Prologue – The Mistress of Magic:
"Mr. Weasley?" came a gentle voice, shaking the elder man awake. Ron awoke with a start and began scratching his graying red hair.
"Oh, I'm sorry Davanee," he said with a croaky voice. "I was just sitting here and I suppose I fell asleep."
"It's quite alright Mr. Weasley," she said a smile. "I just wanted to remind you that visiting hours end in five minutes. Normally, I'd let you stay but my boss caught me letting you stay after hours and-"
"It's fine Davanee," Ron said with a smile. "I thank you for all that you've done for me and my wife these last few years."
"Of course Mr. Weasley," said Davanee, chuckling softly. "It is what I am here for." Ron shared a chuckle and turned back to his sleeping wife.
Hermione had been in a coma for eight years now. The doctors and nurses claimed that she would never come out and that it was just better to let her die. Ron would here none of it, knowing that one day his wife would come back to him and his children.
Little Annie was now in her first year at Hogwarts, sorted into Gryffindor just like the rest of the family. Annie was shy and humble, but had her mother's brains. Ron knew that was where she belonged. Annie reminded him so much of her mother, with her bushy red hair and big almond shaped brown eyes.
Teresa had now entered her fifth year at Hogwarts. According to her record and the constant owls Ron got about her behavior, Teresa had taken much after her uncles; Fred and George Weasley. Teresa was very mischievous, but very humorous and intelligent. She was also sorted into Gryffindor and Ron sometimes worried if Teresa would look after Anne while the two of them were at Hogwarts. One thing was for sure, she definitely did not take after their parents for she did not receive the honor of being prefect. Ron didn't care, he was proud of her no matter what.
Then, there was Eddie. Ron, Ginny, Teresa, Anne, nor Lily, no one had heard from Eddie since he left England eight years ago. No one received an owl or anything from him. Everyone, except Lily, had sent him many owls and notes, hoping to hear something from him. But everything went unanswered. They knew he was still alive because the owls always managed to deliver him the letters and packages. It were as though Eddie had fallen off the face of the planet.
Ron knew Hermione would never accept this kind of behavior from Eddie, but she was still in her coma and Ron was much too stressed with working and trying to raise his two daughters. Ginny and Fred tried to help as often as they could, but there was only so much they could do. Ron felt lost without his wife. Several times Fred tried to get Ron to see other people but he insisted that his heart was with and always will be with Hermione.
Ron was now working at Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The heavily scarred Neville Longbottom had become Headmaster after his term as Minister of Magic had ended. Neville never married due to his low self-esteem because of his scarred face, so he dedicated his life to teaching be becoming the Herbology professor and now acclaimed Headmaster. Ron knew both Albus Dumbledore and Hermione would be proud with Neville's work as Headmaster. And when Neville asked Ron to work as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he couldn't say now and has had this post for almost six years now. He was very comfortable with it.
Ginny and Fred continued to run their successful joke shop and lived together in a flat until Ginny remarried and started her own family, but continued to run the joke shop beside her brother. It was almost like Ginny felt she had to take George's place, for the sake of Fred.
Ron heard loud clanks coming down the hall and he smiled to himself as he turned around to see Asher and his wife, Yvonne, standing in the doorway of Hermione's hospital room. Asher hadn't changed a bit since he graduated with the exception of his legs. His face had become handsome with masculine, yet soft features, soft brown hair that fell into his eyes and his stormy gray eyes which were always dancing with amusement.
"Asher!" he said with a smile. He got up and embraced the boy who had become like a son to him in the past eight years tightly. "How are you?"
"Fantastic!" he said with a smile, "just had me legs checked up on and cleaned."
He lifted his pants and Ron smiled. Asher had gotten rid of his legs which were no longer of use to him and created a spell that gave him fake legs, however, being fake, they made him walk with a limp so he constantly carried around with a cane. It was a gold cane with the Hogwarts crest engraved on the side, hence the loud clanking one always heard when he was walking by. Ron thought it was a sin that a young man of twenty-five had to walk with a cane.
Yvonne and Asher continued to date long after Hogwarts, had been married for almost two years now, and Yvonne was pregnant with her first child. Ron couldn't have been happier for the pair of them. It was the kind of future he had always pictured for Ed and Lily, but if they couldn't have it, at least someone else he cared about could.
"Here to see Hermione?" Ron asked. Asher smiled.
