Legacy

Chapter Four

I believe this is heaven to no one else but me
and I'll defend it as long as I can be left here to linger in silence
if I choose to, would you try to understand

Elsewhere, Sarah McLachlan

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She was in their rooms when he returned after class on Thursday.

Ginny was sitting on the sofa, talking to Minerva. They were laughing quietly at something when Harry walked in.

"Gin," he said, walking over to her, lifting her into his arms.

"Harry," said Ginny, as she stood up to receive his kiss. "I missed you!"

Minerva stood as well. "Please let me know if there is anything additional that you require, my dear. Thank you again for your help this year." She looked over at the couple. "Your services have been invaluable to us. I personally will not forget this," she said, smiling, and walked out of the room. Harry closed the door behind her.

He walked back to Ginny and picked her up, holding her in his arms, his face buried in her hair. He missed her so much when she was gone. He felt incomplete without her.

"Harry..."

"Hmm?"

"Put me down, love, I have to show you something."

"Hmm..."

"Harry!"

"Okay," he said, kissing her quickly.

Ginny pulled out several sheets of paper, her latest work from St. Mungo's. Her team had been working on antidotes for toxins, and the results were encouraging. They would be conducting several rounds of tests while she was at Hogwarts, as she didn't need to be involved in the day to day overseeing of that. It was promising. Harry looked at it, pretended to understand what it said, and nodded his head, agreeing with her as she talked.

"When did you get here?" he said, walking her over to the sofa and pulling her into his lap.

"Around lunchtime," she said, her hands in his hair. "Minerva took me straight away to the hospital wing, introduced me to Healer Parker, and let me get situated there. Its going to take a little while getting used to, but," she smiled, "I think this is going to be a nice change of pace for us."

He was going to have to pull himself away from her, but it was so good to be near her again. "Have you eaten? Want to go to dinner?" he asked.

"No, lets eat in," she said, eyes dancing. "I can have some house elves send us something."

"Mrs. Potter," he sighed, "that is a great idea."

They ate, catching up on family gossip, and the extra bits and pieces that she brought with her, things that Harry had asked for. Ginny had also brought Fawkes, who now stood on his perch in the far corner of the room, sleeping. He was full, plumed, and beautiful.

Harry regaled her with stories from his first days teaching, the lessons they had gone over, some of the children from families that they knew.

But Ginny watched her husband, who she knew so well, and was certain that something was wrong.

"Harry," she said, as he was pushing his pudding around the bowl with a spoon, "are you going to tell me what's on your mind? Or do I need to slip something in your tea later," she said, trying to lighten the mood.

Harry put his spoon down and looked at her with dark eyes. Oh no, she thought, its worse than I thought. She put down her own spoon, and met his gaze.

He looked... guilty? It was not a look she saw often. Harry was an honest man, never did anything that he would be ashamed of. This had to be something else, then.

Harry stood up, took her by the hand, and walked her over to the sofa again.

"I love you," he said, not releasing her hand. His fingers traced over the ring on her left hand.

"I love you, Harry. What's wrong, you're scaring me now," she said, worry in her voice.

I said the same thing to Remus, he thought. "I don't know where to start, love," he said, getting up, walking across the room, and looking away into the fire.

"First, I am going to apologize." Ginny stared to say something, but he turned to her, "Please, let me finish first. I need to get this out," he said. She nodded.

Harry took a deep breath. "First, let me say that this happened a long time ago. We weren't really even dating yet. But I don't think I was ever very honest with you about it. It was a relationship I had, once, a long time ago, back when we were still in school."

Ginny froze - this was not what she had been expecting to hear.

Harry continued, trying to get the words out.

"Aurelia de Cassini. Seventh year."

He paused.

"We were... close." Long pause. "I told myself that we weren't really together, not yet, that it would happen, eventually, but... I didn't tell you how close I had become with her."

"How close were you?" Ginny whispered.

Harry sat down on the sofa, sighed.

"We were close. It wasn't just physical," Ginny shut her eyes at this, "and I did care about her. But it wasn't... I didn't want to make it something too big. There was too much going on that year to start a serious relationship with someone." He paused again. "But it wasn't insignificant. I did care about her." He looked over at Ginny. "But I ended it when I realized how much I loved you, how much I needed you. It was over, I promise, the minute you and I fell in love. I promise. From that day, it has been only you. I am so in love with you, Ginny, still, nothing could change that."

Ginny started to cry. She remembered.

She remembered a night, four years ago, when she had seen them. It has seemed like a dream, a vision, so she had pushed it away, to the back of her mind.

