Parallel

Chapter 18: More Q&A Sessions/Personal Discussions

The Q&A sessions on the rest of the subjects as well as the interactive discussion among Harry and company and the current Hogwarts students went about the same as the initial one. The second time around, Ginny had more of a role, not to mention Ron and Hermione, although Harry monitored what they said and tactfully steered them away from anything too personal about any of them while doing his best to satisfy the students' curiosity about his friends and himself.

So far he had not seen any Slytherins among the students and couldn't say that he was surprised, not if their attitude toward Muggles and non-purebloods had stayed the same over the last few years. Still, what occupied Harry's mind the most was the young boy James Black. From his descriptions, his father had certainly sounded like it could have been Sirius, that's for sure.

Now that he thought about it, some key points stood out in his mind regarding the boy; for instance, his smile ... He had only seen Sirius smile a few times, usually when reminiscing about his times with Harry's parents or his other close friends such as Remus Lupin, but was only now beginning to realise that the main reason he had gotten so rattled that day when he'd first seen the boy was because of his strangely familiar smile: and now he knew the reason why. It was Sirius's smile! Not his eyes, though; James Black seemed to have hazel eyes. Sirius had had grey eyes. Perhaps James had his mother's eyes, as Harry himself did, even though in every other aspect he resembled a younger version of his father.

However, now that the postgrad study course materials had arrived, the four knuckled down and almost literally put their noses to the proverbial grindstone. They had agreed beforehand to get together to do their study assignments, to make sure they got done (and have them double-checked by budding teacher Hermione, although Harry had been no slouch as a student teacher of D.A.D.A. during the days of Dolores Umbridge).

However, they were able to read their textbooks and make notes on their own, although Hermione naturally checked to see that they had covered all the relevant points in the various subjects before moving on to the next chapter of each given book. Other times they had to practice various spells and charms on each other, and when they went wrong, it was usually Hermione (again) who bailed them out when they made a mistake.

Just the same, there were times that Ginny's increasing pregnancy was making her feel as sick as the proverbial dog in spite of the Anti-Nausea Potion made by Molly and given to her daughter before their departure. By this time she was nearly out, so she suggested to Hermione that she make some more while they had access to the proper ingredients. It was fortunate that it didn't take nearly as long to steep as did Felix Felicis or Polyjuice Potion; just an hour, in fact ... and the effects lasted for roughly eight hours, usually just long enough for Harry and Ginny to get a night's sleep before it wore off.

Nausea was one thing, though--moods were something else again. They had owled Molly Weasley at least once asking what to do to make Ginny's pregnancy-induced moods bearable for everyone, particularly Harry and Ginny herself. Molly generously listed several things she herself had done to keep from cutting off Arthur at the knees or either of her older boys, Charlie and Bill, when they were younger and she was pregnant with their younger siblings.

When Harry had read these over, he had sighed with relief; one time on the receiving end of his wife's caustic tongue had been a great sufficiency for him and at the very least he hoped to keep it to a minimum--as did Ron and Hermione themselves. Ron had even privately confessed to Harry that he wasn't sure he wanted to find out what kind of moods Hermione might experience in the event she got pregnant; she had enough of a temper as it was.

"Better try to prepare yourself as best you can right now, mate," Harry advised him. "Remember what your mum said. This happens many times over the course of a woman's pregnancy."

"In that case, I hope Hermione only becomes pregnant once," Ron remarked, glad that his wife was still using the Contraceptive Charm--at least as far as he knew. Privately Harry hoped that would be the case with Ginny, but considering how fertile Molly Weasley had been, it was best that he be prepared for her to be every bit as prolific as her mother, although he would personally be content with two children, one of each gender, if not twins. Either fraternal or identical, like Fred and George.

Perhaps a daughter who looked like her mother and a son who looked like him, although stranger things had happened. It could work out the other way around--their daughter could look like him and their son like Ginny. Meanwhile, it was necessary for everyone to simply get through the pregnancy with their sanity and marriages intact.

On a more serious note, Harry and company began to plan for the next phase of their quest, to seek out the last Horcrux, which they were convinced had been placed in Voldemort's pet snake Nagini. Harry was a past master of Parseltongue, the snake language, and if anyone could bluff their way in to where she was and destroy her, it would be him. But first, they had to find her--and they had absolutely no clue even where to start looking.

Just the same, they had no doubts whatsoever that once sufficient word was spread that the prophecy had been fulfilled and that Harry James Potter, the Chosen One of the prophecy, had at last killed the Dark Lord, that security would (at bare minimum) be doubled, if not tripled, in order to keep her safe. The problem was, where was she? Harry had no idea where Voldemort's last hideout had been and none of the captured Death Eaters would talk, including Wormtail; some had even committed suicide rather than confess or live the rest of their days in Azkaban.

