About Harry

Chapter 4 - The truth

Days were shortening, being close to the end of December. A fire was lit permanently in all the house's fireplaces and in the air, there was that cheerfulness always present when Christmas is coming near, and children are around. They started that day preparing the house for the oncoming festivity.
A tall Christmas tree was standing in the living room's corner, close to the window, still bare waiting to be decorated.
'Let's do it with the Gryffindor colours so James and Albus will be pleased when they come home.' Lily suggested fishing red and gold baubles from the box containing the Christmas decoration.
Harry, sitting on the floor beside her, started helping, selecting the right colours one.
'Would you like to be in Gryffindor too once you get to Hogwarts?' he asked when all the baubles were collected, and Lily was starting to hang them on the tree.
Lily pouted with an air of intense concentration which amused Harry.
'I don't know. I think I'd like to be in the same house as everybody else, but I like Ravenclaw too.'
Harry had posed the question without really doubting of the answer; therefore, the surprise was great.
'Really? Why?' exclaimed suddenly mighty interested forgetting the important task of handing her the decorations scattered on the floor.
'Susie told me that the founder of Ravenclaw is very pretty' Lily explained concisely, reclaiming a new bauble 'and she wears a crown which is called tiara. She is very clever too and she says that they have got a treasure.'
'A treasure?' Harry asked puzzled, picking up a gold one and giving it to her.
'She said that they have the greatest treasure!' she clarified quite assured mimicking something huge with her tiny arms.
Harry suddenly understood her meaning and didn't manage to repress a vigorous laugh.
'They say "wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." It means that cleverness is the best thing a man or woman can have. They don't really have a treasure.'
Lily received this news with some disappointment but recovered pretty fast.
'But she has still got the tiara.'
'I guess so...' Harry replied somewhat wistfully. No point explaining that the tiara had been destroyed many years before.
'I'd like to be clever...' she continued, starting to wrap the tree with a tinsel, helped by Harry who got profit to fill the top part of the tree.
'You are clever. No matter the house you will be in.'
'I like the tiara too...' she affirmed making sure every spot was filled.
'Gryffindor has a sword!' Harry affirmed warmly. He couldn't help to side for his house. 'Don't you like the sword?'
'I prefer the tiara.' she replied without hesitation filling a small space who had escaped her notice.
'Well, I guess the hat will decide in the end' he concluded, almost to himself, somewhat discouraged.
Then he picked the star from the bottom of the box and, making sure to be seen by Lily, made to put it on the top.
'Let me do it! Please!' Lily interjected imploringly seizing his arm to stop him before he could manage. She loved to give the last touch to the tree and Harry liked to tease her pretending he was going to do it instead.
He grabbed her and, lifting her, allowed a gleeful Lily to fulfil the job.
Ginny came into the room then with three mugs of hot chocolate.
'It's beautiful; you did a great job! The boys will love it' she complimented sitting on the sofa where Lily and Harry joined her to be able to admire the tree.
'Do you think so?' Lily asked brightening, excited.
'I'm sure of it'.
They drank their cocoa in silence, enjoying the warmth of the room and the sweetness of the drink. The atmosphere was so soothing that Harry had to save the cup about to fall from her fingers when her head started to loll on her neck.
'Time to go to sleep!' Ginny exclaimed straight away.
'I'm not tired' she protested her eyes half closed.
'Yes, you are! Come on! You brush your teeth, and you go to bed!'
'Go my pet, I'll come to kiss you good night later' Harry said placing the cup on the coffee table and pushing her gently down the sofa to Ginny ready to take her upstairs.
Seeing her disappearing all sleepy from the living room, he made a mental note to try to find the time the following day to go looking for a crown of some kind to add to her presents.
After a half an hour he heard Ginny's steps on the stairs.
'She is asleep.' she said appearing in the room.
She hadn't reached the sofa yet that some bangs on the door caught their attention.
The late hour would have been enough to alarm them, but it had been the violence of those bangs that had the power to concern them. It wasn't the gentle knocking of a friend visiting. The thuds were loud, aggressive. The person on the other side couldn't possibly have pacific intentions.
For a moment they both froze, confused.
Flashes of a different living room on a Halloween night sneaked in Harry's head. In a corner of his mind the image of his dad ambushed without protection in his own house, his mother murdered trying to protect him, assailed Harry before he knew not allowing him to control them. They scattered allowing an unconscious panic to take hold over him.
'Get your wand!' he cried to Ginny while getting his own from the coffee table. He never kept it too far away from him. A bit out of habit, a bit because of his Auror job. But in that moment, he realised that perhaps it was also because of that something that was always locked in his head. Ginny sprinted in the corridor to get her own and Harry was able to perceive his own panic on her face, carried to her by the tone of his command.
She didn't manage to reach it, halted by a familiar voice coming from the other side of the door.
'Open the door you son of a bitch!'
'Ron!' they exclaimed looking at each other bemused. Ginny, instead of going to take her wand, made to the door.
Once it opened, as if Ginny wasn't even there, Ron sprinted in the hallway with a half mad expression over his face.
'Where is the traitorous bastard!' he boomed heading for the living room.
