The Tree and the River

James walked into his parent's house and Ginny was putting out dinner like it was any normal night. Like his dad hadn't gone into hiding. As if Lily and Imogen weren't missing and possibly in terrible danger. As if he hadn't been lied to by everyone in the family.

"How was the rest of your day?" Ginny asked him. "Did you find anything else out?"

"I found a lot out today," James said.

Ginny paused, holding a large bowl with salad in it, her eyes wide with hope.

"I found out that my entire family has been lying to me for… well, I still don't even know how long."

"James—"

"I found out that my younger brother signed a warrant for the arrest of my father—"

"Only because he was told to!"

"—and I'm still nowhere closer to finding my wife and have to work under secrecy to even investigate that properly!" Ginny set down the bowl and put her hands on her hips. "I mean, bloody hell! Am I just here to follow orders blindly?! Why did no one tell me about all this going on? If it was going to be an issue, why wasn't I told? I didn't need to work! I could have taken time off and done this without the department! Shit, Mum, haven't I proven myself to you and dad? What more do I have to do?"

James shook as he glared as his mother. Ginny looked unrepentantly back at him, eyebrows raised. "Are you quite finished?"

"Yeah, I'm finished," he growled and turned to leave the kitchen. Ginny reached out and grasped him firmly on the arm.

"If you'd like to sit down, I will explain," she said. It was an order—mother to son—not an invitation.

He pulled his arm from her hand and glowered at Ginny as he sat down. She turned to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of firewhisky. She set one in front of James and sat opposite him, filling her own plate with food.

"We never liked Atteberry, and he never liked us. Albus was the one who realized what Atteberry was doing," Ginny started. "As someone who looked over the syntax of the laws, he informed us what was there and how the details appeared to be working together. Your father has been discussing the matter with Hermione, but she couldn't just oppose every law that had clauses that could be used without Atteberry having leverage to dismiss her."

"So you've been planning for his arrest since when?"

"For about a year," Ginny replied. She started eating, but James hadn't touched any of the food. She set down her fork and started scooping food onto his plate. "We were hoping that we were just overly cautious, but considering what happened the last time… well, Fudge had already given us a taste of just how far someone desperate to keep their position would go. Your dad has been withdrawing funds, exchanging the galleons for muggle money and placing it into a muggle bank. Him and Hermione had planned where we could go, if it was needed. Originally, I would have gone with, but seeing as we still haven't found Imogen and Lily…"

"You were just going to leave?" James asked. "You wouldn't have even told me and Imogen you were leaving? What about Lily? Did she know?"

"No, Lily did not know. And we were working on many things, including how to tap into the floo network without detection. I don't know how close Hermione was to that, but we would have been in touch."

"Oh, great," James said, rolling his eyes.

"Look, James, we were doing the best we could," Ginny said. "They were all contingency plans as it was. And we limited the number of people who knew for the reason of exactly what happened today. What if you had known about everything when they took you into interrogation?"

"I wouldn't have told them," James spat at her, leaning forward.

"And what if they had decided to use veritaserum?" Ginny said.

James was quiet for a moment, thinking through this point. "It's illegal to use for interrogating anyone but the guilty party of an extreme case, and even then would have to be signed off by at least three senior council members."

"You think Atteberry is concerned with the rules?" Ginny countered. "Why do you think I don't know where you father is?" She teared up at this. James softened slightly.

"I thought you were lying about that," James said.

"No," Ginny replied. "Just like your dad said, I know where to find that information. I don't have it yet. It's the only way to get around veritaserum. If they didn't ask the right question, I could truthfully tell them I didn't know."

James nodded at this. He still didn't like it. He was still furious that he'd been kept completely in the dark. He'd been working with his dad for five months, now, and not even a hint that anything was amiss until Atteberry tried to talk to him about what he wanted the other day had come up. "What about Albus?" James said.

"I told you, he was acting under your dad's orders," Ginny said.

"I wouldn't have cared," James said. "I wouldn't have signed it."

"That's noble of you, but it's also the same reason we didn't know if it was a good idea to tell you."

James clenched his teeth, tempted to start yelling again. Ginny reached out, putting a hand over his.

