You Don't See Me

CHAPTER SEVEN: Promises and Goodbyes

Harry's POV

A loud shriek sounded from the third landing of the Burrow. Seconds later, Hermione came running down the stairs... a look of pure disbelief plastered on her face.

"Where is she?" Ron asked. But Hermione couldn't stop herself from shaking. It seemed like she was on the verge of tears already. "Hermione, answer me! Where is my sister? She's just upstairs, right?"

She held up a piece of parchment for Ron to see... it was a letter, a letter addressed to the family. Ron's stomach sank as he recognized the handwriting scribbled on it. "Shh... she... she's gone, R-r-on." Hermione whimpered, too afraid and upset to continue what she was about to say.

It didn't take long for the other members of the family to notice Ginny's sudden disappearance after the wedding ceremony. Her absence was noted immediately when guests started arriving for the reception, which was held at the open field outside the Burrow. Ron and Hermione had thought that she was only upstairs in her room trying to rest. Mrs. Weasley sent them both to convince her to come down even for a few minutes.

But now they had absolutely no idea on where she was... or why she even left in the first place. The letter only gave a vague reason for her sudden departure. And as much as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley trusted their daughter, they just couldn't help but be worried for her safety wherever she was. As instructed, Hermione assured the Weasleys that Ginny would do just fine wherever she might be. This sudden disappearance might just be a journey of self-discovery for her, the young witch continued.

****

"Any news of Ginny yet?" Cho asked over breakfast, as we helped ourselves to bacon and eggs she had cooked that morning. She was as worried as the Weasleys about Ginny's disappearance almost two months before and would check every now and then with me to see if I had any news. Cho considered Ginny like a sister from those weeks they had spent together planning the wedding, and was shocked when she decided to leave town on such short notice.

I shook my head mutely before adding, "She's probably not ready yet to inform any of us where she is right now. Besides, I know her. She'll keep in touch one of these days."

"You said that a month ago," Cho pointed out. "But there are no developments yet. I just hope she's okay right now," she sighed, sipping her coffee. I managed to assure her that everything was going to turn out well before I left for work that morning.

Ron dropped by the office later that afternoon and I asked him if there was any news on Ginny yet. He gave me a negative answer.

"She's driving us all mental at home!" Ron exclaimed as he plopped down on the leather couch in my office. "Not a single owl these past two months!!! Mum's worried sick and no dinner conversation goes by without her being the main topic."

"How about Hermione? Maybe she has contacted her," I suggested. "After all, those two are best friends."

"That girl has been avoiding me as well," Ron added. "Keeps on insisting that she's busy with ministry work and law school. I haven't even talked to her for a week! And when we do get the chance... her mind seems to be off somewhere."

I hate it when Ron acts like a lovesick puppy. I've known for ages that he fancies Hermione but is just too shy to admit it to her. Whenever they get the chance to spend some time alone, they always end up bickering.

"Well perhaps you should surprise her one of these days." Being a bridge between them had been my role dating back to our Hogwarts days. "Try the nice-guy approach for once. It might work."

"You think so?" he asked curiously. I merely laughed at his reaction. "Seriously though... how's Cho? Mum said you should come visit one of these days. She misses you both already. Been unusually melodramatic ever since Ginny left."

"She's doing fine. In fact she asks about Ginny every now and then as well," I answered. Mrs. Weasley's invitation was just the thing we needed. Cho had been a little edgy these past few days and I was thinking maybe some time at the Burrow would do her some good. "Tell your Mum we might come over for the weekend."

"That's settled then, okay? I'd better get going though. I have a meeting with the editors at the Daily Prophet. Seems like they're sending me on an assignment to Italy this time." He shook my hand quickly before he headed for the door and said he'd be seeing me over the weekend.

****

As it turned out, Cho's edginess had to do with hormones. She surprised me with news over dinner that nearly caused me to choke on my steak. My wife was pregnant!!! I was going to be a father soon!!! This was reason enough to celebrate and so I told her to prepare because we were apparating to the Burrow to tell Ron and his family the good news.

****

Ron hooked an arm around my neck the moment we arrived at the Burrow, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Before I could say a word, he led us to the dining room where the whole family was and I noticed that Hermione had joined them that evening, and that Fred and George were there as well. Mr. Weasley and Percy were still off at work. Mrs. Weasley was unusually chatty and it wasn't until Cho asked that they told us their good news.

"Ginny sent a letter! Finally! After two months, she has decided to get in touch," Mrs. Weasley told all of us.

"Guess where she is? New York City! Imagine that!" Ron marveled.

"Did she send the letter by owl post?" I asked.

