[HP] Three thousand days of innocence

"I told you she was a witch." Simon said happily. "You still say no, you think—"

"Sit down, you two," Ginny ordered, pointing her wand at them. "Put away your wand, Mr. Palmer."

"Unless I know you won't curse us," John said calmly. "You're in a bad mood right now—"

"I think she's perfectly sane compared to Ben," said Simon darkly.

Ginny's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Draco, but she remained calm. "Sit down," she ordered. "hurry up."

They sat down.John still held his wand.Simon looked up at her happily, as if they were just dropping by.

"Now, you're going to tell me your real names and where you came from," Ginny said. "It starts with you, Kinzie."

"Real name?" Simon snickered. "I've been called that since I was born. Perhaps you've heard of my father—Hiram Kincaid?"

Ginny was dumbfounded. "Is Hiram... the Senior Under-Minister for Magic?"

"She's smart, isn't she?" Simon said to John. "That's him, dear. I'm a pure-blood Squib. Not pure. I haven't seen my family since they kicked me out when I was fourteen because I wasn't a wizard."

Ginny blinked and shook her head, trying to keep her head clear. "What about you?" She looked at John. "You're clearly a wizard. How old are you?"

"Twenty-eight," John said.

She did a quick calculation and figured he was in the same class as Fred and George. "Why don't I remember meeting you at Hogwarts?"

John looked surprised. "I've never been to Hogwarts," he said slowly.

"I'm right, too, Mr. Palmer," said Simon triumphantly. "She can't tell."

"I think I've been here so long that my accent has changed," John said thoughtfully. "Ginny - I'm not British, I'm Australian."

Ginny collapsed into the chair opposite them.Merlin's shorts.It was perfect - not only were they not Muggles, they weren't even citizens of the country. "Okay," she said softly. "We—I—oh, hell."

"You're wondering how I know you belong to a witch." Simon nodded.

"Yes." Ginny admitted.Thinking of this, she raised her wand. "Tell me, when did you know?"

"O'Neill's Bar," Simon said. "Your first date with Ben."

"Certainly not," John retorted.

"Man, I may be a squib, but I'm not stupid," Simon said, rolling his eyes. "I told you I could feel the magic in other people and I felt a bit of a tingle at the time - like the first time we saw Ginny sitting under that tree in the park. I kissed her in O'Neill's bar Just to make sure, it turns out I was right. Skin contact can always tell the difference. I'm actually not that horny, just for reference later."

"I'll remember," Ginny said softly.

"I've been suspicious since the day you didn't recognize Tony Blair's name," John said. "I wasn't entirely sure until now. I didn't feel anything, but I figured you must have used some kind of blindfold?"

"Yes," said Ginny. "As a safety measure. I use it everywhere I go."

"By the way, I'm Muggle-born," John added. "If it works."

"Okay," said Ginny, mentally organizing the new information. "Now—let's talk about Ben."

"Wait a minute," Simon interjected. "Let's just call him by his real name now. You know that, right?"

Ginny blinked. "But I thought John knew who he was."

"I have no connection to the wizarding world here, so I don't know who Ben is," John said. "I just register my wand so they don't arrest me for using magic illegally, but I live like a Muggle most of the time and it's driving me nuts. Honestly, I don't Thinking of having to stay here for eight years."

"Must be here?" Ginny repeated. "Why do you have to—"

"Name first!" Simon insisted. "I've been dying to know his real name for years!"

"Oh." Ginny cleared her throat. "Well, it's - Draco Scorpius Malfoy."

"Draco Scorpius?" John frowned. "Looks like a constellation?"

"Were his parents hippies?" Simon asked.

"No—his parents were the most narrow-minded, hard-nosed pure-bloods in English society. And very rich. They'd be furious if they knew he was with Muggle-borns and Squibs."

"I was worried about that before." John sighed. "It won't be easy, will it?"

"We always knew it wasn't going to be easy," Simon said. "Know it from the start, man."

"That's what you're going to say next," said Ginny sternly. "start."

"Impossible, dear," said Simon, his face darkening immediately. "You're going to hear more from us. You're going to hear from us about what you did to this boy."

"Yes," said John viciously.His usually warm brown eyes were cold. "All in all, Ginny, you ruined him."

"He's only been in a bad situation once," Simon said. "But we knew what to do. We locked up all the prescriptions and his cleaver."

"What?" cried Ginny, almost forgetting that she was pointing her wand at them. "He will not--"

"He won't kill himself," John assured her softly. "But after his last suicide attempt, Uncle Peter insisted that we take every precaution when he was seriously depressed. We've been watching him since you left in the wee hours of the morning. He can't be left alone for a second, and we're now Get a friend to watch him."

"Yeah, I haven't slept since Thursday night," said Simon angrily. "It's all for this."

"So did he," John said. "He won't sleep, won't eat, won't even go upstairs to his bedroom. Hasn't changed—"

"It's smelling a little bit now," Simon added.

"Stop it," begged Ginny, her tears bursting again. "Please, stop—"

"He didn't cry either," said John thoughtfully.He turned to Simon. "Did you see him cry?"

"Not a single tear," said Simon.

"Yes." John continued. "He sat in the corner of the living room, staring, with a blanket over his knees. He didn't say a word. I had to call Sam at the hotel and ask him to put Ben - Draco - in for a week. Fake."

