Alone
Part 2
By Jeconais
Author Notes:
Please note: This is not one of my standard stories, as you'll see from reading All Night Long, so your expectations might not match what I have written.
A bright magical flare arced into the air and then exploded in a swirl of colours that must have been visible for a mile.
It was the sign to begin.
Harry stepped off the road and dropped to his knees, laying flat on the ground. He slowly inched his way forward to the edge of grass and looked down the road. He couldn’t see anything that looked suspicious — everything was quiet and serene.
He knew, however, that there were thirty of the best Aurors in the country between him and his goal.
The course was laid out in a relatively simple manner. There was one road that led down to a single cottage. The road twisted back and forth along a two-mile track. Immediately in front of him was some very long grass, followed by a dense wooded area. Further down, the foliage was limited; remaining undetected would be a lot harder, as the hiding places became few and far between.
He eased his wand out of his pocket and pointed it down the road. With a frown of deep concentration, he cast a spell. This was one of Hermione’s newer ones, and it wouldn’t be something the Aurors would even know about. Her job as professor at the new Magical University gave her a lot of resources for inventing new charms.
The spell echoed down the road, and he closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he’d pinpointed the location of all thirty Aurors. Hermione had told him that the spell worked like radar — bouncing off the magical cores of Wizards.
It didn’t take much of a mental trick to correlate those blips of magic onto the map of the area he had memorised before the exercise began. Not for the first time, he was pretty amazed at just how damn smart Hermione was; it was scary, really, when he thought about it.
There were two Aurors quite close by, lying in ambush for him. He started to move toward them, circling a little. It was slow going; there was an inherent lag in the chameleon charm, so moving fast would have made it useless, but he wasn’t exactly pressed for time.
Harry eventually spotted them; they were lying in the long grass, firmly concentrating on the road. He eased up to them from behind.
"Report," he whispered in a harsh voice.
"No sign of them yet, sir," the one on the left whispered automatically.
"Idiot," Harry sighed and stunned him, casting a second stunner as soon as he could, taking them both out of the game.
He rolled them over and smiled. He undid the buttons on the robe of the first one, and he cancelled his chameleon charm. A minute later, he was dressed in the uniform of an Auror. A quick search through their wallets revealed the names of his two victims.
Now that he had obtained a new outfit, he just needed a new face. And the dark-haired unconscious Auror supplied that for him as well. He turned and headed toward the next clump of Aurors. They were hiding in a small grove of trees a little further along the track, their wands out.
He moved over to them, trying to remember the Auror training he had received, so that he would move like them — rather than the more stealthy approach that was now second nature to him.
"They’re coming," he panted, trying to impersonate the Auror who had spoken to him. "They got James without even trying."
"Who are they?"
"The Japanese," Harry said back, moving out of sight. "They move like ghosts."
"The bloody Japs?" another asked.
Harry nodded and then pointed, "Can you see them?"
The five Aurors all turned to face the threat, and Harry almost sighed aloud again. Two of the five were ex-DA members, and they should have reacted differently. They should have checked him out thoroughly beforehand and not just accepted him at face value. The charm he had used to change his face was pretty easy to discover, if they had bothered to actually check.
"Where?" Terry Boot asked. "I can’t see them."
"That’s because you forgot what Mad-Eye used to say," Harry said.
"What?" Terry asked, squinting as he tried to see into the distance.
"Constant Vigilance," Harry yelled as he cast a couple of stunners, hitting Terry and another Auror in the back. He kept moving as the others turned, pocketing his wand, and grabbing the wrists of two Aurors until their now drawn wands were pointed at each other.
The two Aurors couldn’t stop the spells they had started; they stunned each other.
The last Auror looked at Harry, an expression of fear on her face. "You’re not Gerald," she said.
"Ten points to Ravenclaw," Harry smirked, ignoring the wand that was pointed at him.
"Who are you?"
"Now where would the surprise be if I told you that?" Harry asked, moving sideways while holding his hands out un-threateningly.
"Don’t move," the Auror ordered harshly. "I’ve got you covered."
"Yes, you have," Harry agreed amiably. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Turn around," The Auror said, sounding a little nervous.
Harry turned, idly wondering if she’d just send up a charm asking for help. It would be the logical thing to do — call for reinforcements. Of course, if she did, then her wand wouldn’t be pointed at him anymore; that would all the chance he would need.
Of course, he had about fifteen other ways of getting out of this situation, depending on what she did.
"Move," she said.
He didn’t, wanting to see what would happen.
"I said, move," she grunted, poking him with her wand.
He could feel the wand on the left of his back, and he exploded into movement. He twisted to the right, moving away from the wand, his right hand coming out to push the wand away from him, as his left hand flew up and caught the Auror straight on the chin.
There was the sound of breaking bone, before the Auror toppled down to the grass, unconscious. He looked down at her and grabbed her wand. He walked off, whistling softly. He’d wanted to hit Marietta for a long, long time now, and this was the first chance he’d got. He never had forgiven her for betraying the D.A. back in his fifth year.
Seven down, twenty three to go.
He moved to the edge of the woods and paused. He reached into his pocket and pulled out six dolls, all dressed in the robes of the French Aurors. He placed them down, pulling strings out of the centre of their backs and then settled back to watch.
The dolls quickly grew to full size, and working together, slowly walked out of the trees and toward the hut. The six dolls each had their wands out and were moving in a professional manner.
As they got halfway down the road, ten Aurors appeared out of the grass, their invisibility cloaks being thrown to one side.
"Freeze!" they shouted. "No one move."
The dolls did as commanded, literally freezing mid-step.
"Who are you?" One of the Aurors snarled.
The dolls all turned their heads to look at him — the rest of their bodies staying unnaturally still. "We are messengers," they said in unison.
"What’s that?" the Auror asked, suspicion starting to form on his face.
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." There was a pause, and then they continued. "Fred and George would also like to remind the stupid English Aurors that they always need to be on CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
"Shit," one of the Aurors swore as he turned and started to dive away — but it was too late. The six dolls exploded, coating them all in a thick gooey substance. The Aurors struggled, but it was useless. The goo simply constricted, tying them all together.
Harry walked up to them. As he got near, he reached out a finger and scooped up some of the goo. He tasted it cautiously and looked surprised. It tasted of strawberries and cream. He shook his head, grinning. Only Fred and George would make something so useful taste good as well.
"Do I need to stun you?" Harry asked the frozen Aurors cheerfully.
"No," Ernie MacMillian sighed. "We’re done. And if we’d known we’d be going up against you, we’d not have bothered getting out of bed."
"Me?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Yeah, you, the man under the disguise," Ernie said firmly. "Harry Potter."
"How did you know?"
"Because no one else would be crazy enough to use Fred and George’s inventions on an exercise like this. No one else would take on thirty Aurors alone. No one else could do that, Harry; no one else alive."
Harry shrugged. "You always were a smart one, Ernie. So why have you been caught so easily?"
Ernie tried to look around, but couldn’t, the goo had set. "Because we got lazy — that’s the point of this exercise, isn’t it? To point out that we need to spend less time playing cards and more time making sure we are ready."
