Note: So, this is a day late, thanks to a one-shot that kept me busy writing a few days ago (it's a Katniss/Peeta story, so check it out if you're interested). I know I warned you guys that that might happen, but I still feel kind of bad about not meeting the deadline I set, so I actually came up with a way to make it up to you, but you'll have to read the chapter to find out what the surprise is. ;)
-Hailey
26 – The Passing of the Days
Sometimes, Albus just needed to get away. He was already two weeks into the summer, and his home in Godric's Hollow was always filled with either convoluted drama or ignorant bliss. Everything about his family life, from Lily's fifteenth birthday party that ended with her crying herself to sleep from feeling suddenly insignificant, to James's apartment hunting that consisted of him begging their parents for more money every night, seemed utterly fake to Al. These days, his family's problems just distracted him from the one thing he ever wanted to think about. Luckily, though, those same problems also provided enough distraction to Harry and Ginny for Al to sneak out of the house fairly regularly without being seen.
Today had offered him the perfect opportunity to do just that. Lily had been begging to go to one of James's boring Quidditch practices with the Magpies all summer, and this morning, Harry and Ginny had finally done enough work for the Order that they felt comfortable in taking the day off. Al had casually refrained from joining his family in their outing, making some excuse about wanting to see Rose and Scorpius, and since Lily was too preoccupied by the prospect of meeting all of James's hunky teammates, she hadn't bothered to rat Al out for lying. So, as soon as they'd all left, the trace-less Al had Apparated into the city, and now he had taken to the streets and was on his way to Grimmauld Place.
At the moment, Al was attempting to walk slyly and slowly past the Ministry of Magic, hoping that he might overhear some secret conversation on his way. He hadn't heard from Hagrid since the giant had left to recruit his ancestors, and Al hadn't received any more letters from Astoria or Knox either. Harry and Ginny had been fairly careful to keep Order talk to a minimum around Al so as not to get him worked up like at Christmas, so Al was itching to find out anything he could about what was going on in the warfront.
Hiding himself behind a statue that bordered the stairway to the working wizard entrance that was far easier to find than the telephone booth used by visitors, Al waited about five minutes to watch the witches and wizards go by. Just as he was about to accept defeat and move on so as not to be late to his real destination, though, Al got lucky and saw none other than his grandfather, Arthur Weasley, hopping up the steps with his face buried in the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.
Things only got better for Albus when his Aunt Hermione spotted Arthur and ran to catch up with him. Keeping quiet so that neither would see him, Al listened as the two struck up a conversation.
"Dad!" Hermione said to call Arthur's attention. She had always been very close with her father-in-law, just as Harry was. He and Hermione hadn't needed much time to adjust to their new set of parents after their respective marriages to the youngest Weasleys, and had just filled the already large family with even more love.
Once Arthur heard her and set the newspaper down some, he stopped walking and smiled as Hermione squeezed his shoulder in greeting and asked, "What are you doing here?" It was once normal for Arthur to be heading in and out of the Ministry daily, but not since he'd been a Hogwarts professor for the past decade or so.
"Oh, I've requested a meeting with Kingsley," Arthur explained, "I wanted to speak with him after what happened at the school. I think it's about time my old department got a hold on enforcing those laws they have against prejudices. They're there for a reason, after all." He was speaking of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, specifically the area it had devoted to the protection of Muggle-borns and Half-bloods. The Ministry had been trying to re-enforce some of their anti-prejudice laws after the last wizarding war, but clearly they hadn't been all that successful.
"Blimey, tell me about it," Hermione sighed with frustration. "I've been meaning to switch departments for ages, but I'm just too busy now that the Flock's off recruiting all these innocent creatures." Hermione worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and though her projects were normally concerned with house-elf rights, it sounded like her work was being stretched now that Astoria had gone after the giants.
Al's interest piqued at the mention of the Flock, so he listened even more carefully than before as Arthur said, "Yes, well, as a matter of fact, I was just reading about that. Luckily, it looks like Astoria was too late this time. Though in retrospect, I'm not positive that was to any benefit after what she did."
Arthur went on to explain that the article was issued this morning and reported a sighting of Knox Rookwood in the Kjolen Mountains of Northern Europe late last night. What was so interesting about it, particularly for Hermione, was the fact that this mountain range just so happened to be the supposed home of the last remaining giant tribe. Curiously, Knox was sighted without any giants in tow, and instead a brand new couple of recently killed Muggles.
"It can't possibly be a coincidence," muttered Hermione, trying to keep her voice down as people passed by. The Ministry had been infiltrated before, and Hermione didn't want any of the wrong people to overhear her theories. "Hagrid must have arrived before the hawk did. I'll bet you anything that the killing was out of pure rage upon seeing an empty village that shouldn't have been so hard to spot."
Al smiled to himself upon hearing that Hagrid was successful. By now, there would be an entire community of giants living in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, so even if Astoria wanted to place her revenge directly on Hagrid himself, she'd never get past all of his siblings. And, of course, she'd never suspect that it had been Al who'd given Hagrid the tip.
"Oh, I'm sure of it," agreed Arthur. "But it doesn't seem to be getting any easier to catch them even now that we know about their Animagus forms. It feels impossible to predict where she'll go next."
"It does, doesn't it?" Hermione replied. With another sigh, this one even heavier than the last, she said, "I just hope that she doesn't find the dragons. I mean, I understand that the Order doesn't want to use them because of how difficult they are to tame, but that doesn't mean that she won't try for herself."
At that, the conversation died down, and Arthur and Hermione were soon on their way inside. Having heard all that he could have hoped to, Al was left knowing that Hermione was right. After the giants, the dragons were the most powerful creatures that Astoria could get her hands on. And if she did manage to, then the Order would surely have no chance against the Flock. And to make matters worse, Al himself had seen just how chummy Astoria had once been with Charlie Weasley, the manager of the world's largest dragon breeding grounds deep in the heart of Romania. Who's to say that he would even attempt to stop her if his childhood mate came knocking on his door?
