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A Thought or Two
By Mutt N Feathers

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Category: Pre-OotP, Alternate Universe
Characters:Harry/Ginny
Genres: Drama
Warnings: Mental Abuse
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 87
Summary: Auror Spook Kitty Fawley thought the difficult part of her return to the UK would be getting Sirius out of prison and recovering Harry from his Muggle relatives. Turns out that was the easiest thing she would do. To help them, Kitty will delve into a mystery deeper than any she faced in the field.
Hitcount: Story Total: 133959; Chapter Total: 3297
Awards: View Trophy Room




Author's Notes:
Thanks to my beta, Arnel.




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Chapter 36:
In Your Memory

April 1987

“Are you certain about bringing him with us?” Sirius asked, eyeing Albus Dumbledore with complete skepticism across the lounge in their home.

"He knows more about this than any of us," Kitty said. "He could teach us, but I think it's better we take him with us. Anyway, James and Lily trusted him with their lives, I don't think we should raise Harry and John thinking their future Headmaster is someone to distrust."

“He could retire before they go to school,” Sirius retorted.

“Does he strike you as someone who is going to retire in the next four years? You do realize it’s only a bit over four years until Harry will be heading off to Hogwarts?”

“Where the hell does the time go?”

“Into Silly French Toast mornings and rainbow bubble baths at night,” Kitty said. “When it’s time for Harry to leave us, he will have had a wonderful childhood to think back on. Thankfully our little Niffler has some more time home with mummy and daddy.” Kitty walked over to where John was sitting with a few toys. He smiled and squealed in delight when she picked up her little son.

“Speaking of Nifflers, should we be considering trying for another one?” Sirius asked. Kitty looked at him with surprise.

"Let's get John to his first birthday before we discuss more babies, please. Being pregnant and going on a Horcrux hunt are not compatible."

Remus came in and collected Harry for his lessons. The boy spoke with Professor Dumbledore, and when the child and his teacher had gone to meet his classmates, the Headmaster came over to Sirius, Kitty, and John were.

"He's a remarkable boy," Albus said, and both Kitty and Sirius puffed up with pride.

“He is, and he’s smart,” Sirius said. “Remus said that if he were in the Muggle school system, he might need to be in the KS two, year three, rather than the KS one, year one. His reading and comprehension levels are very high.”

“Well, it’s not every Magical child who is given such a broad education before they reach us. His first year at Hogwarts might be quite a bore,” Albus said.

“Remus has intentionally stayed away from the traditional core classes taught at Hogwarts, save history. His Defense skills will be high, just because we have taught him a few simple ways to protect himself. We hope he never needs to use them,” Kitty said. “When they are old enough for Astronomy and Arithmancy, all of Remus’ students will be well ahead, however, and Neville is already quite advanced in Herbology.”

“You’re going to have a hard time keeping Ginny Weasley from petitioning to go with her brother and her friends,” Sirius said. “She reads as well as Harry and has been since she was three. I sometimes think she and Harry communicate in their own language. It sounds like Latin, French, and English all rolled into one.”

“Really, I didn’t realize they were so close,” Albus said.

“Ever since we brought Harry home,” Kitty said. “She kissed him and held his hand through his fourth birthday party, and they’ve been stuck together since." Just then, John reached out and grabbed Dumbledore's beard. He gave a surprised 'ouch' while Kitty pried his fingers off the elderly man's beard. "I am so sorry; he has a thing for hair. Since the day he was born, he's wrapped his fingers up in it, and once he could, he'd pull it into his mouth. I think it's time he went with Auntie Cissy." Narcissa was staying at Fawley House this morning while Draco was in class to watch John. The little boy was very taken with his kind 'auntie.' Kitty left to drop John off in the nursey.

“Your cousin is doing well?” Albus asked.

“Yes, she and Draco like living in Grimmauld Place, and my mother’s old house-elf seems to respect her, so it’s working out. Her hand has recovered about as far as they think it will. She’s learning to adapt to what she can and can’t do,” Sirius answered. "I think having a garden to tend and potions to brew has helped her heal. It always was her favorite thing, even when we were children," Sirius explained. "Dromy liked the kitchen with our grandmothers, and Cissy was in the potions lab with grandfather. Bella, however, was off torturing whatever or whoever she could. I wasn’t sorry when she was Kissed,” Sirius admitted. “Both Dromy and I are happy to have Cissy back.”

“I was surprised when you took her in and gave her your ancestral home.”

“Kitty is the reason I took her in, and I’m glad she did. I learned about forgiveness through my wife. As for the house, we were never going to live there," Sirius answered tightly. "There are just too many bad memories for me. Even now, if we go there for dinner, we eat in the kitchen, so I have some chance of digesting my food." Albus nodded, and Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived at the same time Kitty returned.