"Yep," Harry agreed. "It’s always a bad idea to send the Chief Auror home from a poker night empty-handed."
"Damn it," one of the other Aurors groaned. "I’m going to kill Ginny when we get out of this. It was her bloody idea to do it."
"I wouldn’t be too concerned about that," Harry said absently. "When we’ve finished this, I’m going to be having a bit of a word with all of you. And I’ll want to know exactly why playing poker is more important than training for what you get paid for."
There was a strange sound, as ten pairs of eye balls blinked at the same time, and then ten vocal chords all emitted the same groan.
"Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a flag to capture." Harry turned and picked up one of the discarded invisibility cloaks, vanishing instantly from sight.
"Shit," Ernie sighed. "You know, I really wish I’d slept in today."
There was a general mumble of agreement from his fellow Aurors as they settled down to await their eventual release.
Harry moved under the Cloak, touching his wand to his glasses. This was a trick he’d learnt from Mad-Eye himself. It charmed the left side of his glasses, so he could see through invisibility cloaks and see magical auras.
About a quarter of a mile in front of him were the next group of Aurors. They were still grouped together, and it was one of the things he was going to have a word with them about. Their habit of sticking so close together made them a lot easier to deal with — as he could get a lot in one go, rather than have to take them out individually, which would have been a lot harder.
He walked toward them, taking his time. He stopped about fifty metres from them and whistled under his breath. He could recognise a couple more ex-DA members in the group — even though they were hidden under cloaks. They were walking across the path in front of him, gazes firmly fixed on the road ahead.
One of the first things Kingsley had done as Chief Auror was push for the Aurors to have access to the cloaks, pointing out that they were an incredibly valuable tool. The Ministry, flush with the success of vanquishing Voldemort had authorised his request without thinking about how much it would cost them.
It was a mistake the Ministry had never made again.
The Aurors were standing on a type of gravel called pea-shingle that would make sneaking up on them a lot harder. But this was what Sumi had spent the last ten days teaching him how to do, and it was time to put it into practice. He couldn’t use magic as he wasn’t sure how the Cloak would react to him casting a spell on himself underneath it, and he didn’t want to reveal his presence accidentally.
He lowered his hands to his side and relaxed, starting to control his breathing. He picked his back foot up slowly and inched it to the front of his body. He then carefully lowered his foot until it was a few inches from the ground. He turned his toes pointing up and made contact with the ground with the outside ball of his right foot. He carefully lowered his heel and then his toes, checking for anything that might make a noise if he put his weight on it. Finding nothing, he placed his weight, and started again.
It was an incredibly slow way of moving, each step taking nearly a minute, but it ensure that he was absolutely silent. It was hard on his body, but Charlie had helped him get his edge back, and he was used to hard work.
He reached the first of the Aurors and crouched low to the ground, slowly inching his wand under the cloak, hoping that he wouldn’t see the tip among the shingle.
"Petrificus Totalus," he exhaled under his breath. This would have been the fantastic time for wandless magic — unfortunately his abilities there were limited to a robust summoning charm, which he could pretty much do at anytime, and random bits of magic that would appear whenever he was emotionally charged. He’d never developed the sort of control over wandless magic that Albus and Voldemort had achieved.
He could see the Auror freeze and smiled to himself. One down.
It wasn’t very sporting of him — but then again, he wasn’t there to be sporting. He was pretty disgusted with the lack of traps so far. They seemed to be relying on their magical cloaks far too much. One by one, he picked off the rest of the group.
With the other hidden Aurors taken care of, it only left six guarding the flag. He could see two of them — not under cloaks — guarding the door and the other four inside.
He contemplated a straight attack; there was a high chance he’d be able to get through, but he decided not to. Ron had given him some pretty strict instructions on what to do so far, and it had worked perfectly.
He walked confidently up to the door, deliberately making some noise.
"Are they even coming?" he whispered to the one on the left. "This is bloody boring."
"I know," the Auror whispered back. "They’ve probably been stopped by James and Gerald — and no one’s bothered to tell us yet."
Harry snorted under his breath. "Probably," he agreed in a whisper. He pushed his wand gently out of the front of the cloak and whispered, "Imperio."
He’d obtained permission from Kingsley earlier to use the Unforgivable. Fighting the Imperious was one of the tests that Aurors had to pass to qualify — but the Chief suspected that a lot of them had stopped practising, believing that no one would ever put them under it. He applied a small communication charm to his new puppet that allowed the puppet to hear whatever he said, as if he was whispering into his ear.
"Point far down the road, and ask if the other Auror sees anything," Harry whispered.
The Auror turned and did exactly as he was told, enabling Harry to walk around quickly and stun the distracted Auror without any bother.
He walked to the door and peered in. The flag was guarded by Ginny, Tonks, Zacharias Smith, and an Auror he didn’t recognise. He smiled to himself; the flag had the Gryffindor shield on it.
The four Aurors were talking quietly, all keeping an eye on the door and not the flag.
He moved to the side of the door and slowly pushed his wand out of his cloak again, using the wooden door as a cover, and as silently as he could, he cast the chameleon charm on flag.
He turned and moved over to the Auror under the Imperious and whispered. "I want you to run to the door, shout 'Accio Flag’ but don’t cast the spell, and then run away, holding this."
He shrugged off the Aurors robes he was wearing under the Cloak, and transfigured it so that it was black and looked vaguely like the flag from a distance.
"Go," he said, as he moved back to the side of the door.
The Auror, his eyes still blank, walked to the door, pointed his wand, and shouted the words, before turning and running away, holding the robes bundled against his chest.
He watched with a smile on his face as the four Aurors turned and saw that the flag was gone and swore as one. They turned and ran for the door, their wands out and ready.
Harry smirked and cast a tripping jinx at Tonks, who stumbled, knocking the others over.
"Sorry," she said and scrambled back to her feet, chasing down the running Auror.
The other three left the cottage as well, following close after her.
Harry shook his head and walked in. He took off his cloak and removed the spell he was using to change his features, cancelled the chameleon spell on the flag, and grabbed a chair, taking it outside.
He sat down comfortably and watched as the Aurors bundled the cursed Auror over.
"Finite Incantatem," he heard Ginny say.
Harry cleared his throat. Loudly.
As one, the four Aurors froze and turned to face him.
They slowly walked back toward him, their wands by their sides. He waited until they were standing in front of him, and he looked up from his seat.
"Pathetic," he whispered softly. "You were trained better than this."
"But…" Ginny started.
Harry held up his hand, stopping her. "I really hope that you do better this afternoon."
"So do I," Kingsley said as he walked over, Mad-Eye Moody beside him.
"Good tactics, Potter," Mad-Eye snorted.
"They were Ron’s," Harry shrugged.
Mad-Eye nodded. "He always was good at them. What the hell was the spell you cast first?"
"Magical Radar. It pings on everything with a magical core."
"That’s not fair," Zachariah protested. "Using spells that we haven’t got access to."
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "What has war got to do with being fair? Are you Aurors or athletes?" he asked. There was no answer. "I take it you’d like it if the bad guys would register all the curses they might use against you beforehand? When Voldemort was still running around, they weren’t so accommodating."
