Reality Unravelling

Chapter 19

She leapt forward and hugged Harry tightly, burying her face into his shoulder. Harry returned the hug slowly, unable to believe her presence. He looked at the crowd and cleared his throat. "This is Holly. I know this will sound strange, but she's my daughter. There's a perfectly good explanation for her age…"

"I couldn't detect any falsehood in her claims," Commander Ironheart said. "She shares some of your traits as well. Yes…she told me about the temporal vortexes in the Mirror Realm."

Harry looked at Ginny and swallowed nervously.

The look in her eyes chilled him to the bone. It was a mixture of shock, bewilderment and hurt…mostly hurt. The enormity of his words brought the realization crashing into his mind. Holly was his daughter, meaning there must have been another woman in his life, besides Heidi. A woman Harry hadn't told his friends about.

"Ginny…I-I can explain."

"Why…didn't you tell me?" Ginny asked in a trembling voice.

"I didn't think it was relevant at the time. I mean, it wasn't something you needed to know—"

"Needed to know?" Ginny's shriek echoed through the maintenance bay. "She's your daughter. You had a child with another woman and you thought I didn't need to know?"

"Well, not right away…and she was supposed to stay with her mother in the Mirror Realm."

"Not right away? You mean not ever!" Ginny said sharply. "I saw the look on your face when you saw her! She's not supposed to be here, is she? You were never going to tell me about her, were you? How can I ever trust you again, Harry? You lied to me…you've abandoned your daughter, and her mother—"

Harry felt like biting his tongue off for his previous sentence. It had only made things worse. "It wasn't like that, Ginny!"

"Really?" Ginny replied acidly. "Wasn't that what you just said? That she was supposed to stay in the Mirror Realm with her mother?"

It was his own fault…he knew that. But why didn't Ginny give him the benefit of the doubt? Why was she so ready to believe that he'd hurt her like that? He suddenly felt angry. "Will you bloody stop twisting my words!" he roared. "I said I can explain, and I will. Just give me a chance to do so!"

Seemingly taken aback by his outburst, Ginny fell silent.

"Sorry…I really wanted to see you again, I didn't want to cause any trouble," Holly whimpered. "Please forgive me, Daddy."

Harry smiled ruefully. "It's all right. I should have known that you'd come to find me anyway. I guess you take after me in that respect. I'm happy to see you…really!" He hugged her again.

"Come on…get back to your posts!" Commander Ironheart bellowed to the Rangers in the maintenance bay. "If Mr Potter deems it necessary to fill you in later, he will do so."

With that, everyone who had been staring quickly went about their business again, or pretended to do so.

"C'mon, Ginny," Hermione muttered, linking her arm through Ginny's and dragging her along. "You heard the commander…you're supposed to be in the Medical Wing."

Ginny looked miserable, and before the left the bay entirely, Ginny paused at the doors and stared to turn as if to look back. But she stopped, turned away once more and left.

The earlier commotion had drawn Gudrun's attention as well, and she rolled off the levitation square she been occupying to hurry after Ginny.

Harry swallowed. Ginny hadn't even wanted to look at him. How was he going to fix this?

"Don't you three have somewhere to be?" Commander Ironheart asked Heidi, Matt and Ron.

"You wanted to see me…" Matt began uncertainly.

"Oh, of course, I'm sorry." Commander Ironheart sighed. "My condolences. I know it's a little late for that, but I've been rather busy."

Matt nodded solemnly. "That's okay, Commander. I still appreciate it."

"I also heard that you're looking for someone to take over your father's business enterprises for the time being?"

"Yes, sir."

"I know a person who still owes me a few favours. He's a former Ranger…he used to be in the Administrative Division, so he's quite capable is managing resources as vast as your father's. Coincidentally, he's working in one of your father's companies as we speak. His name is Louis Marchand."

"I've met him. He's in charge of the media oriented enterprises, if I'm not mistaken, isn't he? Bloke with a weird birthmark on his nose?"

"That's him," Ironheart confirmed.

Matt frowned. "Well, I wanted someone who was already part of my father's financial empire to take over. If you trust this man and he has the right credentials…why not. Still, I don't want this man to take the job only as a favour to you."

"Oh, don't worry." Ironheart smiled. "He's been looking for a more challenging job. He told me so on several occasions."

"All right, then," Matt agreed. "But I'd like meet him first. Some negotiations might be in order, and I'd like to do that myself. I owe my father that much."

