Eventually, you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is- Gary Zukav
"You must be Ellie," the man said as he walked over to her and stuck out his hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Captain Gawain Robards, Head of the Auror Department."
Ellie eyed his hand nervously before taking it in her own and shaking it. When she took back her hand, she looked to Harry, who was surprisingly eyeing his boss with anger. He was probably still mad about being forced to take them in.
Robards knelt down in front of Isabella next. "And you must be Isabella."
"Yep!" Isabella said, "I'm six years old."
Harry's boss chuckled before he stood up. "Sit, sit," he motioned to the table as he sat at the head of it.
Once everyone was seated, Harry's boss spoke up again, "I'm sure you're eager to get your shopping done and go relax, so I'll try to make this as quick as possible. We need to know everything you can remember about your time in captivity."
"It would take hours for me to tell you everything," she replied.
"I know," Robards replied, "we will apply other methods to get the information we need. We need as accurate of information as we can, Death Eater's appearances mainly, and with word of mouth, things can be misconstrued or not explained properly."
She looked over at Harry who was looking grim before she turned back to Captain Robards. "What does that mean exactly? How will you find out what you need if I don't tell you?"
"We have two options, Miss Robinson," Gawain said as he waved his wand and a bowl-shaped object floated to the table from a cupboard. "This is what is called a Pensieve. We can extract the memories from you; don't worry, the process is completely painless. We can then view the memories in this Pensieve so we can get a visual representation of what you went through, and the appearances of the people involved with you and your daughter's capture."
Ellie didn't like the sound of that. She didn't want anyone viewing her inner-most thoughts about her time in the dungeon, particularly not the moments that her nightmares were made of. No one needed to watch those scenes.
"Yeah, I'm not sure I like that idea," Ellie said after a while.
"Our second option is for me to perform Legilimency on you," Robards said and at Ellie's confused look added, "It's where I will use a spell to delve into your mind to look at what has happened to you. This process also does not hurt, although it might feel weird the first time you experience it."
That option also didn't appeal to Ellie either. Couldn't she just tell them what happened and gloss over the bad bits?
"Look, Ellie," Ron spoke up, "I know what you went through was terrifying, that you just want to forget about it and move on, but we need to know everything we can so we can catch the people who did this as quickly as possible. These two options are the quickest and easiest way to get the information we need. You can guarantee that these people won't stop coming for you or your daughter, so please help us out here."
"The bad men are coming for us?" Isabella asked.
"Good job you dolt!" Harry hissed, "You're going to scare her."
"Sorry," Ron said, "I was just trying to explain the sense of urgency. Ellie deserves to know anyway."
"I'm not scared," Isabella said.
Ellie looked at her daughter who was looking at Harry with an almost curious fascination on her face as Harry replied, "You're not?"
"Nope!" Isabella exclaimed, "I know you'll protect us."
Ellie could tell her daughter's innocent remark had caught Harry off-guard as his eyes widened in surprise, "Erm... Yeah, I guess I will."
Robards cleared his throat, taking back Ellie's attention in the process, as he spoke up again. "The choice is up to you Miss Robinson. We would not force you to do this. We can go by word of mouth, but I just want you to realize that it's quite possible to miss important details that way and delay the capture of these individuals."
Did she truly care? What was an extra month or two if it meant no one saw the horrifying things that she had been forced to endure in the four months she had been a prisoner? Sure, she wanted to get back to her life as soon as possible but the thought of people seeing her thoughts downright terrified her almost as much as the thoughts themselves did.
She was about to tell them this when she noticed Harry's knee bouncing under the table beside her. Could she really do that to him, prolong the inconvenience that their company would inevitably leave him with? She already knew he didn't really want them at his home and was pretty adamant about wanting to finish all this as quickly as possible so everyone involved could continue with their lives. Harry had been kind to her, and it was for this reason that she knew she couldn't do that to him.
"Fine," Ellie said hesitantly, "We can do the mind reading option."
Ron and Robards smiled at her, and she heard Harry let out a breath of relief. Isabella just looked on in curiosity.
