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SIYE Time:10:07 on 28th March 2024
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Oceans Apart
By Catwoman

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Category: Alternate Universe, Post-DH/AB
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Romance, Tragedy
Warnings: Dark Fiction, Death, Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Mild Sexual Situations, Rape, Sexual Situations
Rating: R
Reviews: 80
Summary: The war is over, Harry and Ginny are back together but does it mean end of problems for Harry and Ginny?
Hitcount: Story Total: 53042; Chapter Total: 3646







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TEN YEARS LATER

Ten years later,
The Auror Office,
Ministry Of Magic,
London.

Harry sat on his chair reading the invitation that was sitting on his desk when he came to office that morning.

Respected Mr.Potter,
We are pleased to invite you to the opening of the Cavallo House on 2nd May 2008. We would be highly honoured if you graced the place with your presence and also speak a few words regarding the museum.
Kindly please send your RSVP.
Yours Sincerely,
Robin Whitney,
Manager of Cavallo House.


Harry took out his quill to reply to their invitation. Being the founder of the orphanage he had to be there. After donating a good chunk of his gold and enduring hell of a problems, the orphanage was finally ready to be opened. For the first time in a long time he felt happy that atleast some of his efforts had paid off.

He looked out of the window and saw that it was really bright outside. The weather reflected his mood. It was a very good afternoon. He wondered if he could check out early today and take Teddy to his favourite park. Making a quick decision he wrote a memo to Gawain Robards telling him about taking the rest of the day off and then left his office.

“Hey Mr.Deputy Head!”

Grimacing, Harry turned around when he heard his ridiculous nickname called and saw Ron walking to him a bunch of lilies in his hand and a briefcase.

“Where are you off to mate? I was just coming to see you.” said Ron.

“Any reason?” asked Harry.

“Well I want to take a leave. For four weeks. Hermione is due next month and she is looking like she is fit to burst at any moment. I want to be with her to make sure she eats properly and make the next few weeks easy for her. Mum says the last month of pregnancy is the hardest. Can you grant me permission?” said Ron.

“Of course. You are on paternity leave from tomorrow to next four months. I don’t know why you bothered to ask me seeing as you are all ready to start your vacation.” said Harry pointing to Ron's briefcase.

Ron laughed and said,”Well, I just knew I could count on you seeing as you are the godfather of our kid who will be born in a month’s time. Anyway what’s up with you? Taking an early day off?”

“As a matter of fact, yeah. I thought I could take Teddy to the park and have late lunch with him.” said Harry as they both made their way to the lifts.

“Hey, don’t forget Ted has invited the three of us to dinner tonight at eight. As a housewarming dinner at his new house. ” said Ron as they reached the ground floor.

“But I don’t know his address.” said Harry

“I do. It is Kent Nest. It is near the Burrow.Come by my house at around 7. We will floo to the Burrow and walk to Ted’s house.”

***

“How much farther Ron?” asked a weary Hermione.

“Not too far hon, just ten more minutes.” replied Ron whilst holding Hermione’s hand. Hermione groaned and turned to Harry,”Is it just me or we have been walking for three hours?”

“No it is just you,” replied Harry with a teasing smile, “But I’ve to say that Ted has found the most perfect location to build a house. There is lot of sunlight and air, and he can even build a quidditch pitch near his house.”

“Yeah, with the hills of Ottery St Catchpole there is no danger of any muggle seeing you fly. I bet right now you envy him Harry” said Ron looking at Harry.

“Why would he envy Ted?” asked Hermione with a puzzled expression.

“Because this was the last piece of land available on Ottery St Catchpole to build a house. And Harry always wanted to build a house of his own here.” explained Ron.

“Really?” said Hermione turning to Harry,”You wanted to build a house here?”

“Not here per say. A house in a land where there would be lot of sunlight, will always be breezy and near which a river or a stream flowed. It was just a thought really.” said Harry shrugging.

