* means it can be changed

STATUS: taken by circeology
TITLE: In The Streets*
TIMELINE: after the war AU
LOVE INTEREST: Harry Potter
OC NAME: Olivia Gray
FACECLAIM:

Alicia Vikander* ⟶ Olivia Gray

❝ You know nothing about what it was like. You hear me? Nothing. And I'm not just going to stand by while people try build a wrong world on the graves of the innocent. ❞  

SUMMARY:

❝Winning the peace is harder than winning the war.❞ Xavier Becerra
OR
❝Ah, winning was easy, young man, governing's harder.❞ Christopher Jackson

Whether in war or in peace, there will always be those who dissent. Not everyone can always be happy, and in the world of politics, that's a fact of life. It can be cold, the way they pretend to care only to selectively give, but it's impossible to please everyone.

As a victim of expectations and years of trying to help others, Harry Potter has a bit of trouble with this new philosophy. He's used to giving everything to everyone he can, not stopping until he's helped everyone, even if it means bending a few rules. His kind heart isn't meant for that type of work. But to be an auror, something you need to make hard decisions.

The Wizarding world isn't happy. That's a fact. Kingsley Shacklebolt had tried everything he could to rebuild their fractured world after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was vanquished, but no matter what he did, there were still people protesting in the streets.

Olivia Gray knew what it was like to lose. She knew what it felt like to have everything broken down into tiny little pieces and to have to build it up again. She didn't want anyone else to feel like that. And so when the Ministry of Magic puts in place the "Phoenix Initiative", she knows it's up to her to make sure that her voice of dissent is heard.

When Olivia signed up to march, she expected resistance. She expected fights, and possibly a few nights in the jail that was said to be more "humane" that Azkaban. She expected a bunch of government officials lecturing her with their prim clothing and twisted minds. What she didn't expected was to be one of the "special" cases who got to spend time with an Auror, the Minister's attempt to make peace. And she certainly didn't expect her Auror to be the famous Harry Potter.

❝ You're just one of them. A bureaucratic snob who thinks that they run everything and that they're too good for everyone else! ❞
⎯ Olivia

❝ You've known me for all of an hour! ❞
⎯ Harry

❝ Is there any other way to do this? ❞
⎯ Harry

❝ Of course there is, we're just doing it this way. ❞
⎯ Olivia

❝ And why do we have to do it this way? ❞
⎯ Harry

❝ Because you are supposed to be 'checking in' on me, and so I do what I want and you follow. And I'm doing it this way. ❞
⎯ Olivia

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

 - With all the protests and mobs that happened in 2020, I was watching TV one day and I just thought: "hey, what if this was happening in the Wizarding World?" This is is no way trying to diminish or say what happened isn't important, but this is sort of a version of "what if something similar happened to Harry?"

- Harry's an auror, and when the protests get a bit violent (which they sometimes do), the Minister send Auror's to help try to settle things down, and Harry is one of them.

- This should be a few years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry has gone to Auror training and is a certified Auror, although he still struggles with the.... less pretty aspects of the job.

- Olivia is a protester. She lost her whole family in the war, so she's acting in revenge. Her reasoning is a bit twisted, and she's been suffering from a bit of depression and anxiety and a whole lot of PTSD. Please make sure you do your research and write her correctly! She's carrying around a lot of guilt, and so thinks that a lot of things that are completely unrelated are her fault. She also thinks that maybe, just maybe she can make things right by making sure no one else has to suffer. She thinks that solving other people's problems might help solve her own. 

- The Phoenix Initiative is just a plan to try to rebuild that Wizarding world, and Olivia really, really doesn't like it. 

- Olivia gets arrested during one of the protests. 

- The Ministry has created a better jail that's a whole lot better than Azkaban. It's like a regular Muggle jail, but more Wizard-y. She spends a night there. 

- Because so, so many people are unhappy, Kingsley arranges this protester-auror exchange program type thing, where one of each spends a few weeks with each other. The auror is like a probation office type thing, I was thinking. Basically they check in every once in a while, but they also spend some time with each other, getting to know each other and learning about each other's perspective. Harry and Olivia are paired.

- The two of them aren't the only pair, but they are the main focus of the story, so you don't have to dive too deeply into who else is assigned to this. 

- Olivia is NOT happy with the new arrangement. She and Harry fight ALL. THE. TIME. Olivia hates the Ministry in general, so she resists Harry at first. He's part of the Ministry, and so she's sees him as an extension of all the things she hates. Not to mention he was involved with Voldemort, and her family was killed that way, and so......

- IT'S A PRETTY SLOW BURN. Olivia is really hesitant to get over her grudges and grief, and Harry is really skeptical of her. Enemies to acquaintances to friends to crushes to lovers.

- You're welcome to have a different person be Minister, if you want.

- Please don't change her name!

PASSWORD:
What job would you want to have in the wizarding world?