Chapter 5 – Camouflage

Harry and Ginny were in the bathroom in front of the mirror.

'So, what would you like me to do? Do you want your hair shorter? Darker? Pronounced cheekbones?' Harry asked the wand in his hand looking at her critically.

They had to go to pick James and Albus up and to avoid being harassed on the platform they had decided to modify their appearance. Harry had moreover told the kids to wear his invisibility cloak on the train so they couldn't be spotted, and Harry and Ginny wouldn't have been recognised through them. The trunks had been sent by Neville the day before, so they could travel light, and they were already stored in the closet under the stairs.

'I don't know…' she replied pensively, looking herself in the mirror and pulling her skin on the side of her eyes 'Can you take out wrinkles?'

Harry laughed 'What wrinkles? They are only in your mind!'

'And on my front, and on the side of my mouth…'

'I don't have to make you look younger, just different…'

'I don't know then…' frowning 'you decide.'

He had stopped shaving a few days before to help the camouflage, it made him look older. He could start to see here and there a little white in it. Having dark hair, it stood out quite vividly. Harry looked at her and then again at himself. They were as opposite in features and colours as it was possible to be and that gave Harry an idea.

'Ok, let's swap. Let's make a Harry woman and a Ginny man.'

Ginny assented amused.

He started to work on her pronouncing incantation, her hair curled and blackened under his steady mumbling, then he turned his attention on her eyes trying to produce the same shade and shape as his own and that was tricky (it was much easier to change colours than alter features), he darkened her skin and cancelled her freckles, higher cheekbone and a fuller mouth. Modify appearance wasn't easy and it took a long time. It was one of the tests, when becoming Auror, that gave him really a hard time. Hermione had spent very long and frustrating hours helping him in learning to perform those spells and it wasn't something that he practiced very often.

However, he was quite pleased by the result achieved on Ginny.

'I'd be a gorgeous woman!' he exclaimed showing her what he had done.

She eyed herself critically 'Yes, you would be. I like the eyes, and the hair' she said tossing her now long black curls.

'Yes, because it's thirty seconds that you have got them. When you'll comb them, we will talk about it again' he replied pulling one of his curls. He had never managed to keep them in order.

He pointed the wand on his face and started to mumble under his voice. His hair straightened and lightened until reaching a red/orangish shade, golden eyes with a slight almond shape, white skin, he thinned his lips and tried to reproduce that cupid's bow in his upper lip that loved so much in her. As a last whim he added a bit of freckles on his nose.

'What do you think?' he then asked her.

'Not bad but I think I'm better as a woman. You could pass for one of my brothers though'.

'That's good' he murmured absent minded while trying to cover as much as possible the scar on his forehead with the thin reddish hair. That one couldn't been cancelled by magic, not that he had never tried. 'Do you think I should keep the beard?' he then asked caressing it.

'As you want but now, we definitely need to hurry up' she said looking at the clock on the mantelpiece that was showing already quite a late hour.

They were dressed in clothes already planned with the kids so they could be recognisable.

Ginny was wearing a very large black shirt to try to hide her protuberant belly. It didn't work much and that together with his scar were the only flaws in their plan.

Notwithstanding that, their camouflage worked amazingly. At the platform nobody paid any attention to him whatsoever, he was finally a nobody! It was a wonderful sensation; Harry felt relaxed and at ease like probably he never experienced walking among wizards, without to worry about people harassing him. He could see some reporters scanning the crowd surely looking for him and he didn't have to bother with it. It had been a bit of a hassle the whole proceeding to change features, but he decided at that moment that he would practice on it more and would use it more often.

'Hey Harry, Hi Ginny!' a voice behind them thrilled. It was Ted.

Harry checked his skin colour, white, he could see red hair between his eyes and on his side, Ginny, was as curly as when they left the house 'How in the heck did you recognise us?!' he asked baffled.

'It's the way you move' Ted replied simply 'How are you?'

'Fine' he replied somewhat nettled 'You?'

