Index
Chapter 1: Ginny's Disappearance
Chapter 2: Jennifer Neveu
Chapter 3: Recovery
Chapter 4: Princeton
Chapter 5: Back At Home
Chapter 6: First Kiss
Chapter 7: Ten Years Later
Chapter 8: Jennifer's Decision
Chapter 9: Promises Broken
Chapter 10: Revelations
Chapter 11: Half Truth
Chapter 12: Trust
Chapter 13: The Woman He Loves
Chapter 14: Home
Chapter 15: Choosing Sides
Chapter 16: Plans Drawn
Chapter 17: The Rescue
Author's Notes: There are some changes in some of the chapters I have made this morning. Please read. Thank You for your time and patience. :-)
PROMISES BROKEN
The Brown House,
Aspen, Colorado,
United States.
Jennifer took her purse and then climbed down the stairs. Alfred was waiting for her at the door with her cloak in his hand. He helped Jennifer into her cloak and asked, “How will you be going to the school Mistress?”
“I will take the Audi with me. It’s better if I drive rather than apparate and scare off the muggles. But before I leave, I need to brief you on some things,”said Jennifer.
“What is it Mistress?” asked Alfred raising his eyes a little.
“I just got off phone with Ted. He has found himself on a rough ground and I need to go to London as soon as possible to clear the situation. I will be gone for sometime and I do not want to stay away from the kids for so long. So I’ve decided that all of us will be going. I need you to book a flight for all of us in the coming week. And let me know the date and time. And also do all the necessary packing. Let Mrs.Hudson know of the recent developments.”
“Alright Mistress. Anything else?” asked Alfred
“No that’s all Alfred.”
Jennifer took the car keys and went to the garage to get the car. As she got into the car her mind drifted to the conversation with Ted. Deep down she knew she was being impulsive. She knew that going to London might invite many more dangerous situations. But taking care of Ted’s case was equally important. By making such a rash decision she was breaking the promise she had made to herself four years ago, after Samar’s death. So much had happened since she came to America. Her life had changed dramatically. When she had first come here ten years ago she had never thought that one day she would be one of the richest and powerful people in the world. Everything about her had changed. She could remember every important moment of her new life vividly, right from the day she had met Samar to the day she had last seen him…
***She and Samar had started dating towards the end of their final year. And it was simply blissful for her. She never thought she could be happy in a foreign land, with strangers. She evolved. She began loving herself and Samar. She began a new life here. A new life with four great friends anyone could ask for and a best friend who also turned out to be her love of this new life. They had started with Auror training together and continued to see each other. Even after celebrating their first anniversary there was a boundary between them. They had not yet slept with each other. Jennifer just found it hard to cross that line for many reasons one of which was her fear of being with someone. She felt a mixture of feelings like anxiety, fear and anticipation. She could vividly remember the conversation she had had with Penny about this situation.
#####“So how was your date?” asked Penny from the floo.
“We just had sushi for dinner and then tomorrow Samar is going to take me dancing to some club in the town,” said Jennifer.
“Wow. So far so good then eh?”
“Uh-huh”
“What’s wrong?”
Jennifer spoke after a long moment. “Lately we just have almost crossed the line in getting physical. But haven’t been able to do it. Whenever we kiss it just evolves into a full on snogging session and things get really heated. But I always put a stop to it. We have even reached second base. But not, you know” said Jennifer sheepishly.
“Relax Jen. It will happen when it has to happen. You see him every day at the Auror Training. It’s not like that time doesn’t permit you. And also in your condition your subconscious is not just ready to take such a big step. Even if technically you are not a virgin this is like giving your virginity to Samar. So just take your time. Even if Samar is suffering right now,” said Penny and winked,” You guys have been dating for a year now. I have talked to some of the women who have gone through the same thing as you have. It’s normal to be nervous. You have known Samar for two years now. Do you really think he would hurt you?”
“No.”
“Then Relax. From what I have heard from his past lovers he was always considerate of what they wanted from him. If you want him to go slow then tell him. He will listen to you,” said Penny.
“Okay,” said Jennifer.
“Samar has gone a year without having sex Jennifer. He has never been on a drought this long. And he is doing it because he loves you. And you love him even if you haven’t told him. It’s very obvious. He has told you he loves you. So I think before anything happens you need to tell him about your feelings first.”
***“You are awfully quiet today,” said Samar looking at Jennifer with a concerned expression.
“Am I usually chatty?” asked Jennifer raising her eyebrows.
“Very,” said Samar.
Jennifer sighed and said,”I am thinking when I will be able to put you out of your misery.”
“I would be lying if I said that the waiting is not miserable,” said Samar with a smirk,”There is only so many cold showers a bloke could have.”
“Samar please, be serious for once,” said Jennifer morosely.
Samar took her hand in his and said,”Jen, I love you. There is a reason why you are not able to take that step. It will happen when it has to happen. And I promise you when that time comes I will make it worthwhile. And I am sure it will be worth the long wait. For now, just have dinner. You have barely touched your chicken.”
Jennifer just looked at him and spoke softly,”I love you.”
Samar suddenly froze, his fork stopped mid air. He blinked several times and said,”What did you just say?”
“I love you.”
“You just made my life,” said Samar, which made Jennifer laugh.
***The day had come on a surprise weekend holiday. Samar and Jennifer drove to his farm house in Aspen and she had spent the night. For Jennifer it was one of the most surreal experiences. It was gentle, passionate, romantic and filled with love. In that moment she realized that she trusted him more than anyone…
***When she had graduated from Auror Academy she had decided to go to England immediately. She was the top of her class. She already had two jobs lined up, one in the Auror Department and one as an Infiltrator. The problem was she didn’t have much money on her to go to England. Samar had tried to offer her money but she refused it. Taking up on the job offers meant prolonging her plans for a year or two because as a newcomer she won’t get leave. Seeing no other choice she had to take up the job. She joined the American Ministry of Magic as the new Infiltrator since this was the job that excited her the most. Samar and Ted had joined the Auror office and Penny started work in St. Francis Hospital. She continued dating Samar. At this time Samar had started proposing marriage to her in embarrassing ways. For reasons she couldn’t understand then, she always turned him down. She explained him, that finding her lost family was her priority after her job. Even if she loved Samar and wanted to marry him then and there, there was always something that held her back. But Samar was completely understanding about all her issues. He would go back to normal as if nothing had happened. And this continued to the day she had finally said yes.
Due to some or the other reason she had to postpone her trip every year. After completing a year in her new job she was given a new assignment on muggle baiting and women and child trafficking. She couldn’t get away from this case even if she had wanted to. When she had read the reports of this case she realized how close she had come to facing the fate of these thousands of women and children. She had, once again decided to put her plans on hold to do her foremost duty. Serve the civilian population and keep them safe from dangers. She was sent to Afghanistan as a spy in the lead gang who operated these crimes. After two years of her hard work they had finally caught the whole gang. The court proceedings started in full fledge which was lead by lead Aurors in the investigation, Samar and Ted. In this course of time Jennifer fell pregnant. It was simply the most terrifying experience of her life here…
***They were having dinner at his house, which he had recently bought. The Brown House. She was washing the dishes after dinner when she spoke suddenly,” Samar, I am pregnant.”
There was a sound of something crashing. She turned around and saw that the glass Samar was drying off with the dish towel now laid on the floor shattered into pieces. His mouth was hanging open and he was looking at her. Several minutes passed by as they stared at each other. Finally it was Samar who broke the silence.
“Don’t worry hon. It’s going to be okay. I am here to support you in whatever decision you take.”
Having said that, he moved forward and took her in his arms.
“Do you want to keep the baby?” asked Samar in a calm voice.
“Do you want me to keep the baby?,” spoke Jennifer softly as she buried her head in his neck.
“Yes. I want the baby. But it’s your choice to decide what’s best for you. If you decide to keep this baby, then you are gonna have to postpone your plan once again. Will you be able to do that?” asked Samar while nuzzling her nose.
It didn’t even take a second to say yes. “This baby is important to me more than anyone Samar. I love our baby. I am sure one day I will get a chance to go to London and find my family. For now I just wanna concentrate on my new family,” said Jennifer with tears of joy in her eyes.
“You are one amazing woman Jen. I am in awe of you. Marry me?”
Jennifer’s lips slowly curved into a smile.
***To people who didn’t know them well thought that they had gotten married because Jennifer was pregnant. Jennifer didn’t deny it. The pregnancy was part of the reason why she had finally said yes to Samar’s proposal. During the beginning of their relationship Jennifer had envisioned herself of becoming Samar’s wife some day. She loved him and he was the reason why she was alive. If it hadn’t been for him, she would have lost herself all those years ago. She did want to marry him. But there was always something holding her back. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Penny explained to her that it was because she wasn’t ready.She thought it was part of the reason. She was obsessed with finding more about herself. She could have done something to find her family without having to leave America. But her doctor said that though she might find them but there was a chance that she will never remember them if she heard names. In order to get her memories back, they had to be triggered.
When Samar got badly injured in a mission she was frightened. She had never felt so scared since coming to America. When he awake and was talking to her, she realized that how close she had come to lose the one good thing in her life. She was putting a strain in their relationship because of her obsession. Enough is enough thought Jennifer. I am going to say yes to him next time he proposes to me.
They had got married in a private ceremony in a chapel with Penny as her bridesmaid and Ted as Samar’s best man. After that they spent a week in Vermont as a small honeymoon. Samar brought Jennifer to his family mansion and introduced her to Alfred Borden, who was Samar’s godfather but insisted on calling them Master and Mistress. Together both he and Samar made her feel home at this new place and very soon Alfred took the place of a father figure of her life.
***Everything was great. Her stomach was growing slowly. Samar loved talking to the baby. Every night he would put his hand on her bulge and talk to their baby for hours about everything. He talked about his childhood, his life, his days in Princeton and Quidditch. Everything was pure, utter bliss. She was married to the man she loved and in seven months she was going to have his baby. There was only one thing that was missing in her life…
***“I just got an owl. Michael has escaped from Blackgate prison,” said Samar morosely.
“What?” yelled Jennifer.
“That’s not all. The guard says that he had been muttering about going to London in his sleep in the last few days. That’s probably where he is right now. I know it’s just a hunch but Greg says since you can’t travel I will have to go to London. England Ministry has said they need our help.”
“Oh Merlin. Can you take me up to the bedroom? I think I need to lay down because I am feeling dizzy all of a sudden,” said Jennifer fanning herself.
Samar took her in his arms, lifted her and took her to their bedroom. He called for Alfred to get some water and pepper-up potion. Once she calmed down she spoke softly,”So I guess you are going to London tomorrow?”
“I don’t want to go. I am telling Greg to send someone else in my place with Ted. I can’t leave you like this.”
“Don’t be stupid Samar. You need to go with Ted. You and him lead this case. If I was not pregnant I would have come too. After All, it was me who collected all the evidence and me who was the primary witness. But I can’t. So you have to go. It’s your job Samar.”
“Fuck the job Jennifer. My mind won’t be in my work. I ‘ll be constantly worried about you. Thinking about you, the baby. With Michael out there you are not safe.”
“I am an Infiltrator Samar and I can take care of myself very well,” said Jennifer angrily her voice slightly raised.
“That’s not what I meant Jen. The situation is completely different because you are carrying our child. You can’t be reckless now. So please drop the subject and stop trying to convince me. I am not leaving you alone. I am sending Greg an owl saying to find someone else.”
“Honey listen to me,” she put her arms around Samar and said,”Samar you need to go to London. I would have if not for my condition. You have to go in my place. You need to present the evidence and catch Michael as soon as possible. And after all this come back home to us. Okay?Please Samar do this for the baby? Our child will never be safe as long as Michael is out there. Please Samar. Do this for Sameer?”
Samar sighed and said,”Alright. You are right. Our child will not be safe as long as he is out there in open,” and then Samar noticed something and asked,”You are okay with naming the baby Sameer if it is a boy?You were a bit hesitant before this.”
“Yaa. It is a beautiful name. Also we can call him Sam for short. But if it turns out to be a girl, I am going to name it,” said Jennifer firmly.
Samar raised his eyes smilingly and asked,”What name do you have in mind for a girl?”
“Emma.”
“That’s beautiful. So it’s decided then. If it’s a boy Samar and if it’s a girl then Emma,” said Samar.
Jennifer nodded and then hugged Samar tightly. She didn’t want him to see tears in her eyes. She needed to stay strong for him. She really wanted him to stay by her side. Until the end of this pregnancy. She wanted him to stay with her during the delivery. But given the circumstances she doubted that he would be home in time. She tried not to think about what else could happen to him on this mission. She knew his life was at stake he may not come home…
Samar stroked her back in a soothing way and asked,”You know Jen? There is an advantage of me going to London.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“I can find out about your family.”
Jennifer looked up at him and asked trying hard to hide her enthusiasm,”Really? You would do that for me?”
Samar chuckled at her barely hidden enthusiasm at this idea and said,”You know the doctor said that it would be of no use if we obtained information on your family. If they are still alive and meet them it will be like meeting new strangers since you will know already how they and what their names are. For the memories to be triggered you need to meet them without being aware of how they are or what their names are. So if I find them and arrange a meeting then you will be able to see them and not worry about your memories not getting triggered. How does that sound?”
In response Jennifer threw her hands around him and sighed in relief. No one except him knew how much it meant to her to find her family, to find herself. It was the best thing he could do for her. He knew how happy she would be if they found her real family. And to Samar, Jennifer’s happiness was everything for him.
That night they made love slowly yet passionate. To Jennifer it felt like Samar was memorizing every contour of her body, like it was going to be the last he would see her. In the morning Samar left for London. ***
“Hey honey, how’s it going?” asked Samar excitedly.
Samar had bought her mobile phone, a muggle device through which they could stay in touch and talk daily without the disturbances, a long distant floo network has.
“The constant feeling of nausea is gone replaced by constant hunger and weird cravings,” replied Jennifer tiredly.
“That’s good. Anyway, I called you because there is good news and bad news.”
“What’s the bad news?” asked Jennifer warily.
“We are nowhere near solving the case. Even with your evidence. We have a hunch. Harry suggested. We’ll look into it tomorrow. But frankly I am not sure if it will give us a breakthrough.”
“I’ll contact Ryan and get more details. Now what’s the good news?”
“I found them,”spoke Samar softly.
“What?” asked Jennifer, her heart suddenly beating wildly.
Samar laughed and said,”I found your family Jen. You have a big family. It fits. All of them are red-heads like you.”
“Did you tell them about me?How did they react?”
“Well no. I didn’t. I thought it would be a huge shock to them and they might find it unbelievable,” said Samar.
“What do you mean?”
“They are under the impression that you are dead,” said Samar
“What? Why would they think that?” yelled Jennifer.
“Okay Jennifer relax. Calm down, take a deep breath. You need to sit down for what I am about to tell you. Okay? Are you sitting down Jen?”
Jennifer sat down on her bed and said,”Yes I am sitting down.”
“Okay. The person who err- who did ‘that’ to you six years ago was a Death Eater, a supporter of Voldemort. He is in prison now for murdering you. When I read the transcripts of the hearing and also your autopsy report it seemed to me that the convict might have produced a fake body in your place. Because there are some anomalies in your supposed postmortem report and your bio-data. I think the original plan was to murder you but when you escaped they faked your death. Someone very powerful is involved here Jen. Setting up a meeting between you and your is going to be very difficult because first I will have to prove that you are alive. But the good thing is your family is one of the famous wizarding families. They have connections in the Ministry-”
“No Samar don’t tell me the details. You have done more than enough darling. Just finish this case and come back here. Don’t tell them anything for now. We’ll think of something. Don’t worry. Okay?”
“Okay,” He said solemnly. She heard a buzzing sound in the background.
“Baby I gotta go. My colleagues have come over to discuss the case. I’ll inform you of any developments,” he paused and then said,”I haven’t told Ted about finding your family and for now let’s just keep it that way because I have to be cautious. One of your brothers is one of my colleagues now. Bye for now baby. I love you.”
“I love you too.” And then she heard the line disconnect with a click
***That phone call was the last phone call she ever got from Samar. He disappeared the next day. Two days later, the England Ministry got a tip that Samar was being held captive by Michael Lansky in a disused muggle factory in South of England. But by the time the Aurors reached the place to rescue, it was already too late. Samar was in the warehouse of the factory writhing in pain. Michael Lansky was fleeing from the spot but got caught by some Aurors. By the time they could take Samar to St.Mungo for treating his injury he was already dead. His body was transported back to America for cremation under a tree near his family house. Samar had left everything he owned to Jennifer including his family trust and family home and estates. His wealth was distributed amongst Ted, Penny, Alfred and Jennifer. He had already set up a trust fund for his unborn baby. Jennifer had forbidden any of his colleagues to come to America and pay their respects to the late brave Auror. She was devastated. She needed time. Alone. To think. Think about the past she was leaving behind without knowing any of it. Think about the daunting future where she was all alone in raising her child. Samar’s baby.
It was my fault. I never should have let him go. I knew that if he went to London he would help me to find my family. I was selfish and I lost the only good thing in my life. He is gone and he is never coming back and it’s my fault. None of this would have happened if I wasn’t so obsessed. It was my obsession that killed him. I can’t kill my baby too. He is the only one left for me. No Samar I WILL take care of your baby. I don’t care who is out there waiting for me. I don’t want to lose him too. I WILL not go back to london to my family and put my son in danger of whatever is waiting for me, she thought
***“You are not alone Mistress,” declared Alfred as he brought a packed lunch for her in a basket. She was sitting under a tree in the lakeside. She was thinking about how she was gonna raise her child all alone. How am I going to do this? Will it be a boy or a girl? Who would the baby resemble? What if the baby doesn’t like me? What if the baby asks about Samar? What if I am not a fit mother for her? These thoughts constantly ran in her mind and haunted her dreams. She dreamed of dropping the baby every time she lifted it. She was mourning. She missed Samar terribly. She looked up and saw Alfred right in front of her. He sat down beside her and started unpacking his basket. He had made a simple lunch of courgette stew which she was currently craving and ham and cheese sandwich. He watched her silently as she finished her lunch and then handed her a glass of pumpkin juice.
“You know Samar’s parents, Ishaan and Amelia had tried for years for Samar. After Samar was born I saw them happier than I had ever seen them. Samar was their first child and the apple of his mother’s eyes. They also wanted to girl but were never able to. They accepted it. I had known Amelia since she was a baby. And of course when you know someone for so long you can’t help but love them and care for them. She came from a pureblood family who supported Lord Voldemort’s views of muggleborns. She was disowned by her family when she married Ishaan since it was well-known that the Anand family did not share the same ideologies as Amelia’s families. I couldn’t live in that house without her. She was like the daughter I never had,” said Alfred shakily and sniffed,” I came here. I began serving Anand family and I loved them. I got the respect that I had never had. I could see why she was so much in love with him. I had never seen her happier than she had been when Samar was born. He was like my grandson. I felt honoured when they asked me to be his godfather. When they took in Penny, it was like their family was complete. When Amelia died, Samar was so sad. He cried to sleep for weeks. Ishan couldn’t live without her for long. I was left to care for two kids. I was scared too. It’s not exactly the same. But I had to do it. Because it was the right thing to do. It’s daunting, yes. But it’s worth every daunting thought. I can’t explain it to you as precisely as a woman would. But the one thing that I want to tell you is you will never love anyone more than your baby. You are here now to be the memories of your baby” and saying that he hugged Jennifer tightly and she broke down. “I’ve never seen Samar as happy as he was with you. I have loved you like my granddaughter the minute you came here, in Samar’s life. And you will not be alone ever.”
***“Jen I know this might be difficult for you but I need to ask you something?”asked Ted warily.
“What?” replied Jennifer.
“Samar had talked about trying to dig up your past in London you know. He never told me if he had found anyone. He would have told me if something like had happened. But I am just curious. Did he find anything about your past?”
Jennifer had frozen on hearing his question. They were setting the table for dinner at her house. With great difficulty she put the plate on the table with her shaking hands and answered with as much calmness as she could muster at that moment,”He did find my family,” Jennifer took a deep breath and continued,” He said they are dead. They died during Voldemort’s reign. I don’t know the exact details about the members since it was difficult for me-” she stopped, pretending to choke up.
“No, no Jen I understand,” Ted said and hugged her tightly,”Look I understand if you don’t want to talk about it. I am sorry. Okay?”
“Yaa it’s okay. It’s just difficult with everything else that’s been going on.” said Jennifer
“I understand” said Ted and continued,”So tell me about the baby?”
Jennifer sighed in relief softly at the abrupt change of subject
***Only Ted, Penny and head Auror Greg were one of the very few people who knew about Jennifer’s pregnancy. She still had three months to go. Jennifer decided to concentrate on her pregnancy. She herself began to shop for groceries, dairies to keep up her health. She started decorating the nursery herself. She painted it in a golden shade of yellow. Then drew little golden snitches all over the wall and a quidditch pitch on the ceiling. She covered the wall with book case, trunk that contained his toy broomstick and a wardrobe containing his clothes and and soft toys the baby would need. When she was finished to admire the beauty of the room she wondered if she had done it so the baby would grow up to be just like Samar. Jennifer had decided to shut herself from the world. She stopped buying newspapers and didn’t listen to the radio. Her house, the house that Samar had bought for her was her nest, her womb.
The sadness and grief was still there. But her baby was able to distract her from the constant ache in her heart that had been there ever since Samar died. She was able to move on from the past she didn’t remember, because of the baby. The fierce love had enabled her to start anew and forget the pain.
Penny was going to be her mediwitch. Jennifer went for regular check-ups and watched the progress of her baby.
“Would you look to know the sex of the baby Jen?”
“Yes please, if it is possible,” answered Jennifer earnestly.
“Okay. Then just lay down and try to relax. This will take only a few minutes,” answered the healer.
A few minutes later a blurred black and white motion picture appeared on the screen of the sonogram. There was a throbbing type movement there. Penny pointed with her finger to the belly of the foetus and said,”There just below the region, we can see it. It’s a boy Jennifer, congratulation!”
Jennifer couldn’t speak. She was on cloud nine after so long. This little boy who was sleeping in her now was going to be her world. She couldn’t wait for him to be here. He was Sammer. Her Sameer…
***She had always been active, and she had thought she would loathe getting heavy and awkward but somehow she did not mind it. There was no reason to hurry anymore. The days became long and dreamy and peaceful. Some diurnal clock within her had slowed it’s tempo. It was as though she was reserving her energy, pouring it into the other body living inside her.
One morning Penny examined her and said,”Another two weeks, Jennifer.”
It was so close now. Jennifer had thought she might be afraid. She had heard all the old wives’ tales of the pain, the accidents, the malformed babies, but she felt no fear, only a longing to see her child, an impatience to get this birth over with so she could hold him in her arms.
Ted and Penny had got married three months before Samar died. They came over every night to her house , bringing with them The Little Engine That Could, Little Red Hen, Pat the Bunny, and a dozen little doctor Seuss books.
“I heard you are likely to be transferred to London. Atleast you are in the list. How do you feel about that?” asked Jennifer.
“I can’t leave you like this Jennifer. I mean you are two weeks away from your due date. I don’t know when they are going to send any of us to London. What’s the use of all this anyway? I thought we were short on staff?” exclaimed Ted
“The Auror Department has always been short on staff. It is not a new thing. What we need is a spy.” said Jennifer.
“According to Hammer, there is someone in the England Ministry, in the highest levels of government, who helped Michael escape from the Blackgate Prison. Michael is not answering anything. We can’t charge him to Veritaserum. The criterias are not fitting. Michael is also an accomplished Occlumens. We tried anyway. But we couldn’t find anything conclusive. There is a chance that whoever was helping him may have not met him or revealed himself to him.But Hammer is under impression that Michael was just a pawn. There is someone else more dangerous who wants to be the king,” explained Ted.
“Yes. And that’s why they want a spy. Michael knew people. He must have had friends somewhere. Who were powerful enough to help him escape Blackgate and then send him to England. He has friends in both places . They wouldn’t have had any authorization to send someone to England. Least of all a person with criminal record. Securities are tight since the end of Voldemort’s reign. It is impossible for a criminal to go overseas without having connections. One thing left to do is catch those people inside the system. We can’t just send anyone there Ted. It has to be one of the best. In the meantime I will be keeping an eye on people working here. Hammer trusts me. He has made me in second in command of this operation. Brand is leading this investigation and he will be coming with you if you agree to this. As soon as I am fit, I will leave the Infiltrator department and join the Ministry as a trainee whilst keeping track of people who might have helped Michael escape. Please Ted? I don’t trust anyone else.” said Jennifer pleadingly.
Ted sighed and said,” You didn't invite me here solely to have dinner, did you?”
“No.” said Jennifer shaking her head.
“I’ll think about it.”
After much contemplation Ted agreed to work as a spy in England Ministry and started working three months later.
***The first pains came at three in the morning of 31st July. They were so sharp that Jennifer was left breathless. A few moments later they were repeated and Jennifer thought exultantly, Its happening!
She began to count the time between the pains, and when they were ten minutes apart she called out to Alfred and a few minutes later she was standing in the lobby of the local hospital where her mediwitch Penny greeted her and took her to her room. When Penny had finished examining her , she said reassuringly,”Well, this is going to be an easy delivery, Jen. Just relax and we will let nature take it’s course.”
Alfred was kept waiting outside her room and he called Mrs.Hudson Ted to hospital. It was not easy but neither was it unbearable. Jennifer could stand the pain because out of it something wonderful was happening. She was in labour for eight hours, when her body was wracked and contorted with spasms and she thought that it was never going to stop, she felt a quick easing and then a rushing emptiness, and a sudden blessed peace.
She heard a thin squeal and Penny was holding up her baby, saying”Would you like to take a look at your son, Jennifer?”
Jennifer’s smile lit the room.
***His name was Sameer Anand Neveu and he weighed in at eight pounds, six ounces, a perfectly healthy baby boy. Jennifer knew that babies were supposed to be ugly at birth, wrinkled and red and resembling little apes. Not Sameer though. He was the most beautiful baby ever!. The nurses, Penny, Ted and Alfred kept telling her what a handsome boy Sameer was. Even Mrs.Hudson. Jennifer couldn’t hear it often enough. The resemblance to Samar was striking. He had his father’s eyes and beautifully shaped head. When Jennifer looked at him, she was looking at Samar. It was a strange feeling, a poignant mixture mixture of joy and sadness. How Samar would have loved to see his handsome son!
Sameer was two days old he smiled up at Jennifer and she excitedly told Alfred.
“It’s just gas Mistress,” he said but with a proud smile on his face.
“With other babies it might be gas, my son is smiling,” said Jennifer stubbornly.
Jennifer had wondered how she would feel about her baby, worried whether she would be a good mother. Babies were surely boring to be around. They messed up their diapers all the time, they demanded to be fed constantly, cried and slept. There was no absolute form of communication with them. I won’t really feel anything about him until he is four or five years old, she had thought. How wrong, how wrong. From the moment she had seen the little blip in the sonogram she loved him with a love she had never known existed in her. It was a fierce protective love. Sameer was so small and tiny but the world was so large.
***Jennifer brought him home with her she was given a long list of instructions. Initially she was not able to cope up with her son’s needs even with the combined help of Penny and Alfred. He was completely dependent on her. He depended on her for nourishment, food and entertainment. She was terrified that she might do something wrong and unintentionally harm the baby. When Penny and Ted left for London, it was only Alfred, Sameer and her.
There were times when Jennifer did not think she would ever be able to do it. At unexpected moments she was overwhelmed with feelings of depression. Alfred kept telling her that it was normal postpartum blues, but that explanation did not make her feel any better. It was then, when Alfred called Mrs.Hudson to handle the situation. She explained to her with patience to be relaxed was good for her and her baby. She began coming over often to help Jennifer take care of Samar since she was constantly exhausted. It seemed to her that she was up all night giving Sam his feedings and when she did finally manage to sleep, Sam’s cries would awaken her and Jennifer would stumble back into his room.
She complained to Mrs.Hudson constantly about Sam’s health. Her healer who specialized in child care, Mr.Clark was constantly floo-called by her to report minor complications.
“Sameer is breathing too fast”...”Sameer is breathing too slow”...”Sameer is coughing”...”He didn't eat his dinner”...”Sameer vomited.”
In self defence the healer came to her home and gave her an hour long lecture.
“Mrs.Neveu, I’ve never seen a healthier boy than your son in my entire career. He may look fragile , but he is as strong as an ox. Stop worrying about him and enjoy him. And remember one more thing- he is going to outlive us both!”
And so Jennifer began to relax. She loved holding Sameer, bathing and diapering him, taking him to airings in his shiny new perambulator. She talked to him constantly and when Sameer was four weeks old, he rewarded her with a smile. Not gas, thought Jennifer happily. A smile!
***“Gracy? Can I ask you something?” asked Jennifer.
”Sure love. What is it?” replied Mrs.Hudson.
"You once told me that your birthplace was England, that if you ever had the chance to go back you would go back and spend the rest of your days there. Right?”
“Yes I would love to,” sighed Mrs.Hudson,”But I can’t go. At least not now. I have a shop to take care of. Not to mention you. When you will go back to work, someone has to be here to take care of Sameer.”
“What if I told you that I will find you a girl to care of the shop here and you go to England and set up another branch of Beautiful Witch there? I will take care of all the finances you will need. Alfred will see to it that you find a decent place to live. Thalia can come with you too if you like.” said Jennifer while holding her breath to hear Mrs.Hudson’s reply.
“Why are you sending me away Jennifer?” asked Mrs.Hudson stoically.
Jennifer sighed and said,”You have to promise me that what I am about to tell you stays in this room.”
“I promise.” said Mrs.Hudson fervently.
“Before Samar disappeared he had called me. He said that he had found my family, which is big apparently. He said that they are still alive. But they think I am dead because they found a body that was identical to mine. I want you to go to London, befriend my family and keep an eye on them. In case any danger comes up to them. And if anything out of ordinary happens to them you are to tell me immediately. I do not want them to be in danger than they already are. And before you start trying to persuade me to go to England then let me tell you. I am not going back. EVER,” said Jennifer in a tone that said ‘shove-off-I-am-not-gonna-listen-to-you’. “Look I can’t tell you exact details because it is highly confidential. I haven’t even told Ted and Penny about this because I know they won’t agree with me. I no longer have any wish to find out more about them and myself,Gracy. The fact that they are alive and healthy is enough reassurance,” continued Jennifer.
“What makes you think I will not try to persuade you to go and meet your family? They deserve this. What kind of a mother wouldn't be exuberantly happy to find her daughter coming home after so long?” asked Mrs.Hudson.
"They think I am dead anyway. It does not make that much of a difference. Even if I go back I won't be the same person they used to know me. I have changed now. Everything from my name and personality has changed. I would be just a shade, just a shadow of their daughter. But now I am a mother. The only and most important thing in my life right now is MY SON,"
Mrs.Hudson sighed defeatedly. She knew it was useless trying to dissuade her. She also knew why Jennifer was doing it, without her having to voice it. She had loved Jennifer like her daughter she never had. She hoped one day, she goes to England to reunite with her family.
“Are you sure about this dear?”
“Yes,” said Jennifer with a blazing determination in her face. The same look she had had when she had decided to recover and join the Academy all those years ago.”I know I am asking a lot. I will understand if you refused.”
“How will you make this work?” asked Mrs.Hudson
“Samar had left a file to me in his will containing all the details of every family member and friends of mine. I haven’t laid my eyes on it. It’s in my vault. Alfred will give that file to you. You keep it. You find them and buy a house in the nearby area where my parents are currently living. That’s how you can befriend them without getting suspicious I suppose,” said Jennifer.
“I’ll think about it dear.”
Three weeks later Mrs.Hudson took a portkey to London.
***Six weeks had passed since Sameer’s birth and it was time to go back to work. Jennifer hated the idea of being away from her son for so long, but the idea of going back to work excited her even if it meant reminiscing and facing lots of memories with Samar. She had completely cut-off herself from everything for so long. It was time to enter her other world.
She looked in the mirror and decided that the first thing to do was to get her body back in shape. She had been dieting and exercising shortly after Sam’s birth, but now she went at it even more strenuously, and soon she began to look like her old self. She had talked to her department head and it was agreed that she would work as trainee from nine to three so she could go home early and take care of her son. Another four weeks later Jennifer returned to work.
###Jennifer parked her car in the parking place. She could hear noises of children playing in the playground. She got out of her car and walked through the gate towards the school building. She looked for Sam and Murph among the kids running around but couldn’t find them. Finally she found them under a tree. It looked like Murph was trying to teach Sameer to write. She had grasped his left hand in her right, making him hold the pencil right and helping him write something on a notebook.
She went over to them and said brightly,”Hey kids!”
Sam looked up and yelled,”Mommy!” with a big beautiful smile on his face. He ran toward her and leaped and Jennifer deftly caught him. Samar laughed, extremely happy on seeing Jennifer. Murphy came to Jennifer and hugged her abdomen saying,”Hi Mom!”
“What are you guys doing?Shouldn’t you be playing? I thought afternoon was a playtime,” asked Jennifer.
“It is Mum. But Sam asked me to help him with his writing, so here we are,” said Murph.
Murph was Jennifer’s adopted daughter who was now ten years old. She was adopted nearly a year ago. In this short time she had come to call Jennifer her mom and Sameer her brother. Jennifer too loved her like any mother would love her daughter.
“Sam asked you voluntarily to help him write? Since when do you start doing something related to books?Huh?” asked Jennifer sniggering.
But Sam didn’t reply. He just threw his arms around her neck and started crying. Horrified, Jennifer startled. She put him down and bent on her knee to shush him. She rubbed his back and Murph gave him water from her bottle, After a while he calmed down.
