A/N: Here we go, a bit thoughtful exposition for your morning... As usual, I own the plot and the characters
under twenty, the rest have requested asylum. As is immediately obvious, Lady Starlight has once again provided a bit
of sanity to my writing.
Chapter 5: A Shadow from the Past
**********************Ministry of Magic, Auror Headquarters******************
Harry yawned as he pushed open a thick oak door without knocking and walked in. The slightly tarnished nameplate beside the door read simply, "Remus Lupin". A flicker of movement caught his eye, and his hand snapped out, grabbing a rolled-up newspaper one handed, deftly avoiding spilling his beverage. Harry looked up slowly to find Remus and Tonks, both of them looking concernedly at him. Remus was sitting with his elbows on his scarred-with-use desk; one that had been, at various times, Amelia Bones' and Rufus Scrimgeour's among others. Tonks was leaning on the back of his chair, her bright blonde hair hanging in front of one eye.
"Read it," Remus muttered. He leaned back, upsetting Tonks' pose. She moved to the desk and hopped up on it next to Lupin and twisted to look at Harry.
"Read what?" Hermione asked, following Harry into the room and closing the door behind her with a small flick of her fingers. The dark paneled walls of the room lit white for an instant, as defensive wards established themselves. She dropped onto a battered leather couch, and checked her watch as Harry sat down next to her.
"Just read it," Remus replied with a snap to his voice, his eyes apologized a minute later and Harry just shrugged before opening the paper to the front page.
"Does she have anything else better to do?" Harry groused softly, watching out of the corner of his eye as Hermione's eyes hardened. He started to read:
Is the War, Really Over? Did the Ministry Lie?
By Rita Skeeter
In an act reminiscent of the dark days of the war against He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, explosions rocked Diagon Alley yesterday, the center of all Wizarding trade and commerce in Great Britain. This attack was undertaken by, as witnesses have related to this reporter, dozens of men in classic Death Eater attire. These witnesses have, of course, stated their wish to this reporter to remain anonymous fearing Ministry reprisals, and I will entertain their wishes to my last breath.
"Bullocks," Hermione muttered, "dozens...try ten, maybe..."
Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, opened in 1728 by Snerldly Jiggers with one Galleon to his name, was utterly destroyed, with damage to that shop and the adjoining Reliable Cauldrons franchise estimated in the hundreds of thousands of Galleons. Break-ins were also recorded at Olivander's Wand Shop and an attempted break in at Gringotts' Wizarding Bank.
From all of this, one wonders if the claims by the Ministry, that the Auror forces, our primary defenders in against such attacks were properly utilized. For years, there have been complaints that the Auror service was ultimately a self-serving one, that if they truly did their jobs that no force of Darkness would dare to assault the ordinary peace-loving witches and wizards of Britain. So in that vein, one must ask, do our protectors really serve us, or themselves? Do they truly fight endlessly against that Darkness, or are they in league with that Darkness...
"You are giving me the mickey, right?" Harry snapped, tossing the paper down onto the couch between himself and Hermione. She leaned forward, and grabbed Harry's coffee off the coffee table in front of him and finished it, before she picked up the paper and slid closer to him, until her hip abutted his.
She opened the paper and looked down at the next article, and after an instant, gasped, as she read it. "Harry," she whispered urgently, he looked down and followed her eyes to the second article...
Who Was With the Potters?
By Terrance Windelquill....
The events of yesterday afternoon were indeed tragic, as many have already related in depth. But the events of that tragic day create as many questions as answers. In particular, the unknown identity of the young woman in the company of Emilia Potter, sixteen-year-old daughter of Harry and Hermione Potter, dual heads of Auror Field Operations for the Ministry of Magic. The heretofore-unknown young witch, was witnessed in Madame Malkin's Clothing for All Occasions, where she was fitted for a new Hogwarts uniform, in Gryffindor colors. Further investigation by this reporter, has also determined that all of her purchases in Diagon Alley were purchased out of the Potters' personal funds, and noted apparent closeness of the young woman in question to both Emilia and Hermione Potter as seen in this close up...