'I'm great' he answered with a wide smile 'Victoire passed her Newt very well and from now on I'll have her always close by! I couldn't wait this moment to arrive!'

'Hello Harry, hello Ginny!' This time was Hermione.

What the…?

'How could you possibly know?' he hissed in Hermione's direction.

'I don't know…' she said taken aback 'It's the way you move, I guess…'

Ok, now I know I move funny…

'How do I move for heaven's sake?!' he asked exasperated.

'The train is coming' Ginny pointed out preventing any answer from them.

Shiny and red it was approaching the platform. A puff of white smoke enveloping it.

Thousands of recollections tumbled up in Harry's mind. It had never been pleasant for him, when at Hogwarts, to get to the platform and having to leave the train. It would start summer holidays a very unpleasant period with the Dursley. Since the kids started to attend school though, that feeling had changed, crushing the uneasiness of those moments with a new pleasant emotion of seeing them again after many months of separation. After Christmas it had subtly changed again. He was still very pleased to have his boys at home but the lack of Lily's warm hand in his own was poignant, painting a blue backdrop in his cheerfulness.

As soon as the train stopped and the doors sprang open, a wave of children started to get down in a cacophony of merriment, laughing, pushing each other and running to their families. Harry scanned the crowd despite being very aware that it was impossible for him to spot his kids under the cloak.

And while at it, totally unprepared, a slender girl with blonde, white hair appeared in his field of vision like an apparition. She was running toward them with an expression of radiant joy pictured on her stunning face.

Harry felt suddenly his legs growing weak, his mind going fuzzy, he felt like doing something crazy to attract her attention. He felt like shouting that he and only he had defeated the Dark Lord, that he had defeated death, a basilisk, hundreds of Dementors, he had won the Triwizard tournament, he was the famous Harry Potter! He felt like kneeling in front of her and swear a devoted love.

It was a blast of Veela effect.

Victoire was so happy to see Ted again that it gushed out of her in powerful waves.

Harry just managed to grasp Ginny's arm and squeezed it 'Slap me' he whispered.

'What?' she asked in puzzlement.

'Slap me' he repeated. Victoire was getting closer and closer, and he was starting to have difficulties in breathing and thinking straight.

'Harry what…?'

'Ginny, I said slap me!' raising his voice in alarm. Victoire had opened her arms and was about to throw herself in Ted's embrace just few inches from him, her power getting stronger with every step and this mad instinct wanted him to push Ted away and taking her in his arms.

Ginny following Harry's gaze understood in a moment.

Slap!

The noise resounded in Harry's ear. The burning of the smack drove away the dizziness and, while Ted and Victoire were snogging undisturbed, Ginny pulled him farther away her expression furious 'Harry, get a grip! She is your niece, and she is seventeen!'

'I know!' he replied, his heart beating quicker under the relief of such a close call in doing something extremely unappropriated in front the whole magical community 'But it's stronger than me, you can't understand!'

No woman could understand what it felt like, it was intoxicating and overwhelming, you had no choice but to succumb to it and he had not Ted's detachment, it overturned him completely.

It was dreadful.

Especially if the girl in question was half your age and a relative.

Victoire was the person that had more in common with Harry than anybody else and at the same time the one he would avoid at all costs.

They were in the same situation. She because of her beauty and he because of his fame. They both had to mistrust everybody of the opposite sex and be guarded against those of the same one that for envy could do as much damage as the firsts.

It was a solitary life the one they were destined to.

She was a charming girl when a child, sweet and pretty as a flower. They were often having her and Ted at their place and Harry was sincerely fond of her.

But everything changed suddenly when she turned thirteen.

They had been invited to Shell Cottage for dinner. Victoire was back from Hogwarts for summer holidays. It was a full six months since the last time he had seen her, and everything had changed in that space of time.