Trying to think quickly, Al ran through the memory of the dream he'd had a few weeks back. There had in fact been dragons involved in the battle, and though the terrifying beasts had seemed to be controlled by the Flock, it had for some reason been Al himself who was leading them. Maybe, like the sign of the giants fighting with the Order of the Phoenix, this was yet another sign that Al should cease the opportunity to take control.
Unfortunately, Al was running out of time, and though being tardy wouldn't normally bother him, the person he was meeting didn't deserve another moment's wait. Still, Al couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so as he wondered if there were any owls around that he could commandeer, he started jogging across the city streets until he spotted an old Muggle post office.
Though he'd never stepped foot in one before, Al figured sending letters without magic couldn't be all that difficult, so he headed inside and cut the short line so as to gain a place at the counter. He didn't even look at the postman who faced him as he blurted out, "I need to send a letter to Romania."
"Right," said the postman in a much less anxious voice than Al's. And as he noticed that Al didn't actually have an enveloped letter in his hand, the man started slowly gathering the necessary materials before he handed a stamped envelope to his customer and said, "Write the address on the front and insert your letter in the envelope. That'll be one pound for the stamp."
When Al looked up at the postman – who bore a remarkable resemblance in appearance to himself, with inky hair and grassy eyes – with bewilderment, the postman defended the price by saying, "It's a new addition! In fact, those black irises just so happened to have been designed by my very own wife. That stamp's one of a kind, that is."
But it wasn't the price that Al was concerned about. Rolling his eyes at the nonsense that was spewing out of the man's mouth, Al tried to use his pocketed wand to transfigure a couple of galleons into Muggle money without being seen. Though the spell was simple enough even with Al being as awful as he was at Transfiguration, it took multiple attempts to work. By the time Al was satisfied with the money and was handing it over to the postman, he couldn't help but wonder how that spell could have been so difficult when being performed by the Elder Wand.
Al was still contemplating this when the man thanked him and nodded toward the envelope. Realizing that he had yet to fill it out, Al picked up the pace and scribbled Charlie's name on the front with an approximate address before turning the envelope over and, instead of stuffing it with a handwritten letter, wrote straight across its lip, 'She's coming. Don't trust her.'
As soon as he wrote the last letter, Al handed it over to the confused postman and ran out of the store as quickly as his feet would go. He wasn't sure yet how late he was, but he wouldn't let anything slow him down, and luckily he hadn't worn his foggy glasses in months. This way, he didn't have to worry about them falling from his face as he sprinted through every back alley and cramped corner he could find.
It was a good thing he was running too, since the entire way there, he couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was following him. A part of him thought that it was just because he was scared of being caught sending Charlie that warning by somebody in the Flock, but a larger part of him knew that this wasn't just paranoia. Normally, when he was afraid of being caught, he'd feel cold shivers running up and down his spine, but right now, all he could feel was a familiarly warm wind.
He realized that he might just know who'd been following him all along when he finally turned onto Grimmauld Place and stopped in front of number twelve. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to see the house thanks to the everlasting Fidelius Charm, Al spun himself slowly around a few times in search for her. And after quite a few turnarounds, suddenly she was there, standing across the street behind an iron gate that led to an abandoned park.
Ilana was staring at him with melancholic eyes and sundried lips, her stunningly thin curves blanketed by a sleeveless top and a violet-colored skirt that flowed from her waist to her toes. Her hair was natural and wavy as it framed her face like leaves around a tree, blowing with the breeze like newborn flowers stretching toward the sun.
Though neither had seen each other since the night they'd shared at school, Al and Ilana didn't move to embrace one another. Instead, Al stayed glued to the pavement and Ilana to the grass as they took in the sights of each other from afar. Not daring to break the silence, Al looked around to make sure that they were alone before taking out a piece of paper from his pocket and writing the address of the Black family home on it. Then he folded the paper into a small bird, cupped it in the palm of his hand, and blew it across the street to watch it float toward Ilana.
She unfolded the paper gingerly before reading the address and looking up to see the townhouse that had been invisible before Al, one of its many Secret Keepers, had told her where to look. Smiling when he was sure that she could see it, Al walked backward in calm strides that were perfectly synchronized with Ilana's forward ones. Once he made it to the black door, he waited for her to catch up to him and then led her inside, the whole time trying not to give in to his overwhelming temptation to grab her and kiss her until he lost his breath.
They were still completely silent as Ilana started to explore the house, walking serenely through the haunting hallway with Al close behind. She looked at everything, the walls and the paintings and the dust, almost like every bit of the place had a story written around its edges and she wanted to read it all. But as she read, she didn't touch, leaving everything just the way she'd seen it as she made her way through the kitchen and into the living room.
But here, it seemed as though reading was no longer enough. Ilana's eyes were instantly transfixed on the centuries-old piano that stood against the far-side wall beneath a misty window, and she passed the torn couches and cracked tables without a second glance until she was close enough to pull off the sheet that covered it. She wasn't hesitant to touch this time, not even stopping to ask for Al's permission before she ran her delicate hands across the keys and sat atop the stool.
Al followed her until he was sitting by her side just as she started to play. He didn't recognize the song, for not many in the wizarding world learned how to play such Muggle instruments, but that didn't stop him from becoming mesmerized by the girl who was playing it. She brushed the black and white ivory with effortless efficiency and care, almost as if she'd been playing all her life, but it was her face that Al couldn't take his eyes off of.
It was the first time that she had ever seemed at all vulnerable to him. She was often so distant and introverted, which fascinated him, but somehow her softer side was even more enthralling. She was fragile like this, her lips quivering like she was finally reuniting with something she'd sorely missed, her chest rising and falling like every breath was hard to come by, her eyes tearing ever so slightly like she knew this reunion wouldn't last as long as she wanted it to. Watching her, Al felt like Ilana was showing him a side of herself that she'd never let anyone see before, and he couldn't describe how important that made him feel.
