Theater of the Mind

Ginny smiled at Hermione, who was waddling over with a cup of water. "I really could've gotten that for you."

"Hush, I'm trying to maintain my independence," Hermione said, smiling. "Have you heard from Harry lately?"

"No. Which is odd, because he usually comes by before Tonks leaves on a mission to say good luck. Why? What's he up to?"

"Er…he and Luna are married. And expecting."

Ginny's mouth dropped open. "When did this happen?"

"They found out last week, and they went to the Ministry to…er…make it honest," Hermione explained with a chuckle. "It's just speeding up the inevitable. Harry was going to propose in the next month. But I guess Luna has a ton of pregnancy superstitions, so Harry's been running about trying to cater to her odd ideas."

Ginny laughed. "That's great! We can throw you both a conjoined baby shower!"

Hermione laughed, and took a sip of her water. "Still no word from Tonks?" she asked gently.

Ginny shook her head. "No letter, no Patronus, nothing. I'm trying not to worry…."

"You remember what I did to my parents before my seventh year?"

"Yeah, you altered their memories, just in case you didn't come back."

"Right," she said, setting her cup on the coffee table. "Well, I was stalling one day—couldn't bring myself to do it yet—and I went to talk to my mom. I asked her if she'd ever worried about me going to Hogwarts. She told me something really interesting. She said that at first she worried all the time. Then, when I was returning for second year, she read in a book called Choke, that the mind is the only place where you have complete privacy. In the mind, there is no difference between what is, and what could be. She told me that in that moment, she stopped worrying. She knew that things could happen, but that I'm the type of person who takes what I know, and adapts to the situation. So any time she would start worrying about…I don't know…me falling off a broomstick, she'd just think about how I'd react to that. How I'd make it okay. Tonks is the same way—she knows how to change what she has and make it work for her. I'm not saying not to worry—that's impossible—just make sure your worries are balanced with heavy doses of fantasizing about her kicking ass…."

Ginny laughed. That was the best advice she'd gotten in weeks.

"July 20th, slight change in plans," Ginny said into her recorder. "Interviewing Chogan today, as Damien is sick with a cold." She was just writing the date at the top of a page in Chogan's notebook when he walked in.

"Hi Dr. Ginny," he said, sitting cross legged on the couch. "Damien says hi, and that he'll see you Friday."

"Tell him I hope he's feeling better."

"I will."

"So," she said, starting the recorder. "your file says that you and your sister were in hiding for the last part of the war. Three years, right?"

Chogan nodded. "Yeah. We moved into this cabin in the woods when the war first broke out, but we weren't really hiding. The night Dylan and I ran away was when that started."

"Can you tell me about that night?"

"Dad came back. I heard a man's voice saying something about 'seeing his kids,' so I sneaked out of my room. There were a couple more men in the living room with them, and I saw that one of them had a Dark Mark. Mom had told us, if Death Eaters ever came for us, to run to Wales and stay in the Muggle World. So when I saw the Dark Mark, I went to Dyklan's room and woke her up. We went down a secret set of stairs that Mum had made in my room and ran into the woods…." Chogan trailed off.

"We can talk about something else for a while, if you want," Ginny suggested.

The boy shook his head. "We ran into the woods, but we could hear our mum yelling. She was fighting them, I think. We made it about a mile out before Dad caught us." He stopped again, fidgeting. Ginny could tell that he was holding back tears. "He grabbed both of us around the mouth so we couldn't yell, and he said he wouldn't take us that night. he said that he'd be back one day for us. Then he told us to run and hide, and he Disapparated. I never even saw his face." A couple of tears escaped, and he wiped them away angrily. "I don't miss her."

"Who?" Ginny asked.

"My mum. You were wondering—I could tell. I don't miss her."

"Why not?"

Chogan smiled. "You're the head doctor. Aren't you supposed to tell me that?"

Ginny laughed at this. "Give it a go. There must be something."

"It's hard to miss someone who didn't give a shit about you. It's true!" he said, seeing that Ginny was about to interrupt. "She never wanted us around when she was alive. And if she had cared, she wouldn't have slept with a Death Eater-werewolf. She would've picked somewhere safer to hide. And she wouldn't have kept in contact with him."

"Wait—she kept in contact with him?"

Chogan was quiet for a long moment. "I have a really good sense of smell. Don't know if it's the werewolf thing, or what. With Dylan, it's the ears—she can hear a pin drop across the Home. But my nose…it has super powers or something. Every once in a while, Mum would get a letter from someone. she'd always wait until we were distracted to read it, but I peeked at a few. They always smelled like cheap tobacco and…animal. The night he spoke to us, our dad smelled just like those letters."

"I'm going to guess that you never saw a name…?"

Chogan shook his head. "There was never a signature."

Ginny nodded, making a few notes. "Where did you hide?"

"In our old house," Chogan said, grinning. "We had no idea how to get to Wales, so we went back. It was in a Muggle neighborhood, so we figured we'd be a little safer. We stayed upstairs most of the time, and we never had the shades up. Had to pinch some stuff from other houses and stores, but…." He broke off, shrugging. "Can I go no?"

Ginny smiled. It was always like this with him—just when she felt like she was getting him to open up, he left. "Sure," she said.

"I want to give you two memories today," he said, hopping off the couch. "One's of the night we ran, and the other is one of the days we were hiding."

"Alright." Ginny took the two memories and put them away in her case. "Chogan, before you go, I do have one last question."

"What's that?"

"How did you manage it? Being right under their noses for three years?"

"Dylan thinks it's because the Death Eaters were a little dim," Chogan said with a smile. "But I think Dad knew where we were and kept 'em away. Catch you later, Dr. Ginny."

Ginny watched him leave, unsettled by his last remark. If their father had known where they were during the war, then he knew where they were now. She put it out of her mind as she packed her things to leave.