Destination Unknown

Chapter 16

September 10^th, 2019

"We are in dire need of a chaser," muttered Doug.

"Hold trials," said Cory.

"Or try Ace. She's good," said Harry.

"I know," Doug frowned, "I asked her, but she refused. She says she won't play against her brothers."

"That's so silly," said Sylvia, "I don't know what we'll do!"

"We'll talk her out of it," said Cory.

"You will? Thank you so much, mate!" cried Doug.

"Hey, Ace! Wait up!" called Harry. Ace came up to her brothers.

"Anything wrong?" she asked.

"Yeah. We want to know why you're not playing Quidditch," said Harry.

"I just don't want to. I prefer to spend my time studying."

"Come on, sis. You're already top of your class. You know your entire syllabus by heart. Why do you need to study?"

"Harry, please. Leave me alone. I just don't want to play, ok?"

Cory put an arm around his sister.

"Listen sweetheart. We know that you don't want to play because of us. What you don't realise is that your house needs you. You can't ditch them," he said softly.

Her eyes welled up with tears.

"I can't," she muttered.

"Of course you can. And if you don't, we will resign from our House teams, too," said Cory.

"No! It's your final year! You can't do that!" she cried, horrified.

"Yes!" said the twins.

"But..."

"Ace, you can't let such silly things stop you! You are an excellent player; you can't just waste your talent like that! What will Mum and Dad say? Imagine how sad Dad will be after all the time he spent training us!" exclaimed Harry.

Ace hung her head.

"You're right," she whispered, "Thank you. I'll do it. And no mercy to you two!"

"Give it your best shot!" said Cory.

"Yeah," agreed Harry.

They parted ways after a three-way hug, grinning broadly.

"Athena, I wanted to talk to you about something," said Ralph.

Four heads turned to face him.

"Go on, Ralph," said Ace.

"It's kind of private."

"Ralph, we're friends. We've always shared secrets."

"Please, Athena. We can tell them later if you wish to."

"Ok. Come."

Ace and Ralph walked to the lake and sat down on the grass.

"What is it?" she asked impatiently. She was eager to know what was so private. Ralph was a rather talkative kind of person, and this was rather strange behaviour for him.

"You know that my father is a professional photographer?"

"Yeah. The famous Colin Creevey."

"Well, he used to take pictures when he was at Hogwarts, too."

"So?"

"Umm, he was particularly impressed by Harry Potter - the -Harry Potter."

"I don't see what you're driving at, Ralph."

"Allow me to explain, Athena. My Dad was a great fan of Harry Potter. And we have lots of pictures of him at home. Many of them are from his schooldays."

"Do you have any? Do you want to show them to me?"

Ralph nodded and handed her some pictures.

"I borrowed these from Dad," he said.

Ace glanced at the pictures and nearly dropped them in shock. Her brother's face was staring back at her from the snapshot with the only differences of glasses and a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

"This is Harry Potter?"

Ralph nodded.

"I wasn't too sure until I came across this," he pointed at another picture. Ace held it up with shaking fingers and gave a strangled cry.

It was a picture of Harry Potter in his seventh year, without his glasses. Familiar green eyes looked back at her and a well-known smile lit the boy's face.

"Harry?" Ace whispered.

The picture nodded at her and gave a grin that was all too similar. Ralph stared at her for a whole minute, wondering what to say.

"Athena - I thought you should see these pictures...they resemble your brother Heron so much...it's almost as if...as if...they're father and son. I didn't think it would be a good idea to show you publicly..."

Ace nodded.

"Thank you, Ralph. I appreciate your concern. You were right. This is private. I don't think our other friends need to know about this right now."

Ralph nodded.

"Can I borrow the photographs?"

"Sure, Athena."

Harry was surprised to see Orpheus flying towards him. They had talked to Ace in the morning, and he wondered what she wanted now. He opened the letter.

Dear Harry,

Something very disturbing has come up. I need to talk to you. Be at the lake at five. Bring Cory if you wish to.

Love,

Ace.

Harry frowned and showed the letter to his brother. Cory frowned as well. It wasn't like Ace to be that serious. What could the matter be?

"Ace? What's wrong, sis?" asked Harry as he approached his sister. Cory walked beside him.

Ace held out the photographs.

"Ralph gave me these. They are Harry Potter's pictures which his father took when he was at Hogwarts."

The two brothers gasped at the first picture. It was the one in which Harry Potter sat without his trademark glasses.

"He looks just like you, Harry!" cried Cory. Harry nodded dumbly.

"What does this mean?" he wondered aloud.

"Ralph said they are as similar as a father and a son...look at Adrian and Uncle Ron..." muttered Ace, looking on the verge of tears.

"But we were born a year after he died..." said Harry.

"There are spells to stagnate pregnancy, Harry," said Cory quietly.

"And he was her best friend," said Ace.

"But Dad - and Cory..."

"We're fraternal twins, Harry. We look similar, not alike. If you're Harry Potter's son, so am I. Or I may be Dad's. I do look a lot like Grandmother Narcissa. Mum's a clever witch. I'm sure she could have managed it with complex spells."

"What about Dad?"

"I don't know. It's possible that he may not know. They were enemies during most of their schooldays, and he's unlikely to have seen him without his glasses. The glasses and the scar do make a lot of difference."

"Ralph spotted it," Ace said.

"He's a photographer's son. He shoots pictures himself, I believe. His eyes are trained," Cory replied.

Ace nodded.

"What do we do?" asked Harry despondently.

"We can talk to Mum and Dad..." began Ace.

"What if Dad doesn't know?" barked Cory.

"We can talk to Mum, then..." she said.

"And say what? 'Hey, Mum, we were wondering if Harry Potter sired Harry?' - do you think you can do that?" Cory looked really angry now.

"Is it possible that she adopted me when Cory was born?"

"Aunt Ginny would have to know," said Cory, "but it's possible, yes. But then, who is your real mother?"

"I don't know...but I'd like to know...and this might explain my visions...I believe it does...Ron and Hermione...Uncle Ron and Mum..."

"They don't explain mine!" cried Cory.

"But what do we do?" cried Ace.

Harry drew himself up to his full height. For a moment, he seemed to be glowing with power.

"We do nothing. Forget that this conversation ever took place. Ace, ask Ralph to do the same. Let Mum keep on thinking that we don't know anything," he stated and walked away. Unknown to himself, Harry Malfoy had used the 'hero voice' of Harry James Potter.

Cory and Ace stared after their brother in amazement.

"Where did he learn to speak like that?" wondered Ace, "I was really spooked, you know...it was like...like I could not disobey that voice..."

"Blood will out," said Cory enigmatically.

"You love being mysterious, don't you?"

"I am not the Head Boy for nothing."

"Harry is a Prefect. And he's Quidditch Captain since ages. He hardly gloats."

"He's modest."

"You should be, too."

"That's not the point here."

"I know, Cory. He's upset..."

Cory nodded and said sadly, "But we can't do anything about it."