The feeling didn't go away once she was done playing, either. It lingered between them for a few minutes like sprinkles of dust caught in a ray of sunlight, and when Al couldn't stand it anymore, he finally broke the invisible barrier between them. His lips met Ilana's shoulders as she was staring down at the piano keys, but her eyes closed at his touch and she let her head lean back and curl around until it met Al's, and soon their lips found each other in a long, unanswered kiss.
They took full advantage of this moment, their bodies telling each other all of the things that their mouths couldn't seem to say: that they'd missed each other desperately, that everything else in their lives seemed pointless because this was the only thing that mattered, and that they dreaded the time only a few hours from now when their secret affair would come to a momentary end. But they both knew better than anyone that that was the way life worked sometimes; hardships would go on forever, while the beautiful things would never last.
Before long, the summer was already into mid-July, and Al couldn't help but feel as though not much had changed since the season had started. The Potters were still preoccupied with James, Al was still sneaking out to see Ilana every chance he got, and he hadn't heard any more news regarding the Order or the Flock. Things were slow, almost irritatingly so, but Ilana made up for all of that.
If it wasn't for her, Al would probably be going just as insane with boredom as he'd grown last year around this time. Not having Scorpius in the house with him was still an adjustment, as was Rose's absence from his life, but seeing Ilana made all of his problems seem so incredibly petty in comparison to their time together. Being with her was the closest he'd ever come to true happiness, so at least he had something to look forward to during the long days he spent at home.
Today was one of those days, since Al had no immediate plans until that evening, when he'd be able to escape into the night to see Ilana for the first time all week. It was only early morning now, though, and Al was just waking up to a surprisingly dark and wet day that had helped him sleep in longer than he'd expected to.
The only thing that did wake him from slumber was the rancid smell of a freshly completed pot of Polyjuice potion. One of Al's summer hobbies for as long as he could remember had been practicing his potion brewing. Before he'd realized that he himself wasn't under the Trace, he'd discovered that potion-brewing wasn't either, since it didn't require a wand. And this year, through so much time spent with the similarly potion-crazed Ilana, Al was particularly passionate about his latest brews.
After stepping out of his bed and throwing on a shirt that had been residing on his messy floor, Al grabbed the goblet of bubbling, green liquid and placed it on the open windowsill. He had a shelf full of various disguises already, but for the latest pot, he'd used the hair of the postman who'd helped him send the warning to Charlie. Al had found the short, half-gray strand on his sleeve shortly after leaving Grimmauld Place that night, and he figured it might come in handy to have a batch that could turn him into a Muggle for a while. If the smell was any indication, it was finally ready.
But Al wasn't the only one who'd noticed the stink emanating from his room, since at that precise moment, Lily came pounding in from the door that led into the bathroom the siblings shared, her face all squished and her nose being plugged by her hand as she asked, "What the bloody hell is that stench coming from?"
Al rolled his eyes as he failed to answer his obnoxious little sister and walked right past her and into the open bathroom, then locked the door and laughed when she started banging on it from the other side. Regardless of what a mess Al's head was as of late, this was one of those moments that reminded him that some things never changed, including such normal mornings at the Potter house.
After brushing his teeth, Al exited the bathroom to find Lily waiting for him in his room, her arms crossed and her jaw clenched. Smirking, Al pointed toward the door and said with a shrug, "The loo's all yours."
Lily fake smiled and kicked him on her way inside, and after wincing some from the mark that would surely leave a bruise, Al left and headed downstairs. He was quiet as a mouse as he went, which paid off when he reached the ground floor landing and heard his parents discussing something from around the corner, where they were sitting in the breakfast nook of the kitchen.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ginny was asking Harry with more than a hint of concern. "I mean, are you doing this for him or for you?" Al didn't hear his mother talk to his father that way all that often, but when she did, it was always either playful or serious and had to do with either Al or one of his siblings, and her tone now was most definitely not playful.
Harry sighed before answering, "It's for both of us. And, you know what, it's about more than that. McGonagall says she's the best in her year, and we need more people on our side right now, especially younger ones who are going to be willing to fight this thing!"
"I'm just saying…" refuted Ginny, though she was clearly listening and had turned back onto her husband's side as her tone became more supportive than accusing, "That not everybody is you. They're not all willing to sacrifice themselves for a cause, even if it means protecting other people."
"You mean they're not us," Harry said with a low chuckle. "As I recall, you weren't exactly willing to refrain from protecting other people either. And I'm telling you – this girl, she reminds me of you. She's talented. She's strong. She's fearless."
Though Al couldn't see her expression from where he was hiding, Ginny must have surrendered the argument, since she took a while to respond before telling Harry, "Yeah, well, anything's possible if you've got enough nerve, remember?"
Harry mumbled something to her in response, though Al had a hard time hearing it as Lily came thumping down the stairs behind him. She was already eyeing him suspiciously when he turned around and gave her a warning look that told her to keep quiet or he'd spill that Polyjuice potion all over her newest clothes. Not needing any words to understand, Lily stilled herself as she crouched coyly beside Al to join in on the spy business.
But things grew far less interesting when Harry suddenly changed the subject and asked Ginny, "Are you sure that is a good idea?"
Al didn't know what his father was talking about at first, but then it became clear when Ginny replied, "It's definitely not, but I don't have much of a choice, do I? I don't think many people would see me as such a great wedding planner, but then again, Luna's never exactly seen things the way other people do." Luna had recently asked Ginny to be her maid of honor for her upcoming wedding to Neville. This time, they were going all out for occasion, since apparently neither of them had had very large first weddings.
Of course, Al couldn't care less about such nuptials, and upon overhearing the casual conversation, Lily looked at her brother like he was a tremendous idiot for spying on nothing important before rolling her eyes and stalking off. Al walked slowly behind her as she entered the kitchen, greeted their parents, looked over Ginny's shoulders at the mound of bridal magazines on the table, and asked, "Have they picked a date yet?"
"Christmas Eve, so I'm told," said a voice not from Ginny, but instead a young man coming through the door from the backyard. A sweaty Lysander was pounding across the wooden floors and into the kitchen feeling as comfortable as if in his own home, with an equally wet and sticky James not far behind him.
