Since Teddy's abduction, Harry woke up every morning expecting to get word that someone else had been taken. Thankfully, thus far, no one else had been abducted by Friday morning when Harry awoke. Breathing a sigh of relief that they seemed to have more time, at least for the moment, Harry went about his morning routine before heading off to work.
Work had been a strange experience since his reinstatement. While he was back to being the Head Auror, almost none of his immediate duties had anything to do with the Aurors. Harry spent most of his days with Malfoy and Elaina down in the Department of Mysteries, scanning the runes and coming up with new ways to test them. After hours of runework, Harry and Elaina would return to his office where they would process all of the paperwork that the Aurors had filed that day before heading home.
However, instead of heading home, Harry met Hermione before heading to The Burrow for dinner with Teddy. Just after Harry's reinstatement, he had received a letter from Teddy asking if he and Hermione could come over for dinner. Of course Harry wanted to, but he wasn't certain that both he and Hermione would be welcome at the Burrow at the same time.
However, only a few moments after receiving Teddy's letter, Harry received another message from Arthur, inviting Harry and Hermione to dinner. Clearly, Arthur had anticipated Harry's reaction and sent his own message to ensure that Harry would understand that they were welcome at The Burrow.
Still, the first two nights of dinner hadn't been the most comfortable experience in the world. More than once, Teddy had asked questions about Ron, who had stopped by to visit earlier in the day. Rather than answer, Harry deflected the question for the moment, knowing that he would have to answer them sooner or later. Thankfully, Teddy was a ten-year-old boy and while he was very bright, he was also easily distracted.
For the third time that week, Harry and Hermione arrived at The Burrow, only to be assaulted by a small child wrapping his arms around their waists.
"How was your day?" Teddy asked Hermione, who he had taken quite a liking to over the last few days.
"I think we're all glad that this week is over," Hermione replied warmly. "How about you? How was your day?"
"Molly and I had a lot of fun," Teddy answered. "We made homemade ice cream and then she taught me how to degnome the garden."
"Degnome the garden, huh?" Harry asked, thinking fondly of the first time he helped Ron and the twins degnome the garden before his second year at Hogwarts. "Throw any beyond the fence?"
"Not quite," Teddy replied, "but one got close!"
"That's my boy," Harry said, patting Teddy on the shoulder. Just then, Molly entered the kitchen, carrying a vat nearly the size of Teddy filled to the brim with potatoes.
"Merlin, Molly, how many people are you feeding?"
"Two more than usual," said a voice behind Harry. Harry turned and, much to his surprise, saw Ron and Gabrielle standing behind them. Almost immediately, Harry began to sweat nervously as he peeked out of the corner of his eye and saw Hermione standing there with a look of obvious surprise on her face.
"Oh," Harry mumbled. "That's…"
"Relax, Potter," Gabrielle replied. "If we wanted to kill you, we could have done that when your back was turned to us."
"Yes, but where would the fun in that be?" Ron asked, which earned him a punch in the arm from his fiance.
"We didn't know you were coming," Hermione said nervously. "We can go if you want."
"No one is going anywhere," Arthur said as he entered the room, tossing his copy of The Daily Prophet in the trash bin. "We invited Ron and Gabrielle so that we could all sit down and just enjoy dinner together."
"Do you think we can do that?" Molly asked as she waved her wand, pouring gallons of boiling water over the potatoes.
Harry looked at Ron, who looked surprisingly happy to be there.
"We'll be fine, Mum," Ron replied before looking down at Teddy. "It's quite a warm day out. You up for a swim?"
"Ron, it's September!" Molly fussed.
"It's also hotter outside than it is in your oven," Ron countered. "He'll be fine, right?"
"Right!" Teddy said before turning to Harry. "Can I go?"
Harry nearly asked Teddy why he needed Harry's permission. Then Harry remembered that he was Teddy's guardian. Of course Teddy would ask his permission. It was how he was raised.
"Go upstairs and change. I'll go out and watch you," Harry said with a smile. Teddy gave a shout of elation before sprinting up the stairs. In what seemed like no time at all, the sound of footsteps came pounding the stairs again before he raced past Harry and through the back door.