Ginny covered her face with her hands, her shoulders were shaking.Every word was like a thorn in her heart, like poison in her ears.If she could--if she had a time-turner--she'd instantly go back to that night and she'd kiss him hard until they were both out of breath...

"You love him," John said.

Ginny wiped her tears and nodded. "With all my heart," she said softly.

The two of them sighed, leaned on Ginny's sofa, and looked at each other. "There's something else," John said slowly. "Maybe it's not just about us and Ben."

"Hippy boy," Simon corrected. "Dragon Scorpion. Decoma Horse."

John snickered. "It's Draco, you can talk nonsense."

"Be serious, John, for God's sake," Simon reproached. "I think we already know half of the story, and Ginny Weasley knows the other half, but it's a bad situation."

Ginny was about to point out that this had been obvious from the start, when she suddenly realized. "You said Weasley just now," she blurted out.

"Perhaps," Simon said innocently. "You know, my old man worked with your brother Percy. My cousin Nora Wallace still keeps in touch with me, she'll find out by asking around. Nora—"

"A year below me in Ravenclaw," said Ginny blankly.

"But we're going to tell her how we met and found Draco," John reminded Simon.

"Come on." He raised an eyebrow at Ginny. "I am history. The perfect Ministry project. It's a total anomaly for wizards who think they know history."

Ginny was hooked. "Why?"

"Because I'm a squib - can't create a spark with a wand - but I'm also a very gifted seer."

"Go on," she said incredulously.

"Mr. Palmer, what have I accurately predicted for the past ten years?"

John raised one hand and began to snap the fingers. "You knew that days before the World Trade Center incident and the London Underground attack—"

"Correct."

"You know who the next British Minister for Magic is even before he is nominated."

"right."

"One day, while he was on vacation in a small town in Australia," John said, looking at Ginny, "he made a more to-the-point prophecy. Very to the point."

Ginny couldn't take her eyes off him.Her fingers gripped the arm of the chair tightly.

"I've lived alone since I was 14," Simon said, running his hands through his thick brown hair. "Living in different Muggle and wizarding foster homes around Scotland and England. About nine years ago, for some reason, I really wanted to go to Australia. I thought, what the hell am I going to do in Australia? But I already knew I had this It's an ability that I couldn't ignore. So I went to Australia and met Palmer."

"We met on Queensland's Sunshine Coast," John said. "He was staying in a hotel near the beach, to be exact, and I was visiting family. He started working in a surf shop to raise money for a trip back to the UK and I wanted to rent a surfboard."

"I knew right away that he was important," Simon said. "I saw the two of us living in the same flat in London."

"So you left Australia and followed him halfway around the world?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"I'm not usually a sloppy person, but yes, I left with him," John explained. "We gradually got to know each other and often played together. One night, when we were walking on the beach, he suddenly rolled his eyes and stopped." John shrugged. "He made that prophecy that changed our lives."

"Prophecy?" Ginny said softly.

"What is it?" Simon asked, frowning. "I can't remember."

John lifted his hips and put his hands in his pockets. "I carry it with me," he said. "I look at it every time I think it's never going to happen, but then you came, Ginny, and I had hope again." He produced a crumpled piece of paper. "It's not exact—but it's about the same, and if I want to remember exactly, I can use a Pensieve."

"You read it," said Simon, gesturing to him.

John cleared his throat. "'The Hollow Man was born again in war, cold and lonely, and winter came. But he was welcomed by outcasts and wizards, who took him in with their hearts and kept him safe. They waited in the great city by the river for the fire Woman, waiting for his only chance to be whole, waiting for his only chance to be redeemed, the redemption of everything. Look for this shell man reborn from the war.'”

After he finished reading, there was silence in her ears.Ginny had to force herself to breathe again because she had been holding her breath while he read. "Merlin," she said softly.

"After he made this prophecy, we decided to return to London immediately." John continued to tell his story. "My parents were confused and didn't understand why I was leaving the country with someone I barely knew, but they were very supportive. They even moved into my mum's old house in Blackburn and if I needed them they It was nearby. We found Draco almost immediately and knew right away that he was the one we were looking for."

"Peter Walcott happened to come to see us when we were looking for an apartment in the city," Simon said. "We said we wanted a three-bedroom apartment and he said, boys, I have a guy here that you might want to meet, and that's Little Dragon Boy, a guy with no past."

"Shell man," John said. "It makes me believe we're doing the right thing. He's—lost, you know?" He grimaces, leaning back on the couch. "No matter what they did, no one deserved to lose everything like Ben-Draco."

"We did it, protecting him for eight long years," Simon said. "When he started showing signs of magic - we didn't know he was going to be a wizard - we just kept quiet and bided our time. We were waiting for the Fire Lady."

"Wait for you, Ginny," John said. "It just so happens that you are here."

Ginny shivered and hugged her legs tightly to her chest.This is... too much.Too much.What was she supposed to say about such a thing?

"There's one question that's been bothering me," Simon said. "I don't understand, if the little dragon boy is a wizard, why can't we return him to his family in person. He has been missing for eight years, right? His family must be dying."

Ginny gathered her thoughts, and suddenly everything became clear. "This—" She cleared her throat. "I can answer that question," she said hoarsely.