"Benjamin Albus Potter," Caterina yelled from the side door of the cottage.
Nothing.
"Anna Lily Potter!" she called out.
Still nothing.
The brother and sister watched from the safety of a distant tree to make sure their nanny would not be able to follow them. The two grinned at each other, after the door they were watching closed.
"See, I told you she wouldn't be able to find us. I left the drawer to my wardrobe open, the one with my swimming suits. She'll be looking in the pond for nearly an hour," Annie told her younger brother.
"That was brilliant, Annie, and you were right, he left his Firebolt in the cupboard again," Ben said as he pushed his hair from his face.
"You first, you need the practice if you want to make the house team. I know we'll both be brilliant on the Gryffindor team "
"It's not fair you get to go in a few weeks, I have to wait two whole years," Ben pouted.
"Benjamin," she started with a look as firm as their mother, "you know the rules, I was born in May, and I'm already eleven. You won't be eleven for a year and a half, so you have to wait two years.
"It's not fair; daddy could have them make an exception, can't he?"
"No, you know he can't have the rules changed. You have to wait, and that's all. Now are you going to take your turn?"
"Yes, but…"
"No buts, go, my stomach is queasy."
"Again? That's the third time this week you've been ill."
"It's only the second and I'm fine. You do want to try out for the Gryffindor team, don't you?"
"Well, yeah. I'll be the best Seeker since daddy. You wait and see," he said as he grabbed his father's broom and zoomed into the air.
"Ben, not too far this time, do you hear me? You'll get us both caught this time!" she shouted as he disappeared into the clouds.
Ben ignored her warning as he skimmed the treetops, weaving between the branches at an ever faster rate. He loved the freedom of flight as much as his father and sister, a trait they both obviously inherited. He soared past a flock of crows that were quite startled to see a flying boy in the fringe of their fields.
He avoided the openness of the fields, in case Muggles were about. In the forest he could have been mistaken for a large bird. The cover of the trees was his safety. His father taught him how to control a broom almost from the time he could walk, and even had his own broom, but it was constrained to a mere fifteen feet from the ground and quite slow.
The twenty-seven-year-old Firebolt was still powerful; even for an adult. Harry had replaced it with a newer one, but refused to retire this broom for sentimental reasons. The nine-year-old boy straddled the shaft, and felt as natural on it as a Muggle boy would one
He soared as high as he ever dared until the trees appeared as tiny as matchsticks. His sister's warning was forgotten as he spun through a large cloud and zoomed back to the tree line.
He glanced to the side and realized he had been in the cloud too long, the surrounding forest and landmarks were unfamiliar. He began to get nervous, being so far from home and from Annie.
He spotted and circled a small clearing in the forest, and from one edge he noticed a trail of smoke.
"A fire!" he exclaimed to himself and landed behind several large shrubs near the source of the smoke. He hid his father's broom behind a large oak tree, noting its safe hiding spot before he approached the source of the fire.
Hidden under the canopy of the forest, a small cottage came into view. The bluish white trail of smoke seemed to invite him, and also frightened him. He crept to the edge of the woods, the ivy covered walls were less then a metre away.
'Stay away from strangers, stay on our grounds.' The words reverberated in his head, his mum cautioned him to be weary of any stranger. He had listened to his father time and time again telling his mum of people hurting others, evil people.
Ben remembered the stories told to them by Draco and Ginny's twins, Radulphus and Lucia Malfoy, of the evil people his mum and dad fought.
He was scared.
He wanted Annie.
He wanted to be home.
"Well, my young friend, you've held you end of the bargain. Your true master would have been proud of you for once," a voice loomed from an open window.
"I won't be part of this; you can't expect this plot to actually work? Once they discover your secret, you may as well crawl back into your hole and hide," a second voice replied in a spiteful tone.
"You truly are spineless, and you have failed to grasp the real purpose of this endeavor. You have been a disappointment to us; I am almost ashamed to have taught you so poorly."
He snorted, "I would expect you to have a few more events in your life to be ashamed of, the murder of those Muggles this past years, and the minister's death still hasn't been explained. Why murder him?"
"He was dangerously close to my home. And he had constantly come to the aid of the Mudblood bitch. She was the cause of the Dark Lord's end here."
"No, she aided in his death. It was her spouse that cast the fatal spell, or have you forgotten," a third voice exclaimed.
