Harry Potter and the Last Goodnight

Chapter Fifteen: Two Worlds Colliding

Once they arrived at St. Mungo's, Harry fastened the bracelet around Nora's wrist for safe-keeping. He now noticed that her eyes were quite red and she kept wiping them on her sleeve, trying to catch her tears before they rolled down her cheeks.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Nora asked.

Harry glanced around the reception area. He had just assumed that the Portkey would have brought them directly to her sister's room, but it wasn't the case. Harry thought that was a bad sign. What if her sister was already dead? Harry had nearly been killed by Devil's Snare himself during his first year at Hogwarts. Was he supposed to watch over Nora if her sister was dead? Was he only there for moral support? Why had Dumbledore sent him here? Why didn't Seamus go?

"I'm not exactly sure where we're supposed to go," Harry replied.

"You mean that you're the most famous wizard in the world and you don't even know your way around this... this hospital?"

Harry tried to hide his grin. Nora didn't realize that he had lived a life very similar to hers before he came to Hogwarts. He still had little knowledge of the wizarding world. Plus, he'd only been to St. Mungo's once before to visit Mr. Weasley.

He searched the sign that said what ward was on what floor, but it didn't matter because he had no idea where a Muggle would be after battling against a nasty bough of Devil's Snare. "I think we'll have to ask the Welcome Witch." Harry gestured to a group of people who were lined up outside of what resembled a Muggle nurse station.

The two of them got in line and stood together in silence. Every once in a while he would hear a tiny sniffle from Nora beside him. She was still defiantly wiping away her tears. Harry's heart ached for her. She was trying so hard to keep herself together. Without realizing it, he slipped his arm around her shoulders for comfort. She didn't look up at him, for fear that her tears would spill over, but she did press in closer to him. So this is what it felt like to be a big brother.

It was finally their turn to speak with the Welcome Witch. "Can I Help you?" asked a blonde, slightly plump witch wearing robes of sky blue.

"Yes, we're looking for..." Harry began. What had Dumbledore said her name was?

"Eva," Nora chimed in. "Eva Finnigan."

The witch began searching through the papers in front of her, looking perplexed. "I'm sorry. I don't see anybody here by that name."

Nora looked as though she was going to start crying. She bit her lower lip. There had to be a mistake. Dumbledore wouldn't have sent them here if Eva wasn't here.

"She's a Muggle," Harry suggested. He didn't know if that made any difference or not.

The Welcome Witch looked up at him. Harry wondered if she'd caught sight of his scar or something, but instead she pulled out a different file of parchment. Nora was too short to peer over the countertop, but Harry could see the bright red slip of paper with "Finnigan, Eva" written on it and three "M's" next to it.

"She's in the Muggle Memory Modification Ward," the witch said. "It's down the hall on the right."

Harry nodded and guided Nora in the direction the witch pointed. Tears were rolling down her cheeks now, and every once in a while she would choke back a sob. Harry wasn't sure what to do. She really did look like a little eleven-year-old girl now. He took her hand so she would know she was not alone.

But now Harry was very concerned about the state Nora's sister was in. He'd only seen memory modifications a few times. There was his old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, who's own spell had backfired. He was in the long-term ward of St. Mungo's and didn't remember a thing about his past. And when he'd gone to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys, they stayed on a Muggle's campground who always greeted them with a "Merry Christmas" in the middle of July because his memory had been tampered with so many times.

It seemed to take ages for them to reach the Muggle Ward. Nora was grasping Harry's hand so tightly she was digging her nails into his flesh. "Here it is," Harry announced. "Everything's going to be all right, Nora," he added, although he wasn't sure why.

He slowly turned the knob and opened the door, expecting to see a wounded Muggle. But instead, there was a waiting room, which looked a lot like one in a Muggle hospital. In fact, all of the healers were wearing white lab coats, as though they were actual doctors.

Then Harry realized why it was called the Muggle Ward. Everything was set up exactly like a Muggle hospital. If a Muggle was brought there, they wouldn't know the difference.

Someone in a lab coat was sitting on one of the chairs in the makeshift waiting room. As Harry came closer, he realized it was Mr. Weasley. He stood up from his seat and rushed over to the two of them. However, Harry was relived to see that his face looked quite cheerful. He clapped Harry on the back. "Dumbledore told me you'd be escorting the young Miss Finnigan," he said. Then he took Nora by the arm and led them to a door, which Harry assumed her sister was behind. Mr. Weasley went down on one knee so that he was at Nora's eye level. "Your sister is very lucky, Nora. She somehow knew exactly how to deal with Devil's Snare, although she did end up with some minor burns and a few scratches."

And suddenly, Nora exploded into a crying fit. "It's my fault!" she cried. "I let Eva read my Herbology book before I went to Hogwarts." Harry realized she must have been feeling guilty this whole time.