As soon as he was there, she ran toward them with the same joy depicted on her face as the one she had greeting Ted at the platform. It was exactly as any other time before that one. But the feeling of it had been different. His mind had grown suddenly weak and the impulse of getting a hold of her had been disturbing and unnatural. And this strange power she was emanating it was the same one Fleur had but so much stronger and unchecked. However, against Fleur's he was prepared but not against Victoire's. He had been suddenly aware that she wasn't a child any longer but not even a woman yet.

He had grown scared, and the strength of it acted like an alarm, waking him from the inducted weakness. He retracted just in time not to touch her.

She noticed and faltered in her attempt to hug him; her expression hurt. It turned out it hadn't been the first time she had received this kind of welcome.

Harry raised his eyes in puzzlement to Bill. Their gaze met and Harry saw a deep sadness in them, followed very quickly by a threatening stare. Bill had understood what was happening. There was sadness because a totally different life was beginning for her, a life made of estrangement by the people she loved most only because they loved her and wanted to protect her by themselves, and there was threat for him, a warning.

Slowly he had noticed that all the Weasley men were keeping away. She was more and more surrounded only by women and Ted that for age and not being a relative could indulge in the feeling created by her.

None of the men of the family ever approached the subject as they were all too ashamed to acknowledge what was happening in regards of her.

But from that moment he had started to be careful when she was around, keeping at a safe distance and trying not to look at her too much.

Her beauty was a curse, like his fame.

Ginny was still scowling irritated when Harry spotted a commotion not far from him.

A few children were pushing a child, shouting at her. The girl was a very scared Rose, surrounded by bullies that were calling her names undisturbed by adults around who were gaily minding their own business.

With three strides Harry was towering upon them forbidding, he hid Rose behind him and affronted the kids 'What in the heck are you doing?!' he yelled at them.

The kids backed off frightened but a woman short and plump with a pointed hat and red robe, ambled up to them in a combative demeanour taking one of the kids by the shoulders 'How dare you raising your voice to my child?' she shrilled in a high pitch voice.

'Your kid was bullying my niece. You should control him better!' he replied sharply.

The woman glanced with sufficiency at Rose hiding behind Harry 'Well, if it is, she deserved it. Isn't she the daughter of that murderer?' she said haughty.

Harry felt a vein in his temple pulsating 'She is just a child! Are you insane?' he hissed between his teeth trying to keep his anger down.

Then, from an indefinite point on his right, he heard quite clearly James' voice 'Such a bitch! Lemme go! Lemme go!' and Albus shushing him. They were there under the cloak somewhere beside him. The surprise stopped the rising of his anger for a moment but not the woman's one that didn't hear a thing and eying his red hair malevolently bellowed 'You are one of those Weasleys are you? You should be ashamed of yourself! That poor Harry Potter! They should have left your brother in Azkaban and throw away the key! That was his place! Your family is nothing but scum!'

By that time a group of people had gathered around them, including Ginny and Hermione.

'How dare you to insult my family?!' he barked 'How dare you to speak about me as if you were my friend!'

He had completely forgot about his modified appearance in the irritation of the woman's words and was by now on edge.

Ginny getting hold of him inadvertently gushed 'Harry, calm down'.

The woman, hearing her words gaped at them in a beginning of comprehension. Her gaze passed from Ginny's belly to Harry's forehead, his scar quite visible under his hair, her eyes widened.

'You are Harry Potter…'

Damn! Damn!

'You are Harry Potter!' the woman had then repeated louder, with more assurance. Her voice echoed in the vaulted ceiling and the low chattering stopped for a moment as people turned toward them. A moment of hesitation where he could see all the brains working in the different heads putting the pieces together and then the muttering, the pointing. The plump witch shrilled his name loudly again, smug by her own wit in discovering Harry Potter under the camouflage. Hard interior fight in Harry not to slam a hand on her large mouth to shush her. And, as it was predictable, people coming closer, gathering around him in a close vice. And the questions and the greetings, and who wanted to shake hands, who wanted to congratulate, who wanted to condole, who wanted to thank him and, also, who wanted to criticize him. Impossible to answer to all of them, impossible to disapparate, he didn't know where James and Albus were and with so many people close by he would run the risk of taking somebody with them. Some flashes started to dazzle their eyes as reporters pushing amid the mob were trying to get to them.

