Fem Harry Potter (Meghan 'Meggie')/Thorn birds AU. Pater Ralph de Bricassart stays himself. There is no HP character I could possibly imagine for that role. And honestly - who didn't admire Richard Chamberlain as Pater Ralph de Bricassart? And: most of the dialogue is not from me. I just wrote around it and changed the names and some little things…

And like the preceding story, the length of this one got a bit out of hand...

Meggie first set foot into Australia when she was nine years of age. Her obscenely rich aunt - Petunia Dursley, an old widow - had sent for her father and her family. She needed a steward for her large farm, The Burrow, seeing that she grew old and could not manage it on her own any longer. Arthur Weasley and his wife, Lily, thence left New Zealand with their eight children to start anew in Australia.

The journey was a long and tiring one and Meggie was very relieved once they arrived at Gillanbone, a small city in the middle of nowhere. They should have been picked up by someone as soon as their train arrived at the station but no one was there and the Weasleys had to wait. About a quarter of an hour later, a very handsome and very young catholic priest arrived at the station in his fine vehicle. As soon as Meggie saw him, she was captivated. He introduced himself as Father Ralph de Bricassart.

'Good day, Father. This is my wife Lily and our sons James, William, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George and baby Ron.' He pointed at each one - Percy, the twins and Ron were younger than her. The Father greeted each of them with a handshake. He was about to say something, when Meggie appeared from behind her father and looked up to the handsome, young man.

'And who are you?' He asked after looking at her for a rather long time.

'I am Meggie!' she said shyly.

'Meggie.' He said, while leaning down and caressing her chin with his index finger. 'Meggi.' Her heart leaped in her chest and was ready to burst of joy. He offered his hand to her and led her family to his car.

Miraculously, they all somehow fit into the vehicle and were brought to The Burrow, a very large farm with a beautiful, victorian looking manor house situated in the center of it. They entered the big house together and were introduced to their aunt Petunia, a bitter, old Lady who has been living on her farm by herself for 30 years. She seemed satisfied to see her brother and his family but scrunched her face up in distaste as soon as she heard Father Ralph call her 'Meggie'. The young girl did not understand at all why her aunt seemed to dislike her so much and even continued to stare at her and tried to figure her out after her family went outside again. But Father Ralph called her name, again, and took her small hand, leading her away to her waiting family.

The house they would be living in was a very modest one but in better condition than the house they had owned in New Zealand. The wooden roof wasn't leaking and the walls had no holes in them. The windows were not broken and they had more rooms to live in than before. Although the boys had to share their rooms. Meggie was fortunate enough to have her own because of being a girl.

Father Ralph became the only constant in her new life, seeing that her mother seemed to ignore her simple presence and that her father favoured her brothers over the only girl of the family. He even persuaded her aunt to let her go to school in Gillanbone and enabled her to live in his house. Father Ralph was there, whenever she needed someone but sometimes it felt as if he needed her, too.

One day she found him praying in his church, kneeling in front of the altar. He seemed to be in agony about something that must have happened at The Burrow.

'Father, I'm so glad that you are back!' Meggie said softly. He turned around and walked over to her but did not greet her in his usual way. 'Father, what's wrong?' She inquired.

'I'll never have, what I want!' He hit the wooden bench. 'Never be, what I want!' He sounded quite angry. 'And I don't know how to stop...wanting!' He stared into the emptiness before looking at her and waking over. Kneeling down, he said 'It's alright, Meggie! It's alright!' He took her hands and kissed them. 'It's just that sometimes, God's lessons are very hard for me!' He looked into her eyes and seemed so sad. Meggie placed her hand on his cheek hoping to cheer him up a bit.

'Like sister Dolores and her ruler.' He smiled at her ere pulling her into an embrace.

'Yes. Come on, it's cold in here!' He picked her up and carried her up to the room she occupied in his house while in school in Gilly.

