"Take care, Harry. I know these have been the 'Holidays from Hell' for you but the worst is over …"
Harry raised one eyebrow at that comment, a sign that he certainly didn't agree with Hermione's sentiment.
"…Well then let's hope that it is so. Dumbledore should be able to sort things out with the ministry once they get your wand back."
"Don't you mean 'IF' I get my wand back? Remus has been missing for a week now. Even having extra werewolf strength won't mean he won't eventually crack under the Death Eater's torture." Harry posture of both hands thrust deep in his jeans pocket, shoulders rounded and slumped forward, eyes downcast and one foot scuffing against the flagged stone floor, spoke eloquently of his black mood and conviction that his troubles most definitely weren't over yet!
"Even if he is fine and does manage to get my wand, it'll only prove that it was used to cast Avada Kedavra, it can't show who cast it." Continued Harry, dejectedly.
"Ah! I'm glad you brought that up." Hermione's eyes were bright with her usual enthusiasm for findings long-forgotten or neglected facts. "I was doing some research on wand signatures. Mr. Ollivander was kind enough to point me in the right direction and Bill and I …"
"Bill?" Challenged Harry.
"Yes. Bill. … Bill Weasley? You know … Ron's brother?" said Hermione.
"I know which Bill you meant but what's he got to do with anything? I thought he believed I murdered the Dursleys?"
"That just goes to show how much of what you've been told since you've been here that you have not understood or taken on board!" Hermione said in her best 'school marm' voice.
Harry looked crestfallen and once again he found himself muttering "Sorry."
"It's alright really, Harry. I guess if I'd had to cope the way you've had to, my mind would be befuddled. Mrs. Weasley did tell you that Bill had spent a lot of time scouring the countryside on Sirius' old bike trying to find you. Well, now he knows you're safe he wants to do all he can to prove your innocence. He's got a marvellous logical way of working but also let's his intuition guide him as well. It's an usual way of working – especially for a man." Said Hermione.
Harry let out a small exclamation at that, in his opinion, sexist remark. Hermione noticed his reaction but simply replied "Wizards and witches have always recognised the very different strengths of each of the sexes and have relished them and almost encouraged them without decrying those who do not fit in with the norm. For example, the gift of prophecy nearly always appears in witches but very rarely in wizards. Spellcrafting, on the other hand, is nearly always carried out by wizards. My theory is that there is a genetic element involved and that some skills are linked to females where others are more likely to be displayed by males."
Harry's eyes had glazed over slightly as Hermione's lecture came to a conclusion.
"Anyway" Hermione continued, "as I was saying. Bill has been helping with research into getting a kind of feedback from the wand which could enable the identity of the spellcaster to be proven. We're not there yet but we've got some promising leads."
As Hermione was finishing her briefing, Eleanor had walked into the kitchen.
"I know you've already managed to produce a Patronus Hermione under Harry's expert tuition; I understand it takes the form of an otter."
Hermione and Harry both blushed at Eleanor's praise.
"If you ever decided to become an animagus I wouldn't be surprised if you took the form of a bloodhound. You really are a remarkably tenacious and resourceful young woman!" Said Eleanor.
Moody stepped into the room and without any preamble added "Reminds me a lot of you in your younger days Ellie!"
"In more ways than you can ever know Alastor." Added Eleanor cryptically.
"Miss Granger, if you have finally finished saying goodbye to Potter here, we'd better be off. I'll floo to The Burrow first, you follow after ten minutes. If there are any problems at that end I'll send an alarm back through the network. If that happens you must immediately Dumbledore." Hermione nodded her understanding and Moody stepped into the hearth and was gone in a flash of green flames.
"What's this alarm Mad-Eye was talking about?" asked Harry as he had never heard of any such thing before.
"It's actually one of Fred and George's inventions. Dumbledore and Mad-Eye had the idea but Fred and George refined it and got it to work." Hermione stated with not a little pride in her almost-brothers genius.
"I call them absolutely brilliant!" added Eleanor. "Wish we'd had a Fred and George and their talents 50 years ago; things might have gone our way much sooner."
Hermione realised that Harry's question still hadn't been answered. "Fred and George created what look like green-coloured sherbet lemons but if you arrive at your destination and it's unsafe, you drop it at your feet and it sends you back to your departure point but – and this is the smart bit – it seals off the fireplace so that you and the rest of the network isn't compromised."
"Brilliant!" said Harry with pride in Ginny and Ron's brothers. "What have they called them?"
