The Angel of the Apocalypse
Chapter Eight: The Potters' Legacy
Harry woke up in his room early in the morning, and he felt like flying his broomstick that day. Professor Kelly said that he could that if he felt like it. Harry got on some warmer clothes because the weather was getting colder and colder as winter approached. As comfortable as Harry was in Professor Kelly's home, he still wanted to go back to Hogwarts. The thing he missed the most was being with his friends.
Harry noticed how Professor Kelly got along with Sirius and Remus. The only thing that made Harry really uncomfortable was the way Sirius and Professor Kelly talked about how Harry was doing in school. It was like having daily teacher-parent conferences for Harry. However, Harry was happy to have two of his favorite people around. He flew his broomstick for about an hour when he saw Professor Kelly watching him on the ground, so he landed.
"I have a surprised for you today," said Professor Kelly with a smile.
"What?" asked Harry.
Professor Kelly walked away with Harry following her. He paused when he heard four voices talking quietly. It was Sirius and Remus, but he heard Ron and Hermione's voices. He immediately went passed Professor Kelly and came into the room.
"Ron! Hermione! What are you doing here?" asked Harry as he came in.
"What you're not happy to see us?" asked Ron.
"Well, it's sort of hard to study magic at home when your parents are Muggles. So, it's better to be here where there are two teachers," said Hermione with a laugh.
"I'm so glad to see you guys. What did you parents say Ron? Any word on Ginny yet?" asked Harry.
Ron's eyes flickered slightly and he shook his head. "My parents let me go because they thought it would be safe here also. And there's no word on Ginny yet. Percy's the one leading the search for her, but there are bigger problems," he said.
"What bigger problems?" asked Harry.
"There's some news from Godric's Hollow," said Remus quietly. Moira and Harry looked at him. Harry knew that it was the place where Voldemort found his family and killed them. Moira also looked paler which struck Hermione as strange. "There was a long tremor that lasted for more than five minutes. And there were assorted reports of a dragon sighting. I'm going to Godric's Hollow after the full moon to ask some questions. Now, Moira, how do you feel about me helping brew the wolfsbane potion while Sirius takes over teaching Harry, Ron, and Hermione today?"
Moira looked at the three of them. Hermione seemed eager to have Professor Kelly, but the prospect of having Sirius do some teaching was an interesting one. Moira nodded and said, "Be good."
"I'm sure they can behave themselves, Moira," said Sirius.
"I wasn't talking to them," said Moira with a smirk as she swept out of the room with Remus. Sirius laughed out loud.
"Okay, now let's get started," he said.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at him strangely first.
~*~
Ginny woke up later the next morning to find Gavin looking out the balcony. She walked up to him and tapped him on his shoulder. He whirled around and faced her, "I think we should take a look around. There might be something worth seeing."
"I've never been around a lot of Muggles at once without my family nearby," she sounded wistfully. Gavin gave her a sympathetic look, but he didn't know what it was really like to have a complete family. He didn't realize that part of the struggle was Ginny missing her family.
"You don't know everything yet, Ginny," he said with a sigh.
"What do you mean?" she asked as her eyes widened in fear. What more could possibly happen to her?
"You have two choices. Save the world or destroy it. Neither decision is easy," said Gavin.
"Save the world and kill no one. How hard is that?"
"Um…it's not that simple. Your decision cannot be made in haste. It takes deliberation. That is why we must take this journey while your powers come into full power. It is easier to destroy the world than to save it."
"What does that mean? Stop talking in riddles, Gavin."
"If you are not careful, and you decide to safe the world, you could die."
~*~
After the lessons were finished with Sirius, Harry showed Hermione and Ron around the Archmeid. They walked down the parts of the house that Harry knew. Moira was careful to contact Binky to tell him to hide the pictures and portraits of the family before Harry's arrival. She would tell him when she was ready.
The last place they stopped at was Harry's room in the house. "Wow. What a big room," complimented Ron.
"It looks like a boy used to have this room, too," said Hermione. She immediately gravitated towards the bookshelves of the room. Ron looked at the wizards' chess set that was near the window seat. Harry came to him and they started to play a game while Hermione spent her time looking through the books.
"Oh my," said Hermione in a whisper of surprise as she looked at the cover of one of the books.
"What?" asked Ron, not really interested.
"Um…Harry, did you even look at these books yet?" asked Hermione.
"No," answered Harry as he looked up at her. "What are you looking at?"
Hermione walked over to Harry and handed him the book, which was about Quidditch she was looking at. She placed it directly underneath his nose. Harry read it out loud in surprise, "'Property of James Aidan Potter, and not of Sirius Andrew Black. He can however borrow this from time to time.'"