Robards opened his mouth to speak but Ellie interrupted him, "But I want Harry to do it."
"You what?" Harry asked.
Ellie turned to him and could clearly see Harry's shocked expression at her request.
"You're the only one I'm comfortable with, no offense," she added as she looked towards Ron and their boss.
"None taken, Miss Robinson," Robards said as Ron just grinned, "I actually think that would be an excellent idea. Harry can give us all the information relative to the case while keeping out the things you don't want us to see or that won't help in the capture of these individuals."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked her, "I mean, I don't see how you're comfortable around me; you've known me for all of three days."
"I can't honestly explain it," she replied simply as she looked into his piercing emerald, green eyes. "You were by my side every single day since I was rescued, even when I was out of it. I know it was your job to be there, but you never complained about it once or made me feel like I was a burden and I appreciate that."
She could see in his eyes the guilt upon hearing her words. She conveniently left out that she had overheard him griping to Ron about not wanting them there.
"So how do we do this?" Ellie asked
"Auror Potter will cast the spell on you," Robards said, "You might feel a slight pressure, it always depends on the wizard casting the spell and how forceful they are."
"I will be as gentle as possible, I promise," Harry said as he stood up. "You will need to keep eye contact with me. You can sit or stand, whichever is most comfortable to you, although I would recommend you sit since this is the first time you've had the charm performed on you before."
"Okay," she replied.
Ellie was nervous. She knew she couldn't back out, not now, but couldn't help but dread what Harry might see. Would he pity her? Judge her? She was afraid to find out.
"Are you ready?" he asked as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at her.
She took a couple of breaths before replying, "Yes."
"Legilimens!" she heard Harry say and all of a sudden, the meeting room they were in vanished and she was now watching the memories of her time being a prisoner in the horrible manor.
True to his word, Harry had been gentle, and she felt nothing as the scenes played over in her mind. Ellie found it comparable to watching a movie where the scenes changed almost rapidly from one to the next.
She watched as Isabella was dragged out of their cell as she pleaded for the people not to hurt her. She watched as she was thrown to the ground and tortured with the curse that caused pain to erupt all over her body. She watched as she was kicked in the ribs, punched, slapped, thrown against the wall, and whipped on her back and legs. How had she forgotten about being whipped?
They came to the moment when the dark-haired man entered her cell and Ellie's breath hitched in her chest. She didn't want to see this. She didn't want Harry to see this. She didn't know how to escape or hide the memory from him. All she could do was sit and watch helplessly. It seemed so much worse watching it front an outsider's perspective. She could feel a headache starting to form and before the scene even finished, she felt something, like a weight removing itself from her mind, and she could see the wooden table in the meeting room again.
She didn't meet anyone's gaze. She eyed the shaking hands in her lap as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Harry raced to a rubbish bin and proceeded to vomit into it.
"Harry, mate, are you okay?" she heard Ron ask, the alarm evident in his voice.
Once Harry had finished emptying the contents of whatever meal he had had that day, he wiped his mouth and made his way back to the table.
"Ellie," Harry said, "I am so sorry."
She couldn't look at him, not after what he saw, so she instead kept her gaze focused on her hands, "Please don't tell them," she whispered.
"I won't, I promise," he said.
"What happened?" Robards asked, "What did you see?"
"Things I didn't want to," Harry replied, "I got what we needed, though."
She watched as Harry put the tip of his wand to his temple before pulling it away. There was a silver strand attached to his wand that he deposited into the stone basin by Robards.
"This is everything I saw except for the last memory," Harry said, "I have provided a memory of the appearance of the man, however, and you'll be able to see all the other Death Eaters and what she endured to that point."
"Harry," Robards started, "Surely you wouldn't withhold crucial evidence from us. We need to see..."
"No, sir, you really don't," Harry interrupted, and Ellie couldn't help but feel grateful that he was defending her, "what I saw in the last memory will never be witnessed by anyone without Ellie's permission. What happened isn't imperative to the case. Trust me, if it could somehow help the case, I would show you, but it won't so I'm not going to."
