With the first week of the holiday gone Hermione was ready to depart for Italy. She and Ron hadn’t spoken to each other since the morning of their argument. Ron had ignored Harry’s advice and avoided Hermione altogether. The youngest Weasley son only surfaced from his room at mealtimes; he spoke to the rest of the house’s occupants out of absolute necessity and could be heard pacing the floor late into the night. Just before twelve o’clock on the Sunday morning, Hermione deposited her heavy trunk at the bottom of the stairs and came down to the kitchen to say her goodbyes before Tonks and Remus escorted her to her parents safely.
“Well, I’m ready for the off,” she said as she pulled a salmon pink jacket on.
“I hope that you have a good time and don’t forget to send us a postcard,” Ginny chimed as she hugged her bushy haired friend.
“I will.”
“Take care and have fun.” Harry half surprised himself when he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“I’ll do my best,” she smiled warmly.
“You’ll love Italy, it’s so beautiful. I wrote a list of some of the best places to visit, let me know what you think, and I also noted some useful phrases.” Ellie thrust several bits of paper in to Hermione’s hand and gave her a hug.
“Thank you, Ellie, that’s so thoughtful!”
“I rather wish I was going with you, there are some things I miss about the place. I daresay you’ll understand what I mean when you come back.”
After several other hugs and farewells Hermione left the room without so much as a glance from Ron, it wasn’t until Remus had just opened the front door when she heard a mumbled voice behind her. “Um…Hermione?” Ron was stood in the hallway with stooping shoulders and an apologetic look on his face.
“Yes, Ron?”
“I hope Italy’s nice and that you enjoy spending time with your mum and dad,” he said with a pained look.
“Oh, Ron!” She flung her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder. When she emerged her eyes were red and teary. He gave her a quick kiss and sent her on her way.
“So what are we going to do now?” Ron asked when he returned to the kitchen; Harry noticed that his best friend’s eyes were fairly moist.
“We put Operation Trevor in action,” Harry whispered conspiratorially.
“And what exactly is Operation Trevor?” Ron puzzled.
“It’s our plan to go and get Neville,” Ginny supplied.
“We need a plan to go and get Neville? We can’t just ask Ellie?”
“No we don’t and yes we can, but Harry was very bored yesterday,” Ginny sniggered.
“Oh I’m sorry that you weren’t interested in a bit of danger and deceit!” Harry sniped sarcastically.
“Danger and deceit?” Ron was starting to wish he hadn’t spent so much time in his room over the last week.
“I wanted to go and get Neville on our own, but spoilsport here threatened to tell Ellie if I did.” Harry wagged his finger at Ginny accusingly.
“You honestly think that I’d have needed Ginny to tell me what you were up to?” Ellie was standing in the kitchen doorway with an empty glass in her hand.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Harry, you really need to be more careful of where you discuss these little plans of yours. I had hoped that by now you would understand that certain rooms in this house have ears and the drawing room is one,” she smiled superiorly as she poured some pumpkin juice into her glass.
“So you knew everything?” Harry felt so stupid.
“Everything from plan A through D. Why didn’t you just ask?”
“Just wanted to put a bit of excitement back into the holiday,” he muttered.
“Well how’s this for excitement, my granddad is coming later this afternoon to put charms around the garden,” she grinned and plonked herself down at the table.
“Garden? What garden?” Ron’s ears pricked up.
“The one at the back of the house. We had a bit of a discussion about it and it was agreed that it would be good for you to get some fresh air and not be cooped up all summer. It also means that you three will be able to keep your Quidditch practice up.”
“That’s great! What time is he coming at?” Harry couldn’t wait to get on his broom and play with his friends.
“Around two, which gives us just enough time to go and get Neville before he arrives,” she smiled as she rose from the table and approached the fire.
Ellie was the first to jump in the fire and call ‘Longbottom Cottage’ loudly and clearly. The three teenagers followed her and when they materialized at the other end they were in a quaint hallway that was painted a rustic shade of yellow. Floral curtains hung from the small windows and the ceiling was lined with weathered oak beams, which echoed the typical countryside sideboard that was lined-up against one wall and the comfortable rocking chair that was sitting in another corner. When the last person, Ron, had emerged Ellie began her search for the house’s inhabitants. “Mrs. Longbottom?” she called, entering the sitting room. Nobody was in there so she moved on to the next room.