Mad-Eye snorted, sounding amused.
Zach, Ginny, Tonks, and the other Auror all looked down, avoiding his gaze.
"Why don’t we go and have lunch," Harry said to Kingsley and Mad-Eye, "and we can talk about what Kingsley’s going to cook next week."
Kingsley nodded and looked at the four Aurors in front of him. "I warned you to be on your guard," he said softly. "Please don’t let me down again this afternoon. I honestly expected better from you. Not one of you thought about what you were doing — you just reacted to the trap Harry set.
"You’ll find five petrified Aurors in the two first positions, ten covered in a Fred and George concoction further down. The others are waiting for you back at the base — apart from Marietta, who’s getting her jaw repaired. Have some lunch and work on your tactics for when you have to capture the flag this afternoon.
"You know who you are facing now, and you know that he he’s been working with Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione. Make me proud."
Kingsley turned on his heel and walked off with Harry and Mad-Eye.
The three men walked through a ward and appeared in a large stone courtyard. As they became visible, a bunch of red-heads, interspersed with numerous females with varying hair colour all got to their feet and starting cheering and shouting.
"That was brilliant, Harry," Ron shouted first. "None of them even came close, and Marietta — man, I could kiss you!"
Hermione reached out and elbowed Ron gently.
Sumi smiled brilliantly. "I am so pleased you mastered the walk," she said. "I was so proud when I saw you creeping along."
"What was it like?" Harry asked.
"Hermione’s charm was perfect," Bill said proudly. "We could see everything as clear as if it was right in front of us. The charm followed you all along the path and showed how you took out each group."
"And might we add," Fred said.
"That our toys worked perfectly," George finished.
"Shush, both of you," Penelope said promptly. "No one loves a boaster."
"Yes, dear," they said in unison.
"Fred, George," Penelope said warningly.
"Sorry, dear," Fred replied apologetically.
"Anyway," Charlie said, "what did you think about it, Harry?"
Harry sat down on the bench and smiled as Molly immediately placed a plate full of picnic food in front of him.
"Disappointing," he sighed. "No traps, complete reliance on equipment. Real Death Eaters would have walked through them in no time at all."
"Regrettably, I find myself in complete agreement with Harry’s assessment," Percy said quietly. "I believe that commendations are in order, Kingsley, for noticing the problem and creating such a unique way of highlighting it."
"Thanks, I think," Kingsley said with a sigh. "I really hoped that I was mistaken, you know? I’d hoped that things weren’t this bad."
"They’re not," Mad-Eye grunted. "They’re just lazy, not unskilled. You’ll see them doing better this afternoon. Well, they better do well; you certainly spelled it out for them."
"Why did you do that anyway?" Charlie asked.
"Because in real life, sometimes they will know who they are raiding," Harry said. "It’s more realistic this way. The challenge is for me to still win. And this is where some of the curses Bill taught me are going to be useful, as well as the rest of the toys from Fred and George."
"You remember the plan for dealing with them?" Ron checked.
"Of course," Harry nodded. "Guerrilla tactics — take out a couple at a time consistently and deal with the rest, one on one."
"One on one?" Molly asked.
"Yeah," Harry said. "This is a training exercise for them, after all. The people who get through the course and traps will get to duel me for the flag."
"What if they all get through?" Angelina asked warily.
"Then we’ll see if I’m as good as everyone thinks I am."
"Harry!" Molly, Sumi, and Hermione all said at the same time.
Harry smirked at them and offered them a mock little bow. "It won’t happen," he said confidently. "Only a couple will get through."
"Probably Ginny and Tonks," Kingsley said slowly. "They are the best."
Harry shrugged. "Who is looking out for Sammy today?" he asked Fleur.
"She’s on an outing with Gabrielle."
Harry raised his eyebrows at the strange phrasing.
Fleur smiled helplessly. "If I mentioned the word baby-sit, I would have a Veela-sized tantrum on my hands."
Harry chuckled under his breath and grinned at her, taking a piece of quiche. "So," he adopted a look of innocence. "Did you two find a baby brother for Sammy?"
Charlie and Fleur both blushed, bright red. "Harry!" Charlie said.
"Is that a yes?"
"It is," Fleur said proudly, her cheeks still rosy. "In eight months, three weeks, Sammy will have a brother."
There was the ear piercing sound of a few too many females squealing at the same time, causing Harry to quickly charm his ears. A microsecond later, Fleur was embraced by a rampaging Molly Weasley.
Harry looked at Fleur for a second and then turned his attention to Hermione. "So, professor," he said cheerfully. "Anything you want to share as well?"
"Harry James Potter!" Hermione called out, stamping her foot.
"Hmm?" Harry asked, his eyes twinkling.
"Bloody hell," Ron said slowly.
"Language, Ron," Molly said automatically from her place next to Fleur.
"Not now, Mum," Ron said absently. "Everybody turn and look at Harry."
"What?" Harry asked, raising his hands defensively.
"Oh my Lord," Hermione said slowly. "You’re right."
"Right about what?" Harry asked, starting to feel very nervous.
"It’s just starting," Fred agreed. "This is wonderful."
"What?" Harry demanded.
"Your eyes are twinkling," Bill said softly. "Add to that the way you don’t miss anything, and you know what we see?"
Harry thought for a second and then groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Not like him," he muttered. "Please, don’t let me become another Dumbledore."
"I know," Hermione said, walking over to him and hugging him, Ron doing the same. "It doesn’t have to be that way. His problem was always that he was acting alone. You won’t be."
"Promise?" Harry asked softly.
"Always," Hermione and Ron said together.
"Damn right," Sumi and Bill added.
"Exactly," Percy said. "Albus’ mistakes have been well-documented, and not to toot our own horn, but if there is one thing this family is good at — apart from offering an endless supply of love — it is the ability to keep one on an even keel. No one here will allow you to believe your own press clippings."
"Overly wordy, but well said," Charlie muttered.
"Case in point," Percy said, smiling and nodding at Charlie. "Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it, Harry. The signs have been visible for sometime. Everyone respects you and looks at you for help and guidance. Unlike Albus, you do have an intricate support network. It has been this way in the Wizarding world for centuries…"
"Nineteen, since Cyneglis the Merciful," Hermione interrupted.
"Really?" Percy asked. "I always thought it was Mykanthorpe the Noble who was the first. Not that it matters; the point is that throughout modern history there has been one person who has stood out as a guiding light. With Albus dead, the position has been vacated, and one of the key signs, as prosaic as it might be, is the twinkling of eyes and the insight. Hermione, I take it that Harry was right?"
"I didn’t want to make the announcement like this," Hermione grumbled, digging her elbow directly into Harry’s ribs. "But yes, I cast the charm this morning. I am pregnant and should give birth pretty much exactly the same time as Fleur."
Harry immediately stood up and moved smartly to the left.
He was just in time as Molly, after looking torn for a moment over which adopted-daughter to embrace, barrelled over to Hermione, tears falling down her face.
