The wound is the place where light enters you- Rumi
That Friday, Ellie sat in the garden of the Burrow as she mulled over the past week in her mind. Harry had become distant again, shutting himself in his study, and coming to bed late. She tried not to let it bother her. She could tell Harry was stressed at the revelation that Isabella was related to the Gaunt family. He had tried explaining to her why it was so important, but Ellie didn't really get it.
"Er, Harry, love," Ellie said as she took stock of his horrified expression, "Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"
She watched as he licked his lips before he spoke. "You remember when I told you about Lord Voldemort?"
"He was that evil bloke trying to kill all the Muggles, right? You fought him and defeated him." Ellie said as Isabella just looked on in curiosity.
"Yeah," Harry said slowly. He closed his eyes and rubbed them before opening them and looking at Isabella and her. "Lord Voldemort was a Gaunt."
"His last name is Riddle, though," Ellie pointed out.
"Merope, his mother, was a Gaunt," Harry said. "Merope fell in love with a Muggle man in the village named Tom Riddle and bewitched him with a love potion. She named her baby after his dad, Tom Riddle Senior."
"So, you're saying that Isabella is related to the evilest wizard of all time?" Ellie asked in disbelief.
"That is exactly what I'm saying," Harry said as his eyes furrowed in thought. "Now it makes sense why the Death Eaters are after Isabella, at least partially. I might not know what they plan to do with her or what they hope to achieve, but the fact that she's related to him, and the fact that they're fixated on Isabella, means they also pieced together her heritage."
"Do you have any guesses?" Isabella asked.
"I don't," Harry admitted, "but whatever it is, I can assure you that it's not good."
"Well," Isabella said as she slapped Harry's good knee, "good thing we have you to protect us!"
Harry grumbled but didn't say anything to Isabella's statement.
Ellie could see Harry's mind, hard at work, trying to unravel the puzzle. She felt like she should be more scared at the revelation of her daughter's magical family, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to care. She didn't see how this changed anything in her opinion.
Harry stood up suddenly. "I have to figure this out," he said. "I'll be in my study."
And with that, he walked out of the room.
Ellie could hear his footsteps as he walked up the stairs.
She turned to Isabella who just shrugged her shoulders in bewilderment.
Ellie had barely seen Harry after that. He had taken to locking himself in his study and not coming down for meals like he had before. She couldn't help but feel a little abandoned. It was made better this time by the fact that she knew the exact reason, but she still couldn't help but feel lonely, or wonder why he had to retreat into himself.
A garden gnome ran past her legs and dived into a bush, but Ellie took no notice of it.
Harry's reclusive attitude also made it harder for Ellie to go through with telling the family that she was pregnant tonight. How would Harry react when he was in such a state already? Should she just wait for another opportunity?
But, no, she couldn't do that. Mrs. Weasley had already contacted everyone and told them to be here for dinner tonight. She would just have to go through with it and hope Harry wouldn't react adversely to the news.
"Mum!" a voice said, breaking her from her train of thought.
Ellie turned to see Isabella standing beside her with an exasperated look on her face.
"Yes, Bella, what is it?"
"I've called your name like four times already," Isabella said with a huff.
"Sorry, I was deep in thought," she replied to her daughter. "Did you need something?"
"I need my own mother to not ignore me," Isabella said with a laugh. "Mrs. Weasley was wondering if you could gather some potatoes for her. She's about to start preparing dinner."
"And what are you doing?" Ellie asked as she got up from the bench.
"I'm her designated stirrer," Isabella said proudly.
"Designated stirrer, huh?" Ellie asked with a smile, "Sounds like you should go back in, then. I'll be in in a minute with the potatoes."
Ellie watched her daughter retreat back into the house before she moved to gather some potatoes for Molly.
She walked into the small enclosure dedicated to potatoes and got to work pulling up one of the plants and removing the potatoes from their stolon.
As she worked, her mind drifted back to when she was a younger girl and she had helped her dad in his vegetable garden.
A pang of longing hit her knowing she would never see her dad or mum again. At least, not in this life. She didn't know how Harry coped with never having really known his parents. Maybe it was easier because of the fact that he never really had time with them.
For Ellie, it was a lot harder to forget as she had many fond memories of her parents.
