If the Fates Allow

Chapter 14

Only death can part us

Past the point of no return -

no backward glances:

the games we've played

till now are at an end . . .

Past all thought of "if" or "when" -

no use resisting: abandon thought,

and let the dream descend . . .

(The Phantom of the Opera)

It felt like an eternity - they were falling, falling into the nothingness below, seawater cascading onto the board of the tumbling Hermione, drenching her two unfortunate passengers who were clinging to each other, Harry holding onto the banister with one hand, to Ginny with the other; their eyes shut, their faces buried in each other's dripping hair, not wanting to see, not wanting to hear, trying to close out the world of destruction... just die like that, in each other's arms...

Then, with a loud splash their ship touched down.

Harry carefully opened his eyes. "Ginny!" he whispered to the girl whose eyes were still shut, as though she feared that the second she'd open them, she'd die.

"Ginny, open your eyes!" he said somewhat louder, gently running a hand through her damp red locks.

"Are we dead?" she asked, keeping her eyes shut.

"Dunno... but I don't think so," he replied. "Look..."

Blinking to clear her eyes of the salty seawater, Ginny squinted around at something that looked like an underground cave. Their ship seemed to have fallen onto a lake - or was that a river? She couldn't decide, for water was flowing down into it from above, but the lake on which the Hermione was swaying now, didn't seem to be flowing anywhere. It seemed so that water was continually filling the lake, and although there wasn't a river/creek that could have channelled the water out of it, the lake's level wasn't rising at all.

"Is the sea running down here from above?" she wondered, looking at the huge waterfall that served as one of the cave's walls.

"Seems so."

"But then... why hasn't the whole sea come down here yet?"

"No idea, must be magic," he shrugged, examining their surroundings more properly.

Not far away from the lake their ship was floating on, there was a smaller pond into which crystal clear water was gurgling in rivulets from nearby rocks. He could hear croaking - the pond must have been home to frogs. A beam of light was coming from above - presumably through a fissure in the cave's rocky ceiling - coming right onto the tiny pool, making its water glitter in the semi-darkness.

"Remember that picture from the Tunnel of Zeus?" asked Ginny. "The fourth picture depicted a small pond with a tiny waterfall running into it. This means we've managed to tackle Poseidon's task and we're in the fourth room already."

"Yeah... but which Greek god could this room, or cave, or whatever belong to?" mused Harry.

"No idea. Come, let's investigate this place," she suggested, climbing down the rope ladder fixed to the ship's side, trying the water with her feet - it still seemed solid in the same weird way it had before they came aboard the Hermione. With a deep breath she stepped onto the waves, and let out a relieved sigh: the charm making her feather-light was still working. Harry followed her down the ladder and onto the shore, moving with difficulty - his back was still tormenting him.

"You'll have to teach me this charm, it's great walking on the water. But now I'm happier than ever to be on solid land again," she said, fighting down the urge to crouch down and kiss the soil.

"Yeah... our clothes no longer fit," replied Harry and changed his pirate-attire back into his normal clothes, and Ginny's sailor outfit back into her yellow summer dress.

"I think I'll miss Harry the Pirate," she smiled. "He was deliciously sexy."

"Why, isn't the normal Harry deliciously sexy?" he pouted, pretending to be hurt.

"Of course he is... but I can't help it, I have a thing about blokes with earrings," she winked at him. "You know that Bill's always been my favourite brother..."

"My, does this mean I'll have to grow my hair and fasten it into a ponytail?"

"I wouldn't mind... but I doubt it'd look this messy if you did so, and I'd miss the messy quality of your hair, too."

"Women," Harry rolled his eyes theatrically. "You're so hard to please."

"Would you look at that!" she said suddenly.

"What?"

"That," she pointed at a marble statue half hidden in the undergrowth around the pool. The statue depicted a wizened man with long beard. "Who could this be?" Ginny wondered.

Harry pointed his wand at the grass at the statue's feet and Vanished it. A small board became visible with the name Aesculapius.

"Aesculapius? The God of Healing?" Ginny knitted her eyebrows. "Why would the Row of Gods contain a room of Aesculapius? He's just a minor god, after all..."

As an answer to her question, the statue stirred and the old man spoke to them: "Welcome, brave travellers who have fought with Ares' creatures, solved Athena's riddle and tackled Poseidon's dangerous task. My room is here to serve as a resting place after the difficulties, a place where you can refill yourselves with energy and heal the wounds you've got in your battles with foul creatures. Before you enter the last room of the Row of Gods - that of Hades - you need to become whole again, for the toughest task awaits you there. Enjoy my room, travellers, use the pond that heals all ailments and wounds... and let me wish you good luck with the last task."

With that the statue became rigid again, as though it had never moved.

"Hm, these Greek gods are quite nice, if they installed a room to get healed before moving on to the hardest task," said Harry. "If only the organisers of the Triwizard Tournament had been this gracious... but no, there you had no chance to pull yourself together after a fight with a Skrewt."

"Uh-huh," she nodded absent-mindedly. "How'd you take this feather-light charm off your feet?"

"Simply say Finite Incantatem," he replied, ending the charm's effect on himself.

"All right, then, Finite Incantatem," Ginny pointed her wand at her feet, then took her shoes off and felt the water in the pond with her toes. "It's pleasantly warm. Go in, Harry, your sore back definitely needs some healing."

"Yeah, it does," he nodded and started to undress.

Ginny turned around immediately, biting into her lower lip at the mental image hovering in front of her eyes: Harry floating on his back... drops of water glistening on his chest and...

She started whistling the main theme of Bridge over the River Kwai to take her thoughts off images of Harry's anatomy. It was no use, though, especially when he called out to her: "Care to join me?"

"Join you? Er, no, thanks," she shook her head, still determinedly gazing in the Hermione's direction, away from the pool.

"Don't be so prudish, Gin, I promise I won't peek."

"I'm not prudish!" she snapped, turning around.

"Yes, you are," he grinned up at her.

"Am not," Ginny folded her arms. "And I'm going to prove it... I'll join you in there... just close your eyes until I get in."

"As the lady wishes," he closed his eyes.

Ginny started to get rid of her clothing, casting a glance at him once in a while to check whether he was peeping, and she caught herself half wishing that he was peeping... She wondered what he'd think of her if he saw her nude... would he think of such dirty things like she had on the beach only a couple of hours earlier? No, she chastised herself, surely Harry's mind wasn't as dirty as hers - or was it?

However, no matter how much she wanted, she couldn't catch him peeking, he obediently kept his eyes shut. She slid into the water and submerged into it deep enough to cover her to her neck. Not that the water wasn't crystal clear thus totally see-through, but if she kept her distance, then it'd be possible that he would only see a hazy outline of her body...

