Chapter Text
7 Days Later:
“So... er... who are we going to visit again?” he asked Ginny as she dragged him by the hand past the sign on the landing of the fourth floor which read SPELL DAMAGE.
“Oh...er... just some friends...” Ginny replied vaguely, averting her eyes as she pushed through the double doors behind the sign.
Neville frowned. As far as he knew, all of their friends were perfectly fine, having seen them a week ago on Christmas Day at the Burrow. Harry and Hermione and the rest of their Coven had been there--and they had all looked the picture of health, as had all of the Weasleys and Seamus, and Lavender and Viktor.
And as Neville recalled, Angelina Johnson--seated between her two boyfriends, Fred and George--had been the recipient of a few suspicious looks from Mrs Weasley but had apparently survived the holiday encounter.
Maybe it was someone who had been injured a few weeks ago during the battle of Hogsmeade. Neville ran through everyone in his head. Susan, Hannah, and Ernie had seemed alright the last time he’d seen them on Christmas Eve. Neville supposed it might be Katie or Alicia--but that didn’t make sense unless they had been taken ill after they had gone home for the Christmas holidays.
Neville’s breath caught and his eyes widened when Ginny pulled him towards the Janus Thickey ward, the home of long-term residents with permanent spell-damage. He halted in his tracks, bringing Ginny up short. Ginny turned and peered at Neville gently.
“Neville?”
“Er... Erm... My parents...” he croaked, his eyes growing watery. “Usually... usually me and Gran visit at Christmas--we already came on Boxing Day...”
“It’ll be alright Neville,” Ginny murmured sympathetically, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m here with you. Come on--let’s go in then.”
Neville closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to brace himself. He opened them again and nodded. Ginny pushed open the door.
Neville’s eyes nearly flew out of his head in astonishment. He gasped and fainted, collapsing in Ginny’s arms.
“Help,” Ginny squeaked, puffing as she tried to hold him up. “He’s a bit heavy for me...”
“It’s alright. You can let go now Ginny. I’ve got him,” said Harry, grinning as he took Neville from her.
“Oh... poor Neville!” said Hermione, her bushy tail quivering with emotion as she helped Harry half-carry Neville to a chair near one of the occupied hospital beds. “The shock must have been too much for him!”
Hermione turned and gave Mr and Mrs Longbottom an apologetic look. “Maybe we shouldn’t have...”
“That’s alright dear!” Mrs Longbottom interjected, dabbing at her tears with a hanky. “I’m sure he’ll be as right as rain in a few moments.”
The motherly looking Healer who had been trying to keep the agitated furry faced woman at the other end of the ward calm anxiously looked up. The furry faced woman spotted Hermione again and started barking and growling once more.
“There, there, Agnes dear,” the Healer said soothingly, glancing worriedly at Neville, then at the dog-woman and the catgirl.
“It’s alright Healer Periwinkle,” said Hermione, catching on to the Healer’s quandary. “You stay with Agnes. Neville’s just come over a bit faint. He’ll be alright.”
The Healer smiled wanly at Hermione, fondly recalling the day she had first met Mrs Potter at Hogwarts--the day the Healer had broken her glasses when Hermione Granger had told her that Harry Potter was her boyfriend.
“I’m not surprised,” said Healer Periwinkle, her smile broadening as she shared a look with the two patients who had been in her ward the longest. “I almost fainted myself when I came in. I don’t know how you two managed it, Mr and Mrs Potter, but I couldn’t be more thrilled...”
“Nor we. I still can’t believe we’ve been out of things nearly fifteen years,” said Mr Longbottom with a grin. “Thanks again for giving us our lives back, Mr and Mrs Potter...”
“There’s my boy,” Mrs Longbottom interjected, gently stroking Neville's cheek. “He’s coming round dear,” she said to her husband before turning back to her son. “Oh, my sweet little Neville--I can’t believe how grown up you look...”
“M...Mum?” Neville croaked as his eyelids fluttered open, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Is... is it really you? Am I dreaming?”