Harry immediately followed Teddy, but when he went to go close the door, he was surprised to see that Ron was coming as well. Clearly, there was something that Ron wanted to talk about away from Arthur and Molly. Getting Teddy to go for a swim had just been his cover.
The three of them walked up the hill towards the lake. Immediately, Teddy dashed into the water before completely submerging himself.
"Stay close to the shore!" Harry shouted when Teddy came back up for air. "Dinner will be ready soon."
"Is it strange?" Ron asked as they watched the young boy throw himself in and out of the water repeatedly.
"It's...new. I honestly haven't been around much recently, especially after I got reinstated. I'm just hoping that we can take care of Legion, so that I can be as good a father to him as your father was to me."
"Good luck with that," Ron mused. "Not many fathers I know are better than mine."
"I have no hope of being better, just good enough."
"You and me both," Ron replied. "Speaking of Legion, can I assume this meeting tomorrow is about that?"
"It is," Harry said. "I'm doing what I should have done months ago. I'm telling everyone."
"Good, good," Ron said, although Harry sensed there was more that Ron wanted to say.
For a few moments, both of them stood in silence, watching Teddy swim. Eventually, Ron spoke up again.
"So listen, I know that I'm not an expert in runes or anything like that, but if you need some extra help, I want to help."
Harry honestly couldn't believe that Ron was offering to help, especially after the events of the last few weeks. Was this Ron's attempt to start rebuilding their friendship? In either case, Harry didn't feel as if he could say no.
"It's alright. I don't know much about runes either," Harry admitted. "What made you want to help?"
"Well, I've been talking with Bill and he says that there's still a lot of work to do if you are going to capture Legion," Ron replied. "Plus. I do...I want things to be better...between us. I'm still mad every goddamn day, but I want that to go away. I think it will, but it's going to take time and I mean, I can't very well do that if you're dead."
Harry knew that was about as close as he was ever going to get to Ron admitting that he cared about Harry, even after everything that had happened between them. Ron had never been particularly good at expressing his emotions, even as he grew to understand them better. Still, Harry couldn't help but feel a small sense of joy at the idea that Ron wanted to help because he wanted to make sure that Harry and Hermione were safe.
"That's true," Harry replied. "Listen, I'm going to offer everyone the opportunity to help at the meeting tomorrow. Once I know how many people we have, then I'll be able to tell you what I can use you for."
"That sounds good. At the very least, I am still pretty good with a wand."
"I don't know that a wand is going to help us much, Ron."
"No, but it could give you and Hermione more time to figure things out. Either way, if something would happen to you or Hermione and I could have helped prevent it and didn't, I don't think I could live with that, even if I am still pissed at you."
That might have been one of the most genuinely thoughtful things that Harry had ever heard Ron say. In a normal situation, Harry might have told Ron as much, but he was still glad that Ron was even talking to him at the moment. Pointing out that Ron might have been a touch sentimental was a good way to send Ron back into his shell, something that Harry wanted to actively avoid if he could.
All in all, dinner was a relatively normal affair. There were moments of awkwardness between the three couples and the curious ten-year-old, but for the most part, things seemed to be slowly returning to something resembling a normal state. Of course, Harry was well aware of the fact that it would be quite some time before things were normal between him, Ron, and Hermione. But if an evening with Teddy, Molly, and Arthur even resembled normal, then Harry was going to consider that a win.
Harry and Hermione left early that night, returning to Hermione's apartment to get some rest before what would likely be a stressful meeting in the morning. In truth, Harry's intention had been to escort Hermione back home and then return to his own home. He had been on his way out the door when Hermione reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"I was going home," Harry replied.
"You know that you can stay here, right?"
"Of course, I know that I can stay," Harry replied, although he hadn't honestly had that thought. "I just figured...Well, I thought that….you know, things might be easier if I...wasn't here...all the time."
Hermione smiled at Harry, that same smile that had caused him to fall for her years ago. It was gentle and warm and so damned easy for her to do.
"I know that now isn't a great time for...well, for anything if we're being honest," Hermione started, her eyes not quite meeting Harry's, "but if you wanted, I thought, maybe, you could stay here for awhile, if you want. See how it goes?"