They must have been coming from an early Quidditch practice (James had recently helped Lysander earn a substitute Beater position on the team), though Al couldn't fathom how the sport was worth giving up so much sleep for. Still, as if the perspiration wasn't obvious enough, the boys headed straight into the kitchen and started ripping apart the cabinets and cupboards in search of hard-earned fuel.
"Only five and a half months from now?" Ginny asked with exasperation upon hearing the latest timetable. "You must be joking!"
After swallowing a mouthful of cockroach clusters, Lysander cleared his throat and said, "Hey, I'm just the messenger. Plus, you know my mum; she's all about being different, and an outdoor wedding in the winter is most definitely different."
"Outdoors?" Ginny panicked, stepping up from her seat now so that she could start pacing across the crowded kitchen floor. As soon as she was off her chair, Lily was quick to steal it for herself, but Al refrained from stealing his father's when Harry got up and went after Ginny in an attempt to calm her down.
Meanwhile, James had poured himself a bowl of porridge and was flinging spoons of it across the counter he was sitting on as he said without bothering to swallow first like Lysander had, "Don't worry about it, Mum. You'll be fine. You can even take over my room and turn it into some sort of fitting room for the dresses if you need to."
"Except that all this talk about moving out means nothing until you actually find a place to live, not to mention the money to pay for it," Harry spat at James while reminding Ginny to take deep breaths. Harry may have had all the money in the world when he was younger, thanks to the generous settlement his parents had left him, but he still believed in working for one's independence, and James was his first experiment to prove the value in his theory.
But James, being used to Harry's comebacks after hearing them so often this summer, was ready and prepared for refutation. He also knew that no one would be able to argue back when he hopped off the counter and said, "Yeah, I know, which is why I'm bringing it up. The lease for our flat came through this morning."
"Our flat?" asked Lily, still curled up on Ginny's old chair. She didn't sound all that excited about her brother having a roommate, probably since she was worried about it being Mercy. Those two queen bees had never seen eye to eye.
It seemed like Lily was worrying for nothing, though, since Lysander answered, "Yeah. I really need to get out of that house. I mean, between Mum and Neville and Lucy and Lorcan slobbering all over each other all the time, I just don't think I can take it much longer." When it sounded as if Lysander was the mysterious roommate after all, Lily didn't seem nearly as jealous about it. In fact, Al could have sworn that he even saw a small twinkle in her eye.
"We both just got some payments up front thanks to the Championship that's coming up," James continued for Lysander, "And we'd already put a place on hold that's only a block away from the Magpies stadium, so we just sort of decided to go all in together."
After letting the news settle in for a moment, Harry smiled at the two boys and said, "Well, that's great, James."
Ginny too was smiling, as was Lily and even Al (he couldn't exactly argue with the benefits of having James off his back for a while), but the smiles disappeared when James added, "Yeah, so, we should probably get packing. We're supposed to be moving in later tonight."
Everyone was shocked by the suddenly quickened pace of James's moving out, none more so than Ginny when she realized that the first of her offspring would be gone in a matter of hours, since she pushed Harry aside and looked directly at James as she yelled, "Tonight?"
Lily and Harry held similar expressions, causing Lysander to edge himself into a corner to try to avoid being noticed while James addressed them all coolly with, "Look, I know it's soon, but I've been talking about this all summer. It shouldn't seem like it's coming out of the blue or anything."
Nobody had any way to negate James's excuse, just like he had planned, though Harry did have plans of his own. "Well, I don't have a problem with your leaving, James. But it can't happen tonight. I've invited someone to dinner, and I'd like you to be here for it," he said adamantly.
Sick of arguing with his father, James just rolled his eyes and said, "Fine. I'll leave tomorrow instead." But just to irritate his parents even slightly, he asked with furrowed eyebrows, "Who's the guest?"
Harry squirmed slightly upon hearing the question, for he wasn't the best liar, and eventually answered, "That's a surprise. But you'll like them." To himself, but loud enough for Al to hear him, he mumbled, "I hope."
At that, James made an annoyed face before leaving the kitchen with Lysander in tow to start packing. By the end of the day, when Lysander finally left to get his own things together, James's room was empty but for the piles of brown boxes stacked against the walls. Just before the surprise guest arrived, the entire Potter family was standing in that very bedroom and marveling at its transformation.
Even Al felt somewhat nostalgic upon seeing so many childhood memories disappear in the blink of an eye. There were moments of his life that connected to each and every one of James's old posters, from the Quidditch team banners, to the vintage Muggle music records, to the moving veela profiles. To see it all gone made it seem all the more real that James was leaving too, and Al wondered if he'd ever come back. Something told him that James had far too much going for him to ever need to return home, and though Al couldn't escape quite yet, he knew that the same would one day be said for him, and most likely Lily as well. All three of the Potter children had been independent and self-satisfying since birth; it was in their blood to know how to take care of themselves.
The family huddle was interrupted when a knock was heard at the door, and the five of them raced down the stairs like a stampede to see who this surprise guest was. But when James, who was the tallest and therefore also the fastest in the family, found his hand on the doorknob first, the evening's ignorant bliss was replaced with convoluted drama all over again.
The door opened to an already smirking Mercy standing on the front porch, looking as gorgeously glowing as ever. She had a small bouquet of yellow daisies in her hand that perfectly matched her hair, and was wearing a summery white dress to contrast her dark lipstick. As soon as she let go of the flowers, though, inviting herself inside and handing the daisies to Ginny, her obvious beauty was obscured by James's shock and embarrassment.
"What are you doing here?" He asked as she addressed him, ignoring the mob that comprised his family standing on the two bottom steps of the staircase and staring at him defiantly.
"Relax," Mercy said with a bite to her voice and a sting in her glare. When James didn't look any more relaxed, however, she stated simply, "I'm here on business."
Now, James finally seemed to catch on, as he took his eyes off of his ex-girlfriend momentarily to point them toward Harry as he said without any questioning, "Explain. Now."
Ginny, after being concerned for James's well-being all morning, stood firmly on her son's side as they awaited a response from the scheming Harry. Al and Lily, meanwhile, weren't quite sure which side to take, but were eager to find out which would win.
