Chapter 20

When James was two weeks old Ginny decided to take him out in public and show the world the handsome new Potter, she flooed with him to Diagon Alley where she visited her brothers' shop, got money out of the vault at Gringotts and bought some new baby clothes from Madam Malkins. She received many curious stares from people who knew she was Harry's wife and she knew the story would hit the Daily Prophet the following day. On her way back to the Leaky Cauldron she bumped into Dean who rushed up to say hello giving her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before taking James from her arms and pulling silly faces at him. Ginny chuckled at him and Dean thought her whole face lit up, motherhood was good for her and the brightness it had returned to her eyes made her seem all the more beautiful. While he thought it was a crime that the lovely little baby he was holding would never know the hero who was his father he also realised that maybe Ginny was moving on with her life and though he knew she would never forget or stop loving the father of her child he also thought hopefully that she might be able to find love again.

"Do you have time for a drink?" he asked her and she nodded. They walked into the Leaky Cauldron where pairs of staring eyes followed them to a seat in the corner, they chuckled at the response they had received imagining Skeeter's article while settling down with two tankards of butterbeer.

"I wanted to thank you again, Dean, for helping us so much," she looked down at the sleeping baby and then gratefully into his eyes, his heart skipped a beat when she stared at him and he found himself gazing back into hers.

"It was nothing," he said trying to sound nonchalant, but failing miserably.

"Yeah right, delivering a baby, that's nothing, especially when it's not your baby, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with you! I'd call it something, you were great and so calm."

"Calm! You think I was calm? I was panicking like mad!"

"Well you hid it well," she chuckled, "And I'm sure Harry would be grateful to you too," he noticed that the mention of Harry's name was not tinged with sadness and he took this as another hopeful sign that she was beginning to move on in whatever way she could. "You should come for dinner next week, Ron and Hermione would agree as would Charlie, we really ought to thank you properly for being there you know, how about Wednesday?"

"That would be great," he replied his stomach jumping again, maybe this would be a good time to talk to Ginny about his feelings if he could get her alone, he had a feeling that Ron and Charlie would not be too pleased with him being invited for dinner as he thought they were slightly suspicious about him. He didn't want to rush Ginny and would let her know that but he was confident that her sudden emotional change was a good sign, he also knew that Harry would not have wanted her to wallow in grief and loneliness all her life without him. Surely Ron and Charlie would not want that either, they were obviously looking out for their sister which he found touching and he knew he would need to be careful around them but he was confident that given time they might come to accept that Ginny needed to move on with her life and if she was willing to let him help her do that then he would.

"Perfect, seven o clock, I'll make you a floo appointment from here shalI I?" he nodded and she continued, "Now I hate to run but I must get James home, he'll be ready for his feed soon and I could do with a rest, it's so tiring being a single Mum!" she seemed to be joking and he again took it as a good sign. Watching her disappear in the flames with the tiny baby he had helped to bring into the world Dean Thomas allowed himself to hope that he could find true happiness with the girl he now realised he had fallen for once more and he was determined that if she would have him he would never leave her to go anywhere.

The following Wednesday evening Dean arrived in the fireplace of Grimmauld Place after Ginny had sent him a floo appointment, he was wearing a suit which Ron thought was a bit much but Ginny exclaimed that he looked smart and perhaps her brother ought to follow his example and look nice for dinner every now and again. They dined on Kreacher's meat and potato pie followed by a scrumptious apple crumble with custard, they also used the main dining room as they had a guest and for a short while Ginny was relieved of her thoughts and troubles as the four friends talked about their days at Hogwarts. Charlie was out for the evening with a few old friends so they had the house to themselves but a cry from the upstairs room reminded them that they were not in Hogwarts anymore and signalled that James needed something so Ginny excused herself to see what he wanted.

