A/N: I'm in a terrible mood now. Actually I didn't even want to update today, for I felt (and still feel) like sh*t, but then I thought that at least my dear readers should feel better than I. The reason for my terrible mood? Yesterday I finished writing my stupid diploma and today I took it printed out to have it bound, so that I could hand it in the college this week. And what happened tonight? I got a call from the communications department of my temporary workplace that I shouldn't get the diploma bound yet, for they'd like to suggest some changes. Why couldn't they say this just one f*cking day earlier???? So, I have to go to meet the communications director tomorrow, and rewrite the diploma, print it out again (in three copies!) and take it to the bookbinders again. I feel like shouting Avada at myself (and at certain other people as well). Please, wish me good luck to be able to finish this stupid thing tomorrow and be able to hand in my diploma before the deadline expires! And sorry for the bad language, but I'm really beside myself.
Okay, onto the real author's note: you asked whether the next stop would be Greece. Well, not exactly - I'm a patriot, so I couldn't leave out the chance to let Harry and Ginny visit my country. To help you imagine what Harry and Ginny were seeing of Budapest, I put a link of a Budapest-photo (showing the Chain Bridge) into the art-link-section in my bio. Go, check it out :)
This is pretty much a build-up chapter, please, bear with me!
Chapter 7
Falaf Alley
"It is a suicide to be abroad."
(Samuel Beckett)
"You know I've never been abroad, except for that one occasion when my family visited Bill in Egypt," Ginny said, resting her eyes on the thousands of little orange lights dancing on the dark surface of the river Danube. She and Harry had travelled on Buckbeak's back till sundown and decided to stop for the night so that the Hippogriff could gather its strength for the rest of the journey. Now Buckbeak was crouching under Harry and Ginny's table on the Fisherman's Bastion - Harry had shrunken him to a minuscule size so that they could carry him into the town without waking the Muggles' suspicion. The Hippogriff certainly had been Disillusioned. "Then a bit of travelling was really overdue," Harry replied, taking a sip of the famous Tokay wine. "Yes," she smiled. "And Budapest is really lovely… for example that bridge over there… it looks like as thought it had been constructed of little whitish pearls…" "You mean the Chain Bridge? Yes, it's lovely." "How do you know Budapest so well, Harry?" she asked curiously. "I don't know it well, just been here once, trying to round up a member of the Ukrainian Wizarding Maffia. The bloke wanted to smuggle Ukranian Ironbellies into the country." "And did you catch him?" "No. Phaedra did." "Oh… Phaedra," she said, looking slightly dispirited. "By the way, what will become of her now?" "She'll follow us, I presume," he shrugged. "Follow us?" Ginny blinked. "Of course… Told you she wasn't the type to give upon me easily." "But… but how can she follow you?" "The Tracking Charm that still connects me to her," Harry replied. "But since it's getting weaker and weaker every day, I think she'll need a bit of time to find me." "But… what if she still finds us? Will she prevent us from… you know what?" "… from ending the effect of The Fates Charm? No idea. But don't worry, she'll always be some days behind us. By the time she gets to Hungary we'll already be in Greece. By the time she could catch up with us, we'll have set you free, Ginny," he gave her an encouraging smile. However, she didn't really seem encouraged. "And what about my husband?" "You said he had left for weeks," he pointed out. "By the time he gets back to Malfoy Manor, you'll be free from him… hopefully." "I'd like to be an optimist like you, Harry," she sighed. "I'm no optimist at all," he answered. "I don't have much of a reason to look at life with optimism, but I do believe that your case can be solved." At this moment a dark-skinned man dressed in red waistcoat, holding a violin stepped up to them. "Akarja-e naccsád hogy elhúzzam a nótáját?" he asked. "What?" Ginny looked at Harry. "He's asking whether you'd like him to play something for you." "Oh, tell him no, thanks." Harry politely sent the gypsy musician away, then turned back to Ginny. "This reminds me that you need the all-language charm." He furtively glanced around to check that no one was looking at them. Now he realised that they must have been sitting there so long that all the other guests had departed without them noticing, so now they were the only ones left on the terrace-restaurant of the Fisherman's Bastion. He pointed his wand at Ginny: "Pange Lingua! Done. Now you'll understand all human languages and whatever you say in English, everyone will understand it in their own language." With that Harry reached out for his spoon and carried on ladling his goulash soup. "So delicious! Much better than the one I ate at the Yule ball when Dumbledore started talking about himself finding a magnificent collection of chamberpots…" he looked up from his soup to see her eyeing him in a rather peculiar fashion. "What?" "I was just thinking," she replied softly. "At the Yule ball I was dancing with Neville nearby when I heard the fake Moody tell you that you had nice socks and you said you had got them from Dobby… and it occurred to me: if Moody could see through your robes, could he see through the female students' clothes as well? And now… you have this special sight… can you see through clothes?" Some sort of embarrassed grimace appeared on Harry's face. "Well… I could, I if wanted to. I just have to concentrate on wanting to do so. So don't worry, I'm not looking under your clothes all the time." "Not all the time?" she gasped. "Well that's a relief!" Harry held up his hands. "Hey, hey, that's not what I meant! I mean… let's rephrase it: I'm not doing it unless I feel like… er, wrong again, eh?" he pursed his lips. "Okay, Ginny, I haven't done it yet. Honest. I admit that at first when this charm on my glasses was new, I did occasionally check out some girls… but which bloke wouldn't?" Seeing Ginny's sour expression, he put down his spoon. "Waiter, please! I'd like to settle the bill!"
Half an hour later Ginny was sitting in the hall of a two-star hotel, idly fondling the Disillusioned and shrunken Buckbeak on her lap. "At last," she rose to her feet as she saw Harry return from the Reception. "I can barely keep my eyes open. Beaky's dozy, too, aren't you, Beaky?" But the Hippogriff didn't answer - he had fallen asleep in her arms. Harry guided Ginny upstairs. "You know, after that luxurious dinner I thought you'd find us a better place for the night," she remarked sharply, still miffed by the thought of him being able to see through her clothes. "Sorry, ran out of Muggle money. Don't think I wouldn't have been happier in the Hilton or the Intercontinental, but be happy that we got this room at all." "We? In the plural?" she stopped in her stride. "This room? In singular?" "Well," Harry tried to look apologetic, "they didn't have two vacant rooms, just one." He opened the door of room number 114 and motioned her inside. "You can have the bed, I'll bunk down on the sofa."
After a nice warm shower Ginny nestled herself under the covers of the bed wearing only her camisole. She hadn't had time to pack clothes for the journey - after vanishing the éclair-cream off themselves she and Harry had immediately jumped on Buckbeak and left Britain to be able to escape before Phaedra decided to came back down from the room she had chosen at 12 Grimmauld Place. She was listening to Harry's even breathing coming from the direction of the couch. Controversial feeling were building in her - she was upset that she had had to leave London so quickly and without being able to say good-bye to her parents, but she was elated by the thought that this journey might end her misery and set her free. She was angry with Harry for his cockiness, vague answers and secretiveness concerning certain topics, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for him - he had obviously gone through much more and much worse things than she had. She wanted to be as far from Harry as possible instead of having to share a room with him, but something deep down also made her wish Harry hadn't been sleeping on the sofa, but in the bed, next to her.
