Gone/Ghost of a Memory
Ghost of a Memory - Chapter 4
By Kinsfire
Ghost of a Memory
Chapter IV
"That is not fucking funny, Potter!" screamed Ron into the speakerphone’s microphone.
"How do you think I feel, Ron?" Harry asked softly. "I terminally ruin my friendships with the two of you, run away to America, and find her."
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked softly. Harry proceeded to tell her about the day, walking down the street as he talked. He told them everything; how similar they were, how Meg had used his middle name, how she’s known he’d been grieving for three years, and about all the little things she did that were so like Ginny. "So far, Harry, it could be what you suggested — a magical twin."
"Does it make sense that a magical twin would get a tattoo of a Golden Snitch, not knowing what it is?"
He could hear Hermione’s blush as she spoke next. "How did you happen to see this tattoo, Harry?"
"What tattoo? Ginny didn’t have any tattoos on her body," Ron protested.
Harry chuckled despite himself. "Ron, how many times did you have reason to part your sister’s thighs? If Hermione knows about it, then I may have to apologize for lying to you the other day, Hermione."
The laugh that came across the phone was tinged with embarrassment. "She wanted to show it to someone, and figured that Ron would fall over dead if she lifted her skirt and opened her legs." She snorted. "She told me about that night the next time we talked. Girls talk about things guy wouldn't dream of."
"It was certainly something to talk about," he laughed.
There was silence on the line for a moment, and Harry could hear the tapping of a keyboard. "That last name was spelled ‘enn-eye-vee-ai-ell-eye-ess’, right?" When he agreed, he heard a few more taps. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed, which surprised Harry. She still was not a big user of profanity. "Even if the tattoo didn’t prove it, the last name would. I know who kidnapped her, too, and you need to watch your back. Mustela Nivalis is the Latin name for a species called the Least Weasel."
"Shit!" Harry cried. "Lukasion Pendragon! Lucius' Son Little Dragon! Draco fucking Malfoy!"
"Actually, my middle name is Ananias, Potter. Turn the phone off, put it away, and turn around." Harry pressed a button on the phone and carefully put the phone back in its holster before turning around to see Draco with his wand pointing at him. "Now, isn’t this fun? I’m looking forward to this one, Potter. Margaret Virginia Nivalis is in fact Ginevra Molly Weasley. I’m rather proud of that last name, myself."
"Well, you’re allowed to be brilliant once in your life. Pity you wasted it coming up with a last name."
"Droll, Potter. Very droll. I’ve got you this time."
"Really, Malfoy? Do you remember what it was that led Voldemort to his end? Cast your mind back a few years, and see if you can remember that."
"Huh, so the rumours are true — you really did kill the insane old Mudblood. I’m a lot smarter than he was, though, Potty."
"Not really, Malfoy. You’re just more psychotically confident than even Voldemort was. We’re standing in the middle of the street in Muggle Salem. You really think that the Americans don’t have their own version of the Ministry? And that they don’t notice little things like how you’re holding your wand on me? Wizards and witches hold their wands differently than Muggles use theirs in their rituals. Muggle studies would have been a smart thing for you to take, but you were too proud to lower yourself for it. So now we stand here in the middle of a Muggle street, waiting for the Aurors and Obliviators to come along."
"Then we’re leaving this street, Potter."
"Give me a reason why, Malfoy. You can’t fire on me in the street here. At the moment, they aren’t doing anything because we might be doing a street performance. The second you fire a spell off, you’ll have thirty or forty Stupefy spells hitting you."
Malfoy spun his head quickly to see if he could find the Aurors. When his eyes came back to Harry, Harry grinned. "Besides, Malfoy, you never learned one thing in your time at Hogwarts." He slid his thumbs into his pants pockets, leaving his fingers visible.
"What’s that, Potty?" Draco snarled.
"You don’t need to point your wand to cast the spell. Legilimens!" He locked eyes with Malfoy, glad that his pockets were deep, and that his thumb could touch the handle of his wand.
