A/N – Okay, folks. This one is going to be a wee bit longer. Things seem to be heating up. My muse continues to play mind games with me....and I know you haven't seen much by way of romance yet, but I'm telling you, it's really coming....really. I think. Damned muse....
Okay, standard disclaimer. I don't own anything that JKR has made prior claim to – it's merely a really pitiful attempt at filling the void that the yawning chasm of time between her last book and now has created in me.
James Milamber: Thanks! I'm trying to portray one particular character in a certain way, but I hope I'm not going overboard. These relationships are hard when you can't just come out and say it! Thanks for your support in this! I am eagerly awaiting the next installment of Mind Mage – I've really been enjoying it – especially the intriguing DADA professor!
CQ
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Chapter Eight: Hogwarts
They apparated into a small living room. There was a chair and a small side table, a sofa and a television. But Maura's eyes noticed more. Years of being a journalist in a war zone, sometimes being in situations where her very life depended on how observant she was, had honed her powers of observation.
No one lived here. At least not now.
There were no pictures. The books on the shelves were too neatly placed. It was perfectly clean, the draperies were perfectly creased, the television remote control sat on the side table, alone. There weren't any magazines, or candy dishes, or throw pillows.
And there was a sense of emptiness.
"Harry, where are we?"
"In a house on the outskirts of the wizard village you know as Hogsmeade."
"I...can we leave? I don't like it here."
Harry stared hard at her for a moment. "Of course we can leave. I apparated us here because you can't apparate directly into Hogwarts."
"I thought you could?" She was confused.
"I can. You can't. The security spells would have let me through, but you would be left floating in the Abyss."
"Ah, well...this is infinitely preferable, then. But I would still like to leave. I...I don't like this place. It gives me a...creepy feeling."
Everything in the room had an old air to it. Not antique, but just out of date. The sofa appeared to be unused, in perfectly new condition, but the style was from some years back. The television was an older model. Maura felt like she was in a time warp.
"Who lives here, Harry?" She asked suddenly.
"No one. Not now. Ron and I keep the place up...for old times sake."
"Who owns it?"
"Ron and I."
"Who did own it?" Maura was afraid she knew the answer.
"It belonged to Hermione. She bought it after her parents estate was settled, about six months before...the final battle."
"And you and Ron..."
"All three of us had wills made up in our final year at Hogwarts. We knew it was unlikely that all three of us would survive the final battle. We'd become so close... Well, all three of us left everything we owned to the other two. In the event that all three of us fell, everything would have gone to Ginny. We figured, if it took Ginny, too, then it would have taken the entire Weasley clan, because there wasn't one of them who wouldn't have taken a death spell for her. Ginny was probably the most well protected witch throughout the entire war. If all of us fell, we didn't really care who it went to. At that time, there wasn't much, anyhow."
"But your parents left you money?"
"A bit. Not much. Not enough to live on. I've made some good investments over the years, and it's grown, but the money my parents left was enough to see me through school and set me up afterwards – no more. It wasn't much money, but there was the house. Ron has a small property in Wales that his grandmother left him. Hermione had this.
"Ron and I stay here when we need to be in the area. It's more comfortable than staying at the school, but it's...well, there is still the feeling of Hermione here. It can bring back memories. We come here every year....with the others, to remember."
"The others?"
"The Weasleys. Minerva, Tonks, Remus...Snape. Those of us who stood together in the final battle."
Harry sighed, "Let's go."
They stepped out onto a small covered porch, the wooden screen door slapping shut behind them. There was a short brick pathway down to the road, and the front garden was surrounded by a quaint picket fence.
The garden was a mass of flowering perennials. Maura gasped.
"It's beautiful."
"Mione loved to garden," Harry stated, his voice was both happy and sad. Fond memories, Maura thought. "She could make anything bloom. Ginny and Molly come and see to it sometimes, to keep it up. Neville is generally here once a week or so."
"Neville Longbottom?"
"Yes," Harry confirmed. "Mione helped him through Herbology the first couple of years. He's now the Herbology professor at Hogwarts."
Maura thought of her poor cactus, Henry, sitting on the sunny window ledge above her kitchen sink in her tiny flat in London. She had chosen it because it could survive the long stretches that she was away on assignment without her care. A low maintenance plant, for a low-maintenance life.
She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Harry?"
"Hmmm?"
"I have to go back soon, don't I?"
