Parallel

Chapter 27 - Sensationalism/Ghostly Guardians

Meanwhile, some good news occurred in the lives of the Weasleys ... or more specifically, Arthur. The post of editor of the Daily Prophet had inexplicably fallen vacant and he applied for it, sure that his experience at the Ministry would help ensure his being accepted. Just the same, there were many applicants, and it took so long for him to hear back that he was sure he had been passed over -- then came the owl with the happy confirmation. He had been hired!

He and Molly had gone out to celebrate, then had given the joyous news to their whole family via owl post. There was too much on everybody's plate to do anything fancy, but they knew they would have to do something to mark such a momentous occasion at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps even a party at Spinner's End once Harry and Ginny had gotten settled in.

Since Rita Skeeter was still employed there, Arthur decided to put her on probation upon taking the post. If she sensationalized even once more, he had vowed to sack her and enjoy doing it, especially if he warned her about doing it and she still did it. He had seen what her sensationalism had done to Harry and his friends, and wanted to spare anyone else from both the physical and emotional fallout that it had always caused them.

As it turned out, once she'd heard of Harry and Ginny having twins, Rita found a way to twist things, even insinuating that the children were not his first--that he'd had one with Cho Chang ... that she had claimed they'd been intimate that Valentine's Day at Hogsmeade, when everyone with half a brain knew that Cho had been too much in love with Cedric Diggory to have ever been with anyone else, even Harry. If she'd had a child, it belonged to Cedric. With the scrupulously fair and honest Arthur Weasley in charge, this sort of trash would absolutely not be tolerated, especially since it could conceivably affect the happiness and reputation of the daughter he cherished and her husband, whom he loved like another son.

This was just the incentive Arthur needed. After writing a scathing denial and publishing it in the next day's "Letters" section, he sent her a Howler almost as scathing, declaring that if he had any thing to say about it, she would be blacklisted, unable to find work on any wizarding newspaper anywhere, even the tabloid of the wizarding world, The Quibbler.

The text of the denial went basically like this:

Re: Rita Skeeter article concerning Harry Potter having a child with another woman

(January 15, 2002--'Harry Potter A Father for the Third Time?'

"Former lover Cho Chang recently confessed to Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent, that she and Harry Potter were intimate on February 14, 1996 and that she gave birth to his son the following November. They had gone there on a date for Valentine's Day, and allegedly had sex shortly before their return to the castle ...")

This is, without a doubt, a total and unmitigated fabrication. My son-in-law, Harry, and my daughter, Ginevra, are very much in love. He has never had a sexual affair with Cho Chang or anyone else, and certainly has never had children by her or any woman other than my daughter, his lawfully wedded wife. Anyone with any sense would know that Cho was in love with Cedric Diggory; if she had a child, it was by him. I admit that Cho and Harry had indeed had a date on Valentine's Day 1996, but absolutely nothing sexual occurred, then or at any other time.

To quote my son-in-law, 'This story is pure rubbish. I love Ginny with every fiber of my being and would never cheat on her. The only physical thing I ever shared with Cho was one kiss ... and that's it. I never touched her otherwise. As my father-in-law has stated, she was still in love with Cedric Diggory when we dated, still mourning his death, and would not have been inclined to seek intimacy with anyone else in any case ... so if she had a child, it belonged to him, not me. My only children are the two I have with my wife.'

I frankly wouldn't put it past Rita to have misquoted Cho as well. I am totally and thoroughly sick of Rita's lies, sensationalism and innuendo, and wish to inform her categorically here and now that she is no longer employed by this publication--and that I intend to use every ounce of influence I have to see to it that she never finds employment at any other wizarding newspaper, either--even The Quibbler.

