Title: Tragic Hero
Summary: Harry is forced to face the past when he discovers that the new Dark Lord is his son.
Grand Summary: Based on the Ginny challenges from fictionalley.org. Ginny and Harry brought Sirius back... but Ron's jealousy gets the best of him and it drives Ginny and Harry apart. While Ginny is forced to run away, Harry finds true happiness with another until a new Dark Lord rises... and blames Harry for the death of his Mother, a woman abandoned so many years before.
Ratings: PG-13; adult language, some adult content, etc.
Shippings: Harry/Ginny (obviously), Harry/OC, etc.
Beta-Reading: Alyson has kindly consented her time and energy for yet another one of my projects. I'll probably be taking on a second beta, especially one a little more intimate with Brit-picking and canon, because while I love my future sister-in-law to bits, we tend to think a lot of the same things and it could lead to a lacking story.
Author's Note: I really need to thank Lyndy for this plot bunny. Not only do I really not have the time to take on a new project of this magnitude, but, hey... I'm not intending for this to be all that long. But then again, that's what I said about The Slayer's Crusade... and it was, what, thirty five chapters? I'll put the limit here on 8 and see where fortune takes us.
One of the fantastic girls in the writing guild I write for wrote this awesome song... coincidentally, I borrowed the title for "Tragic Hero". It's technically for a songfic she's writing, but it would SO apply here. So, Charity, here is your special plug.
These chapters will likely be from a personal POV. Once you read into it, you'll see who it really is... maybe. I'll probably tell at the end. Maybe. If I feel like it. And anything in italics or 's is a flashback sequence. All flashbacks are in THIRD person.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of J.K. Rowling or Warner Brothers or anything else involved in the books or the films. Honestly. These characters won't be harmed... really.
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Chapter 1
In Darkness and In Doubt
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It was raining heavily as I glanced outside the fogged windows at the Hogs Head Inn. I pressed my hand to the glass and wiped awawy the mist, leaving traces of water and vapor. The glass was cold and my hand grew wet as I withdrew it and set it back on my lap.
I feel cold and clammy, as though I'm coming down with the flu. I really hope I'm not, since there is still so much for me to do.
I shift in my seat slightly, careful to hold the veil covering my head. If anyone knew that I was in this particular place at this very moment, my own life would be at risk. It was too dangerous now to risk this. Far too dangerous.
The Inn is crowded, as it always appears to be nowadays. It's almost wishful thinking to dream of a time where the only privacy within an establishment of this nature would be to hide beneath a table.
I glance at the drink held in my hand and breath in the scent. It smells faintly spicy, like a firewhiskey gone slightly grey. I know I shouldn't be so paranoid, but ever since a group of Ministry employees had been poisoned by their alcohol, I didn't want to take any chances.
I laugh bitterly. Here I am, in my age, as paranoid as Mad-Eye Moody himself. I jab at the ice in my drink with a cocktail spoon, ignoring the conversations around me. I don't want to be seen, not here and not now.
The events of the past few years are catching up with me, I fear. Ever since I left Hogwarts, my life has been on a wild ride from beginning to this very end. Before I have a chance to reminisce, a voice pulls me out of my darkest thoughts.
"Mr. Potter." It's Lucille, the barmaid. I tip her often and quite well, since my presence here is almost always necessary to make contacts with my associates. "I believe you have a Mr. Weasley searching for you."
I swallowed hard. This wasn't what I expected to be doing tonight. I had no intentions to talk to any Weasley. I just pressed my lips together and shook my head ever so slightly.
"But the man insists," the barmaid persisted. I wanted to shout at her, to throw anything at her. But I held my tongue and looked her in the eye. She hesitated a moment, before turning away. "As you wish."
"Wait," I said, my voice slightly croaky, as though I hadn't used it for a few days. "Which Weasley are you talking about?"
"He goes by the name Ron," Lucille replied, her voice crisp but reluctant. "He has been around here before, asking questions about the once-famous Harry Potter."
"Some fame I turned out," I spat angrily, slamming my glass on the table. "You might as well invite him over. The night isn't getting any younger."
Lucille gave me a quick smile before disappearing back into the crowds of people.
Ron Weasley. He had been one of my best friends once, before the dark times began. Once we'd left Hogwarts, Ron had gone off to become an Auror. I had decided my fortunes were best suited for Quidditch, an International Standard Wizarding game played on broomsticks. I had continued my career as long as I could before I retired from the sport. During this time, I had met another player who played for the Scottish National Team. Before I retired, we'd married.
