A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. I've had the chapters sitting around but FFnet has been bugging and I've only just figured out how to fix it. Anyway, I hope I haven't lost too many readers, drop me a review and let me know you still like it :)
Summary: A continuation of Complexities of the Heart,
Things Between People
By katemary77
Chapter Three:
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
- Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare
Anna was humming softly to herself as she moved down to the kitchen to get dinner ready, her fingers moving deftly through her long hair, twining it into a loose braid.
Her movements stilled when she entered the basement.
Remus was kneeling on the floor, a jug of milk spilled and broken beside him. He was staring at the mess, hands unmoving on his lap. Anna's mouth slipped into a frown at the sight and she knelt beside him, moving her wand to wipe up the spillage.
"I dropped it," he said quietly, "I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter."
Taking him by the arms, she helped him stand and he moved over to a seat.
"It was a month ago today."
"I know," Anna replied. She'd known it since she woke up that morning and had been fighting desperately to think of anything else.
"I hate being here," Remus continued, "Sirius hated this house; it feels wrong to grieve him here, wrong to remember him here."
Tapping the milk jug with her wand, Anna placed the repaired item on the kitchen bench and sighed.
"I think this place is driving us all crazy; the three of us. I wish we could get away."
She heard Remus' chair scrape across the stone floor and turned. He had stood up and was looking at her with a small glint in his eyes.
"Maybe we can."
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"You've got everything you need, Harry?"
Harry nodded and shuffled over to the fireplace, a bag slung over his shoulder. It was a week since Harry had lost control and blown up the portrait of Mrs. Black. Since then, Anna had been pushing him harder and harder with his Occlumency training and it was paying off. He could now reach the centre of his mind instantly and he and Anna had begun to build a defence around it. "Visualisation!" she shouted at least twice in every lesson, in a manner not unlike Mad-Eye Moody, and his visuals were becoming more and more defined and detailed.
"I've told you the address?"
Harry resisted rolling his eyes sidelong at Remus and replied; "About ten times, Anna."
She smirked and ruffled up his hair. Harry was beginning to get used to the gesture.
"I'll go first and make sure the cottage is clear, you follow after, okay? And Remus will come last."
He nodded and she turned to the fire. With a toss of Floo powder the flames roared a brilliant green. She shouted over the noise, stepped in and whirled away. After Harry had destroyed Mrs. Black, Anna and Remus had come to him with an idea.
"Being stuck here is getting to the three of us," Remus had begun quietly. "Last night Anna and I owled Professor Dumbledore and he got back to us today. We're going to organise for us to go and stay in Anna's cottage in Wales for a day or two. Albus and I will go over in the next couple of days and set up some defences – alarms, wards, that kind of thing. What do you think?"
Harry had nodded slowly. He knew what this was. Harry needed to talk to someone about what was happening, what had already happened, and they were giving him an opportunity to do so. He knew that he should take it. Since Remus had first taught Harry how to summon a Patronus in his third year, Harry had trusted the older man and in the last year, this trust had solidified. As far as Anna was concerned, he wasn't sure if it was her Empathy or just her personality, but there was something about Anna that made her easy to talk to. It had taken a while, but Harry had become comfortable, perhaps even attached, to her presence. He knew that soon Anna would start penetrating his mind, rifling through his memories, and the thought didn't worry him as much as it once might have. After spending almost a fortnight with both she and Remus, Harry had grown closer to the two of them. Perhaps it was their grief over the loss of Sirius that had united them, he thought with a sad smile, hiking his bag further onto his shoulder and stepping into the emerald flames. He shouted out the address of Anna's place and soon found himself stepping into a small, homey cottage.
They were in a living room. Anna was standing by a bookcase with her wand and looked over to Harry when he came tumbling out of the fireplace.
"It's been a while since anyone's been inside," she said, "There's a fine coat of dust over everything. Including you," Anna finished with a grin, noting the layer of soot covering Harry's skin and clothes. "I'll just include you in the spell, then."
