When the Dragon Spoke to the Moon

KEYNOTE: You can skip the family trees, I put in because I figured some would be curious.

P.s. Yes, this is the same back story for Deadly Belladonna, except for the fact that Harry is forty-nine in Deadly Belladonna and he is ninety years old at the start of When the Dragon Spoke to the Moon.

Family tree of Professor Harry James Potter

Harry and Ginny's Daughter: Slytherin Rose Lilian Potter who married Slytherin Dharmik Zabini (Daphne Greengrass/Blaise Zabini)

Harry and Ginny's Grandchildren: Slytherin Darcy Potter Zabini + Gryfindor Gerald Potter Zabini + Ravenclaw Chelsea Lilian Zabini

Harry and Ginny's Son: Slytherin James Sirius Potter who married Slytherin Eliza Nott (Theodore Nott/Tracy Davis)

Harry and Ginny's Grandchildren: Hufflepuff Alexander Theodore Potter + Slytherin Rosario Davis Potter

Harry's Godson: Hufflepuff Teddy Remus Lupin who married Sonya Shacklebolt

Harry's Granddaughter: Hufflepuff Magnolia Tonks Shacklebolt who married Slytherin Judah Bell-Wood (Oliver Woods/Katie Bell)

Harry's Great Grandbabies, twins: Luna Shacklebolt Bell-Woods + Liliana Potter Bell-Woods

Family Note: It is said that Alexander Theodore Potter's sorting into Hufflepuff House was the final cause of Theodore Nott's father's, Mr. Nott Sr., death in prison.

Others from the Weasley Family

Bill and Fleur's Daughter: Victoire Weasley Unwed, attended Beauxbatons Academy

Bill and Fleur's Son: Louis Weasley and Jacques Page, attended Beauxbaton Academy

Bill and Fleur's Grandchildren: Slytherin Dominique Weasley who married Hufflepuff Mavis Longbottom

Bill and Fleur's Great Grandchild: Slytherin Claira Weasley

George and Angelina Johnson Weasley's Daughter: Slytherin Roxanne Weasley who married Gryffindor Stephen Bell-Woods (Brother of Judah Bell-Woods)

George and Angelina's Grandchildren: Slytherin Juliana and Hufflepuff Luke Bell-Woods

Family Note: It is a matter of great despair to the Patriarch of the Weasley clan, Arthur Weasley, that so many of his descendants were sorted into Slytherin and Hufflepuff. In fact, of his line only Chelsea Lilian Zabini was sorted into Ravenclaw and Garrett Potter Zabini was the only one sorted into Gryffindor.

Notable Careers

Teddy Shacklebolt - Care of Magical Creatures Professor

Nevil Longbottom - Herbology Professor

Magnolia Bell-Woods - Transfiguration Professor

Judah Bell-Woods - Charms Professor

Angelina Johnson - Flight instructor and Medi-Witch

Charles Montague - Medi-Wizard

Scorpius Malfoy - Potions Professor

Eliza Nott - History of Magic Professor

Harry Potter - Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor

Susan Bones - Headmistress of Hogwarts

Hermione Granger - Minister of Magic

Luna Lovegood - Magizoologist and Dragonalogist

Note: Most children who were born from the Lost generation gravitated toward either Slytherin or Hufflepuff, survivalists and peacemakers respectively. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were almost solely composed of muggleborns. During the following years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Hogwarts had record low attendance rates. Much of Hogwarts' prestige was lost though there was an uptick in acceptance rates for 'lesser magicals' and muggleborns, as well as a greater acceptance rate of international students (though this was the work of decades not seasons).

oOo

The Lost Generation

Those who attended Hogwarts during 1987 to 1998

Known as the Lost Generation for an uncommon death rate. Many were lost during the Final Battle at Hogwarts, many more came to take their own lives afterwards, many fell into some type of addiction, and many led lives uncaring of consequences and prone to taking dangerous risks that -more often than not- led to terminal results.

The survivors gravitated toward each other, most are at least in some way connected either by blood or marriage to the Potter and Weasley lines. Subsequent generations were unable to wed and the 'purity' of the British 'sacred' families in the ways of old were lost almost entirely.

The Lost Generation stands as a reminder to the Wizarding World for all time that children are not to fight in war. Children's rights and protection laws in Britain, Scotland, and Ireland have become the strictest across the globe.

The Lost we remember; 

or be lost ourselves.

oOo

WARNING: Warning for discussion non-consensual drugging and torture.