Then again... did she really want to keep her distance? Did she really want him to not see her...? Her mind was in a turmoil, her heart feeling even more confused. Her mind told her to stay as far away from him as possible, while her heart spurred her on to swim to him so that he could see her and she could see him, so that he could touch her and she could touch him in return...

She simply didn't understand the controversial emotions fighting each other in her soul, she had never felt this helpless, this bewildered, this lost... Chewing her lower lip, she squinted at Harry, wondering what could be going on in his head, but he seemed to be rather interested in examining the cave's ceiling, for he wasn't even looking at her.

The real reason for Harry not looking at Ginny was that he was having similar thoughts: swim to her or not swim to her? Check her out through the water, or not check her out? To be or not to be burning with desire for her? Well, the latter was something one couldn't choose to happen or not to happen, and Harry couldn't help feeling that he'd suffocate if he couldn't touch her this instant, but, in the meantime, something also held him back from crossing those four metres separating her from him...

He couldn't understand himself, why he was having these inhibitions, he hadn't had any of them when he'd slept with the fake Cho, and when he'd got to know Phaedra, he'd bedded her practically two days after they first met... and he'd have slept with Ginny in Atlantis if the Death Eaters hadn't prevented it... so what was the problem now? He couldn't explain it to himself... He wished she'd make the first step, then he'd no longer hold himself back... but she had coyly withdrawn into the farthest part of the pond and didn't show any sign of wanting to make any sort of a step...

Careful to avoid her eyes, he cast a sideways glance at her. Ginny, who had been secretly feasting her eyes on him, hastily looked away, pretending to be highly absorbed in examining the mossy ground around the pool.

Good, she's looking away, not seeing that I'm peeking, he thought, adjusting his glasses to have a more proper look. Although the water blurred her figure slightly, his magical glasses saw through it without any difficulty...

Should I look back at him? Ginny pondered, staring at the moss. In the next instant a huge frog leapt out from a knot of grass and landed on the moss a mere ten inches from her.

She had been so deeply immersed in her thoughts that the sudden appearance of the frog frightened her, making her jump at least two metres backwards.

Harry got shaken out of his blissful reverie when she jumped and backed away from the opposite shore of the pond.

"What?" he asked.

"J... just a frog," replied Ginny, her voice slightly shaking, but as far as Harry could tell, it wasn't shaking with fright, but with some sort of suppressed laughter. Clearly even Ginny found it ridiculous that a frog could scare her like that. "Just a little frog..." she chuckled, but still kept retreating from the animal that was now happily croaking on the mossy shore.

"A frog? Are you sure that's not a toad?" asked Harry, deciding to move aside so that if she kept backing away from the animal, she wouldn't walk right into him... but by the time he realised that he should move aside, he also realised that there was no space for him to move, for she was already pressed up to him.

"Er, Harry...? What...?" she asked as she felt something poke her in the small of her back.

"That? Just a frog, I suppose," replied Harry, praying that she'd move away from him.

"Are you sure that's a frog?" she asked over her shoulder, an impish grin spreading on her face.

"Well... it could just as easily be a toad, of course," Harry replied, twiddling his thumbs and trying to sound indifferent, which was rather difficult in the current situation.

"Or rather an eel," she suggested. "I mean, it felt sort of longish..." she said, having to press her hand onto her mouth to prevent a giggle from escaping it, but from the mad shaking of her shoulders he could tell that she was soundlessly laughing.

"That's not funny," he grunted.

Still shaking with silent laughter, she turned around, and seeing the sour expression on his face, she could no more hold back the giggles that burst out of her, echoing through the cavern.

"Now honestly, just imagine yourself in my place..." Harry said in a whiny voice, gazing at the ceiling, "having a beautiful woman like you in a pond with yourself... any eel would get excited."

"I can't," she replied between two chuckles. "Can't imagine myself in your place... I wouldn't get excited if I were in a pond with a woman like me, you know... but..." she sneaked her arms around his neck, and her voice changed from the giggly, girlish one into a deeper, huskier one, "I'm excited enough about having you here."

"Ginny," he gulped, gazing deeply into her chocolate brown eyes.

"Yes, Harry?" she whispered.

"Don't tease me anymore," he said gently, touching his forehead to hers.

"Only if you'll stop teasing me," she replied, losing herself in the infinite emerald pools of his eyes.

"Can't promise that... it's too nice to tease you," he smiled mischievously, slightly shifting his face so that he could kiss her, but she drew back a bit. "What's the problem?"

"I... I don't know," she sighed, turning her face away from his. "It's just that I..."

"You're... you're afraid?" This was rather a statement than a question.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered with a pleading expression. "I..."

She couldn't finish whatever she wanted to say, for he put his index finger on her lips. "I'm not Draco Malfoy, Ginny," he said quietly. "I don't know what exactly he did to you to make you this afraid, but trust me and I'll make you forget it, whatever it was... Do you trust me?"

Though somewhat hesitantly, she nodded. "I trust you. Teach me, Harry... teach me to love."

As a response, he brushed his lips against hers, feather-light, then they descended on her neck, imitating the touch of the petals of a tender blossom... Where was the rudeness that Draco had always shoved her onto the bed with? Ginny didn't know... the always so vivid images of her husband moaning with delight while she was fighting with tears and praying he'd end it at last got suddenly so distant and fuzzy that Ginny wasn't even sure they had ever been real... hadn't she just dreamt them? She couldn't tell, but before she could ponder whether they had been real, whether they had ever happened, they got chased out of her mind by Harry's kisses that caught her like some whirlwind... she felt dizzy, the world around her got blurred, so she just let this whirlwind pick her up and take her wherever it pleased.

For what seemed to be hours, the whirlwind raged, buffeting her, tearing at her, but not for a single second did she long for it to end... it was a sweet torment, she craved for more of it... the thought flashed through her mind that if she died now, then she'd die happier than she'd ever felt before... She just clung to Harry, who seemed to be the cause of the whirlwind but also the only person who could catch her if she got too caught up in it; he was the one taking her into heaven, but also the one who took her back to reality with an earth-shattering explosion...

Suddenly the wind stopped raging and everything went silent... Ginny wondered why the walls of the cave weren't echoing the boom of the explosion - or had the explosion taken place inside of her head? Through half-closed eyelids she glanced at Harry, who was gasping for breath, his glasses had somehow fogged up (for the first time in his life he had forgotten to take them off before lovemaking) and she couldn't see his eyes properly, but she was sure they were fixed upon her face.

"You okay?" he whispered, trying to sound calm, but his chest was rising and falling rapidly and his heart was hammering loudly against his ribcage - she could feel its quick beat as she was pressed to him, clinging to him as for dear life... as though she feared she's die the second she released him.

"Yeah... yeah I think so..." she panted. "Did the cannon on the Hermione go off?"

"Cannon?" he blinked. "It's an ancient Greek ship, Ginny. And ancient Greek ships didn't have cannons. Neither does the Hermione."