“No darling! You’re wide awake, and so are we...”
Mrs Longbottom opened her arms wide and beamed as Neville flung himself on her, sobbing. Overcome with emotion, Ginny couldn’t help crying too. There wasn’t a dry eye in the ward when the door opened again and a dour looking elderly witch entered.
Augusta Longbottom’s jaw dropped.
“Frank!” she gasped. “Alice! When Dumbledore told me to come to St Mungo’s... I never imagined... I can’t believe it! How on earth...?” Madam Longbottom glanced at the Potters questioningly.
Harry wiped his own teary eyes on his sleeve and shared a look with Hermione, not sure what to say. It was very important that the unusual effects of their Patronuses remain a secret in as small a circle as possible.
The Potters hadn’t even been certain if their Patronuses would work. It had simply been Harry and Hermione’s hope that they might, considering how they had helped Jennifer and Samantha Mason recover from their own ordeals, and cured Lupin’s lycanthropy.
If there had been too much brain damage from the repeated use of the Cruciatus Curse on the Longbottoms, the Patronuses might not have worked at all. Under the circumstances, the Longbottoms had been very fortunate that their mental incapacitation had been more due to the effects of residual Dark Magic still trapped in their nervous systems and the psychological trauma of extended torture.
Hermione’s furry tail and ears twitched apprehensively when she saw all eyes on her.
“I... I’m really sorry,” Hermione squeaked. “We really can’t say. It could be dangerous if too many people know what Harry and I can do.”
“Of course!” Mr Longbottom nodded, light dawning on him. Having been an Auror, he knew that what Mrs Potter said only made sense. “I expect you both have a target on your backs as it is. It wouldn’t do to give Dark wizards even more reason to seek you out...”
Harry and Hermione stayed a short while longer, watching the emotional Longbottom family reunion as Neville happily introduced them to his girlfriend Ginny. The Potters slipped quietly out of the Janus Thickey ward while nobody was looking, and returned to their London home in Grimmauld Place where they regaled the rest of the Coven with their success...
9 Months Later:
She could hardly blame the wizard, as the youth had been too overwhelmed by the older and much more experienced witch’s wiles to have any sense. No, the fault was hers, and hers alone. And alone she was now--alone and incognito in a country far from the land of her birth.
Still, the witch supposed that things could have been far more disagreeable. He had been no Dark Lord, but at least the fresh-faced and red-haired young wizard who had fathered her child had been a Pureblood. She could have done worse than Percy Weasley.
And at least the small South American nation in which she was hiding had no extradition treaty with Britain. She could lay low for years, raising her child with a proper understanding of what it meant to be Pure of blood while making plans for the future.
Bellatrix Lestrange peered out of the window across the lake and sighed, watching the palms swaying in the humid breeze. She thanked her lucky stars that the Gringotts Goblins valued their clients’ privacy and cared little about the politics of wizards as long as it didn’t affect them adversely. As long as she could still access the wealth in her vaults through the local branch, she could continue to live the luxurious lifestyle she was accustomed to without raising any eyebrows.
Bellatrix returned her attention to her little girl who had woken up and started to cry.
“Bungo,” Bellatrix sharply called out to her new House-Elf, “Delphini requires sustenance and her nappy changed...”
15 years later:
Two of the wizard sentries guarding the chamber under the pyramid from which the artifact had been removed had been murdered in a manner which seemed all too familiar. Another such theft had occurred in India not more than six months ago. A Golden Amulet had gone missing from a temple dedicated to the ancient Dark Sorcerer known to the muggle world as the Hindu deity Kali, the thief leaving no clues, but several dead guards in the outer chamber.
A witch with short curly blonde hair and glasses stepped out from the firm’s lavatory and jumped.
“Oh, Mr Potter! You startled me.”
“Margaret, how many times have I told you to call me Harry?” he asked, his green eyes twinkling with mirth. The Potters’ secretary rolled her eyes.
“As many times as I’ve told you not at work, Mr Potter,” Margaret retorted. “It wouldn’t be proper.”