* * * * *
Draco was sleeping in another bed, next to another woman in far-off Great Britain. It was already three in the morning when he got woken up by an owl tapping at the window. "Wha…?" he blinked, rubbing his eyes. The woman next to him groaned in her sleep as he climbed out of the bed and padded to the window, still half-asleep. "What the heck do you want?" he murmured at the owl and let it in. As soon as the owl had dropped its message on Draco's head, it took off and soared out of sight. "What is it, Draco?" came a sleepy voice from under the blanket. "Dunno," he growled, cursing the unknown person who had sent him a message at such an unholy time. "Go back to sleep, Pansy." With a yawn he dropped himself on the bed and groped for his wand to get some light.
Dear Mr Malfoy, he read with bleary eyes. I consider it my duty to warn you that your wife has just eloped with my husband. Suddenly Draco felt wide awake, his eyes almost popping out at the last sentence: If you wish to find her, contact me at the Leaky Cauldron, Phaedra Potter "P…Potter?" Draco breathed. "What's that about Potter?" said Pansy. "Isn't the bloke long dead?" "Obviously not," he grunted. "But he'll soon wish he were."
* * * * *
"Could you at least explain to me why we couldn't go by Floo or a Portkey?" Ginny asked irritably, clutching at Harry's midsection as they were crossing the air above Macedonia on Buckbeak's back. She was angry with him for not having secured her a separate bedroom, and even angrier for having treated her like thin air once they were sharing a room. Not that she would have expected him to hurl himself at her at once, given that he had recently lost a daughter and with the loss and grief filling his heart surely flirting couldn't be the first thing on his mind, but… she couldn't help feeling annoyed - he wouldn't even look at her in the morning when she was wearing nothing but a camisole… She had given him quite a look in the morning… she had never seen him in nothing but a pair of boxers, and had to admit that she felt a weird back flip in her stomach at his sight. He wasn't particularly muscular, never had been, but he no longer was as skinny as she remembered him being - perhaps Phaedra had been a good enough cook to fatten him up a bit, Ginny thought bitterly. Also she couldn't help noticing what a nice tan he had - he must have acquired it in Greece. She wondered whether she'd also look like that after their journey ends, or would her sensitive skin rather become red and sore? "We couldn't have gone by Floo," Harry replied, "because Greek wizards don't use it at all. You know, pretty hot place, Greece. They don't really need fireplaces and those few who have one, don't have it connected to others'. Also the Greeks aren't too fond of Portkeys. Once, when they were besieging Troy, the Trojan wizards got this funny idea of sending them Portkeys disguised as treasure - they made the Greeks believe that they were trying to smuggle a cart full of treasure out of Troy to save it from the besiegers, the Greeks caught the cart, and were already happily dividing the booty among themselves when the Portkeys activated and they found themselves somewhere in the Antarctic. Ever since, Greek wizards have lost their liking for Portkeys and arranged a charm, which has never been revoked, to prevent Portkeys operating into or out of Greece. But at least the remainder of the Greek army found a way to get back at the Trojans and built that wooden horse of theirs."
After half a day of flying they reached Athens. It was already sundown when Harry made the Disillusioned Buckbeak start to descend near the Acropolis. At this time there were few stragglers around, most of the Muggle tourist groups had already left, only some couples were sitting on the stone steps that lead up to the Parthenon. "Best place for dates around," Harry whispered to Ginny, pointing at the couples cuddling beneath them, gazing at the glorious sunset. With a thud their Hippogriff touched down on the ground, behind the temple. Harry lifted the Disillusionment Charm from Ginny and himself, but not from Buckbeak. "Beautiful," the young witch said admiringly, looking up at the huge ancient building. "The Greeks were really great architects, weren't they?" "Yeah, you have to give it to them - they were." "Were all their buildings so white?" "No," he shook his head, approaching some bushes behind the temple. "Actually their temples were brightly coloured, this one here, too. You know, covered with all sorts of paintings, but the colours have faded over the centuries. Well, here we are." "Where?" she blinked, looking at the bushes in front of them. Instead of answering, Harry squinted around to make sure that no one was watching and entered the shrubbery, followed by the bewildered Ginny. Camouflaged by the bushes there was a single piece of stone that looked like a statue of a pretty woman. "Muggles can't see it, otherwise they would long ago have put her into their museum," Harry told Ginny over his shoulder and tapped the statue with his wand twice. Suddenly the stone statue sprang aside to reveal a cobblestone street that hadn't been there before. As though the street had opened from thin air, it seemed to be surreal to Ginny, much more surreal than Diagon Alley, yet it was there. "Hello, Dite," Harry smiled at the pretty statue. "Hi, Dean," the statue beamed at him in a coquettish sort of way. "Have a nice stay." "Thanks, Dite," he replied and ushered Ginny and Buckbeak into the street ahead. As soon as her feet touched the first cobblestone, Ginny looked back to see no statue or bushes anywhere, but a huge board with Greek letters that strangely she could interpret:
Welcome to Falaf Alley, built in 578 B.C. by Nikias the greatest Greek wizard cook ever! Best gyros restaurants at the end of the street, mousakas, kalamares and mbifteki everywhere else. Buy your wands at Agisitos', your brooms at Kalidermos', all sorts of potions and poisons at Aesculapius' (open 24 hours), everything else in the supermarket!