"Then... what exploded?" she asked. Seeing his amused expression, she started to feel uneasy. "I know it must be a stupid question, but... I seriously don't know."

"Ginny," he chuckled, cupping her chin. "There was no explosion... But I know it feels like that... at least it always should feel like that... But I bet that bastard of a husband you have never cared to show you what it should be like."

"Oh," her eyes widened. "So, that... no, he really never cared. Not that he would have been able to properly show me because..." she leaned a bit closer, as though fearing that someone would overhear them, "because he's not nearly... I mean... Yoda really wasn't right: size does matter."

Harry's mouth tucked into a slightly derisive smirk at the mental image of Draco lecturing Ginny 'Size doesn't matter' and Ginny answering 'The small always say so'.

"What?" she asked at the sight of his wide grin.

"Nothing, I just feel sorry for Draco," he winked at her.

"I don't. Let's not talk about him, shall we?" she purred and leaned forward to kiss him again. He kissed her back with passion, and when a new whirlwind was about to pick them up, they heard someone clear their throat.

Harry and Ginny jumped aside with horrified expressions.

"Er... don't worry, it's just me," said the statue of Aesculapius, gazing at his feet, as though too embarrassed to look at them, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you are healed, and you can no longer linger in my room. You have to continue your journey in the Row of Gods." With that he pointed at one of the cave's walls on which a doorway appeared - a doorway covered with a black curtain.

"Thank you, Aesculapius," said Harry, staring at the curtain, feeling his heart freeze. Memories of Sirius' death rushed back to him and he didn't even realise that his hands had clenched into fists.

The statue had gone rigid again, and Harry stood there in the pool just as rigid as the statue itself.

Knowing what could be going through his mind, Ginny gently squeezed his arm. "Hey, let's get dressed, shall we?"

He nodded grimly and climbed out of the pool.

* * * * *

As the black curtain fell back into place behind their backs, the couple found themselves in something that didn't resemble a room at all - it rather seemed to be a vast, greyish land with wisps of smoke drifting in the gloomy air. The sky was dark, almost black, but no star could be seen on it - it resembled a heavily overcast sky that threatened to start raining any second. The soil was parched, without any trace of life, not even the smallest weed found this place suitable for living.

A river of murky water crossed the 'room', flowing glumly towards a point where it simply moulded into the darkness.

"Something's moving on the water," whispered Ginny, slipping her hand into Harry's, to seek encouragement and support in his touch.

"A boat," said Harry, and indeed, the moving shape turned out to be a balding, pale, very thin - almost skeletal - person rowing along the river. As he spotted them, he directed his boat towards the point where they were standing on the shore.

The skeletal person glared at them with a slightly surprised expression. "You're alive," he said.

"Yes, we know," Harry replied. "And?"

"This is the underworld, fellow. I haven't seen living people here for over a millennium. That was the last time someone visited the Row of Gods, wanting to ask a favour of The Fates," said the boatman. "I'm Charon, by the way. It's my task to take the dead over the River Styx, into Hades' world... but what should I do with you? You're obviously not dead."

Harry looked at Ginny. "Well, Aesculapius said that we'd have to meet our final task in Hades' room, that symbolises Hades' world. So... I s'pose we'll have to ask him to take us over the river, what do you think?"

"I agree," she answered, then turned to the boatman. "Would you be so kind and transport us over the Styx, Mr Charon?"

Charon scratched his jaw contemplatively. "Hm... this is against the law, you know that?"

"Please," Ginny fluttered her eyelashes at him, "couldn't you make an exception just this once?"

"Er," the boatman blushed slightly. "Well... I've never been asked by such a pretty lady to ferry her over the Styx, especially not a living one... Okay, get in the boat, both of you... just be careful when you get in, the water's extremely deep, it's as deep around the shore as it is at the middle of the river... There, okay, sit down now, and I'd be grateful if you didn't mention this to my boss..."

"We won't tell on you, you can be sure, Mr Charon. Thanks," said Ginny and pecked the boatman on the cheek, making him turn as red as the setting sun.

"Really, no need to..." he muttered, not looking at her, but almost dropping the oars in his confused embarrassment.

Harry sent Ginny a look of admiration, which she returned with a radiant smile. She felt so wonderful, even here, in the land of death. She felt as though she had been filled with some mysterious energy, something that burst out of her through her smile. She had always fantasised about sleeping with Harry, but she never thought it'd make such a difference... she felt reborn.

It took about five minutes for Charon to cross the river with them, and as the opposite bank loomed closer, a huge form became more and more distinct ahead of them. The huge form stirred and let out a roar.

"Shut up, Cerberus," grunted Charon and pulled a bag of dog food out of his pocket. "Here boy, eat this, not our guests."

The huge, vicious, three-headed dog suddenly seemed to be reduced to a playful puppy, standing on its hind legs, madly waggling its tail.

"There's a good boy, Cerberus," said the boatman jovially and threw the 'puppy' a snack. "While he's eating, you can pass beside him," he told the couple - or to put it right: he was talking to Ginny only, pretending that Harry didn't exist.

Ginny cast a sideways glance at her lover (without realising that she was already thinking of him as her 'lover') to see whether Charon's too enthusiastic wooing was annoying him... but Harry seemed downright amused by it.

"To my greatest regret I cannot accompany you further into Hades' land, fair lady," bowed the boatman.

"I'm heart-broken, Mr Charon," replied Ginny with her sweetest smile.

So, Harry and Ginny got out of the boat while Charon was chucking dog snacks at the three-headed dog.

"Cute little Fluffy, eh?" grinned Harry as they got past Cerberus.

"I wouldn't know, would I? Never seen Fluffy," she reminded him, taking his hand again.

"I wonder why Aesculapius said that this room will provide the hardest task," mused Harry as they got further and further into the underworld - into the room symbolising the underworld.

"No idea," she replied in a hushed voice, for this place seemed to be sucking the energies out of her, slowly, gradually... The full of energy state she had been in when entering Hades' room had totally evaporated in the gloomy darkness and the choking, stale air. She no longer felt fresh and strong, her legs began to feel as if they had been filled with lead. All that kept her going was the warm, gentle touch of Harry's palm encircled around her tiny hand.

"Or... perhaps I do have an idea," she carried on. "I don't know about you, but I feel as though something deep inside me was trying to choke me, and some icy, pricking coldness is trying to clench at my heart... this seems hard enough to be part of the task... Are you feeling the same?"

"Uh-huh," he nodded. "It feels a bit like being near a Dementor, but not as bad, just almost. However, we still haven't encountered any sort of obstacle, so I don't know what to think..."

Suddenly some sort of a hazy figure appeared in front of them, approaching them. The figure looked like a huge, black dog... and it leapt at Harry.

