The Return of the Griffin

Chapter Ten

Harry was playing on the floor with Davey.

"Daddy! More!" the child squealed, as Harry bucked up in the air and flapped his arms while Davey wildly tried to hold on to his imaginary hippogriff. The giggles and squeals drowned out the voice coming from the fire, until it shrieked.

"HARRY!"

Both boys looked into the fire to see Maggie grinning at the mischievous two.

"Never gonna grow up, are you, Harry?"

"Not a whit!" he grinned back as Davey toppled to the floor, still laughing. He sat up, and looked into Maggie's green toned face. "So, what's up? Ginny is doing fine by the way. Be home in time for dinner tomorrow. Did mum owl you?"

Maggie smiled. "Nope, I'm peeking in to check on you. Feel like some company tonight? I want to talk to you about a few things from the pensieve."

Harry thought for a moment. One thing that had been gnawing at him was the dream about the tarot cards.

"Maggie, did you see the dream with you and the tarot cards? Do you think you might bring them with you?" He really wanted to know the rest.

Maggie looked confused. "I didn't see you with tarot cards. What's this about?"

Harry looked surprised; perhaps he had forgotten to let them take that dream with them. "You were giving me a tarot reading. All I remember was the Hanged man, and you were saying..." Harry trailed off, remembering what she had said because he remembered how angry he was when he had awoken from that particular dream.

"I'll bring them Harry. We'll do it after the children go to bed. We may have other visitors as well. I am glad to hear about Ginny, too. I'll stop in to see her before I come over."

"She'll like that. She said she has been bored out of her mind. You know how active she is. The mediwizards threatened to do a full body bind on her if she didn't stay in her bed," Harry laughed.

"I'll bring her something to occupy herself with," Maggie offered.

"Then I'll see you tonight," Harry said, and then watched the fire change back to its original orange flicker.

"Yay! Auntie Maggie is coming!" Davey ran around the living room singing.

* * *

It was quiet after dinner. Most everyone went to drive the healers at St. Mungo's crazy while they visited Ginny. Harry had gone back to visit her that afternoon for the second time and brought the children. Her color was looking better, and the hospital had finally decided to give her a private room to keep her visitors from bothering other patients. After their visit, he brought the children back and put them to bed.

Harry set the table up for Maggie's tarot reading. He placed the candles at the four corners, and then had to stop. He grimaced self-consciously--there were no matches in the Weasley house, and he certainly couldn't charm them into lighting. He shrugged, and waited for Maggie to come.

He didn't have to wait long, when he heard an audible pop in the living room.

"I'm in the kitchen, Maggie!" he called out.

She entered the room, still in her black Hogwarts robes. "Hey, Harry." She wrapped him in a hug. "That was from Ginny. She said she'd deliver the rest herself when she comes home tomorrow," she smirked.

Harry blushed. "Thanks for coming."

"Not a problem at all. Now you have me curious. The Hanged Man, you say? That could be very telling, depending on the placement."

Maggie handed the deck to Harry. He took the cards and shuffled them for her as he focused on what he wanted to know. He continued for a few minutes, then handed them back. "That should be enough, don't you think?"

Maggie nodded. "A few minutes is all it takes for the cards to grasp your presence." They sat down at the table facing each other.

"Ready?" Maggie asked. Harry nodded.

The first card was laid out in the center of the table. "The heart of the matter. The six of swords." Harry jerked in surprise, remembering it from his first dream at the Burrow. "You have had a long, painful passage that is nearing its end."

She carefully laid down the second card crosswise over the top of the first. "A surprise. An ill dignified eight of cups. A change of perspective."

Harry watched silently, hiding his continuing shock. If he chose to believe, the cards were telling him something quite specific, but he clamped tightly down on that thought.

He watched as she placed a card below the first two. "Interesting. Ill dignified star. The root of the problem is your rigidity of mind, your self doubt."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but silenced quickly with a glare from Maggie.

The next card she put down on the left of the center. She looked troubled as she saw it, then nodded. "The Tower. A powerful card. There has been great conflict and trouble in your past."

If Harry hadn't had so much faith in Maggie, he would have snorted. She sounded positively Trelawney-esque. "We all know that."

The fifth card she placed closest to Harry, over the first card. "The hanged man," she tapped the card. "You assume you have sacrificed something to gain something else." Maggie's eyes widened and focused on Harry, then shook her head and continued. Harry fought the feeling of unease realizing that was what she had said in his dream word for word.

The next card fell to the right of the center grouping. "The 5 of Wands. There will be a problem that cannot be avoided, but you can work through it if you focus on it."

"The dragon plague," Harry agreed.

Next Maggie started a line of cards, beginning from the bottom closest to herself and laid four out going up in a straight line toward Harry.

