BETTER HALVES

The Burrow

Ottery St. Catchpole

December 25th

2019 A.D.

"Ginny, your over reacting!" Harry huffed.

"Over reacting?! Are you serious?! No! I won't have my son anywhere near that girl!" She scathed.

As hard as they tried, the rest of the family couldn't block out the sounds of them arguing with each other in the kitchen. Harry had just arrived back from speaking with his son at Potter Manor to find his fuming wife demanding an explanation.

"They're just friends!"

"And that's too much!" She screamed. "I don't need to remind you what her father did to you?!"

"Ginny...,"

"I won't go through that again, Harry! I can't! Seeing you there in that hospital bed...you...," Her voice broke.

"I'm here now aren't I? I'm fine!"

"He thew you off a building!" She yelled.

"I'm not gonna blame her for what her father did!" Harry snapped back.

"I will not let my son end up in a hospital bed because you couldn't see the truth!"

"What truth?!" Harry demanded.

"She's been trekking around the world with him for Merlin knowns how long! She's her fathers daughter! He almost killed you and my brother!" She screamed. "I will not let that happen to my son! I'll pull him out of school if I have too!"

"No you won't!" Harry growled. "You will not stop Albus from enjoying Hogwarts just because of your paranoia!"

"What?!"

Harry never did know when to back down. Ron and Hermione knew it the moment he had said it. They were going to be sleeping in separate beds tonight. After a few more minutes of yelling at each other, Ginny stormed out of the kitchen and straight to the fireplace. She was gone in a flash of green fire a second later.

Just afterwards, they all her the back door slam.

Hermione sighed. "Alright, you take Harry. I'll talk to Ginny,"

"No, you better talk to Harry," Ron said.

"Why?"

"Because I agree with him," Ron admitted.

He walked over to the fireplace and floo'd to Potter Manor while Hermione walked out of the back door and into the garden.

"Harry?" She called out.

"Go ahead, say it," Harry sighed. He was sitting against the wall next to the chicken coop.

"Say what?"

"Ginny has a point," He mumbled.

"Well, she does. But so do you. I wouldn't pull my kids out of Hogwarts because there was someone unpleasant there," Hermione admitted.

"I need a drink," Harry said standing.

"Come on. Ron's gone to talk to Ginny, let's go to mine. Maybe we can get this all sorted out before the morning,"

Harry held out his hand, accepting her invitation.

Hermione apparated them to her and Ron's apartment. It was exactly routine but it had happened enough times for them to all know how it worked. If Ron's head appeared in the fireplace sometime later on saying that Ginny had calmed down, then that's where the fight would end. But if no one called, it meant that Harry would have to let Ginny sleep her anger off and go and see her in the morning.

"Twenty Sickles says Ron ends up drooling on my couch," Harry moaned.

Hermione laughed. "He does drool quite a bit doesn't he," She walked into her kitchen and pulled out one of the bottles of wine.

Usually, Harry would only have to wait a few hours before being able to return but then again, it would usually be Hermione comforting Ginny or the other way around when Ron and Hermione fought. But after 4 hours and 5 bottles of wine, there was still no sign.

Now it had gotten to the point where Harry was so drunk that he didn't actually want to face Ginny. He had been re-empowered by his drunken state and wine fueled stubbornness had taken over. He was resolutely swearing that he wouldn't talk to her until she admitted that she was wrong.

Of course, his new found conviction would fade by the time he sobered up.

"She loves you Harry," Hermione slurred slightly looking very flushed. She certainly wasn't the type to get drunk very often. "her worst memory is seeing Harrig, erm, Hagrid carry you out of the woods. She never wants to see anything like that happen again,"

"I know...but she's being unreasonabbble,"

Harry tried to pour himself yet another glass of wine but ended up missing it completely and pouring it all over the floor. "Whoops," Hermione saw what he'd just done and burst into laughter.

She managed to finally pull out her wand and point it at the stain. "EMTergeo,/EM" the wine that was quickly beginning to stain the carpet was suddenly siphoned into the tip of her wand.

Harry laughed. "Bloody hell. Even pissed up your still the best at magic!"

"I am not pisshed!" She snapped.

"What would we have done without you," Harry wondered, looking up at the celling. "probably wouldn't have made it through our 2nd year! Even when you was petrified you managed to work it all out!"

"Being petrified wasn't exactly part of the plan!" She laughed.

"Still...we would have been pretty buggered without you," Harry smiled.