“What’s wrong honey?” asked Jennifer.
It was Murph who replied.”His teachers scolded him a lot today. His classmates made fun of him. They were beating him in the corridor. Luckily I found them and told them to leave him alone otherwise he would have been badly bruised.”
Murph rolled up the sleeve of Sam’s jumper and showed Jennifer his arm. There was a spot where a patch of skin was stitched. There were also two small cuts that looked like he was gnawed.
“Oh Merlin!What the hell happened? Who did this to you?” asked Jennifer angrily.
“Mrs.Neveu.”
She turned to see a woman with a round face and hazel eyes. It was the Principal of the school, Miss.Bailey who happened to be a squib. She knew that Sam and Murph were wizards.
“Miss.Bailey. What’s going on here. Who did this to Sam. I want to meet the parents of whoever did this to him,” asked Jennifer impatiently and heatedly.
“Let’s discuss this calmly in my office Mrs.Neveu. If you would like to follow me.” she said gesturing with her hand to follow her.
Jennifer took Sam and Murph's hand and together they set off to the principal's office.
“Penny are you ready? We have to leave in five minutes or we will be late for the inauguration?” yelled Ted from his living room.
“Yes Ted, I am almost done. Keep your hair on,” replied Penny from their bedroom.
She came downstairs and twirled in front of Ted, who was sitting on the couch. He gave her an appreciating glance and said,”Before you ask yes you look stunning and the dress does not make you look fat.”
Penny laughed,”Alright then, let’s go. Hermione said the whole Weasley family will be there and Harry has asked me to welcome the children since I am their healer and all.”
“You know this is one of the things I love about you. Even in the toughest time you are absolutely jubilant,”said Ted as he got up.
Penny walked up to him and helped him put on his jacket and said,”It’s not that. Hermione says this is important for Harry. I mean she said that he has named it after his previous girlfriend,Ginny. He wants us to be happy. Plus Jennifer is on our side. I don’t think she will just stand by and see her best friend being sent to Azkaban. I trust her.”
“Yes but don’t pressure her,” said Ted warningly.
“I won’t. Do you think I am stupid?” said Penny really stung.
“No that’s not what I meant,” added Ted hastily and sighed,”I just think that we shouldn’t get our hopes up.”
“But it doesn’t hurt to be a little optimistic, does it?”
“No, you are right. Anyway, let’s go. While you were getting ready Mrs.Hudson flooed . John has reached there and is having dinner.”
He took her arm and apparated them to Godric’s Hollow.
***The entrance was quite huge. It was decorated with blue and white balloons and festoons. There was a wide staircase at the centre at the end of the entrance hall. There were two long corridors on either side of entrance that led to staff quarters and administrative offices. There was huge board at the top saying,
The infrastructure was beautiful. The building was painted with a mango yellow colour on walls and forest green colours on pillars. The whole infrastructure wa developed as old 18th century heritage buildings. The land was airy and breezy. It housed a 10 acre garden, 5 acre play-park and a quidditch pitch. There was a huge lake on the southern side of the park. There were a lot of people.
“Ted!Penny!”
They turned around and saw Ron rushing towards them.”Hey guys! Took you long enough huh?”
He hugged them both and said,”Come on, there is a big conference room right through this corridor where the children will be welcomed and there will be speeches and stuff. The best part is Harry is going to give a speech.”
They made their way through the throng of people and Ron led them to a huge room full of floating candles in the air. Room didn’t even cover what this was. It was more like an auditorium. It had a dome type roof. There was big stage at the centre of which there was a rectangular object which was about three foot high. It was covered with a white cloth. In front of it sat an unlit lamp which came up to half the height of the object. There was also a podium on the right side of the stage. Ron led them to first row of seats in the auditorium. There were several red haired members standing there along with some guys Ted recognized from Auror offices and several renowned wizards including the Ministry of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt.
“Penny! Ted!” Hermione greeted them rather excitedly for a nine months pregnant woman. She was looking beautiful in a full length cream dress with red and and green flowers printed all over.
“Hermione you look lovely,” said Penny as she bent down to kiss her cheek. After Ted exchanged pleasantries with her, Ron introduced them to the rest of his family whom they had never met before, except for George and Bill Weasley, since George’s defensive-line products had made him quite famous in England. After that they took sets and Penny was seated beside Hermione. She tapped Hermione on her shoulder and asked,”What’s that big object on the stage?”
“Oh it’s a portrait of Ginny. Didn’t Harry tell you?” asked Hermione.
Penny shook her head.
“Harry had, one of our Hogwarts classmates Dean Thomas draw a portrait of Ginny. That’s him over there,” said Hermione pointing to a tall and dark guy standing beside the stage talking to someone.”This place is heavily guarded because the paparazzi has been hammering everyone related to Harry about all this and Harry is just determined to keep the press out of this.He is going to speak about her today. This will be the first time he is going to speak about Ginny since she- you know,”
Penny nodded. She understood very well the pain of losing loved one. She couldn’t even fathom what she would do if she lost Ted, given his job. She asked Hermione another question about Ginny to distract herself from her thoughts.
“What was Ginny like? Only answer that if it’s okay with you. I will understand. It’s just that I’ve heard so much about her from you and Ron, I am curious. Harry has never mentioned her. I’ve never even seen a photo of her.”
“It’s okay. It’s just really painful. Ron has lost two of his siblings to the war so it’s painful to talk for him too, but he likes to talk about them too. Every on their birthdays we all get together, go to the cemetery and then talk about their antics and share anecdotes the whole day. On Ginny’s birthday, Harry shuts himself off from everyone. He has always had the hardest time to accept it. He was never like this, even when his godfather Sirius died,” Hermione sighed and continued,”You know before Ginny, Harry was okay with his life. He lived, he breathed. Even with all the rumours about him being the chosen one he was okay. But after getting together with Ginny, he realized he could be happy too. I will never forget the look of contentment in his eyes, he had every time he had her in his arms. She was cheery, feisty, funny and beautiful and one of the kindest people I had ever known. She was an incredible friend. She was a fantastic Quidditch player. You know during practices at Hogwarts, Harry had difficulties looking away from her and keep his eyes on the snitch. I lost count of how many bludger injuries he got during his practices. I mean only Ginny could distract him from Quidditch. No one else. He just felt like he had everything, when she was with him. After his sixth year he had to break up with her, because the three of us were not coming to Hogwarts and Harry was afraid someone would find out that she was his girlfriend and hurt her. She didn’t like it but she accepted his decision calmly. She expected nothing less from him. She understood him in a way no one ever could. Not even Ron and I. And when he got back together with her after the war, it was like his life was complete. He asked me, how she would feel if he asked her to marry him. I was shocked. I knew that he loved her more than anything but being through everything that he had, you would think he would want a normal, carefree life without any responsibilities. I asked him what was the rush now. I told him everything I felt about the proposal. He said being with Ginny makes him feel normal. He said that life had never been fair to him and he wanted to hold onto the only good thing in his life. Of course Ginny had her own dreams and he decided to wait for her,”explained Hermione with tears in her eyes and continued,”But sometimes it feels even surreal to me. That Ginny is not here with us. I mean the fact that it’s really been ten years since her death is unbelievable. I can’t even imagine how Harry feels. He still keeps a photo of her in his wallet. Ron tells me that during tough times in missions, he would go in a corner and discreetly go and stare at her photo sometime. Ron being Harry’s best friend knows all this. He is very tight lipped about her to anyone other than us. You know during the war, the three of us lived in a tent. And we used to take turns in keep watch for Death Eaters and snatchers. He had a map. Of Hogwarts with people’s names on it. You would even know the movements of everyone inside Hogwarts in that map. At that time he used to just stare at her dot all night long. He would stare at it till he fell asleep. It was like his only assurance that she was safe. He didn’t just love her Penny. She was his soulmate. The only reason for his existence. And it’s gone now. She is gone. Taking with her our old Harry,”she said and started sobbing.
Ron who had been listening their conversation put his arms around her. Penny saw Mr.Weasley doing the same with Mrs.Weasley, both of them crying. The lights suddenly dimmed and someone from the stage cleared their throat quite noisily. Penny looked up to see a black man with dreadlocks standing at the podium.
“Good Evening everyone! Welcome to the inauguration of Cavallo House. I am Lee Jordan, as most of you already know,” he said with a wink to which there were small chuckles,”We have gathered here today, to open this little orphanage for those children who are misfortune and force to grow without love around them. Mr.Harry James Potter is the founder and sole sponsor of this organisation,” the whole hall erupted in applause.
“Now I would like to call Mr.Potter on the stage and tell us more about this orphanage. Ladies and Gentlemen! Mr.Harry Potter!”
More applause erupted and Harry appeared on the stage. He shook hands with Lee and stood at the podium, waiting for the applause to die. A minute later the applause died and he started speaking.
“Good Evening everyone! Thank You all for coming here. We are gathered here on a very important day. Today is the tenth anniversary of the day WE defeated Voldemort,” more applause followed and he said,”The reason I said ‘we’ because I wasn’t alone in this whole ordeal. I always had help in defeating Voldemort. Countless people helped me. And I can say it with full guarantee that I wouldn't have been able to do all of those things, that I have done till today, singlehandedly. When word got spread that Harry Potter is going to open his own orphanage, the public insisted that I speak something. Why am I opening this orphanage? Why is it named Cavallo?. Such questions were asked. And I’ve waited till today to answer those questions.”
He exhaled, took a deep breath and said,”It’s not a secret that my childhood wasn’t how a normal child’s childhood supposed to be. I don’t want to say nothing more than this. But I know what it is liked to feel unloved. I know what it is like to feel neglected,abused and terrified. Defeating Voldemort was not how I imagined it was. After the war there was a lot of sadness. But many of us aren’t fortunate enough to have the support and love that surrounded me after the war. Voldemort himself was born because of hurt, anger and neglect. These emotions breed dark magic in our souls. I met my best friend Ron 21 years ago at King’s Cross station. I couldn’t have known that I had made friends with the most wonderful family I have ever met. I am not good with words. I wanna say just one thing about the Weasley family,” Harry looked at Ron and said,”Ron if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have met your family. Thank You for being there for me Ron. And Thank You Hermione.” He turned to the audience and continued,”I am opening this orphanage for those who feel unloved. I am going to make effort that at least some of the children in the world don’t feel unloved.” he said to them with a smile and continued,”Today I am going to honour that one person without whom I would not be standing here. Without whom I would not have been able to go on all those months when I was on the run. I would not have been able to take the final step to defeat Voldemort, without her. I am talking about Ginny Weasley.She was one of my closest friends. She was my lifeline. She was the best source of comfort to me during the darkest phases of my life. If it hadn’t been for her I would have lost myself after the war. I had a tough time after the war. I had a hard time accepting the fact that so many people didn’t die for me. I was having nightmares. I was not sleeping well. I was not eating enough. I kept blaming myself for the deaths of my friends and many other countless people. I was jumpy and moody. I was fed up with life. What she said to me finally clicked. She said ‘Harry, people die in a war. All those people who died that night, including my brother Fred, they didn’t die for you. They didn’t fight for you. They fought with you. They knew the risk they were taking. But still they chose to fight the evil, to create a better world for their children and descendents. The only thing left for us to do is remember their life and make sure they are not forgotten. Make sure their ideologies and sacrifices are not forgotten.’
There was pin drop silence in the hall. Harry himself was looking down at his feet. He conjured a glass of water, gulped it down and continued,” She was murdered in cold blood not too long after the war. There isn’t a day that has gone by, when I haven’t thought of her. A very wise man once said to me that the ones we love never truly leaves us. All these years I have moved on with my life. I do my job to make sure other children and the next generation don’t have to live life in turmoil the way we did. But lately I realized that I wasn’t honouring Ginny.I will always miss her. There is still that anger in me for those who murdered her even after all these years. This kind of anger and resentment is what breeds dark magic. And I am not going to let that happen. I am going to take her advice and remember her life. And I am going to make that sure she is never forgotten. She loved children. And I thought opening an orphanage would be the best thing to do for her. Ginny’s patronus was a horse. And Cavallo is french for horse. She was light to the darkness in my life. And I hope Cavallo House becomes that symbol of light for those children. Ladies and Gentlemen! Ginny Weasley!” Harry waved his hand and banished the white cloth that was covering the portrait and with another wave lit the lamp that stood before it. Everyone stood and spent two minutes in silent meditation. No one heard the gasps from Penny and Ted or even saw how pale their faces had become the moment they saw Ginny’s portrait.
***Penny and Ted walked on the slopes even though they both could have apparated directly to their home. Both of them were walking silently, not saying a word to each other about the day’s events. Both of them too absorbed in their own thoughts, shocked about how the day had turn had ended. They apparated a few miles from their home to collect their thoughts about what happened in the evening. Eventually they reached home. Ted opened the door and stepped inside. They hung their coats and Penny went to kitchen to fetch a bottle of firewhiskey for them. Ted dropped on the couch in the living room and let out a long, tired sigh. Penny joined him and held out to him a glass. He gladly took it both sat there sipping the firewhiskey. needing the warmth of the drink, neither uttering a single word. After one glass it was Penny who broke the silence.
“What are we going to do now, Ted? Jennifer is coming here next week. We have got to tell Harry about this. And Jennifer first. I mean she will be so happy,”
Ted got up and paced in front of her deep in thought. There was one troubling issue.He said,”Don’t you think it’s odd? Jennifer told us four years ago that her family was dead. She said Samar had said so and now we find out that there is this girl Ginny Weasley, who is presumed to be dead but is really not. This girl looks just like Jennifer would look when she was younger. But this girl in reality is alive and is coming here next week by the way. So how are we supposed to tell the Weasley family that the girl they presumed to be dead is alive. We have to get to facts here Penny. We have to collect all the information about Ginny Weasley and how her death was faked. We have to do that before we tell them about this and we have to give a heads up about this to Jen.”
“How do you propose we collect more information about Ginny Weasley?We can’t ask Ron or Harry. Whatever methods you use, you have to make sure that they don’t find out about this till we tell them,”said Penny.
“Steve has gone to Azkaban. He will be back tomorrow morning. I will ask him to do that. No one will suspect anything because that’s job,” explained Ted.
“Good idea. Shall we tell Jen about this?,” agreed Penny.
“Oh well there is no harm in telling her about this I guess. But it’s late now. Let’s call her in the morning.”said Ted
***Jennifer, with Sameer and Murphy followed Miss.Bailey to her office. The office was small for a headmistress but very well decorated. There was an oak desk with two chairs in front of it and one chair for Headmistress on the opposite side. The wall behind the desk was covered with a large bookshelf. There was a small bench on both side of the door. Other sides of the wall had two large windows, one of which overlooked the playground and the other a garden.
“Murph, Sameer why don’t you go sit in that swing in the garden. Your mother will join you in a while,” said Miss.Bailey kindly to them. Sam was only too happy to leave the confines of the office and he pulled Murph by hand and led her out of the office. Miss.Bailey gestured to Jennifer to take a seat while she took her place behind the desk.
“So Miss.Neveu,” she started joining her hands on the desk,”I know you are angry. And you have every right to be. But first you have to listen to the full story before you start calling out to the parents of the kids who abused Mr.Neveu.”
“You have an explanation for this?” asked Jennifer incredulously.
“I am afraid I do. It’s about your daughter Murphy. Some boys in her class teased her and called her names. All they did was push her out of her bench and pulled her hair. She got into a fist-fight with several of the boys and also injured them I might add. Accidental magic it seems,”
“Then how is it my children’s fault. Murphy is ten almost eleven. Her magic is out of control. If someone provokes her you can’t blame her to go out of control, you know this very well.” said Jennifer indignantly.
“Miss.Neveu listen to me first please. The boys in Murphy’s classmate decided to pick on Sameer. Murphy found them and scared them off. I am not saying it is entirely your children’s fault Mrs.Neveu. But there is something I have to tell you about them so you can make informed decision about them,” said Miss.Bailey.
“What do you mean?” asked Jennifer warily.
“Mrs.Neveu, first I want to talk about Sameer. As you very well know this is the second year in pre-school . All of his classmates who were with him last year are going to school now. If he fails again this year, then I am sorry to say, he won’t be able to attend this school next year. You will have to find some other school for him or teach him by yourself. He is repeating the same mistakes he did last year. He has not yet tried to memorize the twenty-six alphabets of English language. He doesn’t read well. His handwriting is horrendous. He can’t letters properly. The teachers are all fed up of him. The only subject he seems to be good at is art class. Given the way he seems to be going with his studies, I am afraid he is going to fail again Mrs.Neveu. What I would like to suggest is to cut him some slack. Repeated failures does not bode well for such a small child’s self-confidence. I would suggest you to take him for a vacation or something. Clear his head. Convince him to start focusing. There are special schools for children like him, to cure their-”
“Are you saying my son is abnormal?” asked Jennifer angrily.
Miss.Bailey just kept quiet and hung her head.
“Are we done then, Miss Bailey?” asked Jennifer eager to get out.
Miss.Bailey sighed and said,“No. I want to talk about Murphy too. She is a bright kid Mrs.Neveu. But she has been having lots of problems with her classmate. This is the fifth time she has beaten up one of her classmates and it’s only been six months since she joined. The other parents are not pleased and are forcing me to rusticate her. I know about the kid’s history Mrs.Neveu. Maybe you are mixing her with people too soon and it’s not good for her. Take her away somewhere. What she needs is fresh air. It doesn’t seem that she has recovered from what happened to her Mrs.Neveu,”
Jennifer’s breath was knocked. She had adopted Murphy last year in Christmas. Murphy was raped by four teenagers two months before she was adopted. Since then she has been always weary of people, especially strange boys. When Jennifer had adopted her, she seemed to have recovered but was wrong apparently. She stood up abruptly and said,”Thank You Miss.Bailey. For all your help. They won’t be coming from tomorrow, I can assure you that.”
With that she walked out of the office not even waiting to hear Miss.Bailey’s reply.
The drive to home was silent. Sameer exhausted from the day’s events was asleep while Murphy was looking out the window. When they reached home, Jennifer healed all of the bruises on Sameer’s body, fed him an early dinner and sent him to bed. After dinner Jennifer went to check up on Sameer. She saw Murphy, on the floor with Sameer’s books open in front of her.
“What are you doing Murph?”
Murph jumped up. She answered,”I was just browsing through Sam’s books to see if some pattern emerges. We will be able to identify what’s the problem he has been facing, right Mum?”
“You can do this tomorrow honey. Go to sleep. You must be exhausted,” said Jennifer stroking Murphy’s red hair.
“But I have school Mum,”
“About that Murph,” said Jennifer and sighed,”You won’t be going there anymore. It’s nothing that you did baby. I just think it’s best for you to not mix into crowds for. Besides you will be eleven soon. There is no harm in missing last six months of muggle school. Okay?”
Murphy could barely hide her relief. She asked,”But why suddenly am I not allowed to go to school?”
“Look Murph. I know what you have gone through. I would not have wished that to happen to a kid like you. I know what you are going through. It’s my fault. I should not have sent you to school so soon after everything. You need time to process and digest everything Murph. I know it’s too painful to open about the incident but you have to one day. To someone. Believe me Murph, I understand everything you are going through because it happened to me ten years ago,”said Jennifer staring intently at her daughter.
Murphy didn’t speak for a long time and asked,”I will Mum. I just need some time,”
Jennifer nodded and said,”Take your time honey,” and kissed her forehead.”We are going to London next week. Sam’s Ted is in bit of a trouble. It will be exciting for you. A new place and when I am done with my work there I will take you for some sightseeing,”
“Didn’t you once tell me that your family used to live in London? You might see them too,” said Murphy.
“Yeah maybe. But the important thing is to get Uncle Ted out of trouble and then we can spend some time visiting Europe. How does that sound to you?”
“Sounds great. Can we visit Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Mum?”asked Murph exultantly.
Something about the way Murph asked the question stirred something in Jennifer’s head but she did not pay any heed to it. She had grown used to ignoring the weird feelings of deja vu’s that cropped up. “Tomorrow I need to leave to do some research for the case. I will be gone tomorrow afternoon. I will be back by next morning. Take care of Sam while I am gone, will you?”
“Always Mum,” promised Murph solemnly.
***“Did you call Jennifer?” asked Penny next afternoon.
“Yes. Alfred said that she has gone out of town and will be back tomorrow morning. We will talk to her first about this. Then when we get more information about Ginny Weasley we will talk to Ron and Harry. How does that sound to you?” asked Ted.
"Sounds right. I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell Molly Weasley yet, incase the information is faulty. We will invite Harry, Ron and Hermione to dinner and tell them,”
Just then, the floo flare up and a black man, with muscular body stepped inside. “Hi Ted! I got the file on Ginny Weasley as you asked,”
"Thanks Steve. You have done us a great favour man,” said Ted clapping Steve on the back and continued,”take a seat,”
“Thanks Ted,” he sat on the couch and turned to Penny and Ted,”But I need to tell you one thing. About where I found this file. I didn’t find this file in the citizen’s record in the Ministry Ted.”
“Then where did you find this?” asked Ted puzzled.
“See you told me that this person, died ten years ago. Her name should have been there in citizen’s record. But it wasn’t. I went to St.Mungo to check if they had her autopsy report of her murder. What I found was the autopsy report of this girl, named Claire Hardwood, murdered ten years ago by Amycus Carrow. This girl was blonde and her age was 17 and she looks nothing like the red-haired girl you described. As I was getting out of the building, I turned into a corner and saw this door labeled Archives. I asked the receptionist how to get through that door. She looked at me like I was speaking gibberish and said there is no room named Archives. I went to see that door then and it opened. I stepped inside and I saw shelves. Huge shelves with papers and files stacked. I searched for a file, which contained any information regarding Ginny Weasley and that’s how I got it. Everything from her birth certificates to her autopsy report are in there,”
"But what bothers me is how come you didn’t find anything regarding Ginny Weasley in citizen records office?” asked Penny.
“That’s not it Penny. I went to Hogwarts too. I didn’t find a file on her in the student records section. I asked the headmistress about this. Prof.McGonagall swore to me that Ginny Weasley did visit the school for six years until her death. So I looked for the Archives again. And I found it again. I found her progress reports from school and also her medical file drafted by the school matron. These files are enough to prove that a person named Ginny Weasley exists,” explained Steve.
“Did you notice something Penny? Something odd?” asked Ted.
“What?”
“The reason Samar never could find anything about Ginny Weasley is that someone has cleared off all her records. Like she never existed,” explained Ted.
“But how come Steve was able to find this?”
“Maybe Samar believed that her parents were dead when he did not find a record of her. I think I understand how the Archives work too. Harry had explained to me about this room in their school which would appear in the moment of need. It was called the Room of Requirement. Just like that the Archives appeared, presented itself to Steve because he really need it. Because he needed information on Ginny Weasley,” explained Ted.
“But how come it never presented itself to the person who wiped Ginny Weasley’s data?” asked Steve.
Ted just paced. He didn’t speak for a long moment then said,”Maybe the room recognizes the subject’s intent. Steve was not going to misuse it. He was just going to hand it to us and we were going to just read it. But the person, who has wiped Ginny Weasley’s data was getting rid of it. Maybe that’s why he or she couldn’t find the Archives,”
Both Penny and Steve nodded. Then Penny spoke up,”It is plausible. But do you know what this means Ted?”
“What?”
“Someone doesn’t want Jennifer to come back to London. I bet you anything that same person was behind Ginny’s disappearance.”
***“Good Morning ma cheri’!” greeted Fleur to her husband and kissed him,”Did you sleep well?”
“I slept a little. The storm woke me up. I made a cup of coffee for myself and for you. I thought I would start with cleaning this box for Penny since I have taken a day off,” said Bill pointing to the box.
He sat on the couch while Fleur started on breakfast. He started muttering spells and very soon the thick layer of goo and dust began clearing up. He opened the box for cleaning the inside to when he stopped. There in the box, lay a photo of his sister Ginny. He picked it up and inspected it. It was Ginny in the photo except the fact that she looked a bit different from the time she looked before her death. He searched through the box and he found other photos of Ginny. He was shocked to find a photo of her with Penny, Ted and one more guy. The place where they had taken the photo looked like some kind of village. Ginny looked very young in that photo. She looked like she was seventeen years old. The other guy seemed strangely familiar to him. Bill couldn't remember where he had seen that guy. He picked another photo which knocked his breath out. Ginny was standing in a white dress and she was kissing the same guy who was wearing a tux. He found some other photos of her. Ginny in the white dress standing with Penny, Ted and the guy. She wore a happy smile in that. There was a photo of her. Ginny was sitting with a blue bundle in her arms. A baby looked up from the bundle waving it’s tiny fist in the photo.Who is this woman? Is this really Ginny? How is it possible that she is alive? thought Bill.
“Fleur” yelled Bill.
“What eez wrong, ma cheri’?” gushed Fleur as she rushed out of the kitchen.
“Look at this,” said Bill as he thrust out the photos to her.
Fleur’s eyes widened. She looked at each photo and let out a gasp when she saw Ginny with a baby.”Eez thi-theez Geeny?”
“It certainly looks like her. I have to tell Mom about this,” said Bill.
“No Beel. Don’t do that. What if you are wrong? Don’t get your mozer’s opes up now Beel. How come you found theez photos in the box Penny gave you? Contact her and tell Ron and Arry about theez before thaz. Zey are Aurors. Zey will be able to find out if itz true. Now go.”
With that Bill dressed up and flooed over to Harry’s apartment.
***Upon informing Ron and Harry to come over to Shell’s cottage at once, Bill told Harry to take the rest of the day off without asking questions to him. Harry and Ron were seated in the living room when Fleur and Bill came. Fleur served them tea and sat down beside Bill. Bill started explaining what he had found in the box that Penny gave him. He also showed them the box of photos. He saw both of their faces turning pale on seeing those photos of Ginny.
“And I don’t understand what to make of this Harry. Why would Penny keep such a thing from us?She was there yesterday. And she did not say a single thing about all this,” said Bill angrily.
“But if she knew about Ginny then why would she give that box to you? Maybe she didn’t know who Ginny was or how she looked. Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell us. Unless it’s all part of a grand plan I don’t see why Ted would lie to us,” exclaimed Ron shaking his head.
Harry for his part had kept quiet throughout Bill’s explanation. It didn’t seem to make any sense to him. All this time when they thought Ginny was dead, she was actually alive. He recognized Samar from the photo and also saw the picture of Ginny in the white dress. It looked like Ginny married Samar.But why? Why would she do that when she was in love with him? And what about that picture of Ginny with the baby?. These thoughts were running in his mind. Then something Penny said struck him.
“Didn’t Penny say that Jennifer Neveu married Samar Anand? From these pictures it looks like Ginny married him. We both know Jennifer Neveu exists. What if they are same person? Somehow Ginny escaped and she started living in America under a new alias. It is possible right? “ said Harry looking at both of them.
Ron spoke up,” But it doesn’t explain why she would run off to America of all the places. And that too under an alias. I mean, if she really escaped she would have come home right?”
Ron was right. None of this was making sense. The autopsy report confirmed the fact that she really was dead.Then how come she is alive? Who is this person? thought Harry.
“There is only one thing we can do. We have to talk to Ted and Penny about this. We have to coax them to explain all this. We have to go over to their house now and get this matter solved before it’s too late,” said Harry firmly standing up.
With that the three of them flooed over to Kent’s Nest.
The floo flared up and in came Harry, followed by Ron and Bill. Penny and Ted sprang up from the couch surprised to see the gathering. Beside them Steve also stood up.
“We need to talk to you,” said Harry in a dangerously low voice, Ted had heard only when Harry interrogated suspects and criminals.
“We uh-need to talk to you too,” said Ted glancing at Penny nervously,”But let’s start with you. Take a seat.”
“Where‘s John?” asked Ron.
“He is at Andromeda’s. He will be spending the night there,”replied Penny.
Harry nodded and then asked in a firm voice,”Bill found some odd photos in the box you gave him Penny,”
For a moment Ted and Penny got confused. Then it dawned on Penny. The box she had given to Bill had photos of Jennifer in them. It meant Bill had found them and showed those photos to Harry and Ron. She gasped softly. Harry, Ron and Bill watched as her face turned pale.
“What kind of photos?” asked Ted, unaware of Penny’s reaction. It was Penny who answered his question.
“The box of photos I had given to Bill. You remember me telling you how the ghoul had damaged almost all the photos?”
“Yes I do but what about it?What kind of photos were in that box?”
“It had Jennifer’s photos,” replied Penny.
Then it dawned on Ted. He cleared his throat and turned to Harry, Bill and Ron,”Yeah about that. That’s what we wanted to talk to you about-”
“The hell you were!”, yelled Harry, ”You are just saying it because we addressed it first. If we hadn’t found it you never would have told us that Ginny is with you people!”
“No Harry you need to calm down first and listen-”
“CALM DOWN? YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN WHEN I FIND OUT THAT I HAVE BEEN LIED TO MY FACE FOR TEN YEARS? TEN FUCKING YEARS! YOU KNEW THAT GINNY WAS ALIVE, YET YOU DIDN’T TELL ME. YOU EXPECT ME TO STAY CALM?”, shouted Harry springing up from the couch.
“No Harry you don’t understand. We were going to tell you-”, stood up Ted to face Harry.
“TELL ME? WHEN? TO MY FUCKING TOMB WHEN I FUCKING DIED? YOU CAN’T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH THESE LAST TEN YEARS. IT WAS FUCKING SHIT. NOR CAN YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT RON’S FAMILY HAS BEEN THROUGH. ALL THIS TIME WE BELIEVED THAT SHE IS DEAD AND NOW WE FIND OUT THAT SHE HAS BEEN ALIVE ALL THIS TIME. WE PUT A FUCKING TOMB FOR HER, WE MOURNED HER EVERY YEAR AND ALL THIS TIME SHE HAS BEEN ALIVE. YOU KNEW WHO GINNY WAS, I KNOW WE ALL SPOKE TO YOU ABOUT HER, YET YOU NEVER TOLD US. IS THIS SOME KIND OF PLAN? DID YOU FAKE HER DEATH? DID YOU-”
“ENOUGH HARRY!” bellowed Ted, which effectively stopped Harry’s tirade,”Just stop before you blame us for faking Ginny’s death. It’s true that Ginny is alive but we didn’t hide this from you. We didn’t even know how Ginny looked until yesterday at the opening of your orphanage. In all these years I’ve known you guys, you never showed me a photo of Ginny. We both didn’t know how she looked. Yesterday was the first time we got a look at Ginny. When we realized that she was actually our friend Jennifer we immediately contacted Steve to collect every piece of information he could find on Ginny Weasley. We wanted to confirm our suspicions and then we were going to tell you about this. Please Harry, believe us,” pleaded Ted.
Harry for his part was still fuming but he managed to control his temper and asked,”So have your suspicions been cleared Ted?”
“Not entirely. There are still gaps and some parts don’t make much same,” said Ted.
“What do you mean?” spoke Bill for the first time since he arrived.
“Look if we are really discussing this we will do this without any angry outbursts and I want you three to listen to me first and then beat me up if you feel like it,” explained Ted.
“That’s fine by us,” spoke Ron and he gestured Harry and Bill to to sit with him.
“Okay then I will start from the beginning. When we first met Jennifer or Ginny. Ten years ago we met Jennifer in Princeton. Penny, Samar and I were in our final years. That year many immigrants had joined Princeton because of the stressful situations in London. Many just wanted to get out of that place, many people wanted to start a new life in a world that wasn’t really affected by Voldemort’s regime. Many people came to America because they had lost their memories and didn’t know where to go. Jennifer was one of those people,”
“Wait a minute. Are you saying that when you met Ginny she didn’t remember anything about herself?” asked Bill.
“That’s right. She didn’t even remember her name. She had come to America two months earlier and then she had joined Princeton to complete her education since she had nowhere else to go. Eventually we got to know her. Penny asked her first about how she really came to America and why. Jennifer told her that she had been in a traumatic accident which resulted in her losing her memory. A woman had found her lying in a beach and she had called the Aurors. She had spent two months recovering from her injuries in that woman’s place before coming to Princeton. The Aurors who had found her her told her it was too dangerous to put up her poster so someone could claim her. Seeing her injuries they deducted that someone out there was trying to murder her. They advised her to stay in America and complete her education first and when she was strong enough she was free to pursue her life that she had lost. They named her Jennifer Neveu since no one knew her real name. So that’s how Jennifer Neveu was born,” explained Ted.
“You said she was in an accident. What happened to her?” asked Ron.
This time it was Penny who spoke,”I asked her about it. It took a very long time for her to open up to us about that accident. Even now I can’t tell you anymore than you need to know because I feel it’s Jennifer’s place to tell you,”
“What happened to her Penny?” spoke Harry softly fearing all sorts of bad things that could have happened to Ginny.
Penny took a deep breath and said,”She was raped,”
Harry, Ron and Bill gasped. They froze for a few seconds and then taking a deep breath Harry asked,”How come Ginny remembers that. You said she didn’t remember anything about her past life?”
“The only thing that she remembers about her past is that incident. And that too bits and pieces of what happened to her. She doesn’t remember her attacker’s face,” Penny hesitated and spoke about Jennifer’s time in Princeton, about her and Samar’s relationship. Harry,Ron and Bill listened to her very attentively.
“Some or the other reason came up which prevented her from coming back here. After the case got solved, Jennifer found out that she was pregnant. She and Samar got married soon after that. After that Samar was called to London. He had promised her that he would look for her family and see if they are still alive. When we asked Jen about this after Samar’s death, she told me that he had found them to be dead,” explained Ted
“What! What kind of hogwash is this? How did he come to the conclusion that her family is dead?” asked Ron incredulously.