'They killed the Minister?' Ben questioned to himself as he listened intently to the conversation; nothing made sense to his young mind, except that he found a group of killers.
"But still, you have access to information that Mudblood wench cannot provide us. It would be amusing to see the look on that whore's face if she were to discover I used her to track the Potters. I expect she will find her end as all traitors do, at the end of a rope."
Ben's breathing increased and beads of sweat broke from his forehead as he started to back away. A twig under his foot snapped, sending waves of fear through him.
He froze in his spot hoping that sound wasn't heard; he felt his stomach twist into a knot as he fought to control his breathing.
"Did you hear something?" the first voice asked.
"No, you're mistaken; no one knows of this cottage, it's shielded from Muggles, just as you insisted." The second voice replied.
"You fool, someone's lurking outside," the voice grew closer.
Ben crawled under the row hedges, through a break small enough for him to wiggle through.
"There, I saw the scrubs move." The voice loomed over the hedges.
Ben held his breath to keep from bursting into tears, and kept crawling away. A bright red flash struck the bushes he had just left, and they burst into flame.
"There, foot prints, a child's foot print. I told you to find someplace isolated," he hissed at his companion.
Ben kept silently crawling under the bushes, not making a sound as remained out of view. He heard that horrible voice scream something unintelligible and the second voice screamed in pain. Ben felt his heart bulge in his throat, choking off rational thought. The tears of fear now freely streamed down his cheeks as he finally found that small clearing.
A large oak became his sanctuary, as he jumped from under the shrubs to the tree. He raced around to find the broom he had hidden and waited only a fraction of a second.
In that pause, hardly a second had ticked by; a green bolt struck the ground opposite from the side he escaped. Had he not paused, he surely would have been struck.
He remained hidden by the tree and straddled the broom, kicked up and kept the tree between him and the attacker. The next bolt was aimed again, but at the ground, as if he were expected to be on foot. He soared overhead hoping not to be seen. He swerved and dipped the same way he and Annie played when chasing the snitch.
Another green bolt passed within inches of his head as he turned to look behind him. A tall man in a jet black cloak stood with a wand, trying to track the broom's course. The only features he noticed were his hooked nose and his long black hair, peppered with grey streaks.
He shot as quickly into the clouds as he could climb, the broom sped upward leaving a blur that the man on the ground couldn't seem to track. Ben raced as fast as the broom would carry him. The trees behind quickly disappeared as the clouds engulfed him.
The bite of the wind in his face burned from the salty trails on his face, but he wouldn't let go to wipe his eyes. He held on and kept flying blindly.
"Ben! Benjamin Potter!" he heard after what seemed like an eternity in the clouds.
He kept flying.
"Benjamin!" the unmistakable voice commanded; the tone was guarded but stern.
He slowed and let the voice catch him. A familiar arm wrapped around his waist as another man flying next to him caught the Firebolt.
"Daddy!" he screamed as he tightened his small arms around Harry's neck. Ben held tightly, more from fear of the scene he had narrowly escaped then from falling. He had, however, forgotten his peril was far from over.
The group landed in a nearby clearing; the young boy, however, refused to release his father.
"Now, Benjamin Albus Potter, do you have an explanation for taking my old broom?" Harry asked his young son. The anger in his voice reemphasized the terror in young Ben's eyes.
"D-D-daddy, there were men, bad men," he stammered, his shirt was drenched in sweat.
"What men? Where?" Harry interrogated. He held his son tightly by his arms, his tone shifted quickly from anger to concern.
Ben began to sob when he realized his folly was to land him in greater peril than then had he remained near the cottage. He let his chest hitch once before he answered, "I was lost and I stopped in a small field, and there was a cottage covered in vines." He paused to let his voice calm.
"And you saw men there? Did you talk to them?" Harry asked in a calm, but firm tone.
"No, daddy, I hid until I could see if they were Muggles. They heard me and I heard one say something and the other screamed."
"Then what?" Harry asked.
"Only one came outside, a red light hit the tree I was behind and I flew away. Then more lights flashed past me as I flew faster and faster. I thought I was lost again when you called me."
"Ben, can you find this cottage again?" Ron interrupted.
"Leave him be Ron, I won't put him in danger to chase down someone wanting privacy. Ben, what made you think you could take the broom?" Harry asked.
"Annie said we could practice and be on the House teams when we started school. It's an old broom.
"That bloody Firebolt's the fastest broom about, and you keep it locked up?" Ron asked.