Arthur T. Weasley

Editor-in-Chief, Daily Prophet

KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT (quote):

"I recently spoke with one of Harry Potter's friends concerning the recent article, specifically his closest friend, one Ronald Weasley, youngest son of the Prophet' s editor-in-chief. The reactions of Ronald and his brothers can be summed up like this: 'Rubbish! Harry loves Ginny and their children. He would never cheat on her, and that's all there is to it.' "

Harry was especially pleased at Ron's taking up for him so quickly, a stark change from the time in his fourth year when Ron had literally been the first to assume that Harry had put his own name in the Goblet of Fire, despite the fact that he could not have done it himself due to the Age Line around the Goblet which prevented anyone under seventeen from approaching it, placed there by Dumbledore himself.

In fact, Harry hadn't known a thing about it until Dumbledore had called out his name--and even then could scarcely believe it was really happening. Who could possibly have put his name into the Goblet? As he had told Ron, he hadn't asked for this to happen, that he had no idea whatsoever why or how it had come about ... that he didn't want 'eternal glory' or anything else associated with the Tournament. Unfortunately, Ron had been in no mood to listen to the voices of reason and had angrily brushed off Harry's attempt at an explanation with a surly oath, turning his back on him.

To top things off, shortly after it had happened and he had gone to join the other three champions, who had given him funny looks as if wondering what a fourth-year was doing there, not long afterward Dumbledore and several other faculty had burst in. The older wizard's eyes were blazing as he grabbed Harry by the shoulders. "Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

He had truthfully said, "No, sir!"

"You didn't have an older student put it in for you?"

"No, sir!"

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes, sir!"

Just then Madame Maxime had approached and said, "But, of course, he is lying!"

It was Moody (the fake one, as it turned out) who had said, "The hell he is! The Goblet of Fire is an exceptionally powerful magical object. Only an exceptionally powerful Confundus Charm could have hoodwinked it ... magic way beyond the talents of a fourth-year!"

In the end, it was Crouch and his rules that had determined that Harry would have to compete, in spite of the fact he was underage. When Harry had heard this, he was positive that he was visibly trembling at the danger he would soon be placed in, especially when all the faculty present turned their eyes on him. Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George had been four of the few to believe in his integrity. Even Sirius had asked him point-blank if he had done it!

Fortunately, he had not questioned it after that, and that made Harry feel a little better. But it was Ron's defection which had hurt the most. The one person he had thought would stand by him, no matter what, would believe in him, no matter what, had instead been the first to believe the worst of him, and had not spoken to him for weeks, but instead gone through intermediaries like Hermione and their other peers.

It hadn't helped matters, either, that there had also been lurid rumours flying around about him and Hermione being romantically involved during that time, because of Rita's sensationalism. Considering Ron's feelings for her, that could only have reinforced his negative feelings toward Harry. It had truly been one of the worst four-week periods of Harry's life, and he prayed nothing like that would ever happen again.

Harry also truly hoped that Ginny had not believed the rubbish in the article by that Skeeter cow, but instead, the scathing denial her father had written and the direct quote from him in regards to both the relationship he had had with Cho and the one he had with her. He had done everything he possibly could to assure her of his deep and abiding love for her and their children. If she didn't believe in him now, she never would.

It wasn't until they were alone in their room that night that he got a chance to ask her about it, feeling happy and relieved when she hugged and kissed him warmly and said, "Me believe rubbish like that? No one with the sense God gave a hippogriff would believe anything Rita Skeeter says. You've never given me reason not to trust you before, luv, and I have no reason to think you ever will."

"I'm glad to hear it. I was sure you would think the worst, but it came out so quickly, I had no chance to deny it. All I could do was go to your father, give him a quote to use in his denial and pray that you would believe me. Gin, my love, I state categorically, here and now, for the record, that the only thing physical I ever shared with Cho was a single kiss on Christmas Eve 1995. You are the only woman I have ever been sexually intimate with, the only one I want to be sexually intimate with, now or ever. If you can remember that and believe it in your heart, then no amount of filthy lies to the contrary will ever shake your faith in me and your knowledge of my love for you and our children."