The other day, he found her crying in her bed. She clung to him like he was her only salvation, spilling her tears all over his fine frock. They had had a very nice day on the fair here in Gilly but during the end of the day, her brother James had had a bad argument with her father - over boxing of all things - and left them in a hurry after affectionately saying goodbye to Meggie.

'Oh Father, promise me you won't ever leave me!'

'Oh Meggie, darling Meggie!' His hand drew circles on her back. 'Meggie, James had to leave!'

'But why?'

'Because… Because it hurt him too much to stay.'

'It'll hurt more without mum and me! Because we're the ones who love him!'

'Meggie, for each of us, there comes a time when we must search for the thing we think we need above all else. No matter what it costs.'

'You mean the thing that'll make him happy?'

'Happy.' He was silent for a few seconds. 'There is a story, a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, which sings more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, his existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so the legend says.'

'What does it mean, father?' He pulled her close again.

'That the best things in life are bought only at the cost… of great… pain.' When she looked at him she found a strangely haunted look in his eyes and not for the first time did she ask herself what it meant.

Meggie grew up to be a wild but handsome young woman. Father Ralph was always at her side and taught her not only the lessons of God but also the ways of a woman - something her mother neglected to do.

Shortly after her seventeenth birthday - she had not seen Father Ralph for some weeks - her aunt Petunia threw a large Birthday-Party for herself. Meggie wore a beautiful rose coloured dress - ashes of roses - that she had sewed herself. She hoped that Fater Ralph would like it. And her.

Once she descended the stairs, her eyes found Father Ralphs. He watched her in quite a trance. His mouth slightly ajar, completely ignoring the woman he was talking to. At the end of the staircase, she was greeted by her brothers and other guests of her aunts, ere she walked through the room, ever conscious of him and his eyes that never left her. The smile on her lips was only for him.

Her aunt opened the dance with the Father after a few words to her guest and as soon as she tired, others took to the dancefloor and replaced her ugliness with their elegant frocks and gowns while swaying to the music. It was then that she found him.

'Father?' He turned away from his conversational partner and looked at her. 'Are you enjoying the party?' She asked, her heart beating in her chest.

'Oh Meggie, yes! Are you?' She nodded quickly and found his eyes. He smiled and placed his hand on the side of her head, cupping her cheek and stroking it softly with his thumb. But he quickly withdrew it as if something had changed his mind, letting it fall limply to his side.

'Yes, it is a lovely party! Excuse me, Meggie!' He walked around her, looking for someone else to talk to. Meggie stood rooted to the spot and felt a strange pain in her heart. What had just happened? He arrived at her aunt's chair, who used the opportunity to chat him up. But sadly, Meggie was too far away to understand anything.

Being quite stubborn, she sought him out later that night.

'Father, why don't you want to be with me? Talk to me? Is there something wrong?' He turned around, the strange haunted look had returned to his eyes.

'You look lovely, Meggie, so grown up!' He studied her face for some seconds. 'I have to talk to the Creevey's!' He excused himself and went away only for Miss Parkinson to find and insult her and then interrupt the Father and ask him to a quick and lively dance - the black bottom, a very popular Charleston.

Meggie had enough and - close to crying - left the party to go outside. She paced in the rose garden for some minutes ere she went to the stables, saddling her horse and leading it outside into the courtyard. She climbed on it's back and rode to the small pond she used to swim in all the time. Stopping her horse she heard his voice calling her name again and again but she couldn't stop her tears anymore and they spilled all over her pretty face.

'Meggie, darling, don't cry! Here,' he stopped beside her and offered her his handkerchief. 'Dry your eyes like a good girl!'

'I don't want it! I'm not a child anymore!' She pushed the offered handkerchief away with more force than necessary. 'Why don't you just go back to your dancing?'

'I know that you're not a child. Anyone can see that you've grown to be a beautiful young woman. You have been by far the loveliest girl in the party tonight!' She looked up and gave him a shy smile. 'But that's just the problem. Everyone knows that I come to The Burrow more often than I need. If I had paid you the tiniest bit of attention tonight it would be all over the district in record time!' She lowered her face again. 'Don't you see?'

