Now And Forever
Chapter 05
By Abraxan
This story fits into the epilogue of "The Time of Destiny" which is REQUIRED READING before you read this, or many things in it won’t make sense to you. This story takes place during the fall, winter and spring after Harry, Ron and Hermione finish Hogwarts and after their defeat of Voldemort. The chronology of my stories goes: "The Refiner’s Fire" (Harry’s sixth year); "The Time of Destiny" (Harry’s 7th year) WITHOUT the epilogue; "A Fox’s Tale," "Beginnings" and then this story. The epilogue itself—which is attached to "The Time of Destiny"—comes after this story, with "On Second Thoughts," "Hedwig’s Tale" and "A Very Harry Christmas" much later in the epilogue timeline). Enjoy!
Many thanks to my brilliant Brit-picker, Kelpie, and my fabulous betas, Alexander, Asad, Iris and Rich! Thanks too to Mark Anders Harrison for help with a Latin incantation, and Mike McKean for his help with a sports question!
Coming soon to Amazon.com! "Star Sons 1: Dawn of the Two" an original fantasy novel by Abraxan (Lynda Sappington)! You can read a sample chapter at www.whimsyhill.com
"What’s all this?" Colin said.
"I don’t know," she replied, taking a letter from the nearest owl. When she opened it, she sighed. "Merlin’s beard."
"What?" Dennis said from Colin’s other side.
Ginny shook her head before she began reading. "This one says, ‘What makes you think you’re good enough for Harry Potter?’ and goes on in that vein." She crumpled it up and threw it over her shoulder, then looked up at Colin and Dennis. "You two can help open them, if you want. Just look out for the Howlers." She’d just noticed red envelopes attached to some of the owls.
Some of the letters were rude, some angry, some complimentary, some funny. The three friends were joined by Luna, who helped them open the rest of the envelopes, reading the good ones aloud, tossing the rest on the floor, where Ginny vanished them from time to time.
As Ginny opened one of the last envelopes, powder burst from the parchment, covering her face and hands and rapidly changing into a slimy goo. She screamed in pain as huge purple blotches formed on her face, neck and hands.
"You look terrible," Luna said calmly. "You’d better go to the Hospital Wing."
Colin stood up and picked up Ginny’s bag, then held his hand out to her. "Come on, we’ll take you." Dennis helped Colin get Ginny to her feet. Colin glanced at Luna as he, Dennis and Ginny started to walk away. "Luna, could you clean off that letter and see if it says who sent it?"
Luna held her wand over the letter, vacuuming up the dust, then peered at the scratchy writing on the parchment. "It says Ginny doesn’t deserve Harry, and that she’s going to lose him. It isn’t signed."
"Just what I needed," Ginny grumbled between sniffles. "A violent fangirl taking her insanity out on me."
"If she sent this to you, I wonder what she sent Harry," Luna said.
Ginny stared at her. "You’re right. I need to warn him."
"Hospital wing first. You don’t want those spots to get any worse," Colin said, steering her toward the door.
* * * * *
Ginny was soon back in the classroom, with bandages swathing her face and hands. She couldn’t take notes, she couldn’t use her wand, she could barely speak, but she wasn’t ill enough to stay in the hospital wing. She sighed and slumped dejectedly in her seat at lunch, smiling wanly when various friends expressed their sympathy while Luna tried to feed her.
"Honestly, Luna, I’m not hungry," Ginny insisted, turning away from the spoon Luna was circling around Ginny’s mouth. Luna kept making strange buzzing noises, as if the spoon were a bee that Ginny might like to catch in her mouth.
The Great Hall stilled when the doors slammed open. Everyone turned to see who had come in so noisily. Harry Potter was rushing toward the Gryffindor table, his eyes searching the seated students frantically until they found Ginny. He sped up, only slowing when he skidded to a stop beside her.
"Ginny!" His face twisted in anguish as he stared at the bandages covering her cheeks and nose. "I’m so sorry. Are you in pain?"
Ginny tried to smile. Her heart had lifted at the sight of him. The concern on his face made her love him even more than she already did, something she would never have believed possible. "I’m fine, really. It looks worse than it is."
"Does Madam Pomfrey know what caused it?"
"Bulbadox Powder mixed with Blister Beetle Paste and Exploding Fluid and with some kind of hex on it," she replied. She tried to make her voice light and casual. She didn’t want to add to Harry’s burdens by making him worry about her.
"Those are very caustic ingredients."
She signed and nodded. "Madame Pomfrey said she’d never seen anything like it. It’s not terribly sophisticated, but it was effective."
He reached for her hand, where purple splotches showed beyond the bandages, and ran his thumb gently over the splotches. When she flinched, he sighed. "You lied to me. You are in pain." Harry had that stubborn look in his eyes. "Come with me."
"Where?" She was already getting to her feet.
