Search:

SIYE Time:5:10 on 29th March 2024
SIYE Login: no


Paintball Wizard
By cackling stump

- Text Size +

Category: Alternate Universe
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Tragedy
Warnings: Death
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 319
Summary: The life of a typical American teenager (okay, maybe not so typical) is shaken by tragedy. Then he discovers a new world awaiting him, filled with new people, new struggles, and, perhaps, new love.
Hitcount: Story Total: 256037; Chapter Total: 4172
Awards: View Trophy Room






ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter


Epilogue

Another spasm of pain wracked Harry’s body. This is almost as bad as the Cruciatus, he thought. As the pain lessened, his eyes searched desperately for the key to end it, but he saw no indication that he could finish it any time soon. The pain had been coming in waves for hours now, but its intensity and frequency had both increased in the last thirty minutes. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that his opponent was watching him intensely, not giving him a moment’s peace. Exhaustion was starting to effect his reactions, but he couldn’t give in to it. I have to keep pushing through this, for Ginny’s sake, he urged himself.

Finally, he saw fluttering out of the corner of his right eye, and he dove toward it. He pressed his body flat against his broom, pushing every last bit of speed out of it. As he neared his objective, his body trembled with another explosion of pain, his abdomen feeling like it would burst open. He stretched out his arm, his fingertips brushing against his quarry, but before he could grab it, it jerked to the right and abruptly switched directions. He swerved in pursuit, and a few seconds later his fingers surrounded the Golden Snitch, finishing the match.

He searched his surroundings, and found the referee quickly. He flew to her, tossing her the Snitch, before Apparating instantly away from the stadium.

With a pop, he appeared in a white room with Ginny lying on a bed in the centre of it. Her face was covered in sweat and her hair was a mess. She turned her head toward him as he arrived, a smile of relief on her face. “Harry, you finally made it! It certainly took you long enough!”

Before he could respond, a woman in lime green robes who was standing at the foot of Ginny’s bed said, “Mr Potter, you have excellent timing. It’s time for you wife to begin to push.”

**********

< i>Potters Have a

Baby Boy!

Born After Quidditch Final

The editorial board of the Daily Prophet would like to congratulate Harry and Ginny Potter on the birth of their son, Pelton James, yesterday at 3:18 pm, shortly after Mr Potter sealed a fourth straight Quidditch League Cup for the Ballycastle Bats (for more on the match, see the back page). According to a family spokesperson, both mother and son are healthy and doing well.

**********

Bats Win Cup Again

Harry Potter caught the Golden Snitch to end a three and a half hour match in which Ballycastle defeated Puddlemere 280-210. The victory gave the Bats 780 league points, clinching their fourth consecutive League Cup by twenty points. Debbie Muntz, the American Chaser who was brought in as a substitute due to Ginny Potter’s pregnancy, led the scoring for Ballycastle with eight goals. Ron Weasley, Keeper for the Bats, had a rough afternoon, allowing 21 goals against, but he did have 32 saves. Puddlemere scoring was led by Wilda Griffiths with twelve goals, while Oliver Wood was clearly on his game as he had 38 saves and only let thirteen through.

After the match, it was no surprise that League Chairman Ludo Bagman awarded the Dangerous Dai Llewellyn Medal to Mr Potter. The Llewellyn is given to the player who performs the most reckless manoeuvres during the season. This was the fifth consecutive award for Mr Potter, making him the first Seeker to ever win the Llewellyn in his first five seasons in the league. The award was accepted by Mr Weasley, Mr Potter’s brother-in-law, as Mr Potter was otherwise occupied at St Mungo’s. (see page 1)

Ballycastle’s League Cup title was the closest in their streak, primarily due to the absence of Ginny Potter. Mrs Potter, the top scoring Chaser in the league for the last three seasons, played only the first four league matches before team doctors said she would have to sit out the rest of the season. Ballycastle faithful will remember that the Potters had hoped to time Mrs Potter’s pregnancy so that she would miss only the first part of this season and be available for the home stretch matches, but, as we all know, pregnancies don’t always occur exactly as planned. The Bats were very fortunate that Ms Muntz was available, due to a contract dispute with her American team, the Finchburg Finches.

