Chapter 17

"Where have you been?" her twin brother asked her when she stepped out of the fireplace. "You are in trouble now." His grin mouth widened into a malicious grin, but Harriet remained calm. She had made the first friend in the magical world and the Malfoy's had even given her access to their library after Snape's lesson and lend her some of the books Snape had suggested for her. So, she would not let herself get riled up by her irritate brother.

"Mum! Dad!" he shouted in a singsong voice, but Harriet just rolled her eyes and walked past him.

"Potes meos suaviari clunes." (=You can kiss my ass).

She told him knowing full well that he would be unable to understand it and he stopped startled probably fearing that she had just cursed him, but she could already hear steps coming towards them. Oh joy.

Another confrontation with her parents. The books became heavier. Perhaps she shouldn't have taken them all. She shifted her weight to keep them in her arms and quickly ran towards the stairs. Suddenly, her sense shifted, and it was as if she became somehow more aware of her surroundings.

The colours seemed more vivid, her brother's movements seemed to have become slower as he stepped towards the kitchen shouting for her parents. She shook her head, but the feeling remained. She reached the bottom of the stairs and …jumped skipping a few steps. But… She wasn't just skipping one or two steps as usual. No… She was flying.

What in Merlin's name? Ok, well not flying, but she jumped more steps than usual.

A second later she landed safely on her feet and bent her knees to balance her uneven weight and almost dropped back. She repeated that until she reached her floor, the strange sensation not going away. A few seconds later she quickly reached her room and locked the heavy door behind her, quickly hiding the books under her bed.

As quickly as that feeling had appeared, it subsided again, and fought to sway towards the direction of her bed and not onto the cold hard floor. No sooner did she close her eye-lids as she drifted off to an uneasy sleep, which was how her confused parents found her. Unable to wake her again.

Malfoy Manor

"You are investigating Astoria's untimely death? Why?" Narcissa asked not quite believing it sitting next to her husband. The Wizarding society had pretty much shunned them after Voldemort's demise. They had been on the wrong side most of the time anyway. They had only become friendlier when they had needed funding for the restauration of Hogwarts.

"Why now? What has brought this on?" Lucius asked calmly. After all it was not a secret that the Ministry had a certain distaste dealing with them after the second Wizarding War.

"The Ministry classifies your son's wife's demise as suspicious and there are some people in the Ministry who are afraid that a similar curse might manifest in their families as well." The Auror explained addressing the younger Malfoy.

"Did your wife have any enemies? Anyone who'd wanted to harm her? Anything that she could have done to trigger the curse."

Draco wrecked his head. Whenever she had drawled on about the newest gossip and the severe fights among the pureblood circles he had drowned her out. "Not that I know of." He answered hesitantly.

"She wasn't particularly warm towards muggle-borns or half-bloods, but I'm certain that none of them would have done anything against her. They hardly wouldn't have known anything about this curse."

The other two Malfoy's nodded until Narcissa blinked when a thought hit her. "Although, …she did have a severe fight with Theodore Nott a few years ago. If I'm not mistaken, it was shortly after our grandson was born."

"Do you know what it was about?" The second auror asked pepping up noting the information down.

Narcissa sighed and shook her head. "No, unfortunately not. Perhaps the Greengrass know more about it?" she suggested. The first auror nodded giving them a calming smile. "We will ask them about it. Thank you."

The second auror put his little notebook away and pulled out a parchment. "St. Mungos has forbidden us to take a closer look into your wife's healing files and we would ask your permission to give it to the Unspeakable working on this case. The person might find something about the curse that has been overlooked." He handed the scroll to the younger Malfoy who took it calmly and unscrolled it, reading the fine print diligently.

After a while he his eyes narrowed. "This is not just about my wife's files. With this formulation you'd also be entitled to investigate my son's files." The other two Malfoys also frowned.

"We are investigating in every direction and as this seems to be an old curse it is important that we find it quickly before another person might be affected. That is the reason why we also need a peak into Scorpius Malfoy's files."

Draco nodded in understanding but there was something that the Aurors didn't tell him. He was a Slytherin. He knew when someone held back information.