Harry looked back at Ginny reading the board with her mouth agape. "It's weird at first to be able to read and understand all languages, I know the feeling." "It's… it's amazing, Harry!" she breathed. "I understood that statue, too… Dite, or who." "It's short for Aphrodite," he replied. "Nice lady, very friendly." "A bit too friendly, isn't she?" Ginny grimaced. "By the way, why did she call you Dean?" "Told you that sometimes I needed to use pseudonyms," he shrugged and jerked Ginny out of the way of a wizard on a moped. "What the…?" Ginny gaped at the receding figure of the wizard. "A moped???" "Yeah, everyone's using mopeds in Greece, even eighty-year-old grannies. Wizards, too. You know, using Muggle vehicles is trendy around here. Really, really groovy." "But… aren't they ashamed of using Muggle things?" enquired the young witch, who knew well enough what most wizards in Great Britain thought of her father because of his Muggle mania. Most of them thought Arthur was nutty and they would rather have died than to resort to using Muggle stuff. Such things were simply beneath their dignity. "No. This is Southern Europe, Ginny, here people are much friendlier, much more outgoing and open than in the far north. You couldn't find a racist witch or wizard among the Greeks. Well… that's because you couldn't even find a pureblood witch or wizard here, they're so mixed. Did you know for instance that the first Greeks were mostly fair-haired and blue eyed? Now look around and show me a Greek with such looks. Bet you won't find one. They've mixed with other nations, mostly with Arabs so much that their average looks are black hair and dark eyes now. The same stands for the magical folks." "I wish it could be like this in England… no racism," she sighed, but her sigh got suppressed by the rumble of her stomach. "I presume a nice dinner is in order," Harry remarked. "Come, let's got to Nikias', the best around here." "The gyros specialist?" asked Ginny, remembering what the legend on the board said. "The descendant of the gyros specialist," Harry corrected her. "Nikias the first lived 2600 years ago… but ever since he won the first Greek cookery contest, all his descendants have been naming their firstborn sons after him. The current owner of the restaurant is Nikias the seventy first." Harry led Ginny through Falaf Alley that she found really friendly with the little cafeterias and taverns on both sides of it, typical Greek music filtering out of them. Ginny jumped as she heard a mighty crash coming out of a tavern they passed by. "Oh, just someone dancing syrtaki," Harry told her, and seeing her confused expression, he explained: "they tend to smash their glasses when dancing the syrtaki. 'Course the wizard restaurant owners are happier with the syrtaki dancers than the Muggles - they can say Reparo." At the end of the street Harry paused before a building, cast the shrinking charm on Buckbeak (who was still Disillusioned) and entered Nikias' Gyros Tavern with Ginny. The place was very cosy, smelled strongly of garlic and everything in it was blindingly white, except for the tablecloths that were white-blue checked. From a friendly little fountain in one corner, water came splashing into a small white pool. Since it was past dinnertime, the restaurant was empty. "Lucky it's open till midnight," said Harry. "Hello, Nik." "Hi, Colin," replied Nikias who was a portly little man with a wide grin. "Nice to see you again. And who's this charming lady, eh?" he bowed slightly in Ginny's direction, then leant over to Harry to half-whisper to him: "Much prettier than the last one you brought here." Nikias handed them the menu and left with a jovial smile. Ginny sat down with an eyebrow arched at Harry. "So, Colin, what sort of women have you brought here before?" Harry waved. "No one of any importance. Let's have a look at the menu, shall we?" She nodded, somewhat miffed that he hadn't satisfied her curiosity. "Mousakas…" she read out, "what's mousakas?" "Some stuff made of aubergine and ground meat baked into pasta." "And kalamares?" "Squid filled with rice and ewe-cheese." "Ew," she commented. "I suggest you try the gyros, that's what Nik's famous of, after all." "And what's Aristotle's Favourite?" she asked, looking at the menu. "I wouldn't want to try it if I were you," he replied. "Why?" she pressed. "What's that?" "Camel." "Camel?" she gasped. "You must be kidding." "Am not. The great Aristotle's favourite meal was camel." Seeing Ginny's disgusted face he had to chuckle. "That's still loads better than what people used to eat in ancient Sparta…" "How very true," chimed in Nikias who had returned to take the order. "Those blokes used to mix pig's blood with salt and vinegar and call it 'soup'." At Ginny's grimace the restaurateur continued enthusiastically: "The people of Athens had quite a low opinion of the Spartan cuisine. They used to say 'the Spartans are bragging about being the bravest nation in the world. Well, they must be right, if they dare eat what they cook.' Also, my ancestor Nikias the first always said that 'it's not surprising that the Spartans are so willing to die on the battlefield, death can only be better than eating their horrible dishes.' Well, have you chosen, Colin?" "Er, yeah," Harry said. "Two gyroses, please, Nik." "Best choice, Colin, best choice," the owner said and left for the kitchen. "Now perhaps we could talk about my… case," Ginny said as Nikias was out of earshot. "I take it you haven't brought me to Greece just to entertain me with horror stories of the Spartans, have you? You said here we'd find a way to free me." "Well, yeah," he said heavily. "At least I was hoping to find something here that might help." "And may I know where we are going to start our search?" But Harry didn't reply. He stiffened for a second, then rolled his eyes with an expression 'not this again' on his face. Ginny had no idea what had happened - all she saw was a thin, slightly loony-looking chap walk into the tavern. Harry's back was turned on the door, but he might have seen it with his special, 360 degree vision. "Aha! Dudley Dursley!" the chap yelled. "Spiro," Harry turned around. "How did you recognise me from behind?" "That untidy mess you have for hair is unmistakable," replied the bloke through gritted teeth and quickly dug his hand into his waistcoat, jerking out his wand. Ginny gaped at Harry who was sitting on his chair lazily, seemingly not shaken by having a wand pointed at him. "Ah, Ginny, let me introduce you Spiridion Papafotiu who's here to kill me."
A/N2: Pange Lingua means "Tell, O my tongue"; the first words of a Latin hymn by St Thomas Aquinas, the first words of which in the English version run "Now, my tongue, the mystery telling..." (thanks to Michael for this information!:) Janne Richardson: the Addams family reference was the bomb-in-the-present. Fester Addams got such a present from his evil wife who wanted to kill him with the bomb. Houou Kazoku-Kaga: me, too. I'd rather have him as a friend (or lover;) Wood's secret lover: I hate Fudge, too, that's why I killed him :D I didn't like Dumbledore in OotP either. Most of the fic is set from August 2003 till June 2004, with some flashbacks to 1996-1998. Yep, omnia vincit amor :D No, I wasn't a moody teenager, I was a very peaceful one, unlike any other ;) Yeah, there's at least 15 years between Tonks and Remus, but I think they'd make a cute couple (then again, I love the Harry/Tonks ship as well, which is even weirder;) The baby's name is Brian, I think, but I haven't written about the christening yet, it'll be in the final chapter (if it will be mentioned at all, and I'm not sure about it). I haven't seen a single éclair yet, but let's assume that wizards have pink éclairs as well :) Hedwig55: yep, Ginny's child is from Harry. Draco has come back now, as you've seen. gatsu87645: I'm still tweaking the story, so I'm not going to post it any quicker - I think it's quick enough, I post a new chapter every 5-6 days, while most fanfic authors update once in every two months. Glad you like the fic :) Shadowchild: Voldie boy isn't in Greece, what made you think he was there????? As for your other question: yep, obviously. Elfy19: of course I remember you :) I don't really think it was Wormtail who overheard the discussion, I just decided to make him be the one in this fic (actually I rather think it had been Mundungus, but I didn't want to put him into the story). No, the Girl-With-No-Name isn't the baby, but the fake Cho. I don't have anything against gays, but Draco still looked like one in that pic, and I think he shouldn't look like that. Why didn't Harry find his daughter? Well, because she'd been well hidden from him. Yeah, the fake Cho is who you think she is. Black Ice: the reunion part was needed to give Harry and Ginny an opportunity to borrow Buckbeak. As for Tonks calling Remus Remy - I can imagine her call her hubby various nicknames, IMHO she's that