He looked at her, then nodded. "Yes. You do. Soon."
Maura nodded, then looked beyond the colorful garden. A little ways off was a small village, the unpaved road curving around two small cottages before it opened onto the main street. She looked in the other direction, and gasped. There was a castle there. A very large, noticeable castle, with tall turrets and a huge front gate.
But she was sure that it hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Harry?"
"It's okay, Maura. You're allowed to see it now. It just took a minute for the wards to identify you."
"That is just too weird."
"It can be a bit of a surprise," he agreed. "It's one of the reasons why first years are brought across the lake. It gives the wards more time to recognize each of them. It can be an odd experience, I understand. Everyone sees it at a different time, coming across the lake..."
"You didn't...?"
"I could always see it. From the moment it was in view. Dumbledore had charmed the wards to always recognize me, no matter what. He wanted me to find my way here if I ever needed to, even before I was of age to attend."
Maura nodded. It sounded like something Dumbledore would do. She didn't know how she knew this, but strangely, she was absolutely certain of it.
They entered the castle grounds through the large front gates. Everywhere she looked, she saw flowers. There were beds of them everywhere.
At the front steps, she hesitated, looking up.
"What?" Harry asked, sensing her hesitation.
"I don't know. I feel odd."
"There is nothing to be frightened of. You're perfectly safe."
"I know. I'm not scared. I just felt strange for a moment. Like I should be running up these steps."
Harry grinned, "Then let's run!"
They ran up the remaining stone steps, pausing in front of the large wooden doors.
"Maura, before we go in, I should warn you that, well, you're probably going to see things in here that are difficult to understand..."
"Like talking pictures?" she teased.
"Well..."
"Harry? I'm safe with you, right?"
"Absolutely."
"And there is nothing threatening in there, right?"
"No...just, maybe, surprising."
"Fine. I'm fine. Really."
Harry took a deep breath and smiled at her. "Good then."
He opened the front door and they entered a cool, shady vestibule. There was a second set of doors six feet away and they went through these into a huge hall, at least thirty feet high, and twice that long.
"Wow."
"It is rather...large."
"Impressive."
"Harry! How wonderful to see you!" came a voice from behind them. Maura didn't turn immediately, as she was transfixed by the huge mural on the ceiling of the afternoon sky...as she watched, a bird flew...
Wow.
"Ah, hello, Nick!" Harry's voice greeted the newcomer.
"And who do we have here?"
Maura finally tuned to greet the newcomer, and stopped dead.
The person in front of her wasn't a person at all. He floated several feet off the floor, and was perfectly transparent.
"Maura, this is Sir Nicholas..."
Maura took a deep breath, swallowed, then passed out at Harry's feet.
"Rather nervous sort, is she?" Sir Nicholas looked down at her.
"Not normally, no." Harry said grimly, then picked Maura up in his arms and carried her towards the Headmasters' office.
=====================
"I did warn her..."
"Perhaps you should have warned her a bit more specifically, Mr Potter."
Maura heard the voices before she opened her eyes. She had a feeling that she didn't want to open her eyes, and that much would change when she did.
"There now, Miss Kennedy, it's all right now. Come along, wake up."
Maura opened her eyes to look into the sparkling ones above her. Minerva McGonagall.
"Professor?" she whispered.
"Yes."
"I'm at Hogwarts."
There was a moment of alarm in Minerva McGonagall's eyes as she glanced over at Harry, then back.
"Harry brought me to see the school."
Relief was apparent there now.
"Yes. And the silly boy forgot to prepare you for what you were about to see."
"It's not Harry's fault. He tried. I told him I knew I was safe and wasn't frightened. I just didn't expect...."
Minerva nodded, "Of course you didn't."
"Ghosts. You really have ghosts."
"Yes, dear."
"They really do exist!"
"Of course. Sir Nicholas would be most put out if he thought that you thought he didn't."
Maura smiled, turning her eyes on Harry, who was standing beside the couch she was lying on.
"Alright?" she asked.
"That's my line."
"Sorry, you just looked, well, odd."
He grinned, "Odd? Miss Kennedy, how very polite of you!"
Maura's cheeks turned pink. "I just thought you looked...I'm fine, Harry. Feeling rather silly, but fine."
"I should have warned you."
"You tried. I was the dunce who wouldn't let you finish, and now I feel a right prat."
"No need. No one but Sir Nicholas saw us."
