𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 2008

Of Truth and Illusion

Title: Of Truth and Illusion
Author: ennyousai
Team: Epilogue
Prompt: The Moon
Wordcount: ~12250
Rating: PG-13 at the most
Warnings: Tentative infidelity.
Summary: The disappearance of Albus Severus Potter was surely orchestrated by Harry Potter's archrival Draco Malfoy. But not everything is as it appears...

Later on Harry would decide that everything had started to fall apart with that trip to Romania, but of course hindsight is always twenty-twenty, so who can know for certain?

After Albus Severus joined his brother at Hogwarts and Lily had begged her way into spending time at the Burrow with her grandparents, Harry and Ginny went on holiday. It had been years since the two of them had had any time for just the two of them, and while they loved their children dearly now that they had some measure of freedom they wanted to enjoy themselves. Harry would have been content to visit some other part of Britain; Edinburgh, perhaps, or Ireland, but Ginny wanted to do something a bit more adventurous. Her first suggestion as to go on a dragon-watching expedition to Scandinavia, but Harry had seen enough of dragons during his time at school to last him a lifetime, so they decided on a trip to the continent. It was Hermione who recommended that they visit Romania — she had taken an interest in Muggle magic, and knew that several traditions were still practiced among the gypsy clans who lived there. It might be fun for them, she said. Romania wouldn't be as full of tourists as France or Austria, and they would have a chance to go on a road less traveled. Ginny was delighted, Harry was amenable, and so they began to pour over maps.

"We'll go to Transylvania," said Ginny decisively, holding a battered guidebook open with one hand and letting her other hand rest on a detailed map of Europe. "It sounds absolutely lovely, so full of old castles and villages."

Harry took a sip of tea and thought of the caped, fanged vampires who inhabited Muggle horror movies. "We'll have to fight our way through packs of Dracula hunters."

Ginny looked faintly puzzled. "What?"

"Never mind, just some Muggle legend." He smiled brightly. "Transylvania sounds great."

They chose to use Muggle transportation. Harry had never quite felt comfortable traveling by Portkey or using Apparition, and besides that it would allow them to better enjoy the changing landscape. Ever sine that first journey from King's Cross to Hogwarts Harry had had a special fondness for train travel, and he couldn't stop a boyish smile from stretching across his face as they spend across the countryside toward Brasov, the axis of Transylvania. Ginny could sense his excitement and smiled, resting her hand lightly on his arm.

"Do you remember the first time you went from King's Cross to Hogwarts?"

"And you were running behind the train, waving all the while. How could I forget?"

Their fingers twined together and Harry let his forehead fall against the window as he stared out at the passing countryside. The view made him feel as though he had journeyed into the past. The villages that the train sped past looked as if they hadn't changed in centuries, with their dirt roads and tiny cottages surrounded by free-roaming livestock and somewhat ragged looking children. It gave the appearance of great poverty, but also great beauty — in many places the land was still green and unspoiled, with the spires of medieval churches rising above the villages' red tile roofs. Harry could feel his life in England slowly draining away from him and he welcomed the feeling of freedom it gave him. Even after the end of the Second War he always wore the mantle of the Boy Who Lived, the one who had finally defeated Voldemort once and for all. No one knew him here, although surely the wizarding community knew of him, but because they were planning to stay mostly among the Muggles they would be able to travel by and large in blissful anonymity; a rare gift.