type. But I might be wrong, of course… Lavender Brown: why wouldn't Cho still be a virgin? She was only 17 in chapter 5, after all, and I doubt she'd had a chance to shag Cedric before he died, she'd only been 15 back then. See, Draco didn't need to come back to Malfoy Manor to get to know about Ginny 'eloping' with Harry. Tap Dancing Widow: yes, the other daughter will have a huge role in the fic. The references were: the Addams family one was Harry getting a 'bomb'. Fester Addams got one from his wife. The Enemy reference was Vicar Diggle. X-Tow-Naga: /p> was a mistyped html tag that I didn't notice. LOL, you're probably right about Dudley's worst memories ;) Yes, the girl's aim was to get pregnant. Definitely. I didn't really consider Parvati as Harry's date… at least he hadn't wanted to go with her, he just had to. You'll find out Linda's family name in chapter 19, no sooner ;) You got the Greatest Enemy reference! Albus died fighting Voldie, since no one else could have killed him. Yeah, Ginny does have a backup hand, but I know it from experience that writing with your left hand sucks. I barely can. No, Ginny didn't tell anyone she'd seen Harry in the bushes on the night of her wedding. hypnotic-babe: because Ginny's no murderer, she's too nice for that. Lourdes: bingo, the title comes from Have yourself a merry little Christmas :) Are you the same Lourdes who lives in the Dominican Republic and used to go by the name Red Ridding Hood, or are you another Lourdes? TaMaraR: nope, Draco won't make things easy for them. kneh13: there's a site called FictionAlley, and schnoogle is a part of it. The url is w w w. schnoogle. com (I had to write it with spaces, otherwise ffnet would have stripped the url). Normally there aren't any spaces in this url. Go and check out that site, it's great. The only thing I don't like about it is that most fics there are H/Hr, D/G and H/D, there are barely any H/G fics. C-chan1: finally I've seen Finding Nemo! Loved it, very cute movie! My fave character was Senilla, the blue fish (was she called Senilla in English too? I saw the movie in Hungarian). Dunno what ffnet screwed up in the previous chapter, but this is how it should have been:
"Would you have remained my girlfriend if I had told you?" (Harry's talk)
"Of course I would have!" she spluttered, looking hurt. (Ginny's talk)
"I'm not sure of it, Ginny," he shook his head. (Harry's talk)
At least this is how I wrote it. If it appeared in another way, then it must have been ffnet's fault. Sorry, but Dumbledore is really dead. Yes, the Enemy reference was Vicar Diggle. I have seen quite a lot of reality shows, but I have only heard of Queer Eye…, I haven't seen any of it. You must have bananas in your ears in Hungarian is: "legyenek banánok a füledben!" ruffled owl: glad you like the field trips :) 31 chapters in total. TrixieFirecracker: yes, the woman is who you think she is. The child will come into the story soon and will have a great role. No, Ginny won't seduce Draco to make him believe her child is his. You'll see why. Embyr Black: I'm glad you think my fic isn't easy to figure out :) Myr Halcyon: yep, Linda IS important in some way. I still find Mara Jade a funny idea :D Zenon Lee: action comes in chapters 13-15, until then bear with my build-up chapters, please. No, Ginny won't be in mortal peril from Draco, but from other things - maybe. Inken: yes, the Enemy reference was Vicar Diggle. Ginny wouldn't have been able to find a description of the Fates Charm, for it has long been deleted from all records, at least most people think so. Even certain people in chapter 10 will be surprised that it hadn't been deleted from all books, for it should have been. Bingo, you got the time-freezing idea well. Does Linda sound sympathetic? Good, I was aiming for that. Glad you liked the Remus Lupin's All Flavour Tonks line :) K. C. Hunter: well, even if Draco had died, but someone else cut Arthur's hair, then the curse would still kill him, if that's what you wanted to know. The curse doesn't depend on the person who cast it. Also, it had been cast by Lucius, and Lucius is long dead, however, the curse is still in effect. Elizabeth Darcy: I can't tell you which kid survives, it'd give away too much ;) Linda had a good reason to seduce Harry. You'll get to know later. How did she get into the school? Well, perhaps *someone* powerful helped her… sarah: the answer to your question will be in the next chapter. Sparkle Tangerine: LOL, he'll indeed shag her senseless (but as this is a PG-13 fic, you'll only get the 'softened' version of it ;) Yep, Phaedra was rude to the Weasleys, but I expect she was still very beside herself. She'll continue being a bit rude in the future as well, but in most cases her rudeness will be entertaining. Sorry, you didn't get to see her reaction, but as you see, she acted immediately and contacted Draco. Yes, Harry WILL meet his child. Princess Ginny: how did your football match go? No, Hermione won't figure out anything in this fic, for she will barely have any role. The same stands for Ron and all the Weasleys (except Ginny, who is a central character). Missy: the right spelling is Legilimency :) Yes, I remember the word Fanfictionalley-tastic, I just didn't remember that it had come from you :) Indigo Ziona: LOL, I was in stitches when reading your review. You aren't the first reviewer who talked about Linda being Tatyana. But nooo, you aren't close at all :) Lioness-07863: I update every 5-6 days. If you'd like to get update notes, join my yahoo group (if you haven't done so already. Link is in my ffnet profile). Altec: yes, perhaps even Draco has some good in him. Might turn out so later… ;) The Addams family reference was the bomb (Fester's wife gave him a bomb in a nice package).Yep, you're right about what you said in your second review. Salyeva: I have been called many things before (Queen/Mistress of Cliffhangers, JKR in disguise, Dark Lady of the Sith), but never the Queen of Angst. LOL. I think I'm better at humour than angst, but if you say that I'm good at angst too, then I believe you :D Punky Poet: nope, Linda didn't use a potion to turn young, she only used Polyjuice to turn into Cho, but that didn't change her real age. Any last requests?: I think we in Hungary don't have éclairs at all. At least I think I haven't seen/eaten any yet. You can still make Kingsley your MoM :) Remus/Tonks just seemed sensible to me. Apart from that, I love Harry/Tonks (actually I like H/T more than Remus/Tonks), but I rather want to see Harry with Ginny. Also, I wanted Lupin to be happy, and I couldn't think of any other girl, just Tonks. Yep, it's Vicar Diggle. blaubaerin: yeah, I know that the gathering at Grimmauld Place was sort of forced, but I wanted Harry and Ginny to get hold of Buckbeak somehow, and I wanted to put some humour into the fic, for it had been way too dark and angsty up till now. Also, I felt it'd be unfair if Ron and Hermione didn't have a chance to see Harry now. Nope, the Polyjuice can't change ages, at least IMHO. The mystery girl's age will be explained in another way. Up till now only one reviewer has managed to guess how. heavenly182angel: thanks for suggesting my group to your friends. I'm glad you like my arts there :) Lady or Ravenclaw: yeah, the age difference between Herm and Snape is bigger than between Remus and Tonks. I'm anti-Cho, too, as you might have seen if you've read The Greatest Enemy (I don't know whether you have or not). frogilicious: the fifth book put me off a bit, too, I also found it very dark and depressing. Ginny wasn't really preoccupied about suntan lotion, she was just joking (as you'll see later as well). Harry's daughter isn't in Greece - why would she be? You can guess who the child is with now. Clue: have a look at the coverart in my bio ;) moony*padfoot: you wrote that besides full-pensieve and me you haven't found good writers on ffnet. Well, then you haven't looked carefully enough, there are loads of great writers here. If you'd like to get fic-recommendations, then either send me a private mail or join my yahoogroup, and you'll find links to great fics in the Links/favourite fics section (my recommendations are the ones uploaded by 'vegaagi'.) ArgiCallista: did you get my mail? If not, then what sort of sketch would you like for your friend's b-day? TigHan: yep, there's some sort of a foreshadowing in it :) Also thanks to: Bamboo Anime, iNiGmA, Kit Cloudkicker, MotorMouthLadyBee, To lazy to log in, goldenstar555, Hermione Weasley, Paige
Okay, onto the real author's note: you asked whether the next stop would be Greece. Well, not exactly - I'm a patriot, so I couldn't leave out the chance to let Harry and Ginny visit my country. To help you imagine what Harry and Ginny were seeing of Budapest, I put a link of a Budapest-photo (showing the Chain Bridge) into the art-link-section in my bio. Go, check it out :)
This is pretty much a build-up chapter, please, bear with me!
