One of the consequences of having a family as big as the Weasleys was that any minor gathering always ended up becoming a major event, and it was no different at Arthur's birthday lunch. Besides family, they also had invited a couple old friends - the majority had worked for the Order of Phoenix or had been a member of the Dumbledore's Army. So far, Holly had been the center of attention from the party, as everybody seemed curious to have a better look at Harry's little girl. Ron and Hermione stayed with her all the time, trying to ensure both her safety and also that nobody commented about the girl's true parentage within her hearing range, as they knew that Holly did not know about it yet.
There was, of course, a certain level of awkwardness caused by the fact that Holly was the daughter of Ginny's ex-boyfriend. Indeed, Bill was looking at the little girl with a disapproving look on his face when she started to play with his daughter Victoria. It was only when Ginny approached her elder brother and told him, "Don't be such a dick, Bill, she is only a child! I wasn't even dating Harry when she was born," that he finally stopped throwing glares at the little Miss Potter.
They had already cut the birthday cake and many guests had already left when Harry's owl Agnes arrived and dropped a card and a present for Arthur and a short message for Ron saying nothing but 'She said yes!'. Ron gave a silly smile and did a little cheer. Hermione who was just next to him raised her eyebrows in an inquisitive way.
"She said yes!" Ron told his fiance, who immediately understood what he meant, as Ron had already informed her about the talk he had with Harry that morning. Hermione gasped and clapped her hands in excitement.
"What is that little cheater saying?" George approached them casually.
"Oh George, lay off. Harry did break up with Ginny before he started wooing Annabel again," Ron said defending his best mate.
"Is that so? Well, our little sister told us about wine glasses on the kitchen counter... and Harry admitting that they were catching up on old times..."
"Breaking up with Ginny was the decent thing for him to do, regardless..." Hermione said defending her best friend.
"Well, I don't care, if he did the right thing. He broke our little sister's heart, so he must pay..." George said with a hint of mist in his eyes.
"Come on, sooner or later Gin will get over him..." Ron said trying to reason with his older brother.
"And until that day comes, I will be here to avenge her," George said determined "And you should be helping me! Not being on that Muggle woman team..."
"I'm not on Anna's or Ginny's team, George! Harry is my best friend, and I want to see him happy. Of course, I would rather be seeing him with Ginny, but if it is the Muggle that makes his heart beat fast..."
"Is that true, then? Is Harry dating that Annebel woman? Holly's mother?" Luna approached the three of them. "Well, then they must be having sex quite a lot..."
Ron cracked laughing after hearing her comment, and George and Hermione looked at her oddly.
"I know that Harry is a Leo, and I saw from the article at the Daily Prophet that Holly's mother is a Scorpio. It is quite an explosive match, isn't? Fire and water together..." Luna said as she decided to explain her line of thought. "Anyway, I'm off now. Tell Harry to bring his Muggle around to my birthday drinks if he can still make it..."
But Hermione had long ago stopped paying attention to what she was saying.
"Ron, where are Holly and Teddy? Where have they gone?" Hermione looked at the spot where Holly and Teddy were playing seconds ago. However, none of the kids were there anymore.
"I'm not sure... let's look around. They can't have gone very far, can they?" Ron said calmly, but Hermione didn't seem convinced.
"Come on, we need to find her," Hermione said in a panicked voice "Can you two help us out, please?" She begged George and Luna who were still near them. Both adults agreed, and in less than a minute, every single adult in the Burrow was trying to find where both children had gone.
Following her request, Harry had brought Annabel back straight to his flat. He set up his new camping tent in his living room and made some sweet love with her inside it. Again. Their bodies were in perfect synchronisation. It felt perfect. It felt right. So right. They were having a bath together in a wooden bath that Harry's new tent possessed, and they were resting and washing each other's body after their last lovemaking session. Harry was sitting behind Annabel, hugging her body with both his legs and his arms. She was caressing both of his hands with her own until her thumb went over a very peculiar scar on the back of his hand that said 'I must not tell lies.' She remembered the episode where he roughly told her about that particular scar without giving her too many details on the circumstances surrounding it.
"You told me once that an evil woman gave you this scar, but... you never really told me exactly how that happened..."