'Who the hell are you talking about?' Ginny cried back, following him.
The answer came as soon as he spotted Harry in the living room.
'Cruc..' was what he came from his mouth raising his wand.
Ginny widening her eyes in surprise jumped forward to push his wand from his hand. But Harry was ready "PROTEGO!" he shouted, and an air shield erupted in front of him. The force of the spell propelled them against the wall producing a loud thud. It took only a second for Ron to jump up.
'Son of a bitch! Fight me like a man! Take down this shield and fight me!'
Every sentence was accompanied by a spell against Harry's protection causing only ripples without any power to bring it down.
They bounced away in the room then, hitting and sending to pieces the frames on the walls. One hit the window, shattering it. Ginny, to take repair from that shower of glasses had pushed herself in a corner, crouching.
'What's wrong with you?! Are you mad?!' Harry shouted keeping his shield on and trying to find a way to protect Ginny too who had been narrowly missed by one of those spells out of control.
'You know very well what's wrong! Think, Harry think!' Ron exclaimed interrupting the flux of magic 'Is there anything you want to confess? Nothing at all weighs on your conscience? Nothing that you did behind my shoulders? Best mate!'
The last words were spat with venom, 'My best mate!' he repeated hissing, his face contorted by pure malevolence.
Harry was bewildered; he had never, ever seen Ron in such a state. He looked mad.
The unbuttoned coat over untidy clothes and a general air of sloppiness declared of his leaving his place in a real hurry, but Harry couldn't justify it in any way.
'What's going on?' Ginny shouted profiting of the momentarily interruption, trying to lower his arm. Ron startled hearing her shout as if only at that moment realising she was there.
The moment of bewilderment lasted only a second, the next, rage, was back on his face.
'This piece of shit you married shagged Hermione! All the while pretending to be my best mate and declaring he was in love with you'
Ginny winced visibly, turning to Harry looking for a decided denial.
A denial Harry couldn't give.
'My wife, you bastard!' Ron barked lunging against the wall.
'She wasn't your wife! ... yet!' Harry retorted in confusion.
'It is true then...' the bewildered expression on Ginny's face was starting to mutate in a wounded one.
'No Ginny, it's not as it seems, I promise you...' he jabbered hastily; he ought to explain himself, but Ron didn't give him the chance.
'It's exactly as it seems! You disgust me! How could you tell me what you did after the horcrux! You're such a liar! And I always trusted you like the idiot I am.'
He was just an inch from the shield with a virulent glare that seemed to have the power to bring down the incantation that divided them.
'Now, listen to me carefully' he was talking low and steady now 'You are not going to get close to my family again! I don't want to hear you or see you around my family. And that includes my mum, dad and all my brothers. You are going to disappear from my life. Damn the day I sat in the same compartment as you! You ruined my life!' He shouted again slamming a hand on the shield the last sentence was yelled and almost broke in a sob when he added, 'She was the only thing...' but the end of the sentence didn't come out, dying in his throat.
He backed away without breaking eye contact, walking toward the door where Ginny was kneeling, transfixed.
Still and silent she had witnessed to the exchange.
'A word of advice, Ginny; take the children, dump the bastard and go to the Burrow. It is what he deserves'.
Nothing was added and only a "crack" accompanied his departure when he disappareted outside.
Silence fell on the room like a veil, covering everything.
Snow was swirling lightly in the room, entered through the shattered window in the devastated living room with Harry and Ginny in the middle, immobile, still too shocked to act in any way. Finally, Harry lowered his wand and the shield disappeared with a mute sound. Ginny had a cut on her cheek and the red of the blood stood out vividly against the whiteness of her skin. The state of shock, slowly, left her as she slipped gently on the floor.
Harry could perceive her body shacking.
Instinct was pushing him toward her but at the same time he wavered, fearing to be pushed back.
He endeavoured to detect a sign that could advise him how to behave but her face was blank. An apparent calm.
Lily shattered that silence. A frightened and full of tears call came from upstairs.
Ginny, hearing that sound, roused from her immobility, tried to speak but chocked on her own words. She took a hand to her throat and tried again 'I'll go to her, when I get back, we'll talk'.
Harry was still standing with the wand clutched in his hand almost as if he was expecting Ron to return, his emotions in turmoil. When Ginny disappeared, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and almost mechanically mended the window and tried to tidy up the room, but he managed clumsily, his mind was too occupied to be able to cast effective spells.
Thought after thought piled in his head without order or sense. He tried again to calm himself, to reason on Ron's words but it was to no avail, it was just confusion.
He remembered the parting advice Ron gave Ginny and felt sick at heart at the thought and a new desperation washed over him.
His head started to spin with doubts and questions. He walked to the kitchen and leaned against the wall.
He feared Ginny's return.
He was paralyzed, incapable of doing anything, powerless under the weight of what could happen.
Ron's words were pounding in his ears. He almost used an unforgivable curse on him but, at the moment, it wasn't that that really bothered him. The expression in his eyes worried him much more.
He tried to calm himself thinking about what to say.
The truth.
The words appeared in his head over the confusion. He ought to tell her the simple truth.
And his mind travelled to nineteen years before.