"Dangerous work," Mad-Eye said softly to Kingsley, referring to the hugs Molly was bestowing on anyone who happened to wander within arm’s reach.
"Not really," Harry said, looking up at both of them.
Mad-Eye held his gaze for a few seconds, before looking away. "Abnormally sharp hearing you have there, Potter."
Harry shrugged. "Can you all do me a favour," he said loudly, "and keep this under your hats for a bit? I’ve got no wish to start joining committees quite yet. There will be plenty of time for that in the future."
"We’re not wearing hats, though," Fred pointed out.
"It’s a Muggle expression," Kingsley said, looking pleased he could share the knowledge. "It comes from when Muggles wore hats a lot, and keeping something there was out of sight."
"Oh, right," George said, exchanging a long look with Fred.
Harry shook his head and rescued his plate. "I need to get ready for the next show," he said with a grin. "Smoke me a kipper; I’ll be back for breakfast."
"What a guy!" Kingsley said and then started to blush as everyone looked at him. "What? It’s from a Muggle TV show, okay?" he said defensively.
"Keep telling them that, K," Harry grinned. "Maybe they’ll believe it one day."
"Get out of here," Kingsley groaned.
Harry laughed and turned away, just hearing Molly ask, "Does he really want a smoked kipper?"
Harry was laying flat on his stomach, covered with the chameleon charm, his wand in front of him, watching the start of the course through a pair of concealed Omnioculars.
The same burst of fireworks announced the second half of the day’s entertainment as it had that morning. The group of thirty Aurors took a step down onto the path.
And immediately stepped into the portable swamp Harry had placed there. There was some swearing from the group of trapped Aurors.
They should really have known better, he reflected quietly.
He smiled slightly as Ginny pushed her way to the front and stood by the edge of the swamp. He wasn’t sure what she was saying, but from the looks on the faces of the others around her, it wasn’t polite.
She gestured sharply, and two Aurors pulled out their wands and started to scan the ground, identifying the boundaries of the trap.
He picked his wand up and pointed it at her. It was a long range shot but worth a try. He cast Petrificus Totalus, and smiled as it flew straight toward the small red-haired girl.
At the last second, Ginny dropped to the floor and rolled, pulling her wand out.
The curse hit one of the other Aurors behind her.
Ernie pointed directly at him, and a few of the others started to run toward him.
He could see Ginny tell them to stop, but they didn’t; they wanted to be the ones to capture Harry Potter.
Or, more correctly, as they soon found out, be the ones captured by Harry Potter. The five running Aurors suddenly vanished, as they fell into a large hole. He grinned; they would be in free-fall for around twenty minutes, before reappearing in front of Mad-Eye and Kingsley.
As they knew he was here, he cancelled the camouflage spell and stood. Then, with a cocky salute to Ginny, he turned and stepped into the forest, as the expected barrage of spells was launched at his back.
Still, that was ten Aurors down, and with Marietta sitting out this half of the exercise, only nineteen to go. He expected a lot better from these ones. They were ex D.A. members, Tonks, and a couple of others. They were the best of the best — well, supposedly anyway.
He cast the radar spell again, smiling when he got nothing back. He nodded to himself; they’d obviously found a way to block it; good, it meant that they were finally thinking.
He moved to his right. He needed to get behind them now, because they would be expecting him to continue to be defensive. And predictable was the last thing he wanted to be.
He ran over to another of his Huge Hole traps and jumped, catching the edge of the hole, hanging from the far edge, his hands hidden by the grass. He was counting on them being good enough to spot it and to avoid it.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on slowing his breathing. He couldn’t cast a charm to hide himself, unfortunately, as the chameleon charm would react with the magic of the hole, and light him up like a Christmas tree.
"I’ve found another one," he heard Tonks say. "Over here."
"This way is clear," Ginny replied. "Give it a wide berth. And remind me to personally thank Fred and George later with something gruesome."
"Will do," Tonks said with a laugh.
"And for Merlin’s sake, don’t trip!"
He could hear Tonks grumbling under her breath as she turned and walked to the other side.
He waited another minute, and then pulled himself out, absently shaking his arms to get some blood back into them.
The Aurors had now entered the wooded area. All of them were walking slowly, scanning for traps as they went.
He hadn’t bothered to set any up — it would have been too predictable. And as they were moving slowly, he could ghost behind them and take a few of them out.
Forgoing magic, he crept up behind the rear Auror and pulled out a large hunting knife. He held it to the Auror’s throat. "Don’t they tell you to always check your rear?" he whispered.
"Damn it," the Auror whispered. "How the hell did you get behind us?"
Harry smiled, walking the Auror backward and out of sight. "I jumped into one of my traps and hung from the edge."
The Auror shook his head slowly. "I’m glad there’s only one of you."
"That’s the problem," Harry whispered intently. "If this were real, I might not be alone. If this were real, you’d be dead along with ten of your colleagues."
The Auror gulped. "Sorry, sir," he muttered.
Harry sighed. "You’re out of the game, so go back to the base and think about what I said." He pocketed his knife and moved back into the forest, repeating the process another three times.
It was the halfway point, and he’d taken out half of them. It was all going to plan, so far. He stood behind a tree and grinned as the Aurors regrouped.
"Damn it," Ginny said. "Where the hell is everyone else?"
"Harry must have got them," Tonks offered.
"So, now he must be behind us? I thought we were scanning for him as we went?"
"We were," Ernie sighed. "And more than likely, we walked right past him."
"Enough of that," Ginny snapped. "Yes, he’s good, but we’re better. There is only one of him."
"No, Ginny, he’s not alone," Ernie snapped back. "We’re facing Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Sumi, Fleur, and Merlin knows who else Harry has roped in for advice. Harry never works alone; that’s what makes him so hard to beat. They might not be standing next to him, but I can read their patterns in all of this. When you combine those resources with his natural ability, you have someone who isn’t going to go down easily."
Ernie took another deep breath. "But we can beat him. We need to stop fighting each other and concentrate on this. Ginny, you know him best, you’re in charge. Tonks, you’re number two. We’ll follow orders."
Harry made a mental note to exclude Ernie from a lot of the talks he would be having later. The young man seemed to understand more than the others what was happening — and that sort of skill might be more valuable behind a desk, rather than as a field agent.
"Okay," Ginny said. "Harry is a sneaky bastard. Whatever we are expecting is probably wrong. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was listening to us now."
Harry smiled to himself.
"But we are half-way to the flag, and we still have half of us. We need to take advantage of the fact that there is only one of him. He can’t be in several places at once. So, we’ll separate into three teams. One will go left, one right, and the other straight on. Tonks, you have the second, Zach, you’ve got the third.
"I’ll go straight; Tonks, left; Zach, right. Okay? And don’t forget to watch your back; we don’t know where he is!"
The other Aurors voiced their agreement and separated.
Harry was pleased; this was much more like it. They were coming at him from three sides, they were checking their rear, and as he watched, they were still scanning for traps.
He pulled out a limited edition Canary Crème from his pocket and swallowed it. This was a second generation sweet from Fred and George, and it allowed some limited control over your actions while you were a bird and it lasted longer. He quickly flew high into the air, over the advancing Aurors, and landed down behind the cabin.