“But if you want to build a house in some place like this you should build it. It is not like you are struggling financially. I always thought you were happier in your flat at Soho.”

“I am Hermione. And this thought of building a house was a long time ago. I am quite content in my flat.” said Harry in a tone which told Hermione that he wanted to end this subject. Hermione tactfully changed the subject to talk about her interview for Secretary for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Harry lost track of the conversation and he let his wander to the surroundings. Ron was right. Whenever he envisioned himself living in a house, he always thought of this place. But he had long ago given up on this thought and buried them. Because all these thoughts always included Ginny. Ginny, his love, living with him in a house with a garden and quidditch pitch. Ginny sitting on a porch swing knitting jumpers for their children just like Mrs.Weasley…

After the war when he got together with Ginny, for the first time Harry thought of the future. A happy future with Ginny by his side. A future in which he and Ginny got married and had children of their own. A boy, a girl and twins. Boys with his raven hair and girls with Ginny’s beautiful red hair and brown eyes. It was the memory he always thought of whenever he cast a patronus. Even today after ten years. He had once shared this dream with Ginny. He was even happier when he found that she felt the same. At that moment he had said to her,

#####

“I know we are young and not mature enough to have thoughts like these. I know that we both are not ready for such a commitment but I do know one thing for sure. I love you. I love you with everything inside me Ginny and there is no one I can't even imagine spending the rest of my life with. The day you become my wife will be the happiest day of my life.” said Harry, the truth spilling from every one of his words

With tears in her eyes Ginny said ,“I love you too Harry. And nothing in this world would make me happier than to be your wife.”

“So does it mean that when the time is right you will agree to be my wife?” asked Harry.

“I will if you ask me properly.” said Ginny with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

“Don’t worry. I will get down on one knee and present a sexy, silky lingerie. You take the hint and say yes. Is that okay? said Harry with a serious face but a wicked gleam in his eyes.

Ginny laughed out loud and brought his head down to hers to kiss him.

#####

After Ginny’s funeral, he stayed at his flat in Soho going through Ginny's things for hours, pondering over the sweet memories they had created in this flat. She had made this flat feel like home by her presence. It took him a month to stand up on his feet and go to work. He threw himself at his work.Ron was his partner in missions and as always they worked well together.He quickly learned and grew up in the ranks and five years later he was the Deputy Head of the Auror Department. Three years ago, a new Auror was transferred from America to London Auror Department. Ted Kent was a useful addition to their ranks.He joined Ron and together he and Ron made a great team. The friendship between Ron, Ted and him also flourished and soon Ted started inviting them over for dinner at his house where he lived with his wife Penny.

With the combined encouragement (and pestering) of Hermione, Mrs. Weasley and Fleur he started dating about three years after Ginny’s death. But it never went beyond two weeks. At the end of two weeks, he always found a way to break up with the women. He always preferred spending some time with Teddy over dating random women on his days off. No matter how much efforts Hermione and Fleur put to find a perfect woman for him and set him up with the women in the end he always ended getting disinterested in the woman. All of his dates wore the same pattern. Getting to know each other for a week and a week of sex after which Harry always broke it off. It wasn’t laziness on his part but he just had a hard time to move on. Ginny was the only girl he ever dreamed of a future with. When he had seen the look of total bliss when Bill was marrying Fleur, for just one second he imagined himself standing at the altar in place of Bill, and Ginny in place of Fleur looking breathtakingly beautiful. He had held onto that image during the darkest times when he was hunting horcruxes. It was thought of her blazing look that made his death painless. And when he looked at her, after the war with clothes torn and burns on her arms she had never looked more beautiful. At that moment he realized how he was completely, irrevocably, desperately and madly in love with her and he knew that she was the one for him, his soulmate.

He eventually got Hermione to stop setting him up with women. Nowadays, his dates were for purely to fulfill his physical urges. He would go to the bar in Leaky Cauldron, get drunk and and hook up with a strange girl and leave her on her bed the next morning.He had long ago given up on trying to settle down and instead concentrated on his work. He donated huge chunks of his money various charities and foundations.