"S...Sirius?" the young wizard gasped as the dog started licking his face. "Sirius!" He pulled the dog into a firm hug, and in his embrace, the animal transformed into his godfather.

"Harry! Am I happy to see you!" said Sirius, clearly struggling with tears threatening to flow down his cheeks.

"I... I..." said Harry shakily, barely believing that he was seeing the person who had been closest to a father for him... Before he could compose a normal sentence, he caught himself crying, his face buried in Sirius' shoulder-length hair.

Godfather and godson clung to each other, both of them sobbing like little children.

Ginny took several steps back to not disturb them - this was a moment she had no right to intrude on, this was Harry and Sirius' grief, Harry and Sirus' happiness... and she had not much to do with it, after all. So she just watched the happy/teary reunion, leaving the two men to themselves.

"Sirius... I... I can't believe I'm meeting you again," sniffed Harry, who hadn't cried like this since the death of his daughter. "I thought... I thought I'd never see you again... when you... when you fell through that veil, I thought..."

"Shhh!" his godfather hushed him. "It belongs to the past, Harry, do not dwell on the past. Think of happy things instead... for example seeing your parents at last."

"My... parents?" stammered Harry.

"Of course! Here they come," Sirius pointed behind his back where two figures appeared out of the mist.

"Son! I'm so glad to see you!" cheered James and gathered Harry into his arms before the young man could even say 'hi, dad'.

"Don't suffocate him, James," laughed Lily and peeled her husband's arms off their son, only to hug him just as tightly as James had. "Harry... oh, Harry..." tears were running down the sides of her face. "The last time I held you in my arms was when... when You-Know-Who came... I was so happy when I got here and realised that you hadn't. I knew you were still alive, I knew my magic had succeeded... I knew I had saved you, my darling."

"Mum..." Harry didn't know how to react... he was finally being hugged by his mother. How much he had fantasised about Lily's hug, how often he had imagined what would have happened if his mother hadn't died... on dreamless nights the child Harry had been lying on the full-of-spiders bed in the cupboard under the stairs, weaving fantasies about his mother. He hadn't even known what she'd looked like... the child Harry hadn't had a single photo of his mother, making it extremely difficult for him to imagine her... He hadn't known what sort of eyes and hair to imagine when he was thinking of her. His mother had always been so distant, so elusive, and not just because she was dead, but because he couldn't even properly recall her...

And now here she was, not distant anymore, nor elusive, but in his arms, her fragile body pressed against his, his face lost in the mass of her dark red hair that smelled like a mixture of honey and hyacinths... The scent of a mother. The same fragrance Harry had smelled when his mother had been breastfeeding him, or when she had been simply cradling him in her arms, singing a lullaby...

He hadn't remembered this smell for twenty-two years, but now its memory rushed back to him, the familiarity of the honey-aroma, the sweet fragrance of spring flowers... this was his mother.

The memory of his child self trying desperately to remember Lily Potter came to his mind, remembering the disappointment every time he'd tried and didn't manage to make his mother appear inside of his head...

No fantasies had ever been this beautiful.

Harry looked over Lily's shoulder to see James grinning at him in his usual Marauder style. What was he grinning at? - wondered Harry, then realised that he was crying again. For years and years in his childhood he had managed not to cry, no matter how much he had been bullied by Dudley and his gang... and now, the adult Harry, past so many hardships, with a heart hardened by torments and suffering, couldn't stop himself from crying.

"Sorry... I'm drenching your hair," he drew back slightly to look his mother in the eye, and was amazed how much her eyes were like his... his own eyes looked back at him, twinkling with excitement and joyous tears.

"It doesn't matter, son. You're free to cry as much on my shoulder as you want," Lily replied gently, cupping Harry's face in both hands. "I couldn't be there for you to console you when you were small... I missed your whole childhood. It's time to make up for it at last."

"Exactly," agreed James, and still grinning widely, slapped Harry's back. "Good to see you again. Have you been told that you're the spitting image of me?"

"Er, yeah, plenty times..."

"Bet the ladies love you, son, you're just as great a heartthrob as me," winked James.

Lily rolled her eyes. "There's your father for you, Harry. The greatest clown in the whole wide world."

"Don't belittle me in front of our son," said James and put an arm around Harry's shoulder. "I'm not nearly as bad as she says I am."

Harry raised an eyebrow, suddenly thinking of the fifteen-year-old James he'd seen in Snape's Pensieve... that James had been a thousand times worse than he'd imagined. This James here seemed to be not too different from that one: still boyish, looking around Harry's current age, his brown eyes twinkling with mischief... Had his father never properly grown up? - Harry mused.

"Don't take him seriously," whispered Sirius, leaning closer to Harry, "he's just acting the rowdy, but behind the pretence, he'd like to bawl like a baby at seeing you again."

"No, I wouldn't," replied James, who, of course, had perfectly heard his friend's words.

"Oh, yes, you would," laughed Sirius.

"You're so immature, Padfoot!" grunted James, folding his arms defiantly.

"Immature? Me?"

"Never mind them, dear, they're doing that all day," waved Lily. "It's fun to listen to them, but after a while they can get really annoying. Come with me, let's talk. We have so much to discuss..."

"Yes, we have mum, but... I can't. See, I've got to get through Hades' world to get to The Fates."

"The Fates?" Lily blinked. "Why?"

"Because of Ginny," Harry looked around, searching for the girl who had withdrawn from them, and was looking at them from quite a distance.

"Is she... your wife?" asked his mother.

"No... but I'd like her to be," smiled Harry. A few feet to their left James and Sirius were now practically shouting with each other. Harry stole an anxious glance at them, but Lily just shook her head:

"They're doing that at least once a week, they love arguing, they say it's fun."

"So, who's mature and who's not?" remarked Harry. "I'm going to call Ginny here, so that you can get to know her."

"No," Lily grabbed his hand.

"Why not?" frowned Harry.

"Later. Now come with me, let's talk."

"I'd love to, but I really have to go, mum."

However, Lily didn't want to hear about her son leaving. "You can't be this selfish, Harry... I haven't seen you for twenty-two years, and you don't even want to talk to me..." she screwed up her face with an expression threatening to start crying again.

"She's right, you know," agreed James, his glasses askew and his face bruised at one point. "You should be more grateful to her, after what she did for you, son. On the other hand: I'd also like to talk to you... I've been missing you. Heck, I didn't even have a chance to teach you to play Quidditch!"

"I learned it quite well, though," replied Harry, starting to feel rather uneasy in his parents' presence. Something was wrong with them...

"The point is that you owe you parents a bit of a chat," said Sirius, who was sporting a pretty black eye. "And me, too."

Harry looked at Ginny over his shoulder. She seemed to be calm, but deep inside she must have been seething...

What am I doing here? Harry asked himself. I've got to help her get to The Fates, and instead I'm letting myself become distracted.

