A/N:
Disclaimer: I had a dream last night that Harry Potter and his friends belonged to me. Sadly I woke up this morning with nothing but a purple, pink and silver bedroom, a pink mobile phone, loads of clothes, all of the Friends episodes on VHS and the Harry Potter books and DVD's so I took that as a there is no way on this earth that I own them!
Summary: Harry has defeated Voldemort and he leaves the wizarding world after graduating because all is not well there. He returns after a year and discovers that his life has changed dramatically. Theres a new enemy but who is it? We follow Harry's life as he learns that One night REALLY can change everything in a persons life.
Thanks for all the reviews. They really made my day when I came home from work and read them all coz I have had a crap week this week. Everything and anything has gone wrong. On Monday I banged my knee that I injured dancing when I was 8 and has never healed properly so I was in agony, yesterday I had to work all day on my own and today I learnt that I had picked up the wrong key to get into work last night therefore I was locked out. I sepnt like 3 hours doing nothing when I could have been asleep and now tomorrow I might have to babysit during the day and I'm really pissed off about that coz I wanted a lay in before my driving lesson.
Anyways now onto our feature presentation. Here's Chapter 51. Enjoy!
Chapter 51 - Going Back
Ellie opened the front door and walked into the kitchen.
The first thing she saw was Hermione sat at the kitchen table crying while Ron, Ginny and Mrs Weasley tried to console her.
Ron looked up and saw Ellie standing in the doorway.
He walked over to her and dragged her into the living room.
"Where have you been?" he demanded.
"Nowhere" Ellie said while shrugging.
"You must have been somewhere! You've been gone since yeaterday afternoon! Don't you know how worried your mother has been?"
"Ron. I'm nineteen. Have I really got to tell you where I'm going all the time? Even Connor doesn't have to tell Fred and Angelina where he's going and he's thirteen!" Ellie told Ron in a tone of voice that she would use when telling Millie off.
"I've always said that Fred and Angelina let Connor have too much freedom. Your mother has been worried sick! She's had no sleep all night because she thought that you had done what your father did!"
"Well I never did what he did, did I?" Ellie said letting her temper take over.
"Where were you then?" Ron demanded.
"Okay! I was at Nick's. I went to pick Millie up and we got talking then I fell asleep. Look I'm sorry."
"You'd best tell her that. Sorry doesn't cut it for me."
Ellie nodded and slowly walked into the kitchen.
"Mum?"
Hermione looked up and saw Ellie standing in the doorway.
"Ellie?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry I worried you by staying out. I didn't mean to" Ellie said.
"I don't care about you staying out. I just wish you'd owled me to tell me that you were staying out. All that matters now is that you're home safe and sound. Where were you?" Hermione said as she tried to control her crying.
"I fell asleep at Nick's. I'm sorry Mum."
Hermione gave Ellie a cuddle and it seemed as though she wouldn't let go.
"Ellie can I talk to you please? Before your Mum squashes you" Ginny asked.
"Yeah sure."
Ellie followed Ginny into the living room.
They sat down on the old, beat up sofa and Ginny studied Ellie's face.
"You had sex last night didn't you?" Ginny said suddenly.
"No. What makes you say that?"
"It's written all over your face. I was nineteen once as well."
"No offence Gin but weren't you with my Dad when you was nineteen?"
"Yeah and I used to have that exact same look on my face after I had just had sex with him. He used to do this amazing thing with his tongue when he -"
"Ew Gin. I don't want to know!" Ellie screeched.
They both laughed and carried on talking about Ellie's night and joking around.
Outside The Burrow, a man was watching the house debating whether to go inside or stay outside with his invisibility cloak on.
Harry continued to debate whether to go inside the house as he watched Ginny open the window.
He moved a little closer and could faintly hear Ellie and Ginny laughing.
He decided that only being able to faintly hear them wasn't enough so he sat right under the window so that he could hear everything that was being said.
"Do you miss him?" Ellie asked.
"Who? Your Dad?"
"Yeah."
"Of course I do sweetie. I love him with every single inch of my heart" Ginny replied.
"When did it start?" Ellie asked again.
"When did what start?"
"You liking Dad. How did it start? He never talked about his past and I'm just curious."