After the match, Ballycastle manager, Lorcan O’Toole, praised the team’s resilience and perseverance to overcome the obstacles placed before them this season. “I am really proud … (see p. 35)

**********

May 28, 2004

Dear Aaron,

I would like to announce the birth of Pelton James Potter on May 25th, 2004 at 3:18 pm. He weighed six pounds ten ounces and was eighteen and a half inches long. Both PJ (as we are going to call him) and Ginny are doing well, but things were pretty scary for a few moments.

First, Ginny went into labour two weeks early, which happened to be the day of the final Quidditch match of the season. Despite my confidence in the reserve Seeker, Ginny insisted that I go to the match. “The contractions are still over twenty minutes apart; it will probably be hours before Baby Potter is ready to come out,” she said. Her mum was in labour for over twenty-four hours with her first, and the Healer said that she hadn’t progressed any in the first two hours we were at the hospital. So, following the advice of my father-in-law (“Don’t argue with your wife when she is in labour; just do whatever she says”), I went to the game.

Because of our Bond, I could feel every contraction, and, at first, it wasn’t that bad. However, about an hour into the match, I had this sensation that I had suddenly peed my pants, which actually was Ginny’s water breaking. I’ll tell you, that certainly was odd feeling! After that, things started to pick up quickly, and the contractions became more intense and closer together, making it much harder to concentrate on the match. Finally, three hours into the match, I caught the Snitch and was able to Apparate back to Ginny. (We won the match and the League Cup by the way.)

Ginny began pushing as soon as I arrived, and things were going well for a while, but then the Healer and her assistant started rushing around, saying the baby’s heart rate had dropped and that they had to prepare for the magical version of a C-section. But, before they did anything, there was a pop, and, unexpectedly, little PJ was lying on Ginny’s chest! He had Apparated from Ginny’s womb. Let me explain that Apparation, what we would call teleporting, is very complex magic, and is not even taught until the sixth year of school, and you have to be seventeen to be licensed. Apparently, PJ is very strong magically to allow him to do that at such a young age. The Healer had never heard of such a thing. We figure that he must have somehow known he was in danger and took matters into his own hands.

Anyway, after they had checked out that he was healthy, they bundled him up and returned him to Ginny. She nursed him for a few minutes before he fell asleep. She then looked up at me and asked, “Would you like to hold your son?” I had held plenty of babies in my role of Uncle Harry, but holding PJ was different. It really is amazing how much love you can feel for this tiny person whom you just met. He didn’t stay asleep long and he just stared at me with his blue eyes, as if he was studying my face, while I studied his.

I’ve included a few pictures, because I know your mom would yell at me if I didn’t. The first one is just Ginny and PJ taken a few minutes after he was born. As you can see, he has Weasley red hair, but it seems to stand up straight like mine.

The second picture was taken in the midst of all his extended family. I’m sure you recognize all of them from your visit last year when you stopped by during your honeymoon. PJ certainly isn’t going to be lacking for uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Harry paused as he wrote this, remembering presenting PJ to his family for the first time. Carefully cradling him, Harry left the Ginny’s room and walked down the corridor to the waiting room, whispering to his son the whole way.

“I’m taking you to your family now. Don’t be scared; there are a lot of them, but they are going to love you as much as your mum and I do. They are all very excited to see you.”

When he reached the end of the corridor, he looked through the window in the door, seeing his family gathered in the waiting room, which Harry suspected had been magically expanded to accommodate them all. They were talking amongst themselves while they waited news of the new arrival. Harry paused, reminiscing about all that had happened in the four years since the battle.

Closest to the door were the twins, both waving their hands manically, probably discussing their latest invention for their shops. Fred was the only casualty among the Weasleys at the Battle of Hogwarts, other than Bill. Madam Pomfrey was unable to regrow Fred’s ear due to the nature of the Dark curse that he had been hit with, but he played on his loss by forever was making horrible puns about it. The rest of the Weasley family had emerged from the battle relatively unscathed.