The healers had broken their newest law by working with a Muggle hospital. As much as he wanted to lash out at them for not being able to do anything to help Astoria, he knew that they had dedicated every second of their time trying to find out how to help her. The Wizarding world needed healers like them. Perhaps his favourite Ravenclaw could have saved his wife, but as he knew full well. She was far away somewhere in the vast galaxy. And, even if she had been here he wasn't entirely sure how she would have reacted had he asked her for her help.

Then another thought struck him, and he was growing heated. What if the healers had lied to his face and not done anything to safe Astoria. Was Scorpius still in danger? They had Knowledge about Muggle Technology. So, chances were high that they were either Muggle born or Half-bloods. He couldn't remember if they had told him their blood status. Probably not. Who's to say that they didn't hold a grudge against her?

He bent forward and pulled out a silver and green custom-made muggle pen, which he had been gifted by his favourite Ravenclaw and that he had never been able to get rid of. He quickly signed the parchment and handed it back to the two investigators.

"I don't want any of this find it's way into the Daily Prophet or that Gibbler." He told them darkly.

"We can't make any promises as you know that the bug seems to have a source of information that we are as of yet not aware of, but we will do our best." One of the aurors answered soothingly with an apologetic expression.

"That does not assure me at all." Lucius drawled staring at the two thinking about paying the troublesome journalist a visit to make sure that she would not babble beforehand.

Chimera: Harry's new quarters.

Harry sighed heavily sitting on her new cot taking in her small quarters fiddling with her new rank plate Thrawn had given her together with her new code cylinder. Her day was finally coming to an end and she was looking forward to catching some sleep before they would reach Lothal.

After their little duel of words, which she clearly had lost, he had sent her off to get her new uniform. To her dismay it had taken longer than she had anticipated as the annoying droids had forced her to get measured again. The overall of crewmen and midshipman was supposed to sit loosely, whereas the uniforms of the officers had to fit the wearer to the millimetre. And those droids had grated on her nerves with all their needless suggestions. They must have been programmed by Coruscanti personnel as there were apparently several different fashions among the military clothing, that she had been unaware of. She had no patience about hearing which distance between the buttonholes was more fashionable than the other, which polish on her boots would suit her better and so on.

She had just told those things that she didn't care as long as it fit her. Well, maybe a bit too forcefully as those droids had tutted some reply. Great, droids that could curse. She needed to update her skills to droidspeak.

She didn't like the tight uniform, especially as it reminded her what it represented, but she had to admit that at least her new shining boots were comfy, and she didn't have to cut her hair that often as she had received new instructions on how to braid it according to the navy's guidelines. But those guidelines were not for Potter hair, which had a life on its own. She was pretty sure that there had to have been a Medusa or something similar in her ancestry. Her hair had a life of its own. No wonder her grandfather had invented Sleekeazy Hair potion to tame their family's hair. But she had only one bottle left in her case and was too afraid to use it. But her Lieutenant's cap would certainly help her cover it. So, even though her rank of lieutenant was technically not high enough to have her own quarters with her own cot and workstation, as the deck master had informed her disdainfully, it was one of the privileges of being the Grand Admiral's aide. Although it was an upgrade, she still had to go out to the shared unisex refreshers. Oh Joy. But at least there would be cabins.

"Are you alone?" A young voice asked her, and Harry jumped shrieking and missing the edge of her cot, plumbing out of her cot with racing heart as she hit the cold durasteel floor. Ouch!

She slowly, heavily breathing sat up again, turning her head towards the headboard and spotted the familiar young boy sitting where her pillow should be.

"Don't. ever. scare me like that." She ground out clutching her heart and raising her right index finger half warningly and half-jokingly. The blonde boy smiled cheekily at her with happily glowing eyes, but there was an air of sadness lurking behind. But with his disarming smile she just couldn't stay angry at him and she returned the smile with almost silent laughter.

"Do you know what a radar is?" he asked her curiously.

"Sorry, what?" Why was he asking her that?

"There was a woman with a funny hat at my maman's wake. I think she's called Augusta Longbottom." He burst into a short giggle.

"It's a funny name, isn't it?" she asked him standing up from the floor and sitting back gently at her cot.

The little boy continued giggling and nodded with shaking shoulders. "Ahm…and…and she said that I should tell you that I'm real and that I should make sure that you are alone because you are already on the radar of some Grand Admiral Thrown."

Now it was on her to giggle. The way he pronounced Thrawn was simply hilarious.