“We have an idea,” and Ted explained them how Steve found the information on Ginny Weasley.
“This doesn’t explain why Samar concluded that Ginny’s family is dead. Samar was not dumb. If he didn’t get the files of Ginny then that didn’t mean that her family was dead. He was an Auror. Maybe there was something else that made him conclude that Ginny’s family was dead,” explained Harry.
“There are a lot of gaps Harry. The only way to find out if Ted and Penny are saying the truth is by using Legilimency on Ted and also on Amycus Carrow,”said Ron.
“Why on Amycus Carrow?” asked Bill.
“Because he is one the one who faked her death. We will know for sure how Ginny escaped and ended up in America,”explained Ron.
“Using legilimency on Ted won’t be necessary,” Harry turned to Ted and said,”I believe you.”
Ted nodded and said,”Using legilimency on Amycus is a good idea. Jennifer is not there at home today. Alfred said that she would be back tomorrow morning. I’ll tell her tomorrow then. Is that okay?”
Harry nodded and said,” Well then first things first. We need to go to the Ministry and get this sorted,”
“You are right Harry. I’ll come with you too. And Steve you better come with us too,” said Bill.
“You people go on. And when you are done, Ron bring Harry and Hermione here tonight. We will have dinner here,” said Penny.
Ron nodded and with that the four men flooed to the Ministry.
Harry explained the situation to both Kingsley and Robards. All through Harry’s explanation they kept quite and their faces remained passive. When Harry was finished he waited for them to speak. Finally Kingsley cleared his throat and said,”Are you quite sure about this Harry? It’s been ten years since her death. We examined her corpse Harry. The forensics assured me it really was Ginny Weasley’s body,”
Harry then explained Kingsley about Steve’s discovery and said,”And this is why it’s crucial to interrogate Amycus Carrow about this,”
“I think Harry is right. It’s matter of someone’s life here. Also if Ted is telling the truth, I want to know how the hell did they managed to plant a fake corpse! The forensic tests would have detected any sort of modifications done to the body such as glamour charms or polyjuice potions. We have to resolve this situation,” said Robards.
“Alright then. We will go to Azkaban now and resolve this issue. Summon Barton, Robards. He will interrogate Carrow,” ordered Kingsley.
Ron nodded understanding why he and Harry weren't assigned this job.
***Amycus was seated on a wooden chair, his legs and arms magically bound to it. Ten years in Azkaban had weakened his will, his soul. For someone so young he did have a lot of grey hairs thanks to his sentence in Azkaban. Barton sat opposite him with a wand in his hand. Outside the room Harry, Ron, Ted, Kingsley and Robards were seeing the the interrogation through a big glass window.
Barton spoke first, “Mr.Amycus Carrow, you are here for the questioning on Miss.Ginny Weasley’s murder that happened ten years ago-”
Amycus broke in, “ Why am I being question for the shit I did ten years ago. I admitted that I killed her what could you possibly ask me now?”
“ I don’t remember giving permission to speak Mr.Carrow!”, Barton spoke sharply and then continued, “ You are just going to answer my questions.”
Amycus kept quite, but continued to look suspicious. Harry saw something else in Amycus’s eyes - apprehension.
“Did you kidnap Miss Ginny Weasley on the night of August 15,1999?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you kidnap her?”
“To get revenge!”
“On whom?”
“Harry Potter!”,spat Amycus Carrow.
“What you did you do to her when you kidnapped?”
“I took her to Little Hangleton, to the abandoned Riddle House.”
“Why there?”
“Because surprisingly, no one kept a watch on it even if it was where we carried out the most major operations covertly, It was where he was resurrected. I only saw it fitting to take Potter’s whore to the place Potter has nightmares about,” he said, sneering at Harry the whole time.
“What did you do with Miss Weasley when you reached Little Hangleton?”
“Ooo, I certainly did a lot of things to her. I fucked her in every painful way possible which killed her,” said Amycus whilst giving Harry a toothy smile.
There was a loud cracking sound and everyone turned to see that a part of the glass screen near Harry had cracked up and Harry had balled up his hand. But one could still see the knuckles of his hand, whitening.
“Harry I think, you shouldn’t be here. Go outside and get some air,” said Kingsley knowing Harry was very close to losing his temper completely.
“No I am fine Kingsley. Continue Barton!” said Harry in an eerily calm voice.
“I am really getting under that cold skin of yours, aren’t I Potter!” said Amycus.
“If you say one word to Mr Potter or anyone else except me, you will be transferred to the lowest cell in the prison Amycus!” spoke Barton.
“Oh so now you call me by first name, how nice of you to get acquainted with me so quickly, Agent Barton!”
“Since we have established an acquaintance, I would like to know why you didn’t mention the fact that you sexually assaulted Miss Weasley when you were questioned ten years ago?”
Everyone saw that Amycus turned a little pale, when he realized what Barton had asked. But he managed to keep his cool and answered in a shaky voice, “I don’t know Agent Barton. Maybe because I had got beaten to a bloody pulp by Mr Ronald Weasley that very same day, I lost my head for a while and just forgot to mention this little detail. Nevertheless it was quite enjoyable. I could see what Potter saw in her. She put up a fight, but could not do so for long. I could tell that she even enjoyed herself a bit, the way she was moaning and writhing under me. I still dream about it sometimes, in this dreary old place.”
There was a pin dropped silence in the room. The light in the other shattered to pieces abruptly, but everybody knew why. Then Barton spoke, “Very well Amycus. I am sorry about how it turned out to be, but I have to do what is necessary.”
Amycus just got perplexed and in a moment he was bound to the chair he was sitting in. Leather straps came around his legs and his hands and strapped him to the chair. Suddenly two hands forcefully pulled his head back. He struggled against but eventually gave up. A hand came around his face and forcefully opened his mouth, dumping a vial of smooth liquid down his throat. At the same moment hands released his head, but he was still attached to the chair. Everyone waited for the potion to take effect and after a moment, his eyes turned misty.
“State your name.”
“Amycus Carrow.”
“State your sister’s name.”
“Alecto Carrow.”
“What was your relationship with the Dark Lord.”
“I was his loyal follower.”
“Would you say the Dark Lord trusted you?”
“No, he trusted only two people. Bellatrix Lestrange and Severus Snape.”
“So is it safe to assume that you kidnapping Miss Ginevra Weasley wasn’t a direct order from the Dark Lord himself.”
“Yes. The Dark Lord had nothing to do with the kidnapping of Miss Weasley.”
“Then why did you kidnap Miss Ginevra Weasley?”
“I was following Bellatrix Lestrange’s orders.”
“So it was Bellatrix’s plan to gain revenge on Harry Potter, in case the Dark Lord was defeated?”
“Bellatrix believed in Dark Lord. She was his most loyal servant. This plan was originally meant to bring Harry Potter to the Dark Lord, before the battle broke out at Hogwarts. We had got reports suggesting romantic relationship between Miss Ginevra Weasley and Mr. Harry Potter. It was Bellatrix’s plan to lure the trio out of their hiding places, by making Ginevra Weasley the bait.”
“But before any of it happened, the battle broke out and your side lost the war. So then it was your intention to get back on Mr Potter, for defeating your master?”
“Yes.”
“But that kidnapping didn’t go well,did it?”
“No it didn’t.”
“Tell me what happened after you kidnapped Miss Weasley?”
“She gained consciousness a couple of hours later after she was taken.”
“Then what did you do? Did you torture her? Raped her?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
“She lost consciousness again. So I left her there and ordered the elf to inform me when she comes around.”
“And then what happened?”
“A while later, the elf came to me telling me that she was not in her cell. I searched the whole damn village, but couldn’t find her. I had left her untied, so I assumed she had somehow escaped. I realised the plan had failed.”
“What plan?”
“The plan was to ingest her with a potion, which would give us complete control over her and we were planning to use her to kill Harry Potter?”
“Why ingest her a potion, why not just used a imperius curse?”
“I tried that on her, when I was teaching in Hogwarts. She could resist the imperius curse. Hence the potion.”
“So what you were planning to letting Miss Weasley out, after ingesting her with a potion?”
“Then why did you torture her? Why did you rape her?”
“Because I wanted to. She had a delectable body after all. I have wanted to fuck her, since the moment I saw her in Hogwarts. I tortured her for all the fight she put up at Hogwarts. I beat her for all the trouble she gave me at Hogwarts. My plan was to give her a ditany for all the bruises on the body, ingest her with the potion and then sending her out, with her memories modified.”
“So from all the facts that you have stated, is it safe to assume that you never did kill Miss Weasley?”
“Yes.”
“And is it safe to assume that you she could be alive?”
“Yes.”
“But you still confessed to murder of Ginny Weasley. Not only that, you planted a fake autopsy of Miss Weasley. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Tell my why.”
“I still wanted to make Potter pay for what he did. When I couldn’t find Miss Weasley in the village after hours of searching, I realised that her family might be aware that she was missing. I thought if I couldn’t get Potter killed, I would atleast make his life miserable. So I went into town, killed a girl of same built as Miss Weasley, made bruising marks on her body with my wand, and sent that letter to Arthur Weasley.”
“All of this trouble, to land into Azkaban?”
“I figured I was going to end up there sooner or later. So I wanted to cause one little trouble to Mr Potter, before I went in.”
“I see.”
Barton, stood up and went outside to talk to Kingsley.
“His memories have been modified Minister.”
“Are you sure Barton?”, asked Kingsley.
“Positive. His memories of that incident seemed a bit cloudy, when I performed legilimency on him. Whoever has modified his memories, has done a very good job.”
“So you mean to say, that my sister is not alive?”, asked Ron.
“No. What he said, about your sister is true. All those things he did to her, did happen. I am talking about the reasons of kidnapping your sister and the circumstances regarding her sudden disappearance from where he was keeping her. The reasons he stated are too convenient. He wouldn’t have gone through that much trouble, for petty revenge.”
“How can you be sure? I mean lots death eaters hate Harry and why wouldn’t they?”
“Lots of death eaters hate Harry, I agree. However those that are under our custody, fear him. Someone like Amycus Carrow wouldn’t have plotted this plan, just to seek revenge on Harry. The plan was something else, something bigger. His memories, behind Miss Weasley’s disappearance seem distorted. Miss Weasley didn’t suddenly disappear from wherever he was keeping her. His last memory of her, was in the cell, where she was sitting on a chair in front of another man. It was so hazy, and it was only for a flash, but I am sure that’s what I saw. But I couldn’t see anything else. His memories of around that time are distorted but they are still there. To seek the whole truth, I would suggest a special treatment with expert Obliviators who can open up pathways to these memories, if they do exist.”
“Thank you for your help Barton, you can go.”, said Kingsley.
“So that means, whoever is behind Ginny’s disappearance, is still out there. Someone we missed all those years ago?”, spoke Harry for the first time since the interrogation.
“Yes looks like it. This person is probably responsible for sending her to America Harry. This is big. It never was their intention to kill her but use her. But how and why her?”, said Ron.
“There are a lot of things unclear Mr. Weasley, for now what we can do is open a covert investigation into this, with Miss Weasley involved in this case, when she comes back to England. What do you think Kingsley?”, asked Robards.
“You are right. Harry would you come with me to my office? You three gentlemen can leave.” said Kingsley.
Harry nodded and both he and Kingsley left for the Minister’s office while Ron,Ted and Robards left the other way. Once they reached Kingsley’s office, Kingsley sat on his chair and told Harry to take a seat.
“Harry, I know what you are going through right now. I would suggest you to take some time off and give yourself some time to accept this situation, and nothing that you are going to say is gonna make me change my mind. Am I clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. Then after Theodore’s case is solved and under wraps, I want you, Ron and him to start this investigation with the involvement of Miss Weasley or Miss Neveu, in this case.”
“I thought I would have to fight with you to give me this case. Why are you giving me this case. Isn’t that against the policy?”,asked Harry.
“Yes it is against the policy, given the personal relationships you three have with Miss Weasley. But this doesn’t look like a kidnapping gone wrong. Like Barton said, the plan was something bigger. Whatever the plan was, I think it was a success. I think the man in Amycus’ memories intentionally made her disappear. And whatever were his intentions are, it doesn’t seem like some petty plan to seek revenge on you Harry. It’s something much bigger. So after Miss Weasley comes to England, I will personally ask her to stay and lend hands into this investigation, since whatever answers we seek, might still be within her memories. Her help will be crucial in solving whatever the hell is going to rain down on us. And hence this will be a covert investigation. Only people with security clearance can be involved or know about this case. And this case will be your priority. Do you have any objections?”
“Ginny will be involved, only if she wishes to. From what I know, she doesn’t remember anything but the eh, the- you know,” It was difficult for him to even voice those words without losing his mind, ”If it is uncomfortable for her, she wouldn’t be forced to get involved. Other than that I have no objections. It would be my pleasure to head this investigation.”
“Harry, let’s not forget, she isn’t Ginny Weasley. Atleast not the Ginny Weasley we remember. She is a tough law enforcement officer, who took the oath of servicing for the well being of our world, until the day she died. I don’t know anything about Miss Neveu, but I bet she wouldn’t back down from this investigation, especially if this involves her. So Harry, when she comes back don’t treat her in anyway that would suggest her that you are pushing her out because she used to be her girlfriend. She most probably won’t remember you when she finally meets you. And if you put her on pedestal because of this, she won’t be cooperative. That wouldn’t be pleasant. Like it or not, she is involved in this case big time. Remember Harry, please. This is Jennifer Neveu not Ginny Weasley, so I have to ask you to swallow your feelings and treat her as you would treat any other auror. We have to get her on this case, otherwise we would never learn the truth and whatever it is that’s coming for us. Can you do that?”
Kingsley held his breath, waiting for Harry to respond for what felt like a lifetime, when it was only two minutes. Ever since Harry came to him with this story, something was shining in his eyes. Something no one has ever seen in the past 10 years, and Kingsley felt bad for dousing that light, but it was necessary. He knew, Harry has been hoping for something like this for a long time. He knew, Harry wished that Ginny was alive. Who wouldn’t? But Harry had the tendency to shelter the people he loved instead of letting them fight alongside him. And in this storm, which Kingsley felt was about to come, Harry would need Ginny alongside. And the only way for him to do that, is by making him forget who she was to him and getting to know the new person he would meet soon.
Harry felt like someone threw a bucket of cold water on him, when he heard the words, she isn’t Ginny Weasley. He was so stupid. Of course she wasn’t his Ginny. This person was married, she had a child with another man. Whoever this person is, she is just a shade of his Ginny. She looked like his Ginny, but was not his Ginny. His Ginny was dead, even if technically she was alive. Her memories of her past was gone, she doesn’t remember, anything about being Ginny Weasley, about being his Ginny, the woman he loved. He would have to bury the these feelings like he has been doing for last 10 years. He knew, that Ginny was never coming back. She was dead. Whoever this person is, she was someone who is important in learning the truth about why Ginny Weasley was kidnapped. She isn’t Ginny back from the dead. People don’t come from the dead Harry. You should know that by now, Harry thought to himself. So he steeled himself and said to Kingsley,
“You are right. I was being selfish. I know how important Ginny is to this case. You have my word Kingsley, I will do everything in my power to get her help in this case,” said Harry with steely determination in his eyes, which Kingsley wanted to see.
“Are you sure about this, Ron? This is just unbelievable”, asked Mr Weasley.
“I am positive Dad. Ted has been our Ginny’s friend since the last 10 years. She is alive and healthy. She works at the American Ministry now, as a trainer.”
Ron,Ted,Penny and Harry were at the Burrow, along with the rest of the Weasley family. Ron had just told them about recent revelations regarding Ginny.
“Oh Merlin! This is unbelievable. Arthur we have to go to America now and bring her home!”, said Mrs Weasley exuberantly. The rest of the Weasley family agreed with her and started showering Ron with questions.
“Okay Mum easy. Everybody just CALM DOWN. I am not done talking. Just listen to me first, and then ask questions,” Ron said.
“I am positive that Ginny is alive. That’s what we,” gesturing to Harry, Bill, Ted and Penny, “were doing this morning. Getting the facts straight. Although there are still a lot of unanswered questions behind Ginny’s disappearance and her faked death, we can confirm with 100% certainty that she is indeed alive. She is living under a different name though. She is known as Jennifer Neveu in America,” and then Ron proceeded to tell them about Ginny’s rape, her disappearance. Penny and Ted filled them in with details about Jennifer Neveu and what she did in America. There were several exclamations, but everyone allowed them to finish their explanation. After they were done, everyone was too stunned to talk. After few moments, George spoke,
“So to recap, our Ginny was kidnapped , which went wrong when she escaped. She somehow lost her memories and ended up in America, where she started living under a new name, Jennifer Neveu. She completed her education and became an Infiltrator. She married a wealthy Auror and has a son with him, Samar who is now four. Am I missing anything?”
“No, that’s pretty much everything we know,” said Ron .
“What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell any of us about Ginny before. You knew about Ginny, since Ron and I talked to you two about her. So why now, after so long you are telling us about this. You should have told us about this 4 years ago, when you two first came here,” asked Hermione to Penny and Ted.
It was Ron who answered her, “Honey, it’s not their fault. Sure we talked about Ginny with them, but we never showed her photo or anything. They have never been to the Burrow before today, or else they would have told us sooner. That day at the inauguration of the orphanage was the first time, they actually saw Ginny. And they came forward with this, when Harry and I asked them about this. It’s not their fault.”
“Never mind all that. The important thing is Ginny is alive, and we have to bring her back home,” said Mrs Weasley.
Before Ron could respond to that, Mr Weasley broke in, “Molly we can’t rush into it. Remember Ron said, she doesn’t have any memories, she doesn’t remember who she is, she is not gonna remember who we-”
“I don’t care. I don’t care if she remembers me or not. She is still my daughter. My baby has been living in a foreign land for far too long. I have suffered enough in the ten years without her, and you can’t stop me from bringing her back home, where she belongs. After everything she has been through, she needs us, needs me. God forbid, I need her,”
“No one is disagreeing with you Mrs Weasley,” spoke Harry for the first time since he came to the Burrow, “I understand how you feel, really do. But Mr Weasley is right. We can’t rush into this. Not you or anyone else who is in this room,” everyone, even Mrs Weasley stopped talking to listen to Harry. They all knew, Harry took the blow of Ginny’s death hardest of them all. They all had someone to share their grief with. They all had moved on. Except Harry. Harry was still living in that day, when Ginny died.
“Mrs Weasley, I can’t imagine what you must be going through right now. I know you want her to be here, with us as soon as possible. But we have to be practical in this situation. It’s true that Jennifer Neveu is our Ginny Weasley, but she is still a different person. From what Penny has told me, Jennifer has been trying to find out about her past, since the last ten years. She would be happy to find out that she has a family. But that doesn’t mean that she is going to remember us all when she meets us, eventually. So when she comes back here, I would suggest everyone to not act like you want her to remember you. It will scare her off and she might not feel very welcomed if she is pressured to remember us,”
“Jennifer visited a mind healer, to get help with her nightmares when she first came to America”, spoke Penny, “The healer believed that the trauma of the incident caused her to lose her memories and they can only come back to her if her memories are triggered. So it’s not impossible that she would gain her memories. But pressure and stress can create problems for a person with amnesia. When she comes back here, she is gonna have flashbacks and it would be difficult to adjust to these changes at first. So what Harry means is to not pressurise her or expect her to remember you or any tiny details about her life here. There is also a chance that she may never remember anything about you. You all have to accept that fact right now. Remember as much as hard it is for you, it’s gonna be ten times harder for her to be here around all of you and not remember. Because to her you all are going to be complete strangers. It would be better that everyone calls her Jennifer or Jen, if you like , until she is comfortable with being addressed as Ginny. Lastly, Mrs Weasley, you don’t have to go to America to bring her home, she is gonna come here,” and then Penny told them all about the case on Ted.
“Where is she going to stay, when she comes here. Penny you have to let her know that her The Burrow is always open for her. That’s an option of course, if she wants to stay somewhere else, we would completely understand,” said Mrs Weasley.
“Well she told us, that she would be staying in the Anand Manor since it is very well guarded by the ancient spells in that place. I don’t think she will be comfortable living anywhere else right now. She is very protective of Sameer, and not many people know about her son. She has kept that fact a secret. Only the people she trusts most, knows about her son. And she is not going to stay anywhere less guarded than the manor. I hope you understand Mrs Weasley,” Penny said.
“Of course. I understand,”
Then after answering a few more question, everyone left for their homes. When Penny and Ted were leaving, Mrs Weasley cornered them and said, “Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter, Penny. I am glad that she found happiness with you people even in the most difficult times,”
“You don’t have to thank us Mrs Weasley. Jennifer is a strong and a tough woman, yet one of the kindest people I have ever met. You should be proud of her, proud of everything she has achieved,” said Ted.
“I am. I am so happy that we found her because of you two. I can’t thank you enough dears. And from now on you two are family as well. You have been Ginny’s best friends for years, taking care of her and being there for her when we couldn’t. I am in you debt forever. You don’t worry Ted. I have faith in my daughter. Although she is not the same person as I used to know, I know the kind of person I raised. Ginny has always been determined and headstrong when it comes to helping the people she loves. I have no doubt in my mind that she is one of the finest at what she in America. She was always like Percy, when it came to stuff like this. She has always wanted to be best at what she does. She will win this case for you and when that happens we can all go back to being a family,”
“Thank you Mrs Weasley, for welcoming us into your family,” said Penny.
They both hugged Mrs Weasley, said their goodbyes and went home.
“So, I would say it all went well, don’t you Ted?”, asked Penny
Ted on the other hand was thinking about something else. Something that made him question whatever Jennifer had told them four years ago. He was thinking about what he found out from Steve, earlier before going to the Burrow,
“I did some more diggings. I couldn’t find out much about how Ginny’s file suddenly disappeared. I couldn’t find anything in the Ministry about Ginny Weasley’s records. So I went to Hogwarts, and the headmistress was baffled when she couldn’t find Ginny Weasley’s file when she knew that Ginny Weasley attended Hogwarts. But I did find out something that you would find interesting. When I was asking her for Ginny Weasley’s file, she asked me why was everyone having a sudden interest in Ginny Weasley. When I asked her what she meant by that, she told me that this isn’t the first time someone in the last ten years has asked for Ginny Weasley’s file. She said, that four years ago an Auror approached her and asked for the records of Ginny Weasley. She said she handed him a copy of Ginny Weasley’s records to him. I asked her to describe the Auror and get this, her description matches Samar’s description. I showed her a picture of him I had with me. She confirmed that Samar had approached her for getting Ginny’s file.”
“So you are saying, that four years ago Samar managed to get all information pertaining to Ginny Weasley?”
“Yes. Accessing for citizen’s records in the Ministry is automated. You just have to fill out few forms to get into the room where all the database is stored and get your file. You don’t have to meet anyone or deal with some person for stuff like that. So you cannot know for sure if Samar found anything about Ginny Weasley. But to get records from Hogwarts, he had to meet the headmistress to get a copy of Ginny Weasley’s school records. And four years ago those records still existed. Though when I went their today, I couldn’t find anything,”
“Did you ask her when exactly did Samar went to her?”, Ted asked.
“Yes I did. He visited her two days before he disappeared,”
“This means, that these records of Ginny Weasley disappeared four years ago,”
“Ted are you listening to me?”, asked Penny waving her hands in front of his face that snapped him out of his thoughts.
“What? What were you saying?”
“I said that it went well, don’t you think so?”, she repeated
“Oh well, all things considered it went well yeah,” he said.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing I was just worried about this case, we have with the uhh Malfoys I mean,”
“Don’t worry, trust Jennifer on this. She is gonna win this thing, now matter what,” she said.
“I certainly hope so,” he said.
“When do you think we should tell Jennifer about all this? We have to tell her before she comes here,”
“Yaa we should. Let’s call her now, Alfred told me that she should be back by now,”
He dialed Jennifer’s phone and waited for her to answer.
“Hello Ted? Is everything okay?”
“Hi Jen, don’t worry everything is just fine. Wait just a sec, I am putting you on speaker,” said Ted and pressed a button so both Penny and Ted could talk to her.
“Oh good. I am glad you called. I was just thinking about calling you. Remember I told you about the change here since your last visit?”
“Yaa?”, asked Penny
“Well, last year I adopted this little girl, Murphy. She is almost eleven now. And I didn’t tell you about her till now, because the adoption wasn’t finalised and I didn’t want to jinx anything. I hope that’s okay,”
“Of course we understand. This is wonderful really, Sameer will have a playmate now and an elder sister to look up to,” said Ted
“Yaa. In fact I was out today, redrafting the will and everything,” Jennifer said.
“That’s great Jennifer. But why did you adopt her? I mean I didn’t even know you were looking to adopting more children,” asked Penny.
“I wasn’t. It was a quick decision. But I don’t regret it. I met her in an orphanage. The caretakers there told me, that she was sexually assaulted and since the attack she was quite reserved. Since everyone in the orphanage were her age, I thought spending some time with someone younger might be good for her. So I started taking her home, so she can spend some time with Sameer. He had been complaining for days, that he was bored with playing with someone thrice his age. Well you can’t blame him really, so I thought it would be a good change for him. So when the two of them met, it just clicked. She started coming out of her shell, and Sameer was exceedingly happy to play with someone much younger. I saw the way they quickly bonded, and I decided to adopt her. It wasn’t difficult to convince the orphanage manager to let me adopt her. Anyway, after nearly a year long process, I am officially her parent. I finished the paperwork, just a few days ago. So next week when I come to London, I will be bringing everyone else with me. This will be Sameer’s and Murphy’s first time away in a foreign country, so this would be a nice holiday for them,” she said.
“That’s really great. I will tell Trixie to clean up the manor and prepare a huge welcome feast for you. But I insist, that you must come to our new home, here for dinner. I won’t take no for an answer,” said Ted.
“Of course. But I will be the one to prepare the dinner that day. Your wife isn’t the greatest cook in this world and I am not going to feed my children whatever she cooks,” said Jennifer
They all laughed and Jennifer talked more about Murphy and other stuff that was going on in America.
“Have they set the date of trial?”, asked Jennifer when the topic turned to Ted’s impending trial.
“No not yet. To be honest I didn’t actually try to find out the trial date. With everything that’s been going on in here, I am a little overwhelmed,” said Ted
“What are you talking about? Is this why you called?Oh Ted I’m so sorry. I am such an idiot, I have been ranting about stuff that’s going on here, I completely forgot about how you must be feeling right now. Don’t worry about this case Ted. I have already started digging into whatever the reasons might be behind Astoria’s behaviour and I will have some answers by tomorrow,”
“No that’s not it, Jennifer. And don’t apologize. I know you are doing everything you can. In fact it’s gratifying. You sound really happy and I am very happy for you. I can’t wait to see Murphy, Jen,” he said.
“You don’t have to wait too long Ted. Now tell me what’s really bothering you Ted?”
“Something else has happened here since we last talked. I think you should sit down to hear what I am about to tell you. Are you sitting down?” said Ted.
On the other line, Jennifer froze. Her mind went back to fours years ago when she last talked to Samar. The conversation about her family was addressed in the same way by Samar four years ago. Steeling herself for bad new she said, “I am sitting down, Ted. What’s going on?”
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. It’s good news. Jennifer your family is very much alive, they are not dead. I found out about this yesterday,” he said.
“What?”, asked Jennifer too stunned to ask anything else, How is this possible? how did he find them? She thought.
Ted and Penny then proceeded to tell her everything that had happened. They told her about her brother accidently discovering photos of her, about the records they found in the Archives, everything that had happened till interrogating her attacker, who was still in Azkaban for murdering her.
“So it happens, that they kidnapped you and when it went wrong, they faked your death. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about why Samar couldn’t find records of you four years ago. They seemed to have disappeared. Whoever is behind this, doesn’t want you in London. But the important thing is you family is alive Jennifer. A very large family at that one. They are all red heads like you,” said Ted.
“Are you sure about this Ted?”, she asked.
“I am positive Jen. You know I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. I know how you feel about this. But don’t worry, everything is just fine. Your brothers are at the top positions in the Ministry, so they will do everything in their power to clear this situation and everything will be sorted out by the time you come here next week,” he said.
“You have already told them? Like everyone in my family?” she asked.
“Well yeah. You know Bill, your eldest brother insisted on telling your family. I couldn’t say no to him and I thought what harm will it do. But be rest assured, everyone is just happy that you are alive and can’t wait to meet you. Are you happy?” asked Penny.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am,” she said and they heard her actually laughing in the way she only did when Sameer was around her.
“So your welcome feast will be prepared by your mother actually. I am afraid she insisted on it. Is it okay if I let her inside the manor?” asked Penny.
“Of course. In fact, give everyone in my family clearance. I want to meet everyone, when I come to London,”
“That’s great. Your mother will be thrilled,” said Ted
After talking for sometime about Sameer and her family, Jennifer hung up promising to call next day if she found had any leads on the case.
Soon after that, Penny and Ted went to bed. But Ted couldn’t sleep. His earlier conversation with Steve kept him awake. He didn’t tell his wife the suspicions he had. He didn’t even know what to do with this information right now. If Samar found all the information about Ginny Weasley four years, he would have told her. It was clear that Ginny Weasley’s records existed up until four years ago. And two days after collecting all the information about Ginny Weasley Samar disappeared. Was the man behind Ginny’s disappearance, behind this too? It could also be that Samar lied to Jennifer about her family. But it was unthinkable. He knew Samar, he was like a brother. Samar wouldn’t have lied to Jennifer about something like this. If Samar told her about her family so why did Jennifer tell them that her family was dead? Was she lying to them? If she was, then why would she lie about something like this? For as long as he had known her, finding about her family, about herself was more important to her than anything else. Then why would she lie about her own family? Was she the one, who erased Ginny Weasley’s records?
He lay awake till late at night, questioning everything odd that had happened in the last four years, since Samar’s death. He was thinking about all the things he had not told Jennifer earlier. Like Mrs Hudson suddenly moving to London, soon after they did. That too, quite close to Ottery St Catchpole, where Ginny Weasley grew up. It seemed too convenient to be coincidence. Was Mrs Hudson working for the man, who is behind Ginny’s disappearance? Or was she sent by Jennifer, to keep an eye on the Weasleys? While explaining it to the Weasleys and Harry, Ted had purposefully avoided mentioning Mrs Hudson at all, and who she was to Jennifer. This has been troubling him since he had found out about Ginny Weasley’s existence. He hated keeping it a secret from the Weasleys especially Harry. He didn’t have a doubt, that this thing will come out eventually and the result won’t necessarily be pleasant.
All these thoughts, made him question all the other things he knew about Jennifer. With every second he began to trust her even less. What else has she lied about? Can I trust her?
Harry was rudely woken up by someone ringing the doorbell at four in the morning. Cursing the person for disturbing him, he got up, put on a t shirt and went to answer the door.
He was truly awake on seeing the Headmistress of Hogwarts and his former Professor McGonagall at his door step. Stepping aside he let her and said,
“Professor, Good Morning. I have to say that I am surprised to see you here. If you needed to see me so urgently, you should have just owled me. I would have come to meet you at Hogwarts,”
“It was no trouble Potter,” she said in a tone that made him smile. Even after all these years, he was glad that she could still make him feel like an errant child. Guess somethings never change, he thought.
He went to this kitchen and brought a bottle of wine and two glasses. He told her to take a seat while he poured wine for her. After a few minutes, McGonagall said,
“I am not here for chitchat Potter, I am sure you know that. However it’s urgent and I thought you wouldn’t respond to my owl immediately, so I came here myself,”
“What is it, Professor?” he asked.
“Earlier this afternoon, a man came to me. He looked like a private investigator. He came to me asking for Ginny Weasley’s records of her time in Hogwarts,” she said.
Harry nodded and said, “Oh I know, well there have been some developments regarding her case Professor. A colleague of mine hired someone to dig up files on Ginny,”
He quickly told her brief, about everything that had transpired that day.
“This is incredible Potter. The Weasleys must be incredibly happy about this,” she said.
“Oh they are very happy,” he smiled.
“And how are you doing with everything?” she asked. She was well aware of the feelings Harry had for Ginny.
“I am okay Professor. Just feels surreal. Kingsley told me to take some time off from work to let it all digest. I have to say, he is right. It’s gonna take some time to process all these events, not to mention all the other question that have arised,” he said running his hand over his face.
“You do that. I would say you have earned this holiday after everything that you have done. However like I told you, I am not here for chitchat. I have to tell you this, because only you would know what to do in this situation,” she said.
“What is it Professor?”
“Well like I said, a man today approached me asking for Miss Weasley’s records. But I couldn’t find them. They seemed to have disappeared in the air. It seems odd, since four years ago another man by name of Samar Anand approached me for the same purpose. And I gave him a copy of Ginny Weasley’s school records. But now I can’t find them. I didn’t tell you about this four years ago, because Samar Anand was an Auror.He said, the information was for a highly confidential case. I didn’t question it then, but today when I couldn’t find them this man, started asking me questions about everyone who had asked about Ginny Weasley’s records since her death. I answered him truthfully of course, but something about this situation is off. I can’t put my finger on it. And considering what you have just told me, the disappearance of all of Ginny Weasley’s school records is just highly baffling and suspicious,” she said.
“Thank you very much Professor. You have been a great help to me. I will get onto this as soon as possible,” said Harry.
McGonagall nodded and took her leave.
Harry went back to bed and stayed awake, thinking about the truthfulness of everything Ted said. If Samar found out everything about Ginny Weasley, then why did Ginny -Jennifer think her family was dead? ughh I have to get used to calling her Jennifer. Did Samar lie to her? Was he working for the man behind Ginny’s disappearance or was he that man?
Kent Nest,
London.
