Sorry about some of the mistakes in the last chapter, I'm proof reading this one again before I publish it!!

Thanks to my reviewers for the last chapter, I seem to get so many more when I leave it on a cliffhanger!! So here's what's in the Daily Prophet, read on and PLEASE review!!

Chapter 14

There on the front page of the wizarding newspaper was a full page picture of him with Jenny Wiler, the auror from the Ministry, sitting in a secluded corner of an obscure wizarding pub in the highlands of Scotland; Harry had his hand over hers and was whispering something in her ear, they looked like a cosy couple on a romantic date. He looked up at Hermione who had tears in her eyes then he turned to page four to read the article that went with it, anger flooded through him as he saw the name of the reporter.

Well loyal readers and devoted fans it has been a long, long time since I have had anything juicy to report about Harry Potter, in fact it has been a long time since I've had anything to report about our favourite wizard at all, but the years of watching and waiting have finally paid off. Yes, avid readers, the day we all knew would come eventually, has finally arrived. We always thought there was something strange going on when our dashing, green eyed hero walked down the aisle with the plain Jane, Ginvera Wessley, some ten years ago, in fact we all know that it almost didn't happen, something apparently blamed on Harry's fear of losing her (a story surely concocted by the said girl when she ran out of the love potion she must have used on him). Well something, or should I say someone, has finally penetrated the said spell cast over our champion by his ordinary wife, one of my loyal photographers who has been trailing Harry quietly ever since he was forced into virtual hiding by his wife, has managed to catch a snap of our handsome idol on the arm of a stunningly attractive young woman from the Ministry's auror office.

With sultry good looks and a perfect curvy body Miss Jennifer Wiler is surely a more ideal match for our brave leader, with similar interests to his own we can all see why he has chosen to ensconce himself with this beautiful lady and can only assume that he has kept this relationship under wraps because of some fear of his current wife's wrath. Of course with this outstanding lady from the auror's office to back him up I am sure that there is little she can do to come between them now, I just feel sorry for the poor children who will obviously suffer when they learn about how their mother captured their father's heart for so long.

Readers this is Rita Skeeter, official reporter on anything to do with our wonderful hero, assuring you that I will stay hot on the trail of this story and report back to you on the eventual break up of Harry's first marriage (which we all knew would happen!) and maybe the beginning of a second? And even if it doesn't work out at least the unattractive Mrs Potter's spell had finally been defeated so there may be hope for some of you loyal fans yet! Stay tuned.

He flung the paper across the room violently, "When will that woman ever stop sticking her nose in?" he yelled before turning to look at Hermione again, "Does Ginny think I...?" he couldn't bare to finish the sentence, couldn't bare to imagine that she might be thinking he could have done that to her. Hermione nodded her head and began to explain, "She knows you are hiding something from her, she went up to Hogsmeade yesterday and found out that you haven't been at the shop so she came to see me and asked me what we were hiding from you, she knew we'd be in on it too," she gestured to Ron and herself, "She was so angry and I tried to tell her that you weren't doing anything with Jenny Wiler or anyone but she said you'd been uncomfortable around her when you saw her in the Leaky Cauldron and when I said that I couldn't tell her what you were doing she said she knew I would always lie for you even if I didn't approve of what you were doing, she wouldn't believe me Harry, I'm...I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Harry replied walking over to rub her shoulder as she slumped into a chair at the table, "You were right, I should have just told her what we were doing, I just thought if we could keep it quiet she wouldn't need to know, I never liked lying to her but I didn't want her to worry after what happened before."

"I know you didn't Harry and neither would we, but you know she would never have stopped you."

"I know, I...where is she now?" he asked realising that he needed to explain himself.

"I don't know Harry, when I saw the paper this morning I tried to contact her at home but I couldn't get any response so I tried Charlie and he organised a floo appointment for me, but when I got there she'd...she'd gone." Harry's face fell even further, "I went to the Burrow to see if she was there but Molly said she hadn't seen her, that's when I came back here to wait for you I didn't know how else to find her."

"I do," he said quietly reaching into his robes and pulling out a familiar, long, silver instrument, Hermione gasped.

"I'd forgotten about that Harry," she said.

"I had hoped I would never need to use it, but at least it's not for the reason I needed to have it," he said trying to smile. "Ron are you alright to report back? I've got to go and explain, I can't have Ginny thinking that I would..."

"Go Harry, I'll sort everything else out." Harry opened the deluminator he was holding up in his hand and watched as the ball of blue light whizzed out of it and around the room before it went into his body and he was transported through space to wherever it was that his wife had gone.

He landed on a patch of green grass and knew immediately where he was, it was a familiar place, the same place in fact where he and Ginny had finally got together, except that there was something missing, the strange rook shaped house. Harry knew it was there, right in front of him but he couldn't see it, she had obviously known that he would use the deluminator to find her and although it would always take him to wherever she was it could not make him penetrate any magical defences that had been put in place. She had set guards all around the house so that no one, or rather so that Harry, could not get to her, she wanted to be alone.

