MetaFic

Scene 20.0.1

1 Jul 1992

“I’d like to say it started,” Mrs Weasley began, “shortly after those horrible things that happened when you were just a toddler, Harry. The reality is it started much earlier, when I was still pregnant with Ginny, but it will be easier for me to explain it if I start with the days right after . . . well, right after you lost your parents.”

Harry nodded his head in acquiescence when she looked at him for approval, not really caring where she started as long as he finally got some answers.

“Your aunt contacted me via the Gringott’s Relay Service. She somehow knew that I personally owed a pair of life debts to your mother, and she was insistent that I needed to visit her immediately on your behalf.” Mrs Weasley sat forward in her chair and held her hands in front of her, as though warding off something unpleasant. “I mean no offense, Harry, but your Aunt was not . . . particularly pleasant to talk to.”

Harry chuckled darkly. “Time hasn’t changed that much, I’m afraid,” he said to alleviate any worries she might have about offending him.

“Yes, well, be that as it may . . . your aunt was most insistent that Arthur and I visit her immediately.” Mrs Weasley paused for a moment to firmly grasp her husband’s hand. “In the course of our visit that evening, she was her . . . brusque self, but ultimately said she wanted us to become your proxy guardians. She knew too little about the magical world and wanted nothing to do with it in the future. Considering how she was treating us, Harry, we tried to think about what your life might have been like growing up with her. Would you care to speculate on that?”

Harry shuddered slightly at the question, knowing that the answer would have been unpleasant – at best. “Based on my uncle and cousin, I’d guess it would have been a disaster to live there.”

“We can’t guess about your cousin. He was just a toddler like you,” Mr Weasley said, entering the main conversation for the first time. “But within minutes of meeting your Aunt, I was uncomfortable with leaving you in that house while we talked, let alone for ten years or more. I’m not one to speak ill of others, Harry, but I was worried that you might end up on the receiving end of their . . . erm . . . distaste.”

“Maybe,” Harry agreed, thinking that Mr Weasley’s statement was incredibly generous compared to what Harry personally felt. “But that was years ago, and it’s not really important with how things have turned out now. It’s nice to hear that you were concerned, but I don’t see why I was left in Fosterage. I really care for the Finnegans, you know, and I’d be quite happy to be carrying on there. So why the Fosterage? Why not raise me here, since I assume you agreed to her wishes?”

“I’m trying to get there, Harry, but you need a bit more of the history first,” Mrs Weasley said. “Can you wait a few minutes more?”

Harry shrugged slightly before replying. “If you really think it’s necessary, I can wait.”

“I had just found out that I was pregnant with my youngest,” Mrs Weasley said, nodding to Ginny, who was looking slightly bored but putting a brave face on it. “You may not know this, Harry, but sometimes pregnant women become rather nauseous, and I’ve had that problem with each of my children. I was visiting an Apothecary in Diagon Alley to buy what I needed for a potion that would ease my morning sickness. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but a woman in a hooded cloak had just purchased something and was leaving when I came in. That’s when Death Eaters attacked the Alley. They were . . . everywhere, it seemed.”

Mr Weasley put his arm around his wife, drawing her close as she paused. It was apparent even to Harry, who knew her not at all, that she did not enjoy recalling the events she was explaining. That, of course, added even more oddity to a day that was bound to be odd no matter how you sliced it. “I turned around when the door to the shop slammed open, only to see a killing curse headed toward me. I had no time to do anything, but the hooded woman threw her bag into the path of that curse. The bag exploded, but the curse was deflected. The Death Eater in the Alley didn’t even stay to see what his curse did, he simply cast it through the door and moved on. I was standing there, half in shock, covered with all sorts of ingredients, but I was alive because of the quick actions of a stranger. I helped her and the owner shield the store until the Aurors came a few minutes later. It was then that I found out her name – Lily Potter.”

Harry’s interest was definitely piqued with that bit of news, and he could tell that Ginny was hearing the story for the first time as well. If her eyes were wide, he knew his must be equally large. “You met my mum?”

Mrs Weasley gave Harry a soft smile, nodding in response to the question. “It turns out, Harry, that you’d come down with a bit of the sniffles and it had turned into an ear infection. Lily had been buying the ingredients to sort you out, and that’s why we were both there at that time. I replaced all of her ingredients in spite of her protests, but I have always felt that I personally owe two life debts to Lily, one for me and one for my unborn daughter. Your mum tried to downplay it, but I told her that if she ever needed anything – a baby sitter, shelter, someone to talk to – anything at all, that I would always be there for her. So when I found out that your parents had been killed, Harry, I contacted both the Ministry and Headmaster Dumbledore. I explained about the Life Debts, and I asked to raise you. The irony is that I was turned down, though no-one said why, and then a week or so later your Aunt was practically throwing you at me, begging me to take you off her hands.”

Harry could see the irony of the situation, true, but he was more interested in his mother’s behavior. She sounded both heroic and kind, with a sort of selfless push to do the right thing. It was a bit of insight that he had never had before, mostly because Aoife and Darius had told him they were deliberately raising him in obscurity. “I appreciate you telling me about meeting her, truly. If there’s anything else you know about her, I’d really like to hear it. But I still don’t understand why the Fosterage was necessary.”