"James," she said gently. "We have work to do. There is time enough to discuss these matters, but you and I have a job. Now eat. You look pale."

He picked up his fork and they ate in tense silence.

Saturday morning James woke up early and went into the kitchen. Ginny had already made them oatmeal and coffee, pulling the papers back out. As a precaution, they would stow everything in a box, deep in Ginny's closet so if Atteberry made Broker come back they wouldn't have anything with which to accuse James. He had wanted to quit, but Ginny insisted he not do that.

"The more people that can be trusted are still there, the less likely Atteberry can get his way," she told him.

James was starting to lose all motivation as the flow of information slowed yet again. Ginny's endurance and hope was beyond what he could have ever imagined. She worked with as much enthusiasm each hour of the day as she had the one before.

"Go get some sleep, James," Ginny told him after dinner Saturday. "The bags under your eyes are practically black."

"No," James replied. "And would you stop nagging me?"

His body betrayed him, though, agreeing with his mother rather than his own wishes. James's head had drooped into his arms over a layer of papers. In his dream, James was flying over London. He was trying to decipher the streets, knowing that somewhere down there was a tree near the Thames. Imogen was waiting under there. He just had to remember where it was.

"James," Ginny shook his arm. "James, do you hear that?"

He jerked awake. A strange sensation of falling back into his seat disoriented him for a moment as he tuned his ears. There was a rhythmic tapping.

James pulled out his wand, his mother having already done so. With a wave, the lights in the house went out. "Lumos," he whispered. They followed the tapping, which was coming from the living room. James pushed Ginny behind him. She scoffed and he hushed her.

Slowly he walked towards the window where the noise was coming from. The tap stopped and they both froze, waiting. There was a clicking above the house and they both looked up, then something ricocheting through the fireplace. James pointed his wand towards the base and held his arm out to cover Ginny.

Something little darted out, flying upward and around the room. Ginny let out a breath. "It's an owl," she said, waving her wand so the lights came back on.

The little black owl did a couple laps, then dropped down, letting a small envelope drop into Ginny's hands, then went in and up the fireplace, hitting the walls all the way up and out.

"From Dad?" James asked after she opened it.

Ginny didn't reply. She covered her mouth and turned it towards James.

Inside was a postcard sized advertisement. It was all written in German, but the tree is what caught James's attention. A large tree and a river, the water circling the trunk and flowing down the center of the card.

"Mum!"

"I know," she said breathlessly. "The back! Look at the back!"

James turned it around quickly. In Lily's loopy handwriting were the words "We're waiting."

"Make sure you have everything you might need," Ginny instructed. "I don't know when we'll be back here."

She didn't say it, but her torn expression as she looked around the living room said it for her: she didn't know if they'd be back at all. This was the house James grew up in, and he knew this wasn't easy for his mother, but they didn't have time for reminiscing and both of them knew it.

"I think I have everything," James said.

"You packed the baby blanket from Grandma Weasley?"

"The baby's not due for another month," James said. "Even if we find them, do we really—"

"Just bring it," Ginny said. "Please, just bring it."

James went back into his bedroom and fished through boxes for the baby quilt Grandma Weasley had given them two months ago, along with a few of the nicer baby clothes his mother had bought since they'd told her about the baby. James was struck by just how tiny the clothes were. He'd never quite noticed it before, but it put every nerve on edge. They needed to find Imogen. He needed to know she and the baby were alright.

He stuffed the last of those items to the bottom of his duffle and went back out to where Ginny was holding a frame with a family picture from five years before. "We need to have these done more often," she declared.

"Let's go, Mum," he said, pulling the frame gently from her hand.

Ginny nodded numbly and they both turned to go.

There wasn't a lot on the card they could read, but Ginny recognized the town of Kleinburg in the address. They decided to fly there, the hope of getting there before morning without drawing attention to themselves or apparating into a dangerous situation before they had the chance to find Imogen and Lily. James had already had half a pot of coffee to keep him alert for as long as possible and they started.

The night was clear and cool, both of them with a bag under their brooms and traveling cloaks on to keep them warm. They flew for a few hours before James couldn't force himself awake any longer, almost slipping off his broom twice. The second time, Ginny had dashed over, grabbing his arm and keeping them both steady. This scared James more than anything, knowing that if she wasn't a strong flier he could have killed her too. He finally relented to finding a forested area and sleeping, the two keeping watches until James had enough energy.

