And the truth shall set you...free? (Potter house)

[headauror]

Harry rubbed at the back of his aching neck.. tension.. the kind you tended to get from the pile up of things such as not enough sleep.. stressful working conditions.. dealing with a world gone haywire behind the scenes.. vile forces out for the blood of your family, your friends..and the wizarding world at large.. a world you've sworn to protect. All this stacked up along with the deep shadow of a bruise across his collar bone.. healed quite nicely if he did say so him self (Al's aim was getting to be quite good), from the ugly mark it had been at the end of his son's lesson, lent to a very tired and weary man who stepped over the threshold into the house of Potter.

His sanctuary..his place to simply breath. Here he wasn't head Auror with a community counting on his guidance of his team to protect them.. neither here was he 'the boy who lived..and lived again!' ..a novelty to be stared at.. hero to be revered..how ever you chose to look at it. Here he was simply dad.. and honey.. or dear, any other term of endearment his beautiful wife chose to impart on him. And at present he didn't even have to show strength for those two factions.. the kids where off at school and Gin.. well..he wasn't sure where she had gone off to..shopping in Diagon perhaps? or to turn in a story at work?.. Either way..he was blissfully, and completely alone.. save the family Crup Digger and a small white kneazle they were sitting till Christmas.. and it showed as he let the strong mask slip away and a very tired man, with worry lines ..so much deeper these days..in his forehead..sagged down onto the living room couch.. by wizarding standards he wasn't really very old.. no actually he was at his prime.. but a life like his had been, particularly in his youth.. it took its tole in ways only the one to have experienced it could ever truly understand.

The younger generation was needed.. those willing to join the cause 'needed' to be encouraged..and those select few who showed the determination.. the drive to give their all..sacrifices whatever necessary for family..friends..those they loved, traits such as those he'd seen in his own youngest son.. well.. they could use something a bit more. The skills and knowledge to put that drive..that 'love' into action. If only he could she sure Gin would see things in the same light. They'd always shared, talked about everything.. she knew and understood his drive to be an Auror. She supported the need for the Order.. was even a member herself.. but where their children were concerned.. the woman was more protective that a nesting mother dragon.. more set into the will to protect that if shed been imperioused to do so.. and more frightening to deal with when angered than Molly Weasley. For while he respected his mother in law.. her daughter held sway over a part of him she'd owned thoroughly since his six year, his heart. If he told her of the lessons she'd see it as a threat to her son.. and as a threat she'd fight it..fight 'him' vehemently about the idea. Of all the things he had or might ever face fighting with his with had to be the most painful.. he do nearly anything to keep it from happening, and it very rarely very did.. but this, these lessons.. they'd cause them to, he was certain of it. Seeing as though stopping them was not an option he would consider, short of Al himself deciding against any more.. he felt his last option open had been to simply not tell her.. omission wasn't the same as lying right? So why the bloody hell did it chew him up so bad on the inside every time he had to grope for and excuse or side step a question?

Lost in his own thoughts he kicked off his shoes beneath the coffee table..a action he knew he'd likely hear about later from Gin..and one he'd come regret in the end as in his contemplative, lost in thought state and bone weary wish to simply stretch out and relax he'd failed to notice the sheet of parchment that had tagged along on his boot.. and sheet that bore a fat red T for the grade of Troll for some nameless first year and was firmly rooted to his boots soul with a sticky blue wad of Droobles Best.
Stretching back against the couch he brought his feet up to rest, crossed at the ankles on the table and began to work out his story for being late this afternoon.. he'd had to stay after at the ministry.. sort out a botched case file.. that would do, not a lie either.. she needn't know that after sorting the worst of it he'd given it to one of the trainees to write out the necessary, time consuming, summary's and drafts needed to finish it so that he could make a 'meeting' (aka get to Al's lesson on time) That settled he let the overwhelming drug of exhaustion pull him down into the dark depths of sleep. Oblivious to Digger as he flopped down to chew at the corner of the cloak he was still wearing.. not even noticing in fact as the kneazel settled in atop his head in the curve between his skull and the couch back.

[ginny]

If Harry could stay after work without any real warning or good reason, she could do the same. It was her logic, anyway, when she stayed at the office for an extra hour or so to make sure that all of her articles for the next week were assigned and caught up on as far as she could be. Her work did depend on the games going on the next weekend, but she could always get ahead of schedule. It would be better than sitting at home and waiting for him to come home late like he had the hobby of nowadays. She didn't want to be the one stuck at home while he was out doing things. It wasn't in her character to sit around while other people were out doing something that didn't involve sitting on their arses for long periods of time. Now, though, it was time that she had to be getting home to see if he had managed to get home yet.