"Look, sorry, but I really have to go. We could talk on my way back from The Fates, what do you say?" he suggested to the Potter parents and his godfather.

His mother's eyes filled with tears and his father and Sirius scowled at him accusingly.

"I'm really sorry... but I know this place isn't even real... this is just a virtual reality, a demo version of the underworld... perhaps you three aren't real too..."

"Don't we look real?" Lily sniffed. "Didn't my arms around you feel real, Harry?"

"It could just be magic," the young wizard shrugged. He felt pangs of remorse that he was talking like that to his parents, but what if they weren't even real? What if they were just sent here to prevent him from getting further?

"Then tell me: isn't she real?" said Lily, and waved, as though beckoning to someone...

In the next instant a small figure appeared out of the mist.

"Daddy!"

Harry thought he'd die on the spot.

"D...Daffy?"

The little girl was running towards him, her tiny arms outstretched, her curly black locks dancing around her head...

Harry felt his legs go weak and dropped to his knees. The child threw herself on his neck.

"Daddyyyyy! You're here! I've so missed you!" she gibbered, snuggling her rosy face into Harry's messy hair.

For a moment Harry was hesitating, not knowing how to react, but as Daphne's arms wound around his neck and she gave him a smacking, wet kiss on the cheek like she had always done in her short life, he instinctively pulled her to himself, holding her tightly yet gently, exactly like he had used to...

"Daddy, don't ever leave me again!" Daffy cooed into his left ear. "Promise me that you won't!"

"Harry?"

He looked up to see Ginny standing next to them with a questioning expression. "Harry, you know this isn't real, don't you?"

"I..." he began insecurely.

"Harry," Ginny crouched down next to them. "This isn't real. They aren't really your mother, father, godfather and daughter..."

"Wasn't the Chimera real?" whispered Harry, feeling more and more confused by the second. "Wasn't the Cyclops real? And the Sirens? Scylla? Charybdis? Were they all figments of our imagination?"

"Perhaps not... perhaps yes," she replied. "We don't know what would have happened if the Chimera had eaten us... perhaps it would have vanished in a puff of smoke when it swallowed us, and we would have fallen onto the ground, intact. We also don't know what would have happened if the whirlpool had sucked the ship in. Perhaps it also would have landed us in Aesulapius' room, just in another way... They might have all been real... but they all might have been just illusions, Harry."

"Then the ache in my back must have been a pretty convincing illusion," remarked Harry with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"See, girl? We're all real," spoke up Lily. "We're real, and we're Harry's family, while you aren't part of it yet..."

Harry pursed his lips, sizing up his mother contemplatively. Ginny saw the doubt in his eyes - she saw he couldn't decide whom to believe, for both parties who were trying to convince him meant a lot to him.

"Ginny," he heaved a huge sigh. "Tell me: an hour ago, in the pool... did we really make love, or was that also just an illusion?"

"Of course that was real," she replied, blushing, aware that Harry's parents were listening.

"Hey, Harry, you little tyke!" chuckled Sirius.

"I told you he was a heartthrob like his father," grinned James.

"Harry," Ginny continued, pretending to not have heard the two Marauders' snide comments, "we have to go."

"You're not taking my daddy away from me!" shouted little Daphne, scowling both at Ginny and her father. This was the expression that had always melted Harry's heart, and it threatened to melt it again...

Come to your senses, Harry! a voice screamed inside the young wizard's head. Ginny's right, this isn't real! Your real parents wouldn't want to distract you from helping your love! Your mother and father gave their lives to help you, they know better than anything what it's like to want to help someone so badly that you'd do anything to help them... and Sirius - hadn't he lived off rats and slept in cold caves just to be near you and help you when needed? Hadn't he run off to the Department of Mysteries to save your sorry ass from Voldemort's trap? He'd also understand that you want to save your love more than anything!

"You're right, Ginny," he said, standing up. "This isn't real. My real family wouldn't be selfish enough to hold me back from helping you. This isn't my real family."

"But... Harry..." Lily held out her hands pleadingly. "Harry... how can you just disown us?"

"I'm deeply disappointed in you," said Sirius.

"You're no longer my son," grunted James.

"Daddyyyy! Don't go!" sobbed Daphne.

"You were right all along, Gin," said Harry, taking her hand into his. "None of them is real. Come, let's find The Fates, shall we?"

She nodded and they set off again. They had barely taken two steps when they heard a series of puffs. They turned around and saw that James, Lily and Sirius had disappeared, and Daphne's figure was also fading.

"Well done, Harry Potter," she said and vanished totally.

"What were these things?" Harry asked Ginny.

"Illusions, perhaps," she shrugged.

"I owe you one. Had you not persuaded me, I would have fallen into their trap."

"I know," she smiled. "It seems I keep saving you here in the Row of Gods."

He made a grimace. "Yeah... my superhero image has been shattered."

She suppressed a chuckle. "My heart's bleeding for you."

"You're teasing me again!"

"I can't help it, it's fun."

"Do you realise that we might spend the rest of our lives teasing each other?"

"I wouldn't mind, as long as you don't sexually tease me," she replied with an impish grin. "I don't think I could bear it..."

"I'm not the type to tease a woman and then not satisfy her," he grinned back at her smugly.

"Glad to hear."

"Come here," he whispered.

"What do you have in mind?" she cocked her head.

"Nothing devious, just a tiny little kiss from my fiancée..."

"I can't find a reason to object," Ginny licked her lips and slid her arms around his neck.

However, the kiss never took place, because a giggle interrupted them.

They looked to the right to see a scantily clad woman whose pink, almost see-through dress and wavy blonde hair was billowing in a nonexistent wind. She was pressing her hands over her lips to suppress her chuckle, her sky blue eyes glinting jovially.

"Who are you and what's so funny?" questioned Ginny.

"Guess who I am," she replied, tossing her blonde locks out of her face in a seductive manner.

"Fleur Delacour's second cousin?" said Harry with a smirk. He, of course had a very good idea who the woman might be.

"Honestly," huffed the woman-wearing-almost-nothing. "I'm Aphrodite, goddess of love."

"I wouldn't have guessed in a million years," Harry replied innocently.

"Anyway," Aphrodite waved, "I was laughing because I was so satisfied with myself."

"Satisfied with yourself?" Ginny blinked.

"Yeah," nodded the goddess. "The idea of this little deception came from me."

"You?"

"Of course me! Hades is the most unimaginative bloke you could think of, how would he have been able to make up an obstacle based on love? If it hadn't been for me, Elysium would still look just as dark and boring as Tartarus! But I persuaded Hadie to hire me as an interior decorator. So, in fact, this task should be called Aphrodite's task, not Hades' task..." the goddess pouted. "Hades always takes all the credit for my work! It's so damn unfair! But now I've come to tell you that it was me who invented this fabulous task, not my stupid uncle! I really don't understand why Persephone didn't leave him long ago, I would die of boredom if my husband was anything like Uncle Hadie! Tell me that you liked my idea for the task, please! Everyone says I'm just a stupid blondie, but I'm not! Tell me I'm not!"