A close up, obviously taken with a telephoto lens, showed Hermione covering behind the wall, at Diagon Alley, holding both of the girls protectively, with a shimmering field hovering just above her outstretched hand, shielding all three of them. Hermione closed her eyes and muttered a dark imprecation on the parentage of reporters in general in Tibetan, before she opened them and dropped her face to her hands. She sighed and picked the paper back up with a snap and continued to read as Tonks looked back to her husband and dropped her head, helplessly.
Indeed the very appearance of this mysterious young witch, raises a startling question, just who are her parents? Could her mother be...Ginerva Weasley nee Black? The product of an adolescent affair gone wrong? As long time readers of this paper are aware, Harry Potter did, at one time, engage in a torrid love affair with the youngest of the current Minister of Magic's children only to break it off at Albus Dumbledore's 'funeral'. No convincing reason for this breakup was ever explained at the time, though rumors of love potions, infidelity and fights over Ginerva's place in the conflict abound. Could this break up really have to do with the result of a night's indiscretion? A teenage tryst gone wrong?
"You are fucking kidding me," Harry snapped and stood suddenly, pacing over to Lupin's false window, which was currently showing an image of the Black Lake at Hogwarts. He felt Hermione's eyes on him as he watched the squid swim along the surface, waving as to an invisible camera. A single Hippogriff from the Hogwarts herd swooped by.
"No one will believe that, Harry," Tonks said from her perch on her husband's desk. "They know you..."
"Do they, Tonks?" Hermione questioned tiredly, "Honestly...we know you and Remus, do...our kids...Arthur, my parents...yeah... but you know exactly how willing half those damn people were to think Harry was insane, a liar..."
"Bullocks, Hermione, you and Harry killed Voldemort, you know how much weight that carries," Tonks stood from Remus' desk and turned, leaning on his desk.
"Dumbledore killed Grindelwald, Tonks, and they believed he was barmy too," Hermione retorted, she looked towards Harry, not watching Tonks as she frowned and looked away, down at Remus. He shrugged and looked up towards Harry.
He looked back and forth between Harry and Hermione, "None of that we can help, for now, we need to concentrate on what we can do. Specifically, just where the hell is that little bitch who went after our family yesterday."
"Thanks, Remus," Hermione stood from the couch and crossed to Harry. He turned and leaned back against the wall, catching her lightly as she leaned back against him.
"She's been ours for years too, sis," Tonks replied, shrugging, and gave Hermione a tentative smile. Tonks took a breath and reached towards a large stone set in the center of Remus' desk. She received a slow nod from Harry and touched it.
The lights in the room dimmed, and a foot-high, rotating picture, like a Muggle hologram, appeared hovering over the desk. Harry glared at the dark-haired woman hovering there as a flat, emotionless female voice filled the room.
"Bellatrix Black-Lestrange...age 46 years...graduate of Hogwarts, Slytherin Class of 1976...convicted of torture with Cruciatus of Frank and Alice Longbottom and sentenced to life in Azkaban in 1982...escaped Azkaban August 1995." The voice paused for a moment, as the figure stopped rotating and faced Lupin's seat.
"Known associate of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and known Death Eater, married to Rabastan Lestrange, widowed 1997, after husband was killed during a Death Eater raid. Unknown number of deaths and mutilations attributed to subject, actual numbers may be greater than one hundred victims. Subject was last seen on 24 May 1998, during second Battle of Hogwarts of Voldemort War. Subject was observed to be pregnant at that time, and estimated to be at or near due date. Badly damaged body of a pregnant woman was recovered from ruins of Hogwarts on 1 June 1998 and was identified as Bellatrix by Ministry examiners, subject file transferred to inactive 20 July 1998, listed deceased. File reactivated as active following subject engagement 4 July 2015 by Ministry Aurors and auxiliaries in Diagon Alley. During period of inactivity, no verified contact has occurred and no verification of a birth has ever been recorded. Parentage of child was unknown."
Tonks waved her hand and the image faded away, but not the sudden anger on Harry's face. "No, it wasn't...it was Tom's...Damnit how did I let this through..."