"It is a suicide to be abroad."
(Samuel Beckett)
"You know I've never been abroad, except for that one occasion when my family visited Bill in Egypt," Ginny said, resting her eyes on the thousands of little orange lights dancing on the dark surface of the river Danube. She and Harry had travelled on Buckbeak's back till sundown and decided to stop for the night so that the Hippogriff could gather its strength for the rest of the journey. Now Buckbeak was crouching under Harry and Ginny's table on the Fisherman's Bastion - Harry had shrunken him to a minuscule size so that they could carry him into the town without waking the Muggles' suspicion. The Hippogriff certainly had been Disillusioned. "Then a bit of travelling was really overdue," Harry replied, taking a sip of the famous Tokay wine. "Yes," she smiled. "And Budapest is really lovely… for example that bridge over there… it looks like as thought it had been constructed of little whitish pearls…" "You mean the Chain Bridge? Yes, it's lovely." "How do you know Budapest so well, Harry?" she asked curiously. "I don't know it well, just been here once, trying to round up a member of the Ukrainian Wizarding Maffia. The bloke wanted to smuggle Ukranian Ironbellies into the country." "And did you catch him?" "No. Phaedra did." "Oh… Phaedra," she said, looking slightly dispirited. "By the way, what will become of her now?" "She'll follow us, I presume," he shrugged. "Follow us?" Ginny blinked. "Of course… Told you she wasn't the type to give upon me easily." "But… but how can she follow you?" "The Tracking Charm that still connects me to her," Harry replied. "But since it's getting weaker and weaker every day, I think she'll need a bit of time to find me." "But… what if she still finds us? Will she prevent us from… you know what?" "… from ending the effect of The Fates Charm? No idea. But don't worry, she'll always be some days behind us. By the time she gets to Hungary we'll already be in Greece. By the time she could catch up with us, we'll have set you free, Ginny," he gave her an encouraging smile. However, she didn't really seem encouraged. "And what about my husband?" "You said he had left for weeks," he pointed out. "By the time he gets back to Malfoy Manor, you'll be free from him… hopefully." "I'd like to be an optimist like you, Harry," she sighed. "I'm no optimist at all," he answered. "I don't have much of a reason to look at life with optimism, but I do believe that your case can be solved." At this moment a dark-skinned man dressed in red waistcoat, holding a violin stepped up to them. "Akarja-e naccsád hogy elhúzzam a nótáját?" he asked. "What?" Ginny looked at Harry. "He's asking whether you'd like him to play something for you." "Oh, tell him no, thanks." Harry politely sent the gypsy musician away, then turned back to Ginny. "This reminds me that you need the all-language charm." He furtively glanced around to check that no one was looking at them. Now he realised that they must have been sitting there so long that all the other guests had departed without them noticing, so now they were the only ones left on the terrace-restaurant of the Fisherman's Bastion. He pointed his wand at Ginny: "Pange Lingua! Done. Now you'll understand all human languages and whatever you say in English, everyone will understand it in their own language." With that Harry reached out for his spoon and carried on ladling his goulash soup. "So delicious! Much better than the one I ate at the Yule ball when Dumbledore started talking about himself finding a magnificent collection of chamberpots…" he looked up from his soup to see her eyeing him in a rather peculiar fashion. "What?" "I was just thinking," she replied softly. "At the Yule ball I was dancing with Neville nearby when I heard the fake Moody tell you that you had nice socks and you said you had got them from Dobby… and it occurred to me: if Moody could see through your robes, could he see through the female students' clothes as well? And now… you have this special sight… can you see through clothes?" Some sort of embarrassed grimace appeared on Harry's face. "Well… I could, I if wanted to. I just have to concentrate on wanting to do so. So don't worry, I'm not looking under your clothes all the time." "Not all the time?" she gasped. "Well that's a relief!" Harry held up his hands. "Hey, hey, that's not what I meant! I mean… let's rephrase it: I'm not doing it unless I feel like… er, wrong again, eh?" he pursed his lips. "Okay, Ginny, I haven't done it yet. Honest. I admit that at first when this charm on my glasses was new, I did occasionally check out some girls… but which bloke wouldn't?" Seeing Ginny's sour expression, he put down his spoon. "Waiter, please! I'd like to settle the bill!"
Half an hour later Ginny was sitting in the hall of a two-star hotel, idly fondling the Disillusioned and shrunken Buckbeak on her lap. "At last," she rose to her feet as she saw Harry return from the Reception. "I can barely keep my eyes open. Beaky's dozy, too, aren't you, Beaky?" But the Hippogriff didn't answer - he had fallen asleep in her arms. Harry guided Ginny upstairs. "You know, after that luxurious dinner I thought you'd find us a better place for the night," she remarked sharply, still miffed by the thought of him being able to see through her clothes. "Sorry, ran out of Muggle money. Don't think I wouldn't have been happier in the Hilton or the Intercontinental, but be happy that we got this room at all." "We? In the plural?" she stopped in her stride. "This room? In singular?" "Well," Harry tried to look apologetic, "they didn't have two vacant rooms, just one." He opened the door of room number 114 and motioned her inside. "You can have the bed, I'll bunk down on the sofa."
After a nice warm shower Ginny nestled herself under the covers of the bed wearing only her camisole. She hadn't had time to pack clothes for the journey - after vanishing the éclair-cream off themselves she and Harry had immediately jumped on Buckbeak and left Britain to be able to escape before Phaedra decided to came back down from the room she had chosen at 12 Grimmauld Place. She was listening to Harry's even breathing coming from the direction of the couch. Controversial feeling were building in her - she was upset that she had had to leave London so quickly and without being able to say good-bye to her parents, but she was elated by the thought that this journey might end her misery and set her free. She was angry with Harry for his cockiness, vague answers and secretiveness concerning certain topics, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for him - he had obviously gone through much more and much worse things than she had. She wanted to be as far from Harry as possible instead of having to share a room with him, but something deep down also made her wish Harry hadn't been sleeping on the sofa, but in the bed, next to her.