'No I don't see!' She stubbornly said. Why would it be so bad if they were seen together?

'I think you do!' He got of his horse and walked over to hers offering his hands to help her down. She placed hers on his shoulder and jumped down, hugging him tightly to herself.

'Oh my Meggie. Meggie. Meggie. Meggie.' He pushed her away slightly. 'We have been over this before. What you mustn't do is getting in the habit of dreaming about me in some sort of romantic fashion! When you're a woman you meet a man destined to be your husband. And then you will be far too busy getting on with your life to think about me except as an old friend who helped you through some bad times while growing up.' She looked down, not liking his words at all. His finger suddenly lifted her chin upwards. 'Allright, my Meggie?' But he still had the right to call her 'my Meggie'? It was so unfair.

'Yes father.' Bitterness laced her words. 'I understand!'

'Come on!' He started walking and urged her to follow him. They walked in silence for a while. He was so close to her that she wanted nothing more than to take his hand in hers, to feel his arms encircling her waist. What would it feel like to kiss him?

'What are you thinking, Father?' She suddenly asked.

'Just about the land that is so beautiful, so pure and so indifferent to the creatures who presume to rule it!' He was silent again and she looked down on her feet. 'And what are you thinking, my dearest Meggie?' Her heart contracted violently. Oh if he only would...she stopped herself and answed.

'Just that I wish the sun would never come up.' She raised her head and met his eyes. 'We could stay like this forever!' She gave him a beautiful smile, which fell as soon as she saw that his haunted expression had returned. For a moment he looked as if he wanted to say something but he took her arm instead and led her back to their horses. The ride back to The Burrow was shadowed by a painful silence.

The next day brought the death of her aunt, Mrs. Dursley, who was found lifeless in her bed and who gave everything she owned to the church and Father Ralph, while the Weasley's would only be the stewards. Her family was disappointed but they didn't want to contest any of it and instead accepted their destiny.

The burial was agony for her because she had to see him, seeing that he tried everything possible not having to talk to her. He would not even look at her except in passing. He held his sermon but somehow Meggie thought that there was some kind of sadness in his voice. A sadness that was not dedicated to her aunt. A sadness she did not understand at all.

Later that day, she found him outside, looking quite severely in pain.

'Father?' She walked down the stairs and into the rose garden. His back was turned to her and his hand was grasping the hem of his robe. 'Father, what is it?'

'She has won, Meggie. I betrayed you!'

'Betrayed me?' What was he talking about? Why had he betrayed her? Who had won?

'Oh she knew me so well. She knew that if she stripped you of everything that I had no choice. But no, she made sure you neither want anything nor have anything either. All your life you'll have to look to me.' He fell silent. Was he talking about her aunt?

'I don't understand…' Meggie said. He looked at her and it seemed as if he had to fight an internal battle.

'Oh you'll be respectable, even socially admissible but you'll never quiet be Miss Weasley. Never quite be one of them!' He said with some contempt.

'I don't want to be like them. To be stupid and cruel and vicious like Miss Parkinson. How could you even think of that, Father?' Meggie protested. Money was not everything after all.

'Oh Meggie, don't call me Father!' He turned away to sit on the small stony bench. His head bowed for some seconds ere he looked up to her again. 'I'll be going away, Meggie. Soon.'

'Oh Father!' she sighed and quickly sat down beside him. 'Why?'

'Don't you see? It's part of her plan! I brought in £ 13000000. And a holy priest who brought in £ 13000000 would not be left to languish here in the back of beyond. The church knows how to reward its own.'

'Oh no!' she was devastated. Would he really go away and leave her behind? 'No!'

'Oh my Meggie!' His hand found her hair and pushed it softly behind her ear. 'It's better this way!' She looked at him.

'How could it be better to take away what I love most in this world?'

'The better for me!' He stood up abruptly while her tears started flowing. 'Better for me than to have to marry you to somebody else. Better than staying here and having to watch you change into something I can never have.' He looked at her, agony and pain clearly in his eyes. 'Meggie, when I saw you last night I almost hated you!'