"If you'd been sleeping like you should have—"

"I know," James growled at the "I-told-you-so" being thrown at him when he complained that they wouldn't get there until midday now.

The rest of the trip went smoothly. Kleinburg was a wizarding village, surrounded by muggle farms along the countryside. Ginny and James went to an inn two blocks from the address on the postcard under the name of Hammer. They took their wands and a little money, walking the streets and trying to look as much like tourists as possible.

James's heart races as they saw the little shop at the address listed. Above the door was a line drawn logo of the tree and river. "That's it, Mum," he said.

"Shhh," she hushed him.

A quaint Open sign hung outside the door. Through the windows, James could see a slight, though tall, dark haired woman with a grim smile. Her eyes were small and beady. She was taking money from a customer and handing a jar over.

Over by the shelves was burly man, his head entirely bald, wearing an apron as he reached up to grab something for a small, old wizard, whose spine had obviously curled up on him.

Ginny grabbed James by the arm and pulled him along. "Mum, they're there!" James said.

She pulled him into a small alley. "You're an auror and you should know better than me that we can't just waltz in there," Ginny said. She started poking her wand at James's hair, his nose, his eyes… and he realized she was changing his appearance.

Ginny pulled something from her pocket. A small mirror. She turned her wand on herself, changing most of her features, going for the hair last. She touched it and most of it turned a dark brunette. She sighed. "Always," she said.

Many years before they had been in a situation where Ginny had to use the very limits of her magical capability. The energy it required left her with a block of white hair, from her hairline and two inches back. It had become so much a part of how he thought of his mother, James would think she looked odd without it. But even now the spells wouldn't change it.

"Just lean into it," James advised. He took a turn, tapping his wand to her head and the rest of her hair matched the front.

Ginny sighed. "I look so old."

"You look dignified," James said, looking around the corner, anxious to get into that building.

"That's my good boy," Ginny replied with a grin, putting the mirror away.

As it turned out, having Ginny look older wasn't a bad thing. As they went into the shop, they learned it was one that specialized in natural remedies for the elderly. Ginny hung on James's arm, playing the part of the older mother, despite her complaints in the alley. James lead her over to a side of the shop where she was looking through different jars and balms as he approached the man.

"My mum wanted to come see what this place was all about," he said. The man had a straight face and nodded. "Mind showing us around a bit? These shops here in Kleinburg are quaint. My mum keeps talking about it."

"Sorry, no tours," the man said. His accent wasn't German. There was something slight about it, his English was strong. He pronounced everything so sharply there was something off putting about it.

"I'm a businessman back home myself," James said. "I understand the need for secrecy, but I am curious—"

"No tours," the man said again. "Can I help you with something else?"

The offer wasn't friendly and it wasn't an invitation to stay and look around. "We'll just browse a bit, I think," James said, smiling at him. "Just thought this was a great little place."

"Thanks," the man said gruffly.

They wandered where they were able for a bit. "There's no stairs, but a second floor," Ginny whispered, pulling out a lotion to test.

"Maybe it's in the back," James suggested.

Ginny leaned in like she was looking at the bottles and gave a slight shrug.

Eventually Ginny handed him a tin of something and James paid for it. The woman didn't have the same smile she had given the customers before him, looking over to the man. "Is that your husband?" James asked.

"Yes," she said, her accent was Irish. "We run the shop together."

She handed James back his change and they walked back to their inn. James had given one look back on the shop. The man stood in the window, watching them.

"Nope, couldn't get anything," Ginny said, taking off the invisibility cloak after entering their room. In two days of reconnaissance they'd found one block after another.

First, they had tried to use a charm to reveal how much space actually existed. Second, they'd tried to find a set of stairs to the obvious second floor. And even now Ginny had decided to take the cloak and see if they couldn't get the layout by sneaking into one of the adjacent shops.

All of this pointed to one thing: protection by charms. There was something cloaking what was beyond the facade of the shop and it did nothing but amplify James's anxieties to know that.