"He never talked about his past because he didn't exactly have an easy time when he was younger. There's things that he hasn't even told me. Anyway I suppose my infatuation started when I was about Millie's age. Nana told me the story about the Boy-Who-Lived. At first I was infatuated with Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived but when I saw him on the platform when he was eleven I felt sorry for him. He was all alone with no one to wave him off or wish him luck so I did. I was ten at the time. The image of the Boy-Who-Lived didn't disappear until I got to know him when I was twelve and at Hogwarts myself. Even then though I never plucked up the courage to ask him out. I didn't have a boyfriend until my fourth year when I said that I was over Harry. That wasn't entirely true. If anything my feelings for him were getting stronger. In my fifth year I finally got what I wanted - Harry Potter as my boyfriend. By then I wasn't infatuated with the Boy-Who-Lived, to me there was no Boy-Who-Lived. I was in love with Harry. At the end of my fifth year he told me that we couldn't be together anymore because I was in danger. My heart broke into a million pieces when he told me that. You could say that I begged him not to break up with me. After that our friendship wasn't the same as it had been. We rarely said hello to each other. I pursued other relationships but they never worked and your Dad concentrated on Voldemort and the Battle. Then he disappeared after the Battle I tried to forget him and move on but I couldn't. Even now I try to forget him but I always find that I can't because he's in you, Peyt, Maddy and Jamie."
Ellie nodded and found that Ginny's tale made her have tears in her eyes.
Ginny had never opened up like this before, it was almost as if Ellie could read her like a book.
"Do you love me?" she asked.
"Of course I do. You're my stepdaughter. I love you like you're my own daughter. When I talk about you I refer to you as my daughter. You just have a different mother to Peyton, Maddy and Jamie."
Ginny then hugged Ellie and Peyton came into the room.
"Hey Mum? Oh sorry. Mum, Maddy's been gone all morning again. Honestly there isn't that much to do in the village. How can she spend so much time there?"
"Peyt. I'll talk to you later. It's fine if your sister wants to spend all of the summer in the village especially if it gets her out of the house and stops you two fighting over the space in your bedroom" Ginny replied.
Under the window Harry decided that he had heard enough and walked to the front door.
He knocked on it and could hear Ellie saying that she would get it.
She opened the door but wasn't prepared for the sight that was waiting for her on the other side.
She took one look at Harry and yelled for someone.
"Mum!"
Hermione appeared at the kitchen door and saw Harry.
"Mum, the man who donated his sperm to you so that you could have me is here!" Ellie said whilst she was glaring at Harry.
"Ellie wait!" Harry said as Ellie walked away from the front door and only stopping to pick Millie up.
"Come on Mills. Time for your nap."
Hermione looked at Harry.
"Um, want to go for a walk?" she asked.
Harry nodded and Hermione stepped out of the house shutting the door behind her.
They started to walk in complete silence until Harry spoke.
"So how have you been?"
"I've been fine. Mostly consoling my daughter because she thought her father had gone and done something stupid and left her again. Ginny's been worried sick about you."
"Yeah I guessed that she would be. How's Ellie been?"
"She's been good all the time that she wasn't upset. She didn't take too well to you leaving and as for seeing you just then - well you saw how she reacted."
"And the twins?"
"Peyton could do better. Her favourite pastime seems to be ratting Maddy out recently. She's not taken to not being the youngest anymore too well. Maddy has been disappearing into the village all summer and no one knows why she keeps going down there."
"Um, who's Millie?"
"Millie is Ellie's little girl. She's just turned two. Well she did at the end of June."
"Oh. What about the baby that me and Ginny were having?"
"Ginny had it the day after you left. It's not my place to tell you. She's the best one to ask."
Harry nodded and looked up at the Burrow.
"Are you ready to face everyone?" Hermione asked him.
"Everyone?" Harry asked feeling unsure of what would be waiting for him inside.
"Well Molly and Arthur are out. Ron's at work and Maddy's in the village. I'm pretty sure Fletch and Harmony are in their room and Tasha's at her friends house. That just leaves Ginny, Peyton, Ellie, Millie, your baby and me."
"Okay."
They walked into the house and Hermione instructed Harry to sit down in the kitchen while she got Ginny.
Ginny walked into the kitchen and almost fainted when she saw Harry.
"Hey Gin."
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" she yelled.
"Everywhere. All over England. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
"YOU'RE SORRY? YOU LEFT ME ON MY OWN WITH TWO TEENAGERS WHO ASKED CONTINUALLY WHEN YOU WERE COMING HOME! YOU LEFT ME WITH A NEWBORN BABY WHO I COULDN'T EVEN TAKE CARE OF!"
"What?" Harry asked dumbfounded.
Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled out a very crumpled letter that appeared to have been residing there for the past two years.
