Tomorrow Never Came
Chapter 3
It was exactly twelve minutes past ten the next day. Harry, who stood with his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans and the hood of his jumper pulled up over his hair, hadn't been able to draw his gaze away from the industrial looking office building across the road from them. More specifically the buildings' glass revolving door.
It was a bright but nevertheless brisk spring morning, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were currently in the city centre of Birmingham, where the Muggle Melody Broadcasting House was located, just a mile or so north of the Bullring. Even though Harry had made the decision that he wanted to meet Ren on his own, Hermione and Ron had still offered to accompany him for support, so the trio had flooed to New Street Train Station (to a specific platform which, to the busy throngs of Muggles, never seemed to be the platform that their train was in).
From there Hermione had led the way through the hectic streets until they found themselves stood opposite a tall, white brick office building which had a large silver plated sign reading 'Miller and McLaggen Ltd.' attached to the wall beside the entrance. Harry wasn't surprised, however, when after watching the sign for a minute or so the metal letters slowly began to shift, morph and extend into the words 'Muggle Melody Broadcasting House. Founded by Jonathan Miller and Angus McLaggen 1967'.
"What happens if a Muggle wanders in there?" Ron had asked as they watched people come and go through the revolving doors.
"Well as far as I know it doesn't happen often, as there isn't actually any information about Miller and McLaggen Limited available to the public, but I think I read somewhere that the doors stop at a separate reception hall and whoever is sat at the front desk tells them that they're too busy to take on any new clients, and then when the Muggle leaves they just happen to forget that they had even gone in there." Hermione explained, but Harry hadn't really been paying attention.
He had been to preoccupied with the paranoia that they had missed Ren. What if she flooed directly in and out of the building? When he expressed this thought to Hermione she did her best to calm him down. "I mean it's possible," She had started. "But from what I've seen most people leaving the building seem to be walking down there-" She pointed to a small alleyway about half a mile away from the building. "-which is making me think that there's a safe apparition point down there."
"I hope you're right." Harry had said. However it seemed he needn't have worried. It was another five minutes before the person for whom they were waiting for appeared, and when she did Harry' heart involuntarily began to speed up.
A tall woman emerged through the door, and despite the fact that she was wearing dark cateye sunglasses in order to shield her eyes from the sun's glaring rays, Harry knew it was her.
He studied her, taking in every detail he possibly could. The sunlight played against the avalanche of dark curls that tumbled over her shoulders, making them look slightly more bronze than chocolate. She wore dark jeans on her long legs and some kind of trendy cape made up of geometric patches of maroon, navy and beige wrapped around her shoulders in place of a traditional coat. She looked both striking and effortlessly cool, and Harry watched as she turned to her left and began walking in the direction of the alleyway Hermione had pointed out. She was wearing leather knee-high boots on her feet, but the high heels did nothing to break her stride as she strutted down the street.
"It's now or never mate. We'll meet you back at Grimmauld Place, yeah?" Ron murmured to him, before giving Harry a slight push in order to break him out of his stupor. It seemed to do the trick. The Boy Who Lived turned back to his friends and gave them a quick nod of agreement before beginning to quickly cross the road, successfully dodging the traffic until he was on the same street as Ren, just a few paces behind her.
Last night Harry had lain awake in bed, tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning, trying to figure out what on earth he was going to say to Ren. Nothing seemed right, not given the volume of what had happened to them. Between now and eighteen years ago Harry had grown up and defeated the most evil wizard in existence, and Ren would surely be well aware of that. But would she still see him as the little baby she was Godmother to? Harry didn't know. Every possible greeting he had considered had vanished from his mind, but he didn't let that stop him.
"Uhhh-" Harry cleared his throat. "-excuse me, Ms Gallagher?" He managed to find his voice when he was about a meter behind her. He sounded croaky and nervous. Upon hearing her name Ren turned at the waist in order to see who was trying to catch her attention. At first her brows had been furrowed behind her sunglasses, but when she spotted him Harry saw them shoot up in shock as she let out a strangled gasp. Oh yes, she undeniably knew who he was.
