Chapter 9 - That was Strange
He was tired. He'd barely slept last night, too busy thinking about Aimee. What was she about? A witch, who never knew she was a witch...and then found out...and now wants to learn to do magic, and without hesitation can preform charms that took him days to even grasp. How? How can she still have powers after years of never using them...and why wouldn't she have gotten a letter from if not Hogwarts another school? So many questions with no answers. Too much for him to take in right now. It was hard enough for him to be in the same room with her. She had a breath taking smile, if he'd swore if she'd smiled at him one more time last night he'd have grabbed her and kissed her.
He put his head in his hands. He shouldn't be thinking of her this way, but he couldn't control his emotions anymore. They seem to be flying out of control again.
He looked down at the papers lining his desk. He should get these papers filed. Picking up his quill he began scribbling on the papers. Most were lock-up forms from Azkaban. It was full these days of followers and even a few death-eaters awaiting their death. Many still required hearings of which Harry was not looking forward too. The last place he'd want to be is in the hot stuffy court room in the Ministry, debating the innocence of victims of war.
The war; is of course the ten year battle between him and the Dark Lord, has been over for almost two years, at still the Ministry hasn't gotten around to all the hearings and trails. He sighed heavily. He'd give anything in the world to be home with Kat...and Aimee.
"Harry?" A voice called from the hallway.
"Come in Mr. Weasley." He called from his desk. He looked up as Arthur Weasley came through his office door. Harry hadn't seen him in a while. During the war the wizarding world became utter chaos, and the Ministry was over thrown during Rufus Scrimgeour's term as Minister. At the wars end, Harry was offered to become complete ruler of the wizarding world, of which he turned down, saying he'd never planned on taking over the world, and never had a problem with the government being run the way it was. So he placed Mr. Weasley as the new Minister of Magic and ever since then had been fighting to get the system back up and running, starting with getting rid of every one of the Dark Lords followers.
"I've spoken with your receptionist, she says you have no appointments this morning." He said stepping through the door.
"Yes, I didn't get any sleep last night, so I decided to put back my meetings."
"Katrina keeping you up eh?" Mr. Weasley asked.
"Oh, yeah." He lied. "We had a rough night..."
"Well, you know Harry, Molly's been wanting to see Katrina so I came down here to ask if maybe you wanted to join us for dinner Sunday?" He asked uncomfortably. Harry sensed his unsteadiness, and thinking back to what Hermione said, he accepted the invitation.
"I'm afraid Mr. Weasley, that I've hired someone to help take care of Kat, and I couldn't possibly leave her alone on a Sunday night, would it be a problem to bring her along?"
"Of course not Harry, Please by all means." He patted his back and Harry could tell he'd made him happy by excepting the invitation. "The whole family will be there, Ron, Hermione, Fred George and the kids..."
Harry's heart skipped a beat.
"...Charlie, Bill, Fleur and the boy's..." He stopped. He took Harry's expression as a warning, then said softy.
"She's not coming." He said simply. "We've heard nothing of her I'm afraid. As you can assume it's driven my wife mad."
"Well we'll be there Sunday, you can tell her that."
"Oh I'm sure she'll be pleased." He smiled broadly and turned to walk away but stopped at the door.
"You know something Harry?"
"What?"
"I've never thanked you." Harry raised his brows. "You've done so much for me and my family, I just don't know where'd we be if you never met Ron on the train that day. I'd certainly never be where I am now without you...so from my family to you Harry, I want to say thank-you." And with a nod of his head he headed out the door. Harry sat there for a minute, thinking. The Weasley's had thanked him enough for allowing him to be part of their family. They were loving to him and now, he wasn't returning the love by avoiding them. He vowed that Ginny's absence wouldn't effect his relationship with the rest of her family.
Aimee took a step out into the bright sunshine. She'd found the stroller Harry said was in the backyard, and planned on meeting Hermione downtown at the Leaky Cauldron. She placed Katrina comfortably in the stroller, and she cooed in approval. Aimee had dressed her in a cute pink jumper she found yesterday when she was thumbing through the drawers, and her little black cloak with a symbol stitched on it. She didn't know what it meant but it was laid out by the door with a little black hat to match.