It came to a time, though, when she couldn't sit in the office any longer without being told to get out or wasting time. They wouldn't want to pay her for extra hours where she was doing nothing and was not really needed. Ginny sighed and gathered her things in her work bag. She snapped off the lights with a flick of her wrist, and she exited the building without many more words to the people inside. They wouldn't see her until after the next game when she would have something new to write about with new predictions and reviews on the play of the game. Ginny just hoped that he was home when she got there. She was getting terribly curious as to what was keeping him, and she didn't feel like fighting about it tonight. Any other wife would probably think that he was meeting up with some girl at the office. Ginny refused to believe this for the moment, anyway, and just wanted to know why he was always making excuses about his extra hours to her.

Ginny ducked into the fire, threw the pinch of powder needed, and shouted the address of her home. With a rush of wind in her ears, Ginny landed in the fireplace of her own house with Harry. She brushed herself off because it was what she did every day that she went into the office to work. Ginny stretched out from the cramped position in the fireplace and dropped her bag in the normal space. Ginny went to move into the kitchen when she noticed the body sleeping on their couch in the sitting room where the fire was. That was one that she could recognize from anywhere. Harry was home, and he was already asleep by the looks of it.

She was certainly not in the mood to fight. Ginny moved over to him and brushed back his messy hair with a small smile. In sleep, he always looked more peaceful than he did when he was awake and worrying about the state of the world. She liked when he didn't have to worry about anything, though that time had hardly been on them before things popped up to be worried about. She grinned at his sleeping form and bent down to grab his shoes from under the coffee table. She had to put them away and yell at him later for being so messy. She picked them up, and she stopped suddenly at what she found. A paper was there, not something he would find in his office. It was a paper with a big grade with some young person's handwriting all over it. Ginny frowned and shook his shoulder roughly. What the hell was he doing in Hogwarts today? He had nothing to do with the place and had no reason to be there. Was this what he wasn't telling her?

[headauror]

It was rather unsettling the way dreams could take your memories, even the good ones, and twist them in such a way with your deepest fears and things occurring in reality while you slept to create the most vivid and horribly real..yet bizarrely abstract displays in your mind, that 'dream' just would no longer do as a word for them anymore. No.. the play that was going on behind Harry's eyelids had started out mildly enough.

He was once again in his youth, teaching a secret meeting of the D.A. ..in fact he'd just complemented Ginny on a rather well managed go with her horse patronus only the smile she had for his praise.. the gently lifted hand that reached towards his head..Ginny's features shifting to that of a year later as her hand ran through his tousled hair beneath the shadow of a willow on the quite shore of the black lake, that smile slowly faltered..turning into something dark and her gentle caress into a shove at his shoulder as she accused him..pointing a finger through the past to Cho in the D.A. meeting.. of having shut her out then, having ignored her feelings and only waking up to them when they'd seemed to have so little time left to be together.. and then she was the present day version..his wife, tugging at the invisibility he hadn't realized he'd been wearing and claiming she could barely see him at all any more for all the hiding he'd been doing beneath it of late..

That was when his vivid green eyes snapped open and he found himself staring into the face of his apparently none to happy wife. At least that was his first impression give the frown on her face and the hand she was now drawing back that had apparently really been shaking his shoulder..just like it had when... what was it he'd dreaming about now? .. His hand lifted groggily to readjust his scewed glasses and rubbing a hand over his face he reluctantly pulled himself forward on the couch..sitting up to show her that she in fact now had his attention.. how ever sleep laced it might still be.

A large yawn found it way to his lips and he muffled it with a hand before turning a raised brow on Gin.. who for all the magic in the world appeared ready for an argument over one thing or another given her expression. Possibly it was the fact that he was late.. again.. or rather not so much that as this time he'd actually forgotten to call and warn her about the fact that he would be.

He blanched at the realization of that mistake.. never..never assume she'd just gather it was work related at all would be fine. He'd learned that in the early years of their marriage. Ginny was still Molly Weasleys daughter even if she had taken his last name..and much like her mother was well known for her over baring worry when it came to the whereabouts and safety of her loved ones.. foul one Potter.. a few more of those and you'll find yourself out of the air and spending a good deal more time than naps stretched out on this couch..

Dragging a hand through his hair he stole a glance at her still frowning expression out of the corner of his eyes and tried for a small smile. A smile that quickly faltered into a contrite and abashed look of regret. "I forgot to call right? .. I'm "so" sorry Gin.. things were hectic and I had case file that was a total rubbish of a wreck to sort..and.. I just lost track of the time..right? .. forgive me?"

[ginny]

Even after he sat up and seemed to be awoken, Harry was still at least partly asleep. She hadn't been in the mood for a fight, hadn't wanted to be one to start one tonight, and he found a reason for her to be angry. Just how women could deal with men for so long, she would never know. It seemed to be one frustrating thing after another with them. He yawned widely, still obviously in need and want of the nap she had interupted. Luckily, however, he seemed to realize that he had done something wrong. That would make this a bit easier, then. She wouldn't spend half of the time trying to get him to understand what he had done to annoy her.