Draco was sleeping in another bed, next to another woman in far-off Great Britain. It was already three in the morning when he got woken up by an owl tapping at the window. "Wha…?" he blinked, rubbing his eyes. The woman next to him groaned in her sleep as he climbed out of the bed and padded to the window, still half-asleep. "What the heck do you want?" he murmured at the owl and let it in. As soon as the owl had dropped its message on Draco's head, it took off and soared out of sight. "What is it, Draco?" came a sleepy voice from under the blanket. "Dunno," he growled, cursing the unknown person who had sent him a message at such an unholy time. "Go back to sleep, Pansy." With a yawn he dropped himself on the bed and groped for his wand to get some light.
Dear Mr Malfoy, he read with bleary eyes. I consider it my duty to warn you that your wife has just eloped with my husband. Suddenly Draco felt wide awake, his eyes almost popping out at the last sentence: If you wish to find her, contact me at the Leaky Cauldron, Phaedra Potter "P…Potter?" Draco breathed. "What's that about Potter?" said Pansy. "Isn't the bloke long dead?" "Obviously not," he grunted. "But he'll soon wish he were."
"Could you at least explain to me why we couldn't go by Floo or a Portkey?" Ginny asked irritably, clutching at Harry's midsection as they were crossing the air above Macedonia on Buckbeak's back. She was angry with him for not having secured her a separate bedroom, and even angrier for having treated her like thin air once they were sharing a room. Not that she would have expected him to hurl himself at her at once, given that he had recently lost a daughter and with the loss and grief filling his heart surely flirting couldn't be the first thing on his mind, but… she couldn't help feeling annoyed - he wouldn't even look at her in the morning when she was wearing nothing but a camisole… She had given him quite a look in the morning… she had never seen him in nothing but a pair of boxers, and had to admit that she felt a weird back flip in her stomach at his sight. He wasn't particularly muscular, never had been, but he no longer was as skinny as she remembered him being - perhaps Phaedra had been a good enough cook to fatten him up a bit, Ginny thought bitterly. Also she couldn't help noticing what a nice tan he had - he must have acquired it in Greece. She wondered whether she'd also look like that after their journey ends, or would her sensitive skin rather become red and sore? "We couldn't have gone by Floo," Harry replied, "because Greek wizards don't use it at all. You know, pretty hot place, Greece. They don't really need fireplaces and those few who have one, don't have it connected to others'. Also the Greeks aren't too fond of Portkeys. Once, when they were besieging Troy, the Trojan wizards got this funny idea of sending them Portkeys disguised as treasure - they made the Greeks believe that they were trying to smuggle a cart full of treasure out of Troy to save it from the besiegers, the Greeks caught the cart, and were already happily dividing the booty among themselves when the Portkeys activated and they found themselves somewhere in the Antarctic. Ever since, Greek wizards have lost their liking for Portkeys and arranged a charm, which has never been revoked, to prevent Portkeys operating into or out of Greece. But at least the remainder of the Greek army found a way to get back at the Trojans and built that wooden horse of theirs."
After half a day of flying they reached Athens. It was already sundown when Harry made the Disillusioned Buckbeak start to descend near the Acropolis. At this time there were few stragglers around, most of the Muggle tourist groups had already left, only some couples were sitting on the stone steps that lead up to the Parthenon. "Best place for dates around," Harry whispered to Ginny, pointing at the couples cuddling beneath them, gazing at the glorious sunset. With a thud their Hippogriff touched down on the ground, behind the temple. Harry lifted the Disillusionment Charm from Ginny and himself, but not from Buckbeak. "Beautiful," the young witch said admiringly, looking up at the huge ancient building. "The Greeks were really great architects, weren't they?" "Yeah, you have to give it to them - they were." "Were all their buildings so white?" "No," he shook his head, approaching some bushes behind the temple. "Actually their temples were brightly coloured, this one here, too. You know, covered with all sorts of paintings, but the colours have faded over the centuries. Well, here we are." "Where?" she blinked, looking at the bushes in front of them. Instead of answering, Harry squinted around to make sure that no one was watching and entered the shrubbery, followed by the bewildered Ginny. Camouflaged by the bushes there was a single piece of stone that looked like a statue of a pretty woman. "Muggles can't see it, otherwise they would long ago have put her into their museum," Harry told Ginny over his shoulder and tapped the statue with his wand twice. Suddenly the stone statue sprang aside to reveal a cobblestone street that hadn't been there before. As though the street had opened from thin air, it seemed to be surreal to Ginny, much more surreal than Diagon Alley, yet it was there. "Hello, Dite," Harry smiled at the pretty statue. "Hi, Dean," the statue beamed at him in a coquettish sort of way. "Have a nice stay." "Thanks, Dite," he replied and ushered Ginny and Buckbeak into the street ahead. As soon as her feet touched the first cobblestone, Ginny looked back to see no statue or bushes anywhere, but a huge board with Greek letters that strangely she could interpret:
Harry looked back at Ginny reading the board with her mouth agape. "It's weird at first to be able to read and understand all languages, I know the feeling." "It's… it's amazing, Harry!" she breathed. "I understood that statue, too… Dite, or who." "It's short for Aphrodite," he replied. "Nice lady, very friendly." "A bit too friendly, isn't she?" Ginny grimaced. "By the way, why did she call you Dean?" "Told you that sometimes I needed to use pseudonyms," he shrugged and jerked Ginny out of the way of a wizard on a moped. "What the…?" Ginny gaped at the receding figure of the wizard. "A moped???" "Yeah, everyone's using mopeds in Greece, even eighty-year-old grannies. Wizards, too. You know, using Muggle vehicles is trendy around here. Really, really groovy." "But… aren't they ashamed of using Muggle things?" enquired the young witch, who knew well enough what most wizards in Great Britain thought of her father because of his Muggle mania. Most of them thought Arthur was nutty and they would rather have died than to resort to using Muggle stuff. Such things were simply beneath their dignity. "No. This is Southern Europe, Ginny, here people are much friendlier, much more outgoing and open than in the far north. You couldn't find a racist witch or wizard among the Greeks. Well… that's because you couldn't even find a pureblood witch or wizard here, they're so mixed. Did you know for instance that the first Greeks were mostly fair-haired and blue eyed? Now look around and show me a Greek with such looks. Bet you won't find one. They've mixed with other nations, mostly with Arabs so much that their average looks are black hair and dark eyes now. The same stands for the magical folks." "I wish it could be like this in England… no racism," she sighed, but her sigh got suppressed by the rumble of her stomach. "I presume a nice dinner is in order," Harry remarked. "Come, let's got to Nikias', the best around here." "The gyros specialist?" asked Ginny, remembering what the legend on the board said. "The descendant of the gyros specialist," Harry corrected her. "Nikias the first lived 2600 years ago… but ever since he won the first Greek cookery contest, all his descendants have been naming their firstborn sons after him. The current owner of the restaurant is Nikias the seventy first." Harry led Ginny through Falaf Alley that she found really friendly with the little cafeterias and taverns on both sides of it, typical Greek music filtering out of them. Ginny jumped as she heard a mighty crash coming out of a tavern they passed by. "Oh, just someone dancing syrtaki," Harry told her, and seeing her confused expression, he explained: "they tend to smash their glasses when dancing the syrtaki. 