Ellie gathered up the potatoes and groaned as she stood up, stretching as she did so.
She made her way into the house and deposited the potatoes near the sink.
"Thank you, Ellie dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "Would you care to rinse them off for me?"
"I can do that," Ellie replied as she turned on the tap and put the first one under the stream of water.
Mrs. Weasley was at one counter chopping up onions and Isabella was standing on a stool stirring something in a bowl.
"It's a little early to begin dinner, isn't it?" Ellie asked. "I mean, it's only one."
"I think you underestimate how much this family can eat," Molly said with a small chuckle. "Especially Ron. That boy could eat three times as much as the rest of us."
"I've noticed," Ellie grinned as reached for another potato. "I'm surprised he hasn't started gaining weight from it yet."
"Oh, he will one day, just you watch," Molly said as she dumped the onions she had been cutting into a bowl. "Anyway, how are you doing? You've been unusually quiet today. Everything alright with the baby?"
"Yeah, everything is fine. I still get sick on some mornings, but it has let up a bit. I guess I'm just nervous about how Harry will react."
"You needn't worry, dear," Molly said, "That boy will be over the moon about it."
"You really think so?" Ellie asked. Harry's behavior over the past week had made her doubt the reaction she hoped to receive.
"I know so," Molly said. "He might have trouble displaying his emotions sometimes, but all Harry has ever wanted was a family of his own."
"I'm done!" Isabella exclaimed.
"Excellent!" Molly said as she turned her attention from Ellie to Isabella.
The rest of what Molly said was drowned out as Ellie finished rinsing the potatoes. She hoped Molly was right. She didn't know how she would take it if Harry reacted negatively to her pregnancy.
When she was done, Ellie excused herself and made her way up to the first-floor landing bathroom to soak in the tub.
She turned the taps on and shed her clothes as she waited for the tub to fill. As she looked in the mirror, she was happy to note that there were no traces of her captivity to be seen on her body except for the scars on her back. Maybe she could cover up the scars with a tattoo. She had gained back a healthy amount of weight, and the bruises had long since faded. She turned sideways and put a hand on her flat stomach. It was still too early for her to start showing.
She turned off the taps and slipped into the tub, moaning as she sunk into the hot water.
This is just what I needed.
Ever since Monday, and the revelation of Isabella's family, Ellie had been tensed and stressed. Normally, she could've just had Harry work out the kinks in her muscles, but it was hard to get him to do that when he didn't come to bed until well after midnight. She wished he would talk to her more, but like when any problem arose, he retreated into his solitary habits. Hermione had said he had always been like that.
It didn't seem to bother Isabella one way or the other about her dad or his family. She had chosen Harry and couldn't care less about anything else.
The steam from the hot bath hung in the room like fog, making her drowsy. Indeed, she found it hard to keep her eyes open as they grew heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.
Ellie was jolted awake by a knock at the door.
"Yes, who is it?" she called out.
"It's me." the unmistakable voice of Harry said from behind the door. "Mind if I come in?"
"Sure. I'm just soaking in the tub."
She watched as Harry opened the door and shuffled in before closing it softly and making his way to the tub.
He sat down by her and sighed as he took her hand and squeezed it gently. "I haven't been fair to you this week."
"No, you haven't," Ellie replied in admonishment.
"I'm sorry, Ellie," he said. "I'm just worried about what may happen. I guess I've always been a worrier, but now that I have something to lose again, I can't help it."
Ellie smiled as she kissed his forehead. "You're not going to lose me. I'm not going anywhere."
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Definitely," she said as she tilted his head up and kissed him. As she pulled away, she couldn't help but laugh at the goofy grin he was sporting. "Help me out?"
"Of course, m'lady," Harry said as he helped her stand up.
Once she was out of the tub, Harry handed her a towel and she began drying off her hair.
"You know," Ellie started, "I know a way you can make up for your behavior the past week."
"Oh?" Harry said with raised eyebrows, "pray tell, what would that be?"
She grabbed him through the front of his jeans and started rubbing. "It's been too long."
"It's been six days, you harlot!" Harry laughed.
"As I said," Ellie replied as she popped the button on his trousers and slid her hand in to grasp him fully, eliciting a moan from him, "It's been too long."
