Chapter 15
Peaceful Times
Ginny awoke as she felt a few rays of light warm her face. She checked the clock at her bedside, noticing to her horror that it was already ten o'clock in the morning. Having pulled double duty and working sixteen hours straight, she'd been so tired that she'd overslept. Still, the extra work meant that she'd have the next day off, but that did little to ease her anxiety, since she had overslept on a very special day. However, the faint smell of bacon, sounds of activity, and her mother's voice coming from downstairs put her at ease. Glancing out the window, Ginny saw that the weather was a bit cloudy, but the weather report had said that it would clear up around noon, and since Concordia's weather was magically created, the prediction was always spot on. She slid off the bed and cast a longing glance at the empty half, which Harry had vacated at six in the morning to perform his mandatory hours of physical training, and to attend a debriefing. Then she dragged herself over to the bathroom to take a quick shower.
After the shower she brushed her long hair thoroughly, since skipping this part of her grooming would lead to a very bad hair day. Then, wrapped in only a towel she returned to her bedroom and put on a sky-blue bikini that didn't accentuate the paleness of her skin. Though she wasn't really a vain person, she took a moment to admire herself in the mirror, wearing her new bikini. It was made of specially treated spider-silk, which was often used for clothing designs intended to stretch and adapt to a shape.
The top was what the sales witch had called a triangle model. Like with a halter-top, the straps went around the back of the neck instead of over the shoulders. But unlike the halter, which had wider straps that were extensions of the cups themselves, the straps on the triangle sprung from the top's lining instead. With regards to coverage, the top was also a pretty unique model, since the cups weren't connected by a thin strip of lining. Instead, a fairly broad strip of fabric fused the cups together, making the it look more like a scooped bandeau top. She had picked it because it gave just the right amount of coverage for her modest breasts. The full Brazilian-style bottom had a scooped front and back, and high cut leg holes that created the illusion of having longer legs. The design flattered Ginny nicely, since her legs were on the short side, proportionally.
Satisfied with how her swimwear looked on her, she wrapped a sarong horizontally over her chest and tied a knot on the left side. Its base colour was the same sky-blue as her bikini, with intricate silver patterns hand-painted onto it. According to the saleswoman it had been the last one in the collection, which had left Ginny a bit disappointed, for even though it was supposed to be a gift for Heidi, she'd wanted to buy one for herself too. In retrospect she shouldn't have been as surprised as she'd been when it turned out that Heidi had already bought one for herself, and she couldn't remember having heard Harry laugh quite as long and hard as he had when Heidi informed her of that fact.
In order to buy Heidi another gift, Heidi had accompanied Ginny on a second shopping trip, which was when she bought her ultra comfortable sandals with spider silk straps that didn't chafe one's feet, though this silk had been treated differently than the silk her bikini was made of. They had one strap around the heels and two over the feet, as well as a toe-piece to keep them snugly in place and prevent side to side shifting. It also had an orthopaedic arch that allowed a person to walk for hours without feeling discomfort. Ginny had bought Heidi a pair in sky-blue, but she herself had chosen a more neutral beige, which wouldn't clash with her emerald-green one-piece swimsuit and its matching sarong. She knew Heidi had four different swimsuits, each with its own accessories, but didn't feel the necessity for such a wardrobe for herself. She guessed that Heidi's affluent upbringing made them different in that respect.
Ginny went to her bedside cupboard to retrieve her wand, before returning to her vanity, next to the full-sized mirror, to do her hair. She stared at her reflection and frowned. "How should I wear my hair today?"
"Planning on getting a tan?" the vanity mirror asked in turn.
Ginny laughed. "I don't tan. I only get more freckles. Still, I reckon you've got a point."
"Naturally," the mirror replied airily, drawing another laugh from Ginny.
She decided to pile it onto the back of her head with a rolled up ponytail to make sure that her back freckled over as much as her front, so she cast a Styling Charm that Parvati and Lavender drilled into her years ago, which would made the 'do hold better. Then she slicked her hair back into a tight ponytail at the centre back of her head, secured it with a rubber band, and rolled the ponytail around the band to create a bull's eye, which she secured with bobby pins. To finish it off she placed a white seashell-shaped decorative clip in the centre. Grabbing a small mirror to check the results, and was pleased by what she saw.