'Course the wizard restaurant owners are happier with the syrtaki dancers than the Muggles - they can say Reparo." At the end of the street Harry paused before a building, cast the shrinking charm on Buckbeak (who was still Disillusioned) and entered Nikias' Gyros Tavern with Ginny. The place was very cosy, smelled strongly of garlic and everything in it was blindingly white, except for the tablecloths that were white-blue checked. From a friendly little fountain in one corner, water came splashing into a small white pool. Since it was past dinnertime, the restaurant was empty. "Lucky it's open till midnight," said Harry. "Hello, Nik." "Hi, Colin," replied Nikias who was a portly little man with a wide grin. "Nice to see you again. And who's this charming lady, eh?" he bowed slightly in Ginny's direction, then leant over to Harry to half-whisper to him: "Much prettier than the last one you brought here." Nikias handed them the menu and left with a jovial smile. Ginny sat down with an eyebrow arched at Harry. "So, Colin, what sort of women have you brought here before?" Harry waved. "No one of any importance. Let's have a look at the menu, shall we?" She nodded, somewhat miffed that he hadn't satisfied her curiosity. "Mousakas…" she read out, "what's mousakas?" "Some stuff made of aubergine and ground meat baked into pasta." "And kalamares?" "Squid filled with rice and ewe-cheese." "Ew," she commented. "I suggest you try the gyros, that's what Nik's famous of, after all." "And what's Aristotle's Favourite?" she asked, looking at the menu. "I wouldn't want to try it if I were you," he replied. "Why?" she pressed. "What's that?" "Camel." "Camel?" she gasped. "You must be kidding." "Am not. The great Aristotle's favourite meal was camel." Seeing Ginny's disgusted face he had to chuckle. "That's still loads better than what people used to eat in ancient Sparta…" "How very true," chimed in Nikias who had returned to take the order. "Those blokes used to mix pig's blood with salt and vinegar and call it 'soup'." At Ginny's grimace the restaurateur continued enthusiastically: "The people of Athens had quite a low opinion of the Spartan cuisine. They used to say 'the Spartans are bragging about being the bravest nation in the world. Well, they must be right, if they dare eat what they cook.' Also, my ancestor Nikias the first always said that 'it's not surprising that the Spartans are so willing to die on the battlefield, death can only be better than eating their horrible dishes.' Well, have you chosen, Colin?" "Er, yeah," Harry said. "Two gyroses, please, Nik." "Best choice, Colin, best choice," the owner said and left for the kitchen. "Now perhaps we could talk about my… case," Ginny said as Nikias was out of earshot. "I take it you haven't brought me to Greece just to entertain me with horror stories of the Spartans, have you? You said here we'd find a way to free me." "Well, yeah," he said heavily. "At least I was hoping to find something here that might help." "And may I know where we are going to start our search?" But Harry didn't reply. He stiffened for a second, then rolled his eyes with an expression 'not this again' on his face. Ginny had no idea what had happened - all she saw was a thin, slightly loony-looking chap walk into the tavern. Harry's back was turned on the door, but he might have seen it with his special, 360 degree vision. "Aha! Dudley Dursley!" the chap yelled. "Spiro," Harry turned around. "How did you recognise me from behind?" "That untidy mess you have for hair is unmistakable," replied the bloke through gritted teeth and quickly dug his hand into his waistcoat, jerking out his wand. Ginny gaped at Harry who was sitting on his chair lazily, seemingly not shaken by having a wand pointed at him. "Ah, Ginny, let me introduce you Spiridion Papafotiu who's here to kill me."
A/N2: Pange Lingua means "Tell, O my tongue"; the first words of a Latin hymn by St Thomas Aquinas, the first words of which in the English version run "Now, my tongue, the mystery telling..." (thanks to Michael for this information!:) Janne Richardson: the Addams family reference was the bomb-in-the-present. Fester Addams got such a present from his evil wife who wanted to kill him with the bomb. Houou Kazoku-Kaga: me, too. I'd rather have him as a friend (or lover;) Wood's secret lover: I hate Fudge, too, that's why I killed him :D I didn't like Dumbledore in OotP either. Most of the fic is set from August 2003 till June 2004, with some flashbacks to 1996-1998. Yep, omnia vincit amor :D No, I wasn't a moody teenager, I was a very peaceful one, unlike any other ;) Yeah, there's at least 15 years between Tonks and Remus, but I think they'd make a cute couple (then again, I love the Harry/Tonks ship as well, which is even weirder;) The baby's name is Brian, I think, but I haven't written about the christening yet, it'll be in the final chapter (if it will be mentioned at all, and I'm not sure about it). I haven't seen a single éclair yet, but let's assume that wizards have pink éclairs as well :) Hedwig55: yep, Ginny's child is from Harry. Draco has come back now, as you've seen. gatsu87645: I'm still tweaking the story, so I'm not going to post it any quicker - I think it's quick enough, I post a new chapter every 5-6 days, while most fanfic authors update once in every two months. Glad you like the fic :) Shadowchild: Voldie boy isn't in Greece, what made you think he was there????? As for your other question: yep, obviously. Elfy19: of course I remember you :) I don't really think it was Wormtail who overheard the discussion, I just decided to make him be the one in this fic (actually I rather think it had been Mundungus, but I didn't want to put him into the story). No, the Girl-With-No-Name isn't the baby, but the fake Cho. I don't have anything against gays, but Draco still looked like one in that pic, and I think he shouldn't look like that. Why didn't Harry find his daughter? Well, because she'd been well hidden from him. Yeah, the fake Cho is who you think she is. Black Ice: the reunion part was needed to give Harry and Ginny an opportunity to borrow Buckbeak. As for Tonks calling Remus Remy - I can imagine her call her hubby various nicknames, IMHO she's that type. But I might be wrong, of course… Lavender Brown: why wouldn't Cho still be a virgin? She was only 17 in chapter 5, after all, and I doubt she'd had a chance to shag Cedric before he died, she'd only been 15 back then. See, Draco didn't need to come back to Malfoy Manor to get to know about Ginny 'eloping' with Harry. Tap Dancing Widow: yes, the other daughter will have a huge role in the fic. The references were: the Addams family one was Harry getting a 'bomb'. Fester Addams got one from his wife. The Enemy reference was Vicar Diggle. X-Tow-Naga: /p> was a mistyped html tag that I didn't notice. LOL, you're probably right about Dudley's worst memories ;) Yes, the girl's aim was to get pregnant. Definitely. I didn't really consider Parvati as Harry's date… at least he hadn't wanted to go