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A/N: Hello again! YEY! More reviews! Thank you for so ever being nice to click that Go button under the page! Thank you for the effort and willingness to review! And thank you for answering the poll!
The last part of the chapter is a little… sappy, so if you don't want sappy stuff, you could just skip it. It's the gift for the sappy H/L lovers. Teehee! (and if you want to read Ginny suffer...)
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Chapter 9
At The Manor
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Albus stared at the window at the second floor of Wiltshire Manor. Was it just him, or was there someone staring down at him? He squint his eyes, as if focusing through the rimmed lenses of his glasses; no one was there. Albus shrugged; it might just be a trick played on his mind. It was kind of hot at the moment, especially with a red sun… red sun?!
BAM!
Something hit Albus on the face; the impact of the hit wasn't that much, but it did send him a little off balance, and darkness prevailed…
"I can't see!" he exclaimed, a tone of panic in his voice, "I can't SEE! I CAN'T SEE!"
"Not again!" Scorpius' unmistakable voice boomed.
Albus had no idea what was happening to his surrounding, moreover on how he was going to use the broom—he was almost fifty feet from the ground! His hands were starting to shake, and panic was starting to flood him twice as fast.
"Scorpius?" asked Albus, his voice shaking, "Diana? Rose?"
A soothing and seemingly light voice calmed his stirring heart, "Don't worry… we're here…"
He felt a soft hand intertwining with his own, right after those words; he then felt more hands touching him everywhere, as if they were leading him somewhere. Air played with his cheeks, slowly cooling it. His feet finally touched the ground; he immediately jumped from the Numbus Two Thousand and One, slumped on the hard ground. He felt something feathery drape on his shoulders. He jumped.
"Don't worry, it's only a towel." A rather familiar voice said. Albus dug on his mind where and from whom he heard that voice.
"Are you alright?" Scorpius' voice whispered. Albus nodded his head, at least he thought so. Something in his head clicked, and then he remembered whose voice it was. It was from Scorpius's mother, Stellar.
"Why do you end up always injured?" a tired and annoyed voice said, it was probably from Rose.
"I dunno." Said Albus, his eyes still not normal, "Maybe I've got some inherited bad luck—"
"Bad luck does not exist." It was almost the same as the mysterious voice he had heard earlier, except for the fact that Albus immediately recognized this voice as Diana's. "Bad is perverted—" Perverted?! "—it is the distortion of good." Ahh… "Therefore, bad does not exist without the good."
"Very well said!" exclaimed Stellar, "As expected from a Ravenclaw, I suppose?" Albus thought he heard a giggle.
"You'll be fine. It's just a minor concussion." The gentle voice he previously heard when he was on broom said. He felt his heart skip a beat when he heard it, and he couldn't understand why. For a fleeting moment, he thought he felt a warm hand touch his own faintly. And then it was gone. Albus, with his free hand, held the hand that was touched. It was warm… very warm…
"Try to open your eyes now."
"Isn't it open already?" asked Albus. Someone hit him on the back of his head, he heard Rose say, "Then she wouldn't have told you to open it!"
"Well, you can't see anything if you're in the dark, no matter how you open your eyes wide!" snapped Albus.
"Quit arguing you cousins!" he heard Scropius say, and Albus could swear to the Heavens that he snarled.
Another hand, Albus felt a shiver run down his spine (probably because of the surprise), held his free hand, and he was sure it was Diana's voice he heard, "Open your eyes, Albus." Albus trusted her, and he did.
Light flooded his eyes, so he squinted at first; when his eyes had already adjusted with the sight, he saw Diana, her pale eyes wide as ever stare at him. He almost jumped; it wasn't because he saw her, but rather, because she was so close to his face. Too close for comfort. It was odd, because when Scorpius was that close, he was embarrassed because, well, Scorpius was a guy after all, but now he couldn't understand why he was jumpy.
"Is Mister Albbie Sevvie okay now?" a small voice squeaked. Albus whipped his head to see who it was. He had seen her before.
"Oh, you're Scorpius' sister, right?" asked Albus, suddenly remembering her. The little girl nodded vigorously, she then ran to her mother's side and grabbed a fit of her clothes. Albus titled his head sideways, not understanding the odd reaction of the girl.