"Nope. Muggle post. It was much more convenient," Hermione replied. Was it just my imagination, or was Hermione giving me terse replies lately? She'd been acting rather odd ever since Ginny left and I couldn't help but feel that she blamed me partly for that.

Cho then asked if there were any plans to find her there but Fred replied that Ginny gave specific instructions not to. She said she would just write to them every month to tell them what was going on in her life. I later learned that she sent her letters through Hermione since the Burrow was hard to reach by Muggle post. Any letters for her would be mailed by Hermione as well. If ever attempts were made to follow her there, Ginny warned she wouldn't hesitate to pack her bags and move to another place.

"So why did you two apparate here so suddenly?" Mrs. Weasley asked, changing the subject. "You are welcome of course, but I thought you wouldn't be free until the weekend?"

"Well Harry here couldn't resist telling you some good news as well," Cho answered for me. Ron and Hermione simply stared back, wondering what I was about to say. "And we wanted the family to be the first one to know." She continued. At that statement, I couldn't help but miss my parents. They would have been extremely proud.

"So what is it this time, Harry?" George asked. "Got promoted at your job in the Ministry?"

"Yeah, what is it? What announcement couldn't possibly wait until the weekend?" Fred joined in.

Hermione however, seemed to have a clue about where this conversation was leading. Her eyes widened with disbelief before a look of pure delight came over her face. "Oh no! Don't tell us that you're...?" she asked me while pointing at Cho.

"You got that right. We're expecting an addition to the family," I answered her. Within seconds, an excited buzz filled the room as Hermione hugged Cho and Ron and his brothers gave me brotherly hugs of congratulations.

If only Ginny were here. I knew she loved babies too. She would have been happy over the news. As much as I was annoyed by her irrational decision to leave home, I couldn't help but miss everything about her whenever there were family gatherings like this. She could be either chatty or quiet depending on her moods. I had always considered her as one of my best friends, but it bothered me that she decided to leave without saying good-bye to any of the three of us.

****

For 5 months, I'd been patiently driving Cho to her doctor's appointments and even accompanied her for an ultra-sound. We may have been wizards, but we wanted to make use of Muggle scientific facilities for the birth of our first child. The ultra-sound told us that our unborn baby would be a girl. Cho wanted to drop by Diagon Alley afterwards to shop for some stuff for the baby.

Later that evening, she and I were in deep conversation about what to name the baby. We even made a list of possible godparents. Suddenly, our talk took a different turn.

"Harry? If anything happens to me, I want you to promise me one thing okay?" Cho asked me.

"Honey, what are you saying? Stop this morbidity, you're scaring me."

"What? The great Harry Potter suddenly scared of the inevitable? We'd all die someday you know," she teased me. "Just promise me one thing."

"Okay, okay... and what would that one thing be?" I answered, just to shut her up for the time being.

"That you'd choose someone who would love our child as much as I do. I want you to be happy. And even if I'm not around, I still want you to enjoy life and raise our family." This conversation was just too much for me to handle. Cho was talking as if she'd be gone tomorrow and never come back.

"Nonsense, Cho!" I exclaimed. "Stop all this morbid talk. You're my family now, you and that baby of ours. Nothing can ever replace that."

****

Two weeks before my birthday, our baby girl was born and we named her Abigail Therese. Several months after that, Cho got accepted for work at the Ministry. I tried to talk her out of it, reasoning that the baby needed her more these days but she wouldn't hear any of my pleas. It was no use trying to argue with my wife. She had this stubborn and spit-fire attitude that would wear you down if you tried to reason with her. We hired a nanny to look after Abby.

Then Christmas came, and a new year started. Ginny didn't came home for the holidays. She said in her letters that she was too busy with her work and couldn't afford to take a break since a promotion was at stake. By March of that year, Ron and Hermione announced that they were engaged. When asked for a wedding date, they both replied that they haven't thought about it yet because they were still on the stages of planning it.

****

I woke to the sound of a door slamming. It was a beautiful Friday morning. I scrunched my eyes shut, but soon opened them again and was surprised to see my wife packing up her stuff like she was going on a long trip somewhere.

"Going somewhere, honey?" I asked her as she stuffed some robes into her trunk.

"I received an owl from the Ministry this morning. They need me for an undercover assignment in a remote Scottish village. Seems like Death-Eaters have returned and are terrorizing Muggles and wizards alike," she told me.

"Power struggle," I mumbled. I figured it would happen soon enough. The remaining supporters of the Dark Lord, after retreating underground and re-grouping for years, would try to reclaim their power and start their reign of evil once again. Voldemort had been vanquished almost three years before but it hadn't stopped his legion of supporters from growing.

"But wait! You can't go. It's far too dangerous. Shouldn't the ministry be sending experienced Aurors in this assignment?"