She walked into the bedroom she had shared with Harry and looked down on their son who was calling out for his feed, sliding her top to one side she endulged the infant who suckled on her for a good ten minutes, again she stared at the photograph of her and her husband and whispered his name softly. When James was satisfied he went back to sleep and she laid him down in the basket beside the bed tucking him in with a soft blue blanket that Luna had given to her and leaving the room on tiptoe so as not to wake him. Kreacher was always around to watch over him and Ginny felt at ease leaving him in the upstairs room while she returned to her meal downstairs.

As she reached the bottom of the flight of steps she came face to face with Dean who had just left the bathroom on the middle floor, "He's sleeping again?" Dean asked smiling and she nodded in reply. He was heartened by the fact that they had shared a few comfortable hours where Ginny had repeatedly mentioned Harry without looking troubled or unhappy, and she had looked better than he had seen her look since he had got back in touch with her after hearing of Harry's death. He hoped that what he was about to say would result in her at least contemplating moving on and allowing someone else into her life sometime. "Have you eaten enough Dean?" she interrupted his thoughts and he looked at her with confusion as he remembered that she was there.

"What? Sorry, oh yes, yes thank you" he answered looking uncomfortably at his feet.

"Is everything alright Dean?" she asked with a concerned tone to her voice. He coughed and shifted his weight from foot to foot as she continued to stare at him looking confused, "Well it's just that," he began coughing again, "I…I just thought, the last few times I've seen you, well since you had James you seem to be...brighter and happier with yourself and," he coughed once more, this was much more difficult than he had imagined it might be, "Well with Harry being…" He drifted off and looked up at her face, she still had a confused expression on it but he thought she looked so beautiful that he couldn't help himself he leaned swiftly forwards and placed his lips against her, for a split second Ginny wanted to respond, it had been so long since she had had the touch of a man in such a way but she instantly knew this was not the kiss that she wanted, it was not Harry's kiss and nothing else would ever be good enough, she pulled her head back and looked at him.

"Dean, what are you…?" she asked softly not wanting to hurt his feelings, he looked mortified, he had completely mis-read the signals and realised that he had acted too soon, "Ginny, I'm…I'm sorry, I just thought…you seemed happier like you had, I don't know like you'd moved on, but obviously not, I…I was wrong, I'm sorry it was too soon I should have realised. I just thought after the baby and we've been getting on so well that…I hoped..." She looked mortified herself, had she acted like she was over Harry? Like she had left him behind? She would never leave him behind and move on even if the worst happened. "I shouldn't have tried to kiss you Ginny I'm sorry, I know it won't be easy for you to ever forget Harry, especially with you now having James, but I just hoped that, well still hope that maybe one day you might consider seeing me as more than just a friend, I..I don't want to replace Harry but I know he would not want you to be alone forever, or James for that matter. I'm just sorry that I kissed you, I should have spoken to you first."

"Dean," she said softly, afraid to insult or embarrass him, it had been a nice gesture she realised as she remembered that to the rest of the world she was a widow and therefore available in that way, "I'm sorry if I made you think like that but I don't think I could ever move on from Harry, I mean I'm flattered and so grateful that you were there for me and James but…" she drifted off and he nodded.

"I should go," he said turning on his heel and heading down the next set of steps, "Dean," she grabbed his arm, "You don't need to leave, let's just forget it."

"No Ginny I really should go, I've made a fool of myself and I'm sorry, I should have realised you would never get over Harry, I mean you were always meant to be, everyone knew that, maybe you are never meant to be with anyone else."

"Dean you will always be important to me and James, you helped him into the world-"

"Gin, it doesn't matter." He nodded his head at her and then hurried down the stairs, she heard the front door close behind him and she sighed deeply, returning to the dining room where Ron and Hermione were waiting she made up a tale about Dean having to get off which they seemed to accept and they spent the rest of the night chatting aimlessly about nothing in particular. When she went to bed later that night after feeding an ever hungry James again she thought back over what Dean had said to her and wondered if it was her fault, had she led him on in some way? She had thought that they were old friends catching up on lost time but in hindsight maybe Charlie had been right, for all intents and purposes to the rest of the world she a single woman, and though she strongly believed that even if it were true she would never find anyone else who would match up to Harry, she also had to admit that there were probably people out there who would try to convince her otherwise. She hoped the misunderstanding would not affect her and Dean's new found friendship as she would be forever grateful for his help the night James was born but she had a feeling that he would try to avoid her now and she felt a little sad about that. Whispering goodnight to her son she laid back on the pillows and fell asleep almost instantly, she dreamt that Harry had returned to her, a dream she had not actually had once since he had gone missing and she awoke feeling sad that it had only been a dream but hopeful that it could have been some kind of sign.