He had to wait another few minutes for the spell to wear off, before he climbed through the window and stopped to find his opponents.
Zach’s team was out; at least for the moment. One of them had disturbed a curse Bill had taught him, and they were now engaged in a pitched battle with fifteen enraged Mummies. This curse had been used to protect the tomb of Semerkhet, one of the earliest known Pharaohs.
Tonks and Ginny’s teams had both lost members, but were still coming on strong.
This was much more impressive from them. The traps he’d laid out were fiendish, difficult to detect, and placed just where they weren’t expected. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he had managed to defeat all of them, but he hadn’t.
Both groups had to pass one final trap, before they would have to duel him. If they got through it.
He walked out of the cabin with a chair and waited — the need for stealth now gone.
He absently tapped his wand against his teeth. Both groups had discovered the final trap. It was now up to them to see if they could find the one way past it.
It was Ernie who worked it out first. The young man had tried pretty much every way to get over or around it, and nothing had worked. He turned and offered Harry a faint salute, before casually pushing his friend into the goo-filled trench.
The Auror in question screamed a few choice words that made him very glad that Sammy wasn’t listening, before Ernie stood on the Aurors head and jumped further into the trap.
"Come on then, Ginny," Ernie called. "And don’t bloody fall."
As quickly as a cat, Ginny lightly used the trapped Aurors as stepping stones to get to the other side.
"There are no more traps, Ginny," Harry said. "You’ve reached the end."
"Thank Merlin," Ginny replied in relief.
He turned to watch Tonks, who made her own way across, before moving to stand next to Ginny.
"The flag’s in there," Harry nodded to the door next to him.
"And we have to get past you?" Ginny asked.
Harry got to his feet and bowed to them. "You did much better this afternoon," he said cheerfully. "Much more how I expect the best to act."
"But it doesn’t make up for this morning, right, Harry?" Tonks asked.
"Correct. You were arrogant, sloppy and lazy. Not a good combination."
"So, one at a time or both together?" Ginny asked.
"You’re the ones attacking me," Harry grinned. "Why are you asking the opponent?"
Ginny and Tonks looked at each, and both raised their wands.
Harry was faster; diving to his left, he cast a banishing charm at Tonks, who tried to duck, but couldn’t, and ended up flat on her back in the goo.
Ginny moved away from the edge and started to circle, casting spells at him randomly.
He blocked them casually, recognising them for what they were; a distraction.
"You can’t win, you know that, don’t you, Ginny?" he taunted. It wasn’t true. He would be very hard pressed to beat her in a fair fight, but he had no intention to fight fair.
"Talk to me, Harry," Ginny said, firing a stunning charm followed by a cutting curse.
He dodged the first and sidestepped the second. This was where his training with Charlie was really going to come in. He was going to do his best to make Ginny angry and do something stupid. "Nice cutting curse," he grinned. "Probably would have hurt if it had touched me."
"No probably about it, Potter," Ginny growled.
"Potter?" Harry mocked, sending a tickling charm at her, knowing it would irritate her if she didn’t think he was taking her seriously. "How very formal."
"A tickling charm? Fight me, you git."
"Why?" Harry asked, taking a seat.
Ginny threw a couple of curses at him that came very close to breaking his shield. This was one of the downsides to making her angry; her curses took on a lot more power.
Ginny grabbed her wand with both hands and poured her magic into a powerful curse he didn’t recognise. He didn’t hang around to see if it would defeat his shield. He jumped to his feet, vaulted the spell, and crashed straight into Ginny — who was still recovering from the spell she had cast — throwing them both through the door to the cabin. His landing knocked the wind out him as he’d landed his stomach on her raised knee, but he still managed to wrestle her wand from her, and threw it, along with his, back out the door and into the goo.
Ginny pushed him off her and jumped to her feet.
Harry climbed slowly up, trying to breathe deeply. "You should have attacked when I was on the floor," he told her smugly.
Ginny closed her eyes. "You’re playing with me, aren’t you," she said flatly.
Harry nodded. "You lost your temper because you didn’t think I was taking you seriously."
Ginny sighed. "This has been so easy for you, hasn’t it?"
He shrugged slowly. "I wouldn’t have lasted five minutes without everyone else behind me."
Ginny turned away for a moment. When she faced him again, she reached up and wiped a tear out from her eye. "Damn it," she cursed. "This was supposed to impress you."
"What?" Harry asked.
"You think it was easy acting like a bitch to my family for the better part of a year?"
"What?" Harry said again, moving back against the side of the cabin.
Ginny started to pace up and down the other side of the cabin, raising her arms dramatically. "I figured that this way I could get your undivided attention. Oh, it was easy to persuade the others to wipe Kingsley out playing poker — a couple of days after I placed the idea of a training session in his mind. Knowing how close you two are, it was obvious he’d ask you to help, and with my family, I knew they would help."
"You mean you arranged all of this?"
"I orchestrated this," she hissed. "I was going to beat you, impress you, and finally get some time with you alone."
"Ginny," Harry started.
"Wait, let me finish."
"But," Harry tried again.
"Please, Harry, let me finish. I arranged all of this to get you alone; at least, let me say what I need to."
"You manipulated me, all of us?" Harry said, giving in.
"Grow up, Harry," Ginny said, but her voice had no malice in it. "How else am I supposed to get you alone?"
"You could try visiting," Harry said acidly.
Ginny turned and fixed him with a stern glare. "Visiting you? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to visit you? I turn up at your house, and you’re in Singapore, or Sweden, or Australia or Merlin knows where. I talk to my darling brother, who mentions that you are in Amsterdam, so I visit there on my weekend off only to find that you’re in Mexico. And when you are at least in the country, you’re at Ron’s or Hermione’s and I invariably try the wrong one, and by the time I’m through the wards you like to put up everywhere you go, it’s too bloody late to try the other.
"I tried to gatecrash your movie nights with Kingsley — and I even brought Muggle ice cream, and you two were at the bloody cinema.
"I try sending you a letter and my bloody owl can’t even find you."
Harry winced. "Sorry about that," he mumbled. "I forgot to tell you how to get around that."
"I know," Ginny said icily. "And when I asked the members of my loving family I got the same response — that you have to tell me personally, as Hermione adjusted the Fidelius charm for your personal use."
"You could have talked to me at the family parties," Harry offered.
Ginny placed both her hands on her hips and glared at him even harder.
"I have tried," she said through gritted teeth. "But your bloody bodyguard won’t let me anywhere near you. And whenever we started to talk, she would interfere."
"My bodyguard?" Harry asked, now completely lost. "What bodyguard?"
"Your three and a half foot tall, seven year old Veela bodyguard who goes by the name of Samantha!" Ginny spat. "If I hadn’t seen her run to get to you, I’d swear that her legs were broken with the amount of time she spends being carried around in your arms.
"And the last time I tried to talk to you to get you alone," Ginny’s tone turned to one of outrage, "that child turned into a bird and shot fireballs at me!"