She realized what Harry was trying to tell her.

"Harry," she said, tears in her eyes.

"There's a child, Ginny," he said, his voice was shaking. She knew that this must be very hard for him, and she took his hands. "A boy. He goes to school here. I've seen him," he whispered, "and ... I think he's my son."

Ginny felt her heart pounding in her chest. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"I can feel it. But if you're asking about proof then no, not yet. Hermione is going to have some tests run, to be sure this is not some elaborate hoax."

Ginny let go of his hands, walked over to the window. Harry was honest with her. It was time she was, too.

"I've seen him."

"What?"

"Once, when we were out in London. I saw him. I saw him with his mother. I recognized her, and then... I saw him..." she started to cry. "He looked like you..." she sobbed, crying harder.

Harry was stunned, but ran over to her side, holding her. "Shhh..."

He held her for a long moment, put her face in his hand, and asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to believe it, so I ..." she said, and broke down completely.

Harry took her back to the sofa. So she knew, too. It seemed like everyone had known, but him. They were still protecting him. Everything he had done to save the world, and they still thought he was unable to handle a crisis.

They sat, quietly, for a long time. He held her, she listened to his breathing. Neither one of them wanted to move.

Finally, he asked her, "What should I do?"

Ginny pushed herself off his chest, and looked at him, her eyes still red. "Talk to him. Then talk to his mum." She looked weary, but held his gaze. "Harry, do you want to be a part of his life?" she asked.

"I do," he whispered, his eyes red, too.

Ginny nodded. "Then you should."

He put his hands in her soft red hair. He loved touching her hair. "I didn't mean to hurt you, love."

"Harry, I love you. You didn't hurt me. This has nothing to do with me. This is between you and your son, and his mother."

"No, you are the most important person in my life, and I made you cry," he said, holding her tight, tears coming to his eyes again.

She smiled, she loved this man so much.

"Oh Harry. Tell me about him, okay?" she said, and she spent the next hour listening to him, talking quietly, smiling, and reassuring him. She could fall apart later, when he wasn't around. Right now it was time to be strong.

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Harry received two pieces of mail during breakfast Friday in the Great Hall - one from Hermione, asking him to meet her briefly later that afternoon, and one from Aurelia. Hedwig remained still, allowing Harry to take the parchment from her leg, nipped him gently before nicking a piece of toast and flying off.

Nervously, he broke the seal from Aurelia's letter.

Harry,

I've been expecting your letter. Yes, we have much to discuss. Would you like to come over to our flat? I can show you some of Renato's belongings; I thought that they might interest you. I'll expect you Sunday afternoon at two.

Aurelia

At the bottom of the letter was an address for a street in Muggle London. Harry put both letters in his pocket, finished his pumpkin juice, and headed to his first class.

**************************

"Hermione, are you okay?" he said, with the kiss to her cheek, as they sat down at the same table they had earlier that week. She looked tired.

"Oh, it's the sprog," she said, rubbing her tummy, "Can't sleep on my stomach anymore. Always have to use the loo, I'm pathetic..." she moaned softly. "I am serious, Harry, I don't care what they bloody think, this one is it," she stated emphatically. Harry stifled a laugh, recalling that she had said the same thing during each of her previous pregnancies. Harry loved when his logical friend was pregnant, she glowed.

"Well, the envelope, please..." she said, taking a scroll out of her handbag and looking over at Harry. He looked confused. "Never mind," she grumbled. She handed the scroll to Harry.

"You haven't seen it?"

"No, I thought that... it's your business, Harry. It's your scroll," said Hermione. She put some lemon in her tea, and sat back, watching him.

He opened the seal, and read the report.

A couple of paragraphs describing the testing procedures. A graph of some analysis done on the hairs. Sample A and Sample B.

One sentence at the bottom. Determination of paternity: conclusive.

Harry looked at her. He could not speak.

She sighed deeply, and said, "Congratulations, it's a boy." She looked carefully at him. "Are you okay?"

Harry nodded. "I expected this. I'm not surprised. But... it feels more real now."

She took a long drink from her tea, emptying the cup. "I'm really sorry, but I have to run, love, it looks like rain, and I can't be too late, or Ron'll think I've taken a lover," she drawled, laughing.

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Give my love to Gin. Owl me with any news, or if you need anything, anything."

"Thanks, Hermione," he said, "for everything."

An hour later, Harry was still sitting at the table, looking at the paper.

When he pulled himself out of his daze, he noticed that it had started raining. No, it was pouring, coming down in sheets. How had he missed that? His mind had been elsewhere.

