Departure

A/N: Finally! Another chapter done! I am so sorry that it has taken so long, but life has been absolutely chaotic recently. Which I know is no excuse. I am very annoyed that we aren't allowed to do review replies any more, but thanks to Rubber-duckiesofdoom, Emma Barrows and juno malabre for reviewing – I absolutely love receiving them!

'This is ridiculous,' said Harry, slamming his hand down on the table. 'You can't let her go. It's too dangerous!'

'Don't think I don't know that Harry,' said Kingsley angrily. 'But since you'll be travelling as Muggles, she could end up being invaluable. Besides, Sally can look after herself. If she had never suggested it, I would never have asked her to go with you, but since she's so insistent…And to be honest, I'm quite impressed.'

'Fine,' said Harry, conceding defeat. 'But I'm still not happy about it.'

Kingsley fought a smile. 'There will be a briefing tonight so that you can leave tomorrow,' he said. 'Anything that you need to sort out before you go – do it now.'

'No, I don't think there's anything…' Harry stopped, suddenly remembering that there was something very important that he had to sort out. Immediately.

In Harry's opinion, being thrown in the air and then dangled upside down would be most people's idea of torture, but he had been doing it to Jack for the last five minutes and the toddler was still enjoying it.

As Alicia entered the room, Harry tried to put Jack down for the third time and earned himself yet another indignant wail from the two-year old, who promptly crawled out of the room. Laughing, Alicia kissed Harry and then sat down beside him.

"It feels like I haven't seen you in ages," she said, leaning on his shoulder.

"Mmm," said Harry, noncommittally.

Alicia sat up and looked at him. "That's your 'I have something to tell you but I don't think you're going to like it so I'm just going to sit here for a little bit longer' mmm."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "You got all that from 'mmm'?"

"It's a gift. So what is it you have to tell me?"

Harry sighed. "I have to go away for a while."

Alicia's face fell. "Again?"

Harry nodded glumly. Sighing, Alicia cuddled up to him again.

"It's not your fault. That's just what I get for dating an international Quidditch player."

Harry put his arm around her, relieved. After all, he thought, he hadn't directly lied to her, and this saved him from having to think up an excuse.

"I'll miss you," said Alicia.

"I'll miss you too. I wish I didn't have to go. But I promise that I will make it up to you as soon as I get back."

"I can think of a way that you can make it up to me right now."

Harry's reply was decidedly non verbal.

Harry returned to 12 Grimmauld Place to find Sally sitting on the stairs. Harry hesitated for a moment, unsure whether or not to try and talk to her, as the atmosphere between them had been frosty since their last conversation.

Before he could turn away, however, Sally caught sight of him and smiled.

"Sorry I snapped at you earlier," she said, moving so that he could sit down beside her. "I know you were only trying to help."

"I'm just worried about you," replied Harry, taking the proffered seat. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Harry, how long have you known me?"

He pondered this. "About fourteen years."

"So how long have you known not to try and tell me what to do?"

There was a pause. "About thirteen years and three hundred and sixty-four days."

"Exactly. Besides, I would have thought that you would be the last person who would try and stop me from coming with you."

"Why?"

"Ultimately, nothing would ever stop you going after Ron would it? Because he's your best friend. And even if you died trying to save him, you'd go down fighting."

Harry looked at her, trying to find a flaw in her logic, but he knew she was right. If it had been the other way round, there would be no way that he would let other people go and save his best friend while he just sat at home.

"Therefore, under the Hypocrisy clause," said Sally, a smile playing on her lips, "you haven't got a leg to stand on."

Harry laughed. The Hypocrisy clause stemmed from back when Sally, Harry, Ron and Hermione had lived together as students. It basically stated that none of them could get annoyed at one of the others for doing something if they would have done it in the same situation. The clause had often gotten Harry and Ron out of several sticky situations, and one memorable Christmas Day had won Sally two thousand pounds during a game of Monopoly.

"Seriously though," said Sally, "I know you, and I know that you would rather chew your arm off than talk about you feelings, and that you hide them by fighting battles with absolutely everyone instead. You haven't said anything about Ron's disappearance since we found out."

"I'm not going to break down and let it all out, if that's what you think," said Harry, avoiding her gaze.

"I know. But you can, if you want to."

"Thanks."

Sally stood up, picked up the box and began making her way up the stairs again. "Don't offer to help," she called over her shoulder, "I'm managing just fine here."

"Brilliant, I'll leave you to it then," said Harry, laughing as he dodged the teddy bear that Sally hurled at him.

Despite having been Emily's godfather for five years, Harry found that things about her could still surprise him. Like the fact that, judging by the amount of Barbie merchandise she owned, she was personally bankrolling Mattel. And the way that she managed to get chocolate ice-cream on her hands, face and even the back of her hair, but completely miss the napkin that Sally had tied round her neck.

"Try mine," said Sally to her daughter, who had just pushed the aforementioned ice-cream away from herself.

"What's in it?" asked the five-year-old suspiciously.

"One scoop strawberry, one scoop vanilla."

"Okay."

Emily pulled the bowl towards her and began to eat.

"When are you coming back?" she asked, between bites.

"I don't know, angel," said Sally, with a note of sadness in her voice.

"Promise you'll be back soon?"

Sally put her spoon down and gestured for her daughter to come and sit on her lap.

"What's the one thing I've always promised you?" she said, hugging the little girl.

Emily sniffed. "Never to make promises you might not be able to keep."

"Exactly. But I do promise to try and be back as soon as I possibly can."

"Isn't that the same?"

"No, because what if I'm trying to get back and then I…get captured by a dinosaur?"

Emily giggled. "And then when you escape from the dinosaur, an evil witch puts you to sleep for a hundred years."

"And then when I wake up, I'm marooned on a desert island."

"And then you have to sail all the way back here on a raft."

"And then…and then I get stuck in traffic."

Emily laughed again and gave her mother another hug.

"Tell you what," said Sally. She took a silver locket from around her neck and put it around her daughter's. "This was the first present your daddy ever bought me. I want you to look after it while I'm gone."

Emily nodded. For a minute, she looked as though she was going to burst into tears.

"Don't cry, angel," said Sally. Stroking her daughter's hair, she thought of the one thing that would always cheer Emily up without fail.

"I saw a mouse," she sang.

Emily gave a watery smile. "Where?" she sang back.

"There on the stair,"

"Where on the stair?"

"Right there!"

"A little mouse with clogs on," they sang in unison. "Well I declare! Going clip-clippety-clop on the stair."

Emily sat kicking her heels against the sofa, purely because she had been expressly forbidden to do so. Her mother had left earlier, with Harry, Bill and Charlie. For the first time in her life, Emily felt completely abandoned. Small sobs began to escape her, and before she knew it she was crying freely.

Little did she know it, but far away, both her parents were crying too.