Next were Sirius and Aubrey. During the battle at Hogwarts, Remus had captured Peter, who was taken to the Ministry. During extensive questioning under Veritaserum, Peter admitted that he was the betrayer of the Potters and the murderer of the Muggles that night. Sirius was granted a pardon soon after, and Sirius and Aubrey married as soon as he was cleared. They had two pre-schoolers of their own, who were probably being watched by Aubrey’s parents. Sirius was the lone male in the household, and all three of his girls had him wrapped around their little fingers.

Next to them were Ron and Hermione. Harry suspected that from the way Ron was gesturing that he was recounting the Quidditch match to Sirius and Aubrey. Hermione had the look of resigned patience on her face that she always got when Ron was going on and on about Quidditch. They had been married as planned the summer after the battle. Hermione was still working in the Department of Mysteries, but had been considering a career change. Headmistress McGonagall had been persistent in trying to convince her to return to Hogwarts to teach, and, since she and Ron had been considering starting their own family, she would have more time to spend with her children.

Hermione continued to have the occasional vision, but they primarily involved some of Harry’s more dangerous moves on the Quidditch pitch. Eventually, she learned that Harry would almost always pull out of the situation at the last minute. She no longer panicked about them, and actually found them quite annoying. Of course, she was teased mercilessly about the visions by her family, because of her disdain of Divination.

Seated next to Hermione were Remus and Tonks. They were also married in what had been dubbed by the family “The Summer of Weddings,” and their son Teddy had been born early the next year. Tonks had been working her way up the ladder in the Auror office and Remus enjoyed staying at home with Teddy, since steady employment was still an issue because of his “furry problem.”

Lydia was entertaining a six-year-old Cat. Lydia was a frequent minder for the young girl so the two were very close. Lydia, since finishing at Hogwarts the year before, had a few try-outs for Seeker positions around the League, but had not caught on yet. She had been offered the reserve position for the Bats at Harry and Ginny’s suggestion, but, knowing that she would have almost no chance at beating Harry for the starting role, she chose to wait until the right offer presented itself. Harry had been working with her over the last year in his free time and he was confident that she would gain a spot somewhere this next season.

Cat had lived with Harry and Ginny since the battle. Initially they had lived in Shell Cottage, but soon afterwards, the Potters had moved into the newly-renovated house at Godric’s Hollow where Harry had lived with James and Lily. There were more Wizarding families in Godric’s Hollow than around Tinworth, so this allowed Cat to have some neighbourhood friends. Fortunately, the Bats had a daycare facility for the team members’ and support staff’s children, so Cat had friends to play with there as well while Harry and Ginny practiced.

Cat continued to be precocious, as expected for part-Veela children, and kept Harry and Ginny on their toes. She tended to play with children several years older and had been caught more than a few times reading some of Ginny’s books from her early years at Hogwarts and borrowing one of the adults’ wands to try some spells.

Last was Headmistress McGonagall, talking with Molly and Arthur. After the battle, she was able to start widespread changes at Hogwarts. First, she convinced Professor Binns to finally move on and hired Bathilda Bagshot’s great niece to teach History of Magic. Professor Bagshot no longer forced the students to focus on all of the goblin rebellions, and made history come alive. It didn’t hurt that she was in her early thirties and quite attractive, assuring that she had the attention of the male students. Next, Professor Slughorn had continued teaching Potions for just one more year, to be replaced by a Potion Mistress from France. During Professor Snape’s tenure at Hogwarts, not one British student had chosen to continue studying to become a Master or Mistress in the subject, so the headmistress had to go outside of the country to find a qualified candidate. This change was also acclaimed by the students; as a matter of fact, Lydia enjoyed the subject so much that she was considering additional study to become a Potions Mistress once she finished her Quidditch career. To everyone’s relief, the curse on the Defence position seemed to have finally been broken when Tom was killed, so Headmistress McGonagall had been able to hire, and keep, a Defence teacher who had been an instructor in the Auror program for all of the past five years. Finally, she had hinted to Harry and Ginny that she was hoping to groom Hermione to be the next headmistress, which was why she had been attempting to woo her to teach.