Harry and Ginny looked at each other, suppressing a grin.

"Of course you're not... it was a very nice idea for a task, Dite," said Harry politely, madly struggling with his facial muscles to keep his face indifferent. "It was so good that it almost managed to deceive me."

"Wonderful!" the goddess clasped her hands delightedly. "You have no idea how happy you made me! Now I'm off to Hadie to tell him that someone finally liked my idea! Oh, almost forgot!" She pointed her index finger at the thin air where a door appeared. "Here, you've completed the task, you may now meet The Fates. Well done!"

With that she was off, only a puff of pink smoke indicated that she had been there.

"She has a bit of a thirst for acceptance, don't you think?" remarked Harry.

"Yeah, she does. The Greek goddesses all seem to have some sort of a complex," smirked Ginny. "Hera has this complex about not being pretty enough and her husband always cheating on her, Aphrodite has this complex that everyone thinks she's blonde..."

"But at least Dite doesn't have peacock feathers sticking out of her head..."

"What do you have against peacock feathers?"

"They just look silly. I can really understand Zeus that he didn't want Hera with all her peacock feathers."

"Are you sure this isn't a complex of yours? Weren't you just jealous of Gilderoy Lockhart's fabulous peacock feather quill?"

"The day when I get jealous of Lockhart will be the day when hell freezes over," he replied and opened the door for Ginny.

She stepped through it, followed by Harry.

They got into a room whose rocky walls were covered with moss, giving the room a rather gloomy sort of air. At the middle of the room stood three women: The Fates.

Clotho spun the threads of life, Lachesis measured them, and Atropos cut them.

The three goddesses were so deeply immersed in their work that they didn't even notice the couple entering.

The room was silent, all that could be heard was the clicking of Atropos' scissors as she cut the threads of people's lives.

Ginny swallowed the lump in her throat - she was inadvertently reminded of the terrible fate awaiting her father if she didn't succeed in freeing him now.

Harry cleared his throat.

The Fates shuddered at the voice and Atropos - the youngest of all of them - dropped her scissors in fright.

"Are you out of your minds?" the wizened, wrinkled Clotho snapped. "Scaring us like that?"

"Er, I'm sorry, ladies, but we had to make you aware of our presence somehow," apologised Harry.

"What do you want?" demanded Lachesis.

"We are here to ask for your help," said the young wizard.

"We never receive clients in person," answered Clotho. "At least we haven't had done so for over a thousand years. Just do like all the others who want us to cut someone's thread: write us a letter, that we of course will never read, because we aren't the types who can be blackmailed or bribed into doing anything like that. So, leave, please."

"We haven't fought our way through the Row of Gods to leave now! We haven't battled monsters and solved stupid riddles for nothing!" Ginny stamped her foot. "You've got to listen to us! Please!"

Atropos regarded her with a compassionate expression - she looked about Ginny's age, although she must have been thousands of years old. Still, it must have been hard for her to live with a maiden's face and cut threads at the same time... it was a job rather suitable for Clotho, yet it was the youngest one's task.

Atropos gave Ginny a gentle smile. "Speak, we'll listen."

Ginny looked at Harry. "It'd better if you told them."

"Yeah," he nodded and turned back to The Fates. "Ginny here has a serious problem, ladies. Her father has been cursed by The Fates Charm."

Clotho's eyes narrowed and she stopped spinning the thread, Lachesis' mouth opened and she forgot to shut it, while Atropos clutched at her heart with a yelp and dropped her scissors again. "That... that can't be true!"

"Unfortunately it is true," replied Harry.

"But... but that charm hasn't been used for at least a millennium!" protested Lachesis. "You know, a millennium ago we decided that we'd had enough of people playing judges themselves and sentencing each other to death with the Fates Charm... judging is the task of the gods, no that of people. So we saw to it that all scripts about this curse are destroyed... We thought that all records have been destroyed!"

"It seems they haven't," whispered Ginny. "My father has been cursed by it, and my husband is blackmailing me with this, he's using this to keep me under his control, but... but I want to be free at last!" Although she had whispered the beginning of the sentence, at the end of it she was almost shouting, tears brimming her eyes. "You're my only hope, please, say you can free me!"

The three goddesses exchanged meaningful glances, then Clotho spoke up: "When exactly did your father become cursed, dear?"

"My husband said that it had happened exactly a week before our wedding... that has to be 20^th June, 1998," Ginny said.

"Well, my child, you have to know that we haven't done something like freeing someone from The Fates Charm for ages... but we believe you have suffered enough in your life, and also struggled through the tasks of the Row of Gods, to deserve our mercy. However, freeing someone from this curse is a hard task, and we haven't had to do it for over a millennium, so we have forgotten how exactly it works. First we have to look it up in our personal journals, and finding entries we wrote over a thousand years ago will take some time," said Atropos. "Also, as far as I remember, freeing people from this curse isn't a quick process... I'm sorry but we cannot perform the liberation ceremony right here and now... Anniversaries are always special dates - I believe the freeing ritual can be performed by the anniversary of your father's cursing, and then, on the 20^th of June, next year, you will be free."

"But there's ten months until then!" Ginny breathed. She'd have to wait almost a whole year till next June.

"We are sorry, but this is all we can do for you," said Lachesis. "Have faith, child, and hold out, it's less than a year and both your father and you will be free. We promise you that."

Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but Harry shook his head. "It's nice of them to do it at all, they could easily have turned us down."

"But Harry... how can I live together with Draco for another ten months... after all that's happened between us? How?"

"Think of the happy time we spent together in these four days, Ginny. Think of it, and you'll get strength from the memories. Then think of the future: think of us being together from next June - together, always, and only death can part us."

Ginny hugged him tightly, with all her love, and as she looked over his shoulder, she saw Atropos grin at her and give her the thumbs-up. She chuckled into Harry's neck - this Atropos was a nice girl, pity that she had to do such a nasty job.

"Just one more question," Harry turned to The Fates again, "how are we going to get back? Will we have to go through the obstacles of the Row of Gods again? Will we have to fight our way back again?"

"Oh, nooo," Atropos giggled. "When you came through the different rooms of the Row of Gods, you made the way free for about a day. If you begin your journey back right now, you'll get back to the entrance without any difficulty. No monsters or whatsoever."

"No monsters, okay, but how will we get back from Aesculapius' chamber to Athena's? There's a damn big sea there, and in order to get back on to the sea, we would have to climb that enormous waterfall..." reasoned Harry.

"My dears, the Row of Gods is a magical place. If you have once fought your way through its obstacles, it will show you the way back as a reward. I can assure you that you won't have any problem getting back to the entrance of the Row," replied Clotho benignly.

