Chapter 25

1998

Ginny wasn't at all worried about her husband's new attitude, it seemed quite natural, although very irritating. She noticed it the day their baby kicked for the first time, that look in his eyes so similar to the one Harry gave her for years let her know that Tom felt for her the closest thing to love he could experience.

The possessiveness that followed him giving in to this feeling seemed highly expected, someone who had never felt love would hold on as soon as the feeling arose, like a stray cat fighting for its food after almost starving. In time, Tom would realize that she would never abandon him and leave her alone.

In the meantime, she had to cope with his eccentricities.

It had just been New Year's Eve, January 1998, in a couple of months her son would be born, a son who had never appeared in those visions of horror, a son with a beautiful and free future.

"My love," Ginny whispered to him when they had just gone to bed.

"Do you feel bad?" Tom opened his eyes in an instant and looked at her with alarm while placing the palm of his hand on the bulging belly.

"No, sorry for scaring you." Ginny kissed him and stopped the kiss that he wanted to intensify. "I was thinking about something, in a few days you'll go to battle, I don't want to be without you here."

"You will be safe, my dear, I will leave the Lestrange men and Pius, they will protect you from everything. Or do you want to go back to the Weasley house?" The tone of his question sounded Ginny's alert, that was her intention, but she saw that Tom wouldn't leave her and would only infuriate him by suggesting it, well, he would have to learn to manage his own anger.

"Of course, I want to go back to my parents and my siblings, my love," she said indignantly while rolling her eyes as if she had said something too obvious. "But if I go back with them, I can put them in danger."

"Oh," She knew he had been enraged, but she continued with her plan.

"It'd be wiser if I went back to Hogwarts for a few months, while you come back from Europe, I'd rather have Professor Snape take care of me." She said while frowning on his chin and kissing him on the upper lip. "Maybe... I can even study for a couple more months to get as close to an N.E.W.T.s level as possible. "

Tom was silent as he thought.

"Will you take the brat?" he finally asked, giving in to the request, to tell the truth, it was more reassuring to leave her at Hogwarts, there would be all the efforts to keep the magical children safe, and he trusted Severus to take care of her.

"Yes. " She said while nodding strongly "She's my daughter, she belongs with me, of course, I won't be able to take any of my ladies, so I'll have to take care of her alone."

That last one echoed Tom's wishes, at least the brat would serve to keep his spouse busy and stay out of trouble.

Thus, Ginny was taken by Severus to Hogwarts when they returned from Christmas vacation. Tom wanted to accompany them, but Ginny finally convinced him not to go, it was more important to be on his mission as soon as possible and if everyone saw that he was going to confine his wife for fear that she would be harmed everyone would be filled with fear and distrust in victory.

"We will see you in a few months, my love, yes, you must be here for the birth, I will send you a message and you will have to come immediately," Ginny ordered with a disdainful gesture of her left hand, Tom caught it in the air and brought it to his mouth, kissing the heart-shaped mark.

"I'm waiting for your message, and you should write to me every day to give me information," Tom said without letting go, not caring that his hosts, the Lestranges and Snape were watching him with undisguised amazement.

"Of course, the decisions that have to be made in your absence will be made at Hogwarts, I have already written an official letter to the Minister for the weekly meetings to be at the school," Ginny said

Finally, Snape stepped forward and suggested that they get going. After one last look, Ginny, with Delphini in her arms, disappeared into the Floo Network.

o-o-o-o

Severus wasn't happy with the situation his master put him in. In addition to taking care of a bunch of brats (thus missing out on Muggle battles in Europe), he now had to carry his Master's teenage wife.

There was the problem of where to accommodate her, formally she was no longer a student, and besides, his Master had strictly forbidden her to share a room with the other students, something that of course he had already thought about. There was no choice but to accommodate her in the rooms that belonged to the director, if there was an attack it was important to evacuate her first and as quickly as possible.

He would stay nearby in the break room inside the office, close to her in case she needed anything. Besides, he had instructed the house elves to respond to her commands, and since she had brought her elf, at least they wouldn't have to worry about the brat Lestrange.

He accompanied her to her room, a good-sized private room greeted them, with a fireplace connecting directly from one way to Malfoy Manor and another to an address she had provided for the connection.

"My lady, I'll pick you up in half an hour to go down to the Great Hall for the welcome banquet," he said swallowing all the poison of his being.

He left that room quickly, he didn't want to be alone in the same room with her, he shuddered just to imagine what His Master could do to him if only a slight suspicion arose about him. He was a monster crazed with jealousy, if he was even jealous of her with her brother he didn't want to imagine how he felt about other men near her.

He had mixed feelings for her, for Ginny Weasley, a part of her personality reminded him of his beloved Lily. A very small part, since Lily had been a pure being who radiated kindness and loveliness, Weasley on the other hand was a cold harpy who wore the disguise of an innocent schoolgirl.