She was asking him to move in with her, Harry realized, the idea hitting him like a ton of bricks dropped from the top of the Astronomy Tower. Harry was obviously in love with Hermione and he wanted nothing more than to be with her as often as possible. But he had never even considered the idea of them moving in together, at least not so soon. Harry supposed that there was something a bit too permanent about that in Harry's mind.
It made them seem like a real couple, something that they had both actively avoided for years. Only there was no reason to continue avoiding that. In fact, that was the one thing that Harry wanted more than anything else.
"Of course!" Harry sputtered, trying to not to seem too pleased with the idea. His attempt to be casual failed naturally, which only caused Hermione to smile even wider.
"Good," Hermione replied bashfully. "I have some of your clothes here. We can go for the rest of them in the morning if you like."
And so for the first time, Harry stayed the night at Hermione's as something more than the friends that they had always been and something more than the casual sexual partners that they had been for the last few years. Harry wasn't particularly a fan of the word boyfriend. It made him think of fifteen-year-olds sneaking off into broom closets. No, Hermione was his partner in every sense of the word, just as she had been since that fateful Halloween when they were both just eleven.
When the pair of them woke up, Hermione agreed to make breakfast while Harry returned to his home and quickly packed up the rest of his belongings. Having lived his life so far away from the rest of the world for so long, it didn't take much time. By the time he returned, Hermione already had a plate full of bacon set on her small kitchen table with a pan of eggs working.
"So you are aware, I do not normally make breakfast," Hermione said over her shoulder.
"Why not?"
"Well, I'm not a very good cook, am I?" Hermione asked. Harry said nothing and simply chewed on some bacon in response. Hermione turned over her shoulder and saw Harry's reaction to her question and laughed.
"We both know it's true!" Hermione chortled. "Plus, I typically arrive at work around seven and I don't like being up much earlier than I have to."
"Sounds a bit like me," Harry replied. "I always thought that we didn't have breakfast before because it would have been too much like something a couple would have done."
"Oh, that was a good excuse, yes," Hermione said, "but I was also glad that I didn't have to cook too often."
"Well, I think this bacon is pretty spectacular."
"Great. Compliment me on the easiest thing in the world to make."
"It's quite easy to burn bacon actually. Of course, some people like it that way, but that's never really been my preference."
"So you really do like it?" Hermoine asked.
Harry could see that she was nervous about more than just her cooking. She had gone out onto a limb the night before by inviting Harry to move in, even if it was technically temporary. Harry stood and approached her from behind, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.
"I love it," Harry whispered in her ear, causing Hermione to shutter, "and I love you."
"I love you, too," Hermione said, craning her neck back to place a kiss on Harry's cheek. "But, if you don't sit down and eat already, we're going to be late for the meeting."
Thankfully, they were not late for the meeting, which was set to take place in Safe House Four, formally known as 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry and Hermione arrived at the fountain just a block from the Safe House and were pleased to see that everyone that had been invited had already arrived.
Dean and Ginny stood on the far side of the fountain, talking quietly with Luna and Neville. Closer to them stood Bill and Fleur, the latter of whom appeared to be in the midst of a conversation with Draco Malfoy and Elaina Andrews. Finally, Ron and Gabrielle sat on a bench while George and Angelina sat on a bench opposite them.
When Harry and Hermione arrived, all conversations stopped and all eyes fell on them, likely for more than one reason. First, they were the leaders of this meeting after all. Second, there was likely going to be some matter of conversation about Harry's recent run of untruthfulness that was causing some lingering tension.
"Follow me," Harry said, leading the party from the fountain to the front step of 12 Grimmauld Place, which appeared to them all now, having been allowed inside its wards by the Ministry. Harry marched up the front step and through the door before climbing all three flights of stairs to get to the main meeting room on the top floor.
Once Harry was inside, he waved his hand around the room.
"Please, find a seat."
Not surprisingly, all of the couples remained together with Ron and Gabrille sitting on the same side as Ginny and Dean, while George, Angelina, Bill and Fleur faced them. Malfoy sat at the far end of the long table facing Harry and Hermione, who sat closest to the door. Only Elaina remained standing in the corner of the room, clearly out of her element among the gathered party.