'Hated me? For growing up?' She cried. How could he?

'Yes!' He paused and sat down again. 'Oh Meggie, when you were a little girl you were like my own child. You were the rose of my life!' His hand found her cheek, caressing it softly. 'I could have you then!' More tears streamed down her cheek. Her heart felt so damn heavy.

'You could have me now! You could marry me! You love me!' she said with a sure finality.

'But I love God more!' His hand left her cheek again and she heard him sigh. 'I do love you, Meggie. I always will! But I can't be a husband to you!' She looked up at him while taking his hand in hers. 'If only I could make you understand what being a priest means to me! How God fills a need in me no human being ever could.'

'Not even me?' Father Ralph lowered his eyes for a moment. It was that moment Meggie seized to kiss him. He was resisting at first but then a dam broke and he kissed her back with so much passion. She was in heaven for a moment. But all good things ended much too soon. He pushed her away while murmuring 'I can't. I can't.' He placed both hands on the sides of her face.

'Good bye, my Meggie!' He rose abruptly and hurried to the garden door without looking back.

'Father?' she cried, running after him. He stopped at the gate to look at her one more time but turned around quickly and ran down to his car. She watched him leave with a small smile on her face.

'Go on then. Go on to that God of yours. But you'll come back to me because I'm the one who loves you!

The fire on The Burrow destroyed so much. It took not only the lands but also the lives of her father and her beloved brother and confident, Percy, who was the only one who had picked up on her forbidden feelings for Father Ralph. The only brother who truly understood her and took the time to talk to her.

But the fire also brought Ralph back to her.

He found her crying in the old shed.

'Meggie!' He said, sitting down in the dust next to her. He offered his arms and she fell into them. Crying even harder.

'Oh you've come back!'

'Darling Meggie, don't cry!' He hugged her closer to him, his hand on the top of her hair. 'The world hasn't come to an end because of a fire, no matter how terrible it was! You're safe. That's all that matters!' He loosened the embrace. 'I was so worried about you! Colin Creevey called me and I flew right out. Imagine…' But her sad eyes and tears stopped him mid sentence.

'Then you don't know…? Father, Daddy and Percy, they're dead!' Her voice broke at the end. He looked at her with disbelieve in his eyes.

'No. Meggie.'

'Daddy died in the fire and Percy found him. And then, there was a wild boar and it killed my Percy.' He hugged her again.

'Meggie.' He pushed her back slightly to look at her. Tears and grieve marred her pretty face. He stroke them away, kissing her eyes first ere closing his lips over hers. He started out slowly but his kisses - their kisses - were soon full of need. He groaned suddenly.

'What is it?' She asked.

'The plane bogged the mud when we landed in Gilly. I must have bruised my side.' Meggie drew back and carefully opened his shirt.

'Let me see.' A bloody, purple bruise was situated on his chest. 'Oh Ralph, you rode here from Gilly like this?'

'I hardly noticed.' She leaned down some more. 'I was worried for the horse making it through all this mud. I borrowed him…' He stopped abruptly because Meggie had started kissing his wound with her soft, warm lips. '...in Gilly.' He continued. 'Oh God…' Meggie didn't stop kissing him. 'Don't!' He said. Meggie trailed her kisses across his chest and up to his chin. 'Oh Meggie, don't…' But his lips closed over hers again and travelled down her neck to her shoulders and the soft flesh of her breast.

'No…' He cried desperately while pushing her away. 'Meggie. What have you done to me? What might you do to me if I let you!' He shook her lightly. Meggie stared at him for a moment ere rising to her feet. Anger walled in her and she stormed out of the shed, leaving him sitting in the dust and wallowing in his own misery.

After the funeral, Meggie just descended the stairs to go outside, when she heard her mother and Father Ralph talking.

'I'm finished with with my tears forever!' Her mother exclaimed quietly. Meggie hid behind a column to eavesdrop.