"I'll get to work on that right away…after I deal with some issues. Miss Gravenstein…in my office on my desk, there are three sealed rolls of parchment. Could you deliver them to the Lord Mayor, please?"

"Will that be all?" Heidi asked.

"For now I just need them to be delivered. They're about new treaties between Concordia and us. Your captain or lieutenant will fill you in on the details. I need someone to see it through…unless you already have another assignment? I'm a bit out of the loop…"

"No sir, that's fine," Heidi said. "I'm on my way."

"Mr Weasley," Ironheart continued, after Heidi had left, " don't you have anywhere to be?"

"He worked the nightshift," Harry said quickly. "And I don't mind him being present. I'm sure he'd like to hear my explanation too," he added, knowing that he'd need his best friend's help to win back Ginny's trust. "And Matt can come along too." Safety in numbers, he thought.

"All right. Your quarters, Mr Potter," the Commander said, and turned on his heel, leading Harry, Ron and Holly up through the hill and into the Citadel proper, where the living quarters were located.

While they were on their way, Harry tried his best to ignore the odd glances he got from passers-by, as his daughter clung to him like there was no tomorrow. Commander Ironheart's stern glare was enough to make all of them look away, but he was still glad when they were finally inside his quarters, away from all the prying eyes. Then he began to tell his story.

"Do you remember how I told you that Pecos Bill intervened when that Speculum Demon was about to kill me, after the Root of Evil duplicated me?"

The Root of Evil, sensing that he'd been looking for a portal, had cast an illusion of his expectations of the portal in order to lure him into a trap. The duplication had left him weak and helpless, and the Demon had been about to finish him off, when Pecos Bill had turned up.

"Yeah." Ron nodded gravely.

"Holly was there too," Harry continued. "It was actually thanks to her that they were there at that moment in time." Ron was about to say something, but Harry held up a hand for silence. "Hold on, the explanation may sound a bit odd. I'll try to keep it as coherent as possible."

The others patiently waited for him to gather his thoughts.

"When I first washed up on a river bank in the Mirror Realm, a young caretaker found me."

"You said she nursed you back to health, but that wasn't all, was it?" Ron growled.

Harry met Ron's withering stare defiantly. "I'm only human. Besides, at the time I still thought you all hated me…that Ginny hated me. I had nothing to lose!" He realised that he would be hitting below the belt by throwing the next bit of information into Ron's face, but right now he had little choice. He had to get his point across at any cost. "Lest we forget, you told me how you kissed Padma when it seemed like it was over between you and Hermione!"

This seemed to stay Ron's wrath momentarily. "Go on."

"She was fascinated with me. She'd only heard about mortals from the elder caretakers but she'd never seen one before…not even the ones from the Mirror Realm itself. Caretakers experience emotions differently then we do, and when she picked up some of mine, she wanted to know more about them…experience them even. I showed her about love…against my better judgement, but like I said, I'm no saint."

"Was she pretty?" Ron asked in a strangled voice.

"Holly's the spitting image of her mum, except for the hair," Harry answered.

Ron looked Holly over and nodded, a weird smile playing over his lips as he did so. Harry didn't like the way Ron was looking at his daughter at all!

"I succumbed to her charms, and my own lust," Harry continued. "Don't get me wrong. Even though I didn't love her, I felt a great deal of affection for Carey. I'm not shallow enough to sleep with a woman I don't feel anything for."

Matt's eyebrows went up. "Does this mean you had feelings for Heidi?"

Harry scowled at Matt, but it had actually been his own fault. His last remark had given Matt the opening. He'd never been very good at debating, but fortunately he had a good and truthful answer for Matt. "Heidi is a different story. My feelings for Heidi were echoes of my feelings for Ginny. They weren't genuine. I mean, she's really nice, but she's not really my type."

"And Carey was?" Ron asked.

"That's not what I said," Harry groaned. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think of a good way to voice his feelings. "I could ask you if Padma was your type!"

"I didn't have a child with her!" Ron threw back.

"No, but your initial motivation was the same. In my case, things just got a bit out of hand. Now let me finish telling my story!"

"Allow him to finish," Ironheart interrupted sternly, preventing Ron from interrupting again.

Thank you, sir," Harry said gratefully, and continued. "If she'd told me that she was pregnant, I never would have left. I guess that's why she didn't tell me."