"Firstly, we'd like to thank you all for coming," Harry said warmly. "I know that things have been complicated among some of us recently. Hermione and I recognize this was our doing and for that, all we can say is that we are sorry and that we'll do better in the future."
There was a moment of pause as the room let those words before George spoke up.
"Harry, we're not here to talk about you and Hermione," he said firmly. "As far as I know, you and Ron talked. He's here which means that he hasn't left you for dead and that's good enough for the rest of us."
"Now, can we get on with zees?" Fleur asked. "I have children at 'ome."
Trust George and Fleur not to beat around the bush.
"That's fine with me," Harry replied. "Now, some of you know some of this information. None of you, save for myself and Hermione, know all of it. I'm going to get us started, then Hermione and Malfoy and Bill can fill in some of the gaps. Is that alright with everyone?"
Harry saw everyone around the room give a gentle nod that was his cue to start. Over the next two hours, Harry and Hermione laid out the sequence of events that lead to Legion's escape, his first three murders, his initial and subsequent encounters with Harry, and their most recent interaction with Legion and Teddy. During this time, they also explained some of their theories of Legion's origins, his potential identity, and, most importantly, how to return him to his cell inside the Arch.
Once they were done, Harry let everyone go for a brief ten minute break. As everyone stood up, he could tell that there were a lot of questions that remained, questions that Harry wasn't certain he would have good answers for. Still, Harry knew that he would do his best.
When the break was over, Harry asked everyone to return to their seats before opening the floor for questions. As expected, the first question was the one on everyone's mind and it came from George.
"You've known for quite awhile now that Legion was targeting your friends and family. Even if you assumed that your vision wasn't literal, why didn't you tell the people that were in the vision?"
"George, unfortunately I do not have a good answer for that question," Harry admitted. "I gave everyone security, but I told none of you why. At the time, I thought that it was better that you be protected, but not have to worry about Legion until there was a reason to."
"He exists!" Ginny snapped. "Isn't that a reason enough?"
"Yes, it is," Harry replied. "Listen, I know that I screwed this up. Believe me when I say that there are a number of things that I wish I could go back and fix about this whole thing. I made mistakes. You know, Dumbledore once said something to me once. He admitted that he made mistakes, only they were usually bigger because of how clever he was."
"Mate, no one thinks you're as clever as Dumbledore," Neville scoffed.
"Neither do I," Harry said. "Neither do I. But I have been responsible for the safety of a lot of people over the years. When I make mistakes, people die. This was a mistake that I made and I own that. I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to fix that before one of you got hurt as a result."
"Did Andromeda know?" Bill asked.
"She knew as much as she wanted to know," Harry answered. "I would have told her more, but she saw how afraid of it I was. That was enough for her. She took Teddy and left England the next day."
"And Legion still found them," Dean said, a note of terror in his voice as he stood. "No one knew where they went and it still found them."
"Yes, it did," Harry confirmed. "There's no running from this, Dean. The only way through this is forward."
"This is mental," Dean replied.
"Dean, sit down," Ginny barked.
Suddenly, Dean turned to Ginny.
"No, I will not sit down!" he barked. "Your old boyfriend over there is dragging us into some kind of death trap against a god that can find us wherever we go!"
"Dean, that's enough," Ginny said evenly, although Harry could tell that she was fuming.
Dean turned back to Harry.
"I'm sorry, mate, but you screwed up on this one and I refuse to be killed for your mistakes! Hell, I'm still not sure that you didn't murder that Muggle cousin of yours!"
Immediately, Dean bolted for the door. He yanked it open and was about to leave when he noticed that Ginny hadn't moved from her seat.
"You're staying?" Dean asked before rolling his eyes. "Of course, you're staying. It's Harry blood Potter. You'd stay for him. Hell, for him, you'd probably even have kids!"
Ginny's wand was out before any of them knew what was going on. In a blur, Ginny's wand cracked and Dean suddenly found himself pinned against the door, his eyes narrowing on Ginny, who advanced on him, looking more furious than Harry had ever seen her.
