingsley queried.

Unsure if he could believe it himself, Harry offered up the explanation that his sister provided him with. “There’s a theory that she is practically untouchable, thanks to the snake pendant that hangs from her neck. I’m not even sure that I can believe it myself, but she was mostly untouched by the Carrows throughout the year.” Ginny and Neville confirmed that Apollonia had been Crucioed by the Carrows on countless occasions; however, she was only truly injured once. After that, she was mostly okay and started helping Madam Pomfrey; or at least that was how the story went, if Harry could believe it at all.

“I think I know the pendant you speak of,” Kingsley said. “Your sister never takes it off. She’s worn it since the day I met her. And, you say it’s been protecting her throughout the war?”

“Since Christmas of our sixth year, I think she said,” Harry answered. “A gift from the younger Malfoy. He’s been protecting my sister more than anyone ever thought possible.”

Kingsley was shocked by that. “The day you, Mr. Weasley, and Ms. Granger escaped from the wedding, it was mentioned after I arrived on the scene that young Mr. Malfoy had kidnapped your sister. When she returned, Ms. Snape defended him, claiming that he was protecting her during the battle. That was true, Mr. Potter, wasn’t it?” the Minister asked.

“As much as I hate it, yes,” Harry replied.

“I have a meeting with your sister in a few minutes, so I will look into the idea for Ms. Snape to help you with this,” Kingsley said. “I suggest that you return to your friends before an argument starts.”

A quick goodbye was said to the Minister and Harry hurried out of the man’s office. If Apollonia was on her way out here, then stopping the confrontation between her and Ron was a must. Ron still wasn’t all that accepting of Apollonia, even if he knew that Harry and Apollonia were siblings, and wouldn’t take too kindly to the fact that she was around. Why did she pick now? Why did she have to come on the one day that Neville, Ron, and I happened to come down to the Ministry? Harry spotted Ron and Neville just as Apollonia was coming over. “Come on, guys. We need to get going,” Harry suggested to the boys.

***

When Kingsley Shacklebolt chose to become the Minister of Magic, he expected a lot of it to be politics as usual; trying to eliminate all remnants of the Voldemort regime as well as correct all the deficiencies from when Fudge and Scrimgeour were in office. It proved to be quite the challenge however; Fudge thought the world was in a state of peace; that Voldemort was gone. With Scrimgeour, he seemed intent on promoting his own agenda and did not do all that much to help the situation with Voldemort; defenses were weak, causing the Ministry to fall so easily to the self-proclaimed Dark Lord. Now that it was Kingsley’s turn, there was a lot that had to be done, a lot of clean-up yet to be taken care of.

In the last month, the Ministry had gone through an awful lot of changes and it still wasn’t up to the standard Shacklebolt wanted it to be at. Several employees were to be tried for sympathizing with Voldemort’s reign; Dolores Umbridge was one such person. Then, there were the Death Eaters hidden in the Ministry, ones like Walden MacNair, who was awaiting trial; and Lucius Malfoy, who was already sent to Azkaban thanks to a little help from Apollonia Snape. The last month had been immensely hard on Kingsley, as he needed to go through all Ministry employees and determine their loyalty; reorganize the Ministry and do away with all changes carried out during the last ten months under Voldemort’s regime; and new laws needed to be made so that this could never happen again. It was the only thing that could be done to prevent the rise of a new Dark Lord.

To ensure that all went according to plan, Shacklebolt recruited those who had the most experience—and success rate—in catching dark wizards. As much as he would have liked to give the Chosen One a break, Kingsley knew better than anyone that Harry would be the one to find the escapee Death Eaters, whether he was searching or not. It seemed to be the best idea at the time; have young Mr. Potter chase after the Death Eaters, just as he did with Voldemort for the last seven years. Trouble came looking for the young hero, so Kingsley might as well use that to his advantage. Catching the Death Eaters would be easy pickings so long as Harry and his friends were around to help with the search.

Not once did the new Minister ever expect that the boy’s sister would become involved in what was happening. He expected that the young Snape daughter would be helping with the Hogwarts reconstruction. But, the girl getting involved in the capture of Death Eaters, after everything that she had done to avoid the becoming involved with them; well, it didn’t seem to make much sense to the Minister. And, it would only put her in danger, something that the boy hero would not appreciate too much. If the last years were any indication, it had only been a month since Mr. Potter learned of her place as his sister.