Just thinking that Lily Evans had died in the prime of her life, murdered by His Master, and Ginny Weasley lived a comfortable existence being protected and pampered by her husband, he filled with anger and rage.

Sometimes he was dying to kill her, to make His Master suffer what he had suffered in losing Lily, just imagining the pain that would consume his soul in losing the only being he had ever loved gave him an unhealthy satisfaction... but...

Ginny Weasley was Harry Potter's great love, and he had sworn to protect him, he owed to Lily's corpse to do so. He couldn't bear the thought of Lily's reproach if Potter suffered the wound Severus knew so well.

To lose such a love was to die in life.

Besides, the wizarding world needed her and would need her for years if they were to be victorious in battle against Muggles. His Master would not have been able to plan so many things without all the knowledge she had given him.

He went into his room to change his clothes, went through the last details of his documents and the written orders formally delivered by the Ministry, and finally returned for Weasley.

"My lady, if you are ready, we can go downstairs." He said dryly and was relieved to see that she had left the brat in her crib cared for by the elf.

"Yes, director, I'll follow you."

Severus nodded and began to move towards the Great Hall.

o-o-o-o

Ginny walked behind Snape, terrified suddenly, ashamed of herself for the first time in a long time. She wore a blue long-sleeved blouse a long black skirt with the bow tied below her breasts, wearing an elegant black robe with gold trim.

Her pregnancy was evident.

There was no way to hide her huge belly, she was so thin and small that it was impossible not to see it.

She felt humiliated suddenly, she was a teenage mother, with truncated studies, without a profession, completely dependent on her husband. It had become everything she had criticized about her mother.

Finally, they arrived at the Great Hall, everyone was having a somber talk, which stopped when the doors opened and they entered.

In the thunderous silence in that room not a breath was perceived. Ginny pulled her shoulders back and placed her clasped hands above her belly as she followed Snape.

The silence turned into a motley chorus of voices when they saw her, she saw that the teachers looked at her with pale faces, Luna and Colin stood up with emotion on their faces and greeted her from afar.

As soon as the commotion subsided, the Slytherins finally realized that she was there, and first, the students of the last years stood up and bowed deeply to her, an example followed by the children of the early years, some of them born Muggles who didn't even know why they were greeting her in such an extravagant way.

From the Ravenclaw table some boys, almost half, also got up and bowed. All children of magicians, whose fathers and mothers mostly worked in the Ministry.

Everyone else stood still at this.

Ginny just nodded at them seriously and looked straight ahead. Snape guided her to the head table, where he helped her sit in the chair next to the head table.

The whispering returned, even among the professors, McGonagall looked horrified, and Slughorn and Flitwick looked at her in amazement. Hagrid's gaze hurt, he looked at her as if she had just killed one of his creatures.

They sat down and the banquet began.

Everyone ate between whispers and glances at the main table.

Finally, when everyone was done, the plates disappeared and Snape got up to give his speech. All the children present had stayed at Hogwarts all holidays, only learning the terrifying news through the Daily Prophet and the other newspapers, they had lost their classmates and could only communicate with their family through letters, they were terrified, but at least restarting classes would give them a routine that would motivate them. With the Carrow brothers unleashing terror among everyone, they didn't know what was worse.

"Hogwarts students, starting tomorrow we will start classes, as you will know from the newspapers, after the Great Mistake, the Muggles have attacked various magical places causing unspeakable massacres, you had a fence. Fifteen of your companions were killed by them when they returned home for vacation. " he said slurring his voice "Due to these facts, the ministry has taken measures to protect you, and it has been indicated that until prior notice all visits to Hogsmeade will be suspended, this applies even to final year students, regardless of whether they are already of legal age. Whoever disobeys these rules, if they are of legal age will be expelled from Hogwarts on the spot and will be forced to go to battles in Europe, if this wizard or witch of legal age endangers an underage wizard or witch, they will be expelled and sent to Azkaban. In case it is a minor, the wizard or witch will be confined in Hogwarts, without the right to attend classes and their physical punishment will be in charge of Professors Alecto and Amicus Carrow."

Ginny was surprised to see that no one protested, in Dumbledore's time everyone would have complained, but Snape was too scary. She also observed that everyone was looking at her and the Carrows in terror.

She had met them briefly at occasional meetings at Malfoy Manor, suddenly she remembered some visions of her time at Hogwarts under their regime, almost hitting herself on the head for her oblivion. Of course, torture was their favorite activity, she had completely forgotten those visions since she never took them seriously.

Snape paused his speech and the numerous new rules the Ministry had imposed when he turned to Ginny and continued.