“Where exactly are we?” Harry asked after several more empty rooms including the dinning room and the study.
“Neville’s house,” Ellie replied, giving him a look that clearly wondered just how stupid he was.
“Really? Here I was thinking that it was the Ministry of Magic.” He gave himself a mocking smack on the head. “I meant whereabouts in the country are we?”
“Oh, Barnoldswick it’s near Burnley in Lancashire,” Ellie informed him as she stepped in to the warm country kitchen. Harry’s mind flicked back to the geography lessons he had taken at the Muggle School he attended. Lancashire was somewhere in the north, around Blackpool, which made sense. Neville had once told them about his Great Uncle Algie pushing him off Blackpool Pier. When there was no one in the kitchen Ellie seated herself at the table, “I suppose we’ll have to wait for them then.”
Silence fell upon the group as they examined the room they now sat in; it was a quintessential rural kitchen. They were sitting at a massive wooden table that had obviously seen a good few meals, there were plate and scorch marks all over the surface and slightly stained floral cushion pads softened the harsh wooden chairs. There was a large fire on one wall above which hung a family portrait, it had been taken when Neville was just a baby, Frank and Alice stood at the back cooing over their tiny son while a woman that could only be a younger Granny Longbottom sat proudly in front of them. Alice and Frank looked completely different to their current selves. Instead of the wispy, grey hair that now graced Alice’s head, her locks were the same rich shade of brown that her son’s hair now was. Both she and her husband had smooth peachy skin that was almost unrecognisable next to the slack and dull complexion that they both bore now.
After ten or fifteen minutes the unmistakable sound of a fire roaring in the grate reached their ears followed by a loud woman. “I don’t know why she gives you them, I suppose there must be something in her head that makes her think she has to give yet another wrapper to you.” A short broad woman came bustling in to the room. “Elizabeth! How wonderful to see you and who is it you’ve brought with you?” The woman’s demeanour changed from admonitory to welcoming almost immediately, Harry noticed the distinct fondness in her voice.
“Harry, Ron, and Ginny,” Ellie indicated each teen as she said their name.
“Of course, of course,” Mrs. Longbottom muttered as she took a good look at Harry, but instead of staring at his scar she looked straight into his eyes. “Has something happened?” She looked away from Harry to start shuffling cups and a kettle. Neville came trudging through the doorway wearily but his face brightened when he saw their guests.
“No, we just thought we would come and invite Neville to stay with us for a week or two, what do you think?” she was smiling at Neville encouragingly.
“I don’t see why not, it’d get him away from here for a while.” Mrs. Longbottom placed a cup of tea in front of Ellie. “Why don’t you go and pack your things, Neville? You can take your friends with you.” Neville evidently didn’t need to be told twice he disappeared from the room so quickly that Harry thought he had Apparated but then reminded himself that Neville wasn’t old enough. By the time the other three had reached the bottom of the stairs Neville was already on the way back down with his packed trunk.
“I’m ready!” he trilled bursting back in to the kitchen.
“Good,” Ellie grinned at the bemused expressions of the others. “You’ll need to read this first.” She handed him a bit of paper similar to the one that Harry had been given before he arrived at Grimmauld Place for the first time. Sure enough when he glanced over Neville’s shoulder he recognized the loopy handwriting of their Headmaster spelling out the words 'The Headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.'
“I need you to memorize that, Neville, if you don’t the results could be disastrous. Say it to yourself over and over again for a minute and let me know when you’ve got it,” Ellie told him seriously.
“I remember when his father got that bit of paper for the first time. That was when he was first accepted into the Order, headquarters was elsewhere in those days.” Mrs. Longbottom said with just the faintest hint of a sniff. “We’ve got a proud family tradition with the Order.” She huffed her large chest out further.
“I know, your family has done themselves proud and Neville has done no less. Ready?” Ellie smiled proudly at the youngest Longbottom.
“I think so. I’ll see you soon, Gran.” Neville gave his grandmother a quick kiss on the cheek before nodding at Ellie.
“Thank you for the tea, Augusta, it was lovely to see you again.” Ellie gave the older woman a warm hug.
“All of you take care and you better behave yourself, Neville Longbottom, or you will be in serious trouble when you get back,” she told her grandson sternly as she watched him disappear into the fire.
“Wow!” Neville breathed when he transpired in the fireplace. The kitchen he had arrived in was easily twice the size of the one he had just departed.
