What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 21 - Remembering and Forgetting

Harry disapparated into the darkness. It was four in the morning and he couldn't stand another second waiting for the awful day. He cast a disillusionment charm on himself immediately after he reached his destination. Harry had discovered as he got older that he had the same ability to render himself completely invisible as he'd seen Dumbledore do. Harry supposed it must run in his own family as Ignotus Peverell was able to create the Cloak, and then every parent was willing to pass it down to their child while they were still alive, they must have had a talent for turning themselves invisible by other means. He thought it must be a rare ability, as even talented wizards like Mad-Eye Moody still showed an outline when under the charm. Harry stumbled up the path, this was the last place he wanted to be today but ironically the only place that he could truly hide and be somewhere completely different. Harry was one of the few people who was permitted to come and go through Hogwarts defenses without notifying someone, and today he was very grateful for that privilege. Harry stumbled towards the blank wall he was looking for, but this was one of the places he did not want to be today. Too many memories of finding Riddle's... thing. He couldn't think about that today, he concentrated his mind on another thought. I need a place to hide from everyone, I need a place to get away, I need a place to get away...... He grasped at the handle of an unfamiliar door that did not match his surroundings and gratefully stepped in. It was... he couldn't call it perfect, nothing was on this day, but it would work. The room didn't resemble anything he was used to, if he had to describe it he'd probably call it a muggle apartment. It was quite small, consisted of one room with a bed, a sofa, some other basic furniture and various lights. The lights were dizzyingly bright to him, but it was better than the darkness outside that reminded him of that awful night. The room had no personal touches, there was no photographs, mirrors, paintings, no books or anything that could be considered entertainment. The room knew that he wasn't in the mood to be entertained but it did present a number of breakable items in case he needed something to smash apart. Harry sunk on to the sofa and prepared himself for the longest day of the year.

-

The three Potter children finished helping their grandmother with the dishes and she smiled sadly at them as they sat down. Their granny seemed tired, probably because she hadn't slept very much but she had also slowed down over the past few years Lily had noticed, she was getting old.

"Thank you dears, you've always been so helpful when you come to stay."

She absentmindedly flicked through an old photograph album that their mother had been looking at the previous day.

"Oh look!!" She pointed to an old photo of a group of red headed Weasley children beside the front door, their mother was the only girl, she was wearing a patchwork purple sweater and a skirt, the next sibling didn't look much older, that one must have been Uncle Ron, he was leaning on a hogwarts trunk nearly the height of him, it must have been the first of September, and his nose was quite dirty. The two identical twins stood behind, on either side of a taller brother, must be Uncle Percy.

"That was your Uncle Ron's first day of school.... The day we met Harry. I'll never forget it, we saw this little boy lost in the train station, it was difficult to attract his attention without Muggles noticing. Eventually he heard us and came to ask for help, so polite he was, of course, we had no idea who he was, both Ron and Ginny had been imagining and hoping that Harry Potter might be in Hogwarts in their years but we hadn't really thought about it. I was horrified that someone would just leave their child alone in the train station...... he looked a mess too with his broken glasses and baggy clothes that he was far too small for, looked like he'd never been fed. Little Ginny was so excited when she found out he was Harry Potter..... at that stage I would have never imagined they'd end up together! Of course there were so many things that I couldn't have predicted..." Suddenly she started to sob. "George has never been the same since F-F-Fred... Inseparable, never saw one alone, if I ever thought the would... I assumed they'd go together, but of course I am grateful that George is here... But they were a pair and George needs his other half and I can't bring him back..."
The three siblings comforted their grandmother as she cried, they had a lot of experience with adults in their family breaking down in tears and had developed a skill of calming them down.

"Mothers... are supposed to protect their children and I failed."

"Granny, it wasn't your fault. Dad does this all the time, he blames himself for every death that happened in the war, was it his fault?" Lily asked gently.

"Of course it wasn't dear... I see your point, it's just hard not to think I could have done something more. I'm sorry I'm putting this all on you three, you don't need to hear your Granny getting all upset like this."

"It's all right, we're used to it."

"And I wish you didn't have to be. Now, what shall we do for the rest of the day? There's no use moping around. You know what, I've never taught you three to knit and it's a very useful skill." They nodded gratefully, any excuse to make the day feel shorter.

-

It was late afternoon on the 3rd of May when Harry finally returned to the Burrow. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief as she saw a slim figure appear in the distance, just before the boundary of protective charms that were still required. Ginny ran outside towards him. Harry was still wearing the same clothes as he had been in the evening of the 1st, the last time she'd seen him, but Harry never really cared how he looked and when he was especially upset or angry, looks went completely out of his mind. What really worried her about his appearance was that his clothes were getting baggy again, and he hadn't even bothered to shrink them to hide the fact he was losing weight, like he usually would. As he kissed her, she noticed that he looked worse up close, black lines under his eyes from lack of sleep. He relaxed slightly as Ginny wrapped her arms round him.

"Are James and Lily and Albus here?"

"No, they left early this morning. Do you want to talk about yesterday or just forget it ever happened?"

Harry ignored her question. "Fancy a game of Quidditch?"

"Thought you weren't allowed to play yet."

"It's been three weeks exactly today, I counted. Plus I can walk perfectly well now, so riding a broom'll be easy."

"Poppy will curse you until next year if she finds out you're playing Quidditch before she's cleared you but that just makes it more exciting. We'd better go home first though because my mum would have your head too, plus our pitch is much bigger," Ginny grinned.

They arrived home for the first time since Easter. Their house was quite big, it was well out into the country to avoid people recognizing them when they didn't want to be. The countryside looked much like everywhere else across England with nothing distinctive so that it was more difficult for people to find them. Their family and close friends all could apparate and floo to it easily but it would be very difficult for an outsider to find their way there, if they wanted to see one of them, they would need to go through the Ministry, or if it was more personal then Hogwarts or the Burrow. Harry had been adamant he did not want a Fidelius charm, he never wanted to live in secret and there were better ways of hiding for his purposes. The house was quite big but much more modest than anyone else with a similar amount of wealth, there were 5 bedrooms for Harry and Ginny, each of the children, and Kreacher. Kreacher had become a sort of assistant to Harry, Harry had refused to have him as a servant but he was a good help. He did the cooking, some cleaning and had helped to take care of the kids, teaching them to read, write and make potions to help their parents. He had also taught Albus to cook, the other two were pretty rubbish at it. Kreacher got a weekly wage, most of it he chose to donate to charity.

In the garden there was a large Quidditch pitch which took up most of the space. Ginny and Harry stayed out there until it turned dark, attempting to play every position at once on opposing teams, one on each side. Anyone looking in would assume that they had a perfect life, since they had lots of money, a close family, lots of admirers, incredible skill at Quidditch. They were able to forget for this one afternoon, all the struggles they were going through, but they knew it would never last.

AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry this chapter is so split up into 3 and sort of skips a bit of time in the middle but i ran out of ideas so this took a long time to write the last bit, i changed it so many times 😂 hope you guys like it and PLEASE review cause i loveeeee reading reviews. Also there's a little clue to a future plot point but it's really hidden so you probably won't guess it 😂 ( hi i'm now editing this, chapter was written in march and this is now january, honestly cannot remember what the "clue" was supposed to be)