"But I don't know what a radar is. Nana and Grandfather don't know either and father says that I should ask my tutors. But they don't know either. "the little boy told her sadly.

"That's probably because you do not have Muggle Tutors." She told him. "A dangerous oversight of the Wizarding Society. Perhaps you should ask Teddy Lupin if he can lend you some of his books that I've gifted him with. You could ask him if he lends you his collection of 'Kids Britannica'. He's my godchild you know. Probably a few years older than you"

"You know Teddy?!" the little boy called out excitedly straightening. "Teddy is my best friend and he can change his hair to any colour." She smiled at him and was suddenly hit with an idea.

About an hour ago she had recorded the message Thrawn had written for her during the time she got measured. She had brought the elderly communications officer close to the brink of insanity with her clearly visible defiance. But it had been necessary to cover the secret message back to her home planet for everyone to see. Right under the empire's dirty noses. She only hoped that Thrawn wouldn't figure it out. That would probably cost her head. But the opportunity had been too good to let pass. And she was certain that her children from her charity program would spot her message. They were a force to be reckoned with after having received the opportunity to go to school.

Those signs of defiance had been necessary as the Chiss commander would probably spot her hidden code far easier if she had complied with his orders. And she suspected that he probably expected her to show defiance.

And if the boy was indeed not a fragment of her imagination as Augusta had suggested then this could be her chance to inform at least one person beforehand about the hidden message. Or perhaps she was really losing her mind.

"Do you know who Samuel F.B. Morse was?" She asked him murmuring conspiratorially lowering her voice, while leaning closer too him on her cot. He shook his head.

"Well, when you visit Teddy, get the Encyclopaedia Kids Britannica. He has a copy, I know it. Look up Samuel F.B. Morse and what he has invented. The empire will show a holovid of me everywhere on the official channels in probably a few days and I want you two to decipher the hidden message inside. Look at my hands or my eyes. Ok? This is very important. Do you understand what you have to do?"

He nodded seemingly understanding the importance. "Alright." he whispered back.

"I don't know if you are real…" she told him.

"I. am. Real." The little boy angrily protested forcefully leaning forward and reaching out to her with his right hand touching hers closest one to him.

A shock, reminiscent of an electric shock ran through her and she jumped back in her seat breaking the contact. She had sensed the little boy's hand as an image of her house's ceiling had flared up in her mind accompanied with a warm, exuberant emotion that she could not ever remember having. It had seemed as if she had been lying on the cold ground with her back looking up at the high old ornamented ceiling she had restaurated once. But she couldn't remember when she had been lying under this part, which was close to the bottom of her stair house. There was a tear floating down her cheek, which she wiped away in surprise.

The little boy also looked at her with slightly glassy eyes and a dreamy expression that made her uncomfortable.

"Why don't you sing anymore?" the little boy asked her gently bringing her back to reality. Whatever reality seemed to be.

"What? I haven't sung in years." She answered him with raspy voice wondering why he asked her that. "Not, since I've joined the empire and without training my voice is gone. But I think it's Astoria who has sung for you."

He shook his head, with small tears gathering in his eyes. "No, she sounded strangely. I'm sure that it was you singing this. I just remembered. You sang: Goodnight my angel. Time to close your eyes. And save these questions for another day. I think I know what you've been asking me. I think you know what I've been trying to say. I promise I would never leave you..."

Harry shrieked and jumped up with racing heart again coldness washing over her. She needed to get away. She was haunted, and she had no idea why.

"Stop it! Go away!" she hissed vehemently turning away. She had sung this every evening during her pregnancy, when she could be sure that he was developed enough to recognize her voice. Tears started to gather in her eyes. She couldn't hold them back. The baby had always calmed when she had sung this little ditty, and he had been a very active baby. She couldn't get out of her little quarters or everybody would see her cry, but she couldn't remain here. If her little room was under observation they might think her to be a nutcase anyway. Wait. She froze. Why had she thought about this boy sitting on her cot being her son? Her son was dead. But why was she seeing him and that little shock from earlier had to be something. Maybe she had an attack of her temporal lobe. That would explain the apparitions and her mind. But then, she did not exactly feel very religious at the moment. So, schizophrenia? That also didn't quite fit. She needed to go to the physicians.

"Sorry." The little boy murmured apologetically. She forced herself to breath out. "I have no clue why I keep seeing you." She wiped her tears away and put her hands at her hips breathing heavily.