"Thank you."
"Well," Minerva broke in. "Perhaps we should get to our business, Harry, so that we can show Maura around before you have to leave."
They spent nearly an hour in the Headmistresses office before Harry stood, smiling down at her.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm famished. Let's have lunch before we have a quick tour."
"Lunch is currently being served in the Great Hall," Minerva nodded. "And then you can show Maura around, Harry."
"Oh, I was hoping..."
"I'm sorry, I won't be able to join you. I have two more interviews this afternoon for DADA professors. All I've seen so far have just served to convince me of the total lack of talent out there."
"Hey!" Harry grinned.
"Yes, Mr Potter. Unfortunately, you have refused the position. Repeatedly."
"Minerva, I'm not teacher material."
"You don't know until you try, Mr Potter."
"With everything else..."
"Yes. I know. Perhaps Mr Weasley..." Minerva looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Ron?" Harry snorted. "In a school full of hormonal girls? Are you insane?"
"Indeed," Minerva frowned. "Yes, perhaps you're right, Harry. It was hard enough keeping him in his own dorm room when he was a student here and the girls all thought of him as rather an idiot. Now that he has achieved both fame and fortune, I fear it would be like putting a cat amongst the pigeons."
"Ron wouldn't...!" Maura was shocked. "They're children!"
"Some of our seventh year girls are practically women, Maura." Said Minerva gently. "In our world, most marry directly out of Hogwarts."
"Ron isn't known for his...self control, Maura." Harry said. "He likes women, and seventeen is the age of consent in our world."
Maura was silent as they left the office and walked through cool stone hallways. There were many students out and about, and when they saw Harry, many whispered conversations ensued.
"Do they always stare at you like this?" she asked him in an undertone. Harry, who had been oblivious to the attention they were garnering, glanced around, at the very interested students milling about, and then back to her.
"Yes, I suppose so." He glanced around again, putting a hand at the small of her back and steering her away from a group that seemed to be working up their courage to approach.
"Have you students eaten?" Minerva demanded of them.
"Er...yes, Professor."
"Then you should be on your way to your fourth period class."
"Yes, Professor," they called, heading away from them.
"It's amazing the attention you still..."
"Not only Mr Potter, Miss Kennedy." Minerva stated. "We don't often have visitors at Hogwarts. You should expect some attention yourself."
Maura glanced between Harry and the headmistress. There had been some silent communication there, but she was unsure of what it meant.
They entered the Great Hall and approached the front table at McGonagall's normal swift pace. There were four long tables, all arranged perpendicular to the long head table. Many students were seated around and there were several teachers at the head.
Harry led Maura down the centre aisle,. Halfway, she got a very strange feeling, almost as though she was being watched, but when she turned to look at the table that the feeling seemed to be coming from, there was no one there. Harry paused beside her and looked down.
"Okay?"
"Hmmm?" she turned back to him. "Yes...just the strangest feeling."
Harry looked closely at her. "You're probably hungry. Come along, Minerva told me that there are lamb chops on the menu today."
He wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively, then grinned down at her.
She smiled, confused and followed him again, towards the head table.
How on earth had Harry known about her love of lamb chops?
=======================
They enjoyed an excellent meal, and several of the teachers laughed when she jokingly mentioned the lack of enslaved house elves. Minerva looked at her strangely.
After lunch, they said their farewells to the headmistress and headed off for Maura's tour of the school before heading back to Potter Manor. The first place Harry took her was the Quidditch pitch. She could imagine the screaming students in the stands. They visited the lake and the astronomy tower. Harry grinned as they stood there.
"So, Miss Kennedy."
"So, what, Mr Potter?"
"So...here we are. In the astronomy tower..."
"Ummhmm," she smiled. "I would imagine you spent a good deal of your free time here when you were a student?"
"Actually, no," he said, his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he moved towards the railing and leaned out, looking over the side. "I only had two...well, I guess you could call them girlfriends, while I was at Hogwarts."
"Cho Chang." Maura stated.
"Very short lived, that."
"And?"
Harry grinned, "For an even shorter time, Ginny Weasley."
"Ginny!"
"Yes."
"But you said..."
"It was over twenty years ago and, as I said, very short lived."
"How short lived?" She felt something....strange. Almost as though she had known this already.
"About three months."
"What happened?"
"She dumped me," he stated promptly.
"What? Why?" Maura was shocked.