Chapter 4 - When We Run

Harry sighed as he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called, not bothering to get up, or move.

Hermione, good old Hermione, walked in head high but her expression was the picture of an angry contrite.

No one did angry contrite like Hermione Weasley-Granger

"You never told me," were the first words out of her mouth, the bitterness thick on each syllable.

"No," he agreed, closing his eyes tilting his head back. "I did not."

"You look drunk," she remarked as she came further into the room.

"Really?" he quipped, "Because I feel hungover."

He still couldn't believe he had lost his temper at Gin in front of so many.

"What are you drinking?" Hermione asked from beside him as she sat.

"Water. Want some?" he asked and he held out his glass.

She took it, he opened an eye to watch her sniff at it before taking a sip.

He smirked as her brown eyes widened.

"It's actually water."

He smiled, "I stopped drinking after that night. An exception for that party. Foolish of me."

"What exactly happened?" she asked.

Harry sighed, "It didn't start that night. After the first year… I lost interest in our relationship. I- The nightmares were getting worse and Teddy was the only thing giving me purpose, a purpose Andromeda and I shared. Gin, well, she was dealing with it in her own way. She wanted to forget, like nothing had ever happened."

"Didn't you want to forget?"

He looked at her, the woman who had once been his best friend.

"Gin wanted to be young. I wanted to be a father. Teddy looked at me like I was the centre of his entire world, and not because I killed anyone, or because we survived a war. But because I fed him, because I was there when he fell asleep and I was there when he woke up. I made him smile, I made him laugh. I was his hero, because I was there."

Hermione's face was sympathetic, "Ginny used to say you were closing down, refusing to recover, and growing distant."

He shook his head, "I was growing up. I never had much of a childhood, you know that, but it was nothing I could truly gain. I was too old, the dream of having that died with Sirius. I didn't want to go backwards, I just wanted a family."

"But you and Ginny had the twins."

"The twins were not what I expected but they were not a mistake. But I should have divorced her quicker than I did."

"If you didn't love her then why did you stay with her? If she hurt you, took advantage of you, why?” she asked. “Why didn't you tell me?" 

He looked away from her, "It was Halloween."

Hermione let him speak in his own time.

He turned his gaze toward the ceiling, "She wanted to go to a party, and I couldn't bring myself to leave the house. She asked me to go with her, I asked her to stay."

He tried to dispel the memories; he tried to forget the aching panic and crippling nightmares that something bad might happen.

And something bad had happened.

He had found it himself at the bottom of a bottle.

"I'll admit, our sex life when we first got married was good. The sex was always good, but I didn't crave it. I stopped wanting it. I stopped wanting it with her. I started to feel like she didn't want me, she wanted the Chosen One, her saviour. 

“As more time passed, it became evident to me that we didn't want the same things out of life, or from each other. The more she complained about Teddy and the less she wanted me with him, the less I wanted to be with her."

"I always thought it was Andromeda that got between you two."

An old spark of rage lit in him then, and he sat up, and he had to fight not to snap at Hermione too today, "It was never about Andromeda. I wasn't stupid, I knew Gin had been spiking my drinks some nights. But I was her husband, I guess a part of me thought I owed her, that it was my marital duty to her. If it was one thing I could give her, then fine. It was perhaps the only thing left of our marriage anyway."

Hermione blinked, "Harry… why did you… I was your first. You could have talked to me about this."

"What was I supposed to tell you? That I couldn't get it up? That I didn't care about her anymore? Your best girlfriend, Ron's little sister?"

"You were my best friend. Why didn't you talk to me?"

He was ninety years old and he couldn't meet her gaze, even now.

His one act of cowardness, his own petty revenge.

He had wanted to hurt Gin, he wanted to make her leave him.

He had, for once, not wanted to be the hero.

"What happened that Halloween night, Harry?" Hermione asked, her voice gentler than he had heard it in longer than he could remember.

"I got drunk," he said. "I found the bottle I bought for us, for our anniversary."

"I remember that. You didn't celebrate that year, Ginny was really upset."

"Teddy was sick for our second anniversary, dragon pox. It killed my grandparents, you know."

"They have a cure now."

"They do, but it wasn't instantaneous and Andromeda had lost people to that sickness too. It was a long night at St. Mungo's."

"That's serious Harry, why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged, "I didn't want to fight."

"Harry–"

"You asked about Halloween."

"Yes, I did."

She gave him an expectant look.