With a wave of her wand and some chanted words, the place was gleaming. Then Remus came stumbling out of the fireplace, a cloud of ash following him. Grinning at Anna's pout, he took out his own wand and cleaned it up.
"Take a look around, you two," Anna said, "Make yourselves at home. I'm going to put the food I brought into the kitchen. I suppose you're both going to be gentlemen and insist I take the bed?"
"But of course," Remus said with a silly bow.
Anna nodded and said; "Just put your bags beside the couches then," before disappearing into what he presumed was the kitchen.
Harry did as he was told and dumped his overnight bag on the floor, before deciding to take Anna up on her offer of having a look around. The cottage was small, but then he supposed it was only Anna living here, with only one bathroom and one bedroom. Peeking outside, Harry decided that the smallness of the cottage was well made up for in the yard. It appeared that they were in the middle of a Welsh forest and Anna's garden was sprawling. A wooden veranda at the back of the house looked over the slightly tamed wilderness. The living room was also spacious, with room for a couple of couches, an armchair and some bookcases for Anna's multitude of novels. He saw there were some gaps in the rows of hardbacks and figured Anna must've taken some with her to Grimmauld Place. Other than that, though, it appeared she had left in a rush. Her bed was crumpled, a crochet throw was haphazardly stuffed into a corner of the couch and there was a half full glass of water resting on the basin in the bathroom.
Thorough assessment over, Harry turned to the kitchen where Anna was now making a pot of tea.
"This is a nice place," he said, sitting next to Remus at the counter.
"Thanks," she replied.
"How long have you lived here for? Apart from this last year, of course."
She turned around now and passed them both a cup of tea, gazing shrewdly at Harry for a moment. He wondered if she was deciding how much to tell him.
"Dumbledore moved me out here five years ago. Around the end of your first year at Hogwarts."
What was the significance of that? he mused. What happened at the end of his first year?
Voldemort came back, Harry's mind answered a moment later.
"You had to go into hiding."
"So did a lot of people, Harry."
Harry realised he had never really thought about the consequences of Voldemort re-emerging at Hogwarts that year. Considering the extreme climate of fear abounding throughout the Wizarding World now, it didn't surprise him that some must've fled even then.
"Why?" was his next question.
Anna sighed and took a sip of her tea, gazing at Remus askance before looking back up at him, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Harry, there are some people that Voldemort would stop at nothing to find and capture. Some for recruitment, some for execution, some for imprisonment... Most of these people have been running from him for decades, some go so far as to hide themselves from the rest of the world. Well, our world at least. When you stopped Voldemort from getting the philosopher's stone in your first year, Dumbledore contacted many of these people and the brief break they'd had from living in hiding ended."
"And you're one of those people."
"Yes."
"And I guess, so am I."
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Later on, Harry was sitting out on the veranda, watching the sun go down over the forest. He could hear Anna and Remus in the kitchen, talking softly as they washed up after dinner. He had offered to help but Anna had simply handed him a blanket and shooed him onto the porch. He had the blanket wrapped around him now; even though it was summer it was rather cool here, and it was more of a comfort thing than anything else, anyway.
Shortly, Anna and Remus joined him, sitting on either side of him on the bench. Neither of them spoke, patiently watching stars come out across the sky.
"I miss him," Harry said after a while. "I really miss him."
"He was someone outside of Hogwarts that honestly and truly cared about what happens to you, Harry. You've never had that before. Missing Sirius is the most natural thing in the world," Remus replied.
"But I only had him for such a short time," Harry countered, "How is it that I can miss him so much when I only knew him for so little? I don't know if I can do this without him, I can't do it alone." He was unashamed to hear the crack in his voice and the sudden wetness on his cheeks.
Remus moved closer and tentatively touched Harry's arm, laying his hand on top of it and giving a squeeze.