In a very fatherly fashion, Mr. Weasley put two hands onto Nora's shoulders. "Don't be silly. You probably saved her life tonight. She knew what to do because she read your Herbology book."

"You... you really think so?" she sputtered.

Mr. Weasley nodded. "I know so." He opened up the hospital door a crack. "Go on in. You can see her now."

Nora, with a forced smile on her face, shot past Mr. Weasley and ran into the room. He quietly closed the door and stood up. He gestured for Harry to have a seat on a nearby couch. Mr. Weasley plopped down next to him. "Fudge always assumes the worst when he calls me out to a Muggle catastrophe. Miss Finnigan was very capable of holding her own against that Devil's Snare. She managed to escape with the aid of a single lighter. Amazing devices, really," he added. "Although, some of her fingers were burned to a crisp, I'm afraid."

"What about her memory?" Harry asked. He assumed the Obliviators had already taken care of it.

"Well, the Ministry has isn't quite sure what to do with her yet."

"What do you mean?"

Mr. Weasley sighed. "Her sister is a witch, so she has already been exposed to the wizarding world. We could keep her memory in tact with this knowledge. It wouldn't be breaking any of the Ministry regulations about Muggles. The choice is ultimately up to Eva herself. She can decide if she wants to remember this incident or not. However, we could use her for some research at the Ministry."

"Research?" Harry questioned.

Mr. Weasley merely grinned. The door into the waiting room opened up again. Nora came out. "Harry, my sister wants to see you."

Harry glanced at Mr. Weasley, who was still smiling, and stood up. He followed Nora.

In the lone hospital bed lay Nora's sister, who looked strikingly like an older version of the first-year herself. Harry sucked in his breath when he saw her. She was quite beautiful. Her pale skin was decorated with tiny freckles. Her hair had the same curl as Nora's, except that it was a light shade of brown highlighted in hues of gold, though it was a tad frizzy from the nightmare she'd just gone through.

Harry had the strangest feeling of déjà vu as the girl propped herself up on her elbows. "Hullo," she said, her voice thick with an Irish accent.

"Hello," Harry replied. As he studied her face, Harry wondered how old she was. At first glance, she looked as though she could have passed for twenty. But when he looked closer, he realized that she was much younger. She looked so familiar.

"I just wanted to thank you for bringing Nora here. I know she can be quite a handful."

"Look who's talking," Nora giggled, sticking her tongue out at her sister. Playfully, Eva returned the gesture.

"I... I have to ask you," Harry said suddenly, "have we met before?"

Eva winced a little as she fully sat up in her bed. Nora reached behind her and propped up some pillows. She thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so." She held out her un-bandaged hand. "I'm Eva Finnigan."

"Harry Potter," he replied and shook it gently. There was something familiar about these hands. They were so warm. Inviting.

"Harry's famous," Nora announced.

"He is?" Eva asked. She began fussing with a string on her dressing gown. On of her hands was bandaged with lots of gauze. It must have been the hand that was badly burned.

Nora nodded. "One of the most famous wizards in the world," she continued.

Harry felt himself blushing. But as Eva continued to pull on the string on her gown, Harry knew he had seen those hands quiver before.

"No! I know who you are!" Harry exclaimed. "You walked a dog in my neighborhood this summer."

"In Little Whinging?" she questioned.

Harry nodded eagerly. He'd seen her hands pulling Piers Polkiss's dog. When he'd first seen her, he thought she was older, and now he realized that it was the same girl who sat before him.

"Oh! Wait! You're the one the Polkiss' warned me about if I bumped into you at night. You go to St. Brutus' Center for Incurably Criminal Boys..." Her voice trailed off as she raised an eyebrow in confusion. She glanced at Nora, feeling foolish. "You don't really go to St. Brutus's, do you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I go to Hogwarts."

"Oh no," Eva said. "Now I feel terrible. When you came into the flower shop in Surrey with your aunt, I thought for sure you were going to steal something." Embarrassed, she covered her sparkling brown eyes with her hand. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"That was you too?" Harry said it more like a statement than a question. She had looked familiar that day at the florist, as well.

"That's me," Eva replied. "Dog walker and florist extraordinaire."

Harry laughed. "But what were you doing working in London, then?"

Eva's smile faded. She glanced over at Nora, who was studying some medical supplies on a nearby countertop. "Well, London pays better than Surrey," she said quietly. "And with Nora off at school, I can work more." She looked down at her hands. "I still miss her like crazy."

Harry suddenly realized that Eva must have been the only other person in the world for her. Come to think of it, Nora had never mentioned a mother or a father. Was it really just the two of them?

"I heard that," Nora said. She looked to her older sister and frowned. "It's not my fault you're only a Muggle. If you were a witch like me, you could be at Hogwarts right now."

"I know," Eva said sadly. "But everything will turn out okay." She turned to Harry. "Sometimes I still can't believe what she's saying. Getting her letters from owls, sending her money that's worthless unless she exchanges it into gold. I feel like I'm trapped between two different worlds."