"Stunning, dear," the vanity mirror agreed.
Smiling, Ginny summoned her sandals and slipped them on. For a brief moment she thought she faced a bit of a problem with stowing her wand, until she realised that she could tuck it between the folds of the sarong. Then she padded downstairs, where her children watched as her mother was putting the finishing touches on her youngest grandchild Daniel's birthday cake. Actually, her mother had baked two birthday cakes, since Heidi's near constant day care efforts for of six of her grandchildren had made her an honorary part of the family. Also, as far as her mum was concerned, the fact that little Elisabeth, nicknamed 'Sissi', was related to her children and grandchildren both through herself and through her late husband, meant that she was as good as a grandchild in her own right.
It was the tenth of September, eleven years after she'd left school, and nine after she'd joined the Order of Illumination. Her eldest had turned five in August, the same month in which she and Harry had celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary. Her second-born had turned three in March.
The whole family, which included her siblings and their spouses, and her nieces and nephews that weren't in school yet, had arrived in Concordia the previous day, for Danny's first birthday celebration. It had become a Weasley tradition ever since George's death. Her mother had found it necessary to extensively celebrate the first birthday of every expansion of the Weasley family, though the fact that Ginny's children were technically Potters didn't matter.
Thus the tradition started with Bill's youngest boy, Alan, who had been born a few months after George's death, and proceeded with Percy's youngest daughter Scarlett, Charlie's daughter Rose, Ron's eldest daughter Raina, then Richard and Holly respectively, followed by Ron's youngest, Christine. Today was Daniel's turn, and the happy gurgle he gave Ginny when she picked him up out of his baby chair suggested that he was eager for his first birthday party.
"There!" her mum said, looking very pleased with herself.
Ginny's stomach began to growl as she looked at the strawberry and chocolate cakes. "Oh Mum, where did you find enough strawberries? The season has been over for a while."
"Arthur sent them to me. Professor Sprout allowed him to grow a bunch of them in an unused greenhouse. Arthur got special permission from Professor McGonagall to be in Hogwarts every few days or so in the summer holidays to tend to their growth."
Ginny frowned. "Just like that?"
Her mum smiled. "On the condition that the staff got first pick when the strawberries were ripe for plucking."
"I knew it!" Ginny exclaimed. "I knew Professor McGonagall had an ulterior motive. She loves strawberries."
"What ulterior motive would that be?" Ron's voice came, startling their mum but hardly surprising Ginny, since she was used to Ron barging in at any time. Over the years the wards around their homes had been improved to such an extent that the magical screening only took a second. They had also adapted the wards to let the doors open to Ron, Hermione, Jasmine, Charlie, or Heidi, in case something needed to be fetched from the house when neither she nor Harry were available. Heidi had already made use of it to fetch fresh clothes for Richard, who seemed to have a knack for getting himself dirtier than most simple Cleaning Charms could cope with, and now Ron had used it.
"Mum was just telling me that Arthur got permission to grow strawberries in one Hogwarts' unused greenhouses. He got special permission to be on Hogwarts grounds over the summer, to tend to the plants."
"Oh yeah, Angie told me about that," Ron nodded. Then he grinned. "She also got a letter from Snape yesterday. Susie and Millie lost Slytherin thirty-one points. They would have lost a hundred each, but since it was only a week into the school year—"
"Good Lord, what did those two do now?" Molly asked exasperatedly.
Ginny struggled to hide a smile. When Susie and Millie had been sorted into Slytherin a year ago, her mother had fumed with rage, at first planning to destroy the Sorting Hat. When Angelina had finally dissuaded her from that course of action, she had settled for sending the Sorting Hat a vicious Howler. The rest of the family had also been a bit stunned at first, but as the year progressed and the girls shattered their father and uncle's record for losing points and detentions, they came to realise that the girls were—in their own way—among the better things that had ever happened to Gryffindor.