"Read this then you'll understand" Ginny said as she handed the letter to Harry.
Harry nodded and started to read the letter.
It said:
Harry,
I'm just writing to tell you that I have had our baby. I had a little boy nearly a year ago. It wasn't exactly an easy birth and I can't even remember it. The morning after you left I thought I heard you talking to my mother and I rushed to get down the stairs. As I was rushing I tripped and fell. When I woke up at St Mungo's I was told that I had had a Muggle procedure to get the baby out coz it was distressed. Because of how he was born I was diagnosed with Post Natal depression shortly after the birth. I basically disowned him because he reminded me of you. It took about three months for me to get better. But once I was better I named him. Our son is called James Arthur Potter like you wanted. We call him Jamie for short.
Take care,
Ginny.
Once Harry had stopped reading he looked Ginny in the eye and knew that he wanted answers from her.
"Why didn't you send this?" Harry asked.
"Because by the time I thought about it and I thought I was ready to send it the twins had stopped asking about you. It felt like I had finally moved on and I knew that if you read it then you would have given up whatever you were doing and came back here. I couldn't do that to you" Ginny explained.
"Oh? So you decided not to tell me about my son!" Harry yelled.
"I would have told you!"
"WHEN? WHEN HE WAS SIXTEEN? OR WHEN HE GET'S MARRIED? TAKE YOUR PICK GINNY?" Harry shouted at her.
The kitchen door opened and in walked a little boy with messy black hair and hazel eyes.
"Mummy? Why are you yelling?" Jamie asked.
"Jamie. Mummy's upset at the moment. Go and play with Millie."
"Millie is asleep Mummy."
"Go and play with Peyton then" Ginny told him.
"Peytie writing."
"Maddy?"
"Maddy flying."
"Ellie?"
"Ellie went to see Nick."
"Okay. How about I ask Peyton to stop doing her homework for a bit so she can come and play with you? Then Mummy will come and play soon. Maybe Daddy will too."
"Okay Mummy."
Ginny walked to the kitchen door and asked Peyton to come and get Jamie.
Once Jamie had gone, Ginny looked at Harry who was welling up.
"That's James?"
"Yes. Another reason why I couldn't send the letter. I was scared of you coming back. I was scared that you hated me and that you would try to take him away from me. If that happened I wouldn't know how to live."
"I would never do that. I could never live with myself if I took my son away from his mother. And I don't hate you. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Gin I love you more now than I have ever loved you before."
Ginny looked at Harry and hugged him.
"I'm sorry for not telling you about Jamie. I'll never do it again."
"Shh. I know now that you didn't mean it."
Ginny looked up at Harry and quickly kissed him.
"So you wanna come and play with Jamie?" she said before Harry could register what she had done.
"Okay then" Harry replied.
As they walked towards the front room, both could hear Jamie giggling as Peyton sang 'Row Row Your Boat' and probably with a dance to go with it.
Ginny knocked on the door and opened it once Peyton had stopped singing.
"Hey. Has he been good?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah. At least he didn't feed me a Canary Cream this time. He thought that it was highly hilar -"
Peyton saw Harry behind her mother and grinned.
"Dad!" Peyton exclaimed.
"Hey Princess."
Peyton ran to Harry and gave him a hug that could rival Mrs Weasley's hugs.
"Where have you been? I missed you. I didn't know where you were so I could tell you that I got made a prefect!"
"Sorry, I cut myself off from everyone. So how has my little prefect been?" Harry asked.
"Your little prefect has been good. I'm Head Girl and Quidditch Captain now."
"Well done. What about your grades?"
"They're good."
"So you're still singing and dancing then?"
"Only for Jamie and Millie now. Mum, have you seen Maddy at all?" Peyton said.
"No, she told me that she was going into the village but Jamie told me that she was flying."
"Oh."
They then heard the front door close and someone walking towards the front room apparantly not alone.
"Hey Mum. This is- Dad, hi" Maddy said as she walked into the front room.
"Hi Maddy. What were you saying?" Harry told her smiling.
"This is Matt. Matt's my um..." Maddy said while indicating to a boy that had blonde, spikey hair, dazzling blue eyes and was wearing a pair of black baggy shorts and a dark blue t shirt.
There was another boy with them as well.
He looked like the boy named Matt except his hair was more brown than blonde and he was wearing blue baggy jeans and a white t shirt.
"Matt's my um..." Maddy started again.
She looked at Peyton and pleaded silently with her to finish the sentence.
"Boyfriend" Peyton finished for her.
"Yeah my boyfriend."