"To my quarters. I’ll try to speed up the healing," he said quietly as he shouldered her bag and put his arm around her, careful to not bump her boil-covered hands.
"Madam Pomfrey used essence of murtlap on the spots. They’re a lot better already."
"I still want to try to see if I can do anything. What good’s a healing talent if I can’t use it on my girl?" He smiled at her, but his eyes showed how upset he was. "I’m sorry―"
"It wasn’t your fault," she said, interrupting whatever guilt trip he was about to lay on himself.
"She isn’t your fan, she’s mine," he replied with obvious disgust. "That makes it my fault."
She shook her head and tried to smile at him. "In whose bizarre little world? You can’t control those people. It just happened. I’ll survive."
"You’d better," he said, trying unsuccessfully to be playful.
When they reached his quarters, Harry unwrapped her hands and removed the bandages from her face. The purple splotches were hot-looking and swollen to the point of bursting. His face twisted in sympathy. "It hurts to look at them."
"Yeah." She sighed dramatically, then pretended to swoon. She ended up leaning against his chest, her head cradled in his shoulder as she looked up at him. "Mmmm. I feel better already."
Harry shook his head and smiled at her, then held his hands over the spots on her face, trying to heal them. After a bit, their colour faded and they shrank in size, but nothing he did would remove them completely. "I wish―"
"They feel so much better," Ginny said quickly. "Thank you."
"They’re still there, though. I couldn’t get rid of them."
Ginny shrugged. "So you’re not perfect. That’s OK. Perfect people are boring." She smiled a bit, glad that it wasn’t nearly as painful to smile as it had been before he worked on her. "I do feel better, Harry. Thanks."
"I’m an idiot," he said suddenly. He pushed away from her and stood up, then changed into a phoenix. Soon tears poured from the phoenix’s eyes over Ginny’s injuries, making them disappear at last. Satisfied, the phoenix hopped off the bed and stood on the floor, then changed back into Harry.
"I always forget I can do that," he said with a self-deprecating chuckle as he held her now spotless hand up to the light, examining it. "Better?"
"Yes! Thank you." Ginny scooted next to him, nestled her head in the crook of his shoulder again and sighed. "Just having you here makes me feel better. What are you doing here in the middle of the day anyway?"
"Healing you, silly. I came as soon as I could. We’re on lunch break."
"That explains the smelly uniform," she teased, wrinkling her nose.
"Sorry to make you suffer so," he said, then kissed her forehead. "I need to get back. I just had to see how you were."
She tightened her arms around him, reluctant to let him leave. "I wish you could stay. It’s nice to see you on a non-Tuesday."
He chuckled. "I wish I could stay too. And yeah, we’ll have to try this ‘non-Tuesday’ thing more often." He stood up and helped her to her feet. "Don’t open any more mail from people you don’t know, OK? I’ve already sent Grandfather and McGonagall messages about it."
"OK." They left his quarters and began walking down the hall. They hadn’t walked far before Harry stopped, turned and faced her, his hand held out between them.
"Give me the letter. Ron and I will research it and find whoever did this to you." She handed him the letter, which was now covered in cloth to protect her from any remaining dangers. Harry took the envelope cautiously and stowed it in a pocket. "It will be a good project for our Discovery and Research class. And then we can bring this idiot up on charges."
"I hope you catch her before she really hurts someone." She sighed, sad that he’d soon have to leave. "Too bad you have to go back to practice so soon."
Harry smoothed her hair away from her face and smiled. "I can think of a lot of things I’d rather do than go back to practice. Unfortunately, I have to go. You be careful, OK?"
"I will. I love you, Harry."
"I love you too." He kissed her, then raised his hand and said, "Merlin! Let’s go!" A moment later, his phoenix flashed above his head. Harry grabbed the beautiful bird’s tail and was gone in a flash.
"Bye, Harry," Ginny murmured to the space where he’d been just an instant before. She sighed, picked up her book bag and trudged down the corridor toward her next class.
* * * * *
"What an interesting problem, Harry," Vance Thurston, his Discovery and Research teacher, said when Harry talked to him about Ginny’s letters after class that evening. "How many, um . . . shall we call them ‘toxic letters,’ since they include an actual danger rather than just a threat?"
Harry nodded.
"How many like this has she received?"
"Just the one so far, but several others were threatening. Shall I bring those in, as well?"
"Yes, bring anything that’s threatening or actually dangerous. We’ll make researching them a class project. May I keep this one so I can study it?"
"Yes, of course. Thanks a lot, Professor." Harry glanced at Ron, who was checking his watch. "We’d better go or we’ll be late for our next class. Good night."
"Night, lads!"
* * * * *
A few days later, Harry and Ron skidded into their desks just as the bell rang. Harry grinned at Ron and whispered, "Seems like old times."
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "First year at Hogwarts, getting lost on the way to Transfiguration―"
"If you lads are ready," their professor said, "we can begin."