The floo flared up with the arrival of Harry Potter in the living room. Harry looked around to see if anybody was there in the living room and then went to the kitchen, looking for Ted. He found Ted eating breakfast with Penny.
“Hey guys”, greeted Harry.
“Harry!”, said Ted.
“Harry!”, squealed Penny while she ran over to Harry to hug him, “What bring you here? Not that I am complaining.”
“I just had something to talk to you guys and figured now is the best time to do that, before Gi- Jennifer comes here.”
“Oh of course, come on have a seat. Would you like to have some pancakes? I just made them, they are still warm”, asked Penny.
“No thanks.”, said Harry.
“So what do you want to talk about Harry?”, asked Ted.
“Where’s John?”, asked Harry.
“Oh he is still sleeping, he is down with the flu so he will probably be sleeping the whole day today,” said Penny, “I’ll just go check on him, see if he needs anything. You two carry on.”
“So what’s up?”, asked Ted.
“You know what, let’s just walk outside this house. I think it will be easier for me to just walk and talk about this stuff,” said Harry.
“Yaa sure,” said Ted.
They both walked outside and Harry started,
“I don’t know if you have heard but I have taken a leave of absence from work,”
“I know. Ron told me. I think it will be good for you. Merlin knows you deserve it. You hardly ever take day offs for yourself. And given everything that’s been revealed recently, you need it, to process all that’s happening,” said Ted.
Both Harry and Ted sat down on a bench in the garden.
“Yaa everyone keeps telling me that. For once I don’t mind actually. I would have asked Kingsley for vacation myself if he hadn’t ordered me to take one,”
“Really? Harry Potter, who they call the Mad-Eye Moody resurrected for the mad hours he keeps in his office, was going to ask Kingsley a vacation,” said Ted and laughed , “I’ll believe that when I actually see it for myself,”
Harry chuckled. He was used to all these jokes. It was true after all. He had a sofa in his office, because he spent more time sleeping in his office than in his own flat.
“Yeah, keep making your jokes. I don’t care if you believe it or not, I was gonna ask,”
“Like I said, I’ll believe it when I actually see it happen. For so long I have hoped it would happen. Some girl would come into your life, make you see her, make you want to actually live a life. But you hardly ever look at a nice girl. Some would think you are gay. But you don’t see men that way. So the only conclusion they would draw is that you are living a life of celibacy. I am surprised that Witch Weekly still names you Eligible Bachelor of the Year every year,”
“Yeah, I think they will continue to do that for the rest of my life I guess,”
“So I am guessing you don’t plan on settling down with anyone huh? You are going to remain celibate for the rest of your life,”
“Well that was the plan, until recently.”
“Until recently”, said Ted. He looked down at his feet for a while. He had a good idea why Harry had come to talk to him and suddenly he wasn’t sure how this was going to go, where this conversation would lead. Neither of them spoke for a while. Then Ted broke the silence and asked, “You never left to find a life. To find someone to spend the rest of your life.”
“I did find someone Ted,”
“I know. And you lost her. You believed that you would end up marrying her and that beautiful dream was snatched away from you. You know when I was young, I wished to be the famous Harry Potter. Even in America you were famous. Never thought I would see the day, when I wished I didn’t want to be you mate, no offence. I have a beautiful wife whom I love, we have a child together and we live in this beautiful house. I would say you envy me at least a little,”
Harry chuckled and said, “ Yaa I do actually. I envy what Ron and Hermione have. But after Ginny died, I knew I would never find anyone else with whom I would want to spend the rest of my life with. I made peace with my ‘celibacy’ a long time ago,”
Ted didn’t speak, he just waited for Harry to talk more about how he felt about this whole ordeal.
“For so long I believed she was dead. She is still a part of me. I have tried to put it all behind me, move past the day I found out she was gone but I can’t. And she will always be a part of me, I think. I know you all hope that I find someone to be with. You all think that I haven’t found anyone because I feel guilty about being with anyone else other than her. And it’s true. Partially anyway. The thing is..”, said Harry.
“What? Look buddy you can talk to me. I know Ron is your best friend. But it seems to me you want to get it out, whatever you want to say. So just say it. I am here for you mate,” said Ted. Never before had Harry open up to him about Ginny, he would be damned if he didn’t let Harry feel comfortable about open up to him.
Harry sighed and continued, “When I first got together with Ginny, it wasn’t just attraction between us. Sure, there was a lot of that. But from the very first day I realized that what I felt for her was much more than that. She was a breath of fresh air. I was sixteen. Most people my age didn’t even know what was love-,”
“But you were not most people”, completed Ted.
“Yeah. I fell more in love with her every day. The kind of love that consumes you, that pulses through your vein. Dumbledore said that was my power. And he was always right. I defeated Voldemort because of that power. The power to feel that love for someone. The months I spent with her after the war, were the best days of my life. We used to talk about kids you know. I was a month shy of eighteen, I had just defeated the most evil dark lord our world had ever seen. One would think that all I would want to do is rest and take it one day at a time. She was there for me when I needed her most. When I didn’t even know I needed help. If it wasn’t for her I would have destroyed myself because of the guilt I felt after the battle. And when I finally found peace, found a way to live, I decided that whatever I do after that point, one thing was sure. I was going to marry her. I was hers. Until the end of my days,”
“But what about the other women you dated?” asked Ted.
“Hermione, Mrs Weasley, Fleur they all insisted that I go out. I tried to listen to them. But I couldn’t find it in myself to love someone the way I love her. In the end I just occasionally needed someone to keep my mind of her for a few hours. It was difficult for me to get my act together after she was gone. I came back to work, but it took time to get my game together. I almost let the grief consume me. If it wasn’t for Teddy, I would have let the grief consume me completely. I changed for him. He needed me, Andromeda needed me to take care of him. And I am his godfather. His mother and father were gone, but he had me. I couldn’t have left him alone like I was left when my parents died. So I occasionally slept with other women to just, keep my mind off her. And it worked for a while. Then it just started feeling dirty and wrong somehow. I don’t know why,”
“You always thought that Ginny would be the only one. That’s why,” said Ted quietly.
“Yeah,” said Harry slowly.
“You must be wondering why all of a sudden, I am here talking to you and not Ron,” said Harry.
“Because I am the one who has been in contact with Ginny in the last ten years and I am the one who has been a brother to her all this time,”
Harry nodded and sighed.
“What do you want to know about her?”, asked Ted.
“How is she?”, asked Harry, not really wanting to know the answer.
“I told you she is fine and happy,” said Ted.
“No I mean how is she, has she changed a lot? “
“I don't know Harry, I didn’t know Ginny? “
“But you can guess. You and Penny have been talking to Ron and Hermione. Ron hasn’t shut up about Ginny since he found out. As a matter of fact all the Weasleys are behaving like that. How different is she from the girl she used to be? “
Ted didn’t know how to answer that question. He had avoided that topic because he didn’t want to crush Harry. But someone had to address the reality. He shook his head and put his head in his hands.
“Look Ted, something about your story isn’t adding up. So I need you to be honest with me. I know you are telling me the truth, but I also know you are still keeping something from me. So if our friendship means anything to you, forget about Jennifer for a moment. Just understand my position and answer my questions honestly, Ted. Please,” said Harry desperately.
Ted sighed and nodded.
“Professor McGonagall came to see me. She told me about Samar. She told me that he had come to see her, asking her records of Ginny Weasley. She came to ask me about this sudden interest in Ginny Weasley and I told her. But something doesn’t add up. If Samar asked her for Ginny’s school records specifically then that means, he knew who she was. He knew Jennifer was looking for her family. So why did she think, that her family was dead?”
“I have been wondering the same Harry,”
“The only reason I can see is, Samar told her that her family was dead because he wanted her to stay in America, he didn’t want her to come back,” said Harry quietly, all the while looking at some bush in the garden.
“No. He didn’t. He would never do that,” said Ted.
“How can you be so sure?” snapped Harry.
“The same reason you know Ron wouldn’t do something like that Harry. He was my brother and my best friend. We all know how important it is to Jennifer, to find out where she comes from, to find out about her family. As soon as we found about her family we told her about you all,” said Ted angrily.
“Yes you did. And I am grateful for that. But why did she think her family was dead, when clearly Samar knew that her family is very much alive. It’s the only possible explanation, Ted.”
“Stop it Harry!”
Ted and Harry both turned to see that Penny had joined them in the garden and clearly had heard them yell at each other. She angrily strode towards Harry and said,
“I don't care if you are my friend or not, but Samar was my brother. I would not have you come into our home and insult him,”
“I didn’t come here to insult him Penny. I respected him. We all did. But if he is responsible for keeping Ginny away from me in any way, then I need to know. I deserve that and you owe it to me to tell the truth,” answered Harry.
“Look I told you I have been wondering the same thing. I know it doesn’t add up, but I don’t know the answer to your question Harry. I know only one thing. Samar never would have lied to Jennifer about something like this. He would have told her the truth, “ said Ted.
Harry sighed and got up started pacing.
“The only person who would know anything about this is Mrs Hudson, “ said Ted quietly.
Harry turned around and asked, “Mrs Hudson? The old woman who lives near the Burrow? “
“Yes,” said Penny.
“How is she related to Ginny in all this? “
“She was the one who found Jennifer when she came to America. She was the one who funded for Jennifer’s education. Jennifer stayed with her the first time she came to America. She is like a mother to Jennifer, Harry,” said Penny.
Harry was surprised that Penny and Ted had waited so long to tell this to him.
“And she just happened to move to Ottery St Catchpole 4 years ago ? Just happened to be neighbours to Molly and Arthur Weasley then?” asked Harry stoically.
“Yeah, 4 years ago I didn’t think about it. Why would I? I didn’t know any of you then. And we knew Mrs Hudson was a Britain and she had always wanted to come back to England and open a shop here. So at that time I didn’t think much about why she would decide to move here,” said Ted.
“At that time?” asked Harry.
“At that time,” said Ted.
“So why do you think she came here then?” asked Harry.
“I don't know Harry. It’s best if we ask her,” said Ted. In truth, Ted suspected the reason, but didn’t have the courage to voice it. He didn’t want to believe it himself but more importantly he didn’t want to break Harry’s hope with something that might be the truth. Harry deserved the complete truth not speculation or suspicion. Even if Jennifer was behind it, there had to be a good reason for that. And Mrs Hudson knew that reason.
“Instead of just blindly assigning blame on someone, it’s best if we go over there now and get some answers Harry,” said Penny.
***
A young woman walked into the Ministry Of Magic lobby for the first time in ten years. She took the lift to the Minister’s Office and walked over to the assistant’s desk.
“Hi, I am here for my appointment with the Minister.“
“State your name please, Ma’m.”
“Jennifer Neveu.”
“Ah Miss Neveu, just step through that door, the Minister is waiting for you inside.”
“Thank You.”
***
Penny, Ted and Harry apparated to Ottery St Catchpole near Mrs Hudson’s house. Ted knocked on her door and moments later Mrs Hudson answered the door. She was barely able to keep the surprise off her face, when she saw Harry Potter with them.
“Ted! Penny! What a pleasant surprise. Come in,”
She ushered them in and offered them refreshments. The fact that Harry Potter was in her house wasn’t lost on Mrs Hudson. She had met him a few times, at the Burrow. If he was here, then it only meant one thing.
“So, what can I do for you?” asked Mrs Hudson.
“I am sure, you know about Jennifer. She is coming back to London. I am assuming Jennifer filled you in about her relationship with the Weasleys,” started Penny.
“Yes, I got a letter from her Penny,” replied Mrs Hudson surprised that they weren’t going to beat around the bush, “And you are wondering now, that if my coming back here four years ago was a coincidence or not ?”
“Well it’s clear it was not a coincidence. The question is why did you really come back? “ said Harry stonily.
“I came because Jennifer asked me. She told me to buy a place near her parents’ and she asked me to come here, and keep an eye on things. She asked me to inform her if anything untoward happens to anyone in her family,” said Mrs Hudson, without pause.
What Mrs Hudson said clearly surprised all three of them, because they weren’t expecting Mrs Hudson to be so forthcoming. They expected a little resistance.
“I take it you weren’t expecting that Mr Potter,” said Mrs Hudson taking in his shocked expression.
“Are you saying that Jennifer knew about her family this whole time?” asked Harry incredulously.
“No Mr Potter. She didn’t know where her family was the whole time. She found out about her family four years ago,”
“So that means, Samar did tell her about her family, right? “, asked Ted.
“Yes, Ted. Before his death, Samar called her and told her about what he found out. He even sent her a file containing every piece of information about her, about her family and friends. Everything,“
“So that means she knows everything about herself ? About who she is ?” asked Penny.
“No. She doesn’t. She gave me that file and told me to keep it and use it to find her family so that I can befriend her parents. She never read that file. She only knows that they are alive,”
“So what you mean to say is she made a choice to stay away from her family?” asked Harry ,”You expect me to believe that? “
“No I don’t. You are an Auror Mr Potter. You can’t just believe what people say. So if it will satisfy you I am ready to take Veritaserum and answer your questions under its influence,”
“Good, then. And you are right. It will make me feel better if you would answer my questions under the influence of the Veritaserum,” said Harry and then he fished out of his pocket a small vial containing the the truth serum.
“Harry this isn’t an interrogation. You can trust Mrs Hudson,” said Ted.
“No I don’t trust her. In the light of recent events neither should you. This woman just told you that she has been lying to you for four years and she has been keeping information about Ginny from all of us. I am going to use this serum and you can’t stop me, Ted.”
“So you came prepared huh ? Were you planning on slipping this in my pumpkin juice if I hadn’t answered your questions back at my house ? “ asked Ted angrily.
“Yes,” said Harry evenly.
“Good to know that I am still trusted,” muttered Ted.
“Trust! Yes I do have issues trusting people Ted because I just found out that the people I have known for four years have been lying to me. So excuse me if I have a problem trusting people as of late,” yelled Harry.
“I told you everything I know. I was just as surprised about the revelations as you were, Harry. So don’t start again by accusing me of all these things,” yelled Ted.
“Mr Potter please! Ted and Penny are innocent. They have nothing to do with this. If you have any questions ask me. It’s alright Ted, I don’t mind taking the serum,” said Mrs Hudson.
She held her hand out her hand to Harry, who gave her the vial. She took the vial and gulped the potion quickly.
“Ok Mr Potter. Fire away” said Mrs Hudson.
“State your full name for the record,” started Harry as if they were sitting in an interrogation room with a suspect.
“Gracy Clarissa Hudson.”
He looked to Penny and Ted, who nodded confirming her answer.
“Why did you really come back to England, four years ago? “ asked Harry.
“Like I told you before. Jennifer sent me here. She asked me to come here and befriend your parents so that I can keep an eye on them,”
“When did she find out about her family? “
“Four years ago.”
“Did Samar tell her the truth about it?”
“Yes he did. The day before he disappeared he had called her and told her everything. “
“So she has known about her family for four years now?“
“Yes”
“So she made a choice of staying away from her family?“ asked Harry, his voice nearly breaking.
“Yes Mr Potter”
“Tell me everything you know about what happened after Samar told her about her family.”
“I only know what Alfred told me when I asked him. After Samar informed her, she didn’t ask him any details about her family because she wanted to remember them on her own. Her doctor had told her that her memories could come back if they were triggered. She had decided that after the case was done, she and Samar would go back to London together to meet her family, in the hopes of getting her memories back,”
“So why didn’t she? What happened?” asked Harry.
“Samar’s death. It nearly destroyed her Mr Potter. She blamed herself for his death. She believes it was her obsession of finding herself that killed Samar. And she was pregnant at that time. She was scared of the same fate befalling her child. She had this gut feeling that, whoever helped Michael Lansky escape was behind her disappearance too. So she uprooted that obsession from her life completely, for her child. To keep him safe. “
“Did she wipe her own records? Make it look like Ginny Weasley never existed?” asked Harry.
“Yes”
“How did she do that?”
“I don’t know. But she is an ex-Infiltrator. And now she is a trainer for the same. She is a resourceful woman,”
“So am I correcting in understanding that she was never going to come back here, If we hadn’t found out about her?”
“Yes I believe she said, ‘I am never going back’ “
Harry’s breathe caught when she said this, but he kept himself together and continued.
“Why did she need you to spy on her parents then? “ asked Harry, finding it difficult to keep his calm.
“Because she believed that her family might be in danger, if someone somehow found out about her past,”
“Given the efforts she has taken to wipe her existence, I am surprised she cared enough to know how her family is doing, “ spat Harry.
Mrs Hudson stayed quite. Penny and Ted were too shocked to say anything to calm Harry down.
“Well say something!” yelled Harry.
“What do you want me to say Mr Potter?”
“I want to know why? Why she thought that she had a right to do all these things? Why she thought it was right to stay away for four years from her family? From her mother, her father, her brothers” said Harry and took a long breathe , “From me.”
“Harry please just calm down-” started Penny.
“No Penny, I am way past that. You can’t expect me to keep my cool after finding out something like this. This woman just told me that the woman I love has purposefully stayed away from me and her family and there is a reason for that? You are going to give a logical explanation for this ?“ yelled Harry.
“SHE IS NOT THE WOMAN YOU LOVE HARRY! THE WOMAN YOU LOVE IS DEAD” yelled Ted.
There was a tensed silence with only Harry’s heavy breathing mixed in it. Harry got up and went to the chicken’s coup to get some air. Ted, Penny and Mrs Hudson found him sitting on a bench, hunched and his head between his hands. Ted sat beside Harry and started talking,
“I am sorry Harry. I really am. But you have to accept the fact that she is gone. The Jennifer I know just looks like Ginny Weasley but she is not, “
Harry just raised his Ted and looked at Ted earnestly, silently asking him to continue,
“You wanted to know how much your Ginny has changed.But the truth of the matter is she is not even your Ginny. I hate telling you this, but she is very different from the woman you love. The woman you love is a seventeen year old, stubborn witch, who was so full of light, that she filled everyone with happiness with that. The woman you love, could never keep any feeling inside her, she was used to express whatever she was feeling. Jennifer isn’t like that, she is different. There are similarities between Ginny and Jennifer, in their mannerisms maybe even in their nature, but only some,”
“Mr Potter, I saw Jennifer at her lowest points of her life in America. When I first found her, she was this weak, frail girl who didn’t know where she came from and had memories of just about what had been done to her, the unspeakable things the death eater had done to her. Imagine yourself in a strange land, with nearly no memories about who you are. You don’t even know your name. The only things that you remember is the horrible thing that had been done to you, that caused you to lose your memories in the first place. Even with some little help, you still can’t help but feel alone. That’s how Jennifer felt when she first came to America. It took her weeks to recover from the shock of it alone. She was sick for weeks and had panic attacks for months after that. Her first year in America was the most difficult time of her life that she could remember. She had to live with the fact that she couldn’t protect herself and had been violated in her own skin. She had to find a way to move past it. And Samar was the one who helped her get through all this. If it wasn’t for him she would have killed herself a long time ago, because that’s what people do when they are in a depression. It was Samar’s love that brought her out of her shell. She started to enjoy her life because Penny, Ted and Samar helped her and gave her a purpose to live. Molly and Arthur told me a bit about how you were after the battle and how Ginny helped you with that. Well, Samar was there for Jennifer in the same way Ginny was there for you all those years ago. And she fell in love with him. Samar and her friends became family to her. A family that she yearned for,” said Mrs Hudson.
“Harry, you said you were lost after Ginny died. That’s how Jennifer felt after she lost Samar. Samar was the only family she had that she remembered. She became very distant after that. It’s like a wall came up between the rest of the world and her. The only one who can break her wall is her son. She looks truly content and at peace only when she is with her son. To outsiders she looks fine. A good job, she is well off financially, popular ministry worker, she has wealthy clients, a great house and everything. All these mean nothing to her. The only thing that matters to her are her children,” said Penny.
“Becoming a mother changes you as a person Mr Potter. Maybe one day you will understand that, if you ever father children of your own. But children have a way of changing our perspective on everything. Becoming a mother changed her a lot more than you understand. A mother would do anything to keep her child safe, as you well know given your own mother died to keep you safe all those years ago. The moment she found out she was expecting, her child became the most important person in her life. She didn’t become a mother when she pushed her child out of her. She was a mother long before that, the moment she found out she was pregnant. Like any mother, she will do anything to keep her children safe. Giving up on her past, erasing her past, hurting the people who loved her, lying to the world and everyone she cares about about her past, everything she has done in the last four years, is because she loves her children more than anyone else in the world. And this is why I didn’t tell anyone about her. I would have told someone if I thought she was wrong. But there is no right or wrong in this situation Mr Potter. Jennifer simply did what she thought would keep her children safe. And yes, if Ted and Penny hadn’t found out about Ginny, then maybe this would have been a secret forever. Maybe it was wrong of her to erase Ginny’s existence. But in her mind she didn’t see it that way, because according to her, she was simply closing up a chapter of her past. Jennifer figured that since you all thought she was dead, keeping it a secret wouldn’t hurt anyone. She thought it would only hurt her family more if they found out about her,”
Harry looked at Mrs Hudson and raised his eyes.
“Tell me Mr Potter, what do you really expect from Jennifer when she comes back?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you expecting her to recognise you immediately after seeing you?”
Harry looked away. Despite giving his word to Kingsley, there was still a large part of him that hoped that his Ginny was still there in this new woman. He still held hope that after everything that has happened in his life, there might still be a chance that Ginny is alive. He hated himself for still holding that hope but he couldn’t help it. It was difficult to accept her supposed death ten years ago, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be easy to accept that fact now, especially after finding out that she is technically alive.
“I’ll tell you what you should expect from her, what your family should expect. You should expect a woman, of foreign land, with eyes as cold as that of a stranger. Because that’s what she is going to be. A stranger. If you keep holding on to the hope that she might be remember you and if she doesn’t it will crush you. Not only will it crush you, but it will also drive her away. There is a chance that she might never remember you. But there is still a chance of building a friendship with her. If you keep holding onto that hope, that chance will be gone too. Same goes for her family. They are not really her family anymore, not to her anyway. They are your family. You have to make them see this too. Tell them the truth. It will be difficult for them to digest but in the long run, it will be good for them. Some of the members might find it difficult to forgive what she did, yourself included. But I hope you all understand why she did it and move past it. If you all loved her so much, find a way to build a new relationship with her. Get to know her, make her feel home. Tell them about me too. I don’t know if Molly will ever forgive me for what I did, but I know she will forgive her daughter, because Molly of all people would understand why Jennifer did what she did. And you all wish that all this had never happened, but Jennifer doesn’t. There was a time, when she hated what happened to her. But now she doesn’t. Everything that happened ten years ago, even the rape, has lead to her having her children. There is no way that she can regret that now. If she had to go through all of that again, she would do it gladly without a second thought,”
They all now waited for Harry to speak. Several minutes passed and then finally Harry spoke, “Why are you telling me this? Why do you care what becomes of her family after this ?”
“Because Jennifer has crushed her obsession to keep her children safe. She has remained content in the knowledge that her family is alive and well. That has been enough for her till now. But if there is still a chance that she can get back to her family where she truly belongs, I want to give it to her. She thinks she doesn’t need it, but she still does. I just want to see her happy. She is like the daughter I never had and I love her. I was prepared to keep her secret for however long it took, but now that the truth is out, it doesn’t make sense to keep all this a secret. So I thought it would be better if you know the whole truth. And I think it would be best to tell your family about this. I know you think it’s better to keep it a secret so it doesn’t hurt Molly, but it’s not. You should never underestimate Molly Weasley. She can take this. And she will understand this better than anyone else. Just think about this Mr Potter.”
***
Jennifer entered the Minister’s office and saw a tall man, with blue robes standing with his back to her, looking at a portrait sitting behind his chair.
“I never thought I would see you again Miss Weasley,” he turned around and said, “Welcome back from the dead,”
Jennifer chuckled at the joke uncomfortably which wasn’t lost on Kingsley, “Thank You sir. If you don’t mind, I prefer if you continue calling me Jennifer Neveu. It has been my name for the past ten years. The name Weasley is new to me,”
“Of course, I can’t even imagine how you must feel. Please have a seat Miss Neveu,” said Kingsley taking a seat on his chair, “But I have a feeling that you would have to correct many people now that you are back,”
“As long as they never make the same mistake, I wouldn’t mind correcting them” said Jennifer.
She noticed that Kingsley was staring at her oddly which made her a bit uncomfortable but she didn’t show it on her face.
“I’m sorry for staring, but I guess I am having difficulty accepting the fact that you are really here. I was one of the first people, who found your body ten years ago. Or more correctly, the body with your face. Your father and I are good friends and If I had paid careful attention to details back then, maybe none of this would have happened-”
“Please sir, what’s done is done. There is nothing you can do that can change the past. I don’t blame anyone for what happened to me ten years ago sir. You have other matters that need your focus, so I ask you to stop thinking about this matter and stop blaming yourself,”
“Well as a matter of fact, I can’t entirely forget about that incident Miss Neveu, because the recent discoveries has brought some new evidences into light. Evidences that suggest some bigger plan, some bigger scheme. And this is why I contacted you to set an appointment with me discreetly. I wasn’t expecting to see so soon though. Theodore Kent told me that he wasn’t expecting you until next week, so I thought I was going to see you after Kent’s case was resolved,”
“Yes, well I only just arrived so I can get a lead on Theodore’s case as soon as possible. If I may ask a favour, can you keep our meeting a secret for a while. I am following up a fresh lead on Ted’s case. It would be beneficial if no one knows, that I have already arrived. I would of course meet Ted next week,”
“Hmm, well I don’t particularly like it, given everything that has happened these last few days. But I understand all too well the need to cover your tracks to follow up a lead. For now no one will know about this meeting, except for the two of us and my assistant. You have my word,”
“Thank You. That means a lot,”
“No problem, Miss Neveu. I was hoping for your cooperation into solving your own disappearance case so we can get to truth of the matter. Whatever it leads to, it is something big,”
“You can expect full cooperation on my side, Minister”
“And you do realize for that, you will have to stay here until that case is resolved. You may even work as a temporary transfer on the case, if you wish. I would prefer it actually. It would also mean working with some of my own men,”
“Actually I would like it very much working as a case agent sir, Thank You”
“Good it’s settled then. I’ll send in your employment details to the Auror department then,”
Jennifer stood up and shook hands with the Minister.
“Welcome back, Miss Neveu. I would avoid exiting through the main lobby Miss Neveu. Two of your family members are currently here, working in this building. It’s best if you disguise yourself if you want to avoid running into them. The Ministry of Magic building is not exactly the best place for a family reunion,”
“I’ll keep that in mind Minister,”
“Please it’s Kingsley,”
“Alright Kingsley, then it’s Jennifer for you,”
***
Harry, Ted and Penny flooed to Ron and Hermione’s house and told them everything that had transpired that day. As Harry had expected it was a shock and Ron’s face actually turned maroon for a few seconds when Harry was recounting about what Jennifer had done. After they were done telling the story, it was a few minutes before Ron broke the silence.
“So what now?”
“Do you think we should tell your family about this?” asked Harry.
“I vote a hell no. I can’t believe Ginny would do this,” yelled Ron.
“Ron just calm down. Ginny obviously thought she was doing what was best. If I was in her place, I probably would have done the same thing,” said Hermione.
“Oh really?” asked Ron
“Yes maybe. In fact I have done it. I erased my parent’s memories to keep them safe from the war. What Ginny did is no worse than what I did. I violated my parent’s minds and I erased their memories, when I had no right to do so. It was awful but it was necessary. If Ginny thought, that by erasing her existence, kept us safer, kept her children safer then I don’t hate her for it. It’s exactly the kind of thing she would do,”
Ron couldn’t speak. After all these years, if he has learned one thing is that his wife was nearly always right. She was brilliant and her mind has saved his arse countless of times and like every other time, he would heed to his wife’s advice and try to find a way to forgive Ginny. Maybe it will be easier to convince the Weasley women about all this and forgive Ginny. He knew that the men of his family will have a harder time accepting this. But he had to try.
“Ron you have to understand what Jennifer has gone through in these last ten years. I know it has been difficult for you all, but she wasn’t exactly having a picnic. You and Harry, both need to make your family understand what to expect of her when she comes back,” said Penny.
Everyone was silent, lost in their own thoughts. They all had dinner together but hardly spoke for the rest of the evening. In the end it was decided that next day they would brief the rest of the family on the recent findings and start preparing them for Ginny’s return.
Ministry of Magic,
London
Jennifer left Kingsley’s office and asked the assistant,
“Excuse me, could you tell me where I can find the ladies room?”
“Yes Ma’m, just walk down this corridor and take the first left.”
“Thank you so much,”
“No problem, Ma’m”
She made her way to the restroom and took a stall which looked empty. She removed a small mirror from her purse and looked at herself. If she wanted to avoid running into people, Ginny Weasley was familiar with, then she would have to disguise herself. She knew this would not stay a secret for long, now that she has come to London, but she was determined to keep it a secret for as long as possible. She waved her wand on herself and after a few tries, she sighed with satisfaction when she saw her reflection on the mirror. The woman in the mirror didn’t look much different. She had brown hair, grey eyes and no freckles. This should work well. She left the restroom and saw the assistant making her way downstairs carrying a box of files in her hand. She took her want out and pointed it at the box. The spell hit exactly where she wanted it to hit, making a slash in the box and all the files it contained fell down. While the assistant was bent over gathering her files, she walked closer to her, down the corridor and hid behind a pillar. Looking around, making sure no one was around she pointed her wand at the assistant and waved her wand. Her eyes instantly became unfocused and dreamy. Within a few moments, she snapped and continued with gathering her files, as if nothing had happened.
Jennifer took the lifts. Once she was out of the building, she walked over to a short man standing beside the telephone booth, just across the street. He was 5’6”, nearly bald and wore round, thick framed spectacles. He was discreetly looking everywhere, for her obviously, as she had told him to meet her there, but hadn’t told him the exact time or that she might be under disguise. She caught his eye, and he recognized her instantly despite her disguise. He started walking away, signalling her to join him. She crossed the street, caught up to him and they started walking together towards the nearest apparition point near the building.
“Polyjuice Potion would work better you know,” the man said.
“Maybe. But I don’t think it’s necessary to walk as a completely different person. I just need enough disguise to look like a normal witch. Also polyjuice would need stealing some witch’s hair who has no business being in the Ministry of Magic building,”
“You have a point there. I stand corrected,” he said making a subtle bow towards her.
“How was your meeting?” he asked.
“As well as it can be, El. Turns out, he knew me. Ginny Weasley I mean. I don’t know what I must have done for the Minister of Magic to know me personally. He is friends with my father, so maybe he met his daughter once,”
“He is friends with your father?” El asked incredulously, to which she nodded.
“So I guess by midday everyone will find out you are here? So much for keeping things secret,” he said shaking his head.
“No I don’t think that will happen. I requested him to keep our meeting secret for the time being, explaining that I needed to work off the grid for a while for Ted’s case. He gave me his word he would,”
“You think he would keep his word?”
“I’m taking a leap of faith here El. I don’t have any other choice. Couldn’t have performed a memory charm on him. He is an ex-Auror, it was very risky. This way, we have at least 2-4 days, before everyone finds out that I am here. It’s better this way,”
“What about the assistant who scheduled the meeting between you two?”
“I took care of it. Even if Kingsley finds out that I erased her memory, I don’t think he would mind. He would understand why I did it. Did you keep an eye on her while I was in the meeting?”
“Yes I did. She didn’t leave her desk the whole time you were inside. She wasn’t doing anything curious or suspicious, so rest assured your meeting with the Minister will remain a secret for the foreseeable future or let’s hope so,”
“He did say some things that interest me, maybe it would help us too,”
“What did he say?”
“He said that there have been new evidence that point to something else that might have happened ten years ago. That new evidence proved that I wasn’t actually dead but they also indicate that there is something bigger going on. Something that no one else has caught onto yet,”
“You think Samar must have caught onto it? It is definitely worth looking into, since that could be reason why he was kidnapped and later murdered,”
They had reached the apparition point and then both of them apparated. They found themselves on a cliff and Jennifer knew they had apparated at the right place when she heard the sea waves crashing against the rocks of the cliff. The view was quite breathtaking and she realized that there is no place safer in England for Sam and Murph. This place was far away from any places where muggles could be found and was well hidden, behind Scafell Pike. Very few muggles dare to trek in these peaks and the charms placed on the manor ensure that no muggle would accidently discover it. The grounds of the manor were quite huge. Sam and Murph would not get bored, there was plenty of space for them to explore. They would be quite content staying within the walls of the manor for a while. She and Elliot stood at the gate, waiting and few moments later the gate opened itself to allow them inside. They walked towards the manor, which stood atop a hill overlooking the sea. There were several flights of stairs spanning at least half a mile along the hill. They started making the climb and continued their conversation,
“The Aurors here and in America concluded that Samar’s death was an act of spite by Michael Lansky. There was no evidence pointing to anything else. If Samar was working on something he covered his tracks well,” said Jennifer.
“Too well you mean. I looked at everything that you were involved in and by you I mean Ginny Weasley. She was involved in pretty serious things for someone that young, but nothing so big as to cause a murder. It’s weird to refer to Ginny Weasley as some third person by the way when really it’s you. Can’t I just refer to her as you?”
“It’s confusing to me, since I don’t remember what I did ten years ago or before that and even though I don’t really know how I used to be, I just know I am very different than I used to be. So essentially Ginny Weasley is someone else, even though it’s my past. So let’s just continue referring to her as a third person,”
“Alright your wish. I will get used to it eventually”,sighed El.