It was Luna who planted the idea of founding his own orphanage in his mind. He had chosen Auror as his career so that children like Teddy didn’t have to live in a world he did when Voldemort was in power. This made him remember the reason Tom Riddle became Voldemort. It was pure neglect and lack of love that made him vow to prove something to the whole world. Harry made his mission that no child felt unloved. After three years of gruelling efforts he founded an orphanage in the same land as his house in Godric’s Hollow. His parents had left him a huge land to build his own house in Godric’s Hollow.He offered the job of Manager to one of Ginny’s best friends Robin Whitney who was struggling financially. The job provided her a decent salary, a living quarters beside the orphanage. This allowed her to spend ample time with her daughter Rachel and also enough money to take care of daily expenses and send Rachel to Hogwarts next year. The orphanage was set to open in two weeks on the 10th anniversary of the day he had killed Voldemort.

The sound of Ron’s voice broke his musings and he found himself in front of a three storey modern penthouse. A board on the roof of the house said ‘The Kent Nest’ .

***

Ron knocked on the door and a few seconds later the door was opened by a blonde woman wearing a pink tank top and blue jeans, fair complexion and striking blue eyes.

“Hey you guys. Come on in”, said Penny as she ushered them in.

“Sorry about the walk Hermione. We haven’t been able to set up the floo but don’t worry, it will be up in a couple of days. Did you have a hard time finding the house?” asked Penny as she brought them to the living room.

“Oh don’t be sorry,” said Hermione as she seated herself on the couch,”Ron knew his way around here so we didn't have any problems getting here.The house is lovely Penny."

"Thanks Hermione. Yes there is still a lot we need to do."said Penny.

"I see you have hung a photo of Samar Anand on that wall. Why the candle in front of the photo?"asked Ron.

"It is a muggle tradition. They believe. It keeps the memories of the dead and spirit safe." said Penny smiling sadly.

Samar Anand was an Auror from America who had come to England to assist the Auror Department solve a case of muggle baiting that had turned hot four years ago. Together he, Harry and Ron caught all the criminals f the organised gang which included two escaped death eaters. But one of the men, the head of the organisation ended up killing Samar before he was arrested by the Aurors. Harry and Ron had felt a deep sense of loss when they had seen Samar's mangled body in a disused muggle factory.

"Ted told us that he and you studied with Samar in Princeton. In fact you grew up with Samar." said Harry.

"Yeah he was like a brother to me," Penny spoke softly,"The four of us were like the 'Fantastic Four', best friends forever. That is what everyone in Princeton called us."

"Fantastic Four? What kind of name is that? And who is the fourth friend in this gang?" asked Ron who grimaced at the name.

"Samar always thought the name was ridiculous. It was from a muggle novel named Fantastic Four, a story about a gang of four friends and their adventures. Me, Samar, Ted and Jennifer were sort of a gang in Princeton. " said Penny while smiling sadly,"It is about the only photo we have got right now."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"We had kept all photos in a box but the ghoul in our old house made a house for himself in that box. All the photos are damaged now.We need to show it to a curse breaker to clean it now. All we are left with is my wedding photos and this portrait of Samar."

" Where is John by the way?” asked Harry.

“Yeah I am a bit surprised he isn’t here waiting to pounce on Harry and question him about new Seeker moves.” said Ron while snickering at Harry to which Harry just rolled his eyes.

Just then a door behind them opened. A two year old boy with black hair and Penny’s blue eyes noisily entered the living room and leaped up on Harry. Harry deftly caught him and lifted John over his hip and said, “How are doing kiddo?” widely grinning at the sight of the boy.

“I am not a kid uncle Hawy! See, i got a tooth hele” said little John pointing at his teeth.