Harry grinned. "As much as I'd like to take your reaction as a compliment, I think it probably has more to do with the surprise of my having dated Ginny at all."
"But..."
"I had stuff going on that wasn't conducive to having a girlfriend. You know, saving the world and all that."
"Ah."
"By the time I got it figured out, she was dating Dean. And I don't poach."
"So you didn't..."
"Nope. Just those two."
"And since?"
"Well, there have been a few. But I never know what they want."
"Or who?"
"Yes," he smiled at her understanding. "Yes. I never know if it's me, or..."
"Or the man who lived."
"Right."
"Did you 'know' with Cho?"
"I thought I did. But it turned out I was wrong."
"And what about with Ginny?"
"Ginny was...well, it was never about who I was supposed to be with Ginny, just about who I am. Always has been."
"And," Maura persisted. "If you hadn't had stuff going on?"
"I did."
"But what if you hadn't?"
"I don't know. I like to think that I wouldn't have been stupid enough to let her go, but you never know."
Maura looked at him, wondering. "Harry, do you still have feelings for Ginny?"
Harry's face closed up. "She's like a sister to me, Maura."
She watched him carefully for a moment, then turned towards the stairway. "So, how about showing me Gryffindor Tower?"
"I won't be able to get us in," he said quickly. "It's the student's living quarters and..."
"Fair enough. How about the library, then? And then you can take me home."
"Done," he smiled at her, liking the fact that she was referring to Potter Manor, and not her muggle apartment.
==========================
Later that evening, Maura sat watching the others in the library, absently drinking a cup of tea and taking part in the conversation only when directly addressed. Ron seemed to be trying to find reasons to directly address her.
The Weasley siblings were, and had been, carrying on an argument about Molly and her wish to see all of her children "settled". It had been in full swing when Harry and Maura returned from Hogwarts and was still, some hours later, going strong.
"Ron, I just don't see why you're so set against marriage."
"Look, Gin, it's not for everyone, okay? Just because you and Dean had a pretty much perfect, idyllic existence..."
At that, Ginny's face went perfectly white. Maura set her teacup down beside her and was about to stand and go to her when Ginny abruptly rose and all but ran from the room.
"Ronald Weasley, you are a prat!" Maura hissed at him, then followed the redhead.
Ron was silent for a moment, then turned to Harry, who was sitting in his large leather wingback chair, staring in shock at his oblivious friend.
"What was that all about?"
"Ron," Harry said in a deathly quiet tone, "has it escaped your notice that your sister's 'perfect, idyllic existence' was disrupted by the violent and horrific death of her husband at the hands of Death Eaters?"
Ron looked at Harry a moment, then groaned and ran a hand through his already messy hair.
"But I didn't mean..." he started. "Oh, bollocks."
"Ron, Ginny has been through more pain than...." Harry shook his head. "Has it occurred to you that she knows that she can't ever achieve that kind of happiness again for herself, with Dean gone, but that she wants it for you?"
Ron just stared at Harry, then shook his head. "Harry, you know I can't..."
"I know nothing of the sort. But I do know that you are the most insensitive prat I've ever known when it comes to women's feelings and, coming from me, mate, that is definitely saying something."
"I guess I should go and apologise, huh?"
"Yes. I think that that would be a start."
Ron nodded, and swallowed, then headed out of the room in search of his sister, leaving Harry to stare into the fire and try to get control over the rage and pain he was feeling.
==============================
"He's an idiot, Gin'," Maura stated, tucking her legs under her on Ginny's bed. The younger woman had initially told her she was fine when she knocked on her door, but when Maura had looked at her doubtfully, she'd caved in, and begun to sob.
Maura had pulled her into her arms and hugged her, then guided her into the room, closing and locking the door behind them. Ginny now sat, her back propped against the headboard of her bed, plucking absently at the pillow in her lap.
"It's just..."
"He had no right to say that, the insensitive beast. Someone should lock him up....or run him over. With a very large truck."
Ginny smiled, but it was such a sad smile that Maura felt her heart tug.
"Ginny, I'm sure he was..."
"He was wrong."
"Well, of course he was!"
"No, Maura. I mean..." Ginny paused.
"Gin?"
"I...he was wrong about Dean and I leading a perfect, idyllic existence. It wasn't perfect, or idyllic. It wasn't even close."
"Well," Maura said, uncertain of how to continue. "All relationships...all marriages have their rough bits..."