“Welcome to our home,” Harry said encouragingly.
“Some home!”
“That it is,” Ellie had suddenly appeared to the left of Ginny; she had Apparated with Neville’s trunk.
“Where did you find this place?” Neville’s eyes were darting around the room trying to take everything from the table and its fifteen seats to the magical windows that Ellie had conjured two days previously.
“Ellie and I inherited it from Sirius,” Harry told him somewhat mournfully. His thoughts of Sirius still had a tendency to be edged with sadness.
“Oh.” Neville’s face fell at the realization he had caused his friend some pain.
“He was a generous man. Why don’t you take Neville’s trunk upstairs and decide where he’s going to sleep?” Ellie swiftly changed the subject.
“I just thought he’d take Hermione’s room?” Harry had just assumed that with the other bedroom free it made sense.
“And if that’s what Neville wants then he can. Give him the guided tour,” she smiled.
“Okay. Come on, Neville, this way,” Harry forged ahead grabbing one end of Neville’s trunk while Ron grabbed the other. Neville trundled along behind them with Ginny.
“So this is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. What exactly does the Order do?” Neville asked as they marched up the staircase to the first floor.
“They fight Voldemort. Your mum and dad were members,” Ginny mentioned helpfully.
“I’ve heard things here and there about it but never enough to know what it was all about.” Neville poked his head round a doorframe and saw the spacious library beyond it.
“All there really is to know is that we’ve got people everywhere and we’re doing what we can to get rid of Voldemort - Harry, would you slow down? You’re going to pull my arm out its socket!” Ron exclaimed, massaging his shoulder slightly.
“Sorry,” Harry blushed. He hadn’t realized just how fast he was walking and had forgotten that Ron had the other end of the trunk, Ron didn’t walk to anywhere quickly unless it involved food of some kind.
“Since when was it ‘we’? You’re not a member of the Order yet, Ron,” Ginny reminded him.
“Not yet but I will be soon, we probably all will.”
“Better believe it,” Harry said enthusiastically.
They scurried up the next lot of stairs. “This is my room,” Harry narrated as he pushed open his bedroom door.
“I like the colour; it’s nearly the same shade as mine,” Neville said as he peered out of Harry’s magical window. “I know that Hermione’s room is free but could I stay in here with you, Harry?”
“If that’s what you want…”
“I think so; it’s a lot like home.”
“Wait till you see Ron’s room, its tangerine!” Harry informed him and then laughed at the look on Neville’s face.
“That sounds…interesting,” the round-faced boy tried for an enthusiastic tone.
“Interesting? It’s a thousand times better than that!” Ron grabbed Neville’s forearm and pulled him down the hall excitedly.
“Poor Neville, he won’t know what’s hit him.” Ginny shook her head gently and smiled as the two boys rushed into her brothers shocking room. “Look at us, all alone,” she said suggestively.
“They’re only down the hall, Ginny,” Harry told her with a raised eyebrow.
“You know, Harry, for someone who fights Voldemort every other day you really aren’t all that daring,” Ginny mocked.
“Really? How daring would you like me to be?” he asked as he took a step closer to her.
“About this daring.” Ginny reached out the rest of the distance between them, pulled him towards her sharply and planted a very zealous kiss on his lips.
“Urgh! Do you have to do that while we’re around?” Ron complained from the doorway. He had returned from his room with Neville who still looked slightly traumatized by the experience.
“Sorry, mate,” Harry apologized half-heartedly.
“He may be, but I’m not!” Ginny pulled him back in for another kiss. Ron made another disgusted noise before saying to Neville.
“Come on, I can’t stand to watch that any longer. They could be at it for hours!” They heard him marching away down the stairs with the still dazed Neville.
“Now you weren’t really sorry, were you?” Ginny pouted at her boyfriend.
“No,” he assured her.
“Prove it,” she whispered in his ear.
By the time they had completed their tour of the house and returned to the kitchen Professor Dumbledore was sitting at the table with a steaming cup in front of him, he was having a lively conversation with his granddaughter, or rather she was having a lively conversation and he was listening patiently. Harry inwardly marvelled at the pair, Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled dotingly and a loving smile played on the corners of the old man’s mouth. “Ah, I see that the youngsters have returned from their no doubt tiring expedition.” Dumbledore’s gaze shifted from the young woman in front of him to the four teenagers standing in the doorway.