Ellie looked at Robards who looked like he wanted to argue, but instead shook his head. "I trust your judgment, Potter. Please don't make me regret this."
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. She had been afraid that he would make Harry tell him. She didn't want Harry fired because of her or anything. She was already causing him enough hardship.
"I want to make it clear," Harry said, "The contents of these memories don't leave this room. Captain, I know you're the boss, but we can display the identities of these Death Eaters to the team without showing what she went through. No one needs to see that and I'm sure Ellie doesn't want anyone to see the abuse she suffered."
Ellie grabbed his hand under the table. She tried not to think about how perfectly their hands fit together as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before dropping it. The loss of contact and warmth was, somehow, disappointing to her.
She tuned out the rest of their conversation as she looked over at Isabella who had fallen asleep and was drooling slightly onto the table.
Harry now knew the one thing she never wanted anyone else to know about and not only did he know about it, but he had also seen it. She didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, she was embarrassed and ashamed that he now knew about what haunted her dreams at night. On the other hand, she was actually glad that she didn't have to bear the burden alone anymore. Even if she could never talk about it with him, he knew, and in some strange way, that was comforting to her.
"You ready?" a voice asked, tearing her from her thoughts.
She looked up into Harry's eyes before averting her gaze before she could see the pity swimming in them.
"Yeah," she replied, "Bella fell asleep.
He looked over to her daughter and smiled, "Alright, wake her up and we can get out of here and if you're up for it, we can go shopping and get you two some stuff."
"Bella, honey," she nudged her daughter, "time to wake up. It's time to go."
Isabella opened her eyes, and with a loud yawn, asked, "Where we goin?"
"Harry was kind enough to offer to take us into the city and get us some clothes since all our stuff got destroyed."
This perked the little girl up as she asked excitedly, "Can we get ice cream?"
Harry chuckled as Ellie replied, "We'll see. It depends on if you behave yourself while we're out."
They bade goodbye to Ron and the Captain before making their way out of the room and back down the long corridor to the lift.
Inside was full of an awkward silence that Harry tried to break first.
"Are you okay?"
"I guess so," she mumbled in reply.
"I know exactly how this goes, Ellie," he said.
"What do you mean?"
Harry sighed as the lift moved, "You feel lost, like you don't know where you are. You want to talk to somebody about it but don't want to see the pity in people's eyes when you tell them; it's why you've refused to look at me since I saw the memory. You want to forget that it ever happened and try to move past it but can't because you just bottle it all up inside. It can only stay bottled up for so long before it gets released. The longer you keep it inside, the worse it's going to be."
"How do you know that?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. How dare he presume to know how she felt. Their situations were completely different. It didn't matter that he was completely right.
"Because," he replied, and it was with the way he said that word that she finally looked up at him and into his piercing emerald eyes for the first time since he looked into her mind. She could see the emotions running through them as if he had said them out loud; pain, fear, despair, hopelessness. His eyes were a cesspit of broken dreams and twisted emotions, "I just know."
Maybe it was true what they said, that the eyes tell more than words could ever say.
The lift dinged and they were both torn from each other's gaze.
She grabbed Isabella's hand as they made their way into the large room with the fountain.
"I'll Apparate us to my home first," Harry said, "I need to get my money. I didn't have enough time to grab it before we left the hospital."
They stopped close by where the fireplaces were situated before he turned to her, "All you two have to do is grab my arms."
When Ellie and Isabella had each taken an arm, he spoke again, "This will be most unpleasant, considering it is your first time."
All of a sudden, Ellie's vision went black; she was being squeezed from all directions like a foam ball; she couldn't breathe, her chest felt tight, and she felt her eyes being pushed into the back of her skull as her eardrums rushed to meet them. It was the most unpleasant feeling she had ever experienced.
All too soon, she felt her feet on solid ground and her knees buckled as she proceeded to retch all over the sidewalk Harry had brought them to.
She felt Harry as he gathered her hair up to make sure she didn't vomit on it. When she was done, she wiped her mouth and Harry let her hair go.
"That was absolutely horrid."
"Yeah, I almost vomited my first time too," he chuckled.