She froze in her tracks, facing him fully, and that's how the two of them stayed for Merlin only knew how long. In reality it was probably only a few moments, but as Harry stood there observing his lost Godmother, people bustling past them, it could have been hours. "I… I, erm," Harry tried to break the silence that had enveloped them but he seemed to have lost his nerve. All coherent thought had apparently abandoned him, so instead of saying anything he just pulled the hood down from his head so that he had something to do. Just as he tried to flatten his hair down Ren spoke.
"Jesus Christ you look like James," She uttered, more to herself than Harry. Her voice was soft and husky. It suited her. She quickly removed her dark sunglasses, revealing her even darker eyes to him. They stood out all the more against her clear, porcelain skin. "Your eyes are all Lily though." She added. "They always were." She shook her head and looked down sheepishly. "Sorry," She muttered. "I bet you get sick of hearing that." Ren smiled softly at him, and Harry let out a small huff of amusement.
"I don't mind it so much." He told her as they continued to watch one another.
"I… I bet you've got a lot of questions, huh?" Ren went on to ask after another long pause in which they continued to stare at one another, and Harry nodded slowly.
"Yeah, but I reckon you have too. In all honesty I don't even know where to start." He shrugged.
"Well, if you wanted we can get off the streets an- and go and find a cafe, so we can y'know, have a coffee and talk? Or we could..." Ren trailed off, obviously trying not to fumble over her words. She looked away awkwardly, and Harry could immediately sense the guilt radiating from the woman. Any trace of anger that Harry may have possibly felt towards Ren for not being in his life instantly vanished. She might have had her reasons for staying away but it was plain to see that she regretted it. Harry, in a bid to make her feel more at ease, reached out and took her hand.
"Coffee would be great." He said warmly, giving her fingers a reassuring squeeze. Ren's gaze darted back to his at the contact, and when she met his eye she grinned at him. Her smile transformed her whole face. It seemed to radiate joy in the most infectious way. So much so that Harry found himself grinning back.
"Brilliant," Ren exhaled breathlessly. "Come on, there's a lovely little coffee shop a couple of streets away. It's not a far walk."
"I'm glad you know somewhere we can go because I'm out of my depth here. Never been to Birmingham before you see." Harry said. They fell into step together and began strolling down the pavement, Ren's long legs having no trouble keeping up with Harry's strides.
"Have you not? Well I'm happy to be your official tour guide." She laughed. "I have to ask Harry… how did you find me?" Ren went on to question just as they came to a traffic light crossing, looking at him seriously. "Or at least, how did you find out about me? I know there was an article in the Prophet about me getting the job at Muggle Melody so I'm assuming that's how you knew where to find me."
Harry watched the approaching traffic slow to a halt, signalling it was safe for them to cross the road. He answered as they resumed walking.
"In all honesty I only found out about you a couple of days ago." He told her, neglecting to mention the contents of the memory box he had found in Sirius' bedroom (not wanting to betray his Godfathers privacy any more than he already had by snooping around in it himself) Harry instead told Ren about the selection of photographs.
He finished just as they reached a quaint looking coffee shop. Harry barely spared a glance at the rustic little store, alternatively keeping his eyes trained on Ren. She had taken hold on the shops door handle but was making no move to pull said door open.
"So it was… an accident?" She asked softly. Harry shrugged.
"I guess, but I'm used to finding stuff out like this though. I mean I found out about my Godfather by eavesdropping on Cornelius Fudge and Professor McGonagall under my Dads invisibility cloak, so this was nothing really."
"Bloody hell," Ren murmured, more to herself than anything, as she turned away, pulled the door open and led the way into the small tea room. Harry followed her inside and in no time at all they were tucked away in a secluded corner of the room just in front of a large bag window, Ren with a large coffee before her and Harry with a pot of tea. "So…" Ren started, and Harry could feel her subconscious awkwardness set in. The woman seemed to be fighting an inner battle with herself, debating what to say. She gnawed on her bottom lip, stirring milk into her coffee as she did so. It was at least a minute before she settled on shaking her head and seemingly deciding to throw caution to the wind.
Placing her spoon upon the saucer which her cup sat on she looked up, stared Harry dead in the eye and began to speak. "Harry I'm sorry for not being there. F-for staying away. I've read enough newspapers to know that your mother's family didn't… didn't treat you how they should have, and I-" She suddenly broke off, inhaling deeply and turning away, glancing out of the window to her side. She paused for a moment longer before continuing. "If I could have come to you I would have." She whispered, and Harry stared at her.
