(PoA) CHAPTER FOUR: Reunited

"Harry," Ellie called out to him a minute later as she emerged from the woods.

Harry whirled around, then instantly relaxed when he saw her. "Ellie? What are you doing out here?"

"What are you doing here?" she countered, running over to him. "You didn't—"

But he interrupted her with a long, deep kiss that made her completely forget what she was about to say.

Well, she thought grimly as he pulled away, if Sirius didn't know before, he knows now.

There was no doubt in her mind that Sirius was watching them; whatever his reasons were for asking her not to tell Harry the truth, Harry was still his godson, and he had to be curious about him.

"I blew up my aunt," Harry told her suddenly. "I think I'm going to be expelled from Hogwarts."

She stared back at him, eyes wide as she tried to process what he was saying. Then, suddenly, she burst out laughing.

"Think that's funny, do you?" he demanded as she tried to subdue her own laughter.

"Sorry," she wheezed, finally managing to contain herself. "It's just, at the rate my mum's going, I won't be going to Hogwarts in September, either. So at least you won't be alone."

He granted her his own strained, reluctant laugh as she guided him to the back door.

"Come on," she said. "Let's figure out what the hell to do now."


Harry had blown up his aunt for totally legitimate reasons, Ellie decided as she listened to his story; she'd said unforgivable things to him, and he was only human. Furious at his uncle and his remaining aunt (not that the other was dead; she'd just sort of floated away), he had thrown his things together and stormed out of the house, accidentally calling for a wizarding transport called the Knight Bus and giving it her address.

"I don't suppose your mum will let me stay here?" he asked her when he was finished telling her his story.

"Probably not," she admitted, frowning. Despite her keeping the truth about Sirius from him, Ellie loved having Harry back, and she wasn't ready to part with him again. "But what she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?"


"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

They'd been "sleeping" for about two hours, though Ellie wasn't remotely close to actually falling asleep. Harry had insisted on taking the floor, and the knowledge that her boyfriend was only a few feet away was making it very hard for her to think about anything else. "Can you please come here?"

Harry was silent for a moment. Then, to her relief, she heard the shuffling of his blankets as he stepped out of them.

He took a cautious seat on the edge of her bed, looking down at her.

"I don't know if I ever told you this," she said, "but I'm not a very good sleeper."

He grinned. "I picked up on it, actually, when I kept finding you and Fred in the common room together at odd hours in the night."

She tried not to feel guilty about that; he didn't seem to mean it that way, at least. "I think," she said carefully, suddenly feeling very nervous, "I'd sleep better if you were next to me."

His expression softened at that, and whatever gentlemanly instincts had led him to insist on taking the floor seemed to fade away.

"Then you'd better scoot over," he said.

And she did.


The next morning, Ellie woke to the pleasant feeling of Harry's arms wrapped around her—and the much less pleasant sound of her mother in a screaming match with someone.

She rolled over to face Harry, who seemed to be waking up at the same time as her. He squinted at her for a moment as if placing his surroundings, then smiled.

"How'd you sleep?" he whispered.

"Great," she whispered back. "Until my mum started shouting things."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before rising to her feet and pressing her ear against the door.

"…many times I have to say it—I want nothing to do with magic in my house!"

"I understand that, Ms. Prince, but I need you to understand that this is a matter of the safety of more than just your daughter. The Ministry has reason to believe that Harry Potter is here, too."

Ellie froze, eyes bulging as she locked eyes with Harry. He had heard it, too.

"Harry Potter?" scoffed Serena. "That's impossible. You'd think I'd know if…"

But she trailed off at that, seemingly having doubts.

"What do you want to do?" Ellie whispered to Harry. "We can try and hide you, but they'll probably find you eventually."

"I know." He ran a hand through his hair, looking frustrated. "If I come clean now, I can say I wasn't running—that I just… wanted to see you."

She grinned slightly at that. "Are you suggesting that you've just been using me as a place to hide from the Ministry?"

He shot her a sarcastic look, then cleared his throat and said, "Let's get on with it."

Ellie took a deep breath, opened the door, and shouted, "It's true, Mum—he's up here."

She waited with breath held until her mother shouted back, "Eleanor, get down here right now."

Ellie and Harry both trudged down the stairs at that. When she reached the foyer, her jaw dropped. It wasn't just any Ministry official waiting for them; it was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

She wasn't supposed to know who he was, of course. She only knew him from the day she had launched herself at him from beneath the invisibility cloak in her dog form to help Hagrid escape his arrest.

"Miss Prince," he greeted her warmly. "Mr. Potter. Cornelius Fudge, Minster of Magic. How relieved I am to see that you're both alright."

She tried not to read too much into that. Did the Minister of Magic know that she was Sirius' daughter?

"Mr. Fudge received word from the Knight Bus that Harry had been brought here," Serena explained pointedly to Ellie. She seemed to be answering Ellie's last question without words: no, he doesn't know, and don't let it slip.

"Actually, we received word that Neville Longbottom had," said Fudge cheerfully. "But thankfully, I was clever enough to know that Harry had used a pseudonym."

Ellie tried not to roll her eyes at that.

"Sir," said Harry. "I'm so sorry about what happened with my aunt. I didn't mean to—really. Didn't use my wand, or perform a spell, or—"

"Oh, don't be silly, boy," said Fudge, waving a dismissive hand. "No harm done, and all taken care of."

Ellie and Harry exchanged a look of disbelief at that. "But… sir," stammered Harry. "The last time I performed underage magic, I was warned that another strike would get me expelled."

"Nonsense!" chortled Fudge. "We hardly expel each student who blows up their aunt, now, do we?"

"Mr. Fudge," said Serena, clearing her throat.

"Right—right. My apologies. I have come to fetch Mr. Potter and bring him to Diagon Alley, where he will spend the remainder of his summer at the Leaky Cauldron."

"Hang on," said Harry, eyebrows narrowing. "What?"

"He's worried about your safety," Serena told Harry through clenched teeth. "It would seem there's a certain Dark wizard who's escaped from Azkaban."

"That's quite enough about that," said Fudge shortly. "Now, then, Harry. I've got two Ministry cars waiting outside. Come along, and—"

"Not without Ellie," Harry interrupted.

Ellie glanced sideways at him, not sure how to feel about his outburst. She wanted to go with him, of course; she hated it in this giant, stuffy McMansion, and she wasn't ready to part with him all over again. But would going to Diagon Alley mean leaving Sirius behind? Wouldn't it be more dangerous for him there than here?

There was so much they hadn't discussed yet—so much she needed to know.

"It's fine by me if it's fine by you," Fudge told Serena. "A good idea, even. Safest place besides Hogwarts, the Leaky Cauldron—especially now that we've stationed Ministry officials at every corner of Diagon Alley."

"My thirteen-year-old daughter, going off to live with her boyfriend for half the summer?" scoffed Serena. "It's hardly fine by me."

"We'll stay in separate rooms," Harry promised her. "Put someone on my door, if you like. I just want to keep Ellie safe, Ms. Prince—same as you."

Serena's lips pressed tightly together as she considered this option. She'd hoped that Sirius would have been caught by now, Ellie knew; she was starting to accept the reality that Ellie living with her was not a long-term solution.

"Fine," she finally said. "But you'll write to me every day, Ellie, until you're safely back at Hogwarts. And no leaving Diagon Alley for any reason whatsoever."


Two young third years, shacking up together? Granted, in different rooms, but still. Will Sirius follow them to Diagon Alley? Stay tuned for the next rather spicily titled chapter, "The King and Queen of Living in Sin," and don't forget to review!