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Albus Potter and the Deathly Hallows | ||||||
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Category: Post-Hogwarts Characters:Harry/Ginny, Other Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Humor, Romance Warnings: Death, Intimate Sexual Situations, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 77 Summary: Albus has his challenges during his first year. Cleopatra is obviously his soulmate, and has brilliant insights into magic, except she cannot do it like anyone else. Albus has to help her while keeping peace between the two brightest and most competitive students at Hogwarts, Scorpius and Rose. It doesn’t help that people are out to get Albus. Harry is not sure he can keep everyone safe. Then you have Ginny and Cleopatra. Hitcount: Story Total: 79322; Chapter Total: 2633 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: You knew that Albus could not keep the Elder Wand secret from his father for very long. How is Harry going to handle this? More critical edits by Arnel. |
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After breakfast all the younger people drifted over to Potter’s New Burrow, with most of the adults at the grandparents’ house next door. Since the weather was not good, everybody was inside, and Al was playing a “how many wands can I catch” game with his cousins. He could usually disarm three people and catch the wands, but beyond three it was harder to catch the wands and keep the wand disguised. As he was doing this his father came into the room. For about three sessions of this Harry just looked on in amazement, and then he noticed Al’s wand. He looked at it really carefully. Trying to disarm five cousins was more than Al could do with the Concealment Charm. As the true nature of the wand revealed itself Harry looked at in shock. It couldn’t be!! It had to be!! “Albus Severus Potter! I need to talk to you,” Harry said in a firm, commanding voice. He took Al to his office and said, “I want to see your wand, and without any Concealment Charm!” Al took off the Concealment Charm and held up the wand. Harry again said, “Tell me how you got that wand.” Al said, “I can tell you, but Scorpius was there, and Rose and Cleo know the story. Do you want to talk to them too?” Al was worried. He knew that it was really strange the way the wand had come to him, and he was always worried that his father would try and take it away. When it came right down to it Al was sure this was Albus Dumbledore’s wand, the Deathstick, and there was no way his father wanted him to have THIS wand. At the same time this was the only wand that felt right in his hand, like it belonged to him. Yes, it was a powerful wand, but it was HIS powerful wand. “You tell me first,” said Harry, and Al told him the story. He ended with, “You told me that I could have any wand that chose me if you could get it for me. This wand chose me. Please, Dad. This is the first wand that has felt right for to me.” Harry thought back to giving Albus permission to have the best wand for him. He certainly never intended to give Albus the Elder Wand, but he never said, “Any wand but the Elder Wand.” It just never occurred to Harry that the wand would take Harry’s statements, both verbally, and he realized in writing, as permission for the wand to change its allegiance to Albus. Harry sat quietly looking at the Elder Wand, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Harry felt that the Elder Wand was too powerful and dangerous for him to handle, and here it was in Albus’ hand. Harry asked Albus, “Do you have any idea what wand that is?” Albus said, “I think it may be, I think it is Professor Dumbledore’s wand?” “It is. Do you know what wand that is?” asked Harry. “The Elder Wand?” said Albus. “And what makes you think that an eleven-year-old should have the oldest, most powerful, and most dangerous wand in the world?” asked Harry, straining not to yell. “Daddy,” said Albus, “I didn’t try and get this wand. It came to me. It felt right, really good. I did not realize what wand it was at first. And Dad, you promised me any wand that choose me, not any wand but this one. Please!” Harry had no idea what he was going to do. He told Albus to wait outside his office. He took Rose, and then Scorpius, aside and one at a time had them tell him the story. He told each of them not to say anything. Harry remembered prophesies about him giving the Elder Wand to a child. He swore he would not, but he had also promised Al any wand that had chosen him. He was caught. Damn. Damn! DAMN! Then Harry motioned for Cleo to come into his office and said, “Tell me how Albus got the wand he is carrying, Cleo.” Cleo said, “It came to him. Oh, Mr. Potter Al is just so good at summoning things, and when his wand was broken, and he summoned ‘Albus’s wand’ that wand just came to him. It’s just right, like, I don’t know, like this wand is right for me.” Cleo showed Harry her wand. “Is that the wand that has been in Ollivander’s window for ten years?” Harry asked, a little shocked at Cleo’s wand. Cleo nodded her head. “The wand didn’t choose anyone else, but it chose me. It’s a little touchy to use sometimes, because it has three cores and sometimes they fight and it needs a firm hand, but it’s just, OH, RIGHT! And Al’s wand is like that for him, it’s just RIGHT! “I mean, Mr. Potter, the two wands are different. Most wands, they don’t have a gender, but Al’s wand is masculine and my wand is feminine. Here, do a simple spell with this wand and you will be able to see what I mean.” Harry took Cleo’s wand. It felt feminine in his hand. He didn’t know how he could tell, but he could. He did a simple summons with the wand. It didn’t feel right. He really did not want to use that wand. It wasn’t exactly like rape, but it was like making some sexually really inappropriate remark using that wand. “The Elder Wand is masculine like this is feminine?” Harry asked. “Oh, yes!” Cleo said. “Three or four other girls have tried to touch it and they can’t. It’s just, I don’t know, but they say it feels wrong, like it’s something they really shouldn’t touch.” “And you?” asked Harry. “I don’t have any problem using Al’s wand, and he doesn’t have any problem using mine, but we know it’s not our wand. We know that his is masculine and mine is feminine.” Cleo responded. “And you think that Albus Potter should have the most dangerous wand in the world?” asked Harry. “But it’s HIS WAND, Mr. Potter. Please. It