Will You Ever Return to Me?

Epilogue.

June 2018, above eastern Oregon.

Helen Gertrude was looking forward to another victory at Skydiving Chicken. When Alan was murdered, she had gone back to the Muggle world under a new identity and resumed her hobby of extreme sports. She had neither connections nor skills in the wizarding world to take up Alan's mantle, and so far, no one else had thought to do so. She'd wait. She could wait for a long time. Meanwhile, nothing would prevent her from living her life to the fullest.

"Ready to lose?" she asked her opponent, standing next to the open door of the airplane.

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched," he said.

"Whatever. One, two, three, go!"

They jumped and started falling together. A few seconds later, the man looked at his watch. "Just in time," he whispered.

"Just in time for what?" Gertrude asked.

"For the potion to wear off," he said, and began changing his appearance before her eyes. When the change completed, she recognized him.

"Potter!" she yelled. "What--"

"I found you, Gertrude," he said.

She knew denial would get her nowhere. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

"In a way."

She breathed. "Then do it."

"Do you think I'm stupid? This area isn't exactly crawling with wizards. An Unforgivable will have the MLEA--or are they part of the FBI now--around here on the double. A simple parachuting accident, on the other hand--"

"I've never had a parachuting accident--"

"There's a first time for everything," Potter replied.

Gertrude yanked her release cord, and the parachute began unfolding. The canopy opened fully... and flew off, with Gertrude still falling.

"What have I told you?" Potter said. "By the way, this also constitutes your first loss at Skydiving Chicken."

"You cheated," she said.

"No, I took advantage of your emotions. Isn't that what the game is about?"

She reached for her wand. "Looking for this?" he asked, showing to her. He snapped the wand in half and tossed the pieces down. "Not going to work."

"Why--"

"Why'd you kill my friends?"

"Why'd you kill Alan?"
"He was trying to kill me. He was going to start a civil war--"

"The Muggles must learn--the Revelation was--"

"A painful learning pang, and general acceptance afterwards. Compared to a war--"

"We lost everything!"

"You, maybe. There are still wizards. There are still wizarding schools. We--"

"It cost them nothing! It cost us--"

"Shut up! I've heard it all from Hund. The peace between our worlds was fragile enough--we saw that. Have you ever heard of the MAD doctrine?"

"What? What does that have--?"

"That's what the situation was like--for centuries! We didn't have to like it, but that was reality--and Hund was a destabilizing element. For both worlds' sakes, he had to be eliminated. If we could, we would do it while maintaining the secret. We couldn't. You want to blame someone for the revelation, blame Hund."
"Potter, I'm not interested in talking philosophy with the one who murdered the man I loved. And you haven't considered one more thing."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I have," --she yanked the cord-- "a reserve parachute."

Potter didn't stop, simply waiting for the canopy to be pulled out. Then it met the same fate as the main parachute.

"No," he said, "you don't."

"What about our radios? They'll get the entire conversation, and--"

"I replaced them with magical communicators," he said. "No one is listening in but us."

She looked at him. "You've thought of everything, haven't you?"
"It took me fifteen years to find you, Gertrude. I wasn't about to make a slip that'd let you survive and cost me fifteen more. This is it, Gertrude. This is justice."

"You're going to hell for this."

"Maybe," he said. "But you'll get there first." Potter began changing again, this time getting smaller, transforming into a hawk. He soared above her as she plummeted down.

THUD. She heard a very loud noise and felt a jolt of pain. Then, nothing.

Cincinnati, Ohio.

The doorbell rang. Ginny, wondering who it was, hurried to open it.

When she did, her jaw fell down. "Harry? Is it really you?"

"Hello, Ginny," he said. "Yes, it's me."

"Well... why don't you come in?"
Harry did so. "You look great," he told her.

Ginny blushed. "Thanks. You..."

"Huh?" He was looking around absentmindedly.

"I suppose," she said after a long pause, "this means you got her."

Harry nodded. "Helen Gertrude is dead," he said.

Ginny sighed. "I hope it was worth it."

"What--"

"Aunt Ginny?" a voice came from upstairs. "Who are you talking with?" A short teenage girl with bushy red hair came down. "Uh... hello?" she said.

