Chapter 4. Growing Pains.
The September after James Potter was five years old he left the comfort and safety of his parent's home for the noise and danger that was the first year of Thrubwell's Academy. Well he wasn't really in any danger, but it was noisy, and however well adjusted you are, your first day at school is still a little traumatic. It didn't matter that he had spent time at Thrubwell's visiting his Aunt Ginny and Uncle Neville, they weren't really related in the normal sense, it went much deeper than that. What did matter was that he was separated from Nat for the first time, and it made him feel lonely.
"He'll be fine Hermione," Ginny assured her, as she prised James from her grip, "Remember it's only for a few hours, we're not going to keep him for ever."
"Yes I know," she replied. "Well be a good boy." she said to James determined not to cry at this first separation. She waved as Ginny led him away then peragated back to the Hollow to relieve Harry of Nat so that he could get off to work himself.
Thrubwell's was every muggle child's vision of what a place full of magic and wonder should be, and even for a young witch or wizard used to the application of spells and charms the school was fascinating. The magic taught was very basic, simple household spells, like those used most days at home, were demonstrated and explained. This was done in a way that would make the more complex magic taught at Hogwarts and the other main schools that bit easier to understand.
Most important was the interaction between the children themselves, although it had to be said that a majority of the pupils were from all wizard families, there was a smattering of children where only one parent was magical and even a few from with both muggle parents. It was understood that all children were welcome as soon as they started to show magical abilities. Harry often wondered how things would have turned out if he had started at a school two or three years before going to Hogwarts, when his emerging magical talents started getting him into trouble with his aunt and uncle. Then he reasoned that he may never have met Ron or Hermione and their friendship would not have become what it was now, and without that friendship how would he have fared against Voldemort. He was just very glad Thrubwell's was there for James and would be for Nat, and that within a very short time it was clear that James was loving it.
After the first few days James was happy to let Harry drop him off on the way to work and after a week he would have apparated himself if he had been able to do it, he had settled in.
Now that there was only Nat to look after, Hermione would often take both her and Dobby to Hogwarts, where she would leave her daughter in the care of the house elf, while she began to develop her teaching skills. Hermione hadn't ever really considered following any other career than that of a teacher. She had watched with pride Harry's first attempts at teaching with the old DA in their fifth year. Then again with his role as Defence Professor the pride was there again but now mixed with a little bit of envy, she wanted so much to pass on to others all the knowledge she had buzzing around in her head.
Hermione found it difficult at first, it is not always the brightest who find teaching easy, but because she was clever it didn't take her long to get the hang of it. She watched Solomon and Harry, the both of them always so careful that everyone understood, even the slowest learners. Vacille Deversavich was brilliant with the high fliers, but not all his students were that way inclined, and some of them were left behind. Hermione was determined that her teaching would be acceptable to all and so it was Solomon she modelled herself on. Harry was good, but Solomon made it look as if he had been doing it forever, he could vary the pace of a lesson to match all the levels present in his class, it was as wonderful to watch him teach as it had been to be taught by him. Hermione became aware of just how much Solomon had passed on to them in those last two years at school, she was now sure that they would never have succeeded without him.
The time that had passed since the fall of Voldemort was one of peace and contentment for all wizard kind but especially for the members of the Tyr. With both Harry and Hermione settled, and their young family growing, the Potters were very happy with their lot.
In the summer after Hermione started at Hogwarts, Neville and Ginny produced their first child. They had been married several years before and Julie Swan who had now graduated from Hogwarts had been their bridesmaid. The young girl had become a frequent visitor to both Thrubwell's and Godrics Hollow in her years at Hogwarts and so became part of the ever expanding magical family the members of the Tyr seemed to generate.
The same year that Ginny and Neville's first born arrived on the scene, Professor Gliffley Marks retired and Harry was made head of Gryffindor House, he had been at the school for eight years now and began to feel that he never really wanted to leave. He was challenged every day by the demands of the students and now understood why so many Professors hated the idea of ever giving up.