The images ran through Harry’s mind like water flowing down a river. He saw the kidnapping. He saw Draco Obliviate Ginny, and saw him build new memories for her. He saw her beneath Draco, not enjoying their time together, rather obviously, but it also wasn’t rape, from what he could see. He saw the wedding ring that Draco intended to put on her finger when the two of them were married, and felt Draco’s horror that he knew. He followed that line of thought. "I’ll burn out your fucking brain to get the information, Malfoy!" He felt Malfoy relax and give up everything — no matter what Draco might have thought, he didn’t want to die. He wanted to be there to see Ginny crumble after the wedding, knowing that she’d cheated on Harry, and that Harry thought she was dead and wouldn’t even come looking for her.
Harry grinned as he let go of Draco’s mind and let Draco fall to the street. He pulled his own wand and looked around at the crowd. "Get all that, guys?" he said as he pulled his cell phone.
"Got it," Hermione said. "What’s the good word?"
"I was going to ask you. Please tell me that Ron got his dad on the line and got somebody on their way here."
"You’d be right," a voice said from behind him. "Arthur Weasley sent a message and told us to tell you that Moony is proud of you, and that Padfoot and Prongs would be especially proud. I assume that establishes the bona fides?"
"Yes, sir, it does. You’ll find that he’s listed as officially dead, with no body found."
"Well, he’ll be extradited to your Ministry, and I expect whatever punishment is due him will happen there. Thanks to your quick thinking, we have minimal memory modification to do. Most people watching this already think we’re part of a LARP. You were trained well, Auror Potter. It’s been a pleasure to work with you."
"And you, sir." He looked to the phone as well. "I’m going to hang up now, Hermione. I need to go bring back my wife’s memories. I’ll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay. You call us as soon as you two are sated enough, you hear, Harry?"
He laughed hard. "You know me so well, Hermione. Go tell your husband I apologize again, and he needs to think of my punishment. I wasn’t joking about that wizard’s oath."
"I’ll tell him," Hermione sighed. "Sometimes you’re too honourable for your own good. I’ll talk to you later." He heard a click, and he shut off his own phone. He started to walk back toward Meg’s/Ginny’s apartment, and was nearly tackled as he reached her alleyway. He was mildly amused to realize that her legs were wrapped around his waist, and she was hugging him very hard, shivering.
"I was so worried! When I mentioned you to Lukasion, he went ballistic, and I thought he was going to kill you!"
"He was, but I outsmarted him. Not a difficult thing to do, actually." He pulled out his wand and murmured, "Accio wedding ring." A few moments later, a small box shot into his open hand. He opened the box and showed it to her.
Dropping to one knee, he looked up at her. "Will you consent to being my wife? Again?"
"Again? I’m Ginny? Are you sure?" She looked worried.
He slid his hand up her thigh until he reached the tattoo, causing her to shiver in anticipation. "This tattoo told me that you have to be Ginny. There’s no reason for Meg Nivalis to get a tattoo of a Golden Snitch, when she doesn’t even know what it is. Ginny, on the other hand, loved it when I went after the Snitch, especially with my teeth." He looked up at her face, and noted with more than amusement that she was stretching the fabric of her shirt. She held out her hand to him.
He mentally crossed his fingers and slid the ring onto her finger. She stiffened, and bit back a scream. Finally, she collapsed into his arms. "Ginny? Are you okay?"
She blinked and looked up at him. "Harry?" She began to cry.
"What is it? Are you okay?"
"No. I've been living in America for three years, apart from my husband, not even knowing I was married, and contemplating marrying Draco Malfoy, and having sex with the little bastard. I'll never be okay again."
"Would it help if I told you I love you? And that I don’t hate you for it, especially since he programmed you to care for him?" Harry took a deep breath and pulled her closer. "He always lusted after you, and was going to use the wedding to you as his final way of breaking you. The American Ministry has him, and they’ll be sending him to England for trial. He’s out of our lives, my love, my life, my very reason for continuing to live." She looked up at him in wonder, and he pulled her into a kiss. He poured three years of loss, of pain, but most powerfully of love into that kiss. She melted against him.
When they broke, Harry looked into her eyes. "I love you, Ginevra Molly Weasley Potter, and I always will. You truly are my reason for living."
Ginny suddenly gasped as she looked down the street. "Harry! I need to introduce you to someone."