He could apparate to the front gates of Hogwarts, but that still entailed a soggy trip up the long walk to the front gates. Damn, he thought, it had been a nice enough day earlier, he hadn't even brought a cloak.

A thought crossed his mind. He smiled. The tunnel under Honeydukes. No, he couldn't.

How long had it been since he had gone through there? Was it even still there?

Harry made his mind up, and walked over to Honeydukes. Even the three long strides it had taken him to get from one shop to another had soaked him, solidifying his decision to walk to the school through the tunnel.

He opened the door, and saw that several people were standing in the shop, buying some candy to eat while waiting for the rain to stop. The shop owners were delighted at this rush of business, and did not notice Harry slink into the back of the store. He quickly lifted the trapdoor, and slid it back into place.

"Lumos," he whispered. A soft light lit the path in front of him. Like everything else from his school days, the tunnel was smaller than he remembered.

After about forty minutes, he stopped. Voices.

Someone was ahead in the tunnel.

Instinctively, he extinguished his wand, and quietly walked toward the voices.

Whoever they were, they were not concerned about the noise they were making. Harry could make out laughter, and yelling. He felt more relaxed; obviously it was students, not anyone more dangerous. But who?

His question was answered in an instant. As soon as they turned the corner where he was standing, he said, "Lumos," and looked into two frightened faces.

Renato and Jack, frozen in place, mouths open.

"Oh shit," said Jack.

"Uh..." was as far as Renato got before Harry barked at them.

"What are you two doing here? You are not allowed to leave school grounds without permission," said Harry, angrily.

"Oh, Uncle Harry, we were just... we needed some more things for tomorrow," Jack said, pleading.

"You remember, the party?" said Renato, his eyes hopeful. Maybe they wouldn't be in too much trouble. "You said you might come," he added.

Harry was beside himself. On one hand, he had used this tunnel himself on numerous occasions, and had not always had permission.

On the other hand, though, he was now responsible for the welfare of these students, particularly the Gryffindors, and more specifically, his nephew and newly discovered son. Anything could have happened to them in Hogsmeade, and no one would have known what had happened to them.

"Back to school, boys," he said firmly. The boys looked disappointed, but turned around and trodded back to the castle.

"How did you find out about this tunnel?" asked Harry, after about five minutes of painful silence.

Jack looked sheepish. "Julien. We heard Julien talking about it," said Jack, adding, "he didn't tell us, or anything. Don't blame him."

Harry wasn't surprised. Julien, a fourth year was the eldest Weasley of the new generation, son of Bill and Fleur, and first Weasley in five decades to be placed in a house outside of Gryffindor. He was a Ravenclaw, but apparently not smart enough to keep knowledge of a secret tunnel from getting into the wrong hands.

"Okay. Thanks for being honest with me."

"Professor," Renato asked quietly, "how did you know about the tunnel?"

"Probably from the same place as Julien," said Harry. They looked puzzled. "Fred and George," he said, to Jack.

"My uncles," Jack explained to Renato. He turned back to Harry. "When did they tell you about it, Uncle Harry?"

Harry didn't respond. It would seem hypocritical to punish them for doing what he had done on several occasions.

"That's not important right now," he said, and instantly regretted it. He caught the look that passed between them. He was busted. Luckily, they were almost at the school. He stopped them.

"You two have to understand that it's not safe to be off school grounds. You are protected here, at Hogwarts, and the minute you leave the grounds, and that protection, you are vulnerable. I know that you wanted to have some fun tomorrow after the game. I can understand that. I can even help you get the stuff you need. But I cannot allow you to leave school grounds without permission."

"Are you gonna tell McGonagall?" Jack asked weakly.

"Professor McGonagall, Jack," he said sharply. He looked at the boys. "She would be forced to remove you both from the game tomorrow," he said. They looked heartbroken. "So, I think that I am forced to come up with an alternative punishment," he said, as they looked up at him, "as long as I know that you are not going to go into Hogsmeade anymore using this tunnel. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Professor," they said, looking relieved and anxious.

"I will arrange appropriate punishment for you two next week. In the mean time, get back to the common room, and rest." He smiled, and added, "You have a busy day tomorrow."

"We will, Professor. Thank you, sir," said Ren, a proper look of disgrace on his face.

"Yeah, thanks Harry, I mean, Professor," Jack added. "We owe you big time."

"Just do your best tomorrow, okay?" said Harry wearily, clapping them on the backs. They were good boys, really. He and Ron had probably been much worse...