Ginny was a few steps from him, but people were separating them. Harry, under the neuroticism, started to panic slightly and while racking his brain madly on what to do, a hand was suddenly in his own clenching it tightly and he heard Hermione's voice behind him

'Tempus Subsisto'

And everything grew quiet. Unnaturally quiet.

The noise ceased instantly. It was like the time had stopped around him. Everybody was immobile, blocked in their track. The plump woman still with her mouth open in surprise, the kid pointing at his scar to the friend beside, Rose's scared face, Ginny's annoyed one.

There was only him moving, Hermione's hand in his own.

He turned 'What did you do?' he asked mystified.

She smiled smugly 'It's a spell I learned from a book I got in an antique shop in Rome'

'It's brilliant!'

'Yes, I know. It's a bit complicated to perform though. It took me a whole week to master it.'

'You must teach it to me.' he said looking around mesmerized glimpsing an owl suspended in mid-air, froze in his flight 'Although If it took you a week it will take me two months…' he added as a second thought.

'I would teach it to you with pleasure, but I think I've got an embargo on your person.' She replied, the smugness completely gone.

Harry was reminded of her love for him and felt awkward. Her hand was still in his own, he didn't let go, otherwise the spell would have been broken, but at the same time, he didn't want to let her go, it felt so right to have her close to him and, on the other side, so wrong her estrangement from his life.

'I ruined everything' she added mortified.

Harry was at loss for words, he wanted to comfort her but didn't know how. There was nothing he could say, nothing he dared to say to alleviate her distress. All that he wanted to convey wasn't allowed and therefore he didn't speak, looking away.

When he rested his gaze on her again there were tears sliding on her face, tears she was trying desperately to keep back.

Harry sighed, moved. When she had admitted her love for him, he had distanced her straight away with sharp words, the shock of the revelation had helped him to perform that task that needed to be performed. But now, in front of her pain, he couldn't be as cold as he knew he should have been. He loved Hermione, not in the same way as she loved him but nevertheless it was love. And he hated to be the one paining her. Women's tears never left him indifferent, especially if they were coming from a woman so important in his life.

In a mad impulse he pulled her toward him and kept her tightly in his arms, knowing he shouldn't have. Knowing it was wrong. Ginny, was there, only steps from him. It was hazardous in regards of her and of Hermione too, there was the danger, by any act of gentleness, to strengthen those emotions that needed to be suppressed. But he couldn't help himself. He couldn't watch her crying and do nothing to console her, he had always been a person that expressed himself better in actions rather than in words.

'I'm sorry' he only managed to say. He was sorry to pain her. Sorry to be so inadequate with words. Sorry to be unable to love her as she would have liked.

She shook her head drying her tears and loosening from his embrace 'You have nothing to be sorry for'.

She started to chuckle 'I'm very silly… I'm the one that ought to apologise. I missed you very much'

'I missed you too' he answered smiling 'but I guess we should try to keep some distance for a while'

She nodded again, sniffing and mopping her eyes with a handkerchief, she straightened her clothes and once composure was regained, she said business like 'Ok, right. When I'll leave your hand, everything will be back as usual. You will have just a moment to disapparate. You need to be ready'

'I need to find James and Albus' he said scanning the crowd around him 'they are under the cloak somewhere'.

'They may be there' Hermione said pointing to a spot behind him. There was a gap between two people. Harry reached out and could feel two heads, one taller than the other. It was them. He pushed with some difficulty the people to create some space and did the same around Ginny with the help of Hermione. He gathered his family ready to take the step.

'Are you ready? I'll count down to three. When I leave your hand, you go.' Hermione said.

He nodded.

'Three, two, one, go!'

Their touch broke and the noise and the confusion were back. He held his family close and looked at Hermione who was smiling tears still glinting in the corner of her eyes, 'Thank you' he mouthed and took the step thinking about home.