For a second all they could do was look into each others eyes. He had shown her everything that was more important than knowledge and learning and she had helped see him through some of the more impossible situations in his entire life. Before he knew it, his lips were pressed against hers.

Everything inside him screamed that it was wrong. His body yelled at him that this wasn't something that Harry Potter would do. Not to a friend. But for that moment he didn't actually want to be Harry Potter.

As the kiss continued, their hands begun to move around each others bodies while neither of them even gave a thought to the fact that Ron's head could appear in the fireplace at any moment. Unfortunately it wouldn't be until the next morning that they both realized just how terrible a mistake they were making.

Hogsmead Village

Scotland, UK

September 11th

2022 A.D.

Albus was perched on top of Honeydukes watching the muggle TV through the window of Merlin's Mug across the street. He had decided against actually entering the pub and causing half the people inside it to run screaming for the hills but he still wanted to check for news updates occasionally. He hated waiting. He wanted to know everything now instead of finding out in due course.

Unfortunately, waiting was about all he could do at the moment. He had to wait for Athena to wake up, he had to wait for his mother and father to show up, he had to wait for his unseen enemy to arrive before he could actually fight it.

He really hated waiting. So far, the last 2 days had consisted of him explaining things to Dominique without giving her reason to freak out, watching Aurora continue to train the DA and theorize about the future with Sophia. Of course, being able to spend the nights with Aurora certainly made it a lot more enjoyable, even if she had started acting a bit strange lately.

She wasn't her usual physical self and seemed more cautious about things. She had always been the take charge girl, especially in the bedroom but now see was acting a lot more passive and gentle. Then again, with everything that was happening in the outside world, no one was acting exactly the way they used to.

The phone in Albus's pocket started vibrating. One good thing that had come from dropping the wards around this place was that you could now actually get reception.

"Yeah?"Albus said after answering.

"It's Wells,"

"If this is about another riot you can forget it, I'm too busy," Albus stated quickly.

"Actually, I'm up in your neck of the woods and was thinking we could arrange a meet," He said simply.

Albus sighed. He didn't actually have anything better to do. "Fine, when?"

The phone went dead but Wells voice still entered his ears. "I was think about now,"

Albus turned a saw Wells standing in the middle of the street looking up at him. Albus smirked. Why was he not surprised? He jumped off the roof and landed in the alleyway next to Honeydukes where Wells came and met him.

"And there was me thinking that Muggles weren't allowed into this area," Albus said.

"What can I say? I'm a spy," Wells smiled.

"Yeah, well something tells me your not up here for the scenery,"

"You could say that. I heard you had a little run in with the C.I.A.,"

"Yeah, so? I saw her first," Albus shrugged. "besides, you told me where to find her,"

"That was before I knew that she was implicated in the destruction of a nuclear submarine,"

"What?"

"The U.S.S. Kitty Hawk went down just off the Fareo Islands 3 weeks ago. They think she hit a trench wall or something but after looking at the data from the emergency buoy they found that she was deliberately sent off course. Then the C.I.A. Informs them that there is a girl running around that can manipulate machines just by touching them. They've connected a bunch of dots and now think that your little lightning rod was the one that sent the sub off course," Wells explained.

"Your having a laugh! Why the hell would Athena send a nuclear sub off course?"

"I never said that I thought she did it," Wells said causing Al to look a little stumped. "two days ago, some one tried to hack in to the London financial stock exchange and very nearly succeeded because they managed to override all our firewalls and protection servers in less than 2 minutes. The only reason they weren't able to get in and crash the entire 100 share index was because we were testing a beta version of a new protection system call PropMaster. Ever since the Wizarding world went public we've been looking for ways to shield vital data from magical influence,"

It was no surprise that the Muggles were already trying to develop their own defenses against the wizarding world. Especially since Muggle technology had a nasty habit of breaking when in areas with a high magical density. Albus continued to listen carefully.

"PropMaster managed to stop the intrusion but who ever tried to get in managed to erase or corrupt all evidence that they even tried. The reason that I know it wasn't your girl is because if it was her, she would have been able to bypass PropMaster and crash the entire financial network without breaking a sweat,"

"Yeah she could, if she wasn't in a coma at the moment," Albus remarked. "do you have any idea who is behind this?"

"None. But whoever they are, they're doing their very to make it look like Athena," Wells said gravely. "is she safe?"

"Very,"

"Good, because once she wakes up, she might be the only person who can actually figure out who's behind all this,"

"It's gonna be weeks before she wakes up! Any chance you can keep the Americans in the dark about this?" Albus asked.