"Did you bring the glasses?" Kitty asked, and Kingsley pulled them out of his pocket. "Excellent. These are new to our department. They allow the wearer to see latent magic in an item. Especially helpful to the reversals process and finding Dark items. With the permission of the Head of the DMLE and the Minister for Magic, we are using them today.”

“She has pull with the higher-ups,” Kingsley joked.

“I’m not the one dating the head of the department,” Kitty tossed back.

“Okay, children,” Sirius said with a laugh. “Let’s review before we leave.” Instead of letting Dumbledore speak, Kitty immediately launched into her assessment.

“Albus believes we will find something in Tom Riddle’s mother’s home,” she started. “His father’s home is currently unoccupied, although it does have a caretaker. Since his father is a Muggle, it's highly unlikely Tom would have hidden anything there. Riddle is half-Gaunt, so we’re looking in the little house his grandfather would have died in. As far as we can tell, there are no other members of the Gaunt family living, so the line will die out with Tom.”

“They were in the Sacred Twenty-Eight,” Sirius said. “We’ve lost several of the old families now. The Lords section of the Wizengamot looks rather different.”

“In a good way,” Kingsley said. “If it weren’t for those changes, we never would have voted the Werewolf Rights Act into law." The principal legislation was the first success of Rufus Scrimgeour's new administration. With it, werewolves were given full Magical citizenship and protections under the law regarding persecution, job loss, and marginalization. Additionally, the Ministry would be subsidizing the Wolfsbane Potion creation, so anyone who wanted to take it could afford it. The new Twenty-Eight Lords and Ladies was a far more progressive group and planned to make other changes to the UK’s Wizarding world.

"Yes, that was a perfect day here," Kitty said with a smile. "If we are all prepared, we should get this done. Sirius, you have the box, correct?"

“In my pocket. I’ve also brought both of our pairs of Dragonhide Gloves, just in case.”

“Good,” Kitty said. “Let’s go, we can Portkey from outside.” The group exited the house and went past the wards to Portkey safely. Kitty had selected a broken bit of pottery from the cupboards on the first floor; they had so much of it, centuries of it. This was just as good a use as any. She said the spells, giving themselves thirty seconds before it would go off. Sirius and Kingsley drew their wands, while Albus chose not to. He thought it was interesting they were prepared for a fight even though most of the Death Eaters were captured, and Voldemort was in the Ministry holding cells.

When they landed, Kitty and Kingsley immediately took up opposing positions, the other two between them, and began to scan the area. Kitty had done some light reconnaissance, so they landed behind a copse of trees about twenty feet from the shack. Not detecting anyone near them, they lowered their wands in unison.

“You know, I really wouldn’t want to be someone who tried to get the drop on you two,” Sirius said casually. “You’d have blown them up before a word could be uttered.”

“Sirius, I’m more than a pretty face,” Kitty said with a lopsided grin.

“Me too,” Kingsley added, and the quartet shared a laugh. “Here put these on. I think we need to give the exterior of this place a thorough inspection. If it were my home, I’d protect it.”

“Remember, though, Tom does not feel any love toward his mother. She left him, abandoned him. He is quite antagonistic about her and her memory,” Albus said as he finally withdrew his wand.

"I hated my mother, too, but not enough to erase the whole memory of her and her family,” Sirius added.

“You had a surrogate mother, Sirius, who loved you so deeply,” Kitty reminded him.

“Tom was a very damaged little boy when I first met him,” Albus said. “I had hoped that being somewhere with people who were like him, and with teachers who cared would change him. I was very wrong. Sirius, you were never consumed with pain and anger. If anything, I think your cousin Bella is the only other student who was so evil, even as a child. She had everything, parents and an extended family who adored her and every opportunity growing up. I truly think that some people are born with evilness inside them; their minds do not work correctly, and they are incapable of feeling love. Had I not been fearful of who might have taken her under their wing, I would have expelled Bellatrix.”

“Well, it’s a good thing Harry has a heart made for love, because what those Muggles did to him,” Sirius interrupted himself with a sigh. “It’s a miracle they didn’t turn him into an Obscurus.”

“Sirius, you’re right, it is a good thing Harry had his mother’s loving heart and his father’s strength of spirit. I was wrong in how I handled him. I should have let you take him home the night his parents died. I should have known you were incapable of killing your friend and his wife. I also should have had you recalled, Kitty. If you’d known what had happened, you would have returned for Harry’s sake. Please, forgive me for my transgressions.”

The couple was quiet for a long moment. “Thank you for apologizing, Albus,” Kitty said softly. “We all should have done some things differently. The important fact is that Harry is a wonderful boy and has a happy home now.”