And that was the last said on the matter . . . at least by them, either privately or publicly. The next thing they heard, Arthur had made good on his threat to sack Rita, blacklisting her so no other wizarding publication would touch her. Now maybe she had some idea of the damage she had done to both people's lives and reputations with her lies, slander and libel, her distortions, outright sensationalism and nasty innuendo.

She would be lucky to able to go anywhere in the wizarding world now and not be ostracized ... and it was virtually impossible for either Harry or any others she had wronged to feel any sympathy for her, for she had brought on her misfortune all by herself. Now that she was gone from the Prophet and Arthur was in charge, perhaps the paper would return to its former reputation for clarity and truth, instead of being turned almost into a second Quibbler, there had been so much tabloid-type rubbish in it over the last few years.

Harry frankly liked the Quibbler better these days; at least they had been willing to listen to him and publish his interview regarding his time with Voldemort and the first-hand account of the Dark Lord's rebirth. Only after a sold-out run of the Quibbler and the incident at the Department of Mysteries had the Prophet finally gotten its act together. Only then had the Powers That Be at the Ministry gotten their heads out of the sand and stopped denying everything Harry and Dumbledore said, stopped the lies, the slander, the name-calling.

But Harry had much better things to think about now--good health, a new family, a wife who loved him, a new home, a fulfilling career, loyal friends ... surely if a man had all that, he had everything. Because of these things, despite all of his losses and hardships, Harry had never felt luckier in his life than he did right now--and prayed that it would never change, if only for the sake of his own peace of mind.

Just the same, he fully intended to take Gin and the kids to where his parents were buried at the earliest opportunity and show them off, praying that they would somehow be able to see his family and how far he had come in the ensuing years. In the meantime, they had to continue with their moving plans, good times with their friends and his adopted family, their postgrad work, individual careers and raising their children. Surely as full a life as any couple could ask for, now or ever!

* * * * *

Even with all the help they had, not to mention magic, it took the better part of a month for Harry and Ginny and their children to move into Spinner's End, but once they had finished, all were certain that it had never looked better, not even in its heyday, when Harry's grandparents and James were alive. They even had some magic things, routine now, that would have been state-of-the-art then ... not to mention quite a few that Robert and Sarah Potter could never have imagined.

It was about a month after they had moved in that Harry remembered what he wanted to do--i.e. take Gin and the kids to see his parents' graves and show them off. They made sure to go on a day where it would be warm and sunny so the babies would not catch cold. By this time, Ginny had recovered from her pregnancy, so it was only a matter of time before she and Harry could resume their active sex life.

The Godric's Hollow churchyard was some distance away, so they decided to Apparate there; once they arrived, it took several minutes to find the obsidian stones in green grass in the shade of a flowering magnolia tree. "Here, Gin. They're here," Harry said, carrying baby Sirius while she carried baby Elizabeth. He brushed some leaves off the stones so the inscriptions could be read, kneeling in front of his father's stone, and Ginny knelt beside him. She was unable to help noting that there were witchcraft and wizarding symbols, such as crossed wands shooting sparks, next to each of their names to designate that the ones resting here were once members of the wizarding world. Both bore a smiling picture of the dearly departed as well.

James Potter's stone read as follows:

JAMES ROBERT POTTER

1959-1981

BELOVED HUSBAND OF LILY

BELOVED FATHER OF HARRY

BELOVED FRIEND OF SIRIUS BLACK

MURDERED BY THE DARK LORD IN THE PRIME OF HIS LIFE

REST IN PEACE, DEAR JAMES

Lily's read in a similar manner:

LILY GINEVRA EVANS POTTER

1960-1981

BELOVED WIFE OF JAMES

BELOVED MOTHER OF HARRY

BELOVED FRIEND OF MOLLY PREWETT WEASLEY

MURDERED BY THE DARK LORD IN THE PRIME OF HER LIFE

REST IN PEACE, SWEET LILY

Ginny's eyes widened upon seeing Harry's mother's middle name. "Oh, Merlin ... Harry, look!" She pointed at Lily's stone; he looked for a moment, then his own eyes widened.