It had been a happier time in a dim existence, I realized. She had been an anchor for all the guilt and pain I'd pushed away for so many years. I allowed myself to become a man. Our children were gifts beyond anything I could ever have dreamt. My eldest daughter was in her fourth year at Hogwarts and our twin sons had just started their first.
A year before my daughter ever started, there came some deeply disturbing news from the Ministry of Magic. While I had taken down Voldemort before, it was nothing compared to the newest Lord rising. Once again, I found myself the target of a deranged assassin and felt inadequate to place my family in any harm.
It was two months ago that I kissed my wife for the last time and walked out the front door.
It seemed like so long ago. But since then, I'd been running. I know he's been following me. It's just one of those things you feel, like breathing in the air that isn't safe.
I turned back to the firewhiskey and gulped down a satisfying bit.
Lucille returned a moment later with a very tall man by her side. "Your guest, Mr. Potter."
"Sit," I offered, gesturing toward an empty chair on the other side of the table.
Ron sat, looking slightly put out and even more confused than I dared believe he could be. Glancing at me, I shook my head slightly. Lucille glanced at the remainder of my drink, made a note on her pad and once again disappeared.
"So," I began, pressing my fingers together and gazing with apprehension into a face I recognized as a face from the past, "what brings you to Diagon Alley?"
"You do," Ron said bluntly. "The Ministry has been trying to track you down for three weeks now. Every time we get close, you give us the slip."
"It's the point," I said coldly, tipping the last of the drink into my mouth. As I swallowed, I could feel the anger inside of me reaching a boiling point. "That still doesn't answer my question. Why are you looking for me?"
"The Dark Lord has many allies," Ron said, running a hand through his unruly hair, a habit he'd picked up from Hogwarts. It showed he was particularly stressed and it was usually about Harry. "I know we've had a falling out since the last time we spoke --"
"I believe it was ten years ago," I replied, gazing at a spot over his right shoulder, as though struggling to remember. The truth was that I remembered that day exactly.
It was the day that Ginny Weasley's body had been found. Thrown, cast into a river, like a useless puppet from some underrated play.
I choked down my rage, my fingers tightening over the glass. "Do not tell me you have come to apologize," I said, my words poison. Ron looked as though he'd been slapped in the face.
"No, no," he said quickly, waving his hands. "I actually came to inform you that Sirius Black was attacked."
My hand dropped from the glass as a cooling sensation soothed the outright anger. "Is he-he all right?" I stammered.
"He'll be fine," Ron said, waving his hand aside. "But it comes to show that whoever this new mysterious Lord is, he's coming for you, and it's not just old-fashioned revenge anymore."
"I'm ready for him," I said, without the usual fire my voice held. It was almost disheartening to discover my godfather had been attacked. The anger came, but it was different. It was full of a deep sadness. I lifted my gaze just as Lucille appeared and deposited two firewhiskeys onto the table before rushing off again.
"Cheers," Ron said, lifting his drink.
"Ron," I began slowly, "I know that the past ten years have been unbearable..." It was too hard to continue. I wanted to apologize so badly for being the cold, ruthless bastard I'd been during a time in which the entire Weasley family was grieving for the loss of their only daughter.
"You loved her," Ron said, his eyes on his drink suddenly. He reached for his cocktail onion and sighed. "I knew you loved her, but I was so worried I was going to lose my best friend that I--"
My eyes snapped up, confusion filling my face. "What did you do?" I asked quietly, calmly. Getting angry now would only drive him away. And I'd done enough of that.
"I did it," Ron said, after struggling with his words a few moments. "I drove you two apart."
"No," I said, my voice bitter again. "She did it when she decided not to tell me that she was truly a Black."
"It wasn't her fault," Ron said, all pretense gone from his tone. "It really wasn't her fault."
"What are you talking about?" I growled. "Of course it was!"
"No!" Ron said, glancing up. I was surprised to see the distress on his face. "Don't you get it? Can't you see it? I drove you two apart!"
"What are you saying?" I asked in a dangerously calm voice. "Did you lie to me?"
"Ginny was never adopted," Ron admitted in a low voice.
Immediately, it began. The anger I had worked so hard to control was gathering again. I felt like I could explode at any minute but kept my gaze averted for fear that I would. I closed my eyes, counting hard. "What in blazes do you mean, Ginny was never adopted?" I demanded, my voice sharper than intended.