"Oh, it was far more than a 'rough bit'," Ginny laughed. "Unless a 'rough bit' can last twelve years."
Maura sighed, "You weren't happy with him?"
"It wasn't that I wasn't happy with him, but more that he wasn't happy with me. I was very honest with him from the first. Dean was fully aware how I felt, or rather, how I didn't feel. He knew how much I'd be able to give him, and I thought I'd made it clear...but Dean loved nothing better than a challenge."
"Ginny?"
"I didn't love him, Maura. Not as a wife should love her husband. He was a good husband, he provided well for the girls and I. He gave me three beautiful daughters...and for that I adore him. I cared a great deal for him...but I didn't love him."
"Why...?"
"I started dating Dean because he asked me. And I had no reason to say no. I knew that I had to get on with my life, and I knew..." she sighed. "Harry and I dated for a while when he was in sixth year..."
"I know."
Ginny looked at her, surprised. "He told you?"
"Well, yes." Maura admitted.
"I sometimes wonder if he even remembers."
"Oh, he remembers," Maura laughed. "Sometime you'll have to tell me about the significance of the third floor corridor near the east tower at Hogwarts."
Ginny blanched. "He took you there?"
"Well, we were on our way to the library and we seemed to be there without realizing it. Harry was...shaken... when he realized where we were. We'd been in the astronomy tower and he'd mentioned you..."
Ginny squeaked. Literally. Then she buried her face in the pillow in her lap. It was rather comical to see a thirty four year old woman like that, but Maura took pity, kind of, and continued.
"So, any significance to the third door in the east corridor?"
Ginny sat up, her face bright pink, and swallowed.
"It's a...small storage room."
"Ah." Maura grinned. Now they were getting somewhere. "So now I understand."
"Maura, it was only the one time and we agreed after...after Harry decided he needed to focus on the prophecy, that we'd never...refer to it again."
"And then you started dating Dean?"
"Pretty much," Ginny sighed. "I was sixteen and hurt. I originally accepted Dean's invitations because I needed to be... well, my pride was hurt. Then, I thought, I'd show Harry that he might not want me, but... well, then years went by, and I got comfortable. Dean proposed after I finished school. I explained to him... Maura I was always honest with him about how I felt. I never led him on. I swear."
"I know, Gin'."
"Maybe that was why. Over the years, Dean got more and more... well, determined. One would think that he wouldn't want to be around Harry, or me to be around him, but he practically... he always flaunted our relationship, showed how happy he was. I couldn't not...I felt I owed it to him to respond to him in the same way. I suppose it wasn't fair to Dean, but..."
"And after he died?"
"I... Harry was the first one there, that night. He killed seven Death Eaters to get to us. They had managed to break through the protection spell Dean had put on the room the girls and I were hidden in. Maddy was only seven... Harry came through the door like a demon, throwing curses. He had found Dean outside, and he knew which room we had set up as our safe room."
"Safe room?"
"A safe room is... well, protection spells take time to set up, so most wizarding families have a room already prepared in case of a Death Eater attack. If you have it ready, you only have to give a basic command and the room seals itself. The downsides are that someone has to stay outside to seal it, and that the people in the room can't get out until they're released from the outside."
"I don't know how the Death Eaters got through the protection spells, but they had just broken through when Harry came in. He saved our lives. He told me about Dean, and...he was there for us. He brought us here..."
"Which only made you love him more."
"I don't think I know what love is anymore, Maura. At this point, I'd do anything to ensure his happiness. He deserves some."
They heard the tentative knock at the door, and Maura raised an eyebrow at Ginny. Ginny shook her head. Maura stood and went to open the door a crack.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Is she okay?" Ron asked the cold, yet obviously enraged woman before him.
"Do you care?"
"She's my sister, Maura. Of course I care."
"I hope you've come with an apology, Ronald Weasley. Because that is all that is standing between you and life as a eunuch."
"Can I..." Ron winced. Maura was really, really angry. "Ginny?"
"It's okay, Maura. Let him in. And thanks for listening."
"No problem. If he is that insensitive again, you have my full support in a permanent bat bogey hex."
Ginny smiled, and Maura, after throwing another wilting look at Ron, left and headed to her own room, and bed.
The next morning, she awoke, wondering why she had dreamt, seemingly all night, about running her hand repeatedly through the ginger fur of a lion.