Ron was never far away from all the activities at the Hollow, Thrubwell's or Hogwarts. He and Luna continued their long courtship and only brought it to its logical conclusion at the party organised to wet the head of Ginny and Neville's daughter Rose. Luna made Ron sweat through the whole day before she accepted his proposal but within the month had made an honest man of him.
They continued to live in London in the small set of rooms they had rented when Ron first joined the Ministry, it was quiet and comfortable and it suited the pair of them. To outsiders Ron and Luna's relationship seemed unremarkable but it had stood the test of battle, the possibility of sacrifice, and just after their marriage the results of Luna's final tests from St.Mungo's. This was the only piece of bad luck to mar an otherwise perfect time. It had been a shattering blow but there was no chance of the tests being incorrect. In a world where so much was possible with the flick of the wrist, an incantation, and some simple wand movement, the possibility for them to increase the size of their family finally faded. Luna was very down in the dumps the evening that Ron came home and first heard the news.
"I will understand," she said, sniffing into a large white handkerchief, "if…if…you… want to end…" she couldn't finish and burst into tears. Large wet drops fell into her lap and her shoulders shook, Ron rushed over and pulled her into his arms, he held her tight, as if he never wanted to let her go.
"Don't be daft," he said, holding her head so that he could look her in the face, "I have been in love with you far too long for anything to change that, as long as I have you I have everything I need and want." Ron drew her face to him and kissed her gently on the lips. "Do you remember that day when I thought I had to take Dumbledore through the veil?" She nodded, "I nearly died twice that day, walking through the veil would have done it, but looking at you, realising that I would never see you again, that… that was the worst. Snape gave me the chance to spend the rest of my life with you, when he took my place, and no silly report from St.Mungo's or anything else is going to prevent that until we are both ready to go." Ron kissed her again, "and that isn't going to be for a long, long time."
Luna felt as if her heart was going to burst because it couldn't contain all the love she had for this great tall ginger headed man. The tears she shed were tears of sorrow mixed with tears of joy, Ron rocked her in his arms until they stopped, and sent her all the love he had. For whatever the condition you are fighting the best medicine of all is love.
There was love aplenty and Ron and Luna were buoyed up by it when they told the others of their problems so that after a while it seemed to be less of a disaster and more a disappointment. They began to think that perhaps, with time, they may be able to find some way around it.
…………………………………………
Growing up as a Potter was an interesting experience for both James and Nat. As their exposure to magic had begun almost before they were even born it was to be expected that they would be magically more advanced than their peers. Although at home the gloves were off and at times highly inappropriate spells could be seen flashing around the garden, in the presence of other children or adults not of their immediate circle, they behaved as if they were perfectly normal.
The other thing which set them apart was their ability to communicate telepathically with each other and their parents. Harry and Hermione's mental connection stemmed from the time in their sixth year when Harry had saved Hermione after she had been attacked by Malfoy. Only his prompt and very delicate intervention prevented the blood spilling from a ruptured vessel swamping Hermione's brain and killing her. Then slowly their ability to talk to one another with their minds had shown itself, and this developed over the years bringing them closer and closer together.
The two children had been born with this gift; in fact they had used it before they had arrived. James had spoken to his parents from the warmth of Hermione's body but Nat only communicated with her brother this way and had waited until she had seen the light of day before she deigned to speak to her mother and father. It was possible to imagine that as the children grew this close contact could at times be considered a little inconvenient, especially when moments of privacy were required, however there was at least one occasion when it saved Nat's life.
It was one of those moments that all parents dread, a few seconds inattention, then a distraction, and before you know where you are your child is missing. Nat had been playing with Crookshanks in the garden, Hermione called for her daughter and the half Kneazle assuming his guard duty was over had ambled through the hedge and off into the woods. At that moment a sudden gust of wind blew a winter's worth of soot down the chimney in the sitting room filling the house with choking black dust. As her mother shooed Nat back out of harms way the girl caught sight of a ginger rear end disappearing into the trees and she was off following her friend. Maybe it only took ten minutes to clear up the mess, but it was long enough for Nat to disappear.