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It was three weeks after Christmas when Dudley was woken by strained and angry voices in the middle of the night, using the wand, which he was still convinced was not his, he had managed to perform a transfiguration spell that he had dragged from the far reaches of his mind, which turned the hindering potion into water at the flick of the wand. Since just after Christmas day he had been performing the spell every night and drinking the supposed potion without any qualms, Annala had been pleased that he had given up trying to refuse it and decided that he had relented and realised it could be helping him.

Dudley had spent his days when she was not around pushing his leg harder and harder until he could stand and walk a few feet across the room and back again without his leg buckling, he had found that it had became much easier ever since he had stopped taking the potion. He hid his progress form Annala and allowed her to help him get from room to room when he needed to even though he was almost able to cross the entire room without his leg giving way beneath him. His nights had been spent once more searching through those few images he had glimpsed, trying to piece them together but the only thing he felt anything about at all was the beautiful girl who he had fallen head over heels in love with even though it felt like he had never met or spoken to her in his life. That last image he had had of the eyes which felt as if they were trying to speak to him still plagued him and he wondered if something had happened to the girl, he found himself worrying about her and wanted to find out more about himself in the hopes that it would lead him to her.

He had not been asleep long when the voices woke him, one of them was Annala's but the second one was a gruff man's voice, he grabbed hold of his wand as he thought she might be in trouble but as he swung his legs out of bed he began to listen to the conversation and realised that Annala must know the man she was arguing with.

"How much longer is it going to take? He's getting fed up of waiting," growled the man's voice.

"You think I'm not fed up of waiting? I've been rotting away in this shack with Dudley Dursley," she drawled his name in annoyance, "Feeding him the potion everyday to make sure his memory doesn't return, I mean if the spell had been performed correctly in the first place there wouldn't have been a problem would there? Stupid incompetent fool why was he left to do it? He couldn't perform a simple disarming spell without it backfiring."

"I told ya, he was the one who got a hold of him in the struggle, it had to be done quick and he did it."

"Well he did a damn poor job of it."

"How's he doing now, managed to convince him he's practically an ex death eater of Voldemort's with a passion for torturing and killing muggles and mudbloods?" the gruff voice cackled.

"I've told him yeah but he doesn't want to believe it, says he doesn't feel like a person who could torture someone into insanity."

"What even though he's a murderer really?" Dudley gasped, so the story was a lie, but he was a murderer? Wasn't that worse? "Killed Voldemort didn't he?" That name struck a chord with Dudley, somewhere in the back of his mind, "Well you just got to keep trying, Lestrange is getting impatient," another name which seemed familiar to him, but why? Dudley felt as if another small chink had fallen from the wall in his mind but continued to listen afraid he might miss something which would make it come tumbling down. "If we get ol Dudley on our side we can't be stopped, he has some powerful magic inside him, we only need to tap into some of it, get him to teach us and then we'll kill him!" he laughed raucously.

"I'm doing my best, keep telling him the story the Ministry have supposedly told me, trying to get him to believe that he's running from them but if it ain't in his nature it's going to be hard."

"Yeah well, just get to it as quick as possible, and make sure ya don't go slipping him any bits of info that might jog that memory that wasn't wiped out properly, all it'll take is a name dropped in or a familiar image."

"You think I don't know that?" Annala screeched, "Have I given him anything in the last nine months to jog his memory? No I bloody haven't, I even hid his real wand and gave him another so he couldn't rebuild his connection with it."