"I was able to set up a surveillance, though," Ginny said. She walked over to the mirror of their room and tapped it. Their reflections changed to a large view of the shop. It was from the exterior, but with the large windows, they could see at least what the couple were up to.

"Great," James said. "We won't even have to leave here. Did you see any other associates?"

"No," Ginny said. "Still no one else."

"It makes no sense. If they're running a front operation, wouldn't we see someone come back in and out?"

"Maybe this isn't where they're actually keeping Imogen and Lily," Ginny said.

Just another thing James didn't want to hear. They went about the rest of their day and evening with nothing else to do but watch and wait, one or the other occasionally breaking the silence with a suggestion of what they could do next.

The next day, James sat with his feet propped up on the dresser in front of the mirror. Ginny went out and brought some hot sausages and bread back, the two of them watching together. James slept for a bit mid morning and Ginny took a turn early afternoon. They were just discussing what they might try next when something caught James's eye in the mirror.

"They're closing early," he said. The woman had turned the sign and they seemed to be kicking out the customers that were already inside. He leaned forward, focusing on the movement on the man and woman inside. He was talking with her, putting on a traveling cloak.

"They couldn't possibly afford to do that," Ginny said. "A small, local shop like that..."

"Unless there's a reason," James replied.

James and Ginny watched in silence. The man pulled out a wand turning off some of the lights and pointed towards the shelves behind the main counter. The shelves shifted.

"The stairs," Ginny gasped.

James tensed as the man disappeared, coming back several minutes later, leaned in to kiss his wife's cheek, then rushed out the front door. "Now's our chance," James said.

"What if there's someone—"

"We would know if there was anyone else," James argued. "This may be our only opportunity to get in there with only one person to guard! And now we know where they might be keeping them!"

Ginny looked uncertain. "If we go through the alley. In the back. Surprise her, perhaps," Ginny said.

James nodded as he stood, changing from the pajamas he'd worn all day. "We should be able to stun her and get to them easily enough," James said.

"James, will you be able to keep a level head," Ginny asked. It was more an accusation.

"Of course," he snapped. "Why are you going to start harping on me with that now?"

"Just... just make sure you don't leap before you look if we're going in there blind like this," Ginny said. "If this is our only shot, we can't lose our heads."

James wanted to snap back, but then has he looked over, his mother gripping her wand, he realized she was talking about herself as well. "Okay," James said. "We do this right."

They made their way out into the town and weaved well around the direct road where the shop front sat. James pressed back against the wall, Ginny following as he saw a witch bringing trash into the alleyway behind the row of shops. When she'd gone back inside, they moved again, counting shops until they were at the backdoor of the one they needed. James reached out to try the handle. It was locked. He tried a charm, which didn't work, and Ginny pulled something from her pocket and started picking the lock, carefully, the muggle way.

James slipped through the back door, Ginny following, keeping her wand pointed out into the alley. He moved between piles of boxes, easing towards the door between the back and the front of the shop. He edged next to the doorframe, cracking it open slightly. There was a woman at the door. He could see her through the window. She had dark hair, a slight and tall figure, and sharp features. "Closed!" she shouted at the person at the door. "We're closed today!"

She slammed the door and locked it, heading over to a bookcase behind the cashier's table to James's right. As she shuffled with objects on the shelves, James quietly entered, Ginny at his shoulder. His wand was pointed at the woman's shoulders, inches away. "Turn around slowly," he demanded quietly. The woman froze and turned, her eyes were wide as she raised her hands.

"Where are they?" James demanded.

As the woman's mouth opened, there was blood curdling scream from above them—a scream James recognized. The woman's eyes widened, turning and pushing down a little white statue on one of the shelves. The case shifted and James threw a curse. The woman was thrown sideways across the room, hitting the wall. When she didn't stand back up, he went to the case, forcing it open. Behind was a set of stairs. Imogen screamed again.

James took the steps two at a time, Ginny still not far behind. He turned left at the hallway at the top. He stopped. There was one door after another. He lit his wand to see better, then walked down, listening for voices inside. "I want James," Imogen cried out.

