CHAPTER 6

The Truth

"Let's start with the basics," said George, fiddling with the half-empty bottle of Veritaserum, not even bothering to look at Harry. "Is your name James Hilt?" Yes, Harry thought,

"No," Ginny and George exchanged knowing glances,

"Well then, what is your full name?" Harry froze his mouth shut, pulling at the ropes around his wrists.

"Talk," said Ginny, removing the sword from the ground and pointing its tip directly at Harry. "Or we will make you talk." Harry desperately tried to form the word James. He thought it as hard as he could, but making it come past his lips… a lie, it was impossible. He took a shuddering breathe,

"Harry," he said softly, his voice hitching.

"Louder!" Ginny ordered. She was looking at Harry in a way that he had never seen Ginny's face look, full of anguish, despair and hatred. At that moment all he wanted to do was hold her, tell it that it was all okay and that she didn't have to be this person she had to become.

"Harry," he said louder, taking a deep breathe. "Harry James Potter."

The silence that came after these words was unbearable, he watched their faces. Ginny looked at George to see if he had heard it too,

"George you stuffed up the potion." She said with a small voice, George opened his mouth then shut it again, "how can you stuff up giving someone Veritaserum? Honestly."

"Gin, I didn't stuff it up." George said,

"You did," she replied, "you did, you have to had! Harry is dead," she walked over to George and snatched the bottle off him; with a shaking hand she tipped several drops into a glass. Ginny walked up to Harry and tipped it into his mouth, spilling half the contents over his face and shirt in the meantime. He coughed for a moment, having inhaled some of it.

"Your name!" She said, "and don't you dare play games with me."

"My name," he said, when he could talk again, "is Harry James Potter." Harry watched the glass from Ginny's hand fall to the wooden floor before shattering. She shook her head, completely unaware at the mess at her feet.

"No," she said, shaking her head violently, a tear slid down her cheek. "No, your not." George had walked up to Harry, with a non-believing frown etched across his face, "don't believe it George. It's those God damned Death Eaters! They are trying to mess with us again. Don't believe it."

"When is your birthday?" George asked, urgency surged off his words.

"July 31st," Harry said. The truth was just a word now, they were going to find out anyway, George looked up at Ginny,

"Same birthday as Harry's…"

Ginny began pacing back and forth, "this is ridiculous… you and I both know that there are limitations to Veritaserum, if someone has extremely high skills in Occlumency for example, they can prevent its effects."

"Save that Auror crap Ginny!" George said, "We've practically overdosed him on this stuff, I'm sure no level of Occlumency can –,"

"Who do you work for?" Ginny said; picking up his sword and aiming it at Harry, George snatched it off her.

"Don't be ridiculous!" He warned angrily, putting it back onto the table and flashing Ginny with a fierce glare.

"No one," Harry said, answering Ginny's question.

George walked directly in front of Harry, he tried to pull away but the chair was too constricting. George was so close that Harry couldn't even make him out without his glasses – although his eyes had learned to live without them he still missed the clarity of vision. George's hand gently pulled away the curtain of hair covering his forehead, Harry saw George's eyebrows furrow.

"It's faded," Harry said so only George could hear, George slowly nodded his eyes turning glassy. With a finger he traced the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. George took a sharp intake of breathe before he moved around the back of the chair, unfastening the knots with shaking hands.

"George," Ginny said, "George! What are you doing? He is dangerous, a clone, a Death Eater impersonating him. He isn't Harry Potter, he can't be."

"I am," Harry said, the first confident words he had said while being tied to the chair.

"How?" Harry heard behind him, his hands came free. Harry brought them in front of him and massaged his wrists, the red marks created by the rope slowly disappeared.

"I'm not dead, neither is Ron or Hermione."

"I saw them all killed in front of me," Ginny said in a whisper, as if she was reliving it in her minds eye.

"Sometimes things aren't always as they seem Gin,"

"Don't call me that!" she yelled as George continued with the ropes. Ginny had begun pacing back and forth in front of him, Harry noticed that her cheeks were lined with desperate tears. It was as if he had opened old wounds she had only just managed to heal.

"We didn't die, we were taken. They wanted it to seem like we were killed so that you wouldn't come look for us."

"Well then if you didn't die, where are they?" Ginny asked, her voice showing parts of the young girl Harry once knew. George finished with the ropes but Harry remained sitting. George came around the front of the chair and stood by his sister's side, happy to wait for the absolute truth.

"Where are they?" Ginny repeated, Harry gazed steadily at the ground, he knew that if he said the truth it would be impossible to believe. "Where are they?"

"Vereor nex," he whispered, searching Ginny's face.

"Where?"

"Vereor nex!" He said louder,

"Vereor nex? Please," she snorted "you can't expect me to believe my brother is stuck in a mythical land!"

"A mythical land Gin? A mythical land? Why don't you make it sound more easy! Do you think it's full of Pygmy Puffs or something?" He questioned her, "it's hell Ginny, and I don't mean that in a rhetorical sense! And Ron and Hermione are stuck there!" He felt a pang run into his heart and he stopped talking. He had been carrying around the cold weight of guilt for too long, knowing that they were out there, just waiting for him to return. He stared into her eyes; she frowned ever so slightly.

