“Auror office stands firmly behind their head couple”, Lyra read the headline and smiled. “Now I see why you were late for dinner”, she glowed at Viktor. “Thank you for defending us, that was very sweet of you”.

“It was very much my pleasure”, he smiled back.

It was not just him. His picture was posted prominently at the front page, promising grim consequences to slanderers and traitors, but there were other interviews, with very similar opinions expressed. Normally, Harry would be the head of the Auror department, but since the changes in law that Lyra initiated were in effect, married couples who worked together were considered teams, and as such, the position of the department head was shared between the two of them. This, in effect, doubled the performance of the office and produced such stellar results that everybody kept asking why nobody thought of it before.

“If I accepted half the drinks the guys at the office offered to buy me, they’d have to bring me home in a wheelbarrow”, he laughed. “As it turns out, they already considered transfiguring Ron into a toad, but they concluded this was even better”.

The door bell rang, and she closed her eyes briefly. “Kreacher.” The elf apparated with a crack. “Yes, Young Mistress?”

“Arthur Weasley is at the door. Please let him in”.

“You have to teach me how to do that”, Viktor looked at her pleadingly.

“Of course”, she smiled.

“Oh, there you are”, Arthur greeted them, and looked around. “I like what you did with the place. You kept the tradition and removed the dark stuff. Very cozy”, he nodded approvingly.

“Hello Arthur”, Lyra smiled and approached to greet him. “It’s nice to see you”.

“I have to apologise for Ron’s idiocy”, he looked at her sheepishly. “It was an incredibly nasty thing for him to do, and I honestly don’t even recognize him any more, how dark he’s become. Ginny was so annoyed with him that she threatened to leave the house, and when he started pointing nasty insults at her, Molly and I threw him out of the house”.

“I heard some of it from aunt Andromeda”, Lyra confirmed. “It’s about time he faced some consequences for his actions. He betrayed Harry multiple times before, and broke Hermione’s heart more than once, and some comeuppance was long overdue”, she nodded.

“He tried to move in with George, but George read the article and threatened to spray him with an instant pox powder from his store”, Arthur laughed. “I hear his attempts in other places didn’t go much better”. His eyes fell to Lyra’s forearm and he gasped. “The Dark Mark isn’t there. Not even the faint scar that was left on others. It’s like it didn’t exist at all”.

“Somebody finally noticed”, Lyra smiled. “I had to hide my forearms for the last month in the Manor. It vanished when I gave my wand to Harry and surrendered my only protection. Something changed – I think I felt Dumbledore’s presence and heard a sentence in my mind that I’m the Mistress of Fear now, and I didn’t know that the Dark Mark was gone until I had a shower that evening and looked. I think it had something to do with the Dark Mark being based on fear, and since fear could no longer command me…”, she shrugged. “Had anyone noticed, I would be in trouble, but fortunately, it was early enough in the year and I could pull off long sleeves.”

“I’m going to kill Ron”, Arthur whispered.

“You should take a number, because there seems to be a line”, Viktor grinned. “Half the country wants to curse him, and the other half didn’t read the Daily Prophet”.

“I wonder if he’ll learn to feed himself now, or just crawl under some rock, be miserable and starve”, Lyra mused.

“That’s his problem now”, Arthur was firm. “He already had the job in the Auror department, immediately after the war, while you were back to school, but he quit after six months because he didn’t like the actual work and responsibility. Molly and I didn’t say anything but we weren’t thrilled either. Now that he made enemies of you and Harry, not to mention the rest of the office, I don’t suppose he’ll be welcome there either.”

“Oh, it would be quite easy for him to find work with his abilities. He would merely have to grow up and face responsibility”, she nodded.

“When that happens, we’ll have to check hell for snowballs”, Viktor laughed.