No one in the Order seemed truly aware of the girl’s identity; she kept her mother’s name secret for the sake of her safety. The only one that ever seemed to have knowledge of what was going on was Tonks; the young Snape was close to the metamorphagus, so it was in all likelihood that she was aware of what was going on. She also happened to be related to several Death Eaters. After the young Snape was kidnapped by Malfoy to meet with her father, Tonks was one the people who still believed in her, along with McGonagall, and the Weasley boys; the older two and the twins; no one else—Kingsley included—seemed all that willing to believe that Apollonia was really on their side. And it was something that Kingsley regretted, especially seeing as she helped them out so much during the war; she was the one who offered to become secret-keeper for the Dursleys when no one else would, when everyone else wanted nothing to do with the magic haters.

But, with the young Snape, it never seemed to matter; she could care less that Harry’s family hated magic so much. No one in the Order was ever able to figure out how this was ever possible, but the girl being related to the Dursleys did seem to make sense. She was the only one willing to stand up for the family who hated her brother so much; it was something no other person wanted to do. The fact that Apollonia Snape turned out to be Harry Potter’s half-sister was something no one in the Order ever dared to suspect, which made Kingsley and all the others who refused to believe in the young Snape extremely guilty that they would dismiss her in such a way; judging her by her father’s allegiance.

The meeting with the young Snape could not have come at a better time. Aside from the fact that Ms. Snape was the one to call this meeting, Kingsley had a request for the young woman, something only she was capable of fulfilling. In fact, it was also something she suggested in the first place; it was something that her brother was not permitted to know about, at least that was the way the young woman explained it the last time they met. She came to a realization that no one else did and the Minister wished for Apollonia Snape to aid him and a select group of people in following through with said plan.

As Harry Potter and his friends headed down to Auror department to obtain their newest assignment, Kingsley prepared for his meeting with the Snape daughter. There was a lot that the Minister needed to discuss with her; items that only she was able to accomplish.

***

As she was arriving at the Ministry for a meeting with Minister Shacklebolt, Apollonia spotted Neville and Ron a ways down. Knowing all too well of the hatred Ron had for her very existence, Apollonia prepared for a confrontation. Well, at least until Harry came out from the very office Apollonia was on her way over to and, upon spotting her, hurried the others away. Harry winked and disappeared from sight, leaving Apollonia’s path Minister Shacklebolt’s office clear.

While Apollonia was able to reconcile with Harry, there was no way in hell that she would ever be able to get along with Ron. It was about as likely as Harry getting along with Draco. And, as there was no way that was ever going to happen, Apollonia knew that her getting along with Ron was never going to happen; they were just too different to ever get along. The hatred Ron possessed towards those sorted into Slytherin knew no bounds. And, for someone who came from such a prominent light family, the prejudice he possessed made no sense; he should have cared more about the Slytherins who refused to side with Voldemort rather than allowing the discrimination against them to fester and grow.

It was despicable the way Apollonia was treated by Ron, even with the knowledge of her mother’s identity. And it was all because she was a Slytherin. He’ll get his due, the young woman thought. Eventually he’ll come to realize just how much of a mistake it is for him to discriminate against those sorted into the house of cunning ambition. She refused to let it continue, not when the world was trying to recover from Voldemort’s tyranny.

There was no need for Apollonia to knock on the door. To the Slytherin’s surprise, Kingsley called her in. “Ms. Snape, you may come in. I know you’re there,” he called.

Apollonia entered the Minister’s office. “How did you know I was here, sir?” she queried. “I only got a here a few minutes ago and could have been caught up with something.”

“Your brother was just here,” the Minister said, as if it explained everything. The teenager was about to question the Minister over that before he continued speaking. “I suspected that he might run into you while here. And it seems that I was right. Close the door, would you, Ms. Snape, and we’ll get started. We have a lot to go over; including items you’re not even aware of.”

“Of course, Minister,” she replied.

As Apollonia took a seat, the former Auror chuckled. “You know you can call me Kingsley, right?” he asked. “Both you and your brother are permitted to call me that. In fact, while I’m thinking of, I am truly sorry for not believing that you wouldn’t betray the Order as your father did. Many children learn habits from your parents and a lot of us feared that it would be the case for you as well. No one knew who your mother was at the time and we feared the worst. Now I see that we had nothing to worry about; that you inherited your mother’s traits.”

Apollonia nodded. “I can see why you would have thought that, not knowing my true parentage. Dad always did say I was like Mum. More than he could ever stand, I suppose. Though, I did hint at my mother’s identity the day the Ministry fell. I guess it didn’t help that much.”

“Yes, I can see that now,” Kingsley said.

“Right; now what can you tell me about the Dursley situation, sir?” the Slytherin asked. It was a long shot, but Apollonia had to try asking about her mother’s family. Nothing was ever done about the Dursleys under Fudge’s or Scrimgeour’s term, a fact that Apollonia was most displeased about. The Ministry was under new management, so she hoped that Kingsley might be able to do something about the abusive relatives that Harry spent his childhood with.

“I thought you might ask that,” Kingsley said.

“I’m that predictable?” she asked.