“Yeah I see it big boy.” said Harry as he laughed and sat on the couch with John on his lap. He reached into his pocket and took out a golden snitch and held it up for inspection in front of John. John tried to reach it with his chubby hands. Harry let go of the snitch and soon John became busy chasing the snitch.

"Sometimes you are as bad as Jen, Harry." said Penny as she brought drinks for them.

"Who is this Jen by the way?" asked Harry as he accepted a drink from Penny, "John never shuts up about her."

"Yeah who is she? The other day he kept talking about her for hours. Jen gave me a broom, Jen this, Jen did that- the list is listless. You would think he has a girlfriend the way he goes on about her."
said Ron.

"Jen aka Jennifer is my best friend. We studied in Princeton together. The fourth friend of our gang." said Penny laughingly.

"By Jennifer, do you mean Jennifer Neveu?" asked Harry.

"The one and only. But how do you know her full name?" asked Penny curiously.

"Samar had told me that she was the one who provided us with the evidence about the gang and their whereabouts four years ago. If it wasn’t for her we never would have caught those brats.” said Harry.

“In fact she was supposed to come here at that time since she was the prime witness of that case. She only sent us written documents of her words. If she was present the court proceedings would have taken place a bit faster.” said Ron while looking around the living room.

“Samar told me that she had caught a bad bout of dragon pox because of which it was not safe for her to leave America.” explained Harry.

“I had ordered her a complete bed rest.” included Penny.

“You?” asked Hermione incredulously.

“Well of course it was me who treated her. It was my job as a healer and a best friend.” said Penny.

Just then John entered the room and shouted,”Uncle Hawy look I caught the sitch!”

Harry laughed and went over to John to pick him up.

“Well done young man. Now what would you like to have as a winning prize?” said Harry.

“Will you teach me new seeker moves. Jen got me a broom for my baday and teach me to fly.” said John with pleading eyes.

“Alright kiddo. Let’s invite Uncle Ron too. Come on.”

And together Ron and Harry accompanied John while Hermione went with Penny to the kitchen to help her with dinner.

“So how is the job at St Mungo’s coming along?” asked Hermione as she helped Penny set the dinner on the table.

“It is fantastic as always. The maternity ward though could be bigger. When I addressed the lack of space problems to my superiors about two years ago they told me they were a bit short of funds for establishing a new ward.We have been collecting donations for the cause ever since.But it is still not enough. So I addressed this issue to Harry. He said that he will think about donating some money. He is so generous. He immediately set up a meeting with the chairperson of St Mungo’s. The meeting is due on Monday. And I have a good feeling about this. If Harry agrees to be one of the sponsors then we will have enough funds to build the ward.” explained Penny happily.

“One of the sponsors? Harry has enough money to take care of the finances single handedly. Then why do you need more than one sponsor?.” asked Hermione curiously.

“It is one of the policies. You can’t have just one person to provide finance in case that person backs out later. So it is better to have many sponsors and only a certain amount of money can be donated by each sponsor. Fortunately Jennifer has agreed to be one of the sponsors too.” said Penny as she and Hermione sat down waiting for the boys.

“Can foreigners donate money too? I didn’t know that.” asked Hermione.

“Anyone can for that matter.”

“Is she really that wealthy? To be a sponsor?”asked Hermione

“She is. The money however comes from Anand Trust-” suddenly Penny stopped speaking. Her face turned white as if she had spoken something she wasn't supposed to.

“What’s the matter? You were saying something about the Anand Trust. Wait a second. Isn’t that the charitable trust that was opened a century by Samar Anand’s paternal grandfather?” asked Hermione curiously.

“How do you know about that?” asked Penny sharply.

Hermione shrugged and said,”We have been sponsored by that trust for research of different magical creatures.I have read all about it. In the past century this trust has donated millions of galleons for various causes. The Anands are said to be one of the oldest and richest wizard families. But how come Jennifer Neveu make transactions from the trust? From what I have read, only the member of the Anand family can regulate the transactions.” Hermione stopped talking. She put two and two together and asked Penny,”Is she Samar Anand’s wife?”