"We thought she was dead, Harry, that's how," Remus replied tiredly. We found a pregnant body, badly damaged at the very edge of the grounds, and the Ministry identified her as Bellatrix. And if she had had the baby, it would have been recorded, at Hogwarts...surely."
"What if he sent them to another reality, like what happened to Luna and Ron?" Tonks put in, querulously, she looked to Hermione as the other witch shook her head.
"No...Harriet was there...we never checked until we got the message from them though, no one ever does really until that year's comes up for addressing," Hermione sighed and shook her head. She glanced up and back at Harry, "Remus, I want to get back and check on the kids...Abby's forted up there too, you know."
"Go...Nymph might make it there for lunch," Remus sighed and indicated the piles of paper in front of him...Merlin knows I won't." Hermione nodded, and her and Harry vanished silently, the security wards at the Ministry, about as effective towards them as the ones at Hogwarts.
***************************Godric's Hollow*******************************
3:00 pm
Hermione stood leaning on the porch rail, watching as a small crowd of teenagers sat here and there about the grounds, mostly under several trees set in the back yard, with books, notebooks and various assorted study aids scattered about. Or at least, they were theoretically all studying. The fact that the eight teens, ranging from fourteen to seventeen seemed more dedicated to charming balls of paper to shoot at each other, or sleeping, or in the case of her own sister and the oldest Malfoy/Black heir, snogging incessantly, did not really bother her terribly much.
A music player thundered from the house, playing a mildly offensive album, at least it would have been to the Victorian-Era mores that had ruled Wizarding society when she had started Hogwarts. The fact that Muggle music was playing over the wireless was only a sign of the changing times.
Hermione sung along with the chorus under her breath, and took a drink of her butterbeer. Hermione returned Abby's wave as she ran past from the house and slid in next to Elliot who was sitting under the shade of an old oak, and handed him a drink from the coldbox in the house. Hermione just rolled her eyes as the tiny girl, laid down next to Neville and Parvati's son and seemed to go to sleep with her head propped comfortably on his leg.
The Potter Estate, Hermione had long since given up on calling it a house, and rightfully so as it now included the former village of Godric's Hollow and off in the distance, visible to her as she was a witch, the keep standing guard at the other end of the valley, had become the main gathering spot for the large group of children that the Potter/Weasley/Longbottom/Finnegan/Lupin families had spun off over the years since the war. Mainly, Hermione admitted wryly, because they had their own Quidditch Pitch, but also because the kids were free to actually perform magic here, without the interfering eye of the Ministry. One of Harry and Hermione's first acts, when they had discovered that Hermione was pregnant with Emilia, was to ward the house from the Ministry's detection...and almost everything else.
Emilia was walking along the lake shore, talking animatedly to Xander, who was doing his damnest to at least pretend to pay attention. Hermione bit back an urge to giggle at the sight, remembering the times Harry had done exactly the same thing, even long before they had admitted their feelings. Honestly, that really should have been a clue, Hermione snorted to herself. She gnawed on one lip absently as Sirius sat next to Harriet under a different tree. He was gesturing to something in a book, probably letting her know where they had gotten to in some class, in preparation for Harriet to take her OWLs in a few weeks. Their actions were oddly formal though, as if they were not quite sure how to act around each other. Good luck, son, Hermione thought towards them, I'm glad I don't have to go through all that again.
A silent arrival chime sounded in her head, and she watched Sirius, Emilia and Xander's eyes all track towards her. She waved them back towards what they were doing and slowly turned as she felt a new presence on the grounds. The Potters' home wasn't totally locked out from Apparation, of course. Immediate family members, Harry, her and the kids, both of whom could Apparate, though not legally in Sirius' case, and those they considered as such, Remus, Tonks, Xander, most of the Weasley children, Neville, Parvati, and a few others, they could arrive and leave as they saw fit. The rest, however, were funneled into a tightly controlled arrival zone outside of the front garden gates by tightly focused defensive fields.