Ron laughed. "It seems they broke into half the teachers' rooms and put difficult to reverse Haemorrhoid Hexes on their toilet seats. Angelina said that Snape's handwriting was particularly erratic, so it's a good bet that they didn't spare the greasy git either."
"This is no laughing matter, Ronald," Molly said with an edge in her voice, causing Ron's laughter to stop immediately.
"I think it's impressive that they can already manage that hex," Ginny said casually, drawing her mother's ire away from her brother.
"Ginny!"
"Mum's right," Ron admitted reluctantly. "The girls have got a mean streak that Fred and George didn't have. If they keep this up, they might get expelled. Although, they are clever little devils. They butter up the right teachers and keep from pulling pranks on them so there's always someone willing to come to their defence. Angie says that Remus thinks they're little angels who can do no wrong."
Ginny giggled gleefully. "Probably because Slytherin can't pass the two-hundred point mark with the two of them wreaking havoc all the time."
"Must be it," Ron agreed. "Anyway, are you lot ready to go?"
A quick glance at her children showed that they'd been taken care of, and the basket under Daniel's pram was stuffed with towels and other beach necessities, so she nodded. However, her Mum still needed to cover the cakes and prepare them for transport, so Ron designated The Wolfes' Den as the point where Heidi, the Weasleys, and Potters would meet before jointly going to the smaller of two country clubs next to the lake's beach. It had been on the verge of bankruptcy when Matt Kelly bought it a few weeks before the summer holidays began. He'd had it completely refurbished, setting up a modular decoration that could easily be changed depending on the season, or even the time of day, and that's how it became the trendiest teenagers' summer hangout Concordia had seen in decades.
Now that the summer holidays were over and the teenagers had gone back to school, it had been turned into a lakeside club once more, and with the addition of luxurious spa facilities and a very competent childcare unit who could keep children busy while their parents relaxed, it had become a popular spot for stressed parents looking to unwind. Of course, there were also lots of other wizards looking for relaxation, so it came as no surprise when Gudrun had told her that the place was already nearly booked solid until the next summer holidays. This had made her wonder what Matt had done for the management to accommodate her family. She knew that Matt had more gold than he could spend in several lifetimes, but her sober upbringing made her feel a bit uneasy about his generosity, despite the many times Matt had stressed that gold didn't mean anything if you couldn't spend it on friends and loved-ones.
Daniel's fidgeting in her arms brought her out of her reverie, and she looked down at her son. His drooping eyelids told her that he hadn't slept well enough overnight, and she decided that brief a midmorning nap might help. She shifted him in her arms so she could gently rock him back and forth.
Then she cleared her throat in preparation for a soothing song, and began singing the song she always sang to get him to sleep.
♫
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must abide.
But come ye back, when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
♪
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead as I may well be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say and "Ave" there for me
♪
And I shall hear tho' soft you thread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me … I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
♫
Ginny smiled down at her son, who was now fast asleep, marvelling at how the song affected him. She ran her fingers through the black thatch of hair, thinking that it was almost as if he'd been conditioned to fall asleep when he heard the song. Hermione had told her about conditioning, and how some Russian Muggle had conditioned his dog to drool at the sound of a bell, and suppressing a giggle that would undo all her work, she walked over to the well used pram that her mother had thoughtfully brought out in advance. It would soon start getting a bit cramped for him, but the pram could turn into a pushchair with some minor adjustments. It had also carried Richard and Holly, and the pushchair setup was designed to easily accommodate an average child well into his second year. It also had a built-in one-way Silencing Charm that allowed the child to sleep peacefully, but let the parents hear the child's sounds.
While her mum finished up, Ginny quickly wolfed down a few pieces of toast and washed them down with some orange juice. Then she double-checked her mum's packing just to be on the safe side, and found that her mum had thought of everything, including the Granian milk Danny drank ever since being weaned, and the solids suitable for a child his age. Minutes later, the cakes were packed up and the Potter family was ready to go, so they left the house and crossed the street, where they found the rest of the family already waiting for them.