'But you still have two sons left. And you have Meggie. It's not too late for Meggie!' He breathing stopped abruptly. Was there some hope left?

'Meggie?'

'Will you promise me something?'

'If you like.' He sat down next to her mother on the chaise.

'Look after Meggie. Don't forget her! Make her go to the local dances, meet the young men. Make her look around the world and help her find a good man to marry who will give her children and a home of her own!' Meggie gasped quietly. How could he say such cruel things? 'It's time!'

'Whatever you say, Father!' her mother said with a dead voice.

'Lily, she your daughter…! It's as if you never remember that!'

'Does any woman? What's a daughter?' Meggie couldn't believe her ears. Could it get worse? 'Just a reminder of the pain. A younger version of oneself. Who will do all the same things. Cry the same tears. No father. I try to forget I have a daughter.' Meggie lowered her head and left the house, tears pooling in her eyes. How bitter had her mother become?

She walked along the terrace, looking at all the burnt roses, finding only one that wasn't. She picked it up and caressed it with her hands, thinking of nothing and everything.

A few minutes later, someone left the house and approached her. It was Ralph. She turned to him for a moment ere looking back at the single rose.

'It survived.' She offered it to him but he pushed it back to her.

'Meggie I need no reminder of you. Not now, not ever. I carry you within me, you know that.' She pressed the rose back to her chest. 'I must go!'

'Yes. Everything is alright now.' A hint of bitterness and anger in her voice. 'All in order. The dead are buried and blessed and you and mum have my life planned out.'

'Meggie, we must make an end to this! My life belongs to God. You've always known this!'

'That dear and gentle God. Who has taken from me everyone that I've loved most in this world. One by one. James, and Baby Ron. And Percy and my father. And you of course. Always you!' She gave him a look full of contempt but he just watched her with no expression on his face. 'God is merciful.' She said mockingly. 'There will be no one else to grieve.'

'He is merciful. I know that you can't see that now, but he is!' A soft, benign smile appeared on his face. 'He spared the rose! He sent the rain.'

'No, Ralph. Who sent the fire?' His smile vanished. She grabbed the flower, wanting to destroy it but stung herself on its thorns. It fell to the floor. He took her hand and softly covered the small wound with his lips. But still being bitter and feeling betrayed by everyone, especially him, she pulled her hand away and stormed back into the house, not looking back. If she had, she would have seen him picking up the rose.

Nearly three years later, Meggie - frustrated of not being able to forget Ralph - made a rash decision she would come to regret soon. She got married. To a simple worker, Cormac McLaggen. He had been quite charming during their short courtship but she soon discovered that he was of the mercenary kind who only saw her as a sexual object that brought money and rather spent his time in the company of men. She rarely saw him because he was always off cutting cane but tricked him into unprotected sex to get pregnant the few times he did visit. She had moved to Queensland with him and was living with a kind and caring couple - Neville Longbottom and his wife, Luna.

In her last stages of pregnancy, Cormac had visited to tell her, that he would go working on another sugarcane plantation further away and thus would not see her for some time. He also needed some more money to save for a house. Meggie offered him to ask Father Ralph but he got very angry and left the house, claiming that it was beneath him to beg for money with an archbishop.

Meggie teared up terribly and decided to remove from Queensland and to return to The Burrow. But Luna kept her from making a rash decision and calmed her enough into staying some more months. But all of the drama had started an early labour and Meggie collapsed into her bed. A doctor was called and sedated her but there was nothing else he could do.

Just as the pain was worst, there was a knock on her door and someone entered the room.

A hand took hers and a soft kiss was placed on her palm. Meggie turned her head.

'Ralph.' He smiled at her and push some damp hair out of her face. 'Ralph.' she said again but another contraction made her scream again and lose consciousness.

He returned to her side about a quarter of an hour later. She was awake again and moaning. He sat down next to the bed and dried the sweat off of her forehead with his handkerchief. Shushing and mumbling calming words.

Hours later her pain ended and Meggie finally gave birth to a baby girl - Ginevra McLaggen.