chose him.” Cleo had a panicky look on her face. “Tell Al to come back in here,” Harry said. Then he sent a text message to Minerva asking to use her office. Minerva sent a text message back saying she was with the Prewetts, but he could take the Floo to the Hogwarts Kitchens, and the password to her office was ‘Merry Christmas Minerva.” The three friends saw Harry walk with Al to the fireplace and heard Harry say, “Hogwarts kitchen.” Rose and Scorpius went into the library to talk about the wand and what was going on. Cleo sat down at the kitchen table and looked forlornly at the fireplace. Narcissa was still next door at Arthur and Molly’s house. It was just Ginny and Cleo in the room. Ginny looked at Cleo. She obviously was nervous, and a little worried. Her hair was a mess as usual, actually worse than usual because the game of take the wands had messed up her hair and caused her ponytail to fall out. Cleo was wearing the ugly dress, which really didn’t fit her. It was too tight on top, and Ginny could see that Cleo was developing breasts. It was also too short. Ginny had always been pretty, and just a little vain about her appearance, despite the scars and the extra weight she was carrying. Cleo was never a natural beauty, and besides feeling abandoned, she felt ugly, which did not help her appearance either. It’s not like she didn’t care, but when Narcissa or Astoria tried to correct her or help her she became very defensive, and she could get touchy when other people tried to help as well. Ginny went over to Cleo and said, “Let us see if we can make that dress look any better.” She took Cleo back to her bedroom. Ginny tried to see what Cleo’s figure was like, but with ill-fitting clothes on it was hard. She had noticed a label on the dress that said Fanny’s Fat Fashions; Cleo wasn’t exactly fat. … Ginny said, “Cleo, I really hate to ask you, but could you take off the dress. It just doesn’t fit you, and I need to see you to see how to alter the clothes.” “You might as well see my fat body,” Cleo said. “All the women at the Malfoy house keep telling me I’m fat.” Ginny looked at Cleo. Her knickers did not fit her hips, which were large. In the back her bum was large too, but the lower legs were not fat, and neither were her arms. She had a bit of a tummy, but really quite a narrow waist for as big as her hips were. She was also quite obviously developing on top, and should be wearing a bra instead of just the singlet she was wearing. Ginny used her wand to alter dress so it fit better. It was tough to make that dress look good. She also tried to get control of the hair, something that was beginning to look like it was as easy as keeping Harry’s hair neat, that is, impossible. They ended up with it back in the ponytail, but looking less out of control, and Ginny gave her a charm to help control the hair as well. The fringe was just a disaster, and Ginny asked if Cleo would like to grow her hair out instead of having the hair short in front. Cleo said she would try anything, so Ginny made the fringe the same length as the rest of her hair, pulling it all back. While they were doing all this Ginny said, “I’ve worked with Lily and Rose on how to dress. They have different shapes, so they look good in different clothes. You have a different shape too, but it’s a nice shape.” “I’m fat and dark and ugly,” Cleo said. “You are not fat and ugly, and you are dark but there is nothing wrong with that,” Ginny said. “Everybody in the Malfoy house says I’m dark and fat and ugly,” Cleo said. “Most of the people in the Malfoy house are unnaturally thin, not that they are bad looking or there is anything wrong with being thin,” Ginny said. “I have taken Rose shopping for clothes as well as Lily, Cleo. Rose’s mother really does not have the patience to go clothes shopping with a girl who is so concerned with colours, and having everything make some sort of fashion statement, as Rose. We can get you better clothes tomorrow.” “As long as we don’t have to go to Fanny’s Fat Fashions,” said Cleo. “I would LOVE to have YOU helping me look not so ugly.” “You are not ugly, Cleo,” Ginny said. “We just need to find you clothes that flatter your figure.” Finally Cleo said “I love the smell of your hair, Mrs. Potter. I am using the shampoo that Mrs. Malfoy got for me, and it just reminds me that I was abandoned there. I don’t want to smell like you, I do not really know what I want, but there must be something better.” Ginny said, “Maybe we can work on something here that you would like better. Would you like to develop your own scent?” Cleo got excited and said, “Could you help me with that! I really like it when a girl has a scent that says her, and it is right for her. Some of them have good shampoo smells that are just right, others have shampoo that is kind of OK for any girl sort of, and a few have shampoo that just is not quite them. Even some boys are like that. I can tell when a boy borrows a girls shampoo or when a girl borrows a boy’s shampoo. I like smells! That would be wonderful!” Cleo then took a good look around the room. “This room looks like you, and sort of looks like your shampoo!” she said. Ginny was surprised and said, “The decorator and I tried to make our bedroom back at Grimmauld place look like my scent, and then we duplicated it here. You are the first person to notice. That’s fantastic, Cleo.” Cleo said, “I can see why Mr. Potter likes this scent. It probably smells a lot like early summer at the Burrow, with an overtone of your mother’s cooking. I can smell just a touch of what your mother’s kitchen smells like! The room and the scent kind of remind you of spring leading into a summer of ...I do not know… just nice.” Ginny said, “You are just amazing, Cleo. You ought to help other girls develop their own shampoo scents!” Cleo replied, “I’d like that!” Ginny told Cleo that her scent books and supplies were back at Grimmauld Place, but that she would get something for Cleo before the end of Christmas Break. Back in the kitchen Cleo said, “Thank you for all the help, Mrs. Potter. The girls in the dorm have tried a little, but I feel much better. I still do not feel pretty, but I guess I feel a little less ugly.” “You are not ugly, Cleo,” said Ginny. “You are a girl who has not had enough mothering, who just needs a little help to look more put together. Mostly you need more confidence in yourself. Your best friends are the smartest students in the school, and you are doing an