He might have smiled if it wasn't for what he had to say next, "She drugged the wine." He let out a long sigh, his gaze settling on the coffee table in front of him. He traced the painted birds and turquoise flowers across that dark surface with his gaze as he admitted his shame.

"And I was alone."

It took Hermione a moment before she gasped, "You mean…"

"Nothing I did could subside the need, and it quickly became a case of…" He hesitated before plunging ahead, "Overstimulation."

"That's torture," Hermione said in a low voice.

"You have no idea," he said, his voice was empty.

"Why didn't you ask for help? Why-"

"I was ashamed,” he snapped, meeting the judgement in her eyes as heat rose to his cheeks. “Because I was ashamed, Hermione."

He despised the burning in his cheeks, that Gin still had that power over him. The violation of that night, his lack of control over his own body, and the humiliation of needing help. The sheer terror that he would, curled in on himself, crying alone in the dark.

He was an old man now, and he only wished that the past couldn't hold him hostage anymore. Or perhaps this was his chance to finally perge it from his nightmares.

"I couldn't ask Gin for help, even if I might have begged for her help had she been there. I was afraid others would overhear, afraid others would find out, that someone might see me like that. That she might confide in someone about it. I was even terrified that it would somehow reach the papers."

"Why didn't you message me?" she asked.

He looked at her, "We have a history, Mione. I don't want to know what would have happened if you had shown up. I think a part of me would have died if Ron had seen me like that. He and Gin were so close, especially after Fred passed."

"Did you find the antidote?" she asked.

He shook his head, "I apparated to Andromeda's. She helped me."

"So that's how the affair began,” Hermione said as if finally cracking open a puzzlebox.

Harry actually laughed, "Merlin, no, Hermione, of course not. Andromeda would never have touched me without my consent and I could not have given consent that night. I was so much worse than drunk, I was delirious, half-crazed, or maybe more than half. Andromeda hit me with a sleeping curse. She went back to my house, found the bottle and was up till dawn brewing the antidote."

Horror grew on Hermione's face, "How much of that potion did you ingest?"

Harry sighed, "Andromeda said a sip would have been enough for what Gin wanted from me. A glass would have made for a very long night indeed."

"But you drank a bottle," Hermione said, voice hushed.

"I refuse to believe that Gin had intended to kill me. Even so, if it hadn't been for Andromeda, I would either have been hospitalized or I would have killed myself. Not the ideal way to go, but I suppose Dumbledore's belief about 'love' being all-powerful would have been given quite the poetic spin."

"Harry," Hermione whispered, her hand touching his.

He wrapped his fingers around hers. "I never told Gin the details, but I did not return home for two weeks. When she finally showed up at Andromeda's house, I gave her the bottle and slammed the door in her face without a word."

"How did the two of you make up?" Hermione asked, "How did you forgive her?"

"I didn't. I never forgave her."

"But the twins couldn't have been conceived that early."

He nodded, "No, they weren't."

Her gaze narrowed on him, "What did you do?"

He met her gaze, "I slept with Andromeda the night before I came home."

Hermione let go of his hand, "Why?"

"Because I wanted to hurt the witch who so boldly called herself my wife, who proclaimed to love me more than anything or anyone. I wanted her to feel as I felt when she betrayed me."

"But why?" Hermione asked, "You'r- You're not like that."

His smile tasted bitter on his own lips. "You think you're the only one who changed after the war?"

Fury bloomed in her brown eyes, "No, but I know you, Harry Potter. You should have divorced her then and there, you should have packed your bags, you shou-"

"I wanted her to divorce me, Hermione. I never wanted anyone to know that I had been accustomed to my drinks being spiked by my wife, that we accidentally poisoned me, that she hadn't been there for me when it happened. I never wanted to explain that to anyone, not to her, not to you, not to Ron, or anyone. But I did want Gin to hurt. I wanted her to stop looking at me like a damn hero and see that I was just another man."

"You aren't just another man, Harry, you're a good person."

"I never wanted to be different. I never wanted to be worshipped. I just wanted bad things not to happen to good people."

"But that’s what makes you extraordinary, Harry. And what Ginny did to you was horrible, criminal even. Why-"

"Did I make myself the villain?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Because, I would have rather been the villain than the victim."

"Oh, Harry-"

"I told Gin I was having an affair while we were in bed together," he cut her off.

Hermione gaped at him, "You don't mean while…"

He inclined his head.

She stood and exclaimed, "Harry!"

He gave her an amused smirk, "Oddly, that made her more determined to keep me. I don't know why. As far as I'm aware, spouses have killed one another for less."