"I also introduce you to Lady Ginevra Voldemort." There were groans of horror everywhere, even though among the adults that name was already said, among the young people isolated in that castle he continued to evoke fear and chills, they continued to refer to him as Who-must-not-be-named, the custom of pure-blood families was very difficult to forget. "She will be our honorable guest for the rest of the school year, and she will do us the honor of monitoring compliance with all the rules set, and she will also notify us if we will be able to leave Hogwarts when the school year ends at the beginning of July. As part of her work for the World of Magic, she will attend a few select classes to supervise. Likewise, Lady Voldemort has been kind enough to inform you that any concerns you may have can come to her. It is a great kindness of her, but, given her present state, her honorable spouse asks that she be disturbed as little as possible."

The murmurs increased as they watched her with fear and respect. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Professor McGonagall's furious expression, she saw her as when Umbridge intervened in Hogwarts.

She flinched when she realized that she would be taking on a role similar to Umbridge.

Well, if anyone wanted to hate her, she would give them real reasons to do so.

o-o-o-o

Harry was sitting in a bar, as he had done almost every night for the past 3 months, looking for a young woman with whom he had met the last few nights. He saw her enter the bar and his eyes could not leave her.

She was beautiful, a woman in her twenties perhaps, a university student, curvy, tall, they were practically the same size, maybe she even surpassed him with heels. She turned to him as soon as she saw him and greeted him as she walked to his side at the bar, long blonde hair in perfectly arranged waves below her waist swayed to the rhythm of her walk, delicate face, triangular shaped, large round eyes of the deepest blue he had ever seen.

"Spunk, if I keep seeing you so often, I'm going to think you're coming to look for me." Harry gave her a crooked smile and a snort. "Well, stunner, don't be angry, you could do accidental magic, kid."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked nervously, he had lived as a Muggle for the last half year, he carried his wand of course, on the bracelet that was always tied to his wrist. He had spent several weeks alone, in Sydney, waiting for his departure to China, which would be in a few days.

He looked around, the noisy bar was commenting on the latest news of the wars in Europe, it had been 3 months since they were in a non-stop war. Everyone suddenly fell silent, a breaking ABC report interrupted the rugby match that everyone was watching.

"We repeat the news for viewers who have just tuned in. Four nuclear plants exploded in Europe, and five in the United States, Europe has begun evacuation"

Everyone started shouting about each other until they relayed a message sent by the wizarding community. An attractive man with thick black hair, light brown eyes, and a white-skinned face began to speak.

"Wizards and witches of the world, everyone has already witnessed the abuses of the Muggles, we began to defend ourselves and today the end of everything began, the royal families of Europe have died in that bunker in which they sought protection.

Now, I give you a message, Europe is already a Muggle-free land, and all magical beings can ask for refuge here, as can Muggle families who own a wizard or witch child.

MACUSA has turned their backs on us and they protect Muggles, so we have abandoned them. We know that Muggles will transmit the locations of nuclear plants, so all wizards and witches can go there, all objects there are portkey to London, where you will be received by the British Ministry, and by me.

I am Lord Thomas Marvolo Voldemort, Leader of the New Wizarding World."

Harry saw this in horror, the blonde girl spoke to him and beckoned him to follow her, but he did it out of inertia.

"Spunk, calm down, if they see you like that they will be suspicious." She told him, walking with ease in the heat of the southern summer night. "You're a British magician, aren't you?"

"How?..." Harry was able to articulate with effort.

"I've met several, you can't hide it, don't worry, I'm Riona Cavendish by the way, what's your name?"

"James Evans." He said after a slight reflection.

"Well, James, I'm a, how do you say it? Squid?"

"Squib."

"Oh, well, that's what I am, so despite living as No-Maj, I know everything about the wizarding world, and anywhere in the world it'd recognize Harry Potter's face." Harry blushed when he heard that, ashamed of his fame.

That night to forget about that unpleasant news, Riona took him to nightclubs and they danced and drank until they lost consciousness. When he woke up, at noon, Riona was still asleep next to him, both naked and with a pungent smell between musk and fish.

The world was spinning around him and as soon as he reacted to what had happened, he was numb, the images buzzing in his mind. The naked and sweating bodies, the mouths mingling saliva, the rapid frenzy, he had not been the most skilled of lovers.

He was very uncomfortable, but Riona's carefree and liberal attitude spared them embarrassing scenes. They spent fun days together; Harry didn't know that one could have so much fun.

Finally, the date came when his flight to China would depart, Ginny had left him instructions to go to Yunnan, which he would do faithfully. Every time he thought about her his insides he was filled with guilt, sex was fun, but whenever he was with the blonde, he couldn't help but imagine being with his girlfri... her. He only decided to start this sexual adventure because Ginny had permitted him, but he would also faithfully keep his promise not to give his word to another.

When he left, Riona smiled at him and made him promise that when he returned to Australia, he would contact her.

And Harry set off on a lonely journey to find a way to get rid of the Horcrux that corrupted his being.

Thank for read!