"We visited her this morning," he said simply. "We actually came to see if you wanted to have dinner with Yvonne and myself tonight. We're heading to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, so it won't be out of your way. You may invite Teresa and Annie if you wish."
"Sounds great," said Ron with a smile. "Let me just say good-bye to my wife and send the girls an owl."
"Okay, we'll give you some privacy," said Yvonne, taking Asher's hand and leading him down the hall. "Meet you in the lobby, Ron?"
"Sure, see you in a bit," said Ron, turning back to give Hermione a tender kiss on the forehead.
Yvonne nearly had water squirt out of her nose as Teresa told of the latest prank she had pulled on the Gryffindor boys for teasing little Annie. Even Annie couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the boys not being able to speak, but simply croak as frogs.
"It was great! And the only way the spell could be reversed is if Anne here kissed them on the cheek," Teresa said proudly. "It's the last time those boys tease a Weasley!"
"Did you kiss any of them yet?" Asher asked eagerly. Anne blushed.
"Of course not!" Teresa nearly shouted. "She's too shy! Why do you think I chose that curse in particular?"
Once again, everyone roared with laughter and Anne blushed harder. Ron's heart melted at the sight of his youngest daughter and pulled her into a small embrace to comfort her shyness. At that moment, a group of Aurors came bursting into the pub and looked around the room, and when they set their eyes on Ron, they walked over to him.
"Mr. Weasley, we got an emergency call from you? Your fiancé has been kidnapped?" One of the Aurors, which looked like the leader of the group, asked Ron. Ron raised a confused eyebrow.
"Fiancé?" Anne whispered. "Dad?"
"You have a fiancé dad?" Teresa snapped angrily. "Bloody hell!"
"Watch your mouth, Teresa Molly Weasley!" Ron said sternly before turning to the guards. "I'm afraid you've made a mistake. I made no such call and I have no fiancé. I am a married man."
"Well, we received a call from a Mr. Weasley claiming his fiancé had been kidnapped. He claims to have received a ransom note stating that she was brought here to England. She is American, I believe?" the head Auror asked, reading off a small slip of paper. "You stated that you'd have no other Auror except the best to help find her."
"American…" Ron mumbled to himself. Then, it dawned on him. "Oh my, Merlin! My son!"
"I beg your pardon sir?"
"Son? Dad, you mean Eddie?"
"Dad, what the bloody hell is going on here?"
"Ron…"
"My son has been living in America for the last eight years. I don't know if he is engaged or not but it might be him. He is a Mr. Weasley." Ron explained. "Wait, Ed is engaged and she's been kidnapped to England? Bloody hell…"
"Eddie is engaged?" Asher asked eagerly.
At that moment, an owl came bursting into the Three Broomsticks and dropped a letter into the Head Auror's hands and flew off. The Auror hastily opened the letter and read it quickly before looking at his followers.
"Mr. Weasley is at the Ministry," he explained, "We've confronted the wrong Mr. Weasley. Let's head out then."
"Wait!" Ron said urgently, pushing Teresa out of his way and her swearing loudly. "What is Mr. Weasley's first name?"
"When he moved, he changed his name to Mr. Edward Whesley, but his real name is Mr. Edward Weasley," the Auror explained, then looked back up at Ron. "Is he your son?"
"Yes…" Ron whispered. "May I come with you? I haven't seen him in eight years…"
"If he is your son, we don't see a problem," said the Head Auror. "Come with us." With those words, Ron grabbed both Teresa and Anne, said a hasty good-bye and apology to both Asher and Yvonne, and followed the group of Aurors.
As the Weasleys and the Aurors left the Three Broomsticks, Asher jumped to his feet, his eyes widened.
"Merlin…" he whispered. "Yvonne…Eddie Weasley is back!'
"Why are you asking me all these questions?" a man, about six foot, with fiery red hair, chestnut eyes, and face load of freckles shouted as she slammed his fist down against Miranda Michael's desk. Miranda Michaels was Head of the Auror Department in the Ministry of Magic. "Why aren't you out there finding my fiancé?"
Miranda couldn't help but notice how this man had a combination of both an American accent and a British accent and it sounded funny to her, but she tried as hard as she could not to laugh at it.
"Mr. Weasley, please," Miranda said softly. "You claimed you wanted the best Auror we can get our hands on. And considering the money you're offering, we're trying to get in touch with someone we have in mind."
"Well where is he?"
"Ed," came a voice from outside the office, near the doorway. The tall man with fiery red hair and freckles eyes slowly widened and he sucked in a deep, nervous breath, recognizing the voice from the doorway. "Son?"