"Do you really want to talk about this now?" Harry sighed frustrated. Dolores Umbridge was the last person he wanted to think about at any moment, but especially when he was having such a lovely time.
"I would like to, if you don't mind," she answered him sincerely. "I realised that there are so many things about you that I'm totally unaware about... like the fact you never really played football, but Quadditich instead..."
"Quidditch," Harry corrected her automatically.
"Yes, so... how did that evil woman give you this weird looking scar...?"
Harry took a deep breath in resignation before he started answering her question.
"During my fifth year at Hogwarts the Ministry of Magic forced that awful woman to teach at Hogwarts, her name was Dolores Umbridge. It is hard to explain exactly why she did that, but the truth is that I had witnessed Voldemort's resurrection at the end of the previous academic year, but I didn't have any proof, and the people in power at the Ministry at that time did not want to believe me. The Minister was afraid of the political consequences that a generalised panic could provoke on his electorate."
"You talked about Voldemort's resurrection on an interview at that magazine... the Quibbler?" Annabel inquired.
"Yes... that was the first time I managed to tell in full what really happened that night in that graveyard to someone other than Dumbledore and Sirius. My friends knew about it, obviously, but not in great detail... but people needed to know that he was back, and they had agreed to publish my version of the story..."
"And how does this link with your teacher Dolores...?"
"Well, she was the Minister's little stinky pet at that time, and she did not like to hear me telling people that Voldemort had returned..."
"So she gave you this scar on your hand...?"
"She gave me a detention after I remind her during one of our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes that she should actually put some effort into teaching us how to defend ourselves because Voldemort was back..."
"That is so unbelievably unfair!" Annabel said outraged.
"Sadist as she was, Umbridge made me write lines with a black quill. The black quill uses your own blood to write the sentences... and carve it from the back of your hand. If it is used in excess... it can leave a permanent scar..."
Annabel gasped in horror.
"I can't believe that is a thing! I can't believe that nobody did anything about it! How about your other teachers? The headmaster...? Your friends...? Why did no one report this?"
"I told my friends to leave it. They wanted me to report it, but I did not want to give her the satisfaction..."
"Oh, Harry...!" Annabel brought his hands to her lips and gave him a soft kiss where the scar was still very visible. "You really like to put a brave face on, don't you? I remember when Dudley used to be mean to you... you did exactly the same thing."
"From my previous experiences telling things to the adults never really helped..."
"What about this other scar on your chest?" She asked turning around and tracking her fingers on the top of the burned mark he had acquired on his chest while he was trying to destroy the Slytherin locket. "You didn't use to have this one before the war. How did you acquire it?"
Harry took a deep breath, feeling his mood darken even more.
"Bel... shall we keep the story behind this one for another day? I know that I agreed to be honest and stop keeping secrets from you. I swear that I'm not running away from telling you about this, but... you need to understand that talking about some of these things is very emotionally draining for me... and not very easy..." he said hugging her harder. "Besides, it is almost time for us to go to Alicia's, and the story behind that particular one will definitely take some time to explain..."
"You are really full of scars, aren't you, Harry Potter? Physical and mental scars..."
"I guess you can say that..."
"I'm so scared about talking to Geoffrey today... and so worried for him as well... it is not like he has a big family like Ginny to hold his back when I inform him about my decision..."
"He is a grown-up man, Bel. He will have to deal with it... the same way I did."
"You had Ron, Hermione, Ginny... he really doesn't have anyone, Harry..."
"The witch who is looking after him, Alicia... she is very nice and sweet. I will ask her to be extra nice to Geoffrey while he is there with her. What do you think?"
"Well, this can't hurt, right?" Annabel said before she turned her body to face Harry. She hugged his waist with her long legs and placed her arms around his neck. "I'm thinking about letting my hair grow back to the way it used to be when we were teenagers... what do you think?"
"I think you look lovely... long hair, short hair... bold..." Harry said while he played with her hair. "But yeah... I would like to see you with long hair again..."
"That is decided, then. I won't cut it until it reaches below my shoulders..."
"Would you like some help? Growing hair is actually really easy... it was one of the accidental magic I used to do all the time when I was a kid. It will only take two seconds," Harry offered while he got hold of his wand.