"You don't like me?" the little boy asked, and he was clearly tearing up.

"No. No. That's not it. I do like you." she assured him again turning away from him so that she would be able to hold back her tears. "But…You remind me of my… my… my… son. You're about the same age as he would be now."

She couldn't hold them back. A new wave of tears was floating and wrecked her body. She had thought that she had gotten over her grieve, but apparently her raw emotions were running rampant again. Just like the time she had found out about it.

"Seeing you reminds me of what he could have been: Handsome, intelligent, sweet. It hurts." She hit her constricting heart with her right hand while sliding down the wall to the floor crying. Her magical core was unsteady. She could feel it pulsating and only hoped that she would not do accidental magic. No, the way it was pulsating was indicating that her magic hat slipped. Her self-created necklace protected her from being sensed by other magical or force users, but Thrawn probably wouldn't take it kindly if she lost control again in his own destroyer and wrecked it by accident. Breathe!

"And then you suddenly begin to sing this Muggle good night song." She trailed of in thought. Could it be? She observed him closer. His unruly hair was blond like Draco's and his features looked almost identical to her former boyfriend. She locked eyes with him. They were grey like his fathers, but maybe it was just the light in her quarter, but it seemed that there was some green around his irises. No, it's wishful thinking.

She shook her head. But what if someone had actually obliviated her and that was her son? If that boy was her son, then where was the other Malfoy? Was he in her son's grave? How? Had someone purposely exchanged them?

No! Get a grip, Harry! Wishful thinking. She scolded herself. That's way too much effort to cover up. The red tape and paperwork alone would be massive. And magically altering the pureblood family tree tapestries in the old manors would be a Sisyphos task. But not impossible. No, she was just wishing so hard for her son to be alive. And the poor little boy had just lost his mother. He probably just craved for motherly contact. But doubt lingered in the back of her mind. But then how did he know that song? Astoria couldn't have known it.

The little boy was tearing up as well. Merlin it's been a long day and it seemed that it was far from being over. Her heart broke seeing his tears streaming down his little cheeks.

"Please don't cry." She begged him, but he only hickuped. She desperately wanted to take him into her arms to soothe him but did not dare it. He felt lost. She could sense it. Why could she suddenly sense his feelings? Or did she project hers onto him?

Chimera Thrawn's office

"...I'm hereby asking you to trust in the Empire, which brings peace and prosperity to the galaxy. It will solve our most dire problem of global warming, make sure that nobody will go hungry any longer and it will make our planet great again. ('She grimaces for some reason')

Follow my example! Enlist to the empire. Enlist, do your duty to ensure the safety of our galaxy. ..."

Thrawn finally shut off the recording of his new aide, but Vanto knew him well enough by now that he was still contemplating something.

"Is that the pledge of alliance you forced her to record?" he asked.

"Yes." Thawn answered calmly. "Yes. It is the one in Basic, but her monotone intonation clearly indicates her displeasure of recording it and this was one of the very few recordings in Basic that she did not disrupt."

"Disrupt?" Vanto asked frowning.

"Yes." Thrawn seemed amused. "She experimented with different accents, exaggerated gestures. One recording is just an extensive list of curse words of different galactic languages but presented as if being a speech. Where she picked up those extensive list of words is worth investigating as they are not in the Empire's database. In this recording she emulates a Coruscanti accent. Quite well, I might add. But I find it more interesting that she blinks systematically with her eyes in all the recordings.

"Systematic?" Vanto frowned wondering why the Chiss didn't particularly worry about a reported flood in the main hanger bay

"Are you sure? Maybe she was just concentrating on the text?"

"No, she knew the text by heart after her first read." Thrawn informed him.

"I compared her version of her lingua franca of her planet with the basic version and all the discarded versions. The imperial protocol droid stationed on Terra confirmed that she complied and translated the text into what he called 'English". Yet the blinking of her eyes is the same. She is blinking, looking to the side, blinking, looking to the side, where the communication officer must have been standing. In some recordings she does the same with her prominent hand. She might try using a secret code."

"And probably tries to undermine the official message." Vanto snorted fighting a smile at the young woman's audaciousness but wondered if she had believed to be able to sneak this under Thrawn's watchful eyes.