with her, he just had to. You'll find out Linda's family name in chapter 19, no sooner ;) You got the Greatest Enemy reference! Albus died fighting Voldie, since no one else could have killed him. Yeah, Ginny does have a backup hand, but I know it from experience that writing with your left hand sucks. I barely can. No, Ginny didn't tell anyone she'd seen Harry in the bushes on the night of her wedding. hypnotic-babe: because Ginny's no murderer, she's too nice for that. Lourdes: bingo, the title comes from Have yourself a merry little Christmas :) Are you the same Lourdes who lives in the Dominican Republic and used to go by the name Red Ridding Hood, or are you another Lourdes? TaMaraR: nope, Draco won't make things easy for them. kneh13: there's a site called FictionAlley, and schnoogle is a part of it. The url is w w w. schnoogle. com (I had to write it with spaces, otherwise ffnet would have stripped the url). Normally there aren't any spaces in this url. Go and check out that site, it's great. The only thing I don't like about it is that most fics there are H/Hr, D/G and H/D, there are barely any H/G fics. C-chan1: finally I've seen Finding Nemo! Loved it, very cute movie! My fave character was Senilla, the blue fish (was she called Senilla in English too? I saw the movie in Hungarian). Dunno what ffnet screwed up in the previous chapter, but this is how it should have been:
"Would you have remained my girlfriend if I had told you?" (Harry's talk)
"Of course I would have!" she spluttered, looking hurt. (Ginny's talk)
"I'm not sure of it, Ginny," he shook his head. (Harry's talk)
At least this is how I wrote it. If it appeared in another way, then it must have been ffnet's fault. Sorry, but Dumbledore is really dead. Yes, the Enemy reference was Vicar Diggle. I have seen quite a lot of reality shows, but I have only heard of Queer Eye…, I haven't seen any of it. You must have bananas in your ears in Hungarian is: "legyenek banánok a füledben!" ruffled owl: glad you like the field trips :) 31 chapters in total. TrixieFirecracker: yes, the woman is who you think she is. The child will come into the story soon and will have a great role. No, Ginny won't seduce Draco to make him believe her child is his. You'll see why. Embyr Black: I'm glad you think my fic isn't easy to figure out :) Myr Halcyon: yep, Linda IS important in some way. I still find Mara Jade a funny idea :D Zenon Lee: action comes in chapters 13-15, until then bear with my build-up chapters, please. No, Ginny won't be in mortal peril from Draco, but from other things - maybe. Inken: yes, the Enemy reference was Vicar Diggle. Ginny wouldn't have been able to find a description of the Fates Charm, for it has long been deleted from all records, at least most people think so. Even certain people in chapter 10 will be surprised that it hadn't been deleted from all books, for it should have been. Bingo, you got the time-freezing idea well. Does Linda sound sympathetic? Good, I was aiming for that. Glad you liked the Remus Lupin's All Flavour Tonks line :) K. C. Hunter: well, even if Draco had died, but someone else cut Arthur's hair, then the curse would still kill him, if that's what you wanted to know. The curse doesn't depend on the person who cast it. Also, it had been cast by Lucius, and Lucius is long dead, however, the curse is still in effect. Elizabeth Darcy: I can't tell you which kid survives, it'd give away too much ;) Linda had a good reason to seduce Harry. You'll get to know later. How did she get into the school? Well, perhaps *someone* powerful helped her… sarah: the answer to your question will be in the next chapter. Sparkle Tangerine: LOL, he'll indeed shag her senseless (but as this is a PG-13 fic, you'll only get the 'softened' version of it ;) Yep, Phaedra was rude to the Weasleys, but I expect she was still very beside herself. She'll continue being a bit rude in the future as well, but in most cases her rudeness will be entertaining. Sorry, you didn't get to see her reaction, but as you see, she acted immediately and contacted Draco. Yes, Harry WILL meet his child. Princess Ginny: how did your football match go? No, Hermione won't figure out anything in this fic, for she will barely have any role. The same stands for Ron and all the Weasleys (except Ginny, who is a central character). Missy: the right spelling is Legilimency :) Yes, I remember the word Fanfictionalley-tastic, I just didn't remember that it had come from you :) Indigo Ziona: LOL, I was in stitches when reading your review. You aren't the first reviewer who talked about Linda being Tatyana. But nooo, you aren't close at all :) Lioness-07863: I update every 5-6 days. If you'd like to get update notes, join my yahoo group (if you haven't done so already. Link is in my ffnet profile). Altec: yes, perhaps even Draco has some good in him. Might turn out so later… ;) The Addams family reference was the bomb (Fester's wife gave him a bomb in a nice package).Yep, you're right about what you said in your second review. Salyeva: I have been called many things before (Queen/Mistress of Cliffhangers, JKR in disguise, Dark Lady of the Sith), but never the Queen of Angst. LOL. I think I'm better at humour than angst, but if you say that I'm good at angst too, then I believe you :D Punky Poet: nope, Linda didn't use a potion to turn young, she only used Polyjuice to turn into Cho, but that didn't change her real age. Any last requests?: I think we in Hungary don't have éclairs at all. At least I think I haven't seen/eaten any yet. You can still make Kingsley your MoM :) Remus/Tonks just seemed sensible to me. Apart from that, I love Harry/Tonks (actually I like H/T more than Remus/Tonks), but I rather want to see Harry with Ginny. Also, I wanted Lupin to be happy, and I couldn't think of any other girl, just Tonks. Yep, it's Vicar Diggle. blaubaerin: yeah, I know that the gathering at Grimmauld Place was sort of forced, but I wanted Harry and Ginny to get hold of Buckbeak somehow, and I wanted to put some humour into the fic, for it had been way too dark and angsty up till now. Also, I felt it'd be unfair if Ron and Hermione didn't have a chance to see Harry now. Nope, the Polyjuice can't change ages, at least IMHO. The mystery girl's age will be explained in another way. Up till now only one reviewer has managed to guess how. heavenly182angel: thanks for suggesting my group to your friends. I'm glad you like my arts there :) Lady or Ravenclaw: yeah, the age difference between Herm and Snape is bigger than between Remus and Tonks. I'm anti-Cho, too, as you might have seen if you've read The Greatest Enemy (I don't know whether you have or not). frogilicious: the fifth book put me off a bit, too, I also found it very dark and depressing. Ginny wasn't really preoccupied about suntan lotion, she was just joking (as you'll see later as well). Harry's daughter isn't in Greece - why would she be? You can guess who the child is with now. Clue: have a look at the coverart in my bio ;) moony*padfoot: you wrote that besides full-pensieve and me you haven't found good writers on ffnet. Well, then you haven't looked carefully enough, there are loads of great writers here. If you'd like to get fic-recommendations, then either send me a private mail or join my yahoogroup, and you'll find links to great fics in the Links/favourite fics section (my recommendations are the ones uploaded by 'vegaagi'.) ArgiCallista: did you get my mail? If not, then what sort of sketch would you like for your friend's b-day? TigHan: yep, there's some sort of a foreshadowing in it :) Also thanks to: Bamboo Anime, iNiGmA, Kit Cloudkicker, MotorMouthLadyBee, To lazy to log in, goldenstar555, Hermione Weasley, Paige