Hermione paced the room, "That's- That's, appalling, and you kept sleeping with her? You kept sleeping with them both?"

He shrugged, "Gin made me feel like an object, a thing to be obtained and kept. Andromeda made me feel like a man. The sex was better with Andromeda."

Hermione looked at him outraged, "So you cheated on them both?"

"Andromeda and I weren't a couple back then, it was just the sex. She's a Black, my sleeping with my crazy wife didn't phase her, at all."

"That's twisted," Hermione spat.

He smiled, "And yet you're surprised I didn't tell you?"

"Why the hell did Ginny stay with you?"

"That's a question you will have to ask her."

"You could have just left her, you could have refused to sleep with her."

"Hate sex is weirdly additive," he remarked.

"Harry!"

"You wanted me to explain. I was not a healthy person after the war. I was so far from okay that it wasn't funny. I shouldn't have gotten married, and I did not handle my wife treating me as her personal toy and public eye-candy well. I will not deny that."

"But you knew it was wrong!" Hermione exclaimed, "How could you… that isn't you. Taking reve-"

He leaned forward, "I never took revenge on the Dursleys, I let Pettigrew live, and I didn't mean to hurt Draco as badly as I did that one time; I couldn't even follow through with hurting Bellatrix after she killed Sirius. My life in my younger years was nothing short of a series of unfortunate events, and I grew accustomed to the suffering."

"Snape and Umbridge tortured you," Hermione said, her anger fading. "It took you a long time before you were willing to stand up for yourself and fight back."

He nodded, "I loved Gin once, no matter how it played out, I did love her, and more than anything else, I trusted her. It broke something inside of me that she would be willing to harm me, that she wouldn't care if I was suffering. It broke me. 

“I hated her for it, but I hated myself more for allowing it. Because a part of me blamed myself for not wanting her, for not loving her the way she seemed to love me. So I did my damndest to make her hate me in turn. To destroy the pedestal she had put the image of me on."

"But the twins…" Hermione began.

Harry sighed, "Yes, the twins. Molly told Gin that if she wanted to make me love her again, that if she wanted to make me stay, then she should get pregnant. Molly was right, of course. I stayed as long as I did because of the twins, but she was also so terribly wrong.

"Gin did not want kids, especially not that young. I did stop sleeping with Gin after that. I only stayed because it was made very clear to me that she would fight for custody. Any love I had for her died in those years. Andromeda and I started getting more serious then too."

"So you did divorce Ginny because Andromeda."

He shook his head, "No, I divorced Gin because Teddy was growing old enough to start making sense of the adults around him. She lost her temper at him once during the twins' birthday party. She made him feel like an outcast in his own family, just like my Aunt and Uncle had made me feel with my cousin. I couldn't pretend that was okay, not for Teddy, for the twins, or for myself and Gin. I do regret the hours and days I lost with the twins, that they had to grow up in a divided household. But I didn't want them to ever think that how Gin and I were around each other was okay. That a loveless marriage was acceptable, that being unwelcome in your own home was normal."

Hermione stared at him, "I regret not having children with Ron, I regret putting my career before our life together for so many years."

"I know," he answered.

She blinked back tears, "We were good people once."

He smiled, "Don't undervalue yourself, Mione. The world is a better place than it was in our days because of us, because of you. We didn't get the fairytale ending, we didn't escape making more mistakes or having regrets. But when I see the following generations, I see them living in the world we made for them and I believe they have learned from some of our mistakes too."

"They'll make their own," she stated.

"That's a part of life, and we are still here to help them through it."

She came back to the sofa and sat down beside him. "I'm sorry," she said.

He put an arm around her.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you".

He rested his cheek on her dark hair, "Don't apologize, I knew you would have been there if I had only asked. That in itself helped me more than you will ever know."

She hugged him, "I would have helped you, I would have chosen you over Ginny. I want you to know that."

He chuckled, "I know that, just like I know you would have also kicked my arse for being so stubborn and self-destructive."

She squeezed him tight, speaking into his chest, "You got that right, you stupid dunderhead."

He kissed her head, "I love you, Mione."

"I love you too, Harry."

oOo

Luna was not a runner.

So she was surprised as the trolls she taunted to save the ponies that her feet and her muscles carried her across the forest floor as if her feet had been gifted wings like the god of mischief and messages, Hermes.

She still tripped every now and then, simply unused to the momentum she had, and yet… 

And yet…

In the theoretical, if someone had asked her to choose, Luna would have never traded her magic for physical strength. But as she sprinted for her life, the trolls bellowing about how they would catch and eat her, she was rethinking her position.

