Chapter 4
Godrics Hollow
The next morning was as hectic as the start of a new school year. Ron and Harry still hadn't packed everything they needed and so it had been a mad rush to get everything ready before Tonks and Mad Eye Moody arrived to accompany them to Godrics Hollow.
They were going along just to check that the house was secure and all the necessary wards were in place to keep out any unwanted visitors.
After a tearful farewell from Mrs Weasley, and hugs from the rest of the family excluding Ginny who, not wanting to break down in front of everyone, had said her goodbyes the previous night, the trio set off with the two Aurors.
As they were heading to such a significant place, and because Voldemort and his Death Eaters were hunting Harry, the group had to take a series of Portkeys just to get to Godrics Hollow, then they had to apparate to the house so they would remain untraceable.
Harry wasn't sure how he would feel once they got to the house or how it would look. He imagined a broken down house, dark and empty, much like the Shrieking Shack. The reality was far from anything he thought.
Once they got to the house, Tonks and Moody left the trio in the garden under the invisibility cloak while they checked the house.
Harry took in the sight before him. For a moment he wasn't sure that they were in the right place. The garden appeared recently tended to. The grass short, the rose bushes trimmed and the flowerbeds blooming. The exterior of the house was much the same. There were no traces of an attack ever occurring. He guessed the inside would be in the same state.
The house had remained empty all these years. Harry remembered Dumbledore telling him that no-one had wanted to move in knowing that Voldemort had killed there.
He couldn't help thinking that if he closed for just a second, everything would be fine when he re-opened them, none of it ever would have happened.
His Parents would still be alive and Voldemort would have been taken down years ago. He pictured him inviting Ron and Hermione over to stay for the summer, just like the Weasley's did at the burrow. He imagined introducing Ginny as his girlfriend, talking to his father about his problems at school and Quidditch, but talking to his mum about Ginny.
Remus and Sirius would visit and they would all sit around the table talking over dinner. It was a fantasy he wished he would never come out of. Unfortunately, the sound of curses being thrown back and forth ripped him away from his fantasy. The trio all looked quickly at each other then threw off the cloak and raced towards the front door.
"Alistair, stop attacking me and let me prove who I am" came a female voice from just inside the door.
"And let you curse me? I don't think so." Moody growled, his Scottish accent coming through thick in his anger.
"Then tie me up and feed me Veritaserum, if that's what it's going to take." The female voice yelled back.
"If you are who you say you are, then why did you curse me?" Moody cried.
"You hexed me first. What was I sposed to do… Merlin, calm down Moody!"
Harry creaked the door open, careful not to make a sound. He could see Moody just ahead of him, his face dark, the magical eye roaming around as if waiting for someone to attack him from behind. Then just to the left of them, a woman with long dark hair stood, her wand aimed at Moody. From the back, she looked a lot like Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater who had tortured Neville Longbottom's parents to insanity.
He entered the house, noticing that he had been right about it appearing occupied, with the exception of a few scorch marks in the wall and a broken mirror from the missed curses and hexes the 2 adults had thrown at each other.
He had only taken a couple of steps inside when he stepped on a creaky floorboard. In a split second, the woman now had both arms raised, a wand in each hand. One still trained on Moody, the other now pointing at Harry. It was the perfect opportunity for Moody to throw another curse at her, narrowly missing her head and smashing an oriental vase which sat on the mantel.
"God damn it Moody. My mother brought that for James and Lily's wedding."
The dark haired woman turned her head slightly to the left so she could look at who the new arrival was. She was so taken aback by the sight before her, she dropped both wands to the floor, giving Moody another chance to hex her from behind. Fortunately for her, at the same time that Moody raised his wand, Tonks stepped into the hallway, a short, blonde haired woman with her.
"Moody, put the wand down. They're real." Tonks called to him.
"How can you be so sure?" Moody growled.
"Because while you two were busy wrecking the place, I was busy getting the truth. I spiked her drink with truth serum." She explained, shaking a small empty bottle at him.
"It wasn't your best cup of tea Tonks!" The other woman said to Tonks with a grim look on her face.
"Glad you found the time to socialise." Moody said sarcastically, still eyeing the tall dark haired woman carefully, although he had dropped his wand to his side now.
She was now fully facing Harry, her piercing blue eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"Ha… Harry?" she whispered shakily. Harry nodded wearily. "You look so much like James did when he was your age"
"So I've been told. You must be Megan." He stated coolly.
"Yes. And this is Alicia." She replied, referring to the other woman who was still talking to Tonks but spared a quick smile for him.
"You weren't sposed to be here til next week!" Moody said as he pocketed his wand. Megan turned away from Harry and faced Moody again.
"It didn't take as long as we first thought, so we figured we'd have a nice deserving break."
"You call looking after children a break?" Moody asked dryly.
"We're not children!" Ron stated indignantly.
"And we don't need looking after!" added Hermione.
"So if that's what you're here to do, you can leave now!" Harry finished.