“You’ve been here three months Margaret,” Harry pleaded, shaking his head. “You know we don’t stand on formalities. Anyway, have you seen Hermione?”
“Mrs Potter told me to let you know that she’s working in the Department of Mysteries today, running an experiment and giving a lecture.”
“Ah, of course she is,” said Harry, grinning. “Thank you Margaret, I’ll pop by the Ministry then.”
Half an hour later, Harry found Hermione in a lab deep in the bowels of the Ministry, explaining and demonstrating the workings of a new magical telescope which she had invented, through which one could make out the details of the surface of the furthest planet in the solar system as if merely looking across the Thames to the other side.
One of the nicest features of the Magi-scope was the holographic projection which allowed everyone to see whatever the Magi-scope was looking at, not to mention that it could peer through dense layers of cloud-cover. At the moment, everyone was looking at a massive lava flow on the surface of Venus--everyone except several small children in the group of visitors who turned and gasped when they heard someone enter the Space Chamber.
“It’s Harry Potter,” squeaked a little boy excitedly.
“Ssh,” whispered his older sister, who had met the famous wizard on several occasions. “I’m trying to listen.”
Hermione’s sharp cat ears caught the whispers and turned around, grinning when she spotted Harry. When Hermione finished her lecture, the visitors filed out of the Space Chamber and continued their tour of the Department of Mysteries, and Harry signed several autographs for the children. Hermione smirked at Harry, her furry ears flicking in amusement.
“So, can’t get enough of your adoring fans, can you?” she giggled.
“Oh shut up!” Harry retorted, rolling his eyes. “I’m not Lockhart.”
“Just teasing Harry. How was your trip to Egypt? Would you like a cup of tea?”
“I’d love some! And it was perplexing--I’m sure it’s connected to the stolen amulet in India somehow.”
Hermione dimmed the lights while Harry made a pot of tea at the little unmanned concession stand at the side of the chamber. Taking a seat on one of the sofas to look at the three dimensional projections of the stars and the planets orbiting above them, the Potters shared a deep kiss.
Hermione curled her bushy tail around Harry as he took a sip of tea and began to relax. The case could wait for the time-being, there was more to life than work.
“How are the kids? Did they miss me?” asked Harry.
“Of course they did, silly,” said Hermione, giving her husband another kiss. “Fleur and Daphne are at home today with Lily-Rose and James. Of course, the kids are missing Lysander and Aurora as well...”
“Oh, are Dora and the others still on tour then?”
“Yes, they’re performing their last concert in Tokyo tonight. They’ll be back sometime tomorrow. And by the way, Ginny and Neville, and Viktor and Lavender will be joining us all for dinner tomorrow evening at the manor in Dorset. Fleur and Daphne have some sort of announcement for us...”
“Don’t tell me, they’re expecting,” said Harry, grinning.
Hermione swatted his shoulder. “It’s meant to be a surprise! You’re not supposed to guess!”
“Oh come on,” Harry chortled. “You told me there’s an announcement. What else could it be? They’re the last pair of the Coven to have a kid. Luna and Parvati have Lysander, and Dora and Jennifer have Aurora... And by the way, did I ever tell you how brilliant you are for inventing a way for Luna and Parvati to have their own baby?”
“Only about a million times Harry.” Hermione beamed and gave Harry another kiss. “And I spoke to Arthur earlier today. Things are going very well with negotiations for the loosening of the Secrecy Statutes--Dumbledore’s managed to talk some more delegates in the ICW into supporting his bill.
“So with a bit of luck, soon we’ll be able to share some of our magical technology with muggles, and gay and lesbian couples--muggles and wizards alike--will be able to have children of their own without having to rely on sperm donors or surrogate mothers.”
“That’s brilliant!” said Harry. “Right then! Let’s get home, I’ve brought some presents back from Egypt for the kids... and I could do with a nice hot bath.”
“Mmm... Sounds good! I think I’ll join you in the tub,” Hermione purred, giving her husband one more kiss for the road...