"I prefer the fireplace travel," Isabella spoke up.
"Something we can all agree on, I'm sure," Harry said as he helped Ellie to her feet.
Ellie looked at the hedges surrounding an empty lot with a gate in front and frowned, "Where's your house? This is just an empty lot."
"Oh, that," Harry waved as he handed her a piece of paper, "You're about to see real magic. Hand the paper to Isabella when you're done reading it."
Ellie looked at the paper where there was a short address: 60 Barnards Hill, Marlow, England.
Non-plussed, she handed the piece of paper to her daughter and looked up, nearly yelling in surprise.
Before, where an empty lot had been, was now a two-story house with a garage situated on the left. It was made with partial brick and vinyl siding giving it a new-age look. She looked at the other houses up and down the street. The house, while it was no manor, screamed elegance and a cultivation of taste.
She looked up at Harry who was smiling at her.
She turned to the house and back to a still smiling Harry, "But how did it... There was no... It was empty!"
Harry laughed, "Magic!" he exclaimed.
"Um, Mr. Harry, sir," Isabella spoke up, "I can't read this word."
Harry chuckled and repeated the address to Isabella.
"Woah!" Isabella whispered as the house materialized right in front of her.
"Neat, right?" Harry grinned, "Well, come on then, I'd like to get this shopping done sometime today."
Harry opened the gate and led them up a sidewalk to the front door. He pulled out his wand and waved it in a complicated pattern, before pushing the front door open, and ushering them inside.
The inside was just as opulent, although with a more quaint and homely feel to it.
"Now, while you are here," Harry spoke up, "I want you to treat this as you would your own home. You don't have to ask me to use the kitchen or to go outside, although you can't leave the property. The wards end at the gate, and they are the only thing keeping this house hidden. The garden isn't the biggest, but it is also hidden, so Isabella can play out there safely."
Ellie just nodded as Harry led them through the house and showed them where everything was. He led them up the stairs.
"This will be your bedroom, Ellie," he said as he opened up a door. It was a small, but neat room with a full-size bed and a dresser against the wall with a mirror attached to it. "Isabella, your room is right across the hall from your mother's."
Isabella's room looked almost identical to hers, although the bed was slightly smaller.
"What's that room?" Isabella asked as she pointed to a door closest to the railing of the staircase.
"That room," Harry said and Ellie didn't miss the change in tone of his voice, "It's just used for storage. It's not important. Across from that is the bathroom."
Harry turned to the opposite end of the hall, "My room is the furthest down this side of the hall and the room across from that is my study. Let me grab some money and we can get out of here and go shopping."
Ellie watched as Harry entered his room before reappearing a few minutes later with a smile.
"All ready?" he asked.
"Yeah," Ellie said, "We're not doing that Apparate business again are we?"
Harry chuckled as he led them down the stairs, "No we're going to Floo to the Leaky Cauldron."
Ellie let out a sigh of relief. Apparating was on her list of things to hopefully avoid doing ever again.
They took the Floo to the Leaky Cauldron, which turned out to be a dimly lit pub.
Harry and the barman traded greetings as they made their way out the front door and into London.
They made their way to the shopping district as Harry pointed out his favorite restaurants.
"I don't know what you guys need, so I'll let you take care of picking all your stuff out. My house doesn't have a telly, so you might want to get some things for Isabella to keep her occupied. Don't worry about money. The Ministry as a fund set up for witnesses in protection and anything that doesn't cover, I'll take care of."
"We couldn't possibly accept your money," Ellie said as she made her way to a large department store, "You've already helped us out so much by giving us a place to stay. I don't want to be a burden to you."
"It's no problem," Harry said, "I have more money than I know what to do with. I'd rather it went towards a good use than to sit in my bank."
Ellie figured they should shop for Isabella first. It would be faster. She herself was rather picky about the clothes she wore and knew her shopping would take a lot longer.
Harry followed them around as she and Isabella picked out clothes. She got enough outfits to rival what Isabella had back home. She got her socks, underwear, and a few pairs of shoes as well.