Albus swiveled his head to look at his friends' faces: Diana titled her head sideward, Rose raised a brow, and to his horror, Scorpius was smirking.
"W-Why are you smirking?!" he pointed a finger at his blonde friend. Scorpius only widened his smirk, as if he knew something that Albus didn't.
"Ooh, nothing." Scorpius simpered. Albus was appalled. There was something fishy… Albus watched Scorpius as he strutted back to the manor as a fresh red vein popped on his forehead. He turned to Rose, who shrugged. And then to Diana, who merely stared at him.
Why did he suddenly had the idea that everyone was playing on him? Albus thought this as Scorpius' sister waddled her way to the manor, just like everyone else.
"Now they left you here!" exclaimed Stellar, who was the only person aside from Albus who was left behind. She held out a hand for Albus to grab; albeit reluctantly, the boy held on to the woman.
Albus dusted off his pants and took the broom that he borrowed; Stellar had already walked some paces, so Albus had to jog to catch up to her. She was really graceful when she was walking, and the air seemed to glide around her body.
"Uh… Mrs. Malfoy—"
"Call me Auntie Stellar." A smile graced her lips, "What is it, Albus?"
"Well… I was wondering…" should he ask her about the person he had seen in one of the rooms, or should he ask her about Scorpius…
"Hm. I'd prefer to answer the first one." She suddenly said, as if reading Albus' mind. Flabbergasted, Albus seemed to have forgotten to reattach his detached jaw to his skull.
"H-how…"
"Hn?" she looked at him. And then she laughed, "Silly boy. Since you have a question, there's a main question, or there must at least be a starting question." Albus was perplexed, why, why, why was she talking like that?!
"Well…" he stammered as he recovered from the shock, they were now walking together back to the manor, he fiddled with his fingers, "I was wondering… who… is there anyone else… in the manor aside from… your family?"
Stellar stopped at her tracks, "Why'd you ask?"
"I—" he panicked. What if there was some kind of occult in this place?!
Stellar cupped his face and lifted it, he could see her blue orbs staring at him. He gulped, "You seem to be tense. I was just asking why you asked." She let go of his chin and stuck her tongue out. Albus was bowled over by Stellar, he didn't know what to say. It was either she was nice, creepy, or incredibly insane: at the moment, she was at the "incredibly insane" category.
"So, why did you ask?" she asked him again, now rather more of a passing than something serious.
Albus relaxed his shoulders, "I… I saw someone staring… from the second floor…" should he tell her…
"Hm… and?"
"Well… there was someone else up there with me… when I lost my sight… and there was a very… a very warm hand that held mine…" he cradled the touched hand before his chest.
"Pfft!" he immediately looked up. A raging blush covered his face as the older woman laughed her heart out; Albus could swear that if they were inside the manor, she would be rolling on the floor, laughing her ass off.
"W-why are you laughing?!" he pointed an accusing finger at Scorpius' mother, who didn't seem to be fazed by his anger.
"Ha ha… sorry!" she raised her hand on the air, not looking at him. "You… you… are you some kind of… gay or something?!" She seemed like she was trying to keep herself from laughing, albeit very badly. Albus felt the words pierce and chop his heart.
"No! And I was being serious!" he retorted defensively. Stellar grinned at him, "Oh I'm sorry… it was just… you look really feminine earlier! With all that hand touching thing! It was hilarious!"
Albus wasn't sure if he wanted to curse her for being tactless, or should he be happy that she was incredibly open.
"If Mrs. Stellar doesn't want to answer, it's fine." Albus suddenly blurt out, a fresh vein popping from his young forehead. Just as he stomped off, Stellar replied.
"Luna Lovegood."
Albus stopped and looked back at the older woman; she had her arms crossed, Albus gave her a bewildering look, seeing that he wasn't Luna Lovegood, "What?"
"Luna Lovegood." Stellar repeated, "You were asking who was the person at the second floor of the manor, right?"
"Oh… I see…" he said, "She's Diana's mother?"
"Obviously. But she doesn't feel well these days, so she had to stay inside." She said, looking at the manor. She started walking again, and was already past Albus.
"Why don't we see her then?" he asked, as he started walking too. "We've been in the manor for a week already, why haven't we seen her?"