“Thank you for coming here El. It means a lot to me,”
“Don’t mention it. You know me. I like mysteries. But I also know that some things are destined to be mysteries. There are too many unsolved variables sometimes. Like Samar’s death. Even though I believe that Samar’s death wasn’t an act of spite, there are just not enough clues that say otherwise. We need something conclusive to work with. And so far we haven’t found any. So I am curious as to why we are here, when you swore you would never come back,”
Jennifer sighed and answered,”I didn’t come back because I wanted to keep my family safe. To keep Sam safe. Samar was killed when he was looking for me, collecting information about my past. At first I thought, that the answer to his death was in those files. That’s why I asked you to acquire her files and look into it. But when you didn’t find anything else that we didn’t already know, I thought maybe the reason he got killed, is because he was looking into Ginny Weasley in the first place. At first I thought that whoever faked my death, whoever he is, he obviously didn’t want anyone to find out. His plan was to murder me, but when I escaped he faked my death. So if he found about someone being too curious about my death, he must have thought that the best course of action is to get rid of that person,”
“It’s an interesting theory. How do you know for sure that’s the reason?”
“Because I tested it by erasing everything about my past. I wiped out all the files that has ever existed with the name Ginny Weasley on it. And here we are, four years later and no one we know has got killed, because whoever is behind my disappearance from England he probably gets a blip on his radar when someone actually gets access to Ginny Weasley’s files. If there aren’t any files, then he wouldn’t find out about anyone who tries to look up Ginny Weasley,”
Elliot was surprised at how calmly she confessed committing a crime and asked,
“Do you have any idea how many laws you broke by doing that? What if someone finds out?”
“Well people can speculate about what really happened to those files, but they won’t find any proof of it. Mrs Hudson knows what I did with those files and I told her that there might come a time when she would have to come clean about it to my family. So only people in my family would know the truth and I doubt they would sue me for wiping my own records. No one else will know,”
“Still, it was too great a risk,”
Jennifer scoffed and said,”You’re the one to talk. Your name isn’t even in the system, yet you have an apparition license, a Princeton graduation certificate and several properties spread all over the world.Oh you do not get to lecture me about breaking the law,” and laughed.
“That’s precisely the point. I am off the grid, so even if someone is fishing around, none can find me,” said El.
“Don’t worry, I covered my tracks just fine. No one will ever convict me for it, unless I confess, which is not gonna happen. So just relax,” said Jennifer exasperatedly.
Elliot grudgingly dropped the argument and kept quite.
“So what exactly are we doing here?”, Elliot asked.
Jennifer found herself zoning out and thinking about the months after Samar’s death and the months after Sameer’s death she had secretly spent, looking into Samar’s death. It didn’t give her any joy erasing her own files, but she couldn’t think of any other way. It was necessary. Samar gave her a new life in America, he gave her a sense of purpose and he gave her a reason to will. What she did, seemed like a small price to pay, considering everything he had done for her. She couldn’t just give up on him and accept the fact that his death was just a killing by a gangster, convicted by Samar. Michael’s escape to London was also something that didn’t sit right with her. After the war with Lord Voldemort, getting into London was more difficult than ever. It didn’t make sense to escape to London when he would have successfully escaped the American Ministry jurisdiction in any other less secure places. She had a disturbing thought that maybe Michael was in league with the man behind her disappearance but again she never found clues pointing to that. But in many ways that didn’t make any sense. It was just one of the gut feelings that she had. She had looked everywhere for clues. She knew Samar. When she was in Afghanistan, when she was months away at a time, they still had managed to communicate with each other through muggle postcards. They had used fake names and their postcards looked like absolutely silly love letters. But they were actually encoded with vital information about the gang that she was investigating. They used different kinds of cipher to encode their letters to each other and this is how the Auror Department had managed to solve the case. She looked for clues in the things left by Samar to her in his will, in the stuff he used when he was in London. But couldn’t find any. She was forced to admit that Samar had not left any clues for her through his will or in any stuff he had used, since it was too risky to leave clues in things that others can access or interpret easily. He would have left clues in places that he last stayed in before he disappeared. But going back to England seemed too risky, since Sameer was still so young and he needed her. So she sent Elliot, a friend she had made back in Afghanistan who was brilliant at code breaking, to look for any clues. But he couldn’t find anything. The gut feeling, the intuition that she had about the possible reason for Samar’s death has not wavered in the last four years. Most of her trusted colleagues were either dead or transferred. The Auror Department could not just spend more resources looking into this case, which looked pretty cut and dry. There just wasn’t any evidence to suggest that Samar’s death was part of some plan. After a while she had given up on the search for more clues. There just wasn’t enough evidence to help her solve his murder. She felt like the worst wife. She couldn’t find justice for her husband, for the man who gave her a new purpose, who gave her a beautiful boy, a family. She realized that the only way she could ever repay Samar for everything that he had done for her, was by raising their child and build a new life for herself. And she threw herself at it.
“When I couldn’t find anything that will give me some answers, I just gave up looking for it. Like you I started believing that some stories are destined to be mysteries. My obsession had got Samar killed. I didn’t want the same fate to fall on Sameer. And he is everything to me. It really didn’t matter anymore to me, to find out who I was. Because when I knew that I was going to have a baby, I realized I was someone’s mother, which was better than being anything else. I was content with knowing my family was alive. I had erased my own records, so I foolishly let myself believe that maybe things will finally quiet down. Everyone will be safe,” she said sadly.
“What changed that?”
“Murphy,” answered Jennifer quietly.
Elliot now got thoroughly confused now, “What has Murphy got to do with anything?”
Jennifer noticed that they were approaching the manor so she suggested taking a walk down a trail which lead to a small clearing. The walked down the trail and then sat on a rock shaped like a bench.
“About a year and half ago, I got a series of letters from a woman named Ellen Swan asking to meet me. She didn’t say much. She told enough about herself in the letters so I could check if it was legit. When it checked out, I agreed to meet her. She asked me to come visit her in a hospital in North Carolina. I went there and when I saw her, I recognized her immediately,”
“Who was she?”
“Scarlett Ellis. She was Michael Lansky’s girlfriend. Turns out she had ALS and had asked the healers to terminate her life, since she couldn’t handle living like that. But she wanted a favour from me before she passed,”
“How did she get there? I mean wasn’t she convicted?”
“Yes she was. She spent 2 years in prison, but was released on early parole,”
“So let me take a wild guess then. Murphy is her daughter and she asked you to take her in,”
“Yes,”
“Why you? She must have had other friends who would have done that for her ? And how come she has a daughter and no one knows about it?”
“Murphy is Scarlett’s and Michael’s daughter. She gave birth to Murphy years before she even met me. She had left Murphy in an orphanage shortly after she was born because she didn’t want her child to have the kind of life that she had been living, with a father like Michael Lansky. She did it right under Michael’s nose and Michael or anyone in the crime syndicate ever got the wind of it. Or so she thought,” explained Jennifer.
“What happened then?”
“She said she got mixed up in bad business trying to make a living, immediately after her release and somehow someone found out about her daughter and didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was Michael Lansky’s daughter,”
“How does someone just figure it out, out of the blue?” asked Elliot his face skeptical.
“I don’t know. She didn’t say much about it. She just gave me a brief about what happened and what she wanted from me. She said people were after her, Scarlett I mean. That they might try to get to her daughter to blackmail her or extort her. She asked me to protect her daughter by taking her in so people would stop looking for her. In exchange she said she had something that might be useful in finding out the reasons behind Samar’s death,”
“What was that?”
“After Michael Lansky escaped from prison, he purposely fled to London. It wasn’t just a random location he had chosen to disappear. He went there for a reason. She said several of her contacts in the mob were hired to follow Samar and Ted. He wanted Samar and Ted to come to London. He wanted Samar dead for some other reason and not just to get back at me,”
“Did she say what was the other reason?”
“No she didn’t say anything about that,” said Jennifer morosely.
“How did Scarlett even know all this?”
“I don’t know. When I asked her, she told me it was not important how she knew this. She just did. She told me take her word for it,”
Elliot scoffed and said,”Word of a criminal. That’s just great. So are you telling me that you came to a place, you swore would never come, on the word of a dead criminal?”
“No that’s not it. I told her I would consider taking in her daughter and left. When I first saw Murphy, I saw how much she needed help. And when I saw the way Sameer and she bonded with each other, it wasn’t such a hard decision. I decided to take her in. But I didn’t do anything with the information Scarlett gave me. Life was great, Sameer was amazing and Murphy was happier when she came home to us. It just didn’t seem worth anything to spoil all this based on the word of a woman I didn’t trust. But it was always nagging me. It wasn’t that I had a conclusive proof or anything. It’s just that Samar is ashes on the ground because of something in my past, there are people out there who are trying to keep me hidden, these people killed my husband. It ate me away. Murphy and Sam’s safety is the only reason I stayed and resisted the temptation to come back to England and get some answers. But then when I heard about what happened to Ted, I knew that once again my past has come back and started haunting me. Somehow they are behind this as well. And I decided to come back and face my fear, before anyone else got hurt because of my past,”
“But you still could have solved this case by staying there. You could have done hundred other things by staying in America and still resolve this situation. You could have found a way to get it solved like that and told Ted some reason for doing that. He wouldn’t have minded. What changed?”
“That’s what I tried at first. At first I thought that Astoria Malfoy just wanted some kind of publicity scandal to ruin Ted’s reputation. I was going through her case, trying to find some way to dismiss this case without having to leave America, when I got a call from Ted saying that he had found my family. He told my family now knew that I was very much alive and everything. But he said something else. He said that the Aurors in London, they had the man who raped me, Amycus Carrow, interrogate under the influence of Veritaserum. They also used Legilimency on him, without his knowledge to see if his memories have been tampered with,”
“And?”
“Ted said, they found out that his memories involving my escape and the reason for kidnapping me seems foggy. There are traces that suggest someone has modified his memories. But there was a flash of a memory that they got. Only a flash. It had Ginny Weasley sitting in front of a man. He was not Amycus Carrow. He was someone else,”
“And you think he was the person who faked your death and modified Amycus’s memories when you escaped. He is the person Samar was talking about. You think he was the one who helped Michael escape and kill Samar,” said Elliot completing her thought.
“Yes,” Jennifer said, grinning.
“So that’s why you came? Because you got some hazy memory from a rapist, of a man sitting in front of you?” asked Elliot incredulously.
“Look I know it’s a needle in a haystack but at least there is a haystack. And the haystack is smaller than you think. Till now we just speculated that there was someone else behind my disappearance. Now we know for sure. It’s a hazy memory but it’s way more than intuitions that I have had. Also Samar was wrong about one thing. He thought and so did we that this man wants to murder Ginny Weasley. But Amycus said that they had concocted a potion to gain control of Ginny Weasley, since she could resist the Imperius curse. So the plan wasn’t to kill Ginny Weasley. The plan was to make her do something, something specific that only she could. But it all broke loose when she escaped, so he faked her death,”
Elliot raised his eyes and said, “So that means, that this man faked Ginny’s death so he could look for Ginny Weasley, control her to do something, while the rest of the world thinks she is dead. Impressive,” and whistled.
“All this time he has been looking for me, but couldn’t find me. So when he finally did, he used Michael to draw me out. But that didn’t happen since I was pregnant. I don’t know if he knows about that, but when I didn’t show up, he decided to get me through Samar and Ted. So he kept tabs on Samar and Ted and had Michael kidnap Samar,”
“But that still doesn’t explain why Michael Lansky killed Samar,”
“Yaa I know. There is something that happened I think. He probably thought of drawing me out with Samar, but something happened and he killed Samar for it. I was practically in hiding. It was nearly impossible to get hold of me, because I was well protected being the lead witness. So he may be planned to contact the Auror Department to get hold of me. But he didn’t. Something happened. It has to be because of something that Samar found out about Ginny Weasley. Something he didn’t think Samar would find out. The reason for kidnapping me, the reason for getting control of me. They wanted me to do something. Maybe Samar found out what it was and that’s why he was killed,”
“Yes,” Elliot said slowly.
“Since kidnapping Samar didn’t work in his favour, he waited for a while. Kidnapping Samar and murdering him caught a lot of attention. He didn’t want that. So he decided to stay low for a while and then planned his next ploy to bring me back. But used a different tactic. He likes to work in the shadows. He wants someone else to do the dirty work for him. But Michael is more heavily guarded than ever. No one except those in high command know where he is guarded. And you can’t get him out just by having influence over the right people. I made sure of that, while drawing up the security wards in his prison. So getting Michael out of prison again is out of question. And he can’t have patterns in crimes that he commits, even if he is working behind shadows. He cares so much about his influence, he wouldn’t let anything tarnish that. So decided to use a tactic that wouldn’t gather as much attention as the last one did. I think he may have forced Astoria Malfoy to set up Ted for a fake rape charge. It makes more sense than Astoria seducing Ted just for publicity. This man knew I would come to Ted’s aid, if all hell broke loose. His plan is to maybe kidnap me and make it look like an accident or something. He can’t let it show that he drew me out. Kidnapping and ransoming would do exactly the opposite of that. That’s the mistake he made last time. So he sets up this investigation, which would require me to come here. If in the next few days I disappear no one would ever know why or by whom. No one would ever be able to connect that the two incidents are connected,”
“But he didn’t count on you erasing your own files. So he doesn’t know that Ted knows about your past, which led them to investigate Ginny Weasley’s death. At least for a while he won’t,”
“Yes. Which keeps us ahead of him. Even if it’s a few days,”
“But do you think it’s wise to do the exact same thing he wants you to do. If he wants you to come back, wouldn’t it be better to stay in America. Sam and Murphy aren’t safe anywhere if what you are saying is true,”
“Exactly my point. Sam and Murphy are not safe anywhere. Neither is anyone I know. Whoever this man is, he is going to stop at nothing to draw me out. He already made the first step by getting Ted into trouble. It’s his plan, but if I hadn’t come, he would have killed Ted. I couldn’t risk that. The only way to ensure Sam and Murphy’s safety is by stopping him.”
Elliot looked at Jennifer for few moments and then nodded understandingly.
“So what now?” he asked.
“We are going to do is look into Astoria and Draco Malfoy and find out what exactly this man has on them. If he loses his leverage over them, I can get his name from them. They must have some idea about him or his intermediary. We have only a couple of days to this. After that I have to get Ted into this plan. I need his help to convince the Aurors here to keep this investigation under wraps. We may need to hide Astoria and Draco to protect them, once we have the leverage we want. This man must have spies everywhere. So we can’t have anyone know that I have come back. It has to be kept secret for as long as possible,”
“Jennifer its too dangerous. The court date for the trial will be set, and then it will be out in the open that you have indeed come back.”
“Not necessarily. Right now no one knows who will be representing Ted. Soon it will be out, so we have to gain the dirt this man has on the Malfoys and stop this investigation before it even happens. Whatever the situation is, this man has to wait until after the trial to do anything otherwise it would look suspicious. He may even try to set an earlier date if he has that reach. That’s why we have to collect evidence so Kingsley and the other Aurors in the Ministry can help us,”
“You are going to trust the Aurors? And the Minister? With all this?” asked El.
“I have to. Plus don’t forget the reason Ted was sent here in the first place. Over the years he has given me a list of suspicious people in the Britain Ministry who may be working as spies for some organisation. We just have to stay clear of those. And there are a handful of Aurors that we can trust, I have their names and files too. Some of them were part of the Order of Phoenix, the secret society formed by Albus Dumbledore to oppose the Dark Lord. We can trust them at least. There are very few that we can trust, but we can count on those few. We have to. Sometimes we have to take a leap of faith and just hope for the best, El.”
“Alright. Say we investigate the Malfoys and get the dirt on them that’s being used to blackmail them. What if we still don’t actually get a name of the man behind the curtain or the intermediary,” Elliot asked.
“I don’t know. I know that Samar left clues about what he was really doing when he was looking into Ginny Weasley. We still need to look into that,” said Jennifer for what felt like the umpteeth time.
“But we have looked everywhere Jen. We haven’t found any in four years!” said El indignantly.
“I know about that alright, but we have to keep looking. It’s our only chance of ever finding out the truth. We have to start over. I know he has left me clues. Maybe it’s hidden in plain sight and I have just been too stupid to realise it’s meaning. And four years ago, I sent you here to look for clues. But Samar must have left clues that only I could understand. At that time it seemed like a good idea to not come back but now it just seems like it was a stupid mistake. But he must have been trying to tell me something. I have to hope that,” yelled Jennifer who was almost in tears.
She got up and walked towards the edge and looked down at the water. She let the tears flow out of her eyes. She couldn’t let anyone see her like that. Not even Elliot who has become one of her most trusted friends. She knew the risk she had taken, she knew the dangers that lie ahead, but she also knew that if she kept running like she had in the last four years, she will never live in peace. She will never live in peace as long as Samar’s murderers were out there. She didn’t really didn’t care about finding more about her past, because she had made a new life for herself. But she will lose this new life too, if she didn’t stop running, she was sure of it.
She was stupid to believe that erasing her past would stop whoever was after her. But not anymore. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to her children. She needed to protect them at all costs, damn the consequences.
After sometime she surreptitiously wiped her eyes and turned to Elliot. He looked at her and spoke,
“There is another way to find out what really happened. You could try getting your memories back,”
Jennifer sighed and said, “Maybe but it’s too uncertain. We don’t when my memories will come back if they can. We can’t rely on something like that. Maybe like the healer said, they can be triggered but I won’t get all my memories that way. Memory recovery potions will not work on me, because head trauma caused the amnesia not memory charms. Besides we just don’t have enough time to work on my memories given everything else. Getting my memories isn’t the priority anymore. I don’t really care if I remember who I used to be, I know who I am now. Which is enough for me,”
“If it’s not important, then why haven’t you read the file on Ginny Weasley. You don’t care if the memories get triggered or not anymore. So there is no harm in reading your own file. You know some things but not everything. So why haven’t you read the file on Ginny Weasley? Maybe it will be useful for the case,”
“You have read it, you didn’t find anything useful. Whatever the answers are, it’s not in Ginny Weasley’s biodata. It’s somewhere else. So it’s no use for me reading those files,” she said smoothly.
Elliot knew that wasn’t the case and it didn’t exactly answer his question. He knew she was lying but didn’t say anything. If Jennifer didn’t want to share what she was really thinking, she wouldn’t, until she was ready. So he dropped the subject for now. Without saying another word Jennifer walked out of the clearing towards the manor where her children were waiting for her.
***
Harry, Ron, Hermione were sitting in Ron and Hermione’s living room sipping tea. They had just explained to the Weasley family everything that had transpired the day before. As expected there were mixed reactions, but in the end surprisingly everyone decided to forgive what Jennifer did. The women who understood Jennifer’s motives had arguments with men who thought that what she did wasn’t fair to them. In the end they realised how petty the arguments were, given the fact that someone who they had loved was coming back to them after so long. They all agreed to forgive her then. Then Ron went on to explaining how they should behave when Jennifer comes back. He explained and made it abundantly clear that under no circumstances anyone should pressurise Jennifer to gain her memories. They all agreed to it unanimously. When Ron suggested that it would be better if the few family members met her at one time, arguments broke loose. Not everyone agreed with it. It had been ten years since they had seen Ginny. They were all anxious to meet her, to make sure she was alright. After a lot of arguments it was agreed that when Jennifer comes back, only a few people would meet her first. And then she would be introduced to the rest of the family gradually. It was agreed that Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron, Bill, George, Harry and Hermione would meet her first.
“Do you think it’s right? Having only few of us meet her?”, asked Ron doubtfully.
“Yes. I mean she has amnesia. People with her condition should be treated with care. If too many people crowd her, she could have seizures, dizzy spells. This way there is little risk of that happening and the reunion will be smoother,” explained Hermione.
“What about you Harry? What do you think?” asked Ron.
Harry didn’t respond, he looked lost in thought. Ron snapped his fingers in front of Harry and broke him out of his daze, “Hey mate! Where are you?”
“What?” Harry asked confusedly.
“I asked what do you think about this arrangement? Of having only few of us meet her,”
“I think it’s alright. It's better that way,” he said distractedly.
“What’s wrong Harry?” asked Hermione.
“Nothing,” replied Harry automatically but one look from Hermione and he relented,”Oh I was just thinking about what would happen when I see her. What would I say? What should I say to her? Have you guys thought about that?”
“No not really. But it will come to me when I meet her. I don’t care if I say something stupid, I will just be happy to see her alive after all this time,” said Ron a sappy expression on his face.
“Yeah I haven’t either. Don’t worry about it too much Harry. It’ll be fine,” said Hermione putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah maybe. You know maybe it’s just better if I stay and wait for another day to meet her, give time for just her family the first day,” said Harry.
“Have you gone bonkers mate!”, said Ron incredulously ,”You are family. You deserve to meet her just as much the rest of us mate,”
“I know, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go,”
“Harry what are talking about? Why is it not a good idea for you to go down there?” asked Hermione.
Harry sighed and spoke tiredly,”I just don’t know if I can see her, and not think about Ginny. I mean she will see me, but her expression would be blank. Like a stranger. I just don’t think I can handle having her looking at me like that with no love in her eyes for me,”
“Mate she is going to look at every one of us like that,” Ron said.
“No not really. Because you all are her family. She will be happy to see you all. What am I? I mean you can’t really introduce me as an ex-boyfriend, so I would have to be introduced as a family friend, which is weird. I don’t think I’m ready to handle meeting her,”
“Harry you have to come. Look I know how hard this must be for you. Just because she is a different person now, doesn’t mean you lose faith. So what if she has amnesia, she can always get her memories back. And even if she doesn’t you have to give her a chance, you have to get to know her because you were once an important part of her life. And you know deep down you want to. You owe it yourself. Imagine how horrible she would feel if she found about you and her and see you being very distant. And Harry, there is still a chance for you too, despite everything that has happened between you two-”
“No!” said Harry vehemently.
“What do you mean no?” asked Hermione, confused.
“I mean, that I love Ginny. I still love her. Jennifer is very different from her even if she is Ginny. She only looks like Ginny. I just don’t think I will ever feel that way about Jennifer or any other woman..,” said Harry.
“You speak as if the there are two different women. I mean yes in many ways there are. Ginny has changed a lot, I get that. Doesn’t mean that we should talk about her like that. Doesn’t mean we have to treat her like a complete stranger. It will be weird but we have to build some relationship with her-”
“Yes exactly. It will be difficult to reconnect with her, since she doesn’t remember anything about us and any new relationship with her wouldn’t be the same,”
“Harry none of us are who we were. We have a changed a lot too over the years. You can’t blame Ginny for changing given what happened to her. It is completely natural. But from what Penny and Ted have told me about her, it doesn’t sound like she has completely changed. Maybe some important parts have changed, but essentially she is still a good person. A good friend, a loyal friend. She is still very much like the woman, Ginny would have been if none of this had happened. The only difference I see is she is much more guarded, which is important and makes all the difference. Is it really that bad Harry?”
“No I didn’t mean it that way. But I just don’t see myself developing anything romantic with her, when she has a lot of other things to think about. She is married, widowed yes but she is married. She is in love with someone else, she has two children. In a way that changes person a lot. And I am still in love with Ginny, the old Ginny. We both essentially love someone else, so I don’t think it’s possible,” said Harry sadly.
Hermione realized why Harry felt like this. Ginny had been the only one for him. But same couldn’t be said for Ginny. Sure, no one could blame Ginny for moving on since she had no memories of her past life. No one should blame her building a new life for herself. It hurt no one. No one except Harry. Ginny was someone that Harry had had all to himself before she disappeared. But that wasn’t the case anymore. She had children, that weren’t Harry’s, she was in love with someone who wasn’t Harry. It hurt him more than he let on. No matter what Penny, Ted said to them, Jennifer wasn’t that different. She had made choices to stay away from them to protect them. Maybe they weren’t as important to her, as they once were. But that didn’t mean she would treat them like strangers. She knew Jennifer would be happy to see everyone despite everything that had happened, and she would like to build a new relationship with the family she had lost. She realized that it wouldn’t take long before Harry fell in love with Jennifer too and deep down Harry knew that too. He was just scared of the possibility that Jennifer might not feel the same. And Hermione couldn’t blame for having insecurities like that. It was possible. But Harry was covering up, keeping these things from her in his typical fashion but stating some nonsensical reason for doing so. She should not be surprised. But after all these years, he deserved some happiness. If Jennifer could give him that, she would have to convince Harry to confront his fears and take that step.
“Look no one expects you to pick up where you left off with her. It’s completely unfair to both of you. But you could still be good friends. So just come and introduce yourself as your friend. You two would be working together soon, so don’t you think it’s better if you build some kind of rapport with her before working together?” asked Hermione innocently.
Harry knew what Hermione was trying to do and he was irritated to see that it was working. He couldn’t disagree with her when she used logic like that. If he did, Hermione would only continue peppering him with questions that he didn’t want to answer just yet. So for now he wisely agreed with her to shut her up.
***
She waved her wand over herself to undo the charms on her hair and eyes. Then waved it over the door, which opened instantly. She stepped into through the door. Immediately she heard a small voice from her feet and jumped. She found herself looking at a house elf standing near the door, with her hands out.
“Oh I am so terribly sorry Mistress to frighten you, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to welcome you into your home” she said timidly, tears brimming her eyes.
“You must Trixie, then” Jennifer said who found it odd to be addressed as Mistress by a house elf she has never met, but only heard of. She had tried to set her free, by sending a letter saying so. In reply she got a rather weepy floo call begging her to never set her free. She had eventually agreed to let Trixie stay on the condition that she find some other useful work to do when Anand family wasn’t in the manor. But now that she was here, the house elf would be working in them manor effectively for her.
“Yes Mistress, it’s good to see you again in person” said the elf, making a low bow to her.
“And who might this person be Mistress?” the elf asked when Elliot joined her at the door.
“Oh this is a friend of mine, Elliot.”
“Hello Trixie,” Elliot said waving his hand at her.
“Hello Sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” replied Trixie.
“How have you been, Trixie?” Jennifer asked the elf, making her way into the living room.
Suddenly the elf let out a howl of shock and threw herself back on to the ground. Jennifer and Elliot both went down to their knees and tried to shake the elf and calm her down. Her wailing must have been very loud, since she heard heavy footfalls behind her and saw Alfred making his way to them.
“Trixie what’s the matter?” he asked, when he joined them to calm her down.
After about ten minutes of Alfred’s gentle probing, Trixie finally calmed down even though one could still see tears in her eyes and looked funnily happy for someone who just cried her eyes out.
“Trixie ap-ap hic apologizes for making a scene-hic. But she co-co couldn’t help hic it. My-my masters have al-hic-al always been kind to Trixie. But it’s al-al hic always good to hear it fr-from a new ma- hic master. It re hic reminds Trixie how lu- lu hic lucky she is,” she said and then started crying again.
It took another ten minutes to calm her down again, which frustrated Jennifer to know end. It also irritated her to see Alfred and Elliot barely making any effort to keep straight faces. When she finally was speaking again, Jennifer said,
“Trixie would you show Elliot to some bedroom please? He will be making regular occurrences here for the duration of our stay so see to it he gets a bedroom that he wants where he can stay if he wants to spend nights here,”
“Of course Mistress,” Trixie croaked and then gestured Elliot to follow her.
“I am so glad Samar made her stay here, instead of America. I would have gone crazy handling her. What the hell happened? What’s with all the wailing? All I did was ask her how she was?”
Alfred laughed out so loud, that his face turned red. After a couple of minutes he stopped laughing and said, “That’s exactly why she broke down. House elves are not used to such kind treatment by wizards, especially their masters. So they always tend to break down like that, when someone treats them kindly,”
She grimaced and said,”That’s ridiculous. I’m sure she has met plenty of decent wizards and witches who don’t treat her like shit,”
“Surprisingly very less than you think, Mistress,” said Alfred grinning at her fondly.
Jennifer just rolled her eyes and asked him to give her a tour of the house. The manor was bigger than she expected. She realised that she liked the smaller Brown House more than this manor for its intimacy even though in the past year it had got a little crowded. But she preferred it that way. This house seemed too big for her, too sterile. It didn’t feel like home to her. But then again she hasn’t been here for thirty mins so she can’t complaint. They entered the master bedroom where Jennifer was going to stay. All her stuff was already in the closet, courtesy of Trixie who had insisted on doing it herself the moment Alfred had entered the house. She entered the room and took in the smell that wafter around the room. Maybe she was crazy but she smelled something achingly familiar. The same fragrant that she smelled beside her pillow back at home, his scent. Samar’s scent. She had charmed his pillow to retain his scent after he had left. Even today that scent soothed her when she had nightmares. It felt like he was there here yesterday even though she knew he has been gone for four years. She looked around and sat on the bed while Alfred chatted something about the hot water, but she wasn’t paying attention. She just felt like drowning herself in the scent of the room. She fiddled with the lamp switch like a little boy did with a new toy and then she opened one of the bedside drawers. She frowned. Inside she saw a bottle of her favorite wine, Kaesler. She took it out and saw that It was empty.
“Alfred” she called out.
“Yes Mistress” he said, coming out of the bathroom.
“Why is there an empty wine bottle in this drawer?”
“I don’t know Mistress. I shall have Trixie throw it out. Which reminds me, I’ll also tell her to get some of that wine. It’s your favorite after all,”
“Hmm,” Jennifer said noncommittally ,”That’s alright Alfred. I’ll just keep this with me. But do tell Trixie to stock up the wine cabinet. There will be guests coming in and out for the next few months after all,” she kept the wine bottle back in the drawer and instantly forgot about it.
“On that case, I’ll tell her to stock up the cellar then,”
“Cellar?” asked Jennifer, raising her eyebrows.
“It’s a manor Mistress. Of course it has a cellar,” Alfred explained it to her as if to a child, grinning.
“Right, so uhh tell her to keep the kitchen stocked up all the time and make regular visits to the market to keep fresh stock of vegetables and fruits. Give her the list of all the things we are all allergic to as well,”
“Yes of course,”
She suddenly noticed that the house was eerily quiet, frowned and realised why.
“Where are the kids? I was expecting them to jump on me the moment I entered? It's really damn quiet in here,”
“The kids are exploring the grounds Mistress. Sam was really excited to see the Quidditch pitch and Murphy is with him to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself,” Alfred said, smiling.
She made her way down and went outside. She called them out several times and after a few tries, she heard Murphy calling back,
“Mom we’re here, inside the greenhouse”
She made her way to the greenhouse and found them crouched over some plant that looked like it would eat anything that touched it. Sameer was just about to brush his fingers over it when she yelled, “Sam, don’t!”
Sam took his hand back just in time because the plant had lurched forward towards where his Sameer’s hand was, coiling it’s stem in thin air as if groping an invisible object. Both Murph and Sam shrieked and fell back away from the plant. Jennifer rushed towards them and went down to her knees and took them in her arms.
“What were you thinking Sam? How many times have I told you not to touch anything that looks strange, dangerous or something that might bite your arm off. Another second and it would have squeezed your arm like it was a nice juicy orange,” she snarled at Sam.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know it would bite. It looked harmless,” said Sam in a tiny voice.
“Sorry is not gonna cut it every time Sameer. How many times do I have to keep you out of situations like this huh?” she asked angrily ,”And you Murph. I thought I said to take care of him and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. You’re his elder sister, you should have stopped him from touching that plant,”
“I’m sorry Mum, even I thought it was harmless. It didn’t seem very dangerous. And we both were curious,” Murphy said, looking down at her feet feeling quite ashamed of herself.
Jennifer sighed. She was overreacting. What would the kids know about magical plants. It’s her fault. She certainly should have expected something like this. Sam had an uncanny ability to invite trouble wherever he went because of his curiosity. And Murph was just eleven even though she was mature than other kids her age. It really wasn’t fair of her to yell at her kids that way for something that’s out of their control.
She sighed and said, “Hey I’m sorry. I was just overreacting. It’s not your fault okay? You couldn’t have known, both of you,” she raised Murphy’s chin to look at her and she said to both, “But just be careful next time you are wandering the grounds on your own. Promise me, both of you,”
Sam and Murph both nodded mutely and she said grinning,”Now come on give me a hug” .
The both hugged her and then when she let them go, Sam started talking excitingly about what they done all day.
“Did you know there is a lake here, we had lunch there today. And we found a tee house,”
“A treehouse Sam,” Murph said rolling her eyes at her little brother.
“I said that no. A tee house,” said Sam who looked quite confused.
Jennifer just chuckled and asked, “What else did you guys do? Did you fly your broom in the pitch, Sam?”
“Yes. I did. But couldn’t fly high to reach the hoops. They are soo big,” he said gesturing with his hand describing the hoops.
“They are tall, Sam. Tall is the word you use to describe the hoops,” explained Murph patiently.
“But I used big. Why can’t I say they are big?”
“Because it doesn’t mean the same as tall,” said Murph in a bossy town.
“But they are bigger than the hoops we had back at home, so I’m gonna use big,” said Sam stubbornly.
“But it’s not right,” cried Murphy.
“It is right. I don’t care, I don’t see why I should learn another word, that mean the same as the words I already know. It’s difficult to remember all words,” complained Sam.
Murph just stared her mother helplessly not knowing how to handle Sam when he was being stubborn just like now. Jennifer for her part just laughed at their antiques. Sam was a difficult student when it comes to reading, writing or learning new words. Only Jennifer had the patience to deal with it and teach him. It annoyed Alfred and Murph to no end. But it didn’t irk her at all. Sam was still very young. The fact that he was a slow learner, worried Alfred sometimes but it didn’t worry Jennifer. He was a kid, he had plenty of time to learn what he had to before he went to school.
“Okay both of you cut it. We will have this word discussion later. Now run along, Alfred is setting the table for dinner,”
Sam started running the moment she said dinner. Jennifer chuckled and realized how much like his father he was. She looked down to see Murph still walking with her, biting her lip.