Hermione calmly used her mind to search for her daughter and discovered her not too far away but Nat was anything but calm and then suddenly she wasn't there at all. It was James who heard the mental shriek from both his mother and sister, but his sister was closer and she was the one that was falling.
Nat was in a panic, she had lost sight of Crookshanks and now she was lost, running through the woods trying to find her way out. It was dark in there and the branches of the trees and bushes were grabbing at her clothes like so many terrifying hands, she tripped and nearly fell. Then at the edge of her mind she could feel her brother's thoughts. She wanted to be with him and with that thought she translocated herself, but she was only four years old, and her aim was off. In the blink of an eye Nat found herself falling through the air over the edge of the deep short valley that held Thrubwell's. Suddenly the breath was knocked out of her body by someone crashing into her, and a pair of arms fastened about her tightly.
Ginny was leaning over James' shoulder helping him with his class work, she had just pointed out the mistake he had been making when she gasped with surprise as he suddenly disappeared from his seat then two seconds later he was back, rolling on to the classroom floor with his sister clasped in his arms. Nat cried out as she hit the floor, then when all movement had stopped she slowly opened her eyes to stare into the face of her brother James.
As the shock wore off the commotion began, her mother still dirty with soot appeared and scooped the both of them off the floor and pulled them into a fierce hug, asking over and over if they were alright. Ginny was calming the other children who were in a real state of excitement, and then suddenly it all went very quiet as Harry so tall and dressed in his black teaching robes shimmered into existence at the front of the class.
Nat switched her gaze from her mother who looked frightened to her father who thankfully was more relieved than cross.
`Sorry dada but I was so scared' the four year old thought at her father. She was heartened to see her father suppress a little smile.
`Alright, we'll talk about this later,' Harry thought back. Then he turned his attention to his son who met his firm questioning gaze with one of his own. `Never mind how, well done.'
"Sorry for the disturbance Ginny," Harry said to the petite red head who had now regained control of the rest of the class. "I think I ought to get this lot home before we cause any more trouble."
Hermione had regained her composure rapidly once she had assured herself that her children had come to no harm. "Yes Gin sorry, I'll come back later and we'll have a chat."
Ginny smiled at her two oldest friends, "Don't know why you are apologising to me, that was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I just hope you manage to find out how James did it, he was so fast it was probably instinctive, but it was remarkable none the less."
Harry and Hermione talked James and Nat through what had happened and indeed, as Ginny had suggested, their reactions appeared to be instinctive, but why should Nat turn to her brother first rather than her mother? Solomon solved that conundrum the following day when he arrived at the Hollow to talk to the children.
Nat was always in awe of this, at least to her, incredibly tall wizard, it was only as she grew up that she realised that Solomon was not that much taller that her father, and the Uncle Ron topped them both. Perhaps she reasoned it was because he appeared, so permanent, so steady, and for someone who really should be quite scary to a young child, so comforting.
Solomon brought a large box with him which he placed on the floor of the sitting room and invited both children to examine the contents. The box was filled with the most mysterious trinkets of all kinds, so interesting to the children that they absorbed themselves in the discovery of their uses, so that the adults sitting around them ceased to exist. Solomon sat quietly and watched the way the two children interacted with the objects and with each other, Harry and Hermione sitting close together on the sofa their gaze flitting from children to Headmaster, waited in anticipation. Then they sensed Solomon's mind reaching out, it flowed like a rolling bank of mist to cover James and Nat, where it quietly quested and probed the two young minds. After some twenty minutes Solomon sighed and leant back in his chair.
"There's a link between the two of them," he explained, "tenuous but permanent, very similar to the way your linkage was in the beginning. Now your linkage grew stronger as your love developed and matured as you aged, and you are still finding things that you can do now that you couldn't do before, right?"