"Mother told me that Father loved a girl named Ginny, and that it would have been evil for her to come between them," Holly jumped in, confirming Harry's suspicions. "But she let him go, knowing she still had me to love after he was gone."

"Holly wanted to meet me in person. I've always wanted to meet my parents myself, so I don't blame her. But none of the caretakers knew what had become of me after I entered the Forest of Reflection. They didn't know whether or not I had survived. So when Holly met Pecos Bill twelve years from now, chronologically, she begged him to take her with him on his travels."

"He taught me to ride the winds of time," Holly chattered excitedly. "We travelled everywhere and every time. We went into the past and the future, and to other places in the realm."

"Let them read it in Bill's book, Holly." Harry smiled. After meeting Pecos Bill, he learned that the domain of the caretakers was actually only a tiny and rather inaccessible part of the Mirror Realm. There were many kinds of magical beings and creatures, some which didn't exist in the Earth Realm anymore, like the Cat People and the Doppelgangers. "Yes she travelled far and wide…and she conned Bill into travelling back to the time when I was in the Forest of Reflection. They found me, and just in time. So if it hadn't been for Holly wanting to meet me, the Speculum Demon would have killed me, because Bill wouldn't have been there to intervene. I owe my continued existence to Holly's existence."

"You didn't know the caretaker was pregnant," Ron said, attempting to sort the information. It looked like he was accepting the explanation.

"I didn't."

"And you wouldn't have left her if you'd known…"

Harry swallowed. "Well, the Earth Realm didn't look too inviting at the time. I thought you all hated me, but I chose to come back anyway because I felt I wasn't done repaying my debts. If I'd known that Carey was pregnant, however, I might not have made the same decision," he said honestly, "because a woman who cared me, and who I also cared about…and a daughter, my own flesh and blood…might have changed my mind about leaving."

"I understand," Ron said gloomily. "I still think you should have told us about it, though."

"You're probably right about that," Harry sighed, "but you know how insecure Ginny can be. Do you honestly think she'd have accepted it? I was afraid to lose her because of it."

His best friend frowned. "She's a bit insecure when it comes to you…that's true. But telling her would have been less damaging than her finding about it like this."

"But this wasn't supposed to happen."

"That's beside the point," Matt, who had been silently listening so far, said. "And I don't think either of you are giving Ginny enough credit. She really loves you, Harry. I'm sure she would have forgiven you."

"Don't be so sure." Commander Ironheart sighed sadly. "You don't know women, son. My wife gave me hell every time I broke the news to her."

Harry frowned at that statement, suddenly wondering how many children the commander had sired with other women. Apparently, Wolfe's father hadn't been the only one. And why would the commander have told his wife?

"They can exact their revenge in the worst possible way, at the worst possible time, even if they love you," Ironheart added with a mournful look. "And it's much worse when they hate you, but I digress. Your brief explanation concurs with your daughter's."

"Daughter…" Harry muttered, looking at Holly. "You'll have to stop calling me Daddy. I'm barely three years older than you are now. I can't stop every time to explain exactly how I could have got a girl pregnant when I was three. To everyone but my closest friends on the outside world, you'll have to be a distant relative. Do you mind pretending for a while?"

Holly shook her head. "No, Daddy…err…Harry."

Harry smiled. "Thanks."

Holly's own smile was replaced by a troubled look. "Harry, it's my fault that your Ginny is mad at you now, isn't it?"

"No, it's all my own fault."

"Don't worry, Harry. I'll fill Hermione in. She'll know how to convince Ginny," Ron said.

"And in the meantime, someone here ought to show Holly the sights in Concordia." Matt smiled, patting Holly's thigh, which awaked that strange feeling inside Harry again.

"Kelly…keep your hands off my daughter!"

Matt grinned. "But I'm the ideal son-in-law, Dad! Don't worry, I'm not interested in your daughter that way, though I must say—"

"I don't want to hear it!" Harry barked.

"You shouldn't make jokes about that, Mr Kelly." Ironheart smiled. "When you have a daughter of your own, these issues will haunt your mind as well."

"I'll just have to have sons then," Matt replied.

"Unless you're cursed not to have daughters, there's no guarantee of that," he said, a businesslike expression taking over his features. "Harry, I know this comes at a bad time for you, since you'll want to patch things up with Ginny."

Harry winced. He really needed to explain things to Ginny. But he couldn't neglect his duties as a Ranger. "Where to now, sir?"