It was just such a person who had just arrived, and even though her feelings had mellowed towards her over the years, more or less, Hermione really didn't want to talk to Molly Weasley at this very instant. "Hello, Molly," Hermione greeted evenly, not yet turning from watching the yard.
"Hermione," she replied, and Hermione sighed internally, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She didn't wait long. "I've come to take Harriet home." Hermione took a breath as the older witch went on. "We will of course reimburse you for her expenses, but she should be with her family." Molly looked up and towards the house, "Where are her things, I will pack them."
"Since my parents went back home," Hermione said quietly, still not turning from the yard where every one of the teens were looking up at the porch now, some clandestinely, some not, "Harriet's gear is in our guest room, or rather, her room now, Molly..." Molly nodded and turned, starting to walk back into the house. Hermione cleared her throat, "However, I would be appreciative if you left her things were they are...as it would save me the bother to go and take them back..."
"She's my granddaughter, you have no right..." Molly sputtered indignantly, her voice hardened as she took a step forward towards Hermione. Slowly, Hermione set her beer down on the rail and turned, a single eyebrow crooking skyward as her hands cradled her hips. One finger tapped slowly on the front of her hipbone. "You already did not tell me that Ron was alive, let alone that he had a daughter...now, you..."
"There was no need to," Hermione said quietly, she took a breath, "and they had asked us not to, Molly, and honestly...we owed them a hell of a lot more than you..."
"Harriet belongs with those who love her," Molly snapped. She turned slightly and headed down a set of stairs to the side of the deck leading down to the lawn. Hermione's eyes narrowed, and with a slight bending of her knees she flipped sideways over the rail, landing in front of the Weasley Matriarch with slightly bent knees. "Get out of my way..."
"Or what, Molly?" Hermione asked, and the utter relaxation in her voice was more of a threat than any word or tone could be. "Harriet is with those who love her." Hermione closed her eyes for an instant, as she felt a relatively new, but nonetheless instantly familiar presence walking up behind her, along with one of her own. She felt Sirius stop politely out of earshot, assuming that every one of the teens did not have a pocket full of the Weasley twins' latest and greatest, of course, as the other continued on. She stopped just to Hermione's right and a couple of steps back.
"I want to stay here, Grandmum," Harriet announced softly.
No, Sirius...Em...don't, Hermione thought desperately as she felt both kids gathering themselves to run to their friend. A tiny flare of energy that would never show on the outside, and only their parents would have ever noticed. She felt Emilia move to her brother's side and stop, as if they had heard her plea. Several feet behind her, Hermione could feel Xander not moving, his stillness that of a stalking wolf. She took a breath and glanced back quickly then at Harriet, trying to cut off an explosion before it happened. "It's up to you, Harriet," Hermione said, waving the other teens back with a couple of fingers down by her hip.
"I do want to go to the Burrow and visit," Harriet said slowly, she looked back at the Potter teens, and irritably brushed her hair back behind an ear. Her fingers touched the edge of her wand, and she quickly slid it back behind her back into its sheath. "But, I belong here...please don't try to make me stay there...You won't be able to, and it will just make me annoyed."
"Dear," Molly replied softly, "are you sure that you wouldn't rather be with your family? I have Ginny's old room all ready for you, I even have a new pink quilt..."
"I am with my family," Harriet whispered, "at least the ones on this side..." she turned away quickly and headed towards the lake. Hermione watched as both of her children forced their mouths closed by main force and headed off after her, trailing silently.
"Just go, Molly, I was going to bring her over in the morning," Hermione said tiredly, "but I don't know what will happen now...you never really knew Luna...I did, and I don't know..." Hermione walked away, towards the lake. She stopped and muttered something to Anastasia, who along with Nathan, Elliot and Abigail had heard every word, of course. Anastasia nodded and turned from her sister, kissed Nathan and vanished with nary a POP.
Hermione did not turn back to look as she felt Molly's presence move towards the front of the house, and a loud, gunshot-like CRACK rang out over the grounds. Hermione scrubbed at her eyes with one hand as she bent her head forward and her unbound hair came fell in a dark curtain hiding her face.