But the information had to be out there somewhere and he intended to find it, whatever he had to do. This might actually turn out to be the toughest part of the whole thing, who could say? Maybe he could ask himself what he would do if he were a large snake and had to keep hidden from his enemies for an extended length of time.

Which reminded him, what could Harry expect once it was learned that he had used the Killing Curse to vanquish the Dark Lord? Not to mention Ron using the Torture Curse on Barty Crouch Jr.? He liked the idea of it being decided that what they had done was justified; after all, in any war, it was usually a matter of kill or be killed. Of course, he must not take it for granted, just take things one day at a time and hope for the best. It was also decided to leave Bellatrix Lestrange Petrified, at least for the foreseeable future; that way there was no way she could cause any more deaths or misery. She was far too dangerous to be allowed to have freedom of movement.

Once safely behind the gates and walls of Azkaban, the remaining living Death Eaters had been released from the two spells which had allowed the forces of good to gain the upper hand--Petrification and the Body-Bind Spell--and after the trials had ended, all had earned the mandatory life sentence. The dementors went back to their original jobs at Azkaban, but would be closely watched by both authorities at the prison and the Bureau of Magical Law Enforcement from now on.

In the midst of everything else, though, Harry had naturally discussed what he wanted to do in regards to young James Black--but first with Ginny, then she could argue at his side with Ron and Hermione (should they object) once she knew the full story. At the moment, though, he was stretched out full-length on their bed in just a T-shirt and PJ bottoms, his feet bare and his ankles crossed, leaning against the headboard of the four-poster reading the latest chapter in his Occlumency textbook with Ginny curled up against him in just a lacy shortie nightgown, her head on his chest, reading one on Legilimency.

"Gin?" he asked softly, lowering his book to look down at her. She lifted her head to face him, both love and curiosity in her soft brown eyes as she set down her own book.

"Yes, luv?"

"What did you think of the young boy we met our first day here, the one who spoke to us?"

"Seemed nice enough, if somewhat shy," she observed. "Also, I couldn't help but be reminded of you at that age--I mean, a shy, skinny kid with unruly hair and glasses ..."

"Not just that, though. Did his ... smile ... seem at all familiar to you?"

Ginny wracked her brain for a while, then she finally figured out what Harry was talking about. "Come to think of it, I do remember seeing a smile like that somewhere before ..."

"Sirius," Harry said.

"Sirius?" she questioned.

"It's Sirius's smile," Harry insisted. "That boy has got to be Sirius's son! It couldn't be anyone else, because his only brother died twenty years ago and was younger than him--and this boy is just eleven."

"Do you think we should talk to Minerva about it?" Ginny asked.

"That might be a good place to start," Harry agreed. "Then I was thinking to check on the Wizarding Wireless Network for any genealogical information on the Black family, see what I can dig up there. Then go to the Highgate section of South London where there is an Office of Witchcraft and Wizarding Genealogy and do some research on Sirius's family tree, see if I could find his home town, hopefully find some people who knew him and his family during the time in question, then find out if they can tell me anything about a former steady girlfriend or fiancée for Sirius ... things like that.

"If there is an answer, it'll be there, because the family trees there are the most detailed in all of Britain." He was even hopeful that he would find the name of Rose, James Black's mother, included--not to mention young James himself. "Would you like to come with me? It'd be almost like a vacation since we wouldn't have to worry about searching for Horcruxes or anything ... at least not for a while. There's only one left now, anyway."

"I'd love to. When were you thinking of going?"

"Another week or so. I want to talk to Minerva before we go, see what she can tell me about James and his mother ... then maybe Apparate when the time comes. Thank Merlin it doesn't last long; I still feel like I'm literally getting the breath squeezed out of me every time I do it."

"I know what you mean--but maybe if we hold tightly to each other, we won't notice it so much."

Harry smiled and shook his head in wonder. Leave it to Ginny to make even Apparition seem pleasant as long as they were doing it together.

"Are we going to tell Ron and Hermione anything about this?" she asked then, moving to sit cross-legged on the bed beside her husband even as Harry moved into a sitting position with his own legs crossed, their books marked and set aside.

"No; I don't feel like arguing with them. We're just going. The only one we're telling is Minerva; maybe we can leave a letter with her explaining why and approximately how long we'll be gone or something."

"They're not going to like it," Ginny warned.

"They're just going to have to not like it," Harry threw back. "If this boy James Black really is Sirius's son, I owe it to him to find out all I can about his and Sirius's background and tell both James and his mother of my own relationship with Sirius ... then if his mother is willing, give her a portion of Sirius's fortune to use for James's care and education to ease her financial burdens. I feel certain that Sirius would want that."