The family was six grandchildren light, with Charlie Junior and Arthur having started their third year, Susie and Millie their second year, and Fred his first year at Hogwarts. Amelie had started her first year at Beauxbatons. Bill and Fleur had decided to send their children there, since most of their lives had been spent in French-speaking territories with French-speaking peers. It wasn't that their English was bad, for they had mastered the language to a fair extent with their father speaking English with them, and hearing their parents always converse in English—Bill's poor French was apparently restricted to pillow talk in the bedroom.
Even with the absence of those grandchildren, there were still eleven Weasleys from out of town and seven local ones assembled in front of The Wolfes' Den, creating a mass of red hair dotted with some blondes and brunettes that came from the in-laws and the female half of Angelina's ten-year-old twins, Cassidy. Ginny was especially pleased to see that Charlie Senior had been able to make it to the party. He had been granted Special Imperial Permission to commute to his Mirror Realm office in Shamballah every day, making it unnecessary for his entire family to move there. It had been a concession he'd been forced to make when Rosie flat out refused to leave her all her friends in Concordia behind. So everyday, he took the 8 AM connection from Concordia to Shamballah, and returned with the 6 PM connection for traffic from Shamballah into Concordia, unless there was a fauna gathering expedition that could keep him away for a few weeks. Those had fortunately been few and far between, though his regular duties still left him very little time off.
Then her eyes fell on Heidi, which prompted her to smile. She was wearing the same sarong as Ginny, with matching earrings in her ears, matching sandals on her feet, and a matching red haired daughter in her arms. Little Sissi was wearing a miniature version of the sarong Ginny and Heidi had, with tiny sky-blue sandals on her feet. Her eight and six year-old half-brothers were bickering over who got to push her pram. An escalation was prevented as the Kellys appeared, causing Robert to lose interest in the pram and join his future wife instead. The children were under their father's supervision, since their mother was working the first shift in the maintenance bay. In his arms Matt carried his granddaughter Oprah, who had been named after her Muggle great-grandmother's favourite talk show host, but whom everyone called 'Oopsie', which was the nickname Matt had given her to commemorate the circumstances of her conception.
Ginny sighed, hoping that the debriefing of the patrol Harry had returned from the day before wouldn't keep him for too long.
X
At a snail's pace, Harry strolled down the corridors of the Citadel towards a small room assigned to him, where he could shower, change, and store some uniforms and equipment. He was lost in thought, still pondering the problem Commander Faust had presented, even though a workable solution had been suggested.
Ever since Yamato's flight to the Mirror Realm, there simply hadn't been enough dangerous criminals to keep the Order of Illumination busy. In addition to that, no Rangers had been killed in eight years, which had allowed the Order of Illumination to recover from its losses in the previous decade much more quickly than anticipated. This had raised some question on the Order's function.
Lately, they'd busied themselves with increasingly lower targets on the threat ladder, beings that Aurors and Hit Wizards could handle without being unreasonably threatened. And while this didn't seem to be a problem on the surface, Faust's concerns really were something to think about. If the Order continued to operate this way, it would indeed only be a matter of time before the Order's help with such low threats would be taken for granted, and the world's magical governments would increasingly call upon them to deal with those threats so as to spare their own people. The problem was that the Order didn't have enough Rangers to perform those duties permanently, and even if they had, it wouldn't be a good idea to employ all of them in that fashion, since it would certainly be at the expense of the vigilance towards possible threats of the global kind.
Commander Kovalenko had coolly pointed out that they could always maintain a steady supply of compromising intelligence on the magical world's leaders, most of whom had secrets they didn't want revealed. If push came to shove, they information could be used to blackmail them into seeing things the Order's way. Owing to his gift, Harry had known that she hadn't been serious even before she cracked one of her rare smiles, but the appalled looks the other debriefing attendees had given her would bring him smiles for years to come.
In the end, Maaike de Bruijn, a Dutch Ranger, and one of the few witches in the Martial Division, suggested a realistic solution.
She'd suggested that the Order use the less than kosher politicians whose arms they had already twisted in the past to deliver the message, cautioning the wizarding world that the Order shouldn't be taken for granted and called on for matters that could be solved with local resources, lest the Order be overburdened, which would increase the likelihood of someone like Voldemort, Anastasiou, or Yamato gaining a foothold. Harry hoped that it would be enough to prevent their potential problem.