First she placed The High Priestess, then The Chariot, The Five of Cups and finally the Nine of Cups.

She pointed to the bottom card. "This is how you see yourself. There is something yet to be revealed, but you have been patient. It will be known."

I have been patient, he thought. I know they know something I don't know, but I haven't blown up, now have I?

She pointed to the next card. "This is how others see you. The Chariot represents the overcoming of adversity. Others see your defeat over great forces." She looked up at his face and quickly looked back at the cards before her.

"Kinda figured that one. Between the Boy Who Lived and one of the people who finally defeated Voldemort... Do you know someone stopped me in Diagon Alley a few days ago?" Harry sighed.

"This is what you suspect is true. The Five of Cups suggests you recognize a need to re-evaluate your priorities. That there is a need to curb your attitude, and accept the inevitable." Harry slumped in his chair.

"We came home," he murmured.

"The last card is your outcome. This is a wonderful card. The Nine of Cups offers an assured future. Inner security, feelings of well-being and a generosity of spirit. It is a most excellent card to end on, Harry."

"This doesn't make sense, Mag," Harry murmured, knowing even then that he was lying to himself.

Maggie looked at him sympathetically. "Actually, Harry it makes all sorts of sense." She looked at her watch. "Can you wait a few more minutes? I believe there are those who can explain it better than I can." She watched him carefully.

"You're expecting Dumbledore, aren't you?" Harry resignedly asked.

Maggie nodded and added "Actually, Nita too."

Harry stood up and paced a bit. He half smiled to himself, realizing that it had been two days since he had gone running. No wonder he felt cooped up. He knew they were going to talk about his magic. He feared it.

Suddenly, he knew what it was they were going to tell him. He took a hard look at Maggie, who looked rather abashed and he knew he was right. It didn't require any thought on his part--he just left the house running.

Ran out the door, through the garden. Ran up to the orchard. The panic he felt increased his drive, and he found himself running faster and faster. Around in a large circle, as he tried to block out the pain. If he gave in, if he accepted it, then that would have to mean that Draco would die. He couldn't accept that.

He felt the blood pulse pounding through his system, his breath coming in harsh gasps, but he didn't slow. It wasn't until he felt the coldness against his cheek that he realized he was crying.

"You can't outrun demons that exist inside you, you know Harry." A calm voice spoke to him. He looked around, and saw Dumbledore floating next to him, keeping up on a broom. He didn't look quite comfortable and he was only a few feet off the ground. But he also looked extremely concerned.

Harry stopped, and bent over, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Albus settled to the ground and stood next to him.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"I know why you're here," Harry gasped out roughly.

"Because I care? Because I worry over you more than a doddering old man who is no kin of yours has any right to?"

Harry looked up, and saw the deep sadness reflected in his eyes. "You're more than kin, Albus. I'm sorry if you ever felt differently."

"We all recognized your need to run away, Harry. I myself did the same thing for a time after the defeat of Grindelwald. Even Merlin did so, years and years ago, when Vikings raided his in-laws' keep and murdered his wife."* He paused and looked at Harry. "We all loved you enough to let you go. But all of us have missed you."

Harry sat down in the grass. He smiled wanly when Albus sat down next to him.

"When did you first suspect?" Harry asked quietly.

Dumbledore did not ask what he meant. "When you got your sight back. I found it unlikely. Then, when you couldn't see Hogwarts, I suspected. You saw only what you thought you should be able to see. If you were told a squib could do it, then you could do it." Albus looked at Harry sharply. "Did you know squibs can't use the floo at all? They don't see any change, and they do indeed get burned if they try to enter. You could do it because you had been told that you could."

"You've been lying to me all this time?" Harry asked with hurt in his voice.

"Not really, Harry. You could indeed do it. The problem was, you were lying to yourself. Just like you did with the matter of sight."

"Why didn't you say something sooner!" All those years living without magic, what a waste!

"Would you have believed me?" he asked, looking over his spectacles.

Harry started to say "Of course!" then hesitated. He hadn't believed him at first when he too, said that his loss of sight was psychological. Instead he muttered, "Point taken." He sighed deeply.

"Harry, do you mind? Could we please continue this in the house? I'm afraid this damp ground just isn't very friendly to these bones of mine. Nita, as well, is waiting to explain your testing to you. Rather extraordinary, from what I understand." Harry stood and reached his hand out to help him up. Albus grasped Harry's forearm as he stood. He looked for a moment into Harry's face, and pulled him into an embrace.

"You are the family I never had, Harry. I want you to know that."

"It works both ways, Albus. Even when Sirius was in prison, who was it that made sure I was safe? Who always watched for my well-being? Hell, look who is still doing it." He pulled away and gave him a bright smile.