And suddenly, Mrs. Figg's voice rang through Harry's head. He, too, was trapped between two worlds: boyhood and manhood.

"I know how you feel."

And as Harry stared into her eyes, he found comfort in them. She knew it was like to be alone. So utterly alone that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't smile.

"Excuse me," Mr. Weasley interrupted, poking his head in the room. "Nora, Harry, would you mind if I talked to Eva alone for a moment?"

No one objected. The two of them stepped out into the waiting room. Nora turned to Harry, excited. "So what did you think of her?"

"Of Eva?"

Nora nodded. "She's the greatest. I didn't realize how much I really missed her until I saw her. So?"

"So..." Harry began. "She seems very nice."

"Nice?" She glared at him. "Is that the best you can do? Eva is beyond nice. And she's so strong. A lot stronger than I am."

Harry had to agree. In all honesty, he didn't really know what to think of Eva. He was impressed by her. She'd been so easy to talk to. He should have felt like an outsider in that hospital room, but he felt comfortable. He felt welcomed.

"And she's pretty too," Nora continued with a wink.

Harry privately agreed. "How long has it been just the two of you?"

Nora's smile faded from her eyes. "Too long." She turned her back to him. 'I wish there was some kind of spell I could cast that would turn her into a witch. I would do anything to have her with me at Hogwarts."

But the fact remained that a wand could not be thrown into someone's hand and they would become a wizard. Wizards were born, not made.

Too bad, Harry thought. He was beginning to warm up to the idea of having Eva around.

Mr. Weasley came back out into the waiting room. "You can go back inside, Nora," he said. "A healer will be arriving any minute to set up a cot in there for you to sleep on for the night. I trust Dumbledore has given you instructions on how to get back to Hogwarts?" She nodded. "Excellent. Well, tell your sister I wish her a speedy recovery and I'll be checking back with her soon. Come along, Harry."

Harry waved goodbye to Nora, regretting that he didn't get to say anything to Eva. He followed Mr. Weasley out of the Muggle ward and down the hallway, back into the magical portion of St. Mungo's.

"Did she decide to keep her memory?" Harry asked. He was afraid of the answer. That meant that Eva wouldn't remember meeting him at all.

"Oh, now Harry, I can't tell you anything about that. It would be breaking the Ministry-to-Muggle Confidentiality Clause. However," he added with a twinkle in his eye, "I can say that I've just hired a new researcher in the Muggle Relations department."

Harry frowned. He had the mental picture of Eva hooked up to all sorts of wizarding devices and being pumped for information in a dark room. 'You're not doing research on her, are you?"

"No, no, no," Mr. Weasley replied quietly. "She's doing research for us."

Harry didn't quite understand, but he didn't press the subject. "Where are we going now?"

"I've got to go back to the Ministry and file a quick report with Fudge. Then we'll head home for some supper." Again, Harry felt a little odd when Mr. Weasley said "home" instead of the Burrow. "I imagine we'll have quite a full house tonight," he said with a wink.

* * *

When Harry and Mr. Weasley finally did arrive at the Burrow, dinner was already on the table and there were a dozen people gathered around it. Harry suspected the table had been bewitched, because it looked much bigger than usual.

"Harry, dear!" Mrs. Weasley greeted. "It's so good to see you! Come in and have a seat. You must be starving." She ushered Harry in the door and took Mr. Weasley's coat after greeting him with a kiss.

He was a little intimidated by most of the Order sitting in the Weasley's kitchen. Remus was there, and he stood up and gestured for Harry to take the empty seat next to him. "Good to see you, Harry," he said, giving him a hug. "Just got your letter the other day. I'm sorry about Quidditch."

Harry sat down. Somehow, his heart felt much lighter than usual. His feelings of envy towards Ron making captain seemed like they had taken place ages ago. He grinned at Remus. "It's all right."

"You're in a good mood, boy," Mad-Eye Moody growled from the opposite side of the table.

Harry felt his cheeks flush, but his smile remained. After helping Mrs. Weasley bring out the rest of the dinner, Mr. Weasley took a seat next to his wife at the head of the table. "I believe we're all here," he announced. "Let's eat!"

But as Harry glanced around the table, he couldn't help but notice that a few people were missing. Dedalus Diggle was there, as well as Elphias Dodge, the crook Mundungus Fletcher, and Hestia Jones. Snape wasn't there, nor Dumbledore or McGonagall, which didn't surprise Harry. However, one very important person was missing.

"Where's Tonks?" he asked casually.

Remus choked on the chicken he was eating. "I beg your pardon?"

Harry glanced around at the rest of the Order at the table. "Mr. Weasley said everybody was here. But Tonks isn't. Where's she?"

"Harry, are you saying you haven't recognized her yet?"

"Recognized her?" Harry questioned.

Remus shook his head. "I should've known. Harry, she's your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."