"Excuse me…Harry?"
Harry looked up, finding himself eye to eye with Maaike, which wasn't unusual, since she was as tall as he was. She stood in front of the door of a changing room, holding the door half-open.
"Were you planning on changing?"
"Yeah. Why?"
She raised her eyebrows until they almost disappeared under the dirty-blonde fringe of a bold and modern hairdo, making her already angular face appear to be even more so. "Isn't your room back up the hall a bit?"
Bewildered, Harry checked his surroundings, finding that he'd indeed progressed too far down the hall.
"I bet all the thoughts in your head amount to more than a penny's worth, eh?" she asked, while scratching her forward-pointing chin in an unladylike manner.
"Huh?" Harry replied, still too perplexed to come up with a better answer.
"You look like you have a lot on your mind," she clarified.
"I was just thinking about what Commander Faust told us. I hope your plan will work."
Her broad shoulders went up and down as she shrugged. "No use in worrying about that now. It's best to cross that bridge if or when we come to it. You worry too much."
"So I've been told," Harry replied dryly. He began to turn around, when he realised that, as far as he knew, Maaike had quarters in the Citadel, which meant that she didn't need a changing room … unless she had moved out at some point. "When did you move out of the Citadel?"
She broke out in laughter, giving Harry the sinking feeling that he'd somehow made a fool of himself. He contemplated peeking into her mind, but decided to respect her mental privacy and just ask where he'd gone wrong.
"What's so funny?"
"I thought everyone in the Order would know by now that I moved out a year ago. I got Rachel Esklove's room in the townhouse when she moved in with her dark wizard boyfriend." She chuckled. "Tom Riddle, what are the odds…"
Harry felt really stupid. Maaike had joined the Order two years after Ginny, which meant that she'd been a Ranger for seven years, or six if the training year wasn't included. And since she was in his own division, he felt he should at least know her better, even though her patrol group always relieved his, which meant that they couldn't run into each other for four week stretches of time.
"You're worrying again. Don't! I don't mind the relative degree of anonymity I enjoy in the Order. In fact, I think it's better than being one of the pretty ones and being hit on all the time," she added with a snort, though there was no bitterness or jealousy in her tone. Her deep blue eyes did betray the tiniest bit of envy, which was quite normal for someone with a healthy ego and something Harry could relate to, since the frequently captured female mental broadcasts about Matt's looks also made him wonder whether he paled that much in comparison. For the most part, however, Maaike showed genuine pity for the poor girls besieged by randy male Rangers like Rolf Larsson, who, to the second of Harry's sudden realisations in as many minutes, hadn't hit on any pretty female Rangers in quite some time.
"Your remark made me think of Rolf Larsson. It made me realise that Rolf has behaved himself lately."
Maaike gave him in incredulous look. "For the Order's only remaining Mind Reader, you're pretty clueless."
"I do my best to respect mental privacies!" Harry said, feeling the onset of outrage.
"Hey, it was a joke!" Maaike said soothingly. "Everybody knows you have too much integrity to take advantage of your ability like that. But really, that you don't know about Rolf having found his paradise. I'm sure your wife knows."
Harry grinned. "We do lots of things together, but gossip isn't among them, I'm afraid. So are you going to spill or must I experience a lapse in integrity?"
Maaike beckoned him to step closer, which he did, before she said in a low voice. "Let's just say that Rolf's in a rather unorthodox relationship that many men fantasize about. One with two women who also fool around together. Matt Kelly's cousin, and her housemate."
"Wendy and Padma?" Harry's exclamation echoed through the corridor.
"Not so loud!" Maaike hissed. "We don't want him to find out that we all know about it despite his best efforts to keep it a secret. You know, I'm a bit surprised that he's keeping it under wraps. Not so long ago he'd have shouted it from the chimney-pots. I guess he's finally growing up."
"You didn't happen to be around when Geo heard the news, did you?" Harry asked, knowing there was a good chance that this had been the case. Like Rolf, George Ramos was a member of the patrol group Maaike had been transferred from. The pair of screwballs worked together so well that Riyadi hadn't wanted to separate them.