After Harry paid, when he was sure no other people were watching, he shrunk the bags and put them in his pocket.
"That's so cool," Isabella grinned.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Harry grinned back.
They made their way to a different section of the store and Ellie began shopping for herself. She bought plenty of t-shirts, shorts, and trousers. She also bought another pair of Converse and a pair of sandals.
She was eyeing a black A-line sundress with quarter sleeves and white and yellow floral printing on it when she felt Harry behind her.
"Debating on something?" he asked
She turned around to see him grinning, "No. Yes. I mean, maybe?"
Harry chuckled, "That's the first girly thing I've seen you look at today."
"I'm not a girly type of girl," she admitted, "But sometimes I like to feel pretty, too."
"You're always pretty, Mum," Isabella said from beside Harry.
Harry laughed, "Why don't you go try it on if you're unsure?"
Five minutes later, she was in a changing room looking at her reflection in the mirror. The sundress was a little shorter than she would have preferred. When she did wear dresses, they usually at least reached her knee. She couldn't deny that the soft material felt good on her skin. The plunging V-neckline, while showing off some cleavage, was still relatively modest. She could see all the fading bruises on her legs and arms like cruel reminders of what she had been through. Hopefully, they would all fade with time. She did like how it showed off her tattoos on her legs and arms, though.
"It shows off more than that," she thought as she looked at the way the dress showed off her many curves.
"Well, are you gonna show us?" she heard her daughter call from outside the changing room.
She was feeling slightly anxious about showing them with all her bruises on display. She found it surprising that she cared more about Harry's opinion than she'd rather admit.
Hesitantly, she pushed the curtain aside and stepped out.
Harry and Isabella were sitting in chairs directly facing the dressing room as she came out. When they both spotted her, Isabella smiled and started clapping. Harry, however, eyes as wide as dinner plates, just stared, open-mouthed, making her direct her gaze to the floor as a blush started to creep onto her face.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Isabella nudge Harry to get his attention, "Your mouth is open, Harry."
Ellie almost giggled...almost.
She looked up again. Harry's mouth, which was now closed, had a small smile on it instead.
"You look pretty Mum,"
"Thank you, sweetie," she said with a smile.
Harry cleared his throat before speaking up, "It looks nice. You should definitely get it."
"It's not too much?" she asked
"No!" Harry and Isabella said at the same time.
She grinned as she made her way back into the dressing room to change into the clothes she had come in with. Thoroughly satisfied with the things she had picked out, they made their way to the register where Harry paid and shrunk the bags before sticking them in his pocket with Isabella's things. She would have to get her undergarments from a different shop.
They walked down the street, stopping off at a bookstore to get Isabella some story and coloring books before making their way to the individual store fronts down the road.
They came up to a black storefront with pink letters that said 'La Senza' in cursive letters and Ellie tapped Harry's shoulders, "I have to go in here for a few minutes."
Harry nodded and made to follow her into the store.
"Um, Harry," she said with an internal laugh, "I don't think you want to follow me into this store."
Harry looked into the store, to the silk- and lace-clad dummies, as his face turned bright red. "Yeah! Um, we'll just wait outside."
She giggled as he handed her his card, and she entered the shop.
It took her twenty minutes to get what she needed. As she emerged from the shop, she glanced around, looking for Isabella and Harry. She spotted them a little way down the street and saw that he was pointing out random things to Isabella and she was listening with rapt attention.
"Ready?" he asked, all traces of his previous embarrassment now gone.
Ellie nodded and they continued on their way.
As they walked, Ellie found her thoughts drifting to Harry. She wondered how he was so nice to her and Isabella when he had stated very clearly that he didn't want anything to really do with them. He was rather adept at hiding his feelings. The only time she could sense what he was feeling was when she looked into his eyes, his beautiful emerald eyes.
"No, stop that!" Ellie scolded herself. "You're not about to go all dewy-eyed schoolgirl on the man just because he saved you. He just lost his wife for God's sakes."
