Fortunately for Ginny, only a few people knew she was the "culprit" behind the horror unleashed at the school, and since all those affected were able to recover, she got out of the mess with just a guilty conscience and a big scare.
However, the question still lingered: How did Voldemort's diary end up in her small hands?
She was precocious, but she didn't seem like the type of girl who would spend weekends seeking out dark artifacts.
Hagrid finished his vacation a week after the case was closed and returned just before the school year ended, making it clear that he wasn't guilty now nor in the past.
Unfortunately…
"The Ministry doesn't want to air their dirty laundry, so they're not willing to lift the wand sanction on your father with a public apology," said Tonks, just as upset as her boyfriend about the cowardice shown by the institution. "But after delivering Gilderoy and exposing his lies, I managed to put some pressure with Madam Bones's help. They might not apologize or mention anything about it, but they've quietly issued a change so your father can use his wand again."
Even if she couldn't clear his father's past "stain," at least she could make it so he could do magic normally again. That was a good thing, but Barnaby was still sad. It wasn't fair to his father.
"Come on, I know how to cheer you up," Tonks took a couple of Barnaby's fingers and led him to a corner, a mischievous smile forming as she licked her lips in anticipation.
An hour later, Barnaby returned to the cabin and saw his father unpacking the souvenirs he brought back from his vacation.
"Barnaby, why are your lips swollen?" Hagrid asked absentmindedly while contemplating where to hang his postcards. "Weren't you going to see Tonks off?"
Barnaby stiffened and turned his head a bit embarrassed, thinking the swelling wasn't noticeable…
"Look at his face!" Calcifer was much less subtle and laughed heartily, making Barnaby blush with embarrassment.
"Oh, come on, it was just some loving kisses," Sanshi said through their link, her tone lightly amused though she couldn't fully suppress it. "It's not like you got caught making babies."
"Sanshi, don't start too!" Barnaby almost pleaded on his knees, covering his face with his hand.
Tonks already knew about Sanshi's existence, and by extension, knew they had an audience while they kissed like teenagers. Although it was good that this didn't repress his girlfriend's affectionate displays, Barnaby found it quite challenging to keep his hands honest…
In fact, why did he feel Tonks was more excited than usual?
"Hey, Dad," Barnaby was DEFINITELY going to change the subject, "I'm thinking of spending the summer doing some things away from home with Newt. Maybe even go to Japan, is that okay?"
While the house plan was still unfinished, the rest of the land had been defined, and Barnaby wanted to start working on it as soon as possible. There were also some modifications he needed to make after talking with Tonks and subtly extracting some ideas from her before she left in a hurry.
The logs and other materials had been packed for weeks, and carving runes and protections would take a long time, so he could take everything and start the construction project with the help of Sanshi and perhaps even Newt or his wife Tina.
Barnaby hoped that by this time, Newt had had "the talk" with his wife, so she wouldn't pose a problem regarding Sanshi.
If he remembered correctly, Newt's grandson named Rolf Scamander was probably going to enter Hogwarts in the next school year.
Should he worry…?
Nah.
"Oh?" Hagrid turned his head for a moment. "Yes, of course, just try not to work too hard and have some time for Tonks."
Barnaby nodded, not noticing the little teasing smile Hagrid had under his beard.
Sometimes it feels good to tease his son!
Merlin knows how rare these occasions were; Barnaby was too capable most of the time, and embarrassing him was as difficult as brushing Fluffy's teeth...
Before he forgot, Barnaby wrote a letter to Tonks asking her to help him check if he needed to do any paperwork for a trip to Japan and send him a copy of their magical laws, wanting to avoid problems with the local magical government.
When he saw Newt later, he would also ask for some tips to keep in mind, as the magizoologist had traveled to Japan on more than one occasion.
Maybe he could even introduce him to someone to help speed up his goals, which would be immensely welcomed.
As for how he would speak Japanese fluently?
That wasn't a real problem because, well…
Magic, duh.
In fact, a curious detail is that although using magic in front of Muggles wasn't well-regarded worldwide due to the strict Statute of Secrecy, there were some tremendously convenient loopholes.
One of them was using enchanted and discreet artifacts, like a ring intertwined with idiomatic magic for the Japanese language.
Though it had the restriction that it needed to be registered upon arrival in the country and couldn't write kanji, it could read and understand them correctly, speak fluently, and understand conversations.
It was much more convenient than spending years studying the language.
Such rings weren't cheap, but not as expensive as one might think, since the enchantment only lasted about a year and needed to be renewed, costing around two Galleons depending on where it was acquired. Then the price dropped to one Galleon per year to keep it active.
And he was sure to get a good quality one if he talked to a Ravenclaw student he knew named Cho Chang, whose mother occasionally made this type of ring as a hobby, resulting in a decent additional income.
What he didn't expect was that once Frieren packed her things to leave the castle, she would ask to follow him to the land he obtained with the Scamanders.
She would even help build some things.
"Well, I have to know where you'll live later if I want to return in the future, right?"
Barnaby opened his mouth but couldn't find a problem. It's just that from what he knew about Frieren's perception of time, he might not see her again for fifty or eighty years…
But he agreed anyway. In any case, rune carving and enchantments would have another pair of experienced hands and would greatly speed up their completion.