Mike and Morgan

Hogwarts was fun, Morgan found.

They'd been her for a little more than two weeks, and she'd written two letters to her Grandpa, same as her father.

One topic she'd gently tried to address with her Grandpa had been her lack of a mother. She wanted a mother, and she'd find one for herself. A wife for her Dad.

Now she just had to get him to find one.

She had an idea already.

But now, she should really, really sneak to her Dad's quarters again.

She heard some running.

As Bella said: Bloody damn hell.

On this third Monday in Hogwarts, Mike was pursued by Filch after leaving him a "present" in form of a dungbomb, when suddenly, someone pulled him behind a tapestry after he went round a corner.

He didn't quite believe who he saw there.

"Morgan?"

"Yep."

"How on Earth did you come here?"

"Uh... my Dad's working here, and Gramps got him to agree to take him with me."

"Gramps... you do mean Mr. Evans?"

"Yeah."

Then, Filch pulled away the tapestry.

"Lumos!", she shouted, and suddenly, there was bright light.

Before Mike could see again, Morgan was already running and tearing him with him.

"Come on! I'm not supposed to be here!"

"You mean, behind the tapestry?"

"No, at Hogwarts. Well, technically, I'm not quite supposed to exist, and most people don't know about it, but, well, I didn't chose how I was born. Or not quite born, in my case."

Mike tried to make head and tails of that.

"Does the Wizarding World have something against C-section?"

"No. I should go find my Dad now. Meet me tonight, say, eleven, outside Gryff's Common Room?"

"Okay. What for?"

Morgan grinned.

"Some pranking."

She held out her hand.

He shook it.

"Deal."

That night, Mike and Morgan met outside the Gryffindor Common Room.

"So, who did you want to prank?"

"How about Filch?"

"Any ideas?"

"Yes."

With a few flicks of Morgan's wand, they'd broken into his office, then, into his personal quarters.

She let Mike have the honours of applying the time-delayed hair growth potion.

The next day at Hogwarts, Harry nearly spit out his pumpkin juice when he looked at Filch near the end of breakfast.

He'd grown an enormous, long, white beard, together with hair past the waist.

It looked entirely ridiculous on him.

Harry swallowed.

"What is it, why are you staring at me?"

Ginny turned to Filch, and Harry, unluckily, wasn't as fortunate as Filch in regard to spit takes.

She got pumpkin juice all over him.

"So-orry Harry, it's just..."

She started laughing uncontrollably.

Others soon turned to look what she was laughing at.

It didn't take long before everyone was laughing at the clueless Filch, who huffed and puffed and went to his quarters to cut his hair.

When the laughter died down, Ginny looked at Harry.

"Uh... Harry..."

"Yes?"

"You're wet. I think you should go change... uh... sorry."

"Doesn't matter. Breakfast's over anyway."

"Can I come with you? I'll need your help with something."

"Sure."

And so, Ginny and Harry went outside, to Harry's quarters.

Ginny agreed to wait out there.

Inside, Harry nearly had a heart attack.

Morgan was standing there, her hand encased in fire. In fiendfyre.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm learning how to control fiendfyre perfectly, why?"

"Morgan, if you make a single mistake while doing that, you can lose your hand."

"I know, that's what makes it a challenge."

"How often have you down this?"

"A few times. Sheesh, Dad, it's not like I can't do this. I've been working on the Dark Arts since before I was out of my nappies."

"That doesn't mean you should risk your life."

"Trust me, Dad. I can do this. It's just fiendfyre, nothing dangerous."

"You do know fiendfyre is one of the most dangerous things in the Wizarding World?"

"Yes. Imagine anyone trying to attack me while I'm holding a wand."

Morgan grinned at him, almost eager to have someone attack.

"Let me guess. There wouldn't even be ashes left."

"Exactly. Same if anyone tried to hurt you or Grandpa."

Harry realized with a sudden force that if Morgan would have any interest in conquering the Wizarding World, she likely could have done so before she was of age. Powerful? Check. Clever? Check. Absolutely ruthless against perceived enemies? Check.

And the strange thing was, he would bow before her, and help her, because she was his own flesh and blood, and he wouldn't leave her to do anything alone.

He just could hope she never wandered down that path, or that no fool would give her a reason to do so.

"Morgan, I've got to change."

"Okay, Dad. What happened?"

"Ginny laughed and spit Pumpkin juice all over me."

"Let me guess. Mr. Filch experienced a sudden hairgrowth?"

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"That was your idea."

"Mine and Mike's."

"He knows you're here."

"Well, duh, yeah, he does since yesterday. I couldn't let him get caught by Filch."

Harry sighed.

"At least he won't tell anyone you're here, if what you and Tom told me are any indication of his behaviour."

"Yep. And he was a pretty good partner in crime."

Harry climbed into the trunk and changed.

"Bye, Morgan. Have fun."

"Okay, Dad."

She started playing with fire again.

Harry smiled weakly, and went out. Ginny was still waiting for him.

"Hey, what took you so long?"

"Long story. Now, you need help?"

"Yeah, do you know where the boggarts are? I need one for my third years."

"Hang on, I think I saw one in the dungeons..."

They went down there.

In the dungeons, it didn't take long for Harry to find the boggart and give him to Ginny.

"Here."

"Thanks, Harry."

"Mr. Potter and Professor Weasley... what a touching scene."

The Bat of the Dungeons, also known as Snape, Snape, Severus Snape, had made an appearance.

"Good morning, Professor Snape." It wouldn't do to forget your manners.

"Potter, I wanted to talk to you."

An icy shiver went down Harry's spine.

"What about?"

"There were... rumours in the Death Eater ranks. Of something very important to the Dark Lord. Lucius Malfoy sometimes gloated that even after his capture and eventual freedom, he was one of the most trusted in the Dark Lord's service... and Bellatrix Lestrange always shushed him when he was nearby, telling him that this secret was nothing that should be gloated about... I wonder if you know anything."

"Don't poke your nose in other people's business, Professor Snape."

"So you know something. Did whatever that treasure was have any connection to the Dark Lord's disappearance?"

"There is no more Dark Lord."

It wasn't a lie. There was no Dark Lord anymore, just Tom.

"He's dead?"

"Think whatever you want to. Just let this matter rest."

"You know something. Look, if there's a strong weapon out there that the Dark Lord had access to..."

Weapon? Morgan wasn't a weapon.

"Severus Snape, if you don't let this matter rest right now, I will torture you. I may not have been a voluntary Death Eater, but I am still capable of quite a lot of curses."

"Look, Potter, this is impo..."

"Petrificus Totalus."

Harry hadn't cast the spell.

Ginny had.

"Finite Incantatem. Severus, if Harry doesn't want to tell you anything, he doesn't want to tell you anything. This is none. Of. Your. Business."

Snape hurried away, glancing at Ginny incredulously.

"Thank you."

"No thanks needed."

She smiled at him. It looked a little forced. Then, she spelled the box to fly and went on her way.

"Bye, Harry."

"Bye."

Ginny had an inkling what that thing important to the Dark Lord was. It wasn't a thing. It was a person. That Morgan.

Someone Harry was protective of.

And she wanted to know the damn full story, even though she knew Harry would rather torture her - again - or himself than tell her.