"'Floo-Flares' said Hermione with a smile.
"Well I really must go now Harry, the ten minutes are up so it should be OK. Ron seems to get very agitated if he thinks I'm at risk so the sooner I'm beside him the better." She then stepped closer to Harry and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek while at the same time giving his hand a squeeze. "I have a feeling you won't be alone for long, Harry!"
Hermione turned, stepped into the hearth and with a shout of 'The Burrow' she was gone.
Harry stood staring at the empty fireplace for a few minutes, his thoughts tumbling this way and that; he was brought back to earth by Eleanor saying "Why don't you go up and get some sleep, Harry, you look done in."
"Mmm. Good idea." He muttered as he stepped from the room.
zzz
Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.
The sound, instead of being annoying, was comforting. Familiar. He knew that sound, knew it as well as he knew the sound of his wife's voice.
WIFE!
What the…!
Harry sat up abruptly and turned only to fall with a painful thump on to a hard wooden floor.
"Harry! What's the matter? You look as though you've seen a ghost!"
Harry looked towards the speaker; it was only his Ginny.
But she was different.
She had her hair braided back off her face but, Harry noticed, there was grey in among the still vivid Weasley red. Her face had smile lines at the corner of her eyes and mouth.
Harry slowly tried to stand but he found his joints were stiff and his legs and side ached. Looking at his outstretched hands he saw they too showed signs of ageing with liver spots and loose skin.
"Ginny?" Queried Harry. "What's the matter with you?"
"Now. Now Harry. Don't start fussing. The Doctor said fresh air will help and I know it's got a little chilly now the sun's gone in but I'm fine. Don't make me go to bed yet, please?" She added in a pleading voice.
Harry realised he was standing next to a porch swing that squeaked as it gently rocked back and forward. Ginny was sitting on a padded garden chair with her feet resting on a stool; a hand-knitted blanket covered her knees and lower body. In her stiff and arthriticky fingers she held knitting needles. She lived up her work to show Harry.
"Do you think Lily's seventh child will be a girl and repeat our pattern of six boys and one girl? I know it will be loved the same no matter if it be girl or boy – but it would be kind of nice. Don't you think?"
Harry sat down and stared at her in silence.
"Harry! You know what I'm talking about, don't sit there with a blank expression on your face. The pattern? Six boys and one girl! Mum and Dad, then us. Now Lily and Stuart. What do you think?"
Harry could still see Ginny but her outline was quickly becoming blurred. In his ears he could hear a loud buzzing, then everything went white.
"Harry! Harry! Are you OK?" It was Ginny's voice again.
Reluctantly and very slowly Harry opened his eyes.
It was the living room at The Burrow. In the fireplace there was a warm and comforting fire that had burned low and was now a mass of glowing coals. No lights were lit and Harry could only see Ginny's beautiful face by the flickering firelight. But even in that soft glow he could tell that this was a vision of the present-day Ginny not the aged but, in Harry's opinion, still beautiful Ginny.
The mother of his seven children? It had been so real – yet so unreal!
It was a comforting but curiously unsettling image.
For no logical reason Harry vowed not to mention his experience to anyone – especially Ginny!
"Harry?" This time as Ginny called his name it was accompanied by a gentle but insistent poke in the ribs.
Harry had been sitting with his feet stretched towards the fire; a copy of The Evening Prophet lay scattered at his feet as though it had slipped from his fingers as he slumbered. Ginny was sitting beside him, one foot tucked beneath her as she sat crocheting away, large quantities of completed work lay on her lap.
"I'm not asleep. Honest." Said Harry.
Ginny laughed at that. "Of course you are, silly, otherwise we wouldn't be able to talk."
"Yeah, I know that." Said Harry a little bit peeved. "What I meant was …"
"I know what you meant and it's OK. Hermione told me you'd be mentally and physically tired after all the talking and debating that went on today."
"Well that's a polite way of putting it. Ron'd probably just say that I'm knackered and he'd be right."
"Hermione wasn't sure, still, if you'd taken it all in. She said you sort of glazed over when she explained about Sirius will."
Harry had picked up the paper and was tearing strips off of it, rolling each strip into a little ball and flicking them into the white-hot embers, enjoying the little burst of flame when they caught fire.
"What are you going to do with Spinner's End?" asked Ginny.
"What am I going to do with what?" responded Harry absent-mindedly.