"Didn't call?" she asked with a certain amount of venom in her voice. He worked extra hours. She understood that. She could tolerate that. She couldn't stand the need to lie to her about where he was during those extra hours. Something was up, something that he didn't want her to know about. They had been married for quite some time now. Secrets were supposed to be over years ago. Now was no place or time for them in her life. She could deal with the extra hours. She couldn't deal with the lying from him, no matter how important he thought it might be to keep it from her.

"From the office, it might be a minor annoyance. Harry Potter, what the hell where you doing at Hogwarts?" She held up the paper that she had found accusingly. It was easy enough to tell what it was. A paper by some first or second year in Charms. There was even a grade on top of it. She knew what he worked with and who was in the department. If he wasn't near the papers himself, he would have no way of getting one attached to him. In his line of work, first year charms papers were not common. He must have been in the castle. She was sure of it. There was no other reason.

She put the paper down on the coffee table nearby with her next words. "Is that where you've been lying about for the past God knows how long?" What business would he have in the castle? It was just a school. Nothing was going on that she was aware of that would require the attention of the Head Auror to the Ministry. Beyond that, their children surely would not like their father showing up in classes or at the school where they had all of their friends and separate lives of sorts. There was nothing for him to do there now that he was no longer a student.

So not only was he lying about the place, there had to be something in those walls that she didn't know about. Well, Ginny Potter certainly wanted to know about it now.

[headauror]

Harry's still slightly groggy mind snapped to attention along with a violent lurching of his heart as his eyes came to rest on the paper Ginny was waving about. Wait... how? Where the bloody hell had that come from?? He certainly hadn't brought if back right? Why in Godric's name would he? .. It had to be an old paper of one of the kids right? Shoved under a cushion or crammed under the couch..only just now having resurfaced.. even as that reasoning entered his mind he discarded it. Gin was big on things being neat.. the idea that things would be left to collect long term in places they failed to belong was a daft one.

It was then that he caught sight of the sticky smear of gum on the page.. and the dirt imprint of a rather large trainer. Before he could stop himself his gaze jerked down to where his trainers had been only to snap back up in search of them , finding then clutched in his wife other hand. Well.. there would be no denying his presence at Hogwarts now..

Damn it all to hell! When had he become so lax and careless as to allow a discarded child's essay to tag along on his foot when in past years he'd thwarted and avoided some of the most detestable and sneaky people of the wizarding world? He had to fix this.. there had to be a way. One of his hands lifted to selfconsciously run through his head of messy black hair. Right .. he could tell her it was simply a visit to touch base with Neville. That he was discussing the possibility of a dueling workshop for some of the students at the school. Which wouldn't be a lie as he has been considering the notion. However as the next words that left her mouth insinuated that she'd been suspicious of more than just today's excuse he sighed deeply and lifted his gaze to meet her own.

Lying to Gin wasn't something he enjoyed having the do.. seeing the 'look' on her face at realizing he had been lying? .. he'd rather dance a third round with the Avada Kedavra curse.. figure of speech of course, but still. Here in just the last few moments he'd out right told her a bold faced lie of where he'd been at these last few hours. And thanks to his bloody sneakers and fate she knew beyond any doubt that he'd done so. And the look on her face as she eyed him promise more than a light strain on their relationship if he didn't start spilling truth.. and spilling it now.

Grimacing he nodded to a chair near the couch, his mouth a grim line.. she wasn't going to like this..at all. But he also knew that he'd no longer be able to keep it from her. He'd not stand for having his wife lose her trust in him. " Sit down Gin would you?.. " He waited for her to take a seat or remain stubbornly standing, whichever path she chose.. and then stared at his hands for a moment collecting his thoughts before finally speaking. " Your right, I've not been honest with you.. not entirely at any rate.. but just so you know I didn't do so lightly. Not that that makes it any more right, but I was trying to spare you the extra worry and stress.. " Drawing a deep breath he steeled himself for the explosion he was sure was about erupt. " I've been giving Albus some.. 'extra' lessons in his free time around classes.. teaching him a bit more than the schools got to offer.. " Holding up a firm hand against the tongue lashing he knew must be scalding the back of her teeth to get out, he continued. " No..now wait and let me finish..and then I'll listen alright? .. He's nearly seventeen Gin.. he want's to join the order and wants badly to be an Auror.. and what happened in October.. " Harry grimaced.."It shook him to the core Gin.. He needs this confidence boost.. what happened back then, took something from him.. a very important and necessary part..and I'm only doing what can be done to replace that..keep him safe in the future."