“Only when it comes to your family,” Kingsley answered.

“I see,” the Slytherin replied. “Do you have anything then?”

The Minister removed a file from his desk and perused it for a few moments before turning back to Apollonia. “I had the file the Ministry has on your brother pulled a few weeks ago in the hopes that it would help me understand the reasoning behind the actions of sixteen years ago. There is quite a bit of information here,” Kingsley said, holding the thick file out for Apollonia to take. “Since this does involve the hero of the magical world, I need to have a team set up to investigate before anything is done about the abuse that Harry has suffered through by their hands. And, I would like you to be the one to head up this investigation.”

“Me?” the Slytherin asked. “Why me?”

“Because you’re the only one even remotely willing to go near the Dursleys,” the Minister reminded her. “And, you actually have a reason for being there, seeing as you are also related to them. Sadly, you’re also the only person in the world that might be unbiased enough to do this; while they are family, you recognize enough that they must be brought to justice for what they’ve done to Harry, never mind that he’s also the savior of the Wizarding World.”

Apollonia scowled. “Boy-who-lived crap! Everyone in the world wanted to know the boy-who-lived, the Chosen One, but I doubt anyone cared to look through the label to get to know Harry. Did anyone really care that he was being abused? Not to mention the stupid blood wards, the ones I could have powered. Hell, I could have stopped this whole thing if only I was allowed to know that my brother was Harry Potter!” she raged. Every second of every day did Apollonia regret not being allowed to know of her brother’s existence.

“I would not beat yourself up about that if I were you,” Kingsley suggested to the young woman. “There was nothing you could do, not if your father was hiding the secret from you. What matters now is the disciplinary action that the Dursleys will face for treating their nephew in such a way. In that file is the list of possible people who should be in on the investigation; since you will be heading this investigation, I am allowing you to choose the people you work with. At least two Aurors should be involved in the investigation. Talk with Gawain Robards about who should be considered. Be careful though; your brother and his friends are up there at the moment. Actually, you might want to avoid them right now.”

“Ron strikes again,” she muttered.

“There are two other items on the agenda,” Kingsley informed her. Yet another file, this one thinner, was handed to her. “You mentioned something a few weeks ago about this; the arrangements have been made and it will start first thing tomorrow morning.”

“And the other thing?” she asked.

“Yes. Just before you came in, I heard an interesting story from Harry,” Kingsley explained. “He told me of a suggestion you had and asked my opinion on it. As an Auror, the idea of a civilian becoming involved in matters such as this simply should not happen. But, as an Order member, I can see why you might want to help your brother; the idea of using yourself as bait, for the sake of capturing as many Death Eaters as you possibly can, sounds very tempting.”

Apollonia eyed the Minister warily. “Are you giving me your blessing or scolding me for coming up with such an idea?” It was hard to say what was going on because he did both.

“Blessing,” Kingsley answered. “However, I will warn you right now that you must be careful. If you plan on helping your brother chase after some of these Death Eaters, then make sure to protect yourself. Even if that necklace of yours can help you withstand any attack, it would be best if you didn’t have to rely on that. While it would probably help, relying on it would not do any good. Rely on your own skill for this one; the pendant will have a trace on it by the time you must join your brother and that’s all it should be used for.”

“Harry mentioned the pendant?” Apollonia asked in surprise.

“He did,” Kingsley said. “I must say, I’m surprised you would conceal a thing like that from the Order. We could have used something like that during the war; it might have stopped the attacks.”

“Even if it was given to me by a Death Eater,” she countered.

“Yes, I never thought I would see the day where a Death Eater would willing help us,” Kingsley mused. “But, it seems you have that affect on them, Ms. Snape; you provided two. It was your influence that led to both your father’s and young Mr. Malfoy’s change of heart.”

“Glad I could help,” she chuckled.

It wasn’t too long before Apollonia was allowed to leave, clutching the two files tightly. She had a lot to go over. Now, in addition to helping rebuild Hogwarts and watching over George, Apollonia needed to deal with the consequences of her own request—Kingsley thought that if it came from her, things might come easier—lead the investigation into the Dursleys, and helping her brother catch a few Death Eaters by using herself as bait. I am going to have a very eventful summer, the busiest on record, she realized.

Now that the war was over and the recovery had begun, Apollonia had been busier than ever. With her identity having been revealed to the world, even she was involved in helping the world recover; Kingsley wanted her to aid in the recovery, seeing as she was Harry’s sister and therefore had the right to see that the Wizarding World went back to the way it was, back to the way it should have been. After the years she spent never realizing that Harry was her brother, doing her part to help the world recover was the only thing she could do. And that meant that she would have to put aside the plan to spend time with her brother until peace was restored; there was a lot that needed to be done yet.