"I'm staying because my family is in danger," Ginny said, her voice low and threatening. "I don't know if you noticed this, but half of my family is in this room. Ron and my parents were in that vision, too. But you are right. I'm staying for Harry. I'm staying because he is my friend and even if he is a bloody idiot sometimes, I don't want him to die. If that means that I have to stay here and help him fight a god that can find us wherever we go, then that's what I'll do."
"And as for not wanting to have children, Dean?" Ginny added, her voice dripping with venom. Harry had been afraid of Ginny multiple times in the past, but never like this.
"That's because I didn't think you'd make a good father. I thought you were immature and incapable of taking care of something other than yourself. I still loved you, despite all of that. But I cannot abide this. You have bitched and moaned for years that you never felt like you were a real part of my family because you didn't play a big part in the Battle of Hogwarts or the rest of the war. This was your chance! You could have stayed and fought for my family, your family. Instead, the second you realized what we were up against, you wanted to run out the damn door."
Ginny twisted her wrist and Dean fell to the floor. Then, with two separated waves, Dean rolled away from the door and the door came flying open.
"There it is then. Door's open. Tell your Ministry bimbo how uncaring your wife is."
The room was silent except for the stressed breathing coming from Dean, who looked from Ginny to Harry to Hermione and back to Ginny, whose face betrayed no emotion. She simply stood and waited, glaring at her husband coldly.
Finally, Dean stood, gave the room one final look, and then turned his gaze back to Ginny.
"I'm sorry," Dean replied. "I'm just not cut out to do this kind of thing."
"No one said that you had to fight," Ginny countered. "But you ran anyway."
Dean could see that he had lost this battle and nodded gently.
"I'll be waiting for you at home."
"Don't be," Ginny said harshly before raising her wand, slamming the door in Dean's face. For a few seconds, no one moved, no one even breathed. Finally, Ginny returned to her seat and the room finally released its breath.
"That's been coming for awhile now," Ginny admitted. "Just needed a reason."
"I'm sorry, Gin," Harry said.
"Don't be," Ginny replied, her eyes fixed on the door. "Anyway, let's get back to this. If anyone is up for a drink later, I'm buying."
That last comment elicited a small burst of laughter in the room, releasing most of the tension that had just been formed by Ginny and Dean's (seemingly final) argument.
"Well, the way forward is actually pretty simple. I've authorized the use of a number of Safe Houses around England for every person in this room plus Arthur and Molly."
"What about Percy and Charlie?" George asked.
"I talked to Charlie yesterday. He needed to return to Romania for some work there anyway, so the timing is relatively convenient for him," Harry replied. "As for Percy, his position at the Ministry grants him access to round the clock surveillance if needed anyway. I told him that he was welcome to move into one of the safe houses, but he didn't seem to think it was necessary."
"Did you tell him that it was?" Ron asked. "We all know that Percy is not necessarily the most adaptable person."
"I told him everything on Thursday, if that's what you were asking," Harry answered. "He still chose to stay at his home."
"So we have safe 'ouses. How does zis 'elp us to stop zis monster?" Fleur interrupted.
"First and foremost, it's the best we can do to keep you safe while having you still remain in the country. Second, it gives us a place to coordinate. On my end, I'll have every Auror in the office assigned to Legion in some way. We'll cast as wide a net as we possibly can. In the meantime, we have two items that we need to figure out: the Arch and the ritual. More than likely, the ritual itself needs to be undone before we can get Legion back inside the Arch, so that becomes our main priority."
Everyone around the room seemed to be in agreement with that plan. Glad that he wasn't going to receive any pushback on that, Harry pressed on.
"Malfoy and Bill will continue to head up research on the Arch," Harry said, reviewing the notes in front of him. "They will likely be assigning texts for everyone to review each night. Please take your time with these. We would rather go slow and make sure we got everything than miss something that could be essential."
"At the same time, Hermione and Elaina will be guiding the research on the ritual itself. Unfortunately, we are currently lacking information on how the ritual was done beyond some basic information and comments made by Legion. If you are asked by one of them to look into something, that work should immediately become your priority."
"Do we all understand?"