Harry looked at Matt and held out his hand.
"Hello. I'm Madison's father. Nice to meet you Matt."
Matt took Harry's hand and shook it.
"Nice to meet you too Mr Potter."
Peyton giggled as Matt turned to look at Maddy.
"You full name's Madison?" he asked.
Maddy nodded.
"I like it. It's pretty and who's this then?"
"Hi I'm Peyton. Maddy's twin. So you're Matt" Peyton said.
She then saw the other boy.
"Hi I don't believe that we have met yet. What's your name then?" she said smiling.
"This is Ben. He's my older brother. He only tagged along because he said he was bored" Matt answered.
Peyton giggled while looking Ben up and down.
"Maddy? You said you was flying!" Jamie told his sister.
"Jamie do you believe everything that I say? You know that I can't fly. What do you think I am? A witch?"
Matt laughed understanding why Maddy had said that in front of her family and his brother.
He knew about her being magical but his brother didn't and it looked like he would be finding out soon judging on the way that Ben was looking at Peyton.
"Sorry, this is my brother Jamie. He's going through a phase where he thinks we are all witches and wizards. My other sister is probably at her boyfriend's house."
"Maddy can I talk to you in the kitchen please?" Peyton asked.
Maddy nodded and followed Peyton out of the fron room and into the kitchen.
Once they were inside and the door had been shut and securely locked with the use of a spell Peyton looked at Maddy.
"Wow! He's hot!" Peyton exclaimed.
"Who? Matt?" Maddy replied.
"Yeah he's cute too. I meant that Ben was hot!"
"What happened to the whole 'I'm never loving anyone again' and the 'I'm never having a boyfriend in my life!' things?" Maddy asked.
"I could bend the rules for him and besides guess who's coming to the end of summer party. I can meake him jealous!" Peyton said to Maddy while looking scarily like Matilda Malfoy.
"No! You are not using Ben in that way! I refuse to let you do that!" Maddy yelled.
"Maddy you're being a spoilsport now! Dan broke my heart! Doesn't he deserve some payback?" Peyton yelled back at her.
"PEYTON MOLLY POTTER THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO! YOU CANNOT STILL BE HUNG UP ON THAT!"
"OH COME ON MADISON LILY POTTER! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FELT!"
"Peyt you slept with Ellie's boyfriend. You brought it upon yourself!"
Peyton looked defeated.
"Okay I won't use him as payback. Can we just go and hang out with the hottest Muggles ever?"
"Okay."
Maddy and Peyton hugged each other as a way of saying sorry then unlocked the door and walked back to the front room.
As they walked into the room both Ben and Matt looked at them and laughed.
"Loved the usage of the full names Madison Lily" Matt told his girlfriend.
"Shut it! I was just having a chat with my little sister!" Maddy retorted.
"Just be thankful that you didn't know them when they were fourteen" Ginny told the boys.
"Why?" Ben asked.
"Because they fought every second of the day. The couldn't look at each other because it would start an argument. They even got suspended from school because they had a fist fight in their common room" Harry said.
"What school do you go to?" Ben asked.
"We go to a boarding school in Scotland. It's not known very well. This year will be our last year there" Peyton said.
"Oh so you're in sixth form then?" Ben asked.
Both girls nodded not really knowing what sixth form was.
"Um do you want to go for a walk Mads?" Matt asked.
"Yeah okay then."
Maddy got up and walked out of the room with Matt.
Peyton looked at her parents who grinned knowingly at her.
"Peyt, why don't you take Ben outside and show him the lake" Ginny said.
Peyton nodded and walked out of the house with Ben.
They walked in silence to the lake and sat down on the grassy bank.
"Why did you come here?" Peyton asked.
"When Maddy said that she had sisters I just had to meet them. I was doubtful at first but now I'm glad that I did come here otherwise I wouldn't have met you. You're really pretty Peyton" Ben replied.
He leant in to kiss her but Peyton stopped him.
"I have to tell you something first."
Ben got up and looked down at her.
"Oh God. You're not single are you?" Ben said.
"No I'm single. It's just that..." Peyton began.
"What's wrong?"
"Well um. You'd best sit down for this."
Ben sat down and looked at Peyton wondering what she was going to tell him.
"The thing is. You know what my brother said about flying?"
"Yeah. Maddy said that he was going through a phase" Ben told her.
"It's not a phase. Ben I'm a witch. Maddy's a witch, my Mum's a witch, my brother's a wizard and my Dad's a wizard."