“Yes. She is. After Samar’s death the whole family estates including their money and trust control fell in the hands of Jennifer.” explained Penny.

“But I had no idea Samar was married. Ron, Harry and I used to have dinner almost every night at Harry's flat. He never mentioned a family.” said Hermione.

“Very few people know about it. You know what it was like at that time. People were disappearing. They were newly married. In fact,” Penny paused and said,”Jennifer was pregnant. They were dating but I don’t know if they wanted to get married. She was 2 months along when they got married.” explained Penny.

“So that’s the real reason why she couldn’t come to London? She was pregnant.” asked Hermione.

“Yes. But please don’t tell anyone. It’s all supposed to be a secret. Jennifer is very protective of her family. She has kept the fact hidden that she was married to Samar and that they had had a son. After Samar’s death she resigned from her job as an Infiltrator and started to train Aurors. It allows her to spend time with her son and the money is good.” explained Penny.

“Don’t worry about it.” said Hermione soothingly.

“I am sorry that I lied to you earlier. About Jennifer having caught the dragon pox-” but Hermione cut her off.

“Oh don’t be silly. I understand why you had to do it. I also understand why Samar had to lie to us.How is she doing now anyway?” asked Hermione

“She is fine.” Penny laughed and said,”Although her butler Alfred keeps complaining that mistress doesn’t go out on dates. It has been four years since death. She has not gone on a single date ever since.”

“Well look at Harry now. It’s been ten years since Ginny’s death. But he is not over it. I tried to set him up with hundreds of women. He always ends up breaking up with them.” Hermione said shaking her head sadly. “I think he just doesn’t wants to get married like us. Mrs.Weasley is still pestering him to find himself a wife but all he does is nod at her words. I think he just wants to live in her memories. We all have told him to move on and that Ginny wouldn’t have wanted him to stay single for the rest of his life, but he never listens to us. He is trying to keep Ginny alive. In everything. Do you know why he named the orphanage Cavallo?”

Penny shaked her head.

Hermione sighed and said,”Cavallo is french for horse. Ginny’s patronus was a horse.You see what he is doing? He is not ready to accept the fact that Ginny is dead. You weren't there but I saw how unbelievably happy he was when he started dating Ginny. I have never seen him half as happy as he was when he was around Ginny. He doesn't want to build a house as it would remind him too much about the dreams he had dreamed with Ginny. But without even realising it he is keeping her alive in his life. He has named an orphanage after her. He keeps a photo of her in his bedside table. Teddy told me once that more than once he had seen Harry up at night looking at some photos of Ginny.He visits her grave every week and talks to it for hours together. Ron told me that Harry keeps some of her photos with him all the time. If a nightmare shakes him bad he spends the rest of his night just looking at her in the photo. I just want to see his old smile again. Not just this mask that he keeps putting on. But I guess that is never going to happen.” laughed Hermione sadly.

At that time the kitchen door opened and Harry, Ron, John and Ted entered the kitchen. Ted came over to his wife to kiss her and then greeted Hermione by kissing on her cheek.

“Hey Hermione, how are you holding up?” asked Ted while giving Hermione one quick look over.

“Oh it is becoming difficult every day. I swear next time we have a baby Ron is going to take this part.”announced Hermione at which Ron shuddered.

Ted laughed and said,“When Penny was pregnant with John she told me to never touch her again. Don’t worry Ron it will pass. By the way what were you guys talking about?”

“Penny was telling me about a friend of yours. Jennifer Neveu.” said Hermione.

“Oh that reminds me. Steven is coming here next week babe. For two days. Will the guest room be ready by then?” asked Ted.

“Yeah it will be. By the way, can you go to Shell Cottage tomorrow. The box of photos we had is infested. I think Bill will be able to clear the mess.” said Penny.

They sat for dinner and the rest of the evening continued without a single mention of Jennifer or Samar or Ginny


































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