excellent job of keeping up with them. I’m so proud of you, and I hardly know you.” “Oh, thank you, Mrs. Potter,” said Cleo. “I am so glad Al and Rose sat with us on the way to Hogwarts! I’m so glad they are my friends. Al is the nicest person I think I have ever met!” Ginny remembered writing to Al asking what Cleo was like, and him answering back that she was sort of exuberant, and had a tendency to speak in underlines and exclamation points. Ginny thought that Al had done a reasonably good job of describing Cleo, although Cleo was rather subdued at the moment. “Is he your boyfriend, Cleo?” asked Ginny. She thought of the prophecies, the tapestry, and how natural Al and Cleo looked together. Cleo looked at Ginny with a little panic in her face. How was she going to describe her relationship to Albus? On the one hand she was sure she was going to spend the rest of her life with him, and have lots of children with him. On the other hand she was almost twelve, and Al was eleven, and they had no business being that close. Besides, this was Albus’s MOTHER! “Al’s not EXACTLY a boyfriend, Mrs. Potter,” she said as she leaned forward and put her elbow in the butter dish. Cleo looked at her elbow and said in a very small voice, “I’m sorry.” Ginny looked at Cleo and the elbow in the butter dish and remembered herself at almost eleven putting her elbow in a butter dish in front of Harry Potter. “Oh my,” thought Ginny. She did a quick spell to clean up the butter, trying to suppress laughing but with a big smile on her face. “I’m only eleven, well, almost twelve now, way too young to have a boyfriend,” said Cleo. “But if I had one, he would be it.” “When is your birthday?” asked Ginny. “Christmas,” said Cleo. “I do not tell anyone because you can never have a birthday party or anything special on Christmas. Besides Scorpius’ mother hates me, and everything is very hard for his grandmother. I feel sorry for her. Grandmother has been fighting with the great-grandmothers too. It’s real tense in the Malfoy house.” Cleo felt sorry for Narcissa? Ginny had to think about this for a while. Meanwhile, Cleo just kept looking at the fireplace. It was obvious to Ginny that Al had a girlfriend. Well, in all honesty it looked like Cleo was a lot more than just Al’s girlfriend. Actually, if any two young people were soulmates it would be Al and Cleo, but, but, but … * Meanwhile, Harry and Al went up to the headmistress’s office, and Harry looked at the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. “Hello Albus, I have a question for you,” said Harry. “Hello Harry, Hello Albus Severus Potter, Severus, wake up and meet the son that Harry Potter named after us,” said Dumbledore. “Albus Severus, I see you are in Slytherin, and making us proud! And you have your Grandmother Lily’s eyes. If you are as kind as your grandmother you will make us all proud of you,” said the portrait of Severus Snape. Dumbledore then said, “What is your question, Harry?” Harry said to Al, “Tell Professor Dumbledore how you got the wand you are using, and show it to him.” Al told the story and showed the wand to Dumbledore. Dumbledore then said, “Harry, you must be here because of the wand. You know that the wand chooses the wizard. My old wand has chosen your son Albus Severus as its new master. I did wonder when you put it back if that wand would be content to stay in my hands forever. You did not want it, and therefore you did the right thing by putting it back in my hands. Now I think you would do the right thing by honouring that wand’s choice and letting its new master keep it. Not that I think you have much choice in the matter.” “Is that safe?” asked Harry. He thought of the prophecies, that he would give the Elder Wand to his son, and that his son would face the same sort of dangers he had faced as a child. Dumbledore said, “Letting an eleven-year-old boy possess the oldest and most powerful wand in the world, the wand that was ancient when Merlin used it, the Elder Wand, the Deathstick? There is nothing safe at all about that wand. I did not say anything about it being easy, or safe. “Harry, do you remember when you were eleven, the Philosopher’s Stone?” Harry said, “Yes.” “Do you remember your second year, the Chamber of Secrets?” asked the portrait. Harry said, “I know what you are getting at! There is no need to go through all seven years leading up to the Battle of Hogwarts. This is not exactly reassuring.” Albus, or the painting of Albus Dumbledore, looked at Harry, then at Al, then back at Harry. “Should I have told you to stay safe instead of doing what is right?” “Professor Dumbledore, what are you saying?” asked Harry. Harry did not like where this discussion was heading. The Dumbledore portrait said to Harry, “I am not involved in what is happening, Harry. I am just a portrait, and although I know most of what Albus Dumbledore knew, I do not know anything else except what I am told. I cannot leave these portraits.” “You do not know why Albus has this wand?” asked Harry. “No, Harry,” said the portrait. “The world has moved on beyond me.” Dumbledore then looked at Albus Potter and said, “Albus are you at all scared after what you just heard?” Al looked down, looked up at the portrait, looked at the wand, and said, “I think I’m a little scared all the time, because people have tried to kill me. The wand does not make me more scared. I’m kind of resigned to my fate.” Albus looked at the wand some more, and looked at Albus Dumbledore in the painting, and Harry waited. Albus finally said, “I knew it was a powerful wand, and I knew it chose me. Maybe I sort of suspected that it could be your old wand, but I tried not to think of it. Mostly it just feels like it should be my wand! I want to make the world better. What do I have to do so it’s a good wand, not a death stick?” Dumbledore replied “You have three good friends. Tell them everything, listen to their advice, and keep them close to you. Your father did that with your Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, and then with your mother and several other friends. Tom Riddle chose power over love, as did the wizard I took that wand from. Your father has chosen love over power. I can predict that you will have plenty of power. Choose love.” “Yes, sir,” said Al. “What if I don’t want a lot of power? I want to be a good person. I don’t want to use the wand to become bad!” Albus said, “Just try to always do the good thing, the right thing, not always the easy thing. And Albus, power will probably come to you. What is important is how you handle it.” “But what if I make a mistake?” Albus said. “We all make mistakes, Albus,” Dumbledore said. “I made some very big ones in my life.” “I made the some really big mistakes too,” Severus Snape said. “Try your best to be good. That is all anyone can ask.” Al looked at his father. “This was your wand? You did say that you would give me any wand that chose me, but you have not given me this wand. Here,” and Albus handed the wand over to his father, “this is the wand that I want, but I would really appreciate it if you would give it to me.” Albus suddenly had a big sinking feeling in his stomach. ‘What if his father did not give him back the wand? What if his dad broke it or hid it or … this was the wand that felt right!’ Albus waited, and waited, … and waited. Harry looked at the wand, the one that was so powerful that he did not think he could safely handle it. Everything he had heard about this wand made him more aware of its age and power. He thought of the prophecies. Al was probably going to be in danger, with or without this wand. It was just that in giving Al the wand he was reinforcing all the dangerous prophecies. Albus actually having the wand was bad enough, but giving it back to him, allowing him to give the wand to his son, this was everything he thought he would never do. Harry was terrified. Harry looked at his eleven-year-old son, and though of Albus Dumbledore all those years ago letting Harry Potter have the Invisibility Cloak and face all those dangers. Facing dangers yourself was easy compared to this. He knew what he ought to do, but that did not make it any easier. Harry knew, especially after meeting his parents and others during the Battle of Hogwarts, that he believed in life after death. He had never quite joined the Wizard Christian Church, but he believed in prayer. He stood there for a couple of minutes, finally thinking, ‘Lord, whatever powers of good there are, please help me make the right decision.’ Harry waited for an answer, some sign, some token, something to keep the decision from being his and his alone, but it did not come. Harry felt the wand again, trying to feel if it felt like his wand, like a wand that had chosen him. It didn’t really feel like his wand, but it felt like it was his wand to give to Albus, and, he could not tell why or how he felt that way, but it did feel like his son’s wand. Harry really did not want to give Albus back his wand, but it felt so much like it was his wand, Albus Severus Potter’s wand, that Harry did not think he had a choice. Finally Harry said, “Albus Severus Potter, take this wand, and make it a life stick not a death stick. Thank you for letting me give this to you. And let’s keep this part secret for now.” Albus breathed a great big sigh of relief, and told his father, “Yes, father, I will not tell anyone. And thank you for the wand. I will do my best to be worthy of it, and you.” Harry looked at Albus and worried. Well, in all honesty he was very close to panic. He was used to facing danger, even though his life had been relatively safe the last few years. Facing his own mortality was not all that hard, having died once and finding it very peaceful. But he knew that Al with this wand was not exactly a formula for a quiet safe life, and allowing your eleven-year-old son to face the kind of dangers he had to face frankly terrified Harry. Al looked at Severus Snape, and asked, “Professor Snape, could you help me, us, with some problems we are having in Slytherin? The Prefects and some other pure-blood Magi are really nasty to anyone not of pure blood, and anyone who does not support the old pure-blood cause. It is causing a lot of problems.” Snape asked, “What do you want me to do, Albus Severus? I’m just a painting. It is not like I can go with you to talk to anyone.” “Could I bring people up here to talk to you?” Al asked. “You would have to get the Headmistress’s permission,” Snape said. “Let me talk to Professor Dumbledore and some of the other Headmasters and Headmistresses. See me after you are back in school a couple of weeks.” “Yes, sir,” Albus said. “Are you good in Potions, Albus,” Professor Snape asked. Albus said, “Yes, Professor. I’ve been helping Dad since I was five. Cleopatra, she is, well, she just is, she is exceptional. She can smell and feel what to do to make a potion better. She’s just amazing, totally, but she cannot tell you why to do it that way. You have to get inside her mind, now, that’s really strange, to see what she is doing. But I can usually explain it. Except we have a bad teacher this year, so it’s hard. I think I would have liked to be in your class. “I’d like to know you better because some people, they think it was bad for Dad to name me after you, but I want to be able to tell people why he did it, and that I sort of know you from your portrait, and that you were really a good guy.” “You give me too much credit, Mr Potter,” Snape said. “I was not always good, and even when I tried very hard to be good I was not always nice. I would never have named a son James, or Harry. Your father giving you my name as a middle name proves that he is a much better man than I am. Imitate your father, not me.” Al said, “Yes, Professor Snape. “If it is all right with you I would still like your help with Slytherin.” “Mr Potter,” Snape said, “I think you can trust my namesake, and Albus’s, with that wand.” “I hope so,” Harry said. “I do not think there is any way I could, or would want to, get it back.” Harry looked at the portrait of Dumbledore and said, “I think I will tell Ginny, Ron and Hermione, and maybe show the wand and its new master to Ollivander as well, plus Al’s friends have to know. No one else at this point. Is that wise, not too many people not too few?” asked Harry. “I think you have chosen wisely, Harry, although I doubt it will stay secret for long,” said Dumbledore, and he closed his eyes to indicate that the interview was over. * Cleo smiled. “Mr. Potter gave Al the wand!” she said, and then let out a big sigh. “How did you know?” Ginny asked Cleo. Cleo looked at Ginny nervously, and finally said in a small voice, “I just knew.” “What wand is this?” Ginny asked Cleo. “The wand that came to Albus when his was broken,” Cleo said. Ginny pondered this. It was beginning to look like Cleo was more than just Al’s girlfriend, something not reassuring when you were dealing with children of eleven and