Again, almost everyone nodded.
"Great. And is everyone staying in the Safe Houses?"
Uniform confirmation again.
"Good," Harry said, pulling out a list of rooming assignments. "I have Neville, Luna, and...well, it was supposed to be Ginny and Dean moving into Safe House One."
"I think Dean will be just fine on his own," Ginny replied. "I don't see Legion trying to use him to get to you."
"I'll make sure that he gets protection just in case," Harry replied before looking back at his sheet. "Bill and Fleur, your family gets Safe House Two all to yourself. Same with George and Angelina and Safe House Three."
"Wait," Gabrielle said suddenly. "Does that mean...?"
"You and Ron...are staying here with Hermione and I," Harry said, knowing that this would cause some issues. "Malfoy and Elaina will be staying here as well."
Harry ignored everyone else in the room and looked down to where Ron was seated. Ron was staring directly at him, a strange look on his face. Eventually, he nodded slightly, indicating his agreement with the assignment.
"Good," Harry said, breathing a sigh of relief. "The keys for your Safe Houses are on the table here. Press the button and wait five seconds and it will take you to where you need to go. All of the other Safe Houses have been connected to this one via Floo. If we call for another group meeting, that's how you'll get here. Any questions?"
Harry took a quick look around the room and saw that there were none.
"Go home, get packed, and be in your Safe Houses by eight o'clock tonight," Harry replied. "You'll be able to go to work, but please do not go anywhere but work and the Safe House without clearing it with me. I know that this is going to be tough on everyone, but the sooner we do this, the sooner we can catch this monster."
With that, Harry considered the meeting over and began collecting his items. As he did this, the rest of the attendees quickly grabbed their keys and cleared the room with a few exceptions. Ginny remained in the room, standing at the window, clearly waiting to speak with Harry.
But before he could talk to her, Neville and Luna approached him.
"Harry, can we ask you something?" Neville asked nervously.
"Of course."
Neville looked at Luna, who smiled at him, before turning to Harry, articulating what Neville was too nervous to ask.
"We're getting married!"
First, that was not a question. Second, that was not anything that Harry expected to hear. Still, after a moment of surprise, Harry's reaction was nothing but joy for his most bizarre friends.
"Wow!" Harry exclaimed in surprise. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks," Neville replied. "We're excited."
"I'm sure you are," Harry commented, noticing Ginny look at them over her shoulder. The look on her face could not have been more dissimilar to the looks of love and joy on Neville and Luna's. "You haven't been dating that long, have you?"
"No, like I said at your party, we've been dancing around each other for years," Neville replied. "Once we realized how well we worked together, we decided there's no time like the present!"
Harry knew that they were trying to keep their voices down, but they were failing as Harry could see the pain easily reflected on Ginny's face in reaction to their announcement.
"We want you to officiate the wedding," Luna said, stunning Harry.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, we were friends through you and the DA," Luna explained. "If not for you, then we might have never met. It makes sense that you would be the one to help us...what's the phrase? Tie the knot?"
Harry could see that there was some narrative poetry to Harry being the one to marry them. Despite the fact that he hadn't been a particularly good friend to them over the years, or perhaps because of that fact, Harry found that he couldn't say no.
"Right. Well, of course, I'll do it," Harry said warmly.
"Oh, thank you, Harry," Luna replied, hugging Harry tightly.
"You are quite welcome," Harry said as Luna let him go. "Now, if you don't mind…"
Harry gestured to Ginny, who had turned away from the happy couple and was staring out the window. Immediately, Neville and Luna got Harry's message and quietly apologized before darting out of the room, leaving Harry alone with the quietly grieving Ginny.
Much like Harry had on the night they had last spoken, Harry joined her in silence, staring out the window at the Muggles who walked past the house on the street below, having no idea that an entire magical structure was hidden from their view.
"I'm sorry for that," Ginny muttered.
"Ginny, you have nothing to be sorry for," Harry replied. "I'm sorry that things played out in public like that."
"Part of me thinks it might be for the best. Dean was always on his best behavior around others, even when we were fighting at home. I know that Mom thought I was being too hard on him."
"But the others saw what happened today," Harry replied. "They'll know."