"Actually I was."
"What did he say?"
"Same thing most men said: 'Lucky bastard!' Unfortunately for him, Lilia overheard the conversation and took it the wrong way, which led to divorce number eleven."
"Ah, so that's why they divorced the last time." Harry shook his head. "You know, at times I wonder how Lilia ever got through the mental stability test."
"If you think about it, all of us are a few cherries short of a fruitcake, Harry. Otherwise we couldn't do such dangerous jobs."
"Good point."
"Didn't they tell you that in Auror training?"
Harry frowned. "I know it was a bit of a motto, but they never told me. They didn't exactly go out of their way to make me feel welcome, you know."
A look of sympathy flowed onto her face, diminishing the angularity of her features a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to talk of the hangman's noose."
"It's quite all right. They saw the light a few years later. But how did you know about that Auror motto? Did they use it where you trained?"
"I trained in England, ol' chap. The smaller European countries don't have the experience and man-power to train Aurors, so their witches and wizards go to larger countries. Austrians go to Germany. The Swiss go to either Germany, Italy or France…and so forth. Most Dutch Auror hopefuls go to Britain, though some go to Germany, but in general the German style doesn't suit us. You and I finished school in the same year, but I waited a year after finishing school to apply, by which time the Order of Illumination had whisked you away." She heaved a melodramatic sigh. "And I'd been hoping to give you comfort in the face of the unfair treatment you were receiving, and get you to fall madly in love with me."
"You're pulling my leg!"
"Of course I am. I'm not the type to act like a desperate groupie." Maaike grinned. "And besides, I like my men a little more attainable."
"I wouldn't have been unattainable, you know. Granted, you're not beautiful, but you do have some charms," Harry said earnestly.
She looked at Harry askance. "So you're not among the men around here who think I'm mannish?"
"You're a tomboy type, and a bit more muscular than men tend to like, but you're far from mannish," Harry said, remembering something Nicolai had pointed out to him once. He'd been discussing Mary's attractiveness in a very scholarly way while working on a new Cruiser design, when Maaike walked past them in a frame-hugging body-stocking. "I've been told that your waist-to-hip ratio is close to a perfect nought-point-seven. That's considered attractive by most men."
Maaike smiled. "You happen to be right, but I hardly ever wear clothing that shows it off. Who noticed, anyway?"
"Nicolai Savin. He said you were like his girlfriend in that regard."
Her smile widened. "Really? Well, telling me that the hottest man in Concordia noticed my femininity completely made my day, even if he is barely of age."
"You're welcome."
"Though I'm not sure you did me a favour by inflating my ego like that. I now have half a mind to go flaunt my newly recognised femininity, which might earn me an unfavourable reputation," she said jokingly. "And word might get back to someone in England whom I have had sort of an arrangement with for the last seven years.
"Anyone I know?"
"Probably. He's an Auror. His name is Rick Cotton."
"One year ahead of me in training, right?"
Maaike nodded.
"I remember him, vaguely," Harry said, churning his mental gears to boost his memory. That's when something else occurred to him. "Say, you couldn't have finished your training. You were drafted by the Order two years after Ginny, in June. But Auror training in the final year doesn't end until September."
"Ah, that." Maaike scowled. "I had a difference of opinion with my superiors. I believed that unnecessary Ministry red tape hampered the Auror Division's effectiveness."
Harry joined her in her scowling. "You're right. Those so-called official procedures were created by people like Lucius Malfoy to buy them time to cover their tracks."
Maaike's expression brightened once again. "Yeah, but my protests made enough noise for the Order of Illumination to notice me, and the rest is history. My only regret is that Rick isn't just an Apparition away anymore, which would have been the case if I'd gone to work in the Netherlands."
"Well, I might have a temporary solution for that. The world's magical governments are working out a deal with us to send over a handful of people from our Martial Division to help hone some of the Aurors' skills. If I'm not mistaken, you're the eleventh most effective Combat Ranger, out of the thirty-five we have now. That's really good, considering that you've been with us for only seven years and are still Fifth Class. Now it doesn't put you on top of Riyadi's list just yet, but you're close. If one of the Ministries were to ask for you by name, I don't think he'd refuse."