"It would scare the enemy right out of the village," she explained. "We need to catch them off-guard and extract vital information from them. That way, we could bring the whole organization down with them. We have to infiltrate their core group." Hearing her talking like this was like listening to James Bond speaking. Of course I knew about the famous British spy! Uncle Vernon had a video collection of 007 movies.

"I still think it's dangerous though. Please don't go? Abby needs you."

"Harry, I'm doing this for her as well. I want our daughter to grow up in a safe environment. Besides, I'm doing what I love the most. And you know that I've made it a personal mission to hunt these Death-Eaters down to the last one. It's the only way justice will be served for the death of my parents and Cedric's death."

I cringed at the mention of Cedric's name. I always knew that he occupied a special place in her heart. When Cedric was murdered by Voldemort, it took her a while to recover. For a long time I felt guilty because had it not been for my insistence on taking the cup together, Cedric would still be alive today. But then, Voldemort was pure evil. He along was responsible for what he did to Cedric and to all those people whom he murdered, including my parents.

"By the way, what's the latest from Ginny these days?" Cho suddenly changed the topic. "I wish she would visit us someday. She hasn't seen Abby's pictures yet, has she?"

"I asked Hermione to send some pictures last month. She hasn't written back though. Maybe in a week's time." I answered. Ron had told me that Ginny was doing well with her job in New York, something related to events coordinating. It perfectly suited her personality. Ginny had an eye for details ever since we were at Hogwarts. She was the party organizer for the Gryffindors whenever we had celebrations at the Tower.

"When she's in town, do invite her to stay here okay? I'd like to hang out with Ginny. We never really got the chance to be that close." I looked at her with narrowed eyes. Cho added, "Maybe you, Ron and Hermione should convince her to go back home. So many things have changed since she left."

"You're creeping me out, you know that? Why are you suddenly concerned about Ginny?"

"Because she's a great girl, Harry. And she shouldn't be away from home. Her family's here. All the people who love her are here."

"It was her decision to move away," I replied curtly. This conversation with Cho was bringing up the guilt I felt whenever Hermione and I talked about Ginny. "She'll come back when she feels she's ready to face what she left behind."

"Very well then, I should be going now. I promised Sarah that I'd meet them all at the office before we proceed to the village." Sarah was her fellow agent at the Ministry and there was never any assignment that they did apart from each other. Since it was no use arguing further, I just wished her good luck for the trip.

"You take care okay? You could owl us anytime you want. I'll send Hedwig to you."

"Don't! She's an owl that attracts attention. I'll send you a letter first," she replied. "I'll be fine, Harry. Remember that I love you and Abby with all my heart. I'll always be here to protect you." Odd reply, I thought. That was supposed to be my line since I was the man of the house. But then, Cho was never the type to back away from challenging assignments. It was the way she coped with the deaths of her parents a few years ago.

As my wife prepared to leave, she took one last look at Abby in her room and gave her a good-bye kiss. "Good-bye, my angel. Mum loves you," I heard her say. When I saw her off through the front door, I felt my insides twist themselves into knots. I didn't know how long she would be away, but at least that good-bye hug we shared before she boarded her cab was something.

****

Isn't it weird how life-changing days start off like any other day? How there's nothing to warn you of what's to come? I had had no news from Cho for over a month. The Daily Prophet had reported for days that riots were becoming more frequent in the village where her group was assigned and I feared that their cover might have been blown. One sunny Tuesday morning, I was busy in my office answering letters from the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic inquiring about the Wizards' Convention to be held later that year in London. I heard a knock on my office door. I looked up and saw my secretary, Madeleine, with a letter in her hand. I motioned for her to come in and she handed me the letter, looking like it was some urgent matter.

The letter was from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. My heart skipped a beat, knowing it must be about Cho. I ripped the envelope apart and read through the contents of the parchment. After a few minutes, I dropped the letter like it was on fire. Blood drained from my face and many dizzying images fluttered through my mind. My head started to spin and I had to grab my chair to keep from losing my balance.

The riots in the village had gotten worse; the personnel that the Ministry had sent there couldn't keep up with the growing number of the enemy camp. There was nothing they could do, and by the time they sent some reinforcements, it was too late. The biggest riot had occurred some three days earlier and it totally devastated the place. The whole village was burnt to the ground and there were many casualties. Apparently, the enemy had found out that the Ministry had sent some spies over to raid their operation. Since they practically controlled the whole place, there was bound to be a spy among the people and so the Ministry's cover was blown. Of the four undercover wizards who were sent, only one survived and was in critical condition at this time. All were said to have been tortured and given the Cruciatus Curse before they were finished off completely.

My fears had come to pass. My wife was dead.

(To Be Continued...)