'Isn't she a beauty?' The nurse asked, carrying little Ginny.

'There is nothing wrong with you, is there?' The baby started crying and everyone tried to calm it.

Ralph stayed for some days but his bad news came.

'I must go soon.'

'I expected that.' Meggie said not at all surprised. 'It's funny how you always show up for life's great crises and then melt away like the Holy Ghost.'

'I'm sorry you're not happier about the baby.'

'Before she was born I said I hated her!' She said but sighed deeply. 'I don't.' She leaned forward. 'What I wouldn't give if she were yours instead of Cormac's.'

'Meggie.' He walked over to her side, taking her hands.

'Oh Ralph. Why must the church have all of you? Even that part of you she has no use for. Your manhood.' she exclaimed.

'You already know the answer to that, my Meggie. It is a necessary sacrifice.' Meggie groaned and threw his hands away. There it was again. 'My Meggi' and 'sacrifice'. How she hated that word.

'Necessary. Come off it, Ralph. I'm not a child anymore. And I'm not your Meggie. I never was. All those years that I loved you and I waited for you, and I wanted you. You never wanted me!' She cried. 'So I tried to forget you with someone else. But he doesn't want me either.' Resigned, she sat back while Ralph sat on her bed. 'You think you are no ordinary man but there is not a penny's worth of difference between you and Cormac McLaggen.' He looked at her in silence. 'You both are just great, big, hairy moths bashing yourself to pieces over a silly flame. While all the while out there in the cool night there's food and love and babies to get.' She grabbed his face with her hands. 'Don't you see it? Do you want it?' She looked into his eyes, feeling the tears returning to her own. 'No.' She shook her head sadly, her wavy red hair bobbing along. 'And so it's back after the flame again, until it kills you.' He sighed heavily.

'God knows how much I've hurt you. But I do love you!' She smiled for a moment, imagining that he meant it.

'Yes, you love me. And God more than me.' His hand caressed her wet cheek. 'And yourself most of all, Ralph.' He let her go, shocked about her words. 'Yourself and your ambitions.' He looked down.

'Meggie, this is very hard, I know, but please, don't let it make you hard! You've always been my rose!' He softly brushed her hair with his fingers. 'The most beautiful human image and thought…'

'No!' She cried, batting his hands away. 'An image? A thought? That's all I am to you, isn't it, you romantic, dreaming fool? You haven't the least idea what real love is!' She pulled her hair lightly. 'Oh go away! I can't bear to look at you anymore!' Shocked he rose from the bed. 'And there is one thing you've forgotten about your precious roses, Ralph. They've got nasty, hooky thorns!' She pushed her long fingers in his direction. Without another word he left her room. Meggie dropped back unto her pillow, crying and believing that this would be the last time she would ever see him.

'Another Christmas without Cormac!' Meggie said, setting the table for her, Luna and Neville at their home.

'Meggie, I think you have to face the fact that Cormac will never leave the sugar while he's got the strength to do it.' Luna said in her typically dreamy voice while feeding Ginny with a bottle.

'I know. He loves the life, he really does. Out there every day proving to himself how manly he is.' She stopped her activities for a few seconds. 'Maybe if I were able to truly love him it would be different.' She continued pouring the water in the glasses.

'It's the Archbishop you love, isn't it?' Luna asked. Meggie looked up in surprise and with a hint of true sadness in her eyes. She put the mug on the table and went over to Luna.

'Always!' She said softly. 'All my life I've cried for him like a child crying for the moon. But I've got to stop crying. I'm not going to waste the rest of my life dreaming of a man I can never have.' She kneeled down on front of her friend. 'I don't know if I can wear Cormac out or wait for him to wear himself out in that bloody cane, but I've got to try.'

'Why do you have to try when he's brought you nothing but grief?'

'What else do I have?' She looked at her baby, then. 'And I've got to make some kind of home for Ginny. I owe her that much.'