"Japan. Yuriko Makioka believes she knows the location of the facility where the princess is being kept. She needs our help to verify it, and then infiltrate it to retrieve the princess."

Harry looked at Holly. What would become of her?

"Don't worry about her; we'll look after her for the time being. She's already been assigned her own room. I'm afraid you'll have to do without your father for a while, my dear." As the commander said that, the door to his office opened. Serafina Esposito stood in the doorway, smiling benignly at Holly. "Serafina will show you your room."

"But I don't want him to go!" Holly said indignantly, gripping Harry's hand tightly…too tightly. Harry felt the joints in his hand send waves of pain to his brain in protest of their treatment.

"Holly, not so hard!" he grunted.

She immediately slackened her grip. "Sorry, I forget how much stronger I am than mortals."

"That's okay, Holly." Harry massaged his hand. "I'm sure the Commander Ironheart will let us talk to each other every day through the long range broadcaster."

"I'm sure that can be arranged." Ironheart nodded, smiling indulgently.

"Go with Serafina. I'll come to say goodbye before I go," Harry assured her.

Holly reluctantly rose and walked towards the doorway.

Harry saw the Spanish witch eye her clothes critically and muttering a few oaths in her native language. He knew she and Heidi could talk fashion for hours, and he suddenly realised what lay in store for his daughter.

"Don't bother trying to change her hair!" he told Serafina, before she closed the door. Ron and Matt guffawed.

"She sure got the raw end of the deal, with your hair." Ron laughed.

"Could've been worse," Matt hiccuped. "She could've looked like him too."

"Gentlemen…if you're quite done…" Ironheart interrupted.

"Sorry sir," Matt and Ron chorused.

"Apologise to Harry…later, on your way to Japan."

"What?" Matt and Ron exclaimed, once more simultaneously.

"Sir, I don't have a problem with going to Japan," Matt continued. "But I'd rather have permission to go to Caer Sidi with a few volunteers to ship the treasure out of there."

The Australian went on to tell the commander about the Consanguinity Charm and its consequences. The elder Ranger's brows furrowed as he learned that Malfoy also had access to the vaults. He folded his hands and stared at an imaginary point on his desk.

"Draco Malfoy… " he muttered after a while, "Grew up to be just like his father. A pity that Lucius wouldn't let Narcissa exert more influence over the boy. She may be haughty and a little bigoted—"

"A little?" Ron snorted.

"But that's just her upbringing," Ironheart continued as if he hadn't heard Ron. "She's not evil, like Lucius...she can't be. But I had no right to do anything to stop her from marrying him. That's what her…father…groomed her for. To be a trophy wife for a rich pureblood with no morals. There was no love there. Lucius was over a decade older…she was just out of school. And he hardly ever treated her with proper respect."

It was awkward, hearing Ironheart talk like this. It seemed like he knew the Malfoys very well. Harry knew that he was right, though. Lucius Malfoy had been about Mr Weasley's age, while Narcissa was considerably younger. But that wasn't what Harry found peculiar. It was Commander Ironheart's expression.

"With all due respect, Commander." Ron shook his head. "She could've turned her husband in, but she didn't. That's just as evil—"

"The majority of people choose not to oppose evil for fear of their lives," Ironheart said darkly. "It isn't all black and white. There are many shades of gray. But we're not here to discuss the nature of good and evil.

"Harry, you'll go to Japan with Osman, Riyadi, Brody and Blackmoon from the Martial Division."

Harry frowned. Osman and Riyadi were lieutenants, and Brody and Blackmoon were Fourth Class Combat Rangers. He was the most junior Ranger for a change. The commander was sending in his most seasoned troops.

"Wilson and Wortelgraaf will be your Intel Field operatives, and Kozminski will be the Medical Ranger. Weasley…you'll co-ordinate their actions from the Cruiser."

"M-me?" Ron stammered incredulously.

"You'll be assisting Faust. He'll be going as well. You'll be leaving in two hours. That will be all, Rangers. Kelly, stay!"

Harry and Ron rose, saluted, and retreated from Ironheart's office, leaving Matt alone with the commander.

"Damn, how am I going to straighten this out with Ginny?" Harry grumbled. He'd need more than two hours to convince Ginny that he really loved her, and that Holly's existence didn't change those feelings.

"I reckon it'll take a while for her to get used to the idea." Ron shrugged. "Go talk to her in the lab. Do some damage control."

"I need you there with me!"