As she thought about it, though, she couldn't deny the attraction she felt towards Harry. Particularly after seeing how good he was with Isabella and how taken with him Isabella was. She would just have to ignore her attraction to him. She and Isabella would probably be out of his hair in a month or two anyways. Nothing would ever come from her attraction and she knew it.
"You okay? You've been awfully quiet?"
Ellie jumped and turned to Harry, "I'm fine. I was just thinking."
Harry was staring at her intently, as if trying to read her mind. She blushed and looked ahead.
They stopped to grab a bite to eat and then they were off to the ice cream parlor.
Once seated, Harry began grumbling that they didn't have his favorite 'strawberry and peanut butter' flavor. She was content eating her mint chocolate chip and Isabella swung her legs as she ate her cookies and cream.
"Just wait till you two have Fortescue's ice cream," Harry said, "Best ice cream in the world."
"Where is that at?" Ellie questioned.
"It's in Diagon Alley," Harry said as he spooned the chocolate into his mouth, "It's a part of wizarding London. It's on the other side of the Leaky Cauldron. We'll have to make a trip there in a few days. I'm low on some supplies."
"So how exactly is this going to work?" Ellie asked. "I mean, you work and everything. Are you just going to leave us at your house every day while you work?"
"Ah, yes, about that," Harry mumbled, "Until this whole fiasco is taken care of, I only go in on Mondays and Fridays. On those days, you'll go to The Burrow, Ron's parents' home. Molly was kind enough to offer. I know you can take care of yourself and Isabella just fine, but being cooped up in the same house for days on end can get draining, so I figured a change of scenery every once in a while would be good for you two. The Burrow is off in the country. There's plenty of room for Isabella to play and it's protected by wards."
"Does she know anything about what's happened to me or Isabella?"
"No. She just knows you were captured, and we rescued you. She doesn't know of anything you went through."
"Good," Ellie said, "I was hoping to skip the awkward pity glances."
Harry chuckled, "Molly is a wonderful human being. You'll like her. She will try to force you to eat more than you need to. She complained about me being too skinny the entire time I was in school. Still does as a matter of fact."
"You're not that skinny," Ellie said, "You seemed to have filled out quite nicely."
"What the hell made you say that Ellie," she said to herself with a groan. "Now he's going to think I'm some kind of whore who flirts with widowers or something."
Harry just laughed but she could tell her comment caught him off-guard and made him a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, well, in my line of work, you have to be in shape. It's a pretty dangerous job."
They finished up their ice creams and made their walk back to the Leaky Cauldron. The sun was dipping in the sky and Ellie guessed it was around eight o'clock or so.
"Since you've taken the Floo out of my home, you can now take it right back in," Harry said, "I reset the list of people allowed in every three months but that shouldn't be a problem since you'll be going to the Burrow twice a week."
"Good," Ellie said, "I don't want to do that Apparate shit again."
"Would it help if I said you get used to it?"
"Not even a little bit." she replied.
Harry snickered as they made their way into the pub, exchanging pleasantries with the barkeep, and then going back to Harry's house.
Once they were back home, Harry went upstairs to deposit their bags in their rooms as Ellie drew a bath for Isabella.
It wasn't the worst situation she could have found herself in. Sure, Harry didn't particularly want them there, but he was nice enough about the whole thing. She could still be back in her prison. It also helped that Harry was very easy on the eyes.
"Don't even go there Ellie," she warned herself.
What was it about him that drew her in? Was it the fact that he was attractive or that he had saved her? Maybe it was because she saw the brokenness inside of him, the same type of brokenness that she herself felt and she just felt an odd sense of safety and companionship with Harry. Maybe it was all of these things that pulled her into the enigma that was Harry. It was rather strange how broken people attracted each other.
After Isabella was out of the bath and clothed in pajamas, Ellie let her look at one of her picture books while she herself showered. Harry was holed away in his study doing who knew what.
She took a shower instead of a bath. She didn't want Harry having to bust open the door and save her from drowning again.
"So, are we gonna talk about this, mate?"
"Talk about what?" Harry asked Ron's head that hung in the fireplace. "There's nothing to talk about."