"Such an inquiring child, you should be in Ravenclaw, you know." She replied, more of an offhand comment, "You've been busy playing and chatting and eating and sleeping that you barely notice anything aside from things you understand and things you want to understand. Nothing new."
"…"
"She's a fine lady, Miss Luna Lovegood." She clapped her hands, "A fine naturalist! She's my inspiration and my love!"
"EH?!" Albus' jaws dropped again.
"Oh, yeah, you don't speak of things like that…" she just stared at him and continued on walking, "… what I meant was that… hmmm… how do I say that without it being looked like we're lovers—" Albus now understood why Scorpius was a little distant from his mother. She was downright crazy. "—hmm… she's like an older sister, that's it!" she exclaimed.
"Older sister?"
"Yeah!" she said, "You see, Miss Luna is a fellow Ravenclaw of mine, although she's like six years older than I am. When I was starting my job as a naturalist, she was the one who helped me. It was really fun working with her!" Stellar smiled, she looked very happy.
"…"
"Well, I've already answered your first question, anything else?" she asked, they were finally approaching the manor. Scorpius was waiting there.
Somehow, Albus was torn whether he was going to ask about Scorpius or not. It was going to be very insensitive of him to suddenly ask her of how was her relationship with Scorpius or anything related to both Scorpius and his mother.
"Nope. There's nothing else I'd like to ask, Auntie Stellar." He replied with a small smile, feeling the weight in his stomach. Stellar brightened.
"SO ADORABLE!" she exclaimed as she basically threw herself on the boy and gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek. Scorpius was practically speechless.
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"So you know Ms. Lovegood?" asked Albus. He was in Scorpius' room. It was spacey, and had lots of stuff. Green and black wallpapers (as Albus thought they were) covered the walls, a big grand window showed a very nice view of what was beyond the graveled Wiltshire Manor, there was a small terrace outside. White sheets of lace curtains billowed as the feeble wind entered the room, passing through a racing broom, a pile of robes, some books and what seemed to be lots of empty vials. Potion was Scorpius' favorite subject, despite Professor Slughorn not inviting him as part of the Slug Club.
"Hn?" Scorpius grunted, "Ms. Lovegood…? You mean Aunt Luna? Of course I know her." he said, "She lived here since… hmm… can't remember, but it's been a long time. Why'd you ask?"
"Nothing."
"Idiot. You don't ask things randomly—"
"Diana does."
"You're not Diana. You're Albus Severus 'I-have-a-bad-name-disease' Potter, let me remind you of that one teeny weensy difference." Scorpius replied, he was now kicking some of his stuff out of the way as he brought some books with him, "Get out of the way, Albus, you'll be hit."
Scorpius landed the books right before where Albus was sitting on, "You know what these are, right?" asked Scorpius as he began to open the books.
Moving pictures were waving and laughing in the frames, numerable people that Albus had seen before and otherwise seemed to be happy in their smiles.
"A picture book?" said Albus, more of waiting for confirmation rather than asking a question. Scorpius nodded as he flipped some pages, he seemed to be looking for something.
"You want to know how Aunt Luna looked like before?" asked Scorpius. Albus looked up at him, they were only some inches apart.
"Doesn't Diana look like her?" asked Albus.
"Well," Scorpius shifted some more pages, "—they do resemble each other, but they do have differences… ah! Found it!" Scorpius practically shoved the book on Albus' face, making him stumble. Albus cursed at Scorpius and his gaze went to the single woman on the page.
Scorpius was right, Diana did resemble her, but this woman… Ms. Lovegood had those wide pale eyes that Diana had, but hers were more mystifying, more reflective, and her smile… was that of what his father called 'Mona Lisa smile'. A smile so mysterious in a picture that he couldn't quite decipher what she was thinking. Wild radishes dangled from her ears, and a single sunflower accessorized her long straggly dirty-blonde hair which was tied in a rather messy braid. Her cheeks were a little different too…
Albus traced the woman's features, he felt like he was seeing someone he knew before, his heart was beating fast as he surveyed her form. It was like meeting a person he cared for very much once again after such a long time… Albus suddenly found his self memorizing every aspect of the picture: how she stood, how her hands seemed to be graciously limp, how her eyes wandered, how the radishes swung wildly, and how gentle and kind her visage was…
He felt glad and gracious that Scorpius had let him see the picture. Somehow, deep in Albus' being, it was like… he was reunited with someone he cared so much, but at the same time, it was something he wasn't sure about…
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Harry Potter cannot sleep. His mind wandered to James, the first born child of Ginny Weasley and his son, Albus Severus. Summer wasn't going to be the same as it was twenty years ago, or fifteen years ago, or ten years ago… it seemed ages, but the kids were absent for only three days. Was this how parents felt when they don't exactly know where their children were during vacations? Sure he felt rather, well, safe when they were at Hogwarts: with Professor McGonagall as the head mistress, he couldn't exactly see a reason why he shouldn't.