"Right, then, thank you for your help, ladies," Harry slightly bent his head.

"Yes. Thank you," added Ginny, looking crestfallen. She couldn't imagine almost a year spent with Draco while she knew her thoughts would be with Harry every second of that year... she didn't dare imagine how Draco would treat her now - somehow he might have got to know that she left with Harry, and if he got to know, there'd be hell to pay...

She heaved a deep sigh, said farewell to The Fates and let Harry guide her out of chamber whose door closed behind their backs.

"Don't be sad, Ginny," her lover said quietly, putting an arm around her shoulder. "I don't want to see you sad..."

"I'd like to smile, Harry, but I simply can't. At the mere thought of having to endure my husband for another year, I..."

He placed his index finger on her lips, silencing her. "Don't. I don't want you to think of Malfoy now. Just think of what we shared in the pond... See, you're smiling again."

She was indeed smiling. "How could I not smile when I think of that?"

* * * * *

As they reached the River Styx, they found Charon standing on the bank, waiting for them.

"Hm, The Fates must've been right when saying that the Row of Gods will help us on our way back," said Harry as the boatman bowed to Ginny and blushed furiously.

Cerberus, the three-headed dog made way for them, not looking a bit murderous this time.

When they took place in the boat, Charon began to sing something in Italian, never taking his eyes off Ginny.

"Tell me, is he gone mad, or does he think he's a gondolier on the Canal Grande?" whispered Ginny to Harry.

"He's just madly in love with you, honey," he whispered back, trying to hold back his laughter. "By the way, Gin, I know there's not much chance for your husband getting to know about our little journey here, but in case he does, then be sure to tell him that our mission didn't succeed."

"Why?" she frowned, finding it hard to concentrate on Harry when O Sole Mio sung by Charon suppressed all other noises, even the splashing of water.

"Because if ever he gets to know that you'll be free in less than a year, then he might think up something new to chain you to himself - something that we'll never be able to get rid of, a curse that we might not be able to break... so just tell him that we didn't manage to convince The Fates."

"Right," she nodded. "I'll lie to him. But I seriously hope that he'll never find out about this journey of ours..."

In a couple of minutes they reached the opposite bank and Charon got out, holding out his bony hand for Ginny to help her gallantly out of the boat. As usual, he ignored Harry.

"Thank you very much, Mr Charon," the young witch smiled at him.

"My pleasure, milady. I hope to see you soon again."

"Don't I have to be dead to meet you again?" she raised an eyebrow while Harry took her hand.

"Well, yes, but..."

The boatman never managed to finish his sentence, for all of a sudden two figures appeared out of the mist.

"So!" said one of them in a gruff voice.

"D... draco?" gasped Ginny.

"Phaedra?" breathed Harry.

"Bingo, Harry, dear," the woman said with her arms akimbo.

"I demand an explanation," growled Malfoy, his usually pale face red with fury at the sight of his wife holding hands with Harry.

"I don't owe you any sort of explanation, Draco," replied Ginny.

"Oh, but of course you do," drawled the blond wizard. "You left Malfoy Manor to go frolicking with Potter and to get freed from my curse. Didn't you?"

"What if I did?" she spat haughtily. "It's none of your business!"

"As long as you go by my name, it is my business!"

"Exactly. I would also like to hear the story, darling," hissed Phaedra, putting the emphasis on the 'darling' part, while looking at Harry with a dark expression.

"I don't owe you any explanation, Phaedra. I told you to stop tailing me, I told you it was all over!" said Harry passionately. "I quit your ruddy Circle and I quit our relationship, too."

"You can't quit our relationship as long as I'm legally married to you!" the Greek witch stamped her foot.

"Right!" shouted Harry. "You'll get the divorce papers within a week!"

"Oh! Don't you think you can get rid of me that easily, Harry Potter!" Phaedra barked. "Just because I let you cheat on me with this little trollop here, I won't let you get rid of me to marry her, understood?!?"

"Hey, that's my wife you're calling a trollop!" Draco pointed out.

"Why, isn't she one?" Phaedra crossed her arms.

"No, she isn't," Harry growled through gritted teeth.

"Of course she isn't," interjected Charon.

"No one asked you!" all the four of them yelled at him.

"So, Potter, what have you done to my wife?" Draco stepped forward menacingly, jabbing his index finger at Harry's chest.

"You'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Harry smirked at him, enjoying the state of insecurity Draco must have been in, not knowing whether he had been cuckolded or not...

"Tell me, Potter!" hissed Malfoy, his nose almost touching Harry's, his icy grey eyes blazing with fury, boring into Harry's malicious green ones.

For a moment Harry truly felt triumph over Draco: he could ruin the blond man's self-esteem by a single sentence of three words: 'I've shagged her'. However, he was sure he'd only cause Ginny more trouble if he told Malfoy that he should face that cold truth: he'd become a deceived husband. He cast a sideways glance at Ginny, who was staring at them, chewing her lower lip, her beautiful brown eyes full of anxiety.

No. He didn't have the right to make her situation even worse for the remaining ten months. He knew they couldn't do anything for almost a year, he knew he had to let Ginny go back to her husband till the 20^th June 2004, he knew how hard it'd be for her to live with Malfoy again after all that had happened... yet Harry knew that if he gloated to Malfoy about his successful seduction of Ginny, he'd make her life with Draco a living hell. Not that her life hadn't been a hell before, but if possible, it'd be only even more terrible...

"We haven't done anything, if that's what you want to know," he said heavily.

"You haven't...?" Draco arched an eyebrow at him, but stepped back slightly.

"No, we haven't," Harry replied calmly.

"What about the curse? Have you lifted it?" enquired Draco.

"No, we didn't manage to talk the Fates into lifting it," Ginny shook her head.

"Oh, isn't it a pity?" Malfoy smirked at Phaedra. "They've come this far, fought their way through this place, making our way into here free of obstacles, and they haven't managed to fight off the curse!" he let out a shrill laugh. "I'm so sorry for you, both of you, really!"

Harry and Ginny exchanged a wistful smile. They'd have to be patient. Just another ten months, and they'll belong to each other, forever... No matter what they had to go through until then, no matter how much Draco would be bullying Ginny, no matter how hard Phaedra would try to get Harry back - they'd be together. They just had to wait.

"So, what happens now?" the Greek witch asked.

"What would happen now?" Ginny shrugged. "I'll go back with my husband, and you can join yours."

"If you are interested in my opinion, this blond bloke doesn't deserve you," Charon chimed in, pointing at Draco.

"Shut up!"

"Okay, okay," the boatman huffed. "I was just trying to draw your attention to the fact that a gentleman shouldn't treat his wife like that. But if you're not interested... then perhaps those ten gentlemen over there would love to hear my opinion."