"We can't really make love in a bathroom, Ellie," Harry stated as she began kissing his neck and pulling him to the counter.
By now, Ellie was hot with desire, and she wouldn't be taking no for an answer. "I don't need you to make love to me," Ellie replied. "I need you to shag me."
Ellie could visibly see what little self-control Harry had left disappear from his eyes as he growled and hoisted her up on the bathroom counter.
"I'll just give you two some privacy, then," a voice mumbled.
Ellie froze as Harry just laughed.
"What the hell was that?" she asked.
"The mirror," Harry said chortling. "I completely forgot about the mirror."
"Do all mirrors talk in the wizarding world?" she asked breathily.
"Apparently so," Harry grinned.
Ellie pulled him back to her and growled. "I've been waiting too long for this. A talking mirror isn't going to stop me."
Harry just laughed as Ellie helped him slide down his trousers and boxers, and then Harry grabbed her hips and slid into her as she moaned into his neck.
Bliss.
There was no other way to describe the feeling as Harry continued. He knew her body inside and out by now and Ellie had to admit that going without for six days was much too long.
She heard a knock from far away in her mind, but she ignored it.
All she was worried about at the moment was attaining the pleasure that only Harry could give her when their two bodies joined together.
It only took a few minutes to bring Ellie to the edge.
As Ellie leaned back against the mirror and Harry leaned into her, both of them spent, there was a knock, louder this time, and one she couldn't ignore, followed by, "Mum! You okay in there?"
Ellie tried to prop herself up on the counter but slipped and started choking as she woke up submerged in the bathtub.
She broke the surface of the water and had a coughing fit before finally getting her breathing under control and replying, "Yeah honey, I'm fine. Accidentally fell asleep. I'll be out in a minute."
"Okay! Just checking!" Isabella said as she retreated from the door.
Ellie leaned back against the tub as her daughter walked off. Her heart was still beating in her chest entirely too fast as she thought about the dream she just had.
She had dreamed about Harry before of course, but none of them had been anything like that.
"That was... That was definitely something."
Chalk it up to a six-day dry spell. If Ellie had her way, she and Harry would shag every day, but she knew that was pretty unrealistic.
Ellie exited the tub, dried herself off, and slipped on her clothes, before making her way back downstairs and into the kitchen.
Molly and Isabella were still hard at work preparing for dinner and Ellie could smell the beginnings of what was sure to be an amazing feast.
"Can I help with anything?" Ellie called out as she moved to stand next to Isabella.
"We're just about done with everything I need help with," Molly said. She peered over at Isabella and said, "Looks like Isabella is done as well. Why don't you two go outside and enjoy some fresh air and I'll send someone to get you when people start arriving?"
"Okay!" Isabella said as she hopped off the stool and unfastened the apron she was wearing that was eight sizes too big.
Ellie giggled at the sight of her daughter covered in flour. It brought her back to when she had made pancakes in Harry's house for the first time.
Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand and muttered, "Scourgify" as all the flour on Isabella was siphoned off.
"Off you two go!" the Weasley matriarch said with a smile.
Isabella took her hand and pulled her outside to the stone bench.
"Are you worried about tonight?" Isabella asked her as they both sat down.
"You know I am, Bella," Ellie replied.
"I don't see why you're worrying so much, Mum. Harry loves us. He's gonna love my sister just as much."
"Sister, huh?" Ellie asked with a raised eyebrow and a chuckle. "You already know you're getting a sister?"
"Let's call it a hunch, or a wish, or whatever," Isabella said. "Boys are mean and smelly. I don't want a brother."
Ellie laughed. "I don't think we get to pick and choose."
"I know," Isabella said with a pout. "I still say it's gonna be a girl."
Ellie mussed up Isabella's hair as she grinned.
"Mum! Stop!" Isabella said and she jumped up from the bench and took off.
Ellie laughed as she watched her daughter root around in the garden for gnomes to toss over the fence which left her free to think about things she didn't want her daughter to see, like that dream she just had in the tub, blimey! It made her wet just thinking about it.
Isabella let out a gleeful laugh as she grabbed a gnome by the ankles and swung it over the stone fence causing Ellie to smile. No, maybe she should file that dream away to think about later.