“Good afternoon, Professor,” Harry was the first to venture forth.
“Harry. How are you, Neville?” The headmaster inquired politely.
“I’m fine thank you, Professor,” Neville replied.
“Very good to hear that. I’m sure that you’ll all be much better once you have access to the garden and can start practicing your Quidditch,” he smiled mischievously. “Shall we, Elizabeth?”
“By all means. Do you four want to come and watch?” she barely finished her question before they nodded at her enthusiastically. Dumbledore led the way from the kitchen back up the half staircase to the entrance hall. There was a door at the top of the stairs that none of them had ever noticed before, their headmaster waved his wand and the lock made loud click. The door opened on to a long dark, dank corridor with large cobwebs hanging across the width of the passage itself, Ron gasped loudly.
“Not to worry, Mr. Weasley,” Dumbledore said comfortingly, he waved his wand so that the cobwebs, and presumably the spiders that occupied them, disappeared. Ron’s features visibly relaxed and he let out a breath he had been holding in. At the end of the hallway there was another door, covered in what looked like several inches of dust and grime. With another wave of the elder wizard’s wand it vanished and the door swung open to reveal the garden of number 12.
Never before had Harry seen such an incredible garden, it was similar in size to the grounds that come attached to manors and castles. He couldn’t help but think of what the Dursleys would say if they could see this. Their garden had always been the Dursleys pride and joy and he could just imagine that they would turn green with envy at the sight of his beautiful manicured, beyond enormous, grounds. Many trees stood tall and proud, providing shade from the bright summer sun that was hanging over London. There was a pond full of brightly coloured fish, a large wooden picnic table, and hundreds of vibrantly coloured flowers.
“Professor Sprout did a wonderful job didn’t she?” Ellie said to Harry’s gob smacked expression.
“Professor Sprout?” he asked still in awe. He was glad to see he wasn’t the only one gawping, Ron and Ginny wore similar expressions and Neville looked to be on the verge of fainting.
“She came in last week and tidied up, you wouldn’t believe the infestations that were out here, she found an entire family of Grindylows living in the bottom of the pond. Down at the end of the garden, amongst some of the weeds the gnomes had practically made themselves a whole village. You’ll need to keep back while we perform the spell, it’s a complex bit of magic and if it’s interrupted then we’ll have a lot of problems on our hands,” she added seriously. Dumbledore nodded his assent.
The two stepped out in to a clear space that was drenched by sunlight; they stood side by side as they began to chant in Latin.
“Rapio is locus ex visum… velieris is ex nostrum hostilis… servo is intus inquisitor animus… tantum qui teneo verum vadum animadverto quis sileo hic…rapio is locus…”
A wind gathered slowly and began to circle the still pair, their long hair and robes whipped about in the gales that surrounded them, suddenly the wind stopped and red circles began to pulse from them, these rings widened until they came in to contact with the boundaries of the garden where they disappeared. The red circles became fainter and eventually everything stopped.
“That should prove satisfactory,” Dumbledore said to Ellie.
“So who wants to get their broom?” Ellie asked them, she had a faint glow in the back of her eyes that appeared to be dancing, Harry wasn’t sure if this was because of the powerful spell she had just performed or her excitement at the prospect of Quidditch.
The five of them messed about outside for a majority of the afternoon. Just after four the house began to fill up with the adults who were home for the evening, they all filed out in to the garden to watch the Quidditch practice that was on going. Ellie was rather frightening in her role of captain she was behaving like a deranged drill sergeant; she made Oliver Wood look like a lazybones and made Harry and Ron feel deeply ashamed.
“Typical Potter, ordering everyone around,” Moony heckled from the sidelines.
“Is that right? How about we have a little game of Quidditch?” Ellie teased her godfather.
“Does now suit you?” Remus was not intimidated in anyway.
“Absolutely. May I keep Harry, Neville, Ron and Ginny?”
“If you wish. Who else would you like?” Remus rose off the grass and began to remove his travelling cloak.
“Fred and George please.” She beckoned the twins over.
“You’re not going to pick me?” Charlie protested.
“No, she’s seen the light and realized that she picked the wrong brother!” George grabbed Ellie and swung her in to a low bow. “Elizabeth, my darling, how long I’ve waited for you.” He then began to kiss the air around her face; Ellie giggled furiously, which only annoyed Charlie further.
