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The Veil | ||||||
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Category: Post-OotP, Holidays Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Drama Warnings: Death Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 113 Summary: In the fall of 1996 Harry finds a book about the ancient holidays just before Samhain, or what has become Hallowe'en. Tradition says communication with the dead is possible. Harry enlists Ginny to help him find out if its true. Hitcount: Story Total: 59157; Chapter Total: 1648 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: Hi, I'm sorry this has taken sooooo long to get to you, but my life has been insane. Things went bottoms up in my personal life in June and I"m just getting my head above water again. Needless to say, my muse was silent. However, I've been bedridden since Jan 3 and I'll have at least another 5 weeks this way, so you're in for more chapters ASAP. I hope you enjoy this. Quick recap, Harry summoned his parents, grandparents and Sirius on Samhain with the help of Ginny. The god and goddess made them human and living again to completely destroy Voldemort. At Potter Manor they were reunited with another school friend and Grandma Potter made dinner. Ginny broke up with Dean by letter. And now I present Chapter 12 |
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Chapter 12 Family Gathering “Being in limbo for so long has allowed us to gather information without any danger,” Julia Potter said as she enjoyed the last of her coffee and looked at the cake plate with only crumbs and a few smears of icing left. She wouldn’t have been surprised if her son had picked up the plate and licked it clean. While she appreciated his love of her cooking, it would have been uncouth. “Andrew, dear, would you like to fill the others in on what we know?” “Of course, dear, although may I suggest we move to the lounge, so we can discuss this in greater comfort?” He’d returned the same age as he’d died, one-hundred-seven years old. The aches and pains which plagued him before were still there. “Thank the goddess,” Sirius said with relief. “These chairs are beautiful, but I never realized how hard they were when I was a kid.” “Old,” James muttered under his breath. “Well, if he’s old then I must be ancient,” Julia said as a kinder reprimand. “You, of all the people around this table, know what your mate went through. Be kind.” Sirius heard anyway and turned red at the mention of what he’d endured. He looked down for the umpteenth time today. If he’d made contact with Mum, he knew he would have cried. “What happened to Sirius?” Eva whispered to Remus. “We can talk about it later,” he responded. “And please, don’t mention our fine-feathered friend in his presence either.” Eva looked at him puzzled, and then caught on to his reference. “Oh no,” she thundered, without thinking. While Julia, James, and Andrew looked at her. "Sorry, just…" when it was obvious the trio wouldn't let it be, "…Anwen". Unable to take even a mention of her on top of his embarrassment, Sirius stood and walked out, his boots scraping on the marble floor. The rest watched him walk away. When he was out of earshot, Julia turned back to the group, a tear rolling down her cheek. “She has to be somewhere. Maybe Minnie knows?” Julia suggested with determination. Her lifetime friendship with Minerva McGonagall might hold an answer. At least they could find out where she had gone to France. Julia was wondering if she ever even boarded the flight to come home. “We need to find our girl, this family and more importantly, my son will never be complete without her. Come on.” Scrapes of chairs on the parquet floor made Remus cringe. His super-hearing ability wasn’t always welcomed when he was human. Thankfully most people had taken off their shoes and the stocking feet walking across the marble didn’t bother him so. Julia and Andrew had put on their house-shoes, soft rubber-soled ones that never left the building while Lily had produced some rather silly looking pink moccasins from within their suite of rooms at Potter Manor. The only one who had his boots still on was Sirius, and Remus knew he had to wear shoes, or he didn’t have the balance to walk. Only Remus knew about the three toes he was missing, and that’s because he helped heal the infections on his friend’s feet when they were together after Azkaban. Two had been lost to Death Eaters torturing him by yanking them off; the other was due to infection from the horrible conditions he was kept in. After living with Sirius for so many years, his footwear scraping across the floor was a welcome sound. Remus sat down at one end of the large couch with Eva next to him. Lily, Harry, and James filled out the furniture entirely. Across from them Julia and Andrew were sitting in their usual chairs — no one ever had sat in them besides their owners — and Sirius and Ginny shared a smaller couch that faced the fireplace, completing the square. This was the houses second sitting room; the one closer to the front of the house was formal and almost never used. This was the lounge the family had always congregated in. Julia was close to tears as she looked around and considered those in the circle. This short reprieve from death would be fleeting, but to have her sons and grandson and most of the girls and dear Ginny at her house, it was more than she ever dreamed she’d have. Once the gathering was assembled James looked to his father; Andrew, however, he merely tipped his head. As James glanced around the circle, everyone was looking at him. The younger man was surprised. His mates were older than he, and Harry had been fighting Voldemort for five years. He naturally assumed his father would take the lead. Unsure why he was acquiescing, James took the mantle upon himself and began speaking. “I know we all heard the oak king today, save Eva —” “You saw the god?” she asked surprised. “Geez, I thought all of you NOT being dead would be the biggest surprise of my day.” “Oh, Eva, you’ve no idea,” Lily said with gentle kindness and taking her friends hand. “We need to tell you why we are here and what