Harry’s lips twitched. He desperately tried to keep a straight face. He tried to think of Hermione teaching him applied mathematics. He tried every mental trick he could think off, but none of them worked.
A giggle escaped, and once it was gone, he couldn’t help but start to laugh. He slumped to the floor and gave in.
"Ginny Weasley, the big, bad Auror foiled by a seven year old?"
"Yes, laugh it up," Ginny sighed as she slumped to the floor next to him. "I was desperate, okay? I just wanted to find a way of getting you alone."
"Well, as much as I hate to say it," Harry sighed, "and I did try and warn you, remember? This is hardly alone."
"What do you mean?"
"Your entire family and most of the Aurors are watching this on the magical equivalent of a big screen TV."
"Bugger," Ginny moaned.
Harry nodded in agreement. "We thought it would be a good idea to record it so that we could go over it later and show everyone what went wrong — use it as a training video."
"Can we at least go somewhere and talk before I have to face them?" Ginny begged. "Please, Harry, I’m feeling humiliated enough as it is."
Harry rolled to his feet and offered her his hand. She took it, and he pulled her up. He winked at her. "Accio Wands," he mumbled. The two wands flew out of the Goo and into his hands. "And that’s the grand total of my wandless magic," he said with a slight grin, before he Apparated them away.
"Okay," Charlie said slowly. "What the hell was that all about?"
"Don’t ask me," Kingsley said, shaking his head. "I’d forgotten she’d suggested this."
"I, too, am perplexed," Percy added. "But I do find it reassuring to know that our sister isn’t going down the same path I did."
"True," Fred said. "Penelope, dear, help?"
"I think it’s obvious," Penelope said with a slight smile. "Ginny wants to tell Harry how she feels."
"Still?" Fred asked. "I thought she was over that."
"So did I," Hermione added.
"Obviously not," Molly smiled, before she turned to Charlie and Fleur.
"Is this going to cause problems?"
Fleur and Charlie looked at each other, and both seemed to be trying not to laugh.
"Big problems," Fleur grinned. "As far as Samantha is concerned, Harry is her boyfriend. She knows that Harry doesn’t think of her that way, but she doesn’t care. She believes that Harry belongs to her.
"And the other day, Samantha told me that she doesn’t like Ginny, because Ginny is always being mean to her. Which, I suspect has a lot more to do with Samantha realising that Ginny likes Harry, than any actual meanness on Ginny’s part."
"Great," Ron sighed. "I’m used to Hermione and Sumi being more perceptive than I am. I’m even used to Bill, Charlie, and the Twins. But now I’ve got a seven year old noticing things I haven’t," he finished with a grin.
There was a round of laughter from the others.
Kingsley groaned softly. "The movie night was my fault. I forgot it was my turn to pick up the video, so we had to go out."
"Did anyone ever mention that we have a private Floo network?" Bill asked.
"And Amsterdam was my fault," Percy admitted. "I forgot that Ginny was going out there when I asked Harry to go to Mexico and give them advice on how to deal with their terrorist problems."
"And I’m guessing that none of us bothered to tell our Auror sister the easy way around the wards?" Fred asked.
George sniggered and then gave into a full-on laugh. "Oh, this is priceless," he said. "Ginny’s been going nuts, trying to get hold of someone who appears impossible to track down, and she reacts like a true Weasley."
"In a baroque, over the top manner?" Hermione asked dryly.
"Exactly," Fred and George said together.
"Okay, enough talk," Molly said firmly. "Kingsley, you have some Aurors waiting for you. Fred and George, clean up the food. Then everyone back to the Burrow so we can talk about this in comfort."
"Where are we?" Ginny asked, as they appeared in a large building.
"Heathrow," Harry said and looked at his watch. "Come on, we’ve not got much time."
"Time for what?"
"No time to talk, hurry," Harry said, as he started to run down the corridor.
Ginny followed him, feeling a little bewildered.
"Steve," Harry called ahead. "Can we still get through?"
The person in charge of the International Floo paused in what he was doing and looked at his watch.
"You’ll be cutting it close."
Harry smiled at him. "I know; we’ll risk it."
"I’ll need her papers, though."
"Don’t worry, I’ll clear it at the other end," Harry said confidently.
"If you weren’t Harry bloody Potter," Steve groaned.
"But I am," Harry agreed. "Come on, Ginny."
Ginny shook her head and stepped into the Floo with him, completely missing the destination he shouted out.
They arrived into bright sunlight and in front of a surprised looking official. The language Harry was speaking was not one she recognised, and when the guard stared at her, she tried to smile, suddenly very aware that she was still in the dirty uniform she’d worn all day, and that her hair was a mess.
The official smiled at Harry, shook his hand, and waved them through.
"That was close," Harry sighed in relief, taking her hand and pulling her through the lounge and outside to the beach. "It’s lunch time here and they always close the International Floo."
"Where are we?" Ginny asked, squinting her eyes into the bright sunlight.
"The beach," Harry said cheerfully, still pulling her along.
"Harry, wait," she cried, trying to stop.
"Wait?" he asked. "There’s no time to wait. We’ve got a deadline to meet."
"What?" Ginny tried again, as she was dragged into a shop.
Harry walked straight over to a rack of dresses, looked her up and down, and pulled one down. "Go try this on."
"But!"
"No buts, we’re in a hurry!" Harry said, his grin starting to really irritate her. Before she knew what she was doing, she was inside the dressing room removing her uniform.
"Cast a Showering spell," Harry called.
"A what?" Ginny asked.
She heard Harry groan, and then the door opened slightly, and his wand pointed at her. "Wait," she called as she realised what he was about to do. This whole thing had a sense of overwhelming unreality about it. She finished removing her clothes, and called, "Done."
Harry cast the spell, and she felt like she was being hit from all sides by a heavy spray of water. There was a brief sensation of being massaged, before the spell ended. She looked down and blinked. She was now very clean, and, she sniffed -- more fragrant than she had been.
"Here," Harry called and threw some white lingerie over the door and pushed some sandals under it. "And hurry!"
In a strange way, she almost felt like she was under the Imperious as she pulled on the lingerie and the dress. She looked in the mirror and froze.
Exactly how did Harry know what size she wore? Everything fit, right down to the cup size of the built-in bra. She slipped on the sandals, which were also the right size. Apart from her hair, which was still pulled back in a ponytail, she looked good. The light green dress suited her skin and hair combination and the sandals matched.
She stepped out, to find him waiting for her, tapping his wand against his teeth. He’d changed clothes as well and was wearing a pair of white trousers that came to mid-calf and a deep blue shirt. He smiled at her, and turned to the shopkeeper, pulling out his wallet. There was a short negotiation, before he handed over a card. A signature later, he took her hand again.
"What about my uniform?"
"Alexo will have it sent to our hotel," Harry explained, as he dragged her out of the shop.
"What hotel?"
"Not now, we’ve not got time!"
Ginny stopped dead in the street. "I’m not taking another step until you tell me what is going on!"
"Fine," Harry groaned. He pointed his wand at her and muttered under his breath, freezing her in place. He picked her up and started to run down the road.
She groaned audibly. "Harry!"