“My wife is more eloquent than I am,” Sirius said. “I accept your apology. Now, let’s get this damned Horcrux and get out of here. This whole place feels like death is just around the corner.”

Sirius wasn’t wrong in his assessment. With the new Magical Vision Glasses, it was possible to see the Dark magic clinging to the house like a ripped curtain flapping in the breeze.

“This place once had every protection enchantment known on it, but they weren’t kept up, and there are holes everywhere. Wait,” Kingsley said, holding his arm out. "The door has a particularly nasty spell on it. It reminds me of a snarling guard dog." He whispered something to Kitty, who nodded, and together they lifted their wands. Their movements were precise and in unison as they untangled the old spells from the new. With a thunderous crack, the latest hex was broken. "There are spells on either side of the pathway, so watch your step."

The small stone path was in surprisingly good condition, and it was easy to walk along it. Sirius marveled at how he could see the hexes in the grass be pushed about as Albus’ robes swirled in front of him.

"Hold still, Dumbledore, you've picked up a little spell that's climbing up your robes," Sirius said about halfway up. The Headmaster was the only one wearing traditional robes; the other three were in jeans and jumpers. Sirius thought again that the Wizarding world really needed to get rid of everyday robes and wear trousers like the rest of the UK.

The doorknob hissed like a snake at them and went for Kitty’s arm as she pointed her wand at it and blew it off the door. “I don’t like snakes,” she said before anyone asked why she’d used such a powerful spell.

The interior of the house was in worse shape than the exterior. Mold climbed up the walls in an intricate black wave and danced across the ceiling in a macabre ballet. The rug on the floor had been devoured in places, and the furniture was slowly rotting. Termites had attacked the legs of what was once a coffee table, leaving the thinnest of spindles for legs. Kitty was worried if they breathed on it wrong, it would collapse.

“That drawer,” Kitty said, pointing at a desk in the corner. “The small one in the middle of the upper section. It’s pulsating in Dark magic.”

“That looks like it could contain something,” Kingsley agreed. “I’ve got your back.” Kitty walked hesitantly across the room, testing the floor as she went, and listening for something other than creaks of settling. Reaching the desk, she saw another spell on the whole desk.

"Given what he did to the diary, and what came out of it was an echo of Tom as a student, I think we should proceed carefully. Sirius, can I have my pair of gloves, please?" Sirius immediately removed them from his pocket and restored them to size. He restored his as well, put them on, and then restored the iron box.

Kitty plucked at the magic with her wand before conferring with Kingsley about what spells to use. “Sirius, will you cast a Protego over us while we work. I don’t want to lose any flesh while I’m expelling the Dark magic." The Auror pair worked for what felt like hours, although in reality, it was only fifteen minutes removing layers of magic to free the desk. Sweat dripped down Kitty's face, and Sirius couldn't remember when he'd last seen his wife actually perspire like this. He suspected it was in some intimate moment she probably wouldn't want commented on now. "He definitely had more magical skill when he put whatever it is in this desk. Remarkably, it wasn't destroyed."

With the desk safe, Kitty opened the drawer and inside found a small ring. With delicate precision, she lifted the item out with magic and brought it into the light. Again, Kingsley waved his wand, and the spell on the ring — a nasty withering hex — was broken. The Horcrux, however, pulsated beneath the gold. Kitty stared at the ring, intently. "Sirius, come look at this."

While most in the Wizarding world believed the story of The Three Brothers and the Deathly Hallows was just a tale, Kitty and Sirius had heard Fleamont Potter talk about them. For the Potters, they weren't a myth. The Hallows were a fact; Jamie's special cloak was the proof. "How did he end up with a Deathly Hallow?"

“A what?” Dumbledore asked.

“The stone, it has the mark of the Deathly Hallows on it,” Sirius said. “I know it was lost at some point; how did Tom Riddle find it?”

"I don't know, but it makes destroying it all that much more difficult. So much for our doing this by ourselves," Kitty answered. "We definitely need Brightsword on this one." Albus was reaching out to touch it, but Sirius opened the box, and Kitty dropped it in. The lid was shut and locked. The old man looked sad as he withdrew his hand.

“Only two more to find.”

“I fear they may be much more difficult to locate,” Albus said. “Other than Hogwarts, I do not know of any other place that had meaning to Tom.”

“There isn’t anything at the school?” Kingsley asked.

“If there is, I am unaware of it,” the Headmaster replied.

“Then research it is,” Kitty said. “I suspect I’ll need to visit that thing in the basement again. King, let’s put up another set of protections on the house. The last thing the department needs is to have some Muggle wander in and have an encounter with magic they can’t possibly understand.”

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