Chapter Nine: Photo Books



"Does that make sense?" Harry asked. He and Hermione were sitting at the kitchen table. Harry had finally remembered to ask her about his strange bond with Reagan and had told her about their dream the other night.

"Mmm humm," she replied as she scribbled some notes down on a piece of parchment. "What you've described actually sounds sort of familiar, though I can't quite recall where I've heard of it."

"Of what?" Harry asked.

"Exactly, I don't know what it is," Hermione said. "I'll have to look in a few books; the library here might have something. If not I can just pop over to San Francisco and look in the Ministry library there." Hermione stopped and looked at Harry who was nodding encouragingly. "What? No eye rolling?"

"Why would I roll my eyes?" Harry questioned.

"Because every time I mention the library and looking something up, you and Ron always roll your eyes."

"We do?" Harry asked in mock surprise.

"Yes, Harry," Hermione answered. "You have since first year."

"Oh," Harry said. "Well, I was hoping you'd want to look stuff up. You know, to find out what it was. And you're, well, good at looking things up." Hermione blushed and looked back at her parchment.

"You know, Harry, you are capable of doing research on your own."

Harry laughed. "Yes, I know. But I'm not good at it. I wouldn't know where to start."

"Where do you start when you research criminals?" Hermione asked.

"The Hall of Criminal Records in the Department of Records, which is on the second floor toward the left, in Ministry Library," Harry replied. "It also helps that my sister-in-law is the head librarian in the Department of Records."

"Yes, and I'm sure that Penelope just loves to help you out," Hermione sarcastically replied. "I'm sure that if she hadn't married Percy, you would use the excuse of having an old school mate help you out."

"Now Hermione, that is not entirely true," Harry said. "Penny is always more than happy to point me in the right direction."

Hermione smiled. "I'm sure she is."

"Would you rather I do my own research then?" Harry asked defensively.

"No, Harry, I'd be happy do to it," Hermione responded. "Besides, I want to make sure it gets done properly."

"Thanks," Harry replied.

"No problem."

Harry stood up and left the kitchen in search of Ginny. Now that he had Hermione on the mystery of this weird stuff with Reagan, he wanted to learn more about Julie's outburst at the Quidditch match. Julie hadn't said anything about it and Harry didn't want to ask questions. However, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron did notice the tension between Julie and Andrew. Every time they were in the same room tension was too much to bear. They were practically impossible to be around.

As Harry entered the sitting room he caught Ginny's eye as she sat next to Julie on the couch. It seemed that Ginny had taken it upon herself to try to get something out of her husband's cousin. She had retrieved a photo album from her trunk and offered to show it to Julie. Julie seemed very interested in this and Ginny sat with her on the couch.

"Is this Harry's graduation?" Julie asked. Ginny looked down at the picture and smiled.

"That is Harry, Ron and Hermione, yes. Though, we don't graduate in England, we just sort of leave," she replied, correcting Julie. "This was on their last day at Hogwarts, during the End of Year Feast." Ron, Hermione and Harry were laughing at each other in the photo, which was most likely taken by Colin Creevey. Next to that one was a photo of the Gryffindor Common room, another one with Hermione and Harry posing with Professor McGonagall, one that added Professor Dumbledore to that trio, and one last one with just Harry and Dumbledore. Ginny smiled as she watched her husband pose with his mentor, who was no doubt saying some odd thing that made Harry smile even more brightly.

"What do HB and HG stand for?" Julie asked, pointing at a picture.

"Oh, HB is Head Boy and HG is Head Girl. Harry was Head Boy and Hermione was Head Girl their seventh year," Ginny explained. The photo Julie was referring to was a picture of both Harry and Hermione pointing at the matching Head Boy and Girl pins badges on their robes, with matching grins on their faces. There were also photos of the four of them, Ginny included, waving at the camera on the Hogwarts Express, and also a few cute photos of just Harry and Ginny. On the next page were Hermione, Ron and Harry standing in the kitchen at the Burrow each holding an envelope.

"Why are they holding envelopes?" Julie asked, and took a closer look at the picture.

"Oh, those were their N.E.W.T. results," Ginny explained. "Bill had just bought Mum a new camera and she insisted on taking pictures of everything." The photos followed their movements as they opened their letters, and as the expressions on their faces changed from uncertainty to astonishment.