"Spinner's End." Ginny repeated. At Harry's blank look, Ginny gave an exasperated sigh. Putting down her work and turning to look Harry straight in the eye Ginny challenged Harry.
"Harry I want – no NEED – you to listen to me carefully. There are decisions you need to make that are very important but you need to fully understand the possible consequences of your actions."
"Oh! Yeah, right. Sorry." Said Harry. The fact that he sat up and turned to her mirroring, subconsciously, her post made Ginny believe she really had his fully attention for the first time.
"Spinners End" began Ginny in a slow and precise voice, "is the house that Sirius bought with the help of his uncle Alphard. No-one knew about it until Sirius' Will was read after his death."
At the mention of Sirius death Harry resumed picking at the paper; Ginny reached out one hand to still Harry's. He looked up into her eyes and Ginny saw unmistakable tears but Harry would not let them fall. As he had done in the hospital, Harry tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling and Ginny could see the effort it took to control the flow.
"Let them come, Harry!" The words were so quietly spoken Harry was not sure he heard them or just imagined them. "There's nothing wrong with tears. Let them flow and help to cleanse away the painful memories and let the joyful ones shine through."
"Boys don't cry." Said Harry and even to him the sentiment sounded both asinine and juvenile.
"That what the Dursleys told you?" questioned Ginny, softly.
Harry just nodded.
"What utter codswallop!" Declared Ginny unequivocally. "It's not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength, of understanding and compassion. It shows your humanity."
As she spoke Ginny had moved towards Harry and he had moved towards her. Harry's head now rested in Ginny's lap and she spoke quietly as she stroked his hair gently back off his face. Harry relished this undemanding intimacy, something he had never known and it was this, perhaps, that at long last let Harry's pain at the loss of Sirius, his parents, Cedric and even the Dursleys, break free into a torrent of tears. Once he started he couldn't stop. He wept long and he wept hard.
Eventually his sobs subsided and Ginny leaned down to gently kiss him on the forehead. Again there was a bright light and a flood of warmth.
Behind Harry's closed eyelids he had seen Ron and Hermione; they were sitting side by side on the bank of the small pond in the meadow next to The Burrow. Ron had Hermione snuggled close to his chest and Harry could even see Crookshanks curled up at Hermione's side.
No sooner had the image come – that it was gone!
"Do you think they've kissed yet?" Ginny asked mischievously.
"God, I hope so!" said Harry. "Otherwise Ron's going to be a bigger pain than usual when we get back to school."
"Ron? What made you say Ron? I was talking about Luna and Neville." Said Ginny, puzzled.
"Luna and Neville? But I saw Ron and Hermione." Said a perplexed Harry.
"How odd! When I kissed you I felt a warmth and saw a white light. Next thing I saw was Luna and Neville in a greenhouse working side-by-side repotting plants and smiling at each other like a pair of lovesick puppies. Perhaps we should tell Dumbledore." Said Ginny.
Last year Harry had balked each time that same suggestion had been made. Harry still didn't fully trust the aged Headmaster but Harry had to acknowledge that things might have turned out a lot different if he had.
Reluctantly he agreed to Ginny's suggestion. "When will you next see him?" asked Harry.
"Harry, you'll see him before I will. He's going to dinner at Hill House tomorrow night." Said Ginny.
"Why?"
"To find out what you want done with Spinners End."
The conversation had gone full circle and he could avoid the subject no more.
Spinners End, it transpired, was a large country house that was in the same village, Godric's Hollow, as Harry's first and only real, home. James, Lily and Sirius had planned on linking the two homes by an underground tunnel a-la-Shrieking Shack.
Harry knew his parents had been warned of Voldemort's determination to kill Harry and prevent Trelawney's prophecy coming true, he supposed this tunnel was to provide a safe and convenient escape route.
Why then had they not used it on Halloween Night 1981?
Unlike Grimmauld Place, Spinners End did not have the numerous wards and charms on it. Nor was it unplottable. Harry wanted to see the house for himself before he decided what he should do with it and to do that he would definitely need Dumbledore's help.
"Gin, if Dumbledore let's me visit Spinners End and Godric's Hollow, will you come with me?" asked Harry.
"Of course I will Harry. I'll have to check with Mum and Dad first though."
"Perhaps your Mum could come too. I'd appreciate her thoughts on … things." It might be a bit old-fashioned but Harry also wanted to know whether Molly and Arthur approved of him as Ginny's boyfriend.