"Hermione gets a bit nervous when I use it these days, she says I get reckless," Harry said with a shrug.
"Daddy? When did the Minister die?" Ben asked the conversation still unsettled in his young mind.
"He's not; he's still in the Ministry, why?"
"The two men talking, one asked the other why he killed all the people and the Minister, and then I got scared."
Ron's ears burned at this tidbit, "Did you hear a name? Did you see them?"
"No, but one sounded familiar, but I didn't hear him say much."
"Bugger," Harry muttered under his breath. "The man you saw, have you ever seen him before?"
Ben shook his head, "No, but he was very angry. But I don't think he was strong, his flashes were green."
Ben watched as his father's face paled, "Ron, he tried to kill my son."
Without a word, Ron mounted his broom and kicked off retracing Ben's flight. As he grew smaller in the sky, Harry tied his Firebolt under his newer broom, and the two mounted the shaft to fly home.
The sun had settled to rest on the horizon, letting the day wind to its end. Annie and Ben sat on the sofa in the lounge of their home in Godric's Hollow. The ordeal of the day had been discussed between Harry and Hermione while the children waited.
The dinner hour had passed as discussions continued with Ron and Sirius.
"Ben, why are Uncle Ron and Uncle Sirius here?" Annie asked in a whisper.
"I told you Uncle Ron was there, he must have called Uncle Sirius. Daddy and I came back to fetch you, and I guess they went to find those men."
"Are you sure daddy…" Annie said, but approaching footsteps silenced her next thought.
Harry remained in the kitchen with Ron and Sirius listening to the upcoming fray, Hermione stood in front of her two children with her arms crossed. The stern look on her face told the brother and sister this wasn't going to be easy.
"Anna Lily Potter, march to your room this instant," she demanded.
"But mummy, we haven't had supper," he pleaded.
"I said to your room," she hissed. Ron had looked up at them curiously at the manner of her speech.
"Harry, did she just…" Ron started to ask before he was shushed.
Annie quickly left her brother to face their mother alone. She knew that when their father delegated punishment to their mum, it was going to be very bad.
"Benjamin Albus Potter, what have you got to say for yourself?" she hissed at him. Ron looked at Harry again, and even Sirius picked up on her speech.
"What did she say?" Sirius asked
Harry simply pressed a finger to his lips.
"Mummy, I only wanted to practice. Annie said…"
"We've had this discussion in the past, young man, I will deal with your sister on this matter later. You, however, have lost your own broom until further notice, and you will have to remain home when we see your sister off to the train."
Ben pushed the hair from his eyes and whimpered at the possibility of not being able to see Annie to the train.
"And further, you are to write two scrolls on exactly what happened today, by yourself."
Ben's eyes turned down to his feet, he had inherited his father's love of writing. Two scrolls was nearly a death sentence if he couldn't ask Annie for help.
"But mummy, two whole scrolls?"
"And neatly, any scribbling and you'll repeat the work." She unfolded her arms and reached for his hand. "Now," she added loudly, "to the study with you."
She held his hand and forcibly pulled him out of view and earshot from the kitchen. The library was her private sanctuary, and Ron had known to leave her alone once that door closed. Only Harry would be able to intervene.
She led him to the sofa under the main window, and sat him down. Her wand pointed to the door and a slight crackle and groan sealed the only exit from the room. She then sat next to him and put an arm around him.
"Ben, sweetheart, what you did was wrong. You must understand that."
"Yes, mum, but I didn't think it would…"
"Hush. I think not seeing your sister off would be punishment enough for you both. Merlin knows how you two manage to get in so much mischief. Now that essay, the conversation you heard may be a vital link to a great man's murder and anything you recall might help your uncle solve the case. That is more for him then for punishment." She smiled and kissed the top of his head.
"Mummy? I am sorry. But I love to fly so much."
"I know darling. You have too much of your father in you. Now if you get started while the memories are still fresh, you can be finished quickly."
Hermione stood and crossed the room to the door, and flicked her wand producing another light crackle. She turned the door knob and left Ben alone to his punishment.
As soon as she closed the door, both Ron and Harry confronted her. "Did you have to beat him?" Ron asked. "We could hear each time you smacked his bottom, and his cries...."
Harry gave her a knowing wink, "Spare the rod as they say."
"Darling, leave him to his writing, I'll see to him in an hour, he's not to be disturbed," Hermione instructed Harry as she left to deal with her daughter.