The trees and wind seemed to whisper to her, urging her on.

Just a little further, Fallen Star.

This way, Lost Star, this way, safety is this way.

Luna listened, following Harry's advice to follow the voices. She continued on, riding the edge of panic. She should be dead, she should be caught.

But the trolls' long heavy strides that chased her through the night, did not catch up to her.

Every time she tripped, scrapping her knees and hands, fresh panic would flood her, but then the whispering of the trees would urge her to her feet.

She did not cross the sea on a dragon's back to die by troll.

Exhaustion licked at her bones, strummed her muscles, as dawn pressed against the horizon.

And when the first trickles of golden light brushed the leaves, she heard her pursuers call out in fright.

Luna did not turn, did not stop, she ran faster and faster until she could not feel her legs, as if she was running on air.

She trusted her body, her mind, the ground beneath her feet, the roots that hummed and the wind that called.

Darkness began to eat away the light, but she ran through it until she fell away into the encouraging shadows, the soft prayers of the trees guiding her down.

oOo

Elrohir felt as if the trees were unusual awake this morning as he and his twin patrolled the woods.

"Do you think Arwen is ever going to return to visit us?" Elladan asked in their native tongue.

Elrohir shook his head, replying in the same, "Do you think Adar would let her travel? No, brother, if we wish to see her then we must make the journey to Lothlorian ourselves."

Elladan, who was born a mere few minutes before himself, sighed heavily, "You're right, of course. But it would do Adar good to see her."

"Estel has been proving an excellent distraction," Elrohir attempted to lighten their speech. "Estel is almost always at his side."

"Indeed," Elladan said before bringing his stallion, second only to their father's horse, to an abrupt stop. "Do you hear that?"

Elrohir brought his horse to a halt as well, going very still in his seat.

A moment later they both dismounted, blood had been spilled this day.

Luckily, what, or rather who they found in the protective arms of roots that canopied at the base of a grand tree, was a petite human child.

Perhaps, not a child, for she was older than Estel, but she could hardly be in her twenties. Her hair was white gold, spilling around her face in a silken tangle. Her clothes were interesting, the material unlike any he knew. For despite the blood stains from underneath the fabric where she had fallen, the material remained untorn. Her palms were less fortunate having not even that much protection.

Elladan attempted to rouse her, but the child remained asleep.

"I wonder what could have exhausted her to this extent, or why she is out here alone," he remarked as Elladan rubbed healing balm on her torn skin.

The injuries were far from serious, unless she had a head injury of some sort.

"We should bring her back home to rest before we search for her people," Elladan said, carefully lifting the girl in his arms as he stood.

His horse, Nhile, came without call to the roots where Elladan was able to mount without jolting the girl.

"Who could have left such a fair child behind?" Elrohir asked as he too remounted.

Elladan scowled slightly, "I do not know, but she will be safe with us."

They spoke no more, on high alert as they rode at a fast trot through the woods, Nhile's gate was smooth enough to leave the girl undisturbed.

Elladan slowed two hours later, and in way of explanation, he said, "She is waking."

Elrohir gave them space, not wishing to crowd the child as she eased awake.

However, the girl's waking was not slow.

Her eyes flashed open, and finding herself in the arms of a stranger, she let out an exclamation and flailed in Elladan's grasp.

Nhile reared, leading to the most amusing chain of events.

Elladan was sent sliding off the back end of his horse to land on his own rear, and the girl managed to twist to hug and hold onto the horse's neck. Keeping her seat, she leaned forward to urge the horse on.

And Nhile, the stallion who listened to no one but Elladan, started up into a run, and then a canter, eating away the distance that in mere minutes the girl and the horse were gone from sight.

There was a long silence that followed before Elrohir bent over laughing as his twin got to his feet brushing dirt off his rear.

"Yes, laugh, if it so funny," Elladan said drily.

This only caused Elrohir to laugh harder. Finally, he was able to gain enough control of himself to manage to say, "You let a human girl steal your horse."

Elladan scowled, "Nhile shouldn't have run off!"

Elrohir chortled, "Nhile is going back home, be at peace, brother."

"Why didn't you go after her?"

"And leave you helpless?" Elrohir offered him a hand, "Come, I cannot wait to explain this to father."

oOo

AN: Drama! And yes, this is the same back story for Harry as exists in Deadly Belladonna. Thoughts, ideas, desires, elvish horses, or feedback, pretty please?