A Future Threatened

A Future Threatened

by Winnie Matthews

* * *

Chapter Four

Harry was taken aback, but after a moment, he hugged the young girl back, sensing somehow that she needed the comfort of this. Funny, he thought. But they were very much the same, him and Susannah. Both lost parents at early age, both had a world that Voldemort was in, both had the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked softly, pulling away so he could look at her more closely. She nodded, her green eyes glistening with tears. Susannah looked so much like him, Harry marvelled, that she could have been a relative. The same dark untidy hair, the green eyes, even the same build.

"Sorry," she muttered, pushing the tears away. "I'm just scared, that's all. What if I do fail?" she asked him, hugging her knees now. "What if I create a worse future than I came from, like my aunt said? What if instead of Voldemort there's an even worse evil in our world? What if--"

"What if you succeed?" Harry asked, interrupting her rant. "What if you create a beautiful, peaceful world that everyone can be happy in? What if you can finally have the life that you have always wanted?"

Susannah smiled ruefully. "Seems like we're made to suffer," she said suddenly. "Is that what being a witch means? Why does there have to be an evil dictator that has to make us suffer and destroy everything that we've worked so hard to build?"

"Dunno," Harry said, shrugging. "If I knew the answer to that, then this war would've ended a long time ago." He was quiet for a moment. "Susannah, tell me about the future."

The girl groaned and Harry grinned. "I don't mean you have to tell me every little thing, just . . . do you know where the Horcruxes are? What the last of the Horcruxes is? I never did figure out what that is . . ."

Susannah took a deep breath, considering. She supposed that there was some stuff she that could tell him without it causing any future consequences. "Well, I'm not sure about what the last one is, but I think that I might have an idea of where the locket is. Do you remember the initials on the fake locket that you found?"

"R.A.B.," Harry answered simply. He had been trying to figure out whose initials those were ever since he had found the locket. Hermione, too, had looked through the library before the end of term. "We've looked everywhere, but there's no clue as to who that might be. Hermione found a couple, but none of those looked like they had ever been involved with Voldemort."

"Right," Susannah said, suddenly businesslike. She remembered something that her aunt and uncle had told her about that. "Well, you're going too deep in this. Did you ever consider that you should be looking for the obvious?" She sighed at his bewildered look. "Maybe it's connected with someone you know."

Harry shook his head, exasperated. "You know what, Susannah? I think you would make a pretty good darn prophetess, you're so cryptic," he remarked and Susannah grinned. "Will you just tell me what you're talking about?"

"Regulus Black," Susannah answered and seeing his startled look, she added, "Sirius's brother, don't you remember? Remus told me that he died before Voldemort's first reign fell, killed by Death Eaters."

"Got into Voldemort's inner circle and then wanted to get out," Harry replied, remembering Sirius's words about his brother. "Regulus Anthony Black. R.A.B." He shook his head. "He stole the locket and that's why he died! No wonder Voldemort sent his Death Eaters after him."

Suddenly, Harry remembered her words. "Wait a minute, you know Remus?" he asked her and she blanched, as if realising that she had made a mistake. "Come on, Susannah, you can tell me. I mean, there some things that you can tell me without creating future consequences, right?"

Her green eyes looked up at him and she bit her lip. "I can't," she whispered and Harry felt his temper rise. "It's not that I don't want to, because believe me, I want to more than anything . . . . But if Voldemort found out . . . if he discovered who I was . . . it could be dangerous. Not just for me, but you as well. Harry, I'm sorry. I wish I could . . ." Her voice broke and she turned away, looking as though she were fighting tears. "Please, don't ask me any more about the future," she begged him, not looking towards him.

For some reason, Harry's heart ached for this girl, this frightened, sweet girl who had come all this way just to save his life. Before he even realised what he was doing, Harry reached out and placed a gentle hand on Susannah's shoulder.

She jumped a mile and then froze at his touch. After what seemed like an eternity, she relaxed against him. "I'm sorry, Susannah," he said gently. "I shouldn't have asked. Don't worry; we're going to change that future that you came from. For your sake as well as ours."

* * *

To say that her parents had been furious would be considered a massive understatement. Her father had gone off into a rage for about an hour and a half and her mother cried the entire time and then she begged Ginny to reconsider what she was going to do. Begged her to give up the child for adoption so she could finish schooling.

In the end, after Ginny had told them how much this child meant to her and that it was Harry's, they finally gave in and agreed to help her, on the condition that she finished school, if Hogwarts reopened. That was something that Ginny could give in to.

"Do you want me to go and find Harry?" her father had asked her after they had finished sketching out a road map to what they were going to do, expense-wise, anyway. "Tell him what has happened, that he's going to be a father?"

Ginny shook her head, red hair flying. "He can't know until You-Know-Who is gone and the threat has been destroyed," she said firmly. "I know this child will mean the world to Harry, but with the world as it is, it's no place to raise the next generation of Potters. And Harry's the only hope to save the world so that we have a safe future."

"Are you sure, Ginny?" her mother asked quietly, holding her against her, as if trying to block out the world. "Harry has a right to know about this. What if he comes back before You-Know-Who's gone?"

"I'll meet that road when it comes," Ginny said grimly. "But for now, Harry's child will remain a secret, for as long as possible. Agreed?"

She looked at her parents for confirmation and they reluctantly nodded. They didn't like keeping secrets from Harry any more than she did. He was like another son to them. And perhaps one day, he would be their son. In-law, at least.