"Do you know what the code is?" the young man asked him, but Thrawn shook his head. "As of yet, I have no information which code she is using. Even the protocol droid is unaware of any secret code like that.

"Are you going to let her repeat her performance? I mean, if she uses a code, then there must be someone who can decode it."

"Indeed. There is. Unfortunately, there is no time for a repeated recoding. The imperial propaganda office requests her statements within the next hour and we are to join Admiral Konstantin's fleet close to the Lothal system." Thrawn remarked calmly. "But we might turn this to our advantage.

"You are letting her go through with it in hope to find the intended recipient?" Vanto nodded having seen a similar tactic before from his boss.

"Indeed. But it is more likely that the coded message is intended for more than just one recipient. Terra is known for having been a formidable opponent against the late 27th and the following 35th, despite fighting with their rather primitive weaponry. There are too many culturally different fractions on her planet for such a coordinated defence to successfully being carried out." Thrawn answered.

"It's more likely that a few influential individuals were able to see above the petty grievances of their fractions and were willing to work together, forcing their military units to comply. Our newly appointed lieutenant might be addressing the survivors of these very people who most likely have fled underground."

Vanto nodded in understanding. As far as he had seen the young woman had never been well at taking orders. She seemed to be used to giving those.

"But if she is addressing them, she hardly will tell them to attack knowing the sheer numbers of imperial fleets."

"Her system is still under lockdown for the time being as the empire has still been unable to get the usual daily information flow entirely under their control." Thrawn answered him with his fingertips together. "It's likely that she tells them to bide their time until the tide turns towards the rebellion."

"All the more reason, not to make her your aide." Vanto told the Chiss again for what felt like a hundredths time. If she is sympathetic to the Rebellion the Lothal sector might not be the ideal place for her right now."

Having Force powers made her an even bigger incalculable risk and he dreaded to leave the Chiss alone with her.

"If she is a Force user, then what stops her from abusing it. What if she gets on the bad side of the High Command. As your aide she is bound to rub shoulders with some of them. Rumour has it that Pryce only received her governorship under Grand Moff Tarkin's patronage. What if one of them realizes that she is an actual Force User, who has not been reported to the Inquisitorius and Lord Vader? The strange happenings on the Chimera will not go unnoticed. She flooded the hanger bay a few minutes ago! It could draw the attention of the Inquisitorius, Vader or the emperor himself. And I really wouldn't want to be in your boots if the emperor were to find out that you hid a force user right under his long nose."

Thrawn listening intently to his former aide's advice widened his eyes in surprise at the statement, while Vanto bit his lips in embarrassment. I did not just say that! But to be fair the emperor did have a rather interesting nose. He shook his head. Seemed that the rebellious Lieutenant had influenced him as well.

"Thank you for your concern. However, I have my own reasons on why I will keep her as my aide. As I've told you before, her nature does not allow her to abuse it. So far, her actions have proven this. She protects and nurtures even though she despises being part of the Empire. She was able to see through her anger and see the individuals behind the uniform, who needed her help. I presented her with more than enough possibilites to attack me, but she did not. Most importantly, she resents unnecessary killing. As to her being found out. She has hidden her powers quite well so far as she uses her mind rather than her power. Her slips are unfortunate, but I believe that she will be able to get those under control as well under the right tutelage. Additionally, if the emperor or Lord Vader would have sensed her on Coruscant, she would not have made it back to the Chimera. Therefore, she might be able to mask it even from the might of our two Sith Lords."

"But if the emperor finds out he might decommission you." Vanto rebuked. "…if you are lucky."

"If the emperor finds out, then I will tell him that she is used to the empire's advantage to root out the growing rebellion. He may call me a traitor and hand her over to Lord Vader, but after failing to curb the growing rebellion he may know better to ignore my recommendations."

"If the emperor finds out I, recommend denying any knowledge of her being a force user." Vanto suggested strongly not being quite so sure about the emperor. He had stood in front of him once and those scary yellow eyes had seemed to penetrate his entire being.

"There is no need for you to worry. I thank you for your suggestion, but we need to utilize every weapon at our disposal if we're to defeat the rebellion:

'One must be able to read an ally's strengths, so as to determine how to best use them. One must similarly be able to read his enemy's weaknesses, to determine how to best defeat him.'" Thrawn quoted what Vanto already knew to be a Chiss proverb or at least Thrawn had told him that this was a proverb of his people. "

He nodded in understanding.