"You don't have to do anything alone," Anna said. "I don't think you'll ever have to, Harry." She paused for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts. "I have the gift of knowing what people around me are feeling, Harry," she said after a moment. "And with it I've realised that you have the gift of inspiring love and admiration in everyone around you. There will always be someone there; you'll never be alone. It was the first thing I noticed when I met you. There was a change in the air, or something, everyone seemed to be screaming, Harry's here!"
"You're an amazing person, Harry," Remus finished, "And I truly believe – Sirius truly believed – that you can do this."
Hearing this, resolution coursed through his bones. Harry nodded and wiped his cheeks.
"I know," he said, voice still slightly broken. "I know. Sometimes I just get scared. Do you ever get scared?"
"I'm a werewolf, Harry," Remus answered simply, "Fear that I'm going to hurt someone is something I've had to live with since I was bitten."
They were quiet for a moment, contemplating, but then Anna stood and pulled both Harry and Remus up with her.
"I need to show you both something. Come with me."
She directed them into the living room and crouched down on the floor in front of the fireplace. There was a dark red rug covering the floor boards and she pulled it up, taking her wand out of her pocket as she did. Pointing it at one of the floor boards, she murmured a few words in Latin that Harry wasn't quick enough to decipher and the wood shivered for a moment before disappearing entirely. Anna reached a hand into the dark hole and pulled out, of all things, an old, thick book.
Sitting back on the couch between the two men, Anna ran her hands over the blank cover of the book.
"This is the diary of Sophia Baccaro. Her sister Eliana was a Seer, around two centuries ago. Sarah recorded a lot of Emily's predictions in here. Many of the prophecies concerned a wizard that Eliana called 'ragazzo di serpente' – child of the snake."
"Voldemort," Harry murmured.
Anna nodded and turned to a page towards the end of the book. The page was unmarked and unnumbered and Harry supposed she had turned to this page many times, to need neither aids.
Harry had learnt much Latin during his schooling at Hogwarts, but except for a few words, Italian was still a very foreign language and so the passage Anna traced with her fingers was undiscernible. Beside it, however, in penmanship he recognised as Anna's, was an English translation of the words:
'Hope fades
And the world lies in shadows
The Dark Lord prevails
And the light of the phoenix is gone.
Born as the seventh month dies
There is one who will triumph
And stop the tide of evil
The song of the phoenix will be heard again.
None can stand before him
The Dark Lord himself will break
A child, born with a power
That the Dark Lord knows not.
There is but one who can resist him.
Born of evil and empathy,
If by heart she chooses Dark
All shall turn to night.'
"Yes," Anna said very quietly, "Sometimes I get very scared."
"This… this is you?"
She nodded.
"It is. But I made my choice a long time ago and that's never going to change."
Remus' face was inscrutable, but looking at Anna, Harry knew she was telling the truth; there was no doubt. He fancied that he was at least decent at reading people and Anna tended to display every emotion she was feeling in her expression anyway.
"Did Sirius know?"
Anna seemed to sag with relief, understanding that this was Harry accepting her. She looked at Remus, who hadn't spoken, but he smiled in such a reassuring way that he didn't have to.
"Sirius knew. A week after he stumbled into my cottage Lucius Malfoy found me here; I told Sirius everything then. That's why I had to leave."
Harry remembered when Hermione had come to him with her theory – of Anna's mother being imprisoned and raped by Death Eaters – and something clicked.
"Malfoy, he's you're father, isn't he?"
"Merlin, no!" Anna exclaimed, alarmed. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"I though something was off," Harry admitted, "I asked Hermione to look into it. She figured it all out, Anna, its okay. You're mother was imprisoned – we had thought because Voldemort wanted to use her magic, but now I see it was because of the prophecy – and raped by Death Eaters."
Anna buried her head in her hands and her words came out muffled; "I didn't mean for you to get that impression." She raised her head and took one of Harry's hands. His scar twinged, barely noticeable, and a sense of dread grew within him. "Harry, there's a spell that's used mostly with old families. It's a kind of failsafe against a firstborn child being female. It's called the Conception Charm. A wizard casts it on a woman and, if done correctly, their child begins to grow in her womb. That spell was cast on my mother, but not by Malfoy or any of the Death Eaters. Harry, it was cast by Voldemort."