"Sure, why not? Few seconds does sound much better than waiting for a few years..."
"Right..." Harry touched her hair with the tip of his wand and whispered some Latin words that were completely unknown to her, and she felt her hair rapidly grown in at an absurd speed until it reached halfway down her back. It was even bigger than what she remembered. Her new long hair got wet in their bath water.
"Thank you, Harry! This is amazing! I really like to have a wizard around... it is very handy..."
"Your hair looks exactly how it used to look six years ago. I can't believe that was such a long time ago."
"Me neither..."
"Look at the time, Bel! Come on, we need to move, otherwise, we are going to be late" Harry said rushing them both out of the bath. "Come here, let me dry you with magic..."
With the help of his magic, Harry managed to get them both ready to go out in less than five minutes. Well, if somebody asked her, Annabel would not consider herself to be ready by any means, as this left her zero time to put her makeup on. And she knew that she would not have that precious time in the passenger seat of a car to fix something up.
"We don't really have time for this, Bell..."
"Can't you just help me out and do it with your magic then?"
"I don't know any girl's cosmetic spells..."
"Well, if you expect me to get ready in zero time then you should learn a couple!" she said annoyed, but she grabbed her handbag and allowed him to guide her outside his house under his invisibility cloak nonetheless.
When Harry apparated them this time, she knew that they couldn't be in London anymore. There was some thick snow on the floor, and the architecture of the little village, where they were now, was not the kind you would find anywhere near central London.
"This is Hogsmeade... the only all-wizarding village in Britain. Alicia lives here..." Harry said before he carefully removed his cloak and offered his arm for Annabel to hold.
"It looks like any normal ancient village... perhaps somewhere in the Cotswold?" Annabel asked him curiously.
"We are in the Scottish Highlands - just look at the mountains around us. And if you have a closer look, you will see that this is not a regular village."
And so she did. What she found were floating candles illuminating the shops, some window displays that just had to be magic, flying querubins in a tea shop which was all decorated for Valentine's day, not to mention some very weird looking people walking down the street. One of which…
"'arry! Wha' are yeh doin' 'ere?" the half-giant Rubeo Hagrid asked, making Annabel gasp in astonishment with his size.
"I have some personal issues to attend here... I would love to introduce you to Annabel Morelli, mother of my daughter and... my future wife," Harry said with a smile. "Bel, this is Rubeo Hagrid, he was my teacher at Hogwarts, and has always been a great friend of mine."
"Nice to meet you... Rubeo Hagrid," Annabel answered politely, but still unable to hide her uneasiness with the half-giant size.
"Blimey 'arry! Wha' abou' Ginny?" Hagrid frowned and looked at Annabel from head to toe as if he was evaluating her.
"Oh, we broke up not long ago... it is a complicated situation, but honestly, now that I finally have Annabel by my side, I couldn't be happier if I tried," Harry said hugging her waist in a possessive way.
"So wha' the Prophe' is sayin' is true, then?" Hagrid asked and Harry nodded confirming it. "Why don' yeh bring 'em around for a cuppa sometime?"
"That is actually a lovely idea, Hagrid. My flat doesn't have any open space, and it does get a bit too much for the three of us to stay there all the time... and I'm sure that Holly would love to see Hogwarts..."
"Then tha' is decided. Lemme know when yeh and yer two lassies can come over."
Hagrid and Harry quickly waved a goodbye, and Annabel waited until they were definitely out Hagrid's ear range to talk to him once again.
"Who was that? Why is he so big?"
"Like I said, Hagrid was my old teacher but is also a very good friend. He is half-giant..."
"Half-giant?" Annabel's eyes were opened wide in shock. "Dragons, giants, elves... why am I still surprised? What is next, mermaids? Fairies? Trolls? Hobbits?"
"I've never heard about hobbits, but the rest are all real..." They carried on walking until Harry led them to a residential area of the village. "So, what shall we talk about with Geoffrey first? About you and me, or about how is the best way to let Holly know that I'm her father?"
"I don't know Harry... I guess... I guess we should talk about Holly first. She is more important..." Annabel said unsure.
