Chapter Two

Home with Daddy

"Are you sure you want to come live with me for the summer?" asked Harry, trying not to make his painful hope visible to his the daughter that he had discovered only eight months before.

"I'm sure," replied the little girl, plainly excited.

"Okay, then, let's go," Harry said.

"Urm, why are we leaving so early?" asked the sleepy redhead.

"It's not early, is it?" asked the father in surprise. "The sun will rise in just over an hour!"

"You're very strange," she said, her sparkling green eyes meeting his.

"You've wounded me!" Harry cried dramatically, bursting with joy when the girl giggled. That giggle decided him for certain. Harry was doing the right thing, no matter how much he had doubted that as he had written the others a note this morning.

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A blood-curdling scream woke the residents of Grimmauld place that morning. Stumbling half asleep to the pink bedroom that was covered with fairy tale scenes, several Weasleys, plus Lupin, Tonks and Hermione found Mrs Weasley clutching a bit of parchment in her hand, and looking very, very pale. "What's wrong, mum?" asked George thickly as Mr Weasley wrapped an arm around his wife.

"He took her!" she wailed.

"What?" asked Ron, "Who took who?"

"Harry! He took Lee away!" sobbed Mrs Weasley.

"Are you sure, Mrs Weasley? That doesn't sound like something Harry would do," Hermione said.

"He came to me last night, wanting to talk about moving Lee to his house for the summer. I refused to listen! Now Lee's gone!" sobbed the distraught Mother Weasley.

"Maybe Lee and Harry just went down for a walk or something," Ron offered, "Harry was always one for getting up early, and so is Lee."

"Yeah, we should wait a while to see if they come back before we do anything," Fred said.

"They left a note," Mrs Weasley said, offering the parchment envelope for some one else to read before turning to cry on her husband's shoulder.

"I'll read it," Lupin offered when no one else did.

'Dear Everyone,

Sorry to leave so abruptly. We are going to spend the summer in one of the houses I own abroad. We'll see you again before school starts in September. Don't worry about us, because we'll be fine.

Love,

Lee and Harry.

PS I'm sorry, but I felt we had to leave. Ginny wrote to Lily to say that she's coming for a visit and I think it would be best if Lily only had one suddenly reappearing parent to deal with at a time.

-Harry'

No one spoke, which was probably just as well, because they wouldn't have been heard over the sobs of Lee's grandmother.

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"It's so pretty here!" Lee exclaimed as she spun around, taking in the green growth of a tropical forest behind her and the impossibly blue waves that curled on the nearly white sand. Out of the corner of her eye, Lee caught sight of a little beach house, and gave a cry of joy. She ran towards it, and Harry followed behind, smiling at her delight.

"This is one of my favourite places on the whole planet," Harry explained, "I found this island a few years ago when I lost Voldemort's trail. I bought it soon after that."

"I'm glad you did," Lee replied, examining the lizard that was sunning itself on a rock by the house's door.

"Me, too, Lily." Harry gave a content sigh as he opened the door and gestured for his daughter to precede him inside. The little girl did, looking around in glee at the cozy home. The place wasn't fancy, but it didn't matter because the location was one of the most beautiful on earth. Lee investigated the kitchen, sitting room and the two small bedrooms. She quickly claimed the one painted a faint blue colour for herself. Harry was fine with taking the other one, though it was painted a more boring shade of beige, because it had a larger bed.

"Can we go swimming?" asked Lee excitedly.

"Can you swim?" asked Harry, not at all confident in his own ability.

"Yes! Uncle Charlie taught me to ages ago!" with that, Lee ran off to change into a swimsuit as Harry did the same, hoping she was a very strong swimmer, and non the less resolving to make sure she stayed quite close to the shore.

As the afternoon wore on, both Lee and Harry had immeasurable amounts of fun. They swam for nearly an hour before Harry made them a lunch of the girl's favourite jam sandwiches, then they explored the edge of the jungle behind their cozy cottage. And even though Harry had resolved never again to eat something cooked over a campfire again after returning from his long hunt to destroy Voldemort, Harry had made hamburgers over the fire for his daughter. After they had eaten supper, they roasted marshmallows, and then star gazed for a while.

Later that night, both Harry and his daughter had collapsed into a deep sleep and dreamed about the wonderful summer they were sure to have on their own island, far away from everything that could trouble them.

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Little did the pair sleeping half a world away know that at that very moment, their greatest source of trouble was arriving on the steps of the home where she fully anticipated finding her daughter after a four year absence. But that redheaded mother would have to wait before she could find her little girl. What would come to an even greater shock to her would be the fact that she wouldn't have to explain the things that she had come back to explain. Some one else had filled in most of the blanks for the ten-year-old girl nearly eight months before.

In fact, Ginny Weasley's inquisitive daughter only had one burning question left, one that Ginny wasn't sure she could answer.

Where the hell had her mother been all her life?