"Brutal, that one, I'm glad we didn't get on like you two. I can't stand the thought she'd actually strike Annie or Ben."
"She's a tough one Ron, but I do love her. She knows what she's doing so leave it be. As far as I'm concerned it's done," Harry said.
"Mum, where are my new robes? Did they arrive from Madam Malkin's shop yet? We have to leave in the morning," Annie called down from her room.
"They're in your trunk, dear. I've packed your robes already, you seemed disappointed again over the selections," Hermione called back as she climbed the stairs.
"I just don't fancy that color green. I would rather have the crimson," Annie pouted, seeing her mother just outside her bedroom.
"It's your House colors, there's nothing to do about it," Hermione replied.
"But why? Artemisia should be there, not me, her father's Head of that House and he despises me. Why is she in Gryffindor?"
"Darling, the Sorting Hat is never wrong, there has to be a reason," Hermione consoled her daughter.
"But I should be in Gryffindor. I'm positive Ben will be sorted into Gryffindor. Only dark witches and wizards come out of Slytherin. I don't want to be like that."
"It's your choices that guide your life, not what House you were Sorted sorting into. You're doing brilliantly from what Headmistress McGonagall tells us. We are both proud of you, now finish packing," Hermione said as she stood to leave.
"Mum, I've filled my old trunk; there just isn't any more room."
"Use my old trunk from school, it's in the attic. Now, I have to see to Ben's packing." Hermione smiled at her daughter as she left the bedroom to tend to her son's trunk.
Annie remained sitting on her bed, and gave the trunk with the Slytherin crest a solid kick before she slumped back onto her bed. The calendar on her wall had September first blacked out, hoping to avoid the day.
She loved the school, but hated being in the Slytherin House. She hated living in the drafty damp dungeons of the school. She hated the constant smell of the nearby potions classroom. She hated her dorm-mates above all.
She refused to think of them until she had to return.
The pile of extra supplies she insisted on bringing lay on her bed. Her school trunk filled to beyond capacity. 'Maybe if I use a reducing spell,' she thought as she pointed her wand at the trunk.
Before she could cast the spell, a soft knock on the door forced her to quickly slip her wand back into her pocket.
"Annie?" her father asked from outside the door. Being a teenaged girl, she insisted on certain protocols being enforced, and her father complied.
"What is it?" she asked with a tone of annoyance.
"Your mum asked me to help bring a trunk from the attic. There are several and I thought we could rummage through the attic together," Harry said.
The anger in Annie's eyes began to cool at the thought of spending a few minutes alone with her father. She jumped from her bed into his arms, wrapping her shorter arms around his waist.
"I hate that place, daddy, I really don't want to go back."
"I thought you loved Hogwarts?"
"No, I can't stand that house I been stuck in."
"Slytherin? We've had this discussion before; the Sorting Hat put you there for a reason. You know it wanted to place me there too," he said as she pulled away.
"Yes," she said rolling her eyes. "You've told me countless times how you asked the hat not to put you in Slytherin. I nearly begged it to put me in Gryffindor after it said I belong in Slytherin, but it wouldn't change its decision. Ben is probably going there, why can't you ask Professor McGonagall to transfer me, or have me re-Sorted?"
"You know she can't show special privilege to anyone, but if Ben is sorted to Gryffindor, I'll see if she will consider having the hat resort you, that's the best I can offer."
Her eyes finally lit up at that possibility and together they climbed the stairs to the attic. The door opened to the dusty chamber at the summit of the house.
"Here's your mother's trunk, we can change the house standard and your name; I don't think anyone there would remember who Hermione Granger was."
Annie rolled her eyes, "Daddy, everyone still remembers you and mum. So leave her name on it."
The chest in question was under a growing pile of cast offs and forgotten artifacts. Annie noticed a sealed box, off to the side. She picked it up and noticed it was fairly light.
"What's in here?" she asked.
"That was your mother's, she locked it up here quite a long time ago, she told me it was something from her childhood that greatly troubled her. She couldn't bear the thought of discarding it, and she couldn't bear to have it in the open."
She nodded at the possibility some memories were difficult, reinforcing the stories she heard at school. As she replaced it where she found it, a bundle of letters bound with a silk ribbon fell to the floor. Harry's attention had been drawn away for a moment when he spotted a worn rucksack giving her the opportunity to retrieve them and slip them unseen into the trunk.