"Why couldn't you?" He asked and Ren sighed.
"Because I was told to stay away." She said, flicking her eyes to meet his. Harry felt his brow furrow in confusement. "I'm sure you know that Professor Dumbledore felt it would be best for you to grow up in a world where no one knew your name," There was another pause as she debated her words. "But he especially wanted me to stay away after everything which had happened with…" She trailed off, unable to mention the elephant in the room. The thing that Harry hadn't been sure how to bring up from the moment they had started talking.
Sirius.
"Ah," Harry said.
"Dumbledore was insistent that the girlfriend of the Dark Lords 'supposed right hand man' wasn't a suitable candidate to raise you. Which… which I understood, but... I did everything I could to prove that I didn't know that Sirius was-" She caught herself and sheepishly looked away again. "The Professor took you to your aunts and then came straight to me. By then Sirius had gone after Peter. Dumbledore told me everything and I-" Another deep breath. "I took Veritaserum to prove that I didn't have anything to do with it. That I wasn't in on the plan to kill two of the people I loved most in the world."
Whenever Ren stopped talking the silence was deafening. It was as if there was no one else in the shop, or even the world. All that Harry could focus on were the words leaving Ren's mouth. "But it wasn't enough." She breathed, as quiet as a mouse. "Wasn't enough for them to let me have you. According to Dumbledore it was enough to secure my freedom, to show the Ministry that I wasn't in on it. But that was it. Dumbledore he… he made me take an Unbreakable Vow. I'm sure he meant well, but he didn't trust that I would stay away. So he made me swear that I'd stay away until you turned seventeen, or until you found me first."
She had made an Unbreakable Vow?! Harry felt, for the first time since he had discovered Ren's existence, an immense amount of sympathy for her. He hadn't stopped to think of how her life would have been affected. A part of him had just assumed that she had simply moved on and washed her hands of the situation. However now Harry could see that the wounds were still raw and painful.
"I believe you." He told her, to which Ren exhaled in relief. "What did you do then? After everything had calmed down?" Ren shrugged at his question.
"Well news of who my partner had been travelled pretty quickly. Understandably people didn't really want to associate themselves with someone who was the girlfriend of a mass murderer, so I left. Growing up my dad had worked on a dragon reserve in Sweden, and I went back there. Of course the mistrustful looks were still there but the questions were less, so I was pretty much left alone. I never got married. Never had children. I got used to being alone."
"When did you move back to the UK?"
"About two years ago. With the majority of my mother's side of the family being Muggleborns I wanted to be close to them." She didn't need to explain any further why she wanted to be with her family.
"Did you…" Harry shoved his hands into his pockets awkwardly in preparation for his next question. "Did you believe that Sirius betrayed my parents?" At first silence loomed in place of answer.
"I…" Ren began. "...I didn't want to. I think I was in denial for a while. We all suspected there was a traitor amongst us, but I never would have dreamed of it being Sirius. And when James and Lily were killed I just, I-I didn't know what to believe. I lost myself, as well as Sirius and your parents. And when I lost you that was the final straw. I ran. I didn't have anything to stay for. Remus tried to convince me to stay but I just couldn't." She shook her head. "I regret leaving him more than I can even say."
Harry couldn't help but wonder if this was the first time she had ever said her story out loud. He had a feeling it was. "I thought about coming to you after you had killed Voldemort." Ren added. "When the war was won and Sirius was declared innocent… but at that point it was just easier to stay away I guess. You'd already been through so much already, and Sirius," She hesitated. "From what I've seen in the papers Sirius seems to be enjoying his freedom very much." Harry looked away awkwardly. That was putting it lightly.
"Ren I'm sure he misses you." He couldn't help but insist. "He just… he doesn't even know if you're alive or not. I think he's trying to ignore how he's feeling."
"It doesn't matter, Harry, don't worry. I mean we're both different people now." Ren shrugged. "Anyway can we please talk about you for a little while? Just reading about you in the paper has driven me mad, I swear to Merlin."
At first Harry didn't know where to begin. What was he meant to say? Summarizing everything that had happened to him in the last eight years would be one hell of a task, but something about the way Ren was looking at him made him want to share it all with her.
"How much time do you have?" Harry asked with a dry chuckle, and Ren smirked at him. It was twinkling, mischievous and reminded him all too clearly of Sirius.