the mission he and the goddess have set for us.” “We have a mission? You seriously need to fill me in.” This was all beginning to feel overwhelming. She was considering her brain, which now felt like a sausage which was about to burst its casing. “Or maybe you shouldn’t. Why don’t we start with, how are you all here?” “James can’t tell you one part without the other. Except for Harry, Ginny and me — who have never been dead — the story of how they are here is part and parcel of how we are going to defeat Voldemort,” Remus explained. “Voldemort?” his girlfriend screamed terrified, “I went into hiding because of him! I lost my father to him! He nearly killed mum before I could get her away! I am not fighting him!” Throughout her speech, she was becoming hysterical, her body shaking violently, tears streaming down her cheeks and the usually dulcet tones of her voice breaking and unsteady. They all heard the angry storm her voice mimicked. “NO! I’m safe here, and I can’t put myself at that risk.” “Sweetheart, we have to fight him. That’s why we are all here,” Remus said gently, taking her into his arms. “I don’t know why it has to be us, but I suspect it’s because we are Harry’s family. Voldemort marked Harry as his equal on the night that James and Lily were supposedly killed.” “How did he? Is it that mark on your head?” Harry nervously played with his fringe at the question. "Sort of, Eva," Lily chose to answer. "He came into our house and threatened my baby boy. I wouldn't let him have Harry and stood in front of his crib. Voldemort killed me," she broke down, and the two friends were now holding hands. "Her sacrifice created a blood magic spell," Harry said. "When Voldemort tried to kill me, it bounced off and did something to him. He wasn't much more than a parasite until a year and a half ago when he became human-ish again.” The group was quiet, even Ginny, who knew all of this began silently crying. She remembered how the teen Tom Riddle had hurt her. Sirius put a brotherly arm around her, recalling what Bill Weasley had told him about her ordeal. "Okay, now I understand. James," Eva said resolutely, while she dried her face. “If you could face him as a boy, Harry, then I need to try to help.” “Before we start, there's something I don't think I said enough in life," James said, "and that's thank you, Sirius and Remus. You didn't have to take on this fight and sacrifice all you did. Harry was Lily and my responsibility, neither of you needed to put yourselves into Voldemort's direct path. We know it cost you both dearly and I, we, can't thank you enough." “That pup there is my godson,” Sirius said defensively. “I would die one hundred times if it kept him safe. I’m just sorry I didn’t raise him like I should have.” "No, but when I found you, it was awesome to have a family I could call my own, both of you," Harry said. “You’re both very gracious,” Remus said. “I was always going to be a target, James. Fighting for your son was a better reason than anything else I would have come up with. I just felt so guilty for being the one who lived.” “But if you’d died, I wouldn’t have ever been able to find you,” Eva said, and Remus leaned his head down against hers. “Now, we need to begin with the story of Tom Riddle, back in nineteen-twenty-six. He was born into the Gaunt family, although his last name comes from his Muggle father…” James began to tell the tale of the man who would become Voldemort with his father and son interjecting when they had something important to add. Hogwarts Castle on the same night “Your note seemed quite urgent,” Minerva said to Albus when she arrived in his office. He was pacing, as he was oft known to do. “What’s the matter?” “Have you seen Harry Potter or Ginny Weasley today?” “Yes, they were both out flying in the afternoon and then again at supper this evening. Why?” “Did they seem ‘off’ to you?” “Not particularly, a tad quieter than usual, but Ginny had broken things off with Dean Thomas, so I’m not surprised.” It had been Albus who had seemed off today, well for the last few days. Something had set his balance off, he almost seemed unhinged. “I’ve spoken with all their professors today, and they all said the same thing.” “I hardly think it’s an emergency if two students are pleasant and quiet. For the two of them, it’s hardly surprising really. Yes, Harry can get into a fair bit of trouble when he’s with Miss Granger and Ron Weasley and Miss Weasley was far too easily swayed by the twins, but I would say after the happenings at the ministry, both, no all the students involved have been more subdued. Albus, please tell me what’s going on.” Minerva had essays to grade, and very much wanted him to say what he called her here for and then allow her to return to her work. Albus sat down on the steps which separated his private quarters for the Head’s office and looked up at her face. She was surprised to find his eyes ringed with tears. “You know everything I’ve done, I did for the common good,” Albus said. Minerva was so struck by this sudden show of emotion she sat down next to him and took his hand. “Of course,” she gently replied. "The two beings we have interacted with as Harry and Ginny aren't them. They are very, very good fetch copies of the pair. The real pair has gone to Potter Manor." Minerva was shocked at the two teens figuring a way out of the castle without alerting her immediately and moreover, how they made it onto the Potter property. It was quite a distance away, and neither could Apparate or had the knowledge to make a portkey. “Did you take them there?” “No, they were transported by someone with far more power than I have. There are others there with them, although I cannot tell who. When James died the spells defaulted so the only person who could open them would be a Potter. Harry must have dismantled them,” Albus added quietly, almost as if as if to himself. “Why, Albus? What’s going on?” “On the night that James and Lily were killed, Voldemort didn’t just mark Harry, something else happened,” he said and thus began his first retelling of the whole evening fifteen years to the day. |
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