March 4, 2008

Puddletown, UK

The air was still. Not so much as a draft of wind meandered through the sizable home as the cold of the early morning swept about outside. Like the calm before a storm everything was as peaceful as it should've been at this time of night. Everything was as it should've been, except for the soft glow being emitted from the small form making its way up the rich deep red carpet lining a tastefully decorated stairway. This form moved through the air as if it didn't exist, as if no small particles were being at all disrupted by is presence. The form hopped its way through the hallway at the top of the stairs until it stopped determinedly outside one of the doors on the left, and stepped through.

A red-haired woman inhaled deeply as she began to be pulled from her restful sleep by a soft silver light. The light was almost faint enough to entice her to go back into a deep slumber, until the light started to become brighter and brighter. She repositioned herself on her side and blearily opened her eyes to discover what had pulled her out of her dreams. Her eyes hastily widened as she stared at the silver, glowing hare staring back at her. She heard a faint whisper of a voice, just barely audible, come from the hare.

"We need to talk. Floo my safe house immediately. Think of the Whangdoodles"

She gingerly slid her legs out from under the covers, careful not to wake her peacefully sleeping husband beside her. She walked into her closet and proceeded to quickly put on the best fitting business attire she could find. One of the worst things about being eight and a half months pregnant was finding proper fitting clothes. However she managed to find a rather nice blue outfit she had worn during her last pregnancy. After all, one does not simply have a conversation with the owner of the most widely distributed newspaper in the wizarding world, your boss, in your sleep wear, even if she is one of your oldest friends.

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Harry woke to the light of the sun shining through his eyes. With a weary groan he threw his pillow over his head and attempted to fall within the grips of his sleep once more, but it was of no use. He was already up. With a sigh he sat up and looked over to his left. He saw nothing but an indent in the bed and the ruffled edges of the covers forced toward the middle of the bed. Ginny must have already woken; she always was an early riser. It was probably a force of habit left over from her rigorous training with the Holyhead Harpies.

Harry threw his legs over the side of the bed and grabbed his wand from the bedside table.

"Tempus." He murmured. A dense mist showered out of his wand and regrouped to form the image 6:40 AM.

Harry took a deep breath as he walked over the closet, running his hand through his already messy hair the whole way. It was a wonder he hadn't started to go bald. He searched for a ratty old T-shirt he liked to wear when he had nowhere to be for a while. He finally found the navy blue shirt with two crossed golden bulrushes embroidered just above the left breast. It was his favorite shirt. It was the first Puddlemere United shirt he had ever bought at the first post war Quidditch game he had ever attended. The team would probably be giving him strange looks if they knew of his fondness for the piece of clothing.

After all, the owner of the team was more than entitled to any piece of merchandise from the successful franchise. He smirked to himself as that thought ran through his head. Buying Puddlemere was likely one of the best things he bought for himself. He loved being involved in every little detail of running his favorite team and was responsible for the four year old dynasty Puddlemere built up in the British and Irish Quidditch League.

Harry walked out of his room and down the hallway. He walked a few doors down and slowly creaked open the door to his left. He spotted his nine year old son Teddy sleeping peacefully in his very tidy room. Teddy was very similar to his Aunt Hermione in both his wit and his orderliness. Teddy was very mature for a nine year old boy, but that tends to happen when your history makes it hard to find relatable friends your own age. Even as the ministry began to reform its ways after the war society was still very slow to change. Harry knew that was a process that would take time. Harry knew the best thing he could do for Teddy was give him the advice he needed to face the prejudice of others head on and make sure he was proud of himself and where he came from. He and Ginny had several talks with Teddy about Remus and Tonks. He told him all about the things they fought for and the bravery they had. He made it a point to ensure that Teddy was never ashamed of his heritage.

He silently closed the door as he walked across the hall to check on the other room. The door opened to a room scattered with enchanted trinkets and toys scattered all around the floor. A full sized bed decorated like a castle lay in the corner with his five year old son, James, resting on top of it. He maneuvered his way across the maze of toys, intent on having James pick up after himself rather than just using magic to fix up the room. He peered over the crib and found his two year old son, Albus Severus Potter, moving fitfully as he slept with the blankets strewn off him. He quietly repositioned the blankets over Albus and whispered, "Shhh-shh-shh," running his hand over his hair as he leaned over and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Daddy?" a small voice uttered from behind him.

Harry turned around and greeted his son with a smile as he motioned his index finger over his lips, "Shhh, your brother is asleep." He moved over and picked James up as he was furiously rubbing his eyes with his small hands. "Good morning, kiddo." He whispered softly, carrying James with one arm as he walked them out of the room.

He moved his son's hands from his face, "Stop doing that, you're going to rub your eyes completely away. Now, what would you like for breakfast?"

James shrugged noncommittally as they walked down the stairs. "I dunno," he replied.

"How about I make you your favorite?" Harry stated.