"Right... I will let you lead this talk, ok? You know him better than I do, anyway... I just hope we can do this in a civilized way."
They stopped in front of Alicia's house and Harry knocked on her door. Soon enough, the young witch welcomed them both with a warm smile on her face.
"Come in, both of you. Geoffrey is waiting at the drawing room. He is very excited to see you again, Annabel." The witch said with a very warm smile. Harry and Annabel exchanged a meaningful glance. "Where is your little one?"
"Holly is with my friends," Harry answered.
"Whereabouts?"
"At Ron's parents... it is Arthur birthday today..."
"What a shame! I was really hoping to finally meet her. I've heard she has your eyes..." The witch said looking a bit disappointed. "And I even baked some cookies thinking about her..."
"You will have plenty time to see her once we catch the members of this gang..." Harry said determined.
"And once their house is ready, I imagine?" Alicia asked him. "You are going to keep me on their guard, aren't you Harry?"
"I haven't decided yet... things have changed," Harry said thinking about him and Annabel. Would it make any sense to move Geoffrey along with Annabel and Holly back to her place? They had both adapted really well to his own flat. He would certainly have to talk about it with Annabel and see what was her preference later.
"Where is Geoffrey?" Annabel finally asked.
"He is in the drawing room. Follow me, I will take you both there." They went ahead to walk to the place that the witch had pointed.
Annabel was the first to enter the drawing room, and she found Geoffrey was seating in a flowery cushioned sofa that was overlooking the opposite direction from where she had entered. He seemed completely absorbed by reading a novel book, which she had recognised as one that had once belonged to her dead Auntie - Pride and Prejudice from Jane Austen. She couldn't picture a book that would be less Geoffrey-like than that. He didn't seem to notice that she, Harry and Alicia were approaching him, as he looked completely hypnotised by his own reading.
"Hi Geoffrey..." she said giving him a gentle tap on his shoulders.
He immediately stood up in a mix of anxiety and euphoria. Annabel allowed him to hug her tightly, but she turned her face away when she felt that he was about to kiss her. Harry who was just behind her cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Annabel sent him a very uncomfortable glance.
"My beautiful Queen, I missed you so much..." he said pulling her closer to him.
"Geoffrey, please... don't do that" Annabel begged him.
But he ignored her plea and tried to bring her even closer to his chest.
"She asked for you to stop doing that," Harry said protectively, emanating a strong aura of power that she had witnessed a couple of times before.
Geoffrey looked up to his direction as if he was coming out a trance. He had failed to notice Harry's presence in the room until that moment.
"I don't see why this should be any of your business..." Geoffrey said trying to not look intimidated by Harry.
"Anything concerning Annabel and Holly's well-being is my business."
"My daughter and wife are certainly not your business..." Geoffrey said challenging him.
Harry was about to say something to him but Annabel cut him and said it first.
"Geoffrey, Harry knows about Holly..."
"You told him?" Geoffrey said in anger.
"I figured it out," Harry said simply "It wasn't very hard... we do look too much alike after all. And she is a witch..."
"My daughter is not going to be a witch!" Geoffrey said defiantly.
"Holly is a witch, whether you like it or not, Geoffrey. She was born a witch and she will always be one..." Annabel said gently.
"And our daughter needs to be informed that I'm her real father... that is one of the reasons why we are here. We need your help to tell her..."
"You must be joking!" Geoffrey said in a burst of anger.
"Geoffrey, whether you like it or not, Harry is Holly's father... she has the right to know that, and Harry has all the right to be part of her life..." Annabel pleaded.
"Father is not the one who seeds a mother's womb and then disappears to never returns. A father is who raises their children - is who holds their hand when they are sick, is who comforts them when they have a nightmare, is the one gives them a bath, helps them to get dressed, takes them to school, help to put a plaster on their bruised knee... you can be many things Harry Potter, but you are not Holly's father."
Geoffrey said those words looking straight at Harry's eyes. Harry tried to ignore how hard they were getting him.
"You are right. I might not have been a father for her until this moment, but only because I didn't know about her existence," Harry said determinedly. "Now that I know about it, there is nothing in this entire world and no one alive who is going to be able to keep me away from her..."