"You’re the one who said you weren’t going to take another step, now be quiet. I can’t talk, run and carry you at the same time."
Ginny struggled to keep her temper; he was being incredibly high-handed with her, ordering her about, and now forcing her to go somewhere she wasn’t sure she wanted to go.
She looked around as he continued to run down a pier. There was a large yacht that was travelling alongside the pier, and Harry didn’t slow, as he launched them both through the air and onto the back of it.
"Hi," Harry grinned to the surprised tuxedo-wearing man. "Table for two?"
The man sighed and held up his hands. "We are full, Mr Potter."
"Nonsense," Harry grinned. "There’s always room for two more."
The man shook his head and started to mutter under his breath. "The things we do for you," he grumbled.
"Thanks," Harry grinned and placed Ginny down. "We’ll be on the foredeck having a drink."
"I’ll call you when I can," the Maitre’D said.
Harry absently removed the spell on her, allowing her to move again, and led her down the side of the boat to a bar. The bar was packed with people, all of whom looked to a well manicured man to be rather rich. "Wait here," Harry said.
She was now feeling very out of place, and she watched, as he weaved his way through the crowd of people. He reached the front and managed to snag a barkeeper immediately — to the chagrin of the people who had been queuing. A note changed hands, and Harry returned with a bright red drink and a bottle.
"Come on," he said and made his way to the front of the boat. There was a velvet rope portioning off one area, but Harry just undid and stepped through, taking one of the only two remaining sun loungers. He stretched out and grinned up at her, placing the drinks on a table.
Ginny stood and glared at him.
"Feeling frustrated?" he asked. "Annoyed that someone has just whipped you half way across the world and not told you anything?"
"Yes," she growled.
Harry’s eyes suddenly seemed to change, losing the warmth and the humour.
"It’s not nice, is it?" he said in a low voice. "When everything is taken out of your hands, and you’re forced to do things you’d rather not, and go places you don’t want to go. It leaves you feeling powerless and used. It makes you angry and frustrated. And the fact that it’s done for someone else’s purposes makes it worse, doesn’t it?"
Ginny gaped at him and then slowly started to blush.
"Sit," Harry said casually. "Lunch won’t be for another hour."
Ginny bit her lower lip, suddenly realising that she might have bitten off more than she could chew. For some reason, she hadn’t reconciled adult Harry with being, well, an adult. Despite knowing about the whole Cho and Draco thing, and despite knowing that he had spent years abroad, she hadn’t really thought about how that would affect his confidence and his ability to deal with problems.
She wasn’t sure about these rapid mood changes either. She took a deep breath. "I’m sorry," she said, hoping that a direct apology would help.
He looked at her and motioned her to sit. She did so.
"You could have contacted me any number of ways," he said softly. "So, why the charade?"
She blushed and looked down. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," she said meekly. "I was desperate, Harry, and I wasn’t thinking straight. After striking out each time I tried to get to you, it became an obsession in my head, you know? It was a challenge to get through to you in a dramatic fashion."
Harry took a sip from the bottle, "Cho said something remarkably similar," he said, causing her to blanch. "And I’ll say to you what I said to her. You’ll find that talking to people goes a lot further than stupid schemes."
Ginny nodded and took her drink, sipping it gently, not sure what to say now. This really hadn’t been how she had planned the day at all.
"The Cayman Islands," he said eventually.
"Excuse me?"
"We’re floating on one of the best kept secrets in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, just off Seven Mile Beach. At the moment, the crew are catching the fish that they will then fresh cook for us. It is simply the best sea food anywhere on the planet."
"You come here a lot, then?"
Harry laughed softly. "What gave it away?" he teased. "The fact that I act like I own the place, or the fact that I was using magic in a public street?"
"Shouldn’t I be arresting you for that?" Ginny asked.
"Not unless the Ministry has declared war on the Cayman Islands," he snorted. "We’re not in Britain, and not under British law, Ginny. Things are rather different out here. Muggles and Wizards live together quite happily. Of course, everyone avoids the tourist areas."
"Oh," Ginny said quietly. "What is this?"
"A Cosmopolitan," Harry replied. "Vodka, Cointreau and cranberry juice."
Ginny sipped it again and tried to relax. Here she was, on a beautiful yacht, sipping cocktails with Harry Potter, and she felt like a twelve year old with a crush and a remarkable ability to insert her sandaled foot into her mouth.
"So," Harry asked after another long pause. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
"I really don’t think this could possibly have gone worse," Ginny sighed and took another sip of the drink. "The general idea for today was to impress you, and then ask you out on a date."
"Why did you think you had to impress me?"
"Because not all of us have your self-confidence," Ginny said, suddenly deciding that she physically couldn’t get any more humiliated, so she may as well tell the truth.
"I’ve seen the Prophet’s Harry Potter photo specials over the years, and seen the sort of girl you normally date. You seem to have a preference for tall, leggy, suntanned brunettes. As you may or may not have noticed, I’m short, pale and red-haired."
"Are you trying to spread your legs for a one night stand with me?" Harry asked. "A lot of trouble to go through for that."
"No," Ginny said, feeling herself blush. "Not the one-night part."
"Then why compare yourself to girls I went with for that reason?"
Ginny felt herself heating up ever more. "Look," she blurted. "Harry, will you please go on a date with me? I’d like to see if we can be something more than friends, alright?"
There was a silence that seemed to last forever.
"Okay."
"What?" she asked, shaking her head, not sure that she had heard him correctly.
"Okay," he said. "I’ll go on a date with you."
"What… why?"
He sat up suddenly and turned, facing her. "Because, finally, you just asked me directly, without getting side-tracked, and without trying to manipulate me. You just asked.
"That gave me the option of saying yes or no, depending on how I feel. It’s called respect, Ginny, and you finally gave me some."
"Oh," Ginny replied slowly.
"So," Harry grinned. "Drink up; our table will be free in a minute, and we can have our first date."
Ginny took another sip, and placed the drink down. She was already feeling a little light-headed, and she didn’t want to get drunk.
He moved forward and lightly kissed her, pulling back before she could do anything but stare at him in surprise.
He grinned at her, "Yes, it’s a date," he said decisively.
She shook her head again. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad day after all.
"So, how did you know what size dress to get me?"
He raised the bottle to his lips, taking a long drink, before grinning at her. "Do you really want to know the answer?"
"No," she said slowly. "I think that’s one of the things that I really don’t need to know."
"Wise choice," Harry smiled.
Harry moved around the kitchen slowly, cooking a meal for two, while he waited for his guest to arrive.
The date with Ginny had gone well. Once she got over her shock, it had been nice to spend time with her. And he’d even kissed her again before saying goodnight.
He was pretty sure she would have been open for a little more, but he wasn’t at the moment.
He’d known what Ginny had wanted to ask him as soon as she had stopped fighting and started talking in the cabin, but he wanted to know why, and wanted to give her a chance to explain. It was part of growing up, of being more mature about things, even about being manipulated.
He could have sulked about it, but that would have been self-defeating, and just recently, he had started to really enjoy life again.