"I just wish it hadn't come down to that. Things had been pretty alright since our talk. He told me everything about his coworker, her name was Tonya, and he agreed that there was something there, but that he never would have left me. Now, I think it wasn't because he loved me, but because he was too much of a coward to go through with it."
"Well, you were at least right about one thing."
"What's that?" Ginny asked.
"He does seem to hate me."
Ginny laughed at that, albeit briefly and more out of spite than genuine happiness.
"That he does," Ginny admitted. "I still don't know how that happened."
"Will you go back to him?" Harry asked.
Ginny shook her head. "I've given him more than enough chances to grow up. I'm not going to waste my thirties babysitting an immature man-child. We'll obviously have to talk about how the divorce is going to work, but beyond that, I doubt I'll interact with him much ever again."
"Merlin, divorce," Ginny suddenly added. "Growing up, that just wasn't a thing that I ever saw a wizarding couple do. It just wasn't part of our culture."
"I don't think anyone ever wants to have to go through that," Harry replied. "It's going to be hard, but at least you'll have the chance to live your life again. You won't be wasting your time being married to someone that you don't trust."
"I just never thought that would be me," Ginny admitted. "Although, to be fair, I thought that I would be married to you."
"Well, I've never been one to live up to expectations."
"That's not true," Ginny countered. "Recently, maybe. But you were better than any fairy tale version of Harry Potter that anyone could have cooked up. You were a good person, a powerful wizard, and you believed in people."
"You say that like it's not true anymore."
"Well, you're a more powerful wizard," Ginny replied, "and I know in your heart that you are a good person. But to the rest of the world, we haven't seen much of that."
"I wish you were wrong about that, but I know you aren't. I'm trying to be better."
"You have a pretty high standard to live up to," Ginny replied. "Not many people can say that they've actually been Harry Potter."
"Been?" Harry asked. "Last time I checked, that was still my name."
Ginny turned to Harry and gently reached up, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Harry, you of all people should know that there's a difference between being Harry Potter and Harry Potter," Ginny said wisely. "I know that the second one is a lot of pressure, but the world is a better place when it has someone like that to lead it."
Over the last few months, a number of people had mentioned that Harry had fallen off from the standards that he had set for himself as a young adult. He knew that they were right, but this was the first time that someone had so clearly articulated why that was a problem.
Harry had never really thought of himself as much of a leader. But that was because he was viewing that through the lense of desire rather than ability. Harry never truly desired to be a leader. If given the chance, he would have gladly let someone else take the reins and lead the cart.
But when the situation was dire, and there was no one else there, time and time again, Harry had stepped up and been the person to follow. Over the last decade, Harry had gone from being the person willing to do it when there were no other options to the person who refused to lead at all. He knew why. Harry had told himself that he had led for most of his childhood. That as an adult, he could allow others to lead in his stead.
But Harry had one thing that those others didn't have: experience. Harry had been tested, molded by fire, over and over again. Even Hermione didn't have that same kind of pressure put on her until after the war. She had been his guide, his most trusted advisor, but when the time came, everyone had looked to him.
Who did they look to now? Kingsley? Kingsley had clearly fallen into the trap that most politicians fell into: he wanted to be liked more than he wanted to lead.
Ultimately, the question was simple: what did Harry want to do? Did he want to continue hiding from the responsibility that he had been trained to bear almost from birth?
Or did he want to finally take back the mantle of leadership that he had so desperately tried to abandon the moment the war had ended?
It was a thought that Harry came back to time and time again over the next week as Harry began leading the Aurors in a new direction. On Monday morning, he informed the entire Auror office of the nature of the threat that they faced. He repeatedly encouraged Kingsley to do what Elaina had urged him to do months earlier and tell the public the truth about Legion. Even when Kingsley refused, Harry persisted in his demands. Harry worked day and night, orchestrating the entire Auror Office into searching for Legion, hoping to find it before it could attack someone else.
At the same time, Safe House Four was creating its own demands. Obviously, living with Malfoy was never going to be easy, but Harry had known that he was the only one who would tolerate the former Slytherin. But the awkward nature of his relationship with Ron and Garbrielle made things worse.