Not that he trusted Neville: he was worried of what James would do to Neville's greenhouse and make Dungbombs explode there as his thought of joke. He would rather not imagine Neville's grandmother, Augusta, not letting James slip off from his jokes, like what he, Harry, has been doing.
Speaking of which… they had been receiving complaints from Hogwarts caretaker, Filch, of his son's mischief and number of offenses made…
But wasn't he doing it because he didn't want them to experience anything that was equivalent to his horrible childhood at the Dursleys: he doesn't want to keep James from doing what he wanted, it would be deprivation; he doesn't want to keep Albus from going to his friend's house, it would be deprivation too; he doesn't want to keep Ginny from telling those ridiculous stories of princes and princesses and their happily ever after, their "all is well", their ridiculous unrealistic endings, to Lily because it would ruin her childhood to know about real life—wait, wasn't that exactly how Professor Dumbledore treated him? Harry couldn't help but smile and feel disgusted at the same time. Just the same as Dumbledore.
Harry shook his self from the thought, and tried to focus on other things… for the past few years of him living as the head of the Potter family, he could not help to think of the "what ifs"… what if he did not marry Ginny immediately? What if he married another person? What if he wasn't the father of James, or Albus, or Lily—what was he thinking?! Wasn't the records enough—but it could be manipulated!
Harry smacked his face with the palm of his right hand; why was he thinking of infidelities and such?! Couldn't he trust Ginny for once?
He rolled sideways and stared at the family picture on the desk beside his bed; he gazed heavily at the picture of his family: it was taken right before Albus went to Hogwarts for his first term. There Harry was standing on the back, holding his son's hand with his; Ginny sat on the chair, with Lily on her lap and James was also standing beside her.
How seemingly happy they were, and how fake the smiles he and Ginny had. He and Ginny hadn't been sleeping in the same room for five years already. They couldn't agree on anything, except probably when it came to their kids, or worse, sex. In those five years, he found his self wondering how things became like this, in those five years, his mind wandered helplessly, wondering why did he marry Ginny, when the woman he really loved, truly and wholly—Hermione and Ron knew about it—was hurt because of him and his stupid choices.
How stupid he was, and now, he couldn't find her and ask for apology.
Luna Lovegood.
The most eccentric woman he had ever met, and yet, she was the person who understood him most.
The person who had never failed to make him smile, the person who managed to stay calm and serene despite of all the things that had happened to her, the person who had touched his life more than once, in the most amazing ways and times.
Harry couldn't believe how stupid he was, how he took her for granted, and now she's gone… gone… and now because of his stupid choices he could never thank her of all the things she had done for him and not asking something for return, he could never hold her warm hand, he could never embrace her and make her feel that she and their relationship meant a lot to him, he could never whisper in her radish-dangled ears the words that he had never once told her for he wanted to say those three words the day he would propose to her… a day that never came, and much to his disappointment, will never come…
Harry felt tears stinging his eyes as he thought bitterly of how many things he wanted to tell Luna, of how many Snorkacks he wanted to give her birthday, of how many Blibbering Humdingers he had sighted, of how they kept Nargles from infesting mistletoes just to make her smile.
He could never tell her how nice she looked on those spangled silver gown she wore years ago, nor tell her that she should wear yellow on their wedding day, nor ask her to make their children some jewelries like hers, nor exchange clothes for a day, nor visit her mother's grave even once…
He could never do them.
Not now that he was tied with Ginevra Weasley.