Trying to ignore the spectators and focus solely on James, Harry said with as clear annunciation as possible, "I met Mercy at your graduation, and I knew that she was hoping to find some Auror training. After checking with her teachers and her parents, I agreed to take her on as my newest trainee. I'm going to be mentoring her and overseeing her training until I deem it fit for her to take the practical exam."
Becoming an Auror was a long and arduous process, most of all the initial training. Recent graduates were handpicked by members of the Auror office to work under a present professional before they were even allowed to become classified dark wizard catchers themselves. These days, especially after Astoria had gained control to the office and its database, very few young witches and wizards were selected, and the ones who were tended to be trained by lower ranked Aurors than Harry Potter. James, who was well versed in the subject area, caught this discrepancy in the arrangement right away as he said to his father, "But you haven't mentored anyone in years!"
"Yes," Harry agreed, "But the whole department's gone underground now, and we need to gain as much support as possible from the inside. It's not easy to grow an army in secret, James, and us Aurors are in charge of all of that."
But James wasn't satisfied with the excuse, since he contested quickly, "That doesn't explain why you suddenly need a protégé, or why your little project has to involve her." The final word in his accusation was just as bitingly cold as Mercy's tone had been before, and he pointed straight toward her without the least bit of respect for her personal space.
Al supposed that such behavior was only normal for the two of them, though. He'd never seen James and Mercy together when they weren't fighting, so he knew just as well as they did that it was a part of their dynamic. He understood it too, since he and Ilana had gone through their fair share of angry phases already, but there was still something about James and Mercy that didn't sit right with Al. In fact, he couldn't say that he'd ever thought any of his brother's past girlfriends had been at all right for him. Regardless of how desperate for affection he could be, much like Al and Lily, James always seemed stronger when he was on his own.
Harry took a while to respond, but eventually he told James, "We don't just need more Aurors. We need more Order members. We need more soldiers. And right now, after everything's that happened with Astoria, I'm the only person I trust to train anybody new."
Though Al had been his quiet self through this entire confrontation, he couldn't stay silent upon hearing Harry's confession. Surprising everyone with his presence, he suddenly asked harshly, "Oh, because you're the only one who's strong enough to fight off Astoria? Have you never considered that she might be stronger than even you?"
Ginny and Lily turned to Al with wide eyes as they silently urged him to drop the interference, but Harry didn't even flinch at Al's questions. Instead, he tried to look at both his sons as he answered, "I'm not overestimating myself, nor am I underestimating Astoria. I'm only trying to protect people – people like Ron, who happens to be my family – from any more danger. Everyone else has a responsibility, so why shouldn't Mercy be mine?" Turning back to face James completely, he added, "And to be honest, I thought you might like to have another reason to see her around… one that doesn't interfere with your Quidditch schedule, because you can see us and her all at the same time."
James wasn't buying a second of this 'doing him a courtesy' act, though, shooting back at Harry, "But we broke up! Don't you understand that?" Al wasn't quite sure whether or not James meant to be pushing Mercy away, especially since Harry was right about the reason behind the couple's recent split. It could just be that James was using the surprise as a reason to be angry with Harry, just like Al was always using Scorpius.
Mercy seemed to be wondering the same thing as she cut in and said to James, "Look, you don't need to get worked up about this. I don't expect anything from you anymore. I told you, I'm here for business. That's all."
As Mercy and James continued to stare each other down in an effort to read the other's true reactions, Harry and Ginny took the silence as a good transition for them all, slowly leading everyone into the dining room where a home-cooked meal was waiting for them on the table. Of course, when James and Mercy inadvertently sat in adjacent chairs, the awkwardness of the evening became even more difficult to dissipate.
Most of the dinner was spent with Harry trying to get to know Mercy, which may or may not have been a very good idea, depending on how James took it. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking from his stoic expression across the table from Al, but the latter figured that either James honestly didn't care about the girl anymore, and was only growing impatient to move out of this house once and for all, or that he felt utterly ambushed by his father and the girl he still had feelings for, but was just too proud to admit to them.
"So, I couldn't help but notice your large family at the graduation," Harry said to Mercy at one point, eager to know that she would had people in her life who were worth fighting for. "How are your brothers coping with the idea of you becoming an Auror?"
Ginny and Lily scoffed at the question, for they both knew exactly what it was like to grow up with a myriad of brothers and wind up more talented than any of them. Still, it was that same competitive spirit that made them look at Mercy like they were daring her family to outshine theirs as the golden girl said, "Oh, they're a riot. The youngest, Pippin, is pretty ecstatic. He's only five, but he's already scouring the Dark Arts section of the Daily Prophet every chance he gets."
Everybody tried to be cordial as they nodded with judgmental interest, but Lily just couldn't hide her opinion any longer when she spat out her pumpkin juice all across the table until it practically splattered Mercy's plate and asked, "His name is Pippin?"
Harry and Ginny stared at Lily with glares of disapproval at her rude behavior, but Mercy shrugged the question aside like she heard it every day and answered straightforwardly, "Yes, but actually, the two older ones are worse. They're named Wallace and Dougal. My step-mother has a real knack for giving her children names that would be better suited for pets."
Every last Potter stifled a laugh at that, even James. Al had never paid witness to the funnier side of Mercy, since she always came across as an arrogant know-it-all at school. But here, she didn't need to impress people with her looks or intimidation anymore; she'd already impressed the Chosen One with her talent alone. She couldn't exactly ask for much more than that.
When Mercy joined in to the laughter on her own expense, Al also noticed that James was looking at her for the first time all night, and he knew instantly that he'd been right about his brother. James always had to let a person go to realize how important they were to him, and he was finally letting himself see Mercy as one of those people, rather than just a pretty girl who looked good on his arm.
Once the mirth subsided, Ginny leapt into the conversation by commenting to Mercy, "Well, your parents must be very proud of you. Harry tells me that you received the year's highest NEWT marks." All the graduates had acquired their exam results a week or so ago, though James hadn't paid them much mind since he didn't need any to play professional Quidditch, and Ilana hadn't mentioned hers to Al. They didn't mention much to each other, especially when they only had so much time to fill with other activities.