"The Rebels of the so-called Phoenix Squadron are known to have two Jedi as it's members. Having one obscured Force user of our own, different to those they have encountered before, might prove advantageous for us." Thrawn surmised.

"Or… as she is a rebel sympathizer might defect to them." Vanto pointed out. "She clearly is unable to control her powers. So, she might seek them out if the opportunity arises."

"She won't." The Chiss shook his head. "I gave her enough incentive not to do that. Some of her private artwork is currently on its way to the Chimera. I'm positive that in time she will see reason."

"Well, I certainly hope so." Vanto sighed knowing that the stubborn Chiss would not be swayed. "Because I won't be able to have your back, while I'm gone, Sir."

"Yes. But you might hear about it when we will see each other again." The Chiss remarked calmly."Are you positively certain that you want to undertake this delicate mission?" he asked him again fixating him with his glowing red eyes.

"Absolutely, Sir." Vanto answered eagerly. Thrawn trusted him enough to send him to his own very secretive people, which meant that he was considered honourable enough by the Chiss standing before him and that was high honour indeed. He could finally meet others of Thrawn's kind. He would meet others of the mysterious warriors of the legends he had heard so much about on Lysatra. Was Thrawn unique or where all of the Chiss leadership like him? There was no way that he would let this unique opportunity pass. Even if it meant that could be branded a traitor to the empire. No, Thrawn had his back.

"Very good." Thrawn nodded and handed him a data pad. "These are some extracts from my personal journal. The coordinates are inside, but you must be careful. Those hyperlane routes are sparsely travelled. Admiral Ar'alani of the Chiss Defense Fleet will be expecting you."

"You've been in contact with her?" Vanto asked him surprised, but Thrawn shook his head.

"Not since before I've joined the empire. But you'll find that we have our very own sources of information. It might give you some insight on how useful my new aide might become in the future."

Tonk's/Lupin household

"Mh, mum. That's really good." Tonks mentioned when she practically inhaled the Irish stew.

"Your welcome, dear." The elder Tonks nodded. "How was your day today?"

"Boring as usual." Tonks complained to her family and she spotted her son and his father exchange amused smiles.

"Although,...Clobberfield and Winston got a top-secret case from Kingsley, today. The Potters, Sirius and Weasley were quite jealous and rather vocal about it. They would have liked it for themselves."

"Do you know what it is about?" Remus asked her frowning at her, but she only shook her head.

"No, Haven't the foggiest. But whatever it is must be serious. For the time of their investigation they received their own office, which we are not allowed to enter, and they are working closely together with one Unspeakable and are to answer directly to Kingsley."

The entire family raised their eyes in wonder. Something seemed to be going on.

"I mean. Would I have loved to be part of that investigation? Hell yes, but it also seems to be the kind of which you don't have a private live anymore."

"Well, then I'm glad you haven't received the case." Remus told her smiling knowing full well how adventurous his wife was when it came to solving cases.

Suddenly their cosy calm was interrupted by loud clash in the living room, followed by a small exclamation:" Ouch."

Tonks and Remus quickly exchanged a worried gaze, tossed their spoons into their bowls and dashed to the next room, followed by their son and the elderly Tonks.

When they reached their living room they had to cough as a small cloud of ash came towards them. Remus quickly banished the smoke and ash back to the fire place and saw a familiar young boy covered in dirt and ash lying on his back looking sheepishly up to him.

"Hi Remus, Hi Tonks. Teddy, Dora." He waved apologetically turning to his side and stood up.

Remus tried to brush off the dust from the little boy but gave up when he squirmed.

"Scorpius, it's late. What are you doing here?" he asked him.

"I need a book." The little boy urgently told him. "It's important." Remus snorted as the boy reminded him of somebody. His godchild had often done the same and crashed at his sofa sometimes.

He tried to get past Remus, but Andromeda stopped him tattering. "Not like this, young man. Scourgify."

"Ah. Yes, that's better. Thank you." The little boy, now free of the ash agreed.

"Please I need the Encyclopaedia Kids Britannica." He told the family with big pleading eyes. The puppy eyes always worked on his grandmother. He hoped that they would work on them too.

"Sure, I'll show you." Teddy chirped in. "Which volume do you need?"

"Volume?" Scorpius wondered. "There are more?" Why hadn't Harry told him that?