A noise made by a cat at the back of the room, called their attention to the fact that Alicia was still inside the drawing room, quietly observing their talk.
"Excuse me... I'm going to... water my plants." She gave them a nervous smile and quickly left the room.
Harry waited until she was gone to cast a privacy spell on the door, so Alicia would no longer be able to pry on their talk.
"What do you want from me?" Geoffrey turned to Annabel and asked her directly.
"I want you to help us to tell Holly about her relationship with Harry. We need to do it soon, as everyone else in the magical world already know that he is her father. I want Holly to see the three of us as a strong unit... that we all on the same page when it comes to this... that she has two Dads and one Mum, and that is ok, because we all love her equally..."
"You ask away too much from me, Bel... and give me too little..." Geoffrey looked pained.
"I'm as excited to divide the title of being Holly's father with you, as you are, Geoffrey. But if this is the way it has to be, then I will take it," Harry said.
"I demand to see her," Geoffrey started to raise his voice once more. "We have been separated for way too long!"
"I will allow you to see her. In fact, I will ask Alicia to take you to my place tomorrow or the day after, so we can all tell the news to Holly together..."
"Allow me to see her? Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to carry on keeping me away from my family...?" Geoffrey said with pure range.
"I'm Holly's father - her legal magical guardian - and yes, I promise that you will be allowed to see her, but on my own terms," Harry informed him seriously. "I have no intention to keep you away from Holly, but we will need to negotiate this and see what is the best way of doing that..."
"Anna... do you agree with what he is saying? Do you think it is fair what he is doing? Keeping me here away from you and our little princess..?"
"Geoffrey... we need to talk... only you and me," Annabel said after she taken a deep breath. "Harry, please leave..."
"Bel..." Harry said concerned. He was not feeling happy about the perspective of leaving her alone with Geoffrey.
"I can handle him..."
"Right..." Harry said before he left the room, leaving Geoff and Annabel on their own.
Once they were alone, Geoffrey started to walk towards her clearly intending to kiss her. Annabel stopped him from getting near her with both of her hands.
"Please Geoffrey, don't do this... there is something I need to tell you." Her heart was beating fast, and she was starting to wonder if she had done the right thing when she asked for Harry to leave them alone.
"What do you need to tell me?"
"I want a divorce." She took a deep breath trying to find the strength to say what she knew was necessary. "It's over. I'm with Harry now... we are back together. I'm so sorry..." She really felt sorry.
"What? What did he do to you? Did he bewitch you?" Geoffrey said furiously.
"Geoffrey... we both know that I never really got over him..." Annabel said, tears coming down her face.
"Even so, are you out of your mind? Did you forget all the things he has done to you?" Geoffrey hissed impatiently.
"Geoffrey..."
"Did you forget how many times he has left you? A guy who just go buying any first gossip he hears about you - without even checking your side of the story... a guy who abandoned you pregnant and then comes back from out of the blue, years later, demanding to be Holly's father? A guy who leaves you alone, with an eating disorder and suicidal looking after an infant baby, and doesn't have the nerve to tell you to your face that he didn't want the burden of having to look after both of you..."
"Geoffrey... you don't know what you are talking about..." Annabel said with tears were coming down her face.
"But I do know. I know very well what I am talking about! He doesn't love you, Anna, can't you see that? When you really love somebody you change your life to accommodate who you love. When has he done that for you? What else does he need to do in order to show you that he never really loved you, Anna? What else? You were nothing but an adventure for him. Nothing but a summer love adventure to take him out of his boredom..."
"Geoffrey, you don't know what you are talking about. If he did not love me, he would not have broken up with his girlfriend; he would not have asked me to marry him. What do you know about Harry, Geoff? Nothing! You don't know a thing about him..."
"That is where you are mistaken. I know everything there is to know about him! I know him because I have observed him throughout the years - how he treated you, what he said to you... because I wanted to know what he had done to get you so... so crazy for him like you are now! Because I wanted to become exactly like him - so maybe one day you would look at me with the same awe you looked at him..."
"Geoffrey, you are out of your mind!"
"Me out of my mind? No! It is you who are out of your mind! How can you even consider going back to him, after everything he did to us? He is the reason why our parents are dead! Can you understand the gravity of this fact alone?"