"Where is his wand then?"

"I've told you before it's in a box in the kitchen cupboard out of the way along with that silver thing he had on him too."

"Did you work out what that was?"

"No, I kept trying it but all it did was take the light out if the room, some kind of magic instrument for extinguishing light, Merlin knows why he had it on him."

"Well as long as he don't find out he's really Harry Potter, the plan should still work, just get a move on with corrupting him will you, I'm getting sick of Lestrange bellyaching!"

As he heard the words Harry Potter the wall in his head seemed to crumble like sand and fall away to nothing revealing memory upon memory which came suddenly surging past the place where the wall had been like a tidal wave. His whole life began to flash across his head, his miserable childhood in Privet Drive, Hagrid announcing he was a wizard on his eleventh birthday, meeting Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express, being attacked by dementors, winning the Tri wizard cup, watching Sirius die, kissing Ginny, killing Voldemort, winning Ginny again and the best memory of all, marrying the girl of his dreams, the woman with the haunting eyes. "Ginny," he whispered, she hadn't given up on him, it was her who had been trying to reach past that wall. He gasped as all these memories mixed with millions more and cascaded into his head like a film reel, he remembered the mission and finding out that Croft was a double agent, he remembered them taking him and the last thing he remembered before waking up here was a bumbling buffoon shouting, "Obliviate," before he disappeared into darkness and woke up in the shack with Annala looking over him.

It was all a plot, she had been keeping him here, trying to turn him into a dark wizard by feeding him lies and keeping his mind confused and his knee immobile. He had been right all along, he was not a dark wizard who tortured and killed, he was an auror fighting for the good people and getting rid of the bad ones, sending them to Azkaban or killing them if he needed to. Lestrange was behind this, he thought, but how could he be? He was residing in Azkaban, nothing more than a soulless shell of a body living and breathing but with no memory or life at all, how could he be? Then he realised, he remembered that they had been unable to discover who was leading the band of wizards as they had not gained enough trust in the group for him to reveal himself, but it must have been Lestrange, but not Rodolphus. There were two Lestrange brothers, he remembered discovering that when he was investigating Rodlolphus, the first time when he had fled from the battle of Hogwarts upon the demise of his precious master. His brother was as evil as him and could be the one leading this group into demonstrations, he had been a death eater and so was well aware of what it would take to try and take over the wizarding world like Voldemort had done.

Harry looked down at his body, it wasn't his body, he remembered now taking on the appearance of his cousin Dudley before the mission and using the new branch of transfiguration magic to do it. He heard the door close as the man left the shack and he laid down in bed as he thought about what to do next. He did not have the strength to find his wand and fight the girl while his leg would still not hold him for long, he needed to make it stronger then get hold of it while she was not around before he could make his move.

Staring at the ceiling he thought of Ginny, and his heart almost broke for her as he thought about what she must have been going through, if he had been in the shack for nine months then he had been away from her for ten, the last thing he had promised her was that he would come back this time and he hadn't, what did she think had happened to him? What was she doing now? He knew she would have worried about him constantly but did she even know he was alive? And if she thought that he was not would she have moved on, got on with her life without him? After everything they had already gone through over the years and now he had not returned to her when he had promised to do so. He could see her deep, brown eyes, red hair and beautiful freckled face so clearly in his mind, she had never left him, from the beginning she had been trying to break through that blank wall of memories that he had had refusing to let him go. He realised he had been the one causing the pain in her eyes and he felt gulity immediately, and that night she had woken him with pain and excitement filled eyes, what had happened to her? He suddenly realised that he was extrememly worried about her and he longed to return home right then and hold her, kiss her, he just wanted to see her and make sure she was alright, he also knew that when he did see her again he would never ever let her go.

So I hope many of you are happy now that his memory has returned, sorry it has taken a while but I needed the baby to be born before it returned, I didn't want him to know anything about it! Please review and I'll update soon!!