“Sorry, Charlie, but I’m putting a young guns team together here,” she said when she finally overcame her fit of the giggles.
“So I’m not a young gun anymore?”
“In a word…No” she chirped. This left her husband to be speechless.
“Not to worry, Charlie, you’re a cert for my team,” Remus clapped the young man on the shoulder. “I’ll have Bill, Tonks, Kingsley, Arthur… and I’ll take Dung as well.” He was studying the increasingly large crowd carefully. Harry could only assume that an Order meeting had been scheduled. There were several cries of ‘Accio Broom!’ as the opposition called for their broomsticks. Ellie beckoned her team forward.
“Right, Ron, you’ll be keeper. Harry, you can seek. Fred and George, you’re back to being beaters. Me, Ginny and Neville will be the chasers…”
“Can I ask a question?” Fred interrupted.
“Fire away,” there was a small hint of impatience in Ellie’s voice, apparently Quidditch brought out the animal in his cousin.
“By any chance were you a Muggle soldier in a past life?” Fred grinned mischievously.
“What makes you ask that?”
“Because you’re acting exactly like this general somebody or other that I read about once, could have been custard,” George answered.
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s get a game plan together.” She then proceeded to tell them what the plan of attack was. She and Remus conjured the goal posts on either side of the garden and then the game began in earnest. Ellie told her team off several times for being complacent and punched Fred in the arm when he tried to calm her down with, “come on, Ellie, they’re just a bunch of old people!”
To be fair for a bunch of old people they were doing pretty well, they were only a maximum of ten points behind during the entire course of the game. It was over an hour before Harry spotted the Snitch. It was floating at Dung’s right ankle, both he and Charlie spotted it at the same time and raced forwards, flat on their brooms. Charlie would have reached it first if it weren’t for Ellie who saw what was happening and flew straight into Charlie’s path. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to stop and bundled straight through her, they became a large ball of person and broomstick until they collided with the ground and there was a very loud and sickening crack.
Everyone rushed forward to find Charlie sprawled on top of Ellie, whose face was buried in his armpit; she was being poked in the nose by the twigs from the tail end of his broom. “Are you okay?” he asked her urgently. “What cracked?” Panic was etched into his features. Ellie arched her back and pulled her now broken broomstick from underneath her; she dropped it on the ground beside her and began to grin inanely at the many heads of the group that were peering down at her.
“What’s wrong? Do you have a concussion?” Remus asked with concern.
“No, I want to do that again, it was fun. You did get the Snitch didn’t you, Harry?” She gazed at him intently. He held the golden sphere up to the light for her approval. “Wah-hey! Well done team!” she called enthusiastically.
“You do realize that if you hadn’t flown in front of me I’d be holding that Snitch, don’t you?” Charlie asked suspiciously.
“Of course I do. Why do you think I did it? I wasn’t about to lose to a bunch of old timers,” she chortled.
“Watch who you’re calling old timers, your mother would have been one of these ‘old timers’ and let me tell you something, Elizabeth Potter, you may be a revelation on that broom but your mother would have been able to outstrip you, even on her old and decrepit broomstick,” Remus scolded.
“Since when was I an old timer?” Tonks and Bill said at the same time, they looked at each other and laughed.
“Since you started doing things with scary synchronization,” Ron answered, everyone laughed joined in the mirth.
“Dinner’s ready,” Mrs. Weasley called from the back door. “Elizabeth? Why on earth are you on the ground?”
“Don’t worry, Mum, she was just trying to kill the both of us,” Charlie said nonchalantly, he reached out a hand to pull her from the floor.
“What?” Mrs. Weasley looked at them all with a very confused expression.
“Just a new Quidditch manoeuvre, Molly,” Arthur said as he strode across the garden towards his wife.
“I see. Hurry up everyone, there’s going to be an Order meeting and I want everything tidied away before Dumbledore gets back. Thank heavens for Dobby and Winky!” Everyone followed her inside and settled down to their delicious dinner.
While the Order meeting was in session the four, who were excluded from it on the basis of age, settled in to the sitting room. Ron brought the chessboard from the drawing room in for him and Neville to play a game, while Harry and Ginny watched them from the couch. Ginny was once again curled up in Harry’s lap, she had taken to sitting there as of late and he certainly wasn’t about to complain. Neither was Ron, as long as they didn’t start snogging the face off each other in front of him. Snuffles gave them all a fright when she snuck into the room stealthily and, without warning, pounced up in to Ginny’s lap, where she purred loudly at her owners stroking.
