If This Ain't Love 《C. Weasley》

1. "Harry!"

Brooke was seated on the raft which had been made by her and Hagrid, as Hagrid was going through Dumbledore's note and Brooke had enchanted the boat to move rapidly towards the stone quarry-like hut the Dursleys were stationed in.

"Hagrid, what are you sitting on?" Brooke questioned, as she noticed a squishing sound emerge out of Hagrid's 'seat'. 

"Merlin's beard! I might've sat on ol' Arry's cake." Hagrid said and stood up, removing the box from behind him and opening the box.

Brooke had a look at the cake and she couldn't help but smile at the effort Hagrid had made for Harry.

A stone hut came into view as Brooke turned her attention back to the boat and its course.

It had been a month and a half since Charlie left for Romania. Brooke was shaken to her core when he left, and wouldn't let anyone know. But she calmed herself down by telling herself that she should be happy for her boyfriend as he was just working to achieve his dream.

Brooke and Charlie wrote to each other almost every day, and Brooke had many other things to keep her mind off the dragon lover. 

After graduating from Hogwarts with a wonderful N.E.W.T score, Brooke had started her training as a healer at St. Mungos and was doing pretty good at it. She had moved out of the Burrow and was living at the Healer's residence at the hospital itself and was building a home for herself and her nephew. But she still kept on paying weekly visits to the Weasleys. 

Fred and George had been missing Brooke terribly, and so were the others. But they understood that Brooke being independent and being able to stand on her own two feet was essential for her.

And on 29th July 1991, Dumbledore had assigned Brooke and Hagrid the job to bring Harry to the Wizarding World. Brooke was elated at the news and started making all the necessary preparations, while the Dursely household at Privet Drive had been filling up with Hogwarts letters and the Dursleys were escaping to seek refuge in a hotel.

Brooke and Hagrid were now surfing through the stream and emerged closer to the Quarry as their raft stopped a few inches away from the stone structure.

Brooke got off the raft, followed by Hagrid, and pointed her wand at the wooden door. 

"Bombarda" Brooke exclaimed as the door burst open (literally) and the wood was scattered everywhere.

Brooke entered the Quarry to find herself to be face to face with a long-necked and white-haired woman, who was standing beside a neckless stout man. The man was holding a gun in his hand. Hagrid entered as the man pointed his gun at him and Brooke.

"Erm, I have ter say. Yer gettin' on my las' nerve." Hagrid's voice boomed through the quarry as the held the mouth of the gun and turned it by the neck.

The Dursley couple stared at them in shock as Brooke turned to find a stout boy and a frail green-eyed boy with dark, messy hair wearing oversized clothes with black-rimmed glasses staring at her and Hagrid.

"Brother James," Brooke murmured, her eyes softening at the frail young boy.

"Harry?" Brooke said aloud, as the frail boy looked her in the eyes. 

"Yes, I'm Harry," the dark-haired boy spoke up, confused.

Brooke's eyes were now on the verge of tears. The boy who she had been trying to see for 11 years now, was standing in front of her. He was the exact mirror image of James, while his eyes had taken after Lily's. 

"It's me Harry, Aunty Brooke?" Brooke stated.

Harry's eyes softened for a minute. His dreams consisted of an explosion with a flashing green light, but they also included the soft voice of a dark blue-eyed girl saying 'I guess it's just you and me in this world now. Your Grandparents and your Mum and Dad are still here. They're just not visible to the naked eye. But it's a promise. Aunty Brooke will keep you safe till her last breath.'

"Harry..." Brooke trailed off, her voice just above a whisper.

Suddenly, all of the memories of Harry and Brooke during their infanthood and childhood respectively came back to Harry. Brooke cradled Harry in her arms until he fell asleep, Brooke recited muggle lullabies to Harry, Brooke played hide and seek with Harry, Brooke's last words to Harry before departing her ways with her nephew. All of these memories flashed in Harry's mind as he looked at Brooke again.

"Anny Boo?" Harry said with a chuckle as a tear left Brooke's eye and she nodded happily. 

Harry didn't waste a second and started running up to his long-lost aunt and jumped into her arms as she hugged him tightly.

"How have you been, Aunt Brooke?" Harry whispered to Brooke as tears left his emerald green eyes.

"I've missed you, Harry," Brooke exclaimed, as her tears fell onto Harry's clothes.

"Also, call me Bree. Aunty Brooke makes me feel a little too old." Brooke spoke up and pulled away, wiping the tears off her nephew's face. 

"You look so much like brother James. But your eyes, they certainly have a Lily embedded in them." Brooke spoke up and turned to Hagrid.

"'Ello, Harry. Good ter see ya. Happy Birthday.  I made this fer ya. Forgive me, I mig've sat on it." Hagrid exclaimed and handed over the cake package to the boy as Harry stared at him.

"Who are you?" Harry asked Hagrid.

Brooke smiled as Hagrid spoke up.

"Rubeus Hagrid. Gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Ya mig't be knowing about Hogwarts." Hagrid said as he seated himself on a leather couch, which looked as if it was about to give away any minute.

"No. I don't." Harry replied as Hagrid's and Brooke's eyes widened.

"Haven't yer wondered where yere mum 'n dad learned it all?" Hagrid questioned as Brooke turned to the Dursleys.

"You haven't told him?" Brooke shouted at them as Harry said, "Told me what?"

Hagrid took a deep breath and said, "Yer a Wizard, Harry." 

Harry's eyes widened and roamed between Brooke and Hagrid as he said, "I'm a what?"

"A Wizard. And a good one." Brooke spoke through gritted teeth as she continued glaring daggers at Petunia and Vernon.

The rest of the night consisted of Hagrid and Brooke telling him how James and Lily had been murdered by Voldemort, and how Brooke had been tortured and injured, as Brooke tried her best to not have another episode about it. Brooke occasionally shouted at Vernon and Petunia as Petunia finally spoke up, saying that the Evans family was always proud of Lily for being a witch, whereas Petunia thought that she was nothing but a freak. Brooke almost lashed out and it took her everything to not kill Petunia with her bare hands, as she also observed how badly they had been keeping Harry.

Hagrid had waved his umbrella at Dudley, who grew a pigtail and screamed. Harry stifled a laugh and Hagrid explained that he had tried to turn Dudley into a complete pig, but only managed to grow a tail because Dudley already was one. 

Once they were done dealing with the Dursleys, Brooke held Harry as they boarded the raft again.