"It wasn't like that, Geoffrey... things were not as simple to him as you want to believe. His enemies did that, not him. There was nothing he could have done..."
"Is that so? Why do I find so hard to believe that?" Geoffrey grabbed both of her arms in a tight grip. "I'm not going to let you get back to him Anna. He doesn't love you like I do. Everything he ever did is to ruin our lives. I'm keeping you and Holly here, with me. He doesn't deserve to have either of you!"
"Holly and I are not things for you to keep, Geoffrey... I'm also not a prize that Harry might or might not be deserving to receive as a reward for good behaviour or not. I'm a person... I have free will. And I'm too tired to be sleeping by your side when my mind and my heart are there with him. It is not fair, for anyone. It is not fair - not even to you, Geoffrey! You need to find a girl who really loves you..."
"I'm - not - letting - you - go..." he said pushing her closer and tightening his grip even harder.
"You are hurting me..." she said, but he ignored.
"What does he have that I don't? Hmmm? What does he do with you, to let you love crazy like that?" he said dragging her against the wall.
"What do you think you are doing, Geoffrey?" She was starting to shake from fear what he was going to do. One of his hands had found its way to her throat. Annabel tried to free herself using some of the self-defence movements that she had learned when she was younger, but somehow Geoffrey seemed to be able to block them with ease. She didn't understand how he was doing that, as far as she knew, Geoffrey didn't have any combat training.
"So, you don't want to be mine? Then I will make you mine!"
Annabel went pale. She knew that breaking up with Geoffrey was likely to go south, but she certainly hadn't expected anything like this to happen. But Geoffrey looked possessed.
"Please... stop... let me go," Annabel begged while she felt him groping her against the wall. "You are not like that... I know you are not like that..."
But he completely ignored her pleas and forced his tongue inside her lips. Annabel then bite him with all her might, making him bleed. The shock of the pain made him free her, and she quickly used the opportunity to wiggle away from his arms.
"You fucking slut!" Geoffrey cursed when he tasted his own blood.
Annabel ran to the door and left the drawing room as quick as her long legs would allow her to do so.
** Moments before that **
Harry wasn't feeling very comfortable with leaving Annabel on her own with Geoffrey, but he knew that they needed to have that talk. It was true that Annabel didn't have magic, but neither did Geoffrey, and Harry was going to be waiting for her just a few meters from where they were now. What was the worse thing that could happen given these circumstances anyway? Harry walked around Alicia's house until he found her studying some scrolls and books in her kitchen.
"Hello again, Alicia," Harry said announcing his presence to the witch.
"Oh, did the three of you already finish?" she asked with a smile on her face.
"No... Annabel is still there talking to Geoffrey," Harry said feeling a bit uneasy. He took a seat next to the witch. "She is going to ask him the divorce."
"Oh!" Alicia looked very surprised.
"I'm going to marry her as soon as we are legally allowed to do so..." Harry decided to tell her. "Please, be nice with Geoffrey? It is not like he is having an easy time, anyway..."
"Of course, Harry." Alicia grinned. "Is that what you meant when you said that things have changed? Is that what is making you unsure about what to do regarding their security?"
"Yes... that is pretty much it. I still need to talk about it with Bel... and see what she wants to do. I know that I don't want to live apart from her any second if I can avoid it. But I know that the place we are securing for them to live was Geoffrey's house as much it was hers... I'm not sure what is the right thing to do given our circumstances..."
"I see..." Alicia said thoughtful. "I don't think you should keep him apart from his family any longer Harry. This distance is really not doing any good for him..."
"I'm not sure if I can endure sharing the same roof as him without killing him, that is the thing," Harry said frustrated. "Geoffrey really gets on my nerves. And sharing the same space for a while, is quite challenging, as you well know..."
"Well, it is up to you, but my opinion is that you should make an effort... if anything, for the sake of your daughter," Alicia said seriously.
Harry took a deep breath in resignation and turned his attention to the scrolls on Alicia's table.
"What are you working on?"
"This is just a little theory that I have about that witch who tortured Annabel at the museum..."
"What is your theory?"
"That her real name is among the muggles who left the museum that day... maybe she blocked her magic temporarily, so we wouldn't see her as a suspect..."