"Do you think your Mum and Dad…!" Harry voice trailed away.
"Mum and Dad, what? Harry. You're not making much sense." Said Ginny.
Harry felt unaccountably nervous. "Do you think your Mum and Dad would mind if we started going out?" he managed to articulate at last.
"Oh, Harry, you daft thing! I'm certain that they not only won't mind, they will be delighted. They already treat you as one of us!" said Ginny confident in her parents' response.
"Yeah, but Voldemort's not looking to kill you!" said Harry with a distinct nervousness in his tone.
"True. But then the Weasleys aren't exactly his favourite family either, Harry."
Harry screwed up his forehead at this comment.
"Why do you think Lucius Malfoy gave me the diary back in my first year?" Challenged Ginny.
Harry looked puzzled but then stated "That's obvious. It was to lure me down to the Chamber and kill me."
"Wrong!" Proclaimed Ginny.
"Harry, when Lucius Malfoy planted that diary on me it didn't directly relate to our relationship. Malfoy picked me so that if it came out that a pureblood daughter was killing off muggle-born students then Dad's Muggle Protection Act would not have been made Law. When I told Riddle all that stuff about you he counted that as a distinct bonus, that was all."
"Well that 'bonus' nearly got you killed!" said Harry angrily throwing a much larger bal of paper into the flames.
"But I'm not dead! I'm fine and you're fine." Said Ginny. " We learn from our mistakes and move on. Otherwise we stagnate and don't grow."
"That's why you get over things quicker than I do I suppose." Said Harry quietly.
"That, and having six older brothers and parents who don't let past hurts fester. In a house as crowded as ours, we don't have the room to storm off in a huff and stay that way for long."
"I'm not in a huff." Said Harry defensively.
"I didn't say you were, silly. You've not really been listening and taking on board anything Hermione and I have been telling you. Have you?" Challenged the feisty redhead again.
"I've been trying. It's just that I hate the idea of benefiting from anyone's death, the Dursleys are bad enough…"
"Only fair if you ask me, after everything they put you through."
"Maybe so, but Sirius…?"
"Sirius loved you Harry." Stated Ginny. " You heard him on that cliff-top. He doesn't blame you, he blames himself for dying and not being around to help you deal with Voldemort."
"I suppose …" began Harry but Ginny cut him off again.
"There's no suppose about it. He wants you to have it … and Remus too."
"Remus? What's he got to do with it?" Harry didn't remember his name being mentioned even though it was.
"Remus gets Grimmauld Place, you get Spinners End, the library and artefacts go to the Order and you, Remus and the Order get equal shares in the realised capital. Sirius suggested setting everything that neither you nor Remus wants and dividing up the proceeds. He also said there's some personal effects at Spinners End that he thought you'd like but suggest Moody checks them out first as he hadn't checked them since before he went to Azkaban."
For the first time since the will was mentioned Harry showed some real interest in what was going on round him.
"If he wants Moody to check, do you reckon stuff could be dangerous?" worried Harry.
"Well, remember that silver music box when we were cleaning Grimmauld Place? Perhaps there's stuff like that? I never thought about it before. I should ask Dumbledore he'd know if anyone does, or perhaps Remus?" Harry's eyes actually had a small sparkle of interest in them for the first time in a long time.
"It won't hurt to ask him. Perhaps, if it is not too painful for him, we could ask him to come with us to Spinners End?" suggested Ginny.
"Is there any news yet?" She continued.
"Nothing in the Prophet and I've not 'seen' anything about him, only of Sam being held."
The two sat in comfortable since staring at the still-glowing embers of the fire. After about fifteen minutes Ginny said "What's it like living at Hill House?"
Harry did not answer immediately but Ginny only picked up her work and carried on crocheting. She seemed to be content to let Harry answer in his own time.
"Eleanor's really nice you know. She reminds me a bit of both McGonagall and Hermione. She fought alongside Moody during Voldemort's first rise to power. I think she was an Unspeakable like Bode and Croaker." Said Harry after a while.
"I didn't get the chance to talk to her much when I came over but I did catch her and Mad-Eye exchanging odd looks." Commented Ginny as she turned her work round and changed the colour of yarn she was working.
"They used to go out together I think, but I don't know what happened." Harry then remembered about the cellar. "I just remembered something. Harry sat up attentively, alert, Ginny picked up on the importance of what he was about to say and put down her work, all attention on Harry's words.