Ron shook his head. "Sorry mate. I don't want to abandon you. But I need to talk to Captain Faust before we leave."

"You just made that up!"

"You know me better than that!" Ron said pointedly, looking insulted. "Hermione will be there, so you needn't worry. She'll hold Ginny back."

Harry sighed. "All right." Ron might have had something to discuss with Captain Faust, but there would have been plenty of time to discuss it. He just used it as an excuse to weasel out of the situation. But maybe it was all for the better. If Ron were to stand up for him, that would draw Ginny's wrath onto him as well.

"Thanks mate," Ron said gratefully, and hurried away, leaving Harry standing in the corridor, pondering the best way to break the news to Ginny.

As the minutes ticked by, he began having his doubts about the competence of the Sorting Hat. He shouldn't have been placed in Gryffindor. He was too much of a coward! Of course, he hadn't known Ginny then. It wasn't as if he were afraid of getting cursed. He'd weathered the most devastating curses already. No…he was afraid of losing Ginny forever. That was his greatest fear. What would he do if she wouldn't forgive him?

The longer you wait, the greater the likelihood that that'll happen. The annoying little voice in the back of his mind squeaked.

"Thanks, sir," he suddenly heard Matt say, as the tall Australian stepped out of Ironheart's office.

"No thanks are needed," Ironheart said. "I'm not doing you any favours. It's all in the best interests of the Order too."

"All the same, I don't think you've given me as hard a time as Commander Nomvete would have given me."

"Yes, she's rather fond of preliminary paperwork, isn't she? Unfortunately, time is of the essence. Through Draco Malfoy, Anastasiou has access to your family treasure. I'll send a message to Irina. She'll work out who's available to accompany you."

"Yes sir," Matt said, and turned on his heel, taking long-legged strides to the other end of the corridor before disappearing round the corner.

"Was there something you wanted to say to me, son?" Ironheart asked, noticing Harry.

Harry shook his head. "Just gathering my courage to face Ginny."

Ironheart sighed and leaned against the doorjamb, a faraway look in his eyes. "I remember the first time I had to tell Aria"—he grimaced and crossed his arms—"most unpleasant. However, I may have been mistaken, earlier. Your relationship with Ginny is different from my relationship with Aria. You and Ginny share a bond of love that's nearly unique. Me, I don't really love my wife. Tempeste was the one I wanted to grow old with. But I had made a commitment by that time, and backing out would have caused a lot of grief."

"More grief than you've caused by straying?" Harry bit his tongue. He hadn't meant to say that, but the words had tumbled out of his mouth before he'd known what he'd been doing.

"I'm not so sure anymore. But I do know that backing off would have sparked a feud between our families. And you know how those wizarding quarrels can get. One of them spawned those Quintapeds."

The hairy MacBoons…he'd first read about it in a book about magical creatures. He guessed Ironheart's reason must have been good enough. "I didn't know that, sir. But…why are you telling me this?"

"I don't want you to think too badly of me. It's in my blood. I'm half incubus, you see. My sire was a Greater Incubus, to be precise. In my younger years, I couldn't really help myself when I saw an interesting female. It was worse if they were virgins…"

Logical, since one of the incubi's primary objectives was to soil virgins, Harry mused, after his mind had cleared away the shock of the revelation.

"Being a Mind Reader, I also saw the questions in your mind. Not many people know about my demon sire, and I'd like to keep it that way. But I've already told you this much, so there's no reason to answer your earlier questions. But it'll have to remain between you and me."

Harry nodded.

Ironheart sighed. "Over the last sixty-one years, I've been with nine hundred and fourteen women…and a giantess."

Harry blinked. Was Ironheart bragging?

"I most certainly am not trying to impress you, Harry. Just stating a fact."

"O-Okay!" Harry's breath caught in his throat as a crazy idea flashed across his mind. "Narcissa wouldn't happen to be one of those women, would she?"

Ironheart slowly shook his head. "No, she isn't."

"S-So, how many children have you got, besides your wife's…if you don't mind my asking, that is."

"I brought up the subject, so I don't mind. I have three children with other women. Not that many, all things considered, eh?"

"How can you be sure there are only three?"

"I've always kept tabs on those women for a while, to see if there were any consequences, if you catch my meaning. It was a dangerous game, mind you. I used the Order's resources to accomplish this. But Basham forgave me, so that's that, I guess. So I'm fairly sure my knowledge is accurate. Not one hundred percent, but the I deem the odds that I'm mistaken are very slim."