"Oh my God."

"Did you know your mother's middle name was the same as my Christian name, Harry?"

"No, I had no idea," he revealed. "That's incredible."

"I wonder whose idea it was to do the separate lines?"

"I wouldn't put it past Molly and/or Sirius to have thought of it," Harry remarked. "I bet he even paid for it to be done."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Ginny agreed. "Well, don't you think it's time you made the introductions?"

They manoeuvred the babies so they were sitting on their laps, then Harry swallowed hard and began.

"Hello, Mum and Dad ... it's me, Harry. I've finally managed to get here. Not that I haven't meant to for a long time, but I've been very busy being an Auror, making sure that no one else is killed by a dark wizard as you were. You may be pleased to know that I killed Voldemort, so we don't have to worry about him any more. Which reminds me ... I've married a lovely girl, Mum, Dad.

"Her name is Ginny, and she's the sister of my ... best mate Ron, just a year younger than me. I ... love her very much. She also has red hair like you, Mum. We have two beautiful babies now, too, Mum and Dad. Twins--a boy and a girl. I named the boy for you and Sirius, Dad; hope you're pleased."

This was the point where Harry got choked up and had to stop speaking for a while, so Ginny filled in even as she put a comforting arm around him, holding baby Elizabeth with the other. He rested his head on her nearest shoulder, and she rested her cheek on his silky but unruly hair as they knelt on the warm grass; he soon slid one arm around her, holding little Sirius with his free arm.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. This is Ginny ... your daughter-in-law. It's great to finally meet you. I have loved your son since I was ten years old ... but it wasn't until he was sixteen that he finally noticed me. Slow on the uptake, huh? But what matters is that he noticed. As Harry told you, we have two beautiful babies now--and are very happily married, just as you two were. You would have to have been to have such a handsome son ... a son surely born of the deepest love imaginable. A son that I love with all my heart, every fiber of my being--and will until the day I die. And on behalf of my children and myself, thank you both so very much for giving him life."

This was when Ginny herself got choked up and could no longer continue; by this time Harry was able to go on. "I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life right now, Mum, Dad ... but I still can't help missing you. I think I'll always miss you. I wish so much that you could be here, could play with your grandchildren ... and so Ginny and I could hug you, show you how much we love you ..." Harry's voice trailed off, and he once again rested his head on Ginny's shoulder for strength.

"You all right, luv?" Ginny asked, concerned, sensing her beloved's pain. "We can go if you like."

"No ... I want to stay here for a while. It's so beautiful and peaceful here. Like nothing could ever go wrong ..." He then straightened up and continued. "Oh ... guess what I found out, Dad, Mum. Sirius ... was married. Did you know that? His son even goes to Hogwarts like we did. He's even named after you, Dad ... and we've met Sirius's wife, a lovely lady named Rose. We have even become friends, and I'm now an unofficial godfather to young James, helping him as Sirius did me.

"I even bought him his own broomstick and an owl ... we named him Brownie. We're even going to correspond as Sirius and I did ... and I'll advise him as best I can. I've also given Rose Sirius's family home in London as an inheritance for James ... not to mention his money for James's care and education. I think it's what Sirius would want me to do. Hope you agree." Harry once again fell silent; a moment later, his eyes closed and a soft smile came onto his lips. "Thanks, Dad, Mum. I'm glad ... you approve."

"Harry?" Ginny asked, concerned. "What ... just happened?"

"It's hard to say, but I would almost swear that I heard Dad's voice in my ear ... whispering to me that he and Mum approved of what I was doing for Sirius's wife and son."

"Maybe you did," she suggested. "Can you tell me what he ... sounded like?"

"Like an ... older version of me. That's the best way I can describe it."

