Blake watched the back of Harry’s head as he disappeared in the crowded streets. It had happened so fast that he wasn’t positive that it really occurred at all. The events just didn’t register. Malfoy finding them, Grandma coming from nowhere, Malfoy exposing their secret to Grandma, and Harry’s disguise failing for even two seconds….
“Gina! Will! Blake!”
Blake snapped out of his trance, and looked up guiltily at his grandmother. He lost his breath. He had never seen her that angry before.
“We are going home. Now!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You lied to me!” Ginny yelled at them. Gina, Will, and Blake were all sitting on the light blue sofa in the family room. Blake kept his eyes on the floor, afraid to look into her face, knowing how livid he had made her. He didn’t try to hide his guilt; he knew he deserved all of this.
“While I was going to arrange Gina’s test, at least five people came up to me and asked how your grandfather was doing. They all were under the impression that he has been sick for the past week with Monli- no Mulin-”
“Monilipopolitis,” Will muttered.
Ginny glared angrily at him. Will whimpered, amazed at his own daring. Finally, Ginny asked. “Where is Grandpa?”
Blake didn’t take his eyes off of the corner of the rug. The silence between her shouts was almost more unbearable than the actual shouting.
“Well? Where is he?”
Blake knew that if anybody was going to answer, it had to be him. “He’s here,” Blake muttered to the carpet.
He felt rather than saw Ginny’s gaze move to him. “What do you mean, he’s here?”
“He’s been here the whole time. He was hiding in our room.”
“Why was he hiding? What aren’t you telling me? He’s not really sick, is he?”
Blake’s mouth went dry. He couldn’t tell her. He just couldn’t. What if what he had done had been irreversible?
“Blake?” Ginny urged.
Blake swallowed. “The night we came here, when Grandpa was called away, I went into the kitchen. I told you I wanted to get a drink of water…but I was waiting for him.” He paused, building up his courage. “I wanted to know what bothered him so much about his fifth year, so I thought if I performed the Youthful Charm on him…”
He waited for Ginny to yell, but when she didn’t, he continued, “If I performed the charm on him, he would be more willing to tell it, and I would understand what was bothering him. But…I said the wrong incantation, and….”
He stopped. After several seconds, Ginny said, “And? What happened? What happened to him?”
Blake stared firmly at the same corner of the rug, not taking his eyes off it for anything.
“He turned Grandpa into a sixteen year old again,” Will said.
He knew intuitively that this had been a shocking blow to Ginny. Even with her history with the twins, there was no way she could be expecting this. Blake tensed up, waiting for the explosion that would come once the knowledge sank in. Any minute now…. The agony of waiting for the inevitable was unbearable. Why wasn’t Grandma yelling?
Finally, Ginny spoke, in a very exasperated voice. “Why didn’t anybody tell me?”
“It was my idea not to tell you,” Blake said. “Gina and Will both wanted to tell you, but I wouldn’t let them. I was afraid of how angry you would be if you found out.”
“And this is better?” Ginny had started yelling again. “Finding out from five random Ministry workers? Do you know how scared I was having no idea where my husband has been for the past week? Knowing that my three grandchildren have been lying to me the past three days?”
“We thought we could handle it ourselves…” Blake started weakly.
“Handle it yourselves?!? How could you possibly think you could handle this by yourselves? If you used the wrong incantation, then Merlin knows what you did to him! How could you possibly reverse it when you’re not completely sure what happened? When you try to do things on your own, mistakes are made! Fatal mistakes! Look at your grandfather! Look what happened to him when he tried to do things on his own!”
That got Blake’s attention. He looked up at Ginny. “What happened?”
Ginny’s lip thinned. “Don’t try to change the subject! I can’t believe you would actually be more worried about getting in trouble then risking making a terrible mistake. You should have told me!”
The terrible silence followed Ginny’s words. Nobody said anything for a long time. Finally, Ginny spoke once again, in the same exasperated voice. “Why didn’t you feel you could tell me about this?”
Blake stared at his feet. “I didn’t think you would forgive me.”
Ginny looked taken aback. “What?”
“I know that you think I’m a screw-up and a lousy troublemaker who’s too nosy for his own good…”
Blake expected Ginny to try to deny it, or defend herself, or say something. But for some reason didn’t say anything. Curiosity got the better of him again, and he looked up. He couldn’t read the emotion on her face? Was it guilt? Sadness? Pity?
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ginny said quietly. “Right now, could somebody please show me where Grandpa is?”
Gina got up from the couch, and walked over to the boys’ room. Blake watched her go, and heard her voice talking to Harry. Then Gina walked in, followed by Harry, who was still in his disguise.
“Danny?” Ginny asked. “You’re Danny? You took him out of the house when he’s….” Ginny took a deep breath, shaking her head. “Well, at least you disguised him. Wait…how did you disguise him?” Ginny asked, her eyes sweeping from his hair to his eyes with a skeptical look.
Gina bit her lip. “We used the Heredity Potion that Uncle Jesse came up with several years back.”
“What?” Ginny looked shocked. “That potion wasn’t tested or approved! What were you…”Ginny sighed, putting her head in her hands.
Will hesitated for a minute, very unnerved about Ginny’s swift mood change. “I bought the last potion ingredient needed for the antidote. I could go make it.”