"We're not here to look after you" Megan said, turning to face the three friends. "We're here to help you destroy that sadistic son of a bitch" She growled.
Harry watched Megan for a few minutes, wondering whether they could be trusted or not. Finally, he held out his hand to Megan, who took it in her larger hands and shook it, the pulling him into a tight hug, she whispered, "We'll get him. I swear we will!"
After making sure that the house was secure and a thorough de briefing with Megan and Alicia, Tonks and Moody left the trio with the other two adults.
They had a quick dinner of sausage and mash, the trio went upstairs to unpack.
The house consisted of three bedrooms. It had originally been set out that there would be a spare room for when one of the Marauders stayed over. Hermione took this room, Harry and Ron took Harry's nursery, though they had to get one of the older women to transfigure the cot and armchair into 2 full sized beds. Megan and Alicia were staying in James and Lily's bedroom.
The boys had just finished unpacking when Megan entered.
"Harry, I thought maybe you would want to talk about a few things". Harry looked at Ron and nodded, he did have questions for her after all. Ron slid his suitcase under the bed and left to go visit Hermione.
When he had left the room, Megan sat down at the edge of his bed and faced Harry. She wore black combat trousers with a white tank top and black hiking boots. As she leant forward to rest her elbows on her knees, Harry noticed how toned she was. It was obvious that this woman was extremely strong. He also noticed that her eyes told so much. Her pain shone through, but he could also see a fire in her eyes that not many people possessed. It was a fire that they needed to win this war.
"I just wanted to talk to you about a few things, get the record straight, so to speak. Is that ok?" Harry nodded, urging her to go ahead. "Right then. First of all, Alicia and I, we're not here to baby-sit you. You will have your own freedom and we won't interfere. We're going to work together and we're going to train you in things that will help you along the way. But piss me off, such as leaving without telling me where you're going or excluding us from the mission, I will step in. act like a child, I will treat you like one. I don't think I need to tell Hermione that, she's got her head screwed on, but you may want to relay that message to Ron." Harry sniggered at this, amazed that she had worked them all out already.
"Secondly, I want to apologise for not being there when your parents and Sirius died. I wanted to, but I guess you've heard about my revenge spree?" Harry nodded again to say that he had and that she should continue. "I should have been there to take of you, save you from your Aunt and Uncle. I should have helped Sirius but I'm ashamed to admit that I thought he was guilty, and he was going to be next on my list."
"What happened with Alicia, how did she come into it?" Harry asked. He had the distinct feeling that Megan was going to tell him something she had never told anyone. At the mention of Alicia's name, Megan smiled brightly.
"Alicia came into my life at what possibly could have been the end of it. You see, I had acquired somewhat of a reputation among Death Eaters." She announced proudly. "I began to get a little too cocky for my own good. I believed that I was invincible. I had found their hide-out. There were 13 of them in that one camp. To kill them would have meant a huge victory for our side. To cut a very long story short, I marched into the camp, they were too much for me. Alicia was being held captive because of who her uncle was. Seeing her tied up, completely helpless. I had to get her out of there. I didn't care whether I lived or died, but I couldn't let her die too." She said, a haunted look in her eyes. "Saving her is what saved me" she admitted.
"When did you realise that Sirius was innocent?" Harry hadn't meant this to be an interrogation, he hadn't even realised that he had so many questions that didn't involve his parents.
"What I'm about to tell you can go no further. You have to swear." Megan said.
"I swear." Harry promised, slightly worried about what she was about to confess.
"Although Alicia calmed me down a lot, I still wanted Sirius. In my opinion, he was their best friend and his was the worst betrayal. She knew I was going to get him, she didn't agree with it. She had met Sirius before and knew that he could never do anything that would harm his friends. She made me promise not to go after him. I made the promise with no intention of keeping it."
"But Sirius was already in Azkaban!" Harry exclaimed.
"Azkaban wasn't enough. I wanted him dead, and I wanted to be one to do it. My status allowed me entry to Azkaban. So I paid Sirius a visit. We had a little talk, I beat him a little, then we had another little talk. He had a lot to say, and it was very convincing. I finally realised that he never would have sold them out. He would have died first. He had to get out of there. He knew about Pettigrew and I understood that he needed to take care of it, so I, er, I helped him break free."
"You…you helped him escape?" Harry choked out.
"Azkaban is inescapable, unless you know how to handle Dementors!" Megan said trivially.
Harry couldn't believe it. He had so many questions, but with every answer came more questions. He'd have to wait to ask them all though. It had been along day and right now, he needed his sleep. They would talk more tomorrow.
It only took a few seconds for Hermione to open the door once Ron knocked. It was late and she had already dressed in her nightclothes, which tonight just happened to be a pair of pink flannel bunny pyjamas.
Hermione blushed crimson, of all the tings for him to see her in, and it had to be them. She blushed even more when he looked her up and down and raised his eyebrows announcing that they were cute.
"What's so funny Ron?" she asked, glaring at him.
"Nothing's funny. I said they were cute. I just didn't picture you bunny pj's".