Ginny walked up to, then knelt in front of him – her face inches from his, her eyes searching his face. Harry felt her presence so close to him, he longed to just reach out and touch her. Ginny pushed away her tears and ran her hand down his jaw line. Suddenly, she took an intake of breathe.

"It's you… you're not lying." She whispered, Harry shook his head, clenching his teeth. Ginny opened her mouth then shut it again. Suddenly she put her arms around him; Harry closed her eyes and reciprocated, burying his head in her shoulder.

"You're not dead, I should have known… I should have kept looking," Ginny muttered, still holding onto him. Harry smiled into her shoulder; he felt like his seventeen-year-old self again. It was almost as if his scars, in that single embrace had faded and disappeared. George and Ginny actually believed him, and they were going to find his friends again, that's all he could have ever hoped for.

"Why did you lie to us?" George asked in a confused tone rather than angry,

"I didn't think you'd believe me," Harry muttered as Ginny let go. As soon as she did he missed her embrace.

"You should have tried." George said,

"I know," he muttered, feeling stupid, "I'm sorry." There was a brief silence in which both George and Ginny just stared at him, their expressions covered with so many emotions it was impossible to tell how they were feeling.

"So," Ginny said after a minute. "Where is this place?"

Ginny walked back into her room, accidentally slamming the door back on its hinges and waking Jack, who sat up as if he had been branded with a cattle prod.

"Oh my God, Ginny!" He said, jumping out of bed and looking at the clock. "Where have you been?" He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. "What the hell were you doing?"

"Harry is alive," she said so softly that even she couldn't hear it… she wondered if she had said it at all.

"What?" Jack said, pulling her out to arms length, he stared at her slightly confused expression. Ginny noticed he was still shirtless and she felt a pang of guilt to think that he had been waiting for her all night. She hesitated for a moment as his dark brown eyes dug into hers.

"Nothing," she said with a small shake of her head, "nothing at all." Jack was clearly unsatisfied with the answer but he nodded regardless. "Blimey," he said with a hint of anger, "Owl me next time will you?" Ginny nodded,

"I'm sorry." She said sincerely.

"What the hell did whoever that was want you for at this time?"

Ginny frowned, shaking her head slightly, "you should know," she said; "I'm going on a trip."

George sat in front of Harry staring at him like a piece of artwork, a smile etched into his face. Harry rubbed his eyes, trying to remain awake.

"Why didn't I see it before?" He said, looking Harry over, "I should have, I knew you looked familiar, I mean… you look different, but… overall!" He grinned, "You're Harry Potter!" Harry nodded slowly, a smile slowly playing on his lips.

"You know George; you are sort of freaking me out." He said, but the grin stayed on George's face.

"And you tell me, Ron and Hermione are alive?" He added, Harry nodded, although silently he wondered. When he left, and the Death Eaters took Ron and Hermione, surely they would've paid a punishment for his departure. The very thought of them dying made Harry sick to his stomach with grief, he swallowed.

"Hermione and Ron are alive?" Asked Jack, a small smile pressed on his lips, like he didn't know whether or not to be smiling.

"Yes," said Ginny, grinning.

"And they are at …where?" the smile disappeared from Ginny's face; she cradled her hands in her lap.

"Vereor nex…"

"Vereor nex?" Jack asked, sharing exactly the same reaction as Ginny had herself. "The mythical place?"

"Not so much a myth apparently." Ginny said, she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"And you are going with who?"

"George," she faltered, "James,"

"The man you helped?" he asked, Ginny shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes…"

"And… he was the one who told you about Vereor nex not being a myth?"

"Yes,"

"And you believe him?" He raised his eyebrows at her; she paused for a second and the nodded,

"Yes."

"Ginny, pardon me fore saying so, but I recall you saying when you first met him that he was a Death Eater and now you are going on a ridiculously long hike with two other people… one of them being this person you thought was a bad guy?"

"Well… if you put it that way you make me sound insane."

"Well, you do sound insane. You don't even know if you can trust this guy and you are taking three people to, what? Go get your brother and Hermione back? Do you think its going to be easy? If this place isn't a myth, then I would imagine that they would have ridiculous numbers of guards. They will catch you, they will kill you."

"On that positive note…"

"Ginny, this isn't a game. You have to think about this seriously,"

"I am thinking about this seriously! Jack, I love you, but you don't understand, this is a chance to see these people again, to save them!"

"I thought you said you saw them die in front of you?" Ginny didn't respond, "Well… then we should organize a group of Auror's to come with you!" He said, starting to pace,

"The less people we have the less chance we have of being noticed," Ginny stated.

"But the less people you have the less you have to defend yourselves," Jack argued. "We can't just take hostages and run, we have to close it off for good, so this never happens again."

"Sounds like we have another war on our hands," Ginny mumbled, lying down on the bed, arms above her head.

"Sure does." Jack replied with a heaved sigh.

Thankyou so much for all the reviews so far :)

I gave you a few answers in this chapter. I hope they were satisfying! Let me know what you thought.

I kept editing and editing this chapter - I couldn't seem to get it... right, you know? Haha, so this was like the 50th edit.

I know my chapters are short… so I'll give you an option. If I make the chapters longer, the updates will take a few days more than they have been, if I keep them short I'll update as much as I have been. Let me know which one you prefer, because I'm happy to do either way.

Pheonixxsong