"Daddy? What's that?" she asked as he retrieved his old rucksack.
"It was an old pack I used when I had to spend a few days away; I almost never left home without it." He smiled as he handed the empty bag to his oldest child. "Here, you can use it to carry your school books. It still has a few good years left in it."
She took the pack and ran her fingers over the hand embroidered letters 'HP'. "I love it, Daddy, it means more to me then the bag I have from 'that House'."
"I thought you'd rather have something without the Slytherin house emblem on it. Let's get the dusty old thing downstairs."
"Daddy, you're not that dusty!" she said with a grin as she watched him levitate the trunk down the stairs. Once they were back in her room, he set the trunk at the foot of her bed.
The moment he turned to leave she threw her arms around his neck, "Thank you Daddy, I love you."
He turned in his daughter's arms and she knew that look, she was ready to take advantage of his benevolent mood. "Is there anything else you need to pack?"
"Isn't Aunt Ginny and Arty coming tonight? I won't be able to spend time with her when the term starts, they don't like us associating together," she pouted.
"Yes, they will be here soon, in time for supper. Now finish packing and help Ben. I'll call you when she gets here," Harry said as he kissed her forehead.
"I can't wait to see her," Annie exclaimed. "There's so much I have to tell her."
"Wasn't she here just this morning?" Harry asked slightly puzzled.
"Daddy, that was hours ago. So much has happened. Now go, I have to change," she commanded.
Caught off guard, her father complied and left. She used this rouse of needing privacy to change this summer after she and Hermione spent an afternoon shopping for clothing more suited from a teenage girl.
When the latch closed and he was safely outside, she threw the trunk open and removed the bundle of letters. She recognized the handwriting on the top envelopes immediately as her mum's and naturally assumed they were the sort of steamy love letters young couples shared. Very little was told to her and her brother about their parents' past, there were very few details about that period of time when they were only friends up to when they were married.
"Now to see what they've been hiding," she said under her breath. She slipped the silk ribbon from the bundle and started to decide which to read first.
"Annie!"
"Bugger it all," she said as she quickly put the bundle in her regular school trunk.
"Annie!" she heard again. Caterina's voice carried through the house.
"What is it?" she asked sharply.
A rough knock on the door followed by Caterina entering without Annie's permission sparked yet another battle of wills.
"What do you want?" she hissed.
"Your mother has sent me to help pack," Caterina tried to say without any hint of bitterness.
"Well if you had a brain, you would see I have my things well under control. You might see to my owl." She glared at her childhood caregiver before picking up a bundle of neatly folded clothes and slammed them into the extra trunk.
"Is there anything else you need? If not, then go away!" Annie ordered with a tone suitable for a servant or house-elf.
"Miss Potter, you would do well to remain civil," Caterina snapped back.
"Or what? You have no authority over me. I could have you discharged if I felt like doing so."
"Annie," Caterina said shaking her head. "What happened to the sweet girl in you before you went to that school?"
"I learned that you are nothing more then a servant, with nothing in your life but this job," Annie said smugly as she pushed Caterina from her room and slammed the door.
As always, she knew her mother would attempt to intervene, and as always when the nanny had disciplinary problems. Annie grabbed her wand and pointed it to the door, "Colloportus," she called out and the door groaned and sealed itself.
"I am not a child," she yelled at the door. "Bugger it," she said to herself, she suddenly realized she should have waited until she heard the footsteps disappear down the hall to the stairs. Caterina heard the spell and Annie was sure her nanny was on her way to report this infraction to her parents.
She threw herself on her bed, and thought, 'I could blame that witch for locking me in.' She sat and waited for the telltale footsteps of her mum.
She pulled a scroll from under her mattress and read it; the markings on the sheet were as cryptic to others as they were clear to her. She often wondered why it made sense. She made this phrase part of her life's philosophy, it just sounded prophetic.
"There is no good nor evil, only power and those afraid to use it," she read out loud.
Knock… Knock… Knock…
"Annie, can I come in?" she heard from outside.
"Arty? Just a sec." she grabbed the other sheets she kept hidden under her mattress and also the bundle of letters from the nearly empty trunk. She took the entire pile and put them under her summer's school work in the other trunk, leaving her mother's trunk open and now empty.
She pointed her wand at the door. "Alohomora," she said and the door swung open.