twelve. Soulmate? At eleven and twelve? NO! A short time later Cleo giggled. “What is funny?” Ginny asked Cleo. “Albus just said some nice things about me,” Cleo said. “I do not know what, but I could sort of feel it.” Ginny thought about the original Romeo and Juliet, about the Chinese couple who had started living together when they were younger than Al and Cleo, and some of the other soulmate stories she had heard. Ginny was close to being terrified. * Harry and Al walked silently back to the Hogwarts kitchen and took the Floo back to the house. Harry told Ginny and Cleo to go to the library with Al and wait. He found Rose and Scorpius in the library and told them to stay there. Ron and Hermione were over at Arthur and Molly’s house, but he soon found them and had them come to the library as well. When they were all in the library Harry had Al show everybody the wand. “Blimey, is that the wand I think it is?” asked Ron. “Where did you get that wand?” asked Hermione. Harry said, “Tell the story again, Al,” and he told the story again, with confirmation from Scorpius and Rose. Cleo was by this time thoroughly intimidated, and kept quiet. Harry then said, “I took Al over to Dumbledore’s portrait, and he confirmed that the Elder Wand, the Deathstick, Merlin’s wand, has chosen Al to be its new master.” Cleo squeaked, “Oh Al, Mr. Potter, is that safe?” Harry said, “Cleo, I asked the same question. No, it’s not safe. There is nothing at all safe about an eleven-year-old owning and using the most powerful wand in the world. Al needs good friends like you, Rose, and Scorpius Malfoy, and in choosing to be Al’s friends you are choosing the good but not the safe. I’m sorry. It was not particularly safe for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Potter to be my friends when I was eleven to seventeen at Hogwarts, and Mrs. Potter can show you the scars she still has from that horrible time, as can Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. “I am going to ask you all to swear not to tell anyone else, with a magical binding so you cannot, until the word gets out some other way. Once it is reported that Al has the Elder Wand you will all be released from secrecy.” Harry then did the Secret-Keeping Ceremony. The parents left, but the four friends stayed behind. “Are you scared, Al?” asked Cleo. Albus said, “People have tried to kill me, and there are prophecies that people think point at me. That scares me. This wand does not make me any more scared. “Dumbledore said the wand chose me, and I do not think I have any choice. Are any of you scared?” Rose and Scorpius nodded their heads, but then Scorpius said, “We are with you no matter what, Al.” Cleo said, “It’s a little like flying fast and far with you on your broom. It’s scary, but a good kind of scary, and as long as I’m with you I feel safe!” The four friends promised not to tell anyone. When they came out together all the cousins asked what all that was about. They said that Al’s wand skills were so good his dad just needed to talk to him and to everybody else about them, but that everything was all right. He still had his wand. He was just going to be careful how he used his skill, and his friends were going to have to help remind him. He was also not to let anyone else touch the wand because of the way that wand had bound itself to Al. Most of the cousins suspected there was a lot more than that to the scene they had just witnessed, and they all looked at the wand very carefully. One of them had a Chocolate Frog Card with Dumbledore’s picture on it, with his wand. It took less than an hour for the cousins to figure out that Al had Dumbledore’s old wand, or a wand that looked a lot like it. Ginny took Harry aside and said, “As soon as you gave Albus the wand Cleo knew. What is going on between those two?” “Let’s ask them,” Harry said. He remembered the prophecies about Albus and Cleopatra. He found Al and Cleo, who were with the cousins, and said, “Could you two come into the office with Al’s Mum and me.” Al and Cleo followed Harry and Ginny into the office. Ginny looked at the two children and said, “When Mr. Potter gave Al the wand you knew, Cleo. How? What is going on between you two?” “I could just feel it!” Cleo said. “Al was SOOO relieved.” “How?” Ginny asked. Cleo looked at Albus and thought what do we do now’ Al could sense in Cleo the colours and music that spelled concern, not exactly fright but close. We tell the truth, Albus thought back. YOU, please, Cleo thought, and Al could see and hear the tension that Cleo was feeling. There was ominous music running in the background of Cleo’s thoughts Albus took a deep breath and said, “You know I have some skills in Legilimency. Well, it is sort of like that, but a lot more.” Ginny, who had been looking intently at the couple said, “You were just communicating right now.” Al and Cleo nodded their heads. “Just by thinking?” Ginny asked. “Sort of,” Al said. “We can get into each other’s heads and kind of see what the other is thinking, and communicate back and forth. It’s real strange. Cleopatra is such a different person, and her mind works in a totally different way. I never realized how different people could be inside. I mean, you can’t really be inside another’s head, can you? Except with Cleo and me we sort of, kind of can.” “Al is SO logical,” Cleo said. “His mind is almost like a library with facts neatly filed away, and he can write down what he is thinking and that is really almost what he IS thinking.” “What are you like, Cleo?” asked Ginny. Cleo said, “Well, you know like in a movie when the hero and heroine meet; and there is music, and then with a good cinematographer sometimes the focus is a little off and the colours are, oh, I don’t know but just right, and then you move into the, well, the start of the adventures, except with Al and me you need the right music and the right colours and, well, that’s probably not a very good way to, oh, Al, help!” Ginny looked at Cleo, then Harry, then back at Cleo, and said, “Cinnamon-what-for?” Both Al and Cleo could see total confusion on Harry and Ginny’s faces. “The music?” asked Al. “Maybe if you play the music that is you and me.” Cleo took out her keyboard. “I can’t play the colours, or the smells, or the feelings, and of course this is only Al and me, sort of. Maybe you can explain.” Albus said, “The first notes are Cleo. It is sort of like a recorder, except it’s a recorder with a very large range, a recorder is all wood