"That's your father's book?" asked Ron in surprise. Harry stood up from the chess set and walked over to the bookshelves. He picked up book after book to look inside, and found that each book had his father's name in it. He found books on Animagi, Quidditch, and other books. All of them belong to his father.
"These are his books," said Harry.
"I think this is your father's old room. This must be the Potters' house," said Hermione. "I mean you don't really know about that side of your family."
Harry ripped the door open and sprinted out the room with one of the books in his hand. Ron and Hermione chased after him until he came back to the parlor to find Moira, Sirius, and Remus looking up at him in surprise.
"What's wrong?" asked Moira in concern. Harry looked at them with an angry look in his emerald green eyes. Her eyes traveled down to the book that was in his hand.
"Why didn't any of you tell me?" he demanded as he handed her the book with the cover open.
"Harry, calm down," said Hermione.
"Don't get too mad," intoned Ron.
Moira looked at the book and handed it to Sirius. "I can't believe that James wrote that!" he exclaimed.
"I take it you figured out that you were staying in your father's old room," said Remus calmly.
"Why didn't any of you tell me?" demanded Harry again.
"I was going to tell you soon. I really was. I didn't know how to tell you, Harry," said Moira.
"Who are you really?" asked Hermione; her curiosity was peaked.
"My full name is Moira Colleen Potter Kelly. James was my first cousin on my mother's side. This is Archmeid. The ancestral home of the Potters…and your inheritance," said Moira calmly.
Harry's jaw dropped. My father's first cousin? That means she's my aunt. And a blood relative, he thought to himself. Ron snapped him out of his thoughts, "But, why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"I was out of the country. I traveled all over the world trying to learn how to fight the dark arts. And when I got out of Hogwarts, I was working on research of magical moss up in the Moors. When I came back, I found out that James and Lily died. I didn't even know I had a nephew until I got back," said Moira. "I'm so sorry. I heard that you got stuck with the Dursleys." She gave a slight shudder at the thought of those horrid people.
"Harry, I think you should sit down. It's time you learn about the Potters," said Sirius as he offered all of them a seat.
"My mother was the older sister of your grandfather. And my father was a wizard from a powerful Irish clan. However, he was sort of like the black sheep of his family. When he married my mother, they really didn't have a place to go. So, my grandfather allowed them to stay here. The Potters have always fought against the Dark Arts. They were the first to fight Voldemort. My parents were killed by Voldemort, too. James' father died in a fight against the Death Eaters, and his mother passed away soon after that. So, you can pretty much say, we've been up against Voldemort for generations," said Moira.
"You decided before not to fight against the Dark Arts before, didn't you?" asked Hermione.
"You really are a perceptive girl. Remus was right. No, I was afraid. James wasn't, but he supported me when I said I wanted to go and study Herbology," said Moira. Hermione blushed at her comment.
"But, something happened to you didn't it?" asked Remus.
Moira nodded. "I lost two years of my life. I cannot remember anything, except for shadows. I woke up in a Muggle hospital and was told that I had been in a coma. I've tried to revive those memories, but I couldn't. I think, but I'm not completely sure, that it was a Dark Art, so I've been looking for the reason why it happened. When I woke up, it was like waking up from a nightmare, to a nightmare," she whispered.
Harry looked at her close. He could see some of his features like his ears on her. Her hair was jet black had it not been for the streaks in it, he might have seen it sooner. "But, you let me stay in my father's room."
"Yes. I can't get over how much you look like James. He was like an older brother to me. I used to watch him on his broomstick out in the field just like you this morning. You can't imagine what it was like for me to wake up only to find out how much I lost," her voice sounded even sadder.
Moira couldn't bring herself to mention the baby. The baby who she had lost. He or she would have been Harry's younger cousin. She couldn't stand the thought of never knowing what a good older cousin Harry would have made to her baby. Two year of her life. Two years were stolen from her. The lost of her virginity was forgivable, but not the loss of her child. There was a crater where her child should have been. She let out a ragged sigh as if she were close to tears. Harry stood up and sat next to her and placed his hand on hers.
"It's okay. I understand…Aunt Moira," whispered Harry.
"What is it you do remember?" asked Sirius.
"Nothing much. I see myself walking at night. Sometimes, the moss only blooms at night. Some other things, but it all runs together," said Moira. She at some points felt blissful happiness and love. She didn't know what kind of love. Probably for the man who had sired her child.