"I can't delay it, but sooner or later they'll find out about this and they won't be happy...especially if something else happens,"

Albus sighed. "Yeah, well, lets do our best to make sure that it doesn't," The gray clouds above his head rumbled. "I better get back. Keep me updated,"

"Will do," Wells said. "oh and Al?"

Albus turned around.

"Try not to shoot down any more helicopters,"

"No promises," Albus blasted himself into the sky just as large drops of rain started to fall.

Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry

Scotland, UK

September 11th

2022 A.D.

Inside the Hospital Wing, Sophia, Aurora, Lynx, Violet, Hugo and Lincoln were gathered around Athena's bed.

Hugo and Lily entered now they they had made it through their double Charms lesson. They paused slightly upon seeing Sophia.

"Err...hello?"

"Sophia this is Hugo and Lily," Lincoln said quickly.

"Hello Hugo, Lily," She smiled in an almost Luna like way.

"Your the one that's really, really old aren't ya?" Hugo smiled happily.

"I've been around for a while, yes,"

"Wicked!"

Sophia giggled. "I see you weren't lying about him," She said to Aurora.

"Huh?"

"Oh, Aurora's told me all about you Hugo," Sophia said sweetly.

"Yeah?" He grinned. "what did she say?"

"You really don't want me to repeat it Hugo," Aurora remarked causing Hugo's grin to vanish.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Being the resident barber for Anomalies again," Lynx said.

Lynx was indeed in the middle of trimming Athena's hair which had already grown to twice it's original length. Much like Albus, she had grown considerably since she first went into her metamorphosis. She was at least 6 inches taller and had lost the slight child like pudginess around her cheeks. It was becoming quite obvious already that by the time she woke up, she was going to be absolutely stunning.

"Are all Anomalies really sexy?" Hugo asked loudly.

"Hugo! For crying out loud!" Lily sighed.

"What?! I mean I look at her," He pointed at Sophia. "Hot! And I look at her," He pointed to Athena. "Hot! Lincoln and Al aren't really my type but I'm sure there are people that think they're hot...am I the only one seeing a pattern here?"

"Thank you Hugo," Sophia smiled. "and and the risk of sounding incredibly shallow, that's actually not far from the truth,"

Both Lily and Hugo looked a little surprised by that.

"Because an Anomalies genetic structure is much more advanced and they have an accelerated and controlled rate of growth, your much less likely to find any kind of physical flaws," She explained.

"Sweet! She's gonna be fit!" Hugo blurted looking at Athena.

"Yes, I'm sure she'll be stunning!" Aurora hissed moodily.

"Jealousy doesn't become you Aurora. He loves you," Sophia soothed.

"Yeah well, his hormones are gonna love her!"

"Wait a tick. You're afraid that Al's gonna leave you for her?" Lily asked. The idea sounded ridiculous to her.

"He certainly gonna to want to," She said quietly.

"How can you think that?!"

"It's simply the way we're built Lily," Sophia said.

"Female Anomalies give of pheromones to indicate to males that they're ready to mate. Humans females have Menstrual cycles, Anomalies have Estrus cycles," Lincoln said simply. "the pheromones bring the males in then she chooses the strongest one,"

"So wait, your gonna want to...," Hugo asked with raised eyebrows.

"Probably. But she won't go for me. I'm past my prime," He admitted.

"That sucks," Hugo added.

"Al won't leave you Aurora. He loves you!" Violet tried to reassure her.

"He's defiantly going to entertain the idea though. You've never seen a female Anomaly that's ready to reproduce," Aurora warned causing Violet to go quiet.

"It's probably a good thing that Al hasn't told Dominique that yet. She's still having a hard time wrapping her head around the aging thing," Lily sighed.

"Yeah, she's what...," He did the math in his head. "an 8th or a 16th Veela. What's that gonna do to her?"

"I'd image it'll just make her more desirable," Sophia admitted.

"I don't think she'll mind that. She's always been jealous of Victorie," Hugo stated.

"Dominique's not like that!" Lily growled.

"Like what?" A voice came from the door way. Everyone spun around to see an older version of Lily standing in the entrance to the hospital wing. The Cajuns predictions had once again be right. Ginny Potter had finally arrived.

"Mum!" Lily rushed over and embraced her mother who returned her hug.

"I missed you! I'm so sorry I haven't been around!" Ginny said keeping her daughter in a bone crushing hug.

"I missed you too," Lily muffed voice said.