"Yeah sure." Teddy nodded. "All that knowledge couldn't fit into one book."

"What is it that you want to look up? Why couldn't this wait until the morning?" Remus asked him curiously. "Does Draco know that you are here?"

Now the little boy squirmed again. "You know uncle Remus. Funny you should ask..." he began. Teddy giggled knowing full well what that meant, and Andromeda sighed.

"Scorpius?" Tonks asked him sternly fighting hard not to break into laughter.

"He was in grandfather's office and I really needed that book. Harry said that it's important."

Remus jumped with accelerated heartbeat. "What? Harry? Did you say Harry? Harry said that it's important? But I thought she's missing." His voice was unsteady. He couldn't mean his goddaughter. The boy had never met her and he (Remus) hadn't heard anything from her after she had decided to take Dudley's place.

"She's not missing. She is far away on a big Star Destroyer in the galaxy and serves a really big scary blue guy." Scorpius corrected him. "The man has scary red eyes." He whispered.

"How do you know that?" Andromeda asked curiously stepping closer.

Scorpius just shrugged. "I just do. I can see her and speak with her. She told me that I should ask Teddy if he could lend me his Encyclopaedia Britannica because it's important. I know that she is Teddy's godmother."

"That she is." Remus told him flabbergasted. Teddy must have told him, but he usually was tight lipped about it because he missed her as well.

"But how do you speak with her?" Andromeda asked him squatting down to his height. "Do you have a mirror or something else?"

"No!" Scorpius told her stomping his foot. "It just happens. I get this feeling and then I can just see her. But only her and she can see me. Sometimes I dream about her and the places she is. At first she thought I was just a fragment of her imagination, but then I ..." He explained to them. "I...I...Do you know that she doesn't even sing anymore?" he asked them sadly.

" Please can I have that volume now? I need to look up a Samuel F. B. Morse and what he has invented."

"That's the inventor of the Morse Code!" Teddy exclaimed in excitement. "We learned it at the scout's summer camp." His excitement diminished slightly clearly remembering that he could not visit his muggle scout group anymore.

"Really!" Scorpius shouted contracting Teddys excitement. "She said that the empire would show her in a few days. She wants us." He circled his hands "to decipher the hidden message."

Remus shook his head. There was no way that the little boy could have talked to Harry, but he seemed to believe that he did. It was more likely that Draco still had a picture of his former fiancé somewhere and Scorpius had spotted it and subconsciously tried to make sense of it. Especially now after his mother's passing.

Remus locked eyes with his wife who just shrugged at him. Her mother was anxiously biting her lips.

"Alright. Teddy, take Scorp and show him the entry of Samuel F. . I'll have to inform Draco that his son is here."

It was eerily silent in the spacious dark throne room. He stretched out with his thoughts again. Not a day ago, he had sensed a barely detectable disturbance in the force. Normally he would not give such minor disturbances a second glance as his apprentice's inquisitors had to deal with those weak insignificant creatures.

But this one had peaked his interest. Although he had barely able to sense that individual, the presence had left rather strong ripples in the force that should not have been there with a weak presence like that. He even had lost that presence temporarily, which was rare for him. He could sense disturbances in the entire galaxy, but this individual was intriguing. The only logical explanation was that the individual was trying to mask its true power but was not always successful. And that individual had been close to his vicinity of power earlier. It was an intriguing, yet also disconcerting.

He would have lost the presence entirely, but luckily the presence had shortly flared up and created other small ripples in the Force. Yet, he still could not pinpoint the individual's presence. He or she seemed to be everywhere in the galaxy and nowhere. He would need to keep a closer eye on his apprentice.

He doubted that Vader had been able to sense this little disturbance as he was heavily engaged in a challenging mission to find a certain elusive Kiffar Jedi Master in the Outer Rim, but as every Sith apprentice he had aspirations to become a master again and Palpatine had no desire to allow him to detect that delicious individual.

"I'll find you." The hooded emperor murmured with gravel voice reaching out with the Force. "You can't hide from me."

In her narrow quarters Harry shot up from her cot screaming, drenched in sweat with racing heartbeat and difficulties in breathing. Something cold had reached out to her. It had been faint, but she shivered in terror. Could she not have one moment of peace for herself? She wondered.

Awaiting your constructive reviews and comments.