She stood up and slowly strolled over to the pond and sat down with her back against the tree there. This was her favorite place at the Burrow, and she did all her best thinking here. Something about sitting under the shade the tree gave off as she stared at the tranquil waters soothed her.
It was hard to believe that just a few months ago she was locked up and getting tortured. She had come so far since that abused and dirty woman in the dungeon, and it was all thanks to Harry. He had gotten angry when she had called him her rescuer, but that is what he was. Her rescuer.
Sure, other people helped get her and Isabella out, and she was thankful to them too, but she didn't know if she would've survived with her mind intact if it hadn't been for Harry's constant presence in her life after that. As much as Harry would always deny it, he had saved her; physically and mentally.
Ellie heard a pop, the telltale sign of Apparition, and stood up, using her hand as a visor from the sun.
Harry stood by a tree on the other side of the pond smiling gently at her.
"Isabella! Harry's here!" she yelled before she half sprinted around the pond and into Harry's arms.
"What are you doing here? You're supposed to still be at work?" she asked as she kissed his cheek.
"Robards let me go a little early today," he said with a smile.
"Why didn't you come through the Floo?" she asked as she stepped back and grabbed his arm.
"I wanted to surprise you and Bella."
"Well, consider me surprised," Ellie said with a laugh as she squeezed his arm.
Isabella appeared by the tree she had just vacated and looked at them. She gave them both a beaming smile before she started sprinting around the pond just as Ellie had done.
Ellie watched as she got within fifty feet of them and stopped dead in her tracks.
Ellie looked at her daughter inquisitively before her daughter yelled out, "Mum! Get away from him. That's not Harry!"
Ellie laughed. "What do you mean it's not Harry?" she asked in confusion as she gestured to him. "It obviously is."
The look of horror on Isabella's face made the hairs on the nape of her neck stand up. "Mum, I don't know who that is, but it's not Harry."
All of a sudden, Harry slipped his arm out of her grip and wrenched one of her hands behind her as he jabbed something into her neck.
"Harry, what are you doing? Stop, you're hurting me!"
He just laughed and said, "You should've listened to your daughter."
"Who are you?" she asked. "What do you want?"
"Who I am doesn't matter and what I want is your and your daughter's cooperation," The man said.
Isabella was now standing about twenty feet away from them looking as scared as Ellie had ever seen her look.
"You know what I am. You know what this wand can do." The man said to Isabella. "If you want your mother to live, you'll come to me. If you don't, I'll kill her where she stands."
"Isabella, don't you dare!" Ellie screamed as her daughter took a few steps towards them.
"Quiet!" the man said as he backhanded her. Ellie felt the familiar metallic taste of blood in her mouth and spit on the ground.
Her daughter stood rooted on the spot, still staring at the both of them with wide, fearful eyes.
"Maybe a bit of pain will convince you to listen to me, hmm?" The man said with a chuckle.
" Crucio! "
Pain.
That's all Ellie felt as she fell and started writhing on the ground.
Pain.
Like a thousand knives being pressed into her skin over and over again.
Pain.
Like back in the dungeon.
She couldn't even hear Isabella crying out to her.
When the man finally released the spell, she lay on the ground gasping for air as tears streamed from her eyes.
"That's it!" the man said. "That's a good girl. You don't want me to hurt her again, do you? Because the next time I won't bother hurting her. I'll just kill her."
"Bella, no," Ellie called out weakly as she lay on the ground.
Ellie looked up just as the man grabbed a hold of Isabella.
"Well," the man said as he looked down at her, "I wasn't going to take you but I might as well. Give that fool extra incentive."
The man grabbed her arm, and all of a sudden, through her semi-conscious state, she felt that horrible feeling of being squeezed through a tube before she blacked out.
"You're saying that she's related to Voldemort somehow?" Robards asked
"Yeah," Harry replied. "We used a wizarding genealogy book to find out. It actually showed up on her birthday from who I assume is her father or someone who knows her father."
"That might explain why they want the child so badly," Robards said thoughtfully. "Although, I don't see what that would ultimately prove in the end."
"Maybe they want to corrupt her," Ron said.
"Corrupt her?" Harry scoffed.