'That's the finest Christmas Dinner I've ever seen!' Neville's said, making them both turn around. 'Meggie, listen to me for a moment!' She walked over, Ginny now in her arms, still sucking the bottle. 'Luna and I are worried about you! You haven't gained your strength back since Ginny was born. What you need, is some time to think, time to rest and get away. Figure out what it is you really want!' She looked at Neville quite confused. 'So…' he continued 'We're sending you away for a while. And all on your own!' He took Ginny and the bottle from her.

'Away?' she asked. 'What about you?'

'Oh don't worry, Meggie. We will manage!'

Matlock Island was beautiful. So green and quiet and completely bereft of any kind of the hustle and bustle that was found on the mainland. She was going there by boat and was picked up by a kind elderly man, a Mr. Dumbledore. He took good care of her, delivered her safely to her apartment and looked after her from day to day, even asking her when her husband would arrive. Meggie told him that he never would.

She used the time to wander the white, sandy beaches, to bath in the warm and lovely water and to try and reflect on her life. But sadly she never managed to ban him from her thoughts although she often begged God to free her of this intense pain.

It was a beautiful day when the unimaginable happened. Meggie was enjoying - or whatever you would call it with all the misery inside her - the waves and thought nothing bad when a car horn sounded behind her.

'Turn around, Mrs. McLaggen, I have a surprise for you!' Albus, the nice elderly men, cried. 'I've brought your husband!' Husband? Meggie asked herself. Had Cormac actually come to his senses? It couldn't be… and she was right. The man coming closer was not her husband. No, he was none other but Ralph de Bricassart himself. But what did he want?

'They told me where to find you!' He said as soon as he was close enough to her. 'Meggie. Forgive me.'

'No. Damn you! No more!' She cried hotly ere turning around to running away but he was faster and caught up to her easily. Ralph threw away his jacket and grabbed her arm, dragging Meggie down with him into the sand where he smothered her in his kisses and drowned her in ecstasy.

Time flew by unnoticed and found Ralph carrying his Meggie back to the house where he made her his for all eternity. She had never felt happier or more loved than when she laid in his arms that night and all of the nights that would follow his short stay on Matlock Island.

In the early hours of the morning after his surprising arrival, Meggie quietly hid the noisy clock on the bedside table underneath some piece of her clothing, hoping, that if she couldn't see the time it would stop ticking.

'You are still awake, my Meggie!'

'I was afraid to sleep!' whispered she with a broad smile. 'Afraid you'd be gone when I woke.' He kissed her lips while pulling her into his arms. 'What are you thinking, Ralph?'

'That in all my life I've never awakened in the same bed with another human being. That I'll never waken again without wanting you there beside me.' He kissed her again. 'That I've fought a terrible battle and I've lost it! All those years of denying I was a man and all to find with you that I want nothing more than to be a man. That I'll never be more than that!' Meggie smiled happily.

'The day that I first met you at the Gilly Station you smiled at me. Then you said my name.' She touched her fingers to his chin. 'Then you touched me.' She kissed his lips. 'And since that day, I have somehow known though I never saw you again my last thought this side of the grave would be of you! And there is nothing I could do to change it!' She traced along the side of his face with her index finger. 'You know how terrifying it is that power you have over me?'

'How could I fail to know?' His kiss was sweet yet there was something else. Meggie watched him intently and tried to remember his face, tried to imprint it unto her brain's core. His eyes met hers and for a moment she glimpsed a look of haunted grieve. A doomed look. She knew then that he would leave again and go back to the church. To God. His duties. But never again with the same spirit but more able to serve. For only those who have slipped and fallen knew the vicissitudes of the way.

Yet those few days of his stay were the best of her life so far and she would always remember them, live of them for all eternity.

One early morning she found him sitting on the beach, completely lost in his thoughts which seemed to keep out everything else.

She walked down to him, taking her time, and kneeled in the sand, hugging him from behind. He took her fingers and kissed them softly.

'When Ginevra was born you said I still saw you as a child or some ideal image. And it was true. How else could I fight you? To see you as you really are. With a body that molds perfectly to mine and a soul that lies open to me would be to lose my soul.'