Ed Weasley turned around and faced the man standing in the doorway. Eddie was astonished at how poorly his father, Ron, had aged. His hair, now hardly red, but was graying. Freckles were not the thing that covered his face; but now aging wrinkles from both time and stress had taken over. His warm brown eyes were no longer sparkling and full of joy, but tired, old, worn down by life.
"Hi dad," he said, trying to contain his composure.
"Ed…" Ron whispered, as he dashed forward and embraced his son tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. "Oh, Ed…how could you? How could you abandon us all here? No word from you, no letters, nothing!"
"I'm sorry…I was just busy…" said Eddie, awkwardly. Ron pulled away from Eddie's embrace and slapped him straight across the face.
"Busy? Too busy to write a letter to see if your mother had woken up? I bet you didn't even know your friend, Asher married and his wife is now pregnant with their first child! I bet you don't even know what year your two sisters are in at Hogwarts, or who they are, do you? DO YOU?" Ron shouted at the top of his lungs. Eddie looked down at his feet for a moment, before looking back up at his father, a glaring look in his chestnut eyes.
"I'm not a child anymore, dad," Eddie snapped. "I'm twenty-five years old. I will do as I wish."
"You can do as you wish," Ron said just as angrily. "I just want you to know that your mother would be ashamed of you. I, however, am just disappointed." At this, Eddie rolled his eyes.
"Dad, my fiancé has been kidnapped and I am here to find her, not to be lectured from you!" Eddie snapped before turning back to Miranda. "And about this Auror you promised me? Where is he?"
"Don't you even want to see your sisters? I brought them with me," said Ron. "Teresa, Anne, please come here." Eddie whipped around about to blow up at his father but the sight of the fifteen year old girl and the eleven year old girl before him made him stop dead in his tracks.
"Anne? Teresa?" he asked through a tiny whisper. Both girls nodded. "Where did the time go? You girls are practically women!"
"Not so much Anne here, but I'm almost there," Teresa said coolly, white quietly nudging Anne in a joking manner.
"Oh wow…"
"You're engaged?" Anne asked quietly. "Since when?"
"About a year now," said Eddie. "She's a woman from the state of California; a real American girl, Jane Anderson."
"What a dull name," Teresa said nastily, very resentful towards her brother for pushing her and the rest of the family out of his life.
"Thanks Teresa," Eddie said sarcastically, seeing how his little sister hadn't changed a bit in the course of eight years. "But, she's been kidnapped by dark wizards. In the ransom note they claimed to have taken her to England so here I am! I am here to help this Auror they assign to the case to help me find her. I won't accept anything less than the best."
"And the best is on the way," Miranda said sardonically.
"WHERE IS HE?!?" Eddie snapped.
An emergency owl had just dropped into her lap. She opened it hastily and read it carefully.
"Bloody hell," she muttered. "I'm going to have to cancel my meeting with the Irish Minister. Dominique, could you take care of that for me?" she asked politely. The woman, known as Dominique, was an enticing elder woman with aging hair, of gold and gray that she kept in a tiny knot at the nape of her neck. Her piercing crystal gray eyes were lined with fine lines that gave an attractive look that only some elder women were able to hold. Dominique took out a tiny notebook and quill and wrote down the instructions, saying it would be no problem whatsoever.
"Is zere a problem at ze Ministry?" another woman at the table, who was sitting beside Dominique, asked. She was just as stunning as Dominique, with aging hair that was silky white that she kept in a loose elegant bun at the top of her head and the same fine lines around her eyes, except her eyes were a bright blue and she wore fancy spectacles around her crystal blue eyes.
"Yeah, apparently they have an emergency Auror assignment…" she mumbled with a sigh. "I'm sorry I have to leave our weekly lunch early today, but-"
"Go sweetie, you 'ave your job to do," said the second beautiful woman. "I understand 'ow demanding it must be."
"Thanks mum," she said kissing both her mother and Dominique on the cheek and grabbing her bag. "I'll see you here again same time next week ladies?"
"Yes indeed," said her mother, smiling. Her daughter took out her wand and Apparated to the Ministry. Dominique looked at the young lady's mother.
"Fleur, every time I see your daughter, ze more and more proud of 'er I get," Dominique said with a smile.
"Trust me, your not ze only one," said Fleur. "Not a day goes by zat I don't regret zrowing 'er out of my life when she was a baby."