It was three hours before the meeting was closed; Ellie and Charlie came to check on them. “Everybody all right? How many times has he beaten you, Nev?” Charlie grinned at a completely dejected Neville.
“Six and still counting,” the boy replied.
“Oi, Ron, give the poor guy a break!” he reprimanded his brother.
“What took so long?” Harry was far more interested in knowing what had taken three hours to discuss.
“Professor Snape was giving a report,” Ellie answered him still clearly busy thinking.
“On what?” Harry had a feeling he might be pushing his luck by asking for this kind of information but was surprised when she answered.
“No one has seen or heard from Voldemort since the attack in Hogsmeade.” She shivered so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable.
“Not even the Death Eaters?” Ginny asked.
“Not even them, it’s like he’s just disappeared from the face of the planet all together. This isn’t good,” the older girl replied solemnly.
“But if he hasn’t been in touch with the Death Eaters doesn’t it mean that something’s wrong? Why would he hide from them unless something was up?” Surprisingly it was Ron who was being insightful; Harry couldn’t stop himself from thinking that Hermione must be rubbing off on him.
“Or he’s doing something big, something so important that he doesn’t trust anyone else to know about.” Ellie said with a dark expression.
“But surely he would tell someone, Wormtail or Malfoy?” Ginny provided.
“Not these days, Wormtail was only really useful when Voldemort need his help to survive; he got some serious reprimanding when it got out that I was still alive. As for Malfoy, he’s failed one too many times if you ask me.” There was a faint indication of a smile brewing in the back of Ellie’s eyes, she loved getting one over on Malfoy.
“So what happens now?” Although Neville was still fairly new to the idea of the Order he appeared to be catching up quite quickly.
“We wait.” Charlie was staring out of the front window. He settled on to the settee beside Ellie, who immediately snuggled in to his shoulder and after a little while fell asleep. Harry decided to give Neville a break by playing Ron at wizard’s chess, the game dragged on for more than an hour and once again Harry was beaten spectacularly.
“You need more practice, mate,” Ron advised.
“Hmm? Huh? What?” Ellie murmured as she woke from her peaceful slumber with a start. “What time is it?”
“Just gone eleven,” Charlie answered.
“Oh, well come on everyone go on up to bed.” She began trying to shuffle the youngsters from the room.
“But it’s summer!” Harry protested.
“I don’t particularly care, it’s time you lot were in bed.”
“You just want the room empty so you and Charlie can get up to stuff you can’t when everyone else is around. What was it you said Charlie’s hands did for you?” Ginny admirably tried to embarrass the older girl in to submission.
“Ginny, stop! Don’t take this conversation any further, I don’t want to know!” Harry put his hands over his ears and began singing la-de-da as loud as he could, he, Ron and Neville practically ran from the room. Realizing that her plan had backfired, Ginny made a swift exit too.
“Harry, wait! Come back here for a second,” Ellie shouted from the foot of the stairs, he doubled back down two flights to talk to her. “Um…right…”
“Is everything okay?” He was a little bit concerned by her expression.
“Well, I really don’t know how to say this to you so I’m just going to come out with it. I wanted to take you somewhere, Godric’s Hollow to be precise.” She was staring at him with a pained look.
“Isn’t that where my parents used to live?” he asked very quietly.
“It is. I’d understand if you don’t want to go, it might be too hard. I’m not exactly looking forward to it myself.”
“I want to go, I’ll be ok. Is it just you and I going?”
“I thought we should take Remus with us.”
“I think that’s a good idea, what time are we leaving at?”
“About ten o’clock.”
“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Ellie.” Harry headed up the staircase for the second time.
“Good night, Harry.” He saw her disappear back in to the sitting room and saw from the shadows that were playing on the walls that Charlie had risen to greet her.
“So, Ms. Potter. What exactly is it you said my hands do to you?” Charlie asked seductively, Harry cringed.
“Well…” Ellie whispered. Harry saw the shadow forms of his cousin and her fiancé kiss before the living room door swung shut softly.
A/N: Don’t you just hate overhearing things like that?
(The Latin words translate as follows… Steal this place from view… hide it from our enemies…keep it within the trusted soul…only those who know the truth shall see what rests here.)
The next chapter is going to be… Return to Godric’s Hollow.