"Yes, that's true," Hermione agreed.
"Well with these two their relationship is set by the fact that they are, err… related, they don't have to fall in love, the love has been there from the moment they were born," Solomon looked back to the playing children, "I think that their mental bond is as strong as the one you two have, and just as powerful… Watch."
Solomon closed his eyes and Harry and Hermione felt the mental thrust he pushed out at the unprepared children. The reaction was instantaneous; the air around James and Nat actually shimmered, and Solomon's attack was stopped cold. James turned from the intricate machine he had been studying to stare at the wizard, but seeing no harmful intent in his action smiled and continued to play with the toys.
Harry, Hermione and Solomon left the children in the house and walked down the length of the garden to sit on the long bench under the willow by the stream.
"All things considered this doesn't really surprise me," said Solomon, "What is more of a concern is this being able to peragate without any thought about the whole process."
"Not jealous are you Solomon?" Hermione asked.
He laughed, "No not now but I would have been, it took me a long time to get it right," he sighed, "but then that was a very long time ago." Solomon stood and walked up and down in front of the bench deep in thought. "They must learn to control their magic before it gets them into any more trouble, you are going to have to start their formal education earlier than normal, and that my dears I will leave in your capable hands." He grinned at them both, "Good luck, see you at school on Monday Harry." and with that and a dramatic swirl of his cloak Solomon disappeared.
"Well that's helpful," said Harry making it sound as if Solomon's advice wasn't helpful at all.
"Oh Harry you know he is right," Hermione chided him, "It's a good job the summer holidays are coming up, we ought to be able to get things well sorted before Nat starts at Thrubwell's."
"Goodness, I hadn't thought of that," said Harry in a worried tone of voice, "do you think Ginny will ever forgive us landing her with the pair of them?"
Hermione giggled and as always it made a shiver run down Harry's spine. "I expect she will; you know how she likes a challenge."
So the first day of the summer holidays found the Potters in Diagon Alley at the wand shop of Mr Olivander.
"Well," the old man looked down at James and Nat, "younger than usual, but then you can never tell. Let me see."
Harry was instantly taken back all those years to the time when he stood in their places waiting for his wand, waiting to hold the thing that would truly make him a wizard, waiting for the wand to choose him. Hermione watched her husband then wiggled her mind into his.
`Memories Harry?'
`Oh yes, holding my wand for the first time was like turning a key and opening a door that led to the most wonderful things imaginable. It was the start of everything, even of me finding you.' He smiled at the woman by his side and slipped his arm around her waist, and watched their children search for their wands.
Mr. Olivander had started with Nat and the pile of wands on the table had grown to a respectable size when the last one she picked up spontaneously produced a shower of red and gold stars which lit the inside of the shop.
"Well, well," said Olivander with surprise, looking at the underside of the box Nat's wand had come from. "Avalonian hazel and unicorn hair, good combination, lasts well."
"Avalonian hazel, did you say?" Hermione asked.
"Yes that right, I get a small amount of wood from Avalon, makes for a very durable wand, virtually unbreakable you know."
"Err… no I didn't," Hermione replied unnecessarily, for the shop keeper had turned his attention to James.
"Now young man," said Olivander rubbing his hands together in anticipation of a new challenge, "What can we fix you up with?"
James looked around the shop taking in the many shelves with the thousands of slim boxes stacked on them. His eyes settled on a set of shelves hidden in the dark recess at the back of the shop. James lifted his arm and held out his hand.
"This one please." he said. From that dark corner of the shop came the sound of boxes falling from their shelf, then the whisper of something flying through the air. A single box emerged from the lines of shelves to soar over the counter and land gently in James' outstretched palm. The box was battered and its edges curling with age, but as Mr. Olivander reached with slightly shaking hands and opened it, they all could see that the packing and the wand that nestled in it were as bright and clean as the day the box was made.
"Take it out young man, I don't want to touch it," the old man said.
