The trio spent the next three days walking the small town. It was cold and snowy but beautiful at the same time. Their third day happened to be the nicest and a Saturday. After several hours in the snow they ran across a park that had obvious warming charms placed around it. As they stood on the edge looking in they were still wrapped tightly in their winter clothes. A few more steps and it warmed enough that they weren't clutching their coats tight to their bodies. They were watching children play on the swing and slides when a man and child walked in from the side. They stopped just inside the warm zone and the man began to take the heavy coat off the child and himself.
"Daddy, I don't feel like playing in the park today." the girl said, "I miss Mommy."
"I know you do baby, I do too. But you haven't been here for weeks and your friends miss you." he said, "We'll stay for a little while and then leave if you still don't feel up to it."
"Ok."
Hermione, Ron and Ginny were frozen in shock. The man had an English accent and he sounded very familiar. The trio followed the man and child with their eyes not daring to believe they had finally found him.
"What in the world is he doing with a child that calls him Daddy?" Ron asked.
"She couldn't be his, he must have married her mother." Ginny sounded defeated.
"Or adopted an orphan." Hermione said, "They miss her Mum so she's either on a long trip or out of the picture. We need to get more information. Just remember he thinks we're dead."
They watched the two play in the park for a while. It didn't last long before the girl wanted to go. He bundled her back up and they exited the park the same way they came in. The trio had hidden and watched them leave and then followed them to a house with a for sale sign in the yard.
Hermione talked them into seeing the agent selling the house. It took another day to get an appointment but they we able to get in the next morning. Ginny stayed in the coffee shop next door thinking it would look odd for three people to be looking for a house to buy. When they were finished they hurried back to Ginny and then to the hotel they were staying in.
"She was such a gossip it was easy getting all the information we needed." Hermione grinned.
"Great tell me everything." Ginny said.
Hermione spun the story leaving nothing out that she had heard. When she finished she said, "All we need to do now is get a second source that says at least close to the same thing. Then we approach Harry."
"Why do we need a second source?" Ron asked in confusion.
"Evidence." Hermione stated, "If two stories come out the same they're more likely to be true. I'm hungry let's find a warm place to eat."
"I've never heard her say that before." Ron leaned toward Ginny and whispered.
"Because you usually say it before we need to ." Ginny chuckled, "Are you feeling alright?"
"No I'm not, but it's just that story the woman told us." Ron said rubbing his stomach, "She said that Harry was that woman's lover. It doesn't sound like Harry at all."
"Because either she or someone else made it up for the sake of gossip." Hermione said, "I hear Lavender doing it all the time. You do the same thing."
"I do not." Ron sounded offended.
"May I remind you about the second task." Hermione said, "I think you were fighting two dozen of them off. It's called embellishing the story. It makes gossip sound better. Now let's go." She flicked her wand at each of the others and then herself.
"Why did you just turn your hair blond?" Ron asked.
"I think I saw Harry and that little girl go into the restaurant across the street." Hermione said grabbing her coat, "We don't need to be recognized right now."
When they arrived they first went to the counter to order food like everyone else was doing. Then they found a table behind Harry's back and ate while they listened. For a while it was a mad house of children's noises but soon they were off to the play room. Harry followed the kids into the room leaving the other adults to talk.
"I find it so odd that Elizabeth would trust such a young man with her daughter." a woman said, "But I guess we don't have the same perspective as you Clara do tell."
"He's excellent with kids." Clara stated, "When he took over for me while I was having Sam the kids loved him."
"Tell me about it." another woman said, "All I hear is Mr. Harry this, Mr. Harry that, Mr. Harry's so cool, I'm almost looking forward to him leaving."
The women chuckled and Clara spoke up, "I'm not. I like teaching kindergarten better than third but replacing him, even just after a few months, is going to be difficult. After he saved her life Emily has always been his biggest supporter. She adores him, I think he's a good choice and match for Em."