'And now you think you have lost it just by being a man. What kind of God would shut men out of paradise for loving women?' She placed her chin unto his shoulder.

'A God I still can't give up for you.'

'I know…' Meggie changed her position and sat down in front of him. 'I know but now you're here with me and while you are here, you're mine.' She kissed him once more, knowing that those days - that he - would soon be gone.

They made love on the beach that night with only the stars and the clouds to witness their passionate embrace.

On the next morning, Albus arrived with the car to pick Ralph up and take him away from her. Probably forever.

'What will you do now?' He held her hand.

'I have the house for two months.'

'And then?' Meggie shook her head and lowered her eyes.

'I'll write to you from Rome!'

'No!' she said forcefully. 'I don't want letters.'

'I may never see you again!' She nodded and turned away, looking over the vast ocean.

'As punishment for this?'

'My punishment is never to be sure again that I love God more than you!' He pulled her into his arms and tears spilled over her cheeks. He buried his face in her hair ere kissing her one last time. She softly pulled back and stared at the ocean again while he touched her hair once more. She grabbed his hand and held it for a moment. Then, he pulled his away and hurriedly walked to the waiting car. Down below on the beach, he raised his arm in goodbye and was gone. Only the prints of his feet in the sand showed her that he had been there moments before.

If you want to follow anywhere the heart goes, I would be here when you want me, anyway you want me.

Meggie sat on the terrace of The Burrow, her newborn son, Tom, his son, slumbering in her arms, her mother to her right. She looked out into the vast outback, thinking of him and their wonderful time on Matlock. A year had gone by since then and Meggie had divorced Cormac ere moving back in with her family on The Burrow.

But the quiet of the afternoon was disturbed by a car slowly driving on the farms grounds.

'Do you expect any visitors?' Her mother asked.

'No. Maybe something happened in Gilly?'

'That could be. Who knows…' She squinted her eyes a bit, trying to see who was coming. 'Maybe it is better for me to take Tom. I am not so fast anymore on my old days.' Meggie nodded and handed the baby over to her, rising from her seat and walking over to the gate, waiting.

The nearer it came, the better she could see the red robe the driver was wearing. Had something happened to Ralph? Or had he already become a Cardinal? The car stopped only a few feet away and both doors opened. The red Cardinal got out first - it wasn't Ralph. But as soon as the passenger turned around, she found herself looking at the man she loved so very much. He wore the same white suit he had worn a year ago at his arrival at Matlock. He smiled at her and Meggie couldn't stop herself from running into his open arms.

'Oh Ralph…' She sighed.

'My Meggie.' He placed his hands on both sides of her face before he placed a soft kiss unto her lips. 'My darling Meggie, how I've missed you!' He kissed her again, pressing her even closer into his warmth. When they parted, he cupped her cheek lovingly and found her eyes. She noticed that they were lighter than she had ever seen them.

'What about your friend, the Cardinal?' She asked unsure.

'Oh he knows, my Meggie.'

'And he will not tell anyone? If the Vatican finds out…'

'Don't worry my dearest!'

'But…' He placed a finger unto her lips. 'Well, how long can you stay?' She looked towards the Cardinal again.

'For as long as you will have me! But I had hoped forever!'

'Oh Ralph!' She threw herself in his arms again, burying her had on his shoulder. He fastened his arms around her. 'You don't know what it means to me. How happy it makes me…'

'I do. Believe me, I do!' She closed her eyes and smiled brightly.

'I like forever.' He released her and took her hands into his, placing kisses upon her knuckles. Meggie turned to the Cardinal, giving him a low courtesy in greeting ere looking back to Ralph. 'Please come inside, I want you to meet someone!'

And good years, bad years would all fall away if I knew that your heart would follow my heart someday.

AN: Every time I watch The Thorn Birds I hope against hope that Ralph decides differently and returns to Meggie. But he doesn't and the movie always ends the same, so I decided to give them a much happier ending for the eternal peace of my soul...