"And how would I get the British Ministry to ask for me by name?"
"By talking to my brother-in-law Percy, who has recently transferred from the Department of International Magical Co-operation to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"Is he the department head?"
"No. He used to be the Head of International Magical Co-operation, but since Magical Law Enforcement is a heavier department, he had to take one step down. He's the senior undersecretary of the department, second to only the secretary himself. If you don't have anywhere else to be right now, you could come down to my son's birthday party at Matt Kelly's country club on the lakeside beach. We can talk to Percy there."
"You'd do that for me?" Maaike's eyes were misting up with emotion.
"I wouldn't do it if I weren't confident that you could handle the job."
"But I don't have a present for your son."
"You could always send him something afterwards. Don't worry about not being welcome. Ginny and Heidi are suckers for reuniting separated lovers."
X
Author's Note: Thanks for your reactions. Though I hope I'll keep getting more feedback, I reckon I ought to tone down my expectations a bit.
And now on to the review answers.
Blah29: I'm afraid I don't follow you.
NCDSbookworm: As you've cleverly discerned, I needed something to set Wolfe off in a big way.
Potterscientist817: 140 fanfics???? I'm not dissing you, but what about a social life? Or are you really good at speed reading?
lluvatar: Here you go.
Janus Aran: QT is to thank for many elements of the fight scene. ;-)
Catatonic Reaction: Really? Which chapters were slow, in your opinion. I don't recall anyone complaining about it, but maybe you have a point.
Gogirl: Normally I'd ask you to re-read a chapter in Mind War, but in light of your previous help in my quest for feedback I'll cut you some slack and spell it out for you with footnotes and explanation. In Mind War it was revealed that Holly began travelling through time with Pecos Bill when she was twelve. She went both to the past and to the future. Her contemporary self is about eight or nearly nine years old now, and still living with Carey. So due to Holly's time-travelling, there are two of her at this point in time.
darkguyver: Thanks for your opinion on matters.
Kari Lynn Cortez: I worked very hard on that chapter, so I'm glad you liked it.
Elric Magus: LOL. Don't worry, you don't sound gay. I wrote that sequence with the sole purpose of eliciting the mushy feelings you've experienced. Ditto for Chapter 14. So there is no higher praise for me.
Lipton: That's a good point. I guess I'll save my practice for more appropriate moments.
hootild: Blood, guts, death, destruction and chaos, eh? :-)
Chloe Black: Don't hold your breath about Wolfe finding Yamato any time soon.
Numba1: Your review convinced me that it was high time to write another action scene in the chapter I'm writing now, since there won't be any the next seven chapters I'll be posting. Hopefully it'll still be interesting enough for you.
Kristus Vesanus: The answer to applies to you too.
xntrek: I respond to all the reviews, though the depth of my response depends on the depth of the review.
gallandro-83: Actually, in my experience quite the reverse is true. People tend to review less in the summer holidays. Interesting point about Wolfe, though. Maybe some people don't like the fact that I've made a character of my own so prominent.
Furioh: I know that tridents and nets were the armament of a gladiators who favoured distance, speed and swiftness over the protection of a helm with visor and a shield. But I don't recall seeing a trident and net wielding Lizard-Man on TV or reading a book about it. I borrowed lots of things, but this wasn't one of them.
Saint Mike: Glad to have been of service.
Fragarach: LOLOLOLOL
justn: Ah, so you recognised the DBZ influence, eh?
nycgal: 10th grade? My, how fast children grow up. ;-)
Styles: No, I realise that the wait isn't a problem for a completed story, but my main concern was people skipping potentially important parts.
ObsessedwithSnuffles: I bet you didn't think you'd see Holly again, eh?
Nya: A lot of time passed between EaL and WB. And I think I did a pretty good job slipping in reasons for that different perspective on Heidi. To summarise it, the initial impression the canon Harry Potter crew got form Heidi wasn't really fair.
Athena McGonagall: Your guess is right on. Are you Military Intelligence? ;-)