He wanted to curse, to swear, to jinx and to hex everything that happened, he wanted to scream and shout that this wasn't what he wanted, he wanted to leave and search for her… but he knew he couldn't. The chains of his marriage, of the wedding, of the children who will eternally hate Luna if he would do so, of the Wizarding World, of anything moral was keeping him from doing so…
He could never…
Never…
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"… and then, they lived happily ever after!" Ginny said, as she closed a Muggle book. She was sitting on the edge of Lily's rose-colored bed, caressing her daughter's long flaming hair. Lily was lying on the bed, with the mattress covering her up to her chin; she looked up to her mother.
"Do you think 'happily-ever-after's really, really, really exist?"
Ginny halted and cast a surprised look at her daughter, "W-why a-are you asking that, L-Lily?"
"Nothing much." The girl pulled her blanket to cover half of her face, "I was just wondering… if… Mum had a happy ending with Dad… was it like being a princess too?"
Ginny bit her lower lip, and she forced a smile at her only daughter, "Well… I think I did have my happy ending, of course, my Lily… Mum is very…" Ginny gulped, "… happy right now!"
Lily gave a wide smile, "That's neat!" she pulled herself up and kissed her mother's cheek, "Night, night, Mum!"
Ginny smiled weakly, "Sweet dreams, Lilianne…"
With a flick of Ginny's wand, the room's light was eaten by darkness. Ginny walked out of the room and shut it slowly. With a click, it was locked. Ginny felt her knees tremble, weak and feeble; after some seconds, her knees gave way to her weight. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears flooded her eyes, rolled down her cheeks and splattered noiselessly on the well-polished floor.
Happy? She was not happy at all! She lied to her daughter!
Ginny felt disgusted with herself, disgusted with what she was doing, and disgusted of what she had done. But what could she do? All she wanted was to be with the person who she fantasized and idolized since she was a child.
She placed her hand on the wall, as if her guide, as she walked to her room.
She stumbled, and fell on the floor; more tears ran down her cheeks. Ginny wanted to shout, to cry out in pain… she pulled herself up. Her vision was all blurry, and she could hear herself hiccup. She felt horrible…
Why did Lilianne have to ask such a question?!
Ginny curled up, with her back leaning on the wall; she knew she was going to look ugly after crying, she knew Harry might not like it if she looked ugly when she wakes up, but something inside Ginny told her that she should cry, that she cannot live in such an ideal world that Harry built… but her mind told her that if she continued to be like this, Harry might be disgusted and call her a human hosepipe…
It was not well at all… Ginny wished, in the deepest and darkest of her heart… that somehow… despite everything he had done to her… everything he had to make her go through… she wished that he be right here with her… that he comfort her that night… that he who she simply loved could come back and cradle her in his arms, tell her that it was going to be fine…
Ginny would give anything at the moment so that her diary was back. She would give anything, as he would give anything to her.
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A/N: I'm sorry if the chapter is a little sucky (or if it did suck very much...)... I'm a little ditzy and... well, out there at the moment. XD
In this fanfiction, Lily's whole name is Lilianne. So it's Lily for short, because it terrifies me that Lily's name is just "Lily". AND! McGonagall is the Headmistress of Hogwarts because she is made of AWESOME!! And you had just witnessed me and my Tom/Ginny fetish be inserted in the fic. Hahah. I really just had to do that… I hope you don't mind!
The way I'm writing Ginny right now, I feel extremely sorry for her… I want to give her a happy ending. ;; But no, not with Harry, since Harry doesn't do Ginny justice! Draco's already taken already… unless of course, you want Stellar to die… (but I love Stellar too! She was named after my favorite character in Gundam Seed Destiny but [GSDspoiler: Stellar died)… then again, there's still Neville and Dean…
A/N (and bit of random mini-rant, you can skip this one): I'm a bit depressed right now and can't think properly while typing (thus the incoherence) because of xxxHolic (which I am currently addicted to…)… I'm still in denial that CLAMP wanted Doumeki/Watanuki… I wanna have Yuuko/Watanuki in canon… huhuhuhu… too bad CLAMP are yaoi fangirls… especially now that I had just discovered that "X" is in fact yaoi, and so are most of the mangas that were made by CLAMP. No. No. No. No. [cries I deleted all my scans because I was so depressed… I really shouldn't invest too much on shipping. I have bad luck with me when it comes to shipping, I swear.