Sure, Ginny wasn’t a leggy sun-tanned brunette; in fact, he’d had to cast some pretty strong charms to stop her from being burnt on the yacht, but she was pretty enough, definitely good in a fight, and she didn’t bore him, and that was quite an important plus point in her favour.
He could talk to her, and while she wasn’t used to his jet-set lifestyle, she soon would be, or maybe he would settle down for a bit. He didn’t know and he didn’t really care either. As much as everyone had welcomed this relationship, a lot of people seemed to be taking it too seriously, too fast.
He had no intention of falling in love quickly; if it happened, it happened; if not, it didn’t. He just wanted to have some fun finding out.
Maybe this was what being an adult was about; thinking things through, forming relationships, and maybe, no longer being alone.
But now, he had a more difficult conversation to handle.
How to tell a seven year old that he was dating Ginny.
It wasn’t one he was looking forward to.
There was the sound of feet running rapidly through his house, and he moved away from the cooker.
"Uncle Harry!" Sammy yelled, launching herself at him in her traditional greeting.
He caught her in midair and hugged her tightly. "Hey, short-stuff."
"I’ve grown a quarter of an inch!" Sammy stated proudly.
"So I’m going to have to stop calling you short-stuff," Harry agreed.
"Do I get a goodbye?" Fleur asked dryly from the door to his kitchen.
Sammy waved from Harry’s arms.
"I’ll pick her up in the morning?"
"Sure," Harry agreed.
"Where have you been recently, Uncle Harry?" Sammy asked, her mother already forgotten.
"The Cayman Islands," Harry replied.
"Have we put a flag on that?"
"I don’t think so."
"Then we need to do that, right now," Sammy said decisively. She wiggled out of his arms, took his hand, and dragged him across the kitchen to his office.
Harry shot a wink at Fleur, who followed them.
On one wall was a large map of the earth, and in just about every country was a small flag. Fleur walked to one side, and as she touched the flag on New Zealand, it expanded
"New Zealand, population four million Muggles, one hundred thousand wizards. Became a British territory in 1840. The native people fought a series of wars until they were defeated in 1872. Became an independent dominion in 1907," Sammy recited instantly.
"Harry spent two weeks there last year. The first week was dealing with a Maori wizard who was attacking Muggles, the second week sight-seeing."
"I’m impressed," Fleur said softly. "And you know every flag on here?"
Sammy nodded proudly. "It’s why I’m top at Geography at school," she said. "The other kids don’t understand why I’m into Muggle subjects, but Harry says that only idiots and Ministry officials ignore the rest of the world."
Fleur laughed. "Well, you two have fun."
"We will," Sammy said confidently. "So, Uncle Harry, how many people live in the Cayman Islands? And what were you doing there?"
Harry lifted her up so that she could place a flag into the map.
"About 50,000 people, of which about 6,000 are Wizards."
"Wow, that’s a lot of wizards and witches," Sammy said. "And what were you doing there?"
"That," Harry sighed, "is a question best answered in the living room."
When they were settled on the couch, with Sammy leaning against him, Sammy asked again, "Why were you in the Cayman Islands?"
"Aunt Ginny wanted to talk to me," he said directly, meeting her eyes.
She seemed to freeze for a second. "Really?" she asked, her voice wavering as she tried to control herself.
He nodded. "She wanted to ask me out," he clarified.
"What did you say?" There was now a break in her voice, but she met his eyes directly.
"That I would have to speak to the most important girl in my life first," he replied softly.
Sammy looked down for a second, before she looked up again and met his eyes. "Do you like Aunt Ginny?"
"Well," Harry said thoughtfully. "She’s not my normal type, but she is quite pretty, and she’s not boring."
Sammy looked down at the floor. "I knew it," she whispered. "I knew she liked you, but I wanted you to like me."
"I do like you," Harry said.
"But not like that," Sammy said accusingly.
"No," Harry agreed.
"I won’t be young forever," Sammy pointed out. "I’m growing up every day."
"So am I, Sammy; I’ll always be twenty years older than you."
"That doesn’t matter," Sammy protested. "You’re the bestest wizard in the world, you’re going to live for a very long time, and you’ll need someone younger to be able to live all that time with you."
Harry blinked; he hadn’t expected this argument from her. In fact, he wouldn’t have expected this argument from anyone. No one had ever said anything even remotely similar to him.
"You’ll want someone closer to your age," he pointed out, already knowing that she was going to refute that point as well.
She snorted eloquently, and he couldn’t help smiling.
"Sammy," he said softly, deciding that he had tried to beat around the bush too much, and she deserved the respect of him telling her directly, "I love you, but you will always be the daughter of two of my closest friends. You will always be a girl I love, but that I am never in love with."
"Not even when I grow up?" she asked in a tiny voice. "Not even when I grow boobs and I can do the things that boys like?"
He really didn’t want to know how she knew what boys liked. He then wondered if he needed to pay a visit to her school to make sure her male friends weren’t doing or saying anything inappropriate. He shook himself mentally; he was getting off track here. "No," he said softly. "I’m sorry."
She looked at him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "But I want you to," she whispered. "I want you to wait for me and marry me."
"I’m sorry," he said again.
"Mummy said that you didn’t like me like that," she mumbled, the tears now falling down her cheek. "But she said I was allowed to pretend. I told her I knew it was going to be Aunt Ginny."
"You did?"
She nodded. "A Veela can tell, even a little one," she sighed. She looked at him. "Are you going to forget about me now?"
"Huh?"
"When you’re with Aunt Ginny? It will be different, and I won’t be first anymore, and I’ll have lost my best friend." He had to strain to hear her voice. The look on her face almost broke his heart.
He shook his head. "It will be different," he agreed carefully. "But do you remember what I said? I love you, Sammy, and no one, not even Ginny, can ever make me forget that."
"Do you promise?" she asked, now looking very much like a lost eight year old.
"Of course I do," he said honestly.
"What if I really, really, really didn’t want you to date her?"
He reached out and lightly stroked her hair back. "Do you have a good reason why I shouldn’t?"
She met his eyes and slowly shook her head. "No, Uncle Harry, I don’t want you to be lonely anymore."
"I’m not," he replied. "I’ve got friends and family, but I would like a girlfriend as well. And you know, if Aunt Ginny is with me, it means that you can come on holiday with us."
She smiled a little. "Where to?"
"Anywhere you like."
"Australia?"
He nodded.
"Okay," she said, sniffing and wiping her eyes. "You can date Aunt Ginny, you can even fall in love with her, but I get to throw fireballs at her if she hurts you."
"Deal," Harry laughed. "Now, why don’t we go eat?"
"It’s not going to be healthy, is it?"
He laughed softly. "Of course not; it’s even got wine in it."
She hugged him tightly. "I love you, Uncle Harry."
"I love you too, Sammy."
Author Notes:
As always, thanks to my beta crew for all their hard work and for keeping me going. Camille, OHGinnyFan, Elsielann, rdprice, Greywizard and Kokopelli.
This was going to be the last part of this universe, but instead, there will be one more story to finish of the trilogy. It will be a collaboration with Kokopelli.