Chapter 277: Old and New
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 277: Old and New
"Is it about what happened to your original brother?... I'm sorry but-"
"No, of course not!" Lyra interrupted him.
"Why would I care about that ungrateful brat? He tried to kill me."
"Oh…" Harry had not anticipated her to care so little about that.
"Then, what question did you have?"
"To be fair, I have a thousand questions…but… remember that day, in the basement, when my friends and I snuck in…"
"Yes, I do remember. That was very reckless, one of my golems almost killed you," Harry said.
"Hehe, yes, that day…" Lyra looked a bit embarrassed.
"That day, I asked you if you were really my brother…"
"And I told you to never doubt that," Harry added.
"Did you really mean that or was it something you s-"
"Of course, I meant it, Lyra. I'm not the kind of person who likes to manipulate others with lies, you should know that by now." Harry looked down to meet her eyes.
"I may have come from a different reality, but I am still Harry Potter, the son of Lily and James Potter. And for as long as you consider me your brother…that is what I will be."
Lyra jumped at him and gave him a crushing hug.
"You have a thousand questions, huh? Well, if there is anything else you want to ask while we are here…"
"..." Lyra shook her head. "I think…I'd rather not ask…" She wanted to ask about what happened to her parents and the other versions of herself and Holly. But Harry never mentioned any of them, and she had a good idea as to why.
"Let's go back then." Sensing that she had seen enough, Harry pulled her out of his mind.
A minute later, Lyra opened her eyes.
"How was it?" Harry asked.
"I feel a bit dizzy…" Lyra answered while holding her head.
"That is a normal aftereffect, but that is not what I meant."
Lyra lifted her gaze to look at him directly.
"You have learned what you wanted to know about me, right?" Harry asked.
"I suppose, I mean… that explains so much. No wonder you can do all that stuff with your magic!" Lyra exclaimed.
"I did go through a lot, yes," Harry nodded.
"And you are like, super old!" Lyra added.
"Pardon?..." Harry raised an eyebrow.
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"I just wanted to thank you again, Lily."
"Molly, I already told you that's unnecessary…James just gave him a recommendation, nothing more." Lily felt a bit overwhelmed. Molly Weasley had already thanked her a dozen times and sent a large number of cakes to their house.
After finding out that Arthur had lost his job at the Ministry, James spoke to Lord Greengrass, and this one agreed to give the man a good position in one of his businesses in France.
This new job took away more of his free time since he had to travel to another country, so he could not be at home as much as he would have wanted, but it also paid three times more than his previous job, so the family was now a lot more relaxed when it came to money.
"And I insist! We would have been in a lot of trouble without your help. I brought another cake, a chocolate one this time." She pulled a small wooden box from her bag, and this one grew several times in size before Molly finally placed it on the kitchen table and opened it up, revealing a delicious-looking cake.
"Cake!" Holly became excited and went to fetch some plates.
Lily glanced at her youngest daughter with worry. She was going to get extremely fat if things continued like this.
"Is Lyra here?" Ginny asked while standing next to the table.
"She is in the backyard, I believe she is with Harry," Lily said.
Ginny hurried out of the kitchen. This was the first time she was able to visit the Potter house since the beginning of the summer, and it had already been a month since classes ended.
She opened the door to the large back garden and was welcomed by a pleasant breeze.
Her eyes moved over all the greenery and found someone sitting on the bench that was placed beneath the apple tree, near the center of the garden.
As she got closer, Ginny realized that the person in question was not Lyra but Harry instead.
He was reading a book while also writing something in a notebook.
She stood there for a few seconds, not sure of what to say. Ginny felt a bit conflicted about interrupting him while he seemed so concentrated.
But then, Harry turned to face her and greeted her with a kind smile. "It's been a while. How have you been?"
Ginny returned the greeting with her best smile.
"Were you looking for my sister? I believe she was taking a bath, but she should be done soon, we had a practice scheduled."
"Practice? You mean like the ones we did during the school year?" She saw Harry give a short nod.
"Do you mind if I join?"
"Not at all, please." He offered some room to sit down, and she happily agreed. "How is your father liking the new job?"
"Well… I think he would like to spend more time near home, but he does like to work in that shop. He says there are several Muggle-borns who know a lot of interesting stuff. I mean…interesting for him."
Harry recalled the man's obsession with anything made by Muggles, including rubber ducks.
"Next month, we are going to be spending some time in France…"
Harry noticed that she seemed upset about something.
"Are you not looking forward to that?"
"Oh, it's not that! It's just…the Quidditch Cup finals are on August 25th! Ireland is going to play against Bulgaria, and I'm going to miss it!" Ginny exclaimed.
"The Quidditch Cup?..." That brought up some memories for Harry. In his past life, he did go watch that game Ginny was talking about.
'There are going to be a lot of important people watching that game…' He was getting a bad feeling now.
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