"Yeah, you know," Ron said, "maybe they want to corrupt her mind, turn her evil, ya know? Maybe they want a new leader to bring about another wizarding war."
"I was thinking they might have come up with some hare-brained scheme to try to resurrect Lord Voldemort," Harry said.
"I don't want to entertain either of those ideas," Robards said grimly.
"Yeah, they both kind of suck," Ron agreed.
"What do you think, Selwyn?" Robards asked.
Selwyn didn't speak up at first. He drummed his fingers on the edge of the conference table before saying, "I'm not sure what to think of this. What I do know is that we need to be very careful. Now that we know the child has ties to Voldemort, we know that this whole mess just got a lot bigger and more complicated."
"We need to storm that manor," Harry growled. "Flush them all out and be done with it."
"How do you propose we do that when we can't even see it, Potter?" Robards asked gruffly.
"We know where it is," Ron said.
"And if it's hidden by the Fidelius?" Robards asked.
"It's not," Harry said with a laugh. "You think Death Eaters are smart enough to do a Fidelius Charm? It's one of the most complicated spells known to wizardkind. No, the manor is just hidden by standard wards and a huge Disillusionment Charm."
Robards looked down at a piece of paper in the folder in front of him before looking back up. "The fact of the matter is we don't know enough to just go in there, wands blazing. We need more intel."
Selwyn nodded in agreement and Harry sighed.
"What we need to do is nab one of the Death Eaters, use some Polyjuice Potion, and send a spy in," Ron stated.
"That's... actually a good idea," Robards said. "I knew we kept you around for a reason Weasley."
"Glad to be of service, sir!" Ron mock saluted.
"Shut up," Robards said as he wrote something down in his folder. "Okay, so now that we got a decent plan, who do we want carrying it out?"
"Me," Harry said immediately.
"You're reasoning?" Selwyn asked.
"Um, I don't know," Harry said with a smirk. "How about the fact that I have the most powerful invisibility cloak in the world? It's a literal Deathly Hallow. I can hide in plain sight. It won't trip any alarms that the Death Eaters might have set up."
Robards nodded. "You have a point. Okay, so Potter will be the one going in. Obviously, you can't be at the spot twenty-four-seven, so I need you to be on call. I'll send a Patronus if we manage to grab a Death Eater in which you'll immediately have to Apparate to the Apparation point, take the potion, change clothes, and then walk in. The house should materialize for you once you open the door."
"Understood," Harry said.
"Good, you're both dismissed."
He exited the room with Ron.
"You headin' to the Burrow now?" Ron asked as they made their way back to Harry's office.
"Yeah, I just gotta grab some paperwork first."
"Alright, me and Hermione will be there shortly," Ron said as they separated.
Harry walked into his office, grabbed the paperwork in question, and was already to the lift in less than a minute.
All the way down, and to the Floo, Harry couldn't help but feel excited about seeing Ellie and Isabella again. He knew he had neglected them for the past few days, but now that the Aurors had a solid plan, he could stop worrying as much, and spend more time with them. He felt guilty about shutting himself away and hoped Ellie wouldn't be too mad at him."
He grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder, threw it in the grate, and stepped in before coming out into the Burrow sitting room.
The first thing he noticed was that there was no Isabella slamming into him at high speed which he found odd as she had never failed to do that before.
He followed the smell of cooking into the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was hard at work.
She turned to him when he came in. "Hello, Harry dear. They're out back in the garden if you want to call them inside."
"Thanks, Molly," Harry replied as he stepped out the back door.
Knowing Ellie, she was probably at her favorite tree by the pond, and Harry immediately headed in that direction.
Upon arriving at the tree, Harry looked around, but neither Ellie nor Isabella was anywhere in sight.
Harry frowned and started to turn around until something across the pond caught his eye.
What looked like a piece of parchment was flapping gently in the breeze.
Harry slowly made his way over to the parchment and with a growing sense of trepidation, lifted the rock that was weighing it down and read something that made his blood go cold.
"You should've kept a better eye on them."
M
AN: We're nearing the end of this story now. Only two more chapters and an epilogue left. I'm sorry it's taken so long to finish LtLA. It was supposed to be done by April, but things happened.
I started working on a new story today called "The Killer You Know" so be on the lookout for when I upload the 1st chapter for that.