Molly and Arthur had settled into their roles as doting grandparents to Cat, Audrey and Percy’s two boys, and even the Black girls and Teddy, even though they weren’t truly family. Molly would also badger the twins and Charlie to settle down, but the twins enjoyed the bachelor life and Charlie continued to say that prospects for female companionship were slim at the dragon sanctuary.

Harry opened the door, but no one noticed that he had entered until he cleared his throat. Suddenly, all chattering silenced and Harry, a smile on his face, announced, his voice cracking with emotion, “Everyone, I would like you to meet Pelton James Potter, or PJ, as we will call him.”

Before he could be mobbed by his family, he walked over to Cat and sat down next to her. “Would you like to hold your new brother?” he asked.

She nodded and held out her arms. Harry gently handed PJ to Cat, making sure his head was safely perched in the crook of her arm. PJ looked into Cat’s face for a moment, but then his eyes closed. “He’s sleeping,” whispered Cat, a huge smile on her face.

“I’m not surprised he’s tired. It’s hard work being born,” explained Harry. The rest of the family gathered around, craning their necks to see the newborn. After a few minutes, Harry could tell Molly was starting to become antsy, so he asked, “Is it okay if Grandmum has a turn holding PJ, Cat?”

“Yes, Uncle Harry. My arms are getting tired anyway.”

Molly bent over and lifted PJ off of Cat’s lap and cradled him, swaying back and forth. “Oh, he’s perfect, Harry,” said Molly, obviously enraptured instantly by her newest grandson.

PJ made the rounds among several other family members before he started to fuss. “I think he might be hungry; I better get him back to Ginny,” said Harry, taking PJ from Aubrey. As he turned to leave the room, Harry was shocked when, suddenly, his arms were empty. “Where did he go?” he asked in a panic.

Don’t worry, Harry; he’s with me. Apparently, little PJ is quite good at Apparating already. He must have been hungry and decided that it was time to nurse.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. That second prophecy did suggest that our son would be powerful magically. The couple had chuckled several times over the years since the final battle that, while the prophecy could have meant a child fathered by Draco, Harry also met the qualifications to sire the ‘next great wizard.’

After reassuring the family that PJ was with Ginny, Harry reached out to hold Cat’s hand and led her back to Ginny’s room, where they found PJ at Ginny’s breast. Harry waved his wand at her bed, causing it to magically expand to accommodate all four of them. He sat down on Ginny’s right and Cat jumped up on her left, staring with wonder at little PJ.

The last picture is of our little family in the hospital a few hours after PJ’s birth. Cat has been a wonderful big sister in general, but at times she seems like she is having a little difficulty adjusting to the huge change that has come to us. I’m sure she’ll adapt in no time.

I hope things in Ohio are still good. Thanks for the update on Pelton Aviation and MAP Charities. I can’t thank you enough for taking over the reins of those for me and how well they are prospering under your leadership. It still amazes me that you pushed yourself to finish your business degree in three years just so that you could help me out with my family’s company. You are a true friend, and I know that I will be forever in you debt. How is your progress on the MBA? I’m sure taking the courses while working full time can’t be easy. Thank you again.

On a more personal note, are you still enjoying married life? Make sure you take some time to spend some quality time with Sam. Consider that an order; I am your boss after all. Are your parents bugging you about making them grandparents yet? We’ll see if we can make a quick trip to visit you toward the end of the summer so that everyone can meet PJ.

Give our love to Sam and your parents,

Harry/Brook, Ginny, Cat, and PJ

**********

Harry folded the letter to his oldest friend and, before he could call her, Hedwig landed on the desk and held out her leg. After attaching the letter to the offered leg, he scratched his owl under her neck, causing a short satisfied twitter from Hedwig. Smiling he said, “Here you go, girl. Enjoy the flight.” She nodded her head to Harry and flew out the window.