"But he's so young." one woman said, "Can he take care of her on a teacher's salary?"
"He's not working for the salary he's getting." another woman said approaching the group, "I've heard he's quite rich."
"Is that why you've been trying to get his attention?" Clara giggled.
"Of course. But he's never even really looked at me." the woman complained, "The only way that can happen is if he's gay."
"I don't think so." the first woman said, "Arthur came back from school one day saying Mr. Harry had lost his girl."
"That was the first day." Clara stated, "One girl asked if he was married and had children. He said no. When they kept pestering him he said he'd lost his girlfriend recently and wasn't up for dating anyone's sister. When Michael said he had a brother Harry turned very red and said no one's brother either."
The group of women laughed and chatted until Harry came out of the play room.
"We have to go, Em's tired." Harry stated.
"Harry are you going to tell the kids tomorrow?" Clara asked.
"Yes. Do you have any advice on timing?" Harry asked.
"After lunch." Clara suggested, "Some of the mothers can come in and help."
"Are you sure you want to go back to England?" Michael's Mom asked, "I know Michael would want you to stay."
"I know and in a way I want to stay too." Harry said, "But Liz was adamant that I take Em back to England. So that's what I'm going to do."
"When are you going to adopt her?" Clara asked.
"The process is almost finished here. I think I have to do some work in England to make it stick there." Harry shook his head, "Liz was so sure giving her my name would protect her. But I'm afraid it will cause her more attention or possibly endanger her."
"How do you think your family's going to take you having a five year old?" Michael's Mom asked.
"They'll love her." Harry frowned, "It's me I'm worried about. If I could have just moved faster."
"Harry." Clara said, "Elizabeth said the Weasley's are a fabulous family. She said they were so loving and giving. I don't think that's going to stop now."
"But now their two youngest children are dead." Harry shrugged, "I just don't see how they'll get past it."
"If it were my family I would be blaming that dark wizard and his followers." Clara said, "I wouldn't be blaming you at all."
"But Clara, they were captured because they were my friends." Harry said then turned as the door behind him squeaked, "Are you ready to leave Love?"
"Yes Daddy." Emily said, "Tomorrow's our last day right? Then we're going to see your family and I'm going to get a grandma?"
"That's right baby." Harry bent down to her level to talk to her, "Are you excited about that?"
"I guess, I've never had a grandma before." Emily shrugged, "Does she make good cookies?"
"The best ever." Harry grinned, "But in England we call them biscuits instead of cookies."
"Ok." she then let out a big yawn, "Can you carry me?"
"Sure baby." Harry helped her with her coat and then he put on his own. He picked her up and they said their goodbyes as they left the restaurant.
Later back in the hotel room Hermione said, "He hasn't even looked at another girl."
"Maybe it was because he was with Emily's mum." Ginny was very pessimistic about the whole situation.
"You're wrong." Ron said, "I know he was crazy about you. He wouldn't forget you that quickly."
"How can you know?" Ginny nearly growled, "You never even talked to him about us."
"I know because it was important enough to risk our friendship." Ron said sternly, "He just doesn't risk things like that. He knew I didn't want anyone to date you and he did it anyway. He was scared to death because he didn't want it to end our friendship but he couldn't let you go either. I was shocked that you two started dating but not because I was so blind I couldn't see that he wanted to. It was because I knew he thought it was too dangerous for him to date anyone."
"How are we going to approach him." Hermione said, "Tomorrow's their last day here."
"Maybe we should just go home and wait for him to show up?" Ron suggested.
"No, I think we need to do it here." Hermione said, "I think we need to find that policeman that was mentioned in one of those articles."
"Which one?" Ginny asked.
"Craft." Hermione said looking at her notes, "We'll just go to their office and ask for him."
"And where might their office be?" Ron asked.
"I don't know but I bet the lady at the front desk knows." Hermione grabbed her coat and headed out the door. Ginny and Ron followed suit hoping this would lead somewhere.