"Zankfully she forgave you and 'as zese weekly lunches wiz us," said Dominique, who checked her fancy white gold pocket watch. "We 'ave to be at ze shop in five minutes. Might as well leave now?"
"Yes," said Fleur sitting up, leaving some Galleons on the table. "I'm so 'appy we finally opened zat jewelry shop in Diagon Alley. It keeps us busy and vibrant." Both ladies gave an elegant chuckle and Fleur's comment, pulled out their wands, and Apparated to their jewelry shop; A Veela's Shop, in Diagon Alley.
A young woman Apparated in front of the Ministry of Magic with her wand clenched in her right hand. She was a beautiful young woman, in her mid-twenties. Her long golden blonde hair fell in layers around her face and to the middle of her back. She was wearing a knee length black skirt with black knee length boots and an emerald green turtleneck sweater, making her almond shaped emerald green eyes stand out vibrantly. Her black robes and blonde hair billowed around her as it was a windy day, making her cheeks rosy.
She entered the building and headed straight to her office, where her student assistant, Jeremiah Reachenburg, was sitting at the front desk, a pile of papers on his desk, looking very disgruntled.
"Good morning Mistress," he said with angry groan.
"Long day Jeremiah?" she asked politely as she picked up some of her papers from his desk. He gave her a sarcastic look, making her chuckle.
"What do you think? You just got elected Mistress of Magic, of course it is a hectic day!" he said in an annoyed voice. She chuckled at his comment.
"You know, it's that kind of attitude that has given this working relationship a lot of spice," she said as she took out her fancy, cat like glasses, put them on, and went through some of the papers. Jeremiah rolled his eyes and continued his work. She looked down at him for a moment and sighed. "Take the week of Jeremiah. I've been called to the Auror Department."
"Auror Department?" he asked incredulously. But, Mistress, you've just been elected Mistress of Magic! You shouldn't be receiving calls and jobs from the Auror Department! You're work is here and trust me, you have tons of it!"
"Jeremiah, they have a complaining man demanding for the best," she said while putting down the papers. "And I am the best so I am doing the job. It is my last one until my term is over."
"Modest I see," Jeremiah grumbled, packing up his suitcase, making her smile to herself. She knew that part of the reason she had hired Jeremiah was because of his dry sense of humor. It kept things amusing in this office, which was always filled with stress and tension. "I'll see you in a week, Mistress."
She smiled and took off her glasses, as she placed the papers back on Jeremiah's desk. "Make sure you lock up my office before you leave," was all she said as she grabbed her briefcase and headed out the door towards the Auror Department. Miranda, her old partner, had said it was urgent so she had agreed to take this one final job.
"This Auror better be good," Eddie snarled, sitting in front of Miranda's desk. Miranda rolled her eyes.
"She is the best, Mr. Weasley," said Miranda. "She's so good that she was recently elected Mistress of Magic." Eddie's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
"Wait, wait, wait, the MISTRESS of MAGIC will personally be taking on my fiancé's case?" he asked in shock. Miranda nodded slowly.
"You asked for the best, Mr. Weasley," said Miranda. "She became one of the best Aurors the Ministry has ever seen and was elected as Head of the Auror Department when she was only twenty-two years old. Now, she has been elected one of the youngest Ministers, or Mistresses of Magic, at twenty-five. Passionate about her work, she is."
"Yeah? Who is she?" Eddie asked curiously.
"Sorry I'm late, I had a meeting," came a voice from behind, from the doorway. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. And don't worry, we will find your fiancé." Eddie, recognizing that scratchy voice, whipped around to see a stunning young woman standing in the doorway with long golden blonde hair and emerald green eyes.
"Mr. Weasley, I present to you Miss Lily Potter, Head Auror and Mistress of Magic," said Miranda. "She will be taking on your case to find your fiancé."
Eddie's eyes locked with Lily's for a moment and he fainted.
A note from the returning Jitterbelle. I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! Inspired by that horrible epilogue that JKR left us, I felt I did the same thing and now I realize how horrible it was so I'm continuing my Lily Potter series. I know its not in key with the original series but we'll ignore that shall we? Now we'll know what happens to Lily and Eddie and this is finally be the final story of Lily Julia Potter. And I hope you guys enjoy it. :) Plot and ending is already formed so ENJOY!
Damn if feels good to be writing about my old characters again. I don't know how JKR ended it after so long. I felt nostolgia without Lily, Eddie, Asher, etc.
Well, updating Chapter 1 now. :)