Aimee stared at the picture.
"What's wrong with you?" Ron asked amusedlyfrom behind her. She said nothing, confusion and excitement bubbling slowly at her chest.
"Gotta go!" Aimee said desperately, flinging herself out of the chair and tromping up the girls dormitory, leaving the three of them staring after her with raised eyebrows.
"What is with her?" Hermione said, raising her eyebrows and picking up the book Aimee had dropped. "Hmm, maybe this got her attention… who's that girl next to your mother?"
"The blond one? Remus… Remus told me she was my mum's best friend," Harry said, looking at the picture briskly. Hermione shrugged and closed the album.
A few minutes later, Aimee came down, her face flushed with excitement, running down the stairs, bumping into a few people on the way.
"You guys have got to see this! I've had it since the sixth book!" She cried breathlessly, flumping down on her previous squishy sofa and staring vividly at a little piece of paper in her hand. The three of them crowded over it. It was another picture… the one with the blond girl much older.
"Hey… looks like another picture is stuck to it," Ron commented, eyeing closely the woman.
"Ok, then…" Hermione said, and she tapped the picture, muttered something, and the little piece of paper that seemed to stick with it feel slowly to the ground. Curiously, Ron picked it up, and stared at it in surprise. The other three peeked over his shoulder.
It was a picture of a baby girl.
"Ron… turn it over" Hermione whispered slowly, Aimee sensed the excitement bubbling in her voice. And so Ron did. And both girls gasped.
"I-It's the second part…" Harry said quietly. It read:
seogt i;sem anruoe disnine dd
e kil;ret hgua dek ilr eht omek il ; no s
ek i lto nsitit eY.n os ekilr
k culd o oG.h pmui rto ts kee wow
.P.J d na.P .L
The four of them stared at it, until Hermione spoke up. "I'll put the two of them together… Harry?"
Harry went to get the picture, stiffly walking. He returned, staring at it. Hermione, with shaking hands, took it with one hand and placed it on the table next to the second part. Before she could do anything, both pictures, like magnets, stuck to each other, and the ripped parts connected, a white light was seen as the two of them became one, like when you close a door and it's streaming sunlight from outside and you're inside. Harry gingerly picked it up and gazed sadly at the picture. The two babies were giggling, and playing with their rattles, shaking them and babbling a couple of words. He tried hard to remember, remember that girl.
He turned it over and watched the words with a confused expression.
Seogt i;sem anruoe disnine ddihs irebm emylim afwe na
E kil;ret hgua dek ilr eht omek il ; no s ek il reh tafe kil:sih tekil
Ek I lto nsitit eY.n os ekilreh tomek il;r ethg uad ek ilreh taf
.K culd o oG.h pmui rto ts kee wowtev ah u oy.re tsise kilreh torb
.P.J d na.P .L
The next morning, Hermione had decided to copy down the code in three separate pieces of parchment, just in case they figured it out.
"Honestly, Hermione, do you really think that the answer is going to kapoof in our heads during lunch or something?" Ron said critically, taking his copy reluctantly. Harry had gotten the original one.
"It helps," Hermione said pointedly, shrugging.
"Where's Hermione and Aimee?" Harry asked the evening after Hermione had copied down the code.
"They're probably at the library, trying to find out what that message is," Ron answered shortly, picked up his copy of the code, looked at it curiously, and then started fanning himself with it, bored with homework.
Harry furrowed his eyebrows, and stared at the little piece of paper in Ron's hands. The forward, backward process made Harry realize something…
"Uh, Harry? Why are you staring at me…?" Ron asked, freaking out.
"Ron… I know what the code says" Harry said slowly, a grin spreading across his face, excitement flooding him.
A/N: I got the idea of the code thing from "Voyage to the Center of the World".