Harry couldn't help it. Ripping his hand from hers, he stood. The pained expression on her face was immediate.
"You're kidding, right?"
"You must believe me Harry, I would never hurt you."
"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't Sirius tell me?" he demanded. "Remus, you didn't know?"
The werewolf shook his head.
"We were going to tell you – both of you," Anna promised, splaying her hands out beseechingly. "We planned to convince Dumbledore into letting you stay at Grimmauld Place as soon as the term was over. We we're going to tell you both then. But honestly, it's hardly of any matter anyway. Voldemort knows he can't turn me, he's tried before and it's never worked. It never will. The only thing he wants me for now is to kill me."
Harry thought about it. He thought about all the opportunities that she had had, not only these past weeks but this past year, to hurt him and how, all along, she'd only tried to help him. He thought about how, just like him, she had no choice in this, her birth had been prophesised before she'd even been born; like him, prophecies had structured her life from the beginning. He thought about how Dumbledore trusted her, how the Order and Hermione trusted her. But most of all Harry thought about how Sirius had trusted her – loved her – and how broken she had been since Sirius had died, and he knew that she wasn't lying.
He sat down again.
"Okay. I believe you."
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"You know, you could have told me."
Anna started a bit at the voice but turned to Remus with a calm expression.
"I know I could've. I always knew that you wouldn't treat me any differently and that you'd still trust me," she said, "But Remus, even though I know all that, I was still afraid. If I hadn't figured out your lycanthropy, would you have told me?"
"Eventually."
"Well, this is my eventually. Please, don't be upset."
Remus walked over to the porch railing and leant against it beside her.
"I'm not. Nothing's changed."
Anna smiled and looked back at the house. Harry was sleeping soundly on one of the couches; it was past midnight."
"I'm very glad to hear it."
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Harry woke the next morning to the sounds of Anna pottering around the kitchen. He groaned and rubbed sleep from his eyes. From the sounds coming from the bathroom, it seemed Remus was taking a shower.
"Come on, kiddo, I know you're awake," Anna called, "I'm cooking toast à la France."
Anna rolled her eyes when Harry suddenly appeared in the kitchen.
"Honestly, men," she huffed, "Appeal to their stomachs and miracles will happen!"
He smiled with her and sat at the counter. Soon after, Anna set a plate of French toast in front of him and he went about dousing it in maple syrup and cinnamon sugar.
"Steady on, Harry!" Anna exclaimed.
Harry shrugged.
"I'm a growing boy."
Harry and Anna ate together and shared easy conversation.
"Harry, there's something else you should know," Anna said quietly as she set the dishes washing in the sink with her wand.
He felt his stomach drop as he said, "What?"
Anna faced him square on.
"I've been wondering how to tell you this since I found out. You should've been the first to know, but at the beginning I wasn't sure how I was feeling about it myself and then… well, I just had no clue how to tell you." Anna swallowed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Harry, I'm pregnant."
Harry was gob smacked. Pregnant?
"I know," Anna said, agreeing with his wordless shock, "It was the last thing I expected as well. Sirius and I were always careful."
Harry searched for something to say.
"When did you find out?" he finally managed.
"Uh… a couple of days after the Ministry."
Harry's heart broke for her. To lose your lover so suddenly like that and to find out so soon after that you were going to have his child must have been agony.
"So you're going to keep it?"
"Him," she corrected, "And yes. For a while I wasn't sure… I didn't want to do this without Sirius and I didn't think I could do it alone. But I'm not alone," Anna said with conviction, "And it feels that Sirius might be here anyway… in you and in Remus and in me and now, in our son."
Harry walked over to Anna and put his hand over hers. She smiled.
A/N: Let me know what you think!