"We should stop this. Binky should bring in some tea. Don't worry, Hermione, he gets paid. He's the only elf who would stay after I suggest it," said Moira as she sat up straight.
Remus and Sirius knew that she was hiding something. A heart wrenching secret that no one else knew.
~*~
"But, I don't want to die!" exclaimed Ginny. It was a perfectly naturally response. She was only fourteen-years-old. Fourteen.
"I said you could die. I didn't say it was a certainty. There is a way around it," said Gavin to calm her back down.
"What's the way around it?" asked Ginny eagerly.
"Your will has to be strong enough. The decision to save the world cannot be a casual one. And it cannot be an easy one. You judgment shouldn't be swayed so easily," said Gavin.
Ginny went to the sofa and sat down. Why was everything so hard for her? She knew that she was an accident waiting to happen, if she didn't learn how to control her powers soon. She hated this whole thing. She wanted to be a normal girl, even if it meant being a Muggle at this point. She cluthed her hands into fists on top of her lap.
Gavin saw her all tensed up and walked over to her, but he came to a halt. Tears were falling on top of her fists. "I don't want to die. I'm scared," she whispered.
"I know you are. It's not going to go away. I'll help you," Gavin reassured her.
"You won't tell me anything about yourself. How can I trust you?" she whispered.
He didn't realize that it was a problem. "There really isn't much to say. I'm here because I'm the only one of my people who can come. So, I volunteered to be your guide and protector," he said.
"What makes you so different from the others?" she asked.
"I can go into the human sun without getting burned and I have a strong immunity to iron," he answered.
"Okay, I take it iron is poisonous for your people?" asked Ginny.
"Yes. Iron can hurt them by just being present. I was born with very small traces of iron in my body, so I have a strong immunity to it. However, I've never tested what would happen if I got cut or pierced by iron," said Gavin.
"You may not want to find out," said Ginny as she wiped the tears off her face. She didn't want to cry anymore.
It was only human nature to want to stay alive. She knew that she was believe selfish, but she couldn't help it. Humans, especially teenagers, have a tendency to be selfish. "I wish I could be at home with my mum and dad. Don't you wish to be home with your parents? Or at least at home?"
"I don't have a mother," said Gavin simply.
~*~
Moira's heart felt much better. Part of that crater filled up a little bit and was due to Harry. He was a very forgiving person just like his father. She made a vow to herself that she would protect him no matter what.
"Did my father really like to read?" asked Harry as he took the book that he handed to her earlier.
"Yes. He did. If he wasn't playing Quidditch, he was reading about it. He really like to play Quidditch. The only thing that he thought of more than Quidditch was your mother. Lily was wonderful. You have her eyes, but you have her gentleness as well. There's a lot of her in you," said Moira fondly with a smile. "I just wish you didn't have to learn about them second hand. Voldemort has taken so much from us."
Harry had never met anyone like his aunt. She had been through the things he had been, too. "Did you know your parents?"
"Yes. It happened when I was in Hogwarts. Your father was the one who took care of me when we returned to school. He was the doting older brother, and I got annoyed with pretty quickly," said Moira with a bigger smile.
"I think it's great that everyone has wonderful stories about my parents," said Harry.
I don't even know if my child is alive or dead. Would he or she have wonderful stories about me? Would my child know anything about me?, thought Moira. "I wasn't strong enough at the time to take a baby in with me when I found out about your parents. I didn't want to get into a fight with the Durselys," she said.
"Are you kidding? The Durselys would have probably thrown me at you if you said you wanted me," said Harry.
Moira smiled again. "I met them once. I was going to hex them, but your father stopped him. He was so much in love with your mother that he was willing to tolerate them. If it's not to late…I would like to ask something from you," she said the last part in a timid voice.
"What?"
"I was wondering if it wasn't too late…if you wouldn't mind…living with me. I can put up the wards to protect you. And I am a blood relative," she said quickly and nervously as if he would say no.
Harry's eyes lit up the same way they did when Sirius made that offer. He smiled a mile wide and nodded frantically. Just as she was afraid he'd say no, he was afraid she'd take back her offer. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I want to live with you!" exclaimed Harry happily. Moira gave him a hug, and he hugged her back.
For all the bad things happening in the world, both of them found a moment of complete happiness. It was something they both needed.
AN: Did Harry seem too happy? Now that we've gotten Harry and Moira's story out of the way, we can move on to the rest of Ginny's journey. Besides, I thought it was good to allow them to rest for a while. They've been running for three chapters. ^_~
Disclaimer: I repeat. I don't own Harry Potter. Everyone in the world should know by now that he belongs to J.K. Rowling.