"Aunt Hermione," a quiet, tentative alto spoke up and Hermione took a breath, looking up. She swallowed slightly, blinking hard for several seconds. "Is everything, alright?"
Hermione looked down at the tiny girl looking back up at her worriedly, her hair flashing as it continuously changed colors. Hermione head out her arms and folded Abigail into them, curling around the small girl, "I'm fine, Abby, thank you."
"Alright," Abigail replied, smiling brightly as she stepped back. Her face suddenly froze and both her hair and eyes went completely black. The very tips of needle sharp fangs could be seen protruding from behind her upper lip as she slowly looked around the area.
A monochromatic vortex grew from nowhere as the intruder sensors lit once more. A sharp CRACK rang out over the grounds as nine wands tracked towards the newcomer, only to watch, stunned as a large, pristine white wolf appeared at the exact same spot that Harriet had appeared at days ago.
He looked around the area with crystal-blue eyes, and glanced unconcernedly at the Wizards and witches charging towards him with weapons drawn. Harriet gasped loudly from behind Sirius and sprinted towards the animal, it dropped to a seat as she pushed past Hermione and dove in next to it, burying her face in his white fur, "Gaheris...you came."
A soft woof of agreement was only noise in the midst of the stunned crowd.
*********************Somewhere Else*****************************
A universe away from the cool green hills of the Potter estate, a tall, red-haired man, leaned against a broken battlement, and looked out over the grounds of Hogwarts. But this was not the Hogwarts that he had grown up in, where he had thought he had, then really had fallen in love; not the one where he had followed his best friend, his brother in all that mattered, into the very fires of Hell, because it was the right thing to do. A pair of tired blue eyes peered about, the left one glowing just a touch as it spun around wildly for an instant before locking into sync with the right.
A face that once held only laugh lines, held another, a thin scar that ran from his hairline, leaving a white streak in otherwise bright red hair, and down through the center of his left eye socket. As the breeze whipped aside a long, black cloak, a long dagger, or short sword sheathed down his right leg, with a wand holster set for a fast draw right in front of it, became visible. He sighed to himself, as he watched a pitiful few house elves, still bound to the half-closed school, working dispiritedly at repairing the once mighty Quidditch Pitch, they knew that there was little hope of a game ever being played here, again, but still they worked.
Off to his right, a pall of smoke hung over the shattered village of Hogsmeade, where another Death Eater raid had occurred only the day before. Even though he and his wife had beaten off the raid more or less by themselves, he took no comfort in the thought. The average survivor of the grinding war, on both sides, was only mediocre compared to most of those he had trained with and grew up with. He shook off the thought, and turned, looking off towards the southwest, where, on the other side of the looking glass, half of his heart was hopefully safe.
He glanced up as another soul joined him, a slim, graceful woman with long blonde hair pulled back into a plait that hung almost to her bum, and oddly disturbing silvery-grey eyes, at least they were to most of the people here. He just turned and gave them a tired smile, holding out one arm and pulling her into his side where she neatly tucked under his armpit. "Thinking about Harriet?" a soft, slightly breathy voice asked as she leaned into him.
He nodded, "Aye...Think she is alright?"
Luna closed her eyes for an instant as a faint glow started to fill them. She opened them again, and blinked, "As safe as anyone is...there is nowhere safe really...But I trust Harry and Hermione with my child, if anyone can keep her safe, they can...and at least she can take her NEWTs there."
"Oi, you bloody birds and your tests...I thought I married you, not Hermione," Ron teased quietly. Luna turned and punched him in the stomach. "OW!" he moaned, "what was that for..."
"You were being stupid," Luna replied with a shrug, then reached up and pulled his head down to hers, sighing softly as she sunk into his kiss. She slowly pulled away after a minute, his lower lip dragging in hers for an instant longer, "and that's cause I really want to shag you..."
"Merlin, I hope so," he snorted and kissed the top of her head. His smile faded slightly, "Please tell me that you're close, luv..."
Luna looked down at her feet, which were bare, she shrugged without looking back up, "It's the same as it was, Ronnie," she whispered.