"I've got all the time in the world for you." She told him, so Harry took a deep breath and began to talk. He realised that, like Ren, this was the first time he had ever done this. Told his story. He recited everything that had happened to him since discovering his Wizardry. It felt oddly soothing, like for the first time he was acknowledging all of the madness that he had experienced in such a short time.
He started with the unconventional way in which he had found out about his true nature (thanks to Hagrid) and meeting Ron and Hermione. Ren smiled warmly as he described his two closest friends, however when Harry told her about saving the Philosopher's Stone followed shortly after by defeating the Basilisk she had cursed loudly, outraged that he had gone through so much at such a young age, to which Harry laughed.
"Ren, trust me that's nothing." He confessed as he took a gulp of tea, and his Godmother gaped at him.
"Jesus Christ, if I were you I'd want something stronger to drink than English bloody Breakfast." She exhaled, nodding at his cup, and Harry couldn't help but snort in amusement.
When he proceeded to tell her about his third year Ren remained completely silent. Her face was expressionless, revealing nothing to Harry, so he moved on to describe the events of the Triwizard Tournament and the return of Voldemort. That certainly got a reaction out of Ren. She let out a shaky breath and reached over the table to grab his hand. "I… I remember that point when the media turned against you. When they were calling you a liar for claiming the Dark Lord was back. I didn't want to believe it but I knew no child of Lily and James would lie about that."
Her face suddenly contorted with anger. "How the hell did you cope Harry?" She asked in wonder, and Harry shrugged, unable to give her an answer because in truth he didn't know.
Instead he simply proceeded with his story, telling her about Umbridge's tyranny, Dumbledore's Army, the battle at the Ministry for the Prophecy, Sirius' narrow escape when he nearly fell into the Veil (once again at the mention of Sirius Ren's face went blank), the discovery of the Horcruxes, Dumbledore's death and finally, the hunt for the pieces of Voldemort's soul.
By the time Harry had finished telling her his story it was approaching mid afternoon. He was startled when he looked at his watch and saw that he and Ren had already spent nearly three hours together. The time had simply flown by!
"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." Ren said fondly. "And I'm sorry I wasn't there to support you through it." Harry shrugged at her.
"Thank you, but honestly it's fine. I did what I had to do, but I guess it would have been nice to have had just one year at Hogwarts without someone trying to kill me." He joked, and Ren let out a chuckle.
"Yeah I bet! I only spent my seventh year at Hogwarts seeing as I transferred from Durmstrang, and I thought that one year was eventful enough, but it was clearly nothing compared to your time there!" She said.
"What was it like for you? With my parents?" Harry couldn't resist asking. Even now he still longed to find out anything he could about them. Ren's pretty features were overswept with fondness at the memory of Lily and James.
"There were…" She trailed off for just a moment. "They were the best friends you could ever ask for, Harry." She said seriously, but still with a warm smile on her face. "Lily was so loving and compassionate. There was nothing she wouldn't do for anyone, y'know. She just had the biggest heart. Her love was just," Ren paused, trying to think of a word that would do his mother justice. "Unyielding." She eventually settled on.
Harry's heart clenched at the mention of the very thing that had saved his life. His mother's love. "And James," Ren continued. "No one has ever made me laugh like your dad did. Especially when him and Sirius were together. They were the most unintentionally hilarious double act." Her grin grew as she spoke of Harry's father. "But he was surprisingly caring, which is something people never expected of him. If you ever had a problem or were upset about something James would go out of his way to fix it… not always with the most conventional methods. 'But hey, it's the thought that counts right, Renaldo?' he would say to me." Ren bit her lip. "They'd be so damn proud of you."
"Yeah, Sirius and Remus say that a lot." Harry responded, and Ren inhaled sharply. Harry assumed it was due to the mention of Sirius, but her next question surprised him.
"How is Remus?" Her voice was soft. "I miss him a lot... We were close, me and Moony." Well this was news to Harry.
"Really?" He asked, to which Ren nodded.
"He was the first friend I made when we moved back to England. We were… slightly more than friends for a little while before me and Sirius got together." She explained. Harry's brows had involuntary risen in surprise. Huh. Who would have thought?
"He's doing well." Harry told her. "He's married and everything." Ren's jaw nearly hit the floor.