Hermione had asked Harry why he chose Ron and Gabrielle to stay with him. At the time, Harry had given some answer about Ron wanting to help, stating that if Hermione needed him, they would at least be in the same house. In truth, Harry knew that part of the reason had been that he wanted the opportunity to continue to repair his relationship with Ron.
For the better part of two weeks, that didn't seem likely to happen. Ron and Gabrielle ate their meals separately from the rest of the house. They spent their time locked in the bedroom that had once been Harry and Ron's. Fourteen days passed and Harry could count the number of times that he had seen Ron or Gabrielle on one hand.
All that changed on a Friday night. Harry, after two weeks of murderously long and difficult days at the Ministry, returned home to the Safe House around midnight, having worked since five that morning. Harry would likely be back at the Ministry by six the next morning, which meant that he should have been sleeping. But the tension in Harry's work was coming home with him. He was getting short with Hermione for no reason and had barked at Elaina more than once for the crime of simply being in the hallway when Harry was coming through.
Rather than immediately climb into bed, Harry instead chose to grab a bottle of Fred's Finest and sit in front of the fire, sipping on some firewhiskey and letting the tension of the day fade away before he went to sleep. The first glass went down quickly and Harry poured himself another when he noticed someone else walk into the room.
Ron sat in front of the fire, clearly unaware of the fact that Harry was in the room. He had brought his own bottle with him, setting it down on the table next to his chair. For nearly five minutes, Harry sat in silence, waiting for a good time to speak up.
Eventually, Ron turned to fill his glass and froze, staring at Harry who sat in the chair opposite him.
"How long have you been here?" Ron asked.
"About twenty minutes," Harry replied.
"You were here when I sat down?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"What was I supposed to say?"
"Something? I could have come down here to talk to myself or something."
"I think I would have said something then."
"Good," Ron replied, leaning back into his chair.
"Do you want me to leave?" Harry asked.
"You're fine," Ron said. "Just as long as you don't expect to talk much."
"I figured as much."
Harry and Ron sat in silence for an undetermined amount of time, each of them lost in their own thoughts as they sipped on their whiskey. They had done this so many times before by the pond at the Burrow that Harry found himself remembering all those times. They were good times, but the memories were tainted by the truth that Harry had been lying to Ron during each and every one of those memories. It would be years before he would look upon those memories with anything but disgust as his own behavior, a punishment enough for the way he and Hermione had acted.
"How are things at the Ministry?" Ron asked suddenly.
Harry was so surprised by the question that he didn't immediately answer, causing Ron to turn and look at him. Finally, Harry's mouth started working again.
"They've been overwhelming," Harry admitted. "I was barely Head Auror long enough to get into a flow before. Now, I've been away for awhile and I'm trying to orchestrate a manhunt for a thing that can't really be hunted in a normal fashion. It doesn't feel like I'm ever going to catch up."
"Once Legion is taken care of, you will. You're too stubborn to fail at anything for too long."
Harry's mouth hung open at the show of faith that Ron had just placed in him. Even in ideal circumstances, Ron had never been one to show his true feelings on matters like that and these were certainly not ideal circumstances.
"I...I appreciate that," Harry replied in astonishment.
"It's the truth," Ron said simply.
That was all they said that night. It was a brief conversation, even by Harry and Ron's standards, but for Harry, it meant that there might be a way back from all of this afterall. Ron had certainly not forgotten Harry's transgressions, or even forgiven them, but the fact that he was able to show just the slightest amount of support for him meant everything to Harry.
Legion had done everything it could to tear Harry away from the people that made him more powerful. But with every day that passed, Legion's failure to do just that made Harry even more confident that the day would come when they would defeat the monster.
Legion fought alone. While it was incredibly powerful, it ultimately had only itself to rely on. Harry had his family and friends, those that inspired him to do better and to be a better person. That would be the difference. That would be why Harry won.
Harry knew it. He knew it deep in his bones. Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Teddy, the rest of the Weasleys: they would be the thing that would turn the battle in his favor. Even the most powerful entity in the world couldn't fight back against a family united and each day, they were closer to be united once more.