"They are," Mercy affirmed, "Though sometimes they're not the only people whose pride I'd like to earn."
Her proclamation sent a wave of silence across the room in one fail swoop, for of course everyone assumed that she was talking about James. Perhaps more interestingly, though, was how much all of the Potters could relate to Mercy, if in their own ways. Harry had always worked to impress his mentors and his friends, Ginny her older brothers, James the people at school who knew about his family legacy before they had the chance to know him, and Lily all the boys she loved who never loved her back. Al was the only exception, because he'd never desired anyone's pride in him more than that of his father's.
They were all still lost in their own thoughts when James took Mercy's hint and broke the silence to say, "If you could excuse us, I'd like to speak with Mercy alone for a while." And though he asked for it, he didn't wait for permission before he jerked his head at Mercy and led her upstairs to his room, which might have just been the only place empty enough to hold all of the issues that they had yet to sort through.
Back in the dining room, Al and Lily couldn't get Mercy's words out of their heads, but an impressed Ginny lightened the mood once again when she said to her husband, "Well played. Can't say I could have done it any better myself."
And she was right. The rest of the night went swimmingly, with James and Mercy locked in the former's bedroom and talking for hours, but never once raising their voices enough to be heard from downstairs. By the time they finally came out and Mercy thanked Harry and Ginny for the meal before she and Harry scheduled a time for her first real day of work, James seemed much more at ease with the whole situation and even gave Mercy a quick kiss goodnight.
Once the rest of them headed off to bed, though, Al's curiosity got the best of him, and he found himself standing in the open doorway to James's bedroom as his brother taped up his very last box. Not waiting for James to notice him, Al made sure that his parents and Lily were asleep in their rooms before he asked, "So, what, are you two back together now?"
James turned around quickly, taken off guard by Al's voice coming from behind him, but quickly caught his breath and sat on a box as he answered, "I'm not sure. It's complicated, you know?"
When Al's face went vacant as he pretended that he had no idea what James was referring to, James knelt his head toward the floor and explained thoughtfully, "It's fun for a while, but then it gets bloody hard bloody fast. At first, it's all easy and light, and you're infatuated with each other, so much so that you convince yourself that that's what love feels like, whether it's true or not."
Al didn't want to relate to his brother's words, but he couldn't help it. He felt that way about Ilana right now, because things were fun when they were secret and anything but serious, but then there was that voice in his head that wondered why Ilana had once thought that they couldn't be together. Was she right? Were things more complicated than they appeared on the surface? Would they last, or was this just a summer fling – great while it's there, but short enough to forget?
So, Al listened closely as James continued, because regardless of how he judged his brother sometimes, James was more experienced than he was. It was that simple, and James seemed to understand this, since he didn't question Al's sudden interest as he continued with, "After a while, it starts to become less a question of whether or not you love the person, and more of whether or not you love them enough to keep fighting for them."
Al thought about James's words for a while, but when James looked up at him like he was about to ask why he was so curious in the first place, Al tried to shrug off the seriousness of the conversation and said jokingly, "Right. Well, er, just don't come 'round to Grimmauld Place and use it as your shag shack again, okay?"
When James seemed even more confused than before, Al said in a whisper, "It's already taken," and then left the bedroom and closed its door on his way out, only just catching the echoes of James's proud laugh in the background.
Now that it was late enough that the sun had set and his parents would be oblivious to his whereabouts, Al put some cleaner clothes on and then headed downstairs to get on his way. Unfortunately, as soon as he made it to the back door, he heard the soft breathing of his sister coming from behind him.
Sighing, he turned around to face Lily and asked, "What do you want?" He wasn't in the mood to play one of her games right now, not when he had somewhere so much better to be.
Cutting straight to the chase, since Lily had never been one to beat around the bush, she said, "I want you to help me get out of here."
Al squinted his eyes as he tried to figure out her motive in all of this before asking, "Is this about your sudden fascination with walking under the stars?" He'd only run into her in the midst of one of these walks the one time back at Hogwarts, but even then, it hadn't seemed like something she was ready to give up on just yet.
With pursed lips, Lily crossed her arms and said, "So what if it is? After what you put me through this morning, you owe me a favor. And since I'm not seventeen, I can't exactly use a silencing spell on my way out like you can!"
Al laughed, because she always did know when to use any little moment as blackmail for her own benefit, and he didn't really have any reason to turn her down. She'd be a nuisance and beg him to accompany her for the first little while, but she'd be an even bigger nuisance tomorrow if he didn't help her now.
Without saying anything, he performed a spell that opened the door without any sound made at all and let Lily walk out in front of him. Sure enough, she did convince him to walk with her at first, since she kept telling him that he'd like the place she was headed to, and so Al went along hesitantly, checking the time every few seconds on the watch his parents had given him for his recent seventeenth birthday.
Lily didn't fail to notice Al's impatience, either, laughing at all of his anxiety as she strolled through the woods that she knew like the back of her hand. She didn't say anything about it at first, though, instead just letting her brother squirm, since she thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment.
Meanwhile, Al was starting to be thankful for his decision to go with her, since he wasn't convinced that she'd be very safe out here on her own. Quickly growing worried that this could turn into a nightly excursion, though, Al asked with concern, "How long d'you reckon these night walks are going to last, Lil?"
"I dunno'," she replied. "Maybe until the daylight starts to feel like enough again." Her confession made Al realize just how much Mercy's words at dinner had affected her. He knew they'd struck a chord in him, but apparently Lily had been listening after all. And now that James was moving on, just like everybody else around her seemed to be doing, she was succumbing to her loneliness and the dreadfully powerful need for attention that had been instilled in her all her life. Lily was just a perpetual summer; she was full of life and color, and she was everyone's favorite time of year, but even she couldn't escape the thunder that came with the afternoon rain.
Distracted by the thought, Albus almost didn't hear Lily when she turned to him and asked, "What about you? How long d'you reckon things will last with that older girl of yours?"