“What’s wrong Murph?”
“Aren’t you worried that Sam hasn’t learned to speak properly or write, Mum? Where I used to stay, the kids his age could read and write better than Sam. What if something is wrong with him?” asked Murph worriedly.
Jennifer sighed and said, “Yes Sam is slow in learning things like this, but it’s just because he is lazy. Many kids are. You know much he loves to fly and how much he loves to paint. One look at what he paints and no one can deny that he is smart and intelligent. There is nothing wrong with him. Soon he will get over his laziness. It’s just a phase hon, nothing more. So don’t worry about it okay?”
Murphy seemed to accept her answer and nodded. The continued walking in silence towards the manor till Jennifer asked,
“So did you fly around the quidditch pitch? It’s bigger than the one we have in Brown House. I thought you would have liked it.”
“No. I was just watching Sam fly,” said Murphy.
“Honey don’t you like to fly?”
“I don’t know I have never been on a broom before. It actually scares me to think about fly so high above the ground,” Murphy shuddered.
“But that’s natural. You just have to get over and try. Once. Look if you really don’t like flying then it’s okay. But how will you know, without even trying. So just think about trying okay?”
“I will,” Murph nodded though she could see that Murph really didn’t want to try flying at all.
“Look you don’t have to if you don’t have to. But flying is really great way to expel the stress and tension you might have. It frees you in a way that I can’t explain. And frankly you need another hobby which doesn’t involve books. You read far too much for my taste,” Jennifer teased.
Murph chuckled and agreed to try flying on a broom one of these days, when Jennifer was home. Jennifer sighed and dropped the subject. She just wished that she could get Murphy to talk about what happened to her, but it was really difficult. Flying was one of the only reprieves she had when she came to America. It felt good to know that she was good at something, something that really made her happy. She wanted Murphy to feel the same. Being with them had helped her a lot, but she still needed to recover a lot. And they didn’t have enough time. She would be eleven soon and if she didn’t stop being weary of strangers, she would have a hard time in school. Jennifer just hoped that all the cases will be solved soon, so she could spend more time with her children and help them.
They had a noisy dinner like always, with Sam spending more time talking than eating and she continually telling him to do little less talking. Murphy, Elliot and Alfred just watched from sidelines and had a good laugh seeing her struggle with Sam. lt irritated her so much that she jinxed Elliot’s plate such that it made anything that was put on it, to taste bitter. No matter what counter curse Elliot used, the taste didn’t change. She knew Elliot wouldn’t want to change the plate, because that would only mean accepting defeat. So he stubbornly continued using the same plate while muttering counter curses to undo the jinx. Alfred, Murphy and Sam laughed very hard at that and by the end of the dinner Murphy was begging her to teach her more about the jinx she used. Seeing them all together, like nothing had changed, Jennifer felt home for the first time in the manor.
Jennifer was reading a file on Draco Malfoy, which covered nearly everything that has happened in his entire life. Despite the huge file of information that she had acquired, there wasn’t much that indicated that Malfoy was involved in some bad business. Sure there were somethings that people could use to blackmail him. But it seemed too easy. He went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was recruited in Lord Voldemort’s army at the age of sixteen in secret, a fact he confessed in front of the Wizengamot after the war. Despite the heavy involvement with Death Eaters, The Malfoy family alluded prison because of their collusion with Harry Potter in the Battle of Hogwarts, which was testified by Harry Potter himself. The name sent a prickly sensation in her head, which she was very familiar with. She supposed that this name had meant something to her before she disappeared. Maybe she should meet this Harry Potter. It was curious as to why the man who defeated Voldemort would help Death Eaters to allude prison. She made a mental of note of acquiring a file on him too before she talked to him.
It’s been two days since she came to England. It was pretty uneventful except for the fact that she had started getting these prickly and painful sensations in her head. She wasn't new to them, but they were more painful than ever and also lasted longer. She shouldn't be surprised. Her healer had warned her about this. She never expected it to happen this way. She had barely left the manor since she came but already she was starting to remember random tidbits of information about which she had not heard or read before. Like yesterday at breakfast Murphy was telling her about this book she was reading called Hogwarts: A History. She had heard that named before from Murph, and from the tingle she got when she heard it, she supposed that perhaps this is where she went to school. But when Murph started talking about the houses in the schools and was going to name them, Jennifer cut Murph’s charade and quickly named the four houses of the school correctly without even thinking about it. She herself was surprised at how she knew that information. Before she could stop herself she even named the four founders of the four houses of Hogwarts. Murphy verified them and asked how she knew all that. She just shrugged and continued eating her breakfast, when Murphy said,
“You are starting to remember, aren’t you Mum?”
Jennifer just nodded.
“What have you remembered so far? Do you remember your name? Your family?” began Murphy excitedly.
“I already know my name honey since someone addressed me with that name when I went to the Ministry the other day and no I don’t remember anything else. My healer said I should expect this to happen. He said that maybe I’ll start remembering things that I once knew when it was triggered by some event or something,”
“So why do you think you remember this detail about Hogwarts?”
“Don’t know dear. Now enough questions, finish up your breakfast. I have some work to do,”
With that she ended their conversation and left Murphy alone in the kitchen to avoid further questions.
She has some ideas as to why this was happening. It has happened before, but never in this magnitude and never so fast and painful. She supposed Murphy reciting the paragraphs of Hogwarts: A History word for word (which she always did, since she has perfect recall of everything she has ever read), caused her to remember the words she had read herself a long time ago. Then again yesterday, when she followed Malfoy into a pub called Leaky Cauldron. She had ran into a wall, while she was following him. At first glance it looked like an ordinary wall and she thought that he must have realized that he was being followed and hence disapparated. But then she took a glance at the wall again. She went and tap some random bricks with her hand, inspecting them to see if any of the bricks were dud or hollow. That action caused her to have her first flashback.
“Mum what are you doing?”, pulling her Mum’s skirt to get her attention.
“Shushh Ginny, behave. I must get this pattern right, to get into Diagon Alley,” said the plump woman standing in front of her. Her hair was short and red and she was tapping the bricks on the wall with her wand.
And just like that, she came back to the pub just as suddenly as the flashback had come. But then she knew which bricks to tap, to get into the street beyond that wall, which was Diagon Alley. She tapped the correct bricks, entered Diagon Alley and after a while she found her mark. The rest of the day was uneventful. In the entire day that she had tailed Draco Malfoy, she had not found him doing anything suspicious. Though he did seem a bit jumpy. He walked like he had a rod up in his ass. Scared. He didn’t act like someone who had done anything wrong. He acted like he was wary of something or someone. Which led her to pay a little more attention to her surroundings and she found out why Draco was acting like that. Not far from Draco, was a man in suits following him. Jennifer knew a tail when she saw one. She hadn’t been the only one tailing Draco. Maybe this guy was hired to make sure no one was following Draco. She had been careful when she was tailing Draco, so she was confident that this guy didn’t know about her. Which was exactly what she wanted, since it meant her hunch was right.
She would have to consult someone to handle her flashbacks. What she had yesterday was a small one and the memory was useful and harmless. But she didn’t think, that would be the case all the time. She didn’t want any flashbacks to hit her at inopportune times like that.
***
“Will you rub my feet, Sweety?”
Ron just rolled his eyes, “You don’t have to bribe me with sweet words, to do anything for you Hermione,”
He pulled Hermione’s feet on his lap and began rubbing it. He sighed thinking about the remaining three weeks he would have to endure these crazy mood swings. Just half an hour ago, Hermione was ready to bite his arse off for making too much noise while preparing lunch. He didn’t say anything of course, and continued to go about his work as quietly as possible. Many times he had the urge to cast a silencing charm, to ease his work but that would mean not being able to hear Hermione, in case she needed him. These past few months they have both been through a lot, especially the last week. Hermione has never been so dependent on him before, in the entire time he had known her, which was quite a long time. To most men, this would seem tiring, but Ron was loving it, even if sometimes Hermione’s mood swings frustrated him. Helping Hermione keep her health, taking care of her in the last few months, had given an odd sense of smug satisfaction. He probably was a jerk to love this period, because it has been nothing but painful and uncomfortable for Hermione. He couldn’t even imagine what she was going through. His wife could do anything. It was Hermione, that’s who she was. He would be dead without her. She was just so brilliant, that after decades of needing her, needing her help with things that matter to him, it was riveting to see her need his help for a change. It wasn’t much, but he still loved it.
“When is Harry coming?” asked Hermione while browsing through some photos of Jennifer that she had borrowed from Penny. She was determined to get to know Jennifer, before she actually met the woman, who was once her best friend. She hoped she could build something like that with her again. Nevertheless, she wanted to understand what Jennifer has been through, since her disappearance.
Ron looked at the clock which said half past one, “He should be here any minute now. I think you should keep that album away. It’s probably best if Harry doesn’t see it,”
“Why?”
“Why? Are you really asking that?” Ron raised his eyebrows.
“Yes. In fact it’s why I invited Penny and Ted over, so she could tell me stories about all these photos”
“Well, I would suggest that you do it, when Harry is not around,”
Hermione was bewildered, “Again why? I don’t understand, what are you so afraid of?”
“Come on, Hermione you know Harry is not taking this whole Ginny thing well. I mean yes he is happy that she is alive, but you saw his face yesterday. He is sad and angry. And he will stay angry until one day it will burst out of him like a volcano,” said Ron exasperatedly having to explain Hermione the reason explicitly.
“Okay, I get that he is sad. What I don’t understand is, why he should be angry about anything?”
“It’s obvious, Hermione. Ginny or Jennifer or whatever her name is, kept herself hidden from us for four years-”
“But we decided to forgive her for that. All of us decided-”
“No Hermione. Not all of us. We Weasleys decided to forgive her. Not Harry,”
“What? What gives you that idea? Harry was the one who told us to convince the rest of the family. He knows it’s not Ginny’s fault. Any one of us could have done what she did,”
“Well we understand that. A guy like Harry probably won’t. He will be at least angry at least some part of him would be,” said Ron forcefully.
Hermione narrowed her eyes, “What do you mean a guy like Harry?”
Ron realized he was in trouble if he mucked this up so he spent sighed and thought carefully before saying anything,”Hermione, whatever happened ten years ago, Ginny’s supposed death, all of us were able to move on from that. We all found someone to help us with that. But you and I know both know Harry is still stuck on the day Ginny’s body was found. He is fine outwardly. And whatever he is today is because of Teddy. We would have lost him if it wasn’t for Teddy. But he is not the same, probably never will be. I don’t blame him for that. But then he finds out that the woman he has been madly in love with, his reason for his fucking existence is not only alive, but hid herself from him and moved on from him for the last four years-”
“But Ginny doesn’t even remember Harry. If she did, she would have come back. It’s not her fault,”
“I know that Hermione. I understand that. Harry knows it too, but doesn’t really understand, why she did what she did. Believe me if you weren’t pregnant I wouldn’t be so understanding about this either,”
Hermione cried incredulously, “What has me being pregnant has anything to do with this?”
“Hermione we are having a baby. You and I would do anything for this baby. Would give up anything for him or her. We both feel that. That’s why we can understand Ginny. Harry can too, but I don’t think he realizes the extent to which parents can go to protect their children. Harry would have done the same thing, but his judgment is clouded right now, because what he is really focusing on is Ginny moved on from him and never looked back, even if it was done unintentionally. Harry is still in love with Ginny, he still dreams about her the way he did ten years ago. Nothing has changed for him. But Ginny moved on to a happy life. She fell in love with a guy, married him and had a baby with him. All the things that Harry wanted her to do with him-”
“Yes I know that. I mean I understand why he is sad about that-”
“Not just sad, Hermione. He is jealous. He is jealous of Samar, because Samar got to be the man to Ginny in a way Harry wanted to be. In his mind, Ginny chose Samar over him,”
Hermione stared at Harry saying nothing, not clearly understanding what Ron meant exactly.
Ron sighed, “Hermione if the same thing had happened to you, if you had ended up with another man and not me, I would have felt like that. I would have been jealous. Please don’t ask me to explain you why,”
Ron’s ears had turned red now and he started rubbing her feet with more gusto.
“Look I know why you would have felt that. But Harry is not you. He is more mature than that,” Hermione said knowing that Ron wouldn’t appreciate at being told that he is less mature than Harry.
Surprising to her Ron just scoffed at her, “Ya right and I hate the Chudley Cannons Hermione. Sorry to tell you babe, but your best friend Harry is not the Saint Mature as you make him to be. I mean he is more mature than me. After all these years, I’m not going to dispute that. But in this case, he is like all other blokes,”
“Oh you are saying it’s a bloke thing. That’s just ridiculous,” cried Hermione.
“Believe it or not Hermione, that is the case. He is jealous of Samar. And he feels horrible about it too. So he is going to suck it all up, keep it with himself, until one day it will burst out of him. I just hope it doesn’t happen in front of Ginny. She wouldn’t appreciate him acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend even if technically he is one,”
Hermione didn’t speak for a while, thinking about what Ron had said. It did make sense. Even when they were dating, Harry tended to act a little jealous, whenever guys flirted with Ginny. He was almost as bad as Ron. She remembered, when Ginny refused to talk to Harry for a whole day, for acting like that, when they were still together at Hogwarts. Ron was right. They should be careful about broaching this topic with Harry. Suddenly she wished she hadn’t invited Ted and Penny for dinner.
Ron jumped when Hermione spoke again, “Maybe you are right. But that doesn’t we have to avoid this topic entirely,”
“Okay, let’s just talk about it when you have had the baby. Sooner or later it’s going to burst out. And when that happens, I don’t want it to happen here, now while you are pregnant, because you would start crying and you know how uncomfortable it makes him. Moreover, I love this house, so I don’t want it’s glass panes to just spontaneously break, because Harry couldn’t keep it,”
“Oh Ron, sometimes you are this sweet guy that I married and sometimes you are just downright insensitive,” cried Hermione throwing a cushion at Ron who deflected it easily.
“Hey you knew about these perks long before you married me, so you have to live with it,”
Hermione just chuckled, “I know, it’s one of the things I love about you,”
He should have been alarmed by the sudden changes in her mood, but after eight months he was used to it a bit, “Okay enough of that. Keep the album away. When Harry comes here, we should just talk to him about normal stuff not this. Not unless he brings it up. Pleasee…”
“Alright, if you say so. But you have to rub my foot longer, if you want me to keep my mouth shut,”
“Done,” Ron smiled smugly.
The floo flared up and Harry stepped in just in time to see Hermione hiding some book behind her back.
“Hey, what are you hiding behind your back? Is that a sex manual or something?” Harry chuckled and went over to hug Hermione.
“No”
“Yes”
Hermione and Ron looked at each other glaring. Harry caught their look and realized something was going on, “What’s going on? What are you hiding anyway?”
Harry stretched his hand behind Hermione’s back, “No Harry wait-”
It was too late. Harry had already snatched the album from her and looked at it. Now he knew what they were talking about before he came in and why they were hiding it from him. They knew he doesn’t want to talk about Jennifer, but they still wanted him to. So he would give them what they wanted. He would talk about it, and try to act nonchalant about this. He has to. Or Hermione would start crying which was not something Harry wanted to cause, even when she wasn’t pregnant.
Harry sighed and took a seat on the chair across his best friends, “It’s okay you know. You don’t have to behave like there is some taboo on Jennifer’s name. You can talk about her. I don’t mind. Here,” he gave the album back to Hermione.
Ron and Hermione both nervously watched Harry, being calm and picking up some magazines from the coffee table to read. When they were sure that Harry wasn’t going to be angry or explode, they let out their breath.
The floo flared again and this time, Penny and Ted stepped into Ron and Hermione’s apartment.
“Hey, how is my favorite patient today?” Penny announced, walking over to Hermione to hug her.
Ted walked over to Harry and sat with him. Ron, Harry and Ted started talking about the recent match between the Arrows and Harpies, while Penny peppered Hermione with questions.
“Okay so here take this bracelet. Just press this button here. I am wearing a twin of this bracelet. So if you have any problems, or you feel like you are in labour, press this and I will know immediately and apparate. Okay?”
“Yup,”
“Okay so shall we start perusing Jen’s photos. I can’t wait to tell you some stories behind them. Ooh and I almost forgot, I got you some videos too. We can watch it on your television screen,”
Penny said all this so fast, that she missed the looks that passed between Ron and Hermione. But Ted didn’t, and immediately knew that they were avoiding this topic in front of Harry. So he decided to play his part.
“Honey why don’t we have dinner first, Hermione must be hungry”, Ted looked at his wife, silently trying to communicate with her, which thankfully worked.
“Oh of course. We should all have dinner. Shall we then Ron? I will help you set the table then,”
“Uhh well there’s just one problem with that. Dinner is not fully ready yet. It won’t take long. The oven will beep any minute now,” Ron’s expression sheepish.
“How much longer Ron?” Hermione asked, gritting her teeth.
Ron avoided her eyes and mumbled, ”About half an hour”
Penny laughed nervously to try to break the tension,“Oh well that’s alright. We can talk till then-”
“Penny it’s fine. Ron just play the videos on your TV. Hermione wants to watch it. And Hermione is going to get what she wants,”
Hermione just teared up and said,”Aww Harry that’s so sweet. Thank you,”
Ron turned to Hermione, glaring at her but Hermione helplessly shrugged and whispered, “He was really sweet. I couldn’t help it,”
“Uhh the television is broken mate. I don’t how to fix it. So I’ll just take it over to Dad later,”
Hermione looked at Ron and mouthed,”Brilliant save” and winked.
“Oh that’s a bummer. So let’s just wait till the food is ready then,” said Ted.
“Actually Hermione wanted to look at the photos. So why don’t you tell her about that Penny, that’s what you were going to do anyway,” said Harry. He was determined to let them know that he was fine and it’s okay to bring up Jennifer in front of him, when it really wasn’t. But he wasn’t going to give them that satisfaction.
Seeing no way out of this Penny seated herself between Ron and Hermione and placed the album on the coffee table so everybody can see it. The atmosphere was tense, but none of them were going to address the elephant in the room, so they acted like nothing was wrong.
***
“You were right. Someone is blackmailing Draco,”
“Blackmailing with what?”
“His son. Scorpius Malfoy. He has been kidnapped,” Elliot answered, showing Jennifer a photo of a little boy.
“What! Are you sure?”
“Positive. I acquired a job as a substitute cook in the Malfoy Manor. I looked around the house, his son was nowhere to be seen. At first I thought, that he was visiting someone, maybe his grandmother Narcissa Malfoy. Which wasn’t odd, because according to his file, he did visit her quite often. But I heard rumours from other servants, about the night the kidnapping supposedly happened. They have all been given money to keep it quite. Draco Malfoy takes a walk in this garden called Courts Garden not far from the manor, with his son every morning. I found out about this from their house elf, who was weeping about Scorpius in his closet. But in the last few days, Scorpius hasn’t been out in these walks. Things between the Mr and Mrs also seem tense. They are both miserable understandably. I also looked around the kid’s room. It was cleaned up nicely. Almost too nice, like someone didn’t want to leave any traces. But it seems that the kid gave a fight, because there were some scratches on some surfaces, which can only result from a fight,”
“Did you check the grandmother’s house then?”
“Yes. I went to visit her house, impersonating a Ministry official with a search warrant to look through her house,”
“Didn’t she find that suspicious?”
“No of course not. Because these kind of check ups are routine for her. She agreed to it ten years ago among many other conditions, in exchange for no prison time. So she thought that this was one of those routine check ups which comes up every six months,”
Jennifer looked skeptical, “You were careful about it?”
“Yes Ma’m don’t worry. She won’t get suspicious,” answered Elliot exasperatedly.
Jennifer sighed and looked at the boy in the photo. He is really cute. He must be Sameer’s age.
“We have to inform Kingsley about this Jennifer,”
“No, we can’t”
“Why not?”
“Because if we do, the mole in the Ministry will inform our perpetrator and he will find out about me. Then he will have no reason to keep the boy alive,”
Elliot hadn’t thought of that. “But how are we going to deal about this then?”
Jennifer thought about it. If she informed Kingsley and if he involves the Auror office they would soon find out about Jennifer coming back. As supportive as Kingsley was, he certainly won’t allow her to rescue Scorpius on her own. So she would have to do this behind his back.
“There’s only one option. We have to do this on our own. We have to rescue Scorpius. Once we have him, Malfoy will cooperate and tell us about the man or the intermediary,”
“Okay when you say we, you don’t mean to say that I have to come with you on field right? You know I’m not much of a combat guy. I can con people but not really fight them to defend myself. So what exactly is you plan?”
“Draco Malfoy is a stickler for routine. I have observed that from his files. He changed after the war. He does some activities in a specific time everyday. This wasn’t the case before the war. It’s something he started doing a few years after the war. He is from a pureblood family, so I’m guessing when he was young he was a bit prejudiced about purebloods. The media hasn’t stopped following his every move, especially since the war ended. His life is under a microscope. So I’m guessing he started going around in the muggle world more to escape all of that. Which explains this,” Jennifer said pointing to a small paragraph in her file.
“He goes to this muggle cafe name Joey’s. Everyday at around four. Preferably to get some tea or coffee in peace. And he is still keeping it up. He is keeping up appearances so no one finds out about his son. I can follow him, confront him and make him listen to me. It’s the safest place to do that,”
“Our main perpetrator, must have a guy tailing him, to prevent something like this you know,”
“I know. I have seen a guy tailing Draco. I’ll figure something out to make Draco lose his tail. In a way that won’t get anyone suspicious. At least not for a while,”
“Do you have something in mind to do that?”
“Maybe,” said Jennifer smirking but not revealing anything, “So I’m going to confront him. I’ll make him see that I can help him. I’ll find whatever I can about his son’s kidnapping from him. You will find out from your underground contacts if anyone has rented some place recently, some warehouse or some flat maybe, if someone has been hired to keep the boy. Anything,”
“Okay I can do that,”
“There is one more thing. This main perpetrator, trusted Lansky right. So there is a good chance that he might have contacted Lansky to acquire some place to keep the kid. Security is tight around Lansky, but he is still allowed to go out in the prison yard and is allowed floo communications from time to time. Someone must have contacted him recently and he might have helped them to find a place for the kid. The place may even be owned by Lansky. Find out if someone contacted Lansky in anyway recently. We should pull out Lansky’s aliases and look through the properties owned by these aliases. We may find the kid in one of them,”
“Look if we find this hideout, you are going to rescue the kid alone?”
“I have to. I can’t ask anyone right now,”
“What about Ted? He will help you,”
“It’s his case. He is the defendant, I can’t involve him in something like this,”
“So what about Harrison or Peter ? Can’t you call one of them up and ask him to come here. Going to field alone without backup is dangerous. You know that better than anyone,”
“Yes I know. But I can’t ask Hammer to just up and leave everything for me. He has got too much on his plate already with running the department and everything. Peter just got engaged. He has been working his ass off lately, so he deserves some time off from all this for a while. I can’t ask him to come here in London,”
“So you’re going alone then, to this hideout, if we find it?”
“We’ll see about that later. Right now we have to collect more information,”
Elliot just sighed and nodded.
***
“We took this, when we went away to Atlantic City on a Easter holiday weekend. It was crazy. We had a test coming up the next day, and there we all are getting drunk and playing poker in casinos. But Jennifer did just the playing in casino part. She was so serious about winning at poker that night. We didn’t know she was that good, and she was so happy about finding out she is excellent. Almost as happy as she had been, when she found out about her flying skills,” said Ted.
“Ginny was the best poker player in our family. It was gratifying for all of us to see Fred and George beaten up by her in poker,” Ron laughed, thinking about all the times Ginny had beaten them at poker.
“You know Harry didn’t know about it for quite some time,” he continued, smirking at Harry.
Harry groaned and said, “How could I have known? Whenever I was around, all they wanted to was play Quidditch and get a ride on my Firebolt. They never really showed interest in muggle games in front of me, so I didn’t think any of them knew about poker,”
Penny laughed, “There is more to this story in this right?”
Ron and Hermione just continued to laugh and Harry put his head in his hands groaning.
“One day in the summer before our sixth year, when nearly the whole family had come to dinner, we, as in Bill, the twins, Ginny and the three of us, decided to play poker. But Harry didn’t know that we were already familiar with poker, so he started explaining the rules. We let him know that we were already familiar with the rules. The twins even bet him that we Weasleys were better than him at poker than he would be, even though we had never played poker with Harry,” Ron started laughing again.
Ted curiously asked ,”So what happened after that?”
“Harry was confident that he was better, so he made a bet that he would beat all of us. And he did beat everyone. Everyone except Ginny,”
Ted and Penny both roared with laughter while Harry defended himself , “Hey in my defence again, I couldn’t have known that Ginny was that good at poker. I was playing with them for the first time ever. So I thought that poker was something that they had recently discovered and had very little practice with it,”
“And who did you play poker with? With your cousin?,” Ron scoffed and said, “Not bloody likely,”
“Well I was familiar with basic rules. I couldn’t have known that a family so magical, would be so proficient in a muggle game like Poker,”
“Well you forgot that we also have a dad, who is crazy about muggles. Didn’t you think that he might have known about this game and told us about it?” asked Ron slyly.
Harry begrudgingly answered, “No..”
They all laughed while Harry turned the page of the help to change the topic. His breath caught when he saw the photo on the page. Samar, Ginny, Penny and Ted all had their arms around each other, standing and laughing wearing their graduation caps. It was a photo of their graduation day presumably. The thing that seemed oddly familiar about that photo was how happy Ginny looked in it with others and how it was very similar to a photo that Harry had of her, with him, Ron and Hermione in it. Ron and Hermione seemed to noticed Harry’s expression and stopped laughing. They saw the photo and gasped. They both came to the same realization as Harry. Seeing their troubled expressions, Ted and Penny looked at each other, not knowing what to say. They had obviously hit upon a personal moment and decided to stay silent until one of them spoke. Harry just rose from his chair and without another word, without looking at any of them he walked over to the floo, and left the apartment. Not one of them made any effort to stop him, because they all knew that Harry needed to deal with this alone. None of them knew, how to help him with this. It was Ron who broke the silence finally.
“I knew it was this bad idea. I told you, you shouldn’t have brought this topic in front of Harry” Ron said rounding on Hermione.
“How is it my fault? Were you sleeping before? He was the one who insisted Penny to show me the photos,” cried Hermione.
“None of this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t borrowed this stupid album in the first place. That too on the same day you invite Harry over for dinner. Why did you even invite him for dinner for something like this? You should have known how he must have felt. Now he is gone without eating dinner,” Ron said hotly.
“Excuse me for getting to know more about my lost best friend Ron. You might not be looking forward to meeting your sister, but I am. I don’t care if she has changed a lot. I intend to build the relationship that I had with her and the only way to do that is by understanding her. So if Harry gets hurt in that process, I can’t help it. He has to get over his jealousy or whatever he is feeling to forgive Ginny,” Hermione yelled.
“Okay first of all. I want to meet my sister. I am dying to meet her. So don’t ever accuse me of something like that ever again,” Ron began to which Hermione nodded weakly. Ron’s face softened and continued, “Second of all, I want to understand my sister just as much as you do, but I don’t want Harry to get hurt in the process. I don’t want him to feel alone. If we continue this, he is going to feel that no one is on his side and no one understands him. Maybe he is being immature about his feelings, but regardless of that, only we can help him. If he becomes angry at Jennifer and bursts in front of her, it will only get worse. We don’t even know how she will react to this. I only want to prevent that from happening,”
Penny spoke for the first time since Harry left,“Guys just stop arguing. What’s done is done. Ron if you don’t mind me asking, what is it about this photo that made Harry leave?”
Ron and Hermione looked each other and when Hermione silently nodded to Ron, he got up and left the room. Minutes later he walked in and sat down on the couch again. He showed Ted and Penny a photo. They looked at it and understood why Harry had left. It was very similar to the one they had seen earlier. It had Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron standing next to each other standing in their Hogwarts robes. They all looked up and smiled widely, while Harry put his arm around Ginny to pull her closer.
“We took this photo, shortly after Harry and Ginny got together at Hogwarts,” Hermione began,” We couldn’t remember a happier time, when we were all together like this. It was as if there wasn’t a war raging on. For just that moment, we were just four best friends hanging out in the Gryffindor common room,” Hermione sniffed and started crying on Ron’s shoulder.
“Harry, Hermione and I had been best friends for a long time. We were this closed tight circle, that no one could penetrate. Ginny was the only one who did, and we loved it. She somehow made our days brighter. And we had never seen him that happy. Ever. Even when Sirius was alive, he was not half as happy as he was with Ginny. He was a completely different person with her. He wasn’t the Boy Who Lived, but someone who went to Hogwarts and had started falling in love with a pretty bird,” Ron chuckled sadly.
“And when Jennifer comes to America, we all basically took your places,” murmured Ted.
Hermione wiped her tears and said, “We just never thought, it would come to like this. We were happy, not completely but happy. We never thought that finding our Ginny would make us both sad and happy at the same time. I wish it hadn’t been like that,”
Hermione looked at Ted and Penny and continued, “Don’t feel bad about it please. I know you kept her happy. I am glad that Ginny found you in America. That she had people who loved her. It’s not surprising actually. It will just take some for us to get used to it,”
“I understand Hermione. Don’t worry. We are here for you, for all of you,” Penny said, stroking Hermione’s arm.
“So he doesn’t really like that Samar basically took his place, huh?” asked Ted.
Ron sighed and said, “Yaa, I think so,”
“It’s natural I guess. But we need to talk to him. Maybe get him to admit it. If he admits it in front of Jennifer, she wouldn’t take it well. She will be hurt, and maybe push him away. She will get angry and a hundred other things. I don’t want that to happen,”
Ron getting frustrated about this discussion, said “What do you want me to do then? You have met Harry. Even when he talks about stuff, he doesn’t fully reveal or say everything he feels. It’s just a futile attempt,”
“We have to try. If we don’t and act like nothing happened, he is gonna chalk it up and have all this resentment for all of us, for doing this to him. If we talk to him-”
“If we talk to him about this, he is going to feel that no one is on his side,” said Ron.
“There are no sides to take. We have to make him understand that. You have to. You are the only one who he will listen to,”
Ron scoffed and said, “Yaa right. The only person who he used to listen to is thousands of miles away right now and doesn’t remember anything about him. I’m not sure if any efforts we take is gonna make a difference. Maybe he needs this. Maybe he needs to vent his anger out,”
“Oh so are you saying that we just let him confront Jennifer about this? That’s a horrible idea!” exclaimed Ted.
“Is there any better way out of it?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is letting Harry confront Jennifer is a bad idea. Look Ron, Jennifer is more than my best friends. She is like the sister I never had. I know her. She has been through enough in the last ten years. Regardless of what she did, I want her to have her family reunion to go smoothly. If she realizes that her own family is taking sides, she is going to get hurt. Not only that, she is not gonna show it. She will act fine, and leave England the first chance she gets because she will get the idea that you were all better off without her. I know that her decision to wipe her identity was the basis of the same thing. She wants to be proven wrong. And if you all want her back, really want her back, you have to make the efforts to do so. And letting Harry vent out his anger to her, is not the way to go,”
“I get that. But what do you suggest we do?”
“We both talk to Harry. Get him to admit what he is really feeling. I know it’s easier said than done, but we have to try,”
Penny spoke, “Ron someone is bound to get hurt in this process. If you take Harry’s side, Jennifer may get hurt. Regardless of what she has done, she really wants to know about her family. If she sees her own brother not supporting her, she will be hurt. She doesn’t remember any of you, but I’ll bet you anything that she does want to get to know all of you. Not just for her, but her own family. Sameer is the most important part of her life. If Harry doesn’t get it, if you don’t understand her, you will lose her again and this time it will be because Harry’s heart wasn’t big enough to forgive her,”
“You are basically asking us to choose between Harry and Jennifer,”
“I’m asking you to remove the choice entirely. If Harry gets some perspective, there won’t be any sides to choose,”
The didn’t speak for several minutes. The oven beeped and Ron got up and said, “Well the oven has finally beeped. Took it’s bloody time,”
Though no one had the appetite to eat anymore, they all got up and went to the kitchen. When they had taken their seats and started eating, Hermione spoke
“I think we should wait. Till Jennifer comes back. Whatever he might be feeling, Harry won’t break down, in front of Mrs Weasley. Maybe if he sees Jennifer, he will think about whatever he is feeling, and decide to forgive her. If it doesn’t look that way, if he is seen behaving strange and distant around her, we will talk to him. How does that sound?”
Ted slowly nodded, “That sounds good,”
Ron and Penny both agreed to it too.
“Okay so after dinner, you are going to show me through the rest of the photos and tell me about Samar, Penny. Harry may not like him that much, but I want to know the man, who helped Ginny get back on her feet,” said Hermione.
Penny and Ted both smiled and agreed to it.
***
Draco Malfoy sat in his chair, looking at the street. If this were any other day, he would have cherished this time. He was sitting in his favorite cafe. No reporters were following him to pepper him about some shit he pulled years ago. He should be in peace. Except he wasn’t.
His son was kidnapped. He and his wife were blackmailed into suing an innocent man, for something he didn’t do, something Draco didn’t want to be involved in after the war. He thought he would finally get his peace, after separating from his mother and father, putting some distance between them. He was wrong. He should have known that some slimy bastard would always find a way to get to him. And they did. Through his son.
Whoever they were, they were smart to pick him to create these charges against the Auror. Given his history, he wasn’t very popular with the English Auror Department. It wasn’t that they wouldn’t help him. But there was still a lot of animosity for his family in the Ministry. It was the matter of his son’s life and death, and he wasn’t sure if those people will do everything in their power, to help him get his son back. He didn’t trust them to let go of their mistrust for him, for his son. It was a gamble he knew. But he couldn’t see any way to get out of it. If he had contacted the Aurors, he knew his son would be dead. He also knew that there is no guarantee that he would get his son back, when the job was done.