"Hi... Caroline?" Harry asked. The last he'd seen her, she was almost a baby.

"Harry is an old friend of mine... and of you parents," Ginny said.

"You knew Mum and Dad?" Caroline asked, excited.

"We were friends at school. Very good friends. You look a lot like them--both of them."

"Why didn't you visit before?" Caroline asked.

"I was busy," he said. Ginny looked at him and mouthed, She doesn't know before he went on.

"I'm going to meet Lee, Aunt Ginny," Caroline said. "Will you stay?" she asked Harry. "Will you tell me about Mum and Dad?"

"I might," Harry said. "I'd certainly like to get to know you better."

Caroline smiled.

"Stay safe, sweetie," Ginny said. The girl Disapparated.

"Something on your mind, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"You didn't actually adopt her?"
"I... I couldn't. I felt like I was taking something from Ron and Hermione. Silly, isn't it? And she was really sad when Hermione finally died last year--even though she never really spoke to her. She never woke up, you know."

Harry looked like he was about to cry. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just... we visited her every once in a while... always hoping for something, and... nothing ever happened. We buried her next to Ron."

"I plan to go to the cemetery soon. I go there every year, you know. On the anniversary of..."

"So do we. How come--"

"I wore disguises," he said.

"Harry..."

"How's everyone else.

"Who? Padma and Sergeant Anderson had married."

"She married someone who shot her?"

"It was an accident. Hemmings... well, she's the first witch in Congress, so take it however you want. Lydia runs a software company."

"And you, Ginny?"

"Vice Principal of the Cincinnati Magical Academy, and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I hope you don't mind I took that job from you."

"Well, since I couldn't--"

"You could have Harry. You could."

Harry didn't try to argue.

Ginny heard the front door open, and let in her kids and husband. "Gin!" Jon called out.

"Hi, Jon," Ginny said, as he ran up to him and kissed him.

"Who's this?" Jon asked.

"An old friend," she said. "Harry, this is my husband, Jon Horner--"

"You--"

"Pat and I kept in touch, she introduced me to her brother, and it went on from there. These are our kids, Laura and Christopher. Everyone, this is Harry Potter."

"The Harry Potter?" Laura asked.

"Yes, the Harry Potter," Ginny said. "He was a friend of Caroline's parents. Jon, can you get dinner going I want to have a word with Harry alone."

Jon headed into the kitchen. "Let's step outside," Ginny said.

"Ginny," Harry asked, "do you think I did the wrong thing? Back--"

"Harry, you may hate me for this--"

"I could never hate you. I still--"

"Don't say it, it'll only make it worse. Yes, I think you did the wrong thing. We could have worked things out, I know we could have.

"I was really angry with you after you left. But I know why you did, and I'm not mad anymore. I just sometimes... regret it happened this way. You made your choices, and I made mine. And, despite everything, I'm happy with mine, and I want you to to be happy with yours."

"But--"

"If I was the kind of person who'd leave Jon and the kids to run off with you, would you want me to?" She laughed.

"This is a goodbye--"

"It is not. I care about you. I am your friend, if you'll have me as one. Caroline will want to know as much about Ron and Hermione as she can. You know what that's like, don't you? There is no need for you to run away. In fact, there never was."

"You still think I was wrong, then?"

"Yes. You were wrong to dump me after Dumbledore's funeral, you were wrong to not pay attention to me during the war, and you were wrong to go after Helen Gertrude. And you lost a lot of happiness because you made those wrong choices. I want you to be happy, Harry."

"That won't be easy," he said.

"You've done a lot of difficult things in your life. You can do it."
"Nice to have your confidence in me."

"You always had that. And you always will."

"Thanks. I guess I need to think about where I shall go from here. Maybe I'll return to England for now. Well, good--"

"No. It isn't a goodbye. Not this time."

"I guess I'll see you later, then."

"Much better. And not just me. Caroline, too. You promised."

"I said I might--"

"Harry!" she glared at him.

"Right."

"I hope you'll be happier next time we see each other."

"So do I."

Ginny kissed him on the cheek. "Go on, or Jon will get suspicious."

He looked into her eyes and Disapparated. Ginny couldn't hold back her tears. "Good luck," she whispered, "Harry Potter."