Ginny frowned thoughtfully. Yes, Sirius probably would approve of that idea--but if they didn't plan things just right, Ron and Hermione would never let her or Harry hear the end of it for leaving them in the dark about what they intended to do, much less leaving them behind. Even as much as she loved her brother and sister-in-law, pleasing Harry held a far higher priority in her mind.

He was her husband, after all. It was a wife's duty to stand by her husband in whatever he wanted to do ... within reason, of course, and despite how insane the idea might have sounded at first glance, Ginny knew the reasoning behind it was sound and logical--and if successful, would greatly help a single mother raising a son by herself. And if they could develop an affectionate relationship with them as well, that would be simply icing on the cake, as it were. She could definitely understand why Harry might want to keep in touch with them--because they were surely the last living links to his late godfather ... and if only for this reason alone, the Black line would continue. Harry would see to it that it did, if only for Sirius's sake.

* * * * *

However, Ron and Hermione knew Harry and Ginny well enough to know that they were plotting something and keeping the details from them. Hermione even confronted them about it, but neither Harry nor Ginny would confirm or deny her suspicions. They also couldn't help wondering what had happened to them one day around two o'clock in the afternoon for roughly two hours.

They even staked out the door of their quarters, but to no avail; Harry and Ginny had obviously used a portable Portkey to get past them. It was finally decided that if anyone was likely to know what they were up to, it would be McGonagall. They would go see her themselves once they knew that Harry and Ginny were away from there and busy with other things.

They could certainly understand Harry's wanting to help young James Black, but didn't think it would be a good idea to disrupt his life or that of his mother just when they had managed to hammer out a relatively pleasant existence. But everything they said had just seemed to go in one ear and out the other; whenever that happened, trouble inevitably followed in one form or another ... and if possible, they had to steer them away from it, whatever they had to do.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were sitting in McGonagall's office; once again she was sitting curled up in his lap, head on his shoulder and their arms around each other. However, despite the romantic position, their conversation was anything but. "So, Minerva, is there anything you can tell us about the background of first-year Gryffindor James Adolphus Black?"

McGonagall smiled indulgently at the young couple, but her voice was firm and no-nonsense. "Harry, you know that student records are generally kept confidential, access granted strictly on a need-to-know basis. I can understand your wish to find out more about him, especially considering the strong possibility that he is the son of Sirius Black, because he resembles him so strongly--but we must proceed with great care. Otherwise, we could end up seriously disrupting both young James's life and that of his mother--and I'm sure their lives have been difficult enough."

"Minerva, I only want to help him. I feel sure that is what Sirius would want."

"Perhaps, but that is not your decision. You must consider the possible consequences of your actions. Many times just when one thinks they're helping someone, their good intentions can backfire drastically."

"Minerva, I would never do anything to--" Harry began to protest.

McGonagall held up a hand to stop him. "I know, Harry, I know. You don't have to remind me." She was silent for a time, then she said, "Very well, I'll give you what information we have ... but you must swear to keep it to yourself. Do not tell anyone, not even your friends, much less James or his mother, if you can avoid it. If they ask you directly, of course, you must not lie, but--" She broke off, then abruptly stood up and moved over to a large file cabinet in one corner of the office, only recently installed after she moved into what had once belonged to Dumbledore.

She searched diligently for a time, then retrieved a file which looked to Harry to be fairly thick; of course, that could be a trick of the light, but what mattered most was that they would finally learn some important details which would be likely to help them in their subsequent genealogical search. She handed it to Ginny, who held it securely and didn't look at it; there would be time enough to peruse it in detail after they returned to their room.

She even put a double Locking Charm on its door so they were not disturbed, after getting something to eat, bringing it there so they could grab some nourishment while they were poring over the information contained in the file. They could figure out the next step to take depending on what they found--be it going to the Wizarding Wireless Network or the main Office of Witchcraft and Wizarding Genealogy in Highgate.

Both could now only hope that James and his mother would appreciate Harry's efforts to help them, not to mention his own experiences with Sirius. Maybe Harry could even learn something about Sirius he hadn't known before to boot, thanks to this Rose, James's mother. Just the same, he was sure that Rose's last name could not be Black, since she and Sirius had not been married, although she had obviously given the boy his father's last name.

He might find out even more if he could manage to discover Rose's last name. Meanwhile, they had a lot of papers to go through, so they had best get started. Ginny set up the food and drink on portable trays near the bed, then they got back on it, once again sitting cross-legged as Ginny watched Harry open the file, then hand her a fistful of papers before returning to grab a fistful of his own. Even at that, they felt guilty at going behind their friends' backs, vowing to tell them everything just as soon as they decently could.