"He's what?!" She blurted out. "Married to who?!" The genuine amazement coming from Ren made Harry chuckle.
"To Tonks. Sirius' cousin." He explained, and Ren nearly fell off her chair.
"Tonks? As in Dora Tonks? Sirius' little cousin?!" She looked fit to burst now, it was pretty comical.
"You know her?" Harry asked, still laughing.
"Well I did! But she was only a little kid at the time! Bloody hell, I bet that went down well with Sirius." She mused.
"Trying to tell Tonks no didn't exactly work out well for Sirius, let's just put it that way. She hexed his hair her favourite shade of lilac for about a week. As you can imagine Sirius quickly learned to live with the marriage." At Harry's explanation Ren joined Harry in near fits of laughter. "Oh, they've also got a baby boy as well. Little Teddy, my Godson. He turned one last month." He added, and that sobered Ren up almost instantly.
"Wow, really?" She breathed. "That's amazing. I'm really happy for him." Harry watched as the woman suddenly smiled slyly at him. "What about you then Harry? Do you have a special someone in your life?" Harry didn't answer immediately, but the blush that erupted over his cheeks was apparently a dead giveaway. "Ah-hah!" Ren exclaimed excitedly, jabbing a finger at him from across the table. "You do! What's her name then? Or his, I don't judge." She winked. "Is it this Hermione lass that you mentioned?" Ren quizzed, the questions coming rapidly one after another. Harry found that he was nearly shouting over her in order to answer.
"No, it's not Hermione!" He eventually managed to explain quickly. "Her and Ron are together! Her name-" He continued with a pointed look at the excited woman. "-is Ginny. She's Ron's sister, and she's pretty damn special." Harry said, and he was glad when Ren seemed to pick up on the tone that it was all he wanted to say on the matter. She held up her hands in mock defeat.
"Okay, okay," She relented. "I just have one more question." Harry let out a dramatic huff.
"Fine, go on then." He permitted.
"Do you have a picture of her?" She questioned sneakily, eyes twinkling one again. Harry clenched his jaw, trying his best to bite back a smile. Damn this woman.
By way of answer Harry pulled out his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and extracted a small print from within.
He held it out to Ren and she took hold of it, studying the small photo intently, smiling to herself at the sight of Harry and Ginny crammed inside a Muggle photobooth, grinning almost madly at each other. She handed it back to him, her eyes soft. "She's very beautiful." Was her reply, and Harry nodded as he replaced the photo in his wallet. "Your dad used to keep a picture of Lily in his wallet too."
"He did?"
"Yeah, and whenever he'd had one too many at the pub he would get it out and show anyone that he could." Ren added with a laugh. Harry smiled as he tried to reinvent the scene in his head.
"I'd have loved to have seen that." He said.
"It was cute at first but it didn't half get on everyone's nerves after a while. Especially Sirius'. I think he was jealous." They both laughed. "God I've got so many photo albums of us all at home, and video tapes. We've probably got drunk James trying to show his Lily photo off to some uninterested patron on at least one of them." Ren went on to ponder, and Harry sucked in a breath.
"Could… could I see them?" He managed to ask her, for some reason feeling absolutely terrified that she would deny him. Ren's eyes widened.
"Of course!" She said enthusiastically. "I don't know why I didn't offer in the first place! Do you want to see them now? I've got some stew left from last night we could have for lunch if you're hungry." Ren continued to ramble, and Harry agreed quickly, eager to learn more of Ren's, his parents and the Marauders history. "Come on then! There's an ally behind the Muggle Melody building which is a safe apparition point. We'll head back there." Ren went on to say, rising from the table. Harry did the same, grinning from ear to ear.
Well Harry and Ren have reunited! This was so hard to write because it would clearly be a momentous moment for both of them, but I didn't want to overdo it too much and make it a huge emotionally charged reunion (we'll get one of those later on, wink wink). I thought Ren, while wanting to explain herself to Harry, would be dying to find out more about him.
It's so weird writing Ren now that she's a woman! I spent so long writing her as a teenage girl that it feels bizarre to try and write her as an adult. I don't think she would have changed too much, (that might just be to make it easier for me, haha) however she has been through a lot since Perfectly Content.
Anyway I hope you all liked it! If you did please leave a review letting me know.
Follow, fave and REVIEW please guys! Every piece of feedback means the world!
Eve x