Al faced Lily as he suddenly stopped walking and waited for some explanation of how she seemed to know about him and Ilana when nobody else did, and when he had been so careful to keep their relationship a secret. Lily understood what he wanted to know, though she kept walking and waited for him to catch up before she said, "I saw you watching her as she floated away in her rowboat. I just figured it was her you'd been running off to see these past few weeks. After all, I've never seen you so anxious to be somewhere before."
Accepting the fact that his sneaking out hadn't gone quite as unnoticed as he'd thought, Al tried to trust that Lily wouldn't tell anyone since she'd been trying to refrain from gossiping as of late. Plus, Al himself wasn't all that concerned with people knowing about him and Ilana. It was her he was trying to protect, not himself, though he didn't exactly think that their relationship was anyone else's business.
"I don't know how long that will last either, I suppose," Al said in response to Lily's original question. Thinking of what James had said before about loving someone enough to fight for them, Al smiled internally and added, "But for now, I don't feel like I need anything else. She's enough."
Lily didn't dispute this, but merely said as if to warn Al, "Then, you should hold onto her. And don't disappoint her, you hear? Nobody deserves to be disappointed by the people they love."
"Yeah, I hear. But that might be rather difficult, considering the fact that I disappoint people all the time." Like a surprising number of things, Al and Lily had this trait in common. The difference was that Lily disappointed other people because she tried too hard and let her emotions get in the way of all logic, whereas Al forgot to try to earn people's love because he never believed that he was worth it.
As if she could read this thought in Al, Lily countered with, "Maybe you do, but for what it's worth, you've never disappointed me."
Not knowing what to say, Al just smiled in hopes that it would be enough to show his gratitude toward his little sister. And after that, they didn't talk again for another five minutes or so, and Al had gone back to checking his watch before he finally gave in and asked his leader, "Okay, please just tell me where we're going before I miss out on seeing Higgs at all because I have to drag your corpse the whole way home."
But Lily rolled her eyes at the comment. "Oh, shut it," she said just as she was about to step between two trees that led to a much clearer looking field than the ever-darkening woods they'd been sifting through and said, "Anyway, we're here."
Al followed her through the trees only to be met with not just any field, but a never-ending one that stretched further than the horizon and was filled with rows upon rows of irises. Al had to walk up to a group of them so that he could get a better glimpse with the light of his wand, but he soon saw that the flowers were a dark shade of purple, possibly even black. They were as smooth as a painting and were filled with delicate shadows beneath their tender folds. Best of all, they went on forever; they didn't have ending in sight.
So captivated by the place that Lily had brought him to, Al lost track of time for a while and didn't realize how much of it had gone by until Lily yelled from a few yards back, "I think I'll be heading home now."
"So soon?" asked Al.
With a nod, Lily said, "I've been here before. I found the place last summer... I found a lot of things last summer. Anyway, I just wanted to see them in bloom again." And then, with one last shrug, she turned around to leave.
Al was at first hesitant to have her walk back by herself, especially without any light, but their eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now, and Lily seemed to know her way around these woods well enough to navigate without a chaperone. Plus, he needed to get on his way as well, so after plucking the strongest iris he could find, he Apparated straight to the front walk of number twelve, Grimmauld Place.
This time, Al didn't look around for Ilana, since he knew that she'd be waiting for him inside. But as he walked over the threshold and out of the dark, he was surprised to find a quiet house without any piano music emanating through the hall. Sure enough, Ilana wasn't sitting at her normal spot in front of the baby grand, but Al was sure that she was there somewhere.
Though they'd never spent any time upstairs before, Al ended up finding her in the drawing room on the first upper floor. She was staring at the Black family tree that had been engraved in the wall, running her hand across one of the faces that had been blasted off by the old family matriarch, Walburga.
"Always pure," Al stated the Black family motto as he walked inside to meet Ilana. She wasn't surprised by his voice, but did seem to look at him almost nervously for the first time since they'd met. Averting his gaze and looking toward the mural, he added, "I didn't show you any of this before because my brother's sort of tainted most of the house."
Remembering his encounter with James and Mercy from that winter, Al grimaced to himself and laughed while saying without really thinking through the comment, "You're lucky you don't have one of those."
"What? A brother?" asked Ilana. When Al nodded, she said, "Well, actually, I do have one of those. His name's Felix."
Al hadn't seen that coming. Ilana hadn't once divulged to him any information about her home life. Of course, she'd always known plenty about his, because every person in the magical world knew the name Potter, but why had she chosen now to equate their knowledge? And did she want to tell him more, or was that all? Should he even ask?
Something in Al told him that he shouldn't, though. Things with Ilana had never gone smoothly when he asked questions, and if this instant was any indication, it seemed to pay off to be patient with her. That was why Al didn't press further as he zeroed in on her brother's name by thinking of the famous 'liquid luck' and asking, "Like the potion? Felix Felices."
Ilana, who'd turned away from him to look back at the family tree, turned back upon hearing his surprising question and smiled ever so slightly as she replied, "Yeah, actually. I mean, technically Felix was named after my dad, but I suppose it is the same as the potion, now that you mention it."
"Cool," said Al as if he was somehow impressed.
For a while, the two of them just stared at each other like they so often did, each of them wondering what to say next. They'd crossed a whole new line tonight, and neither of them had expected to, so it wasn't exactly clear where they should go to now. In an attempt to find out if Al was thinking the same things that she was, Ilana inched toward him and asked softly, "Are you not going to ask me if I have any other siblings I've failed to mention to you?"
Al thought long and hard about his answer, because he knew that she wanted one. This wasn't at all rhetorical, and though Ilana may have been hinting that she was in fact hiding further information from him, and that there was more to tell, he didn't think that that was what she wanted to hear from him. And as he thought about what she did want to hear, he came up with his answer.
"No. I figure you'd tell me if you wanted to." Ilana was an independent spirit; that much he knew, and so she wanted to have things her own way. And he couldn't blame her for that, because he felt the same.