"Ginny," he called out, "Ginny please let me in I need to talk to you, let me explain." He waited, hoping to see the house appear in front of him but he knew Ginny Weasley and her stubbornness very well and realised that it would not be that easy. He walked all the way around the area where the house should have been desperately trying to find a flaw in the enchantment but his wife was an accomplished witch and he knew his actions were fruitless so he decided to sit and wait. She would be able to see him through her own enchantments and hopefully she would eventually relent and let him in so he could explain everything. 

Harry now wanted to kick himself for not telling her in the first place what he was doing, he realised that Hermione had been right all along and that she wouldn't have stopped him from going if he really wanted to, he had just thought that she would be less worried if she didn't know.

The hours passed slowly as he sat waiting under a tree that he knew could be seen from the house, it was near the place he had seen her on Luna and Neville's wedding day all those years ago, where he had glimpsed her from Luna's bedroom window on her way down to the river at the bottom of the garden. He stared up at the empty space where that window should have been and hoped that Ginny was looking down on him now realising that he would wait there until he could explain everything properly.

As night began to fall a small owl, whom he recognised as Ron's pet, Pigwidgeon, fluttered down from the sky and dropped a tiny roll of parchment on his lap, the neat, tidy handwriting on the outside of the scroll told him that it was Hermione checking that he was alright having not heard from him all day, he opened it up and began to read.

Harry,

Please let us know what's going on we are worried about you. Have you found Ginny? Did she listen to you, if you need to you can come back here and stay but just get in touch please.

Hermione.

He rolled it back up and pushed it into his pocket as he turned back to look at the empty space again, he stared at it for another few hours before deciding to go back to Ron's for the night and try again in the morning. Standing up he called out her name softly one last time, "Ginny, I'll be back tomorrow, I won't give up on you," then he turned on the spot and apparated back to Hermione and Ron's house. They were sat at their kitchen table looking worried, Harry could tell that Hermione had not stopped fretting all day and he could see worry lines on her forehead, Ron looked a little less stressed but he was probably worrying about how much Hermione was worrying, if he had not been feeling so bad about himself he would have chuckled at them.

Hermione's head snapped up when she heard the crack which signalled Harry's arrival, "What happened? Did you find her?" she gushed as she stood up and moved to put her hand on Harry's arm.

"She's gone to the Lovegood house, I think Xenophilius must be away again."

"Did she speak to you mate? How did she take it?"

"She wouldn't let me in, the house is not there," they looked at him enquiringly, "She's put enchantments around the house to keep me out, the deluminator can't get me through them it will only take me to where she is, you know that," he added looking at Ron who returned a knowing look. "I kept calling out to her and waited all day but she wouldn't let me in." He looked defeated and Hermione put her arms around him and guided him to a chair at the table before conjuring a mug of hot cocoa from the kitchen cupboards. He sat down in the chair and accepted the drink willingly, he had not eaten or had a drink all day while he had been sat under the tree and he only realised now how hungry he was, Ron quickly made him a sandwich which Harry wolfed down like a starving child.

Hermione offered him the spare bedroom in their house and he retired there after he had eaten. He didn't sleep at all through the night, he just lay awake staring at the ceiling and hoping that he would be able to get through to Ginny the next day, as the sun came through the blinds at the window Harry dragged himself out of bed and pulled on the same robes he had been wearing the day before. After eating a slice of toast foisted upon him by Hermione he apparated back to the Lovegood house and found that it still wasn't visible to him so he settled back down under the tree to wait some more.

At the end of his second day of waiting Harry decided to visit Luna and Neville to see if he could get in another way, he knew it would be tricky as Luna was a good friend to them both but had obviously decided to stick by Ginny in this matter but he had to try something. Leaving his spot beneath the tree shortly before nightfall Harry decided to walk over to their house which was at the bottom of the Lovegood house's garden. Lights were blazing from the downstairs windows so he knew they must be home.

Harry approached the front door quietly and knocked, he heard footsteps on the other side of it and stepped back so it wouldn't hit him when it opened.

"Hey Harry," said Neville with a sympathetic look on his face, "Can't say I haven't been expecting you. Come in mate," he opened the door and gestured for Harry to enter the house where he lived with Luna and their two children, Salamander and Consuela. "Go on into the living room if you want, Luna's out with the kids." Harry followed his suggestion and settled himself onto Neville's wavy couch, sighing a little at the relief of sitting on something comfortable for the first time that day. His friend appeared in the doorway a few minutes later holding two bottles of butterbeer, he offered one to Harry before sitting down in a heart shaped armchair opposite him.