So here he was, thinking about how to get his son back on his own. But he couldn’t get his head straight, because he knew if he turned in his seat and looked back, he will see a man just across the street in tracks, who seemed to casually stand leaning against the light post, but actually was watching every move he made. It was difficult to think straight when you have a tail on your arse.
“Your Iced Tea sir,” spoke a waitress who broke through his thoughts.
“Thank you,”
The waitress placed the glass in front of him and left. He picked it up and started drinking, thinking if there was any way to ditch his tail. But he couldn’t do that either, it would look suspicious. When he finished his drink, he saw something stuck at the bottom of his glass on the outer side. It was just a square piece of paper. He tried to pull it off, but it didn’t come off. Puzzled he looked down at the bottom glass again from inside, closely and he found something was written. Just one word.
TISSUE
He looked around, to see if anyone was watching him and then picked up the tissue left by the waitress, opened it and started reading the note,
IF YOU WANT TO FIND YOUR SON, THEN WE NEED TO TALK. COME TO COURTS GARDEN AT ELEVEN IN THE MORNING TOMORROW. WEAR A BLACK SUIT. JUST WALK INTO THE GARDEN FROM IT’S NORTHERN ENTRANCE AND EXIT THROUGH THE EAST GATE, TO LOSE YOUR TAIL. GO TO THE BOOKSTORE JUST ACROSS THE STREET FROM THAT GATE. WAIT FOR ME THERE, AND I’LL FIND YOU.
Draco looked up, folded the tissue and kept it down on the table. He looked around to see if anyone at the cafe, was looking at him but everything seemed normal. No one was looking in his direction.
“Are you finished sir?”
Draco jumped. He hadn’t seen the waitress come and was suddenly terrified about what would happen if someone found out about the tissue. He went to snatch the tissue from the table, but she beat him to it. He saw the waitress just smile at him, taking the tissue in her hand and crumpling it. She took the glass and walked away, but not before subtly smiling at him and whispering, “I’ll burn it right away”.
Draco just watched her walk away and disappear into the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came back and placed the check in front of him and said, “Thank you for coming here sir,”
Draco just looked at her smiling face and paid for the tea. He had to act normal, or else his tail would get suspicious. As we walked out of the cafe, he thought about what he should do. Should he show up at this place, thinking that this person could help him. How do I know it’s not some sort of trap?
“Are you sure you want me to go, Hermione?” , asked Ron.
Ted and Penny had gone to Hermione and Ron’s apartment, the morning after dinner, so the guys could go out, while Penny looked after Hermione.
“Yes of course. Go out, have some fun. There won’t be enough time for that, when the baby comes. So go get some guy time. You need it,” said Hermione.
“Okay so, you know you have to let me know immediately, if you need me. I got this bracelet from Penny. If you press the button on yours, it will buzz for me, the same way it will buzz for Penny. Okay?”
“Okay. Now you both know what to do right? You are going to act like nothing happened last night, talk about anything but Ginny or Jennifer with Harry. Unless he brings it up of course, which we all know he won’t. Just spend some time, and make him forget the reality for a while,”
“Don’t worry Hermione. We’ll just talk about safe topics like Quidditch, your pregnancy or Muggle girls wearing bikinis,” said Ted and chuckled.
Hermione grimaced and asked, “Really? Is that a good idea? Talking about bikini girls”.
“It’s what guys do honey,”
“Yaa I know. But wouldn’t that also lead to some other awkward conversations? Like relationships and girls and stuff, which would again lead to Jennifer?”
“Wait a minute, why would an innocent chat about bikini girls, lead to Jennifer?” asked Penny.
“Well, it’s just that, topics like this would lead to women and dating in general so…”
“So what?”
“Well I’m just afraid Ron might bring it up accidently. He does that sometimes. And Harry is not ready for something like that, we talked about it the other day. So it’s just better to steer clear of whatever topics even remotely related to Jennifer,” explained Hermione.
“Yes, yes I know. Blimey how many times do we have talk about the same damn thing?” Ron said, rolling his eyes at his wife.
Ted and Ron both said goodbyes and left for Harry’s place.
“So you had a talk with Harry about dating Jennifer?” asked Penny.
“Yes. Did I do something wrong?” asked Hermione, worriedly.
“Nothing. It’s just that I have been wanting to talk to him about it, but I didn’t know how to go about it really. You know before finding out about Ginny, I was actually going to ask Harry if he could go out with Jennifer out. I thought they would be refreshingly good for each other. Mind you, Jennifer would have killed me, if she knew that I was doing this. Anyway what did he say?”
“He said that he would never feel that way about any woman other than Ginny, even Jennifer. And he changed the subject after that,”
Penny said, “I can’t say I’m surprised. If he is angry at Jennifer, it’s best if we all don’t play matchmaker. I mean right now, the important thing is to help Harry and help him build a stable friendship with Jennifer. Anything romantic is off the charts. They wouldn’t take this well, if we played matchmakers and meddled in their lives. Jen hasn’t dated anyone since Samar died, so even if Harry comes on board and agrees to pursue something romantic with Jen, it won’t exactly be a walk in the park, to convince Jen to do the same,”
“What did you mean, when you said ‘you thought that they would be good for each other’? Now that the truth is out, do you that it will really change what they could be?” asked Hermione.
“Honestly, I don’t know. Before all this, I really believed that Jennifer and Harry could fall in love with each other. But now Harry is angry at her. Eventually he may forgive her, but that doesn’t mean Jennifer will grow to love him. It would have been possible if they were complete strangers. But Harry is a part of her past. A past that she threw away four years ago. When she first came to America, all she ever wanted was to find out about her origins. But all that changed after Samar’s death, after Sameer’s birth. I see that now. She really was going to spend the rest of her life, away from you all. That means she was ready to throw her past, whatever it may be, away. No matter the consequences. I know that she didn’t like doing this, but she did it. For her children. I think it will be hard for Harry to accept that. And from what you have told me about her past, her time at Hogwarts, Harry, I don’t know how she will take all this. Women who have been raped, have a hard time living with it. Some end their life, some only grow stronger. But the stronger they grow, harder it becomes to break down the walls around them and get to know them. That’s what Jen did. The only person who really knew her was, Samar. We just tried to be there for her, and we all loved her. But she never really let us in. Not in the way she let Samar in. And after Samar’s death, she closed herself completely. Even if Harry falls in love with her, I don’t think it will be that easy for her to let him in, since she doesn’t know how to do that. Not anymore,” said Penny, sadly.
***
Draco was really nervous. He had hardly slept the night before. Tossing and turning, thinking about what he should really do. If he should just trust someone, who he hasn’t even seen. In the end it hit him, that the people he knows well, can’t help him. He might as well trust someone this one time, since he had nothing to lose. It could be a trap and he could get killed. Astoria had warned him as such. But if there was even the slightest chance that this person could help him, then he was willing to take the risk. His life be damned. His son was all that mattered.
So here he was, walking towards Courts Garden, wearing a black suit as per the instructions in the note. He was wondering how exactly he was going to lose his tail, but this faceless person had told him to just walk into the garden, without explaining something. So he supposed that this part of the plan. So when he walked into the garden, he understood how he would lose his tail. There were at least fifty men, roaming in the garden, all of them wearing a black suit. He kept walking towards the east gate. He saw a board that said something about a contest being held to decide who is the best dressed and the theme was black tie. Draco smirked and silently thanked the person for this brilliant idea. He walked out the east gate, without looking back and spotted the bookstore across the street. He walked into the bookstore and realized why this person had chosen this place. It was quite large, even if looked small from outside and it was crowded.
He just roamed inside, walked from one book shelf to another, pretending to browse through various sections. After a few minutes, he jumped when he heard a woman’s voice behind him.
“We only have a few minutes, before your tail realizes you are here. So let’s just make this quick. Do you know who might have taken your son?”
“Wait a minute. Before I answer any of your question, I think you owe me an explanation as to how you know about my son,” Draco said turning back and looking at the person. She had his back on him, pretending to browse through books, in the opposite shelf. She had black hair and was wearing a grey dress. She snapped at him, “Don’t look. Turn back around. That’s right. Just pretend that we are having a normal conversation. And to answer your question, how I know about your son, is not your concern-”
Draco whispered hotly, “It is my concern. How do I know it’s not just some trap? I took a risk by coming here, but I’m not going to say anything else, before you tell me who you are,”
The woman sighed and said, “I’m Theodore Kent’s case agent Mr Malfoy. And I am the only person in this world, who gives a shit about your child. So let me help you. That’s all I’m going to say,”
Draco suddenly didn’t want to be anywhere this woman, because he knew that if someone found him with her, his family would be obliterated in seconds, “I have to go. This conversation is over. It’s you they are after. If they find out about this-”
“No one will find out about this Mr Malfoy. If you want to save your son, I’m you best chance. We have a few minutes before your bodyguard comes here. So tell me. If I help you get your son back, will you tell me everything you know about the man who is blackmailing you?”
“Why should I trust you? For all I know you maybe working for him? Or now that you are here, why shouldn’t I just hand you over to him”, sneered Draco.
“What have you got to lose Mr Malfoy? The man behind all this, has taken your son, made you file a bullshit case against an innocent man just to get to me. What makes you think that he will spare your child, after you have handed me to him? You were one of them once, you know better than that to trust these people,”
Draco didn’t say anything. Everything she said made sense, but he still hesitated and he knew he would have to make a decision soon, because the clock was ticking.
The woman just sighed and continued, “Tell me fast Mr Malfoy. Would you rather have your family killed or take a leap of faith on me to save them?”
Draco replied, “If you save my son, I’ll tell you everything I know, but only after you save my son,”
“Good. So can you tell me anything about your son’s kidnapping? Let’s just keep moving shall we?”
Draco started to walk, still looking at the books in front of him and said, “It happened three weeks ago. There was a party in my manor. I was hosting a fundraiser. There were a lot of people. At night when all the guests were gone, I went to my son’s room to check up on him. I saw that the placed had been trashed. The lamp was broken, the bed was a mess. The entire room was a mess. I knew instantly that someone had taken my son. I searched the entire manor still. Couldn’t find him. Shortly after that, I got a letter saying that my son had been kidnapped and if I didn’t do exactly as they said, they would kill him,”
“Did you ask for some proof that they had your son?”
“I didn’t have to. They sent it to me. Clicked a picture of him sleeping on the bed, tied to the bedpost. They also sent a box,”
“A box. What did it contain?”
“A head. A severed head. It belonged to Scorpius’s nanny. I had instructed her to make sure Scorpius went to sleep on time. She tucks him to bed, many times when Scorpius’s mother and I are too busy. They must have taken her, when she came with him,” his voice broke when he explained this.
Draco continued and said, “They said that if I didn’t cooperate, my son’s head follow hers,”
Jennifer was horrified at how violent these people were, but didn’t say anything. This only motivated her more to find these bastards. They really were ready to do anything it takes, to get her.
“I’m guessing soon after that, someone contacted you with instructions on how exactly file a suit against Kent. Am I correct?”
“Yes,”
“Was it you who cleaned up the room later or someone else?”
Draco was surprised to hear this question, but didn’t say anything, “Someone was sent to clean up the room. He didn’t give me a name or anything,”
“I figured as much. I’m presuming that your owls are being monitored. So in the evening, I want you to throw a copy of that picture you were sent, into the dustbin of your kitchen. Your substitute cook will collect the garbage for you,”
Draco was shocked realizing how easily she had penetrated his manor but again didn’t say anything. Just nodded.
“Okay then. Is there anything else, I need to know?”
“No. That’s pretty much it,”
“Okay then. I’ll contact you soon, if I want anymore information. I promise you, I’ll get your son back. It’s best if you go back outside and make sure your tail spots you before he becomes suspicious,”
Draco turned around to see her face, but she was already gone.
***
Ron and Ted apparated right in front of Harry’s apartment door and rung the doorbell. A few minutes later, a disheveled Harry answered it, wearing just a robe, looking like he had just woken up.
“Hey mate,” Ron said cheerfully while Harry looked at him quite puzzled to see them both.
Ted asked,”Is this a bad time?”
“Uhh well yaa actually,” Harry said and looked back into his apartment as though looking for someone. Suddenly Ted realized that Harry might not be alone, but before he could do anything Ron just pushed past Harry and entered the apartment, not particularly caring if it was a bad time. Not knowing what to do, Ted just shrugged helplessly at Harry and followed Ron.
“Is something wrong Ron? Is Hermione ok?” asked Harry worriedly.
“Oh don’t worry, Hermione is fine. She was just getting crazy with her mood swings and everything and she told me to go out, get some guy time. You know one last time before the baby comes,” Ron chuckled.
“So Ron and I decided to go out today somewhere, you know just the three of us. But if you don’t want to then we understand. We’ll just get out of your hair then,” said Ted.
“Wait, we came here to invite Harry. Why wouldn’t he go out. He is on a short vacation, he doesn’t have anything to do, so he can come with us. Can’t you mate?” said Ron looking confusedly at Ted, wondering why he was hesitating suddenly.
Just then they all heard the sound of toilet flush coming from Harry’s room and Ron finally realized that Harry was not alone in his apartment.
Ron said, “Oh so, is there a uum a-”
“A girl. Yes,”
“Really?”
“Yes” said Harry and sighed, running his hands over his face.
“Oh. Alright we’ll just leave then-”
“No Ron wait. She is just leaving anyway. Just wait, I’ll walk her out and then we can spend the rest of the day together,” said Harry and walked inside to his bedroom.
Ron and Ted walked into the kitchen, knowing that Harry would be out soon with the girl to walk her out and they wanted to avoid that.
“This is worse than I thought,” Ron began leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Yaa. What the hell was that?” asked Ted incredulously.
“If Harry had a one night stand, which we both know now he did, he is not only angry but depressed too. He only ever does this, when he is really depressed about Ginny and feeling extremely lonely. And I haven’t seen him do that, for a while now. I thought it had stopped,”
“Okay so what do we do now? I mean he is not going to talk about it,”
“We do what we planned to do. We will just ask him why he left abruptly yesterday. Do nothing if he doesn’t answer and spend the rest of day talking of anything but Ginny. Nothing different,”
“Okay,” said Ted and nodded, “It’s surprising to see you taking this so well,”
Ron frowned, “What do you mean?”
“Well, you know Jennifer is you sister and Harry is well… you know, sleeping with someone else,”
“So what? I have known about this part of Harry’s life for a long time. I was the one who encouraged him to do it. I mean I could see that Harry wasn’t capable of having relationships, so I told him to just have some fun. Live out his bachelor life,”
“So you don’t actually mind that he is having sex with some random bimbo he met at the bar, when he should be thinking about getting back with your sister,” asked Ted.
“Well it does bother me a bit. It’s not like he is cheating on her or something. Harry thinks he doesn’t want to have a relationship with Jennifer. To him Jennifer and Ginny are different women. Ginny is still dead to him, he said so to me the other day. So in his mind, he is entitled to do something like this. Once he meets Jennifer, maybe it will start falling into place for him,”
“Hope you’re right buddy. You don’t think he will feel guilty about this?”
“Why would he feel guilty?”
Ted said gritting his teeth, “Because it’s Harry Potter we are talking about. That’s one of his specialities. Seeing you here, will make him think about Ginny and Jennifer..,”
“If that’s the case, we will just let him know that it’s okay. We’ll just act curious about the girl, so it will make him believe that we don’t actually mind. And there is nothing to feel guilty about anyway,”
“I know that. It’s just, this is exactly the topic that Hermione told us to avoid,”
“We don’t have a choice-”
“Hey you guys”
Ted and Ron jumped when they heard Harry’s voice and were barely able to keep their expressions neutral.
“Hey. So ready to go?”
“Yaa. I’ll just have some potion. I have a slight headache then we can go,” said Harry, walking into the kitchen and started pulling out ingredients from shelves to prepare the potion.
Ted and Ron both looked at each other not knowing how to start a conversation. It was several minutes of silence Harry sighed and spoke.
“I don’t want to talk about last night. I don’t want to talk about why I left, if that’s okay with you two. I just wasn’t feeling good, I went to a muggle bar, had a lot of drinks and the next thing I know I’m waking up with this strange muggle woman in my bed, naked. I don’t remember what I did. It’s clear we did more than just sleeping. That’s all I’m going to say. Let’s just forget about what happened last night,”
“Yaa sure mate,” Ron said.
Ted immediately started to talk about the coming Quidditch match, effectively changing the topic and mood around Harry.
***
Jennifer apparated into her manor living room and walked into the kitchen. She saw Alfred preparing lunch and greeted him,
“Hey, Alfred. I hope you are not making chicken again. That’s three days in a row and I’m getting a bit sick of it,”
Alfred chuckled and said, “No it’s not chicken. Sam would have my head if I did. It’s fish and chips. Murphy’s favorite,”
“Hmm. Is there any particular reason for cooking Murph’s favorite dish today?” Jennifer asked, hunting the cabinets for some snack.
“Nothing particular. She was feeling a little down today I felt. So I thought some favorite dish would cheer her up. Perhaps later you two can have a chat over some tea,”
“I’ll see what I can do,” said Jennifer.
“Anyway, tell me how it went with Mr Malfoy? Did he cave?”
“Yes he did. We might have some leads. I’ll know more about it tonight when Elliot comes back. Hopefully it will leads us to the lion’s den, where the kid is being kept,” said Jennifer and sat down at the table munching some biscuits, “It’s been nearly a week, since Ted’s last call. He will call up soon, asking the exact date I come here. I want you to make up something clever to cover for me. He can’t know I am here, until after I have rescued Scorpius Malfoy. He is in enough danger as it is,”
“I’ll take care of that. You have other things that need your immediate attention,” said Alfred.
“Oh yaa, like what?”
“Like me,”
Jennifer jumped and turned around to look at the source of the voice behind her. Standing at the door of the kitchen was Harrison Hammer. Her boss, her mentor. He was the man who responsible for what she was today. Without his training at the academy, she wouldn’t have become such a good Infiltrator. He helped her get through pretty rough times, throughout her training. Even today, Jennifer remembers the days when she was ready to give up on her career in law enforcement. The gruesome training, that had tried to undo her. In the beginning when she had joined the academy, she had a rough time with some of the training exercises, because they always gave her vivid flashbacks of her rape. Even Samar, couldn’t help her with that. It was Hammer who helped her get through gruesome situations like that. He had paid special attention on her, so she could combat her weaknesses, her fear to get through the training with special techniques. And after a while, she began excelling at all fields of her training. She may have made through the training, but she was sure, she wouldn’t have graduated top of the class, if Hammer hadn’t helped her. He was the one who recruited her later on the task force to catch Michael Lansky. And now he was running the Auror Department as it’s head.
“Hammer! What are you doing here?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking this question to you?” replied Harrison walking into the kitchen, his six foot frame towering over her.
Jennifer turned to Alfred, who shrugged helplessly and said, “I didn’t invite him. He knew about this place it seems. He came over, right after you left,”
She turned to Hammer and said, “I think it’s best if we continue this conversation in my study. The kids could walk in here any minute,”
She took a wine bottle and two glasses and walked upstairs to her study with her boss following her.
***
“That was some good breakfast. Whew I had no idea what I have been missing in the last few days,” Ron said, striking his stomach after having a very huge and delicious breakfast.
Ted chuckled, “I think you ate enough for lunch, Ron. The restaurant manager must be dancing conga now.”
“Give it an hour, Ted. He will moaning about not having enough in breakfast,” said Harry slyly.
They all laughed, Ted and Harry continued to keep teasing Ron’s eating habits.
“Seriously Ted, I don’t know how you did it when it was your turn. I mean I have been eating stuff like fish, soup, porridge so regularly in the last few months, because they are the only items that does not make Hermione nauseous. I didn't realize until now, how much I missed real breakfast. And it's me we are talking about. I must be losing it,”
“Well I knew Hermione Granger is the only one who can make Ron Weasley stop thinking about food for longer than ten minutes,” said Harry smirking at Ron.
Ted roared with laughter while Ron scowled at them, “Watch it! It's Hermione Weasley now Potter,”
“You just love reminding that to everyone around you, don't you Weasley?”
“Damn right I do. We are married and she is having my baby. I would like everyone to know that,” said Ron grinning. Both Harry and Ted knew that Ron maybe complaining a bit, but he was secretly loving it. Ron was possessive of Hermione but he was careful not to show it around her. But that never stopped him from gloating about his wife in front of colleagues and friends. To tell everyone that Hermione was his. If she knew about this, she would definitely kill him. But she would never know. Both Ted and Harry knew exactly why he felt it and understood.
Ron couldn't believe it that in the next few days, he will be someone’s Daddy. He would miss this though. These last few months were probably the best days of his life. The same can't be said for Hermione though. He also felt oddly triumphant, that he was becoming a father before Harry. It was horrible to feel like that after all these years. After everything that has happened to Harry. Harry was not just his best friend but his brother. But he couldn't help it.
Even after getting together after war, things weren’t exactly smooth between him and Hermione. Hermione still had some residual anger over leaving her in the forest. And he still had his insecurity issues, which never went away. Probably never will. And Harry and Ginny were great together. They had their ups and downs in the short time they were together after the war, but never as bad as them. And it irked him and he knew that it shouldn't. They weren't having any insecurity like him and Hermione. Many times Ron doubted if their relationship would even survive, after she went back to Hogwarts. He was jealous of Harry for feeling more secure about his relationship with Ginny.
But things changed for him after Ginny’s death. He once again realized that life was too short to be wasted in thinking about his silly issues. He vowed to make every second he spent with Hermione count for something. And he did. And slowly they resolved their issues. It was astounding that something so terrible as Ginny’s death could bring him and Hermione much closer than they could have ever imagined. He married her and now soon she was going have his baby. The only problem was Harry wasn't half as happy as he was. Many times he and Hermione wondered what would happen when Teddy grows up and is ready to live out his own life. Would Harry just up and live thinking that he had fulfilled his responsibility and duty to Remus and Tonks’s child? Or worse?
Ron shuddered. It was better not to think about stuff like that. But a ray of sunshine came when they found out about Ginny’s fake death. For the first time in ten years light came back into Harry’s eyes, but it seemed to have doused out when he realized that Ginny may not be the person she used to be. It changed things but he didn't think it mattered that much. Even if Ginny doesn't remember them, she is still the same person in some ways. She became an Infiltrator. She may not remember having aspirations of becoming an Auror but it seems her subconscious still has the same instincts, mannerism and ideology. After the war, she was determined to become an Auror. But she hid this fact from everyone except him and the twins. Compared to everyone else in his family including Harry, the twins and Ron were less protective of her and wanted her to be capable of taking care of herself. They knew she wanted to distinguish herself and not be known as just another Weasley. She also didn't want to be known or remembered as Harry Potter’s girlfriend. And knowing Harry’s overprotectiveness towards her she knew he wouldn't be completely okay with her career choice. Harry had lost his entire family to the war. When the war was over, he was just looking forward to settling down for a quiet life with Ginny. And the life of two Aurors in a relationship was anything but that. Everyone in Ron’s family was just trying to move on. No one thought of asking Ginny what she wanted to do once she was out of Hogwarts and she never broached the topic, because she knew their response for her choice of career would be less than lukewarm. So she had forbidden Ron and George to tell anyone, until she found the right time to break it to her family. But that time had never come.
But Jennifer still became a law enforcement agent. That meant she was still herself in some ways. She still played Quidditch, her love for the sport hadn't diminished over the years. Ron knew that Ginny liked Quidditch not for the sport but because she loved flying. She found comfort in it. And he was glad that after all the horrible things that had happened to her, she still had that. He hoped that once Harry gets past his anger he tries to start something with Ginny or Jennifer. She may have changed her name but she was still the only person in the world who can understand Harry better than anyone.
***
Jennifer poured wine in the two glasses while Hammer looked at the board in her study. The board had parchments attached to it interconnected with a red thread and some pictures pasted to it too.
“You are still pouring over it aren't you?” asked Hammer.
Jennifer walked over to him and gave him the wine, “Are you really surprised that I am?”
“No. But I am surprised that you just left everything in the office without a word to me just to get my attention,”
“I didn't come here to get your attention. I came here without telling you, so you would take me seriously,”
“You could have approached me like normal people and told me about whatever discoveries you have made,”
Jennifer looked coldly at him, “And have you discard it again like you did four years ago? You weren't ready to continue the investigation because-”
“Because we didn't have much evidence to keep the investigation going and protocol dictated that I close it for the time being until new evidence comes to light,” yelled Hammer.
Jennifer looked away fuming. Hammer sighed and said, “So you are investigating this case because there is some new evidence that you have found? If there is why didn't you tell me? Let me guess you’re here because whatever you have found is not hard evidence, is it?”
“It may not be enough for you to open up an investigation but it's enough for me. You taught me to go with my gut, to trust my guts. That's why I’m here. And the only reason you are here because you know that my hunches are never completely baseless and I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure,”
“You still could have told me without just up and leaving,”
“I didn't know if you would take me seriously. And I wanted it to be a covert operation and I don't want anyone from the department to get involved in this, save some people I trust,”
“And you thought the best way to do that is by leaving without telling anyone anything?”
“I’m not sorry for doing that. If you are here then it means people don't know the real reason you’re here and that's what I wanted. I need your help Hammer and I am asking my mentor and my friend, not the Head of the Auror Department,”
Hammer looked at her for a long time and sighed, “Alright. But that doesn't mean you're off the hook for the stunt you pulled,”
“I never thought I was,” Jennifer smirked.
“So when are you planning to take me along to this field trip of yours to find Scorpius Malfoy?”
Jennifer looked at him, surprised that Hammer had found out about it so soon.
“Oh you didn't think that I would just leave my department like that and come here to help you, did you? I needed to know if there was a good reason for leaving and I knew you wouldn't just up and leave with Sam and Murph just for a holiday in Cannes. So I did my homework before I left,”
“Elliot told you,didn't he?” asked Jennifer.
“Yes. He was worried that you would go to your field trip alone. I was thrilled when your reclusive CI contacted me. And I get what you see in him. He really is one of a kind,”
“So what do you think, about the case?”
“Whose? Samar's case, Ted’s or your own case?”
“They are all the same and you know that,”
“Don't you think that this could be a trap? This rescue mission for Jr Malfoy?”
“It could be, but who else is gonna rescue the child. Their problem, whatever it is, is with me. I’m not gonna let a child get hurt because of a crossfire. And if we save his child Draco Malfoy will tell us whatever he knows,”
“And is that information valuable?”
“I don't know. But he is the only door we can knock, to know more about the main perpetrator,”
“There is one more thing we can do. While you work on Samar’s trail before his murder I can work on profiling this man who is behind everything. If we get a name maybe we can even single him out,”
“That could work,” said Jennifer thoughtfully.
“So have you checked Draco’ story then?”
“Yes. Elliot is collecting evidence of Scorpius’s kidnap as we speak,”
“Did you tail Draco Malfoy wearing a dress like that?” asked Hammer pointing at her dress.
“I know it’s not exactly the best dress for field work, but people give less attention to what you are actually doing when they are too busy gawking at you,” smirked Jennifer.
Hammer laughed and shook his head.
Jennifer looked at the photograph that Elliot had acquired from Malfoy Manor. It was very small which just about captured a sleeping Scorpius Malfoy who was gagged and a blind was put on his eyes. It nearly broke her heart to see him like this. She knew what it felt like. To be bound and gagged and completely at the mercy of captors. It was a horrible feeling, one she had spent most of her life avoiding. Doing everything in her power to stay in control of her situation. She didn't remember much about her previous life except for the horrible bits about her rape at the hands of Amycus Carrow. She blinked. That was his name. I finally remember his name. The man responsible for almost everything that had happened in her life. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Try as hard as she might, she couldn't picture his face. Perhaps it will take more than just deja vu or random thought to remember his face. Jennifer opened her eyes and started perusing the photograph again.
“Tired already, Neveu?”, she heard Hammer ask.
“Didn't sleep well last night,”
Hammer’s face immediately changed to a troubled expression.
“Troubled dreams? Have you started having flashbacks? If that’s the case I don't think it's a good idea for you to go out to the field. I can handle it,”
Jennifer sighed, “No I am not having flashbacks yet. Just nightmares. Nothing unusual,”
“That doesn't sound good. Are you sure you can handle it?”
“Of course I can. They are just dreams. Nothing new. Those nightmares have never really stopped in ten years. I know how to live with it and how to function without too much sleep. So don't worry. I can handle being on the field. If I can't I would tell you,”
Jennifer didn't like lying to him, but she didn't know what else to do. She knows that sooner or later she would have to deal with these flashbacks but they didn't have much time now. Time was of the essence. They had to find Scorpius before they did something else to him to get to her. She vaguely heard Hammer tell her something but she was too focused on what boy’s condition might be than her present surroundings. I cannot let them harm the poor boy because of me.
Hammer snapped his fingers in front of her breaking her out of her stupor. She blinked and looked at him.
“I said the buildings Scorpius is locked in might have a prehistoric architecture,”
“What makes you say that?”
“Look at these walls here. Where do you see these kind of bricks anymore,” he said pointing to the walls in the picture.
“Hmm. But it looks too new. Artificial. Like it was renovated,”
“Yeah. So a prehistoric architecture building, medieval style interior-”
“He must be in a hotel. Or some wealthy guy’s mansion,”
“There aren’t many mansions in this country with this kind of architecture. The ministry can take down all of these mansions in a single day. Not a great place to lock up a kidnapped child. Hotels are too inconspicuous. Too many people around. Someone is bound to notice if something was fishy,”
“Perhaps. On the other hand, it’s a weak lead. There are hundreds of hotels in London alone. He could be in any one of them,”
“Well that’s clever of these people. How do we look for a boy of four in London hotels then!” Hammer yelled and banged the table angrily, as was his habit whenever he was frustrated. Jennifer didn’t even flinch when he did that.
“The photograph is too small to judge the interior design qualities. For all we know he could be locked up in a shady motel, far from the city. Still I can find out about all the luxury hotels in the city since Anand conglomerate owns more than half of them. I’ll check out the mansions too, just in case,”
“The kid won’t be locked up in a luxury hotel, where security is good,”
“Wizards can break into any muggle security systems like walking into a park,”
“So you are saying the kid is locked in muggle hotels? I didn’t know Anand conglomerate does business in the muggle world too,”
“The Anand family origins go way back. Wizards started appearing in the family tree only about 5 centuries ago. Before that they were a renowned family in the muggle world. They still are, their legacy is still alive in the muggle world, though none of the family members alive are muggles or muggle-born,”
“Even if you can get information from all the hotels in London, there is no guarantee that the kid is in any one of them,”
“It’s worth a shot, we don’t have any other leads. The kidnappers are clever,”
“Maybe not clever enough. If it is a trap, they will have left some bread crumbs for you to find,”
“I’ll have Elliot run some tests on this photograph, see what he can find,”
***
“I have run all the tests that I could think of. None of the test results gives me any clue as to where this was taken,” said Elliot, dejectedly.
Jennifer sighed, sorely disappointed that even Elliot couldn’t find anything useful.
“What about the properties that I told you check out?” asked Jennifer eagerly.
“Came up empty. It is entirely possible that Michael still has some properties that we don’t know about. The kid could be locked up in one of those properties,”
“I gave you the list of every property that was under Michael’s name or one of his aliases. If the Bureau hasn’t seized all of them, that means he still has some aliases that we aren’t yet aware of,” said Jennifer, sighing loudly and thinking what else they could do.
“There is someone who might help us. He is a bartender in a wizarding pub downtown. But that’s just the side business. He is the eyes and ears of this city. Anything you want to know about the criminal underworld, you can guarantee he knows it or he will find out soon enough. He used to be a notorious potions smuggler until he was caught in a raid. Since then he has kept a low profile. He wasn’t severely punished for his charges and was released early. But I bet he is working as a CI now. Probably for the auror who caught him,”
“So why don’t you ask him? You know him right?” asked Jennifer.
“He and I have a history. He won’t tell me but you might be able to weezle some answers out of him,”
“What’s his name then? This bartender/CI,”
“He goes by the name Bottlecap,”
***
The next day, Jennifer walked into the pub named Joey’s looking for the CI. She had run out of all the other options. She ran checks on the hotels owned by Anand Conglomerate as well as the mansions in this country. They all came up empty. This CI was her last option. The only way to find Scorpious.
As she walked to the counter, she looked around and found who she was looking for.
“Hey, can I get a Negroni?” she asked another bartender. As he prepared her drink she looked at Bottlecap who was intently listening to a woeful tale by a drunk middle aged man while looking at his watch. The bar was preparing for closing off, giving her a good opportunity to question him.
She just sat there and sipped her drink waiting for the right time. After a while she watched from the corner of her eye to see that Bottlecap was now inverting chairs of the empty tables. She was the only person left in the bar aside from him. All the other staff were outside now. He walked over to her and said,
“Sweetheart, the bar is closing off,”
“Why don’t you sit with me then and pour me a drink,” Jennifer said giving him an alluring smile.
“That is the sweetest thing I have heard all day Sweetheart,” he said eagerly giving her a toothy smile. He took the stool beside her and poured a Firewhiskey for her.
“So. Rough day huh?” he asked.
“You could say that,”
“So what can I do to relieve the stress from your body?”
Jennifer inwardly grimaced but smirked.