He stood up, stretching, and then crept quietly to the room he shared with Ginny. He opened the door a crack and spied his wife and son asleep, she in their bed, he in his Moses basket that was placed on an enlarged bedside table. He carefully reclosed the door and thought that he should figure out what Cat was up to. Probably reading in her room, he thought, so he walked down to Cat’s room, expecting to find her sitting in her window seat enjoying a book, and he was a little surprised when he didn’t find her there.

As he looked around, he smirked at how Cat’s bedroom displayed the contrasts of her personality. Being part-Veela, sometimes she was all girl, which could be seen in the pink walls, the frilly bedclothes, and the numerous dresses hanging in the wardrobe. However, on those pink walls, he could see evidence of her other nature, as a tomboy. She had two Quidditch posters, one of which was the current Ballycastle team, the other featuring Harry and Ginny side by side on their brooms, Ginny tossing a Quaffle from one hand to the other, Harry grabbing a Snitch out of the air as it flew by. Harry and Ginny had tried to veto the caption of the poster, but the public relations witch insisted on “POTTER POWER!” Next to the posters, he saw her paintball gun and mask that she had received in her Easter basket the past spring. He rubbed his left buttock, which was still a little sore from the welt that she had given him when they were playing with the guns the day before.

Not finding her in her room, he thought, Wonder where she is? The last time I saw her she was helping Ginny with PJ.

Thump. A few seconds of silence. Thump. Harry smiled and cast a Silencing Charm on their bedroom. So much like Ginny sometimes, he thought.

He walked through the kitchen, out the back door, and across the yard to the old carriage house that they used as a garage for the MG that Harry had restored. As he walked around the corner, he saw, as he expected, Cat sitting on her child’s broom. The broom was charmed to only fly six feet off the ground and at a relatively low speed, but still allowed Cat to begin developing her Chaser skills, as she planned to break all of Ginny’s scoring records when she grew up. She was repeatedly throwing a rubber Quaffle at one of the three hoops that Harry had painted on the side of the building, causing the thumps that Harry had heard from the house.

Thump. “Hey, Cat, what’s wrong?”

Thump. “What makes you think something’s wrong?”

Thump. “Because the only time you come out here by yourself and try to knock down our carriage house with the Quaffle is when you are upset.”

Thump. A pause. Thump. “It’s nothing.”

Thump. Harry walked a little closer and Summoned the Quaffle out of the air before she could catch it again. “Cat, if something is bothering you, it’s not ‘nothing.’ Please talk to me.”

Cat flew the broom to the ground and slowly got off. She trudged over to Harry, her head down. He put his arm around her and led her to their favourite spot to talk, a swing hanging from an ancient oak tree near the back of their property. He sat down and patted his thigh, and she hopped up into his lap. She snuggled into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her small body. “So, what is it?” he asked.

Cat sniffed. “I don’t want to tell you. You won’t like it. You’ll be mad.”

He reached down and lifted her chin, looking into her teary eyes, and said, “Cat, you know you can tell me anything. I promise you I won’t get mad. What happened to make you so upset? The last I saw you, you were with Ginny and PJ and everything was fine.”

She sniffed again and burrowed her face into his chest. After about a minute of silence, she began. “Aunt Ginny had just finished changing PJ’s nappy, and he was lying on his back, kicking his legs and waving his arms. Aunt Ginny rubbed her nose into his belly and said, ‘You be a good little boy, PJ, and take a nap. Your mummy needs to sleep. You’ve kept your mummy up way too much last night.’ Hearing that just made me so mad that I came out here to throw the Quaffle.”

Harry’s brow furrowed as he considered what she said. “I don’t understand. Why did that you make you mad?”

Cat began sobbing against Harry’s chest. “It’s just not fair! When he can talk, he’ll call you Mummy and Daddy, and I can’t!”

Harry patted her back and said, “There, there,” finally understanding the problem. “Settle down, my sweet girl,” he comforted her as he rocked her.

When she had calmed down, he turned her so that they were facing each other. “Do you want to call Aunt Ginny and me Mummy and Daddy?” he asked, his eyes filling with tears.

She nodded silently before saying, “See, I told you that you wouldn’t like it. I made you sad,” she said quietly, new tears falling down her cheeks.