Harry looked around at the strange assortment of furniture in the room, it was definitely a room which had been decorated by Luna, the sofa and the chair in which Neville sat were not the only places to sit in the room, an odd assortment of brightly coloured, mismatched chairs were crowded together around a stone fireplace which was carved with mermaids, dragons and fairies all of which had been hand painted by Luna herself in lurid colours. Four chandeliers hung from the ceiling each one made from different coloured crystals which held long thin candles in different sized horns which Harry assumed Luna would believe were from the crumple horned snorcack that she and her father were always looking for.

The walls of the room were painted with various pictures also done by Luna herself, each one depicted someone from the Lovegood or Longbottom family including one of Neville's parents which even Harry had to hold in high regard. Neville's parents had passed away a few years before, after being tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband during the first war with Voldemort, Frank and Alice Longbottom had spent their lives on a closed ward in St Mungos hospital for magical maladies and injuries, leaving their only son to be brought up by his paternal grandmother, Augusta Longbottom. They had survived for many years on the closed ward where even Luna herself had cared for them in her years as a healer but his father had passed away at the age of fifty nine and his mother followed only a few weeks later, Neville liked to believe that somewhere in her jumbled head she knew that her soulmate had gone and she had wanted to join him.

After a few moments of drinking in silence Neville finally spoke to Harry, "You want to ask Luna to get you into the house don't you?" Harry could tell by the defeatist tone of his voice that this was not going to happen. "I don't know exactly what's going on mate and I'm sure you have a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything but Luna's not prepared to believe that unless she hears it from Ginny. You know she's always loyal to Ginny above anyone else."

"I know, and I appreciate that really, I'm glad she has someone to turn to like Luna while she's going through this, but you're right there is an explanation for all of this, it may not seem reasonable to everyone but I swear I have not been seeing anyone else."

"I know that Harry, you're not that kind of person, but you know Luna, she offered her the house and she won't get you in unless Ginny wants to see you."

"I don't suppose you can...?"

"Only Luna can get in without Ginny's say so mate, sorry otherwise you know I would." He looked compassionately at Harry who visibly deflated again.

"Thanks anyway mate," he replied flatly.

"I could ask Luna," he offered but the look on his face told Harry that he didn't relish the idea.

"No, this is my mess Neville, I don't want to put you and Luna in an awkward position, I'll just have to wait and see if she relents a little, I don't think she'd keep the children from me for-" he was interrupted by a swishing sound in the fireplace and a moment later Luna stepped out with Salamander and Consuella clinging to her side. Luna didn't notice Harry sitting on the couch so she immediately began a softly spoken tirade at Neville, "She's absolutely beside herself up there Neville," her husband looked at her trying to indicate that Harry was behind her but she was completely oblivious. "She said he's been sat outside again waiting for her and he keeps calling out to her, strange isn't it? I think she needs some time to be alone and work out what she's going to do, I left her by the…why do you keep looking at me so strangely Neville?" she said without changing her tone of voice at all, finally noticing that he kept glaring at her making his eyes practically bulge out of his head and nodding it at Harry.

"I think he's trying to tell you subtly that I'm here Luna," Harry said in a defeatist voice, Luna turned round and looked at him.

"Oh, Harry," she said softly.

"It's alright Luna, I'll go I've just said to Neville I don't want you to be in the middle of this, I'm just grateful that you are there for Ginny. I can assure you there is an explanation but I understand why you need Ginny to believe that first, you are a good friend to her Luna." The pale young woman just stared at him and nodded her head while her children, who had only just noticed he was there too, ran and clambered all over their 'uncle' completely unaware of his sadness.

"Don't go Uncle Harry," said Salamander, he was the eldest of the two children and had a look of his father with the pale skin and hair of his mother, both he and his sister, who was a year younger than him, had the temperament and personality of their mother with their father's love of plants. Neville always said that he hoped they had both inherited their mother's aptitude at school work rather than his, though he was impressed that they were as enthusiastic as he was about herbology. Salamander would be attending Hogwarts in the same year that Albus would and Neville was looking forward to being able to teach them both, as well as all the other children of his friends when they came along.

"Sorry you two," Harry answered ruffling their hair with his hands, "I have to get back to…" he looked up at Luna remembering that she had just said Ginny needed to be alone, "...Uncle Ron's," he finished and Luna looked relieved. Putting Consuella, who had just climbed onto his knee, back on the floor Harry stood up and so did Neville, shaking his friend's hand he nodded at Luna and then stepped into their fireplace where he said quietly, "Ron and Hermione's," before whirling out of view.

He had spent only a few minutes at the table in their home when a silver shape suddenly flitted into the room, he recognised it at once as Neville's patronus, in a slow calm voice which was identical to Neville's the shimmering creature said in a whisper, "She's by the river, on the loveseat, but hurry," then the animal disappeared like a wisp of smoke and Harry looked up at the ceiling.

"Thank you, Neville," he whispered to himself and then rose to leave the house, if she was outside Harry could at least start to explain, she might get up and go as soon as he started to speak but it was worth a try that she might decide to stay and listen to him.