As they strolled through the streets, Aimee couldn't help but feel a sudden cheerfulness come over her. People were smiling and cranking their necks to peep a look at the baby. When stopped at a corner waiting for traffic, and elderly woman peered in.
"You have a beautiful daughter," She said to Aimee. Not knowing what to say, she smiled and said thank you and walked on.
She spotted Hermione at the corner waiting for her.
"Been waiting long?" She asked coming up behind her.
"No actually. I just got here about five minutes ago. Shall we go in?"
"I'm not sure if I should take the baby in there..."
"Oh Aimee, we're just walking through to the back, were we can get to Diagon Ally."
"Ah, I see...and what's Diagon Ally?"
"You'll see." She lead Aimee into the dimly lit building. They made their way to the back...slowly. People kept getting in the way. When they made it to the back, Hermione tapped the large brick wall with her wand, and instantly the bricks began moving aside, making a doorway. On the other side was something Aimee never expected. It was a long ally way, filled to the brim with people of all shapes and sizes.
"Amazing..." She said pushing the stroller inside. The bricks closed back up once they were on the other side.
"Yes, very. Now, we need to head to Ollivanders." She said. "Follow me, and be careful, the street can become very crowded."
Hermione was right. People were pushing and shoving their way through. Aimee thought she'd have a better chance of carrying Kat instead of pushing her
"Here we are." Hermione said after Aimee had been side tackled by a very odd looking little person. Sighing a thanks to God she stepped into the shop.
It was very dusty, was Aimee's first impression of the place. She strode further in, Hermione behind her. She stepped past her and rang the bell on the desk. Almost immediately an elderly man with wild white hair appeared.
"Miss Granger...I wasn't expecting you..."
"Hello Mr. Ollivander, I'd like you to meet Aimee...uh..."
"Kenbrook, Aimee Kenbrook." She smiled and held out her hand. The old man looked at it, then back to her face.
"Kenbrook? I've never herd of the name Kenbrook..." Aimee's heart lurched out of her chest.
"She's not from here, all she needs is a wand." Hermione said simply. And with one last glance, Mr. Ollivander turned towards the wooden shelves behind him. There were many shelves...all covered in the same thick dust that covered the rest of the shop. He returned a few moments later, opening a small box. He handed her a wand.
"Give it a wave." He said when she didn't make a move. She waved her hand, and the picture hanging on the wall fell to the ground and smashed.
"Happens all the time." He said taking back the wand and walking back to the shelves. Aimee gave Hermione a flustered look. He handed her another wand, and another and another until eventually Kat started fussing.
"I'll take her outside, she must need some air." Hermione said picking her up. She waved her wand over the stroller, and it disappeared. With faint smile she left the shop, and Aimee alone with Mr. Ollivander. He was in the back again, he seemed to be thinking hard about something. He turned his head and faced her, then walked slowly over to her. He picked up the wand from the box gently, and handed it to her.
She took it cautiously. Almost immediately upon touching it, the room filled with a bright light, and a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere, and blew through her hair.
"No...that can't be right..." He looked at her with wide eyes.
"What can't be right?" She asked softly.
"It's strange Miss Kenbrook, that you should be destined for this wand. The feather that lies inside it, Royal Phoenix, is of the same bird as was that of the wand of Albus Dumbledore."
"Who was Albus Dumbledore?" Mr. Ollivander stood in shock.
"A great man...with even greater powers. Only one other person has a wand that can match the power of yours."
"And who is that?"
"Why, Harry Potter...you must know who Harry Potter is." He said with a smirk.
"Yes, him I've heard of." She replied.
Mr. Ollivander lead her to the front of the store, where he asked what type of payment she would be using.
"I was told for you to charge it to Mr. Harry Potter..." Mr. Ollivander looked up at her with great surprise, and yet something else seemed to be gleaming in his eyes.
"I see," He started. "Well, then tell Mr. Potter I'll send him my bill by owl." Aimee nodded and said goodbye.
Something was strange, and Aimee didn't like it. Walking out of the shop she swore to herself, that one way or another she was going to find out who she really was, and on the way, maybe find out who Harry Potter really was too.
A/N: sorry that took a while, I haven't had a lot of time to write. Please review :)