Chapter 14
"They couldn't Kayla. Voldemort knows Harry had survived. So they had to make everybody believe his parents died and he had to believe it too. Voldemort has some kind of connection to Harry's mind and if he would ever find out that the Potters are still alive he would find a way to finish what he had started in the past." Kelsey explained.
"I'm going back tonight and I will try to find out a bit more. You have to go to the owlery and send a letter to dad. Ask him if he has an idea how to get these ingredients. I will check back with James tonight and find out if it's ok with him that we tell Ron and Hermione. Maybe we should involve Zara as well. Her father is a sea expert after all maybe he can help us with the Aquarius-thing. I'll let you know right tomorrow morning."
Then they heard the laughter and talking of their friends coming from the hallway.
"Not a single word I promise" Kayla affirmed. They heard a knock on the door and Hermione's head appeared. "Are you done?"
The twins motioned their friends inside and all of them dropped to a seat next to the bed once more.
Kayla was very tense the rest of the day. Since they had returned from the hospital she was trying to digest what Kelsey had told her during their private chat. She had already made her mind up, that she would do everything in her power to finish that potion. Harry deserved to have a family like everybody else. She looked at Harry who was sitting in a chair next to the fireplace.
The common room was packed with students. Some of them were just talking; others were doing their homework like Harry and Ron. Hermione had finished her homework an hour ago and wanted to play with Crookshanks now. But it seemed that the huge ginger cat didn't feel like playing.
He jumped on Harry's chair and settled down right next to him. The pretty Gryffindor girl grabbed a piece of parchment and her quill and wrote a letter to her father.
She asked him about the special ingredients and how to get them. Hoping he wouldn't get suspicious, she told him that she read about it in one of the potion books in the library and wanted some more info. Kayla knew that her father's researches extended to everything that had to do with potions. In him even Professor Snape would have found his match.
She left the common room and made her way to the owlery where she called down her brother's owl She fastened the letter on Thor's leg, stroke over his head and gave him an owl-cookie
"Hurry and bring this letter to dad please" she whispered, and then the owl took off and disappeared. She rested her head on the cold stones of the owlery when she looked at the sunset. Hopefully her dad could help here. She would just have to have faith.
Kayla left the owlery and went back to the common room. She still had some homework to do; a long essay for Professor Binns and another one about griffins for Hagrid. She said "Fairy queen" when she reached the portrait of the fat lady and entered the common room.
Her friends were still sitting next to the fireplace, buried in homework. "I can't remember the last time Snape gave us so much homework" Ron sighed.
"I can" Harry replied "He always gives us a lot of homework. He just loves to torture students. I haven't even started yet, but I know it will take all the rest of the weekend."
"I don't think it was that much" Kayla said apologetically.
"This is just because you have a natural talent for potions.", Ron exclaimed. "I have never seen anybody like that before, even Hermione has to study hard to get fairly good marks for a Gryffindor. But for you everything seems so easy. Snape barely finds fault with your stuff and he rarely takes points from you."
Kayla blushed deeply. "He's right Kayla. I know Kelsey and you had a lot of advantages, because of the researches your father is doing, but I had no idea that the two of you are so gifted. And you in particular." Hermione said smiling at the brown-haired girl.
Kayla grabbed her bag and started her essay for History of Magic. She worked silently for another hour trying not to get distracted by Fred and George Weasley, who were advertising loudly for one of their newest inventions in front of a few first-years.
Then she finally dropped her quill and sighed heavily. That was enough for today. She could finish her other essay tomorrow. But first thing after breakfast she wanted to take a trip to the library to see if she could find out anything about the specific potion ingredients Kelsey had mentioned.
She pulled at one of Hermione's sleeves, who had fallen asleep in her chair. "Come on Hermione, let's get upstairs. Bed is calling!" Kayla called pulling Hermione up from her chair. Harry and Ron put their still just half finished homework in their bags and got up. They all said good night and went to their dorms.
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Kelsey sat next to James in front of the fireplace in their secret hideout. The black-haired wizard had made some tea for them and Kelsey was talking about Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors."It must be terrible when you know that your son is not far away and you still can't see him, can't be close to him" the boy said.
James leaned backwards in his chair and looked at the young man in front of him. He looked so much like Nicole. The dark blond curly hair and the bright smile. He remembered his wife's cousin very well. She had always been very thoughtful and caring and it seemed her son had inherited the trait.
He was looking forward to meet the little girl. Kelsey was talking about her all the time and it seems to him that the twins were extremely close.
"Yes it is" James said. "Although I check on him every once in a while it's not the same then being together like a real family. But at least it gives me the chance to sit next to him and spend some time with him even when he doesn't know that I'm there"
"But how? What?... I don't understand". The look in the teenager's eyes was one of total confusion. James chuckled and his eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Have you ever thought there's something odd about Hermione's ginger cat?"
"Hmmm .... How do you know about Crookshanks?"
"Crookshanks is not an ordinary cat. He is extremely smart and he's part kneazle. Dumbledore and I found a spell 3 years ago which allows me to transfer a part of myself into every living creature. I can enter their minds and see and feel through them. In the beginning I transferred into rats and watched Harry from a dark corner, but the problem was that the little animals couldn't take the stress and died. So I stopped. Two years ago, Hermione got Crookshanks from the Magical Menagerie and I saw my chance. This cat was a lot smarter and understood pretty fast what I wanted and let me willingly enter his mind every once in a while for a short period of time. I can sit next to Harry and spend some time with him without any suspicions. I had recognized right away that Ron's rat was not an ordinary rat, but my old "friend" Peter ", James chuckled sadly.
"I tried to catch him and hand him over to Sirius, but it didn't work. I even told Dumbledore, but he didn't believe me until it was too late."
"That's unbelievable" Kelsey said in awe. "You just mentioned Hermione... I wanted to ask you if I can tell them about you here, when they promise that they won't tell anybody else. My sister has contacted our dad. Maybe he knows where to get the last ingredients."
"I don't want you to tell everybody about it, but when you can guarantee me that Harry's friends can be trusted, it should be ok. Even if somebody would overhear them, nobody would believe them anyway. I just don't want Harry to find out... under no circumstances until we are not sure that we can rescue his mother. She is getting very weak lately. I doubt she is going to live very much longer if we can't wake her up soon. And even then we won't know if she is still herself" James' voice trailed of and he covered his face with his hands sobbing quietly.
Kelsey felt a little awkward and he didn't know what to do, so he just put an arm around the wizards shoulder and hugged him tightly. "We are going to rescue her. I'm sure" he affirmed.
"Would you like to meet her?"