"Ten gentlemen?" Draco blinked, turning around.

"Oh, shit," Harry whispered.

Ten Aurors appeared out of the mist, advancing on them with their wands drawn, all pointed at Harry.

"How did they get here?" breathed Draco.

"Malfoy, you idiot," snapped Phaedra. "They must have put a bug charm on you while you were playing chess with them!"

"Why on me?" countered Draco. "They might as well have put it on you!"

"That's out of the question, all members of the Circle have anti-bug-charm fields!"

"What?" asked Draco, but he didn't really expect an answer, for a flash of light crossed the air in front of his eyes.

"You won't get away this time, Dursley!" growled one of the Aurors, sending Stunners at the four of them.

Harry jerked Ginny out of the way of the Stunner, while Phaedra sent another Stunner at the group of Aurors.

"What now?" Draco ducked.

"Fight, Malfoy," replied Harry.

"On your side???"

"If you brought them upon us, then yes, on our side!" snapped Phaedra, her voice peremptory.

"Are you out of your mind, woman? I don't want to end up in the Labyrinth!" shouted Draco, and deflected a jinx aimed at Ginny.

In no time the duel was in full swing, the air filled with smoke and flashes of hexes. Harry, Ginny, Phaedra and Draco were forced to retreat to the bank of the river by the Auror's attack. Although Harry and Phaedra were good enough duellers to fight three enemies at once, Draco and Ginny didn't have enough training to take on two men at the same time. They were outnumbered, and no matter how hard they tried, there wasn't much of a chance to escape from here - where would they escape to, anyway? Not into the Styx, that's for sure...

Harry had tried the Time Freezing charm at the very beginning of the fight, but to his greatest surprise it didn't work. He put it down to the fact that he had spent over an hour in the underworld now and it had sucked most of his powers out of him, just like it had in Ginny's case. He felt his legs filled with lead and it became harder and harder to breath...

Certainly Draco, Phaedra and the Aurors didn't have this problem, or at least surely not to the same extent as Harry and Ginny, for they hadn't spent nearly as much time here as they had.

The Aurors were breaking their way through all obstacles conjured by the four, pressing towards them like ten enormous rhinos, and soon enough Harry found himself using his fist just as frequently as his wand to try and hold off the too enthusiastic Greek wizarding policemen. Whenever an Auror came close to Charon, the boatman slapped him hard on the head with his oars, but otherwise he kept out of the scrap.

Draco had to admit to himself that he wasn't sure why he was fighting against the Aurors at all... if they caught him, he'd really land up in the Greek wizarding prison, the infamous Labyrinth, and it crossed his mind that not even saving his wife from this stupid scrap was worth getting a life sentence for complicity... For helping Ginny would mean that he was helping Potter as well, and Potter, for the time being, was wanted for murder by the Greek Magical Law Enforcement. Well, Draco definitely didn't feel like getting convicted because of Potter, and the idea of helping Potter with anything sounded ridiculous even inside his head.

Ginny, with the last remaining pieces of her strength, presented a nearby Auror with her Bat Bogey Hex, before she got her wand ripped out of her hand, and a curse sent into her direction.

Harry, who had been occupied with three other Aurors at once but had been keeping an eye on his lover, saw that she had been disarmed and was likely to be cursed. With a sweep of his wand he created a whirlwind to push his three opponents back and hurtled forward to yank her out of the way of the curse... this two seconds of lapse in his attention had been enough for a watchful Auror to get him in the chest with the white streak of a hex.

He saw darkness fall around him, he could no longer hear the noise of the battle, nor see anything of it - he stumbled a few steps backwards, tripped over a rock and fell with a loud splash into the River Styx.

"HARRYYYYYYY!!!" screamed Ginny and Phaedra at the same second.

Without lowering his wand, Draco stopped in his stride and gaped at the churning water where Potter had submerged.

The Aurors ceased fire and gathered to the shore.

Ginny dropped to her knees on the bank, her eyes scanning the murky water beneath, waiting for him to resurface... he had spent a whole minute underwater when she had been sitting under the beach umbrella... surely he'd swim to the surface again and laugh at the Aurors... or perhaps he'd swum to the opposite bank to escape... Ginny strained her eyes to see the shore on the other side of the river, but nothing moved there, except a fuzzy dot that was Cerberus.

Surely Harry was just making fun, trying to make them think he'd drowned... he couldn't have drowned for real... could he?

She had no idea how long she had knelt there, gazing at the water. The only sound she could hear was Phaedra's hysteric sobs to her left. Why was Phaedra crying? - she wondered. Harry'd come to the surface any time now. Really, just a little more, just a few seconds and his shaggy black mop of hair would appear among the waves...

Come on, Harry, stop playing, I know you just want to scare us, but I'm not deceived by the same ruse twice a day!

"Come on, Harry..." Ginny whispered without realising that she had opened her mouth at all.

Suddenly she felt two hands around her shoulders.

"It's over," a grumpy voice said, but this time it sounded full of emotions.

She turned slightly to the right to look at Charon's pale face. The otherwise frightening boatman now looked like a sad puppy, his huge black eyes filled with compassion.

"No," Ginny shook her head. "He'd come to the surface. I know. I've seen him doing such a thing already. He'll come."

"Milady - it's been seven minutes since he disappeared into the Styx," replied Charon quietly. "No man can live without oxygen for such a long time."

"But... but... this is just an illusion!" Ginny protested. "This whole place isn't even real! This isn't even the real Styx! You aren't even the real Charon!"

"I'm afraid I'm very much real, milady," the boatman whispered. "So is the Styx. Everything's real in the Row of Gods, save for the spirits that try to deceive anyone who ventures into the underworld part of the Row."

"No. No, you must be mistaken," Ginny croaked. "This is all just an illusion, and illusions can't kill anyone... Harry will come back."

"Face reality," Phaedra hissed from her left. Ginny squinted at the other woman to see her beautiful features contorted with pain. "Face it, you bitch. You brought Harry here, and this place killed him. You are to blame. Only you..."

"No..." Ginny stared at the water again. This can't be true... this must be just a nightmare. Yes, a nightmare, nothing else... She'd wake up next morning in her soft bed in the Burrow and find out that Harry had never returned to England, she had never visited him at 12 Grimmauld Place, and the Row of Gods never existed...

She just gazed at the river that kept flowing peacefully, as though not feeling even slightly guilty for having swallowed Harry. She felt Charon's hands leave her shoulders while a bigger, firmer pair of hands caught her and slowly pulled her off the ground. She barely noticed the Aurors putting manacles on her wrists, nor did she realise that Phaedra and Draco had already been shackled. She didn't notice when two Aurors gripped her arms and started steering her away from the river - she looked over her shoulder, never taking her eyes off the water... She was still staring in the direction of the Styx when it had long merged into the darkness.