"Let me get this straight." Detective Craft said, "You are his girlfriend and you two are his best friends. He thought you had been killed but they were imposters and you want to talk to Harry now."
"Exactly." Hermione agreed, "We came to you because we don't want to scare him or be attacked by him before we have a chance to prove ourselves."
"And you'll be willing to sit in our interrogation room as long as needed to be able to see him?" Craft asked.
"As long as it doesn't take longer than he is here. We know tomorrow is his last day teaching." Ron said.
"And you know this how?" Craft asked suspiciously.
"Because we heard him talking about it at the hamburger place where we ran across him." Hermione said, "We didn't tell him then because we were afraid of scaring him away."
They had spent the last hour trying to convince Detective Craft to just go get Harry so he could be sure of who they are. He kept asking the same questions over and over and the three teens were getting sick of it. The questions went on for another ten minutes before Ginny's temper broke.
"Would you just go get him and let him question us." She yelled, "At least he'd know the proper questions to make sure we are who we say we are. Honestly I could tell you all day that he was my boyfriend but if I tell you our favorite broom cupboard was on the sixth floor across from the painting of Sir Callahan you wouldn't know I was telling the truth."
"You had a favorite broom closet." Ron yelled, "I'm going to kill him."
"Shut up Ronald." Hermione yelled, "It's none of your business. Besides our favorite broom closet was just a floor above it."
Ron turned red and Ginny turned on him, "If you ever say one more word about who I date or what I do I promise to use my best hex and I won't cancel it until you don't have any bogeys for the rest of your life. Now Detective if you would please just go get Harry."
"Actually he's here." Craft said, "He's been here for the last twenty minutes."
"And you have been wasting our time chatting with you when we could be talking with him?" Ginny was so angry her words came out in a hiss.
"His choice." Craft said, "He wants to make sure you aren't imposters."
Ginny turned towards the mirror, "Harry James Potter you are so dead."
"Gin, I don't think that's the way to get him in here." Ron snickered.
"Oh, would you rather me take my anger out on you." she asked sharply.
"No."
The door opened and Harry walked in.
***Previously***
"Officer Cole come in." Harry said upon opening the door to the knock he had heard.
"Thank you sir." the man said, "Sorry to bother you but something's come up."
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"I need you to come down to the station to identify some people." He said.
"Ok let me just call Mary over to watch Emily for me." Harry turned to the floo.
Two minutes later Mary came through, "Is everything all right?"
"I don't know." Officer Cole said, "Detective Craft had some people show up about half an hour ago claiming they knew Harry and wanted to talk to him without scaring him."
"Well hurry off then dear." Mary said, "Don't worry I'll keep an eye on Emily."
"Thanks, Officer Cole could you stay as well." Harry said, "If these people are trying to get me away from Emily I want to make sure she's protected."
"Certainly Harry." Cole said, "I kind of figured you would want me too. We also thought this might be a distraction technique or something."
Harry arrived at the station and asked the receptionist where Detective Craft was and then he followed the patrolman to the interrogation room.
"They look like them but I don't know. How long have they been here?" Harry asked.
"About fifty minutes." Bridger answered. He was in charge of the room, "If they're using polyjuice it should change back in about ten minutes."
"They're all being so quiet and agreeable." Harry said, "That's just not like them. Normally they'd be yelling and hexing to get their way."
"They are dealing with authority here." Bridger pointed out, "Authority that they want something from. They are also in a foreign country. I'm sure they're on their best behavior."
"Sure I guess." Harry began chuckling, "I didn't know they could behave so well." A few minutes later he said, "Hermione's starting to lose patients with the same questions… so is Ginny. If one of them doesn't lose their temper in the next ten minutes they aren't my friends."
When the explosion finally happened Bridger looked at his watch, "They lasted six minutes."
"I guess I better go save Craft now." Harry sighed but had a huge smile on his face.