"Sorry, Professor," Ron said, his cheeks flaming red.
"Yeah, sorry," Harry added.
This class was Disguise and Concealment, taught by Malcolm Deutsch, a serious-looking middle-aged man who showed a surprising sense of humour at times. He sometimes actually giggled at the often bizarre results of his students’ efforts to change their appearance with unspoken spells. Ron’s attempt to make his nose thick and hooked resulted in his nose becoming metallic and looking rather like a coat hook, which amused everyone but Ron. When Harry tried to make himself look like a Goblin, the ears got out of control, rising in points that flopped over and dangled sadly down past his chin once they finally stopped growing. Ron fell out of his chair laughing at Harry’s ears. Harry laughed so hard, his stomach hurt. It was especially fun to play with those floppy ears, pulling on the tips so they stood out like a House Elf’’s. He tried to tie them in a knot on top of his head for Ron’s further amusement, but a glance from their professor stopped him before he actually tied the knot. Their classmates experienced similar mishaps, which generated a lot of laughter.
Tonight’s lesson was Miniaturization.
"Now that we’ve practiced the charm on teacups and mice, it’s time to try it on yourselves. I want you to change some part of yourself to create a disguise," Professor Deutsch instructed as he strolled between the desks. He stopped in front of Harry’s. "For instance, Mr. Potter could make several choices. He could change the size or shape of his glasses, or both the size and shape. He has large green eyes, which he could make small and piggish, and he could also muddy the colour or change it completely if he wished."
He turned to Ron. "Mr. Weasley’s most obvious choice would be to change his hair colour, but since tonight’s lesson is Miniaturization, I’d suggest he make his nose short and perhaps turned up on the end."
Ron’s face turned beet red at the attention, which made his classmates chuckle and Harry grin at him.
"All right. Off you go," Deutsch said. "Let’s see what you can do."
Harry and Ron were the youngest in the class, having gone to Auror School straight from Hogwarts. The others in the class had chosen to become Aurors after spending some years in the Magical Law Enforcement Squad or other areas of the Ministry.
Harry took his glasses off and squinted at them. From talking with his grandfather, he knew he could change the shape without interfering with the spells on the lenses. He still liked their round shape and the thin black frames, but to change his appearance. . . . Hmmm. How about― Harry tapped his glasses with his wand and smiled as they became smaller in height but still the same width, and silver rather than black. He put them on and looked at Ron.
"What do you think?"
Ron grinned. "Nice one, Harry. But you still look like you."
"I’m not finished yet. What are you going to do?"
"I thought about trying to make myself shorter, but then my robes wouldn’t fit."
Harry snorted. "So shrink your robes."
"Yeah, I could do that." Ron was still thinking. "Maybe I’ll do my nose again. I’m getting better at it." His expression brightened. "I could do my hair, as well. What do you think of this?" He tapped his head with his wand and his hair was suddenly as black as Harry’s.
Harry laughed. "Erm, no. Your skin isn’t the right colour for black hair. Try again."
"Hmm. Okay." Ron changed his hair to a brown similar to Hermione’s.
"That’s better," Harry said, then grinned again. "Don’t forget your brows and lashes."
"Oh, yeah! Right!" Ron said as he looked at his reflection in one of the small hand mirrors the teacher had provided. "What else are you going to do?"
"Dunno. I guess I could give myself thick lips or something," Harry said, wondering how it would feel to kiss Ginny with thick lips rather than his somewhat thin ones.
"That wouldn’t be miniaturization," Ron reminded him.
"Oh, yeah." Harry looked in the mirror, considering what to try.
"How’s this, Professor?" Larry Andrews called from his seat in the row ahead of Harry.
Harry stifled a laugh when he looked up. Andrews was an older man who’d decided a change in career would be interesting. Tall, thin and still vigorous in his late fifties, he had a dry wit that made their classes together a pleasure. Now he’d vanished his greying thatch of hair, leaving a shining bald dome in its wake.
"Well done, Mr. Andrews," Professor Deutsch said, standing by a student in the row behind Harry. "What can you add to that look?"
"I thought, perhaps―"
Harry felt his stomach lurch in panic. He pulled his wand and captured Andrews instantly in a Sphere Shield Charm, then leaped to his feet and began shrinking the sphere. His spell was disrupted by Ron grabbing him from behind, pinning Harry’s arms to his sides.
"Gerroff!" Harry cried, fighting Ron’s restraining arms. He had to capture and kill the monster in front of him. Why wasn’t Ron helping him? I thought I killed him! How did he come back this time? He’s supposed to be dead!
"Harry! Stop!" Ron cried as he wrestled Harry’s wand arm, trying to keep him from killing their classmate.