“You can start by telling me where a kid might be taken after he is kidnapped,”
She saw him stiffen and said,”Uhh I’m sorry Sweetheart. I wish I could be of help, but I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,”
“Oh really? I was told that you were the eyes and ears of this city,”
“Eh Loo- Look, I’m a simple man, owner of this humble establishment. All I do is pour drinks, listen to people wail in hopes of extra tips. You are barking up the wrong tree woman,”
Jennifer smiled and said, “So how would you feel if I say confiscate this humble establishment of yours? See I looked into you and there are some serious racketeering acts that you haven’t been charged with yet. I saw dozens of health code violations in your so called establishment. I could put you in for five years minimum. Lucky for you, I’m willing to look the other way, if you can answer some of my questions,”
“I was acquitted of my criminal acts a while back lady, there ain’t anything you can charge me with,”
“If you think that your deal with the aurors here is going to get you out of this, you are sorely mistaken my friend. I’m from Internal Affairs,” she said showing him the badge, “The aurors have no authority over us. So if I decide to haul your ass to Azkaban then that’s what will happen unless you answer my questions,”
She saw the blood drain from his face. She could get into serious trouble for impersonating an IA officer, but it seemed to be working.
“What do you want to know?”
“Do you know anything about a rogue gang known for kidnapping for hire?”
“Possibly,” he said.
“Well?” she asked, gritting her teeth.
“I need to jog my memory a bit. See I work with only one lawman. I kinda promised him that I would only work for him. Lucky for you I can make a special case for you. Perhaps 20 galleons will do the trick Officer,”
“Okay”, she banged his head on the counter, pulled out the stool he was sitting on dropping him on the floor and pinned the stool on his chest.
“Is your memory good now or does it need more jogging?” she said pressing the stool on his chest.
“You’re crazy. Ugh-” he said trying to remove the stool from his chest.
“Tell me what I need to know or so help me I will jam the legs of this stool down your throat until you answer my questions,” she said.
“Please, please. Don’t hurt me. I’ll tell you anything,”
She relieved the pressure a bit, but didn’t remove the bar stool from his chest.
“A boy for four was kidnapped weeks ago. His name is Scorpious. Where can I find him?”
“I haven’t seen anyone taking a kid. But there were some whispers about it. A few days ago, a gang was hired to do a job. The crew is mostly known for kidnappings and extortions. They have never been charged with anything, but if the kid was taken from this area in the last week, they may have him,”
“Where can I find them?”
“I’ll write the location in a piece of parchment, just remove this stool from my chest, you are killing me, woman!”
“No I’m not killing you. If I wanted to you would be dead. Here,” she handed him a piece of parchment and a quill, “Write down the location. If I find out you are lying prison will be the least of your problems, Bottlecap,”
“I hear you lady,” he said as he jotted the location in the parchment and gave it to her.
“How many men are in this gang?”
“There are 10 guys. But they all split up for their jobs. They usually run 2-3 jobs simultaneously. They are all very dangerous. For a kidnapping, there must be at least 4 guys working on it,”
“Tell me about the members of this gang. I need some descriptions,”
“You can identify a member with a dragon tattooed on their arm. And there is this big, caucasian guy named Jake, who is bald and really scary looking. The only member of the gang you can identify easily. He usually handles the kidnappings,”
She removed the stool and threw it across the bar. She was at the door when she heard, “Aren’t you going to threaten me lady? You aren’t worried that I’ll tell my boss aurors about our encounter?”
She turned back and looked at Bottlecap, “No Bottlecap. I know you are not foolish enough to tell the aurors that the IAB is investing them. Or are you?”
She smirked at him when he didn’t answer and just nodded and left the bar.
***
“I got a lead. We should check it out. I say we hit the place tonight,” said Jennifer.
“You don’t wanna canvas the area first, Neveu” asked Hammer.
“We don’t have much time. There is this street gang that was hired recently. They have been accused of multiple kidnapping and extortions but nothing proven yet. The location I got is a residential area. There is a row of Victorian-styled houses outside North London. A small project which was started 5 years ago. So it’s relatively new. This place confirms what we deduced from that photograph. The area is very secluded and mostly owned by rich people. I think this gang has locked up Scorpious in there,”
“So just the two of us is going against an entire gang. Without backup. I don’t like the odds of this mission Neveu. Perhaps it’s time to inform the Minister,”
“If we involve the English Ministry, the mole will alert them and who knows what they will do to Scorpious. We can’t even inform Malfoy about this. We have to do it alone. And even if we tell them, it will take atleast a day to gather everyone before we can make a move,”
“But going in without backup is stupidity, Neveu. Especially since this most likely is a trap. They must be waiting for you. And if they are, they are very well prepared to capture you. Don’t underestimate the main perp. He has been out for you for a decade. He is not gonna let this chance slip by. He must have thought through everything to ensure your capture,”
“I understand the situation Hammer. But who can we trust? We can’t involve Ted in this. The only person I trust is the Minister,”
“You have a brother on the force-”
“Who I haven’t met in a decade and I don’t even remember him. I can’t ask him to do this for me,”
“But it’s someone you can count on. Someone you can trust. Probably the only one apart from the Minister,”
“This is not how I want to meet my family-”
“Well you won’t be able to see them, if you are dead or captured,” yelled Hammer. He sighed ,”Neveu, just tell me what’s the deal. Because you are not making much sense,”
“You don’t understand Hammer. You won’t. I may have brothers, but I don’t remember them, I don’t know them. It’s not about trust,” Jennifer sighed and continued, “I know our options are limited. But I owe my family an explanation about the last decade, before I involve them in this. And this is not how I want to start things with them. Until I meet them, I can’t work with anyone or ask anyone to help me. They may be my family, but they are as good as strangers. Until I get past this, I can’t ask them for help. I mean we are having an off-the-book investigation about the murder of my husband. A man they have never met,”
Jennifer rubbed her hands over her face and said, “Scorpious’s life is in danger. I can’t resolve my family problem, knowing that there is someone holding a wand to his head, to get to me. We have to rescue him now, before they hurt him. I don’t care if it’s a trap, I’m going to rescue him. Whether you join me or not is entirely up to you,”
Hammer looked at her incredulously, “Are you kidding me? Ofcourse I want to join you, but we need to have some contingency plan, in case things go south,”
“He is right, Jennifer”
They both turned around to see Alfred standing at the door. He came in and closed the door behind him, “You two should head out there to rescue the child. But if things start to get bad, I’ll inform Ted about the current situation. I’m sure, even in that limited time span, he can get some help. You have to agree to this plan at least, Jennifer,”
Jennifer knew that Alfred only addressed her by her first name, when he really wanted something or was concerned about her.
“Fine, we will be in contact at all times. But if all goes as planned, don’t tell anyone. As soon as we locate Scorpious, we will get out of there. First we will apparate to a safe house, make sure no one is on our trail first. And then come here,”
Both Hammer and Alfred nodded. In the next hour, they went through their plan, carefully discussed every route to be taken, on the map she had acquired of the area. When both Alfred and Hammer left to prepare for their mission tonight, she looked out the window of her study.
Somehow I think I’m going to meet my family a lot sooner than I thought Samar.
***
“I have searched every street in this area. No sign of the guy you described. Lights are off in several houses, so I can’t be sure in which house Scorpious is hidden. What’s your stat, Neveu?”
“I have asked some people who live in this area. They haven’t noticed any suspicious activity in this neighborhood. If the kidnappers are here, they are doing a very good job of remaining hidden. I haven’t run into anyone who has a dragon tattoo on his arm,” Jennifer said, holding her phone earpiece close to her ear.
Hammer sighed and said, “I’ll keep walking and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. You go and look in the local shops and cafes nearby. Maybe you will find one of the guys there,”
“Fine”
She disapparated and appeared a few yards from the main street and looked around her. After making sure the disillusionment charm was still on, she started walking. It was nearly midnight, so almost all the shops and cafes were closing. She searched the ones which were open and spotted a lone man sitting at one of the tables, eating. She hid behind a tree and watched. Upon closer look, she found that he was bald and there was some tattoo his arm. She went closer and took out her binoculars to get a closer look at him. She recognized the dragon tattoo on his arm. It was exactly as Bottlecap had described.
About fifteen minutes later, he got up and started walking towards the street of the houses she had left. She started following him and called Hammer.
“I found someone. He matches the description of the man named Jake, the informant told me about. He was in one of the cafes. Looks like the kidnappers are taking turns in getting some fresh air occasionally. I’m following him now. As soon as I signal you, disapparate from wherever you are to my location,” she said and disconnected the call.
About ten minutes later, the man turned to another street with more houses in that row. He kept walking, until he stopped in front of a mailbox. She messaged Hammer the signal to apparate. The man then tapped on the mailbox a few times which seemed like a pattern. A moment later, she heard some disturbance behind her. She turned around and saw 2 adjoined houses separating from each other, like it was being moved by someone. She almost gasped when she saw another house appearing in between the two houses as they were being separated. The man she had followed walked past her towards the house now, waiting for the door to fully appear.
This is ingenious. I never would have found this place on my own.
Suddenly she felt dizzy. With horror she realized she was spinning and she quickly held on to the lamp post as she waited for the dizzy spell to end. The house in front of her was fading and she realized too late that she was having another flashback.
She was walking with a group of people in a well lit street lined with a row houses. She heard the crickets and some strange noises coming from the houses. It was getting dark. A couple were walking a couple of feet from her. Behind her walked two boys both whispering to each other furiously.
“Fred, do you know where we are going?”, she asked.
“I’m as clueless as you are Ginnykins”, said the gingered-haired boy who was walking with her.
Ginny’s faced reddened and she yelled, “Don’t call me that! I’m not six anymore,”
She heard her mother speak but couldn’t see her, “Ginny! For merlin’s sake lower your voice. We are in a muggle street. Say the wrong word, and you and your brother will find yourselves locked up in your rooms for the rest of the summer,”
She quickly shut up. She hadn’t left the Burrow in summers except for holidays and mum had told her that they were most likely not coming back to the Burrow before the end of summer holidays. When she asked her parents why, all they said was to just follow their instructions. So here she was with her brothers, following her parents to Merlin knew where.
Her dad stopped and turned to them all. He handed a piece of parchment to each of them.
She looked at the piece of paper,
The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
She felt something hit her leg and then she heard a voice.
“Jennifer? Jennifer wake up! “
She felt someone shake her and she opened her eyes to find Hammer’s face hovering over her. She sat up, trying to ignore the fact that her head was exploding. She looked around and saw she was still in the street where she was earlier. The house the man had entered, had disappeared.
“Jennifer? Are you okay?”
“Huh? I’m fine”
“Don’t give me that crap. You are not fine. What happened? You have never fainted on field before,”
“Look it’s not a big deal, I’m fine. Just feeling dizzy. I didn’t get much sleep last night remember,” she said hoping Hammer didn’t catch the lie.
He looked at her, obviously not believing her.
“We need to get out of here. There’s obviously no sign of the kidnappers here. I checked for anything that might be a hidden place-”
“I have, I was standing right here when it happened that’s why I contacted you”
“Oh? What did you find? Because when I got here I couldn’t find you. Your disillusionment charm was still on, so I couldn't see you at first. Then I accidently hit you, so I assumed the man you were following caught you somehow and knocked you out and disappeared,”
“No I was following him. He didn’t find me. He actually tapped on that mailbox there,” she said pointing to that mailbox “and a house appeared right in between these two. Like out of nowhere, and a door appeared and the man went inside. I guess after that the house just disappeared before you came here,”
“Woah, I would have loved to see that. Anyway how are we going to get in?”
“We will stick to the plan. These guys are taking breaks in turns. One of them is bound to show up soon to get some fresh air,”
As if on cue, she heard a disturbance again. Both she and Hammer, ran to the opposite side of the road and hid behind trees for cover. She heard Hammer gasp as he watched the house appear.
“This is so cool. It’s lucky that you were here to see it happen,”
Someone exited the house and started walking towards the main street. She nodded to Hammer and he left.
She turned her eyes back to the eyes, watching out for neighbours or even the other kidnappers. A few minutes later, she heard a rustling sound behind her and she found Hammer dragging a man’s body.
“He’s out. I have slipped him a sleep draught. He will be dead to the world for the next 12 hours at least,” he plucked a few hairs from the head of the man and gave it to her.
“Here. Get ready, while I figure out the pattern of taps that will open the house to us. Did you catch the pattern he used?”
“I think so. I think I can get it with few tries. Let me get changed first,”
About five minutes later, she was standing and looking down at the foreign body she was in. She put a portkey in the unconscious man’s jacket and watched it disappear. After making sure the kidnappers clothes’ fit properly, she left the tree cover and went to the opposite side of the road where Hammer was standing. She tried some taps that she managed to catch earlier and after a couple of attempts, she heard the same disturbance again.
She looked at Hammer and said, “Okay now. Time to get some action,”
She punched Hammer in the face and he doubled over in pain. She kicked him in the gut causing him to fall down. She heard the door open and someone walking about, so she stunned Hammer.
“Oy, what the hell do you think you are doing Trevor!” yelled the main behind her.
“I was tapping the password, when this lunatic came out of those trees and tried to grab me. I think he has been watching us,” she said in the stranger’s voice.
“Whatever, let’s just get inside before anyone sees us. Let’s take him as well. We can question him before killing him off. Did you take his wand?,”
She nodded and they both picked Hammer and walked into the house. The door closed behind her as soon as she entered the house. They walked down a corridor to a hallway. The man with her threw Hammer down. Only then she was able to get a good look at her surroundings. There were two more men. The bald man, Jake sitting on the couch and another on one of the window sills. The man who came with her, went to sit on a chair.
“Quite a night huh, Billy?” she heard Jake address him.
“Yeah. Trevor got almost attacked by this one. He was hiding behind those trees on the road. We should question him, before disposing him off. What do you say?”
“Did you make sure, he was the only one who was hiding behind the trees?”
“Uhhh, No”, answered Billy sheepishly.
“Are you an idiot? What if someone else was there?” the man at the window asked incredulously.
“Relax Joe, I’ll go outside and check again,”
She grabbed Hammer and dragged him to center of the room. She conjured up a chair and tied him to it. She then placed the body binding hex on him.
“I’ll be right back,” she said with Trevor’s voice to the other two men and walked to a door which she assumed led to other rooms in the house. Once she was out of the sight of the two men, she cast a charm to check for human presence in the house. The charm revealed silhouettes of Jake and Joe in the hallway and a third presence upstairs. She took the stairs and walked to the room. She quietly opened the door and peeked inside. Scorpious was awake now, still tied to the bedpost and gagged, but otherwise looked fine.
Hang in there kiddo, I’ll get you out of here soon.
She closed the door and went back to the hallway to see that Billy had joined them.
“-are safe. I checked every corner in the 50 yard radius. No one else is there. If there was, maybe they got away. Let’s wake him up now and ask him, shall we?”
Jake and Joe both came to stand behind Billy, their wands ready in their hands. Jennifer stayed a good distance behind both of them, her own wand ready.
“Rennervate!”
Hammer stirred and blinked his eyes to see them clearly. He looked at Billy in front of him and panicked. He tried to move but couldn’t because of the hex she had placed on him.
“No need to try old man. It will be some time before you can move,” chuckled Billy, “You are not going to be here much longer, so why don’t you start telling us why the hell you were watching us and who sent you? Who are you working for?”
Hammer didn’t say anything, just continued looking at Billy. While the others were focused on Hammer, they didn’t notice Trevor muttering a charm behind them. Billy moved away when Jake came forward. He touched his wand to Hammer’s forehead removing the body binding curse from his face that he thought was still on. He punched Hammer in the face and sat down in front of him.
“Let’s try again. Who are you working for?”
Hammer groaned and looked up. He spat on Jake’s face and kicked him hard in the guts. Hammer got up free of his ties while Jennifer shot a stunner at Joe from where she was standing. Joe, who had his wand pointed at Hammer turned to her. He cast a stunner at her which she blocked deftly. They both dueled while Hammer removed his wand from his socks and started to attack Jake.
Joe was giggling, enjoying the sport apparently “Oh you are not going to get away with this!”
Jennifer blocked hex after hex, moving behind while doing it. As they moved towards the door into the corridor, she went to take cover behind a wall, to dodge the next hex. She narrowly missed it as she hid herself.
“Oh come on, don’t hide like a fucking coward you bi-,” he shouted.
He didn’t finish his sentence as Jennifer came out and shot a stunner right at his head. She went to the hallway and saw Hammer locked in combat with Jake. She shot him with a tripping jinx and when he fell down, Hammer shot a stunner at his head. She and Hammer levitated the rest of the guys to the center of the room and tied them up and gagged them.
“Nice work Neveu. Good to know you have still got it,” spoke Hammer when they were done.
“Give me the serum. Scorpious is awake. No doubt he must have heard the racket we just caused. He will panic if I go in there as Trevor,”
Hammer handed her a vial and and she drank it. She immediately felt the effects of the polyjuice potion wearing off and getting her own body back. When she was herself again, she went upstairs and opened the door to the room where Scorpious was locked in. She saw him getting scared when he saw her, but she ignored it and went to him. She got on the bed untied his gag first with her hands so as not to let him think that she was going to curse him.
“Hi Scorpious, my name is Jennifer. Your father sent me here,” she said gently, “I’m going to untie your hands now, okay. I’m not going to hurt you,”
Scorpious looked at her, his eyes wide and nodded feebly. She untied his hands and legs and then rubbed them to make the blood flow again in his limbs.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
Scorpious didn’t speak, he just looked down at his hands too afraid. She tipped his chin up so he looked at her as she spoke, “Listen Scorpious, the men who took you are not going to hurt you again. You are safe now, do you understand? I’m not going to hurt you. I’m friends with your father. I’m going to take you home to him okay? Wouldn’t you like to see you parents?”
Scorpious whimpered and said feebly, “Yes”
“Okay then let’s go,” she said and lifted him up in her arms. Scorpious wrapped his hands around her shoulders and held onto her tightly.
“You are hurt,” she heard Scorpious speak quietly. She looked at him and saw him looking at her shoulder. He was right, she was hurt, but didn’t even realise it. The skin was cut and she was bleeding a bit. She hadn’t dodge the hex completely as she had thought. It had graced her.
She went down to the hallway and placed him on the couch. “Just sit here, okay? We will get out of here soon,”
She turned to Hammer and asked, “Did you check the house? Did you find anything useful,”
“No. I checked their clothes too. Didn’t find anything that might lead us to their employer. I doubt they know anything,”
He looked down at her shoulder, “What happened to you? Did you get hit with a severing charm?”
“Looks like it. But I’m fine, it just graced me. Hurts a bit. Let’s just search their minds now. Find out what Jake knows. Then we can leave them here. Did you plant the potions?”
“Yes, it’s in place. Were you hit with anything else? A tracking charm perhaps?”
“No I don’t think so. Let’s just check and get rid of that too if we were,”
They both sat down and concentrated hard. They searched the minds of the kidnappers. It was something that she hated to do, but it had to be done. In the end it didn’t get them anything useful. From Jake’s mind she found that they were hired by some named Max, obviously an alias. The entire communication took place through owls and they were paid the entire money i.e 400 galleons full cash in advance. After that they started to clean up the place, wiping any evidence of their presence in the house. When they were done Hammer spoke, “You take the kid, go outside and tap the mailbox. I’ll send an owl to tip the Aurors. As soon as they get here, signal me and I’ll apparate outside,”
“Fine,”
After making sure that none of them had a tracking charm on, she walked over to Scorpious lifted him up in her arms and went outside. She tapped the password on the mailbox and watched as the house appeared again. She walked across the road and went to hide behind the trees. She watched the surroundings still holding Scorpious in her arms. Scorpious let out a yawn and asked, “Are you an Auror?”
She looked at him and smiled, “Something like that. Are you hungry?”
He nodded. “Well, when my friend comes out of that house, we are taking you to a safe place and then I’ll get you something to eat. What’s your favourite food?”
“Pumpkin pastry,” he muttered, still too afraid to speak.
Before she could say anything to comfort him, she heard multiple cracks around her. She looked around her to see, a few people in Auror robes apparate a few yards from the house. She messaged Hammer as she saw someone open the gate and the next second he was outside standing beside her. Scorpious shook in her arms on seeing him suddenly appear but didn’t say anything.
“Hold onto me tight,” she said to Scorpious and closed her eyes. She felt the familiar pull in her stomach and the next moment she was standing in the living room of her safe house. Hammer appear next to her.
“Where are we?”
She put Scorpious down on the couch and said, “This is a farmhouse outside London. No muggles stay nearby. If anyone apparates within a 50 yards radius, we will know,”
She spoke to Scorpious, “I don’t have pumpkin pastry here but I can fix you a sandwich quickly. Would you like that?”
“Yes” he said happier now at the thought of some food.
“I’ll be right back”, she went to the kitchen and opened the cabinets to prepared the sandwich, but winced as a sharp pain shot through her arm.
“It’s okay, I’ve got this. You just tend to your arm, apply bandage on it,” Hammer said and starting preparing the sandwich.
She nodded and looked at the cut on her shoulder. It looked like a deep cut, but wasn’t bleeding much. She opened the tap in the sink and took some water in her hand. She was washing the cut when she noticed it. A little bulge in the wound and something shiny embedded in her skin.
“There’s something in here,”
Hammer dropped the sandwich he was preparing and took her arm. He removed the object from her wound gently as she winced. He looked at it and cursed,
“Damn, this is a tracker. We have to get out of here now. Get a portkey ready for the manor,”
She nodded and grabbed a bottle to prepare the portkey.
“Portus” she muttered and the bottle began to glow bright blue. She dropped the tracker on the floor and banged hard on it to crush it. Suddenly the alarms started blaring and she looked out the window to see multiple hooded figures apparate outside. She counted at least five men, outside the kitchen window, which meant there must be more outside the front door. They were surrounded. She heard one of the windows explode behind her. Curses started flying inside exploding everything. She crouched down and crawled out of the kitchen. She met Hammer midway who came running towards her, bent low, holding Scorpious in his arms. Scorpious looked terrified and was crying.
“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go”, Hammer yelled.
She grabbed his hand and waited for the portkey to go off. She had just heard the front door open when she felt something behind her navel jerk her forwards. Her feet left the ground and she saw her surrounding disappear. They were all spinning and then suddenly she hit the ground and fell over. She raised her head to see Hammer gracefully land himself with Scopious’ face pressed against his neck.
She started to get up but then her head seemed to explode and she felt an uncontrollable pain.
What’s happening to me ?
She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out of her. The last thing she saw before the blackness surrounded her was Alfred’s face.
***
Ted and Harry apparated to an empty street in London. They both started walking, discussing last night’s match between the Magpies and Turnadoes.
“I’m not saying that the Tornadoes aren’t worth supporting. But they weren’t that successful until twenty years ago they started their winning streak, winning the league five times a row. I know it’s a record, but most of them only started rooting for them after that. If Turnadoes league points start to drop, they will be the first ones to drop their support. Ron is right. Supporters should have some loyalty for the teams they support-”
“Oh don’t start talking about this Ted. I have been listening to Ron jabber about this matter for years. You don’t know the headaches he has given me, going on and on about Turnadoes’ winning streak. He once criticized an ex-girlfriend of mine because she was a Turnadoes supporter,”
“Maybe he is jealous, that it isn’t the Chudley Cannons instead of Turnadoes” chuckled Ted.
“If the Cannons start winning their matches, even the exhibitory ones Ron will start raving about the matches as if he himself was on that team. And then again he will criticize everyone starts supporting the team because they didn’t support it before,”
“But you have to commend his loyalty to the team,”
“Oh please, while I admire his loyalty in general when it comes to quidditch he stretches it a bit too far. I would show some loyalty to my team too but only if they won matches occasionally. Not if they stay in a slump forever,”
Both he and Ted laughed and continued to discuss the brilliant moves displayed by the Turnadoes chaser yesterday. They both walked into a pub and signalled the bartender,
“Two butterbeers, Emily” Harry said and took a seat at the bar counter.
Ted continued to chat animatedly about last night’s match, but Harry tuned him out as he looked around the bar. The bartender brought their drinks at the counter and asked, “Anything else Mr Potter?”
“No thanks Emily. Where’s Carlo?”
“Oh he took the day off. Said he wasn’t feeling well,” she said.
“Oh. What happened?”
“He said he had the flu,”
Harry was disappointed. He was thinking what he should do, when he noticed that the Emily was still standing there, twitching her hands nervously.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I don’t know. But last night shortly after I left I thought I heard a commotion in the bar, so I came back. I came through the back and saw Carlo straightening up a stool. His hand was on his chest and he was in pain, so I asked what happened. He said there was a fight between two men and one of them push him too hard. He then made some excuse and almost ran out of there. If I wasn’t there, maybe he would have,”
“So what’s the problem? I mean it does make sense, don’t you guys have to intervene sometimes when fights start here?”
“Yes, but when I left there wasn’t anyone here. We were closing up,”
“I see”
“I just thought you should know. I hope it’s nothing. Carlo has been really nice to me, I don’t want him to fall into some trouble,”
“I’ll look into it, don’t worry about it”
“Thank you, Mr Potter” she said and left to take orders of other customers.
Harry sipped his drink and thinking what kind of trouble Carlo might be in.
“So we aren’t here to just relax and kick back a few beers, are we?” asked Ted.
“No” Harry said sheepishly.
“Harry-”
“Look I know you already have someone looking into your case, but I can’t just sit around and do nothing,”
“It’s your vacation. You are supposed to do exactly that” said Ted exasperatedly.
“Oh so you don’t want to look into it? About why Astoria has suddenly appeared in your life in a dramatic fashion, threatening to bring it down?”
“Of course I want to. But Jen specifically asked me to stay out of this, until she came here. I talked to Alfred and he said they will be here in about 4 days. Moreover she already has started digging into this case,”
“But why wait? I don’t see any reason why you can’t be looking into this too. You are the victim here, you will be helping her. We might find something helpful if we did”
“We? I didn’t realise you wanted to help me or get anywhere near this case given the events of the last few days,” snapped Ted.
“Ted I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you the way you wanted me to. I feel horrible about it. Everything that has happened in the last few days is no excuse for how I treated you. I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry. But now I am and I wanna help any way I can. Please Ted,” said Harry beseechingly.
Ted sighed and said, “It doesn’t matter now,”
“Look I’m on a vacation, you’re in a sabbatical. We are bored of sitting around and as much fun as it has been hanging out with Ron and let Hermione’s pregnancy distract us, this case has been hanging over your head. I know you feel it, and as long as it’s there you won’t find much peace. So let’s just start solving this case,”
Ted looked at him suspiciously, “Is this your way of getting close to Jen?”
Harry looked affronted, “No! I told you, I’m not interested in her like that. Ted this is about helping you get back to work. This has nothing to do with her. Moreover if I felt that way, which I don’t. But if I did, you think I would use a case or you like that?”
Ted just shrugged and drowned his butterbeer. He put his head down and after a long moment he raised his head and said, “Fuck it. Let’s just do it,”
Harry beamed and they both high fived.
“So what was your plan? Who is this guy Carlo?” asked Ted.
“He is one of my CIs. It’s a long shot, but he might know if the Malfoys are involved in anything illegal again,”
“Okay then. Let’s find him,” said Ted.
***
Harry knocked on the door and a moment later a man answered it, wearing a bathrobe.
“Potter”, he acknowledged.
“Bottlecap” said Harry evenly.
“Why are you here?” he asked sullenly holding the door open.
“That’s the tone you are going to take with me?” asked Harry walking into Carlo’s apartment.
“Sure, why not,” shrugged Carlo, “And who are you?” he asked Ted.
“That’s none of your business?” said Ted.
“When you didn’t show up at the pub today, the bartender Emily told me to look into it because she is worried about you” spoke Harry.
“Gee really? And here I thought you were concerned about me”
“What’s going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Even if I was I wouldn’t tell you of all people,”
“If you were, the first person you turn to should be me, because I have a greater chance of resolving your situation than any of your previous associations in the criminal underworld,”
“You mean my present associations. The contacts that I have had to keep so I could keep informing you like a snitch,” snapped Carlo.
“You made some questionable career choices years ago, the least you could do now is continue you affiliations to do some good,” said Harry.
“No that’s not the deal. The deal is I give you information and in return you keep me out of Azkaban for my past convictions. But if I’m just going to be thrown into Azkaban anyway, then what’s the use of working for you. I don’t see the advantage in that”
“What do you mean?” asked Ted.
“It means I’m done giving information to you Potter. All I wanted is a little security from you and your lawmen in exchange for some information. But I won’t give you what you want, if you can’t fulfill your end of the bargain,” yelled Carlo.
“Okay stop yelling! Tell me what has happened? Is someone threatening you?”
“Yes! And before you suggest it, no it’s not someone from my past. It’s one of your own. Someone from Internal Affairs is looking into your department and threatened to throw my arse into Azkaban, unless I helped. So I did,”
“The way I see it you were the one who broke the deal. The deal also said that you only work for me,” said Harry angrily.
“Well pal! No one was even supposed to know who I was or what I did for real. She knew everything about me and threatened to have me acquitted for the racketeering charges, you know the ones that I wasn't charged with. If she wants to put me in, she will do that. And you and precious department can’t stop her of course, so tell me why should I continue working for you?”
“Wait, she was an officer from IA?” asked Harry.
“Yes, I saw her badge too. She is looking into your department and I don’t want any more trouble. So we have to end this arrangement, Potter”
“Carlo-”
“No Potter. Look I have to find my own way out of this and talking to you is only going to get me into more trouble,”
“Listen Carlo” Teddy spoke, “It’s not because of Harry you are in trouble, it’s because of me,”
“What?”
“What?”
Both Carlo and Harry looked at each other weirdly and turned back to Ted.
“Well the news of the case against me has spread everywhere right? The IA is probably investigating me to see if there is any truth to this,”
“Well if that is the case, I need you both to leave now,” said Carlo.
“Okay we will. But tell us one thing at least. Who was the officer? What did she ask you? Did she specifically ask anything about me?”
“I don’t know her. She wasn’t anyone I have met before. She didn’t ask anything about you, so I don’t know for sure who she is investigating”
“So what did she ask you?” asked Harry.
“She asked me some questions about the kidnap of some kid named Scorpious”
“What?”
“Draco Malfoy’s son has been kidnapped?”
“Scorpious is Draco Malfoy’s son?” asked Carlo.
“And here I thought you knew everything,” mocked Harry.
“I know criminals. You can’t call Draco Malfoy one. The guy is a coward. I have met kids more dangerous than him,” snapped Carlo.
“Never mind that. You’re saying that Draco Malfoy’s son has been kidnapped and it didn’t occur to you to inform me about this? I told you, if you find out anything about something like this, you come to immediately ” yelled Harry.
“I only found out about it last night from her. There were some whispers about a job to kidnap, but I didn’t hear anything about it more than that. I didn’t know for sure who was looking and who was hired. But I told her who I suspected would be hired. Gave her the gang’s location where they might hold the kid,”
“But why would some officer from IA look into a case like this. This is usually done by Aurors,” said Ted.
“Yes, this is something that the Auror department usually handles. IA would never keep something like this a secret. They would have brought in the Auror Department and we would have known immediately. Since we don’t, it means either the person Carlo met last night wasn’t an officer from IA or she is working a non-approved case of the department,”
“Or both,” said Ted. There was only one person Ted could think of who matched that description. He looked at Harry and just by looking at his face he knew that Harry was thinking the same.
“What did she look like? Describe her” asked Harry.
“Uhh black hair, grey eyes. She was wearing a leather jacket. I couldn’t see her dress color clearly since it was dark, but I think she was wearing a green tank top. Very tight fitting”
Harry frowned, disappointed at Carlo’s answer but Ted continued, “And what color was the jacket? Was it dark brown? Looked very worn out like it was very old,”
“Yeah” said Carlo thoughtfully.
“And was she wearing dragon skin stilettos? Also dark brown?”
“Yup. She was. How do you know?”
“Never mind, thank you for your time Carlo. Come on let’s go Harry”
He and Harry left Carlo’s apartment and walked out into a deserted alley.
“So is that woman who I think she is, Ted?” asked Harry.
“Yes. I have seen her use that disguise several times before. It’s definitely her. Jennifer is here,”
Harry didn’t know why, but his heart suddenly started beating fast. He ignored it and said, “But you said that it would be another 4 days before she came here,”
“That’s what Alfred said to me 2 days ago, when I spoke with him. When I said I wanted to talk to Jen, he said that she was out researching for my case. This whole time she was already here and she didn’t tell me. Why? I’m the one who is involved in this damn it,” yelled Ted kicking on a wall.
Just then Ted’s phone started to ring and they both jumped at the sound. He took out his phone and looked at the caller’s id, “Oh speak of the devil. It’s Alfred” he said, showing the phone screen to Harry.
He answered it and started yelling, “You better not be calling me to say that it will take another week to get here old man, because I know you have been here in London for at least a week,”
There was a short pause before he spat, “When the hell were you planning on involving me in my own case?”
After another brief pause he yelled again, “Enough games now Alfred- No I don’t want here you say that you were calling me to inform me,”
“Okay so if you did, why now. You have been here for days and you didn’t think it was important to let me know that you are working on my case. The fucking victim-”
Ted suddenly stopped yelling. He froze for a second. He looked at Harry and asked, his voice breaking, “What do you mean she is hurt?”
Harry’s heart started beating wildly and he was suddenly back on the day when Mrs Weasley informed him that Ginny had not been home for hours. The day she disappeared. He pulled himself together and shook his head to clear his mind.
“What the fuck?” Ted yelled again.
“What’s happening Ted?” asked Harry desperately. He didn’t know what was happening but he realised that might never see her. Again.
“Okay. Penny and I will get there as soon as we can,” said Ted. He looked at Harry again for a long moment the call still on line and then spoke, “Actually Alfred we will come by the longer route, so it will take some time. I’m bringing someone with me. And you don’t get to have a say in that,”