* * *

They walked together into the house, both Nita and Maggie looking concerned until they saw the soft smile on Harry's face.

He sat down at the table, Albus by his side, facing his two sisters in law.

"Okay. So out with it. You all have obviously been scheming behind my back," Harry said. The women looked ashamed. "Not that I don't realize it comes from caring. Besides Ginny and the kids, I really don't know what it's like to have a family that worries about me. Running off kept me from really having to think about it."

The women visibly relaxed.

"We all thought it was odd that you lost your magical powers, Harry. Actually, after you left to live in America, Draco met with Albus. At first, it was because he wanted to try and find a way to get your magic back. After all, we all knew what Rodney did for your Aunt Petunia. That's when Albus told Draco his suspicions," Maggie said quickly.

"Albus explained those to me up in the orchard," Harry nodded, then something occurred to him. "Is there really such a thing as a squib test?"

Nita looked embarrassed. "Well, yes, actually there is, Harry. But we did change a few things for your test. Usually, we don't blindfold the wizards being tested, because they are actually trying. We thought that you might release it if you weren't aware of it. We knew we needed to trick it out of you." Nita reached for his hand. "Your tests were amazing, Harry. Anything that you could fool yourself on, you failed miserably. But for pure magic? Didn't you wonder why it took me so long to take the charm off of you during your wand test?"

Harry nodded. "Actually, I had wondered."

"I had to repair the damage you created. I had to call in extra people. Some of those jinxes you used to use Harry," she shook her head, "they HURT!"

"I...I used my wand?" he whispered.

"You're a wizard, Harry," Dumbledore said.

The phrase tickled Harry's mind, and he suddenly grinned. "That's exactly what Hagrid said when I first met him. 'an' a thumpin' good one I'd bet once you've been trained up a bit.'"

Albus smiled fondly. "Rubeus was a good man. There is no other way to put it. He was just good."

"I miss him too," Harry said quietly.

"So what is the link then? Why are the dragons dying?"

"You know I've been researching this, don't you Harry?" Albus asked. Harry shook his head, so Albus continued. "I've studied up on Sumerian mythology, on the Enuma Elish and on Ereshkigal especially. The only record found in all of humanity where someone attempted the Enuma Elish, they failed. She took their magic, but she did not return the other to life.

"Another thing, as I was studying your memories; did it ever occur to you that you had your wand with you? You had one more thing you could have given her. No. You impressed her that day.

"Ereshkigal is not a goddess that impresses easily. I am sure you could figure that out. You had something precious to give. The brother wand to Tom Riddle's that had saved you more times than you probably care to count. Yet you wanted to give something even more precious. I always told you, Harry, you're ability to love and feel compassion are among your highest gifts."

"Okay. But what does that have to do with the dragons?"

"I could only hazard a guess, I'm afraid. And even that might not be very accurate. Maggie told me about your request, however. I've talked with Sybill, and she is quite willing. I think she misses the old days. Not many people go up to the North Tower any more," Dumbledore said sadly.

"The North Tower? I thought it was demolished in the attack?" Harry asked surprised.

"Oh, yes, indeed it was" answered Dumbledore. "Pulled down to its very foundation. After you left for America that first summer, we had alumni workday. We had to rebuild a number of things and originally, we discussed not bothering with the tower due to time and necessity. Two things changed my feelings however. It was during the work that Sybill popped up. She was very distraught over her tower. The second was how the alumni felt. They all wanted Hogwarts the way they remembered it. I was glad of it, to be honest. It is bad enough Hagrid's cabin wasn't rebuilt.

"I'm sorry. I'm drifting again, aren't I? Well, yes. I spoke with Sybill and she said she would be happy to be your link between the worlds. Tomorrow morning, 8 AM in my office?" Albus asked. "You might even want to try flooing yourself."

Harry nodded. "I can try to. Does everyone know about this?"

"Well, most everyone in the family." Harry nodded again.

"Harry?" Nita interrupted.

"Yes?"

"You know, if you are uncomfortable with your magic, there are reintroduction sessions at St. Mungo's. Many people who had been exposed to dementors or dark curses lose some of their ability to control their magic. You are still very powerful, but you might feel more comfortable in such a situation, rather than just going whole hearted from the first."

Harry nodded, beginning to feel like a bobble-headed doll. "Thanks, Nita. I may do that, but I think I need to speak with Ereshkigal first. Maybe once we know the link, circumstances will change. I don't know."

"I told you the reading made sense, Harry," Maggie added softly. Everyone stood up and gave Harry a hug as they left the Burrow.

It was later, as he lay in bed that he realized he didn't ask how it was going to affect Draco.