and natural and just has an earthier sound than a metal flute, that’s really Cleo, and then woodwinds, and then the strings are me. The bass strings are you, with the same notes over and over, not boring but the solid foundation, your love Mum and Dad, that give me that strength for everything else, and then the strings, and, well, you will just have to listen.” Cleo started to play. As always the first notes were about ninety percent idyllic childhood and ten percent terror. Al was a rather conventional Pachelbel, except there was something in the high strings to indicate a tension, something going on, a future conflict or dissonance that was going to have to be resolved. Cleo’s notes lost the terror but lost the idyllic as well, a difficult but productive time. Harry and Ginny were sure they were hearing the two children growing up. It was clear that the two melodies were two distinct melodies, two totally different things that happened to blend well. Suddenly there was a change, and the two melodies changed. They did not lose their identities, but they merged, and Harry and Ginny could tell that what was being created was the start of something very much more than the two individual songs, an amazing, exciting and somehow frightening symphony. And then the music stopped, very incomplete. Harry and Ginny looked at each other, stunned. The gripped their hands tightly together, at loss for words. Even rational thought was difficult at first. “We only have so many words to describe things, Mum, Dad,” Al said. “Elves have different words, and they can describe different things, they can think about relationships in a way that English speakers, the speakers of all of the languages of the Magi, can’t. The elves have some words for what Cleo and I are, and the sorting hat called us soulmates, but nothing does a good job of really describing it. “Cleo’s music comes the closest, except when I hear it I hear her as well, the colours, the overtones and shades of emotion she is trying to convey, the smells, sometimes Cleo thinks in smells, and even some of the frustration when what she has played isn’t wrong exactly but isn’t exactly right either.” “You don’t think in words?” Harry asked Cleo. “Words have different colours, and sometimes the same word has different colours and, some words and things have scents,” Cleo said. “Well, it’s hard to describe, except that the world is a VERY exciting, colourful, music filled, scent filled place and it just takes ALL of me to begin to take in ALL the wonder that is in the world. “And right in the middle of it is ALBUS POTTER, Oh my!” Cleo looked at Albus with that look of wonder and adoration and pure amazement at her good fortune that said way more than words could ever convey. Ginny panicked. “CLEO, ALBUS, You’re CHILDREN. This isn’t right. It can’t be right. It’s like you are married or more, but you CANNOT BE. It feels like … it feels like … it feels like it ought to feel wrong.” Ginny then said in a very quiet voice, almost a whisper, “It just feels like it ought to feel wrong.” “It IS a problem,” said Albus very quietly. “That doesn’t mean it’s not right, really right, but it’s a problem too.” Cleo started to sob. “I’m big and fat and dark and ugly and I don’t fit in with the Malfoy’s and I thought I might fit in here, I mean Al and me, but maybe I don’t fit in here either. If this is not right what IS? I didn’t ask to be this way, I just AM! And Al and me, it just WAS. It wasn’t that it happened, but it just WAS. It IS. WHAT do I do now?” Ginny looked at Cleo, who looked somewhat lost, and suddenly she had nothing but sympathy for this complicated, talented, somewhat frightened girl. Cleo needed her love just like Harry did, needed the love of a family, and in the end Cleo needed the love of a good man, too. There was a small love seat in the office, and Ginny went to Cleo, and had the two of them sit on the love seat. When they were both seated Ginny held Cleo and said, “You are very welcome here, Cleo. I don’t understand what is going on between you and Albus, and it frightens me, but we are just going to have to learn to accept it.” Ginny looked at Harry, who nodded his approval of what Ginny had said. She then looked at Albus, who said quietly, “Thank you, Mum.” Cleo tried to feel, see, smell, sense what was going on. Holding on to Ginny it was obvious that Ginny was confused and frightened by what she had heard and sensed, but that Ginny was a loving person. Ginny loved Albus, and Ginny was beginning to love her. Ginny’s world was just changing rapidly on her, at least that part of the world that revolved around Albus, and she was scared, scared for Albus but also for her. Harry was trying to understand what was going on. What is your dad thinking Cleo thought to Albus as she looked at Harry. Al looked at his father. Harry was thinking of all the prophecies, and of all the things he had been seeing and hearing about over the last years. He was trying to understand what was going on, and what he needed to do right now. He wasn’t coming up with any good answers, any action plan, either. Cleo looked at everybody pondering what to do next, and she finally said, “Everybody is trying to think about what to DO, like life is a series of tests with right and wrong answers, and nobody is looking at the colours and smells and feelings and, just being here, and, the just goodness and beauty of being without worrying about what to DO, cause we can’t DO anything about it right now anyway, we just ARE.” Harry said, “We just wait. And while we wait we love each other.” “OH, YES, MR. Potter,” Cleo said and she got up from the couch next to Ginny and went over to Harry and pulled him up and gave him the biggest almost Molly Weasley hug. “The scene is coming to an end with EVERYBODY LOVING EVERYBODY. Oh the story still has its scary moments but that I’M PART OF THE BASS LINE, THE LOVE, OH thank you Mr. and Mrs. Potter, THANK YOU. “YES! YES!” and Cleo took Albus by the hand and they walked out of the room. “Oh, my,” Harry and Ginny said in unison as they looked at each other, stunned by what had just happened, and then Ginny said, “I …, I guess Cleo is part of the family from now on.” Ginny paused and looked at Harry, and he looked back at her, both pondering what had just happened. “This is CRAZY!” said Ginny. “And scary, real scary,” said Harry. “I would like to feel the whole situation, the wand, Al and Cleo, is wrong, but I can’t. The scariest thing about it