"What made them so surprised?" Julie asked, as in the photo, Hermione jumped up and hugged Ron.

"Enclosed in with their N.E.W.T. results was a letter listing their successes at Hogwarts. All three had O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. honors, Hermione and Harry were Head Boy and Girl, as well as Prefects their during their fifth and sixth years. Harry also had honors in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Hermione had honors in Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Potions, History of Magic and Charms. Ron had Charms honors also. Harry was Dueling Champion and also Quidditch Captain. Harry and Ron also had Service to the School awards."

"Why did they have those?" Julie asked.

"They received those in their second year," Ginny paused. "It is sort of a long story, and not all that interesting." Ginny wasn't too eager to tell Julie about the incident with the diary and the Chamber of Secrets.

"Oh," Julie replied, and seeing Ginny's hesitation in relaying the story, she turned the page.

"Oh!" Ginny exclaimed. "This is me!" She pointed to a picture of her with her Hogwarts letter, later that summer. "This is when I got my letter saying that I was Head Girl." In the photo, Ginny was smiling brightly and pulled her Head Girl badge out of the envelope, over and over again.

"You were Head Girl also?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, but I was a year behind Harry. My brothers Bill and Percy were Head Boys too."

Julie nodded and looked over more pictures. There was a picture of Harry posing with Molly and Arthur Weasley, and another one of the entire Weasley family with Harry sitting in the middle looking extremely out of place with his dark hair. As Julie turned the page, her eyes came to rest upon on a picture she had seen at Harry's house.

"Who are these men?" she asked.

Ginny paused. "This was at Harry's 18th birthday. This one is Remus Lupin, he'll be coming in a week or so, and this one..." Ginny's voice trailed off as she looked at the picture. "This one is Sirius Black, Harry's godfather." Julie's eyes grew wider for a split second as she recognized the name, and she looked sadly back at the photo.

"They look so happy," Julie said.

"It was a very happy day," Ginny replied. "Sirius and Remus were Harry's parents' best friends from school." Julie gave another encouraging smile and turned the page again.

The rest of the book was filled with other random post-Hogwarts pictures: Harry getting his Auror uniform, ceremonies where Harry received numerous promotions and awards, Ron and Hermione displaying their diplomas from their post-Hogwarts schools. Harry and Ginny's wedding followed and also Ron and Hermione's. After a few more pages, the pictures began to involve babies and more babies. The babies grew and multiplied as the pages progressed, and eventually the pictures reflected the way everyone was now.

"Is this your family?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, there are a lot of us," Ginny replied. "That was Christmas a couple of years ago."

"I only count five brothers," Julie said and looked at Ginny. Ginny blinked back tears and looked down at the picture.

"Oh, well, Fred is missing from that picture."

"Fred?" Julie asked.

"Yes, Fred and George were twins." Ginny didn't dare look up at Julie, terrified that she could read the pain on her face. Years later the pain of Fred's death was still strong.

"Ginny?" Julie asked.

"Fred died," Ginny stated. "He and his wife, Emma, and their daughter, Kate... about six years ago."

"Oh, Ginny, I'm so sorry," Julie replied.

Ginny smiled bravely as she fought back her tears. "Halloween isn't an easy holiday for us, to say the least. We've lost... many people on that day." Harry's parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, Emma and Kate... Ginny mentally counted. Julie gave her an encouraging smile.

"I know how that goes," Julie sighed. "My husband was killed on Halloween, almost four years ago." Ginny winced at the mention of Julie's husband.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ginny asked. "Sometimes the only people who can help those who have lost loved ones are those who have lost loved ones themselves."

Julie looked at her and sighed. "I haven't really talked about it. It's hard to find people who can understand."

"Try me," Ginny replied and smiled. Julie sighed again, and began her story.

"I met Kevin in a Muggle shop in San Francisco. We both noticed each other right away, mainly because we were both magical in an all Muggle shop. You know how you can just tell? Wizards just don't... look and feel the same as Muggles do. Well, with Kevin, you could just tell. He introduced himself and we went to get ice cream. We talked for a while and totally hit it off." Julie smiled and looked down.

"Go on, please," Ginny prompted.