"No way! You have got to be kidding!" Ben exclaimed.
"I go to school in Scotland but it's not sixth form. It's a school for wizards and witches" Peyton said.
"You're kidding aren't you? What about the rest of your family? Are they..."
"Magical? Yeah. My Nana and Grandpa are. My Aunts, Uncles and cousins are. So's my older sister Ellie and my niece."
"Can you do some magic?"
Peyton nodded and got her wand out.
She made the tip light up and saw Ben gawping at her.
"You think I'm a freak don't you? You hate me now" Peyton fretted.
Suddenly a pair of soft lips landed on Peyton's lips.
They stood there for what seemed like forever and only when Ben's arms started to move up and down Peyton's sides did she break away from the kiss.
"Did I do something?" Ben asked.
"No it was perfect. You're perfect but I can't do this. I haven't been truthful with you."
"You told me about being a witch. What else is there?" Ben asked.
"When I was fourteen. Oh Merlin I wish I'd never said anything now because you'll think I'm a slut" Peyton told him.
"No I won't. Nothing can stop me feeling the way that I feel about you. Just tell me" Ben replied.
"Okay when I was fourteen I had a miscarriage" Peyton mumbled.
"Who was the father?"
"My sister's ex boyfriend."
"Maddy's?"
"No. Ellie's. I think Matt's the first boyfriend that Maddy's had. When I slept with Nick it didn't mean anything. Some girl in a house that rival's mine at school had said some things about my family and I was a bit down in the dumps."
"That's in the past. It doesn't matter to me" Ben said sincerely.
Peyton nodded and looked into Ben's sky blue eyes.
"Thanks for listening and not running away. I bet you think that I'm annoying don't you?" Peyton said.
"No, not at all. I love that you have so many layers to your personality."
Peyton giggled.
"I always wondered why Matt wouldn't tell me anything about Maddy and now I know why."
Peyton giggled again and Ben kissed the tip of her nose.
They sat together in silence watching the lake for about thirty minutes.
Ben was holding Peyton's hand lovingly and stealing glances at her every few minutes.
"Peyt?"
"Mmm."
"What are houses at your school?" Ben asked.
"There's four. When you enter Hogwarts there's a big ceremony where the first years sit on a stool in front of the whole school and get an extremely old and intelligent hat placed on their heads which decides which house they belong in. Your house is kind of your family while you're at school. There's Gryffindor which is full of the brave people, Ravenclaw where the smart people are, Slytherin where the sly people go and Hufflepuff where the um rest of the people go" Peyton explained.
"What house are you in?"
"Gryffindor. My whole family has been in that house with the exceptions of a couple of my cousins."
Ben laughed and they fell silent once more.
A couple of days later it was the end of summer party that the Weasley's held each year.
Everyone would be there including (much to Peyton's dismay) Dan.
Peyton had invited Ben just as Maddy had invited Matt but not before they had had a long discussion about Dan.
The party wasn't due to start until seven that night but Dan turned up at the door at six sharp.
Maddy opened the door and glared at Dan.
"Don't look like that Maddy. It makes you look dumb" Dan sneered.
"What are you doing here?" Maddy asked.
"I came early to help you."
"Look Dan. You're not with Peyton anymore. You don't need to do this."
Matt appeared behind Maddy and looked at Dan.
"Is there a problem Mads?" Matt asked.
"Wow does little Maddy Potter have a boyfriend? It's about time. People were beginning to wonder if you were straight or if you swung the other way. Where's Peyton?"
"Geez what crawled up your arse and died? She's in her room."
Dan nodded, pushed past Maddy and Matt and walked up the stairs.
"Who the hell was that?" Matt asked.
"Peyt's ex. He's gotten so bitter lately."
Dan reached the door of Peyton's bedroom and found it slightly open.
He could hear the familiar giggles that belonged to Peyton and decided to go in.
He pushed the door open and saw a boy straddling Peyton while kissing her.
They were fully clothed but their clothes were rumpled which indicated that they had either been on the floor or that they had been kissing each other for a while.
"What about your ex?" the boy whispered.
"We went through this the other day.We're just friends. He knows that" Peyton replied.
The carried on kissing which slowly broke Dan's heart.
He turned round and slowly walked out of the house and out of Peyton's life forever.
You see that little button down there. Well it's lifelong wish is to be pushed. You know you want to make the button happy. So grant it it's wish and push it to leave a review! DUN DUN DUUUUUN! No piont in doing that really coz the next chapter is the final chapter. It's the epilogue and kinda wraps everything up.