"Annie, you'll get caught one day. You know you're not supposed to use magic?"
"Arty, who's too know? Mum and Dad use it all the time and no one will know it was me," she said with a shrug.
"Annie, it's against the rules, you know that."
"I had to get that woman out of my room," Annie replied.
"I don't see why you dislike Caterina, her sister is quite pleasant. She's been more of a sister than then Lucy. Chiara is just as concerned," Arty said with a sigh of disapproval as she sat her bag on the corner of Annie's desk.
"She thinks she can take my mum's place, she orders me like a child."
"Annie, you know your mum and dad felt some debt to her, Caterina is only trying to do her best. She really cares for you and Ben."
"You only see how she acts with others around," Annie replied, "she's horrible to us when we're alone."
Artemisia gave up and shook her head in defeat. Most of Annie's school books had been cleared and packed in her school trunk, a pile of additional books remained on the desk. "So you have a second trunk?" she asked staring at the open chest.
"Mum said I could have it, I've got too much this year for my one trunk, Annie said as she began packing the stacks of clothes she laid out earlier.
"Bringing an extra wardrobe full for our trips to Hogsmeade this year?"
"I just can't stand those dreadful robes. Besides, you've been using three trunks since first year."
"I've only had two and a small valise," Artemisia said with a shrug and a grin. The two girls burst out in laughter as they finished loading the second trunk.
"We'd best hurry; we're going to my house for the night, and Jerry will be there too."
"Jerry?" Annie asked as her face flushed for a moment, and turned her back pretending to fiddle with some forgotten test books.
Artemisia grimed, "Yes, Jerry will be there, we'll all spending the night before we leave for the train."
Annie turned after quelling her excitement, "So, he's they with the rest of the family." She put the school book in her trunk.
"Don't be a prat, you like him. Admit it, Annie."
"What makes you think that? He's our cousin."
"Then why pack your first year Potions text? You're the best at Potions, just like your mum." Artemisia said widening her grin. Besides, he's my cousin by blood and yours only because your dad was taken in by gram and pappa, and that was before the war ended."
Annie's jaw opened, in disbelief. "Artemisia, you dare breathe a word of this and so help me…"
"Annie, he fancies you too, I think you both are destined to be together. So don't worry, I can't reveal you 'secret' since the whole bloody school already knows it!" Artemisia replied and turned to an empty rucksack on the floor.
Annie's reply came in the form of her pillow flung across the room, striking Artemisia on the side of her head; the retaliation was severe as the pillow fight brought rounds of uncontrolled laughter.
The following morning the large extended family converged in Kings Cross, and one by one vanished into a solid brick wall.
Annie sat in her place at the Slytherin table, hardly acknowledging her housemates' glares. Real trust and true friendship within this house was as difficult to gain as the days of Voldemort. She pushed the portion of steak on her plate. 'Hufflepuff, how could he be put in Hufflepuff?' she thought over and over.
She had kept rubbing her stomach, feeling that same discomfort that plagued her since a few days before she began her school career. Occasional pangs of pain, cramps she always thought, became more frequent in the past months. When she mentioned having cramps to her mum, she received a detailed lecture on feminine hygiene and advanced anatomy, neither helped.
She pushed away from the table and stared across the room, Arty was sitting next to her cousin, laughing and sharing a sliver of pie. Jerry Weasley looked up at that moment and she imagined he smiled at her; she turned away and left the Great Hall. She attributed the single tear that rolled from her chin was caused by her cramps.
'Bloody hell, my one chance to escape this dungeon and that bloody hat buggered it all.' She thought as she descended to the Slytherin house. The hall was clear; all others were still enjoying the feast. Professor McGonagall's welcoming speech had been as dreadful as watching her hopes shatter with a single word.
"Bloodlines," she said to the gate in the musty corridors under the castle. The door swung open and allowed her access.
She walked with a quickened pace through the common room, past the large leather sofa that faced the hearth. She never noticed the man standing in the shadow, a glint of silver from his hand flashed as he pulled his hood over his eyes, hiding any recognizable feature.
Annie was oblivious to any details that had not crossed her path to the girls' dormitories. She pushed on the large oak door, and it swung open allowing her access. The corridor past that portal was as dark and damp feeling as any dungeon.
She passed several doors, and stopped at a nondescript door on the right side of the corridor. With a heavy sigh, she kicked the door, and it too yielded to her allowing her to enter the room she shared with four other girls.