He sighed, "Then you should go, Luna, leave me..."
"The hell, I will," Luna growled, she looked up at him, "I will never leave you here alone, Ron, you know that, I will figure out how to get us both home, and I will do it without getting us killed or any of the rest of my family killed..."
"Luna...you can cross, I know you can, you did before..."
She took a step back and the glare she gave him would have been home on the face of his other female best friend, the one he had not seen in person in seventeen years, "That very well may be," she snapped, "and I can send your owl back and forth, but I am not going to leave my husband here, no matter how colossally stupid a wanker he is." Luna let out a soft huffing sound and paced to the other side of the Astronomy Tower.
She swung a tarnished brass telescope on its mount, "I did suss out how Greymalkin and Pig got here, though," she muttered quietly, though she knew he heard her, would have heard her in a driving hurricane, somehow, "It should make it easier to send messages, at least...I sent Gaheris to her...she should at least have her Familiar...bloody stubborn girl, she should have taken him with her, but noooo...she was stubborn...gets that from her father-" Luna paused for a breath as Ron walked up behind her.
"I'm sorry?" Ron asked tentatively, and Luna sighed. She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment, a habit picked up by osmosis, before she turned around, and waved vaguely at the stone roof. A dark blue blanket appeared at the base of the wall and she slid down it to sit with her back against the waist-high battlement. She waited as he slid down next to her, and reached over and grabbed his hand, already having accepted his apology.
"Ronnie," Luna smiled slightly, "if I was going to leave you, I'd have done it years and years ago--probably about the time I sat in the Hospital wing with your daughter for eighteen hours. I want to go home as much as you-maybe more. This place, it's wrong, so much is just not right. I know, how, to get home, I just have to find a way to focus enough, power."
"So, it is my fault," Ron closed his eyes wearily, "I knew that I wasn't powerful enough..."
Luna's head snapped around, and she spun on the blanket, her hands coming up to grab his head and make him look at her, "This is not your fault, Ron, if anything, it's because you've become too powerful," he cocked his head slightly, she gave him a tentative smile, "You're too, grounded I guess, you have so much...inertia, in your magic, that I need to come up with a way to counteract it. If only there were red snapperwings on this world," she said plaintively, "I could..." Luna froze and took a sudden breath. "I am an idiot...Ron?"
"Yeah, Luna?" Ron asked hopefully, grateful for her mercurial forgiveness, "what, luv?"
"When we died here, our counterparts, that is, did they recover Harry or Voldemort's wand?" her head cocked to the side as her lips moved silently, "That could work, if of course Fawkes is in a good mood, the conduit would work, though it would have to be just the wand. I need a mocha." Luna stood abruptly and paced to the edge of the tower as Ron looked on, bemused. She drew her wand and conjured a mocha and started sipping it as he watched. She started to flick her wand in the air, and fiery letters and numbers appeared and vanished as fast as she wrote. Finally she stopped, nodded and took a deep drink.
"Um...I don't know," Ron said after a minute, "from what the Ginny here said; no one has been to Little Hangleton in seventeen years. "But what, how..."
"I'll need Harry or Voldemort's wand from this reality, a very large focusing crystal, most likely a permanent conjuring circle, gold if I can get enough to make it, and a steak and kidney pie," Luna went on as if she were only peripherally paying attention to Ron.
"Umm, why the pie?"
"I missed lunch," Luna replied matter-of-factly. She flicked her wand again and a long equation appeared, another wand flick and a parchment and quill appeared and started to copy down the equation. She turned and looked at Ron to find him looking back at her, she rolled her eyes, "It's simple, Ronald. Every burning day, which are more or less random, but usually at least once a year, Fawkes dies and is reborn. During that time, a phoenix is believed to be 'unlocked' from the sidereal universe. If I have one of the wands, both of which are from Fawkes, I can attract his attention and we can get a ride home." Luna shook her head, "You really should read more books, Ronald."
Ron just laughed softly, "Yes, dear."
And there you go...Next time, a bit of relaxation....