“I’m not sad, dear Cat, I’m happy. So very happy. We love you so much, and I would be honoured if you would call me Daddy. I’m sure that Ginny feels the same.”

“But what about my real parents? Would they be sad?”

Harry thought for a moment. “I don’t think so. I know that they had planned on you calling them ‘Maman’ and ‘Papa,’ just like your mother did with her family. So, I think they would be okay with it.”

Cat then wrapped her arms around Harry’s chest and squeezed him in a hug that would have made her Grandmum proud. “Thank you, Daddy!”

Harry hugged her back, tears of joy streaming down his face.

What’s going on out there? Harry heard in his mind. A huge wave of emotion just woke me up! And I was having a wonderful nap!

Harry chuckled. Sorry about that, love. He blocked off his thoughts to her so that Cat could tell Ginny herself. Since you’re awake, can Cat and I come in? We have something to talk to you about.

I guess. But this better be good, Potter, or you can get up with PJ all night tonight!

Oh, I think you’ll be okay with it.

He picked Cat up so that he could stand and put her down on the ground. “Ginny’s awake. Why don’t you go ask her if she’s alright with being called Mummy?”

Cat turned and started sprinting toward the house. “But be quiet about it; PJ’s still sleeping,” he called after her, shaking his head at the energy of the little girl.

By the time he arrived at his bedroom doorway, Ginny had raised a Silencing Charm around her bed so they wouldn’t disturb PJ, so he couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could see Cat talking animatedly to Ginny. He then saw his wife nodding enthusiastically and she pulled the little girl into a hug, tears streaming down her face. She looked up and their eyes met. Even without their Bond, Harry could almost feel the bliss displayed on her face.

Harry took in the scene before him. His wife hugging his daughter in all but blood. His son sleeping sweetly next to the bed. I never wanted to replace Bill and Fleur in Cat’s heart, he thought, but I never realized until this moment how much I yearned to be accepted by Cat as her daddy. A few days ago, when I first held PJ in my arms, I thought I couldn’t be happier, but that pales compared to the joy that fills my heart today.

To the rest of his days, Harry Potter used the memory of the events of that afternoon to conjure his Patronus. And what a Patronus it was.

The End

A/N: It is with mixed emotions that I finish the first fanfiction I ever started. I did not imagine three years ago that this little idea that kept creeping into my mind would grow into a 59 chapter story of over 300,000 words. My original plan was to just write for my own creative enjoyment, but last fall I decided that perhaps I would like to share it with others. I thank all of you who have stuck it out to the end. I especially thank those of you who have taken the time to review; your comments and encouragements have helped inspire me to continue when I was struggling with writer’s block. Most of all, I want to thank Arnel, beta extraordinaire, who has encouraged, criticized, counseled, prodded, reinforced, supported, and pushed me to be a better writer. I have learned and grown a lot as a writer through this process thanks to her help. This story wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good without her input.

This might not be the end, though. Arnel has suggested that I write some ‘missing moments’ from the story as one-shots, so I have started thinking about the possibilities of this. If any of you have any suggestions of something you would have liked to have seen in the story, please let me know and I will consider them. I also have an idea for another longer story, but it will be a while before it gets posted as I have a lot of plotting and writing to do before it is ready.

Reviews 319
ChapterPrinter
StoryPrinter




../back
‘! Go To Top ‘!

Sink Into Your Eyes is hosted by Grey Media Internet Services. HARRY POTTER, characters, names and related characters are trademarks of Warner Bros. TM & © 2001-2006. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions on this site are those made by the owners. All stories(fanfiction) are owned by the author and are subject to copyright law under transformative use. Authors on this site take no compensation for their works. This site © 2003-2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Special thanks to: Aredhel, Kaz, Michelle, and Jeco for all the hard work on SIYE 1.0 and to Marta for the wonderful artwork.
Featured Artwork © 2003-2006 by Yethro.
Design and code © 2006 by SteveD3(AdminQ)
Additional coding © 2008 by melkior and Bear