Ginny lifted her head. She sighed. “I don’t think we have another choice.”
“Don’t worry,” Will said, trying to sound reassuring, “the sheet said that the potion was tested, so the antidote must have worked on whoever tested it.”
“Never assume anything,” Ginny said. “Then again, there isn’t much else we can do. Go ahead and start the potion, and have Gina come with you.”
Will headed toward the den, and turned the knob. “Grandma? It’s locked.”
Ginny pointed her wand at the door. “Alohomora.” The door clicked, and Will walked in, followed by Gina.
“Are you kidding?” Blake said. “A simple Alohomora spell would have opened it?” Harry stomped on Blake’s foot.
“You two better sit down. We’ve got loads to talk about.” Gina sat in Harry’s armchair, and Harry and Blake both sat on the blue couch. Blake massaged his foot, glaring at Harry.
“First off, Blake, I hope you know how stupid everything was you did this week. You shouldn’t have tried to perform a spell on your grandfather just to suit your curiosity. And lying to me about it and covering it up only made the situation worse for you and Harry. And taking him out in public…you know very well what that could have done to his reputation, or worse….” She let the sentence drift.
“That’s why we hid him in the first place,” Blake said.
Ginny shook her head. “It was still foolish. There could have been serious consequences.”
Harry looked away at this, but neither Ginny nor Blake noticed. “Grandma, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” He turned to Harry. “And I’m really sorry for what I did, and not just for the curse.”
Blake could tell that Harry knew what he meant. “I know.” He shrugged. “I can’t say I haven’t been guilty of that, too.”
“The fact of the matter is that you should have told me about this right away, Blake,” Ginny said. “If you know that you can’t handle something, and you try to anyway, you only make it worse.” She stopped, letting the words sink in before continuing. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did you really think I would judge you like that?”
Blake frowned. “No…yeah, but…no! Well, I dunno. It just seems that whenever I mess up, sure you’re mad, but you always seem like you’re…not surprised. Like you expected it.”
Ginny nodded. “I do, don’t I? I’m sorry. I know that you have a certain disregard for the rules,” she smiled, “but I know you’re not a bad kid. And no matter what future mistakes you make, I won’t ever think any less of you. Don’t ever forget that. The reason I expect you to be the one causing all the trouble is because you remind me of Ron, Fred, George, your father, and your grandfather.” She smiled. “I see so much of them in you that it doesn’t surprise me at all that you act just the way they did. Although I must admit your stunts are far more impressive than your father’s ever were.”
Blake laughed. “Not more impressive than Harry’s?”
Harry grinned. “There’s no way you can top me.”
Will stuck his head out of the den door. “We have the antidote ready, Harry.” Will handed a vial filled with maroon liquid to Harry. He uncorked it, and took one gulp of the potion. He shuddered, and Blake watched with amazement as his hair and face morphed back into Harry’s original features. He looked around, his eyes mere slits, and Blake realized he couldn’t see. Will ran to the hall, and came back with Harry’s glasses, which Harry took gratefully.
Ginny looked at the clock over the fireplace. “5:30 already? I better get dinner started.” She stood up. “What do you like, Gina? After all, it is your birthday.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blake helped Ginny with the dishes after dinner that night. He silently gathered all of the dirty dishes and put them in the sink. Ginny waved her wand, and suds appeared on the dishes.
“How about some hot chocolate?” Ginny said. Blake nodded. Ginny waved her wand, and two mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream appeared on the table. Ginny and Blake both sat down.
“Blake, I think it’s time that you heard the story firsthand.”
Blake drank in a large gulp of hot chocolate, and as a result burned his tongue. “What? Do you mean-“
“Yes. It’s time you heard what happened during Grandpa’s fifth year. And seventh year.”
“But, Grandma…that’s Grandpa’s business. I’ve meddled enough…”
Ginny shook her head. “It’s fifty years later, and if we don’t talk about it now, we will never be able to. It’s time you heard the truth, and I trust you’ll pass the word on to your family, and family only.”
Blake nodded. “Yeah, just Gina and Will. I promise. But what will Harry think of this?”
“He will not be sixteen forever. We will change him back,” she said when she saw Blake’s doubt. “He will be sixty-six again, and he will have gotten over past events. He doesn’t need to share his secret with the whole world, but the family deserves to know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry sat on Will’s bed, dressed in his pajamas. Will was sleeping on the couch that night, and Blake wasn’t in yet. Harry thought about asking Ginny about the scar on his arm, but another part of him didn’t want to be the one to bring that up. The old Ginny felt like a stranger to him. Sure, he could tell it was Ginny, but she had changed so much. He didn’t feel like he knew her.
Maybe he could talk to Ron or Hermione about it. Then again…if Ginny felt like a stranger to him, why wouldn’t Ron and Hermione? It didn’t even feel like his friends were coming over tomorrow. He was actually nervous about it. They had all agreed to ask Ron and Hermione’s help in changing him back, but how would they react to it? What if the reacted worse than Ginny did?
Stop stressing over it, he told himself. They have seen their share of strange things. Don’t worry.
Tired and exhausted, Harry turned off the light, took off his glasses, and got into bed. Before he fell asleep, his thoughts drifted back to Malfoy. He didn’t know why he was certain that Malfoy saw. After all, it was only for a few seconds. That couldn’t mean anything…right?