James reached in and grasped the wand with his fingers, instantly the shop was suffused with a soft white light, and Harry suddenly felt that he didn't have a care in the world. The feeling lingered even after the light had faded, and Harry looked questioningly at Olivander.
"Elder, twelve inches with a Persian Simurgh feather as its core, it is the only one we ever made." Mr. Olivander was almost lost for words, …almost. "This wand is nearly two thousand years old, no one has ever come close to selecting it before. The healing power of the Simurgh is legendary, I cannot begin to imagine what your son will be able to do with this is."
Oh dear thought Harry, not another wonder wand in the family, well as long as there isn't a dark wizard out there with the wands opposite number wanting to take over the world, I suppose we will have to see how things pan out. He gave Hermione a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders in mute acceptance.
Later that same summer James and Nat were sitting alone in the garden of their grandparent's house in Avalon, they were both feeling rather full as they had just decamped from the celebrations for Nat's fifth birthday. Their introduction to formal magical training had gone well in the preceding weeks and they had begun to understand why they worked well together. It all revolved around love, but Nat found the concept hard to grasp, love could be so fragile and so easily destroyed, and yet love had bound her mother and father and the rest of the Tyr, and it had been so strong. It was all a bit confusing.
"James?"
"Umm." He answered sleepily.
"What is love, mum and dad talk to us a lot about it, but what is it really?" she asked.
"Gosh Nat, I don't think I can explain it, I'm not sure I know. That's the sort of question you should ask Solomon, he's been around for ages I bet he knows."
"Oh,…Nat sounded disappointed, "maybe I will one day, but James do you love me?"
"Of course I do."
"Even though you don't know what it is?" she persisted.
"Yes"
"Why?"
"Because you are my sister," he said with only the slightest trace of exasperation in his voice.
"Will you always love me?" the question was quietly spoken but for some reason it was very important for Nat to know the answer.
"Will you always be my sister?" James smiled at her.
"Yes."
"Then I will always love you."
Nat smiled back at him put her arm around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "That's good, cos I love you too."
Settling down by her brother's side the warmth of the summer sun gently rocked them and within a few minutes both of them were fast asleep.
Every year after that the pair could be found out in the garden sleeping off the effects of the birthday party, but every year there was the subtle difference in that they were a year older, and as each year passed their understanding of love, magic and the magic of love grew.
The September at the end of that summer saw Nat joining her brother at Thrubwell's and Hermione found her days completely free again, and then she didn't because Vacille left Hogwarts to return to Durmstrang and at Solomon's insistence Professor Potter mark two took on the role of transfiguration teacher. This was going to cause a problem for both the students and the rest of the teaching staff, you could talk to Professor Potter one or Professor Potter two providing they weren't in the same room because it was obvious who you were talking to, but other than that it became a little complicated. Hermione solved it in the most logical way, and thus with most un-wizard like reasoning.
"At my old muggle school we had exactly the same problem," she told Harry the day before term started, "I can revert back to my unmarried name, if you don't mind."
"Oh," said Harry, feeling only a little disappointed, "I hadn't thought of that, I suppose calling you Madam Potter is a bit over the top?"
Hermione laughed "Definitely," and she slipped her arms round his neck, "don't you ever think I don't love every minute of being Mrs Potter," she said kissing him soundly on the lips, "but being Professor Granger is just a practical solution."
So Professor Granger she became.
The world of the Potter's had settled into a gentle routine of school and holidays, work and play and all the other things that go with growing up, and everything was going very nicely. Then came the year that Nat dreaded most since James had started at Thrubwell's. This year would see them separated again, not forever, actually only for a couple of months, but even that would be bad enough. The only problem was that Nat was the only one to feel disheartened by the thought, she knew her mother and father would not understand and that was acceptable, but James, he of all people should be sympathetic to her feelings, but no, her wonderful brother was too excited, just because he had received his letter and he was going off to start at Hogwarts. It just wasn't fair.
-->