"Well, she was," Ron said, backpedaling. "She's the daughter of Narcissa Black and my father."
I slammed my hand angrily down on the table. The glasses rattled and for an instant, everyone in the Inn stopped talking and turned to stare. After fixing them with my fiercest glare, I turned back to Ron. "Now you have to tell me everything," I said hotly. "How in the hell did your Father get involved with Narcissa Black?"
"She was a good woman before she was corrupted by Lucius," Ron said, defending his Father's former lover with pride. "He was seduced, as easily as that. When Ginny was born, Lucius couldn't stand to have a Weasley hybrid being brought up in his immaculate Manor, so Narcissa told my Father to take her."
"I see," I replied quietly, crossing my arms, eager to hear the rest.
"When Lucius was put away in Azkaban after he confessed to being a Death Eater, well, Narcissa snapped. I know she did some awful things but it was, in part, the reason why Sirius came back to life."
"And no doubt it was the reason why Ginny was always strongly connected with the Malfoy dynasty," I muttered.
Ron nodded. "When my Mother died before the fall of Voldemort, my Dad told us everything. You know. You were there."
"I need to talk to you," Arthur Weasley said, turning to his only daughter, Ginny. She was seated on the couch next to her boyfriend, Harry. On her other side was her elder brother, Ron.
She stood up, defiantly. "If it's something about Mum, you should tell us all," she said, her voice bold.
"Sit down then," Arthur said quietly. "I want you all to know something that happened a long time ago, just after Ron was born. I was spending time in London away from my family and came across an old hovel I used to frequent in my own Hogwarts days. It was there I happened to meet an old girlfriend of mine, one by the name of Narcissa Black."
"Don't you mean Narcissa Malfoy?" Ron asked, astounded. Ginny shushed him loudly before turning her attention back to her Father.
"I should have told you this years ago," Arthur said, his voice suddenly weak, his face aging far beyond his years. "I wanted to wait for the right time, but it never came. I know your Mother has only been gone for a short amount of time, but I need to tell you this before it gets out and you hear it from the tabloids. I'm really not sure how to say it, so I'll just come out and say it. Molly wasn't your Mother."
Ginny's eyes rounded as she connected two and two. "Oh."
"Oh, my God!" Ron said, his face suddenly full of disgust as he turned to his Father. "After all I've hated the Malfoys, this really does it in for me!"
"Sit down, Ron," Ginny said, turning to her Father. "Are you telling me that my Mother wasn't a Weasley?"
"Your Mother is Narcissa Black," Arthur replied, collapsing in his chair, pulling off his hat with one hand. His eyes appeared dazed as he looked back up at her. "She asked if I would adopt you into my family because she knew the reprecussions of having a child out of wedlock with Lucius controlling the Malfoy dynasty."
"Oh, God," Ginny moaned, placing a hand over her mouth. "Why did you never tell me?"
"I didn't know how," Arthur replied as he set his hat down on his knee. "Molly never told you. She knew it wasn't her place to. But she loved you like a Mother should. She gave you everything you never would have gotten from Narcissa."
"Would you stop saying her name!" Ginny asked, her voice angry and tearful. "Don't talk to me like I'm sort of invalid. I know that you must be dying to hear all of this! You're so useful here with your pity and your lies!"
Harry's reaction was even worse than Ginny's. He looked far beyond stunned when he turned his own gaze to Arthur Weasley. "Is this the same woman that after her sister took my godfather's life sacrificed her unborn child to save him?" he asked, his voice soft, yet firm.
Arthur nodded, almost pleadingly. "You have got to believe me. I never meant to hurt any of you. In fact, I--"
"It's a little too late for that," Ginny said, a tear rolling over her chin, "don't you think? Father?"
"I recall something to that effect," I replied curtly, stirring my drink a bit before taking a sip.
"Ginny never trusted Father again," Ron said, his eyes on the table, as though he were being forced to relive that painful memory over and over again. "Do you remember what the papers said when he died?"
"It said he died from a broken heart," I said, recalling this. He averted his gaze and stared out at the rain for a moment. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Ginny was ashamed to be seen with the likes of the one about to bring about the downfall of the Dark Lord," Ron replied. "As far as I can tell, she never recovered from hearing the truth that she was not the birth daughter of my Mother. But Mum loved her more than anything. I only wish Ginny knew the truth when Mum was still alive."
"Then maybe they'd both be alive," I snorted into my drink. "Wouldn't you think?"