"That is actually a very good theory, Alicia!"
"Thank you, Harry. It is lots of work though... having to check magical registrations all around the world... just have a look at what I have done so far..." she said and quickly went through her research process with him.
"I will talk to Gawain. He should be able to spare someone to help you out with this... it is actually a very good lead..."
It was at that point that Annabel came running in complete distress. Harry immediately stood up to face her. She had tears on her eyes, her hair was messy, and she had a little bit of blood on her lip.
"Bel, what happened?" he asked worriedly.
"Please, take me out of here, take me out of here..." she said shaking. Harry felt his blood boiling.
"What happened? Why do you have blood on your mount?" Alicia asked her worried.
"Please, just take me out of here..." Annabel ignored the witch's question while she threw herself into Harry's arms.
"What did he do to you?" Harry frowned when he asked this question.
"Just take me out... please..." she said before she started to sobbing so hard, that he could no longer make sense of what she was saying.
Harry then made her look him in the eyes, and as her mind didn't provide any resistance, he was able to employ legilimency on her without any effort. He was able to find the memory of Geoffrey assaulting her not long ago. He clenched his fists really hard, trying to use all his inner strength not to go back to Alicia's drawing room and curse the hell out of the Muggle man.
"Alicia, would you mind if we use your floo connection?" Harry asked his fellow Auror, Annabel was leaning against his body.
"Of course I don't mind, Harry. Here..." she said offering him some powder.
"Thanks..." Harry grabbed some powder with one hand and carried Annabel with his other one. He entered inside the fireplace and clearly said, 'The Burrow' before they both disappeared in a mist of green flames.
There weren't many people at the Burrow when Harry arrived in a misty of green flames, carrying Annabel in his arms. However, some of the few people that were there didn't seem too pleased to see his arrival accompanied by the muggle woman. However, they all seemed to notice the distress that Annabel was under, and nobody objected when Harry requested for someone to bring him some Calming Draught. As soon as Annabel drank the potion, she not only calmed herself down, but she also fell asleep almost immediately in his arms. It was Hermione who told him the effects where much stronger on muggles, and it could also work as a Dreamless Potion for the majority of muggles - 'remind me to lend you a book about the differences and similarities on muggles and wizards physiology and its effect on magical drugs, curses and charms'.
Ron suggested for him to leave Annabel sleeping in his old childhood bedroom. Once Annabel was safely placed in Ron's old bed, Ron and Harry went down the stairs together.
"What happened with her?" Ron asked worriedly.
"She was assaulted..." Harry sighed, "by her husband after she asked for the divorce."
"Bloody hell!" Ron cursed.
"I've used legilimency on her to see what happened... she managed to escape before anything too serious happened, but... it was enough to leave her in that state you saw..."
They remained in silence for awhile before Ron decided to change the topic of their conversation.
"Holly and Teddy gave us quite the scare today, mate. Your daughter did a Disillusionment Charm on herself and Teddy, and had us all running around after them like a bunch of drunken gooses in a snowstorm. We were about to send you a Patronum to inform you that we had lost them when Neville finally spotted the two cheeky monkeys having a laugh under the stairs. And let me tell you, you might be on George's dark book at the moment, but Holly is definitely his new idol..."
Harry chucked with the mental image of Holly and Teddy giving a hard time for all grown up wizards around. They were definitely marauder's grandchildren.
Luckily there weren't many people at the Burrow when Harry and Ron finally rejoined the rest of the guests who were still around. Hermione was seated just next to Holly, who was eating some macaroni and cheese pasta. Unfortunately, Teddy was no longer anywhere to be found. Arthur and Molly were there, talking with Kingsley and his wife, while George was talking to Holly. Harry was somehow glad to see that Ginny was no longer there. He would have felt particularly bad for having to impose his presence on her. As soon as Holly saw that Harry was back in the kitchen, she went running towards him.
"Harry!" She said with a big smile on her face. Harry picked her up and greeted her with a warm hug and a kiss on her forehead.
"I missed you so much, Holly! How have you been? I've heard that you have been up to no good with Teddy today..."
The girl had a little laugh and exploded a small green ball on his head, making his entire body and hair become green immediately.