Hermione smiled teasingly, knowing what would wipe that smirk off his face.
"Think about what I wear to bed often do you?"
It worked. He stopped smiling and gulped, looking down at the floor. "Harry and Megan are talking. Can I come in?" he asked shyly. She stared at him for a few moments, wondering whether or not another night time talk with Ron would be a good idea. Finally, she decided to let him in.
'What's the worst that could happen?' she thought 'He tells me that he likes me and we kiss. I could definitely handle that. Or, he could tell me that he's not interested and break my heart all over again… he already did that with Lavender, I could handle it again, right?'
She walked over to the two seat sofa that sat in the corner of the room next to the bookcase, which she had already filled whilst unpacking. Ron followed and plonked himself down next to her, throwing his legs over so they were resting on her lap.
"My feet hurt" he said by way of explanation when she looked up at him.
"Well, I'm not touching your smelly feet!" she replied stubbornly.
"Oh please, they really hurt!" he whined, putting on his best puppy dog face that always made her change her mind whenever he wanted help with his homework. Hermione laughed but remained firm. It took all her strength not to give in, he looked so adorable.
"Fine" he moaned as he swung his legs round again so his feet were on the floor. "I'd do it for you" he said in a last attempt to change her mind.
And with that, Hermione raised an eyebrow challengingly and lifted her legs up onto his lap. He looked at her in disbelief and she jerked her head towards her feet, letting him know that she wanted him to prove it. He smiled as he shook his head and placed his large rough hands on her small feet.
"Ok fine, but you're doing me as soon I've done you" he told her.
"When you've done me, I'll do whatever you want me to". Oh god. She was flirting with him. And not just innocent flirting like they were used to, but outrageous, suggestive flirting. She watched as his eyes went wide and the blush that he was so famous for worked its way up his neck, then to his face. Eventually, he cleared his throat and replied, rather bravely; "I'll hold you to that".
They talked for about a couple of hours, just talking about everything and nothing. Ron continued to massage Hermione's feet the whole time, not once asking to switch. He liked the way they were sat. He had seen Harry and Ginny sit like this a lot back at Hogwarts when they were still together, and he was able to fool himself for just a little while that he and Hermione were actually a couple.
"Do you think Megan's finished with Harry yet?" Ron asked, only just realising how late it was.
"Yes, I heard Megan go to her room a little while ago" Hermione replied.
"Oh, I would have left sooner if you had told me" Ron told her. He didn't want to keep her up if she didn't want him to be there.
Hermione, however, took this comment the wrong way.
"Oh I'm sorry. You could have left anytime you wanted to. I don't want to bore you" She snapped, pulling her legs up so that she could wrap her arms around her knees. Ron looked at her in shock. Where had this come from? They were fine just a second ago.
"Hermione, I didn't mean it like that"
"No, no it's fine. I understand. You only came here because Harry wasn't available" She said quickly. Ron smiled sadly and stood up, not wanting to respond to that comment in fear of starting another row.
"Ok, I get it. You're tired. I'll just see you in the morning." he said, making his way to the door.
"Don't patronize me Ronald. I am not tired." She hissed. "You're always doing that, why?". Ron sighed heavily and turned to face her.
"What happened here?" he asked sadly.
"You decided to be a prat again!" Hermione stated. For once, Ron bit his tongue against what he was going to say and instead said;
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to patronize you. I didn't mean that I wanted to go, I just know that you're tired and I didn't want you to stay up just because of me".
Hermione looked at him, ashamed. She didn't know why she had reacted so badly to his comment, she was just more on edge than she usually was.
"Oh, right. I'm sorry. You can stay if you want. I'm fine." She said.
"As much as I want to stay, it's late and we're both tired" he really did want to stay.
"Ok, I'll see you in the morning." she smiled. He returned the smile and opened the door. He was only half way out when Hermione jumped up and called him. He spun around, almost knocking her over where she had tried to stop him and almost made it to the door. He grabbed the first thing he could to stop her from falling, which just so happened to be the hem of her shirt, his fingers brushed against the bare skin on her stomach and they flinched at the sudden contact.
"Erm, sorry" he choked out.
"It's ok, erm, thank you… for the massage" she said awkwardly, resisting the urge to lean up and kiss him.
"You're welcome" he smiled, letting go of her shirt. "Goodnight Mione. Sweet dreams."
He didn't wait for her to answer, he knew that if he stayed a minute longer, he'd end doing something that she'd regret in the morning.
He tiptoed back into his room, trying his best not to wake Harry. The main reason being that he didn't want to answer questions Harry already knew the answer to. Silently, he got changed and climbed into bed. Thinking that he had achieved it, he let out a long slow breath.
"Have you told her yet?" Harry asked, opening one eye to look at his best friend.
"Noo, and I'm not going to either" Ron groaned.
"Ok, if you say so" Harry replied with a grin. If Ron didn't tell her soon, Harry was going to do it for him. He was determined to get them to at least admit that they liked each other, even if that was all they did.