"Time has a funny way of playing tricks on you," Ron said, his eyes on the table again. "I lost my sister to time. I lost my Father to guilt. I lost my Mother to Voldemort. And I've lost my best friend to deception."
"Narcissa was an evil whore," I spat out. "No matter how your Father looks at it, Ginny would have always seen Arthur's betrayal of Molly to be nothing more than a selfish act created from spite. Arthur detests Lucius. Therefore Arthur felt it was in his best interest to seduce his own wife!"
"You know that's not true," Ron replied, turning back quickly. "I have done everything I can think of to clear my Father's name. I wanted to do so much more to preserve Ginny in memory. She is, after all, my half-sister."
"But you drove her away," I sneered. "You envied our happiness!"
"I did," Ron admitted. "I was jealous of you for so long that the thought of using Narcissa as a tool worked against you. I knew that if Narcissa suspected her daughter would be in any danger, she would act out."
"She killed all of those innocent people," I said between gritted teeth.
"She did it for her," Ron said weakly. "I don't know how and I'm certainly not going to tell you why."
I snorted again, dropping my fist onto the table. Whenever the subject of Ginny Weasley was brought up, I usually made it my business to look the other way. But I wasn't really looking forward to doing it this time. There was something different about the way Ron was acting.
"Even if you knew, you wouldn't," I said, trying my best to sound civil. "After all, we parted enemies."
"You married another woman!" Ron exclaimed. "You had your entire life set out before you. You had your three beautiful children and your perfect dream world and the like! Do you want me to tell you why I have loathed you so much in the past ten years? You didn't have the decency or the guts to show up for Ginny's funeral. You didn't care enough to be there! My sister loved you! She gave up everything she ever had to be with you!"
If this was a guilt trip, it was working magnificently. I dropped my eyes and stared at my drink for a moment, before I heard what sounded like my own voice whispering out, "You're right."
Ron glanced up, surprised. "I am?"
I nodded. My lower lip began to quiver. All of the pain and guilt I'd been holding onto for so long was starting to fade away. The perfect control was starting to shudder under the weight of what I'd done. "It would have been too hard to say goodbye," I finally said, using any excuse to justify my actions.
Ron didn't buy it. I never really expected him to. "You're a bastard, Harry. A cold, sick bastard. I hope you're happy knowing you had the perfect Quidditch whore, because that's all that she ever will be. A whore after your millions of galleons. Those three kids are just an illusion. It doesn't matter what's out there or what's trying to kill you. The point of the matter is, you're running away from it, again. Just like she did. And in the end, it'll rip you apart, Harry. It'll kill you."
"Like I haven't thought of that before," I sighed, running a hand along my unshaven face. "If I go back now, nothing would have changed. For all I know, my perfect existence is dead and the family along with it."
"This isn't just something you can wish away, Harry," Ron snapped. "This is something you have to change on your own."
From under the table, he brandished a small object wrapped in a red cloth. "I know it's probably one of the worst things I have ever done, but it makes me feel better knowing that it's in far superior hands than my own."
"Ron," I began, reaching for it.
"Don't bother," Ron said, sending a glare of deepest loathing in my direction. "If you can't be bothered to change the future, then I guess you really are dead."
As he left, I didn't bother calling him back. That little weasel had infuriated me for the last time. I took my drink and swallowed down the rest before slamming the glass on the table and signaling Lucille to bring me another.
The package sat in front of me, welcoming and beckoning. I leaned over and gently upwrapped it, finally holding up a delicate gold chain with a small instrument at the bottom.
So this is what all the cryptic clues were about, I wagered. As Lucille hurried over with my drink, I waved her off and stood up.
"Mr. Potter," she said in surprise, "leaving us so soon?"
I quickly tucked the chain and instrument inside my pocket and glancing longingly at the sheets of rain still pelting the windows. "I have something to take care of first, Luce," I said, bending over and kissing her cheek, all the while pressing two galleons into her hand. "Thank you."
"Anytime, sir," she called to my back as I pushed my way through the throngs of people and didn't stop until I was standing in the rain.
I was alone again, on a street corner where no one would recognize me. But I was armed with the truth. All I had to do was decide where to begin first.
My thoughts dwelled back on Ginny and the events which had led me to the Hogs Head Inn that very night.
And it was quite the interesting story indeed.
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My first attempt at darkfic. I hope you liked it.
If you want something fluffier, I have a new crossover in the BtVS/HP section. It'll be updated tomorrow, I promise.