He knew he'd said the right thing after all when, instead of replying with words, which had never been a strong suit for either of them, Ilana just leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn't tentative or innocent, but rather sure and passionate. They kissed each other differently every time, but each one was as if it was their last. There were no more longing looks, no more prolonged temptation, no more waiting. They gave in to each other during every moment they shared, because they wanted to discover things. They wanted to know each other physically in every possible way, because they refused to open their minds.
But before this kiss escalated into something more like most of them did, Ilana pulled away upon feeling something slightly prickly against her back, where Al's hand was leading her toward him. Grabbing his hand gently and moving it so that the flower was floating in between them, she looked to Al as he told her, "I meant to give it to you."
Ilana's eyes were shining and her smile was infectious as she took the flower and said, "Irises are my favorite. Where'd you get it?"
Al was about to tell her of Lily's discovery when he came up with a better idea and suggested to Ilana, "Why don't I show you?"
They were downstairs and out the door within seconds, and as soon as they were on the front walkway, Al outstretched his hand for Ilana to take and they Apparated to the field that he'd come from. It was odd, because they'd held hands countless times this summer, but never when they were out in the open like this. Maybe it was because neither of them wanted to feel like they belonged to the other, but now that they'd given in to the communal symbol of love, it almost felt right. It was like their hands had always meant to be held, but that they'd never fit with anyone else's before now.
That was also why their hands remained locked together as they stood in the center of the field and took in the sight of it before them. By now, each of them was using their free hand to hold their illuminated wands, and after taking some time to look over the flowers, Al started to notice that there was even more to this field than he'd seen at first glance.
Fireflies were dancing around their magical light bulbs like fairies, and this haunted field was their Neverland. But the fireflies weren't as infinite as the field was, for they disappeared in unexpected and spontaneous flashes, only to show up again a few moments later before flickering away once more.
When he noticed that Ilana too had her eyes on the fireflies, Al said, "They sure don't stay around for very long, do they?"
Ilana laughed and said, "No, of course they don't. They're just like humans in that way."
"What d'you mean?"
Coming close to his face while at the same time finally letting go of his hands, Ilana answered Al in a whisper, "They like to be chased." Then she was running away from him and into the night, only her wand showing any sign of where she was headed.
He raced after her as if his life depended on catching her, but also like he was running atop the clouds. For once in Al's life, he felt at peace, and like he could stay in this one place forever. He could stop moving and just be here amongst the flowers and the fireflies, with this one girl whom he never wanted to disappoint, and his life would be as fulfilled and complete as he could have ever hoped for it to be.
"I hope they like to be caught too!" he yelled after Ilana once he came close enough to grab hold of the back of her dress and twirl her into his arms. This time, their kiss was quick, because Ilana had something to show him.
As she pulled away, she brought her hand up to his eye-level and opened her palm to reveal the answer to his question. For there, floating just an inch above her porcelain skin, was a tiny, insignificant beetle that was as fluorescent and influential as the stars. And as it slowly flew upward and into the sky, two sets of green eyes watched it go and then Al and Ilana simultaneously blew it away toward the night, giving the small creature a piece of their wind to help carry it home.
Once it was gone, Ilana leaned into Al and caused him to topple onto the ground, bringing a few helpless irises down with him, including Ilana, since he wasn't about to let her go any time soon. They laid there for hours, seeping their skin into the grass, smelling the natural fragrance of the field, and loving each other in a purely physical way, because neither of them realized just how much emotion came with it.
At some point during their long night together, they found their way back to Grimmauld Place, and must have even dared to return upstairs, for Al woke up atop a bed of black sheets in a room that looked like it hadn't seen the sun in a century. A beautifully bare Ilana was curled into a ball beside him, her still sleeping face straight across from his and sharing the same pillow.
Quietly, he took a few strands of her hair and ringed them around his fingers, then let them bounce back against her exposed collarbone. He traced a line from her shoulder all the way down to her forearm, and was just starting to wonder why the skin there felt slightly coarser than the rest of her body when he heard tapping against a nearby window.
When the noise wouldn't go away and it started to make Ilana stir in her sleep, Al became too annoyed to ignore anymore, so he slowly stretched his legs off the bed until they hit the floor, then stood up while being careful not to make a single creak, put his pants on, and made his way over to the window that looked as if it was bolted shut.
Because Al had only expected to see a common woodpecker that perhaps had lost its way, he was surprised to find a scruffy rook standing on the outdoor windowsill. It seemed adamant to have its way, and when Al wondered why it was tapping its beak against the glass rather than squawking like normal crows did, he looked more closely through the haze and noticed some of its familiar markings.
"Knox?" Al asked in a whisper. The bird nodded exasperatedly, and though Al was still confused as to how Rookwood had even found him here, he performed a silent spell to open the window for his newly returned ally.
Luckily, since Al forgot to request for such even though they weren't exactly alone in the room, Knox didn't transform right away. Instead, he remained perched on the windowsill in his bird form as he pulled a rolled note out from inside his talons and placed it onto Al's open palm with his beak. Al read it quickly and sighed visibly upon doing so, for all it said was, 'Get ready. We've got dragons to catch.'
Al was already dreading whatever plan Astoria and Knox had for him, especially after warning Charlie about their imminent arrival in Romania. He couldn't help but be pessimistic about the reason for his involvement in such a high-stake task, which was why for the next minute, he kept looking back and forth between the note in his hands that he would have to uphold and the girl on his bed that he would have to leave, secretly hoping that this was just a dream, but knowing that it wasn't. After all, Albus knew better than anyone that that was the way life worked sometimes; hardships would come back to haunt you, while the beautiful things would never last.
Note: Thanks so much for reading! How are you all liking the Al/Ilana romance so far? Let me know in a review.
As for my way to make up the lateness for you: the next chapter will be uploaded EARLY, on July 17th (less than a week!). I only feel comfortable with such a small amount of time because I'm crazily excited for the #27, and I'm sure after reading this that many of you can guess why. (One word: dragons.) But anyway, look forward to that, and in the meantime, I'd love to hear from you regarding your reaction to this update!
-Hailey