The young couple didn't realize it but they were being observed, and although the observers were not of this plane of existence, they were very real nonetheless. The ghostly figure of James Potter, wearing round-lensed glasses, his hair every bit as unruly as that of his son, stood a short distance away from where said son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren knelt, one arm around his wife, who stood at his side. Lily smiled in their direction. "They're a lovely couple, James. Just like us when we were that age. Harry chose well."

"And how," he agreed. "She's the image of you. You could almost be sisters."

"Except for the eyes," Lily pointed out. "My eyes are green. Hers are brown." She stole another gaze at her now-grown son as the young couple stood up and turned in their direction, holding the babies in their arms. "Harry's so handsome, James. Just like you at that age ... and their babies are beautiful. How I wish we could be there to hold them and cuddle them--our grandchildren."

"So do I ... but we have to trust that Harry and Ginny will be good parents and love their children every bit as much as we loved him. It's so sad that he was so abused by your sister and her husband. I wish I could hex them into the middle of the next century for that! Thank Merlin he's away from them now--far away--forever. I'm ... also happy that he's found such good and loyal friends, like Ron and Hermione. Just like Sirius and Remus were to us."

"And do you realize that Harry now owns your family's ancestral home?" Lily asked her husband. "Too bad we never had the chance to live there. You told me such ... lovely stories about it. Just the same, I'm glad that Harry and his family will be able to live there. And it's big enough, so maybe they'll ... even invite their friends Ron and Hermione to live with them. Especially since she's going to have a baby soon herself."

"Would you like me to suggest it?" James asked; at Lily's nod he closed his eyes and projected his voice out, across the distance separating him from his son and his family. "Done. Harry seemed somewhat disbelieving and surprised ... but promised to consider it."

"We'd better go now, love. Remember our time here is limited ... only a few minutes every hour ..."

"I know. Why don't we look in on the babies tomorrow?" James suggested. "Spend some time with our grandchildren?"

"And if Ginny is there, I can ... advise her," Lily replied. "We'd better go now." With that, the ghostly couple vanished.

* * * * *

By this time, Harry and Ginny were heading back up the road to Spinner's End, carrying the babies. "You know, something very strange happened a few minutes ago, Gin."

"Strange?"

"I swear ... I heard Dad again."

"What did he say?"

"That he and Mum think it's a good idea that we invite Ron and Hermione to ... move in with us."

Ginny's eyes widened as she shifted little Elizabeth in her arms. "That is strange ... but a good idea just the same, don't you think? After all, we have plenty of room. And since Hermione is pregnant now, I can help her ... and you'll be close by to help Ron through the rough parts."

They walked in silence for a while, then Harry suggested, "My feet are getting tired. Let's Apparate the rest of the way."

Ginny agreed wholeheartedly. "And let's owl Ron and Hermione once we get back home, tell them what we've decided and see what they think of our offer."

"But we'd better say it's just from us. Can you imagine the looks we'd get if I told them that Dad suggested I do it?"

"Yes, I can," Ginny smiled. "Well, let's get back to the house now. We've got to feed the babies, then after that, ourselves." With that, the couple Apparated, each with a baby in tow, heading back to not only the Potters' ancestral home, but whatever destiny awaited them and their friends. A destiny they were no longer afraid to have their children share ... a destiny they were at least fairly sure that they would be able to share with the children for the majority of their lives.

However, neither was aware that James and Lily had been silently watching over their beloved son every moment of his life since their deaths, helping him wherever they could, and when they couldn't, directing him to those who could, such as Dumbledore and Sirius. And just as they had been there for their son, they would now be there for their grandchildren ... however many Harry and his wife ended up having, however his and Ginny's lives turned out.

Harry had had a very difficult life, certainly, and both James and Lily were sad about that, but it had been unavoidable. Fortunately, that was all behind him now. Harry's friends, wife, children and adopted family, the Weasleys, would be there to sustain him from now on, for as long as he lived--and if they had anything to say about it, that life would be a long and happy one ... just as long and happy as they could possibly make it!