The night that Scorpio Malfoy was murdered, there was a storm that shook the towers of the castle. The windows rattled in their panes like the chains of ghosts and thunder ripped through the air like a cannon blast. Harry Potter jerked awake from where he lay, one arm wrapped around his wife and gasped a word. Just one word.
"Hogwarts."
Ginny placed a steaming cup of tea in front of her husband, the clunk as she put the cup down breaking through the silence of the house. Harry took a sip, before spitting it out.
"Did you put sugar in this?" He asked, grimacing.
Ginny raised an eyebrow and he sighed, placing the cup back on the wooden table, where it was sure to leave a ring. On any normal day, Ginny would have reprimanded him for this, reminded him that there was a reason that coasters had been invented. This was, however, no ordinary day.
"Your scar's hurting isn't it?"
Harry nodded. He had known that he would not be able to hide this from his wife, she knew him far too well.
"What did you see?"
"Just blood. And Hogwarts. There was a boy lying on the floor in a common room, but I couldn't see his face."
Ginny looked at him, fear clear in her eyes. Fear for her children and her brother's.
He shook his head. "It was the slytherin common room. I recognised it."
There was a creaking on the stairs and they looked up to see their daughter stood in the doorway, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Go back to bed sweetie,"said Ginny, but Lily shook her head.
"I wanna know what's going on!" She complained. She turned to her father, for he could usually be relied upon to be the soft touch in her family, but he too shook his head, before turning back to his wife. "I'm going to apparate to Hogsmead. I'll send McGonnagal an owl ready. Look after Lily."
Ginny laughed. "Not going to happen. I'm coming with you."
Harry sighed. He knew how stubborn his wife was and there was little use arguing with her. "What about Lily?" He asked.
"I could come too." She said hopefully, but her parents ignored her.
"I'll talk to Ron and Hermione. Maybe they can look after her."
Ginny agreed that this was, for the time being, the best course of action.
Harry walked over to the fire and knelt in front of it. Taking a handful of floo powder, he threw it into the flames, saying his friend's address as he did so.
Ron Weasley was woken from his slumber by a noise downstairs.
"I swear, Hermione. If Hugo has snuck downstairs again to try and hide clothes for
Gumble again then I will kill him. Why on earth did you have to tell him about S.P.E.W in the first place? Do you not want a full night's sleep ever again?"
"Honestly Ron! I think it's good that he's so considerate. Not many young boys would care so much about another species."
Ron rolled his eyes. "He's definitely your bloody son!"
Hermione sighed, following her husband down the stairs.
When they got to the bottom, they looked into the living room, where Hugo sat in cross-legged fascination upon the floor, staring into the fire. When he heard his parents he turned around somewhat guiltily.
"Mom, Dad, Uncle Harry's in the fire."
His parents looked at him, before moving around so that they could see. Sure enough, there was Harry's head, in the fire.
"Hi," said Harry, somewhat sheepishly.
Ron scowled. "Do you know what time it is? I was in the middle of a really good dream about a couple of veela..."
Hermione raised an eyebrow
"...and this is really not the time!"
"I'm really sorry. I wouldn't have done it if it weren't important. Can we come over?"
Ron opened his mouth, but Hermione beat him to it. "Of course," she said.
A few minutes later, the six of them were stood in Ron and Hermione's kitchen. Hugo and Lily were sword-fighting with a couple of fake wands, as though they normally visited one another in the middle of the night. The adults, meanwhile, were discussing the situation.
"We were wondering if you could look after Lily for us while we head to Hogwarts?" Said Harry.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't be right ridiculous! We're coming too."
"But who's going to look after the children?"Harry asked.
"We'll be fine here," suggested Lily, but she was ignored.
"Ginny can," said Ron.
Ginny glared at him. "I'm going with Harry!" She said.
Harry sighed. "We don't have time for this,' he said. "Whatever's going to happen will happen soon, if it hasn't already."
"Are you sure this is real?"Asked Hermione. "You know these things aren't always real. And I thought you'd stopped having these visions."
"I had," said Harry. "My scar hasn't hurt since Voldemort died."
"Who's Voldemort?" Asked Lily. Being so young, she knew nothing of her father's past.
Her Mother shook her head. "When you're older, you'll find out,' she said.
Lily scolded. "I'm not a baby!" She said.
"No,"said Ginny seriously. "But you're not an adult either."
"What about Teddy?" Suggested Hermione timidly. "He's responsible and the kids adore him. He could look after them."
Half an hour later, a tall thin boy with shocking blue hair climbed out of the fireplace.
"Wotcher Lily," he said, as she ran over and hugged him. Hugo stood back a little and smiled shyly.
"Do the noses!" Begged Lily, giggling as his nose transformed into a huge beak. The adults looked at one another, taken back to a meal at Grimmauld Place, where his mother had amused the girls with the same trick. He was so like his parents; He had his father's quiet intelligence and his mother's vivacious personality.
"Thank you so much for this Teddy," said Ginny gratefully.
"That's okay, it's fine. I'm sure they won't be any trouble."
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Have you met my niece?" He asked. Lily was almost as mischievous as her brother James, much like her mother at her age.
"Ron!" Reprimanded Hermione. Lily, however, took no notice. She was too busy trying to switch Teddy's wand with one of the fake ones. He mother spotted this and bit back laughter as she told her off. She was a lot like her uncle's. Harry wasn't interested in this.
"Let's go," he said, somewhat impatiently.
The others nodded.
"Behave Lily."
"No setting the house elf free while we're out Hugo."
Then they stood together, waved farewell and disapparated.