"Give him a minute or two, he's enjoying himself." Bridger suggested.
"Ok his time's up I have to go save Ron now." Harry said as Ginny turned her anger towards Ron. He opened the door and stepped into the room.
"What is the idea of making us wait so long." Ginny marched up to him.
"Good to see you too Gin." Harry grinned and pulled her into a hug. Then he turned to Ron and Hermione, "I can't tell you how glad I am that..." he couldn't finish the sentence because he was engulfed in a group hug.
When they finally let go Harry asked what he had been most curious about, "How did you survive?' I saw him use the killing curse on you."
"Polyjuice. You saw him kill three muggles that they'd forced to drink polyjuice." Hermione said tears dripping down her face, "Kingsley thinks they took our hair at school or even out of our compartment on the train. We were all still at the station when your letter arrived informing Remus about the death eaters so they took the three of us to the burrow using emergency portkeys. Tonks was sent to be my parents guard until they could reach the burrow by car."
"By the way you hide really well." Ron said, "The three of us have been looking for four months."
"You are in so much trouble mister." Ginny said hugging him around the waste, "Just wait till you get home to Mum she's going to skin you alive."
"Of course that's after she crushes all your ribs in a hug." Ron laughed.
"Detective Craft thank you." Harry turned to the officer and shook his hand.
"No problem. But I do have a question." he leaned in, "What exactly do you get up to in a broom cupboard?"
"Talking privately." Harry winked at him.
Craft laughed heartily as Ron chuffed Harry on the back of the head. Bridger walked into the room followed by Dr. Abby.
"Hey Doc." Harry said, "I want you to meet my friends. This is Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Ginny Weasley."
"I've heard a lot about you three." Dr. Abby smiled, "Glad I get to meet you."
"Thanks." They didn't know what else to say.
"Now that I'm here why don't we sit and talk." she suggested, "I'm a muggle psychologist."
"She's been helping me with my issues." Harry said grinning.
"Kingsley let us read your letter." Hermione said, "I'm glad he had someone to turn to Doctor, thank you."
"You are welcome." Abby said, "Now Harry called me here to help him adjust, but I don't think he needs me. However Emily may not adjust as well."
"I know I'm worried." Harry said then turned to the trio, "You saw Emily didn't you?"
"We did and we had heard some… rumors." Hermione said tactfully.
"I bet." Harry said, "Not many people understood why Elizabeth would take in a total stranger even if he did save her daughter's life. Elizabeth's husband Edward was killed at the World Cup we went to, he was a Slytherin that wouldn't back Tom, she thought that is why they singled him out. They also tried to hit Emily with a dark curse but Elizabeth stepped in front of it. Healers were able to suppress the effects for a while but it finally killed her a few months ago. I'll sign the final papers tomorrow to adopt Emily. I'm her closest living relative."
"You're really good with her." Ginny said.
"She's such a good girl." Harry said, "Elizabeth's death has been hard on her as you can imagine. She's still not herself but she is getting better. I'm a little worried how she'll take to you. She doesn't think you're dead or anything, I've just never talked about you to her."
"Thinking she would never meet us." Hermione agreed, "Good idea."
"Why don't we go see her?" Abby suggested, "Today is the day I normally visit with her anyway. Should she be up from her nap?"
Harry looked at his watch, "Yes, Mary should be giving her a snack right now." He stood up and opened the door for the rest of the group. On the way out he stopped at the Detective's desk, "Thanks for letting us use the room."
"Any time Harry. I'm glad it all turned out well." He smiled, "Sorry to give you all the run around but we do all we can to keep people off Harry's back. He's rather special to the people around here. We are certainly going to miss him. Especially those little kids."
As the group left the rest of the officers heard the Ginny ask, "So you really teach five year olds?"
"Sure." Harry replied, "They're easier to teach than you guys were." Inside the station the room as a whole chuckled.