"Kevin was wonderful," Julie sighed. "Though if you ask Andrew, he'll disagree. My brother never really liked Kevin, but I just dismissed it as a brotherly protection thing. Kevin and I had a wonderful time together. We got married and soon afterward I found out I was pregnant with Kelsey. Everything was fine until I told Kevin about it. And then..."

"Yes?" Ginny asked. She was curious as to why Julie had stopped telling her story. Julie stared at her hands, turning them over in her lap. Ginny could see in her eyes that she was deciding about something. She was acting the way Ginny's students did when they were debating whether or not to tell her something.

"Well, Kevin was shocked, to say the least. We had only been married two weeks at that time, and he was dumbfounded. He actually got up and ran out of the house. When he came back he said he had to leave on assignment and he left the next morning. And then he got killed."

It seemed suspicious to Ginny that he would leave so suddenly after being told he was going to be a father. Then she thought back to when she had told Harry about being pregnant with James. He had simply stared at her for a while before allowing a huge smile to creep across his face. He told her later that she had scared the wits out of him and he was literally in shock for a good twenty minutes.

"What did he do for a living?" Ginny asked.

"He was a Dark Investigator, sort of like what Harry does as an Auror. But he was never actually in the field, he just did the research."

"Oh," Ginny replied, hesitant to prod further. "So, um, what happened?"

"His assignment was to go to London, and get a file that was only available there. I was told that as he walked out of a building, he got caught in the cross fire of some battle, and got hit with the Killing Curse before he could pull out his wand," Julie paused and sniffled a little. "He was given a Medal of Honor by our Ministry, and I was told that he did 'a great service to his country.' He was able to get the information needed from the files and send them before he died."

"You were told?" Ginny repeated.

"Yes, the American Minister sent a gift basket and a card. At the dedication of KevinÕs medal, the Minister personally gave a speech and commented on how he died in the line of duty, and how he died to get information for his country. I thought it was funny; Kevin wasn't even American." Ginny perked up when she said that. "He was British."

"He was British?" Ginny repeated, somewhat amazed.

"Yeah, he came over to work in America, because he didn't like the Ministry in England."

Ginny's mind raced. Four years ago, Hermione had just become Minister and Harry was already one of the top ranked Aurors. Had he known Harry? Ginny wondered.

"Where did he go to school?" Ginny asked.

"Hogwarts," Julie replied. "He never talked about it though. He never really talked much about England. I got the feeling that he wanted to forget everything there. I didn't even know where his assignment was until after I was told he was dead."

Ginny stared at her. This was the most suspicious story she had ever heard. And none of it made sense.

"He never mentioned Houses or Quidditch, or even Harry?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, none of it. He despised Quidditch and he never mentioned which House had been Sorted into. But he did mention Harry once. He asked if I was related to him. Of course then I didn't know I was, and he seemed sort of relieved when I told him I wasn't. We didn't grow up worshipping Harry like people did in England. We read the story of 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' in school, during a World History class, but only once, and most people forgot it after that. So I didn't recognize Harry's name and I certainly didn't connect him to me. When I went to find Harry in London, everyone seemed shocked that I didn't know who he was."

"Oh, well he is sort of a celebrity at home."

"And that's an understatement," Julie stated, trying to lighten their moods.

"What was his last name? Kevin's, I mean," Ginny asked.

"Brown," Julie replied. Kevin Brown, Kevin Brown, where had she heard that name? Then, suddenly, Ginny remembered and she froze.

Her last year at Hogwarts, she had been walking back from a meeting with McGonagall, and she had seen someone go into the Great Hall. She had found it odd because it was after curfew, so she began to follow the person into the room. She was Head Girl and the title gave her such special privileges. She stopped as soon as she pushed the door ajar. There was a young boy, probably a first or second year, and Ginny could see the Slytherin patch on his robes. The boy was producing something out of his wand. It looked like the Dark Mark, only it was slightly different. She confronted the boy immediately, and he got a week of detention because of it. But Ginny remembered who he was. The boy was Kevin Brown.

Harry's cousin had married a Slytherin, and most likely a Death Eater. Why else would he have been practicing the Death Mark while at Hogwarts? There was really no reason that Kevin Brown would have been murdered by Death Eaters when he was most likely a Death Eater himself.

And Julie had no clue.


A/N: Thank you so much to my beta, Jo, for catching me on my numerous Americanisms, for keeping Ginny in character and for keeping this entire chapter in canon. ~EE