Several Expelliarmus charms hit Harry and Ron, throwing them across the room. Ron grunted as he hit the wall and the weight of Harry’s body thudded into his. Somehow, Harry still had his wand, and was fighting Ron’s grip so he could aim it at Andrews, who was trying to vanish the sphere surrounding him.
"Harry! We’re safe! Nobody’s going to hurt you here!" Ron groaned in pain as Harry drove his elbow into Ron’s stomach, trying to break Ron’s grip on him.
Deutsch aimed his wand at Harry. "Petrificus Totalus!" Harry instantly stiffened in Ron’s arms.
Harry fought the spell with everything in him. Voldemort was alive! He, Harry, had to kill him! What were they doing, keeping him from finishing the fight! Voldemort would kill Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Remus, Dumbledore―everyone Harry cared about. He had to get free!
* * * * *
Ron laid Harry gently on the floor and looked up at Andrews, who was still struggling with the Sphere Shield Charm, then waved his wand, ending Harry’s spell. "You okay?" he asked Andrews.
Andrews gasped for breath. "I was . . . running . . . out of air . . . in there. Thanks."
"Yeah," Ron said, shaking his head.
"What happened, Mr. Weasley?" Deutsch said, kneeling beside Harry’s body. Harry’s eyes looked terrified, frantic, but the spell held him still. "Why did he―"
"Look at him!" Ron made an angry gesture toward Andrews. "He looks like You-Know-Who!" He turned to face Andrews. "Why would you do that to him? Or to any of us?"
"I was trying to miniaturize my nose," Andrews replied, restoring his rather bulbous nose to its normal size. "What did I do? What did it look like?"
"You vanished it," Deutsch replied.
"You-Know-Who had no nose, just slits for nostrils," Ron growled, bending over Harry with a worried expression.
"And no hair," Deutsch added.
"It was an accident!" Andrews cried. "I didn’t mean―"
"Shut up!" Ron growled. He looked down at Harry, whose face was frozen in a horrified expression behind the strange silver glasses. Ron restored his normal appearance before getting in Harry’s line of sight.
"Harry? Harry, look at me," Ron said, leaning over Harry now. "Can you see me, mate? It’s Ron. D’you recognize me?"
When Harry’s eyes locked on his, Ron continued. "That’s right, just concentrate on me. What you saw wasn’t V-voldemort. It was just Andrews. He vanished his nose by mistake." Ron watched Harry’s eyes until they relaxed a bit, then cast the counter-jinx, releasing Harry from the spell.
* * * * *
When Ron released him from the spell, Harry shuddered, then pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes. After a long moment, he rolled slowly onto his side and sat up.
"You all right, mate?" Ron said, squatting in front of him.
"Yeah." Harry looked around the room and saw everyone staring at him. He dropped his eyes when he felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment, but glanced up again when he felt Ron’s strong hand under his arm.
"Ready to get up?"
"Yeah. Thanks. Did I hurt you?"
Ron shook his head. "Nah."
Harry saw Ron wince in pain as he helped Harry to his feet. "I’m sorry, Ron. I don’t know what came over me."
"I do. Look at Andrews," Ron said.
"Andrews?" Harry looked at the man, who still had no hair but had restored his nose. The memory suddenly flooded Harry’s mind. "Oh. Are you all right? I didn’t mean―"
"No worries, Harry," Andrews replied. "I’m sorry I upset you."
"Sit down, Mr. Potter," Professor Deutsch said. "You’ve just had a terrible shock. You’re still suffering from the war, aren’t you?"
Harry just shrugged. He hadn’t told his teachers about his night terrors and the flashbacks that sometimes hit him during the day, such as the one he’d just experienced.
"It can take a long time to get your life back to normal," Deutsch went on. "Do you have flashbacks or nightmares?"
Harry looked up at him in surprise. "Yes."
"That’s fairly common for those who’ve been in battle, lad. You’ll learn how to live with the memories in time."
Harry felt a faint stirring of hope. "Do you know how to speed up that process?" he said with a faint smile.
"No. I had friends who went through similar experiences after the previous war. I think it helps if you talk about it or find a way to distract yourself if you feel it coming on, but I could be wrong."
Harry shook his head. "I didn’t feel this coming on. It just . . . I just . . ." A shiver of remembered terror ran up his spine when he remembered Andrews looking so much like Voldemort. He shivered again when he realized how close he’d come to killing his classmate.
"Give yourself time. And if you ever want to talk about it, my office is always open to you."
"Thanks." He looked up at Larry Andrews again. "I’m sorry. I don’t know how that happened."
The older man grinned. "No problem. And now I can say I’ve been hexed by Harry Potter and lived to tell the tale!"
Harry grimaced. "If you must."
The grin slid off Andrews’s face. "I was teasing, Harry. I’m just glad you’re all right."
And I’m glad Ron kept me from killing you. Harry gave Ron’s arm a grateful squeeze as they sat down and got back to work.