is that it feels right. Scary as hell, but right.” “They are going to have adventures, aren’t they, Harry,” Ginny said. “Dangerous adventures. They may be hurt. We may even lose one or both of them.” “Probably.” “How long have you known?” “This mental connection, never. That both were important and may be connected. Looking back at what I have seen and been told I can see how some things were leading up to this, but none of it was at all clear until …” Harry looked at Ginny with obvious concern, and then said, “Nothing is clear NOW! I’m pretty sure Cleo has to confront her great grandmother to get the other wand, but when and how and, before just now I would have said I didn’t know if Albus was going to be involved, but I’m pretty sure Albus is going to be very involved with anything that has to do with Cleopatra. “I’m going to have to ask Dumbledore how he knew what to do with me, except I’m pretty sure he is going to say that lots of times he didn’t know. Only Albus is my son, our flesh and blood. Ginny, I’ve been worried about Albus since the first prophesies, but now I’m terrified. I don’t have any idea what to do.” Ginny said, “I feel like Dumbledore’s unseen wife, someone who has no idea what has been going on. I feel like my mother going into the Battle of Hogwarts knowing that she had already lost a son and may lose everyone and everything. HARRY! What do we do?” “Love, wait, maybe pray,” Harry said. ”Your friendship with Cleo is going to be very important! Just love.” “Donna Lionheart went through years of counselling trying to learn how to ‘just love.’ I’m going to talk to mum. Tell me everything you know about those two as you find out, even when you are just guessing, please, Harry! I don’t want to be in the dark like I was before the Battle of Hogwarts.” “What did you learn at Hogwarts? Who did you talk to, and what did they say?” Harry said, “I talked to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape. Professor Dumbledore reminded me about my years at Hogwarts, something that was not at all reassuring. Both agreed that the wand was now Albus’. “He told Albus to keep his friends close.” Ginny said, “I’m taking Cleo clothes shopping tomorrow. I will probably learn a lot more about her tomorrow.” * Victoire was almost positive Albus had the Elder Wand, so she took her wand out and brought up the display and keyboard for the wallet computer most of the Potter/Weasley clan always carried, and looked up the article on the Elder Wand. It had changed to say, “Harry Potter became the new master of the Elder Wand before the Battle of Hogwarts, but hid it and did not use it. Tom Riddle stole the wand, and used it at The Battle of Hogwarts. After the war it was hidden. It stayed hidden until the end of September 2017, when it was unknowingly summoned by Albus Severus Potter. It officially became Albus Potter’s wand The Seventeenth of December, 2017.” “Merlin,” swore Victoire. “Riddles revenge, Boggarts. Albus, look at this!” Albus looked at the display Victoire showed him. “Oh no!” he said quietly. “Now everybody will know.” “Better tell the rest of us before I do, Albus, you little snot,” Victoire said, “How in Merlin’s magic did you get Uncle Harry to give you the Elder Wand?” Albus told Victoire the story about how he unknowingly summoned “Albus’s Wand.” He then said, “Professor Dumbledore said it was my wand, so I gave it to Dad and asked him to give it back to me. He thought about it for a long time, and then gave it to me. “I think Dad is scared. Maybe I ought to be, but it just feels like MY WAND.” By this time the family was large enough that the older generations, Arthur and Molly along with Andromeda Tonks, who was still staying with them, six surviving children, five spouses plus Charley’s attendant, that is fifteen people plus assorted guests, ate at one table and the twelve grandchildren plus Teddy Lupin plus assorted guests ate at another. This evening Narcissa Malfoy was at the adult table. The young people’s table had Scorpius, Cleo, Frank Longbottom II, and Fred Weasley’s wife Miriam as well as the cousins. When dinner time came around the Chocolate Frog card was passed around and then Roxanne said to Al, “First you get your mothers extremely expensive broom, and get the Firebolt people to adjust it for you, then you get Albus Dumbledore’s wand. How do you do it? Al replied, “I just asked for the broom.” James said, “Like you asked for permission to use magic when you were six. You just push and push until you get your own way!” James was not happy that his brother was a much better negotiator. He really did feel that Al was always getting away with something. Al said, “Both Mum and the Firebolt broom people had to agree, but I just asked nicely.” He refrained from saying, “You ought to try it sometime,” but he knew that one reason he got away with things that James could not get away with is that he knew how and when to ask. Roxanne asked again, “How did you get that wand?” Al said, “Some older boys stole my wand. I did not know it at the time, but they broke it into four pieces, and were running in four different directions to destroy the pieces. I said ‘Accio Albus’ wand,’ that is my name, Albus, and this wand came to me. How was I to know that it was Albus Dumbledore’s wand? And my dad does not want anyone else to know what wand this is.” “It’s not safe,” said Cleo in a little voice looking at Al, not realizing that this was probably not the most helpful remark to make at this time. All the cousins looked at her, then back at Al. Victoire looked kindly at Cleo and asked, “What do you mean it’s not safe, Cleo?” Cleo quickly looked around, and then looked at Al like maybe he could rescue her. She then said in a very rapid and flat voice, “Mr. Potter said that Dumbledore said that the wand is not safe. That it is Al’s wand and that it is the one he should have, and he needs friends because the wand is not safe. I don’t know.” The, “I don’t know,” was said in kind of a plaintive, ‘Oh help what have I got myself into,’ tone of voice. “Dumbledore told us that the wand chooses the wizard and that this wand chose me,” said Al. “I can’t tell you why. I did not ask for this wand. I just asked for a wand using my name. He did say this was a powerful wand, and that he did not know if it was going to be content not to be used. Please do not tell anyone else what wand this is. Dad did not want anyone else to know about it. “And Cleo is right; Dumbledore said that I could use this wand for good, but that I needed to choose love over power, and that the wand could be good but not safe.” “What an ego trip!” said James. James did not like his younger and smaller brother overshadowing him. “Is that why you have a girlfriend, cause you need love,” exaggerating the word love, “to control that fancy wand of yours.” “James!” said Victoire. “You are really out of order, James,” said Teddy. Fred said, “Cool it, little cousin.” James shut up but sulked. Lily asked, “Al, can I see the wand?” Al answered, “I don’t think I should show it around. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been playing that game and drawing attention to myself. Please do not tell anyone else. I don’t want anyone in the family in danger because of this wand. I’d hide it except it is the only wand that has ever felt right in my hand. Rose, you were with us when Mom tried to buy a wand for me.” Rose said, “He is telling the truth. He ended up using Scorpius’s father’s old wand, the one Scorpius has now. None of the other wands was quite right, although they all worked.” Victoire piped in, “I just looked up the Elder Wand on the Wizards World Wide Web, and it said that the Elder Wand was given to Al by Uncle Harry today! Everybody is going to know you have that wand! Look at this!” Victoire increased the size of the virtual screen of her computer so everyone at the table could read the article. Teddy went over and took Harry aside and told him about the conversation around the dinner table. Harry recognized at once that if all the children knew about the Al and the Elder Wand they would have to tell the adults, so Harry had Al tell his story again, with Harry telling about the interview with the portrait of Dumbledore. Al really did not like being the center of attention, especially in a gathering he could not control, but he really did not have much choice. Then Victoire told them that the article on the Elder Wand on the Wizards World Wide Web already had been updated to show that Harry had given the wand to Albus. This news was upsetting to everyone at the table, Harry and Ginny especially. Andromeda stayed at the dinner table, next to Molly and Narcissa, although she disappeared into her flat between meals. Molly told Narcissa that Andromeda usually did not leave and hide in her rooms after meals, but with all the cousins home there was a little too much chaos for her. Narcissa did spend a good portion of her time visiting with her sister. When they were alone Narcissa told Molly how much she enjoyed finally meeting all of Molly’s family at Molly’s home. “It’s a lot more activity than I am used to, and a little intimidating to me. It is so much more loving than our house, though. In person your family is even nicer than you describe it.” Several people noticed how Molly and Narcissa seemed to be friends. A couple remembered the confrontation at the Lupin’s funeral, and marveled at this friendship. Narcissa was going to leave after dinner, leaving Scorpius and Cleo to spend the next few days with the Potters and Weasleys, but before she did she spoke to Ginny. “I hope you can talk to Cleo, Ginny. I saw that you took her aside earlier today. Our relationship has always been strained, or worse. Oh, she is fine with schoolwork, anything that has right and wrong answers that are in a book, but when it comes to anything personal, like buying her clothes or helping her know what to wear, we seem to always be fighting. She is starting to develop, and I hate the thought of helping her find a bra, or talking about growing up. She had one period before she left for school, and I though a war was about to start when I tried to explain to her what was happening. She is the cause of a lot of the tension in our house, and it is not her fault.” Ginny said, “I will see if we can get her some clothes. Do you have a budget from her parents, or should I just buy them?” Narcissa said, “Just give me the receipts, and I can take the money out of an account her parents have set up. I guess I could even charge her parents for room and board, but we have enough money, and I do want to treat her as a guest and not just as a problem. I feel sorry for her, and sad that I was so upset with the situation the first year or two that we lost the chance to be friends. The poor girl needs a mother. She is starting to develop and I would appreciate anything you could do to help.” Ginny thought about Cleo again. When they were straightening out her clothes Ginny could see that Cleo had developed breasts, and did need undergarments, in fact should already be wearing a bra. She certainly had hips and a butt. Cleo was heavyset, not in any way obese but certainly heavy with a bit of a pot belly, but not unattractive if she could wear the right clothes. Late that night Harry told Ginny the part that he did not tell anyone else, that Albus had given him the wand and asked if he could have it. “And you let him have it?!” said Ginny her temper beginning to flare. “Taking that wand away from him was going to be as hard as taking the engagement ring off your hand once you got it on,” said Harry reminding Ginny of the way she has “assumed” a proposal instead of waiting to be asked. This took the wind out of Ginny’s sails, and she calmed down, but they both pondered the situation. Finally Ginny said, “Harry, are you scared for Albus?” Harry answered, “Yes. I though what I went through at Hogwarts was the worst you could ever feel, but having a child face dangers has to be worse. You feel so helpless knowing that as much as you want to you cannot always be there, cannot shield your child from all danger.” “Harry,” said Ginny “He’s only eleven.” “The same age I was when I went to Hogwarts and started facing dangers,” said Harry. “Oh Harry,” said Ginny. “James gets hurt, and all this with Al. What about Lily? Is the world going to be safe for our little one?” Ginny almost automatically reached for where she could feel the new life growing in her, as if touching the outside could somehow help. “I am too, Ginny,” said Harry. “What can we do? I do not know what happened with James. “The wand chose Albus. He is trying so hard to be good, and a good wizard. We have to trust. It could not hurt to say a few prayers.” Ginny told Harry about her discussion with Narcissa. Harry said he would try and find out more about Cleo. Harry and Ginny did not sleep very well that night. |
| Reviews 77 |
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