He turned to see a little girl running pell-mell down the street, yelling "Mommy!" A woman was jogging behind her, smiling.
Ginny nodded to the woman and then swooped the black-haired girl into her arms. She turned to Harry and said, "My husband? I would like to finally introduce you to your daughter. I was pregnant with her when I was kidnapped. I hadn’t had the chance to tell you. Harry Potter, I’d like you to meet Lily Nivalis … well, Potter now." She turned to Lily. "Honey, this is your Daddy."
Two little arms shot out to him. "Daddy!" He took the little girl into his arms, and found that he simply could not see for the tears in his eyes. "What’s wrong, Daddy? Why are you crying? Are you sad?"
"No, Lily, I’m so happy I’m crying. Now that we’re together, I’ll never leave you or Mommy again, and I’m sorry that I wasn’t here for you before."
"That’s okay. Mommy said I’d see you again someday. Here you are!"
He pulled Ginny into a deep hug, with Lily in the middle. "I came to America to get away from people trying to tell me that I should move on, and instead I find a miracle." He kissed Lily on the cheek, and then kissed Ginny's lips gently. "My reasons for living are here in my arms."
He handed Lily back to Ginny and grinned as he pulled out his phone again. Hitting redial, he laughed as he heard Hermione say with her own laugh, "I never thought you were one for a quick one, Harry."
He clicked a button on his phone and grinned. "Hermione, I've put you on speakerphone here. What say you do the same there?"
"Okay," she said, followed by a click. "You're on speakerphone."
"Is Ron there?"
"Of course I am, Harry. Is Ginny there with you?"
"Yes, Ron, I am," Ginny said with a voice thick with emotion. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, Ginny," he replied, obviously fighting hard not to cry.
Harry laughed. "Ron, Hermione — I have someone to introduce you to. Lily Potter, I'd like to introduce you, over the telephone, to your Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron."
"Hi, Aunt Her-my-nee and Uncle Ron!" squealed the little girl.
"Hi Lily," Hermione said happily, voice throbbing with emotion.
"Let's go back to your apartment, Meg … Ginny. If you two don't mind, I'll bet we can be there in a few minutes, Ron. I think you guys would like that."
"Why aren't you here already?" he shouted into the phone.
Harry laughed. "We're walking back to the apartment right now. We'll portkey to you in a few minutes, Ron. I want a portkey back here as well."
A few minutes later, there was much hugging happening. As soon as they had shown up, Ron had run to the fireplace and Floo'd the Burrow. "Mom! Dad!"
"What is it, Ron? Did they catch Draco? Is it Ginny?"
Ginny popped her head into the fireplace. "Mummy?" she said, and started to cry. Harry pulled her away and held her to make room for Arthur and Molly to come through. There was much crying and incoherency as they reunited.
Harry sat in a chair away from the group and smiled at the reunion, then looked upwards. "Hey God? I take back all the nasty stuff I said about you. Thank you for giving me my life back."
Hermione walked over to him as he looked back toward everyone. "I think you'll see more Death Eaters turning themselves in when word of this gets out. You chased down someone who was dead and captured him, bringing back your dead wife at the same time. You'll never escape the celebrity status now."
"I have the very thing that gives my life meaning back, Hermione. I can live with being a celebrity. I can live again."
Ron walked over with the family and pulled Harry to his feet, then gave him a rough hug. "Thank you, Harry. You brought my sister back to us. I can never thank you enough for that."
"You still need to set that punishment for me, though. I owe you that, after the treatment I gave you a few days ago."
"Been thinking about that," Ron said with a sudden grin. "My punishment is this — live with my sister and have as many children as you want to."
"That's not a punishment," Harry chided. "It's what I want to do with her."
"May not be a punishment for you," Ron laughed, "but it sure as heck would be for me! I lived with her for long enough growing up!" He laughed at the playful swat to his arm from Ginny, then yanked her into another hug. "In case I haven't said it, Ginny; I love you."
"I love you too, Ron."GoneGhost of a Memory - 1Ghost of a Memory - 2Ghost of a Memory - 3Ghost of a Memory - 4Ghost of a Memory - Epilogue