James eyes widened, "Chocolate chip pancakes?"

"You bet buddy, let's go sit you on the counter and watch how your old man makes the best pancakes in the world" Harry happily replied as he walked them into the kitchen. James had a wide grin on his face as Harry plopped him down on the counter. At that moment, his very pregnant, very formally dressed wife walked into the kitchen.

Harry went over and gave her a good morning kiss. She grimaced a little bit but gave him a comforting smile. "Morning breath, honey," she said as she walked over to James and gave him big kisses on both of his cheeks.

"Ewe mom, gross" James whined as he wiped his hands on his cheeks.

"Ahh, I suppose I forgot about that. Tersus Os." He used the mouth cleaning spell as he resumed getting out ingredients for the pancake batter.

"So, what's the occasion?" Harry asked as he mixed together the flour, milk, and eggs. Ginny grew an anxious look on her face. Harry, only hearing silence, glanced over and saw his wife's expression. She was biting her lip and staring at him, as if she was struggling to come up with the words to say. Harry waved his wand to mix the batter and handed James the bag of chocolate chips to pour in as the batter turned.

He got up close to Ginny and cupped her face with his left hand as intertwined his other hand with her's. He stared into her eyes for a moment with a concerned look before asking, "Love, what's wrong?" Dreading that the answer would be something awful, Harry braced himself to hear what she was going to say.

"I saw Luna this morning, she came over by floo." Ginny muttered.

"…and," Harry prodded hesitantly.

"Do you remember the Davies case?"

"Of course, it was my first big case. Has something happened to Davies?" Ginny led him over the breakfast table.

"Honey, I need you to sit down"

Harry stiffened, "Ginny, what happened?"

"Harry please, sit down."

Harry was rigid at this point, "Ginny, tell me what happened!" he whispered urgently.

"Harry! It is not the time for you to be stubborn right now. Okay, honey? You're going to want to sit down when you hear this." Her firm tone indicated that she would accept nothing less.

Harry sat down slowly in the chair, all of his attention on the words about to be released from his wife's mouth. He took a deep breath. He knew that this, whatever this was, was very serious. Ginny had never seemed this tense before, about any of the things that they had faced after the war.

She spoke slowly, "The reason Luna called is…" she struggled over the words, "There is a source that came forward with new information about the Davies case. He was… This was verified under Veritaserum. He claims that Davies was innocent. He says that he was framed."

Harry's expression went hard. "Honey, in as long as you have known me, when have you ever known me to do the wrong thing?" he spoke tersely.

"Never, but Harry, this isn't about you. Davies might be…"

"NO!" Harry shouted as several items in the room shook. He then glanced at James, who was staring wide eyed at them, and lowered his voice to a stern whisper. "I don't want to hear it! I am the Head of the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic! I put Davies in jail because I was sure he was not innocent! I do not…put…innocent…people…in…Azkaban! For you to even think that I… after Sirius…"

"Let me stop you right there," Ginny whispered furiously. She had an angry glint in her eyes, "You need to think about what you are saying right now. You are my husband! I am on your side!" Ginny took a deep breath to calm down. "I understand that this is difficult for you to hear, but it does not give you the right to take it out on me or in front of our son. I am telling you this because your problems are my problems and vice versa. That's the deal we made remember. We need to face this together and you getting angry at me is not going to make this go away." Ginny stared hard into his eyes.

Harry stared at her for what seemed like an eternity and finally backed down. His posture became calmer and he became more focused.

"You're sure this source is credible… that he is not lying." Harry spoke slowly.

"I'm positive, he was questioned by Luna." She stated firmly.

Harry frowned, "I want to know who he is. I want to talk to him."

"And I will tell you, just promise me you won't do anything rash." She said in a concerned tone.

Harry sighed and looked at her again. "Ginny, you know me. I care much more about justice than my own personal pride. I just want the full truth."

"His name is Henry Shaw; you can find him at Luna's safe house. Luna promised she would hold off on any story until you talked to him. The password for the floo is Julie Andrews."

"Get the kids ready to visit George and Angelina for a few days. I want you to do whatever you can to stop the press from releasing this story until I am done investigating. Will you do that for me?" Harry asked.

Ginny leaned in close to his face and hovered there, taking in the closeness. She kissed him softly on the lips and pulled back after a few seconds, "We're in this together, right?"

Harry smiled lovingly, "Never doubt it." He leaned his head back in for a ginger kiss. "I love you."

His smile turned grim as he got up. He headed upstairs to change as Ginny went over to the griddle and started pouring out the pancake batter.

"Mommy?" James asked.

"Yes, baby?" she muttered distractedly.

"Why is daddy so mad?" Ginny paused, placed her hand on her son's shoulder, and lowered herself down to his eye level

"Your daddy is mad because he is a good person, and when a good person sees bad things happen they can never feel truly happy until something is done to make that bad thing right."