"So that means there are two others, besides Wolfe's dad."

"Two girls." Ironheart nodded sadly.

"Do they know that you're their father?" Harry asked, hoping he wasn't prying too much. But Commander Ironheart could actually have some useful information for him. It might give him an idea on how to approach the subject with Ginny. "Did you arrange things so you could see them often?"

"One of the girls was told the truth early on, and I helped her mother financially. I made sure I saw her once in a while, at least twice a year. She turned out all right. She's one of the youngest members of the International Confederation of Magic.

"The other…she didn't know until last year. Her mother was a married woman, so the truth was a luxury we couldn't afford. We wanted to tell her when she was grown up, but that would have placed her in danger from Voldemort's supporters."

"How so?" Harry frowned.

"She was married off to one," Ironheart said tonelessly.

It fell into place. Ironheart's earlier attitude…everything made sense now!

Ironheart nodded and confirmed his thoughts. "Yes…her."

Narcissa was Ironheart's daughter, which meant… "Oh, no!"

***

jona: He he he, how about this bombshell? And let Wolfe escape? Where's the fun in that?

Darkest Night: Gee, It's quite flattering to say that I'm in the same category as Ruskbyte. I know I still have some way to go before I reach that level, though.

austin: Yeah the Chap 21 EaL cliffie was a good one, wasn't it? Actually, that was the best chapter I've ever written, in my own opinion, and the reviews seem to agree with me there. I pulled in 50 with that chapter. I never managed to do that again.

weirdo_without_a_clue: Thanks for the review. What do you mean by extreme love scenes?

nycgal: I'll drop a mail if I need any info. Thanks for reviewing yet again. You have no idea how much it means to me.

Anna (A 29467): This chapter answered all your questions, hopefully.

BigDaddy753: Gudrun was an adult. Mary's father wasn't! And Harry was an adult too, so you can't really call them childhood flings, can you? ;-)

LadySiri: Yeah, Harry showed her how it's done. :-) In fact, I mentioned it in chapter 7 of EaL.

the.grey.lady: I think you meant Matt's vault. And I can't answer that. :-(

Gogirl: Did you see this one coming? *evil grin* Hmmm, killing Harry to be merciful, now there's an idea. I bet I can torture Harry worse than you ever could.

Lioness-07863: This chapter answered your question, I think.

Eclectic Angel: Re-read chapters 7 and 25 of EaL. It'll clear things up.

Lamina Court: Oh, don't worry. The reunion between Wolfe and the rest will be spectacular.

dc113: You had an interest theories, Archie. ;-)

gallandro-83: I'm sorry I'm spending so much time with the side characters. I'm trying to develop the balancing of many characters as my writing style. If it'll make you feel any better, the side characters all serve a key purpose in the overall plot. So I can't leave them alone even if I wanted to. Oh, and it isn't Morgana, although I did model the character after her somewhat. Good guess. Hehehe…Malfoy's jewels, funny. ^-^ If anything in that vault can help him attain immortality, he'll want it. On another note, is your pen-name inspired by a Star Wars character?

Maverick Davis: Good AH or bad AH?

Foxfur: Will Malfoy lose his jewels if the mistress is killed? Hmmm, I'm not sure.

starwest: How did you like this chapter?

A-Potter-Person: There's going to be a huge Star Wars reference after chapter 21. :-)

Maab: Hope this chapter eased your pondering a little.

Bane: I might write an out-take with all the family trees.

The Millennium One: I'm afraid I can't write any faster. My life won't let me.

Crazyfriendsfan: That was an interesting hypothesis.

Lady Reaper of the Shadows: This pen name is much more menacing than the previous one. If you're really serious about becoming a better writer, I'm sure the betas of Gryffindor Tower will help you. But only if you're committed to improving.

Jemima Blue: Laughs Out Loud. Is this the key role you envisioned for Ironheart? *evil smile*

Casual Reader: Yes, you should have.

Prongs: Harry is not Frodo. (Don't like Frodo)

Petals: Actually, I kind of did make Galatea pregnant to torture Wolfe. Lest we forget, it gives the enemy more to work with.

Author's Note: I can't keep up this writing pace. I'll have to slow down to twelve days instead of ten.

I would also like to take this opportunity to ask something. This story will likely be A/U before I finish it, meaning OoTP will come out before it's done. Will you guys still read the story, and the third part of the trilogy?