Ginny looked over at Aurora and gave a slight nod. Aurora returned it but at the same time noticed that her husbands indiscretion had left it's mark on her. She seemed to have lost the wonderful glow that usually followed her around and looked very tired.

Ginny's eyes suddenly went wide as she spotted Sophia. "You!"

"Hello Ginerva. It's been a while," Sophia smiled.

"And you haven't aged a day!" She breathed.

Sophia laughed. "I haven't aged in 2200 years Ginvera and I don't plan to start now,"

"So your...one of them,"

"I am. So is he," She nodded to Lincoln who waved. "so is she," She indicated Athena. "so is Dominique Weasley,"

"Dominique?!"

"We only just found out mum," Lily said.

Ginny attempted to understand why so many Anomalies had suddenly turned up in Hogwarts but found herself falling short. She took a deep breath. "Where is my son?"

"Right here," She turned around to see Albus standing behind her. He had a sad smile on his face, like he was blaming himself for his fathers crimes. "Hi mum,"

She studied his appearance for a second and instantly noticed the scars on the left side of his face. She knew all about the battle that had taken place in the center of London but she had no idea that Albus had been wounded so badly.

"Oh Albus," She wrapped her arms around him. It felt quite strange to actually be hugging his mother for the first time in so long. Part of him seemed to think that those sort of child like gestures and interactions had disappeared the same day that he became the Colossus.

"I'm fine mum," He smiled. "I actually quite like them. They remind me that mortal...and of what matters," He looked over at Aurora who smiled at him.

"Where's James?" She asked.

"He's err...teaching," That's something that Albus never expected to hear himself say. "Rose and Scorpius are in his lesson right now,"

"Hmm, well. All Potters seem to mature eventually," Ginny remarked. "so who is she?" She nodded towards Athena.

"Athena Gorski. Electro and Techokinetic. She old started her metamorphosis a few days ago so she won't be awake for a while yet...have you seen dad?"

Ginny's eyebrows furled. "No, why?"

"Because, we think he's on his way here,"

"I see," Ginny sounded stony and cold like she wasn't going to allow Harry to get any kind of emotional response from her.

"Ron's here as well,"

"He is?" That seemed to surprise her.

"Yeah. You haven't spoken to him?" Al asked.

"No. Not for a few weeks. He sent me a letter but he didn't say anything about coming back,"

Albus looked over at Aurora who was giving him one of her 'I told you so' looks.

"Aurora, we've got double potions," Violet reminded.

"Right,"

Lynx got rid of the masses of dirty blond hair that had fallen onto the floor before walking towards the exit with Violet. Aurora stopped next to Albus and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I see you later sweetie," Albus whispered.

As she passed, Ginny noticed the quite visible scars on Aurora's face. They had before endured pain and danger for each other. There was no doubt in her mind anymore that they were truly in love.

"So, how's things between you and Aurora?" Ginny asked.

"A little strange to be honest," Albus admitted. "I spent so look wishing I could be with her and then it finally happened. I had one perfect day with her and then all hell broke loose. After the dust had settled, I had another perfect day and then I had to leave. Now that I'm back, it's weird being with her all the time. I keep expecting a grenade to suddenly come flying at my face," He half laughed.

"Do you love her?" His mother asked.

"Yes,"

"Then tell her...every single day," She smiled.

"I plan to,"

"Gin!" The shocked voice of her brother blurted. He walked over to her quickly and hugged her. "are you alright?"

"I'm okay," She smiled. "are you?"

"I'll survive,"

As he watched the 2 Weasley's try and catch up with each other, Albus could help but be reminded of Sophia's words. Everyone gathering at this castle at the same time. "Maybe Destiny is trying to even up the sides.".

Even though he would be more than happy for the extra support, he couldn't help but worry about the possible strength of the other side.

"So...have you spoken to Hermione?" Ginny said her name with a slight hiss.

"No, not yet," Ron admitted quickly. "you spoken to Harry?"

"A bit. A few weeks ago. Not much," She said.

"Well, nows your chance," Albus interrupted. He had just caught a whiff of Harry's smell coming closer.

Ron and Ginny looked half panicked, half angry.

"You 2!" Albus said looking at Hugo and Lily. "Shoo, do your homework,"

"We haven't got any," Lily objected.

"Find some! Piss off, now!" He wanted get them out of there as quickly as possible. Something told him that this little reunion wasn't going to be pleasant. Unfortunately Lily and Hugo had wasted just enough time to insure that they were there as Harry came around the corner.