For a good long while Harry recalled Mad-Eye and Eleanor's words to each other as Harry stood concealed, he thought, on the cellar steps.
"Did you go right to the bottom of the steps?" questioned Ginny. Harry closed his eyes as he recalled the events of that evening.
"No I was told to come down by Mad-Eye and I got as far as the bottom step but it was freezing down there. I'd asked who the 'She' was that they had been talking about – Moody had said that I wouldn't be alone and 'she' would always be at my side. Eleanor then said that might be my biggest trial. I have no idea what she meant and then Eleanor added 'So near and yet so far – within arms reach but untouchable!' and lastly she asked Moody 'Does she know?' but Moody never answered her." finished Harry.
"And they never told you any more? Didn't tell you what they were on about?" asked Ginny.
"Nope! Not a word. Moody made some comment about it being my turn to ask the questions but by then we were back upstairs and Moody saw the state my feet were in and the conversation changed track. I forgot all about the 'she' they'd mentioned.
Sounding remarkably like Hermione, Ginny said "I wonder what's so important in that cellar that even the entrance to it is concealed? Do you remember anything else about it? Did you see any books or anything?"
"There was a large lectern in the shape of a phoenix with its wings outstretched." Said Harry. "As I got to the bottom step Eleanor lifted a very large book off of it. She took it to a large stone chest with runes carved all over it, the book was placed inside and the lid closed with a soft thud."
"Well that sounds like a Libris." Said Ginny.
"A what?" enquired Harry with a puzzled expression on his face.
"A Libris." Repeated Ginny but she realised that once again Harry's upbringing in the Muggle world was showing. "Sorry. A Libris Chest. Most wizarding families have one." Explained Ginny slowly and carefully slipping into an almost teaching tone of voice. "All important documents, certificates, lineages etc., belonging to wizarding families are kept in special chests which can only be opened by a member of the family to which it belongs. It's charmed and when a witch or wizard turns 11 a drop of their blood is dripped on to the family tree carved on it's lid and from that point on they can open the chest. At 11 they can access the upper chambers only. When they reach 17 another drop of blood then allows them to access the rest of the chest."
"Chambers? In a chest?" then Harry recalled Moody's chest, the one he'd been imprisoned in for almost a year. That had seven looks and seven keys. "Oh. Right!"
After thinking on this information for a minute or two Harry asked, "So you have a chest at The Burrow?"
"Well no, actually we don't. The Weasley chest was kept at Dad's older brother's house. He was my Uncle Bilius. Bill's named after him. He died just after I was born but I know he and Dad were very close. Dad still gets choked up when he thinks or talks about him." Ginny eyes were sad and downcast.
"Sorry." Said Harry again. He was aware that there was more to this than Ginny was saying but he decided not to force matters. "So you reckon the chest in the cellar could be one of those Libris Chests?"
"Could be. Same idea anyway. Did you see anything else?"
"There were tapestries on the walls like that horrid family tree at Grimmauld Place but the names were much much smaller and there were loads of them. Hundreds even! Too small to read anyway."
"That's curious! Unless it was just the Cantwell family tree? But I don't remember hearing anyone other than Eleanor with that Surname."
zzz
"Harry? Who are you talking too?"
Harry could feel a hand pressing on his shoulder, it was quite strong and the voice was quiet but commanding all the same.
"Ginny?" queried Harry not quite awake.
"Nearly." Quipped Jenny.
Harry sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. Jenny handed him his glasses which he put on. Instantly Jenny and the room came into focus. Eleanor stood in the doorway, one hand still resting on the door handle.
"Hungry?" asked Jenny just as Harry's stomach gave an answering rumble.
"Starving!" he said and he went to throw back the covers and get out of bed. Then he remembered he had stripped off completely when he'd come upstairs!
"Er. Jenny… I'll see you downstairs in a little while. OK?" Harry was blushing furiously. It was too good for Jenny to pass up, so she reached over and pretended to tug the covers away. Harry blushed redder than ever and pulled them up to cover the bare chest that Jenny had been staring at.
"Never could stand hairy chests. Give me a smooth bod any day!" teased Jenny.
"And what does Dr. McGregor have then? Don't tell me you haven't found out yet?" smirked Harry with one eyebrow raised in question.
'Yes' thought Harry 'the best defence was definitely offence.'
Eleanor was still standing in the doorway while this little exchange was taking place.
"Advantage Potter, I think." Came the dry comment from the smiling witch.