Ron snorted, "Don't give me that rubbish. You've been able to produce a corporeal Patronus since you were thirteen. I've actually never seen anyone as proficient in the Patronus Charm as you."
Harry rubbed his eyes as he leaned back in his chair before he admitted, "I haven't been able to summon my Patronus since Ginny died."
"That's what Hermione figured when I told her what happened."
"Do you have to tell your wife everything?"
"You know I do," Ron replied with a laugh, "I'd be sleeping on the sofa if I didn't."
Harry just scowled. He loved Hermione and Ron, but he sometimes wished that he could keep certain things private.
"Anyways," Ron said, "How are the new tenants?"
"They're okay. The kid is a real chatterbox. She almost puts Hermione to shame."
"I heard that, Harry Potter!"
Ron and Harry both chuckled.
"What about Ellie?"
"What about her?" Harry asked.
"How is she handling everything?"
"She's taking it a lot better than I expected, all things considered, Harry replied, "She went through a lot of shit."
"I know," Ron said grimly, "Robards and I viewed the memories after you guys had left. Still not gonna tell us what was in the last memory?"
"She didn't even want me to know, Ron," Harry said exasperatedly, "She asked me not to tell anyone else and after seeing the memory, I have to agree with her. It's just another thing that I'm going to be having nightmares about."
"That bad, huh?"
Harry nodded, "She seems to be taking this all in stride though, at least, enough to flirt with me."
"Come again?" Ron grinned. "She was flirting with you?"
"Wipe that stupid smirk off your face," Harry growled.
"Okay, okay," Ron laughed, "So why do you think she was flirting with you?"
"She, er, said I filled out quite nicely when I told her your mum is always trying to fatten me up."
Ron burst out laughing. Harry just glared at his friend.
Once Ron had stopped laughing, he replaced his smile with a serious expression. "Listen, Harry, I know it's not something you're thinking about right now or that you're ready for, but none of us would blame you if you put yourself out there; went on a few dates, ya know? I'm not saying it has to be with Ellie or that it has to be right now, but whenever that time may come, even if it is tomorrow or years from now, you shouldn't feel ashamed about wanting to be in love again."
"Ron," Harry sighed, "I can't picture myself with anyone but Ginny."
"I know, mate," Ron said sympathetically, "My sister was an amazing person, but we just want you to be happy. She would want you to be happy."
"Maybe one day," Harry said. "Right now, I just feel like I'd be trashing her memory."
"You wouldn't be," Ron said, "but I understand where you're coming from."
"Any news from Robards yet?"
"Nah, you know him. Now that Ellie and little Isabella are safe, he's going to want to take his time with this case. He wants to do everything right; he doesn't want to miss anything important.
"Well, he better stop taking his sweet ass time. I'm getting too old for this shit, he replied, "he said the same thing about Ginny's case and after six months, nothing has been found out yet."
"Harry, mate, you're not even twenty yet." Ron chortled.
"Yeah, well, I feel like I'm sixty."
Ron looked behind him before turning back with a frown. "Well, it's time I get back to the wife; the woman wants her feet rubbed. What is it with pregnant people wanting their feet rubbed?"
"Stop complaining," Harry chided, "I'd kill to be in your position right now."
"I'm sure Ellie wouldn't mind a foot rub," Ron said as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Goodbye, Ron!" Harry said as he went over to cut off the connection. Harry could still hear Ron laughing as his head disappeared from the fireplace.
Exiting his study, he checked on Isabella first who was sound asleep in her bed. He rapped his knuckles lightly on Ellie's door before pushing it open slowly.
Ellie was curled up on her bed asleep. Now that she had cleaned up and was free from the dirt and grime of the dungeon, he took the time to study her face. He hadn't noticed after they left the hospital that her skin was a creamy, milky white bordering on pale, although that was probably more to do with the fact that she had spent four months underground than anything. Her hair, he now realized, was two different shades of blonde and black fading back into a soft brown colour, and was splayed across her pillow like a mosaic. He watched the rise and fall of her chest for a few seconds before backing out of the room and heading down to the sofa in the sitting room in an attempt to get some sleep.