"George! Recruiting Holly on your evil scheme against me is low blow even for you!" Harry said looking amused.
"Well, Holly is adorable, and you were warned beforehand. I don't feel guilty. This is a prototype by the way... but if it works as intended, the effects should wear off in a couple of hours anyway... until then, enjoy being a green Leprechaun with glasses, Potter."
"How lovely..." Harry said sarcastically.
"At least green does match your eyes..." George said cheekily.
"George! What have you done to poor Harry!" Molly said approaching them. "Fix him up right now!" She demanded.
"Sorry Mum, it doesn't have an antidote... but should wear off in a couple of hours, I promise."
"It better, otherwise you are in big trouble young man!" Molly gave George a severe stern before she looked at Harry, smiling "How are you doing, Harry dear? Can I get you anything to drink?"
"A tea would be lovely, Molly. Thank you." Harry then put Holly back where she was seating, so she could carry on eating her dinner.
Arthur, Kingsley and his wife approached him at this moment to say hi. After Harry given Arthur his best birthday wishes, it didn't take too long for the Minister to ask him what had happened with Annabel. Harry accepted his tea from Molly before he started to tell them.
"We went to see Geoffrey, so Annabel could ask him the divorce... he did not take the news very well, and..." Harry felt unable to carry on saying what had happened between Annabel and Geoffrey. Firstly, he felt bad enough as that had happened during his watch. Also, he thought that it was probably better to keep it low until he talked to Annabel and saw what she wanted to do about it.
"Is she divorcing him?" Arthur asked surprised. "So the thing between you two is really serious?
"Yes. We are together now..." Harry took a sip of his tea, only to find that there was something not quite right with it. "Molly... I'm sorry, but did you put anything on my tea?"
"I'm sorry, Harry," Molly blushed "but I needed to give you a love potion antidote. How are you feeling now, Harry dear?"
Harry immediately looked at Ron, who was repressing a laugh. His brother George also looked amused.
"I'm still in love with Annabel. And I can guarantee that she did not drug me with a love potion, Molly," Harry said leaving his tea on the side. "I'm truly sorry that the things between me and Ginny did not work out as we all wanted... but feelings are things that are outside our control..."
"We were just... so looking forward to having you as an official member of the family, Harry!" Molly said sadly.
"You can still have me as an unofficial member if you would like to. Merlin knows how much I wish I was part of your family. Just be aware that Holly and Annabel will have to come in the package with me from now on. I've asked her to marry me today, and she accepted."
All the adults in the room looked surprised. Even Ron and Hermione who already knew about the news were surprised by how straightforward Harry was being about informing everyone about his intentions to marry Annabel. Holly noticed the change in the atmosphere but didn't quite guess the reason why it had happened.
"Harry... I don't want to give you cold feet - I know that you are an adult, and I respect your decisions... but... don't you think that you are been a little bit too hasty with this wedding?" Arthur said looking concerned.
"I understand why people might be thinking that I'm being precipitate. It does look like it just happened out of the blue... or as Molly here thought, that I've been drugged with a love potion." Harry gave Molly a little smile before he continued. "No, Arthur. I don't think that I'm being hasty. I've been waiting for this moment since I was thirteen years old. I think it was about time... maybe almost six years too late if you ask me. I just can't wait to walk down the aisle with Annabel."
"What does walking down the aisle mean?" Holly asked with a frown.
"It means getting married..." Harry answered her.
"What does getting married mean?"
"Getting married is what adults do when they love each other so much that they want to stay together all the time..." Harry told her with a smile.
"And you want to get married to my Mummy?" Holly asked with a frown.
"Yes... I do," Harry told her feeling somehow anxious. "Would you be happy if I marry your Mummy?"
Holly held her chin thoughtfully for a while. All the adults seemed very entertained by her questions.
"Can you marry me too?" Holly asked him seriously, but everyone else started to laugh at her comment.
"I believe, that you will find out that this would be highly inappropriate, Holly..." Harry said with a grin.
"What does inappropriate means?" Holly asked again.
"Here we go... we are in an infinite question chain now. Does anyone else wants to have a go on answering this one?" Harry asked smugly. Everyone else laughed