For no apparent reason, the entire hallway shrunk around them. James stepped back, looking around them, expecting the ground to drop out from under them, or to be enclosed. Instead, the number of doors disappeared down to three. James could hear movement behind the one on his right.

"Not yet, please not yet," Imogen pleaded, her voice muffled by the door. James stood just outside, restraining himself from bursting through, looking to his mother to make sure she was ready.

Ginny nodded. James threw the door open, both of them holding their wands out. The room was sparse. White washed walls with one small window opposite him high up. There was a soft mattress on the floor, no bed to speak of. Lily was looking at him, pale with eyes wide and worried. James froze. Lily was at one end of the mattress where Imogen sat, her legs on either side of Lily, a blanket covering Imogen's lower half. Imogen was breathing heavily, teeth gritted as she groaned in pain holding her stomach. Ginny pushed James aside, running in, kneeling beside Lily.

"Mum," Lily choked out the cry. "The healer… the healer is being fetched, but her water broke. I don't know what to do!"

James came to himself. He rushed in, stowing his wand and sitting behind Imogen, pulling her body into him, supporting her. She gripped his hand tightly, turning her head into his chest. "It hurts, James," she cried.

"I know, Gen." He held her close, helping her until the tension broke. "We have to get out of here," James said.

Lily looked over, confused. "Are you mad? We can't leave. Imogen's about to have your baby!"

"We have to get somewhere safe first," James said.

"This is where we came to be safe," Lily said. "Imogen knows the shopkeepers from one of the Gypsy clans. They've been keeping us hidden while we were waiting for you to figure out where we were. Carl went to bring back a healer he knows in the next town over, but it's all happened so fast."

James and Ginny exchanged a glance. He wondered if the woman below was alright. Before he could say anything, Imogen's body tensed again and she screamed in pain. "What's wrong, Mum?" he asked, reciprocating the grip of Imogen's hand.

"Nothing's wrong," Ginny said calmly. "Someone is just impatient to get out. Lily, we need some warm water and fresh linens."

Lily nodded, running out the door.

"It's too soon," Imogen said. She was panicked, shaking her head. "It's too soon, he can't come yet."

"He doesn't know it's too soon, love. Babies come on their schedule, not ours," Ginny said. She was doing some sort of spell, setting Imogen's feet up so they appeared to be pressing against something in midair. "You need to stop resisting."

"I can't, I can't do it," she muttered, crying into James.

He let go of one of Imogen's hands, pushing back the hair, wet with sweat, from her face. He leaned around and kissed her forehead. "You can," James said. "You are the bravest, strongest person I know." He wished he had some of that bravery now. Imogen's words struck him hard and somewhere in the back of the mind he wondered… wondered if he had found her just in time to lose her. To lose everything. He looked into her eyes. She shook her head, tears pouring down her face. He leaned in to kiss her as he never had before. Their lips moved against one another, fighting to be closer until Imogen pulled back screaming again.

"No... no, no, no," she cried.

Ginny reached up, putting a hand on Imogen's cheek. "James did this same thing to me, sweetheart. Your baby boy just wants to see you," she said. "It's not too soon. The baby will be fine. You'll be fine. Just push." She patted Imogen's cheek again and Imogen nodded.

James wrapped himself around Imogen from behind, propping her up and holding her steady. "Come on, Imogen, come on," James whispered in her ear. "You can do this. We can… we can do this."

Lily came back into the room with towels and blankets. The woman from downstairs followed, levitating a bowl of water in front of her. Somewhere in the back of James's mind he knew he needed to apologize, but he was busy whispering encouragements into Imogen's ear, holding to her like she might float away if he weren't careful. The woman, to her credit, seemed more concerned about Imogen in the moment as well.

"That's my girl! Once more, sweetheart," Ginny said loudly.

Imogen gritted her teeth and growled out as she pushed, crushing James's hand in hers. He gripped back, pressing his lips against her neck, closing his eyes until Imogen fell back into him, panting in exhaustion.

James looked up. His mother was holding a tiny body, covered in blood and something white and sticky. James held his breath. Ginny pulled the baby into her and James couldn't see what was happening. The minutes seemed to drag as James's heart pounded frantically. Then a baby's cry filled the room and tears filled James's eyes.

His son was alive.