He stopped dead in his tracked as he spotted his wife and the best friend he betrayed. He seemed to have lost all his motor functions at that moment.

"Hello Harry," Ginny said coldly.

"Gin...," Harry breathed. "Ron?"

"Alright Mate!" The icy coating around the word 'mate' sent a shiver down Harry's spine.

He gathered himself up and took a breath. "I'm not going to insult you both by saying that I'm sorry. You deserve more than that," He walked over in front of them. "I promise, I will do whatever it takes to make this right. Not matter what I have to do, I won't stop until -"

Harry was cut off by Ron's fist smashing him around the face. He was knocked backwards off his feet and onto his ass.

"Holy waffles!" Hugo blurted.

"I feel better already," Ron said happily before walking away.

Harry clucked his cheek as the pain bit into his head. "Gin?"

She looked down at him with and almost sad look on her face. "I love you Harry. I don't think I'll ever be able to stop loving you...," Wild rage suddenly washed over her face as she laid a massive boot straight into his balls. Harry went bug eyed and looked like his had just been electrocuted.

"Oowww!" Hugo and Lily cringed at the same time.

"Shit, I know how that feels," Albus mumbled.

"But that doesn't mean I forgive you!" Ginny hissed before storming off after her brother.

Harry rolled around on the floor clutching his groan.

"So, Harry," Albus smiled. "hows life been treating you?"

A few hours later, Albus, Lincoln, Amelia, Aurora, Lynx, Violet and Sophia gathered in the Headmasters office to discuss what else they could do to make the school safer. Since Hugo and Lily now had a free period they had decided to tag along. Just as they entered, the Deputy Head Mistress was leaving. She had already been briefed on Albus's appearance at the school so she wasn't at all surprised to see him come down the stairs.

"Professor Arken," Albus nodded.

"Mr. Potter," She said back. "Oh, Miss Lennox?"

"Professor?"

"No more abducting people from their dorm rooms please," She said simply.

Aurora went slightly red. "We let them go...," Hugo was glaring at her while nodding his head.

"Certain students are afraid to go to sleep because they think that you will pay them a visit. It's not very productive since they now fall asleep in my lessons!"

"Won't happen again," She smiled.

Arken walked passed them and out of the office as they all came in a took seats.

"So, hows your father Albus?" Sophia inquired.

"Well lets just say that if my mum can kick like Lynx, he won't be out of the hospital wing for a day or two," Albus glared at Lynx.

"What?! I said I was sorry!" She objected.

"He is trying Albus. Give him a chance," Sophia tried.

"What?! Have I attacked him? Have I left him on top of any buildings? I'm being perfectly civil!"

"Although I've never experienced it myself, I am pretty sure that being a parent isn't easy Albus," Sophia said. "no matter what the world says about him, he is still just a man and men make mistakes,"

"Yeah well, I just hope it's not generic," Albus remarked.

"What do you mean? I'm sure you'll be a wonderful father," Sophia said proudly.

"Ha! Not in this life time!"

Albus didn't seem to notice that Aurora's eyes had suddenly started to become dangerously icy. "What?"

"Well, I mean, look out the window. Look on TV! This world is going to hell as fast as anyone can arrange it!" Albus continued in ignorance. "I feel sorry for the children that have already been born!"

Both Lynx and Violet looked a little panicked at this. They had seen the look on Aurora's face.

"You don't mean that Albus!" Violet said quickly.

"Yes I do! Forgetting the fact that doomsday is apparently on the way, things have never been worse!"

"Maybe you should look on the bright side! Look at the things that you still have!" Lynx sounded as worried as Violet did as she watched Aurora grip her own knees so hard that her knuckles were turning white. She looked ready to explode.

"Even without some dark Prophecy, this world seems determined to destroy it's self! I think that anyone that is even thinking about bringing a child into this shit hole either needs a good therapist or lobotomy!" Albus said before noticing Sophia who was rubbing her forehead in despair.

"What?" Albus asked, seeing that Violet and Lynx looked exactly the same way.

"So you think I need a lobotomy?" Aurora stated through gritted teeth.

"Huh?" Albus was confused.

"I'M PREGNANT!" She screamed before storming out of the office leaving anyone that didn't already know to look as stunned as Albus. Violet and Lynx shot off after her.

There was barely a sound or a movement in the entire room. Even the spinning, whizzing instruments seemed to be working more quietly all of a sudden.

The only thing that didn't make it seem like time had complete stood still was Hugo.

"That means her breast are gonna get bigger, doesn't it?"