She stopped at the most isolated bed, two large trunks were placed at the foot of her bed, one had been opened and unpacked, the other remained locked. Annie produced her wand and tapped the lock, whispering the charm to upon the chest. As she rummaged through, the extra clothes that had been carefully packed littered the floor. Near the bottom, wrapped with several older text books, she found the object she had anticipated reading since she discovered them in the attic of her home.
The drapes around her bed were carefully drawn shut and she pulled her knees to her chest and sat with the pile of parchment at her feet. Anxiously, she picked up the first in the pile, " 31 May, 1998 ," she read to herself.
The sounds of others arriving in the common room forced her to wave her wand around her bed, "Silencio," she whispered and all sound was deadened.
Her fingers quivered as she opened that letter from her mother to her father so many years before she was born. A special letter of love on his birthday, a romantic gesture that made her young heart skip a beat at the thought. She removed the sheet from the envelope.
My Darling,
I love you.
I have loved no other.
I will love no one else as long as I live.
This is why I must leave you and release you from your promise to marry me. You deserve what I can never give you, Lucius Malfoy saw to that. When we made love last night after Madam Pomfrey left for bed, I prayed there would be a way, but in my heart I believe I will never be able to give you a family of you own.
I have wrestled this from the moment you carried me to the hospital last week and I begged you to leave. I couldn't allow you to see me in those hours after you and Ginny left me. The healers tried to help, but I wasn't able to stop crying.
I love you, Harry. You truly deserve a wife that can give you what you need. I know I can't.
By the time you read this, I shall be impossible to find. There is a charm I have heard of, one that will remove any trace of magic from me and cleanse it from my memory. That confession I found of that girl from the past is my clue to that charm and I intend to use it. I love you too much to want to remember this life.
I will love you forever,
Hermione
Annie's jaw quivered as she read the words written from a broken heart.
'They always seem so happy, I wonder what happened?' she asked herself. The letter was carefully refolded and returned to the envelope. The next in the pile was dated 5 June, 1998 .
My Darling,
I love you.
I'm not certain I can give you this letter, but I have to tell you how I feel.
I couldn't bear to leave after what you did for my parents. I was lost in thought yesterday morning while you held me. I wanted that moment to last the rest of my life, even though I knew I would never remember it.
Your love for me and my family made me want to delay my decision to leave. And your mother's love for us both made me want to stay with you, at least for the moment.
We have a fortnight left here at school, I'll stay till the end of term, and love you with all my strength for every second we have together. August 25 th is a lifetime away, but I will leave before then.
You have my heart forever and you will forever be in my soul,
Hermione
Frantically, she looked for the next letter, determined to discover more of her mother's secret, ignoring the voices and whispers in the room with her. She wanted to learn what changed her views and finally marry her father. And what could have caused her this grief, enough to forego her own family. The answer was dated 29 June, 1998 .
My Darling,
I love you.
I can't leave you alone. I can't bare the thought of you being alone, not after our visit to Privet Drive this morning. Your only living relatives (and I refuse to call them family) are worse then I remembered. Although I am glad you aunt seems to have changed.
I haven't told you this, but the handwriting of the alterations in the manuscript seemed familiar, but I couldn't place them.
There's bound to be a reason I was able to change that spell that you used to defeat Voldemort, and I must discover it. As if I feel a force pushing us toward a shared destiny.
Until I find the reason for this, you may be in danger and I won't leave you until I know in my heart you will be safe. That city 'Corrieban' may have much to do with this, but I am unsure. It may be the root to all that's happened to us and may be the answer I've been looking for.
Harry, you are my life, and my only love.
Hermione
The pure love her mother had for her father astounded her, she was willing to remain with him because of some imagined danger.
"Where's the next?" she said as she looked through the pile, she didn't recognize the handwriting on several envelopes, several seemed to be from a man's hand, but not her father's scribbled writing. There were several in an emerald green ink, and all sealed. The one that gave her pause had her own name on it.
Anna Lily Potter
Nervously she turned this letter over in her hand and tried to slide a finger under the flap. But she couldn't force it open. She turned it over and the address now read:
Anna Lily Potter
To be opened on your fifteenth birthday.
(in private if you please)
Author's note:
Again, my apologies for the unplanned delay, I will be altering my previous schedule until further notice of one meaty chapter every other week, until I have a good deal more done and ready for your enjoyment.